Birthday Party

Last Friday Jan and I were invited to my younger brother's 70th Birthday Party.  He proclaimed he never believed he would reach 70.  Of course I am very aware how important birthdays are to longevity having recently read the conclusion of a four year university research project into birthdays.  The research concluded the more birthdays you had; the longer you would live!

Anyway, the party was a great success with all West Australian based members of the extended Jones family attending along with some of his former work colleagues and friends.  It was a large gathering.  On the following Monday we received a text message from my brother.  His eldest son, wife and three children had all tested positive for covid.  By Wednesday my brother and sister-in-law had it along with one niece, nephew's wife and two family friends.  It was starting to look like a 'super-spreader event'.  Jan and I did a RAT yesterday and are negative.  We are either lucky, hardy, or waiting!

The Pool

It looks like I am taking over the job of 'Swen the Poolman'.  Jan's swimming pool has been throwing some very strange pool chemical readings and I am now frantically attempting to remember my high school chemistry lessons.  Both the pH and chlorine reading are extremely high.   Jan mentioned water was dripping from the pool water heater on the workshop roof.  It wasn't likely this was the cause of the chemical problem, but I did examine the weeping pipe joint.  Then I decided to run the pool pump on maximum speed to see if this would flush the system and return normal levels.  That's when I discovered the 10mm tube that supplies hydrochloric acid to the pool had ruptured.

Instead of the acid going into the pool and maintaining the pH balance it was squirting out on the ground.  The acid container was empty.  I've ordered a new container of acid and will repair the tube having cut our the damaged section.  Hopefully this is the simple solution to the current problem with the pool.

Solar Panels

It's only two days since I took my life in my hands and climbed onto the roof to clean the solar panels.  There doesn't appear to have been any improvement in the output.  It's too early to make any conclusions regarding the merit of cleaning the panels.  I will continue to monitor the output.

Windows 10

On a more positive note, I was able to upgrade the laptop from Windows 8.1 to 10.  The myriad of issues have been overcome and my Windows 10 now looks like Windows XP.  Obviously I've reached an age where I don't like change.  I know my way around Windows XP and don't want to be bothered relearning a new screen layout every time Windows releases a new version of their operating system.

My thoughts are that Microsoft have created a 'fork' with their operating system.  The 'Enterprise' version of Windows 10 (and 11) is designed for businesses and must be purchased.  The 'Home' version is a free upgrade or comes already installed on a new purchase.  The difference between the two versions appears to be the Home version is loaded with 'Bloatware'.  To use the computer a user is required to register an account with Microsoft.  Moreover, a number of the background services running on the Home version appear to be collecting data about the user.  My assumption is Microsoft sells this data to advertisers, much like Facebook, etc.

I've been able to erase the Microsoft account and login from my new Windows 10 setup.  I haven't noticed any improvement with Windows 10 but the upgrade has allowed me to use the onboard wifi adapter.  This didn't work with Windows 8.1 as there were no suitable wifi drivers.

I've now downloaded Windows 11 and will attempt to install it.  Again avoiding the requirement to create a Microsoft account along with removing the bloatware.