Curious said Alice.

[Tim Lamb]

Got back from loading scrap steel this evening to find my desktop switched off! It is never *switched off* so I enquired of my best beloved. Sure enough, she and a remote friend had been fiddling trying to get some communication service or other running. Whats app?

I suspect she hit the *Windows* key instead of shift and managed to trigger a shut down.

The curious bit is that the internet connection was not available after a normal restart. Fault finding was determined that the network cable was unplugged. Not so!

I then did a roll back (W7) to the 29th. November. The only thing affected was said to be an Edge upgrade. Restart and normality restored!

Two lots of Adobe reminding me about Flash. Not noticeably discussed in here but, is there anything I use which might notice it going?

[T i m]

WhatsApp (because it sounds like '"what's up" and it's an app <g>) yes, it's very useful, especially when used on a PC.

Or just turned it off when finished with it?

Were you able to unplug / re-plug the Ethernet cable from the PC whilst watching the status of the port to see if it accurately reflected the connection (physical and logical) status? (If not, it can be quite informative if/when it happens again).

Always a last resort that.

And did you restart it before doing that. Ideally from a complete shutdown / power off (at the wall etc)?

Good question, given how many sites still seem to be using it?

Cheers, T i m

[Peter Johnson]

Don't know about sites using it but there's an awful lot of (CCTV) DVR's in circulation that depend on it for managing them on a PC (and viewing the CCTV thereon) rather than a dedicated monitor. And the makers don't seem to be in a rush to sort things out.

[T i m]

I'm not sure what it uses for most Youtube videos bit there are some that don't play, similarly with some linked / embedded videos on other websites. Are we still heading for HTML5 'instead'?

Cheers, T i m

[gareth evans]

Not only is Adobe withdrawing support, but the web browsers (Edge, Firefox)are also refusing to use it.

It's caused me a problem with the BBC Big Welsh Challenge (which I've been slowly working through this past couple of years) but reverting to Internet Explorer on an old XP machine I find it is still possible.

Past couple of years ???? Yes,I know! But I keep picking it up and putting it down again but now I have the motivation to continue since inheriting my father's library of Welsh books and I wish to be able to read them!

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Erunt I think the name is, a daily registry back up, simply run the software for the day before and magic occurs usually. It has to reboot, but works better than the sledge hammer of going back does. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

No flash will keep on working until Microsoft stop it from working on windows 10, I suspect, complete with its inaccessibility and crap security. Brian

[Tim Lamb]

In message <rqa4a5$khq$ [e-mail], "Brian Gaff (Sofa)" [e-mail]> writes

Too late now and everything seems back to normal anyway. Ta.

[T i m]

<snip>

I think my old FF (V52.9) is still ok but Flash won't upgrade etc.

I rarely use IE / Edge etc, unless it's required (ActiveX I think).

We were in a bookshop Nth Wales whilst on one of our family motorcycle camping trips. As we were browsing the owner was chatting to a friend / customer in what sounded like fluent Welsh and when she left, the owner asked us if we needed any help in fluent English.

Her English was so good we asked if she was English but apparently not, but I think she said that 'most people' (her age) were brought up speaking English but some also spoke Welsh to carry the language on?

I'd have to say we didn't come across anyone (shops, campsites, public transport, tourist places etc) who didn't speak English (and fluently) but I guess there might be some older folk who are 'Welsh only'?

Cheers, T i m

[Roger Hayter]

There was a long period between the introduction of compulsory education and the 1960s when children were punished for speaking Welsh in (Welsh!) schools, so generations were forced to learn English who otherwise would have had little need for it in daily life. Of course, modern communications make it unlikely now that many would avoid learning English even now it is not compulsory.

[gareth evans]

My extended family in Carmarthen and Cardigan are all Welsh-speaking as a matter of course, and one of my cousins is a teacher in an all-Welsh school.

Really, Wales is a foreign country not yet completely over-run by the invading Naz^H^H^HEnglish!

[gareth evans]

My father recounted how in the elementary school in the 1920s and 1930s they would be punished if found to be speaking Welsh in the school playground; the headmaster, although being Welsh-speaking himself, thought it to be in the interests of his pupils to be fluent in English.

[T i m]

<snip>

Oh. ;-(

That would explain it then. ;-)

Yeah, whilst I 'get' there must be some push-back when being 'forced' to learn a non-native language, it sorta make sense if it's a language that has become one of the de facto standards around the world.

I think that's why few learn (and keep up / improve) a second language here ... 'what's the point' sorta thing?

I think it's important that anyone who emigrates to another country learns the language native to that land, both for practical reasons and out of respect of the native inhabitants.

Cheers, T i m

[Dave W]

Today I used Firefox to visit a website which used Flash to display a time line of Captain Cook's exploits. After about 1 second of pictures the frame went black and I got a warning that Adobe had blocked it.

As I had got a snatch of the pictures, I examined the HTML of the page, and found that the flash frame is disabled except for Internet Explorer! So I used that and was able to view the site after all.