X-post Sheds & Botormikes

Bro-in-law rang and phone rang here, but on picking-up receiver all I
got was dialling-tone.

Replaced receiver and phone kept ringing-dialling tone-replace
receiver-ring-ring-replace receiver-repeat several times.

Eventually, bro'-in-law comes on...

His end of the line was also weird - culminating in a woman's voice *his
end only* asking him to hold the line.

Then the call proceeded as normal.

Was it a MI5-Mike occurrence, (who [else] could/would be
tapping/taking-over my/his line bearing in mind that he's a part-retired
CoE canon and I'm a bedridden octopus^h^h^h^octogenarian retired teacher
and smallholder) (oh, and active Sheddi?)

ITISBT

Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I don't
have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender either.
One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that ever
since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking for
'Mr Smith'...

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

In article <u42foq$3s9aj$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@fooba
r.girolle.co.uk> on Wed, 17 May 2023 at 13:02:38 awoke Nicholas from
his slumbers and wrote
>X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>
>Bro-in-law rang and phone rang here, but on picking-up receiver all I
>got was dialling-tone.
>
>Replaced receiver and phone kept ringing-dialling tone-replace
>receiver-ring-ring-replace receiver-repeat several times.
>
>Eventually, bro'-in-law comes on...
>
>His end of the line was also weird - culminating in a woman's voice *his
>end only* asking him to hold the line.
>
>Then the call proceeded as normal.
>
>Was it a MI5-Mike occurrence, (who [else] could/would be
>tapping/taking-over my/his line bearing in mind that he's a part-retired
>CoE canon and I'm a bedridden octopus^h^h^h^octogenarian retired teacher
>and smallholder) (oh, and active Sheddi?)
>
>ITISBT
>
>Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I don't
>have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender either.
>One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that ever
>since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking for
>'Mr Smith'...
>
'Mr Smith' might have had the number before it was assigned to you.
Telephone numbers are (well used to be) recycled, by all accounts the
recycling is/was very quick.

On the other hand there might be a fault on one (or both even) your
lines. Your not on a party line are you (no, I think they went with the
pharaohs).

Of course there might be a scam of some sort. MI5 is unlikely, but Plod
have been known to get their lines crossed, so to speak.

--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 17/05/2023 13:02, RustyHinge wrote:
> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>
> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I don't
> have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender either.
> One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that ever
> since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking for
> 'Mr Smith'...

Was it Mrs Smith?
Have you and she ever booked into a hotel?

Chris

On 17/05/2023 14:04, chrisnd@privacy.net wrote:
> On 17/05/2023 13:02, RustyHinge wrote:
>> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>>
>> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I
>> don't have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender
>> either. One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that
>> ever since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking
>> for 'Mr Smith'...
>
> Was it Mrs Smith?
> Have you and she ever booked into a hotel?

Blind Bambi who it was. I don't think I've ever booked into an hotel
'with' anybody, either - well, not since I was a teenager, and parents
did the booking.

Probably some sort of glitch: eavesdroppers don't tend to chip in,
innit. It would be nice to know if there was a promble on the line, though.

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On Wed, 17 May 2023 13:02:38 +0100, RustyHinge
<rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:

>X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>
>Bro-in-law rang and phone rang here, but on picking-up receiver all I
>got was dialling-tone.
>
>Replaced receiver and phone kept ringing-dialling tone-replace
>receiver-ring-ring-replace receiver-repeat several times.
>
>Eventually, bro'-in-law comes on...
>
>His end of the line was also weird - culminating in a woman's voice *his
>end only* asking him to hold the line.
>
>Then the call proceeded as normal.

Software. Some rare corner case or race condition.

--

-Pip

On Wednesday, 17 May 2023 at 19:09:56 UTC+1, Pipl wrote:

> Software. Some rare corner case or race condition.

Alternatively, maybe the security services have seen the nonsense on
here and feel duty-bound to protect the use of written English by
driving those who use 'words' like "botormikes" and "promble" madder
than they already are?

On 17/05/2023 15:53, RustyHinge wrote:
> On 17/05/2023 14:04, chrisnd@privacy.net wrote:
>> On 17/05/2023 13:02, RustyHinge wrote:
>>> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>>>
>>> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I
>>> don't have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender
>>> either. One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is
>>> that ever since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and
>>> asking for 'Mr Smith'...
>>
>> Was it Mrs Smith?
>> Have you and she ever booked into a hotel?
>
> Blind Bambi who it was. I don't think I've ever booked into an hotel
> 'with' anybody, either - well, not since I was a teenager, and parents
> did the booking.
>
> Probably some sort of glitch: eavesdroppers don't tend to chip in,
> innit. It would be nice to know if there was a promble on the line, though.
>
Perhaps they thought you are Mike Corley? or am I showing my age?
(a well-known conspiracy theorist from the 1990s, m'lud).
--
Mike Headon
R69S R850R
IIIc IIIg FT FTn FT2 EOS450D
e-mail: mike dot headon at enn tee ell world dot com

Tuesday morning my land line kept on ringing just once like that. Virgin say
its a line test they run all the time. However no call gets registered by
1471, or picked up on the truecall unit either. I suppose they are probably
right and it depends on how sensitive your ringer is to the test voltage I
suppose. Yes you just hear a dialling tone if you quickly pick it up.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"RustyHinge" <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote in message
news:u42foq$3s9aj$1@dont-email.me...
> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>
> Bro-in-law rang and phone rang here, but on picking-up receiver all I got
> was dialling-tone.
>
> Replaced receiver and phone kept ringing-dialling tone-replace
> receiver-ring-ring-replace receiver-repeat several times.
>
> Eventually, bro'-in-law comes on...
>
> His end of the line was also weird - culminating in a woman's voice *his
> end only* asking him to hold the line.
>
> Then the call proceeded as normal.
>
> Was it a MI5-Mike occurrence, (who [else] could/would be
> tapping/taking-over my/his line bearing in mind that he's a part-retired
> CoE canon and I'm a bedridden octopus^h^h^h^octogenarian retired teacher
> and smallholder) (oh, and active Sheddi?)
>
> ITISBT
>
> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I don't
> have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender either. One
> thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that ever since I
> had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking for 'Mr
> Smith'...
>
> --
> Rusty Hinge
> To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the
> BOFH.

I had a period where I could hear all conversations 20 houses away when it
rained. This turned out as you might expect, to be water in the cable. They
swapped both lines to different paires in the cable and marked the dodgy
ones as do not use.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Nicholas D. Richards" <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote in message
news:TENLZnA0fMZkFAw9@salmiron.com...
> In article <u42foq$3s9aj$1@dont-email.me>, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@fooba
> r.girolle.co.uk> on Wed, 17 May 2023 at 13:02:38 awoke Nicholas from
> his slumbers and wrote
>>X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>>
>>Bro-in-law rang and phone rang here, but on picking-up receiver all I
>>got was dialling-tone.
>>
>>Replaced receiver and phone kept ringing-dialling tone-replace
>>receiver-ring-ring-replace receiver-repeat several times.
>>
>>Eventually, bro'-in-law comes on...
>>
>>His end of the line was also weird - culminating in a woman's voice *his
>>end only* asking him to hold the line.
>>
>>Then the call proceeded as normal.
>>
>>Was it a MI5-Mike occurrence, (who [else] could/would be
>>tapping/taking-over my/his line bearing in mind that he's a part-retired
>>CoE canon and I'm a bedridden octopus^h^h^h^octogenarian retired teacher
>>and smallholder) (oh, and active Sheddi?)
>>
>>ITISBT
>>
>>Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I don't
>>have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender either.
>>One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that ever
>>since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking for
>>'Mr Smith'...
>>
> 'Mr Smith' might have had the number before it was assigned to you.
> Telephone numbers are (well used to be) recycled, by all accounts the
> recycling is/was very quick.
>
> On the other hand there might be a fault on one (or both even) your
> lines. Your not on a party line are you (no, I think they went with the
> pharaohs).
>
> Of course there might be a scam of some sort. MI5 is unlikely, but Plod
> have been known to get their lines crossed, so to speak.
>
>
> --
> 0sterc@tcher -
>
> "O� sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 18/05/2023 09:58, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Tuesday morning my land line kept on ringing just once like that. Virgin say
> its a line test they run all the time. However no call gets registered by
> 1471, or picked up on the truecall unit either. I suppose they are probably
> right and it depends on how sensitive your ringer is to the test voltage I
> suppose. Yes you just hear a dialling tone if you quickly pick it up.
> Brian
>
Please post below the the item you are referring to.

On 18/05/2023 11:48, Tim wrote:
> On 18/05/2023 09:58, Brian Gaff wrote:
>> Tuesday morning my land line kept on ringing just once like that.
>> Virgin say
>> its a line test they run all the time. However no call gets registered by
>> 1471, or picked up on the truecall unit either. I suppose they are
>> probably
>> right and it depends on how sensitive your ringer is to the test
>> voltage I
>> suppose. Yes you just hear a dialling tone if you  quickly pick it up.
>>   Brian
>>
>  Please post below the the item you are referring to.

This is due to Rusty crossposting for no discernable reason - Brian is
blind (hence unlikely to ride a motorcycle, although it's almost
mandatory to drive a BMW) and his screen reading software isn't great
for posting at the bottom. That's his excuse, anyway.

On 17/05/2023 20:41, Mike Headon wrote:
> On 17/05/2023 15:53, RustyHinge wrote:
>> On 17/05/2023 14:04, chrisnd@privacy.net wrote:
>>> On 17/05/2023 13:02, RustyHinge wrote:
>>>> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>>>>
>>>> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I
>>>> don't have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender
>>>> either. One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is
>>>> that ever since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and
>>>> asking for 'Mr Smith'...
>>>
>>> Was it Mrs Smith?
>>> Have you and she ever booked into a hotel?
>>
>> Blind Bambi who it was. I don't think I've ever booked into an hotel
>> 'with' anybody, either - well, not since I was a teenager, and parents
>> did the booking.
>>
>> Probably some sort of glitch: eavesdroppers don't tend to chip in,
>> innit. It would be nice to know if there was a promble on the line,
>> though.
>>
> Perhaps they thought you are Mike Corley? or am I showing my age?
> (a well-known conspiracy theorist from the 1990s, m'lud).

Hence 'MI5-Mike...

Am I showing *my* age? (I was on Usenet long before Mike - about the
time someone was brewing Netscape, and its origin, namely Mosaic*, was
still in use.)

* Was this a reference to the pixellated pattern of the 'screenshot', or
one to its originator, Moses?

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

RustyHinge said:
> On 17/05/2023 20:41, Mike Headon wrote:
>> On 17/05/2023 15:53, RustyHinge wrote:
>>> On 17/05/2023 14:04, chrisnd@privacy.net wrote:
>>>> On 17/05/2023 13:02, RustyHinge wrote:
>>>>> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>>>>>
>>>>> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I
>>>>> don't have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender
>>>>> either. One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is
>>>>> that ever since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and
>>>>> asking for 'Mr Smith'...
>>>>
>>>> Was it Mrs Smith?
>>>> Have you and she ever booked into a hotel?
>>>
>>> Blind Bambi who it was. I don't think I've ever booked into an hotel
>>> 'with' anybody, either - well, not since I was a teenager, and parents
>>> did the booking.
>>>
>>> Probably some sort of glitch: eavesdroppers don't tend to chip in,
>>> innit. It would be nice to know if there was a promble on the line,
>>> though.
>>>
>> Perhaps they thought you are Mike Corley? or am I showing my age?
>> (a well-known conspiracy theorist from the 1990s, m'lud).
>
> Hence 'MI5-Mike...
>
> Am I showing *my* age? (I was on Usenet long before Mike - about the
> time someone was brewing Netscape, and its origin, namely Mosaic*, was
> still in use.)

Mosaic ? Huh. On Windows 3.1 over dos 5 the web was 'telnet cern.ch 80'.

I haven't a clue when he turned up, though, I had the impression he'd
been around for a while by the time I noticed him.

> * Was this a reference to the pixellated pattern of the 'screenshot', or
> one to its originator, Moses?
>
>

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On Thu, 18 May 2023 19:48:18 -0000 (UTC)
Richard Robinson <richard@qualmograph.org.uk> wrote:

> Mosaic ? Huh. On Windows 3.1 over dos 5 the web was 'telnet cern.ch 80'.

That was a nasty way to do it, from the very start you could telnet
www.cern.ch (or almost any www address[80]) and get a text mode browser.

80: I did encounter one that gave me a shell - I told them about it.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
Host: Beautiful Theory meet Inconvenient Fact
Obit: Beautiful Theory died today of factual inconsistency

Ahem A Rivet's Shot said:
> On Thu, 18 May 2023 19:48:18 -0000 (UTC)
> Richard Robinson <richard@qualmograph.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Mosaic ? Huh. On Windows 3.1 over dos 5 the web was 'telnet cern.ch 80'.
>
> That was a nasty way to do it, from the very start you could telnet
> www.cern.ch (or almost any www address[80]) and get a text mode browser.

Ah ... I may be disunforgetting, round up the Usual Suspects. It was a
long time ago.

> 80: I did encounter one that gave me a shell - I told them about it.
>

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On 5/17/2023 5:02 AM, RustyHinge wrote:
> X-post Sheds & Botormikes
>
> Bro-in-law rang and phone rang here, but on picking-up receiver all I
> got was dialling-tone.
>
> Replaced receiver and phone kept ringing-dialling tone-replace
> receiver-ring-ring-replace receiver-repeat several times.
>
> Eventually, bro'-in-law comes on...
>
> His end of the line was also weird - culminating in a woman's voice *his
> end only* asking him to hold the line.
>
> Then the call proceeded as normal.
>
> Was it a MI5-Mike occurrence, (who [else] could/would be
> tapping/taking-over my/his line bearing in mind that he's a part-retired
> CoE canon and I'm a bedridden octopus^h^h^h^octogenarian retired teacher
> and smallholder) (oh, and active Sheddi?)
>
> ITISBT
>
> Any other suggestions? I can't think Old Bill has any interest - I don't
> have any opportunity, and bro-in-law isn't a likely contender either.
> One thought haqs passed through what serves as my mind is that ever
> since I had the landline I keep getting people ringing and asking for
> 'Mr Smith'...
>
Apologies are in order. The USA NSA has made an error. We normally do
not conduct operations in allied territory. In rare occurrences we
pursue targets too aggressively. We will amend our tactics in this case.
Again, we apologize.
(FYI: this is an official NSA broadcast. Mr Keener had nothing to do
with this transmission.)

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS & ST1100 (in memoriam)