RATS! Traffic Accident

Well, I wasn't in traffic, but it's still kinda-sorta my fault. I stopped for gas today, and pulled into the pump to fuel my Jeep. There was a guy in front of me, so I took the pump behind him, and fueled up. Wrote down the mileage, gallons, and price like I always do, LOOKED BEHIND ME since the other guy was still in front, and started to back up. Heard a BEEEEP-BEEEEEP! and then *crunch*.
Oh, shit.
Got out of the Jeep, and there was a 2008 Honda Civic _right_ behind me that I backed into. He wanted to know why I backed up, and I pointed to the guy in front of me who was still filling his car. Considering the Jeep is about twice as tall as his Civic, and he must have been _right on_ my bumper, I simply could NOT see him out the back window.
My trailer hitch punched in his grill and scraped the paint off his bumper, but no damage to those expen$ive headlights. His car must have been a re-paint, as the paint came off his bumper in big strips, which doesn't happen with the flexible OEM paint.
We both have the same insurance company, so it should be interesting to see how this plays out....

Auto Work, Part II

Well, that was relatively painless! The OEM plugs were put in DRY, so I was very careful to pull them with a cold engine, but still, the SQUEAK! as they came loose made me shiver. I know there's some controversy on using anti-seize compound on the plug threads, but I was always taught that a steel bolt into an aluminum casting should NEVER be put in dry, or you run the risk of pulling the aluminum threads out the next time you remove the steel bolt, especially if it's been hot/cold cycled, like a spark plug in an aluminum head. One old hot rod book I had said even a drop of engine oil from the dipstick was better than putting them in dry!
And speaking of dipsticks, when I first opened the hood, I noticed hers was missing! She just had the oil and filter changed last week at the local Jiffy Lube, so she's going to go back there Monday after work and give them Hell about it. They're either going to replace it, or reimburse us for a new one from the Nissan dealer. There wasn't any oil around the top of the tube, and it's doubtful if much dirt would get in there, so I think it's OK to drive the car until we get it replaced.
The belt change took all of 15 minutes, which is one of the things I like about serpentine belts. Loosen the tensioner, remove the belt, and slip the new one on. Easy as cake!
And since there was a layer of blue-green crud on the negative battery post, I pulled the terminal, scrubbed it, greased it, and put it back on all nice and clean. The positive one looked great, and has neat little plastic cover that snaps over it.
All in all, a pleasant Sunday afternoon out in the driveway doing something I enjoy.

Happy Birthday Linux!

Today, in 1994, Linus Torvalds released v 1.0.0 of the Linux Kernel. And the rest, as they say, is history.
No word what Bill Gates was doing......

Automotive Work Today

Not much, really. Have to change the spark plugs and serpentine belts on the YF's car. No points or cap/rotor, as her Nissan Sentra has the "Coil On Plug" design, so all I (should!) have to do is carefully remove the coil assembly, remove the old plugs, put the new ones in, and put the coil back on. She got the dreaded "Check Engine" light the other day, so I put my OBD-II scanner on the connector, and it read out "Cylinder #3 Misfire". Hmmmmm.....47,000 miles on the original plugs, so probably time to change them even though the Service Manual says they're good for 105,000 miles ( !!!! ). Cleared the fault code, and it's been running happily ever since. On the other hand, I could probably just give it an "Italian Tune-Up" and it would be good for a while, BUT...she's big on replacing consumable parts if there's the slightest doubt they might be bad, and *I'm* big on "Happy Wife, Happy Life", so I'll swap them out.
The serpentine belts might take a little longer. When she got her oil changed last week the guy was like "OMG!!! You NEED your belts changed NOW!!!!", so she called me. Rather than pay the oil change place $85 to install new belts, I told her to decline the "service", and bring the car home. Were the belts *that* bad? NO....glazed a bit, but no cracks or missing ribs on the drive side.
Got 4 new plugs, and both belts, for $54 at the Autozone down the street, so today I get to play mechanic.
Hmmm...where'd I put my silicone dielectric grease?

The Founders Warned, And We Didn't Listen!

Excellent piece by Brannon Howse!

This is quite a good read over at American Thinker. For those of us that tried to find out more about HRH Obama before the election, it confirms what little we could find, and expands deeper upon it.
Great read, link courtesy of The Liberty Sphere and Sipsey Steet Irregulars.

Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis

CBS Poll on His Royal Highness' Performance

Wow....and this is from his lap-dog lamestream media!

America Under Socialism

From our good friends the Sipsey Street Irregulars comes this.
Read the whole thing. It's amazingly prophetic.
Reagan warned us of this years ago in his speeches.

Choose Freedom Over The Nanny State!!!

You just have to go watch this.
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_with_Bill_Whittle/Flying_Solo%3A_Choose_Freedom_Over_the_Nanny_State/3207/

Obama At The Bat

Shamelessly copied from Obama Cartoons with a tip 'o the hat to Texas Fred, and with all due respect to Ernest Thayer.

Hello Radio.......

WELL.....I was having great fun in the ARRL International DX Contest this weekend running my Kenwood TS-950SDX, and then the YF turned on the TV. A few minutes later she came in saying I was coming in over the surround-sound speakers. Since I had just changed bands from 15 Meters (21 MHz) to 20 Meters (14 MHz), I thought maybe something was more sensitive to the different frequency in use. I went back on 15, and had her go listen while I sent a "test" transmission.
No dice!
I come in *equally* well on both bands, and don't bother the video one bit. Since the home theater setup is fed from a Verizon FiOS cable box with HDMI for the video (I disabled the HDMI audio pass-through in the Onkyo receiver), and a TOSLink optical cable for the audio, I've now got to figure out where the RF is leaking in to the system.
My computer speakers in the shack don't pick anything up, her computer speakers don't pick anything, and her son's computer speakers and stereo don't pick anything up. And I've asked the neighbors on both sides if I ever bother their TV's, and they've said no.
The Onkyo receiver is the likely culprit at this time, as the AC line cord is only two conductors, so the receiver really isn't grounded. Luckily it has a *real* ground connection on the back panel, so I'll try tying that to one of the other pieces of gear in the home theater setup that has a ground connection.
In the meantime, I'm going to fire up my FlexRadio Systems 5000A, and see if the problem goes away. The Kenwood runs a solid 150 Watts output, and the Flex is set for 100 Watts max.
Sometimes you just have to back off the power a wee bit, and the RFI will go away.