The "Change" the morons who elected the Poser-in-Chief "Hoped" for sure didn't turn like they (or the rest of us) expected!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Hope and Change
The "Change" the morons who elected the Poser-in-Chief "Hoped" for sure didn't turn like they (or the rest of us) expected!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Vehicle Maintenance
My front brakes were starting to squeak/squeal the other day, so I stopped at AutoZone and got some new pads. Then, since the only "floor jack" I have is one of those itty-bitty ones, I swung by Harbor Freight to get a bigger one. I looked at all the reviews for their aluminum "racing" jacks, and settled on the middle one, that goes for about $140.
WELL....got around to raising up my Jeep today, and low and behold, there's over HALF the pad left on each front caliper!
Not too shabby for 40k miles. I blew all the dust out, and put the wheels back on. I also replaced the hydraulic hood prop that had given up the ghost. The hydraulic props are nice, but they only last a few years before the pressure slowly bleeds out of them, and then they don't hold the hood open.
And I do NOT like getting clunked on the head by the hood, as it sinks sloooowly in the West!
Next project for the day is to clean up the electronics workbench, as one of my friends is bringing over a project he needs help with.
He's been working on an Arduino controlled intervalometer for his astrophotography hobby, and although he's a whiz at coding stuff, he "Can't solder for shit" according to himself!
Always glad to help a fellow Ham, but geez....knowing how to solder is a Rite of Passage for being an Amateur Radio Operator.
Or at least it should be......
WELL....got around to raising up my Jeep today, and low and behold, there's over HALF the pad left on each front caliper!
Not too shabby for 40k miles. I blew all the dust out, and put the wheels back on. I also replaced the hydraulic hood prop that had given up the ghost. The hydraulic props are nice, but they only last a few years before the pressure slowly bleeds out of them, and then they don't hold the hood open.
And I do NOT like getting clunked on the head by the hood, as it sinks sloooowly in the West!
Next project for the day is to clean up the electronics workbench, as one of my friends is bringing over a project he needs help with.
He's been working on an Arduino controlled intervalometer for his astrophotography hobby, and although he's a whiz at coding stuff, he "Can't solder for shit" according to himself!
Always glad to help a fellow Ham, but geez....knowing how to solder is a Rite of Passage for being an Amateur Radio Operator.
Or at least it should be......
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Saved One From The Landfill Today
A PC, that is.
Somebody gave me a c. 2000 HP Pavilion the other day, knowing full well that I wouldn't rest until it was running again.
It's a 667 MHz Intel Celeron (NOT my favorite CPU) with 256 MB of memory, a 40 gig hard-disk, and built-in everything. I'd worked on bunches of this identical machine before, and frankly, they were throw-aways six months after they were bought back then.
Besides the fact it only had one free PCI slot, it only has a 100 Watt power supply, for Pete's sake!
Aint no bad boy video card ever goin' in there!
I farted around for a few hours formatting the drive, and reinstalling Windows98. WELL......turns out there's some pretty severe limitations on what will run on Win98. The very latest version of Internet Exploiter is 6.something with Service Pack 1, the latest version of Java is 5.1, the latest version of Firefox is 2.0, and so on, and so on.
I finally threw in the towel and decided to put Linux on it, and be done with it. I tried several of the 'lightweight' distributions, but they all ran really sloooow. Even Win98 ran like greased lightning compared to some of them.
I decided to try "Puppy Linux", as I'd heard good things about it, and although it took me longer than it normally would to get a PC running Linux, now that it's finished, it runs very well.
This PC, along with a new keyboard, mouse, and refurbed monitor, will go to the minister that married my wife and I, and she'll turn it over to somebody in her church that can't afford a "new" PC.
And there's one less hunk of electronics off the street, and put back to good use.
Somebody gave me a c. 2000 HP Pavilion the other day, knowing full well that I wouldn't rest until it was running again.
It's a 667 MHz Intel Celeron (NOT my favorite CPU) with 256 MB of memory, a 40 gig hard-disk, and built-in everything. I'd worked on bunches of this identical machine before, and frankly, they were throw-aways six months after they were bought back then.
Besides the fact it only had one free PCI slot, it only has a 100 Watt power supply, for Pete's sake!
Aint no bad boy video card ever goin' in there!
I farted around for a few hours formatting the drive, and reinstalling Windows98. WELL......turns out there's some pretty severe limitations on what will run on Win98. The very latest version of Internet Exploiter is 6.something with Service Pack 1, the latest version of Java is 5.1, the latest version of Firefox is 2.0, and so on, and so on.
I finally threw in the towel and decided to put Linux on it, and be done with it. I tried several of the 'lightweight' distributions, but they all ran really sloooow. Even Win98 ran like greased lightning compared to some of them.
I decided to try "Puppy Linux", as I'd heard good things about it, and although it took me longer than it normally would to get a PC running Linux, now that it's finished, it runs very well.
This PC, along with a new keyboard, mouse, and refurbed monitor, will go to the minister that married my wife and I, and she'll turn it over to somebody in her church that can't afford a "new" PC.
And there's one less hunk of electronics off the street, and put back to good use.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Bye Bye Facebook!
Just nuked my account.
I really don't care to use it, I'm tired of getting "Friend Requests" from people I don't know, and I just don't see a need for it in my life.
In case you're curious about how to *really* kill your account, go here and follow the instructions.
I really don't care to use it, I'm tired of getting "Friend Requests" from people I don't know, and I just don't see a need for it in my life.
In case you're curious about how to *really* kill your account, go here and follow the instructions.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
You KNOW The World Is Upside Down....
.....When 911 "Truthers" accuse the 0bama "Birthers" of being conspiracy nuts.
Or so go the reader comments over at The Daily Bell.
My God.....what are they putting in the water over there?
Or so go the reader comments over at The Daily Bell.
My God.....what are they putting in the water over there?
Friday, March 2, 2012
Stupid Nissan Dipstick Tricks.....
The PLASTIC handle of the dipstick in my wife's 2005 Nissan Sentra has been broken for about a year or so now. Now why anybody in their right might, let alone a REAL "Engineer", would design this part with a 100%, NON-reinforced plastic handle is beyond me. The kind of plastic they use has been breaking more or less continuously since around 1998, and you'd have to be a real ding-dong to not change it.
It's been more of an annoyance than anything because I've had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to pull it out and check the oil, but in that category of "This'll work until I buy a replacement part", so we both kinda let it slide. I finally bought a new dipstick the other day, and figured while it was still light out, I'd pop the hood and install the new one.
NOT.....
It appears that the last time she had the oil changed, the moron who works there didn't realize the plastic handle of the stick was broken off, thought the dipstick was already out of the engine, and tried to jam another dipstick on top of it to 'check the oil'.
The previously reachable (broken) stick is now about 4~6" down inside the dipstick tube, and is barely visible, let alone grabbable.
Every little tool I have that might be able to reach down the tube and snag the stick just doesn't work.
I tried putting some Super Glue on the end of a chopstick, but the plastic is just too oily for the glue to hold.
One 'solution' I saw posted in a Nissan forum was to pressurize the crankcase with compressed air, which supposedly blows the stick out of the tube. I'll try that tomorrow, but I think this one's been stuffed down the tube too far to come back out with just a few p.s.i. of air, so I'm resigned to having to (carefully!) twist the dipstick tube out of the block, remove the dipstick, and then tap the tube back in.
That involves removing the heat shield over the exhaust manifold, a job best done after the car has sat over night.
I've read where they make an all-metal replacement dipstick, so that's next on the search list!
It's been more of an annoyance than anything because I've had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to pull it out and check the oil, but in that category of "This'll work until I buy a replacement part", so we both kinda let it slide. I finally bought a new dipstick the other day, and figured while it was still light out, I'd pop the hood and install the new one.
NOT.....
It appears that the last time she had the oil changed, the moron who works there didn't realize the plastic handle of the stick was broken off, thought the dipstick was already out of the engine, and tried to jam another dipstick on top of it to 'check the oil'.
The previously reachable (broken) stick is now about 4~6" down inside the dipstick tube, and is barely visible, let alone grabbable.
Every little tool I have that might be able to reach down the tube and snag the stick just doesn't work.
I tried putting some Super Glue on the end of a chopstick, but the plastic is just too oily for the glue to hold.
One 'solution' I saw posted in a Nissan forum was to pressurize the crankcase with compressed air, which supposedly blows the stick out of the tube. I'll try that tomorrow, but I think this one's been stuffed down the tube too far to come back out with just a few p.s.i. of air, so I'm resigned to having to (carefully!) twist the dipstick tube out of the block, remove the dipstick, and then tap the tube back in.
That involves removing the heat shield over the exhaust manifold, a job best done after the car has sat over night.
I've read where they make an all-metal replacement dipstick, so that's next on the search list!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Word Verification Is Now OFF
I agree with OldNFO...the new "double captcha" is a royal pain-in-the-butt!
SO...I turned it off, but enabled moderation.
I get so few readers that I doubt if I'll much of a job!
SO...I turned it off, but enabled moderation.
I get so few readers that I doubt if I'll much of a job!
Solar Cycle 24 Predictions
NOT good for those of us who enjoy long-distance HF contacts.
BUT....these guys have been wrong before, and predicting the 11 year sunspot cycle is still more of a "Black Art" than an exact science.
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Yawn....just more Kabuki Theater, but interesting reading, nonetheless. Read All About It Here.....
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Every so often when I'm checking my PiAware ADSB receiver/display I'll notice an aircraft with a flight path that catches my eye. I...