My neighbor has a hobby restoring classic British sports cars. I have seen his work on his own cars and on jobs that he has done for others. The work is always top-notch. He does take the time to do the job right. He has a fine web site too.
John Burton Works on Triumph
John drives his Austin Healey 100.
I have heard that Windows 7 became generally available today. As I have said elsewhere, no version of Windows is safe to use on the average home computer. Be warned.
I have also heard that it is difficult (impossible) to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. Fortunately, I do not have to worry about that. My machine came with Windows 2000 Professional and is too small to run XP, Vista, or 7. I have developed a tool that I call the Windows Upgrade Advisor. It works with any version of Windows, even 3.1! I hope that you find this tool useful.
I heard something on the radio this morning that went something like this:
“Last night I set my bed to Microsoft Sleepnumber 7. Now it’s full of bugs and has no support.”
I saw a new-ish school bus the other day. In South Carolina, the state taxpayers buy and maintain the buses for the local school districts. The new buses are flush-front (like a city bus), yellow with black letters and accent stripes. And it has strobes and LED lights to make sure you stop when lights are flashing.
The part I like best are the mirrors. Instead of the long flat rear-view mirrors on a tube frame, the mirrors are mounted in a black molded plastic extention that drops down at the end to hold the long mirror and round convex wide-angle mirror. The whole thing has an appearance like bee antennae. The buses are like big yellow and black, wingless bees.
I dreamt that I had an exam in English 101. These were the questions on the exam:
1. Compare and contrast the poetry forms Limerick and Haiku.
2. What factor is used to convert Iambic Pentameter to customary units? SI?
3. Do the recent changes in attitude of what makes a married couple allow rhymed couplets to be formed from pairs of words that are not homonyms? Discuss.
4. Postulate that either the Epic Poem or the Advertising Jingle is superior. Provide a formal proof.
5. Outline a marketing plan for Beowulf Channel, All Beowulf, all the time.
Kittens are too cute. These kittens are 4 cute. Two boys and two girls. Mama was torn up by some animal. Found by a greenskeeper and brought to shelter.
Four Kittens
And has unfriendly service besides. I heard the song behind this video on All Things Considered. An e-mail newsletter from Flight Aware jogged my memory so here is the video.
The last time I flew United Airlines, I was flying to a job interview with them. I did not know whether I was being treated liked dirt because something on my ticket let them know I was flying to headquarters or I was just another passenger to be treated like all the others. Still, I would rather fly United than Delta or American.
In this YouTube clip, the host of the British Top Gear show gets a ride in an U2.
Rainbow Falls
I went on a hike last Saturday to Rainbow Falls in Jones Gap State Park. The trail is 2.6 miles long from the parking lot with about 1000 feet of rise. It was a beautiful day, not to hot, partly cloudy, low humidity, light breeze, no bugs. What a difference from two weeks ago. The trail was different too. It was clear and well prepared with steps where required making the climb less difficult.
In a land far away many years ago, I would sing to my children as I pushed them on the swing. Recent events at work brought to mind this song:
Every morning about seven o’clock
There were twenty tarriers drilling at the rock
The boss comes along and he says, “Keep still
And bear down heavy on the cast iron drill.”
Chorus
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
Drill, ye tarriers, drill
For it’s work all day for the sugar in you tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire.
The foreman’s name was John McCann
By God, he was a blamed mean man
Last week a premature blast went off
And a mile in the air went big Jim Goff
Chorus
And when next payday comes around
Jim Goff a dollar short was found
When ‘e asked, “What for?” came this reply
“You were docked for the time you were up in the sky.”
Chorus
And Drill ye tarriers drill. And Blast. And Fire.
My daughter had a break from work and came Thursday evening. My son was supposed to go “Caving” but the trip was cancelled due to lack of a faculty sponsor. So he came with girl friend and another long-time friend for dinner Friday. We had BLT’s, eggs, strawberry short cake. Listened to music and hung out. My son actually requested Silver Apples of the Moon. I have not played that in years. After dinner they went out to the woods in the dark.
