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| Panhard Levassor Dynamic 1938 |
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| Winfield House |
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| Barbara Woolworth Hutton (1912 - 1979) |
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| Winfield House in London |
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| US Embassy London UK Also Known As The Sugar Cube |
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| The Death of Jane McCrea (1804) by John Vanderlyn |
IAman picked up a book at the swim center free-library.
[It] is the short journal of a young woman traversing the Oregon trail with her family 1870s. May to November, 7 months. Striking how matter of fact she is. And how there is an expectation of proper behaviour, even scallywags are tame compared to what we see on TV these days. People acting outside these norms (Indians) are termed savages, and not to be trusted.
Maserati-driving suspects fail to steal catalytic converter in Berkeley, threaten witness with guns by Harry Harris
BERKELEY — Two men driving a Maserati SUV failed to steal a catalytic converter from a vehicle Thursday morning and pointed guns at a man walking his dog before fleeing, police said.
Normally I don't post anything about everyday crime because that's just what it is - everyday kind of bullshit, but this one got my attention. There are more rich people than ever before, and they are richer than ever, and they go through luxury goods like Jackie Chan through an army of thugs. Some, possibly even most, rich people are prudent and take care of their material possessions, but some, especially the nouveau rich, are profligate. They cast off valuable goods as fast they acquire them and when that happens there are scavengers just waiting to swoop in and scarf it up. So, yeah, I can see how a couple of talented thieves could manage to latch onto a Maserati. Doubtful that they will have it for long, longevity is probably not a big concern with people who are looking to make their daily quota on $100 transactions.
Via California Bob and IAman
Most days I spend some time watching YouTube Shorts. Some are silly, some are entertaining, some are garbage, but ever now and then something very good pops up. I've been trying to figure out how to share them, just in case anybody might be interested. I tried posting them on Twitter for a bit, but I seldom found anything of interest there so eventually I quit going. I do see Twitter posts quoted almost daily somewhere in Feedly. In order to come up with those gems, somebody must be spending a heck of a lot of time on Twitter.
Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what to about these YouTube Shorts. What I would like would be to just add them to a playlist, but that doesn't seem to be an option unless you are willing to jump through some hoops. So right now I am just going to try embedding links to a few.
The leader is the epitome of the core values of his people. He can flail his arms and scream and shout as much as he likes as long as he protects the core value of his tribe. The core value of his tribe is survival of the tribe. So all this noise about whatever the thing of the day is just that noise. The big question is - is the defense budget going up? As long as the defense budget keeps going up, all is well. Well, as well as can be expected given the annoying noise makers who are running the country these days.
I'm sitting outside on my backyard patio in my shirtsleeves, drinking a beer, listening to some tunes and just generally enjoying life when my wife appears bearing a sheaf of house plans. We've been on a tear, well, she's been on a tear and I am a willing accomplice, so what's to be done with these plans? Well, they're all plans for the house we spent three years remodeling in Portland. We sold that house in January and we have been trying to purge it from our lives, so we probably ought to just throw them in the recycling bin. I mean, a lot of good paper there. You know, the high quality shit, not that effin newsprint. On the other hand we did spend three frickin' years on that project, so maybe we ought to take look, see if there is anything spectacular in there that might be worth saving. So I spend a couple of minutes paging through them, they're big, D size sheets, two minutes longer than my wife thought they were worth. So I page through them while she stands there fuming.
The paper is being difficult, the sheets won't separate. My fingers are too dry and they just slip on the paper, but I persist (in spite of the steam) and I eventually get through them. Of the two dozen sheets I save three B-size floor plans. During the three years we spent on this project we probably went through a couple hundred sheets of D-size plans, and a similar number of C and B-size drawings. All these plans cost money, some I ordered from Office Depot and some came from design firms. Some came from microfilm. The city used to collect actual paper plans, but a long while ago they started microfilming the plans. Probably mounted the microfilm in IBM cards. The next step was to run them through an automatic scanner and upload a digital version of the image into the great cloud of network servers in the sky. So when I came around and wanted the original plans, I got digital images from the city and sent them to Office Depot.
Used to be there were multiple grades of paper. Things like blueprints didn't get very hi-grade paper, after all they didn't need to last very long. But now you want a print of a digital image, Office Depot will do it for you, but the base grade of paper is like premium paper from before the digital revolution. Now-a-days, printing serves a different purpose than it did before. Anybody can print anything now, but the base service is like what premium service used to be for high volume shops.
I read a story some time ago and someone in the story mentions that he spent the war (WW2 in the UK) at a drafting table, drawing the same bracket over and over again. I was thinking he should have gotten a template printed up that included all the parts of the bracket that weren't subject to change. But then you look at the setup charge, and how big a print run do you want to make? Cheaper by far to just have him draw the whole thing over again. They probably already have a template that included the border and the title box, so that didn't have to be drawn.
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| Science Fiction Street Scene by Mad Dog Jones |
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| New Desk with Chromebox and Sceptre display |
My wife helped me purge my paper files last weekend. It's something I had been meaning to do for years, but somehow I never got a round toit. I had two file drawers in Steelcase desk crammed full of important papers. We went through and funny enough, most of those important papers were useless. I am left with maybe a foot of files. We're going to need to make second pass through that. I imagine we will cut it in half.
Cleaned out the bottom shelf of my bookcase, too. It held a bunch of 3-ring binders full of technical notes from my time at Intel. Most of that stuff is obsolete. No doubt there are still places that are using old Multibus computer equipment, but those that are, probably have all the information they need. When I started at Intel, I was big on filing every bit of technical information that came my way. No internet back then. After a while, I realize that filing something was like dropping it in a black hole. I never saw it again, so I start making notebooks, one for each particular subject / product / system, and kept those notebooks on a bookshelf in my office. That worked much better, especially since the notebooks had clear, legible labels. Never made that change at home, probably because I didn't access those files every day, I only opened them up maybe once or twice a month.
This weekend we're clearing out old furniture in preparation for the big remodeling project. Wonderful, big, old oak desk is going to the garage sale, my old steelcase desk went to younger son, and I got my wife's fancy basement table. See how shiny it is!
Previous iterations of my office PC here.
Apr 21, 2023 Friday
“YAH,YAH,YAH,YAH …..” comes from a house I cycle past on my way to lunch at New Chinese Cuisine on 21st street in Forest Grove, Oregon. That “YAH, YAH” yelling is LOUD and attention grabbing, a elderly neighbor lady is staring quizzically at the house. I ebike ride past , then realizing I forgot my pack at the house turn back to retrieve it. I'm new in the neighborhood, I don't know if it is a crazy or perhaps… unlikely a person yelling “HELP”, but the neighbor took notice. Coming back past the lady is at the house in question and another middle aged male neighbor is scurrying around in and out of the garage. Something is definitely not right. I pull in. The running-guy says the homeowner had the hood of his truck slam down and trapped him by the arm, and is now passed out. I am the only one with a phone, I call 911. Running-man has tried the hood releases but the stuck crushed arm apparently has created so much tension on the hood release that pulling the long plastic lever just bends it. I try it again, yep Ford plastic bending. I run through my ideas with my new compatriot. I suggest a pry bar and a wood block. I ask the old man if is ok to bend his hood, “Yes, do it!” he gasps. It relieves a bit of the pressure, but not enough & releasing it just creates more pain. The old man is stuck between the right front fender, a work bench and the back of the garage. Big EMERGENCY ER red truck shows up with 2 big strong guys they survey the scene, I step back. The biggest guy wiggles between the Ford F150 and the back of the garage to the front of the vehicle, straining he pulls on the hood release and finally it pops the hood open. Beats me how. I leave it to the experts. The emergency vehicles with their flashing lights have attracted more neighbors and their pets, from their quiet existence.
Searching for a chair for our misshapen victim I see that his parked rv has a big sign warning away would be thieves. “STAY OUT, ALARMED”
As I prepare to leave, the blissfully unaware elderly wife comes out of the front door wondering “what is going on?” That was good for a laugh.
I arrived at the Chinese restaurant to find it signed with “ NO EAT-IN, ONLY TAKEOUT” , the 2nd such disappointment in 2 days. So I lunch on a big fat chicken sandwich at the Diversity Cafe across the street, a nightclub-come-breakfast-lunch place, the bar is half full, one a loud dreadlocked lug. Suddenly there is a uproar as the lug is strong-armed out of the bar by four screaming baristas, I don't intervene. Three lit-up cop cars showup, cops in body armor swarm the front door of the bar. I sit tight. The cops take statements from the baristas. A skinhead hoodied patron swabs blood from his mouth & face. The same ER truck shows up, same ER guys, from the garage scene. Other patrons say the big lug smashed his friend in the mouth, breaking his front teeth before skedaddling.
Lots of chattering after this bar post-event. Someone says they cant get the CCTV video till they get the password from someone who is currently on a flight.
I’m “desperately” looking for a wifi password, so I can use an online dictionary and watch funny animal videos.
All returns to quiet. I leave, thanking the bar tender for the exciting lunch & asking her if she is OK, she hugs me.
Lessons:
Get witness names at the scene to ease retelling of the story. (So you can say Jim instead of “running-man”)
When working alone, carry your cell.
When entering a emergency scene, carry your cell phone.
Cell phones & neighbors within shouting distance are more reliable than a spouse.
Get wifi password immediately upon entering a bar.
