JDoors

At least I think it was skunks. Came home last night around midnight. It was raining so, of course, the power was out and had been for hours (ComEd, an Excelon Company!). First order of business is to check the sump well, to see if it's close to overflowing. Light a candle, check, it's 3/4 full and I can see there's not really that much water running into it. So I make a mental note of what needs to be done if the power stays out (have a water-powered pump -- hook it up, run a hose, blah, blah). Power comes on just in time for me to read something before I go to bed. Early the next morning,

"LOL" is rarely true, but it was in this case! Love the millesecond or two it takes to realize what's wrong with the picture.

Engine and driveline parts wear, which you would think would be a bad thing, but it allows things to move more easily so there's less internal drag to overcome. To a somewhat lesser degree engine computers "learn" your driving habits and adjust settings, which can improve mileage (that should happen pretty quickly though rather than over many years). Can't think of any other factors off the top of my head. It's possible you'd get even better mileage if you strictly maintained the vehicle. Keeping track of gas mileage is one way to determine what's going on under the hood; if mileage drops the

Getting together with like-minded enthusiasts reminds me of a teensy story: I sold my Mustang Cobra to my nephew, he went to meets similar to yours to find and exchange parts. He found a pair of replacement taillight lenses (one was broken) for a great price (they're huge and therefore unbelievably expensive to replace). He decided to buy both, though he only needed the one. Before he took possesion he looked on in horror as someone backed over them -- they broke the one he did NOT need! Ha. So he bought the one he needed. That kid has a ton of luck.

Grr. Unrelated to crime but in a similar vein, my town has way too many power outtages. What's a power company to do? Fix the problems? No, just change your policy so an "outtage" is only reported as one if it lasts for a half-hour or more. Problem solved! Now we only get an "official" power outtage once a year or less. What a great power company we have! While in the REAL world the power goes out several times a month, sometimes three or more times in one day.

(Not going to excuse, as there is no excuse, those posts that threaten violence for petty crimes -- that's just wrong.) Of course the "violence" in the U.S. has been examined over and over for ... forever. While every act of violence is, at best, unfortunate, there are far FAR worse countries where enormous acts of evil take place every single day at every level of society. Where women and children fear for their lives, where EVERY person is a potential victim of rape, torture and brutal death. In fifty-two years of life in the U.S. I have been punched once -- One act of random violence, and

The posters on that board have come to that conclusion based on a paucity of evidence, not quite the same as stating matter-of-factly that it IS fabricated (though they make a good case). Newspapers (at least the ones in non-liberal controlled areas) are full of stories where armed citizens defend themselves against criminal acts (often the mere presence of the firearm stopped a crime in its tracks). I used to post the clippings (elsewhere) but there were SO many clippings that people who are against self-defense had to ignore them (or risk learning that firearms are frequently and success

I've no idea. New rub strips? I dunno ...

Absolutely fascinating. It's stunning that DNA has provided enough clues to trace EVERYONE back to their origins, and that site does a good job of showing migration patterns.

Ratt, Warrant, Winger and ... Living Colour?!? P-U: Pete Townshend The Prodigy Steppenwolf Swing Out Sister Underworld Boy, I haven't listend to Swing Out Sister in a while ... "Breakout ... " "Surrender ... " "Twilight World ... " "Communion ... " ------ Here's "Breakout," for those of you who missed out on or miss the 80's:

They all make sense, but maybe I'm being a gloomy-Gus here -- I can also think of ways that life is like a computer that are bad. Needing constant maintenance and care, getting replaced by a newer model, unexplained "glitches" in the hardware and software, etc.

Motion-detection lights have already scared kids out of my yard at least once (and keep the deer at a distance too), I definitely recommend them. And thanks for reminding me to turn them back on -- I turned 'em off when I was out back before the sun came up.

L-M (and a "p" that may have been misfiled -- ): Leo Kottke The Magic Numbers Morcheeba Patti Smith

Did she cook you dinner too?

There "should" be a difference between what malicious snoops (and unethical companies) do and what the government has a right to do to compile evidence to charge you with a crime. I think. I specifically said "personal data" previously because many (or most) of us access the Internet via phone lines, where we have grown to have an expectation of privacy, though technically (and probably not fully understood) only voice "data" is protected. That limitation is just plain outdated. I think. (Unsure because the whole issue has so many undefined, confusing and emerging issues involv

H-K: Hootie & The Blowfish Jimi Hendrix Keb' Mo'

Let's see now ... 7/7/7 ... could that mean anything? Like, maybe, it's lucky? What to do on 7/7/7 ... Visit a casino maybe? Yeah, apparently a lot of people came to that conclusion and we were BUSY, well into the next morning. The random number generators in the slots and the odds associated with various table games didn't change one bit, "special date" or not.

OK then, no spying going on here ... move along ... Although I understand the ever-growing difficulites of drawing distinctions between one type of information or behavior and another, it's about time personal data receive some kind of protection.

It sure is nice to participate in a "What are you listening to ... " thread where I've actually heard of the artists people are listening to! E-G today: Emmylou Harris George Thorogood & The Destroyers Gordon Lightfoot GTR

Remember, if you ever need to move you need just two things: 1) Beer. 2) A friend with a pickup truck.

Man, I love Steppenwolf. Yesterday grabbed some CDs from the A-B's: Asia B.B. King Billy Bragg & Wilco Bob Marley & The Wailers BT Today from the C-D's: The Chemical Brothers The Cranberries Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Death Cab for Cutie Donovan Looks like a trend that'll take me through Ziggy Marley and ZZ Top at some point in the future ...

The electronics wouldn't happen to be running Windows, would it? Problem? Reboot!

Guy attaches a camera to his cat's collar, captures Mr. Lee "catting around": Mr. Lee's Cat Cam Click on: Photo tours - join a day in the life of Mr. Lee for the tour.

Hey, don't knock tradition! Backyard decks would never get built and people would never be able to move to a new house or apartment if it weren't for the free beer offered to those willing to help.

You can see that's photoshopped, the original is MUCH more disturbing.