Tag: miscellaneous

Dreaming

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I had a long car ride yesterday (eight hours of windshield time, six of it as a passenger). To pass the time the driver and I discussed a lot of different things, and one of the questions he asked me was “What is your ‘grail’ car?”

A 1962 Jaguar XKE.

But not just any ’62 XKE.

Just for shits-‘n-giggles I did a little looking and found this:

photo 62_XKE.jpg
1962 Jaguar XKE Series 1 FHC

Full numbers matching car all numbers are pictured in this ad, engine block, head, chassis and transmission number. Purchased in 1974 as a complete driver quality car. In early 1980 it had a low-end driver quality at best repaint in correct factory color (now shows lacquer cracks, dings, shiny but not driver quality some overspray etc…) and the seats were removed to be recovered. The seat tracks were lost and this Jag was never driven again. We purchased a new pair of seat tracks from Welsh Jaguar and bolted the beautifully restored seats back in the car. Stored the past 36 years the engine does not turn over by hand or with a battery, we do not want to force it. This is a great find and very close to rust free with no signs of damage history. Please view all 97 pictures including detailed chassis pictures. Clear TN title and worldwide shipping is available we price our cars to sell and this early correct XKE will have a new owner soon. Aggressively priced for quick sale.

Stock# 885794

Sold AS IS no warranty. Payment due within 72 hours of auctions end. All sales are final no return or refund.

If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, I would buy this car for the advertised price, drive to Tennessee with a trailer to pick it up, contact Dave Kindig at Kindig-It Design, and drive it there with the following instructions:

  • When it’s done, I want it to still be visibly a ’62 XKE
  • I want it thoroughly modern in all other respects – 
  • Modern fuel-injected engine (I’m thinking BMW I-6 with turbo or supercharger)
  • Modern six-speed transmission, either manual or manumatic with what Clarkson calls “flappy-paddle” shifter
  • Full suspension upgrades to handle the power increase (~400Hp)
  • Air conditioning
  • Power windows
  • Electric-assist power steering (and a smaller, but still wood-rimmed steering wheel)
  • Wide tires (tasteful fender flares as necessary)
  • Alloy knock-off wheels
  • Modern power 4-wheel disc brakes
  • Decent sound system (besides the engine)

It’s nice to dream.

Two is One and One is None

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And apparently two is none, if you don’t check adequately first.

So as reported I’ve been on my way to Boomershoot.  I departed from my hotel in Brigham City at 07:00 local time (06:00 Pacific Standard Time), and Google Maps, being a bi%$h, routed me through the tiny Idaho burg of Weiser (pronounced Weezer).  Just outside of Weiser, this happened:

I’d had (I thought) all the tires checked for proper inflation on Wednesday before I left, but apparently I hit some road debris and that was that. No warning until the tire just let go. So, off on the shoulder I jack up the truck and pull the bad one off, then I drop the (supposed) spare from under the bed:

FML. At least I had cell service. I called State Farm for roadside assistance. Took half an hour to get them to figure out where I was and dispatch a tow truck. Text message said they’d be about 90 minutes out. Wonderful.

Then a local Sheriff’s deputy pulled in behind me, scoped out the situation, and offered to take me and my tire back into Weiser to the closest tire shop. I cancelled the tow, and off we went. Two hours, two tires and $470 later, the new spare is the old driver’s side rear, and I have a new set of Cooper tires on the back axle:

Finally got into Orofino about 5:45 Pacific time, but I’m ready for Boomershoot now!

Got a Spare Double Sawbuck?

KevinLeave a comment

(And man, did I date myself with that reference.)

Mark Alger, proprietor of BabyTrollBlog and author of the Baby Troll Chronicles is in a tight spot. He says:

I am a creative who has, for all my life, dreamed of earning my living as a writer. I even have published a novel and been a regular contributor to periodicals.

This past December, two weeks before Christmas, I came to an involuntary separation from my 35-year career as a commercial artist, and was left without a means of supporting myself. I was, at the time, a matter of weeks from being able to publish my second novel. Now, I am about to move forward with that goal, but the soonest I will receive any royalties will be in three months.

So he’s opened a GoFundMe page trying to tide himself over for the next six months.

I’ve enjoyed his stuff for years, so I’m tossing in some ca$h. If you’ve got some spare laying around and feel the same, please feel free.

QotD: The 70 Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries Edition

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Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary comic fame is finally publishing the entire list of his 70 Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries (my favorite of which is Maxim 11:  Everything is air-droppable at least once.)  If you bought a copy of his upcoming role-playing game, you get a copy of the book.  If not, you had to wait for his annual calendars for twelve new Maxims each year.  No calendar this year, though.  You have to wait for the book.  But he has given out two new ones, (along with the original 51) and Maxim 64 is today’s Quote of the Day:

An ounce of sniper is worth a pound of suppressing fire.

Planned Obsolescence Update

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Remember I was bitching about my iPod not taking music I tried to put on it from iTunes?  Well, I’ve got a 13+ hour drive coming up tomorrow, and I thought, “Let’s just wipe the thing and start over from scratch and see if that helps.”  So I made a backup of the iPod, and proceeded to reset it to factory default.

And apparently I’ve bricked it.

Every time I try to get iTunes to recognize it now, I get:  “We could not complete your iTunes Store request.  An unknown error occurred (0x80090326)”

Which translates, as far as I can tell, to “BUY NEW HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE YOU LUDDITE!”

So my (mumble-) year-old iPod that had about 35 hours of music stored on it is now magically wiped clean, and is completely useless for its intended purpose.

Yay me.

I hope Steve Jobs is suffering on the eighth level of Hell being sodomized by a barbed-wire-wrapped fencepost.

UPDATE:  I got it working.  Connected it to the iTunes running on my wife’s Windows7 laptop.  Recognized it as an iPod immediately and let me configure it as new.  Took it back to my XP machine and iTunes saw it.  Copied my music over, looks like it all took, as I listened to 13.5 hours worth without a hitch on the way to Reno.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Quote of the Day – Top Gear Edition

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Unless you’ve been living under a stump, you’re most likely aware that Clarkson, May and Hammond will be returning to the small screen via Amazon Video next year.  (And there was much rejoicing!  Yeaaaa!)

I stumbled across this QotD over at Quora.com under the question “What is so special about Top Gear that it has 385 million viewers worldwide?”

The secret is that Top Gear is not about cars. It’s about joy. About unabashedly, unashamedly enjoying life.

It also presents a positive image of masculinity, which is something that is entirely missing from everything else on television.– Rúnar Óli Bjarnason

Abso-fricken-lutely.

Planned Obsolescence

KevinLeave a comment

I have a 16GB iPod my wife gave me several years ago.  It runs iOS 4.2.1, and is no longer supported by Apple, though it works just fine.  It’s so old there is no Kindle app for it.

My version of iTunes is 12.1.2.27, apparently the last that will operate on Windows XP, which my home desktop is still running.

Fifty percent of the music I have on iTunes refuses to copy onto my iPod.  It says the music is there, but it won’t play.

Fuck you, Steve Jobs.

THIS is a BIG TRUCK

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Instapundit linked to this, but I do work at a couple of mines that use the Cat 797 haul truck – payload capacity:  400 tons.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAVYizVoLww?rel=0]
Note that the center axle height on that haul truck is about equal to the roof of the cab of a pickup truck. If a haul truck runs over a pickup, the haul truck driver might very well not NOTICE.

And the highest point on the remains of the pickup will be about 18″.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK_11AT4m2M?rel=0]
That’s a Cat 785. Its payload is less than half that of the 797.

That’s why they make you take a special “In Pit” driving class.  Pretty much everything in the pit is bigger than you, and can ruin your whole day.