Selected Power Tour Shots

As a show, it's just a bit big, but kinda lame.

As an event, the Power Tour is incredible. Road trip with your 3000 most distant buddies.

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HHR SS Panel in retro rat rod flat paint

Candy apple red does not photograph well.

An Anglia, just because my dad likes them I take pics of them. Not that he'd ever know I thought of him near Father's Day.

More C2 for The Lovely Harvey.

The Family Truckster! If you think you hate it now, just wait until you drive it!

One lone Impala SS from across the way.

I'm not good about getting shots of everything. The cars I didn't take pics of were pretty much in the, if you've seen one Chevelle or Camaro, you've seen them all.

Well Wasn't That Just Odd

Today the MacBook Pro was HOT, the fan was running full tilt. The charger's transformer was likewise very HOT.

The machine was losing power when it went into idle mode. Two hours of idle depleted 20% of the battery when it was plugged in, but idle.

Indicated battery life had dropped from around three hours of normal use to more like one and a half hours.

Worried that I had killed the battery or perhaps the charger, I ran to the local Apple Store. There I discovered that Boinc was running full tilt, twice. It's only supposed to run when the screen saver is active. Forcing the apps to quit and removing them from the start on boot list has returned normal operation of the machine, without Boinc.

I feel kinda stupid because I used the same utility that the Mac Genius used to check on CPU usage. Only I read the graph wrong because the fully loaded graph on OSX 10.5 looks just like the nothing running graph on my Ubuntu machine. Live and learn.

National Corvette Museum Pics

I went to the National Corvette Museum and took the plant tour at the GM Bowling Green Assembly Plant (where they make the Corvette and Cadilliac XLR).

Another note: The C numbers refer to generation. C1 is 53-62; C2 is 63-67; C3 is 67-82; C4 is 84-96; C5 is 97-04, C6 is 05-13 and C7 is 14-present.

One of the older cars, not sure what year, The Lovely Harvey really digs these.

Here's a 62.

A red C2.

A C3 taken half apart to show the frame and stuff.

C3 battery box recess from underneath.

Engine end of a cut-away of the C5 torque tube. This is different from JT's! The bearing here is bolted in, his is pressed.

Transmission end showing the rubber coupler.

Twin turbo LT5 motor! Arr arr arr!

LT1 cut-away

Nekkid C5! This is all the structural stuff plus drivetrain.

Yes, that's wood. Balsa wood. It's sandwiched between plastic layers. Very light, very strong. Hard to beat mother nature sometimes. C5 and C6 both have this.

LT5 cut-away.

C6 Z06 frame.

C5 Crash Mule.

2008 Indy Pace Car commemorative edition awaiting museum delivery.

The one and only 1983 Corvette left.

The 2005 engineering test mule that Car and Driver drove across Alaska. With graffiti in the dirt from idiots who don't understand what, "do not touch," means.

JT spent $500 on a ticket to win this car in a raffle. GOOD LUCK! And if he wins I can say I touched his car first.

Orange C3 convertible because it's cool! It's DISCO!

The Boy spotted this car in the museum. Later in the plant, he asked, "Why aren't there any purple ones here?" Can't tell him they never made any.

C4 ZR-1 drivetrain and suspension with some instrumentation.

The mighty and unlamented ZF six speed.

Irony, we meet again!

Exclusive parking for people who bring their Vettes to the museum.

Mine was newest, this guy was oldest, fifty years apart in just a couple parking spaces.

Liiiiive From Bowling Green Kentucky

Staying the night at the Candlewood Suites; going to the National Corvette Museum and taking the Corvette Assembly Plant tour.

VA-CA-TION in the summer sun!

Customer Service

I may have mentioned this before, but...

I think there's a hierarchy about the order a customer gets service.

The customer in the store takes priority over a customer on the phone. Practice, "(Business Name) please hold." The person who's trooped to the store is much more committed to buying from you than the person who hasn't even left home.

The customer on the phone might come in and purchase; the customer in the store might leave without purchasing.

A customer in the store takes priority over stocking the shelves. Drop the pricing gun and help the customer.

The reason for this is the customer is the entire reason you even bother to unlock the door in the morning. Their patronage is what keeps that door open and the store in business. If you act like their business doesn't matter to you, then they may agree and find someone who does care.

New Sunpass Transponder Location

Like anyone cares...

It's mounted in the inlet under the nose, it's not interfering with air flow there at all.

This Comes As No Surprise

From here: http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/693281/which-king-of-the-hill-character-are-you

I actually steered the answers to the one I wanted, the honest one is...

That surprised me, I figured I would be Bobby or Bill.

File Under Can't Leave Well Enough Alone

Dottie is nose heavy. Since I had the A2 stock just laying around, I put it on. She's a little heavier, but the balance is better. I also think the gun points better with the fixed stock. Interestingly, Kaylee feels perfect with the M4 stock she's always had. Interesting how feel can be completely different and still be completely correct.

A Little Too Late Barry

For your denunciation to mean anything it would have had to have come from within yourself, not from looking at how your continued membership hurt your poll numbers.

For this to mean anything the story would have run more along the lines of, "When asked about Rev Wright's racist comments, Sen Obama stated, 'The racism was troublesome to me and my beliefs, which is why I left that church years ago." If he'd left years ago, I could believe that his conscious was involved. Heck, if he'd resigned just a few weeks before he started his campaign with a strong message against the racism, I would at least give him some credit.

Denouncing now, after his popularity numbers fall, is pandering.

UPDATE

For an example of how to do this correctly, see how Bob Barr is dealing with Stormfront. Ron Paul got this wrong too.

Muk Has Triggered A Meme

It's Memorial Day (Observed)

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Lest we forget!
I will remember them!

Har

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

That Was Not As Hard As I Feared

I "helped" my friend JT pull the tranny and torque tube out of his 2002 Corvette Saturday afternoon.

He'd done most of the prep work, I was there just to provide the extra hands as needed.

It came out very smoothly. Easier than the trans in Pugsly's '72 Camaro by far.

Quandary

I'm in a quandary.

I'm a big proponent of the melting pot and that everyone who lives here should be an American or get the heck out.

What about the Amish? They are most certainly not Americans, are they?

I think the Amish are American enough. Notice that this sets the bar damn low for our Mexican friends.

While the Amish are not participating in, or members of, the American culture; they exhibit a trait that makes me think we should let them stay when others, who are not participating in or member of our culture, should leave.

Self reliance. Self sufficiency. They are not demanding more from the pot than they are contributing.

I have often wondered, given the Amish opposition to all things military, if they object to a military defending them from the aggression of others.

Quote From Liberal Facism

"Because Hitler thought explicitly in terms of what we would today call identity politics, Jews were irredeemably Jews, no matter how well they spoke German. His allegiance, like that of all practitioners of identity politics, was to the iron cage of immutable identity."

Get your copy today.

http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Fascism-American-Mussolini-Politics/dp/0385511841

Quote Of The Random Interval

"I can promise you a day of reckoning you will not live long enough to never forget" Joe Sarno.

The film, "The Way of the Gun" is filled with such gems.

On The Candidate's Spouses

Barry, Michelle; John, Cindy; Hillary, Bill? You want the comments of your spouses to be off limits to the commentators of the opposition? It's simple as dirt; GET THEM THE FUCK OFF THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL!!!

If they stop speaking for your campaign, their comments will not be part of the campaign. However, anything that's part of the campaign is fair game for discussion, analysis and ridicule.

Shocking News

Every once and a while I hit Google and search for the names of people I know.

Tonight I searched for Frederick Gabow, a buddy from the Army. Got several hits to court records about his murder. His wife, Cheryl, conspired with her lover and another to kill him.

I now know someone who was murdered.

Fred owed me either $100 or a PASGT vest. I bought the vest from him but I shipped out before he could deliver it. I had sort of hoped to one day track him down and give him shit about it over a beer or something. Dammit!

Ted Kennedy Is In The Hospital

While I hate the man, I hope he's OK (or will be OK).

The irony about him going to the hospital for "stroke like symptoms" is thick enough to cut with a knife. In October he had surgery to unblock his carotid artery to PREVENT A STROKE!

I'll just bet someone is sitting there thinking, "Wow, that was sure worth the effort!"

Rant

Religious types:
Whether you believe in a God or not: I will ignore you as long as you ignore me. I can respect your right to have your belief as long as you don't attempt to make me believe as you do or force me to change how I do things.

Outsiders:
I'm a member of a relatively exclusive club. The membership dues are steep and non-negotiable. There are lots of things we do to honor departed members of our club. One of those things is religious symbols on Government land. We have decided that the non-members do not get a vote about this. We are not establishing a State Religion (tm) by displaying these symbols, we are expressing honor to our fallen comrades. We will broke no attempt to dishonor their memories from people who lack the frame of reference to understand.

Effects of Religion on America:
Although I am not a Christian, I think that those Christian values are part of what made the USA the nation it was (is?). While I abhor the idea of a State Church (tm); I also think that Churches have a valid, active, role in society. The Christian values provided a framework of morality that worked well. I think our current mess is derived in no small part from the destruction of this framework without building a replacement. We've literally gone from Christianesque morality to no morality at all. There needs to be something in its place. Every culture needs guiding principles, and no principles at all cannot be guiding.

The United States has a culture!
Although it's assembled from the parts of the cultures of all the immigrants who abandoned their homelands to come here, it's still a culture. Remember the "melting pot"? They meant crucible. American culture is an alloy made from diverse metals, stronger and better than any single component. It is something to be proud of. It is something that should be emulated. It should not be shunned or ridiculed. Anyone who comes to live here must be processed in the fire. You must become American. If you will not or cannot, you don't get to live here. By the way, this crucible is the method the USA uses (used?) to keep the aforementioned Christian values from becoming a theocracy.

American is a big thing:
A huge expansive tent, covering just about everything! Part of the assimilation where one becomes an American is discarding the rigid values of the "old country". This is, in part, why the Mexican colonization is so irritating. This is why the Muslim demands for concessions to their religion rankle so. This is why our home-grown radical atheist movement is such a thorn. Americans are extremely tolerant, but it's the indulgence of an adult teaching a child. We get that you won't understand at first, so we give you time to learn. America is a big concept to digest. Some people can't; even people born here. I sometimes think that the sexism and racism that it took so long to be rid of were caused by a very patronizing (sexist and racist) attitude that they couldn't digest it, so we won't let them join. Well, the women and the blacks could sure as hell digest it, and they did! Belated welcome, sorry it took so long to trust you. The crucible works at its own pace.

There's a DIY component to being American:
We really are making this up as we go along. We don't have a clear road map ahead of us established by an older, more successful, culture. We do have some guidance in the form of failed cultures. This is where we know that Socialism, Theocracy, Dictatorships and Direct Democracy don't work well. We are guaranteed to make missteps along the way. Some things that will eventually become slag floating in the crucible may be part of the alloy longer than is desirable, but they will become slag!

If the [insert topic here] is really so much better in [insert nation here] MOVE THERE!
For every person who thinks we should adopt some European social(ist) policy or program, I'll bet I can find two people who immigrated to the USA from that named nation because of that policy, program or the taxes it takes to support it. America is different, and better, than those places. We will add your idea to the crucible and see if it alloys or slags.

Removing Dead Weight

There's a part of my life that I need to clip off, like a dead branch. Because it is dead wood and it's affecting the health of the rest of me.

The clipping is actually already done. Just waiting for the garbage man to come take the stuff away.

I feel better already.

Disaster!

The 15" MacBook Pro took a dump today!

So I hotfooted to the Apple Store (tm) in Tampa to see what they can do to fix me up.

They think that it's the video card, it's covered under warranty, new mobo.

That will take anywhere between 5 and 90 days, emphasis on the 90. They do not guarantee the data on the machine if it has to be shipped back to China or if they replace the entire machine, even if I plunk down the $50 for the data back-up.

They will transfer my data into a new MacBook for free. Well, not free, for the price of a new MacBook. Which I plunked down for. So I have a new machine and the old one will return someday as a spare.

State Of The Biscayne SS

Should have her back Wednesday afternoon.

I'm A Thinkin'

I think, based on the conversations I've had about what happened with GryzInIowa, that everyone is better off without me in their lives.

That's sure a big statement, huh?

I'm a jerk, you've met me, you know it to be true. Why do you keep putting up with it? Stop putting up with it, and me.

I think it would be far better to be vaguely remembered with some good memories here and there than to have another situation like what happened with Dave. He probably doesn't hate me, but it can't be too far from it. If I had done this sooner, I would not have pissed Dave off and he might think, "I wonder what ever became of..." rather than, "What an asshole, I hope I never see him again!" Dammit, he's right, I am an asshole. I don't think it's a character flaw, but something deeper that I cannot change. Self loathing reflected on everything I see? I don't know. I do know that I am bad for everyone around me, run while you still can!

I'm not calling you guys anymore so I don't make you angry and taint what fond remembrances you do have. I also recommend that you stop reading here. My insane ranting will continue unabated, and it is insanity. You don't read Mein Kampf, do you? Why read this shit?

Resulting comments below the fold.