Happy Halloween!

I didn't have a Punkin!

Wife: Costa Rica: Weekend

The Wife is in Costa Rica this weekend. Her flight was delayed leaving, and it was a good thing she was supposed to have a long layover in Miami, because she barely made her connection.

Then last night, at about nine in the evening, I saw a plane go over, way high, and I am sure it was her plane from Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica. I know it.As you can see from the above picture, you have to go right past Cayman to get to Costa Rica from Miami. In fact, several years ago, I took the pic below on a plane from Costa Rica to Miami. (If I hold my GPS to the window, I can get a signal). Although this pic was taken 70 miles away, it is still on course for a plane to pass over Cayman on it's way to Costa Rica, and I know that it was her plane that I saw.

CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM!She'll be back Monday. Till then I'll be trying to keep hanging on.

Cute Overload

This will make you vomit

BABY HUMMINGBIRD!

This young man rescued a baby hummingbird. Music by Jack Johnson.

Time Traveler Caught On 1928 Charlie Chaplin Film

You have got to see this!

Pinky Pants

I have this pair of pants that were off-white. When I wore them they looked dirty. So I dyed them brown.
They didn't get very dark, I guess I didn't use enough dye, or didn't leave the pants in there long enough.
They came out kind of wine colored.

Now my wife is calling me Pinky Pants.. I never even tried them on!! And they're not pink! I swear!!

Life Can be Sooo cruel!

Goodbye to the Sony Walkman

Sony has announced it has finally retired the Walkman cassette tape player, marking the end of one of the most successful consumer gadgets of all time.

Above is a picture of a Sony Walkman like I had in the early 1980's. (except mine was black, not blue) I will never forget listening to music in my bunk on my ship in the Navy. Before that, if you wanted to crank some tunes, you needed a gigantic stereo.
This Sony was all metal and well built. It was a great device. It was the beginning of the portable music era.

American Airlines settles up (not really)

In July American Airlines lost our bag of dive gear. The fairly accurate original cost of the lost goods is 1166 US Dollars.

Last week we got a check for $634.90, and a letter saying this was the maximum amount payable for international travel. To me, this isn't acceptable. To me this makes it profitable for airlines to actually steal baggage.

If they lose peoples baggage, harass them, make it as difficult as they can to get service, they should pay considerably more than the original cost of the items lost.

This would considerably reduce the amount of lost baggage.

The Airlines actually try to disqualify people from compensation, they loose your bag, you make several very expensive long distance calls and you have to aggressively interrogate their representative to find out you need to submit a form. They don't offer this information freely.

They then reluctantly mail you the form regular slow mail (plus it takes a day or two for them to even get it in the mail). It will probably take 3 weeks to get the form. When you finally receive it, you find it must be returned to the airlines within 30 days of the date they lost the luggage!,and the information they want on the form is not info you have. Date of purchase, city and store where purchased. Complete description, of the item, including composition and construction details, AND A COPY OF THE RECEIPT! Ridiculous. (What is the model number of your tooth brush? What is it made of? What date did you purchase it? Do you still have the receipt?) Most people at this point probably just give up, there is too much research, an not enough time to do it in.

So in order to get any compensation for the airlines screwup, I have to jump though hoops they purposely make too small to jump through.

The check they sent doesn't even cover the cost of my underwater camera. Not to mention the pics that I never got to take off of it. Plus, an item bought in Mexico for $10 US may cost $80 CI here. So the airline gives me $5US (half the value, in our case) and I'm supposed to go buy a new one for $80 CI, $100US? The Airlines really get a good deal when they lose your luggage.

I couldn't replace the goods we paid $1200 for for twice that amount, the airlines gave us less than half. If they have our stuff, and sold it in pawn shops or at yard sales, they'd definitely be making a profit.

I know the airlines don't steal luggage, but it doesn't just disappear. Our stuff still exists, somewhere. The airlines need to be the ones cracking down on the staff, who steal or misplace luggage. The airlines shouldn't be getting a good deal when they lose luggage.

Dammit

Yeah, Why?!?!!

Experimental Post

I copied an entire article here, I am having a hard time tweaking it in. I need to learn HTML.
I'm not going to play with this all day. It is cool to me though, the HTML. I also had to save the image, resize it, post it on the internet on my utility blog and link to it there instead of where the image that was originally linked. It spanned the whole page and it seemed to be the only way of getting it fixed...
The links work, and the content is cool too.

Blackberry vs Droid vs iPhone Facebook vs Twitter Verizon Wireless vs AT&T Hulu vs YouTube WiMax vs LTE Skype vs Google Talk Kindle vs iPad Wii vs Xbox 360 vs PS3 Windows Mobile 7 vs Android VMWare vs. Citrix vs Windows Virtual Server Windows Server vs Linux Cisco vs Juniper Symantec vs McAfee (anti-virus) Public vs Private cloud Internet Explorer vs Firefox vs Chrome Desktop virtualization vs PCs Google vs Bing vs Yahoo IPv6 vs Carrier-grade NAT Apple vs Adobe Flash AMD vs Intel

The Cheery Road To INSANITY :-)

It's Friday! My Wife has the day off today, I'm up posting a post before I allegedly start studying.

Last night I dreamed I was looking for my blue fins American Airlines lost. I was endlessly looking through bags of dive gear on plywood shelves in 18 wheeler trailers. The airline says that they sent us a check, for about half the value of the stuff we lost. That means it actually would be profitable for the airlines to steal luggage.

The last few days I have been hearing my phone ring when it's not ringing. My ringtone is the Austin Powers song and I keep thinking I hear it, far away. Sometimes even when I'm talking on the phone, I hear it far away, ringing in the other room. I am sure it's the first step down the cheery road to insanity. I expect the giant bats to begin swooping out of the sky at me any minute

On the cheery road, just before the giant bats start a-swoopin'

Here is my Austin Powers ringtone, a very short MP3, It's what I've been hearing, all the time! Farrr Farr Far away!!

Powered by Podbean.com

Also last night my Beautiful Lovely Smart Sexy Wife told me she's rebelling against her blog. I guess she's not getting enough comments. Who is? I thinks some more comments will help her. . . (Hint hint).

Anyway, I have to get going. Studying you know. . . Allegedly.

Old Coffee

I did a search for 'old coffee' and this is what I found.

Yesterday, I hardly drank any coffee. This morning there was still half a pot left, so I just turned on the pot to heat it back up instead of making more. It's not too bad tasting. But I wonder if I am violating some ancient law that states thou shalt not drink day old coffee....
Here we have a mix of sun and rain. There's a tropical depression to the south of us. It looks like a slow mover, so I rekkon we'll have at least a few more days of rain. It's predicted that this one will become a hurricane. I need to mow the yard.
I'm halfway through the last book of my course. It's a big ol thick book, like a phone book.

Does a Cat Always Land on Its Feet?

Stolen, in it's entirety, from Neatorama.

By Miss Cellania on Oct 19, 2010 at 5:06 am(Image credit: Flickr user Mini Mookiy. This is not “Esther”)

by Fiorella Gambale, Ph.D.
Institute for Feline Research
Milano, Italy

Cats have excellent balance, and are remarkably acrobatic. When turned upside down and dropped from a height, a cat generally has the ability to land on its feet. Until now, no one has systematically investigated the limits of this phenomenon. In this study, I dropped a cat upside down from various heights, and observed whether the cat landed on its feet.

Dropping a Cat Upside Down from a Height of 6 Feet

I dropped the cat from a height of six feet. I did this one hundred times. The cat always landed on its feet.

Dropping a Cat Upside Down from a Height of 5 Feet

I dropped the cat from a height of five feet. I did this one hundred times. The cat always landed on its feet.

Dropping a Cat Upside Down from a Height of 4 Feet

I dropped the cat from a height of four feet. I did this one hundred times. The cat always landed on its feet.

Dropping a Cat Upside Down from a Height of 3 Feet

I dropped the cat from a height of three feet. I did this one hundred times. The cat always landed on its feet.

Dropping a Cat Upside Down from a Height of 2 Feet

I dropped the cat from a height of two feet. I did this one hundred times. The cat always landed on its feet.

Dropping a Cat Upside Down from a Height of 1 Foot

I dropped the cat from a height of one foot. I did this one hundred times. The cat never landed on its feet.

Drop Height	Attempts	Landed on feet	Did not land on feet
6 ft.	100	100	0
5 ft.	100	100	0
4 ft.	100	100	0
3 ft.	100	100	0
2 ft.	100	100	0
1 ft.	100	0	100

Discussion

Popular belief is that “a cat will always land on its feet.” My experiments show this to be true for drop heights ranging from six feet down to two feet. It is not true at a drop height of one foot.Does a cat land on its feet when dropped from a height of less than one foot? This preliminary study indicates that the answer may be no. However, further experiments, preferably with the same cat, are needed to settle the question.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank the cat, “Esther,” for her initial cooperation in this experiment. Thank you, also, to Esther’s owner, M.R. Young. And special thanks to the organization PFTAR (People For the Tarring-and-Feathering of Animal Researchers), whose indiscriminate yacketing inspired this project.

_____________________

Pisses me off

I know there is more to life than this.
What am I doing? All my life I've been trying to get "There" and I don't even know where "There" is.
What is the point of memorizing the initials of circuit cards and how many pins each one has? It's the same bullshit as society. The game of working to pay bills is the same as memorizing the physical characteristics of circuit boards. I mean, if I needed to buy a memory card, I would just look at the label or get the model number out of the book. I don't need to memorize every type that has ever been built. I can get everything I need to stay alive today without money, and be happier.

Today I have to go to the bank and take money out of savings to pay the mortgage. I enjoy not working, but I have to because I will run out of money.

When I was a kid, I helped my friends big brother deliver newspapers. I basically (till now) haven't been unemployed since, and I have nothing to show for it. I've been doing something wrong my whole life..... Everyone else seems so 'In Control' of their lives... I have never felt that way. I have always been running just to keep up.

Save Money

Dream last night.

It's Monday, I had weird dreams last night. I dreamed a busload if people and I went to this house way out in the desert to take a test for something. We were allowed to take a break before we took the test. I walked out behind the house, everything was all dusty and it looked like nobody had been there for a long time. I found an old golf club. I looked at my watch and it was 4 o'clock. There wasn't enough time left to take the test.
Then I woke up.
This tells me that I need to get my courses done. God gave me this time between jobs to do these courses and I'm not moving fast enough.
I am entering a tough part of the course, I have to memorize initials, Which I think is mindless stupidity.

Happy Fish bite!

Yesterday the Wife and I went snorkeling.

We saw a bunch of happy fish. Look at their happy smiling faces! Happy Happy Fish.
One Happy Fish bit me. I tried to whack him but missed. Fast Happy fish!

It was bleeding a little. Little Happy Fish Bastards!

Copy then Delete, Don't Move

Yesterday I wanted to get three exams done for my online course. I only got one done, but it was the toughest test yet. Also the exam spanned two chapters instead of one.
The weather here has been good for sleeping, nice and cool breeze from the north.
I've been up for a while, the dawgs come crying for a walk. But I like being up.
On my laptop my hard drive was almost full. So I started moving my music and movies to an external drive. I started getting these messages like: "Cannot Delete Folder: Music, folder is not empty". Well I looked, and the folder is indeed empty, but there is no new folder on the other drive. SO whwat that means is, the computer moved the files from the folder, then couldn't finish the moving the folder, so it deleted what it thought was an incomplete folder. In other words, I lost the files in the music folder, which were the songs. Later my external drive quit completely, and was really hot.
So I moved my files to a backup drive, and lost them. Hence the title, copy then delete, don't move. If I had copied instead of moved, I wouldn't have lost my files.
There's hope yet though. I can turn the drive on after it cools, and get the files off till it screws up again. Bit by bit....

My post for the day

I can't think of anything to post. I've been looking around the news, thinking if there was something personal I could post about (nothing), looking for any pictures I've taken, (nope) . I just can't come up with a thing. I looked around for something I could steal and post and got a zero. I spent an hour or so at Neat O Rama, which you should check out. My wife has a really good video posted today.
And that's all for today I guess.
Any questions?

A Morning Donut: Improve Your Memory & Ability to Concentrate

Donuts aren't exactly a superfood, but it turns out they may be capable of providing your brain with what it needs to effectively start the day.

While a donut isn't the healthiest morning breakfast, sometimes it's what your brain actually needs. If you're having trouble concentrating or remembering things in the morning, it's often because your brain is missing the sugar (generally in the form of glucose) it needs to function normally. The sugar is used as an energy source for the brain so it can do all the things it needs to do. One of those things is producing an important neurotransmitter chemical called acetylcholine, which is important to a good memory, your ability to pay attention, and your mood. Dr. Gary L. Wenk explains:

Your brain makes acetylcholine from choline, which is obtained from the diet, and from acetyl groups that originate from the metabolism of sugar. We frequently obtain choline in our diet by eating lecithin. Lecithin can be found in many different bakery goods such as donuts and cupcakes and is commonly added to chocolate. Thus a tasty chocolate covered donut first thing in the morning is going to provide your brain with everything it needs to pay attention and learn new things.

While a daily donut may not be your healthiest option, you may want to consider a little bit of baked goods with some sugar each morning.

From HERE.

Fisrt Miner Comes Up

This will probably be my last post about this.
Below is a video of the first miner coming up.

So far, to this minute, as far as I can tell 9 miners are up. Here is the link I am using

Today is the day!

Chilean miners expected to be rescued today!

This evening they should start bringing the miners out, one by one. Some sources say it will take 15 minutes for the capsule to reach the surface from the bottom. The video above says 30. Looking at the articles on the web, there are very different reports of when it will start, now long it will take, and several of the minor details. (Get it? Miner Details!! Haa haa ha). I wonder if any of the miners are minors?

I guess they will start when they are ready, and nobody knows the exact time they will be ready.

The president of Chile is rumored to be coming. One video showed crowd control barricades, so I rekkon the Prez IS indeed coming. Hope he's not late! Imagine having to wait down at the bottom because the president is late!
Maybe someday one of the miners will read this blog. I doubt it, but it's possible.

Elton John

The other day we spotted Elton John at the grocery store!

He sure is a good looking fella! Doesn't look at all he does on TV!!!

Happy 10-10-10

Happy ten ten ten! Betcha can't wait till
eleven eleven eleven, and then
twelve twelve twelve, huh?
I rekkon that'll be it for eighty-nine years or so! (01-01-01)

look here:
South Bend girl not the only one marking today's numerical alignment

Boring everyone to death

I guess that nobody wants to hear about the Chilean Miners, but the drill reached them. Now they have to decide whether to line the hole with pipe. If they don't, then a rock might fall and jam the elevator capsule.

This morning was sunny, first sunny morning in a long long long time, it seems like.

More on the Chilean miners

I've been waiting for this. The drill may reach them tomorrow! There is debate on whether it is necessary to line the hole with pipe before bringing the miners out.
Check this out: Bits and pieces form several articles:

Relief shaft could break through to miners by Saturday but bringing men to the surface could take up to eight days

10/08/2010 07:37 AM GMT (TransWorldNews)

The mining minister of Chile announced that the rescue drill is scheduled to reach the trapped miners by Saturday based on the present progress. The earlier government estimate was that it would be November before the miners could be freed. The rapid progress of one of the three drills employed has made it possible to reach the miners faster.

By Thursday the drill was just 300 feet away from the collapsed shaft where the miners had taken shelter. Meanwhile, on the surface, the debate rages whether it is necessary to reinforce the shaft with a metal pipe before the miners are helped out. The final decision regarding the reinforcement will be taken once the actual video images are taken after the drill punctures through. Reinforcing the shaft might delay the rescue by as much as eight days.

Technology has gone a long way in keeping the miners in the shaft fairly comfortable since the time they were first found. A fiber optic communication link helps in communicating with the outside world. A five foot long hollow cylinder, which acts like a pneumatic tube, also known as a paloma has been helpful in reaching supplies to the trapped miners. They have been supplied with self sterilizing clothes to help maintain hygiene and contain body odor.

The video below has some cool animation...

I'm really glad it's Friday, I like watching Fridays come over from New Zealand.
Here it is rainy again. Last night I sat outside, smoked a cigar and looked at the stars. Saw the most incredible shooting star, traveled over half the sky. I was surprised it was raining this morning. I put the plants out in the rain, that should make it get sunny! Have a Good weekend!

Lenovo Quickstart

My new "free" computer came with this 'thing' called Lenovo Quickstart. When you turn your computer on, it starts really fast, but it's not Windows. I'm using it now. Quickstart just gives you the basics. Surf the web, use Skype, and a photo app. It is really Splashtop, but for Lenovo. You can get Splashtop on your computer if you want I think. It's great if you're in a hurry at the airport or somewhere you don't have time to wait forever while windows boots up. Of course you can always enter windows normally if you want..

I noticed a funny thing. I did a Yahoo Search for Google news, and it isn't there, at least not on the first page. It's almost there, but not quite. They try to give you a bunch of links first, so you click anything BUT Google News. Low life yahoos.

Here its a miserable, windy cold rainy day. My Wife has a hand held wind meter that was showing gusts of up to 50 MPH last night.

The other day I posted that I was almost half way done with my online course, well, I got another load of books, and that means I'm less than a quarter way done. That means I need to buckle down and get off this blog.

Ciao for now. (That rhymes)

Cursing in Church

A crusty old man walks into the local Church and says to the secretary, "I would like to join this damn church." The astonished woman replies, "I beg your pardon, sir. I must have misunderstood you... What did you say?" "Listen up, damn it. I said I want to join this damn church!" "I'm very sorry sir, but that kind of language is not tolerated in this church." The secretary leaves her desk and goes into the pastor's study to inform him of the situation. The pastor agrees that the secretary does not have to listen to that foul language.. They both return to her office, and the pastor asks the old geezer, "Sir, what seems to be the problem here?" "There is no damn problem," the man says. "I just won $200 million bucks in the damn lottery and I want to join this damn church to get rid of some of this damn money." "I see," said the pastor.. "And is this bitch giving you a hard time?"

not Too Busy

I got up early this morning to study. I think I am almost half way done with my course. Then I can start the next one, the one I want to get under my belt.
I didn't really get up early, I got up at 5:15, my normal time, but I haven't really been getting up that early lately.
Yesterday I mowed the yard. I think I must have the crappiest working lawnmower on Earth. First, the pull cord broke, I replaced it. Three wheels fell off during the mow, I had to replace a bolt and put the wheels back on. And finally the mower blade broke in half. I went out and got another one. Actually, the hardware store didn't have any my size, and the owner gave me an old rusty one for free. It matches my mower perfectly!
Today I have a dental appointment. I had originally named this post "Too Busy" but changed the name.

PS: The Chilean miners might be rescued within 10 days

Back

We got back home from the Brac yesterday. It's nice to be back, but wish we could have stayed longer. Here's some misc pics.

Sunset Last Night

red sky at night, sailors delight
red sky in morning, sailor take warning.

After two weeks of clouds and rain, this was the sunset last night, and today is a nice sunny day!

Weekend Trip

We're on our way to Cayman Brac for the weekend. It will be nice to see the place again.
Here, it has been raining and cloudy for probably two weeks straight. Someone was saying how they were in the UK and it was nice and sunny. It's rare times when a person leaves the Cayman Islands and goes to the UK for some good weather!! This morning, however, there is some blue in the sky and maybe we will have a sunny weekend on the Brac!

Sunny London