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My First Car

I picked up one of these when I was fifteen. Got it for $50,00. Me and my friend Steve went in partners for it. Since it had no brakes to speak of and several other problems...the parents made us sell it.

Only got to drive it once actually. Technically this was my first car although not the actual car since I appropriated all these pictures.

The First Car I Could Keep

I paid $25 bucks for a car like this. It was parked in an alley and wasn't running. It didn't have a hood either.  I drove it a way after getting it running. Pissed the lady off. I was only 16 then but actually had a licence.

It used to backfire through the carburetor once in a while and my girlfriend named it the "Blue Dragoon" since it was also blue. Being an awesome artist, She painted a picture of a cool dragon on the dash.

Eventually I got a hood but couldn't find any hinges so I drove around with it for a while just sitting in place. Every once in a while the wind would catch it and it would go sailing over the top and land on the road behind me.

Since this was rather dangerous, I bolted on some door brass door hinges I got at the hardware store. About a year and a half later, I sold it for $125 bucks and made a cool profit.

When I was 17, I moved out of the house. I had 2 Honda Trail 50's I used for transportation. I later souped one of them up to a Honda 60 equivalent. I could pop wheelies with it when I was done. It had a centrifucal clutch so was not an easy task.

Anyway around that time I also picked up 2 1955 Metropolitans. Only one ran and looked decent. I remember trying to do a valve job on the running one and getting an excessive smoking ticket on it by the Capitola Police on the way to my moms' house. The valve job was too good. It had so much compression that it was now blowing oil past the rings and smoked like a siv!

Remove The bumper off this car and you would have my car that I bought from my uncle Sandy when I was 18 for $100 bucks. It was a wrecking yard special he had picked up. I had helped him install the motor in it also.

I think he was afraid of it is why he eventually sold it.

This baby was punched out to a 402 and had 3 dueces, A posi 4:11 rear end and a 3 speed tranny. The linkage was modified and had a reverse shift pattern than normal.

I could grab scratch in all gears laying rubber for several blocks. It would top out at around 140mph. I was constantly replacing the clutch in this thing.

It became the transport vehicle for me and my cronies for our trips to concerts at Filmore West in San Francisco. I recall blowing the clutch on one of the hills in the city and having to drive all the way back to Santa Cruz without a clutch...what a nightmare that was.

In one of our return trips, We were taking a friend back to Salinas and got pulled over on the Bayshore. We got pulled out of the car one by one and searched. Apparently there was a report of another car with a bunch of guys in it that were waving a gun around that looked alot like us although we never saw them.

I still had the car when I was 19 and drove it to Canada for a vacation. On the way, the starter went out in Oakland and instead of fixing it then I just parked on hills and popped the clutch to get it going. Turned out to be just a loose nut on the solenoid. I stayed at a campground in Hope BC on the Frasier River for a couple days and fixed it.

Went on and stayed a week in Pentictan which is at the bottom of Lake Okanogan. I jammed with a band for a few nights there and they invited me to follow them to Vancouver. They were opening for Fleetwood Mac and Jetro Tull. I didn't get to play with them but did meet everybody. Several years later i ran in Fleetwood's manager in Santa Cruz and fixed his computer. When I arrived, he was on the phone with Mick making arrangements for thier comeback tour after they had disolved the group.

After Vancouver, I took the ferry over to Vancouver Island. I decided to go north which was a 40 mile gravel road. Not sure how far I had gone before the rear end stabilizer had broke. It was located on top of the pumkin in a place you couldn't get a wrench into. The bolt had come out but the nut was still there. Unfortunatley, the weld on the nut was broke and would just spin when you try to tighten the bolt.

I ended up removing the bracket and soldered the nut to the bracket. Not an easy task. Talk about McGyver skills...I used about 3 tanks of fuel in my coleman stove tank blasting the thing on top of a rock before it finally took. It didn't need to be strong, just hold well enough not to spin when I tightened it.

It was a beautiful day otherwise and was rather warm. I decided to take a skinny dip in the lake below. It was so clear you could see the bottom. I dove in and discovered it was a glacier lake. It was all I could do to catch my breath when I got back to the surface. I dove in a few more times before giving up on it.

About 10 more miles down the road the car started heating up. Couldn't keep water in it. By that time I was so frustrated I sold it to a wrecking yard for the cost of the ferry back to the mainland.

I had my dog with me. He was a Rodesian Ridgeback-lab mix. We hitchhiked back to Santa Cruz and made it in 3 days. We were helped along by riding in a boxcar all the way from Blaine Washington to Portland Oregon which took 24hrs.  His name was Beau...later called my little HoBeau.

We finally made it back to Santa Cruz and got let off at the 41st street exit. Seeing 2 guys sitting at the signal at Grace street on a motorcycle, he broke the leash and ran over and tried to climg on the guys tank. I trained him to ride on the tank of that Honda 50 I mentioned earlier as a pup...The dog was tired of walking.

The next day I took the bus to Oakland to take my physical for the draft. I was #1 on the lottery.

I believe I solved the mystery about the lcd....

Monday I was sent back to the clients house with yet another lcd and rubber feet and some plastics. Prior to returning Fridays parts, I jotted down the manufacturer's name and part number off the lcd I was returning. I figured I could compare that to the lcd I was going to attempt to install against that and the old lcd that worked flawlessly.

After I arrived, I noticed the old lcd was still working good. So I decided to connect the new lcd to the laptop and test.

The results were the same as the other day...It wouldn't display the desktop in Vista.

So while it was still connected, I went into safe mode and  removed the video card from the device manager. Then rebooted into standard mode. The desktop showed generically because the card hadn't been redetected yet. After re-detections, the system wanted to be restarted.

I restarted the system and got the same results. Since I was forced to power off the system and not do a gracefull shutdown, Vista came up wanting to do a boot repair...did that and got the same results. So after another not so graceful shutdown, Vista wanted to do a boot repair and a system restore so I let it.

This time it actually worked.

When I got to the desktop, Vista warned that it had recovered from a video driver crash! Since it was now working finally, I went ahead and replaced the lcd. I also compared the old lcd with what I was putting in. The origional was made by LG/ Philips...the new one made by Samsung. Both were 17" WXGA+ screens.

So while there was ultimately a problem with software...that problem didn't exist until the manufacturer decided to provide a "substitute" replacement lcd instead of sticking with the origional model. Had this been explained to me by the manufacturer in the first place, there might not have been an argument about it being a bad lcd or a software issue.

Software is all to easy to blame for problems. I guess admitting that your hardware is what's causing the software problem is not so easy to admit.

So in all reality it wasn't a bad lcd or bad software...it was a manufacturer being bad and not disclosing all the facts and then being anal about it when confronted.

Saturday morning I installed Vista Ultimate on my PC. OH No Mr Bill my PC cries! Suprisingly enough the PC was crying wolf. Initially there was a number of unknown devices in the Device Manager. While it did take a while to correct, it wasn't all that bad since the Device Manager was able to locate drivers for all but one device over the Internet.

Not sure which device isn't working yet but likely eventually I'll figure it out. One device in peticular though that is working is my Video Capture card. The difference though is that I now have to capture video using Windows Media Center and not the normal software that came with the card. This poses a different problem.

What I am used to is capturing TV shows to an mpeg2 file and editing out the commercials using Womble Mpeg Video Wizard DVD and then exporting it to an .avi file to save on my media server drive. Then stream it to the TV on demand. Windows Media center saves files to a proprietary format called DRV-MS. I haven't tried this yet but apparently the Vista version of Windows Movie Maker can dump the video out as an uncomressed .AVI file, This part is good as I have several editing options available for those file types.

Okidata has yet to produce a Vista compatible driver for my laser printer. Their site says its possible to use the XP driver to get it to work. While installing it was comparible to trying to manually installing a device in Windows 95, I finally did at least get it working.

Communicating with my Ubuntu Server was a little challenging but not all that bad. Networking is one of the things Vista can do. It only took a minor configuration change and a reboot and I had it working.

Eventually, the world will catch up and everything will likely work well on Vista. Since I have a reasonably fast system, so far it seems to perform well...but I haven't infected my software with it yet either. I imagine it will be quite some time before I am ready to fully commit to it.

Unfortunately though, I do encounter situations that I need to gain some familiarity with it to do my job. This means going out on a limb before I fall too far behind.

The good thing, is I have it installed on a spare hard drive which easily removable so I can play when I get a chance and still get down to business when I need to. Even if I hose the system installing and testing software to figure out what is going to work for me...I have a easy way to bail out.

Simple Logic Test

Pre-requisite

You need to have an IQ quotient  slightly over 1.

Scenario

The light in the bathroom is too dim so you put in a new bulb with higher wattage.

Known Facts

The old bulb works. You can turn it off and on.

Your Observation

After screwing the new bulb in reasonably tight, and turning on the switch, the bathroom is dark. You then remove the new bulb and re-insert the old bulb and try again. This time the light works.

Simple Logic Test

Is there a problem with

1. The light switch?

2. The light socket?

3. The electricity?

4. The bulb?

or

5. the fact that it takes several idiots to screw in a lightbulb and make it work?

Ok I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and say you selected number four right? LOL

The Not So Simple Logic Test

Pre-requisite

Unlike the first test, you need to know the difference between Computer Software and Hardware. Your IQ quotient needs to exceed that of a total idiot at least partially.

Scenario

Your laptop has loose hinges. You call the company and because your warranty covers accidental damage they send everything under the sun. You get new plastics, new screws and even a brand new LCD. Currently, the laptop works perfectly EXCEPT the hinges. Because you have to dis-assemble the laptop down to the point of removing a WORKING lcd, you go ahead and replace it since you were sent one. The laptop has Windows installed on it.

During the repair process, you notice that you are missing a rubber foot and a small piece of plastic is broken. So while you are finishing up with the repair, you call into tech support and request the additonal parts. Right after, telling tech support that you needed more parts you notice nothing is displaying on the screen past the initial screen. You are seeing video when you first turn the computer on.

Since you have replaced the LCD, the next step is to see if the lcd displays anything in Windows Safe Mode. And it does. So you relay this information to the tech support guy and he suggests that there is possibly a problem with Windows and recommends doing a system restore.

Instead of doing that, you turn off the computer, and connect the old lcd up. It's just a matter of removing one connector and replacing it with the old one. You can do this without totally taking everything apart again and takes about a minute.

This time you turn on the computer, it displays the initial screen and works all the way into Windows where you can logon and actually see what you are doing with no problem. The only issue with the old lcd was a minor scratch and was the reason you changed it.  Your basic knowledge tells you that the LCD, Hinges, and screws are computer hardware, and Windows or drivers are software.

Both the old and the new lcd are identical except that the new lcd doesn't display the windows desktop and the origional lcd can. You relay this information to tech support and they insist that it is a software issue and want you to leave it installed and re-install Windows to correct the problem.

Your experience with monitors and Windows tells you that each screen that is displayed on the monitor during the boot-up process is actually displayed a lower resolutions (like safe mode does) until after you logon to your desktop where Windows uses the optimized or user-definded display settings. These resolutions are much higher than the initial screen or in safe mode. You also relay this information to tech support.

Your tech support person AND the supervisor at this point are insisting it is a software issue even though you have over 17 years experience doing nothing but fixing computers.

Reminder

Without making any changes to the software (Windows), the old lcd works in all circumstances.

Not So Simple Test

A.:Is there a problem with

    1. The Software?

    2. The Hardware - The new lcd and it's inability to display higher resolutions like the old "identical" lcd can?

B.: Who is the idiot?

    1. You

    2. The support tech and his supervisor

Thursday we woke up to a little bit of snow that lasted through this morning. The rain has since washed it all away... But it was a great opportunity for a few Pic of the yard and the birds. Click on the images to see the birds in a larger view.

I think there are 19 finches on the feeder sock...hungry little buggers. You have to sneak up on them to get a shot.

Cyber Security Tip ST05-002

                    Keeping Children Safe Online

Children present unique security risks when they use a computer--not

only do you have to keep them safe, you have to protect the data on   your computer. By taking some simple steps, you can dramatically reduce the threats.

What unique risks are associated with children?

   When a child is using your computer, normal safeguards and security practices may not be sufficient. Children present additional challenges because of their natural characteristics: innocence, curiosity, desire for independence, and fear of punishment. You need to consider these characteristics when determining how to protect your data and the child.

   You may think that because the child is only playing a game, or    researching a term paper, or typing a homework assignment, he or she

can't cause  any  harm. But what if, when saving her paper, the child deletes a necessary program file? Or what if she unintentionally visits a malicious web page that infects your computer with a virus?

These are just two possible scenarios. Mistakes happen, but the child may not realize what she's done or may not tell you what happened because she's afraid of getting punished.

   Online predators present another significant threat, particularly to children. Because the nature of the internet is so anonymous, it is

easy for people to misrepresent themselves and manipulate or trick   other users (see Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for   some examples). Adults often fall victim to these ploys, and children,   who are usually much more open and trusting, are even easier targets.

   The threat is even greater if a child has access to email or instant messaging programs, visits chat rooms, and/or uses social networking   sites (see Using Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms Safely and Staying   Safe on Social Network Sites for more information).

What can you do?

* Be involved - Consider activities you can work on together, whether  it  be  playing  a game, researching a topic you had been talking about (e.g., family vacation spots, a particular hobby, a historical figure), or putting together a family newsletter. This will allow you to supervise your child's online activities while teaching her good computer habits.

* Keep your computer in an open area - If your computer is in a        high-traffic area, you will be able to easily monitor the computer       activity.  Not only does this accessibility deter a child from doing something she knows she's not allowed to do, it also gives you the opportunity to intervene if you notice a behavior that could have negative consequences.

* Set rules and warn about dangers - Make sure your child knows the       boundaries of what she is allowed to do on the computer. These      boundaries should be appropriate for the child's age, knowledge,       and maturity, but they may include rules about how long she is       allowed to be on the computer, what sites she is allowed to visit,       what software programs she can use, and what tasks or activities       she is allowed to do. You should also talk to children about the       dangers of the internet so that they recognize suspicious behavior       or activity. The goal isn't to scare them, it's to make them more

aware.

* Monitor computer activity - Be aware of what your child is doing

on the computer, including which web sites she is visiting. If she

is using  email,  instant  messaging, or chat rooms, try to get a       sense of who she is corresponding with and whether she actually       knows them.

* Keep lines of communication open - Let your child know that

can approach you with any questions or concerns about behaviors or

problems she may have encountered on the computer.

* Consider partitioning your computer into separate accounts - Most

operating systems (including Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux) give

you the option of creating a different user account for each user.

If you're worried that your child may accidentally access, modify, and/or delete your files, you can give her a separate account and       decrease the amount of access and number of privileges she has. If you don't have separate accounts, you need to be especially careful about  your security  settings.  In addition to limiting functionality   within your browser (see Evaluating Your Web Browser's Security Settings for more information), avoid letting your  browser  remember  passwords  and other personal information (see Browsing Safely: Understanding Active Content and Cookies).

Also, it is always important to keep your virus definitions up to

date(see Understanding Anti-Virus Software).

* Consider implementing parental controls - You may be able to set

some parental controls within your browser. For example, Internet       Explorer allows you to restrict or allow certain web sites to be viewed on your computer, and you can protect these settings with a password.  To find those options, click Tools on your menu bar, select Internet Options..., choose the Content tab, and click the Enable... button under Content Advisor.

There are other resources you can use to control and/or monitor

your child's online activity. Some ISPs offer services designed to       protect children online. Contact your ISP to see if any of these       services are available. There are also special software programs you  can install on your computer.  Different programs offer different features and capabilities, so you can find one that best suits your needs. The following web sites offer lists of software, as  well  as  other  useful  information about protecting children  online:

* GetNetWise   -   http://kids.getnetwise.org/  - Click Tools for       Families to reach a page that allows you to search for software based  on characteristics like what the tool does and what operating system you have on your computer.

* Yahooligans! Parents' Guide - http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/parents/   -   Click Blocking and Filtering under Related Websites on the left sidebar to reach a list of software.

     _________________________________________________________________

Authors: Mindi McDowell, Allen Householder

_________________________________________________________________

Produced 2005 by US-CERT, a government organization.

Note: This tip was previously published and is being re-distributed

to increase awareness.

Terms of use

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<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST05-002.html>

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Custom Fence Post

Yesterday's Fence Post with Panel Stubbed In.

View From The Alley

Today's Post Hole

Mystery Spot - This is actually straight and level in all directions. I think it looks off partly from the angle of the shot but also the fact that the panel is attached to the narrow 45 degree corner I removed from the post. Plus I wasn't at a true 90 degree angle to the panel when I took the shot...interesting effect cnot planned.

Alley Shot - Finished

Other than being a little cool outside, it's been good to get out in the yard. Friday I broke out the lawnmower and mowed down the alley and next to the house a bit. Using long extention cords, I weedwacked where I dare not go with the mower. Most of my neighbors seldom take tare of thier section of the alley.So I do both sides down past the neighbors property. Since I have to look at it...I take care of it.

My killing the Trees of Heaven efforts seem to be paying off. Since I haven't been out for a while in the yard, I was suprised not to find any popping up. The last storm, didn't cause much damage so at present, we won't have to burn this season again. Slowly getting to where the green waste can actually can handle the yard waste so we will have less trips to the dumps.

Part of my yard project, building a fence, even got some attention yesterday. I dug another post hole and sunk another post. I have one more I would like to set this weekend.

While digging the hole, I ran into lots of rocks and what appears to be an ancient drainline. So the hole itself took a little longer than anticipated. The post itself is a ittle unusual.

My vision is to create a small patio/privacy area between the house and where I am now parking my car. To get in and out of the parking area in a tight space, having the fence corner at a 90 degree angle would make it tougher to get in and out. So I decied I could cut the corner at a 45 degree angle. Since I'm using pre-made fence panels, I needed to come up with a way to do this.

After ton's of thought, which was spaced over a couple of months, I settled on the simplest solution using 4x6 posts instead of 4x4 like the rest of the fence. Yesterday I ran over to Home Depot and picked a couple of them up and cut a 45 degree angle off one of the corners in the table saw. The cut being wide enough to attach the fence panel. I suspect that this will actually not only work well but look realy good when it's completed. Certainly different than anyone else may come up with anyway.

After it warms up a bit, I'll probably set the second post and install the panel between them, later today.

One-winged bald eagle named Osceola flies again - on a hang-glider.

I can't even imagine what it must be for an Eagle, born to soar in the heavens, to lose the ability to fly. Not far from my home, I have had eagles swoop across in front of my jeep, watched them swoop and pull fish from the lake, sit patiently atop distant treetops drawing respect from the world below them.

Fortunately, our symbol of Amercan Freedom, is no longer on the endanger species list.

Osceola represents the current state of our American Freedom. Even crippled, with a little help, Osceola can still fly and so can we as a nation.

The difference being, our broken wings can mend and we can fly again.  Forgoton words, " a Government For The People , and By The People" and " In God We Trust", can be spoken again. If said often, enough, and reach the right set of ears, maybe we can even believe it again.

But like Osceola, we need help, my help, and your help.

Watermarking images and videos is probably nothing new to most people these days...at least the ones you can actually see. With the growing trend of on-line delivery of content, producers are seeking "forensic watermarking" technology. By injecting code into either the video stream or audio stream, it becomes possible to track content directly to the source and every hand it has passed through.

What this does is allow say a movie studio to license content to someone like NetFlix. They intern allow you to watch it on-line and inject a code in the stream that includes their license info, and who they allowed to watch it.

Because you are a NetFlix user of course, paying for the service,  you are completely legal in viewing it under there license agreement with the studio. This technology, of course is designed to curb file-sharing and piracy It is also not limited to online content but can also be embedded into DVD's commercially produced.

It would be rather easy for someone like Microsoft to deliver some sort of Windows Update to facilitate this process.  Since they have already patented a watermarking system for audio that is inaudible and undetectable...would you put it past them. Apparently, according to the patent, this can be used on audio that is not even DRM protected.

Because these watermark systems place code in multiple random spots in the A/V stream, hackers will have a hard time eliminating or even detecting the code.

So even casual copying of a DVD and giving it to a friend who in turn shares it, could be spreading your info out. Now logically, stamping each and everybody's info that passes on a video would likely destroy the content at some point. But it wouldn't be hard to reserve a special place...just for you...both on the video or audio file...and the room you get sent to for being bad.