Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Saturday, August 09, 2008
MIG welding tips and resources
MIG welding tips and resources
April 11, 2005
 |
| Photo courtesy of AlcoTec Wire Corp. |
Motorcycle- and hot rod-building shows on TV have put welding in a very positive light lately. In fact, Jesse James, the star of Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage," was named the American Welding Society (AWS) Welder of the Year because of his contributions to the trade. It's nice to see welding in a good light after seeing it maligned for so long.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Superlift Speedometer Calibration box
Surprisingly the bloody thing works.Have had the thing installed for a couple months now, been working great, least after I exchanged the first one I got, that was defective and previously installed by someone else :mad3: (I could slap the shiat out of the nitwit that was doing returns at work for even allowing it to be returned)But the ruddy thing died the other day, which I thought meant, yet another install was going to be done with another new unit. Luckily thou, I found that it was only a week housing end on the inline fuse holder for the hot wire (if you install one, make sure it is not under much stress at all, might save you from the failure I had.Funny thing seems to happen when my speedo is not reading (haven't figured out if it is a common issue with TJs or not yet) damn thing would die when I pushed in the clutch or kicked it out of gear after I had been rolling for a bit. Silly jeep died 9 times on the 22 mile commute home from work :eek:Will have to figure that out next.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Well After a month, I am free of my neck brace, now the process of limbering my neck up so I can go back to work starts, just hope i don;t pull one of my normal moves and do too much too fast and hurt myself, I REALLy need to be able to work when the Doctor will let me go back (month plus with no pay sucks) then 3 weeks in another appointment, hopefully that will clear me for full duty and I can go back to my truck, or whatever they see fit to do with me.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Drugs
What the devil is it having a pain killer that if you stop taking it all at once and not just cut back a bit till you are not taking it anymore, you bloody well end up having trouble sleeping.
What’s worse is when you are taking said pain killer, and it loses it’s effectiveness so you take more, but then you stop so your body will clear it out so THEN you end up not sleeping well. Damn drugs and their odd ass side effects.
What’s worse is when you are taking said pain killer, and it loses it’s effectiveness so you take more, but then you stop so your body will clear it out so THEN you end up not sleeping well. Damn drugs and their odd ass side effects.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Ok, so I finally got a Twitter account. Odd service that.
Some Odd tweets (Twitter update messages) out there.
Some odd programs and add-onsfor Twitter too.
Wonder if there is one for the Cymbian 60 phone OS.
If not, then I guess I will have to stick-with sms tweets :-p
Some Odd tweets (Twitter update messages) out there.
Some odd programs and add-onsfor Twitter too.
Wonder if there is one for the Cymbian 60 phone OS.
If not, then I guess I will have to stick-with sms tweets :-p
Friday, April 25, 2008
UserFriendly.Org
UserFriendly.Org
[Illiad] OPINIONATED NEWS ITEM: HOLDING MULTICULTURALISM HOSTAGE Posted:Thu Apr 17 14:07:39 2008
NOT MULTICULTURALISM, BUT COVERT COLONIALISM: As a resident of the Greater Vancouver area, I'm both grateful and proud of the cultural diversity that surrounds me. By virtue of my parents and their jobs, I travelled a lot when I was just a kid, and grew up in non-Western environments. This gave me a marked appreciation for cultures other than the one I now call home here in Canada.
Canada has long been an advocate of multiculturalism, a policy which encourages its immigrants to bring their culture with them to their new country, although there is a clear understanding that they will be subject to the laws and customs of this land and not their country of origin. And that's all good because I'm a huge fan of food from around the world! Indian curries, Vietnamese noodles, Mongolian khuushuur...the mouth waters. The greater the variety, the better. Dining is an excellent excuse for socializing and making new friends, and even an introvert like myself opens up to strangers when seated at a table and introduced to new culinary marvels.
I live in a suburb of Vancouver called Richmond. Although Vancouver has a Chinatown, Richmond has become the de facto centre of Asian Everything in Vancouver. The city is peppered with really excellent Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants, and there is a large section of Chinese malls. Within one of the malls is where I discovered an egregious example of "reverse colonialism."
I occasionally go to the Asian malls because they sell products you just won't find in the regular malls. One day I had a hankering for a Chinese confectionery known as "Haw Flakes." I walked into a new convenience store in the mall and asked the proprietor if he carried any. He gave me a blank stare and didn't reply. I asked again, and he just shook his head and went back to what he was doing.
I looked over his shoulder and sure enough, on a shelf, was a box of the flakes. So I pointed at them and asked him for a bag of them. He grumpily took them off the shelf and gestured at them, so I took a bag and put them on the counter. He rung it up and told me the total, in Cantonese.
As it happens I speak Cantonese, but his grumpy attitude annoyed me. So I pointedly looked at the cash register display and counted out the money and left. I could tell he was relieved that I was no longer in his shop.
It was abundantly clear that the shopowner either didn't speak a word of English or simply refused to. I was sorely tempted to go back and explain to him, in Cantonese, that Canada has two official languages, and he had better start learning at least one of them. I'm glad I didn't though, because the problem is a lot bigger than just one convenience store owner.
After this incident I began to pay attention to the attitudes of the merchants in Richmond. Anecdotally, I'd say about half of the retailers in the Asian malls have zero interest in learning or speaking English. If you need help buying something and you don't speak their chosen dialect --it's usually Cantonese, but Mandarin is really starting to take over-- you have about a fifty-fifty chance of being ignored. In English-speaking Canada.
I have always been of the mind that when you visit a foreign country you're the one that should make the effort to communicate with the locals. Speaking your birth tongue slower and louder doesn't make yourself any more understandable, it just makes you look like a jackass. The onus to learn the local language is even heavier if you're an immigrant. After all, you're the one asking for the privilege of becoming a part of someone else's community. That means you can bloody well learn the language; you don't even have to succeed, you just have to show that you're willing to try.
And trying is the attitude that counts! I recognize that a lot of older folks immigrate to Canada, and it's a little tough for an 80-year old Mongolian granddad to become even quasi-fluent in English. But if he smiles and can say "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank-you" at least I'll know that he cares about his adoptive community enough to make the effort, which is what I expect from an immigrant.
Hopefully a day will come when my wife and I can buy property in the Dominican Republic. They speak Spanish there, and as a result I will learn Spanish! The first phrase I learned was Lo siento, no comprende. Habla ingles? Most of the time the local will say no, but will happily work with me to figure out a way to communicate with each other. He knows I want to try, and that his language is the one that rightfully takes precedence in his country.
Those immigrants who refuse to learn the local language are in effect attempting to carve out an enclave, or colony, for themselves in their new country, an enclave where they can ignore all of the locals and in fact reject the community in which they live. I abhor this behaviour, as it serves only to erect walls within the community, and in this age of globalization that can't possibly end well. Make no mistake, if you're an immigrant to a nation that speaks a language other than your own, and you're so arrogant as to refuse to try to learn the local tongue, you should turn around and go home. We don't want you here, wherever "here" may be. And you can take your colonial arrogance home with you.
[Illiad] OPINIONATED NEWS ITEM: HOLDING MULTICULTURALISM HOSTAGE Posted:Thu Apr 17 14:07:39 2008
NOT MULTICULTURALISM, BUT COVERT COLONIALISM: As a resident of the Greater Vancouver area, I'm both grateful and proud of the cultural diversity that surrounds me. By virtue of my parents and their jobs, I travelled a lot when I was just a kid, and grew up in non-Western environments. This gave me a marked appreciation for cultures other than the one I now call home here in Canada.
Canada has long been an advocate of multiculturalism, a policy which encourages its immigrants to bring their culture with them to their new country, although there is a clear understanding that they will be subject to the laws and customs of this land and not their country of origin. And that's all good because I'm a huge fan of food from around the world! Indian curries, Vietnamese noodles, Mongolian khuushuur...the mouth waters. The greater the variety, the better. Dining is an excellent excuse for socializing and making new friends, and even an introvert like myself opens up to strangers when seated at a table and introduced to new culinary marvels.
I live in a suburb of Vancouver called Richmond. Although Vancouver has a Chinatown, Richmond has become the de facto centre of Asian Everything in Vancouver. The city is peppered with really excellent Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants, and there is a large section of Chinese malls. Within one of the malls is where I discovered an egregious example of "reverse colonialism."
I occasionally go to the Asian malls because they sell products you just won't find in the regular malls. One day I had a hankering for a Chinese confectionery known as "Haw Flakes." I walked into a new convenience store in the mall and asked the proprietor if he carried any. He gave me a blank stare and didn't reply. I asked again, and he just shook his head and went back to what he was doing.
I looked over his shoulder and sure enough, on a shelf, was a box of the flakes. So I pointed at them and asked him for a bag of them. He grumpily took them off the shelf and gestured at them, so I took a bag and put them on the counter. He rung it up and told me the total, in Cantonese.
As it happens I speak Cantonese, but his grumpy attitude annoyed me. So I pointedly looked at the cash register display and counted out the money and left. I could tell he was relieved that I was no longer in his shop.
It was abundantly clear that the shopowner either didn't speak a word of English or simply refused to. I was sorely tempted to go back and explain to him, in Cantonese, that Canada has two official languages, and he had better start learning at least one of them. I'm glad I didn't though, because the problem is a lot bigger than just one convenience store owner.
After this incident I began to pay attention to the attitudes of the merchants in Richmond. Anecdotally, I'd say about half of the retailers in the Asian malls have zero interest in learning or speaking English. If you need help buying something and you don't speak their chosen dialect --it's usually Cantonese, but Mandarin is really starting to take over-- you have about a fifty-fifty chance of being ignored. In English-speaking Canada.
I have always been of the mind that when you visit a foreign country you're the one that should make the effort to communicate with the locals. Speaking your birth tongue slower and louder doesn't make yourself any more understandable, it just makes you look like a jackass. The onus to learn the local language is even heavier if you're an immigrant. After all, you're the one asking for the privilege of becoming a part of someone else's community. That means you can bloody well learn the language; you don't even have to succeed, you just have to show that you're willing to try.
And trying is the attitude that counts! I recognize that a lot of older folks immigrate to Canada, and it's a little tough for an 80-year old Mongolian granddad to become even quasi-fluent in English. But if he smiles and can say "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank-you" at least I'll know that he cares about his adoptive community enough to make the effort, which is what I expect from an immigrant.
Hopefully a day will come when my wife and I can buy property in the Dominican Republic. They speak Spanish there, and as a result I will learn Spanish! The first phrase I learned was Lo siento, no comprende. Habla ingles? Most of the time the local will say no, but will happily work with me to figure out a way to communicate with each other. He knows I want to try, and that his language is the one that rightfully takes precedence in his country.
Those immigrants who refuse to learn the local language are in effect attempting to carve out an enclave, or colony, for themselves in their new country, an enclave where they can ignore all of the locals and in fact reject the community in which they live. I abhor this behaviour, as it serves only to erect walls within the community, and in this age of globalization that can't possibly end well. Make no mistake, if you're an immigrant to a nation that speaks a language other than your own, and you're so arrogant as to refuse to try to learn the local tongue, you should turn around and go home. We don't want you here, wherever "here" may be. And you can take your colonial arrogance home with you.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Exporting OS X 10.5 Leopard Mail to Windows Vista Mail (The Easy Way)
Since we purchased a Toshiba Laptop for my Mother to use, instead of my Father’s Mac Pro (she never has seemed to grasp the OS X concept it seems). I have been battling with moving her mail from Mac back to a PC. Most write ups on the interweb have nothing to do with Vista only XP. So attempting to use these as a guide, I tried my best, only to find that Vista Mail will not import from Eudora. After countless hours and much hair pulling as well, I have an epiphany. Simply setup a Gmail account, enable IMAP, and move the mail to the Gmail servers, then download them to the Vista machine. after 5 minutes setting up the account, 10 minutes making sure I have all the mail moved to the servers , 5 minutes wondering “WTF why isn’t it seeing the server" (set the security options in the advanced tab folks) and-10 minutes pulling all the mail back to Vista Mail. We have it done, Bob’s your Uncle and all is right with the world once again, and you can finally let your hair grow back out where you were constantly pulling it out HI HI.
So sayeth John
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Interviews
Ya know, I don't know which is worse. A new paient interview with a doctor, or a law enforcement interview/interogation.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Just an update
Finally got my Toughstuff Safety thimble in, which means I can install the new winch rope/fairlead I have sitting in the jeep (safer and lighter, always a good thing)
Also have 8 1 watt LED light self contained units, will be using 3 per side as rock lights and 1 in front of each front tire to light the area just ahead of them for offloading
1 more day to go, then bright and early saturday I am taking the jeep to Expert Offroad in Plano, have them-install all the new suspension joints I have, hoping that will cure all the clanks and pops I get when-driving the jeep even on flat-ground let alone offroad.
And the biggest bit, also the scariest, least for me, have an appointment with a Neurosurgeon next tuesday morning to have him look at the MRI of my neck and see what he can do to help fix my neck and upper back problems. Just hoping I can get right without going under the knife to do it. (cross your fingers for me folk)
Also have 8 1 watt LED light self contained units, will be using 3 per side as rock lights and 1 in front of each front tire to light the area just ahead of them for offloading
1 more day to go, then bright and early saturday I am taking the jeep to Expert Offroad in Plano, have them-install all the new suspension joints I have, hoping that will cure all the clanks and pops I get when-driving the jeep even on flat-ground let alone offroad.
And the biggest bit, also the scariest, least for me, have an appointment with a Neurosurgeon next tuesday morning to have him look at the MRI of my neck and see what he can do to help fix my neck and upper back problems. Just hoping I can get right without going under the knife to do it. (cross your fingers for me folk)
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
More Jeep stuff
Jeep really does stand for Just Empty Every Pocket it seems.
Seems Smittybilt is putting out body armor, will have to check quality and pricing on that, might be a way to get armored up quicker, since the price will-likely be lower.
Seems Smittybilt is putting out body armor, will have to check quality and pricing on that, might be a way to get armored up quicker, since the price will-likely be lower.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
New Jeep Mods
Finally got my dual battery setup finished in the Jeep.
What a PITA that one install was.
the space under thee hood of a 2003 Rubicon (or any wrangler for that matter) is tight. and the stacked trays (from Smittybilt) for the Optima batteries are even tighter, had to unhook the fuse block located just in front of the battery to allow enough roomto get the damn thing in. and god forbid if you want to the bottom battery in a hurry, your SCREWED HI HI. Thou with the controller from 12voltguy.com you can do a self jumpstart (dead handy with that setup)
Will have to see how it works with winching and what not later on.
Hoping to get the rollbar padding off tomorrow so I can finally get my CO2 tank bolted to the cage and have it with me if I have need of the bloody thing.
What a PITA that one install was.
the space under thee hood of a 2003 Rubicon (or any wrangler for that matter) is tight. and the stacked trays (from Smittybilt) for the Optima batteries are even tighter, had to unhook the fuse block located just in front of the battery to allow enough roomto get the damn thing in. and god forbid if you want to the bottom battery in a hurry, your SCREWED HI HI. Thou with the controller from 12voltguy.com you can do a self jumpstart (dead handy with that setup)
Will have to see how it works with winching and what not later on.
Hoping to get the rollbar padding off tomorrow so I can finally get my CO2 tank bolted to the cage and have it with me if I have need of the bloody thing.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
My Lil Rubicon
4:88:1 Gears in both axles
Alloy USA Shafts all the way around
Alloy USA Greasable front shaft seals
Jeep Medics T Case Skid 1/4″ Thick Steel Belly Up
Warn Front Bumper
Warn Winch Plate
Less Than 2yo Warn 9500xp Winch
Warn Diff Guards
Warn Rear Bumper & Tire Carrier
B&M Short Throw Shifter
Skid Row Steering Box Skid
Rock It Antenna Mount
Rock Krawler 5.5″ Long Arm Suspension W axle Truss in rear
35×12.5×15 ProComp Extreme M/Ts
ProComp 15×8 Soft 8s
1 1/4 Wheel Spacers
Nth Degree Rear Shock Shifters
Stainless Braided Steel Brake Lines
Factory Installed Selectable Differential Lockers
Factory Installed Low 4:1 Transfer case Gearing
AEM Brute Force CAI
Currie HD Steering Upgrade
Delta H4 Headlight Conversion w/ IPF Super Low Beams
PIAA Fog Lamps
Old Man Emu Steering Stabilizer
Poweraide Throttle Body Spacer
Goferit 1″ Motor Mount Lift
Daystar 1″ Poly Body Lift
Tuffy Series 2 center console
5lb CO2 tank OBA
12voltguy.com Dual battery controller and in-cab winch control panel
SmittyBilt Dual battery tray, Optima Yellow (winch and accessories)
and Red Tops (Jeep)
and more mods to come
--
"Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand
ready to do violence on their behalf."
-George Orwell
Vista Home Premium 64-bit
well, finally bit the large phallic symbol, and bought a Copy of
Vista. Just to play 1 silly game with all it's new prettys that the
devs put in (kind of a soory reason to upgrade but there ya are)
Vista. Just to play 1 silly game with all it's new prettys that the
devs put in (kind of a soory reason to upgrade but there ya are)
Of course as most have noted, you damn near need a new system to run
Vista, so that is exactly what i did, bought a while new system.
Pretty little thing, Shuttle SP35P2 Pro, Intel Core 2 Quad (QC6600),
4GB rams, XFX GeForce 8800 GT vid card (smokin card BTW)500GB Sata/II
HD and a Sata DWD-RW DL.
with all this, Vista seems to run fine, but the damned 64-Bit beast
has some issues with programs, and seems Explorer likes to crash
often, least it doesn't BSOD or totally freeze most times this happen
(big improvement there I can tell you) still getting the kinks worked
out and getting used to running WinBlows again. Yes I am a Mac guy
and my wonderful Mirror Door running OS X 10.5 is my primary machine.
I run Micro$haft products simply to play my games and for something
else to blow up.
--
"Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand
ready to do violence on their behalf."
-George Orwell
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