Images

a pretty good attempt

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I received an email from “Apple”, or “iTunes” a bit ago.  I have to admit, this is one of the better looking spam emails I’ve gotten.  They even took the time to encode each character so as not to be recognized by Yahoo! Mail as being crap.  However, there is an error.  Can you spot the error?

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upon inspection

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Upon inspection, I see some pitting on one of the lengths of iron for this Freedom Utility Trailer.

See the difference in finishes?  Is this poor machining?  A result of welding of the end bracket?  “What a heck?”  I’m hoping this won’t be a concern later on, as in rust.  This is not Galvanized or aluminium – it’s powder coated steel.

Actually, it used to be red.

What is that?  Undercoating?  Rustproofing?  Proof of being a used trailer?  My imagination?

not funny … not at all

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I watch a show or movie to relax, have fun, be happy.  I don’t want more violence.  While watching New Girl S1E12 (comedy on Netflix), a guy in a parking lot pulls a gun and threatens people with violence.  Funny?  Sorry, crossed the line.  Too much s*** like that.  If that’s comedy, then I don’t want it.  Not in my house.  American culture, perhaps.  Not mine.  Last weekend a guy in the States killed 11 people at a synagogue.  Think family members would think this episode is funny?  I cancelled my Netflix account.

 

flat tire, new rims

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Well this is embarrassing!

But these tiny spare tires are supposed to do up to 80km/h.  Wow.

Even last winter when A&C were visiting, two tires went flat.  Cheap iron rims.  They rusted and continually lost their bead.  Matt B., a tire guy I know at Elrich, told me these would probably last 3 or 4 years, especially if only used in winter.  He knows his stuff,  Not using them during hot weather loosens the bead, moisture gets in, and the metal begins to rust.

So I went to Kia to order rims.

What do you think?  I know, I know, they’re a lot of money for just a set of rims.  The point is a) I hated those winter beater car iron rims, b) I wanted something nicer to match the summer rims, and c) I hated pumping up my tires every few days.

driverless cars – seriously?

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I saw an article by BBC on autonomous taxis.

Why you have (probably) already bought your last car

I wrote on Twitter in response:

17 seconds ago

Replying to

How about RV drivers who take their rigs camping? Driving 14 hours from Calgary to Vancouver on mountain highways, dead of winter, 3 feet of snow? How about family trips, stopping at a roadside historic information sign? Not all travel is commute. This utopia does not compute.

I pile camping crap into my car and head off into the hills.  How would that work with an all-electric, self-driving car?  I go off-road in my little Kia, climbing up a mud and gravel hill on a logging road for excitement.  The Kia performs well.  Could an autonomous electric taxi replace my car?  Don’t think so.  I’m accident free since 1987, driving in large cities, on long highways, through blizzard conditions, daytime and at night.  Long time.  Loooong time.  No way in hell an autonomous car will take my license away.

Now if you’re talking about a car that can drive by itself, with the driver taking over at any point he / she wishes to, I’d be into that.  Sure, why not?  But, in a city the size of Lethbridge, I really can’t see how it could be useful.  Downtown Seoul?  Sure.

later

Just curious – Google (advocates of self-driving cars) collects a lot of data from lots of people, like our travel habits.  Does it know how much travel I do that isn’t part of my daily work commute?

donation 112

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I gave my 112th blood donation today.

They take half a litre every 56 days.

Someone asked me, “Is that a pump?  Are they pumping it out of you?”  No!  It’s not a pump!  It’s just a bag of blood sitting on a platform that moves back and forth every few seconds to stop the blood from coagulating, or whatever blood does when it sits still.  The heart is a pump.  It pumps it all around; and if you put a hole in a vein and let it out into a bag, your heart doesn’t know the difference.  It just gets pumped out.  No biggie.

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Logan & Katie

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At Starbucks now having a second cup.  I read the paper and then turned on the computer.  In the mean time, my coffee cup sat on the table.

A guy and gal sitting next to me said, “That’s a cool cup you have there.”  I thought that that was an interesting way to brake the ice.  They introduced themselves as Logan & Katie.  They’re entrepreneurs.  Not sure exactly what that means in terms of actual work done, but they have a plan.  We talked about the weather, Thanksgiving, Lethbridge, careers, and other stuff.  This doesn’t happen very often – strangers just start talking.  Floyd and I were talking about this earlier this week – that people should talk more.  And it happened.  Nice people.