Tom Adams
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Posts posted by Tom Adams
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Very nice dtel.
My parents always had a huge yard display and the inside of the house was stuffed too. For several years, starting about a week before Christmas, my Dad would put on a Santa outfit and stand out in the front yard to talk to kids who's parents would stop to look at their lights. He'd ask them what they wanted for Christmas, if they had been good, give them a candy cane, and firmly tell them they needed to obey their parents 'cause he was still watching them.
LOL.....once he asked a little boy if he'd been good and the boy said "Yeah". Dad asked, "Are you sure?" and the boy said, "Well Santa....I really didn't mean to break Mommy's china doll, but the glue worked." Immediately his Mom's head spun around and with darting eyes said, "WHAT did you just say???" I almost fell on the ground. He was so busted.
BTW dtel, if for whatever reason you find yourself on the coast near Pass Christian, on east second street almost to Long Beach there's a guy that has one of those electronic light displays sync'd to music that broadcasts over FM. It's super cool.
Tom
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Santa will be posting some HT stuff in the Garage Sale forum in just a few moments.
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A strange "post"......
Obviously that pic was taken in boulder, Colorado
Tom
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Dyna Spudnik
This is from a vintage comic book.
I'm assuming that's a combination lock for the box, yes??
Tom
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LOL..........
This happened to my wife a couple years back when her son called and asked her how to change a tire. After 30 frustrating minutes on the phone with an impatient and sometimes ungrateful son, she left work and changed the thing herself.
Oh - and he was 20 years old.
Tom
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+1 to Coytee's comments and a public thank you to him as well. When my mom's health started going downhill last year (in nursing home now) and with my Dad getting close to 90, I became concerned that I'd have a devil of a time figuring out what they had and where it was and what they wanted done, etc., etc. So I called Coytee and got some great advice which led to "The Conversation" with my Dad. Fortunately, my Dad (being the pragmatic person he is) started speaking to folks (attorney, bank, estate planner) and got all his & Mom's ducks in a row.
Sadly, the same can't be said for all the crap they've accumulated in that house of theirs!!
Again - thanks Coytee.
Tom
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Thanks guys. I've had some experience in the past with GeForce/nVidia cards in machines I built and was leaning in that direction. However, I wanted to keep an open mind.
BTW - man-oh-man have graphics cards changed. I was floored at some of the higher-end cards. I'm not sure some of them would fit in my case!!
Tom
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It's been a while since I've looked at graphics cards for PC's so I was a bit surprised at the offerings out there when I started looking the other day.
I bought a new 22" monitor with excellent resolution and after hooking it up it became apparent that the motherboard integrated graphics processor ain't cutting it.
I'm not into gaming and the PC is never used for DVD movies & such. I just need a solid, reliable graphics card. Any recommendations??
TIA
Tom
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Wrong again!
The coldest place on earth is my Ex's heart. It is thought by some that that's where Fridgedaire got it's cold for their refrigerators.
Tom
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My Dad is 88 now and will soon be 89. He was a flight engineer on B-29's during WWII in the pacific. To be sure, he wasn't in harms way any where near what the ground forces were and he readily admits it almost in an apologetic manner. It's as if he feels guilty that others suffered more than he did. To me that's an interesting thread that seems to have run through many soldiers. I mean, most of them after being wounded would do whatever they could to get back to the"front line" to be with their buds instead of the safety of some hospital.
I reminded my Dad during a recent conversation about his WWII days that his danger wasn't just from the enemy but that of gravity - you know.....what goes up must come down. Still, he felt his "job" wasn't as dangerous. However, he did have this uneasy look in his eyes when he told of the day that they took off for a mission and lost the #4 engine on take-off roll just past the point of no return. He said the pilot calmly said, "Sgt. Adams, it's all up to you to get her to fly. Make those engines sing and get us and all these bombs the he!! off the ground. We trust you." And with that, Dad said he tweaked the engine controls as much as he could and, along with the pilot holding the plane down on the runway as long as possible, they managed to take off. Out over the water (the airfield was in Guam) they picked up some airspeed and started gaining a little altitude. With one engine out, there was no way they could join the mission so they were ordered to fly outbound a distance that once turned around and flown back, would burn enough fuel to land safely. The B-29 had no provision for dumping fuel and it's design was such that it relied on a mission profile that brought the plane back with not much fuel and no bomb load in order to safely land the plane. And needless to say, their take-off weight was right at design limits. So as they began their outbound flight and slowly gaining some more altitude, Dad said he got the cowl flaps open a bit and dialed back power to cool the engines. 20 minutes later - BANG! They lost another engine. My Dad said he remembers everything becoming "quiet" at this point for the crew knew how precarious things were. Two engines out, two engines straining, and a plane that's not maintaining altitude. After dumping out of the aircraft everything they could, the plane stayed level but the two remaining engines were no gonna be able to keep up that pace. So the pilot headed back saying they were either gonna land the thing or ditch it. Either way it was gonna return to earth. As they got closer to the island they couldn't see the airstrip due to fog having rolled in. They shot 3 approaches before the pilot (as Dad said) found a hole in the fog. One mile out from the runway, another engine catches fire but holds together enough to land. My Dad said everyone "Yea'd" and cheered and they all got out as fast as they could. A few minutes later he said that once it sunk in he collapsed from shaking and then threw up.
He also tells a neat story about some training they sent him to back in the states. It was for some new kinda bomb that they were going to drop and it was hush-hush. Yes - an atomic bomb.
Tom
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.....refrain
Woncha gimme 3 steps, gimme 3 steps mister, gimme 3 steps towards the door.....
Tom
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Was down at the Music & Movies forum and saw a post about the upcoming HBO series The Pacific and thought I'd pass along a book my Dad gave me recently. It's called Forgotten Heroes of World War II: Personal Accounts Of Ordinary Soldiers. It's an easy read (which is good for me since I tend to lean towards publications that have pictures [
] ) and is one of those books I had trouble putting down. While reading it, I couldn't help but wonder what stories of WWII my Dad had decided not to talk about. That's another thread. Anyhow.....from the book:World War II was the defining event of the twentieth century. For everyone it was a time of confusion and fear, destruction and death on a scale never before seen. Much has been written of the generals, campaigns, and battles of the war, but it was young, ordinary American kids who held our freedom in their hands as they fought for liberty across the globe. Forgotten Heroes of World War II offers a personal understanding of what was demanded of these young heroes through the stories of rank-and-file individuals who served in the navy, marines, army, air corps, and merchant marine in all theaters of the war. Their tales are told without pretense or apology. At the time, each thought himself no different from those around him, for they were all young, scared, and miserable. They were the ordinary, the extraordinary, the forgotten. Multiply their stories by hundreds of thousands, and you begin to understand the words of war correspondent Martha Gellhorn: "There are! those who received brief, poor, or no recognition, all those history leaves unmentioned, not because they are lesser but because they are too many." Recorded more than fifty years after the war, the stories in Forgotten Heroes of World War II were shared quietly, shyly, honestly, and often painfully by these extraordinary ordinary Americans. All of them begin with similar statements—"There’s really not much to tell. I was just there like everyone else. All I wanted to do was get home…" Each was uncomfortable for being singled out to speak of experiences he felt were common to so many others. None of these heroes see themselves as heroes. Indeed, the word seems to embarrass them. Yet they and thousands like them stood their watch and did their duty in spite of fear and danger. One by one they are leaving us. It will soon be too late to thank them. It will never be too late to remember what they did.
Tom
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For anyone that might be interested, I have used these folks several times: www.lacrawfish.com
I have never been disappointed in either their live or flash frozen crawfish. The frozen ones have been boiled and they do a pretty decent job of seasoning them although I do tend to add a bit more seasoning (read - heat) when I re-boil them. Their crawfish boil is probably the best pre-packaged mix I've found and is what I use when I don't feel like concocting my own brew (which BTW is very similar to dtel's). The things I like most about these folks is their customer service and the overall size of the crawfish they ship.
And for folks that think eating them is too much work, I have this to say......you need lessons in how to peel them. I can go through 10 pounds in no time. In fact, I can peel a crawfish just as fast as I can a boiled shrimp. I'm also pretty good at picking a blue crab, but my Mom can still kick my butt. Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast you learn to pick/peel fast or go hungry. And speaking of shrimp....
At the end of last July, the wife & I went to see my parents on the Gulf Coast (Pass Christian) and while there we went down to the local harbor to see how the shrimping was doing. What we saw made us head for the closest ATM. We brought back home 70 pounds of shrimp because we got 25-30 count shrimp for $3.00/pound and 20 count for $4.00/pound. There were also some 10-16 count shrimp for $4.50/pound. Those who know what these counts mean know that a 10 count shrimp is one big @ss shrimp. We also got a dozen very nice size blue crabs for 10 bucks for my parents (my Mom loves them). We just couldn't get over how cheap the seafood was not to mention how good it tastes fresh off the boat. Those shrimp from overseas have no taste IMHO. A Gulf of Mexico brown shrimp - now that's good eats.
Tom
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You do know that Bose has the contract to supply the Navy with speakers don't you?
Tom
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It'll be a miracle if this message gets posted. My company has gotten a really smart new web filtering software that wil let you read/view forums, but somehow it knows when you post a message/reply. I mean, I can type all this, hit the post button and POOF! No message posted. Those sneaky sumb*tches.....
Anyhow.....yeah - I was hoping I could just attach a USB cable directly from the phone to the PC and download the images that way. You would think that would be the easiest/simplest way. But the phone's manual specifically states that can't be done. I think I'm gonna copy the images back to the phone's memory, try to format the micro SD card, copy the images back to the micro SD and see if that does the trick. If not, I'll try a different brand of micro SD. BTW, the SD card I use in my digi Canon is a SanDisc and it works perfectly. So when I bought this SanDisc micro SD & adapter I felt pretty certain it would be on too.
Thanks for the help guys.
Tom
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I'm sure there's other places on the web to ask this, but there's some here that not only know about this stuff, but can answer a question so that even an idiot like me will understand.
I took some photos recently with my camera phone and realized that the only way for me to transfer them to my PC was to copy them from the phone's memory to a micro SD card. Then I could insert the micro SD into the standard SD adapter thing and place that in my PC's multi-drive. The copy from phone to micro SD went ok, but when I place the SD adapter into the multi-drive and asked the PC to open the "G" drive, the computer just grinds away and basically hangs up until I do a task manager shut down. One of the times I tried to get the PC to open the drive I got an error box stating there was an I/O error. Oh - and the images are stored as .jpg's.
I've tried using an SD card from my camera and the PC reads it just fine. Did I need to format the micro SD card first before storing images to it? Could it just be a bad SD adapter?
Any ideas greatly appreciated.
Tom
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Since I can't get any Klipsch PC speakers at Best Buy, anyone got a recommendation for an alternative??
Tom
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Saw a very interesting show on the Discovery Channel last Sunday about hurricanes. Having grown up (mostly) on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and having ridden-out hurricane Camille and having parents that stayed during Katrina, I'm more than a bit familiar with the destruction/aftermath portion of a hurricane. So it was the part of the show that dealt with the causation/formation of hurricanes that interested me the most. In simple terms, the hot winds from the Sahara Desert alone cannot create a hurricane for it cannot form without the interaction between the winds and the islands that lie just off the coast of Africa. Truly an amazing climate phenomena (sp?).
Just think - we could just level some of those islands and POOF!! No more hurricanes. Seems to me a cost comparison between the loss due to destruction would out-weigh the nucs to re-arrange the terrain.
Tom
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Don't own a pistol (only a 7mm-08 Ruger rifle), haven't shot many pistols, and tuthfully not sure I will even buy a single pistol. BUT........
Lord how I love reading these threads. Not sure what the fascination is for me, but I absolutely love reading these.
Tom
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You guys crack me up. One minute you bash the gubmint for spending tax payer $$$ on programs that will allow people to buy "foreign cars" then turn around and bash them for spending tax payer $$$ on business jets that are MADE IN THE USA WITH MATERIALS SOURCED IN THE USA BY FOLKS WHO PAY USA TAXES. Sheesh......
And just what the heck is a "foreign car"?? MB? BMW? Honda? Nissan? et.al.....they're made in the states. Many GM & Ford's are made in or sub-assembled in Canada & Mexico. The money goes back to foreign countries? True, but only to be turned around and invested here in either building more plants or.......BUYING OUR FRIGGIN' DEBT. I suggest to you there is no longer such a thing as a "foreign car"
Anywho, I'm trying to steer my Dad towards the CTS. Honestly, he's not the typical buyer looking for a "deal" with this cash-for-clunkers thing. He just needs a nice vehicle, he can pay cash and price is not important to him since he's 88 and has a decent nest egg. Besides.....he probably won't be driving too many years into the future - hence my urging to buy the CTS. It's that inheritance thing. (insert evil laugh) [6]
Tom
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Does it have a bedroom?
Bedroom.....all Bill needs is a desk and a chair.
I'm sorry but that has to be the funniest thing I've read in a looooooong time. All that was needed was the snare drum roll and cymbal crash.
LMAO...........
Oh - and yes, we can put a bedroom on a plane.
Tom
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Interesting thread. Many good points. Honestly.....I found myself vascilating (sp?) back & forth. I too believe in the non-judging/forgiveness thing. But I'm also not convinced that his only option for being a "productive member of society" is playing football. Seriously, is there NOTHING else he can do?? Maybe what he really needs to hear is that he's done his time, he's forgiven, but professional football no longer has a place for him and that he needs to start a new path in life. Who knows....maybe that new path will be his testimony to being sorry for what he did. I dunno.....
And hey....here's another data point fer ya. Pete Rose still ain't elligible for the Hall of Fame and the worst he did was bet on his on team!
Tom
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Bill and company could've gotten there & back much faster and with less cost had they taken one of these:
http://www.gulfstream.com/products/g550/
Check out the specs.
Tom
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My Dad was thinking about taking advantage of this program. The timing was certainly right since he was in the market for a new car regardless. He only has one vehicle - a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Cartier (i.e. land yacht). And since he travels to & from the nursing home to see my Mom on a daily basis, I finally convinced him he needed something a bit more reliable - especially since the darn thing has started nickle & diming him to death. Sheesh.....recently he paid something like $800 to replace a cracked intake manifold (they're made out of composite material). Anyhow, he finally agreed that something a bit more practical and fuel efficient, yet comfortable would be a good idea. I think he's gonna look at a Cadillac CTS and a Buick Enclave.
Tom
] ) and is one of those books I had trouble putting down. While reading it, I couldn't help but wonder what stories of WWII my Dad had decided not to talk about. That's another thread. Anyhow.....from the book:
Remind me again why we keep importing propducts from China?
in General Klipsch Info
Posted
Mark - are you sure we don't work for the same company?? [
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Seriously.....it's the same here. Our "Purchasing" department is HUGE and although we still have the capability to make parts it's scaled back to support spare or "HOT" parts. However......
There does seem to be some bright spots here & there mostly at the hands of foreign manufacturers such as the new KIA plant in Columbus, GA and the various BMW, Honda, Toyota, MB, etc. plants. What doesn't make sense to me is how can Kia or Honda use American workers and build a fine product at competitive prices, yet GM cannot even when they manufacture & assemble in Canada or Mexico. Anyhow........
And then there are gems like Lee Conn & Brian Case who intend to build a new all-American designed, manufactured, and assembled motorcycle (Motus) in Alabama. And this is what I found interesting in the Feb. 2010 Motorcyclist article, Lee Conn said, "The recession has allowed us to access resources that were otherwise inaccessable. We have manufacturers (U.S.) working with us that five years ago would not have even talked to us. And remember, 60% of today's Fortune 500 companies were started during a recession". To me, that is what America is all about and what gives me hope that America and AMERICANS will still succeed in spite of what the idiots in our Imperial Federal Goverment do. [:@]
Sadly, more & more of us are almost forced into buying "cheap" foreign made items when our buyng power is not only diminished by a weak dollar or inflation, but also because the 2% or 3% pay increases don't off-set inflation and the rising costs of goods & services resulting in having LESS money. This gets back Mark to your comment about the bean counters and their impact. I also feel that as investors scream ever louder for greater & greater returns on their investments, it forces top executives to revist the age old question of whether you really can't get blood from a turnip. IMHO. at some point, greed becomes the cancer that kills the game for all of us.
And then there's the data driven rationalized need for spending $1M dollars to fund Lean Six Sigma programs in order to save $500K. I will stop here for this is a subject that just p!sses me off to no extent!
Tom