The Time Has Come (the Walrus said)

Yep – its running a bit late.

Today the Friday Photo is the Workers Memorial at Port Adelaide. Whilst vaguely interesting in itself, the early morning light gives deep shadows, and bright light where the sun is – overall the impression is striking.

(Click for the full size version… go back a photo for William Russell – Sail maker and Ships Chandler.)

Today’s crop of vanity plates displays just how shallow people are.

Exhibit 1.

Seen on a bog ordinary out-of-the-factory Holden Commodore:

ITS
MYNE

So, not only can the owner not spell, but they want to show to the world that they can’t spell, and that they can only show off a plain mass produced factory car. If something like that was on the back of an Aston Martin driven by a blonde bimbette, I could perhaps understand the desire to show off. But on a Commodore? Sorry.

Exhibit 2.

Seen on a plain old Mazda 3 or Toyota Corolla – another car sold by the squadrillion:

IOU-001

You owe who one, for what? What strange piece of logic, if any, entered the twisted and demented soul of a person who wants a number plate like that? On the getaway car of a bank robber or perhaps as the plates on one of the Bernie Madoff Rolls Royces, I could understand and even appreciate the irony. But on a rice burner in the morning rush-half-hour commute of a big country town? Sorry.

Exhibit 3.

Seen on another Holden Commodore:

MYVY-03

Yes, it WAS in the back of a VY Commodore. Gosh, what an imagination! Not everyone could think of a vanity plate that includes the car model. I think I’m going to have palpitations, I might need to sit down and get my breath back, the imagination shown here is just so stupendous in its breadth, depth, and creativity.

I’m left wondering. These people have such egos that they want these vanity plates in the first place, and this is the best they can come up with. (Follow the train of reasoning here), so how come if they are so dumb we let these people DRIVE? And VOTE?

Todays Friday Photo comes courtesy of a wall at Port Adelaide – painted with an old advertisement for M. Donaghy & Sons – ropemakers of Geelong and Port Adelaide.

(Click for the full size version… and if you go back a photo once there you can see why I might have a few reservations about The Central Hotel.)

I spent today writing a Software Development Plan. The sort of thing you need to do now and again as part of quality systems and such like.

I’ve reached 23 scintillating pages. I have some very good reference material, previous documents, and other odds and sods to draw on.

There is one big trouble with writing documents like this.

It’s as boring as bat shit.

I’m having trouble keeping the attention focussed on it. Sooooo looking forward to having it completed. Another day or two should see a reasonable first draft. How ever do full time QA professionals avoid the boredom?

The Lady Of The House (otherwise known in Acronym Soup land as The LOTH… which seems better than the male equivalent, being The MOTH), Anyhow… The LOTH has been hunting down all sorts of weird stuff for her work – which at various times involves kiddie-winks and school groups and such like.

In her travels, she found The Creepy Halloween Vampire Dude:

She was very excited. “Take away the teeth – who does it look like?”

Scroll down for the answer.

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In other news, this one caught my eye about the entry of the US giant Costco to Australia. Sounds a bit like Tom-The-Cheap (of 35 years ago) meets Bunnings Warehouse.

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Read the rest of this entry »

Gosh. Perpetual motion machines ARE REAL and you can use them to generate FREE ELECTRICITY and power your home.

And the reason it’s not used more widely is because OF A BIG CONSPIRACY TO COVER IT UP.

Oh dear.

http://www.smallbizcenter.info/magniwork.php?apid=A1M&apflag=1&v=1

If you watch the videos – it all seems so plausible. There is even a patent so it must work, right? Wrong! Patents are patents, they are not a determinant of truth.

Do some more digging, you will find this: http://www.rexresearch.com/christie/christie.htm#how

The bit right at the end explains how the fallacy works.

For a historical list of free energy devices and perpetual motion machines: http://www.phact.org/e/dennis4.html

If ever asked, don’t invest your money in such devices.

Today’s Friday Photo is still from the recent Port Adelaide series.

The chap above the door on the town hall is, well, striking. What a grumpy old sod, he makes me look positively cheerful.

(Click for the full size version… and if you go back a photo once there you can see the delights that Bernie The Butcher has to offer.)

I’ve got a bit to get off ma chest. No blogging for a few weeks back there and now I have an accumulation of rants.

So today, the one in my sights is Mr 80% – yes, that’s right, the essay-writing Kevin 07 – Mr Rudd.

Back in the days when the Evil Bastard was in power we had corruption, self-serving dimwits, and the dying days of a government that had done it’s time.

But we also had The Chaser on the Goggle Box, who would do a weekly stunt – like catch Little John power walking and try and cuddle him whilst holding a running chainsaw. (As you do to a Prime Minister).

John might have been an evil little prick – but he could at least take a joke. Every week, he’d have a laugh, and we’d laugh along.

Well, now, The Chaser has finished – killed off by their own lack of imagination, and stifled by an ABC even more cowed than it was when Little John was The Man.

But notable in the last few shows was the reaction of Mr $300,000,000 – Kevin The PM.

Kevin HAS NO SENSE OF HUMOUR AT ALL.

Unlike Li’l John, Kevin can’t take a joke, can’t laugh at himself – or anyone else. His sense of humour must have been surgically removed. This does not fill me with a sense of a great future for this nation. We need to laugh at ourselves – and this starts at the top.

Yes, the Friday Photo has made a comeback (on a Saturday, I might add).

The other week, before the Dreaded Lurgy struck, I had to run Oldest Son down to Port Adelaide each morning for a few days. On the last day I remembered to grab the camera before leaving.

So today’s Friday Photo is the first in a series, which I’ll pop out over the next few weeks, probably a couple of photos a week.

Port Adelaide is interesting, because unlike many of the other cities of the old colonies, the port is some 10 or so miles distant from the city; so the character of the port is quite different to the character of the city.

The port has also been left behind in the development stakes, though things have gradually been changing there over the last 10 years or so. Right now, a huge development push is happening, so the character will be completely changed again over the next few years.

This series, then, is a bit of a snapshot of the port of today – bits of the faded grandeur,  bits of the tacky and run-down, and bits of the warehouses that stored the wool that created much of the wealth of the early colony.

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Today, though, is indulgence: The end of winter, the clear blue sky, early morning long shadows, and the effect of parallel lines of trees and buildings make for an interesting effect.

(Click for full size)

In amongst the fun of getting The Lemon fixed, both The Lady of The House and I have come down with the same ripper of a cold-in-the-head at the same time.

We’ve been a pair misery-gutses, I’ve been off work since Wednesday, the LOTH since Thursday. Today was an annual leave day for us both because the kids have day off school. We had been going to have a noice family day out somewhere. Instead, the chaps have been lying low while their Mum and Dad mope around feeling sorry for themselves.

Now Youngest Son says he thinks he has it on the way as well. I hope not, because it’s a mighty powerful one this. The Snot Fairy had extra strong magic in her wand when she cast it in our direction.

I feel like putting a sign on the door: “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here”.

I spose it will be sorted in a few days.

Today The Lemon came home from its overnight stay in car-hospital.

Total bill for the cooling system repairs: $1100. Costs you less to have children.

It turns out that the water pump was busted, and the nice chap who did the repair sees a lot of this model for the same fix. At the same age, the water pumps all go. Apparently they are in such demand that the suppliers have them on back-order.

While they were at it, they replaced the special hard-to-get-at Y-shaped hose that the dealer service people had suggested might need replacing – it was leaking so it had to be done.

And in order to do the water pump, the timing belt needed to be replaced as well. You have to pull the timing belt to get the water pump off. But it was just as well, the timing belt was shot and pretty much ready to give up the ghost at any time. He kept it to show me the cracks in it, and questioned if it had ever been replaced.

Now on this car, the timing belt is supposed to be replaced every 60,000 km. the car has done 105,000 km. I just checked back through the service receipts – the 60,000 km service was a shocker – at that time they replaced the water pump also (so it’s now on #3), timing belt, and a bunch of other things. In other words, the timing belt was replaced when it was supposed to be, but the replacement may not have lasted the scheduled time. And getting under 60,000 km from water pumps?! What were these designers thinking?

Interesting though was the price for all this work:

If this is what a nice guy in the ‘burbs can charge – for genuine parts, then watch out – your friendly Holden dealer is most likely ripping you off.

The whole repair has been very expensive – but as the nice man said – had the timing belt gone, it would have been 3 times the price to fix it.

I can thoroughly recommend the chap who did the fix: McLean Automotive Services at Ridgehaven. They seem to be honest, they charge less than a dealer, and most impressively – the workshop is immaculately clean – a sign that they take a great deal of care. This is our second dealing with them now, and they’ll be getting more of our business in future.