The Vent and Rant Thread

[wodin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

...
his pride an joy is a lovingly restored canary yellow 1957 TBird convertible. Opportunities to drive that are a bit limited, however, but it turns heads when he does.
______
Dennis

I was working as a grease monkey in a Ford dealership when those came out. They were the last model that was a two seat sports car even though Ford didn't promote them as sports cars. They were a fitting answer to the Corvette until Ford decided to go another way in 1958.

They were a bear to work on though, you had to unbolt the motor mounts and jack up the engine just to change the spark plugs; and in those days you had to change the spark plugs every 10,000 or so miles.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I have a friend with one of those too, in a powder blue color; he bought it new when he was first married. They are currently having it restored from the frame up and he expects to be driving it, and turning heads, again about this time next year.

If your friend is as much of TBird nut as mine, they may know each other.

Doubtful. Where does your friend live? Mine is in rural PA on the edge of Amish country. (When I visited him years back he drove me to his place and said "You are now out of the sticks and into the twigs!") He travels a bit, but those are long trips. (He was planning a trip to Goa the last time we spoke, just because. Previous trips had included Malta and Manila.) But he's too far in the boonies to meet anyone other than locals socially, and is not active on line. Other people have black thumbs trying to grow plants. He has a black thumb trying to use technology. He was grateful a while back when I told him he wasn't stupid (and he's not). He had a form of learning disability. The light bulb blinked on over his head as various things fell into place and he realized I was right.

So I rather doubt he's aware of your friend or vice versa because there's no way their paths are likely to cross.

Getting his TBird restored has been a time consuming adventure. Another old friend named Mike had similar issues. He has a 1967 427 Corvette Stingray. He finally gave up on Chevy factory service, and found a speed shop near him with a mechanic named Tommy who loved Vettes and wouldn't let it out of the shop till it was perfect. Mike sent me a picture of the engine compartment after Tommy was finished. It was better than factory new. I gawked at the photo, and told Mike, "Whatever Tommy charged you, you got a deal!" Mike agreed.

Once it was driveable again, Mike took it for a spin. He discovered he had to re-calibrate his reflexes. He'd forgotten how much horsepower he had under the hood in the Vette and popped a wheelie accelerating. Oops...
______
Dennis

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I was gobsmacked not long back seeing a Morris Minor parked near me. (Pic attached.) It looked like the larval form of a classic black London taxi. It was a quite compact four door sedan, and somewhat shorter than most standard US passenger cars.

That looks like a 2-door Mini Mark 1 from the 1960's. Its Cooper S variant featured in the movie The Italian Job.



George Harrison had black one, after getting someone to give it a psychedelic paint job, he gave to Eric Clapton, and then he bought it back again :lol: Not sure where it is now, maybe in the V&A Museum, lots of British memorabilia ends up in there

BR

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Doubtful. Where does your friend live? Mine is in rural PA on the edge of Amish country. (When I visited him years back he drove me to his place and said "You are now out of the sticks and into the twigs!") He travels a bit, but those are long trips. (He was planning a trip to Goa the last time we spoke, just because. Previous trips had included Malta and Manila.) But he's too far in the boonies to meet anyone other than locals socially, and is not active on line. Other people have black thumbs trying to grow plants. He has a black thumb trying to use technology. He was grateful a while back when I told him he wasn't stupid (and he's not). He had a form of learning disability. The light bulb blinked on over his head as various things fell into place and he realized I was right.

So I rather doubt he's aware of your friend or vice versa because there's no way their paths are likely to cross.

Getting his TBird restored has been a time consuming adventure. Another old friend named Mike had similar issues. He has a 1967 427 Corvette Stingray. He finally gave up on Chevy factory service, and found a speed shop near him with a mechanic named Tommy who loved Vettes and wouldn't let it out of the shop till it was perfect. Mike sent me a picture of the engine compartment after Tommy was finished. It was better than factory new. I gawked at the photo, and told Mike, "Whatever Tommy charged you, you got a deal!" Mike agreed.

Once it was driveable again, Mike took it for a spin. He discovered he had to re-calibrate his reflexes. He'd forgotten how much horsepower he had under the hood in the Vette and popped a wheelie accelerating. Oops...
______
Dennis

Sure, it's unlikely but I know my friend is in touch with a lot of TBird enthusiasts across the country, it sounds like they all have their own area of "I'm the expert on this piece of esoterica", so like I said, if your friend is big into that it is possible. Unlikely, sure, but I do know he traveled to the NE a couple years ago to meet up with some TBird friends. Other than seeing the grandkids that seems to be his main reason for travel the last couple years.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

That looks like a 2-door Mini Mark 1 from the 1960's. Its Cooper S variant featured in the movie The Italian Job.

Attachment 164436

George Harrison had black one, after getting someone to give it a psychedelic paint job, he gave to Eric Clapton, and then he bought it back again :lol: Not sure where it is now, maybe in the V&A Museum, lots of British memorabilia ends up in there

BR

You mean, the remake of The Italian Job?

Hitch

[Dazrin]

I learned something new today when I saw this comparison between the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kobo Clara HD.

(Emphasis mine.)

No matter how good an e-reader is on paper, it needs to support many types of digital books to actually be useful. Both the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Clara HD support Epub 3, MOBI, and PDF books, which is great, but then things get tricky.

Apparently Kindles can now read Epub3 books! Yay! Oh wait...

I hate it when technology reviewers don't actually understand what they are writing about. I personally prefer Kindles, and REALLY would like them to support Epub, but when I read FUD like this I get mad even when "my" side is the "beneficiary."

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I learned something new today when I saw this comparison between the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kobo Clara HD.

(Emphasis mine.)

Apparently Kindles can now read Epub3 books! Yay! Oh wait...

I hate it when technology reviewers don't actually understand what they are writing about. I personally prefer Kindles, and REALLY would like them to support Epub, but when I read FUD like this I get mad even when "my" side is the "beneficiary."

What a moron! I have zero patience with this kind of crap. I mean, really. Have you ever even SEEN an ereader? Do you have any idea at all about ecosystems? Sheesh. (Oh, and by the way, his basic premise is wrong too!)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You mean, the remake of The Italian Job?

Hitch

I mean the one starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward etc, would have been released in the 1960s - I've always assumed it was original.

BR

[therazorsedge]

Originally Posted by TadW

Feeling particularly curmudgeonly today, I thought I'd start this thread for those of us who need to vent, complain, rant, and otherwise be miserable. So I'll start with my pent-up frustrations from the last week, and if this thread goes nowhere, oh well, I've just embarrassed myself again (as I do everyday anyway).


%*$W(*#% #()@)$ #%(
mumblemumblestupidpeoplemumbleevilkidsmumble
nobodylovesmeeverybodyhatesmeguessi'llgoeatworms

Whew, that felt great to get off my chest!

Nice that you got that off your chest, now if only someone could answer a question that has been bugging the crap out of me for the past several weeks.

I live in a spanish speaking country and when I download the metadata I get it in a mix of english and spanish which irrigates me because even though I speak spanish I want my library in Calibre 3.25 to be all english including the covers.

So ramble on

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I mean the one starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward etc, would have been released in the 1960s - I've always assumed it was original.

BR

Ah! I asked because the Minis were heavily used in the remake (Mark Wahlburg, Donald Sutherland, Charlize Theron, etc.) as well.

I loved the original...although, obviously, it kinda left ya hanging...

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

It's 4am and I've given up on getting any more sleep. I did manage a couple of hours, but after that I was wide awake. Luckily this does't happen too often, but when it does it's annoying.

Sent from my Lenovo TB-X704F using Tapatalk

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

It's 4am and I've given up on getting any more sleep. I did manage a couple of hours, but after that I was wide awake. Luckily this does't happen too often, but when it does it's annoying.

Sent from my Lenovo TB-X704F using Tapatalk

That happened to me last night. So frustrating. I've stayed up later than usual tonight hoping that when I finally go to bed I will be so tired that I will go to sleep quickly and sleep through the rest of the night.

[Rumpelteazer]

For weeks I hadn't heard a peep or a rustle of the mouse/mice in my bedroom. Not even in between the ceiling and walls. I had just started to relax my incense and eucalyptus oil ritual but last night, when I couldn't sleep, there was the telltale rustle of something small moving about.

I know where the mice are most likely to come into my room: a stairwell, which is just close off with a curtain. I've now wedged a storage box and a heavy cardboard box in the opening, with the curtain folded underneath it. If they climb they can still get in, but it isn't as easy as before. I also need to continue with my oil diffuser and my cinnamon incense.

[GrannyGrump]

@Rumpelteazer --- I don't know if it is an option for you, but this is something that worked for me --- I happened to have a rodent problem. I then happened to be keeping a friend's cat for one weekend. At the end of the weekend, I had no more problem. I think just the *smell* of that cat frightened them away.

BTW -- I tried the "supersonic noise" device, but several Japanese friends told me that was like a "jukebox for mice", and they just dance to the music

[BetterRed]

OK, I understand why some folk like sugar free confectionery and soft drinks, and others like their bread gluten free, and still others like unsalted butter and dried fruit sans nuts.

But, I'm buggered if I get flavour free mandarins! If someone doesn't like the taste of mandarins they should buy bananas. I swear at least half the mandarins I've bought in recent weeks (it's winter here) have had absolutely no taste at all, I've thrown many in the compost.

I buy most fruit and vegetables from a couple of owner operated greengrocers (produce stores). Today I took the remaining nine of a bag of ten back to one of them, after letting me try a sample they replaced them with 2 bags; they also gave me a couple of heads of their smoked garlic to try. Can't imagine any of our limited number of supermarket chains would have even offered a refund.

Flavour free fruit - who invented that!!

BR