This is the last can of soda I ever drank

No...really...I mean it.

Update: This might help you guess where I live based on my use of the word soda.

Go!

Our hero is leaving the line second from right.

Make Money Here
The area in red is a mobile home park on 24 acres. The area in yellow is Downtown Windsor. Downtown Windsor allows high density mixed-use development to a height of three stories. Similar zoning in the mobile home park would yield 400-500 units. It is across from the town green (green area), is in a priority development area, has easy freeway access, and has income from the mobile homes during the predevelopment period. It is a ten-year project but how often do you get a chance to own 24 acres of downtown?

Hard to Imagine
The world record in the 5000 meter run is 12:37 by Kenenisa Bekele.

I'll give you a moment of silence to ponder that.

I figure that on my best day I could have run about 500 meters at that pace.

Citroen Update
This template will be useful when it's time to reassemble the car.
How many of you vote for this color?

Attention James Alexander.
You have to see this. Be sure to check out the sodazoo, races, and various links too.

I'm not into knitting but I think this is very cool. Thank MS1.

Indeed! And a Borborygme is what you get when some of the Quaff wasn't Gagged.

Vertigo again
I like distorted pictures for some reason. Maybe I need to get my glasses prescription updated. These paintings were done by James Vinciguerra.

The Parade, Leamington Spa above and The Royal Pump Rooms below


Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick above and
Jephson Gardens 2 below


Clarendon Square above and Regent Hotel below

Here is a nice greeting card next time you need one.

I highly recommend this hotel.

Trickery
These two charts were used recently on the Angry Bear website to demonstrate that FDR's taxing and spending policies reduced consumption whereas Reagan's raised consumption.
The first chart covers the 20 year period from 1930 to 1950. The second chart covers the longer period from 1980 to 2005. The impression one gets is that consumption rose dramatically in the second period. But look closer. (Click on a chart to increase its size).The vertical scale on the first chart runs from 0% to 90% while the vertical scale on the second chart runs from 61% to 71%. If the two charts were merged into one the rise in consumption from 1975 to 2005 would appear to be almost nothing.

NREB
I think this probably explains the 300,000 share sale on June 24. Notice Regional Bank Holders (RKH) fund at the bottom. This is actually good news because there will eventually be buying pressure as these positions unwind. I think the worst is over.

Citroen Update
These pictures are from October. The first picture shows the new floor, driveline tunnel, firewall, and steering column. The steering wheel is temporary. The parts are just tack welded in place.
The second picture shows some bodywork mounted temporarily to make sure the clearances are adequate.
The third picture shows the power steering assembly. This is a dummy engine. The real one is identical but new.
The fourth picture shows the front suspension assembly with spring, damper and brakes.
The fifth picture shows the new firewall, steering shaft, and some of the power brake assembly.
Rear suspension. This is where the Citroen purists can rightly say Blasphemy! It is not elegant but at least it can handle the horsepower.

Citroen Update
These pictures are from September. The new chassis is being aligned under the body framework. The chassis has the basic front and rear suspension mounted to aid in the alignment.
You can see new rocker panels in the second picture. The originals were rusted out.

My big question for the week
What will NREB report as earnings per share? I am predicting $0.397 cents per share. $0.38 again would not be good. Below $0.38 would be very bad. And what are the details? How many SBA loans did they have to sell to make the earnings come to the desired number? Has the net interest margin continued to shrink or has it stabilized? Are the new branches getting good deposit growth? The big national banks that have already announced earnings have had decent earnings but the details are not good. They have made profits from fees, asset sales or trading activity but their core banking has been lackluster. NREB is all about core banking.

Update: Good News. Northern Empire Bancshares Announces Third Quarter 2005 Net Income of $4.4 Million, $0.402 per diluted share, Up 20.8%.

I like this.

This brings back childhood memories except I liked cars instead of planes. I have no idea why I didn't become an engineer. I guess I just lost track of it in high school.

Vertigo?

This is how I feel today. It's because I have a new bag of chocolate chips to eat.

Check this out.

Meet Larry. (Pronounced Lar-ar-ar-ry in stoccato fashion).

And Lilly. (That's Li-i-i-ly).










They would greet you but they are too busy chewing.

These paintings feel like home.
Summer
Paul Youngman
Benziger Vineyard
Mark Farina

But why is it C to the 2nd power? Why not to the 1st power or to the 3rd?

Update: Maybe this is the answer. Basically it is related to the formula for the area of a circle, Area=PiRadius[sq] where Area = Energy content, Pi = Mass, and Radius = speed of light.

I'll have to think about this, I guess. It is not intuitive since a circle is a two-dimensional structure. I think of energy and mass in terms of a three-dimensional world. In a three dimensional world, volume is based on the cube of the radius.

This is Chewy. He likes to sit between me and my keyboard so it is difficult to type. He has learned to stay off the mouse but he likes to wrap his legs around my left arm so I'll scratch his tummy.

Dorfkirchen above in Michelfeld, Germany below.

Great x 8 Grandpa Hans Jakob Rudisuhle was born 4 October, 1666 in Michelfeld. He married Great x 8 Grandma Cleophe Neff. Both were born, christened and died in Michelfeld, maybe in this church. Hans' family came from Frumsen, Kanton St. Gallen in about 1640. Cleophe's family came from Affoltern Am Albis, Kanton Zurich in about 1650. I have 2,048 ancestors from that generation and I can account for two of them. Woop de doo.

The Battle of Bunker's Hill, painted in 1786 by John Trumbull, hangs in the Yale library. The man in the black hat looking over the left shoulder of the guy wearing a white shirt and holding a musket is Great x 6 Grandpa Andrew McClary. Andrew died in the battle after being struck in the chest by a cannon ball. Oops. His father, another Andrew, was born in Ulster, Ireland in 1717 and moved to New Hampshire in 1726. That Andrew's father, Michael, was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1660. It seems odd that Michael was 57 when Andrew was born but that's what they tell me. St. Margaret Street, Dunfermline

Michael was a Covenanter who fought against Charles II's army at Bothwell bridge on 22 June 1679. The Covenanters lost and Michael fled to Ulster, Ireland. (Charles Stewart was restored to the throne of Scotland, England, and Ireland as Charles II in 1660. He made the Episcopalian church the national church and outlawed Presbyterianism. Apparently Michael was a Presbyterians who covenanted with other Presbyterians to resist.)

Rape of a Goddess*
Follow the progress as I convert my 1964 Citroen DS19 into a Corvette powered hot rod.
* DS is short for Goddess.

These are the before pictures.
I bought her in Oakland from a guy who had at one time used it as his daily car. It ran fine but, as is the case with all old Goddesses, the hydraulic pump could not keep up with the leaks. She could only stand up for about 15 minutes; less if I used the power steering.

She cost me $600

She sat in my garage for two years before the work began.

The process begins. First we undress her.

Then we gut her.

And by we I mean them. Because really all I do is dream it up and pay for it.



When I mentioned the project on a motoring website Citroen enthusiasts offered the following comments:

Blasphemy!

and

OMG; it's a massacre of a classic. Are you completely out of your mind?

Update Askmen.com lists the DS19 as the third best car of all time.

To ms1:

My pet goose, Flappy, has taken a great interest in your dress. She admires the strong neck of your friend and is jealous that your friend will get to go to parties with you. I have explained to her that your friend gets to do this because she is an especially polite goose who does not snap at passers-by. I am hoping it will motivate Flappy to improve her own social skills.