Indoor Cats in SF need to be Vaccinated for Rabies

Our eldest son Che (13 years old) passed his annual exam at the Park Animal Hospital today. Since last year he's gone from 17.2lb to 16.6lb. He's in good health, though he needs to lose more weight.

The vet told me a good trick to stop your cat from gorging: Put one or more golf balls in their food dish. It slows them down. Some new cat bowls contain obstacles that the cat must eat around.

The vet said SF Animal Control now recommends that SF indoor cats be vaccinated for rabies! There was a notice stating this posted in the waiting room. Animal Control has found rabid bats around the city, and they're concerned that a bat might enter a house and bite a pet.

100 Things to Do

If life has no purpose (and it doesn't), then you need to create one.

These guys were parked in Sausalito yesterday. They've made a list of 100 things to do, and they're on a mission.

Blue Angels over the Golden Gate

The Navy's F/A-18 Hornets are the most visible part of Fleet Week in San Francisco.

The fast moving jets are very hard to photograph, so instead of using a camera, I used a DV Cam and then extracted the frames I liked.

Categories:San Francisco

Where's the rest of it?

This is only the third smart fortwo I've ever seen.

Plans to import the car to the States have kept changing. A local company called ZAP even started to convert the cars to sell here. But now Daimler AG (that's what they call themselves now) has decided to sell the fortwo in the US.

The two seat fortwo is very short. Maybe 3 feet longer than my bicycle. There's room inside for two large people and groceries. The 3 cylinder engine is under the floor, behind the seats.

Categories:Cars

Our Next TV?

We might soon be aiming our furniture at a new tv! Neither of us watch much television, but our current CRT tv takes up too much space in our living room. We want a tv to hang on the wall, out of the way.

The November issue of Consumer Reports magazine recommends the $1150 Toshiba Regza 42HL67 as a "best buy". They site "excellent, detailed picture quality and a very good viewing angle."

We have a wall space of 52" to mount it on, and the 42" Toshiba is 40.5" wide, so it should fit nicely.

Categories:Gadgets

1977 MGB GT

My nephew in New Zealand asked my opinion of this MG which is for sale near his home in Wellington. This is my reply:

I'm a fan of the MGB GT. It's 200lb or so heavier than the convertible B, but I think it looks much better with its taller windscreen and hatchback body. And it's a little more practical with the small back seat and the storage area under the hatch. Though, as you know, no one would buy an MG for its utility.

A few years ago I considered buying a GT. A friend who already had a Lotus 7a ("a" for America), was selling her late 1960's GT. The car sounded great, and drove well. But it had rust under the seam on top of the rear mudguard (quarter panel), and one broken leaf on the rear springs. The spring would have been easy to fix, but the rust concerned me. So I looked through a book on MGB restoration, and more than half the book was dedicated to rust removal! I think rust is not so much of a problem in NZ because I see so many old NZ Minis in San Francisco, and they're all in good unrestored condition.

Here in the States, the older chrome bumper MGB's are more desirable. The rubber bumper models here are handicapped with a single carburetor and horsepower restricting anti-pollution devices. Also, the rubber bumper model has an awkwardly high ride height to meet US federal bumper laws. But I would guess that the New Zealand version has the proper twin carbs and correct ride height. And, in my opinion, MG did a notably good job of integrating the plastic bumpers with classic MGB styling. So, what I'm saying is, a NZ market MG with rubber bumpers is probably just as good as the chrome bumper cars!

As far as the mechanicals go, the car is a pretty simple monocoque design, with a live rear axle located by leaf springs. The front suspension is double A-arm with unusual lever dampers.
I don't know much about the engine, except that it's a push rod design, and it was also used in the Morris Marina, so parts will be easy to find.

For $NZ4000, I'd buy it! But I'd ask the seller for receipts for the work done to it. Also, and I can't emphasize this enough, have a mechanic give the car an inspection!

Categories:Cars

Your Other Left Side

Talk to Your Daughter Before the Beauty Industry Does

From ibelieveinadv via notcot
Categories:Consumer Movies

The Can Cooler

I want a gadget that does the opposite of a microwave oven: Put your food in it, and 60 seconds later, it's cold! I could refreeze ice cream. Get a nice cold glass of water. Make ice cubes in minutes!

But until my dream is realized, we have the Tinchilla (tin chiller), which claims to cool a standard beverage can in 60 seconds using thermal conduction. It does this by spinning the can in icy water. This is supposed to quickly bring the entire contents of the can into contact with the cold surface of the can. I wonder if it works?

Categories:Gadgets

Apple's iPhone Mistake

Recent software and firmware upgrades for the iPhone are causing hacked iPhones to "brick".

If you've unlocked your iPhone to use it on a network other than AT&T, then recent firmware "upgrades" might make your iPhone unusable. And if you hacked your iPhone to add 3rd party applications, then you might find that those applications no longer work after the upgrade.

That's because Apple wants to keep you on the AT&T network, because Apple skims something like 30% off your AT&T phone bill each month.

But in the US, how many people are going to unlock their iPhones and switch networks? The only other GSM carrier is T-Mobile.

I think Apple should follow the example set by Palm with the Palm OS. This operating system is ancient and has never been significantly improved. But it's still the best OS for a PDA/phone because of the thousands of free 3rd party applications written by enthusiasts.

If thousands of Apple fan boys are happy to write applications for the iPhone, then Apple should encourage them by hosting an iPhone developers conference.

Categories:Gadgets