Postcards From Myself

I thought this had died down, but I have started seeing it more and more again. And yes, this is for my Windows using friends. Please, please, please do not install Hotbar. If you have it now, please uninstall it and run something like Spybot Search & Destroy or go to http://housecall.antivirus.com and run their free scan.

Hotbar is a known carrier of spyware. Yes, it will help you put cute little smiley faces in your email. Yes, it adds a neat little toolbar to your browser. But it has been proven to slow down machines, cause pop-up windows, and allow in all kinds of other unfriendly beasties. Baseline is that you do not want it on your machine.

You also really do need a full suite of protection protects on your Windows machine. For the home user I recommend AVG’s free anti-virus for Grisoft. You can also either use their spyware tool or the one I mentioned above. Or, if using Vista, just use Microsoft Defender which came with Windows to protect your machine from spyware. But please, use something.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback please let me know!

I have a site for those muddle masses among us who are British car fans. It is JustBritish and I have been running it for a few years now. Why I am mentioning it now is that I have just finished the first thrust of a major redesign. If you are so inclined, and I hope you are, I would be most grateful if you would visit the site and let me know what you think.

I have been a British car fan since I was a young boy. I think the very first car I ever fell in love with was an MG TC. To me it was more than a car, it was a that most hackneyed of expressions, a rolling sculpture. I built at least two models of TCs during the young summers when I kept repeatedly breaking my leg. Later on, after finally getting a license and a job with enough money to warrant a car, my first car was a 1971 MG B GT. I always loved the look of the hardtop GTs a bit more than the convertible Bs.

Due to only having enough money to buy the car but not to have it worked on when it needed help, I learned to work on my own cars. This was something totally out of the norm for me or most of my family. But I loved it. I ended up working for a foreign car parts shop, learning more than I can ever imagine from the owner who became a life long friend, and starting down that long road to car fanaticism. Along the way I started the British Car Club of Charleston (still in existence 25 years later), met some of the most amazing people, owned more old British relics than I had years on my body, and found a wife who would put up with all this!

But, back to the site. I have been working on this site with forums and events and classifieds and such for many years. Recently though I have decided that I need to really do something with it. And so … the site redesign. I have started by making the main site a blog. I have a few more things to do there, but once complete I will move on to refining, and hopefully speeding up, the forums. And then from there who knows!

So, if you can spare a moment, please stop by. And if you are “one of us”, please sign up for the news feed, leave a note, and become a regular. Most of the cars are small, but there is always room for one more.

Is the rejection of religion on all fronts a reaction to the recent rise in ultra-conservative groups, or is there something else going on? I have been talking to a lot of friends and co-workers recently who are rejecting candidates on both sides of the presidential race because of their religion. What struck me is that these rejections are not because of the specific religion these hopefuls have, such as Mormon or Baptist, but because they have strong religious convictions at all.

Now I could actually more understand rejecting a candidate for his specific religion than for the fact that they are religious at all. And as far as I have been able to ascertain, I don’t think any of the current mainstream presidential wannabes is planning on turning the oval office into a pulpit. But, I would readily welcome a candidate who is an intelligent religious person. I would find it heartening to elect a leader who has been through the questioning phase of any religious journey and come out with a better understanding of themselves and what they believe in.

Unfortunately I believe that many people are trying to take the separation of church and state a little too far. Instead of making sure that government makes no laws that would impede the freedom of religion, there is a current wave to instead have the government act in such a way that it takes away the freedom to have a religion. I firmly believe that to be truly open and free in our religion (or lack thereof for some), we must allow others to have theirs. If not, aren’t we just as bad and dogmatic as those who would force their religion upon us?

With the economy going the way it is, we all want to get the most mileage out of our cars, hopefully keep the cars a bit longer and have fewer repair bills. There are a number of easy things you can do to help with that, and in additional they will also keep you and your passengers safe. What I am recommending here is basic maintenance stuff. Unfortunately, like backing up your computer, most people don’t do it - especially as the car gets older and loses its luster. But, truth be told, that is when it really needs it even more. Also, all of these are something you can do yourself and save some money.

1. Check Your Tire Pressure. Don’t just check the tire pressure when you see a tire going soft. Check all of them once a month. Under inflated tires will make a car use more gas and either pull or just driver badly. Over inflated tires also make the car handle poorly and have less grip on the road. And both under and over inflation will cause the tires to wear more quickly. You will save money and be safer if the tires are inflated correctly. And while you are down on tire level, inspect your treads to make sure your tires aren’t like me - going bald.
2. Air Filter - Check it and replace the air filter at least every year. If you put a lot of miles on the car or drive a lot of dirty or dusty roads then you will need to do it more often. Although part of regular scheduled maintenance, this is something most people put off or forget. A clogged air filter can make your car run rich and drop your gas mileage. It also just makes it hard for the engine to breath and so lowers performance. (Note: some air filters are meant to be cleaned, not replaced.)
3. Radiator Flush - It is a good idea to completely flush the cooling system in most cars every year and replace with the correct mixture of water and anti-freeze. Even in summer you need to run anti-freeze. In addition to keeping your coolant from freezing, it also raises the boiling point of water so that it can carry more heat away from your engine without boiling. (Note: This is the only tip here that may be a bit tricky with some cars, so do a little research on the Net before jumping in.)
4. Check Your Lights - Headlights, tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals. Have someone walk around while you test all the different lights and their functions. This could save you from being hit in traffic and could also save you a costly ticket from your local highway patrol.
5. Check Your Oil - Checking the oil on most cars is a very, very simple thing to do. Catching a system that is running low can also save you thousands of dollars. When a car runs out of oil, it turns in to a brick. But do not over fill the system either or you could damage seals and cause both leaks and damage to other systems. And, of course, keep up with your regularly scheduled oil and filter changes.
6. Check Your Brake Fluid - While checking your oil, also take a look at the brake fluid (and clutch fluid if your car has it). Usually people don’t know they are running low on brake fluid until, hopefully, a light comes on or, in the worst case, the brakes simply fail to work.
7. Check Your Fuses - You should always carry at least one spare fuse of every type your car uses. It is certainly no fun being stuck somewhere with no lights or wipers for the lack of a fifty cent part. Also, if you car is getting older, it is a good idea to take each fuse out every year or so and visually inspect it. This will not only help you to spot trouble before it happens, but the act of taking it out and putting it back in will clean the connectors of the fuse and fuse box. And what if you keep blowing the same fuse? Yes, you have a problem and need to have a professional track it down.
8. Change Your Windshield Wipers - This should be done at least once a year. When you put the new ones on (or have the guy at AutoZone do it for free) you will be surprised how much more clearly and therefor safely you can see out the window. For added visibility coat the windshield every few months with Rain-X or an equivalent product. These products cause water to bead up and literally run off.
9. Inspect The Rubber - This means that every month or two you should take a look at the belts and hoses in your engine compartment. You aren’t doing anything special, just looking for cracking or signs of wear. If you spot anything, either replace the item or have it replaced. If you have a question on whether it should be replaced or not, the guy at the local auto-parts store can take a look. Why him and not a mechanic? Because he doesn’t care if you replace it or not. Some mechanics may have vested interest in your replacing those items.
10. Keep A Log - Some people do this religiously and put every single fill-up, oil change, and bug-splat in there. Others just keep major services and such. You should at least keep track of there major service and repair items, but your really should track the fuel consumption at least a few times a year. What you are looking for is not so much the actual mileage itself, but drastic changes in the mileage. I had a car that once consistently getting about 23 miles per gallon and then all of a sudden dropped to about 20. That let me know something was going on. It turned out that gotten something in the air filter that was clogging things up. If I hadn’t been keeping track I wouldn’t have know, would have wasted money, and could eventually have had major problems.

Well, there you go. Nothing major there, but if you do these things your are sure to help you car last longer and provide better service. Note that nothing here should take the place of or change the recommendations put for in your owner’s manual for service intervals and tune-ups. These are simply things to do between these times to keep you running more smoothly and off the side of the road.

Happy motoring!

It happens to us all sometime. You know, the day you are singing along to a song you like on the radio only to hear the DJ then say, “well that was a blast from the past here on Oldies 102.5″ or some such thing. Yes, the songs of you prime are now considered oldies. Sigh. Oh, but it gets worse. Much worse.

Last night we watched Nicholas Cage in National Treasure. It was an OK movie, especially since it went to a lot of historic places that the family had visited while on vacation this last summer. So it was nice to hear the kids say, “Hey! We went there! I saw that.” But, truthfully the acting and story line were only mediocre. The kids thought it was fun though, so today we rented the classic Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc. That was one of my favorite movies and really set the stage for all the modern adventure flicks.

We had a good time watching Harrison Ford shoot, whip, and fight his way through Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece and then we turned to my son and asked him how he liked it. Bad move. He shrugged and said that it was OK. OK? Raiders of the Lost Arc OK?!

When pressed for why he had this reaction he gave a full discourse on how the effects looked fake, the explosions were staged, and maybe it would have been better if they had used computers to make everything look real. “Were those animatronic snakes?” he asked? Great, my son thinks real snakes are little robots and the only way to make life look real is to generate it with a computer. I shook my head and wondered what we are coming too.

“But how about the story?” I asked him. Yes, I place and emphasis on “story.” He said that it was fine, even kind of fun. My daughter, sensing my frustration told me that yes, the story was OK, but that they needed to explain things more. I stared at her blankly. She said that they didn’t explain enough of what was going on, where people came from, or why they were doing what they did. I told her that some of those questions were answered, but that you had to pay close attention. Or, that some of the questions were answered in other movies or maybe even left unanswered to add mystery. She didn’t like that. “I like movies that lay it out for you. Explain it all.” Another sigh from me.

I am not sure what to do about this. My kids think reality is fake, and that everything needs to be explained and laid out in the open. This from intelligent, inquiring minds. I have to wonder if it is just a difference in generations with the movies we choose, or if part of this is really a shift in the type of entertainment that a newer generation prefers. Movies were visuals and effects must be more real than reality. And where full information must be revealed, not hidden, and must be revealed quickly - say within the three minute span of a music video.

I don’t know the answers, but I do know this - they will be watching some more old movies. And I will go farther back. I think they need to see films like The Maltese Falcon and Casa Blanca. Science fiction films like The Forbidden Planet and Metropolis. And who knows, we just might work our way up to something like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!