Among the exhibits at Coral Castle is this huge sundial. If you are familiar with navigation, you will recognize the figure 8 patterns carved on the base stone. If you are familiar with Wallace, you will see that he’s noticed the sun is 0.27 seconds slow. Another sculpture is used to locate the North Star, and there are representations of several planets. If you’ve got out-of-town company, take them to the Coral Castle.
It is still not too late in the game for some people to fall for the Nigerian scam. I met this guy today who is convinced he’s met a tall, busty Nordic blonde lass, around 22, who lives in Ghana (the next country west of Nigeria). With the name of Kaarean Ahmed, she sent him a cashier’s check for $3,400 so he could cash it and send her the money to pay for her airfare to come and “visit” him. She phones him ten or fifteen times per day. He’s already sent her $150 and a birthday card. Wait, there’s more. She asked for the birthday card and gave him her “brother’s” Fedex account number, saying the brother would pay for it. Y’day, Fedex contacted him saying the number was registered in China and he has to pay up $141.43. (I would tell Fedex where to stick it, accepting a fake number.) Even when the check store refused to cash the $3,400 check saying it was bogus, the guy is just not getting it. He is over 40 in case you are wondering, and married 12 years.
When he asked Kaarean about the bad check, it suddenly became her “best friend’s” check. Her friend, you see, had lent her the money to help her get out of Ghana, which she hates, you see. But it bounced because her friend’s parents had died in a car accident when she was 12, and she now lived with her grandmother, who got ill and could not pay the rent, so the check bounced because she had to help her grandmother pay the rent. The sad part is that he is buying all this. She sent him a picture of her in a park y’day. She was in a bikini, but none of the trees in the background grow in Africa.
She sent him a color copy of her ID. If you look close, you can see where the picture has been very carefully sliced out of an old passport. But he is taken in, totally. I dared not ask for a copy of her picture, but if you read on this week, I’ll publish a picture of the check. See if you can instantly spot what is wrong with it. Other than the fact that the check isn’t from Ghana, but the “Independent Bank of East Michigan”, I mean.
A guy brought in a monster computer today. Seven hard drive bays and a liquid cooled processor. One of his two processor fans quit working. Everything inside was custom built. This thing had lines with glycol anti-freeze pumped to the processors. We were about to turn him away when I asked him if anything flashed on the screen before the problem occurred. Yes, he’d seen a message that said press F1. One question led to another, and before long we determined the trouble was the cooling system. The fan was the processor cutting off due to overheating.
Now we can help him. We took it in the back and disconnected all the crap. As I wrote years ago, these liquid cooling systems are about as useful as, what, a girlfriend in Ghana? They are nice when you first get one, but they are a needless complication once you think you can count on them to do you right. Sure enough, it was the coolant pump. In the photo you can see the green glycol fluid in the hoses. Can you see where they feed onto a gold-colored processor collar at the upper left? The radiator has three fans and is about the size seen on some small motorcycles. The pump is the same as used on aquariums. For those who know what to look for, those two RAM cards are the newest 2GB and they are sandwiched between aluminum fins. And yes, there are two more free slots. You are looking at around a $2,200 computer.The Frenchies are back, and they are selling out. Normally this is vacation time, but many are hauling out their household belongings to the flea markets. I saw furniture and beds for sale. If I didn’t know better, I’d call it a panic. The Frenchies next door noticed Wallace’s bumper sometimes was a bit over on their side. So they placed a huge concrete pot in the way, making it very difficult for him to park. I know better than to ask a Canadian to get out of the way. After a ten minute conversation, even if they move, they will consider it a personal favour and you owe them.
Instead, I’m going to buy a pickaxe and create another 8 feet of parking space out front of Forest Wally. I hate to destroy 80 flowers, but anything is better than letting a Canuck know they can do something that bothers you. Trust me on that one. No, I am not racist. Canadian is not a race, it is a nationality.
[Author's note 2016 - this parking spot never happened. Wallace turned completely sour on our agreement due to interference from his ugly daughter, who convinced him he didn't have honor his word.]
Cool Edit Pro, the software from Arnel. I better contact the dude since we are approaching the same goal from different angles. Too much duplication of effort. He knows what is needed but not what software is required, I know the opposite. I am very keen that we collaborate soon.
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