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anthony · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:33 am Post subject:

Want to get confused?

An' Imperial'(English) inch is 25.4mm, as everyone knows, but...

A Norwegian inch is 26.3mm.
The swedes have a standard inch, too, but I believe theirs is shorter than the English. (No, they're not in daily use)

Now, isn't that a very accurate, but completely useless fact?

In other news; at about 04:00 this morning Norwegian time(GMT+1) Noways Crown princess was driven to the hospital by her husband, Crown prince Haakon Magnus.
Who knows, we might see a new heir to the throne today.

anthony · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:32 am Post subject:

Wow, that was fast!

At 09:14 Norwegian time(GMT+1) Crown princess Mette-Marit gave birth to a girl. (Name will not be announced until tomorrow)
What this means is that some time in the future, we'll get a reigning Queen.
Probably about time as it is 600 years since the last one.

The last was Margrete who joined Norway, Sweden and Denmark into the Kalmar union (reigned 1388 to 1412)
Before then there were two Ingeborg's
(Don't have the years and too lazy to look it up )

anthony · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 5:37 pm Post subject:

Only two?

*Sigh*

I guess it could have been worse...

In other news...
The CD-Shifter is acting up again...
Guess I've probably worn out the mechanism.
(It must be at least 6 years old, and stuck in the trunk of a car all that time...)

Oh yeah, and Rayman for the Sony PS is a darn addictive game...
(But since the only thing I'm good at is getting Rayman killed, it won't be long before I tire of it )

anthony · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 6:44 am Post subject:

*Sigh*

Yesterday, when cycling home from work , I heard a low 'ticking' noise from the rear wheel....
It seems the rear gear-changer is junk. The small cogs that tightens the chain are egg-shaped(literally) and the chain is rubbing against the metal, so that's ruined, too...
Since I replaced those cogs last summer, I can only assume that it's the changer itself which is broken.

And guess what, none of the local sporting stores sell stuff like that in the winter...

anthony · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 8:51 am Post subject:

Yayy!

Just returned from the local Blood bank.
Would you believe it, it was my 20th trip, and they gave me a bronze pin for it.

Of course, it has taken almost 10 years.
(First donation was in November 1994)

I've been told that those who pass the 40 mark gets a silver pin, and if you happen to reach 80 they thow you a little party.

anthony · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 10:43 am Post subject:

Today I received no less than 3 spam messages on my RL mail account at all originated from a single machine on the RoadRunner network.
I've received garbage from that network before and complained about it, but never received any response.

Today my complaint bounced...
Either they've set up some sort of filter on the abuse account(very bad form since we're supposed to forward the complete offending message) or something else is broken...

Anyhow, I did a bit of tinkering with the blacklists on my anti-spam service, and incredibly enough, it will take IP-addresses, or parts of them...

No legitimate mail from the RoadRunner network will ever be able to get through to me, but neither will the spam...
(not unless I add them to my whitelist)

anthony · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 10:46 am Post subject:

Read this today....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3510639.stm

So far it hasn't been a particularly cold winter, so I wonder how many would have suffered frostbite if they were subjected to the usual temperatures...
(In the places they've been training, it can easily drop to -40 Celcius at night, and daytime temperatures of -25C isn't unusual)

The sleeping bags used by the Norwegian armed forces are warm!
(The last time I used one, october-november 1992, I think, I ended up sleeping on top of it, with the outer liner as a blanket.)

And 46 or more 'orthopaedic' injuries?
That's a 'polite' way of writing 'broken bones','loads of blisters' and 'sprained ankles'....
(The total of injured is reported to 170 on Norwegian sites)

anthony · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:10 am Post subject:

I'm sick...

On the second day...

And what's worse is that there's no sign of creativity.
(I usually get my best ideas in a fever... )

Any good news?

Yes!
Praise be to CDOn.com because when I stumbled downstairs a few minutes ago I found a package waiting for me.
It contained, among other goodies, 'Purrfect: The Eartha Kitt collection'. That means I can finally delete the only pirated .mp3 file I've got...
(Yes, it's Santa Baby)

In other news...
Using a GPRS enabled phone(to surf this forum) while at the same time using a wireless headset is NOT good for your hearing...

Also, King Harald is in Florida at the moment, parttaking in a regatta. Not bad for a man in the for a man in his late sixties, who was only recently given a clean bill of health after his cancer surgery in december.

Enough rambling...

anthony · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 6:36 am Post subject:

After listening to the Eartha Kitt CD and reading the inlay I can only say this: She's PURRFECT as the soundtrack artist for ZZtS, not only because of her incredible voice, but also because of her early life.

I managed to get back to the office today, but I'm beginning to regret it already... (I had to get up anyway as I was out of tissues and other essencials)

Shirapusen · Registered User Joined: 04 Sep 2002 Posts: 9

I am sick too. And I have not time for it now.

So you are not the only one that is suffering.

anthony · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:03 pm Post subject:

*Sigh*

Drove the car to the nearest garage today...

No, they're not open on sundays, but I didn't dare drive there on saturday.

Why?
Because when I started it on saturday, there were NO HYDRAULICS!
It didn't rise up and the servo steering wasn't doing its job... (Didn't test the brakes, though)
I tried to bleed off trapped air and checked all the hoses, but no luck.

When I drove it today, the servo steering was sluggish, but the brakes took, so it was driveable, at least in low speed with the engineat high rev.
(It still was a very bumpy ride as I had no suspension whatsoever)

I could really do without these kinds of expenses right now... (The insurance is due soon, and so are the road-taxes)

Anyone who want to buy a 1992 model Citrõen BX TZI16 Estate?
I'll even throw in a non-functioning Pioneer CD-changer for free...

JonaWolf · Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 8:10 pm Post subject:

anthony · Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:25 am Post subject:

Yes, the car uses hydraulics.

The technical term for the suspension is 'hydropneumatic' or 'gas over liquid'.
You adjust the ride-height and hardness on the suspension by pumping in more liquid.
This usually gives a VERY smooth ride. It also rises slowly and gracefully, nothing at all like those 'Low-riders' which claim to use hydraulics...
The same pump also delivers pressure to the servo-steering and brakes.
(170Bar pressure translates to a good deal of stopping power)

In addition, the rear brakes and the rear height-adjust is connected together to adjust the brake pressure depending on the load in the trunk.

The only other car to use this system is Rolls Royce, and they only use it on the rear suspension. (The word is that they couldn't afford licensing the entire system... )

It's usually easy to maintain, just replace the oil every 3 years/40.000Km and have the suspension pressure-tested at the same time, (saves the hazzle of checking servo-oil/brake-fluid and actually REPLACING shock-absorbers all the time) but when it breaks, it tends to be messy...
(Green liquid all over the place)

I hope it's 'just' the pump, because the next 'most likely' suspect is the Servo-control valves, and that unit is placed 'awkwardly'(time is money, and more so when a mechanic is digging around)

The suspension is OK, because that was fixed earlier...
(One of the shocks had worn out and the increased oil-flow blew the return hose straight off. It was replaced and the other three was tested just in case)

JonaWolf · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:08 am Post subject:

Interesting... I can see how that setup could provide a smooth ride, but it sounds fairly complex. Too complex for this mechanic. Why auto engineers design some of these modern cars to be near impossible to work on I don't know, but it sure is annoying.

Engineering wonders like that hydraulic suspension are great until things start breaking. Then some poor guy has to figure out how to fix it and some unlucky car owner has to pay for it.

I really wish they'd go back to making cars simpler...

anthony · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:18 am Post subject: