The Double-Barrel Cannon

On the NorthEast corner of the town hall in Athens Georgia (my home-town, also home of R.E.M.) sits an interesting oddity. The famous Double-Barrel Cannon is a relic from way back during the War of Northern Aggression. It was concieved on an idea remarkably ingenious for the time. The 2 barrels weren't exactly parallel but verrrrrrrrrrry slightly angled out from each other. Idea was, to have 2 cannonballs attached to each other by a chain of considerable length. When the cannon was fired, the chain would stretch out as the balls' flight paths gradually separated, and in effect the chain could literally "mow down" multitudes of enemy soldiers @ once like a scythe. Unfortunately, the cannon's designers overlooked ONE tiny but very MAJOR logistical issue: there was no way to synchronize the firing of the barrels! The cannon was fired only one time. And yep, you guessed it: 1 ball flew out a microsecond before the other, extending the chain but whipping back around in a complete "180", and killing the gunner. Since then the cannon has served as a very interesting yard ornament for Downtown Athens.

MMMmmmm... Coffee especially good this morning :-)

MMmmmMMmMMMmmmmm.... There's nothing like a good cup of coffee when you've rolled outta th' bed on a weekend morning. On most weekends I have Folger's. It's fairly affordable and you can get it by the huge cans @ Sam's Club. During work-days however I need something w/ a bit more "horse power", such as my high-octane Starbuck's. That's one of the reasons I get to work early (around 7AM): so I can gradually start my day @ a reasonable pace & enjoy my coffee instead of havin' to hit the ground runnin' w/ someone breathin' down my neck. Also, I can the release myself on my own recognizance fer good behavior around 4-4:30PM and thus avoid most of the rush-hr. traffic on the way home.

Airbus rolls out the new A380

After hearing bits & pieces about this new huge superjumbo jet yesterday, I had to find out more. From the Cincinnati Post : Apparently yesterday the European manufacturer Airbus Industries has finally rolled out the new Airbus A380, a new jumbo jet that's double-decker all the way from nose to tail and even larger than the 747. Different airlines envision the huge plane in a variety of cabin configurations, including onboard gyms, salons, casinos, cocktail lounges (JEEZ!!), private cabins w/ beds, etc.. An "average" configuration (incl. most of the above frivolities) would still leave room for ~555 passengers or so, and a "base" config. would have enough room for well-over 800 passengers. By the time you filled up one of them thangs, you could just about DRIVE to your destination!!

"Brass Monkey" Weather EXPLAINED:

Ok, there're several explanations of where the term "brass monkey weather" --or, in its longer form-- "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" came from:
The most common is that it's cold enough to freeze the testicular apparatti off a brass monkey statue. This one's most-widely accepted for its obvious humour value :-)))
Another explanation I ran across several years ago in The Old Farmer's Almanac seemed rather far-fetched: Apparently during the War of Northern Aggression, cannonballs were stacked in pyramids, and these pyramids were called "brass monkeys". During extreme cold, the balls themselves apparently cracked & broke. But to the best of my knowledge, cannonballs were rarely made of brass, and I can't imagine how a pyramid of 'em resembled a monkey in any way/shape/form.
After bringing up the subject in an IRC channel this morning, I was enlightened on the cannonball theory. Seems the Old Farmer's Almanac was wayyyy too-simplified and vague in their explanation. Actually, the cannonballs were most commonly made of iron (just what I thought!), and they were stacked in a pyramid (usually in layers of 16, 9, 4, & 1 from bottom to top), an efficiant space-saving config.. But the bottom layer needed some kinda support (usually a brass plate with 16 intentations or an exterior rail) so the balls wouldn't go rollin' out all over the place. This support was referred to as the "brass monkey" (although again I see no resemblance to monkeys). Now, during extreme cold weather, the brass support would contract a lot faster than the iron balls and somtimes even break, releasing the cannonballs, hence our extreme-cold-weather expression that we've grown very fond of :-) Furthermore, this support configuration apparently origninated on ships, as they had flat decks. In the field, I would imagine the bottom layer of balls could hold their own in the dirt & grass --fer th' most part.

More "brass monkey" weather..

Well, so much fer my enjoyin' a nice long weekend outdoors. It snowed yesterday, and still not all of it's melted yet. Although it's mostly clear now, it's cold enough to freeze a rabbit's balls off. S'posed to get down to 8F tonight & not much higher (in the 10s or 20s) tomorrow. Might be snowin' again by this weekend. At least there's only 4 days @ work this week.

REX 6000 Micro-PDA

Any of y'all remember the "REX 6000"? It was a credit-card sized Micro-PDA made by Xircom. It could synch. to a computer using the supplied cradle, or in the case of most lap-tops, slide directly into a PCMCIA Type II PC Card slot. Various shareware programs were compiled for it, such as time/expense managers, calendars, score-card apps., games, and even off-line web browsers. The "REX Portal" (similar to AvantGo & hosted by Intel) is now defunct, but I think a couple of independent portals are still online. I ran across my REX 6000 just today while going through some old stuff, and now I remember why I didn't use it much: the batteries shore don't last long! Guess I'll try to find a couple of new ones @ Radio Snack and put 'er to some good use again. It'd be a perfect companion to my Dell Latitude CPi A366XT lap-top.

Cain't wake up this morning ***YAWN***

6AM came entirely too early this morning. Was on eBay late last night bidding on a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop. Seller has been rather slow to respond to my questions though. That's the risk of doing business online: you never really know if the other party is serious about business. Just now made a cup of my world-famous high-octane Starbucks (I get it by the bag when it's on sale @ Kroger). ***SCHLLLURRPP***

"Comments" enabled!

Now, ANYone can comment on my postings, and I encourage you to do so! :-) Just click on "Comments" @ the lower-right of any posting.

Dell junk parts

Incidentally, this blog is bein' composted --I mean composed-- on an old Dell Latitude CPi A366XT that I re-built from junk parts.. a rather slick machine, considerin' all of what-all went into restoring it. Come to think of it, composted might've been more appropo[sic] after all! I find a lot of my spare parts (well, spare computer parts that is!) on eBay as well as various junk yards & surplus houses & even some yard sales.

Thought For The Day (one of my favourites)

"All things considered, total insanity may be the only reasonable alternative." --from some weird web page that I cain't remember exactly where-from..

GRRRREETINGS Y'ALLLL!!

And WELCOME anyone who reads this! Herein y'all will find my daily thoughs and ramblings regarding just about anything that comes to mind. Mostly I'll be discussing my hobbies/interests, such as rebuilding computers from junk parts; how to recognize & evaluate good & worthwhile junk at yard sales, junk-yards, Ye Olde Surplus Haus, etc.; how to become a distinguished junque kona-sewer like me; some political opinions (trust me; I'll keep those to a MINIMUM!); unusual/weird weather we've had lately; and the advantages of country living over city life. Postings will most likely arrive on a daily basis ..well... most of the time anyway! Please feel free to give comments & feedback :-)