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From BBC News

Digital Domesday book unlocked
A rich digital archive of British life in the 1980s has been brought back to life by researchers from the UK and the US.
…
The team at Leeds University and the University of Michigan in the US say they have now found a way to access this rich digital archive.

They have developed software that emulates the obsolete Acorn Microcomputer system and the video disc player.
…
By contrast, the original Domesday Book, an inventory of England compiled in 1086 by Norman monks, is in fine condition in the Public Record Office in Kew, London

It’s easy to understand but still remarkable that it can be harder to get at 25 year old data than 1,000 year old data.

I recently had a Modigliani painting appraised by an agent at WhatsItWorthToYou.com. I’m very happy with how well the item was appraised. It was a very knowledgeable response and on the parts that the appraiser wasn’t (and couldn’t) be sure about, she referred me to other excellent sources.

$20 didn’t get me a perfect appraisal but it got me a LONG way along the road. Sotheby’s and Christy’s wouldn’t discuss it for less than 4 figures.

I sat around ALL DAY waiting for UPS and my stuff never arrived. Of course, I should be happy that I’m going to save $350 because the delivery was “guaranteed by end of day”. But I just ended up loitering in the house all day getting frustrated.

I was supposed to go buy a bike today. I set up all these meetings with folks on Craigslist today but I’m sure that most of those bikes are already sold by now. GRRR.

So, I’m outa here. I’m going to go do…. something. Anything not in the house!

In 2003, Gary Fisher Bikes offered about 40 different bicycle models. Most available in 4 different frame sizes. In 2004, the line was about 20% different with 43 bikes offered. In 2005, they are offering 58 different basic models; 1/3 of their line has completely changed since last year.

It should be noted that they ONLY sell mountain bikes

Gimme a break with all this marketing crapola. I know that it’s all about going into a store and having the salesman put you in the bike that is “for you”. It gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that allows you to plunk down three grand on a bike.

Of course, it’s all big business… If they sell one of every bike they make per year, there’s (58*4*$2000) $5 million dollars in retail sales.

I’m poking around craigslist for a bicycle to ride in SF and take to the playa. After being out here 2 weeks and seeing the traffic and parking situation, I’m considering buying a motorcycle. The city heartily encourages motorcycles. In areas with parking meters, you can always find a spot designated for bikes. Where a car pays $0.25 for 10 minutes with a 1 hr limit, the bike meters are $0.10 an hour with a 10 hour limit. In areas with no meters, you can always find motorcycles parked on the sidewalk or tucked into tiny parking spaces… sans parking tickets. In addition, most of the major local streets have a bike lane. Of course those are supposed to be for human powered bicycles but they lend greatly toward getting a motorbike to the front of a lineup of cars at a red light.

So I’m definitely getting a bicycle… I need it for the playa. I wouldn’t dream of using an internal combustion engine in it’s stead on the playa.

Now there’s the question of a motorbike. I did a little browsing on craigslist for prices and such. I don’t know much (read: nuffum) about motorbikes. I found a couple used bikes and googled about them. Here was a 1994 Ninja for $1,800. Hey, I’ve heard of the Ninja. Google .

Oh . . . my . . . . god.

You expect certain things from the Ninja. Power. Quickness. Agility. Focus. Bravado. Attitude. Heavy on the attitude. Still, unless you catapult-launch F-18 Hornets or 6500-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters for a living, this Ninja is a revelation. Prepare yourself for the strongest literbike in the world. Understand that it’s lighter than most 600s. And while that’s sinking in, make a mental note to pack an extra Depends.

One hundred mph arrives before the 13,000-rpm redline—in first gear. Shift into second at triple digits and a practiced throttle hand can lift the front Dunlop for obscene distances. The 10R covers a quarter-mile in less time than it takes to read this sentence, and it punishes incompetence, impudence and stupidity even more quickly. Too much throttle, almost anywhere, and it’ll stick you in the ground like a golf tee.

This Ninja doth not suffer fools. It eats them. Whole. Any sportbike commands respect and first-rate skills. Kawasaki’s all-new ZX-10R demands more of both than any motorcycle currently for sale, along with simply heroic willpower. Nothing in any showroom punts you forward with such pure, concentrated, brute force. Its predatory silhouette alone makes small children, domestic pets and impressionable girls hyperventilate. If it lived next door, the ZX-10R would bet heavily on the Oakland Raiders. It would own an overwrought Rottweiler named Cujo and play all 11 Metallica albums every weekend—with the dial cranked up to 11. Your mother wouldn’t approve. Your black-sheep uncle doing time for armed robbery would advise against it. Twenty years after the first 900, Kawasaki’s latest literbike is entirely stunning—and unmistakably a Ninja.

Wuw.

And this blows what’s left of my mind…

And here’s the kicker. Add that 433-pound wet weight to the 170-pound rider we use for spec-chart calculations, divide by 161.9 horsepower, and you have a weight/power ratio of 3.72 pounds per. It just doesn’t get any better than that, sports fans.

My model airplane brain goes off on this, thinking (this line of thinking isn’t technically accurate but phoey on you, it’s my blog!)…

1 hp=750 watts… so each pound get’s it’s own 200 watts to drag it along. My 1.5 lb model plane peaks at about 180 watts.. or about 120 watts per pound. So this bike offers almost twice the power per pound as my looping, rolling, 0-90mph in 5 seconds, nearly vertical performance model aircraft! If you put a propeller on this bike, it would perform dramatically more powerf^H^H^H^H^H^H dramati^H^H^H^H^H^H^H intens^H^H^H^H^H^H betterer than my plane.

I blogged last year about my confusion with buying multi-vitamins. It comes down to knowing how much vitamins to take and how much is too much. I’ve found a good reference. Consumerlab.com is a free resource available to Oxford Healthcare members… of which I am.

I got the Puritan Mega Vita Min tablets today with my 10% Oxford discount. (hint: if you call them on the phone, they don’t verify your Oxford membership)By taking them, I hope to live forever. I’ll get back to you in a century or so to tell you if it works.

Here’s the Consumerlab research:
(more…)

I’ve just arranged to have all my stuff shipped from New Jersey to California via UPS. Let me tell you a little about my experience:

I’ve got 2 shipments… 150 lbs of computer equipment being shipped to my apartment. It’s going 2 day air because such packages are usually treated kinder in the UPS system. Cost: about $350. I’ve also got 1,100 lbs of stuff being shipped directly Ground to a storage space in San Francisco for about $700. Total cost: about $1,100.

I found that any other option would have cost two to four times as much. If you can find cheaper, please tell me! PODS would cost a cheap $200/month for the storage space but $3,000 to ship it cross country. Movers charge $0.50-$1.00 per mile…. * 3,200 miles is expensive. It would have been nice if a mobile storage unit company like PODS would work with a rail line to get the cost of a long haul shipment down.

Packing boxes for UPS is much different than packing boxes for moving. It takes quite a bit longer and is quite a pain in the neck. 50 boxes all carefully packed with cushioning and styrofoam peanuts. Ugh.

To accept the packages at the storage space, I’m going to have to sit there and wait all day for them. But it’s better than finding 1,200 lbs of stuff at the door of my second story apartment! Not all storage spaces will let UPS pull up to their loading dock.

Pyrophage has been kind enough to get me a Livejournal Syndication. So you can now view my blog inside your Livejournal Friends Page by using http://www.livejournal.com/users/gadlenblog/.

I’ve started a cell phone photo blog. I’m not sure I’ll be using it all that much but you can find it at http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/gadlen

If you’re all gaga over seeing the pix, you can subscribe to an email list on the above page. It’ll tell you when I’ve posted new photos without you having to check both of my blogs on a regular basis.

I just found a sublet room from now until around November 15th. The plan is that I find a temporary place so I can get my bearings in this city.

There’s three other folks in the apartment, the second and third floor of a three floor house. It’s just a few blocks from the hubub of the Mission District, a few convenient blocks from the highway, and about 2 miles from the financial district downtown.

There was another place I considered… the housemates were really good and the place was neater and more spacious but it was in Richmond. Richmond is a neighborhood just 2 or 3 miles from where I am now but the weather there is much cloudier. And darnit, I wanted to live in SunnyCalifornia! As I’m typing this, the sun shining down through a skylight onto the desk. I can look out the window and see that it’s mostly cloudy in Richmond. Krazy.

Next steps: set up my home, find a job, find whatever it was I was looking for out here.

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I spent two hours this morning getting a visitor parking pass. I figure it’s easier to get a temporary pass and then do the auto registration stuff by mail. We’ll see how it goes. Gosh darn it was awful standing in that line. For one, there was no air. I noticed that cool air was blowing out from behind the glass but there was NO AIR in the room we were made to stand in. It was a cool sunny day, no A/C needed, just a freaking window. But I digress.

I’m going to have photos and audio blogs from my 10 day cross country trip online in due course.

PS. Will everyone PLEASE stop moaning to me about how expensive it is to live here. I’m paying $650 including utilities and internet. That’s only marginally more than what I’d have to pay in Hackettstown, which is, as everyone knows, the center of the universe.

Find out more about the move.