del.icio.us links for 2005-09-22

• ボーボボ・ドットコム: ボボボーボ・ボーボボ (Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo) and his magical nose hair attack (anime flash japan manga weird)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-21

• Anime News Network - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (TV): Bo Bobo is a man with the incredible power of hearing the voices of hair and using his own to fight. He uses his power to fight off the Margarita Empire and the minions who are stealing the hair off of anyone they find to power up their emperor. (anime manga weird)
• XHTML Character Entity Reference: This page contains the 252 allowed entities in HTML 4 and XHTML 1.0, as outlined in section 24 of the official HTML 4 specifications, published by the W3C. (markup reference unicode w3c xhtml xml)
• He Man does 4-non-blondes: What's going on?! Don't cry out loud, now it's time for CAKE! (cartoon humor mashup music quicktime video)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-20

• CNN.com - Athens, Georgia's rock history draws tourists - Sep 19, 2005: The rusty, tin roof is still standing, but not much else remains of the so-called Love Shack, made famous by the B-52s' 1980s pop music hit. (athensga culture georgia history music news us)
• How To: Asterisk Answering Machine : TomsNetworking :: (hardware howto software voip)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-18

• The Flying Mobulas of the Sea of Cortez: Flying Black Devil-Fish! (photo science weird)
• TurboGears: Front-to-Back Web Development: TurboGears takes the best components available and combines them into one easy-to-install, documented whole. TurboGears includes parts that join the pieces together and make them work together seamlessly, but doesn't obscure each included project. (ajax framework mvc programming python software web)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-15

• Indeed | one search. all jobs.: Search engine for jobs (search tool)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-14

• Tab Mix Plus: Improved tab support for Firefox (extension firefox)
• How to Go From Introvert to Extrovert: (culture howto social)
• Wondermark.com: Sweat, blood, tears, ink and occasionally urine combine on the illustrative page, ripping creative gashes in the creator's soul that only burn greater with the acrid exposure of public consciousness. (comic humor)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-13

• Comixpedia :: Covering the Digital Frontier of Comics Online: Comixpedia is a monthly magazine and online portal dedicated to covering the digital frontier of comics online. (art comic web)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-12

• PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Winter 1992: Speculative fiction from 1992 about a US military coup in 2012 (politics war)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-09

• Armed and Dangerous » Microsoft tries to recruit me: "I’d thank you for your offer of employment at Microsoft, except that it indicates that either you or your research team (or both) couldn’t get a clue if it were pounded into you with baseball bats." (esr funny microsoft rant)
• Guide to Japanese Castles: (art history japan)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-08

• Neohapsis Archives - Full Disclosure List - #0157 - [Full-disclosure] Secuirty Hole Found In Dave's Sock: Description of Vulnerability: This morning while putting my socks on I found a small (1/4 inch) hole by my big toe. This could be exploited by a virus through the bottom of the foot or under the toe nail. Could be used to compromise Dave's entire system. (fashion humor security)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-07

• The Chronicles of George: George is, quite simply, the worst helpdesk technician ever. (funny rant)
• Creating Passionate Users: Conversational writing kicks formal writing's ass: If you want people to learn and remember what you write, say it conversationally. This isn't just for short informal blog entries and articles, either. We're talking books. (reference writing)
• Comparison of different SQL implementations: The goal of this page — which is a work in progress — is to gather information relevant for people who are porting SQL from one product to another and/or are interested in possibilities and limits of 'cross-product' SQL. (database mysql postgresql reference sql)
• Boing Boing: Oh, Keith Olbermann, how I love thee.: A searing opinion piece from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann that captures the sentiments of many this week regarding the Great American Clusterfuck of Katrina. (bush katrina neworleans politics rant security video)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-06

• space_comparison_chart_huge.jpeg (JPEG Image, 2000x2000 pixels): Starship comparision chart (babylon5 battlestargalactica culture farscape image lexx scifi startrek starwars)
• LIVEWRONG!!!!!: The Bracelet for the rest of us. We still love Lance, but we need to be recognized as well. Regardless what you ride,a MTB, cruiser, a fine lady. Enjoy. Live to Ride, Wear it proudly. What does it stand for, you decide. (fashion funny)
• Why talk like a pirate - and how: Why do we need an International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Make no mistake. We do. But it's a little hard to articulate why, especially when you've made the mistake of referring to your wife as a scurvy bilge rat and tried to order her back into the galley. (humor pirate)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-04

• Grokking the GIMP - Learning Advanced Image Editing Techniques: (art design gimp howto image reference)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-03

• How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily: (howto productivity reference writing)

del.icio.us links for 2005-09-01

• The Interdictor: This journal has become the Survival of New Orleans blog. In less perilous times it was simply a blog for me to talk smack and chat with friends. Now this journal exists to share firsthand experience of the disaster and its aftermath with anyone intereste (katrina neworleans news)

A little now or a lot later

From the Guardian (via BoingBoing):

The Louisiana coastline may have been so badly damaged by the hurricane because manmade engineering of the delta has led to erosion of natural defences, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The engineering of the last 100 years that has reworked the Mississippi delta with thousands of miles of levees and flood barriers to protect communities and aid navigation, has also disturbed natural barriers which traditionally prevented storm surges and protected against hurricanes, says the society.

"Human activity, directly or indirectly, has caused 1,500 square miles of natural coastal barriers to be eroded in the past 50 years. Human activity has clearly been a significant factor in coastal Louisiana land losses, along with subsidence, saltwater intrusion, storm events, barrier island degradation, and relative sea level changes," the society said in a paper last year.

It warned that "New Orleans and surrounding areas would now experience the full force of hurricanes, including storm surges that top levee systems and cause severe flooding as well as high winds".

The damage done this time may be also linked to White House cuts in funding for hurricane defence to pay for homeland security terrorist defences.

The original article has a lot more interesting points, such as:

• lack of planning for how to evacuate poor people and others without cars
• shifting money for levee maintenance to anti-terrorism
• lack of National Guard personnel due to war in Iraq

Basically, the Feds decided to save $60 million or so by not reinforcing levees, and now we've lost how many billions? Of course, one should question why it's the Federal government's problem at all, and not just the state of Louisiana, or New Orleans, but at some point, they did take responsibility for protecting the city.

No one yet knows the death toll from Katrina, but it has been estimated to be in the thousands just for New Orleans. It's probably comparable to 9/11, but with much, much more damage. Wind damage was unavoidable, of course, but the flooding is turning out to be much worse, and that is looking like it was largely avoidable. The whole city is going to have to be abandoned for months. It would not surprise me if it had to be abandoned completely. Let's face it, building a city between a large lake, the biggest river in North America, and the Gulf of Mexico on land that is below sea level seems like an exceptionally bad idea.

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-29

• Why Good Programmers Are Lazy and Dumb: "I realized that, paradoxically enough, good programmers need to be both lazy and dumb." (culture funny productivity programming usability)
• TrustedSource™: Spam senders by geographic region (internet spam tool)
• American Rhetoric: Top 100 Speeches by Rank: Transcript and audio (where available) (history mp3 politics reference writing)
• Strategizing a Christian Coup d'Etat: A group of believers wants to establish Scriptures-based government one city and county at a time. (politics religion southcarolina weird)
• HANDY ONE-LINERS FOR SED (Unix stream editor): (howto programming reference tool unix)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-27

• Evolution of Shamanism Paper: Shamanism dates back to the beginnings of humankind -- at least back to the first modern humans, called Homo sapiens. (anthropology culture history reference religion)

Intelligent Design Inscrutable Ontology Theory

Intelligent Design, or ID, is a "theory" which postulates that the universe and the things that live in it must have been created by an intelligent designer. However, the name "Intelligent Design" leaves out a critical aspect of the theory: Life, the Universe, and Everything are just too darn complicated for science to ever figure out the mechanisms by which they were brought into existence.

Therefore, I propose the name be amended to the Intelligent Design Inscrutable Ontology Theory, or IDIOT for short. This will cause less confusion as it better summarizes what the "theory" is all about.

(Updated 22:00; it's a bad spelling day.)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-24

• Positive Ape Index: Paintblogging, Pt. 1 [via BoingBoing]: "A while back, I started a new painting. While working, I typically leave my digital camera on a tripod, and snap a photo every so often. ... I thought it would be interesting to document the whole process step-by-step." (art boobs design nsfw)
• Werewolf: A Mind Game (a.k.a. Mafia): Werewolf is a simple game for a large group of people (seven or more.) It requires no equipment besides some bits of paper; you can play it just sitting in a circle. I'd call it a party game, except that it's a game of accusations, lying, bluffing, second (free game howto mafia werewolf)
• Google Talk: They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world. (free google im internet jabber social software voip)
• Werewolf Legends from Germany: "I was stationed at Hahn Air Base, Germany, from May 1986 to August 1989 as a security policeman, and it was my group that witnessed the Morbach Werewolf. Whoever told you the story about the monster that you put on your website had very accurate informat (germany history reference weird werewolf)

Pat Robertson Backpedals Furiously

Pat Robertson says he was misinterpreted:

(CNN) -- Conservative religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Wednesday that his remarks about the removal of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were taken out of context and that he never called for the killing of the Latin American leader.

"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP [Associated Press], but that happens all the time," Robertson said on "The 700 Club" program.

He's right. They could also take him out for dinner and a movie. I'm sure that's what he really meant.

The controversy began Monday when Robertson called Chavez "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it," said Robertson on Monday's program. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

See? By "take him out" and "do it", he obviously means, take him back to their place for hot gay sex. Not "assassination", but "shoot off in his ass". It's just a simple misunderstanding and a plot by the liberal media to put words in his mouth.

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-23

• PyLucid - a OpenSource CMS written in pure Python: PyLucid is a lightweight, OpenSource content management system written in pure Python CGI. Nearly all output can be customized. No shell account is needed. To run PyLucid you need a standard Webserver with Python (at least v2.2.1) CGI and MySQL . (Based o (cms gpl mysql python)

Homeless Terrorists

The Feds say:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Urging increased vigilance in the wake of the London bombings, the government is warning that terrorists may pose as vagrants to conduct surveillance of buildings and mass transit stations while plotting future attacks.

Better start rounding them up and putting them in "homeless shelters" before they can get us. Or maybe, just to be safe, we should kill them all.

Pat Robertson is a Terrorist

From CNN:

Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.

Islamic extremism? A curious position to take since Hugo Chavez does not appear to be Muslim, and in fact is probably Catholic.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

Good to know that murder is OK if it's done as a cost-saving measure.

Robertson, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, called Chavez "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly."

He said the O-word! Somewhere, George Bush gets a faraway look in his eyes and says in a monotone voice, "Must... kill.. Hugo... Chavez..."

In November 2002, Robertson charged that the Muslim holy book, the Quran, incites followers to kill people of other faiths and disputed Bush's characterization of Islam as a religion of peace.

"It's clear from the teachings of the Quran and also from the history of Islam that it's anything but peaceful," Robertson said in a subsequent interview with CNN. "Of course there are peace-loving Muslims. But at the same time, at the core of this religion ... is jihad, and it is to subject the unbelievers either to forced conversion or death. That's what it teaches."

Yeah. Uh-huh. Hey, Pat, take a look in the mirror sometime.

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-22

• World Famous Comics >> Megaton Man - Don Simpson: America's Nuclear Powered Hero! (comic funny)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-21

• Clusty the Clustering Engine: Clusty is the search site owned and operated by Vivísimo that aims to change the way people search online. It uses our award-winning Clustering Engine to organize search results into folders grouping similar items together. (aggregator internet search tool web)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-20

• Boing Boing: Violence satirical RPG under CC license: World-champ game designer Greg Costikyan once wrote a funny, obscure game called "Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed" as a gag for a publisher called Hogshead Publishing. (funny game weird)
• CutUsABreak.org: 13 high-school students in Pennsylvania are being prosecuted on felony charges of Computer Tresspass for subverting the security on their school-mandated laptops. Adminstrator passwords were printed on the back of the computers. (administration evil liberty politics security software)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-19

• FlickrBooty: Flickr's Fabulous Females (art boobs flickr nsfw photo)
• Clown Samurai: Sin City meets Kill Bill meets Bozo the Clown. Hilarity ensues. Then depression sets in. Amazing what you can do with just 4 colors. (clown comic funny mafia noir samurai web)
• Is Your Boss a Psychopath?: Odds are you've run across one of these characters in your career. They're glib, charming, manipulative, deceitful, ruthless -- and very, very destructive. And there may be lots of them in America's corner offices. (administration anthropology culture productivity)
• FlickrLicio.us - Babes of Flickr: 'nuff said. (boobs flickr naughty photo)
• Storage Technology: Get Perpendicular! Mad propz to Hitachi! Disco-dancing bits and talking disk drives! (cartoon flash funny hardware music physics reference science storage weird)

Clown Samurai

You must read Clown Samurai. It's a hard-boiled, film noir-style crime drama, with a twist:

Clown Samurai follows the adventures of Ogata Utamaro, a failed clown with the training of a warrior. Japanese but born in England, Utamaro was taught the way of the samurai by his grandfather as a child. In adulthood, Utamaro found his calling as a clown, a profession of which his father did not approve. Disowned, he traveled to the United States, where he found work as a rodeo clown in the south. We find him now depressed and jobless living in a large northern city after a disaster in his life. No longer able to make children laugh, Utamaro is drawn into the world of organized crime, where it will take everything he has just to survive.

The dialog is deadly serious, and the artwork is done in a dark, posterized style. Plus the main character is a killer clown with a samurai sword. It's drop-dead funny.

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-18

• Phases of the Moon: Covers new moon, full moon, first and last quarters, for years 1700-2035 (astronomy moon reference)
• Shape-Changers: Medieval Thru Renaissance Periods: Some interesting historical accounts of people persecuted as werewolves, plus possible causes (rabies, porphyria, autism, drugs) (anthropology history science werewolf wolf)

Baby Terrorists Strike Berlin!

From Reuters Oddly Enough News:

BERLIN (Reuters) - An "electronic nappy" used to monitor wetness sparked a bomb alert in a German post office when it arrived in a parcel ticking suspiciously, police in the southwestern city of Heilbronn said Thursday.

Photblography

With the advent of digital cameras, you can now take more bad pictures faster than ever before. The best of the worst of my own are over at Flickr.

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-17

• BlackDog: BlackDog is a fully self-contained computer with a built-in biometric reader and a host of other powerful features. Unlike any other computing device, BlackDog is completely powered off of the USB port of your host computer (X debian hardware linux ppc security)
• The Onion | Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory: "Things fall not because they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher intelligence, 'God' if you will, is pushing them down," said Gabriel Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and physics from Oral Roberts U (creationism evolution humor physics politics religion science theonion)
• UGAnime: UGAnime exists mainly to promote and showcase Japanese animation for the University of Georgia and beyond. Not only do we hold weekly showings of a regular schedule (Mondays 7-10pm, SLC 102!), we also participate in special events and attempt to provide a (anime culture social uga)

Sorry!

It keeps getting worse:

It has now emerged that Mr de Menezes:

• was never properly identified because a police officer was relieving himself at the very moment he was leaving his home;
• was unaware he was being followed;
• was not wearing a heavy padded jacket or belt as reports at the time suggested;
• never ran from the police;
• and did not jump the ticket barrier.

But the revelation that will prove most uncomfortable for Scotland Yard was that the 27-year-old electrician had already been restrained by a surveillance officer before being shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.

Secure Flight Oversight

Bruce Schneier writes:

According to Wired News, the DHS is looking for someone in Congress to sponsor a bill that eliminates congressional oversight over the Secure Flight program.

The bill would allow them to go ahead with the program regardless of GAO's assessment. (Current law requires them to meet ten criteria set by Congress; the most recent GAO report said that they did not meet nine of them.) The bill would allow them to use commercial data even though they have not demonstrated its effectiveness. (The DHS funding bill passed by both the House and the Senate prohibits them from using commercial data during passenger screening, because there has been absolutely no test results showing that it is effective.)

Feel safer now? Me neither. But at least they are keeping baby terrorists off airliners. (UPDATE: And puppet terrorists too!)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-12

• The Chronicle: 4/15/2005: Clever Canines: Did domestication make dogs smarter? (animal dog evolution science wolf)
• Deleted Domain Names: Search for domains recently expired or expiring soon by partial name match (dns internet)
• Behind the Name: the Etymology and History of First Names (culture etymology history reference social writing)
• Modern Drunkard Magazine Online: There's more to it than tipping a glass and acting foolish; Modern Drunkard Magazine presents 86 rules to drink by. (culture drink howto humor social)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-11

• Powerisers, Jump up to 6ft with the Poweriser jumping stilts! jumping shoes Powerskip Spring stilts bouncing stilts spring loaded Shoes: Be Advised that any injury or death gotten while using Powerisers is not the responsibility of Superdairyboy. Use these at your own risk. (exercise funny weird)
• The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox - Xbox-Linux: Only Microsoft could fit three bugs in 512 bytes of code. (gaming hardware microsoft programming security)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-10

• Shirky: Ontology is Overrated -- Categories, Links, and Tags: The strategy of tagging -- free-form labeling, without regard to categorical constraints -- seems like a recipe for disaster, but as the Web has shown us, you can extract a surprising amount of value from big messy data sets. (database design internet web)
• UGA scientist takes dark out of chicken meat: University of Georgia poultry and food scientist Daniel Fletcher can make "a silk purse" if he wants to. In his research, he's turning dark meat, the underused "sow's ear" of chicken, into something more valuable: white meat. (chicken food meat science uga weird)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-08

• One Bag (all about packing, luggage, and travelling light): The Art and Science of Travelling Light (howto reference travel)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-05

• Montana Supreme Court justice warns Orwell's 1984 has arrived | News.blog | CNET News.com: Believe it or not, it's perfectly legal for police to rummage through your garbage for incriminating stuff on you -- even if they don't have a warrant or court approval. (declan liberty politics privacy security)
• eChalk colour perception: This is the most amazing optical effect in the world: And actually, that's not an exaggeration. (art color optical perception science weird)
• paper cd case: Use this website to create a PDF file which can be printed and folded to create a paper CD case. (cd pdf tool)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-04

• FUD Forum: FUDforum is a highly customizable forum package, with a large feature set. The easy to use administration control panel allows the administrator to easily configure and control the many features available. The forum also includes an interactive help packa (mysql php web)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-02

• Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- More Info:PwdHash - All Releases: Automatically generates per-site passwords if you prefix your password with @@ or press F2 beforehand. Prevents JavaScript from reading your password as it is typed. (cryptography extension firefox javascript mozilla security)

del.icio.us links for 2005-08-01

• AMD Processor Support Forum > Guide to Memory Timing: Typical timing parameters look like 2-3-2-6-T1 or some other variant. So what do these numbers mean? (hardware)
• Installing DB2 Version 8.2 on Gentoo (2005-01-17): Short answer: Install RPM and hack the script (gentoo linux)

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-31

• Listamatic: one list, many options - Using CSS and a simple list to create radically different list options: Can you take a simple list and use different Cascading Style Sheets to create radically different list options? The Listamatic shows the power of CSS when applied to one simple list. (css design howto html)

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-27

• Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over: "...a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.I'm talking, of course, about high school football." (culture gaming liberty politics)
• Web Framework Reviews: "While originally I intended to do a more serious work I quickly realized that it is going to be impossible to be fair. All the information below is just a superficial opinion and tongue-in-cheek criticism." (framework programming python web)
• Little Boxes: CSS box layout, including three column (css design howto html layout web)

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-26

• Everybody loves Eric Raymond: Wacky housemates RMS, Linus, and of course, Eric Raymond (comic humor)

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-25

• edmontonsun.com SUNshine girl: Canadian hotties, a fine tradition carried over from British tabloids (naughty news photo)
• Schneier on Security: Secure Flight: Secure Flight is a disaster in every way. The TSA has been operating with complete disregard for the law or Congress. It has lied to pretty much everyone. And it is turning Secure Flight from a simple program to match airline passengers against terrorist (liberty politics privacy schneier security)

Why London cops should go back to using wands

Jean Charles de Menezes is the unlucky fellow who didn't roll over and play dead when a gang of gun-wielding thugs (who happened to be undercover policemen) chased him into the subway and subsequently pinned him to the floor of a subway car and put five slugs in the base of his skull at close range. The policy could be paraphased as, "If there might be a bomb, shoot the suspect in the head until he's throughly dead."

There are at least two problems with this. First, innocent people will run from the police, particularly if they don't know they are police. It's called the "fight or flight response", and it's not limited to Brazilians or even humans. Second, have they forgotten about the frequently-deployed device known as a "Dead man's switch"?

I'm no expert on the subject, but it seems like if you want to protect innocent bystanders, you shoot for the legs, immobilize the subject, and more importantly, put the bomb on the ground, where it seems less likely to do damage to people (projecting the blast in a vertical plane, rather than a horizontal plane, assuming the explosives wrap around the torso). Additionally, due to "fight or flight", you give bystanders a few seconds to run away, since they will all tend to scatter like frightened monkeys once the goon squad starts shooting people.

The London cops should go back to using wands:

Yes, we in Special Crime Squad have been using wands for almost a year now. You find it's easy to make yourself invisible. You can defy time and space, and you can turn violent criminals into frogs. Something which you could never do with the old truncheons.

Update (Jul 26): Bruce Scheier agrees with me (maybe not about the wands).

Drip, drip, drip

Another doctor visit, another new prescription. This time for Cipro HC OTIC ear drops (ciprofoxacin and hydrocortisone). I'm probably about 90% better, but that last 10% needs to be knocked out. Three drops, three times a day.

A distant, narrow vision

I can't think of a better name for the vaporware product formerly known as Longhorn than Microsoft Windows Vista, since "vista" means "a distant view or prospect, especially one seen through an opening", i.e. a distant, narrow vision.

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-21

• Why Frameworks Suck | devdev2040: The framework checks out all your girlfriends for you, the framework won’t let anyone dirty get through, the framework will wait up until you get in, the framework will always find out were you’ve been, the framework keeps you healthy and clean. (design framework programming python)
• Discovering WSGI and XSLT as middleware - Archives - Blog - 0xDECAFBAD Blog: here’s an XSLT filter implemented as WSGI middleware (programming python web wsgi xml xslt)

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-19

• Mike Davidson: Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly in Two Minutes: What’s really needed until HTML/CSS/JS support is improved in mobile devices is a little server-side filtering. By pulling out everything a mobile device can possibly choke on before it even gets to the mobile device, we can create a mobile version of o (accessibility css design howto php web xhtml)

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-18

• My Newspaper: MyNewspaper is a personal RSS Aggregator and Reader. (aggregator python rss web)

Quiet desperation

Timeline:

Sunday: Earache starts, the day after I'm back from my vacation, where one of the people I was staying with had an ear infection. And we both went swimming. Probably a mistake.

Monday: Go to doctor without appointment; 10 minute wait. He peeks in my ear, says, "Yep, it's infected,", and prescribes Omnicef (cephalosporin antibiotic) and Hydroco (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) for pain. This sets me back $85, and that's with insurance. I start watching a lot of TiVo. Chewing becomes difficult.

Tuesday: I can sleep about an hour at a time before the pain wakes me back up. Desperation, the kind produced by a pain in your head you can't make go away, makes you try some crazy things. I went out to Wal-Mart at 6:30 am and got some Swim-Ear (isopropanol and glycerin), which seemed to help some, perhaps by loosening things up. I don't think the Hydroco does squat for me in this case. Asprin seems to help a little. The skin inside my ear canal is peeling. I can hardly anything hear most of the time. It's like having cotton balls jammed in my ears, while long acupuncture needles are being tapped in occassionally with a ball-peen hammer. I find that pressing my right shoulder against my neck just behind my ear causes stuff to squirt out. These quantities are audible, but not visible.

Wednesday: Back to the doctor's office without an appointment; 90 minute wait. Different doctor, so different drugs: levaquin (fluoroquinolone antibiotic) and tobradex drops (tobramycin and dexamethasone antibiotic and steroid combination). This doctor thinks it is a Pseudomonas infection. Omnicef (aka cefdinir) is broad-spectrum against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in general, but cefdinir is not active against Pseudomonas. Levaquin is generally effective against Pseudomonas. This visit sets me back another $85. I decided to ditch the hydroco in favor of good old Excedrin Migraine (asprin, acetaminophen, and caffeine), which seems to work better.

Funny coincidence: My previous post on this subject was "Earache, my eye", which is actually a Cheech and Chong reference. At the time, I had not yet been prescibed the tobradex, which are actually eyedrops. Which go in my ear.

Thursday: I feel a little better, and I think my ears are draining a little bit better. I've watched at least 40 hrs of TV since Monday and need to get out of bed for a while, so I get dressed and get on the bike for awhile. Getting my full-face helmet on is tough: It feels like my entire head is swollen. When I ride with the visor up, I hear wind noise, and if I concentrate, I hear the engine, and that's about all. Rode out to Watkinsville, and hit some rain. Stopped off at the Jittery Joe's in Five Points for some coffee. Getting the helmet off is even harder than putting it on. Went home, got bored, took a ride out to Sears for some metric taps and dies. On a mostly aluminum motorcycle, it's pretty easy to crossthread bolts, and I have a few bolt holes that are problematic and need to be cleaned up. Rolled over 11K mi on the way home. Then rode out to dinner to meet the wife. Crusty stuff is building up in the right ear; I take this to mean something other than me is dying. Rode about 65 mi total.

Friday (today): Most of my jaw pain is cleared up, and I think I slept about six or seven hours for the first time since Sunday, both of which are excellent indicators. My ears are still stuffed up, the left more than the right now, and I still hurt, mostly in sharp stabs, but it's not so bad, or I am just getting used to it. It's 79° F and overcast, with thunderstorms possible. Think I'll go out and get some fresh air, gas, and food, in that order.

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-13

• del.icio.us direc.tor: Delivering A High-Performance AJAX Web Service Broker :: Johnvey: del.icio.us direc.tor is a prototype for an alternative web-based rich UI for del.icio.us. It leverages the XML and XSL services of modern browsers to deliver a responsive interface for managing user accounts with a large number of records. (ajax del.icio.us usability xml xslt)
• Meet Tyson, the Skateboarding Bulldog!: Real bulldog rides a real skateboard without assistance, and he steers, too. No xtreme stunts yet. (dog funny video)

Earache, my eye

I have a bad ear infection, which I probably picked up on my trip. Imagine a 12" drill bit going in one ear and out the other. That'd be a good start.

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-11

• Pig Manure Converted to Crude Oil: Process for turning shit (pig and probably others) into oil. Start stockpiling your shit NOW. (energy oil pig science shit weird)

Pussed out

On the morning of my trip, while loading up, I decided against taking the bike, for three reasons.

First, I didn't feel the bike was completely ready; it was still running a bit rough.

Second, I wasn't ready; I had hoped to get more riding time before going on a 500 mi (and back) trip.

Third, Dennis: I drove through some torrential rains on the way back. It rained so hard, it took the brake dust off the wheels and the bugs off the front bumper.

Today (now yesterday): Went for a trip around the Athens Perimeter; refueled. Rode up Nowhere Road, and ended up around Commerce. Did a little shopping and got home just before the rain got serious. Total distance: About 90 mi. I'm still using Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas and it seems to be helping. There are still some flat spots at times, but it get progressively better well after warm-up.

Success at last

Put together bike, realizing at the end I left off two rubber caps on the air cleaner which cover some access holes. I decide to leave them off for a brief test ride (10 mi). Accelerates poorly in low RPM range. After a warm up, I tear it back down to attach the synchronizer. I think it's now improved somewhat, but hard to tell. Put it back together, not forgetting the caps this time.

I picked up some Eagle One Bucket-Free Car Wash on one of my trips to Advance. Basically, you hose down your vehicle, spray on a bit of the car wash, distribute it with a mitt or sponge or whatnot, and then rinse it off. It seems to work pretty well.

Go for a 20 mi test. It's better, but still missing a lot below 5000 RPM. When the power fully kicks in, it's quite obvious, like someone ignited a solid rocket booster. Sometimes blipping the throttle or changing gears (in eithe direction) wakes it up.

There's less vibration than I remember; I think this is mostly due to the valve clearence. It's rideable, and better on the highway, but I'm not sure I want to take it on a 500 mi trip yet. I have about a day to figure that one out. Afternoon thunderstorms all week.

Almost there

Did not accomplish very much today; just too hot, and I didn't feel well.

Carburetor clamps were not in stock at local Kawasaki dealer, and they were about $4.50 apiece. I decided to try True Value instead, and while they did not have any hose clamps that looked suitable, they did have replacement screws, which is all I really needed. Total cost: $1.25.

Hooked up the carburetor synchronizer for the first time: A Morgan Carbtune II. I like that it needs no calibration, and contains no mercury. There's definitely some need for adjustment, but the problem is, while I can get it to idle, I have a lot of trouble getting it to accelerate. In hooking up the Carbtune, I noticed one of the vacuum lines had a small hole, so I got some replacement line at True Value.

I think before I can tackle the synchronization, I need to run some fuel system cleaner through the system. I bought some Marvel Mystery Oil for this awhile back; I've had good luck with it in the past. I'll try dumping a few ounces in the gas tank and see if that helps.

Changed the oil and filter, and the coolant. By this point, I had a bad headache building and had to quit.

After dark, when it cooled down a bit, I re-installed the oil cooler and the lower fairing mount. Some of my header paint is flaking off. Oh well. You can't see any of the exhaust system with the bodywork on, except for the mufflers of course, and the very back of the manifold. All I want is for it to not rust, or at least not rust badly.

Tomorrow: I'm putting it back together and riding for a bit. If that goes well, I'll try to synchronize the carburetors again.

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-02

• opensource@KMRC: Bebop: Bebop is a Zope3-based groupware that tries to combine collaboration support and content management with a user-friendly interface. It allows to switch between a traditional desktop metaphor and a blog perspective on the contributions of the group members (cms software zope)

Whoring for beverages

Went outside to clean up a bit and found my lost bolt almost immediately. It was right where I had been applying gasket adhesive. The lighting was bad, and I only found it because the can of adhesive was stuck to some newspaper, and lifting the can caused the bolt to roll. Installed it.

Propel is "fitness water" from Gatorade. It's like Gatorade, with all the electrolytes, but without all the sugar. It still has some sucrose, because sucrose helps you absorb water. It's got sucralose (a.k.a. Splenda) as well. It's non-nasty. I am planning a road trip on my bike next week, and this seems like it would be a pretty good thing to have on hand. If some marketing bigwig over at Gatorade wants to ship me a case, or a great big pile of money, please contact me.

Success

Got everything required to run installed: carbs, air cleaner, fuel tank, exhaust system. Tried to start: No go. Additionally, the throttle mysteriously wouldn't move. Tore it down to the carburetors, and the throttle still wouldn't move, with no obvious cause. Remove carburetors; throttle now moves. Cause of the problem: There are some screw clamps which secure the carburetors to the intake, and if you move them too much to one side (so you can access them easier), they interfere with the throttle. Reposition, re-install carburetors. Some of the screw heads on the clamps are in bad condition; I'll try to get some new ones tomorrow.

Re-install air cleaner and fuel tank. First attempt was on the reserve tank, but since the tank seems half full, I switch back to the regular tank. After a couple more tries, it starts to catch. Give it a little choke, and it fires up. I run it for about 10 seconds, and it sounds OK, but it is still stumbling a bit, so I switch it off for the night. I notice a small puddle of oil underneath, but this is due to my leaving off the timing cover.

Some damn wasp has tried to build it's mud nest in one of the bolt holes of the cover; I clean it out with one of the bolts. Glue the gasket on and... now I can't find one of the bolts. I substitute with the remaining original cam chain tensioner bolt, which is the right diameter and thread, but a little short. If I can't the one I somehow misplaced, I can probably find a replacement at True Value. I'll look for suitable clamps for the carbs too.

I'm relieved that it seems to run fairly well. At least I know with some certainty that I didn't screw up the cam alignment. I think there's a little less vibration than there used to be, which was probably due to the valve clearence, or it could have been partly due to junk in the carburetors, which I have now cleaned pretty thoroughly. It should be ready for a road test tomorrow, but of course more thunderstorms are on the way: 40% chance after 2 pm, 97° heat index.

Still to do: Change oil and coolant. Synchronize carburetors. Re-install bodywork.

del.icio.us links for 2005-07-01

• GEL Tv: I can't really describe this, except to say that involves shock-absorbing gel and some very excited Japanese people, and something resembling a three-foot long four-by-four. (flash funny japan video weird)
• A Belated Apology to Joel Schumacher (Signed, The Internet): It's been established to the point of being comic book canon by now that Joel Schumacher single-handedly destroyed the Batman franchise. The bastard! But is it the truth? (batman history)

The daily July thunderstorm

Finally got the baffle plate on by putting it in sideways and then turning it.

Installed spark plugs and ignition system. I used some anti-seize compound on the plug threads, which I haven't used before. Bizarrely, the 5/8" spark plug socket I got from Sears has a 1/2" drive.

Changed the fuel filter and most of the fuel line. I have another line left to replace: on the tank petcock to the resevoir

Carburetors are on, but not really attached yet. It's very hot: 91° F, 56% humidity, 100° heat index, and there is a thunderstorm rolling in. Taking another break.

Welcome to July

Got oil for the bike: Motul 5100 4T Synthetic 10W40. I've used this for the life of the bike, and I can't complain, but at $27.50/gallon, it isn't cheap.

Reinstalled valve cover. Decided to reuse gasket since it seems to be in good shape, even compared to the new one. I'll save it for later. A little bit of silicone sealer is needed where the head has been machined for the camshafts. My old tube of blue Permatex more or less exploded on me. Messy.

Tried to reinstall baffle plate, which prevents air from the radiator from blowing over the engine. Everything was getting wet because I was sweating so much. Decided I needed a break. It was about 88° F, 66% humidity, heat index of 98°. I'll cool off, rehydrate and go again.

We have clearence, Clarence

Looked up the part number for the broken bolt, and called the local Kawasaki dealer. No joy: They don't stock it, but they can order it ($2.60). This wasn't going to work since it was the Thursday before a three-day weekend, and I wanted the bike for the next week, so I tried Lowe's and Home Depot after lunch. No luck there, either; Lowe's had metric flange bolts, but not the right size, and I think the Ho only had SAE. I didn't know the exact size, though I had a hint from Cycle-Parts.com, but the ones I did find were definitely too large.

Went home, got the unbroken bolt, and went to the local True Value, and they had them: Stainless steel and only $0.50. I bought two. The flange turned out, upon closer examination, to be a bit larger, but this turned out not to matter; it may even be better.

Installed the cam chain tensioner and turned the engine a couple times by hand to make it do it's thing. Re-measured all the valve clearences. The exhaust valves are particularly difficult to measure, since they are on the far side of the engine, and there's stuff that gets in the way. In the end, I had to bend my feeler gauge to get the right angle. I have some tappet feeler gauges which are pre-bent, but they don't have enough precision for this bike; they are probably intended for something larger. Everything checks out within specs.

A thunderstorm blows in, so I'm calling it quits for the night. I'm taking the day off tomorrow to finish up. I still need to get some motor oil. With any luck at all, I should have it running tomorrow afternoon. Then I need to change the oil and filter, and the coolant.

del.icio.us links for 2005-06-30

• Xenu - The craziest story ever told: In Scientology doctrine, Xenu is a galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth, stacked them around volcanoes, and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the livin (evil funny reference religion scientology weird xenu)
• I Hate Horses.: The author seems to have some sort of mysterious bias against horses. (evil funny horse rant weird)
• Preliminary analysis of new Specter-Leahy data security bill: opinions? [Politech]: It's worth taking a close look at the new Specter-Leahy security breach bill -- introduced Wednesday -- because it's the most comprehensive so far and the leading candidate to be enacted into law this year. (declan liberty politics privacy security)
• Waxy.org: Daily Log: Tom Cruise Kills Oprah: This is the funniest video I've seen in a long time: Tom Cruise's evil Scientology/Sith powers revealed... on the next (and last) Oprah! (evil funny mashup starwars video)

Snap!

My parts finally arrived today. I had trouble paying with credit card at cycle-parts.com. We (me and the customer service guy) believe it was a problem with their credit card authorization system. As most on-line payment systems do, it asks for the name on the credit card, in case it's different from the ship-to name, which was true in this case. We think that it may not be looking at this, so the card wouldn't authorize.

In an attempt to expedite the order, I used PayPal. This was a mistake: I don't keep much money in my PayPal account, so it had to do a bank transfer, which was scheduled to take three days. It took four, which meant it cleared on Friday, and the order didn't go out until Monday. Fortunately, UPS ground from the midwest to northeast Georgia only takes two days, and so I got them Wednesday, which is about nine days after I ordered them.

I start by reinstalling the exhaust. The repainted headers look pretty good. I clean up around the mating surfaces with a tiny high-speed wire wheel, slip on the new gaskets, slip the headers over the mounting studs, and thread in the lower mounting bolts to keep them in place. The nuts go for a swim in the rust remover. I bought new gaskets for the mufflers, but I don't think I need them. The mufflers are pretty easy to remove if I'm wrong.

Mistake #1: I forget to check if I could move some of the shims I was taking out to another lifter that needed them. I probably ordered two extra shims because of this. Mistake #2: When I first wrote down what new shims I needed, I went in the wrong direction. Since I needed more clearence, I needed a smaller shim but initially wrote down the next bigger shim. I fixed this before ordering, except in one case where I ended up writing down the original size instead of the smaller size. D'oh!

The first screwup saved me on the second: I was able to reuse one of the old shims. Eventually I may be able to reuse some the others, but the wrong one I got is as big as the largest shim already, so unless I need to reduce clearance, I probably won't be able to use it.

Installing the camshafts is a bitch. The exhaust cam is not too bad, as you can align it fairly easily to the top of the cylinder head. The intake cam is the tough one. There's slack in the timing chain at this stage, but not a whole lot. The drive gears on each camshaft like to interlock when you are trying to adjust the intake cam. Once you have it in there, you have to check alignment by counting chain links (34 pins) from top of the head at the exhaust side to the alignment mark on the gear of the intake side.

Then come the cam caps, secured by a total of 16 cap bolts, which must be torqued in sequence. The manual says a couple of the bolts are longer, but not in my case; I noticed this when I took them off. Final torque is 12 N-m, which is fairly light.

Next comes the cam chain tensioner, which attaches to the intake side of the block with two fairly long cap bolts. You have to tighten them gradually. As with the cam cap bolts, final torque is 12 N-m. One of them goes on fine. The other one turns and turns and just as starts to feel like it's tightening up, snap! suddenly it's loose again. My first thought was that I stripped threads in the block, which is a Very Bad Thing, but instead the bolt broke. I removed the other bolt and the tensioner and was left with half a bolt (now a stud) sticking out of the block. I used pliers to back it out without too much effort. I am sure I did not over-torque it.

In retrospect, I was quite fortunate that it broke when it did. If the tensioner loosened up while the bike was running, it could be a Very Bad Thing, as in a slipped -- or broken -- timing chain and broken valves and pistons, plus a seized engine. So while I have a broken bolt, at least it's broken when the bike isn't running.

This all happened just after midnight, so I'll have to try to get replacement bolts (I'll replace both to be safe) tomorrow/today.

del.icio.us links for 2005-06-29

• The Dilbert Principle: The basic concept of the Dilbert Principle is that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management. This has not proved to be the winning strategy that you might think. (humor productivity)
• Jon Stewart's ('84) Commencement Address | News: "I am honored to be here and to receive this honorary doctorate. When I think back to the people that have been in this position before me from Benjamin Franklin to Queen Noor of Jordan, I can’t help but wonder what has happened to this place." (culture humor politics)

Some G.W. Bush howlers

In W's speech to shore up support for the war in Iraq, he gave us some memorable quotes, but probably not in the way he intended. Highlighting is mine:

When the history of this period is written, the liberation of Afghanistan and the liberation of Iraq will be remembered as great turning points in the story of freedom. [Turning towards less freedom.]

After September 11, 2001, I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult and we are prevailing.

Our enemies are brutal, but they are no match for the United States of America, and they are no match for the men and women of the United States military. [We are way more brutal than they are.]

These are as good as, or better than, the classic, "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

del.icio.us links for 2005-06-28

• Google Earth - Home: A 3D interface to the planet (google gps maps photo software web)
• The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race: It's agriculture. 10,000 years of college down the drain! (agriculture anthropology culture economics evil history meat science social)
• tetka.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object): A woman in a bikini falls through an endless field of large bubbles. No women or electrons were harmed in the making of this simulation. (biomechanical flash physics weird)
• United Nuclear - Scientific Supplies: Your on-line source for fun items like thermite, magnesium ribbon, uranium, deuterium... (science shop web weird)
• Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: "Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster." (creationism evolution fsm funny pastafarianism pirate politics religion science)

del.icio.us links for 2005-06-27

• TagCloud - Home: TagCloud is an automated Folksonomy tool. Essentially, TagCloud searches any number of RSS feeds you specify, extracts keywords from the content and lists them according to prevalence within the RSS feeds. Clicking on the tag’s link will display a list (aggregator atom rss tool)

del.icio.us links for 2005-06-23

• J-List -- a wonderful toybox of things from Japan!: We here at J-List are dedicated to bringing Japan and the West closer through shared popular culture. We have great respect for Japan and want to bring Japanese culture, in whatever form we may, to the world, and provide a bridge between the two cultures. (anime culture japan manga nsfw sex shop weird)

Procrastination pays off again

Yesterday I got to the Kawasaki dealer too late to get the shims I needed, so I stopped by Sears and got a micrometer. This turned out to be a good thing, because several of my measurements with the vernier calipers were wrong.

I spent a couple hours making a valve clearance worksheet (see previous post), and then I re-measured all the shims.

Here's a tip: To remove the lifters and shims, use one of those telescoping magnets. I did this the first time, and about halfway through the intake lifters, I decided I could pull one out with my fingers, which I did. And the shim fell down inside the cylinder head. Fortunately, the head is aluminium, so it was easy to fish out with the magnet. If it had fallen down into the timing chain, I would have had real trouble. When you use a good magnet to pull the lifter, it tends to bring the shim with it. Even if it doesn't, you can still easily remove the shim with the magnet.

I said those little bastards would be expensive, and they are: $9.11 for a piece of metal the size of an asprin. At least, that is the price from Cycle-Parts. You need to have a minimum order of $100 to order with Cycle-Parts, and with five shims and some assorted gaskets and a couple oil filters, I managed to reach that level. Since I can't use any of the parts until next weekend, and they have a 4-5 day turnaround, that's probably what I'm going to use.

I've been looking at getting a new exhaust system, since the old one started to rust badly, and the left muffler got a bit dinged up from the crash. Vance&Hines makes a 4-into-2-into-1 system, with nickle-plated headers, that lists for $489. Just for the hell of it, I looked up new OEM headers: $589, and that didn't include mufflers. I also got idea (much too late in the day on a weekend) to get the old headers powder-coated; I'd guess that would cost $100-200.

The last option was high-temperature header paint, so I went to Advance Auto Parts to look around. The local Advance seems to have a better selection than the local AutoZone. In fact, they had motorcycle oil filters. I got some phosphoric acid-based rust neutralizer (Right Stuff, Formula #3000) and high-temperature exhaust paint (Dupli-Color). I also stopped by Wal-Mart for a spray bottle and found a 1.2 L pressurized garden sprayer (RL Flo-Master). Got the manifold off without too much trouble, and then spent 30-45 minutes with a wire wheel cleaning it.

Right Stuff is definitely named correctly: It seems to be doing a great job, though I am going to do a second application. And the RL Flo-Master sprayer is an awesome sprayer, too. I was done applying the rust remover in about two minutes. I took a couple minutes to rinse the sprayer, but it looks all plastic, so it shouldn't be affected.

Weather permitting, I'll paint the headers tonight.

ZX-6 Valve Clearance Worksheet

I made a valve clearance worksheet for the ZX-6 using Inkscape. It's in SVG format, so if your browser can't display it, get a better browser. OK, SVG is not enabled by default in the standard builds, so here's a fucking PDF version.

It's hard to find metric measurement tools in the US. Feeler gauges seem to universally have both SAE and metric units, but in reality, the blades tend to be made in units of 0.001", so they don't fall on nice, neat metric boundaries. My vernier calipers did not have enough precision so I did get a micrometer, but it is only calibrated in inches, and there were no metric ones available. You'd think with the number of foreign cars and motorcycles in this country that you could get some decent metric measuring tools, but no. (Wrenches and such are not an issue, of course.) Thus, the worksheet has all the clearances in both mm and in.

del.icio.us links for 2005-06-18

• Confederate Motor Company: Confederate Motorcycles (art motorcycle)
• All your base are belong to us - Official Video Site: HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN!? The classic flash video. You are on the way to destruction. (ayb flash humor video)
• ... All Your Base Rhapsody: Zero Wing vs. Queen (ayb flash humor mashup music queen video)

Point of no return

Took the camshafts out so I could check the thickness of the shims. They look a lot like steel Altoids, only a bit smaller, and crunchier. Each shim is supposed to have a two-digit number which tells you what the part number is and thus how thick it is. About half of them did not have numbers or were illegible. The number looks like it's printed on with a dot-matrix printer; I don't think it's laser-etched. Fortunately, I have some vernier calipers and was able to measure their thickness. I'm not sure this is very accurate, since I can only measure to 0.1 mm, and the shims come in 0.05 mm increments. I think I'm going to have to get a micrometer to be sure. However, in all cases, the clearance is too small, and I think if I end up getting 0.05 mm too big, I'll still be within tolerances. I just know these little bastards are not going to be cheap, and I need five of them.

A truce with the editor

I still dislike the Blogger editor, but I've figured out how to make it do what I want:

To start a new paragraph, enter <p>, which is just your standard HTML start tag.

Switching back and forth from Edit HTML to Compose makes it display correctly in the editor.

The Preview looks fine, too, but switching back leaves the HTML exposed, if you have not already gone to Edit HTML and back to Compose.

SGML literals, such as &lt; and &gt;, have to be entered in the Edit HTML mode.

What I really wish it would do:

• One Return inserts a <br>
• Two Returns inserts a <p>

In other words, I want reStructured Text.

Worst case scenario

Got the valve cover off and started measuring clearances: Some of them definitely need to be adjusted since they are on the tight side. This means the cams come off, and I have to check the numbers on each one of 16 tiny little shims under the valve lifters, get the right thickness replacement shims, and put it all back together without messing up the valve timing. Not completely unexpected, but definitely something I wanted to avoid.

Took some time cleaning up the valve cover, particularly the gasket area, which had some old silicone and gasket adhesive. Non-chlorinated brake cleaner seems to do a good job of this. Tried polishing up the valve cover with some old Mother's Aluminum and Mag Polish. I say "old" because I've had it several years and it was a little crunchy on top, but I did make some progress. Then I spilled it all over the place. Finished cleaning the cover with brake cleaner, WD-40, and carburetor cleaner. It's not super-shiny, but it'll do. I slipped the cover back on to keep bugs out of the cylinder head.