Month: May 2004

3 Laws of Humanity

I’ve always been a lover of sci-fi. Growing up I had a few favorite authors and one of them was Isaac Asimov. I was eagerly awaiting this summer’s release of a movie based on his robot stories, I Robot. After seeing the first trailer with it’s The Who soundtrack and it’s Apple-likeness (I wonder how much they had to pay Steve Jobs for that?) I was stoked. But the newer ones aimed at drawing in the action crowd seem so against type from my memories of Asimov’s books/stories that maybe I won’t enjoy the flick at all. That may just be me though, as from at all the clips at TheMovieBox.Net the movie looks awesome.

All this got me thinking about those 3 Laws of Robotics the Asimov wrote way back when. Maybe, just maybe, this world would be a lot better place if we just changed the word robot in them to man:
1) A man may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A man must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A man must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

CSI:Aiken?

Our county coroner recently passed away suddenly. She will be replaced in the next general election and the signs of the wannabes are popping up all over the place. First: This is an elected office? I know I don’t pay much attention to politics, but what kind of power does a Coroner have? Second: Why are there so many people trying to win this position? The only thing I can figure is there must be some new reality TV show about coroners that is committed to be filmed here with whoever ends up in the job.

Travel Plans

Donna and I are driving up north to Connecticut for my Mom’s birthday starting the 27th. Our itinerary (so far) is as follows:Thursday, Aiken, SC to Brevard, NCFriday, Brevard, NC to Lexington, VASaturday, Lexington, VA to Cumberland, MDSunday, Cumberland, MD to Williamsport, PAMonday, Williamsport, PA to New Britain, CTTuesday, Wednesday, New Britain, CTThursday, New Britain, CT to ???Friday, ??? to ???Saturday, ??? to Aiken, SC. So if you live anywhere near these places and you see a Garnet Red Miata zip by, it is probably us.

Burglar Note: Donna’s Mom is not traveling with us and she keeps a shotgun near her bed (with the safety off.)

Size Does Matter

If it didn’t, would they have made Tic-Tacs 30% larger?

High Topped Sneakers

I think it is just me, but the new Miata with 16″ wheels and OEM height looks like it is wearing high topped sneakers. I’d really like to lower the car an inch or so, but the easy and perfectly acceptable way it was accomplished on the earlier version car, Koni adjustable shocks, is not available for this car. Lowering springs or adjustable coilovers are the only way to lower this generation Miata and shocks will change the ride characteristics and the coilovers are expensive…

I’ve been eyeballing different 15″ wheels thinking that might change the appearance to something better. This method has its shortcomings as well because only certain wheels will fit over the larger brakes. The only way this fly is when I’ve worn out the stock tires and can sell the new wheels by pointing out that the new 15″tire wheels will only be a little more expensive than just the 16″ tires.

50% Off Coupon

There was a 50% off coupon in today’s paper from Goody’s. I thought goody, I need a new pair of jeans and we were going shopping tonight. Uh, oh, it is only good on Saturday morning from 9AM until 1PM. No problem I can wait. What’s this in the fine print? Good on almost anything in the store! Cool. Excludes clearance, cosmetics, electronics, denim, Dockers, athletic shoes, Goody’s Giftcard purchases, Y.E.S. value items, fine jewelry, fragrances, tuxedos rentals. Shouldn’t that have read “Good on almost nothing in the store!”? Into the trash that coupon goes.

Cockpit Cover Saves The Day

All this week the Weather Channel has told us there is a 30% chance of afternoon thundershowers. Yesterday we put the top up and it worked merely to ward off the rain. Today I used the cockpit cover and it acted as a rain magnet.

Not too long after our lunchtime walk the skies opened up big time. It didn’t look too bad during the walk, so I was surprised by the intensity that I heard on the roof over my head at my desk. It rained hard for at least 30 minutes. The cover has saved the Miata interior on several occasions in the past, but it has always been on the old car. It fits the new one alright, but because the seats stick up a little higher (Surfboard Fan Club maybe?) there is a slight gap left near the windows. I was worried that this might lead to less protection for the interior.

While it was raining lightly I borrowed an umbrella and made my way out to the north forty to see what I could see. When I peeked under the edge at the inside it looked perfectly dry. Instead of just walking away I decided to put the top up. During the brief seconds the inside was unprotected, between tossing off the cover and raising the roof, a little water managed to get in, but it was dry by the time we walked out to go home at 4:00.

When we got home I stuck the cockpit cover in the dryer on low and dried it out. It shrunk a little, but I have it stretched over the car now to help it get back to normal. I just hope that spinning experience hasn’t diminished the water repellency…