lookin

A couple years ago, a friend and I were driving north on Highway 1, about twenty miles north of San Francisco. As I came around a curve, I saw a new Rolls Royce driving southbound towards us. I think it was a Ghost. As soon as I said to my friend, "Look at this pretty Rolls Royce coming at us.", another one came along behind it. Then a third. Then a fourth, fifth, and sixth. I rarely see a new Rolls Royce, and here were six of them traveling in a pack. They were different colors, but they were all identical models. My first thought was that they were shooting an ad, since Highway 1 curves along the Pacific and through beautiful hilly areas and picturesque fishing and farming communities. But it's been a long time since I recall seeing an ad for Rolls Royce. I think it was a new model at the time, and had a waiting list, so why advertise? Then I thought maybe it was an automotive magazine doing a feature story, but they're usually lucky to get one car from the manufacturer and here were six! Then I thought maybe it was an oil sheik and his convoy enjoying the sights, but why would they ship a half dozen cars here for a pleasure drive, or buy them here and ship them home? Prince Charles and Camilla had stayed nearby a year or so earlier, but surely a royal return would have been publicized. It was a rather amazing sight seeing six shiny new Rolls Royce bespoke automobiles passing by and, to this day, I wonder what they were doing there. Any ideas?

You're being far too kind. I would never have thought of tracking down an ardent lepidopterist to illustrate my modest sleuthing abilities, though delighted that you did. Notwithstanding the fact that my personal life's journey has encouraged me to make every effort to maintain an arm's length relationship with butterfly nets.

Yes it is. I can see why he's a good host.

Glad to hear it, MsGuy. While I was checking the other day to see where bottled Coke might be available in Mississippi, I ran across an interesting tidbit that the very first Coca Cola bottling plant was in Vicksburg. Asa Chandler himself made the pitch in 1894. Seems only fitting that it should still be available, albeit by a rather circuitous route.

Zipperzone, MsGuy has it exactly right. I can see your pictures just fine, but only when I'm logged in. Just as my pictures of Kaique required the user to be logged in to see them. But then one day Lucky linked to one of Kaique's pictures that I had uploaded and, lo and behold, I didn't have to be logged in to see it. That's what I was trying to explain, because I thought MsGuy had discovered that trick too. I didn't do a very good job of explaining it, though. So, bottom line, please keep doing that voodoo that you do so well! Anybody needs me, I'll be down here in the sandbox either losing myself by confusing myself or amusing myself by abusing myself. (MsGuy, I hope your JO smiley will make it into the MER Hall of Fame right alongside your Thumbs Up smiley. )

PPS: Although it's Zipperzone whose posts have given me recent experience with linking to uploads, I had forgotten that it was Lucky Himself who first taught me the trick, and with one of my very own posts no less! And, if that weren't enough, it was a link to Kaique he used to show me how. I know I'm at the stage of life where I forget things, but Kaique?!! Ay yi yi! What's even more remarkable about the Kaique images is that they were totally gone from the original site where I found them. Fortunately, I had saved them on my hard drive, and was able to upload them to MER as links. And then along came Lucky, and the rest is history! I'll have to think of some way to let him know what a bad boy I've been and thank him properly.

PS: I still don't understand all this stuff, so I think I'll just return the sandbox to Daddy and let him carry on from here.

Sorry for the confusion, MsGuy. I think I went down a slightly different rat hole, and didn't explain my trip very well. Starting from the top, an admission: I hate delivering red X's (or blue question marks for Mac users) to anyone who reads my posts. They usually arise when I use an image that, for one reason or another, does not like to be called up by using the MER 'insert image' button. I find an image I really like, it even shows up in the preview, and then Bam!, it turns into a red X as soon as I hit 'post'. Sometimes I can find the image on a different, friendlier, site and sometimes I have to start all over. That's what happened with the guy sitting on the flag in a post I made a few days ago. It was exactly the image I wanted, but the site where it was located did not want me to insert a call to the image itself, so all anyone could see was the dreaded red X. Here's what I got when I hit 'insert image': Sometimes the image shows up, and sometimes it's just a red X. I could have just hit the 'insert link' button but then the reader doesn't see the image itself, but rather a link that needs to be clicked. I prefer not to use those, as it requires the reader to be logged in to see the image. Someone may be kind enough to read my post in the first place, but I don't like to add to the burden by requiring him to log in. (It's different with Zipperzone's image links, as they're well worth logging in for, but I figure folks are likely to pass my stuff by unless I make it easy for them.) Here's what I got when I hit the 'insert link' button: (If you're logged in, you may see the image; if you're not, you won't.) Flag guy So I was delighted when I thought I had found a workaround. It was thanks to Zipperzone that I first discovered that I could call up one of his images after he had linked to it, and after I had right-clicked on it to find its URL. Apparently, when one links to an image, its original off-site URL is replaced by another URL which is hosted by the MER site itself. And that MER URL does not mind being inserted as an image that can be seen without logging in. So I first linked to the site with the flag-guy's image using the MER 'insert link' button; that caused a link to the image to be inserted in my post. I then clicked the link and opened the image. When the image was open, I right-clicked on it, found the new URL that MER had generated, and inserted that image into my post. Voila! I now had an image that someone could see without logging in. So it seems like a three-step process will do the trick: (1) 'insert link' to the URL of the unfriendly off-site image, (2) log in and right-click on the image to capture MER's friendly URL, and (3) 'insert image' using MER's friendly URL. Last thing I tried, now that I had MER's friendly URL, was to see if I could delete the link to the other site, and retain only the image. It turned out I couldn't. For some reason, the link to the other site still needs to be present, even if I'm using the image with the MER URL. Don't know why, but there it is. Something to ponder on a cold winter evening in front of the fire.

Music to my ears! However, it does seem that big business, whose interests are likely shared by the "top 1%", has a chokehold on the government and, as Hitoallusa says, is not about to give it up. While our politicians still need the votes of the hoi polloi, it seems the best way to get those votes is through ridiculously expensive campaigns that need to be funded by big business and the top 1%. Typically, the only choice voters have these days is between one beholden candidate and another beholden candidate. Until that pattern is broken, I think it's only going to get more pronounced. Democracy in this country appears to be drifting away from the one man-one vote model the country was founded on, and which we encourage other nations to adopt. Seems like we need to take care of our own knitting first. /rant

No, not exactly. I also learned something new the other day (how to post a picture that wouldn't permit linking and gave the dreaded red X), and I must have just been projecting. Thanks for letting me know what you learned. One of these days, I'll get around to reading the 'What You Need to Know About Photo Sharing' and will probably find the answers to a lot of stuff that's been eluding me.

Did somebody call?

If you're serious, you might be able to find Coke made with sugar. It comes in bottles from Mexico. In California, some Mexican grocery stores carry it, and I understand that Costco and (shudder) Walmart do too. Check the ingredient label to make sure It's the Real Thing ©. It's more expensive but I think it tastes much better, just like it did when I was growing up.

If you mean what I think, I tried that out the other day with the guy sitting on the flag. You can get the uploaded image to show, but you need to have the link showing too. If you erase the link, the image goes too, even though you have its URL. But you should be able to link to the image in another post, and have the image show without the link. That is what you learned, right? If not, please excuse the instrusion. I'll show myself out.

Happy Birthday to you! And I think I saw that DW's birthday was yesterday, so Happy Birthday to him too! And a very Happy Unbirthday to everybody else!

Ricko, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Just be sure to use a good moisturizer and plenty of mousse.

That is scary. What's also scary is how much money politicians need to spend to get elected. I read that the 2008 Presedential/Congressional election cost $5.3 billion. Gone are the days when all you needed to get elected was a snazzy button.

ROLF! (I actually got Rolfed many years ago, the first five sessions anyway. The pain was made bearable by the fact that the practioner was cute, smooth and nicely muscled, with thick auburn curls ringed around his adorable face. However, he allowed as how the sixth session was the one where he would be shoving his index fingers up my nostrils and prying the fascia away from my eye sockets from the inside. I expect he still has my pants and penny loafers. )

Sorry, MsGuy, the first time I looked at the pic after I posted, I got a blue box (Mac version of red X) too. But it's shown up every time since. I'm posting it again, as I think it's worth a second look, but this time I'm going to try uploading it and then linking to it. As I said earlier, "Might as well enjoy it while it's here!"

Same here! ( Although I'm still hoping for something on a quickie in the passenger lounge. )

Got it, TY. Thanks. I know vaguely what 2257 is, but had no inkling of the other corrals that are already in place. Have to agree then. Who needs it! (Well, except for the folks who must figure it will drive extra traffic to their site, and are willing to pay a premium price for it.) It felt odd being, even temporarily, odd man out on this issue as I'm probably as chary of internet control as anyone. I've long felt that there's going to be much more control of the internet as the years go by, both by government and by business. And by whoever else can figure out how to get their hands around its digital neck. I think those who are scheming for control today are a fairly weak advance guard for those who will follow. There's just too much power and money involved for the raptors not to be interested. I've always thought they would come with data mining, and analysis and control of content and communication flow, rather than something as easy as a domain extension. Ah, well, I guess .xxx is another arrow in the quiver. I've actually been feeling pretty blessed to live in a time when there's as much internet freedom as we have today. Might as well enjoy it while it's here!

Nicely done folks! We are all still inside the tent pissing out. (Still, mind where you stand. )

Everywhere I went, all I heard was people talking about the Palm Springs Weekend. Who was that adorable guy on Lucky's arm? I heard the dinner was to die for! Cher was in the second row, but left during the curtain call. Did Oz really arrive by helicopter? Charlie had to leave early to pick up Andre Agassi. Someone said they're going to bottle the pool water and sell it on eBay. Who was wearing the diamond and emerald thong? Elton was so miffed he wasn't invited! Did someone really sneak in a phone and shoot a video? They had to send to LA for more Dom Pérignon. Don't know if all of this is gospel, but I sure hope the rumor about everyone being on Ellen this week turns out to be true. Especially if they bring back Chord Overstreet.

Thank you all for the logical framework and economic underpinnings of why we're all getting screwed so much these days. Here I was thinking it was just a run of bad luck.