Misc

May 13, 2008

Escort Radar Detector Quote

The above quote is from an old Escort Radar magazine that I found while cleaning. You can download the entire black and white Ad, also checkout some other unique PDFs that I have in the PDF Gallery.

May 06, 2008

Ghost in Tomb

I found this "Ghost in Tomb" story when I was cleaning out this weekend:

In the 18th century the Walronds, a wealthy family of planters, built a rock-hewn tomb at Christ Church, Barbados. It was sealed with a massive marble door, making it more a fortress than a tomb.

One family member to be interred there was Thomasina Goddard, in 1807. A year later the vault was taken over by the chase family-also slave-owning planters - who used it to bury two daughters in 1808 and 1812.

When the tomb was open again in 1812 to receive the body of their father, Tomas Chase, the girls lead coffins had been stood on end upside down. There was no sign of a break-in.

Nor was there in 1816, when the tomb was again opened for the body of a male relative. But the Chase coffins had again been wildly disarranged. That of Thomas. which had taken eight men to carry, was leading upright against a wall of the vault.

By the time of the next funeral, eight weeks later, word of the strange tomb had spread, and a huge crowd turned up for the ceremony. They were no disappointed. Although the tomb was sealed, the four Chase coffins inside were once more in disarray.

The Governor of Barbados, Lord Combermere, stepped in. In 1819 he supervised the orderly restocking of the coffins and had seals put around the door slab. The following year, after reports of noises, he revisited the site.

His seals were intact. But the lead coffins were in customary jumbled confusion. Only the crumbling, wooden coffin of Mrs. Goddard still lay peacefully in its corner.

No explaination seemed to fit the case. Slaves could not have moved the coffins in revenge without leaving some trace. There was no indication of flooding and the earthquakes would have hardly have shaken one tomb without disturbing other in the surrounding area.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle suggested that supernatural forces had moved the coffins to protest their lead construction, which prevented the speedy decay inside. He thought these forces might have been strengthened by the fact Thomas Chase and one of his daughters had committed suicide.

Whatever the reason, the moving coffins caused such a concern that the tomb was immediately emptied of all it's occupants.

May 05, 2008

Weird Personal Ad

Someone posted this Advertisement in the USA-Today Personals in the early 1990s. I don't really know what to make of it:

ZANY INTELLECTUAL SOCIALITE. Pretty, WASP, 5'51/2, very feminine, blue eyes, strawberry blonde, degreed, no children yet, non-smoker, Republican, Christian (Protestant). The same size as President's wife. In midst of losing weight (catch me now & avoid the rush!). I like fine antiques, music. In next issue of 'Who's Who of American Women Self employed, financially & emotionally very secure, well balanced If you me 30-50, WASP, financially secure, Republican, non-smoker, self-integrated. 'Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, and a committed Christian I am an affectionate lady who is used to the finer things is life and would like a top quality gentleman a counterpart to myself. I put a high value on Christian principles such as honesty, loyalty, faithfulness, close & loving family, etc. I need someone who feels comfortable doing everything from going to the White House & Charity Balls to taking walks, lounging around reading, & talking on the phone. I like to be spoiled and to spoil If you're ready for a one in a million woman, please rush your reply Recent photograph, please I live in several cities & travel worldwide I will be in the Arizona & Wash., D.C. areas for the spring. You may be anywhere & hope you are somewhere Write Bo 0698 USA TODAY-Classified 1000 Wilsor Blvd. Arlington, VA 22224

April 10, 2008

RAW Mode on Fuji FinePix e900 Camera

I always have a hard time figuring out how to enable the RAW mode in my Fuji FinePix e900 Camera. So today's post is the instructions on enabling RAW. Hopefully this will help someone else out there who is struggling to enable RAW on their camera.

The advantage of RAW mode is that you can high quality pictures and do any image compression on your computer. The downside is that you can't take as many photos. Only 109 RAW photos vs 456 high quality photos on a 2GB card. However, it wasn't that long ago when you could only take 36 pictures per roll of film.

If your taking some important pictures, you should consider using RAW mode to get the most out of your camera. However, keep in mind that you won't be able to print your photos at CVS. You need to do some post production work to make the picture photo ready.

How to Enable/Disable RAW Mode on a Fuji FinePix e900 Camera

1. Turn on Camera
2. Click 'Green Arrow' Button
3. Click Menu/Ok
4. Scroll Down 5 to SET
5. Click Menu/Ok
6. Click Left Arrow
7. Go Down to Page 2
8. Click Right Arrow
9. Scroll Down 2 to Raw
10. Click Right Arrow

April 02, 2008

Got Topic

The hardest thing about writing a multi-topic blog is that you really don't know whose reading the blog. What is my audience thinking? What are they looking for when they visit my blog? So, I created a special email address that you, the reader, can communicate with me.

Send me your questions/comments/feedback to: blog@cryan.com

I’ll keep the email account active until May 1st. Who knows, maybe I’ll get some really creative blog topic ideas! Perhaps I’ll find that my audiences rather focus on one topic over some other topics.