Re: Vacuum Cleaners from Outer Space

Thats my staple.

greg

I looked at some and the plastic nukables do seem to be taking over. How do they do in toaster ovens, or have toaster ovens become obsolete while I wasn't looking?

In fact I put mine in both microwave and turbo ovens or just plain toaster ovens. They do disfigure. I am amused by the types with microwave absorbers to concentrate heat.

greg

In larger toaster ovens (or small convection microwaves on their "convection" setting), they work OK, but in small tostaer ovens they often get warped unless you drop the cooking temperature and extend the time.

Interestingly, some of the frozen dinners designed for microwaves these days seem to come out worse if you do cook them in the traditional manner (whereas it used to always be that with microwaving you were giving up a bit of "good" for "fast").

---Joel

Methinks "Salisbury" really means "where sales are buried".

See International Flavors and Fragrances:

Want artificial flavoring?

Sorry, but I couldn't find Salisbury Steak. However, they offer "grill flavor":

Ymmmm... Better eating through chemistry.

I must confess that I've been eating far too many "instant" dinners lately, mostly because I'm in a hurry, or need to work late at the office. Also, because I hate doing dishes. They're not the best thing to eat, but they're fast, cheap, and no dishes.

Interestingly my Vtech DECT 6.0 doesn't lose time when the power fails. But then the bases are fairly dumb boxes, the handsets have all the features.

And the time is dead on. It used Caller-ID information to check against.

This is a Vtech MI6896. There's no access door for a backup battery. Nobody that reviewed the phone mentioned the lack of a battery backup.

Hmmm.... I wonder if mine is defective.

Nice feature. A few clock related devices are now coming with a WWVH receiver inside to set and keep the time. I expect manual time setting to be a thing of the past (as long as Congress does mess with DST again).

Do you believe the EPA's "ratings"? I have a bri...

Automatics can also pick the shift points to *look* good in the EPA test.

Let's see... They're cheaper, but better. Makes sense. BTW, that "small discount" is about $1000. Ok, that's "only" 5%, but...

Or you'll see that the EPA "estimates" are whacked (but that is well known).

...without careful driving.

Of course, but if you must bring up a canard like this to "prove" your point, you haven't much of one.

It makes your point *WRONG*. They're demanded by customers because they're *cheaper*. Notice that they're most available in the cheaper cars and not at all in many of the higher-end "luxury" cars? Of course "sports cars" are going to have manuals. Autos can't predict what the driver intends.

Bullshit. It shows that (most) women don't like anything manual. They see a car as basic transportation.

Your "buttons" argument has nothing to do with automatics vs. manuals. BTW, I prefer the shift lever on the floor, but it has nothing to do with manual vs. automatic.

I think you're using yours a bit much. You'll go blind if you keep that up.

I prefer manuals, but mainly because they're better in bad weather and are *cheaper* to buy and operate. Who cares about resale? Junk is junk and gets to be junk faster with an automatic. One car was junked *because* of the transmission and another appears to be on that road.

automatic is

use clutches

I wouldn't have a manual if I had to commute in stop-n-go traffic either. Of course I *wouldn't* commute in stop-n-go traffic, but that's a different topic. No, automatics aren't better or pulling heavy loads, and yes, trucks have clutches (and a pile of "gears").

As numbers with an absolute accuracy? No. Until recently the test conditions have been quite unrealistic (I believe I recall that they're based on static dynamometer tests, and don't take wind or rolling resistance into account).

They seem to have reasonable validity for _relative_ comparisons between vehicle types, at least for vehicles of the same basic type.

I understand that the test conditions are being revised so that the numerical results will more accurately reflect actual real-world driving habits.

For what it's worth, I do get very close to the rated MPG on my Forester if I drive with a light touch on the accelerator... at least when the summer-formulation gas is being sold.

Mine is the 6041. It's got a removable battery pack too. It also has a little 8 pin connector pad below the battery. I wonder what that's for.

If you don't get the times exactly right the food is too wet or soaking. Some items also exchange fluids and it takes extra time to steam it off. Most of the time I just microwave, but as an example I take the hungry Man Chicken dinner and pretty much get it all hot, then I toast it on turbo for another 5 minutes. I have the option of using the combo mode on the microwave/turbo, and it alternates between the two automaticaly. One of my favorite, Ball Park beef franks. I use the turbo oven. Set it on regular turbo for 5 minutes, then it goes into the hotter brown made for 3 minutes. They come out all brown with the slit, and all expanded, just wonderfull. This oven also make great hoagies.

greg

You can buy "modification" units to make the automotive CPU function for performance... just throw a switch for smog testing ;-)

...Jim Thompson

JTAG port, programming, updates, flash loading, and localization tweaks. The hardware is usually done before the firmware is properly debugged. My Vtech has two sets of 2x4 pads for the purpose.

You can't be serious. They have little retaliation to reality.

The key word here is "more".

Within 1MPG? Over all your driving? Your "light touch" comment tells a lot.