theomdude

I have relied on Irfanview for years for some of my graphic needs. Now as I was preparing a graphics-heavy blog entry, all of a sudden every image I saved on Irfanview is saving in greyscale, with all the colors gone. I can still cut and paste the image into Paint and save it from there, but what a hassle! I tried downloading a new version but that didn't help. In fact now when I call up or try to print an image, they all show up in the screen or print preview shrunk - not full size. Any suggestions?

We have a Modern Maid (Raytheon) gas-fired double wall oven that was made in 1984. They stopped making them about that time. It's not working and the repairman says he can't get parts. I've searched on line for a gas-fired wall-mount double oven, and there just aren't any I can find. They are all either electric, or combination oven/broiler. I could care less but my wife insists it has to be two regular (NOT convection) ovens so she can bake the thanksgiving turkey and the pies at the same time. Does anyone know where I can find one?

I'm trying to paginate a book manuscript, but Word keeps putting page numbers in the first 4 pages, which are two blank pages, the title page, and the publishing information page. I've inserted a section break at the end of that portion so that the next section, which has the dedication, acknowledgements, Table of Contents, and Introduction, can have separate pagination (I. II. III. IV, etc.) from the main body of the book, but I always end up with those dumb numbers in the first 4 pages. How do I get them out?

I got the iPod/USB Port in my 2009 BMW 328Ci so that I can play my whole catalogue and so that I'd still have my music when CDs become obsolete. I loaded up a new Sandisk Fuze and checked it out (plays fine) but when I plug it into the car, nothing happens. I followed the manual but the display keeps telling me to install a USB Device. It IS a freaking USB device! Why won't it play?

I got the iPod/USB Port in my 2009 BMW 328Ci so that I can play my whole catalogue and so that I'd still have my music when CDs become obsolete. I loaded up a new Sandisk Fuze and checked it out (plays fine) but when I plug it into the car, nothing happens. I followed the manual but the display keeps telling me to install a USB Device. It IS a freaking USB device! Why won't it play?

I was changing cars from a 2004 BMW 330Ci to a 2009 328Ci partly to get hands-free cell phone service through the audio system. I followed the manual but I can't get it to work. Is it just that the system doesn't support the LG Chocolate, or is there something I'm not doing?

I've been watching the Tour de France on TV for years, and several teams have support vehicles we don't get in the US. The one that caught my eye is the Skoda. I remember these were products of a Soviet block country (Poland?) back in the 50s and 60s.

Where are they made, what model am I seeing in the race, and what are the specs?

I've been watching the Tour de France on TV for years, and several teams have support vehicles we don't get in the US. The one that caught my eye is the Skoda. I remember these were products of a Soviet block country (Poland?) back in the 50s and 60s.

Where are they made, what model am I seeing in the race, and what are the specs?

There are at least two industrialists who have two car makes named for them. Can you name them, and the cars named after them?

Have any BMW E90 owners had a problem related to the fact that their engines have no dip stick? I heard that if you get a "low oil" readout, the recommendation is that you go directly to a BMW dealer, where they will drain your oil and measure it.

That sounds like it might be a hassle if the warning came when you were half way between Reno, NV and Fillmore, UT on US 50, "The Loneliest Road in America."

The manufacturers are still building and selling big SUVs (and regular cars, too, but very few small cars) with "flex-fuel" engines that can run on a blend of 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol (E85). That's because they get credit against their CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) quota doing this, so they don't have to build as many true high-mileage vehicles.

Most of the E85 stations are in the Midwest. Consumer Reports couldn't find one in the East when they did their testing. When they did, they found that they got 30% fewer miles on a gallon than with gasoline alone.

I'd like to hear from anyone who owns (or drives) a flex-fuel vehicle.

-Can you find E85 where you drive?

-How does the price compare with regular unleaded at the same station?

-What kind of fuel mileage do you get with E85?

-What kind of fuel mileage do you get with Gasoline?

Hitting the road in Culver City around 4:00 AM 08/16, so that I can travel Hwy 1 between Ragged Point and Bixby Bridge in light traffic (*&^%$#@! Motor Homes) and be there when the Tour D'Elegance rolls by. Meeting a friend for the Concorso Friday, Pebble Beach Sunday. Skipping the Historics at Laguna Seca for the first time in 5 years to check out his Ferrari 348ts in Oakland. Can you believe he's not exhibiting it? -- Ferrari's 60th anniversary!

See you in the BMW Corral! Look for an Electric Red/Natural Brown 2004 330Ci. License OM DUDE.

Apparently the manufacturer that puts a fairly comprehensive tool kit under the trunk lid of all its cars, doesn't trust its owners to use one.

The New E90 3-Series have no dipstick. It has been replaced by a readout on the dash.

So now if you should happen to find yourself in the middle of US 50 ("The loneliest Highway in the US") with an indicator that shows your oil is low you can't just stop, lift the hood, and check to see if you really have low oil, or if it's a false reading (and if not, by how much).

Do you call Roadside assistance to have your BMW ignominiously towed to Carson City just to have the freaking oil level checked?

Does anyone else find this lack of trust in its owners by BMW appalling?

Reading the answers to questions like "Should I buy a XXX?" you see lots of answers along the lines of "Buy American," or alternatively, "American cars are c**p, buy Japanese."

Most Hondas and Toyotas are made in places like Tennessee and Ohio. A good many other cars and trucks with 'foreign' labels are made in Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, and California.

Fords and Chevys are now being made in Canada, Mexico, and Korea.

Ford sells cars made in Sweden and the UK, while GM has cars in their dealers here that were made in Japan, Germany, and Korea.

So what makes a car American? Is it just a matter of it being built in a UAW shop?

Stars up okay, and seems to run fine except the fan never comes on.

Computer Info:

Dell DIMENSION 8250

Intel ® Pentium ® 4 CPU 2.40 GHz

2.39 GHz, 512 MB of RAM

Microsoft XP Home Edition Version 2002

Service Pack 2

So far there seems to have been no negative effect from using the computer without the fan, but summer's here, and the weather is bound to get hotter, and it sits in a narrow compartment in our computer amoir (open when in use).

Our local Comp USA went belly up (like the rest), so I don't know where to go to get the fan replaced.

I get the feeling it's probably jammed with dust. (Cables are short and you have to disconnect them and pull it out to clean it.)

Replacing the fan is not brain surgery, right? But is it hard to find the right fan?

Any help would be greatly appreciated by this technoweenie.

It went away after stopping the car and letting it sit for a while.

Anyone else have a similar experience with an E46 325?

What was the diagnosis?

Okay. Newton's laws. Nothing changes momentum unless it's acted on by a force.

A balloon held stationary in your hand will rise if you let it go. You can feel a force pulling it upward. So where does that force come from?

And don't give me that cr** about it being lighter than the air around it. I know that. All that air is acting on every point of the surface equally.

I left boating when the biggest outboard you could buy was a Mercury 100 hp in-line six. It was a 2-stroke.

I see boats on trailers that have outboards that look like they could hold the original Chysler Hemi inside. What are the largest outboard motors you can buy now?

I'm talking about standard motors for recreational boats, not racing engines or somebody's back-yard special.

Are they all 4-stokes now, for environmental reasons?

Watching Baseball and hearing the commentaries, you hear fielders referred to as 'three time Golden Glove shortstop' or whatever. Yet I have never seen anything in the sports pages, or heard anything on the sports news announcing 'This Year's Golden Glove Recipients.' Who awards these things, when do they do it, and where? Is there a ceremony? I can't believe MLB would've actually missed an opportunity for getting press. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I get more of a kick out of an athletic defensive play than I do out of some slugger mashing the baseball.

If you could have any one car to drive, and you had to keep it (No fair saying Bugatti Veyron or whatever and then selling it to finance a house or a garage full of nice cars or whatever.) and drive it for the next four years, what would it be?

You gotta pay for required (and needed) maintenance on your own (unless it's covered, like on a BMW).