[QUOTE=xilman;487461]Hofstadter's Law applies with a vengeance. Hmm, perhaps this post ought to be in the Unhappy Me thread.[/QUOTE]

Congratulations!

Now you get to enjoy the never ending maintenance such a place requires. And, of course, all the upgrades you just can't help yourself from doing.... :smile:

[QUOTE=petrw1;471670]Might just be the driver.
Troubleshooter said I needed Device Drivers for all the following but none could be installed; I suspect because I do not have an Internet connection to download them.
- Ethernet Controller
- SM Bus Controller
- USB Controller
- PCI Simple Communications controller
- PCI Serial Port

Seems like a bit of a catch 22.

So I could download them to a memory stick if I can find out the specifics for the devices.

Not this PC came wiped and I installed it from a Window 7 disk from about 6 years ago.
It does not seem to have the device drivers on it.[/QUOTE]

I assume you've long since sorted it out, but, a couple approaches I've found useful beyond manufacturer's web sites, are:


1) Snappy Driver Installer on a roomy USB stick (torrent will load it up with 11GB of drivers if you give it enough time for downloading; subsequent updates to the same stick will be incremental and quick)

2) to give a recent linux a go at identifying the hardware (especially for odd tiny low-dollar USB gadgets with no markings that Windows doesn't recognize)

[QUOTE=xilman;487461]I noted a while back that we are trying to buy [URL="http://inmobiliaria-lapalma.com/en/region/la-palma/zona-suroeste/el-paso/date/desc/id/E551"]land, a house and an observatory[/URL].[/QUOTE]Why is there a sink for midgets in the bathroom?

:whee:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;487558]Why is there a sink for midgets in the bathroom?

:whee:[/QUOTE]


That's normal in Spain and Portugal.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;487558]Why is there a sink for midgets in the bathroom?[/QUOTE]I think that it is either for washing the dust off your feet or it is a drinking fountain for the children.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;487585]I think that it is either for washing the dust off your feet or it is a drinking fountain for the children.[/QUOTE]

Isn't that what a bidet is designed for?

[QUOTE=chalsall;487588]Isn't that what a bidet is designed for?[/QUOTE]

And to wash other part of your body after making poo...

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;487592]And to wash other part of your body after making poo...[/QUOTE]

Finally!!! Someone said it!

Getting water squirted up one's ass can be a little disconcerting.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;487558]Why is there a sink for midgets in the bathroom?

:whee:[/QUOTE]It's for cats, dogs, etc.

Our old cat, Brni, used to lie flat on her back with the tap held in her paws. She would then try to turn on the water so she could have a drink.

Only the lack of opposable thumbs prevented that cat from causing even more havoc than she actually did. Far too smart for her own good, she was.

[QUOTE=xilman;487627]Only the lack of opposable thumbs prevented that cat from causing even more havoc than she actually did.[/QUOTE]

Animals are a bit like a gas; they quickly fill all available space....

This winter's handiwork project - begun the week after Christmas - was to build a display mount for a large (45kg) iron meteorite I'd bought some years back on eBay, which had been sadly languishing in a 5-gallon industrial-paint-style bucket at back of my bedroom closet ever since. Mount I finally came up with consists of a travertine limestone base - I wanted a single block there, but ended up using an epoxied sandwich of four 12" x 12" floor tiles - topped with a block of natural sandstone I fished from one of the fake streams in my apartment complex, which had recently all been redone, leaving this nicely-squared-off block sitting glaringly out of place among the rounded natural river rocks in the spot in question. Clearly it was crying out to be rescued. Drilled a trio of 3/4-dia. holes in that to hold three lengths of steel rod - also a salvage item, found an 18"-long rod lying along a local roadside, appears to have been some kind of tie-rod from the undercarriage of a truck - forming a tripod to cradle the meteorite. The drilling proved to be the hardest part - one expects sandstone to be fairly soft and easy to work, but this block was sand which had apparently eroded from some kind of hard mineral, it ended up taking a [url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UYVO0B0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]diamond-encrusted hollow-core drill bit[/url] (which was completely worn out at the end) and hours of steady heavy pressure using the drill press on my patio workbench, with water to lubricate things. I went through a lot of ibuprofen that week! Once the mount was complete spent a few weekend afternoons wiping down the surface of the space rock with a mineral-oil-soaked cloth to remove the worst of the accumulated surface rust, stuck furniture-style felt adhesive rounds on top of the support rods, and hoisted that sucker into place: