Revealed At Last: Scotland Yard's Jack the Ripper Case Book

'PC.97J. NEIL reports at 3.45.a[m] 31st inst, he found the dead body of a woman lying on her back with her clothes a little above her knees...' So begins a vivid account on lined notepaper, by a Superintendent J Keating, under the heading 'Metropolitan Police'. The ink seems as fresh as a morning newspaper. Yet it is dated 31 August, 1888.

This is one of the police reports filed just hours after Jack the Ripper claimed another victim in London's East End. It is one of numerous documents relating to the Victorian killer which, after more than a century in the archives, are to go on public display for the first time.

Handwritten accounts from the scenes of the crimes, detectives' case reports, coroners' inquiry records, witness statements, photographs and letters will form the centrepiece of a major exhibition, 'Jack the Ripper and the East End', at the Museum in Docklands, London. Visitors will not be spared graphic descriptions, such as 'her throat cut from ear to ear', in the retelling of the bloody and gruesome crimes.

'They are absolutely ........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/09/ukcrime

How Bluetooth Got Its Name

In 1996 a number of companies were looking to standardize the industry around a short-range radio link for doing a number of things which seem obvious today (not so obvious in 1996).

Within Intel, I had started a program called Business-RF; Ericsson had a program called MC-Link; Nokia had a program called Low Power RF. At the time we were in discussions to figure out the best way to drive a single wireless standard in the industry in order to prevent fragmentation of technologies in this area (remember that in 1996 nothing existed).

As we would approach different companies to talk about what short range wireless technologies could do and how having a single short-range standard would be so much better than having three or more competing and fragmenting standards, it became apparent the need to have a single name; as Intel would talk to people about "Biz-RF," Ericsson about "MC-Link" and Nokia about "Low Power-RF," which also created confusion.

In December of 1996 we figured we had the right mixture of companies to be successful in driving the technology through a Special Interest Group (SIG) and met in Lund, Sweden at the Ericsson plant to get final agreement on forming the SIG.

At this time, Intel proposed.....

http://www.eetimes.eu/scandinavia/206902019?cid=RSSfeed_eetimesEU_scandinavia

How Doctors Tell Patients They're Dying

Telling patients they're going to die is less dramatic than one might think, and contrary to popular belief, most doctors refuse to estimate how many weeks or months patients have left to live.

While initial reports of Patrick Swayze's pancreatic cancer diagnosis came with predictions that the star would have only five weeks to live, the actor's doctor quickly released a statement refuting the rumors.

"Patrick has a very limited amount of disease, and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far," Dr. George Fisher, Swayze's physician, said in the statement. "All the reports stating the time frame of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic

Putting a time stamp on someone's life, several doctors told ABCNEWS.com, is something that few doctors are willing to do. Instead, they employ much more methodical and caring techniques of breaking the news to terminally ill patients.

"It's not [a doctor's] job......

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=4402744&page=1

The Sky Is Falling

Or at least a part of it. I am refering to the spy satellite that the americans are losing. They didn't get much use out of that. Only sent it up about a year or so ago. Now it will be target practice for the navy. But remember, this is not a movie. In real life, you can actually miss. I wonder how many shots they get at it.
Ranting on, the question is why do hey want to shoot it down. Is it because they want to prevent toxic fuel from falling to earth as they say. Or is there something on it that they don't want anyone to see. Then again it could be a practice run for the missile defence system. So it would be just a drone.
My son has given me another possibility. It could be a meteor. They don't want to tell us because of people freaking out. That would be something you might have to take more that one shot at. They also want the space shuttle down before they do this. Shooting a big rock would cause a lot of debris.
So we may find out the truth or we may not.

Which Flag
They sure have a lot of trouble with people sneaking across the border at Mexico. Sound like an easy spot for a terrorist to come across. And there is only so much you can do. Only a matter of time before North America is one country. I'm sure that is already in the planning. It started with free trade. Look at Europe. They are well on the way.

Who Would Have Guessed
I was thinking the other day about when I was in the air force in Germany. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought about NATO having a meeting in Lithuania. They were all the sworn enemy. And MacDonalds in Russia and China. They would have carted me away.
You never know how things are going to turn out.

Onward

So onward we go thru winter. On tuesday we had a good size snowstorm and in the evening and overnight we had a major rainstorm. High winds etc. So by morning, the foot of snow we had was all gone. If we didn't have all these rainstorms, we would have a lot of snow. In a couple more months, I will be thinking of grass cutting.
This year's project will be new doors. Front, back and patio. First I will have to get the lowdown. So I will be going to the place where I bought the windows and get all my info. May not buy it there because I want to buy with installation included.
Had to go for a Cat Scan yesterday. Not that there is a problem. At least I don't think so. Had one a couple of years ago and they saw something they like to wonder about. Now that I am in the medical syatem clutches, they will never let me go. But I guess that is a good thing. I'm glad we have universal health care. That's one reason I would not want to live in the U.S. But it is a nice place to visit. Would love to spend my winters in Sedona.

Birthday

Friday was my 65 th. birthday. It was the best birthday I ever had. My wife and son took me to a restaurant and a surprise party. Really had a great time. Stayed there for a couple of hours. Then everyone came back to our house to continue on. On Sat. I was so tired, I couldn't do anything. Had lots of e-mails from relatives. I'm the oldest of this clan. Hard to believe that at 65 I'm the oldest. Hoping to be the oldest for a long time.
So now I am officially an old person. Next month I start getting my old age pension. That will be $500.00 a month.
Last Mon. took my daughter to the hospital for that checkup. And it would have to be the coldest day this winter. Windchill was -24C -11F. The front of the hospital is just like a wind tunnel.
On Tues. my wife went with a friend looking for a new dryer. Found one at the Sears clearance center in Halifax. Cost $259.00 instead of $359.00. Had a bump in one corner. Went on Thur. to pick it up. Great to have a van when you have to haul something. Dryer works great.
Sunday to-day and very cold. Work on my e-bay store today. Have to wrap some ads to send out. One is going to Italy. An ad for a 1960 Olds. Most of my customers are in the U.S.
I'm surprised at the weather in California. Worse than here.

Snow Again

That's how it is, snow or rain. Last week was a nice week. We got rid of most of the snow. Today it is snowing like a bugger. Now I can start making a new snowpile on rhe side of the driveway. The other disappeared. And that's a good thing. Usually they get higher and higher and stay till March. So later I will be with my shovel. Then I won't have to do my walk, which would be on the threadmill. I don't like using the treadmill. Rather walking outside. But at this time of year I could break an arm or somethng. And its too cold.
My wife has a new project. She needs a new dryer. She had stuff in for 40 min. and it still wasn't completely dry. Took it apart. Bad elements. I'm not going to fix it. Want one that is more energy effecient. Do you know what the elements look like in one of those things ? A giant toaster. Imagine having about ten toasters on any lenght of time.
Speaking of toasters, mine is about 40 yrs. old now. It was bought at the PX in Germany as a wedding gift. Fourty years next month. I replace the cord on the toaster a couple of times and that's it. GE and made in the U.S.A. Not Mexico or anywhere else. So I have to thank GE and the american worker for that.
And speaking of americans, on and on with their election. I like our way better. Not critizing their way. Every country has their own. And that suits them. When they they make a mistake, I can sit back and say that I would have never voted for him or her. In Canada, two months of campaigning and then we vote. Something like that.
I'm glad I went to church last night. Don't have to drive in this today. Tomorrow I have to take my daughter to the doctor. That's a half hr. drive to Halifax. Supposed to be very cold tomorrow. Bad time for wheelchairs. Oh well, that's the way it goes. For her it will be a big adventure since she rarely gets out in the winter.

Rain Again

Well it did rain again. But not enough to get rid of the snow. The snowplow must like my side of the road. He did it three times yesterday. I figured he must be finished by then so I shovelled the driveway. But he snuck back later on and I didn't hear him. The pile that my neighbour makes gets put in my driveway. So now I have a small wall of frozen ice chunks. Bad for the tires. One year I drove over that and one tire was sliced along the side. So, new tire. I have to get rid of that ice today because we are supposed to get another storm to-night.

My son is gone to a levee to-day. It is for the 25 th anniversary of the internet. He was one of the first four people to be on the internet in Nova Scotia. He was 12 years old. Sure knows his way around a computer. And of course it is his job now. I had my first computer course in 1964. And they were a lot larger then. That computer would now be in one chip. A small chip.

I bought my son's first computer when he was 9 yrs. old. It was a Sinclair and it looks like today's laptop. I paid $100.00 and I bought it in Nashua, NH. He still has it with all the upgrades. I found an old ad of that computer, so I framed it and put it on his office wall.

I will ad a picture of my enlarged snowpile and then go and chop ice.

And Snow Again

Since my last post, it has been either rain or snow. From the photo I am adding, you can see that the snowbank on the side is a little larger. It would have been a lot larger, except for the rain. One day snow, the next day rain. The photo is from Sat. when it snowed. On Sun. it rained. And today it is snowing big time.

I had a Planter's Wart on my foot. So I figured that the next time I go to the doctor, I will get him to cut it out. Then someone told me to put duct tape on it. I guess this is something everyone knows except me. Had that on for about a month and good-bye wart. Amazing eh? Another use for duct tape.

With Christmas dinner and giving extra turkey to my single brother and one of the neighbours, I only had one turkey sandwich. Eating the turkey is usually a three day effort.

Have not been walking lately. This is not good. And with that snow, there won't be any today.

I have to go to the Post Office , so I should do it now before it gets too hard to drive.

Happy New Year!!

From Nova Scotia

Snow

Well we had a snow storm yesterday. About 6". I didn't bother shoveling the driveway because it was supposed to turn to rain after midnight, rain all night and most of the day. It is 08:00 and as I look out the window, all I see is snow falling. The snowplow went thru during the night leaving me a mound at the end of the driveway. Since it was wet snow, it is now probably frozen.

My neighbour across the street has a property that is about 4' below the property behind her. So when it rains, she gets all the water. That gives her a water problem in the basement. A couple of weeks ago, she had a trench dug between her house and the next door neighbour. This is so all the water can flow out to the sewer. So this week she brought in topsoil and sods to cover the trench. A truck came and dumped a ton of topsoil on her lawn and two pallets of sods. She only required a small amt. of topsoil for the trench. So there was a lot of soil left that she had to get off the lawn. Another neighbour and myself could take as much as we wanted. She wanted that dirt gone. My wife, my son and I must have hauled about 100 wheelbarrows full. When I was finished, my hands were so sore, I couldn't make a fist. I put it all at the back of my yard, because it gets wet there in the spring. The next day my neighbour gave me all the sods that were left, which was about a pallet and a half. Covered the topsoil. Have to wait till spring to straighten it all out.

Got all the leaves raked up. Took five more bags.

Had to fix two light sockets in two ceiling fans yesterday. Both are about the same age. Programed to fail. My wife said that we are lucky I can do that. An electrician would have cost probably $100.00. A fringe benefit from my Air Force training.

Still snowing out. Big time now. A good day to work on my ebay store. I have Canadian Tire money to put in. People do collect it. You wouldn't have to buy a lot to keep it up. Not like stamps.

I decided to take a picture of my snow. Now you can see it. I should have waited for the picture. Now we have a real blizzard out there.

Leaves

I am some glad that we bagged the leaves last Friday. Because on Sat, we had a snow storm. Not a big deal, but the leaves would still be there. So we ended up with 17 bags from the back yard. And that's mulched. Still have to do the front. The leaves are still on my neighbour's tree. Today we have big rain and wind.
God helped me do my cryptoquote the other day. I was doing that and watching TV. Wasn't doing too well. Name at the bottom started with an O. I was watching "Supernatural" and the guy said something to the girl and she answered, "That's very Oscar Wilde of you." Looked at my puzzle, counted the letters and" Boom", finished in a couple of minutes.
Had to get my van repaired the other day. For the safety check. New brake lines and shocks. All rusted out. There is a couple thousand $'s gone. Rust is a problem here. That's why cars don't last long. On the way home, the shocks were worse than the old ones. Called back the next day and he said bring it in right away. Turned out one of the new shocks were bad. I have a private mechanic, so he loses when something is brought back. We had to wait for new shocks from the dealer, yada,yada,yada and now all is good.
My daughter had a birthday on Wed. 35 yrs old. Bedridden all her life. We have to make a big deal for her on birthday's etc. She can't walk, talk or do anything. Has to be fed by a tube.
Visited a friend yesterday. They had a tape stuck in the vcr. And it wouldn.t come on. So I took it home to look at. Has a blown fuse. Had to take it all apart to get at it. Now I have to pick up a fuse.

Hurricane Like Winds

Hurricane Noel dropped by last week. The pre-storm build up on TV is much more exciting than the real thing. 50 to 75 mph. is not a big deal. That happens every year. It didn't even blow all the leaves of the tree. I have two photos of the leaves before they fall. If I just rake them and put them in a bag, it will take about 40 bags. But with a leaf blower it will be less, because it cuts them up so fine. Started that job yesterday. Have to go to the hardware store to-day. Need weather stripping for the doors. During the four winter months, I will have to fill the oil tank about six times. And that was about $600.00 a shot last year.Found a new site to put my ebay items on. Called http://www.loudfrog.com/ . It doesn't have auctions. Everything is Buy It Now. So it is like owning a store. The only charge is 1% when you sell something. No other costs, except Paypal of course. You can put in as many articles as you want. And just leave them there. This is great for people who have articles for sale but don't want to open an ebay store with all the expenses. It doesn't get much business because not many know about it. So maybe in time. That ebay is one expensive site.

New TV

The weather here is chilly. Only 4 C/44F. Still have to cut the grass one ore time. Sometime this week.
My son bought us a new TV the other day. A 37" Flat Panel. Very nice. A lot different than our other one. He bought speakers last year, so watching a movie is quite an experience.
My daughter was sick for a month during Aug. and Sept. She now has Colitis. She will be 35 next month and all in a wheelchair.
Had my second opinion on my furnace. It was the same as the first, need a new one. So that is now done. They charged me $600.00 less than Sears. So I paid $3400.00. At my age, it will probably be the last furnace I will buy. The other one lasted 23 yrs. It sound a little louder than the other. But he says you have to give something up for efficiency.
In my other furnace, I had a water heater coil installed about 20 yrs. ago. And this is a coil that holds water and is installed right in the furnace. That does away with the hot water tank. Sure saves on the electric bill. This time around, the heater coil comes already installed. You can choose to use it or not. I think that if you don't know about it , you're not going to be told. Eliminates plumbers work. No new water tank every ten yrs. The coil lasts as long as the furnace.
Since I got new windows last year, I wanted new doors this year. Along with an updated kitchen. Bur that will have to wait till next year. Another thing I still have to do is get my carpet stretched in my living room. Installed five yrs. ago, it has developed a few wrinkles.
And that's how it is in this house.

Here Comes the Judge

It has been very hot for the last week. What makes it worse is the humidity. The temp. was around 35 C/95 F and the humidity made it 40 C/105 F. Perspiring all the time.
Bought a new camera the other day. After 8 years, the button on mine wore out. Too expensive to fix. To look at it would cost $50.00 and then you would have to pay for parts and repair. The new one only cost $100.00. A Kodak C653. Haven't read the book thru yet. And it takes little movies too. That's new to me. Had to try that right away. Did a pan of my back yard. And the first thing I learned was not to pan so fast.
Got a letter from the law courts yesterday. Called up for jury duty selection for the Supreme Court. That will be in Sept. It could have been for my son, since we both have the same first name. There was no middle initial. Told him I would do it. I'm retired and he is a computer consultant working for a U.S company. He travels back and forth all the time.

Tall Ships

Just about everyone knows what an Airshow is . And a lot of people have seen one. We have one here every Sept. and they fly over my house. But we also have something here that most people don't see. And that is the parade of tall ships. These are like the ships from the old days. The replica of the H.M.S. Bounty is here. Pictin Castle is here. This is the ship they use on the reality series "Pirate Master". I think there is about 25 altogether. The fee is $25.00 for a day pass to tour any or all the ships. There has been no rain for the last two days so they have a good turnout.

Speaking of rain, which it is doing right now, I heard on the news about five days ago that for the past 56 days, it hadn't rained 9 days in this area. So some days I couldn't go on my daily walk. Other times I did and got caught in the rain.

Tomorrow will be five weeks that I started doing Tai Chi. Well, at least attempting it. It's on tape and the whole routine takes just over an hour. You have to start with stretching etc, etc. So at this point in time , I am up to 42 Min. Figure it will take me a year to learn this.

Last evening , one of my neighbours came with a half wheelbarrow of cement. He had been putting in clothes line poles and this was left over. It was enough to finish off around my back door where I had that leak. That is where they wanted $1600.00 to make a new drain thru my basement. I cured the problem with cement filler, which I think was $5.69. And now it is covered with cement.

Still working on whether I need a new furnace or not. Can't believe what everyone tells you. Especially if you're a senior. They think you are an easy mark. My son is better at this . If you try and sell him something, you better not lie. If he doesn't already know the truth, he will find it out. When he goes to buy something, he first checks on the computer what everyone says about it.

Just had dinner. Scrambled eggs and shrimp. One of my neighbours received 20 lbs. of shrimp from someone and gave me 10 lbs. So into my freezer it went.

My last item is that I have a pear tree with no pears. Because I have only one tree and there must be none in the area. No pollination.

Bears

Pouring down raining outside. As it was yesterday.

My wife had a yardsale on Sat. It was darn cold and it looked like it was going to rain. We packed it in at 01:00 P.M. and ten minutes later the sun was out. On top of that, she only made $14.00. The worse part about yardsales is packing it all up.

I am going to put up a couple of pictures of something you don't see very often. And some people never see them. Took them on my trip to Alberta. These are Bear proof garbage cans. It looks easy enough. When you put your hand inside the handle, you have to keep pushing so your hand can push the lever and open the door.

Never saw any bears. When I was climbing up and down those valley trails the thought did cross my mind. I would only want to see them from inside my car.

To get to Jasper, you have to go through the Columbia Ice Fields. Went back and forth, so we went through it twice. On the way back I did my little trek across the Athabasca ice. Where the Information Center is now was covered with ice ten years ago. When you walk towards the glacier, the ground is covered with large and small rocks. Rocks that used to be inside the ice. Left behind as the ice melted. I'll add a couple of pictures. One is of my son.

Lake Louise

And to-day we have rain. Guess I got that grass cut just in time.

When you go to Banff, you have to see Lake Louise. Well I did and it certainly doesn't look the same when it is frozen over. Frozen lakes I can see at home. Took my picture in front of it. The Indians called it Lake of the Little Fishes. The first white man called it Emerald Lake and the Government changed that to Lake Louise after one of Queen Victoria's daughters who also had the name Alberta, which became the name of the province.

Jasper

Not as warm to-day. Only 21C/70F. And very windy.

While in Alberta, I went to the four national parks. They are joined together, two in Alberta and two in British Columbia. While in Jasper, I took the Tramway, which is the highest and longest in Canada. Here's a link http://www.jaspertramway.com/ . And a photo.

Back Home

Warm to-day. Temp is 30 C/86 F. What a surprise. It has been only 10 C for the past week with rain off and on.

A couple of years ago, they dug up the street for new pipes. This took months. Anyway, half of everyone's lawn went with it. So when they were finished, they put down new sod for everyone. two years later, that part of the lawns have very little grass. But they do have lots of dandelions.

My wife spent 5 hrs. one day pulling them out. My next door neighbour called the city about it and they said they would send someone out to look at it. Maybe new sods, but more than likely maybe advice. It's much cheaper.

Just got back from a trip to Alberta. My son took me on vacation with him. Horse back riding one day white water rafting another day. Now that was an experience. I'll add a photo. Me in front with the hat. My son next to me and two guides in the rear.

We had a cabin near the Athabasca river so we could see rafts going down. There was about twelve people on the raft with a guide in the center doing the paddling. So I thought this was a piece of cake. Surprise! My son had arranged the sports model and I had to paddle for my life. But it was great. On other days, we walked up and down canyons. One thing about walking to the bottom of a canyon, you have to walk back up.

This should be enough for to-day. Have grass to cut sometime. Wait for this evening when it is cooler.