The case of the disappearing drive

I use Windows Vista,and for the most part it works. Double-clicking on the Computer icon brings up the drives that are installed as well as the occasional external drives and memory stick.

Somewhere along the way,my DVD drive icon would vanish from this explorer window if I ejected a disk or just randomly vanish. A reboot would bring it back,but rebooting is not a permanent fix. I tried uninstalling an reinstalling the driver software,but that didn't work. As always being totally clueless about the inner workings,I briefly but concisely describe the problem and type that description into Google search. It didn't take long. It's happened to others and after reading a few articles, I got a link to the Microsoft Support article that gave me the option to use their software to fix the problem,or to manually adjust the registry settings myself. The "Fix it for me" link downloaded a program that successfully made the right adjustments. The dvd drive hasn't gone missing from the Computer window since then.

Weather Pixie

Added this blog widget for a quick glance at the weather in my neck of the woods. The data is taken from local airport metar readings and converted from its' abbreviated form to something readable and for fun, illustrated by how the doll dresses. Visit www.weatherpixie.com for your own custom Weather Pixie.

I met a file that wasn't there...

Cleaning up some files on my Windows desktop,I saw a blank .torrent icon. So I attempted to delete it. Instead of the usual trip to the recycle bin,I got a message that said the file no longer existed. After attempting to do this in both safe mode and through Command Prompt,I pulled up Google Search and ran the error message through it. I got a link to this freeware program called Unlocker which instantly did the trick. It's also a good thing if for some reason a file is not released after it's associated program is closed. I recommend it as a satisfied customer.

Roberts R9974 LW/MW/FM Radio in the US

This is the Roberts Radio model R9974. It is very near impossible to buy this in the US,because Roberts is a British company and the R9974 is only sold there and parts of Europe. I was able to get this model thanks to Ebay. I like portables and especially something unique but functional.

The R9974 uses four LR20/D batteries. A good idea. I have not had to replace the batteries in nine months. There is also a 230Vac in/6 Vdc out UK power adapter included,but that can be replaced with a 120V US adapter. I avoid radios that are only wired for 230V.

Another thing to consider is that MW or AM broadcast stations have a separation of 9 kHz in most parts of the world while it's 10 kHz in North America. This radio tunes in steps of 9 or 10 kHz. 522-1629 kHz in Europe,520-1710 kHz for the US. If a radio can only step 9kHz,I can't use it here.

The R9974 also has the 87.5-108 MHz band for FM,no tuning issues here,and covers the LW (Longwave) band 153kHz-279kHz. Mostly European broadcasters use that band,but late at night in California,I can receive Russian broadcasts from across the Pacific on 189 and 279 kHz.

Each band uses 5 presets,and the usual alarm/snooze functions. If this radio does look familiar,it's because another company,Sangean, makes a model like this with the Weather Band in place of the LW function for the US market.

It really performs well. Incidentally,Roberts has just made their famed Revival radios for sale in the US through the C.Crane company in Fortuna,California.

So,let's begin.

Installed a Miku Clock widget. Hatsune Miku is a Virtual Singer from a software program named "Vocaloid" made by Yamaha. It's become quite the hit in Japan and users upload their songs to YouTube and Nico video hosts.

Click on the music note and Miku will sing a short tune. Click on her mouth and she will give the time in Japanese.

Translated it goes:

Hatsune Miku,Miku,Miku
Virtual singer Hatsune Miku
Hatsune Miku,Miku,Miku
Let me sing for you.

It's from the tune "Hatsune Miku no Uta" or Miku's song.