But when we got to the little town of Madrid, New Mexico, only one word seemed to work: funky. Without it, the town couldn't exist.

Nothing is quite straight in Madrid. The houses lean. The floors sink. The people drift.

Chipped windshield aka parabrisas.

Inside the Bradbury museum in Los Alamos, NM Wednesday February 22, 2006.

Statues of Oppenheimer and Groves.

J. Robert Oppenheimer
1904 - 1967

Leslie R. Groves
17-Aug-1896
13-Jul-1970

Coming down the "the hill" from Los Alamos to Santa Fe.

"If I can't take it with me...I'm not going," said one sign on the wall, next to the dollar bills that were pasted up almost everywhere.

"We have no town drunk," said another. "We all take turns."

The words "We have no town drunk," are just below the Madrid sign.

The woman at the bar had tattoos down her arm. She was drunk and almost ugly in the daylight. Still, she tried to flirt with the men drinking their beer. We didn't know what to make of her.

"She must be a local prostitute," Elizabeth guessed.

We were seated at a round table in a rectangular room in a drifty town where nothing seemed straight. More on Madrid, New Mexico...and other things...below...after the financial news:

Several cowboys sat on bar stools drinking their beer, when we came in. The barmaid seemed as busy as a firefighter - trying to keep up with the demand for beer. Cowboys and tourists sat at the tables. One man in a Stetson hat leaned on a walker as he made his way to the bathroom.

One of the men at the bar was a typical and unmemorable fellow in jeans and T-shirt. Another was a strange, big- bellied character with black muttonchop whiskers and eyes that hadn't seen straight in years. But what caught our attention was the woman who moved between them. Flirting with the first man...and then, when he ignored her...she moved onto the second. If it was a paramour she was seeking, she seemed to be in the wrong place. Then again, she seemed to be the wrong woman, too. She had tattoos up and down her arm...and wore a dress that took all the form out of her. This left the viewer's eye with nothing to focus upon but the hideous tattoos...and the face.

The poor woman was no beauty. She was no young filly either. Not that she was old; she simply looked as though she had been ridden too hard. She had long dark hair...which framed a bad complexion and a missing tooth.

After a few minutes, she was joined by another woman of about the same age. This one had just come in from outside, where a thunderstorm had caught her. She was wearing a pair of overalls with the legs cut off...and a pair of hiking boots. Her hair was plastered down from the rain...her clothes were soaked...and water glistened from her bare legs. The slippery, wet legs were pretty and well shaped. In fact, the woman might have been attractive, but she too looked as though she needed a vacation, and a tooth.

Pinched between the Scylla of debt and the Charybdis of declining real, spendable income - with all the costs, illusions of a decaying empire to sustain, with his dollars losing value (and his Fed chief dropping them from helicopters) pumping three-dollar gasoline into his gas-guzzling land barge, and making monthly payments on a mortgage that towers over his house like the Washington Monument over a bum’s cardboard box - what will the poor man do?

Reason 69 year-old, somewhat hobbled, white-haired senior citizen Stanley, NM rancher whose ranch adjoins former New Mexico governor Bruce King's ranch, who drives a very nice white Toyota 4-Runner, for being in this photo is that he is accompanying his about 40 year-old brown haired wife so that she could videotape the arriving Santa Fe and Southern train!

Lamy, NM is where Los Alamos scientists, von Neumann and Ulam, made train connections.

Below link was broken Sunday January 5, 2006.

Here's a replacement.

"The basic idea underlying the method was first brought up by Ulam and deliberated between him and von Neumann in a car when they drove together from Los Alamos to Lamy.

The complexity of these problems demanded computing capabilities unavailable at that time. It was this need for electronic computers that motivated Ulam to participate with fellow Los Alamos mathematician Nick Metropolis and von Neumann in developing the Monte Carlo method, which greatly aided in solving many of the complex problems involved in creating the atomic weapon.

Metropolis, Nicolas.

The Monte Carlo Method. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1949. Volume 44, Number 247, September 1949 Numerical methods that are known as Monte Carlo methods can be loosely described as statistical simulation methods, where statistical simulation is defined in quite general terms to be any method that utilizes sequences of random numbers to perform the simulation. Monte Carlo methods have been used for centuries, but only in the past several decades has the technique gained the status of a full-fledged numerical method capable of addressing the most complex applications. The name ``Monte Carlo'' was coined by Metropolis (inspired by Ulam's interest in poker) during the Manhattan Project of World War II, because of the similarity of statistical simulation to games of chance, and because the capital of Monaco was a center for gambling and similar pursuits. Monte Carlo is now used routinely in many diverse fields, from the simulation of complex physical phenomena such as radiation transport in the earth's atmosphere and the simulation of the esoteric subnuclear processes in high energy physics experiments, to the mundane, such as the simulation of a Bingo game. See: Eckhardt, Roger (1987). Stan Ulam, John von Neumann, and the Monte Carlo method, Los Alamos Science, Special Issue (15), 131-137. Metropolis, Nicholas and Stanislaw Ulam (1949). The Monte Carlo method, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 44 (247), 335-341. Another account: Credit for inventing the Monte Carlo method often goes to Stanislaw Ulam, a Polish born mathematician who worked for John von Neumann on the United States’ Manhattan Project during World War II. Ulam is primarily known for designing the hydrogen bomb with Edward Teller in 1951. He invented the Monte Carlo method in 1946 while pondering the probabilities of winning a card game of solitaire. Quoted in Eckhardt (1987), Ulam describes the incident as: The first thoughts and attempts I made to practice [the Monte Carlo Method] were suggested by a question which occurred to me in 1946 as I was convalescing from an illness and playing solitaires. The question was what are the chances that a Canfield solitaire laid out with 52 cards will come out successfully? After spending a lot of time trying to estimate them by pure combinatorial calculations, I wondered whether a more practical method than “abstract thinking” might not be to lay it out say one hundred times and simply observe and count the number of successful plays. This was already possible to envisage with the beginning of the new era of fast computers, and I immediately thought of problems of neutron diffusion and other questions of mathematical physics, and more generally how to change processes described by certain differential equations into an equivalent form interpretable as a succession of random operations. Later … [in 1946, I] described the idea to John von Neumann, and we began to plan actual calculations. And another: Short History of Monte Carlo Simulation The name "Monte Carlo" appeared in the World War II times, and sometimes is attributed to the researcher Nicholas Metropolis, inspired in the interest of Stanislaw Ulam, his colleague of Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, in the poker game. Monte Carlo, the capital of Monaco, was a known reference for gambling. According Eckhardt, Ulam invented the Monte Carlo method in 1946 while pondering the probabilities of winning a card game of solitaire. However, Metropolis "attributes the germ of this statistical method to Enrico Fermi, who had used such ideas some 15 years earlier”.. According Liu (2001, p.vii-viii): "The basic idea underlying the method was first brought up by Ulam and deliberated between him and von Neumann in a car when they drove together from Los Alamos to Lamy. Allegedly, Nick Metropolis coined the name 'Monte Carlo', which played an essential role in popularizing the method". Liu comments that the Los Alamos scientists aiming to take advante of the first "super" computer MANIAC, invented a statistical sampling-based technique to solve problems related to stochastic neutron diffusion in atomic bomb project and for estimating eigenvalues of the Schrödinger equation. Winston (1996, p.22) wrote that the term was coined by mathematicians S. Ulam and J. von Neumann in the feasibility project of atomic bomb by simulations of nuclear fission, and they given the code name Monte Carlo for these simulations. The first Monte Carlo paper, "The Monte Carlo Method" by Metropolis & Ulam, was published in 1949 in the Journal of the American Statistical Association. Since then, several different areas has been using the Monte Carlo simulations. With the advent of personal computers and the popularization of faster computational machines, the Monte Carlo simulations has been increasing popular as an important alternative for the solution of complex problems. Shewhart, Walter Andrew. Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control. With the editorial Assistance of W. Edwards Deming. Washington, DC, Department of Agriculture: 1939. First edition. 8vo, 1x,155pp, diagrams, tables etc in the text. Original cloth. A fine (+) copy. Very bright. $1250 Fine copy of a scarce and seminal work. "Whereas Shewhart's early writings and first book (1931) were focused on statistical control of industrial production processes, in his second book (above) he extended the applications of statistical process control to the measurement processes of science, and stressed the importance of operational definitions of basic quantities in science, industry and commerce….(this book) has profoundly influenced statistical methods of research in the behavioral, biological and physical sciences, and in engineering…" (DSB, XVIII, 818a) (Book ID 21322) $4,000.00

The Monte Carlo method came into concrete form with its attendant rudiments of a theory after I proposed the possibilities of such probabilistic schemes to Johnny [von Neumann] in 1946 during one of our conversations. It was an especially long discussion in a government car while we were driving from Los Alamos to Lamy.

von Neumann and 11-year-old daughter Marina on Santa Fe plaza circa 1949

There are lots of country homes between Albuquerque and Santa Fe to the east of the Sandia mountains.

Not many to the west because these are tribal lands.

Most of these homes are heated with propane and most must truck-in water.

This reality had begun to penetrate the American collective consciousness and will be represented in 2006 by millions of individual choices to not buy a new suburban house, either because the individuals fear the expense of long commutes or they fear the cost of heating a 4000 square foot house occupied by only a few people (or both). As the inventory of unsold new houses mounts up, the prices of all houses, new and old, will start to go down. There will be enormous psychological resistance to this reality, expressed in a lag of correct pricing, as the owners of these value-shedding "investments" wait for the bubble behavior (anticipated 10 to 20 percent asset appreciation) to return. Eventually they will get the picture.

Bird hunting buddy lives in Sandia Heights adobe 3,200 square foot home.

Sandia Heights is not on Albuquerque water or gas.

Propane is required for heating.

Bird hunting buddy reported his December propane bill was $550. But not to worry. Bird hunting buddy can afford it.

Linda had Honda CVR but just traded it for the Prius you see.

The Toyota Sequoia is Jerry's gas guzzler.



Our neighbors are now thinking green.

But do they know?

We discovered some years ago that one cannot afford to drive their own car on a trip of a week or more.

Budget silver cobalt was driven 1,724 miles between December 22 and 28, 2005 for a cost of $153.68.

Here's silver cobalt at the post office in Taiban, NM [between Ft Sumner and Clovis, NM].

Silver cobalt was equipped with cruise control and keyless entry and air conditioning!

This trip it was in the high 70s and even 80s in Austin! We've made the same trip in ice and snow too!

There are frequently disparities between actual rabbit wiring and schematics.

Research is frequently required in addition to studying schematics.

The rear window sprayer relay is another example.



The rear window washer pump relay is to the left of the red check. This is denoted x relay.

The windshield motor relay is designated by the blue triangle. This is properly described on the schematic.

The green star is the relay you see below. It is labelled OIL PRESSURE on the schematic.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

A Einstein

Friday afternoon December 9, 2005 the ignition switch was replaced.

Both the steering wheel and the turn signal have to be removed, Ernie at Discount said.



That's a gear puller which is required to separate the steering wheel from the shaft splines.

That a nylon which goes over the splines on the steering column



which partially holds the locking mechanism you see hanging from the steering splines.

After gluing the plastic parts that broke on removal, the new switch was installed after about three tries.

THEN THE NEW SWITCH FAILED ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 11, 2005! But this time grey rabbit wouldn't start!

So the old switch was retrieved from the garbage can and plugged into the ignition connector.



So the key is turned to the run position to free the steering wheel. A screwdriver is inserted in the slot in the old switch.

Then grey rabbit can be started.

We're going to assume that the new switch was bad. But this might not be the problem.

While doing this repair the rear window wiper stopped working. After studying the Bentley manual an doing some experimentation with a long white wire connected to the plus side of the battery and jumper



to try to find out what wire does what on the windshield wiper connector.

Tentative conclusion is that the rear wiper auxiliary relay failed.

Divers trade their beloved SUVs for gas-thrifty small cars

Editor's note: This is the first of two articles about how high gas prices are changing us. Today's is about smaller cars suddenly making the "in" list. In the next Sunday Journal, staff writer Rosalie Rayburn will report on how some people have decided to rely on muscle, rather than fuel, to get to work. They're dusting off old bikes or buying new ones and pedaling to the office, even as the weather gets colder.

What is the difference between paper and plastic shotshells?

Plastic patterns a bit tighter. Which may not be a positive attribute.

Other than that no difference.

The amount of fun is still the same.

We could handle this.

Four speed vw transmission were reported in the 1980's to get better gas mileage than 5-speed transmissons.

We think we know the reason. Fourth gear in a 4-speed transmission is about the same [may be exactly] as 5-th gear in a 5-speed transmission.

Bill, in the past, never bothered to shift to 5-th in Albuquerque city driving.

Let's experiment!!!

The fuze was checked first



Number 12 was fine.

Grey rabbit has the new [for a rabbit] style fuze box. It is great.

Green rabbit had the old-style fuze box.



This style is horrible to work on.

Discount Auto in albuquerque has a picture of the an old-style fuze box from a rabbit they disassembled.

One of the fuzes was replace by a .22 long rifle shell!

Next the schematic of the back-up light circuit was studied.



Blue check shows fuze checked.

Connector was removed from switch.

Super-cheap Harbor Freight analog meter [carried in grey rabbit for emergency electrical work] verified that 12 volts appeared on pin 1 [green check].

Paper clip was cut in two. One section plugged into pin 1 and other into pin 8 [red check].

Jumper wire used to connect pin 1 and 8 caused back-up lights to illuminate.

Foreign Aide in albuquerque wanted more than $75 for a new switch.

Discount auto's Ernie sold bill a recycled switch for $10.

Bill cleaned-up the switch Thursday October 27, 2005 afternoon with carb cleaner and water.

Friday water still remained in the switch so it was baked in an oven at about 190 degrees F for about 45 minutes.

Note that the schmatic doesn't match the switch.

Here's a webcam shot of the switch.

In the real world things are usually a bit more complicated.

Pin 1, power, is in the upper left hand corner.

Common is the single bottom pin.

The "new" switch shows 450 Ohm between common and power.

The old switch is open.

However, connecting power on the plug to where common goes on the plug doesn't light the back-up lights.

Connecting power, pin 1, to pin 8 does light the back-up lights.

Bill phoned Ernie at Discount for advise. Ernie is going to check other switches and want bill to phone back in one hour.

Guy at auto recyclers will help you fix your car. Dealership mechanics will not. Most of the time they won't even talk to you.

Stay tuned!

Grey rabbit's left front CV joint pulled on a right turn to Slide Inn, MT.

The cb radio didn't work.

So fuses were checked to try to locate the source of the problem.

Then grey rabbit's heater blower motor stopped working.

S-curve manuvers were made to the three mile bridge to try to lubricate the CV.

Maybe this helped a bit. But there was still lots of clanking when turning right.

Decision was made to guts it out and make repairs in Albuquerque.

Grey rabbit's left cv failed catastophically in Bountiful, UT.

Grey rabbit would not move. And was pushed off road with help of two citizens perhaps concerned about a senior citizen in distress?

Possibilities were weighed to solve problem.

1 Remove the licence plate and VIN number. Emply the glove compartment. And head to the airport or rental car office.

2 Rent a truck and dolly to tow grey rabbit back to albuquerque.





$499 for the truck. $113 for the dolly.

The $70 is for truck insurance and $40 for dolly insurance.

If you had to pay someone to fix your VW for you, then you couldn't afford to own one.
Art Garcia, Discount Auto