A simple model for a dc power supply consists of an ideal voltage source (constant voltage for any current drawn) and an internal resistance (which increases as a battery ages and becomes less effective). Thus an aging battery must source current through greater resistance and as indicated by ohm's law becomes less capable of servicing loads. Open circuit voltage can still appear to be adequate. Note that batteries are chemical processes and this model only serves to explain the electrical behavior.

'A SHOT OF WHISKEY'
In the old west a .45 cartridge for a six-gun cost 12 cents and so did a glass of whiskey. If a cowhand was low on cash he would often give the bartender a cartridge in exchange for a drink. This became known as a "shot" of whiskey.




‘THE WHOLE NINE YARDS’
American fighter planes in WW2 had machine guns that were fed by a belt of cartridges. The average plane held belts that were 27 feet (9 yards) long. If the pilot used up all his ammo he was said to have given it the whole nine yards.




‘BUYING THE FARM’
This is synonymous with dying. During WW1 soldiers were given life insurance policies worth $5,000. This was about the price of an average
farm so if you died you "bought the farm" for your
survivors.




‘IRON-CLAD CONTRACT’
This came about from the iron-clad ships of the Civil War. It meant something so strong it could not be broken.




‘PASSING THE BUCK / THE BUCK STOPS HERE’
Most men in the early west carried a jack
knife made by the Buck Knife Company. When playing poker it as common to place one of these Buck knives in front of the dealer so that everyone knew who he was. When it was time for a new dealer the deck of cards and the knife were given to the new dealer. If this person didn't want to deal he would "pass the buck" to the next player. If that player accepted then "the buck stopped there".




‘RIFF RAFF’
The Mississippi River was the main way of traveling from north to south. Riverboats carried passengers and freight but they were expensive so
most people used rafts. Everything had the right of way over rafts which were considered cheap. The steering oar on the rafts was called a "riff" and
this transposed into riff-raft – or riff-raff, meaning low class.




‘COBWEB’
The Old English word for "spider" was "cob".


SHIPS’ ‘STATE ROOMS’
Traveling by steamboat was considered the height of comfort. Passenger cabins on the boats were not numbered. Instead they were named
after states. To this day cabins on ships are called
staterooms.




‘SLEEP TIGHT’
Early beds were made with a wooden frame. Ropes were tied across the frame in a criss-cross pattern. A straw mattress was then put on top of
the ropes. Over time the ropes stretched, causing the bed to sag. The owner would then tighten the ropes to get a better night's sleep.




‘SHOWBOAT’
These were floating theaters built on a barge that was pushed by a steamboat. These played the small towns along the Mississippi River. Unlike the boat shown in the movie "Showboat” these did not have an engine. They were gaudy and attention- grabbing which is why we say someone who is being the life of the party is "showboating".




‘OVER A BARREL’
In the days before CPR a drowning victim would be placed face down over a barrel and the barrel would be rolled back and forth in a effort to empty the lungs of water. It was rarely effective. If you are over a barrel you are in deep trouble.


‘BARGE IN’
Heavy freight was moved along the Mississippi in large barges pushed by steamboats. These were hard to control and would sometimes swing into
piers or other boats. People would say they "barged in".



‘HOGWASH’
Steamboats carried both people and animals. Since pigs smelled so bad they would be washed before being put on board. The mud and other filth that was washed off was considered useless "hog wash".




‘CURFEW’
The word "curfew" comes from the French phrase "couvre-feu", which means "cover
the fire". It was used to describe the time of blowing out all lamps and candles before sleeping for the night. It was later adopted into Middle English as "curfeu", which later became the modern "curfew". In the early American colonies homes had no real fireplaces so a fire was built in the center of the room. In order to make sure a fire did not get out of control during the night it was required that, by an agreed upon time, all fires would be covered with a clay pot called-a "curfew".




‘BARRELS OF OIL’
When the first oil wells were drilled they had made no provision for storing the liquid, so they used water barrels. That is why, to this day,
we speak of barrels of oil, rather than gallons.


‘HOT OFF THE PRESS’
As the paper goes through the rotary printing press, friction causes it to heat up. …therefore, if you grab the paper right off the press, it’s hot. The expression means to get immediate information.

I can't vouch for any of these! :)

Only 537 murders in the UK? Hmm, they must have all occurred in Midsomer!! :)

I have had a TracFone for about 18 months and find it adequate for a non avid smart phone user. One minor warning: if you are not currently browsing the web, turn off your mobile connection. I found that alerts and emails chewed up a lot of data. 1200MB is not much so don't waste it! Wi-Fi doesn't count against your data usage. :)

I recall once reading the definition of sycophant as an ailing pachyderm!! :)

I like rsync. It is a somewhat geeky utility from Linux but runs in Windows under Cygwin. It only backs up files that have changed so is highly efficient. It is free.

I agree we can't wait for further atrocities to come our way. While we were far away from the scenes of the attacks in Paris, members of our family were much closer to the Boston Marathon explosion. Our daughter had finished the 2013 marathon about 40 minutes before the explosion but with the congestion at the finish line she was only two blocks away and looking for her husband. Fortunately they were both safe! So this reign of terror is getting personal although our family has not suffered the way those who were killed or injured were. It is still very unsettling and unacceptable to passively wait for more attacks!

Funny you should mention Quasimodo!!!

Quasimodo Souvenir Shop

Thanks for the great photos Joseph. We were in the Marais Friday afternoon and ate at L'As de Falafal. The Eiffel tower photo is great. We noticed significant security presence at the Louvre and Tuileries gardens which are adjacent to the Place de la Concorde. Here is what we saw outside the Louvre.

You must have had a tough time getting to CDG. Are you home yet? If not have safe travels.

Security Outside the Louvre

Thanks everyone! We had a marvelous time visiting Venice and Rome for the first time and were determined not to let the terrorists spoil our time in Paris which were visiting for the third time. We stayed away from the Metro until our last day and were wary of crowded places but the events resulted in fewer people. Interestingly the pathways along the Seine were full of joggers and bikers especially on Sunday. Generally both the French and Italians appeared to be pretty fit and trim however there was a lot of smoking!

My wife and I have just returned from a trip to Rome, Venice and Paris. We were in Paris from November 12 to November 17 during the terrorist attacks. We were fortunate not to be near the attacks but had been near the rock concert location during the afternoon of November 13. Although we set out on the morning of November 14th to sightsee with some trepidation there was no restriction of movement. Security was definitely present but not obtrusive. Major museums and important sights were closed but we were able to walk around the outside of the Eiffel tower, the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral. We also walked along the Seine and prowled around the Latin Quarter which is very nostalgic!

On November 16 President Hollande observed a minute of silence for the victims of the attacks at the Sorbonne and we were nearby with no interference from security units. They were very friendly and often said "bonjour".
Our hotel reported that they had received multiple cancellations after the attacks. We traveled to the airport via Metro and train from Gare du Nord and again saw considerable security but were not inconvenienced.
I have included a photo of Notre Dame taken on November 14 which shows a military presence. We were comforted by the extra security in place for everyone's safety.
We like to travel lightly so used only backpacks which we could carry on the plane and consequently elected to use our old Canon S90 instead of our newer Nikon D7100. It was a compromise we felt we needed to make for our travel comfort. We recognize that picture quality was somewhat diminished with the S90 but we considered the options carefully before making the decision.

I have had this problem and solved it by inserting a straightened paper clip in a tiny hole on the outside of the CD player. This has worked for Windows machines!
Edit... looks like someone beat me to it!

Try updating. You will find the update link under "help" on the top line.

You have provided good information with your task manager capture. It would be more informative to see what is displayed when you are encountering your slow response!
I see that you have malwarebytes and windows defender running. It is usually not recommended to have two anti-malware processes running at the same time.
Also, I would recommend stopping all applications other than Lightroom when you are processing photos. I have occasionally had Internet Explorer hog most of my cpu. So just stop IE and email to see if that helps.

I believe the "fix" is probably installation of " classic shell" which makes the windows 8.x look like windows 7.
I don't feel that there is anything wrong with windows 8.1 other than people not liking the new start screen. My version works very well with no blue screens!