The AnarchAngel

When Black Friday Comes

2009-11-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T06:43:00.002-07:00

New Crackberry

2009-11-25T18:26:00.004-07:00

So, as I mentioned last week, my work laptop died horribly... again...

I also mentioned that I was on the crackberry from then, until my new work laptop arrives. Which was supposed to be this week, but I figured it wouldn't be.

As it happens, looks like I'm right about that, as it hasn't even arrived from the vendor to our desktop support folks (who have to reimage it with our corporate image, security software etc...), and they'll take a day or two with the thing before I can pick it up.

Anyway, the earliest I'll probably get the thing is Tuesday, so I will have been sans work PC for two weeks.

Joy.

As it happens, my blackberry has been getting progressively crappier as time went on. I don't install any third party apps... hell I don't even use the thing as a phone 90% of the time, I just use it for email and calender...

But ooooohhh how many email and calendar items I use it for.

I get about 300 emails a day, many of which are in rich text format, many of which have large attachments.

Also I have on average 30 or so meetings a week, and many of those ALSO have large attachments (which I hate, and attempt to discourage whenever possible, but for some reason "project managers' LOVE attaching crap to meeting invites).

At any rate, I would do a hard reset on the damn thing every day, and still within a couple hours, the response time on the POS would be completely unusable. I'd press a key or receive an email, and I'd get the hourglass spinning for 20 or thirty seconds.

The real problem is, I have a Blackberry Curve 8330, and it's a piece of crap. Slow processor, not much memory etc...

So I called up our blackberry support people (we have a department in verizon dedicated just to us, which is nice. Instead of the half hour on hold most people get, we get 30 seconds or so) and I described the problem, and what I was doing about it etc... and at first the rep was confused, but then I told her about the workload I was putting on the poor little bastard...

Yeah, about half way through the description, she's audibly nodding and saying "oh yeah, I know EXACTLY what the problem is".

Basically, the poor bastard can't handle it.

So, they arranged to upgrade me (again, we have our own department in Verizon. We get upgraded whenever we need to, don't need to wait two years. There are a few perks to being one of the largest companies in the world).

I got my new Blackberry Tour 9630 today.

DAMN...

It doesn't suck.

No, seriously... I know... A blackberry that doesn't suck didn't compute here either, but there it is.

Basically it's got twice the CPU and 8 times the ram my curve had (528mhz and 256mb ram, vs 225mhz and 32mb); plus it's a world phone with a GSM radio (and sim card) for international, and a 4 gb "media card" (they don't let you store apps on the card for some reason, so it really is just for media. Also a 2gb is standard, but they give us 4giggers for some reason).

No, it's still nowhere near as good a mobile computer as my iPhone and I doubt it's as good as the droid (and mobile computers is what the iPhone and Droid really are. The BB is really more of a smartphone); but as an email device that will only occasionally be used as a mobile computer , it aint bad.

Too bad they decided to change the cradle and the charging cord AGAIN.

Anybody got any app suggestions? Also are any of the visual voicemail solutions for BB on Verizon other than crap?

No Content Today: Dragon Age is Eating My Brain

2009-11-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

That is all...

I've had conversations remarkably similar to this...

2009-11-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Or at least the vendors were trying to have this conversation with me anyway... The results were... not so favorable for them.

Ahhh, actual satire... I've missed it so

2009-11-22T15:50:00.001-07:00

An Immutable Fact of Life

2009-11-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

There is no going back. There is no standing still. There is only moving ever forward.

No matter what you do, no matter how hard you may wish it to be otherwise, or try to make it not so, there is only moving forward.

Attempting anything else will get you run over by the universe.

More on economic literacy, and the reality of the situation

2009-11-19T15:42:00.005-07:00

Yaknow why I check the Dow every day?

To see which way the sheep are going to be running tomorrow, so I can avoid their trail of shit.

Just take a look at the mishmash of crap in this article from Bloomberg; actually explaining nothing, just kinda throwing random facts at the wall to see what sticks; and showing just how divorced from anything real or rational both market moves, and the people who predict and report on the market, really are.

The DJIA, and more generally the stock market, are NOT indicators for the health of our economy.

In fact, the New York Stock Exchange is not a rational equities market by any stretch of the imagination (and thus any indicator based on it, is even less reliable); and the DJIA isn't even a rational or reliable indicator it it's value.

What the market (and the Dow) are really about, is psychology. They've always been psychology. They always will be psychology.

"Market plunges 300 points in two days"... yeah... after climbing 500 points in 7....

Actually, today the market dropped 200 points, then came back up by a hundred for a net down (not actually a loss really) of 93. The "explanation" linked above shows what happens when you try to explain market pscyhology, as if it was rationally driven. You end up shoehorning data into your causality slot, whether it fits or not, just so you don't have to say "it's based on merest whim".

But there's a larger point there; that I think most people who derive the sum total of their financial knowledge from the major news media (meaning, sadly, most people) don't really see or understand.

"The Market" is not the economy, and the economy is not the market. They are correlated, but not directly.

You know what it takes to be successful in a speculative market?

Step 1: Do what the other guy is going to do before he even knows he's going to do it.

Step 2: Stop doing it, and reverse yourself, before the other guy stops

They call it being in front of the trend.

Successful (at least in the short term. In the long term... read this speech from Warren Buffet...) investors don't invest based on how they believe a company is doing; they invest based on how they think the public, the press, and the other players in the market will react to the data they receive about the company, AND the companies related to it

Let me explain that last bit. One company could be reporting "good numbers" but two other companies in "the sector" (other companies in the same industry) could report "bad numbers"; then every company in the whole sector will go down because of the publics perception of risk; even the company that reported good numbers.

Most people are not smart investors. That, in fact, is why speculative markets even exist.

I am making a distinction here. Speculating in a market does not make a market speculative. If that markets moves are clearly based on rational responses to reliable and relevant data, that is a rational market.

Rational markets, require that all (or at least the large majority of) participants be informed, rational actors.

The stock market in America today, is NOT a rational market.

That first presumption, that the market is populated with informed actors, is so obvious and false as to not really require any explanation.

Most people don't even know what the DJIA IS, or what it means; they only "know" that when it goes up "it's good" and when it goes down "it's bad" (which in and of itself isn't really true, or at least not necessarily).

The DJIA, or "the Dow" stands for the Dow Jones Industrial Average... only it isn't an average at all. It's the sum total of the weighted prices (it's corrected for stock splits and the like, and higher priced stocks are given more weight in the average than lower priced stocks, regardless of market capitalization) of 30 stocks, picked by the Dow Jones company. Those companies are changed "as market conditions warrant", and have changed many times over since the index was created in 1896. Not coincidentally, it was created by one of the founding publishers of the Wall Street Journal.

Here's a link to the current list: http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/movers_index_dow.html

I've explained this to literally hundreds of people, who either look at me like I was a green headed martian; or they simply don't believe me.

It is simply against all "common sense" to these people, that this magic number, which is seemingly so important, and is supposed to be reflective of the performance of our economy; is essentially arbitrary, and completely divorced from the actual performance of the economy, or even of the companies that make up the index themselves.

Yes, taken over a an extended period, the long term trends in the economy, and the long term trends in the Dow, tend to correlate; but on any given day... or even in any given year, the DJIA may be completely divorced from the economic reality of the nation as a whole.

In fact, it is right now.

"The Dow" briefly touched just under 14,000 in 2007, before plunging to under 7000 (6547 actually) in the early 2009... where it had last been in '97 (two weeks later is was back up another thousand points of course, and three months after that another thousand).

How about this one. Any idea what the last "worst crash ever" was, back in '87?

The DJIA dropped from it's then historical peak of 2709 to 1766... which is actually what the all time PEAK had been less than two years before in 1986. As it happens, we went back over 2662 by 1990.

Ok first of all, 2700 to 14,000 in 20 years... Huh... Yeah and in the BIG crash of '29 it was 380. Not 3800, 380... and over the course of 3 years it crashed all the way down to 42. Not 4200, not 420... 42 . The DJIA it didn't see 380 again until 1956, and didn't hit 1,000 til 1966.

Does anyone actually believe that in less than 80 years, our economy grew 33,333%

No, of course not.

Does anyone really think the economy lost 50% of its value in a little over a year, either in 87-88 or 2007-2009? Well, obviously the people in the market didn't, because in the '87-'89 crash the market was back above it's peak in two years; and here it is late November of 2009 (7 months from the low), and we're back up over 10,000.

Neither does the federal government; reporting essentially null growth nor loss, from the stock market peak in 2007 to today (actually they report 6% growth, but that's not in constant dollars).

But.. But... This is the worst economy since THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!!!

No it isn't.

Not even close.

It's not the worst economy... it's not even the worst stock market. In real, constant dollar terms (2000 indexed), we're down about 3% from our peak.

On a constant dollar basis, our GDP peaked in Q2 2008 at $13.4153 trillion.

As of Q3 reporting results, we're down 3.4% from that peak (projections for Q4 are all over the place so I'm ignoring them right now).

Ok, but it IS actually the biggest constant dollar percentage decline we've had since WW2 right? We haven't had a constant dollar decline bigger than a percent between then and now?

Well, not exactly... You see that 3.4% is from the peak to the today. If the Q4 predictions are anywhere near correct, the 2008 annual, to 2009 annual, will be a decline of just about 1% plus or minus a couple points.

So when was the last time the economy was this "bad"?

Try Q3 of 2006, which was at that time the all time historical high. Or if the Q4 projections are right, 2007, which was ALSO the all time historical high.

Actually... that's when we hit that 14,000 DJIA peak... And as it happens, with the DJIA hovering a little above 10,000 at the moment, we're right back where we were in 2006.

So, the economy is as "bad" as it was in 2006 or 2007... Which pretty much everyone at the time considered a huge boom...

In fact it WAS a huge boom. Our GDP made the biggest jump since the GDP has been recorded, of 11% in one year (remember, this is in adjusted constant dollars, not "inflated funny money").

Starting in q3 2006, we had a two year boom (actually a bubble) both in stocks, and in GDP; and now after a year of correcting, we're back exactly where we were from about 2002 through Q2 2006.

Not only are we not worse off than we were 10 or 20 years ago, we're far BETTER off.

In real dollar terms, our economy has doubled since 1989... pentupled since 1969...

Umm... Ok well... the dollar isn't worth what it was... Right?

Yeah, I'm talking about inflation adjusted dollars. That doesn't fly.

Umm... ok, but the GDP per capita has fallen so we're all poorer than we were right?

Nope. Not even close.

US population in 1989 was 247 million, with a constant dollar GDP of 7.030 trillion; or $28,462 per capita.

US population est. today is 305 million, with a constant dollar GDP of 13.1 trillion; or $42,951 per capita.

And, as I keep reminding you, this is all in constant dollars. That means it's adjusted for inflation.

In constant dollars, we have just about 1.5 times the GDP per capita we had in 1989

However, if you looked at the stock market, it's 5 times what it was in 1989...

Disconnect much?

Ok, but that's the economy as a whole, what about individuals?

Using purchasing power dollars (normalised for both wages and inflation) we've "only" improved about 30%, not the 50% GDP has; which means that the "average person" can buy 30% more for each hour of labor than he could in 1989.

Yes, it's not the 50% that we saw in per capita GDP, which means that yes, income disparity has increased somewhat.

Everybody got richer, but the rich got richer than the poor did.

Actually... that's mostly inaccurate too; because it was primarily investors who got richer; and the majority of investment capital comes from the middle class, through mutual funds and other retirement accounts; and from pension funds (which are primarily for who the press likes to call the "working class" as if nobody else worked).

Not exactly the "rich get richer, poor get poorer" narrative the left wants to portray, which is why they harp so much now on "growing income disparity"; while ignoring the fact that the poor are genuinely better off than they were, with more income, and more purchasing power than they had 20 years ago.

So yes, we've devalued the currency through inflation; but wage increases, and productivity gains, have MORE than compensated for that.

Basically, we've made every slice of the pie cost more, and you're getting a smaller percentage of the pie in every slice; but it's MUCH bigger pie, and you got a bigger raise than the cost per slice increased; so you can actually afford much more pie for every hour you work today than you did in 1989.

So, ignore "the Dow". It's basically pointless and meaningless as any real indicator of anything other than what a speculator should NOT be doing (i.e. he should be doing whatever the other guy ISN'T).

Ignore the geniuses who tell us that we've lost a third, or half, or two thirds, or whatever wild ass number they make up... of our purchasing power through fiat money.

Note: this is not to say that current and projected fiscal policy won't change that soon.

The reason we have been able to maintain, and actually increase purchasing power (and therefore standard of living), even with significant inflation; is that we have simultaneously both increased wages, and improved productivity.

If we continue on our current debt financing path, along with health care "reform" and other spending programs, and our current weak dollar fiscal policy, as the fedgov plans; we ARE going to see MASSIVE inflation, without compensating wage or productivity growth.

This inflation WILL cause a large decline in both purchasing power and GDP; resulting in real declines in standard of living and overall economic power of the nation. It will also force huge rises in interest rates, freezing credit markets, causing a great deal of economic contraction, or at best stagnation; and likely far more job losses.

Specie currency not only would not solve the main problem (growth, or the lack thereof, inflation, and deflation), it would make it worse.

Specie currency is NOT inherently table as so many people believe (against all evidence and logic. In fact the more evidence showing how unstable it is, the more they take that as evidence of its value, strengthening their conviction. It's because they fundamentally and to their core believe in the inherent value fallacy); it is simply more difficult for governments to arbitrarily manipulate.

Specie currency and eliminating the federal reserve, the usual prescription these people give, would solve the problem of the government manipulating the currency through fiscal policy, and no other; and induce MANY other problems.

If you really want to know how things are really going, look at REAL unemployment (those people who actually want a job, and are looking for one, but don't have one), constant dollar wages (or purchasing power dollars), and constant dollar GDP.

Unemployment... that's a tough one.

Is unemployment bad right now? Yes.

How bad historically?

We have no idea.

The way numbers have been collected and tabulated has changed so much over the years, and the data so manipulated by governments and those with an agenda on both sides, you can't trust any of it.

What we can say, is that we've lost maybe a 1-3 percentage points of purchasing power, and maybe 3 percent more of our population are our of work than they were two years ago, when we were at an all time historic peak, that just so happens to have been a speculative, inflationary, and insupportable bubble...

So we've corrected, and we're back to about the same as we were 3-5 years ago; which is better than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or 50 years ago...

And that's not really that bad.

Hey... Everybody in the whole world, Listen Up!

2009-11-19T13:35:00.004-07:00

Stop agonizing about how hard life (or something like it) might be, and start actually living and doing it. You'll be a hell of a lot better off.

Trust me, your bellybutton is not a font of wisdom, and you will not find the answers you seek in fear, anxiety, tentativity, or half measures.

Do it, don't do it... whatever you do don't agonize over it.

You don't need to "take control of your own life"... that's just self help book, motivational speaker, dr. Phil, pop psychology bull.

Don't "take control of your life"...

Don't "improve your self actualization"...

Just shut up and live.

That is all.

I think we employ several of his clones

2009-11-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

Gack, another dead laptop

2009-11-18T14:06:00.003-07:00

My work laptop ate itself yesterday.

Technically speaking, it's not 100% dead; but I'm getting intermittent I/O errors on the hard drive, and four reboots out of five, it wont load the full disk encryption software we use to secure our disks, so it can't boot up.

Even if the hard drive wasn't bad (and it seems unlikely that it isn't at this point), when you get disk errors like that on an encrypted volume, the encryption software tends to puke and garbage the whole drive.

In 4 years using this software, I've lost six drives to it; including one previous drive in this machine, which I've only had for 11 months.

At any rate, they're going to have to repair the thing, which is going to take over a week, because next week is a holiday week.

Joy.

However, as it happens, earlier this year we were thinking about going to Boston to visit my father for thanksgiving; and I took the whole week off.

So at least I wont be two full weeks without a laptop.

That said, I decided to see if I could short circuit the system.

We allocate a certain budget every year to laptop replacement. I asked my boss, and his boss, if we had any budget left; and if so could I skip around all the repair BS, and just get a new laptop, have this one repaired, and turned back in to the pool for allocation as a spare.

Given that our groups only current spare laptop is a ThinkPad T43 (from 2005), they agreed.

So, I'mna get a shiny new laptop. Again. For the second time this year on work machines, to go along with the second time this year for my personal laptops.

And, I'll most likely get it Friday or Monday, instead of two weeks from now.

Even better... and this I find funny as hell... Since I got my last work laptop we stopped buying the Dells and switched to HPs.

So the HP laptop I originally thought I was going to get when HP upgraded and replaced my previous one free of charge, was the Elitebook 8730. A 17" high performance machine with discrete graphics, and all the bells and whistles.

Funny enough, that's just exactly what work will be giving me this time around.

Not bad at all really... especially since all my power supplies will now work on both machines... plus they'll send me a new docking station and spare power supply.

Of course I'll have the usual several weeks of unproductivity while I fix everything HP and my own desktop support people did to screw my machine up... but I'd have to do that with the repaired laptop anyway, since it would just be re-imaged on the new drive.

In the meantime, I'm basically working off my crackberry... which is having it's own issues.

We are not a Democracy, we are a Republic

2009-11-17T16:46:00.002-07:00

This is as succinct, and as masterful a description of the relationship between the rights of man, and the government of a free state, as I have yet seen.

“I cannot, and will not, consent that the majority of any republican State may, in any way, rightfully restrict the humblest citizen of the United States in the free exercise of any one of his natural rights,” which are “those rights common to all men, and to protect which, not to confer, all good governments are instituted.”

John A. Bingham (Judge, Congressman, and the principal author of the 14th amendment)

As quoted in the Appellants brief in McDonald v. City of Chicago(my emphasis added).

All too often one hears men say 'the constitution gives us the right" or even "the government gives us the right".

This is simply false. Governments cannot confer rights on someone. Rights are those things that are common to all men. Those things that we have, and which cannot be taken away from us but by force, fraud, or willing consent.

Governments exist, for the sole purpose of protecting and furthering those rights; and no other.

WAY better than the original

2009-11-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yaknow what makes me feel old?

2009-11-16T18:48:00.002-07:00

Most of the actors, actresses, and singers I see on a day to day basis are younger than me now.

Singers have been younger than me for 15 years now, I'm cool with that... But when the "strong leading man" actors are younger than you...

Ahhh well...

Wise Words

2009-11-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

"Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation.
Stupidity is not a sin; the victim can't help being stupid. But, stupidity is the only
universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is
carried out automatically and without pity."

--Robert A. Heinlein

That was a FUCKING FIRST DOWN!

2009-11-15T21:42:00.004-07:00

And not having a challenge left... What. The. Fuck...

Going for it on fourth I can see, but without having a TO left to challenge in case something went wrong?

He had both feet down, and the ball under control, on the other side of the line. He was pushed back by the tackle. The ball should have been spotted about a yard further forward than it was; and if he had been able to challenge, the call would most likely have been reversed, and the game would have gone for New England.

Instead, WTF?

In fact, WTF was that whole 4th quarter?

The Tread is Below Lincolns Head

2009-11-13T08:30:00.003-07:00

So, the other day, Steve mentioned his ordeal in finding new tires for his 3/4 ton Dodge Diesel (which I will take the credit/blame for forcing him to buy).

As it happens, I also have a 3/4 ton Dodge Diesel, and I also need tires for it.

As in REALLY need tires for it.

We measured our tires, and instead of 31.6" height as they are supposed to be (265/70-17), they're down to 29.6".

As in "yeah, the tires are going to come out of this paycheck".

They were dramatically under-inflated (even though we inflate them every couple weeks at worst) and are nearly bare of tread. Technically we're at a legal tread depth... just barely at 2/32"... but I'm not happy with that.

Well, that explains the speedometer error (between 2mph and 3mph over at indicated 75. Aint GPS grand).

At any rate, I'm looking for a good compromise tire for my truck.

What I want is tires that will have good rough road, ice, and snow performance, and acceptable light duty offroad performance; without being too noisy or having poor treadlife; and without hurting my city mileage very much.

With the torque of my diesel, and my gearing, it's not really the height of the tire I'm concerned about, it's the rolling resistance. Most tires with nice aggressive offroad tread patterns, are not only noisier than highway tires, but they have far higher rolling resistance.

Unfortunately, smooth, stiff tires, aren't any damn good offroad. Of course to offset that, taller tires means lower revs and better fuel economy, once the actual acceleration portion of the days program is over.

I've got a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 5.9 Cummins, 4x4, the super heavy duty suspension and tow package, and factory skidplates, and driveline guards.

Straight from the factory with these options, it has a built in almost 6" lift over the standard 1500 2wd with the smaller wheels and tires(245/60-16 is the stock "cheap" wheel and tire package).

Frankly, it's a tall truck already, I'm 6'2", and it's a bit of a climb up, even for me. I definitely need to fit some nerf bar steps. However, the offroad performance of the tires is crap.

Basically, I'd like to have some taller tires both for better offroad performance, and for highway cruising (as I noted above, taller tires means lower revs on the highway, presuming you've got the torque for it, and I do).

Oh and cosmetically, the current wheel and tire combo looks absolutely miniature in those massive wheel wells, especially with the factory lift. I'd like to fill the wells a bit more.

So, I'm wanting to trade up a bit in size from 265/70-17 (which works out to 31.6").

I've been thinking about either a 33"x12.5-17 (obviously 33"diameter... 285/70-17 is roughly equivalent in diameter at 32.7", but about an inch narrower), or 315/70-17 (34.4"x12.4); but I'm not sure about mounting those on my stock 17x8" heavy duty (e rated) rims.

Offroaders go with sidewalls that high and tread that wide on 8" wide rims all the time; but according to tire manufacturers, 295s or 11.5" are the largest tires that will fit on 8" rims.

I learned a rule of thumb a long time ago for street tires, and that was you could go as far over your rim size, as your sidewall series rounded up to the next even size (i.e. 265, 275 etc...), and one even size above that, without causing tread pattern issues (so on 8" rims with 40 series tires, you could go to 245s or 255s)... but that's for pure street tires, not heavy duty truck tires that will be used offroad.

AT/Offroad tires are supposed to balloon out a bit, and with that height of sidewall, the wheeling guys say you can go up to 100mm over the rim with the right tire design (with 100% offroad tires you can go more, but not with street tires).

So by their measurement, 315s (12.4") would be find, but by my rule of thumb and manufacturers recommendations 285s might be a better fit.

Given that, 285/70-17 may be the best choice (they'd also be a bit cheaper), but I'd really like a bit bigger.

Oh and before anyone asks, no, I don't want to change my wheels. For one thing, getting decent E rated wheels is EXPENSIVE (around $2k for a set of 5, including spare; and when you change size, you need to change the spare).

Hell,technically speaking, if I wanted to change wheels I could fit larger tires (up to maybe 37") on the truck without fender flares or more lift (seriously, the wheel arches are HUGE, and with the lift, the 17" in there now look like rollerskate wheels); but I don't really need anything so large, and I don't feel like the significantly higher cost, or the reduced fuel economy.

There's a further connundrum, about backspacing. I've talked with several guys online, and a couple different tire places and offroad places; and no-one can seem to agree what backspacing is required for my wheels and truck, for what size tire.

Some places say that 285 is the maximum that will fit without rubbing given my wheel spacing; but some say it's 315. Others say the 315 requires a 2" spacer. Still others say no, I don't need a spacer unless I go for the 33x12.5s (almost the same size as the 315s), and then it's only a 1" spacer.

I'd love to get a straight answer, but I've had two Dodge service managers even give me contradicting answers.

One thing I'm NOT going to do is anything that compromises my load rating. No spacers, no non E rated wheels (even if I were to change my wheels right now, which I'm not), and no non E rated tires.

Which brings me to the biggest problem: finding E rated tires worth buying in larger sizes.

It seems that most E or higher rated tires, are either in much larger size (i.e. F550 dually dump truck size), or in 16"; and most of them only go up to 265 or so.

Almost all the 17" and 18" wider and taller tires top out at D rating. Oh and by the by, you usually pay about $25 per tire extra (on $200+ tires) for the E rating over the D.

In doing some basic research, I identified two options, which have acceptable on and off road traction, without excessive wear and road noise:

Firestone Destination AT: the highest rated tires in the size range at TireRack, though I'm iffy on Firestone.

Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 2: I've had earlier versions of this tire, with good results, though Bridgestone and Firestone are the same company.

There are some great Cepek options, but none of the sizes larger than 265/70 are E rated. There are a couple of decent Kumho options, but they're a little more aggressively treaded than I'd like for onroad performance.

I've also had strong recommendations from some forum readers for:

General Grabber AT2: Great offroad tire, with good onroad performance, and severe winter weather rated (the snowflake symbol). Unfortunately, the largest size they make in 17" is 265/70... though it is E rated.

Goodyear Wrangler ProGrade SilentArmor: This looks like a serious option. They're considerably more expensive than the other possibilities (about $50 more each), but they seem to be damn near indestructible. They're also snow rated, and E-rated; and they have the kevlar armor and extra sidewall thickness (and toughness) for the silent armor system. Oh and a 50,000 mile warranty. The only issue being, the largest size they come in 17" is 285/70-17.

At this point I'm leaning strongly towards the Firestone Destination ATs, or the Wrangler pro-grades. The Wranglers seem to be the better tire, but at a much higher price.

Any more suggestions, or personal experience? I'm especially interested if someone else with a 2006 or so Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 can tell me if they know the ACTUAL maximum tire width for our truck.

Oh and I'm putting this up on "nobody reads blogs day" so I can gather info over the weekend and Monday; because I'm going to grab the tires next week most likely.

Quote of the Day

2009-11-12T19:27:00.002-07:00

"You see that's the whole point of being the government. If you don't like something, you simply make up a law that makes it illegal." --Kenneth Brannagh in "Pirate Radio"

No Further Comment Necessary

2009-11-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Remembrance

2009-11-11T04:00:00.001-07:00

In Flanders Fields
--Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D. (1872-1918)
Royal Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

It is now the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, at Compiegne...

First, today is Veterans Day

In America, Memorial Day is for the dead, and Veterans Day is for the living. As such, first I wish to give thanks.

I thank all of you, still serving to defend out country, and those of our friends and allies; and those who are fighting to preserve freedom, liberty, justice, and humanity.

Thank you cousin Jesse (USN, '97 - present, UDT) - Only one thing he ever wanted in life, to be a SEAL. He got his wish, and he's off god knows where doing god knows what; and couldn't be happier.

Thank you cousin Brian (USA, '95 - present, 3rd SF, SFC). Laying it down in the 'Stan, winning hearts and minds.

Thanks you Mike, and John, and Tom, and Tony, and Justin, and Shakes, and all my many friends still driving on.

May god bless you and keep you.

I thank all of you who have served in the past; for the risks you have taken, and the sacrifices you have made.

Thank you Dad (USA '66-'74 SFC) - a 15 year old Irish immigrant with a forged birth certificate; grew up on the streets, but became both a citizen, and a man in the Army. Almost 9 years in, almost all of it in SF, and almost all of that in SEA. By the end he was broken, and he only recently put himself together again. I love you dad.

Thank you uncle Patrick (USN '68-72 GM3) - My fathers brother, who spent most of those years sending steel over the coast of VN.

Thank you uncle Brian (USMC, '79-87 SSgt. USANG '88-92 SFC) - My mothers brother, who fought the war we pretended didn't happen in the phillipines, and then again in the gulf.

Thank you Ben (USA '97 - 2001, Cpl, Inf, Rgr, 3rdBt. 75th rgt.) - Lead the way, then lead his family.

Thank you cousin Johnathan (USN 2001 - 2007, AC1C) - dropped out of college after 9/11 to join the Navy, because in his own words, it was the right thing to do for his country.

Thank you cousin Robert (USAF 2004 - 2008, A1C, CCT) - Followed his brother down to Jax, and at 25, decided to follow me into the Air Force instead.

Thank you John, Troy, Mike, Tony, Randy and Zane; Soldier, Sailor, Sailor, Marine, Airman and Airman respectively.

It was more than fifteen years ago that I first put on my countries uniform, and almost ten when I last took it off. Every day I miss it.

Second, today is Remembrance Day (sometimes known as Armistice day):

This day, we celebrate the moment that the first great war of the last century was ended; in the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, of the year of our lord nineteen hundred and eighteen.

On this day I also give thanks; for those who laid down their lives, and for those who lived; to keep Europe free.

More than 90 years gone, and still every year we mark this day (though in America we reserve Memorial day for our dead, from all wars).

Remembrance day though; it still means something here as Armistice day; and it most certainly still means something around the world.. for now; for as long as the people remember... which I hope shall be always, but I fear shall be for not much longer.

Why is it called poppy day?

Britain, France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Russia... and on the other side Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary (and the remains of the holy roman empire), Turkey (and the other ottomans)... an entire generation of young men in Europe were lost to the most futile, worst run war, in modern history.

In four years, 18 million men died (or went missing, which is mostly the same thing), and 22 million men were wounded.

In fact, Europe has never recovered from this greatest of historical mistakes. It was the direct aftermath of world war one that lead to world war two; which created the postmodern European culture that is slowly being destroyed from without and within by self hatred, depression, defeatism, socialism, and Islamic fascism...

But I digress; I was talking about why it is called poppy day.

Flanders is a region of Belgium; where the fighting in the great war was at it's worst, along with Wallonia, and northern France. The worst battles of the war were at Ypres, the Marne, the Somme, and Verdun.

At the Somme alone, the British lost 20,000 dead in one single day; and the allied forces (mostly British) lost 120,000 dead, and over 375,000 wounded total; with 100,000 dead and 350,000 wounded on the German side. The battle lasted from July 1st , til November 18th, 1916. Almost five solid months of the most brutal trench warfare ever seen; and nothing to show for it but blood, and mud.

Perhaps 200,000 total dead at the Marne (1st and 2nd), perhaps 50,000 at Ypres, Perhaps 300,000 total dead at Verdun... (10 months, and the bloodiest battle of the war, though The Somme had the bloodiest day); and nothing to show for it but blood and mud.

There was an amazing thing though; that blood, and that mud... it became magnificently fertile soil; and soon after the fighting ended, all over these horrific battlefields, poppies began to bloom.

In the first great war, as had been tradition for most of western history; those killed in battle were buried in the fields where they fell. Their memorials were raised there; a tribute to those who fought and died, and a reminder to those who did not.

And there, in Flanders and Wallonia, and in France, and in Luxembourg; there lay an entire generation of men. Millions upon millions of white crosses, millions upon millions of unmarked graves in farmers fields; surrounded by millions upon millions of poppies.

A symbol of life, of blood, of the fight for liberty and freedom. The poppies among those men who died were taken up; first by the French and the Belgians, then the Canadians and British and Americans.

Today, the poppy is a symbol of remembrance.

Important news, essential for the world to know

2009-11-10T15:45:00.001-07:00

Home made fresh tortillas, even not particularly great examples thereof; are so much better than even the best store bought tortillas; as to be an entirely different class of food entirely.

Random Quote

2009-11-10T14:28:00.002-07:00

"It was as if a great express train, had been lifted from my testicles"
-- Spider Robinson, supposedly quoting Bill Dunne

Failure to Train

2009-11-09T07:51:00.006-07:00

Lebanon - 1983 - 241 (307)

Riyadh - 1996 - 19

Aden - 2000 - 17

Arlington - 2001 - 55 (254)

Killeen - 2009 - 12 (13)

We, the American people, and in particular our military leadership, have experienced a failure to train.

In 26 years, we have had five mass casualty events, perpetrated by Muslim terrorists, on service members in supposedly safe and secure facilities, outside of declared combat zones.

Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have been killed in their quarters, and their recreation spaces.

In most cases, this occurred while we were unarmed... or rather, disarmed by the policies of our leadership.

I speak of being disarmed both literally, and figuratively. We know who perpetrates terrorist attacks. We know how to deal with them... largely we know how to prevent the most common vectors.

We are not allowed to do so, for reasons of politics.

In 26 years, we have not had a mass casualty event that was NOT perpetrated by muslims (most of whom have been arabs). This does not, in any way, mean that all muslims, or all arabs, are terrorists, or that all terrorists are muslims (or arabs).

I'm Irish by ethnicity. My father is Irish born and raised. I know better.

But we are not allowed to say such things, because of politics.

There are many commentaries around the net today, and for the past few days, on the terrorist mass murder at Ft. Hood. They are full of those things that people say after such an event. They recognize the heroism. They mourn the dead. They ask "why?".

I'm not going to do that. Oh I honor our dead, and our heroes, and I mourn... but I don't need to join the chorus.

Other people can do that. They're good at it. I've got something just as important to do... something that maybe not everyone has the stomach for.

I choose instead to castigate, because we know the answer to that last question.

We know why. We know why he did it (why they did it in fact). We know why it was successful. We know why it was a mass casualty event, rather than a quick "suicide by soldier".

We even know how to prevent it... at least much of the time; and certainly we know how to end such things quickly.

I was serving in the Air Force (stateside) during the Khobar attacks. I remember. Though I did not know any of those who died personally, THEY KILLED MY BROTHERS.

I remember what our leadership did about it (and more importantly, what they did not).

I remember what we were not, under any circumstances, ALLOWED to do about it.

It has happened three times since. By the same perpetrators. With the same indicators. Allowed, because of the same policies.

We have failed to train.

Today, most American service members, in most American military facilities around the world, go about their days; not UN-armed, but DIS-armed.

Disarmed, both physically, and mentally.

Disarmed by politics, and political correctness.

Today, our service members cannot, in most places, carry weapons to defend themselves; though I am free to do so as a retired service member in most places... one notable exception being military installations.

Today, we are not able to use the most effective techniques to stop terrorism: including psychological and sociological profiling, taking consideration of ethnic, religious, and national background.

It can be, in fact, a crime to do so, in both cases.

The Israelis think we are mad.

Hell, the Saudis think we are mad...

The whole world does.

Yes, political correctness is all well and good for the papers and the public; but when it comes to soldiers defending themselves... Hypocrisy has it's uses after all. The world of realpolitik knows that... we pretend otherwise.

Already, the drumbeats have not only begun, but are in full force: "This is not about islam", "Armed soldiers couldn't have prevented this", "We can't use profiling", "It's racist to even think about that", "there could have been even more casualties with stray shots" etc... etc...

As it happens, I agree with that IN PART; in that this appears to not be a case of organized Islamicist terrorism.

But to say Islam has nothing to do with this, is simply blinding ones self, for the purposes of political correctness... or to make one feel less "racist", or whatever you want to call it (islam is not a race).

Simply put, were this terrorist a christian caucasian, he would have been stopped long before it ever went this far. We've become good at weeding out the bad ones... unless they are "minorities" in which case we are forced by political correctness to ignore the fact that they ARE bad ones, irrespective of their minority status.

Even if he hadn't been stopped before he started; if soldiers were allowed to go armed for self defense, his spree would have been stopped in the first minute.

We have failed to train.

There is verse in the bible (Romans 6:23) which says in part "The wages of sin is death".

The military has a variant on that... I call it the Sergeants maxim "The wages of stupidity is to be fucked up beyond all recognition".

In the Air Force, when you fail to train, you're done. You can't play, if you don't learn from your mistakes, if you don't learn to do the job, if you don't keep giving everything you've got.

You can't play if you quit; and if you fail to train, you have simply quit, passive aggressively.

If we intend to keep playing this game, we can no longer fail to train.

Anticipation

2009-11-09T01:35:00.002-07:00

Y'ever get the feeling you're waiting for something... something big... something that's going to change everything... But you have no idea what is is?

Well...

I've been feeling that way for a while now... and getting stronger by the day.

Dunno what, dunno when, dunno where... but something...

Just ordered this book

2009-11-05T17:42:00.003-07:00

...and if you're a long range shooter, or you just want to know more about the science of shooting, you need it as well:

Brian Litz is the chief ballistician for Berger Bullets; the number one bullet manufacturer for shooters looking for long range bullets. He knows that which of he speaks.

well and then there's all this too:

"About the Author

Bryan Litz earned his Aerospace Engineering degree from the Pennsylvania State University in 2002. For the next 6 years, he worked for the US Air Force on air-to-air missile design, modeling and simulation. In 2008, Bryan became the Chief Ballistician for Berger bullets.

Bryan is also a very active and successful shooter. Some significant accomplishments include: US National Palma Champion (2008), firing member of the winning 2008 US Team in the Spirit of America International Rifle Match, and National Record Holder for the NRA iron sight midrange course (450-39X)."

You can order the book from him here: http://www.appliedballisticsllc.com/index_files/Book.htm

Even if you have no interest in the theory, Brian has done something invaluable for the shooting world. He has done real world testing on hundreds of different bullets under different conditions and velocities; and analyzed, tabulated, and published the results in this book.

If you want to know what your bullets are REALLY doing (vs. what their manufacturers claim they might be doing) you need this book.