Has it been that long?

Well I certainly haven't intended to let this go this long without posting something. Really I had thoughts I wanted to share but something always got in the way. Much of which was a lack of creativity to put those thoughts into words.

First there was the idea of global warming. Instead of spouting off figures that someone else has already spouted off, I though how about a individual view of how the environment has changed over ones lifetime. Like when I was a kid we had snow in the winter, for much of the winter too. Quality snow that you could ski on. If you were lucky Memorial day weekend would be warm enough to go camping. Typical summer forecast was cloudy with frequent rain showers. Those times the sun was out you could expect about 75°F and maybe even over 80°F. That was hot for here in south central Alaska. August come in and it was as if the switch controlling the seasons was changed to rain. August always seemed to have at least 15 days of rain, or more. Snow starts to appear on the mountains bordering Anchorage, termination dust as its called since it signifies the termination of summer. Labor Day weekend was usually the last weekend most people went camping, temps started to drop off after that. September generally brought the first snow fall of the upcoming winter, I recall many times in school the silence of school work was broken with "its snowing!". Usually we had snow on the ground by last week of September, first week of October. The snow was wet, heavy and perfect for snowball fights.

These years the winters aren't as bad, defiantly as long as before but the snow seems to be lacking. Evaporation of the snow over winter seems accelerated as well. This spring was the coldest on record, but oddly it felt like the spring of the past. Last few years we were getting 50°F days in April and into the 60's by May. 80°F summer days became the normal temp, my house would get so hot that we could no longer keep tropical fish alive, their tank water would get too hot and they would die. Fish it seems don't take well to changes in temp. Rain wasn't a normal event, until August. Even then the number of days of rain was less on average, probably down to 10. September was warm enough for the first part you could still feel comfortable camping, need a jacket but it was OK still. October would be cold, wet and no snow. If it did snow it wouldn't stay since the next 40°F day would melt what little snow fell. Lately it seems if you have snow before Thanksgiving then its early. That first real snowfall that stays on the ground is usually the first week of December.

Comparing the two time periods I have to say the temperatures haven't changed all that much, sure they went up but not a great deal. But the amount of rainfall and snowfall is very much different. There just seems to be less of it overall.

Now then another thought I had; I heard that the war in Iraq, going on to its 4Th year (now longer than the US involvement in WW2) has a price tag of $500 billion so far. Two things I wonder about that. 1, to come up with that amount of money, and have tax cuts as well, where did the money come from? What programs and budgets were cut to provide this money. Why wasn't that money available for other programs prior to this war? Is the loss of that money going to cost us more in the long run?

2, Can you imagine taking that money and providing it as a grant, not a loan, to any US Citizen that is capable and willing to go to college? Like all grants put in a performance clause so that if you don't go to an accredited college you don't get the money. Don't show up for classes, don't pass enough of them, no money. On a global scale we are facing competition with countries based on labor. China has a huge labor force that work cheap, 64 cents an hour. India also has a large labor force. Why should we compete over jobs when the foreign labor rate is so much less? Why not raise the bar on our employable base of the population? More engineers, doctors, scientist, etc.

Well just some thought... Till next time.

Return of Merill

While the original video was pulled it didn't stop people from grabbing it while it was up and editing it. Now in the style of James Brown it's the Merill Howard Kalin Show.

Bugatti Veyron at top speed
Uploaded by Flabber

Well I hope you had a chance to watch the Merill Howard Kalin show, it was pulled today from You Tube while I was showing off part 2. Which was too bad since I was going to try and pull some audio off them.

Meanwhile I have a Judge Judy segment for your enjoyment. Ebay scammer gets her due rewards.



Now as most of you know I live in Alaska. You know the stereotype vision of Alaska, a barren frozen wasteland with blowing snow and the northern lights shining overhead. OK it's not really like that, in fact the eastern US has picked up more snow than we have all winter. But what is true is that our winters are longer here. For instance this week we are dipping into the -10°F range at night with a high of maybe 20°F during the day. In another month we should have considerably warmer temps. What bothers me is all the chain stores, Walmart, Fred Meyer's, Sear's, ect. have nationally moved into their spring line up of clothing. Well my kid lost a glove at school last week so I popped into the store to see if I can get another pair. Nope. But if he needed a swimsuit then no problem. It's beyond me how these marketing geniuses can ignore the reality of the local climate. Walmart may bring it to you for less but you're stuck with what they bring you.

Now another 1950's PSA for you.




Good girls don't park.

Well well. I am really getting behind here. I plead not guilty by reason of distraction. First off there is the work thing that was really pissing me off there. I cycles so right now I'm not so pissed off at work. But a new week approaches so who's to know what comes. Second with the failure of my hard drive and the affect that has had on my computer, simple things like finding missing links and updating, ect, ect has take some of the enjoyment I get out of writing. Even my emails suffer and believe me its a two edged sword when it comes to loosing track of my emails. Friday alone I got 244 emails, of which maybe 4 were trivial in nature, like the Daily Dilbert cartoon, my isp warning me about a virus in my mail, a couple of computer tech newsletters. And Friday was a bit less than normal, end of the week and people trying to get as much done before hitting the computer. As for my computer problems well the HD failed again and it is now off to warranty land. I'm sure it'll be a month before I get it back. Still pisses me off that a drive that I've had less than 6 months has given up like that. But that's the nature of mass production in toady's economy.

Through my work I see some unique and interesting ways that a major manufacture will change a design or material in a part to cut cost of either the part or the expense of making that part. For instance stamped steel is cheaper to manufacture than a forged steel part. Plastic is far cheaper than any metal. Sometimes these cost cutting ideas are genuinely brilliant and other times they are time bombs waiting to explode, hopefully after the manufactures warranty has expired. And this idea is not just an automotive idea, its world wide and nothing new.

Well enough of reality. You got to love cable access and what it brings.












Enjoy and for the sake of you and yours, don't cook like him!

Well I never said I would be prompt and daily

Seems the blog isn't' being kept up to date as I originally hoped for. I blame life for such things. There's the daily job that can really suck the energy out of you, then the nightly chores upon returning home. It does seem as though work has played a big part in it, although the happenings there can be blog worthy.

For instance I have this 57 year old guy that I work with that lacks the confidence in himself to do his job so he's always asking me to check this or that. I call it avoiding responsibility for ones actions. Yet he likes to call me and the other guy little names like "Gravy" or "Gravy train", trying to insinuate that our jobs are easy and the money just flows in. Normally I let shit like that roll off but he's about to learn that it takes 2 cups of coffee for me to fully wake up and not to call me that first thing in the morning. I'll start throwing shit at him. But things like that and some management decisions have shown me that I'm the only employee that assumes more risk on the work I do than anyone else working there. I rebuild transmissions. If 1 thing is out of place, sticky, or malfunctions, its on me to fix it, at least labor wise. Well it sucks to find that the faulty item is not something I was able to know before hand only to find out that I'm screwed for the lost time. For instance back in November I overhauled this 2002 Mercury Mountaineer. It was a first for me as I've never seen this model of transmission before (BTW there are well over 3000 different models and sub models of transmissions), and while I knew where to look for the worn case I could not detect anything abnormal.

Well somethings you just have to believe they are bad and fix it and I should have. But... a month later the truck is back with a slipping problem. We have to order a tool and bushing set to repair the case so the service manager told the vehicle owner to go ahead and drive it and we'll call you when the tool comes in. A month after that the truck is in with a complaint of it won't move. The bad part has snowballed into attempted arson of the inside of this transmission. Only then was I approached to be asked how do we order this tool? Umm off the paper I gave you a month ago. So end result is I spent about 2 days of labor, while I was covered up with paying work, lost to repair more damage than was necessary. Then payday comes about and I get told what amounts to a slap in the face. "you didn't get paid on that mountaineer, I know it wasn't your fault. We'll make it up to you next payday". Yeah right.

So you may think well find another job. And maybe that could be the future, but right now I fell trapped between demands of providing for my family and avoiding getting screwed at work. I'll own up to my mistakes when I make them, and usually they are clear and apparent real quick. So I see perhaps a talk is in order, with a better understanding on where my responsibility ends.

OK I'm cutting it off here before it gets me pissed all over again. It's bad enough I have to feel that way at work.

What a pain

The other night I was on the computer and all of a sudden the screen locked up and the sound looped. Having been around a while with computers I know its either faulty software or a hardware glitch. This time we opt for the hardware. Damn it. Seems now that I can't boot up into Windows Pro XP, there is an apparently missing critical file. Luckily I have a dual boot set up so I can still use the computer and salvage my files. Some things that would be very very difficult (i.e. impossible) to replace is my email. I just moved the Outlook data file that holds all of my sent/received email and contacts. 2.2 GB file. Yeah I kept a few files. You see I'm on a technical network that has over 1000 members where we talk about new things, help each other with the problem at hand and warn each other of possible scams or traps. Then there is the 'bs' group where we joke, talk about non technical things, and basically have become a rather close group, sharing in each others pain and joys. Certainly more of the former than the later lately

So far in the past 6 months we've had one friend nearly die from a liver complication and ended up getting a transplant. Another friend loose their mother, one lost a father, a son in law, one was diagnosed with a disease that will one day leave him with limited movement and speech, and another his life from bone cancer. We've been short on good news for '06. But that's life sometimes, there's good and bad and there's nothing fair about it. Fairness is a concept invented by people in a vain attempt to resolve disputes between kids, hopefully before they start. What life brings us is balance. Its about change and how those changes balance out. My group of friends share a great deal with each other, I sometimes do but yet I felt I've placed that burden on them once before and I've not 'earned' that right to do so again. About 4 years ago we nearly lost our youngest child to HIB, a strain of influenza that caused pneumonia, which caused fluid buildup around his heart and nearly killed him. We spent 2 weeks in the hospital, riding an emotional roller coaster of pain and relief. One day I'll talk about that story, but not this day. What Lanae and I ended up doing as a form of stress relief was to turn to this group of friends on the Internet and pour all our emotions into our letters to the group. Just talking was so much help and seeing their heartfelt responses did as well. It really means a lot when you can see that someone understands what you're going through.

And sometimes that's what I'll do here, hopefully never anything traumatic as a sick child or lost family member. I know its very possible, after all life is not fair. But we can hope for the best.

Well my backups are about finished so I'm going to cut this off here and go fight windows.

None of your business.

Arthur Guinness started brewing ales initially in Leixlip, then at the St. James's Gate Brewery, Dublin, Ireland from 1759. He signed a 9,000 year lease at £35 per annum for the unused brewery.

I'm sure that whoever owns the property that the Guinness brewery is on really really regrets that their ancestor agreed to such a deal but an agreement is just that, an agreement. It seems like some people get a better deal all the time. Take for instance the family that won the big lottery just this past weekend. Sure its a big family but that's a hell of a lot of money to go around, $250+ million. Sure would be nice to get a share of that too wouldn't it? But looking at the other side of things I can imagine that their life will be hell for some time with the number of people soliciting for a slice of that pie. Those that have a worthy cause, or perhaps feel that life had unfairly treated them and they deserve a break at the expense of someone else.

Going back to Sir Arthur Guinness and his 9000 year lease, a free market society is what allowed that to take place. The land owner felt at the time that was his best option, since the brewery was already in place but vacant, the previous tenant either going bankrupt or moved on. Probably the former. Now if that same family interest owns similar properties today, and a lessee came forward and said I want the Guinness deal, they would first be met with laughter and then shown the door. Times were different back in the 1700's. That 35 Pounds a year was probably a very good deal for the land owner. Keep in mind that over 100 years later even a $50 a year income was about average in the US.

So if one of the potential lessee's couldn't get the Guinness deal then a free market society allows that person to move on to another location. See unlike governmental regulations that are to ensure that the government treats all people in a like manner, land owners aren't so tightly restricted. With exception to discrimination of race, gender, place of origin and sexual preference, and of course price gouging, a land owner can elect who they will rent to and by what terms.

Of course you could always accept what my dad told me, if it doesn't' concern you then its none of your business.

Lunch time

So here I sit, just finished my Qdoba Queso burrito, I swear those things are a pound and half, and waiting for the parts guy to stop by. So whats new for today? Barbaro was put down this morning, which is sad when you see any athlete, human or animal, loose so much while striving to win. And yes horses are athletes as much, if not more, as humans. Its hard to believe that a broken leg would result in having to euthanize a horse but once it's explained its a wonder that a horse can walk much less run.

I've not done a lot in Second Life lately, some of its WoW, some of it is the drama created within. I guess that's inevitable but really is it worth it? When I look at the big picture of things and how a trivial thing within in imaginary world can result in so much disruption for far too long. Its not someone not playing by the rules, that's usually dealt with and forgotten. Instead its transferred from imaginary world to real world. I know that sometimes things seem to appear to hurt one's pride or self esteem but honestly look at the root of the problem or disputes and you can't help but to wonder. One of the things that I liked about SL over other games is the majority of the subscribers are adults. One of the things that I hated about WoW, and still see a bit of, is the majority of the subscribers are children and act that way. It's amazing how people think that $15 a month entitles them to so much more than what $15 will buy. Its about 6 gallons of gas or 15 items off the value menu at McDonalds. So with SL I thought I would see more mature attitudes but I guess not. Maybe that's a reflection on us as citizens. It used to be that if you didn't like the way something was being run you would either find a place that you did or start your own to your liking. Now its easier to complain until you get your way. Hmmm.... how WoWish.

Well my parts have arrived so I'll wrap up here and continue later.

Too much huh?

I know I went into the area of though too deep, or atleast politics. Hope you didn't get scared off. Really though its one of the things that I do at work to distract me from the mundane. I have the radio on and while I'm usualy listening to the Don and Mike show but that only occupies 4 hours. Other times its ESPN or NPR. Sometimes I'll play MP3's or even videos. But James how can you work while watching videos? Such mysteries may never be known.

So.... what to ramble on today? Not really a lot pressing on my mind as of late. Woefully distracted by WoW, a newly installed Linux OS that I'm trying to crash my way through and other RL events like bills, taxes and oh bills.

So as you see nothing interesting really. At least to the majority of people out there. One word about Linux that I want to say is that it's come a long damned way since the last time I've used it. While that was only a quick dabble in it and then abandonment I knew enough at the time to realize it wasn't the easest of things. Through the help of an experianced friend I went to this link and took the linux test. It came up with Ubuntu Linux as my best choice. Well let me tell you that it installs easy, it looks damned nice and comes with a lot of programs that will let you run your computer as you would like. Now I'm trying to set up an FTP server and probably a web server as well. If Linux interest you but you don't know want to make the complete dive into it, get a Live CD edition of it. Live CD's boot from the CD and let you test drive the system before installing. Great way to see if your hardware is compatable, and most cases it is now.

Anyhow I'll end here as I've said enough techno babble that you're either asleep, moved on or just have that blank stare where you didn't really retain what you just saw. If something else does pop up then I'll post later.

The editor spell check doesn't seem to be functioning today so if its a spelling error or typo then oops.

Before I get too non-political

OK I know I'm on a political rant here but I might was well keep it up and say what I must say. Troop Surge. I'm going to rationalize this for you from the prospect of a person that was against the invasion from the start.

OK lets sum up the situation quickly, First there is a serious lack of stabilization in that country. We have a political power that is highly corrupted at conflict with itself, add in 2 major religious sects that are doing their damnedness to kill each other and bring down the current government to establish one of their own. The security in the area sucks, you can have a perfectly safe area on one street and just around the corner, literally, you have entered a high danger zone.

To remove ourselves from that country as it stands now will, at best, create a place that we were led to believe existed 4 years ago. A land where evil was born and bred, with the end result in sending waves of marauding terrorist to attack us here at home and abroad. Or it will turn the whole region into a free for all where extremist groups will roam the land looking for anyone to gun down, much the way Beirut was for the 70's and 80's. Hell it still may be that way, just not as newsworthy as it used to be.

So the only way there is a chance in hell of stabilizing that area, calming the people and regaining control is to put more feet on the ground. I'm not happy about it but its a necessary evil. If you have a riot you bring in more forces and then you locate the leaders, the instigators of the riot. At that point its a political problem.

The solution will have to be military AND political. Not one or the other.

A smattering of things

Well I just caught a bit of the State of the Union address. I'm reminded by a History Channel series that was on a couple of years ago regarding the best US President ever. It was a vote left up to the people, those that could call in or vote online, and the final vote showed that the people thought Ronald Reagan was the best US President. I'm sure that much of the influence of votes came from peoples memory and that of their parents. What surprised me was that Abraham Lincoln wasn't first or second, but third place. The reason I suppose is that Abe lived too far back in history and the second place finisher, George Washington, well everyone knows he was almost godlike. Because our schools and money have said so. Think about the $1 bill. Its the most commonly handled denomitaion of currency, so there's Georges likeness. Not that its a bad thing, I'm just saying most people don't realize what it is that Lincoln did for the US.

As the end of the Civil War was in sight, Lincoln gave an order to his generals. The north, tired of a long fight in a war they did not start, was eager to punish the people of the south. But Lincoln looking into the future realized that punishing the south would do nothing more than prime the country for another war at a later date. So in a speech, he was a great speaker and writer, he ordered his generals to start collecting weapons from the rebel forces and offer them amnesty if they agreed to never again take arms up against the Union. "We must welcome our brother back into the fold", he said. This simple command and act is what has kept the US together since.

This act alone is what I believe makes Lincoln the greatest president ever. He took a country that was at war with itself and set the path to reconstruction, to forgive the southern soldiers. Really the only person that received any punishment at all, was Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, and his punishment? Exile. Something to think about, 4 years of war in which more Americans died than in all other wars combined and the only punishment sentenced out was to exile the man which led them. In doing so it kept the country together as those that were loyal followers of their State (which was a big thing back in those days) were not excessively punished.

I wonder if such a rational thinker could have a similar influence today, either here in the US or elsewhere. In a way I wonder if the new majority party of our government has enough fore site to not go ecstatic with power and get a 'it's payback time' attitude. I seem to recall that at the last change of power in 1994. If there's ever been a time for a Lincolnest attitude, its now. Lets welcome our brother back into the fold...

What not to buy

OK a bit about myself, I rebuild transmissions for a living. Automatics, standard, foreign and domestic. I've worked on, and fixed mind you, a large variety of transmissions through the years. But I have this tip to offer you folks.

If you're looking at a new or used SUV or pickup, avoid the 2002 and up Ford Explorers & Rangers. Most of what I've seen with the transmission on that vehicle looks good, a big improvement over the older models. However there is one flaw with the design, and it can't be fixed, only repaired for a future failure. That fault lies in the band servos, the pistons that apply the intermediate and overdrive bands. In order to put a larger diameter piston, thereby allowing a bigger engine to be used, Ford placed the servos at an angle that when they are applying the bands there is a constant downward force. Steel rod with an wide groove pushing with a hell of a lot of force against the aluminum housing. We in the transmission industry have found the failures to occur any time up to 60,000 miles. Not many make it beyond that mileage. Now I say it can't be fixed because the only 2 options are to replace the case or to bore out worn area and install a hardened bushing to restore the correct fit. That's it, the physics are just too much to engineer out of it. I'm not sure how long the aftermarket bushing setup will actually run, its a quality part but there's just not a lot of high mileage feedback floating out there. But eventually they too will fail.

So if you have a desire to go SUV shopping keep this in mind when your looking. Incidental a slight variant of this transmission is also used in the Lincoln LS and a Jaguar model. Yes they too have this problem.

A Quickie

Just a few things to put up while I'm conjuring up other thoughts. I have some its just putting them to words that don't' make you move on to the next blog is whats hard. Too in depth I think.

Anyway I was talking with a friend the other day and gave out my categorizing of friends theory. So I'll share that with you. Keep in mind that it needs work and there are times of exceptions. Also keep in mind that if you think I came up with this because of you, you are 100% wrong. I formed this theory over 15 years ago.

You can group your friends into two categories, Assets and Liabilities.

Liability friends are those that; Call you when they need a favor, but seldom call when they don't. They try to one up you on what ever is going on in your life at that time, if you are sick they are sicker, if you are happy they are happier. They go through long periods of time where you don't' hear from them and suddenly they're back and just as needy as before.

Asset friends are those that; Call you when you need a favor, and don't judge you if that favor is embarrassing. They take joy in your joyfulness or sorrow when you are sad. They call or drop a note to say hi out of the blue, with no alternative motive. They drag you out of your slump to get you an ice cream and Cheer you up. They offer advice when its needed and even give it when its might hurt feelings.

As you can see they need some work, obviously you cant' lump everyone into these groups and some people will fit into both at some time. Some clean up work will have to be done at some point, so you can leave a comment if you have any.

WoW update

Well after a 40 minute install and another 20 minutes to get the patch I was all set to go in. No, wait, not quite. First there was the 2 mb patch that took almost 20 minutes to install. Finaly got that and went to reactivate my account.

kicked it back over the credit card. OK I know the cards good so I figure their servers are busier than hell. Well I have to run to the store so I'll pick up a 60 day pre pay card. That way I'm commited yet... not entirely to it. So when I finaly return home, it was walmart - you can't leave with just one item, I find Lanae on her computer and in game. So I go to use the shinny new pre-pay card and find that my earlier attempts were sucessful. crap. now I"m commited to another 30 days. Bitches.

Ok so now theres a new blood elf Sorcerer on the loose. I still have a hard time with the slowness of the game, seems like even at higher levels you're moving in molassas. Oh and so much for waiting on a guild, was recruited around 10 minutes in. It as Lanae's co-workers guild. I guess I should have thought about that earlier.

As I sit here

OK its 9:18 am and I'm begrudgently installing the WoW expansion. First off after the event last night I had to reinstall the original game and what a slow pig that is. Luckily for me I had burned all my Cd's to a single DVD so no disk swapping. But the expansion at first had issues and canceled itself then it was just damned slow. I didn't spend all that cash on DVD drives that run slow. So for the past 40 minutes its been installing. Oh there it is...

Yet do I really want to jump in? I have to resubscribe and locate the world that every ones on, ect... then have to admit that I was wrong when I said I'll never play WoW again. Don't' get me wrong its not a bad game. The graphics are a nice change from what is available elsewhere, bright, clear and really not laggy at all considering the detail available. The content is good as well. So what didn't do it for me? I guess the social aspect of it. Some of the quest are not solo able and some of the creatures you have to fight you need a group to do it or wait until you are almost too high of a level to complete that quest. But dammit 7 million people can't be wrong can they? Maybe I was too quick to judge it the second time I unsub'd.

Yeah twice I did it. Both times for the same reason, socially inept James had a hard time dealing with the being alone in a world full of people. Literally. OK maybe it was both times I started I was herded into a guild by friends from other games and always felt to be the outsider. So when the guild started to fall apart, which seems to be a given that all guilds will rise and fall, James the outsider was kind of left out in the cold.

So plan for this run is to not join a guild until I find one I want to join, if at all. So the /LFG channel will be utilized, once I get over my shyness.

Side note, why does the SciFi promos for Battlestar Galactica give me the feeling that this is the last season? I remember that the original series was hoped by the producers to last 10, even 20 years, but the viewing public found it entertaining only 3 years. Could the remake also be subject to this? Its still highly captivating to me, even if Aka calls it a 'soap opera for guys'. What does she know, she's a girl. Its more like a Greek tragedy to me. Every advancement is met with a setback of near devastating effect.

OK off to Wow, the Burning Crusade.

First Real Blog...

Ok writing to me isn't difficult, nor is discussing ideas, anyone that's heard me DJ knows I like to ramble, but unguided writing isn't my strong point. I need an agenda, a purpose to write. So this blog might become a intermittently updated, as time and undisturbed thought permits.

So here goes.

I had thought about subjects that I wanted to present my opinion on but to start off a blog I guess I should first do the obligatory thanks to all that read this and for those that are in Second Life® I really want to say thank you for allowing me to be a part of your second life.

Ok, first thought.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJOoz4EFswE

I'm a linking because it seems the embedded link on youtube is broken. That or I don't' know what I'm doing. Probably the latter.

First off the pre-Vietnam days must have been terribly frighteningly to Americans. To have such a fear and misunderstanding of people to put together and release this public service announcement must have been overwhelming. Its hard to think of what it was like living in those days. I can only imagine its how the Bush administration reacts to all things concerning national security. And honestly I can do without that mentality deciding how I'm going to go about my daily life. If the government needs to open my mail then they can go roust up a judge and get a warrant signed. That's what all the real cops do. I'm sure that crap load of refinance now offers and you've been approved for XYZ credit card mailing can wait an extra day for the gman to get his warrant.

But I'm being cynical. Back to the link though its funny to look at things now but can you imagine the effect that had on The Beaver? Gee Wally, hows the gerbil get out?

'till next time kiddies...

Comming soon....

Check back later as I round together some thoughts & find the time to put them in written form.