Monthly Archives: August 2010
Thought for the day
From Mazu mozo!
The primary cause of disorder in ourselves is the seeking of reality promised by another.
-Krishnamurti
iOS 4 – finally
I’ve been in the professional software business for about 15 years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, bugs happen. Consequently, never use the x.0 release of something — always wait for x.0.1. 
So when the iOS (iPhone/iPad OS) 4.0 came out, I did not want to upgrade. I am evolving into what they call an “old fart” and am no longer an early adopter. It’s simple. I write enough of my own bugs in a day, I don’t need to have my life hampered by someone else’s. 
There are always inevitable bugs (software is a human process), and since I need to get things done in a day I’ll wait until the kinks get ironed out.
I have been wanting to upgrade to iOS 4 because it does have a lot of cool new features. So last night I bit the bullet and upgraded.
In general it’s a nice upgrade. I’m sure I’ll see more advantages to the multitasking as I use the phone in daily use.
I did not like that all my photos showed up fuzzy. It seems when you sync photos they get optimized for the phone, which is fair, but why the upgrade process couldn’t have automated this is curious to me. It was simple to fix (just sync), but if it was that simple again, why the iOS 4 upgrade process didn’t just handle it was odd.
I do not like the loss of being able to program what a double-click of the home button does. I liked being able to double-click it and get the camera. Now it’s dedicated for multitasking app switching. While I understand the phone has limited interface and something had to give well… that just wasn’t my favorite to have to go.
I like that I can have picture wallpaper everywhere. I know, small thing, but hey… if I want to stare at a picture of my wife and kids all the time, it kinda sucked that only the lock screen showed the picture.
While this wasn’t an iOS 4 upgrade, I was running low on space so I enabled the “Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC” option and resynced my music library. That took all night to do, but recovered a lot of space. Will I notice an audio fidelity difference? Maybe, but unlikely. I’ve abused my ears with many years of loud things (heavy metal music, motorcycles, guns, etc.) so I have some hearing loss and really doubt I’ll get all audio-snob about this. More space is more important, but if by chance I notice, I can always change back.
I haven’t noticed much for reception issues yet, but the upgrade is still young.
Now to upgrade Wife’s iPhone….
Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s response
So that EPA lead ban thing came about.
I emailed my Congresscritters.
Today I received a response from my US Congressman, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D, 25th district of Texas).
August 30, 2010
Dear John:
Despite its many benefits, the Internet allows misinformation to travel swiftly. You have been provided such misinformation regarding the claim that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to ban all traditional ammunition. The EPA did receive a petition from an outside group, exercising its right to petition — a right available to you or any other citizen. But this petition to ban lead in hunting ammunition was denied by EPA as not even being an issue within its jurisdiction.
Rest assured, as someone who grew up around guns and hunting here in Central Texas, I respect the right of gun ownership, though I frequently question the propaganda of groups like the one that promoted this misinformation.
Please keep me advised of any federal matter with which I may be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Doggett
I love the snide overtones. I reckon if we changed the context of this to something he favored, like Obamacare, he’d respond saying we had no right to petition and object. Certainly he’s behaved in the past like he’s above us mere commoners.
I love the “I respect the right of gun ownership”. Bullshit. Explain your “F” grade from the NRA then. And I replied to him as such (well, I didn’t say “bullshit”).
Effects of a suppressor
This is a nice YouTube video that shows the effects of a suppressor:
It’s a Glock 19 with a suppressor on it. 10 rounds are fired. The first 5 are 115 grain bullets and the second 5 are 147 grain bullets. The reason that matters is 115 grain 9mm rounds tend to go maybe 1200 feet per second, which is faster than the speed of sound; whereas 147 grain tend to go slower than the speed of sound (900-1000 fps). While a suppressor can do something about the escaping gases, it can’t do anything about bullets breaking the sound barrier, going supersonic, and creating the sonic boom (the crack).
Suppressors are wonderful things. Helps to save your ears, helps to keep your neighbors happy.
Afghanistan in the U.K.
Another documentary from the folks at Vice: Afghanistan in the U.K.
Watch, and take it for what it’s worth.
It’s all in the forearms.
Yamil R. Sued, well known for his photography of shooting sports, posted a few hundred pictures from the 2010 Steel Challenge to his Facebook page.
I flipped through a few hundred of the pictures and noticed a few things from the top shooters:
- Modern Isosceles is where it’s at.
- Those pictures that exhibited the least recoil also exhibited shooters with strong grip. Just look at the state of the muscles in their forearms.
- But while having a strong grip, everything else appeared to be relaxed. Note I said “appeared”. May not have been, but nothing looked to have as much tension as their grip.
- Read more Brian Enos.
- 1911′s dominate
The best thing I observed?
Jerry Miculek is the only shooter that defies recoil. Either every picture Yamil took was of Jerry not shooting, or that man has the strongest forearms in the world. Normal humans cannot defy recoil… Jerry is obviously super-human.
GnR – who cares any more
Can someone please explain to me why anyone still cares about “Guns N’ Roses”?
It’s not GnR any more… it’s “The Axl Rose Show”. That which made the band great is no longer there. Granted, Axl’s behavior back in the day is what generated a lot of free press for the band, but the songwriting and musicianship came from elsewhere. Once you lost Izzy and Slash well… it really wasn’t GnR any more.
Then there’s the 27 Aug 2010 performance at Britain’s Reading Festival. Curfew was 11:30 PM and they even let them go on a little longer than that, but then the plug was pulled. People bitching about the festival organizers sucking, the local officials that enforced the curfew sucking (even saw some video footage of “fans” booing and bitching and even talking about rioting). But you know what folks? GnR brought it on themselves for one simple reason: they went on stage over an hour late. If after all these years Axl can’t learn to show up on time, then it’s his problem and he’s the one screwing what fans he has left. Why people still give him a pass on this behavior is beyond me. You try constantly showing up late to your job and see how long you keep that job. If you “fans” are upset at the concert being cut short, you should put the pressure on Axl to show up on time so you get what you paid for.
But if you keep supporting this sort of douchebag behavior well…. you reap what you sow.
Sunday Metal – Megadeth
Megadeth with “Head Crusher” off their “Endgame” album (which is pretty kick-ass).
What struck me about the video tho, that was pretty kick-ass too, was the video concept. And, the star fighter in it, Michelle Waterson. I could tell from watching the video she was a legit martial artist and fighter, and sure enough… she’s got an 8-3 MMA record.
Kick ass.
Crossbow?
A recent change in Texas laws made it permissible to use a crossbow during archery season (deer hunting).
I recall long ago (well before I became a gun owner) I never had a problem with hunting, just that it wasn’t for me. I always said tho that if I did hunt, I’d want to use a bow as it seemed more challenging. True that it is. Am I going to get into bow hunting? Likely I will someday, but not any time soon. One of my in-laws is a big bow guy and in talking to him it’s evident that there’s a lot of investment to get started. There’s the gear, but then also the time to know the gear and get good with it. I don’t have the time to dedicate, nor the desire to split my studying (and after all this home renovation, I don’t feel like spending the money). I’m trying to regain some focus in my life.
Nevertheless, as deer hunting season approaches, I can’t help but think about venison. I’m not really out to hunt for a trophy rack, just some meat in the freezer. Does are good for that, and does are rather plentiful. Texas Park and Wildlife has been working on herd management and has been instituting antler restrictions. For instance, you can bag a total of 4 deer during all seasons, up to 2 can have antlers, and the antlers must have at least a 13″ inner spread. I understand the reasons for the restrictions, and there’s a lot of debate on them. Not going to get into that here. Then there may be additional restrictions that prevent the taking of antlerless. So what does that mean? Either you bag a trophy buck or you go home empty handed. What does that do for meat hunters like myself? Leave an empty freezer. *sigh*
However, during archery season, antlerless could be taken.
The learning curve for a crossbow is a lot less than a bow. That same in-law of mine did work to talk me out of using a crossbow, and I respect his opinion. Still, the thought crosses my mind…..
Readers… any opinions to offer?
