(Ft. Worth, TX, USA)

aubreyturner.org

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

(Not) Living on the air in Cincinnati

Here’s a little bit of Thanksgiving humor as we move towards Turkey Day:

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Don’t Believe The Hype

Lies, damn lies, and FRS/GMRS range advertisements…

It seems like every new FRS or GMRS radio that comes out these days also comes with new and more highly inflated range numbers.  The one that set me off today was a TV ad from Cabela’s touting handheld FRS/GMRS radios with a 28 mile range (in camo, of course, which is another abomination against all that is holy in radio aesthetics).

Simple physics dictates that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever get anywhere near 1 mile, much less 28.  FRS is limited to .5 watts, and while GMRS can go up to 50 watts, most handhelds are likely to put out no more than 2 watts, especially using regular AA alkaline batteries.  Further, you have to have line-of-sight for the radio signal to propagate from the transmitter to the receiver.  Perhaps if you or your friend were on top of a mountain, with line-of-sight between the two of you and you used the ‘power boost’ feature found on some GMRS handhelds (which may push you up to 5 watts) you might be able to communicate over 28 miles. 

In the real world I’ve found that you can’t realistically expect more than about half a mile if there are any obstructions at all around you.  Further, the maximum line-of-sight propagation for open ground is limited to about 7 miles due to the curvature of the Earth.  If you want more than that you get into having to use a repeater mounted on a high tower (GMRS can do this, but you won’t be able to buy the equipment at Wal-Mart in a bubble pack).

Note: Edited after publish for minor restructuring.

Johnnie Walker - Earworm

The latest Johnnie Walker “Striding Man” commercial features an interesting and energetic instrumental track.  It kept bugging me because I knew that I’d heard it somewhere before.  It turns out that they used a remix of a piece by Karl Jenkins (part of his “Adiemus” project) called In Caelum Fero.  I recognized it because it’s on an Adiemus CD from 1995 that I have in my collection.

In researching the above I also rediscovered the old Johnnie Walker Black ad featuring Never The Same by Supreme Beings of Leisure.  I’d forgotten how much I liked that song. 

Banninated!

Elwood: Illinois Nazis.
Jake: I hate Illinois Nazis. 
     —The Blues Brothers (1980)

I have no use for Nazis, skinheads or any of their ilk, be they from Illinois or elsewhere.  That’s why when I discovered that the goons over at Stormfront (that link goes to Wikipedia, as I will not link to that cesspool from here) were linking to my gun show schedule I banned them by referrer.  It won’t stop them from using the site, but it will make it more difficult for them to link here.

Possible Tactical Error

I had to do the annual benefits enrollment today.  Unfortunately, the same system that we use to manage our benefits is also used to manage our 401K and retirement/pension accounts.  I made the mistake of taking a peek at my 401K. 

They give you a nice little summary that includes your YTD personal rate of return.  It was pretty ugly:

Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 11/18/2008 is -36.5%

I think I may dig a hole and crawl into it for about a year….

Friday, November 07, 2008

The Coming Austerity?

I am gravely concerned about the effect that future tax and energy policies are going to have on the country under an Obama administration, especially since he will have a Democrat-party majority who will go along with him in Congress.  When you combine his ‘spread the wealth around’ tax policy (and the definition of ‘wealth’ seems to keep being defined down) with his belief in the myth of AGW and his desire to bankrupt the coal industry (which provides a significant portion of our energy), we could be facing a perfect storm of economic circumstances that would lead to tremendous economic losses and the loss of many more jobs.

In particular, I will be watching to see what kind of tax policy that he and the Congress eventually come up with, because I’m fairly certain that I’m going to be one of the people they target to pay for their new programs.  I’ve already calculated the effect that each 1% increase in taxes will have on my net income, and I’m starting to plan out what I will do at certain clip levels.  For instance, I currently have a house-cleaning service that comes in every two weeks and I also have a lawn service that comes each week during the spring, summer, and fall (pretty much up until Thanksgiving, given our usual weather patterns).  If my taxes increase by 2% I will probably drop the house-cleaning service.  At 3 or 4% I will drop the lawn service.  And I expect that I won’t be the only one.  So the pain will spread.  The house-cleaning service will probably have to lay off people.  So will the lawn service. 

The above scenario doesn’t even take into account the spike in energy prices that would be caused if he manages to impose his desire for a ‘cap and trade’ system of carbon credits.  If I were faced with a combination of a loss in net income due to higher taxes as well as higher energy prices, then additional cuts would have to be made.  I will cut down on dining out and other discretionary purchases.  Every one of those cuts will have a ripple effect through the economy, as the reduced spending causes business to have to refactor their costs structures, which usually entails laying off employees, as labor is usually the most significant cost in a company.

What I find most ironic about the effects of the job cuts is that it usually will hit the people in the lowest paying service jobs first, which I think are precisely the people who Obama is promising to help. 

Anyhow, I suppose it’s easy to fall into the trap of class envy and look at someone who is making $100K or $200K and think that they are rich and that you could use that money more than them (no, I don’t make anywhere near $200K).  But that’s a fool’s game, since those people are paying for the goods and services that keep a lot of people employed.  Cut their net income, and you will see immediate and painful effects.  We only need look to the past couple of months and the effects of high gas prices to see how people react to a situation where they are facing what is effectively a decrease in their net incomes.

The future is going to suck and it’s going to suck hard.

Amazing New Product!

I saw this ad over at Rachel Lucas's blog today:

I couldn't help but think that not only did this product cause her to lose 12 pounds, but it made her go from black to white. Truly an amazing feat!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Move Aside, Let The Man Go Through

Thanks to a commercial for the Chrysler 300 I've got this song stuck in my head. So I've decided to share the misery with you. Be careful, that hook is sticky...

Monday, November 03, 2008

Opposition You Can Believe In

I saw coverage of Obama on TV last night at a rally saying that it’s time to move past the election and for everyone to come together (or at least that’s what I came away with; I couldn’t give you his remarks verbatim).  Aside from being enraged that he thinks he’s won this thing already, I was grimly amused about his naive optimism.

Has he been smoking those unicorn farts again?  Does he really think that people like me are going to support a Marxist like him?  Does he have no memory of the Clinton years?

First, I am gravely concerned about the legitimacy of this election, given the antics of ACORN and their enablers.  And I’m not alone.

But more importantly, I cannot in good conscience support his proposed policies. In fact, they are diametrically opposed to my core beliefs.

Should he win, I haven’t figured out exactly how I will go about opposing Obama, his policies, and his administration.  But you can take it to the bank that I’m not going to ‘join together’ with a dammed socialist or anyone aligned with one.

Muddy Mess

I just let Malcolm in from his morning yard patrol session and was dismayed to see that his paws were covered in mud.  Given how dry it’s been around here of late I was wondering just where the heck he found any mud.  I went outside to discover that the entire back corner of my yard was wet because my neighbor seems to have blown another sprinkler head.  This happened during the summer and until he fixed it every time he would run the sprinkler it would turn that corner of the yard into a mud hole. 

It really wouldn’t be that big of a deal except for the fact that Malcolm likes to patrol the fence line.  Oh well…  life with dogs does have an occasional trying moment.  But they’re worth it in the end.