Remember my complaint about the Drudge Report popups? Well, an astute Horde Member has sent us resolution that I have tested and found to work as advertised. I am well pleased.

While on the geek topics... I am looking forward to Grand Theft Auto San Andreas which is due out for the PC in just a couple of weeks. I am excited. Also due out soon is The Call of Cthulhu. HP Lovecraft is a personal favorite of mine, and this game gives all the love to Lovecraft. Considering that there is no Undying II coming out anytime soon, this is on the Must Get list. And there is more good news.... shortly after TCOC comes out, comes Advent Rising. A.R... a game written by Orsen Scott Card, of who's writing I am also a fan. So there is a lot of awesome games coming out. About damn time too. And neither if them will be a reskinned Doom 3. Both are original developments and are deeply story driven rather than just “kill everything and solve a couple puzzles” which is great because I hate solving puzzles when the puzzles slow down the action.

Looks like the Senate has come to an agreement. Damn. I wanted to see the Nuke Option used to blow away the Dems. That's too bad. I also think the filibuster rule is outdated, especially since the blustering senator doesn't even have to actually filibuster anymore, they just say “We're filibustering” like they are a bunch of D&D geeks rolling twenties. I'd like to see the rule go away because I don't believe it's needed and it halts the democratic process. We vote in a majority because that was the will of the people, thusly if the majority rule on something, it is again the will of the people. At least that is what I believe. But then again sometimes I am a blissful idealist. I reserve the right to change my mind in the morning after I sleep on it.

Ashley Creek is flooding now. Reports of it overflowing the banks have come in from areas up river. I just checked the river near Horde HQ and the river is only 1 foot below the dike that they built at the last flooding. The water is flowing hard and is the color and consistency of good chocolate milk. Icky stuff. It has washed away trees and stumps and boulders... You white water guys don't even think about this one. This river is death right now. All manner of nastiness is flowing with it, things that would shred you while you are washed away. Scrap metal, timbers, sometimes rotted out vehicles. My level of concern is at condition yellow right now. I suspect it will crest and flood later this week as the heat puts out more runoff. I heard a bridge was taken out already, but I've not confirmed that. Brutus should be able to ford about 2 and a half feet of it... more than that, and it would be a risk of getting washed away... the water is moving that fast.

Firefly: I am very interested in the Shepard character. He gets the Alliance to take him in to their hospital, gets the needed treatment, and the Alliance let's them leave unmolested. Book knows all the ins and outs of certain things like space net techniques down to the last detail. He knows how to handle himself in a gun fight. Knows how to rig spotlights to cover an assault entry. Then a bounty hunters spits "That's no Shepard." High level Ex-Alliance officer? Hopefully the movie will tell his secret.

Sunday, May 22nd, 2005: Afternoon: Star Wars Episode III. It was typical of the new Star Wars movies, but yes, as was promised it was indeed Darker. For one thing, it makes Darth Vader a homicidal maniac, and I guess he was always this way even from 20 years ago. But after this movie, I don't think I can stand anyone saying that Darth Vader is cool. The best line in the whole movie comes from Padme. “So this is how we loose our freedom... to the sound of thunderous applause.” Or something to that effect. That really hit home with me. I can see how a lot of guys are saying that it bashes Bush, and maybe that was Lucas' intent... but I really don't see it as such... I see it more of a generalized warning to everyone. Really this is what supporting the First and Second Amendments are about and why we have to fight to keep them all the time. Each and every freedom is precious. We can't afford to give up any. The DNC doesn't see it that way and that is what is scary. Palpatine was reminding me more of Howard Dean than George Bush.

As far as politics go, you can know where a politician stand very clearly with just one issue. Gun Control. After a politician passes that litmus test, then you can examine his stance on the rest of the issues because it's quite clear after that point. If a politico supports the second amendment, then he understand the constitution and the bill of rights... if a candidate is weak on or against the RKBA... then he is against individual liberty and thus evil and must be defeated.

Simple as that really. As far as Episode 3 bringing Star Wars back and redeeming Episodes 1 and 2... no... I don't think it pulls it off. Yeah it tied some things up, but it did so in a very shoddy half-assed manner. Lucas wanted to make a movie that made a lot of money, and that was what he succeeded in doing. Lots more toys and action figures to collect, lots of marketing widgets... Darth Dew... Yeah, after a hard day of slashing the kids at the Jedi Temple, Anakin likes to kick back with a Darth Dew.

I think it's official, I'm no longer a Star Wars fan. Firefly is much better Science Fiction, even if it is a western.

Friday, May 20th, 2005: 1010AM:  According to Beretta's website, the military just awarded them a contract for another 18,744 M9 pistols and the option for another 5,109 more. These pistols are for the Air Force... this is interesting. That's a lot of handguns for the few fighter jocks and security police that would need them. Either they are banking on continual M9 issuance, some General pocketing a huge kickback, or these pistols are going to be going someplace else. We have read reliable reports of the Army and the Marines looking for a complete replacement of the M9 as these guys (who actually do all the fighting) think the M9 is lacking. Let's look at the M9 for a second... The Beretta 92FS. It is really and truly a fantastic handgun. Very reliable, accurate, and easy to shoot well with, and it has a generous capacity... a good choice for Air Force guys who never get enough trigger time. I still think the military should go with 9X23MM in high capacity doublestack 1911s. That would be just too freaking cool. The only thing cooler than that would be for the Army to bring back the P-51 Mustang for observation and close air support missions. I bet a clever crew could figure out how to sling a couple Hellfire missiles under the wings. It's not like they have to fly from England to Berlin anymore... they could do it. I know, it's silly... hey, it's a dream, okay? But it would still be cool. (And I say Army, because the Army could do it... they can fly props, just not jets)

While on the subject of Military spending again, the Strategy Page has a report about clever soldiers in the field operating their own UAV and Robots using off the shielf items they order from Radio Shack and hobby stores back home... RC cars and planes, fitted with wireless video cameras are now serving hazardous duty in Iraq. Official versions of these devices are starting at 20,000 and going up to damn near the cost of an F-16. The pentagon doesn't care much about these efforts as they don't get any kickback from them, but I think it would wise for officers even down to the Platoon size to look into putting one of these devices together... even if you are back home. It would also be rather cool for guard units back home to build such devices for their own battalions that are serving in the sandbox. Families too... just an all wheel drive RC unit with some extra battery packs.... maybe send your soldiers one or two. You would want the big ones with the long battery life ratings and good range. When it comes to nudging roadside bombs and crap... would you rather a toy do it, or your soldier's foot? Just a thought.

No, no I've not seen Star Wars yet. I will in my own time. Most likely tonight. Not sure. We shall see what we can do about it... in the mean time... anyone who sends spoilers about it... I will have you killed by the Horde's slow method of “10000 Chops with a Cleaver”. It's much like China's thousand cuts... but worse... much much worse. So many guys are saying that it redeems Lucas for the last two movies, and really does tie everything together. Considering the huge bloody gap between 2 and 4, this movie had best be one dark epic of a space opera, that's all I'm saying. Now if Lucas would just release a “Jar-Jar Free” special edition DVD, then maybe I would say he is redeemed... but its really not just about Jar Jar... but the whole lighthearted happy go lucky crap that didn't end until the last 10 minutes of episode 2. Pretty much you can just pick up on the whole Star Wars Saga right there... when the Clone Army starts clashing... that's where it becomes Star Wars. Before that is just a lot of useless garbage that we really don't need to know. I don't know... maybe I'll see it.. maybe not. Afterall, UPS shows that my Firefly DVD order is on the truck here in town and is “out for delivery”.

Tuesday, May 17th, 2005: Evening:  A lot of guys thought that I was bit weird some time ago when I posted about looking for the old style MS Natural keyboard. It has been up until 10 minutes ago my favorite keyboard ever. I'm typing right now on a new MS Natural “Multi-Media” keyboard. Two words: Love. It. The feel of the keys are just outstanding, the layout is just right, and the extra little buttons up top for everything are pretty cool too. But what I like the most about it is that the layout while being similar to the older style that I like, is just a hair smaller so my fingers don't have to reach so far some keys and thanks to the improved feel... man... I'm smoking! Seriously it's like I'm twice as fast now. Now if I can just get it to not open iTunes when I press the media button, then I'll be happy. I like the volume control on the keyboard too... very slick. Looks like MS has another product that I like. Their keyboards and mice, Mech Commander II, and FrontPage. I've tried the Logitect keyboards, and they are pretty slick, but they are not in the broken, “natural” configuration that I like. That and I have come to prefer the Logitec MX series of mice too. But so far, no one has made a better keyboard. And I've tried just about all of them. So at least I am now up to current modern keyboarding standards now. But I do miss the clicking sounds that the older style made. Made me sound like I was working harder. Any dislikes? The delete button is bloody ginormous. I'll have to take a few minutes to get used to that feature.

So Star Wars is coming out this week. Tomorrow night actually. That's cool. What's not cool is all the bullcrap marketing that hyping the hell out of it. I went in to BK for a Whopper for lunch today... Got breathed at by a life sized cardboard Vader. Nice to know that my burger is approved by the Empire. Then at 7-11... Darth Dew? Come on, we all know Vader drinks Dr. Pepper. It's all really sad. It's pathetic. But not as silly as this. Make sure your sound is up. I know a lot of guys have been looking forward to Episode III for some time. And that's fine and all, but I'm looking forward to something else. (Speaking of which, I just ordered the whole series on DVD from Amazon.com, but don't tell Mrs Ogre that.... ssshhhh)

Suicide Bunnies... these are pretty funny. Made me laugh.

With the Government becoming even more and more partisan, bitter, and ineffective, I am left to wonder as to just what it is that we are actually paying them for. They have not been able to get much done and the outlook for future productivity is getting dimmer and dimmer every day. I think the Catholics have the best method for getting a group of people to come together and make a decision... The council of cardinals or whatever they call it... when they vote in a new pope. They get locked up and every day they fail to make a decision, they get less food and water. When they come to a decision, and put out white smoke, then we unlock the doors and let them back out. Of course with this crew, that would mean these folks would literally starve themselves to death. Pitty. Well, hey, let's look at the bright side of that situation. For American Citizens we could call it a win-win situation. Okay, short of this drastic but most excellent measure, we should just insist that they vote in term limits. Term Limits would get rid of these fucknozzles like Kennedy, Kerry, Reid, and all the rest. Sure we would loose some good guys too, but that's the way it is. We are ready for real and drastic changes on capital hill and that is no going to happen as long as we have the same people that are always there saying the same crap. New faces. New blood. And a new hope for America.

Another thing that bothers me... is that these politicians judge themselves on how many items of legislation they pass. That's not right. That's not a good measure at all. We don't need any more laws. And a whole congress and senate full of these idiots trying to make names for themselves by signing any damn thing that has a chance of passing from bill to law... that's a good way to get a lot of really dumbass laws passed. Isn't it? These clowns get elected and get out there to Washington DC and they seem to totally forget who they are, who voted for them, and what it is we want them to do when they get there. It's like giving a fat kid a credit card and sending him to a candy store with the instructions “just bring me back something”. No, that's not a good plan. That's unwise. Its also unwise to let these fools stay in power. I say they get a limit of 2 terms at 4 years a term. Just like the president. Rotate them in, and rotate their asses back out again. I don't care if they are doing a good job! That's the danger. Career Politicians are exactly what we do not need in DC. In DC we need leaders. Commanders. Instead we have jackass con men who wrap themselves in our flag and strut around like they are better than the rest of us. I'm probably the one guy that has the least amount of trust for any politician. So maybe I am biased. It's not that I hate them... I just... okay, well, yeah... I hate them. You want to see a leader in action? Look at Utah's new Governor... Huntsman. He's not exactly the most popular fellow in some circles, but he is leading and getting the job done. He is running Utah like a business. He's cut the fat and made big time improvements in Utah. THAT is what we need in DC. And in cutting the fat, it's best to start at the top with the Senate. How long has Kennedy been in office? This is intolerable.

I picked up a box of some new .30-30 ammo... at least new to me. I've been a huge fan of Winchester's Super-X line of loads in 150 and 170 grains. Out here in the Uintah Basin, I feel that the 150 loads do just fine and have a better trajectory. But I opted for a box of Remington Core-Lock 150s. The bullet shape is more conical on these rounds where the Winchester loads are much more blunt... this might mean that they can glide through the air a touch better... maybe a little better ballistic trajectory. I don't know. I'll find out. I'm also wondering about the accuracy. The Winchester's have been awesome performers... so much so that they have really improved my opinion of the .30-30 round. Today it's considered a medium range rifle round for medium sized game. Back in the day, when the round first came out, it was one of the first (if not the first) cartridges to come out in Smokeless... and compared to all the other rounds, the .30-30 was the hottest thing going and had great range. Well, then a lot of other rounds have come out that make the .30-30 look like a slingshot. But it's still a solid round with good range. I've no problem hitting my targets at 200 yards... even out to 300 if the wind is not being fickle. I suspect that should I scope my Marlin and find the right load, that it would just fine at even longer ranges. But I'm not scoping it and I'm not even going to think about trying to take game with it past 150. Not that I don't trust the gun and caliber... but I don't trust my eyes to make a long range iron site hit with reliable precision to insure a clean and humane kill on any animal noble enough to grace my dinner table. Rabbits are another story... and they can be taken at any range I can see them at. Because anything I take just gets gobbled up by Ranger, my pet timberwolf. But that's another topic of discussion.

Monday, May 16th, 2005:  Evening:  US Army needs: The Marines have got it right. I wasn't a Marine, and I'm supposed to toss in some friendly nudging inter-service rivalry jab... but I wont. At least not right now. The Marines have set the example that the US Army needs to follow. You see, in the Marines, it doesn't matter what MOS you signed up for. You are first and foremost a Rifleman. After you become a rifleman, then they train you on the job you want to do. The US Army doesn't do this. The US Army thinks that it can save money by putting its people through a general (and now totally wussified) basic training and move people through as quickly as they can to the AIT. (Advanced Individual Training) While this might seem efficient and cost saving... in the long run it is not. Looking at the future of modern warfare and how we have been fighting lately, we have been fighting battles with no fronts. If we have no front, then we have no rear echelon. That means we no longer have the luxury of having REMFs that can get by with little actual weapons and tactics training. I've talked a lot about weapons and systems in the past... but when it comes right down to it, are greatest weapon/system/tool/asset is the individual soldier regardless of what that soldier's job description is. The Army has been really big on this “Army of One” campaign... promoting the pride that one has in being a part of the US Army... and that's great. But it falls very short. In Iraq we saw PFC Jessica Lynch and we heard her story. Remember her? She was a REMF and her unit go ambushed and she was captured. Think about all the people that were killed and their families. This was the result of the Army's current training standards. She is only 1 example of thousands that we could bring out. What are the Tangos targeting? Do they want to hit US fighting forces head on? Or do they want to try to hit us where we are soft? The roadside bombs that are taking out our guys who just joined up to drive trucks so they can get some college education two years later... the communications specialists who just work on radio systems. These are who at the most risk right now. The cost associated with the losses of these people will eventually outweigh the cost of more ammo and a skilled instructor spending another couple weeks with them training them to fighters first and specialists second. The Marines got it right. The Marines are not taking such attrition risks. With this phase of asymmetric warfare, each individual in the Army really and truly needs to be an Army of One. Each soldier should be equipped with not just the tools, but the talent... they should be skilled in their MOS, but they should also be a serious threat to any enemy of our nation – foreign or domestic. Each soldier should be given a sidearm and several magazines of ammunition to be carried on their person at all times. They should be instructed on how to use it effectively. And they should wear it proudly as a badge of office. They should also be given a rifle or a carbine that should be within reach or at least within a close enough range for a quick and fast retrieval at a moments notice. Let a radar operator be a radar operator in the Air Force... but a Radar Operator in the Army should be a Soldier first... a Rifleman first. The Army should look at the Marine's training and we should model our own as such. If the Army is going to fulfill Rummy's dream of becoming a rapid reaction expeditionary force, then all of our soldiers must be able to handle fighting and defensive tactics. This is what the US Army needs.

Sunday, May 15th, 2005:  Evening:  The creepiest damn thing ever: Flying snakes. Snakes... that can fly at you. The horror. Snakes... I hate snakes. Sharks with freaking laser beams attached to their heads are nothing... flying snakes. This is proof that God is an angry and vengeful god. Watch the videos carefully and you can see the snake's flying skills. They jump out of trees, flatten out their bodies into an airfoil shape so they can glide and turn in mid air... holy crap.  That's not right.  Flying snakes. I'll have nightmares for a week now.

Kid Rock: Never used to like Kid Rock, and even found him to be irritating. My opinion of him has changed, and after listening to a few songs I have found that two of his have become favorites. I don't know the name of one song other than “Track 6” and “I wanna be a cowboy”. It seems that Kid Rock has become quite popular with the soldiers over in Iraq. Namely because Kid Rock is a fan of them, and has gone over there to do some shows a few times, hang out with them even. My bros over there say that troops roll around with Kid Rock playing quite often. This is all I need to know about the guy behind the Kid Rock name. He can come shooting with me anytime. Track 6... if I had an MP3 player in Brutus, I'd wire it up to play that every time I started the engine.

15 people die in riots thanks to US News making a false report. Muslims burning flags and rioting and all that. So what? They would have done that anyway. I'm not concerned.

I've been reading a lot of history as of late, and I am impressed more and more with one thing. The American Infantryman. Throughout all of recorded history, the Infantryman has always been slighted “in the press”. The roll of the infantryman is not a glamorous one. It's not sexy or flashy. The infantryman never gets the funding... the research... the attention that it deserves. In fact, most often, it is the infantryman that gets most of the BS that's rolling down hill on them and suffer the most in budget cuts and policy changes. Look at all the movies out there about the military... even the video clips on Grouchy Media's site. It's all about the fast planes and boats. The flashy stuff. All of this stuff is indeed critical in modern warfare, certainly. And it gives the US Military the huge technical advantages that it enjoys.... why our war in Iraq was so successful. Now, I'm not slighting the fighter jocks and all those guys... no way. But any student of military history will tell you – it would all mean nothing if it wasn't for the infantryman. The guy on the ground with a backpack and a rifle. That's what it all comes down to. You have to have infantry if you want to take and hold ground. This is a lesson we have learned repeatedly in recent history. You can bomb something and kill everything there. But unless you send in Infantry, the bad guys will just reoccupy that space. This is well known to some, but the general American institutional memory of this seems to be extremely short. Are ground forces have a few new things... but nothing really all that new. We have some fancy new communication gear. We have some fancy new body armor when it actually gets to the grunts.... but we are still fielding the say 30+ year old rifle. Chopping the barrels down and putting on a vertical foregrip isn't making a new weapon. The infantrymen make do. Politicians debate and argue over filibustering judges and spending good money on bad things... while our Infantrymen use sandbags and scrap metal to add some degree of protection to their oversized jeeps that the politicians call armored vehicles and expect them to use them like tanks. Through all of world history, the military with the best Infantrymen have always come out on top. While American Infantrymen are becoming outdated, China is pumping lots of cash into the individual soldier. China's grunts are better trained, and better equipped. While our guys are playing with new high tech gear in controlled environments, China is fielding it and from what I am told by guys who know – it's better than ours. Simple and more rugged, but performs just as good. I'm glad we are spending money on the Osprey and the Stryker... that's all fine and well. But we have got to throw some dollars into the Infantry. We still don't have the 6.8MM cartridges... we still don't have the XM8... The best new gear our guys have got are the WilyX goggles, and unfortunately the fog up shortly after you put them on. Great. That's just great. I think the all choices for weapons and systems should go through Ft Benning first and last. If it doesn't past muster at Benning – it shouldn't be fielded. Benning and Brag actually. Check this out right here. Great weapon, made right here in Utah... not chosen because officially they didn't include standard M-16 type blank adapters. What's wrong with this? Everything. So instead of trying to give a US company a fair run, they want to roll with something from Europe. This gets off on a lot of other issues, but what it should come down to is letting the troops fire it and let them make the choice. Instead the choice is going to be made for them by bureaucracy and red tape. This is asinine. These weapons I linked to... They could be made available in a number of calibers... whatever we need. Whereas the other options are specifically designed for 5.56MM... .22 caliber slugs... when so many troops are calling for a bigger caliber.

The only thing more agitating than this stuff, is the partisan politics going on in the news every day these days. I hate politics. I really do. Unfortunately you can't ignore it because it can and will effect you. I try my best to not let it get to me... but it does. I can't stand the Democrats and what they are doing. It's unconstitutional... it's just so low... so very low. Scum of the earth, these Democrats.

And what are we going to do to counter Hillary in '08? Cheney or Allen? Are you kidding me? Come on! We have got to get Rice to run. She is our only hope. I'll say it now... If Rice doesn't run, we are going to get Hillary Clinton for president. I've listened to all the arguments for and against Rice running, and my opinion is only solidified. The one fact that proves my opinion that she is the one to pick... she doesn't want to be the President. That's all the difference right there. She will do the right thing instead of doing all the crap that has been plotted out for her to do once she gets into the position that people are pushing her into. Hillary has just had another one of her close associates charged and is going to court. That tells you something. You can know a person by knowing who their friends are. Look at Bush, he has surrounded himself by some of the most brilliant people in America... Hillary? The slimiest. That is all you need to know. Hillary is poison for America. But we will most likely vote her into office... like a dog drinking radiator coolant.

Friday the 13th, 2005: Night:  Do you know what is going on in Iraq? Check this out. Some good news for a Friday the 13^th!

Well, the Saiga that I was going to get just isn't going to happen. The company that was importing them has gone under. As disappointing as that is, it's not too bad. As consolation, I'll be getting a VEPR K instead. This is absolutely excellent.  I'll still be looking for a Saiga.

Since it's Friday the 13^th, I'll give you a spooky game to play. (hint: use the pointer to aim, and find the zombies weak spots to make them go down faster)

The weather was very nice today and we took a few photos for the magazine. First sunny day in weeks, I'm not kidding. Some folks are saying that we could have a flood next week. We shall see.

Neverland Ranch. “Nothing inappropriate happened.” Really? Showing porn to kids. An adult other than the parent sleeping in the same bed with a child. Jesus juice. Body guards saying they saw sex acts between Jackson and a child. Nothing inappropriate? Everything is inappropriate! I don't care if Mommy said it was okay for Wacko to sleep in the same bed with her kid. That's flat out wrong. I don't care who you are or what the conditions are other than critical onset of hypothermia and EMT's are not available... it's wrong. Waaay wrong. Jackson should be dragged outside by his hair, beaten savagely with large sticks, castrated with an official Boy Scout knife, tarred, feathered, hanged, burned, shot, decapitated, and his mouth filled with garlic and buried in an unmarked grave with a stake through his heart. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

This cartoon says it all. Hat tip to Anarchangel. BTW, he asks for the best .45 auto other than a 1911. His picks are excellent, the SIG P220, HK USP, CZ 97B and other CZ clones... he's on a good roll there, but my man trips and stumbles big time at the end. He says Glock when he should have said Beretta Cougar. Well, there is always next season.

Oh, about that cartoon. If you don't know who Joss is, you need to watch this. I am looking forward to seeing this film greatly. I've never seen the Firefly series... well, I did see like the last 5 minutes of one episode. I missed out. Check that trailer, near the beginning where the guy says “on this boat for different reasons”, check out the lovely nubian woman holding a short barreled rifle. You can pause the clip right there and look closely. It's pretty much just a chopped down Winchester 94 with a laser sight on the top. Might not be that far fetched for a sci-fi movie... Hmmm, come to think of it it's not even that far fetched now. If you want something like this, Wild West Guns makes an even better version of the concept. Any movie that has a weapon like this... and lines like “I aim to misbehave” and “Let's be badguys”... is right at the top of my MUST SEE list. Can't wait... can't wait... I'll have to order the DVD set for the series soon!

Thursday, May 12th, 2005: Late Night:  Lots of emails regarding Samurai vs Knights. It's all fun speculation. Just wish we could have some way to really find out. There is a pretty good article here, unfortunate it doesn't take into acount the cultural differences that would make all the difference in this match up. Everyone can make up their own mind... and feel free to do so. I only ask that before you tell me, you consider everything involved and come up with a well reasoned opinion like many of The Horde already have. Here is my personal opinion – The Samurai would win hands down every time unless the knight was a Byzantine who trained harder than the western knights who were much more into the life of luxury that the privileges of the office of Knight gave them.

Condi Rice. She has come out and said she is a supporter of the RKBA, and for this we are most pleased. But better yet, she says why and this is a powerful reason. Read it here. Gun Control is just flat out racist. She doesn't say it... but the message is there. Along with the message that she will be on our side. This woman needs to be the President. If she doesn't run – she should be drafted! That she doesn't want to run, so far, is just an indication that she is the ideal candidate. She could kick Hillary's trash at a moments notice.

Open Office and Firefox: New versions out that are locking up security holes. Download the latest and greatest ASAP. One of The Horde has asked us which Anti-Virus is the best. Grisoft's AVG is my personal choice. You can get it for the Mac, Linux, and of course Windows. With the Windows version there is the option for a free version. It's awesome. Smokes dang near everything else including Norton and especially McAffee. Get it, run it, love it. If you have McAffee, download AVG, install it, then updated it and scan with it. See if you want to keep McAffee installed. It's almost a given at the shop that any PC that comes in with McAffee will have at least one virus hidden someplace. There might be something out there better than AVG. Maybe. Trend Micro has some good stuff. So does WebRoot. But AVG is free.  Oh, new shop record for viruses... 48,000 on one system.  Yup, they had McAffee.  Nice, huh?

Well, I sent in my S&W 640 article. Now we just have to get the photos taken and I pray that the weather will clear up for just a few freaking minutes! It's been like Seattle over here... it's crazy. The sand dunes out here are friggen GREEN now! I'm not kidding. It looks like The Shire out here now. Oh, and they are saying that it could flood next week. GREAT! That's what I come to look for in a desert... lots of rain... flooding... greenier than Roanoke Virginia... yeah, that's my desert.

Wednesday, May 11th, 2005: Evening:  Let me explain Kingdom of Heaven some more. Especially my remark about it being historically accurate. I was meaning the set designs, props, clothing, the armor, the fighting, and the way they waged war... for the most part it was very accurate. We'll call this the Military side of the movie. There was near the end some inaccuracy... it showed the Muslims as having and using massive numbers of heavy infantry. This is not correct. While they did use infantry, they were generally not as well armored as depicted. Heavy infantry has been the key element of solid military campaigns since the dawn of war. Let's look at the Templar Knights charging the caravan. This was depicted very well. (even if the Templars would never run down an innocent caravan) This shows the power of Heavy Cavalry. You can see the Shock and Awe that they can produce. The power in a sword that is swung by a heavy cavalryman at full charge is awesome. It could – and did – cleave a man cleanly in two. I also liked how it showed the knights with their swords, clashing sword to sword at full speed. The old concept of these swords being too heavy and cumbersome is incorrect and you would be surprised at how swift they can really be. The high guard position that was shown was period correct too. Lots of knights back then took that stance... something you could get away with being fully armored like that. This is one of the reasons I think 1 on 1, a Samurai would whip a knight every time. But that's another debate right there. Back to the cavalry charge. Shock and Awe, even if that's a new phrase thanks to the Iraq War, is an old concept. And we can see the effectiveness of it when it works. Because of the shock effect, the resistance were not able to muster a united defense. As a result they got mowed down pretty good. That happened a lot. What also happened a lot was the infantry – especially heavy infantry – would stand together, shields locked, and weapons up. Cavalrymen didn't charge into that. For one, horses are intelligent and they will throw their riders before they impale themselves on a foot soldier's spear. For two, the cavalrymen values their horses and their lives. They didn't like to do anything that would be too risky to their rides. The proper comparison would be a modern fighter pilot. They don't like to get too dirty. Cavalry has always been best used in hitting the enemy in the rear or flanks... ideally mowing down the archers who are not able to transform themselves into nasty walls of spikes. Look at the movie “Braveheart” and the cavalry charge we saw there. Remember how the Scots waited until the last instance before lifting their spears? This is wait made that move so deadly for the English. Had they seen the threat earlier, that charge wouldn't have happened. A very good history book that talks about this is called Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson. Get it, It's on The Horde's must read list. Now, this defensive tactic was used against the Muslims during the Battle of Poitiers in October of 732 by Charles “The Hammer” as the Muslims crossed the mountains from Spain into France and raided deep into the country. The Muslims favored their light cavalry for their speed. Perfect weapon for their hit and run tactics. Then they hit the wall of heavy infantry and that pretty much ended it right there. The infantry kept advancing and this kept pushing the pony-boys back over the mountains. Now regarding the Political side of the movie... to understand this, you have to have a brief understanding of “The Crusades”. There were 4 main “Crusades”. 1071 the Eastern Roman Emporer Romanus IV rode out to do battle against the Muslims who were staging out of Turkestan. The Muslims won hands down, destroyed the Imperial army and captured the Emperor. The first crusade was launched in reprisal for this after Byzantines begged for help to reclaim all the lands the Muslims took along the way, including the holy lands and Jerusalem. Despite all the bickering between the Byzantines and the Western Empire if you can call it that at this point, this was for all of Christendom... So they could stop fighting long enough to fight a new enemy who wasn't Christian. (Again, another story right there. Let's move on.) So we had our own Jihad... our own Holy War. Like the movie said, you fight and die for the greater glory and your sins are forgiven and you can go to heaven. Lovely... This crusade wasn't' as large as people might think.. they had about 2,000 to 3,000 Knights, about 10,000 Infantry, and a whole lot of support personnel (servants and prostitutes... because an army marches on it's belly and rests on it's dick) bringing up the rear. This army actually did pretty well considering that it moved through lands that were already ravaged and tired from war. The biggest battle they had was the battle of Dorylaeum which was mounted heavy knights against mounted archers. Not an even battle. But it was in the name of God so it was an awesome victory for them. Most of the Army's losses were from hunger and thirst. When they made it to Antioch, they took it mainly because they said “Oh come on, give us the city.” And the city said “fine, if you want it that badly you can have it... but we are not leaving.” To which the Army cheered “Huzzah!' and they called it another great victory. It was on in July of 1099 I think it was, when they finally took Jerusalem... and the did so in a blood bath. So much so that it was said that the Temple of Solomon was ankle deep in blood. I'm sure God was well pleased with all that. They held Jerusalem for about a month before the Muslims started attacking. The held the city through a battle against an army from Egypt... and that's the end of the 1^st crusade. After the first crusade the Christians held Jerusalem in a level of uneasy peace... during this time there were two military orders. The Knights of the Temple (who came in after the butchery) and the Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. In 1128 the knights of the temple were officially and formerly established as a military/religious order by the Pope... and they were charged with policing the Pilgrim Road which went from the coast to the holy city. They were a militant monastic order... and like the movie Kingdom of Heaven shown, they were charged with the chief function of fighting Muslims. But they only fought Muslims who were themselves fighting... Most of the people in the city were in fact Muslims so they didn't just go around hacking everyone. There was no money in that. Later a third order of holy knights came in, the Teutonic Knights, but thats later...Uh, I think it was in 1198, but I can't remember rightly. In 1187 Saladin did in fact bring in a huge Muslim army and they marched out for Jerusalem. The King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, exactly as the movie shows, foolishly marched his army out into the desert against the council of Raymond of Tripoli who advised to wait near water. As the movie shows, uh, well, they lost. Unlike the movie, Guy was actually treated quite well but all the Templars and Hospitalers were chopped up into kibble. After this started King Richard and his Third Crusade. The 2^nd Crusade was just a constant trickle of adventurers coming in to the holy lands to cleave heathens. The 4^th crusade was launched by Pope Innocent III which was just a giant disaster. There was also the Children's Crusade where all these kids got together and ended up being sold into slavery enmass. Nice times, The Crusades. The end result of the Crusades was the evaporation of the Byzantines and the loss of the Hagia Sophia... which is still one of the greatest structures on Earth... only now a Muslim one. Now that I've given you further light and knowledge... I'm going to get a snack. Anyways, so yeah, the movie was pretty accurate even though some historians would disagree on some points of the movie, overall it was incredibly well done as far as movies go.  The Orlando Bloom character - take him out and you have a pretty good history flick.

Tuesday, May 10th, 2005: Late Evening:  I watched Kingdom of Heaven last night. Great movie. Historically, it seems to be very accurate regarding period. But there are some story line issues that I have some problems with. Such as the hanging of the Templars. From my history classes, at that time the Templars were in great favor with the church, and the pope and the kings of the time. Not only that, but they grew in power and influence, and it wasn't until later that they were pretty much ordered to be hunted and killed by a king who didn't want to repay the loan that the Templars gave him. But I could be wrong... I didn't pay attention to the specific dates. But I'm pretty sure that it was the Templars that did much to create peace in the area and not the other way around. But I could be wrong. Very good movie. I especially loved the way Legolas jumped up on that elephant like that.. oh, wait, that was another movie. I'm kidding... Orlando Bloom did a good job. But it was kind of a stretch.. ”Let's see here.. The guy that wants to kill me and sent 3 knights to do so will be arrested and executed and I get to take his wife who I've been shagging with like a saucy monkey... Oh, and I'll be able to become King as soon as her brother the current king dies tomorrow. Naw.” RIGHT! But it was still a kick ass movie. The special edition will be the most epic DVD set since the Lord of the Rings. Because you can see they cut a lot of stuff out... with obviously bad editing cuts. Not a perfect movie, but one of the best I've seen in a couple years.

I've been working a lot lately on some different things. I've got my S&W 640 article written... it's in the first draft of course, but at least all the text is there. I'll edit it and clean up all the errors tomorrow. I've not taken any photos yet, because, well, the weather has just sucked lately. And by sucking I mean gusty winds, rain, and hail. Yes. Hail. I got smacked upside my head with hailstone the size of a friggin golf ball. Damn near knocked me out. Ever since then I've had the never-ending migraine from hell. It's tapered off now and it's fading now... it's a 6 now, which is much better. It was at a 9-10 since Saturday. So because of that, I've not been in the mood to blog and even looking at the news or listening to it is just painful. Here is the news at any given time. “Liberals suck and blame Bush and the idiots who voted for him for all the ailments in the world today.” While in the mean time we actually have Bush going to Russia giving pep rallies. I don't mean to sound bitter or anything, but I don't give a rats ass about Russia. I really don't. I'd rather see Bush go to Mexico City and give a pep rally there and maybe motivate the Mexicans to stay in their own country and clean up the corruption there.... take pride in their own country, which they only seem to have when their Soccer Team is in the World Cup.

Today I played with a new computer build using AMD 64 bit processor and Windows new XP PRO 64 bit edition. I tried loading a number of games on there to see how they played. Doom 3, Call of Duty, DH Lore, Think Tanks, and others... Nothing would run on it. Not only that, but it didn't want to let Open Office install. Kept giving me failure errors. I'm down with the 64 bit processing, but Windows XP64 isn't ready for prime time. The 64 bit machine I loaded RedHat Enterprise onto... much snappier and I didn't get any errors with it. The only problem I had with it was the graphics. I couldn't get the card to display any resolution greater that 800X600 even though it was a card capable of 1600X1200 with no problem on Windows or other Linux versions. Not that this was any big deal for the customer, who would never go about that 8X6 resolution anyways. So I wasn't worried. My top choices for Linux OS remains SUSE and Linspire anways. Where was I? Oh, yes... WinXP64. Totally blows. I'm sure someone out there thinks it's the bee's knees, but come on... if you can't game on it, might as well be running Linux. I think you get my drift. If it wasnt for the whole gaming thing... I'll be honest... I wouldn't have a windows partition anymore. Linux is coming up to speed with the games... so I'll be patient. GTA-SA is coming out to the PC in a few weeks... so there is a very good reason to keep Windows around. I don't see any reason to upgrade XP 64 or Longhorn. In fact, I only see reasons to avoid doing so. Microsoft is also working on a new OS for PocketPC devices. I've not played with it yet, but the whole built in Windows Media Player 10 is a put off for me. I'd like to see someone put out a killer linux OS for the PPC. The version I tried a couple years ago was not up to snuff yet. But a Pocket SUSE or Pocket Linspire that syncs with your Linux desktop naturally,... that would be nice. Make it compatible with Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird... and OpenOffice... man, that's all I need right there. (BTW, all my word processing - including this update - is done with OpenOffice's Writer and there a new version of the 2.0 Beta out, that you should get. Smokes the old version, smokes WordPerfect, and I like it better than MS Office. It rocks. Get it.)
Been doing a lot of networking lately. Lots of wireless. I like wireless networking... I think it's the way to go. Once you lock it in and lock it down that is.  And if you are not running it in the middle of a hundred other people running their own wireless networks with everyone broadcasting open and unsecured and as "default".  But that's another story right there. 

Oh, check out the weapons section.  I've got a new update there and you can see what will be coming around the corner... Cheers!  

Saturday, May, 7th, 2005: Evening: If you get the chance to watch “House of Flying Daggers”, do so. It is a great movie. For a Kung Fu flick, it has a surprising amount of depth to it... unlike “Kung Fu Hustle” which is just flat out silly. Silly or not, it does have one of the funniest scenes you will ever see in any movie. Now there is Ju-On. The original “The Grudge”. I've been told that it is much scarier than the American version, but I didn't find this to be true at all. I thought The Grudge was a much better crafted film. Not just with the special effects, but with the story, directing, and the editing. There was another flick, which was much like Ju-On as was advertised as “If liked Ju-On, you'll like this one”. This sort of advertising pretty much makes me not want to see the movie, but they did that with Equilibrium so I had to give it a shot. It was filmed in chapter, much like Ju-On, but shown in descending order. Kind of like Memento.

One of the things that struck me with these Asian movies... specifically the ones from Japan, is how “Americanized” the Japanese culture has become. They love all things America over there, openly. While a lot of guys here love everything from Japan. It's an interesting cultural mix that I think can be healthy if it isn't carried away with. We also have this cross culture mixing with Brittan obviously, and this also a good thing that I have no problem with. In the south western states we are also seeing a similar mix with Latin America. Mexicans that are becoming Americans are bringing with them their own mix of flavors that I think is wonderful. I don't have a problem with it at all. A great Mexican horror movie is called “The Devil's Backbone” and is quite good. Worth renting if you can find it.

Music and TV shows from these other countries are also great entertainment. Even the ones from Hong Kong where they do not believe in trained stunt men or safety regulations on stage when making movies... I think it's all great, and I say that in all honesty.

However I also think that we have a huge problem with illegal immigration that has to be put into check as soon as possible. I say that with out a trace of racism, bigotry, or political motivations. Regardless of how talented and entertaining... one can not just walk into the USA unchecked, unexamined, and unauthorized and expect that they have any rights what so ever. Protests about driver's licenses for illegal aliens? What sort of snake-shit crazy nonsense is this? No! If you are not a citizen, you do not have the right to drive. Especially since you are most likely uninsured, untrained, and uneducated... I don't want you behind the wheel of vehicle on the same roads my family drives on. Sorry! I don't. If you want a DL card with your photo and address on it... then you should come into this country legally. You should take a driving course and learn the rules of the road in the USA, and then apply for the card in the proper manner. If you do all that and they still wont pass you, then you have the right to be upset about it. At the same time, if you are a legal citizen of another country and you come to the USA with valid passport, I think you should be allowed to rent a car and drive it around and enjoy yourself. Go see the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Arlington, and Disneyland... knock yourself out. See if you can hit all fifty states.

You see, the problem is in a word... just a single word. “Illegal”. There is a wide gulf between the word illegal, and its root word. If you can't tell the difference, President Fox, then you should stay the hell out of The United States, because you are unwelcome here. Our freedoms are not free and we earned them the hard way. We have thousands of men and women over in Iraq paying the bill right now. Two of them are my brothers... who are on their way back to Iraq to fulfill their duties with honor.

I am proud of my two little brothers... more so than I can ever express.

To Mr Reid, D-Nev, who advocates Democrats become “more aggressive”: Considering that Democrats are throwing pies, and making sexually explicit outbursts whenever Conservatives are speaking in public.... Just how, sir, should they become more aggressive? Swords and Maces? You sir, Mr Reid, are fucking nuts. I am ashamed that you are a member of the same church that I belong to.

Just a stupid observation... Jessica Simpson is Daisy Duke in the upcoming Dukes of Hazzard movie. Jessica is hot and all... but the original Daisy had much better legs. Jessica's look short and dumpy by comparison. That is all. Still waiting for a Wonder Woman movie... not that I'd want to see it, but I'm just curious as to who they would get to play the lead roll... because no one – I mean NO ONE – can replace Linda Carter. Not even my Angelina.

Thursday, May 5th, 2005: Late Night: Well, here is some “Health News” that is actually good news. I think men all around the globe have been praying for this one. Now if they could just make bacon and cheese healthy, then I would have to change MadOgre.com to HappyOgre.com. Well, that and for all the Liberals to snuff it overnight. We can dream, can't we?  (Wife says that I can keep on dreaming... huh, guess she doesn't like bacon)

You know, we just can't win with these environmentalists. Now that the air is cleaner, it might be worse for the greenhouse effect. Screw these guys... everyone should go light up a stack of used tires and newspapers. Smoke'm if you got'em! I'm tired of hearing about the environment. It's bloody well fine and dandy and there is nothing we can do about that short of lobbing nukes at everyone. The Earth takes care of its self and the climate goes through cycles. It's madness to thing that we can change it. From space, you can't even really see any of the cities during the daylight cycles. Come on, get real people.

Interesting article about China's ex Russian aircraft carrier the Varyag. The fact they have it at all is irritating, but the chance that it might just be all screwed up is delightful. The carrier is the absolute key to projecting real, substantial, and sustainable military power. China might have as many as 3 others, but if they are not in any better condition then they might as well not have any. It is the estimate of many that China hasn't pulled the trigger on Taiwan because it's carriers are not yet ready. It looks like we might have another year or two before they are ready. Of course China has rehearsed military action without carriers... but that's besides the point. If China wants to become the #1 world power, it has to have carriers. Since that is China's ultimate goal, making their carriers operational is a huge priority for them.

I stand corrected! Robert Blake playing in “The Little Rascals” and was acquitted. See what I mean about being funny? Cause that guy was guilty as hell.

This might fly with the Air Force, but in the Army, this cat would get his ass kicked. Or as we call it, a “blanket party”. This is where you take bars of soap and wrap then towels or socks and beat the shit out of the guy repeatedly until they no longer have to desire to act the fool. I never got one, but I did organize several of them. Hey check this one out... is that really a ghost? I don't know... I don't think so, but damn if that isn't creepy as hell!

Wed, May 4th, 2005: Evening: Forgive me for my lack of posting. My brothers have been out here in the desert chilling for the last couple of days. Having them out here has been a true blessing and has brought joy to my heart. They are enjoying their hard earned vacation, kicking back, relaxing, playing games, watching movies, and eating the best food that can be found in Utah.

One of the things that I did was show them the CZ P-01, and gave at least Jimmy the chance to shoot it. You see, he has been wanting to buy a Beretta 92FS. That's a fine handgun, and remains one of my favorites. But the P01 is a superior weapon. After shooting the weapon, he has seen the truth of this. He will now be picking up a P-01 when his duty is over. Once they get back from Iraq, their enlistments will be over and they will be leaving the armed forces with honor. They also now plan on relocating to Utah. This is glorious news to me. I am very pleased. When they get out here, I'll have FBMG get them the guns they want and then take them up to HBE for custom leather.

We did a lot of movies... watched the new Amityville and the new Hitchhiker flick. Scary and Stupid, we enjoyed both. Looks like this summer we will be getting a lot of good movies. Kingdom of Heaven, Serenity, Batman, Skeleton Key, Fantastic 4 even looks good... and of course this new Star Wars. Serenity and Kingdom of Heaven look to be my favorites.

Okay, since I've not posted in awhile, I'll give you a secret. I have the secret for all success, and political success as well. Hear me out here... Let's look at some people... Ronald Reagan. 2 terms in office. Arnold Schwarzenegger, took Cali by a landslide. Clint Eastwood, Carmel, California Mayor. OJ, acquitted. Reagan did some comedies with a monkey, Arnold did Kindergarten Cop. Eastwood did some monkey comedies too... OJ, he did some Naked Gun comedies. That guy that played Beretta and shot his wife? No comedies that I know of... guilty. Donald Trump? He even makes fun of himself... millions. Gore? Not a funny bone in his body... Lost. Kerry... Same thing, lost. Bush, Bush is funny. Just look at him. Not famously so, but more than those he beat. What do chicks dig? Guys that can make them laugh. I'm telling you, that's the key right there. Be Funny. Not like a clown, but just enough to keep people smiling around you. That's the secret right there.

I've got another review lined up after the S&W 640.  It will be another Ruger, this time the P345. I'm looking forward to this one as I am curious. I've never liked a Ruger Semi-Auto before... at least not enough to buy one. Let's see about this one.

Thursday, April 28th, 2005: Late Night: The last few days have been interesting. My brothers have come to town, finally. One was delayed a day and the other 3 days. Family came out from Virginia, Southern Utah, California... and out of the woodwork. Family I've not seen in ages, and family I've never met before. It was a big reunion. My bro Jimmy got into town first and I was able to spend some good time with him. He filled me in on lots of details, with photos and video of certain events that I am not at liberty to discuss. Let's just say that the News Media is absolutely not to be trusted with anything you are hearing about what's going on in Iraq, the nature of the conditions there, the nature of the people there, and the nature of the conflict there... nothing. Anyways, so we were pretty much waiting for my other bro, Z, to get into town, but his 3 day hold up pretty much held up all my plans for their R&R schedule. But It's all good. Z will have plenty of fun... they will make the most out of everything.

It was good seeing all the cousins and all their beautiful children that I've never seen before. Great people, all of them and hanging out with them was a blessing. Big George from Sac City with his lovely bride and two girls, was worth the trip out to SLC alone... he entertained the whole family and the whole restaurant. Snorting jello through a straw through his nose... Freaking hilarious. My sides were hurting from laughing so hard.

I had to come back home only a few hours after Z got in, but it was good time spent... Driving home while dodging all the deer in the mountains, I reflected on all of them family that came out here. I've come to the conclusion that I've got a kick ass family.

I've also got kick ass friends... Friends like Steve, Larry, Carl, Ben... pretty much all just waiting for the guys to get into town so we could throw together a little gathering for some celebratory shooting. Unfortunately it didn't pan out because of Z's delay. We shall not complain because Z spend those 3 days stuck at the Baghdad airport with other troopers waiting for a flight, sleeping on the concrete pad with no food. The MRE's that they had were expired and spoiled due to baking in the sun. They all subsisted on Vienna Sausages and soda. Not fun. But everyone made it out alright once the flights were cleared for take off.

Jimmy told me of his transfer in Dallas to another flight... him and the other solders walking through the causeway were applauded by all those who saw them... fire trucks shooting streams of water over the plane, and people clapping and cheering the soldiers. How awesome. They were treated right there in Dallas. Not as Jane Fonda would have treated them, but with real respect. Treated like the heroes that they truly are, as they should be treated. I thank those in Dallas for that.

We did manage to stop by Larry's home because we had a minute and were right near his place. Larry was able to show Jimmy his shotgun reloading trick... which is basically reloading 4 rounds at the same time. This will prove to be useful once Jimmy gets back to the sandbox where he uses a Mossberg 590 on duty. While there I put an order in on a Saiga 12 through FBMG of which Larry is associated. For those who don't know what a Saiga 12 is, it's pretty much my beloved AK-47 converted to firing shotgun shells... slugs or buckshot... all in semi-auto with a lot of reliability.

I also traded a cousin (pending a finalized decision after she test fires and all that) for a .357 mag snubby, a S&W 640. S&W calls it the “Centennial Model” but it's just a hammerless J-Frame. It's not a bad gun, but it a very simple one. An article will be in the works shortly for CCW. Speaking of which, since the latest issue is out, I'm overdue in posting the last article in the weapons section. But I forget where I am at in that schedule. This gun will absolutely require a trigger job and a new pin to take out the slop in the cylinder.... probably about 150 dollars worth to make it right. Then made have the stainless bead blasted. Anyways, I'm happy, and I hope my Cuz is happy too. Next time I go out there, we shall have to include them, her and her husband, in our shooting group. Once I get that Saiga, I'll be really happy. I've been meaning to get one since 2002. It will join the other guns in my permanent arsenal, like the P-01 has joined... and the Marlin 336CS Shorty.

I've lots to talk about but I am exhausted. I got no sleep last night... I've a couple movies I want to talk about and a couple situations in Iraq that I want to go over with you.  You wont believe it unless you were there.

Friday, April 22nd, 2005: Evening: First thing in the morning, we'll be heading out to SLC. My brothers will be flying in one at a time, but we don't know when they are going to be arriving exactly. We will find out more details later. They have to fly Standby for some reason, and I don't like that. A US Soldier coming home from Iraq, even if it is only for a brief leave, should not have to fly standby. They shouldn't even have to worry about tickets. They should be able to just show up, show them their green DOD ID card, and their orders... and bang... they get a bloody first class seat on the first plane heading to where ever they want to go. That's my opinion. If I ran Delta, that would be the policy. “Flying home? Fly free. And THANK YOU!” Anyways... we'll be staying with some family we have out there. Sunday afternoon they should both be in town and we will look to getting them well fed and well entertained. Movies, Food, Drink, Shooting... whatever they want. They are going to want to buy some guns too, either here now, or place a standing order for when they return... so I'll be taking them to see FBMG as one of the tour spots. They can swap some stories with Pvt Pyle while they are there. I don't know. Whatever they want... Really looking forward to seeing my bros... that's all I'm saying.

Another gun forum. This one has affiliation with Concealed Carry Magazine. You can find it here: CombatCarry.com. This is one you will want to bookmark. Forums are all over the place of course... any subject you want to cover, you will find a forum for it. It seems to be pretty new... not a lot of members yet, but there is potential there. There are also the Concealed Carry Magazine specific forums for discussion of the magazine directly with the Publisher. I don't know how long it's been there... I only heard of it when I was reading the magazine and saw the URL. I joined and posted there, but I have no personal affiliation with it and unlike all the forums I frequent, I'm not a moderator there. Nor do I want to be. I don't have the time. I don't have the time for any of the forums I moderate. I Mod over at AmBack, in the Street and Off Roading section, and over at CZshooters.com because I was asked to do so and I have a strong bias to CZ guns... Of course over at TheHighRoad. I also visit FullSizedBronco, because the guys there rock and I get all sorts of good information to help me get the most out of Brutus.

Regarding Brutus. He is getting expensive to drive around in, but I still do. However replacing Brutus with something cheap to run around in is still a priority for me. A bike or a Jeep would be swell. In know Jeeps are not the most efficient of vehicles either, but they will give twice the millage of Brutus, that's for sure. I have this Cherokee, but it needs a new engine. It sounds like a farm tractor, burns oil like Brutus burns gas, and it leaks power steering fluid like a bucket of water hit with a shotgun. If I wanted to get the Cherokee up and running, it would require a new power steering box, transfer case, engine, stabilizers, and rear leave springs. Might as well get a different one. That and I still want a CJ. Not that I can afford one right now. But If I find the right one, I'd do a quick firesale on some guns and and buy it. Not that I want to part with any of my guns, but it would be for the greater good. If anyone wants to buy a thrashed and clapped out XJ Cherokee... I'd be more than willing to sell it. Hell, I'd be willing to trade it for a good gun. Make an offer and come get the damn thing. At least unlike the Subaru, the Cherokee is still actually driveable. Just don't head out of town with it too far. As far as bikes go, I'd have to have one of at least 650 CCs. The more the better because it would have to have long legs. All this talk of vehicles reminds me of the dialog that AnarchAngel had today regarding autos. The cut off point for cool cars was 1974/1975. After that American cars really took a nose dive.

For those of you who have downloaded Linspire 4.5 Live and have tried it.. and have found it to be good... You are very welcome. I'll be showing it off to some other folks out in SLC. We can count our converts on two hands now out here in the Uintah Basin. I hope to add to those numbers. Even one of the guys I work with is now interested in it. Oh, if you want a seperate Linspire Box to play with, I have a 1.6ghz old Dell machine with 256 megs of RAM and a 10 gig HD that I can sell you for 200 bucks. You can either pick it up or pay for shipping. There is another one that's about ½ of that machine that I we could sell... but you would have to make an offer. Linspire runs slower on this one, but hey, at least it isn't WINDOWS. If you want a machine that will play your music CDs, send email with, browse the web with... then this is the one for you. A little note... Linspire has a precompiled DVD decoder that you can buy through the Linspire CNR feature so you can watch your DVD movies on Linux. One click to get it and install it. Very nice. I still can't get DVD's to play on SUSE. That bugs the shit out of me.

I'll be back at Horde HQ Wednesday evening I think...  See you then.

Thursday, April 21st, 2005: Evening: Looks like NASA has taken their lead from Public Schools. If the tests are too hard, don't try to educate the kids to bring them up to snuff... just lower the standards. This is great! Because it's worked so well for public education. Hey, if it's good enough for our students, it's good enough for our Astronauts! Right? As Han Solo would say, “I've got a bad feeling about this.”

I installed a pair of Off-Road lights onto the front of Brutus. They look pretty good. I've not wired them up yet, because it's starting to get dark and I'm not wanting to get electrical work half done and have to leave it. I'll tackle that electrical stuff tomorrow before I drive out to Salt Lake. Not that I'll be driving Brutus out there... no, I'll be driving that damnable minivan. I dislike that thing... it has no soul. Brutus has a soul. We share the same personality. We get along very well.

The ACLU pisses me off. American Civil Liberties Union... the guys that want to open up the borders to anyone and everyone is now wanting to bust Sean Hannity's chops for stepping a foot past the border's fence. I heard Sean talk about this on the radio and we claims that there is a 3 foot buffer because the fence is built all on US Soil. If this is true, then Sean has broken no laws. If this wrong, and Sean did step over... then he did so right in front of the US Border Patrol, who did not arrest Hannity because they didn't think he had broken any law. Obviously the Leftist ACLU jackasses are only gunning after Hannity because he is a Conservative. Had Al Franken stepped over the line and past the 3 foot buffer... then they would have been packing him on their shoulders as a pillar of virtue, freedom, and bravery.

HEY ACLU:

You guys have heard me talking about Linux and the distro called “Linspire” which has become a favorite. I've even told you how to get it for free. But downloading the ISO and burning it to disk is one thing... actually installing it on a computer is another. Most of you only have one PC and are not going to jack with it. That's fine, I can respect that. But for those of you who are still curious about Linspire and would like to try it as long as it didnt jack everything up... I've got something for you. Linspire 4.5 Live. To get it, it's normally twenty bucks. But if you go here and apply the coupon code “Liveraiser”, then it will cost you nothing to download. A Live CD is a CD that you can put into your computer, reboot, and presto... you are running the new OS off the CD without touching the hard drive... it wont jack with your box. You can test out Linspire... listen to the audio tutorials... use it like you normally would... browsing the web and all that jazz, send emails and stuff... then eject the CD and reboot and you are back to your normal old and tired OS. Give it a shot, try it out, and see what you think. I'm seriously thinking about switching to Linspire. I'm loving my SUSE Linux, but Linspire... is tempting me. I'm still waiting for Ubuntu to show up. I've got the disks ordered, just waiting... any time now you Ubuntu people.

Wednesday, April 20th, 2005: Evening: S&W gets a military contract for the SIGMA?  WTF? Read the details here. Discuss this there too.  This is amazing.  What I want to know is how the hell did S&W pull this off?  What other guns were in line to be considered?  The only explanation that I have is that they wanted to send out the cheapest guns they could get in bulk.  No, I'm not a Sigma fan.

Email: “So is Concealed Carry a hard copy mag? or a web zine? I admit I don't follow most hard copy mags. because they're lackeys to the firearm industry "This is the gun you should buy this month." Actually the only rags I read regularly/subscribe to, are The Accurate Rifle and Precision Shooting. Concealed Carry sounds interesting though. Keep up the good work. Rangers Lead the Way, AOS”
Concealed Carry Magazine is a printed, subscription based magazine... like the ones you dislike. In this issue, there is one gun review. I wrote it. The gun was the property of a private owner... as are most of the guns I review. I know what you are talking about though. It's as if most gun writers have never been sent a gun they didn't love... and even though the gun has a street reputation of spontaneous disassembly or jamming like crazy... the writer has only glorious things to say about them. I'm not that kind of gun writer. If I'm reviewing a gun and it jams up on me, I'm going to mention it. In fact, I'm going to go out of my way to point it out. I did that with the Kel-Tec P3AT that Kel-Tec sent to me, and I did it with the gun I just finished reviewing and submitted the article for. The other guns have not given me any trouble, and I point this out too. Here is why I do this... Unlike Backyard Plinkers Monthly, weapons for concealed carry have got to be trustworthy and same with my reviews. I'll not put lipstick on a pig and expect my readers to just play along. On the contrary. I have to get it right... because my readers will rip me apart if I don't! I've also got to make my reviews suitable for a wider audience. I try to give a bit of a background, give more of my impressions of the actual gun that to regurgitate measurements off of Ranson Rest fired shot groups and chronograph readings. Those sorts of articles tend to turn into more of an ammunition horse race than what I consider an actual gun review. They serve a purpose... giving you information about the different loads, but I want to write gun reviews and not ammunition reviews. But CCM is much more than just my reviews. I get two or 3 pages, and the rest of the magazine is chuck full of good stuff. For example, in this issue there is an article about the psychology of anti-gun wackos. This article is pure gold and alone worth the cost of a year's subscription.... I'm not kidding.

Another email: “Ogre, The mad billionaire and Marxist/Leftist George Soros, is now trying to re-write the Constitution in his image. He wants all Americans to receive $80,000 on the day they are born, not to be touched until they reach 18 years of age. He plans on paying for this by taxing the fuck out of the American wealthy. I say American wealthy because he does not have a fuckin penny on American soil. It's getting to where we should just run all of his ilk out of the country, or have them swinging from trees like our founding fathers did to the British aristocracy back in the day. - SGT Lowe”
Yes, indeed... I've heard of this and I've been meaning to talk about it. This is a good time to do so. Pretty much the Soros Constitution is one that would render honest Conservative folks to be the slaves of those enlightened Liberals... Freedom would be abolished. Free speech would be nonexistant. Property would no longer be yours. Even your physical body would be subject to the whims of anyone who wishes to abuse it... because you wouldn't have the right to defend yourself or your loved ones. Rape might not be legal, but pretty much illegal to stop it. Sounds great doesn't it? Nirvana! How wonderful! I mean, look at it like this... no such thing as personal responsibility... no worries about raising your kids because they would end up being medicated to the gills and institutionalized because Liberals consider Childhood a disease that they can treat with drugs and they know more about your kids than you do. The Ninny-Nanny State. You know... If the Soros Constitution ever got past – I'd hope the Chinese would come in and kick out asses. Because we wouldn't deserve to be our own nation anymore. I'm not kidding about that. America is great because America is Free. If we take that away, we have seriously mismanaged the 3rd greatest gift God has ever given mankind. The first is Life, the second is Angelina Jolie, and the third is America. Okay, maybe not in that order.... But you get the drift. Guys like Soros, who hate America and wish it to be destroyed... They should be Tarred and Feathered and ridden out of town on a rail like they did up through the 1800's. Their assets should be seized and their homes burned to the ground, salted and cursed. If they don't like America, then they should get the hell out of it. They can go to Canada. While freedom loving Canadians can come down here and hang with us.

The Heartless Libertarian's wife is shipping out for Iraq. They are both in the service, but he is stationed with a unit that is not slated for deployment. He, and she, need to know what sort of equipment she is going to need that will not be issued. If you have desert warfare experience, please head over there and give them some pointers, tips, and tricks. Also, let's all say a prayer for them that she will be able to return unharmed to her loving husband.

Our man, Correia pointed out that I was wrong in my ID of the Detonics: "George, look closer. In the publicity poster, it is a Rohrbaugh R9. The guys at the Rohrbaugh booth at SHOT had the movie poster up. It is the first movie that their gun has been in, and they are very proud of it."  
Whothewhatthe? No, I looked closely at the movie poster and the pistol was a Detonics. I went past the theater and looked closely again... it is a Detonics. I'm not saying Larry is wrong, because I've not known him to be wrong... but this poster I looked at indeed has a Detonics strapped to Angelina's thigh, customized with barrel porting and everything. If he isn't wrong, and I am not wrong... then we are both looking at different posters. So I looked them up on the net. This image here is just like the one in the poster here in town... in this image, she doesn't have any gun. But in this movie poster here... you can see she has a gun... of course it is a digital edit, but it is there. This is the best image I could find of it. If you look closely – very closely – you can see the rear sight on the little pistol... stainless slide, blued sight. You can see the sight is moved up to just behind the ejection port. Detonics. But then in this promotional picture, we see a gun strapped to that thigh... That's a Rohrbaugh R9 right there. Looks like Larry and I are both right.



Tuesday, April 19th, 2005: Evening:  TEN YEARS AGO: 10 years ago, according to the news, today was the day that we had our own home grown terrorist blow up the federal building in Oklahoma. I looked around and I didn't see mention that this is also the 12^th year anniversary of the Feds burning down the Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.... killing 72 people, 17 of them children. I mean, if you want to point out atrocity... let's point it out. Government kills some people, some people kill the government right back. It's sad that there was a day care and all that in the federal building... but it didn't look like the Feds took that sort of consideration in Waco either. I do not condone the actions against the government, only point out that this was what the Federal Building bombing was about. Still a touchy subject, Waco. To this day, you think of Waco, Texas and you think of the Davidians going up in smoke. Yeah, David Koresh was a full blown nut case... that's a given. But who was the bigger nut? Him or the guy that ordered the assault on the compound? Will very little effort in actual police work... maybe a little patience too... they could have picked up David any time they wanted in town. With no fan fair, no fireworks, and no flaming kids.... and no Federal Building being blown up two years later.

Congratulations to the Catholics who now have their new Pope. I hope you guys are pleased with the selection. It seemed The Media was worried that they might not find one. Cameras locked on smoke stacks and all. They where more worried about finding a new Pope than they were about finding WMDs in Iraq. We will overlook his Hitler Youth background. That was a long time ago and he was a kid. The world as moved on.  As shall we.  Well, now that we have that out of the way, we can concentrate on the Micheal Jackson trial. But not here.

Congratulations to the Minutemen Project.  By all accounts they can be considered a huge success.  I am disappointed in this administrations response to these guys, but that was to be expected.

Concealed Carry Magazine: The latest issue is out now... with my review of the Ruger SP101. It's weird seeing my photo in a gun magazine... still a novelty to me. But that picture is nothing compared to the photo that you are going to see in the next issue with my Springfield Ultra Compact review. Good grief. It's bloody huge! Dayum, I'm fricken good looking! I wanted the photos to be of my buddy Steve, but they didn't turn out according to Maria, who does all the layouts for the magazine. So now they got this photo that my wife took as a lark... and that's what they went with. According to my wife, it's the only photo of me actually smiling... so keep that issue as a memento or something because you will not likely see that again. Normally I only smile when a Liberal gets kicked in the nuts, or when I find a great deal of satisfaction in a firearm, or when my boys clean up their messes. How Mrs. Ogre got a photo of me smiling is a great mystery. She must have told me that a Kennedy lost a game of Roshambo. I have no other explanation.

Next time you are at your local theater, take a close look at the “Mr and Mrs. Smith” poster. It's the one with the picture of Brad Pitt and The Horde's favorite Angelina Jolie. As I was walking past the poster, admiring Angelina's fine form and lovely legs... I noticed that in the garter belt around her delicious thigh, is a customized Detonics Combat Master. Excellent choice of weapon, but I can't see how it could have been held in place by such a small amount of elastic and lace. A Detonics might be small, but they are not light. That lug, Pitt also had a customized .45... but it looked more of a pimp gun than a anything else.

Email: “Ogre, I whole-heartedly concur with your assessment of liberal college professors. Having experienced the liberal agenda as a student and now being able to better identify it as an older wiser conservative, I believe you hit the nail on the head. Partisan political maneuvering is tearing this country apart. Some food for thought: is it even possible to enliven the moderate centrist majority in order to regain control of our country? I believe that all voters agree on at least a couple of the issues that the "other" party considers important to their respective political platform. These instances where the average voter is “bi-partisan” do not always occur on issues central to the political parties, but nonetheless it is only the fringes that are hard line and refuse to march across the “aisle”. The government is supposed to be the voice of the people and not of the lobby. The silent majority needs to step up and become less silent. The most recent major example of the effect of the centrist majority and its ability to be the voice of the people is the actions of the congressional body during the Reagan administration. Where, during this great period in American History, the moderate and centrist thinking was able to, at least as far as international policy is concerned, defend and support American interests. Also, on the domestic front, Reagan-omics is not a financial terror to the American people as much as the Liberal Left would like the “sheople” to believe. (BTW: I have added “sheople” to my daily political vocabulary. Thanks.) The dichotomy of the two primary parties and the lack of centrist voices in the mainstream media has and is perpetuating a great rift in the political mindset of the American people, in my opinion. If we as intelligent outspoken individuals fail to espouse our beliefs and reactions to ignorance and/or fail to motivate others to be outspoken regardless of the political and moral basis of their opinions we fail America. I fear that if things continue to snowball down the path that they are, we may see 1863 all over again. I believe strongly that we can put that fire out before it flares again. The peoples’ right (privilege depending on how you look at it) is the ultimate check and balance. The voting booths are where the voice of the American People has been and will be heard by all and cannot be ignored. Praise Almighty God for this great country and all it stands for. Keep on keepin’ on, Baron Imperialist Warmonger P.S. Fuck whoever said the Marlin wasn't cool looking. Since you went to all the trouble of custom mixing the stain you should just get a hold of some black nonskid strips and tiger stripe that beast. That would be friggin' cool, but what the fuck do I know, I've never fired one.”

Thanks for the email, Baron. I had only one email of dissenting opinion on this, but I lost it along with a couple others in a momentary server glitch. Let me tell you of my personal experience with a Liberal Professor. In a philosophy class where the Prof proudly proclaimed the classroom to be a Free Speech Zone where everyone's thoughts and opinions were important... Within 2 weeks I was censured and forbidden to voice my opinion. I was the only Conservative in the class. Not only that I was the only one that wore military BDU's because of my ROTC class. Sometimes I'd even have to bring my rucksack and LBE gear in with me. This is probably one of the reasons they all hated me right off the bat. I dropped the class a few days later, when they decided to make me the object lesson of America's violent, meat eating nature... but not after delivering a 15 minute speech that would have made both Dennis Leary and Dennis Miller proud and sent several of the students and the Prof into apparent shock. A class with open minds? As long as you agreed with their opinions. I lost my tuition on that class because of I dropped after the first week... but at least I didn't lose my pride. I will not submit myself to Liberal brainwashing, or hear their propaganda and not respond.

Sunday, April 17th, 2005: Zombie Bears. Looks like The Horde has nothing to fear from Zombie Bears. Selected armaments against undead bruins contain a wonderful mix of choices ranging from classic safari arms such as the .505 Gibbs and the .600 Nitro Express, to more “modern” arms such as .500 S&W Magnum revolvers and matching leverguns... on up to chopped down semi automatic .50BMG rifles. One suggestion was for an M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle... which is undoubtedly the SUV of choice when rolling through Zombie Bear country. Some have questioned where in the hell I came up with Zombie Bears. A good question. Well, truthfully, I didn't. That seed was planted in my mind by the Horde's Larry Corriea and I blame him. He has written a very delightful little book called... well, I'll not give the name yet as it isn't published yet. But the book reads like a Bruce Campbell movie and I mean that as a high compliment. I read his manuscript a couple months back and I guess the idea of zombified bruins has stuck with me more than I would have thought. It's a fun book and we hope Larry gets it out into print. It's a fun read. It starts out with our hero working late at his accounting office when his boss calls him in for a talk. His boss is naked behind his desk eating human remains... turns into a werewolf... and they do battle across the office. When this book comes out, it's recommended reading. It would make for an awesome summer movie flick, especially if directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Larry also has something else up his sleeves... something that will be of even more interest to The Horde. FBMG. Book mark that link right there. Suppressors, Rifles, Short Barreled nasty little goodies... they got the fun stuff.

Recommended Download: The latest Mozilla Firefox release... version 1.0.3. This patches up some security issues, and does so before they have been exploited... unlike MS security patches which always and only come out after the fact. It's a good release of course, and I've already been using it... if it was pooched I'd have said “Avoid this one”. But Mozilla as usual, puts out some damn fine software. If you like your 'Zilla straight up, they also have version 1.7.7 which is a stable build of the full 'Zilla suite. I like it, but I'm going with Firefox because that is what I recommend to my customers. I'm not going to recommend something I'm not using or have used with good success. This is why I also recommend Open Office 2.0 Beta. It's good. I use it at home and at work, and install it for some customers who need an Office Suite that can't afford the normal commercial distributions.

I just love it when the customers bitch that since reformatting their systems, they lost their MS Office which was pirated and they no longer have the disks. Like that's my fault they can't use their illegal software. Cheap bastards. Buy Word Perfect or use Open Office... There is no need to use pirated stuff when the alternatives are free and just as good. Pirated Photoshop? Don't cry to me. Just download GIMP and shut up. Otherwise go buy the software! ESPECIALLY if you are using it in your bloody business! Sigh... I swear... I hate people sometimes.

Cera, our Border Collie – Rott mix has died yesterday. I was going to take her and Ranger up into the hills to chase rabbits. I was thirsty so I stopped at a gas station to grab a drink. I came back outside just in time to see it happen. She was struck by a semi and killed instantly. She had gotten into playing a game of chasing/playing chicken with trucks. Well, she won... she caught her truck. A big oilfield truck, right in the head. She was of course killed instantly. I didn't know she had gotten out of the Bronco. Ranger had stayed put, as he always does when we are out and I tell him to “wait right here”. When I tell him that, he does just that. Cera hadn't had the chance to learn that yet, and trucks excited her. Highway 40 has a lot of big trucks. I blame myself. Damn it. I told the boys, and they were all upset... but not surprised. I was going to put her on a chain because she was almost getting hit at least once a day this last week. Double Damn It. She was a sweet dog. Very smart. Very loving. Very loyal. Always came when you called her... unless it was in the evening when you were trying to put her out for the night. She was always sitting on the porch waiting for me to come home. SHIT DAMN HELL.

HOWEVER:  This loss is nothing like the loss SWAT Magazine editor and chief Denny Hanson has recently loss... His house burnt down, and took two of his dogs with it.  The house was a total loss, as was everything in it.  Thank God that no one was hurt.  I've met Denny and his son Flint, who are good people.  They have received a lot of support and help and all that and they are doing fine.  If you want to help them out at this point, I suggest ordering a couple subscriptions for yourself and friends. 

Bad things happen in life.  That's just the way it is.  We deal with it and we survive it and we move on. 

I've already been asked if my boys would like another dog... right now, no.  We have not had any good luck at all with dogs now save for Ranger who is a bit depressed at the loss of his friend, but is otherwise fine.  So no... no dogs.  Maybe after we eventually move to a new place with a better yard for dogs.   Maybe then we could do another dog.  Other than Ranger, I'm pretty much done with animals, personally. 

Special thanks to our man Angus MacKay for his contribution to MadOgre.com, which came in the same day our bill for hosting came in. The numbers are the same so that means MadOgre.com is not all out of pocket this quarter. That was very nice. Thank you Angus. I appreciate it, and so does The Horde.

The new Firewall box is SWEEEEET. It's a FIREBOX SOHO 6... Plugged it in, turned it on, hooked in the CAT5, and bang... I had internet access with no loss of speed, and I had security. Setting up the configuration was a snap. Pretty dang easy. Thank Scott.

That's the thing about MadOgre.com... it exists because of the support generous contributions of The Horde. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be blogging like this anymore. Wouldn't be able to. Of course I'm also typing this on my Dell box, which was also a donation from my good friend Steve.

Several people have made some rather harsh accusations at me lately.