Thanks again to all those who contributed.  If you want to know what these guys are doing over there, check this out.  (No, this isn't them in this clip)

Hope they have fun over there.   This site, Big-Boys.com is pretty cool... lots of funny clips.

Beyonce is a hottie. Video clip, safe for work but not if you stand right up after it. 

Monday, Feb 21st, 2005: Evening: That's it. I'm not giving Paris Hilton my phone number again. Sheesh... what these Celebs wont do to stay in the lime light. But really is this Paris' fault? I don't think so. Can't blame her for being blonde. The whole thing is rather silly and I would have thought Drudge would have dropped it. This isn't news. Come on. "Blonde Moron Does Something Stupid! Film at Eleven!"

What is interesting news is Bush's dinner with French President Jacques Chirac. Bush said "This is my first dinner in Europe since I've been re-elected, and I'm having it with Jacques Chirac. That should say something." Yeah, it does say something. But I don't like what it says. I'm having a lot more doubts about Bush these days. He is just another big government, pro-UN elitist with a Texas drawl. Instead of eating supper wiht Chirac, Bush should be taking him to task about selling proscribed weapons to Iraq in violation of the very UN sanctions that France voted for in the UN, and not supporting the enforcement of the UN Mandate against Iraq. Instead they are laughing and joking and smiling for the cameras like they are the best of friends. Excuse me if this all makes me a little sick to my stomache. What about France removing the American flag at one of the large WWII Memorials, where most of the dead soldiers buried there are Americans? What about the whole flipping anti-American attitude that France as a whole has been fostering for the last 10 years that is just getting worse and worse every year? What about all of that, Mr Bush? Or is that just something you two pricks just laughed about? There are a lot of other little items that should be on Bush's To Do list regarding France. Instead, Bush is showing his true colors... and now Jacques Chirac, John F'ing Kerry's big brother, is calling Bush "A good cowboy"? After the last 4 years of Chirac ripping on Bush, he calls Bush a good cowboy? WTF does he mean by that? Bush is good for not throwing Chirac the beating he deserves? Makes me want to puke.

Hunter S Thompson's suicide. He is/was one of the most unique American writers I've ever read. He was the new Jack Kerouak, and the more relaxed Kurt Vonnegut, but without the pretention. Hunter played it loose and fast and inspired a lot of guys in different ways. He was also one of my favorite writers. His passing is unfortunate, but he leaves behind quite a trail to follow... if you dare go through bat country.

My email issue has finally been resolved. The problem turned out to be my new ISP filtering all port 25 SMTP traffic and requiring you to route your traffic through their server. So I can get my mail off my server, but I have to send through theirs... it works, but it's annoying as hell. But I've got more important things to do than worry about this. For now. I'll come back to this later. So to sum it up, I'm back in business.

New Article: Ruger SP101. It has been written, submitted, and approved and in the pipeline for the next CCM issue.

The package from Microlon has arrived, so everything is set to ship out to Iraq in the morning. They included a new little item in the box, a "Precision Oiler" A pen like tube with a fine needle applicator tip to put the oil exactly where you want it. Very nice. Too bad I can't try it out – it's going to Iraq. Our soldiers can try it out and see how they like it. This stuff should work very well over there. If you haven't heard of Micron before, read this review of it. It's good stuff. I like the Gun Juice, and my Marlin seems to favor it.

Speaking of the Marlin, when it gets back from the gunsmith I am going to want to put on some synthetic black stocks. Unfortunately I can not find any around here. The only ones I've seen are by RAMLINE, but to be honest they felt cheap to me. Anyone know of any good synthetic stocks for a Marlin 336? Well, if not, it's no big deal. Yes, the Marlin is in the shop getting some work done and I am starting to get anticipation anxiety about it. I'm itching to try it out! I'm going to tell the gunsmith to go ahead and give it a full house action and trigger job. Why not? It's already there in the shop! Yeah, I'll just tell him to go for it.

The Guns Of: The Way of the Gun. I'll do that article up. Tired of hearing about, so I'll just do it. I'm not a fan of the movie, but there are a lot of interesting guns going on there and it seems to be one of The Horde's favorites... so be it.

Sunday, Feb 20th, 2005: Mid Morning: What day is this? Are we in Bizaro World now? Hillary and McCain are touring Iraq together? Well, this is showing us that McCain is no Republican. We've called him an asshole RINO before, but he has just totally outted himself here. But that is not the odd thing. What is very odd is Hillary declairing the insurgents to be failures. What? If the insurgents have failed, then that means Bush won. Why is she giving Bush a win here? This is going to upset a lot of Democrats how have been rooting for the insurgents to win! As much as I want to believe that declaration to be true... I have to question the statement. Now on the surface it would seem that this is the work of insurgents doing their usual shit... but it is not. The last few days we have seen nothing more/nothing less than a religeous civil war. The Sunni bombers had no goals of destabilizing the country. Their goal was much more simple; to kill as many Shia Muslems as they could. This isn't just my take on the situation. Religeous war is as old as religion. How many good and faithful christians died in France when some listened to and started agreeing with Martin Luther? And Martin really only espoused a more positive and up beat flavor of Christianity. Do you like your toast buttered on the bottom or on the top?

Hillary is doing everything she can to make herself look more attractive to both Moderates and Conservatives... stepping out with McCain... changing the wording of her statements to beguile the feeble minded. First off, she isn't going to get any more attractive, no more than lipstick on a baboon's ass is going to make it any more appealing... other than that, it's not a bad strategy... if she can trick all the stupid people she has it licked. It is truly sad that such 180 degree course changes in the time when she is grooming herself to be a party nomination centerpiece, is so transparent, is so obviously insincere and hypocritical... and yet so many people are willing to follow along. She is literally saying the opposite of what she was saying only 30 days ago. Now from my point of view this is just telling me that both Hillary and McCain can not be trusted. They will turn their backs on all their supports just for the chance of grabbing a few new voters. No principles, no core belief system that leads them in any predictable manner... no morals or character. These kind of people are the types that we do not need in politics, but unfortunately thrive in that arena. Much like disease in a sewer.

Email Issue still not resolved: This is the error message that I get:

Sending of message failed.

The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server (server name) failed. The server may be unavailable or is refusing SMTP connections. Please verify that your SMTP server setting is correct and try again, or else contact your network adminstrator.

I thought it was because of my switch from slow DSL to fast cable, but I get the same error message from work. This is very odd. I've tried all SMTP authentication protocols and all the more commonly used ports... no joy. My host has checked and double checked the server he reports seeing no problems on his end. This is very odd. Going through the web interface allows me to send, but it's a huge PITA to use. I'll be happy to report when this is resolved.

Well, I've got to finish up my Ruger SP101 review now. It's mostly done, but it needs a rewrite and then proof reading. So I've got some work to do. TTFN.

Saturday, Feb 19th, 2005: Afternoon: Bad News: Sgt. Adam J. Plumondore was killed in action. I know a lot of readers here are also readers of Kim DuToit's blog where Kim had the "Walter-Adam Fund" to supply a number of troops over there with some good quality equipment such as Nightforce scopes. Sgt Plumdore is that Adam. This is terrible news. This news brought a tear to my eye... another fallen hero is heart wrenching. He will be in our prayers, as will his family. But such is how the Tree of Liberty is watered, with the blood of our best and most noble souls. Were Liberty to be purchased any cheaper, it wouldn't be so great a blessing for the rest of his. I pray that we all appreciate it. I also pray that one day the free citizens of Iraq will recognize and appreciate it as well. I know the French don't any more... but there are the individuals there that still remember the day when American GI's rolled into town ending an era of Nazi occupation and rule. In Iraq there will also be those that remember when American GI's rolled into town ending an era of Baath Party occupation and rule under the fist of Saddam. They will appreciate Adam's sacrafice, his and all the other Americans, British, and other Coalition forces who paid the price of Iraq's freedom. Adam joins a most noble and sacred order of heroes... he is now in their company, sitting at the table in Valhalla. Do not weap for sorrow. Do not mourn for grief... but let your tears be tears of joy and pride that such men are our own and they are a light to the whole world and represent the best of us amidst the worst of them.

No Greater Love.

A freaking car bomb... these chicken-shit terrorists. They have no honor. None. We often refer to the Nazis as the ultimate villans, and the pinacle of evil. But you know what? At least the Nazis and the regular German soldiers had the balls to actually fight face to face, unit on unit... they might have been evil and on the wrong side and all that... but they at least had some degree of honor and warrior's spirit. These "insurgents" don't rate. They are insects. Unworthy opponents deserving of nothing better than contempt, and a quick death by a shot to the head because it's the fastest way to dispatch them so our guys can move on to doing something else.

The Package is about ready to ship out to Iraq. I'm only waiting for one final last minute item to arrive and it should be here in a day or two. When I ship it, I'll post the tracking number so you guys can see it off. This is from all of The Horde. I wanted to ship it out today, but I think this slight delay will be worth it to the boys in the big sandbox. So while I was waiting, I went out today and picked up a few more things... a couple rap CD's for the guys in the that would prefer that over all the hard rock stuff. A couple more DVD's. A couple bags of pork rhinds. A couple bottles of different kinds of hot sauce, because those of us that served know that the food could use all the help it can get. A couple more magazines... and some other odds and ends that I thought the guys would enjoy. When I ship it, I'll also post a photo of one of my brothers with his platoon... great photo, I think you guys will enjoy it.

I've had a good suggestion about the Linux firewall issue... don't use Linux, but use BSD instead. That's not a bad suggestion at all. For this application I think FreeBSD would be the ticket. I'm downloading it... hold on... now. We shall have to see how it works out.

Congratulations to 2ndLT Jim who just graduated the Horde's OCS with this email: "Ogre, I keep reading your page regarding the endless AR vs. AK debate. No one has touched on the cost issue. Maybe this might help. I just returned from a local gun show in Ohio. I picked up a used Romanian AK for a light (read: cheap) project gun. Price list as follows;

AK 47- 275.00

New polymer fore-end w/rails 30.00

Scope mount (side) 30.00

Vertical front grip 20.00

Laser dot (just for grins) 20.00

Scorpion flashlight w/mount 40.00

Collapsible CAR stock (4-position) 45.00

4 20 rd. mags (these things rock) 15.00

400 rounds 7.62x39 35.00

The total for a project AK is now standing at 500.00. I have priced a few of the EOTech sights at around 175.00 (didn't pick one up today as I stretched the wallet a little thin). The price of a decked AK will be running around the cost of an entry level AR- the AR with the same toys will be running in the 4 digit plus category. Just my thoughts on the subject. Willing to be an officer candidate in the Blessed Horde, Jim"

You make some good points Jim, cost is a huge factor in the AR-AK debate, but you yourself missed out something even more critical than gadgets and their mounts... the cost of ammunition. I'll leave this up to you to study, but take a look at a couple different cases of bulk or surplus ammo for the AK, and similar ammo for the AR. Unless you find some miracle sale of 5.56MM ammo, the ammo for the AK will always be a hell of a lot cheaper. So for you guys that like to spend your weekends throwing a lot of rounds downrange... the AK is definitely the ticket.

Friday, Feb 18th, 2005: Evening: Constantine: The Matrix for Christians? That's what I heard it referred to as. No, not really. It's interesting, and a pretty good movie. But it is not a great movie. Evidently it is based on a comic book, like so many other movies out and coming out... Overly dramatic tragically flawed hero saves the world and all that... Hellboy with a pretty face you might say. I liked the visualization of hell, that was pretty well done. But there where a lot of things that I would call “wrong”, but I'm not going to get into that. And a great many things were predictable because we've seen them in so many other movies... so much so that Constantine was only partially original. I was kinda hoping that it would be scary, but it turned out to be more of an action flick that anything scary. If this kinda movie is your bag, I think you would like “The Prophesy” a lot more. But Rachelle Wies is in Constantine, and she's a hottie. It's worth seeing overall.

Email Server Issue: The SMTP problem is still with me and probably will be until Monday or so. This isn't a software issue, as I've tried sending with a number of email clients, from several different machines on 4 different connections. This is a server issue of some sort that my Host tried to fix, but was evidently so far unsuccessful. I'm not sure why.

Speaking of networking, I am trying to configure a Linux firewall. I've downloaded a couple different Linux firewall distros, but I've not tried them yet. Still need to put in a second network card to turn my 2^nd Dell box into a hardware firewall. I've got an old Dell, a PIII at 600 MHZ with a good hunk of RAM in it, which should work well for this task and still give me good through speed. Or so I think... but I could be wrong. Any Horde Members out there with any experience in this? I've downloaded a Coyote, Wolverine, and Smooth which seem to be the top 3 choices. Correct me if I am wrong. Any advice or how to's would be appreciated. Here is what I'm going to do, run a Linux firewall box, then a switch, and run a couple small boxes and my main Dell box through the switch and out the LFB. Any thoughts?

A lot of guys have asked me about .45 caliber pistol options... they always start out with their first few choices and request validation. This is something I have no problem doing... it's a service I offer freely. Looking back through the emails (since I can't bloody well reply to any of them) I noticed that not one of them have included the Beretta Cougar as an item of interest. I love my Mini Cougar, but most guys would not like the short fat grip it has. Consider for a moment the regular 8045 Cougar. I think if you were to spend a little range time with it, you would come to like it. I like it as much as I like the SIG P220 and that is great deal. The Cougar's rotary action might throw some guys off at first, but once you learn how it works and how to take care of it, you come to appreciate the elegance of the action. I offer this information to those cats out there who might be looking at the new Beretta Px4 pistol, which is pretty much an overgrown Cougar with rails and replaceable back straps, because of course all new pistols have to have rails and replaceable back straps. The new pistols cost new pistol money of course, but you can pick up a Cougar for a steal. And right now, the 8045 is the only .45ACP chambered Beretta. That makes it unique. The Mini Cougar is even more so because they are becoming harder to find. If you happen to come across one, take a second look at it. While I carry the P-01 most often, I still give the Cougar some love and pack it for awhile because it is such a damn fine handgun. That and no one ever seems to know what it is.  And it's such a good looking gun too. 

Morning:  Seems I am not the only one to question the Marine's level of experience that I posted last night:
“Ogre, After reading your e-mail about the turd who put up the absurd arguement about the M-16, I really do question this guy's "expertise" I wonder if he has ever had to scrap the inside of the M-16 with a dental pick, swearing so much people think you have tourette's? As for the remark about the 5.56 taking a man's head off at 500 meters, You might be lucky to do it at anything over 300. Looking at gelatin tests, the legend about the "Exploding round" makes me think bullshit. Even though gelatin is only a tool to give you somewhat of an idea. When I read his remark about blank rounds not making much carbon, I laughed my ass off. When my unit went to the field, we would ditch the blank rounds and just yell bang, Since I would rather stick vital parts hanging off my body into a bear trap than clean that shit off for hours. Anyway, Thanks for dispelling another robotic idiot's "vast expertise" which is probably nothing more then having just graduating Marine Boot Camp and firing a grand total of 3 blank rounds during the Infil course at Parris Island or San Diego. Keep up the great website. Sgt Mike MCAS (Location removed by Ogre for privacy)”
Thanks for the email, Mike. I think you hit the nail on the 500 meters away head.

“Ogre, The sender of the email that you fisked about the M16 sounds like a) a Marine wannabe or b) some high-school kid who just signed up with the Marines and who is living vicariously thru the actions of others. Anyone who has ever fired and cleaned the M16 would know that firing blanks without or without the BFA will foul the thing up. We used to put lots and lots of the old white lubricant (so much that we would get sprayed in the face with it when the rifle fired) on the bolt before firing blanks so that we could clean the rifle easier. If he's going to boot camp, I hope he spouts off at his drill instructors and they make him clean his rifle with his tongue. The only thing worse than a gung-ho Marine know-it-all is one who is also too stupid to know when he's talking out his ass. El-ahrairah AKA The Gungy Guide”
During some training exercises where my squad were the OPFOR, and we fired so many blanks that the fouling inside the action became so thick, it was difficult to remove the bolt carrier from the weapon, and even more difficult to disassemble the components for cleaning. After some time, we just ended up bathing the weapons in a big solvent tank so the crud inside would be loosened up a bit. Blanks are notorious for being absolutely filthy. Everyone that has service in the Army, Marines, and some units in the Air Force and Marines know this, and know it all too well. This guy, I have serious doubts about. Mike might be right about the 3 rounds... because with only 3 rounds, you are not going to get “that” dirty... but things are different after 300. And I don't know about his service, but in mine, we didn't have the time or opportunity to just sit around and clean our weapons whenever we wanted or after every 3 rounds. Not when we had work to do.
Thanks for the emails guys. As you can see, I am getting them. Just can't send! Annoying!

Thursday, Feb 17th, 2005: Later Evening: Reader Email Fisking. The following is an email I received in response to my “Why I hate the AR-15/M-16 article. This is, I think, the first time I've ever “Fisked” an email. And I don't plan on doing it again any time soon, but I think this one deserves a more detailed response that a public fisk can deliver:

“I dont know where you draw your argument from, but since your in the Army, Ill cut you some slack.”
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it, Mr Sarcastic.
“Honestly you've never trained properly, for you know that a shiny weapon is a bad thing.”
This sentence makes no sense, but I think you are saying that a shiny weapon is a bad thing and that you are hacking on my training for not knowing this. Uh, I do know this and I was talking about an internal component of the weapon. If you don't know where the bolt is, please refer to the diagrams in the article. And when it comes to the bolt carrier I was meaning the inside where the bolt reciprocates inside the carrier, and the raceways on the carrier where the bolt carrier meets the inside of the body of the upper receiver. After firing a weapon a few times, these areas pretty much get shiny all on their own because of friction. I hope that wasn't too technical for you. If it was, ask your Sergeant for help.
“How much CLP do you use?”
Just enough if not too much sometimes. Really it depends on the conditions. I don't measure it out so I really couldn't give you an accurate amount.
“Ive fired thousands of rounds out of these rifles that dated back to the early 80's, when they were used by the Army (I'm a Marine), and they have jammed on me TWICE.”
Funny how out of well over a hundred emails from Marines, you are only one of maybe 3 or 4 Marines that disagree with me. Some of those Marines that do agree with my take on the M-16 have fired probably hundreds of thousands of rounds. They have also climbed through the ranks to Officer status in the Marines... But I'm sure you would question their training too.
“Even after doing a day infiltration course, where I had to low crawl through a 150 yard mud pit that was 3 feet deep, i was able to slap a magazine in and send rounds downrange.”
I'm sure a one day course makes you the expert then.
“Maybe you just done know that a rifle is your best friend, and that you should keep that barrel out of the dirt at ALL times.”
The rifle surely is a good friend, but in fighting my best friend is the radio. A much better weapon than a .22 caliber rifle. Radios all you to call in real firepower, but that is a topic for another day. Let's get past that for a moment. The idea that you should keep your barrel of the dirt at all times is a good one. Sound advice. But sometimes things happen that makes your barrel hit the ground even when you don't want it too. Training in one day infiltration courses is a little different than actually being out in the field for real.
“Sure, it is a little more finicky that the AK, but I can knock a mans head clean off at 500 meters, and do it repeatedly, and AK users can only imagine doing that at 300 meters.”
This is where I have a serious problem with this email, and start to question the nature of service in the Marines or even if you really are a Marine or a snot nosed prepubescent idiot just wishing that he was. This is technically incorrect as a .223/5.56MM round can not knock a man's head clean off at 500 meters. With luck it might be able to penetrate through the whole head... Considering the loss of ballistic energy due to annoying things like physics, a 55 grain .22 caliber full metal jacket would have a very hard time knocking a man's head clean off at 500 meters. Not exactly sure what the numbers are, but I'd put the energy levels somewhere around that of a .22 Magnum inside of 50 meters at that range. A .22 Magnum even at the muzzle would have a hard time knocking a man's head clean off. Consider what a former Marine Colonel said about the M-16, referring that it is only suitable to shooting poodles with it. But I am sure you have a lot more experience that Jeff Cooper, given you attended a 1 day infiltration course and all. However I have seen it do this knocking a man's head clean off trick in some video games like Counter Strike... I think it was the Infiltration Mod for Unreal Tournament, but I don't remember. That's pretty much the only place I've seen such a rifle do such a thing. Maybe in some B grade action movies with Gary Busse you've seen this happen... but I've never even heard of such a think in real life. And 500 meter shots are extremely rare in combat.  Normally only fully trained snipers are able to do this... such long range on such a small moving target and all.  You should get a medal or something. Go talk to your Sergeant about one. 
“Second, those blank rounds really dont dirty your rifle up all that much, but then again, your in the Army, and you probably dont know how to do a proper load on the cartridge.”
You know, that's a difference between your Marines and the US Army. In the Army, we don't have to load the cartridges. They come already loaded, in little brown boxes. We only have to load them into the magazines. If you have a better way of loading magazines, I'd be happy t to hear it. And you are probably right, I don't know how to make a proper Blank Cartridge for the M-16. But yes, they do tend to dirty up a rifle very well. Especially when you fire a whole bunch of them using the standard style blank adapters. Considering how most of the cartridge's burning and burnt carbon is pushed back into the action. Of course you might not have had time to fire all that many in a 1 day infiltration course.
“So in closing, go pop and pull your head out of your ass and grab a clue. Semper Fi motherfucker”
Wow. You really told me. Thank you for straightening me out in a proper Marine fashion! I shall try to “Go Pop” at the very first chance I get. Thanks for the email. Seriously. I found it to be both enlightening and entertaining. Now go beat off to Heartbreak Ridge before your Mom comes home.

Before anyone gets down of me for fisking this poor so-called-marine to the elbow; know this: I have a deep respect for the Marines. In fact, let me highlight one for you. This man, is both a true Marine, and a true American Hero. This Marine is the ultimate example of hard core heroism that The Left will never understand. Thank you to Black Five for posting that. It is inspirational.

Okay, interesting little problem. Now that I am reconnected I can get emails, but the sending emails fail at the server end as the server is refusing the SMTP connection. I'll have to contact them tomorrow or see if this is a temporary glitch. 185 emails after spam filtering... Sheesh. That's just nuts. I'll get this sorted out as quickly as I can. 
 

Evening: I'm just about ready to send off “The Package” and complete Operation Rock Iraq. I've got a lot of great music collected and donated by The Horde. I've got books and magazines and music CD's off all sorts, a bunch of DVD's as well... Also in the package is a lots of goodies to enjoy while reading or listening or watching. I think the guys will like it. Also thanks to Microlon for donating some Gun Juice to send! Seriously, thank you to those who have contributed. It means a lot to me, and will mean even more to the troops and my brothers over there. They will be totally delighted.

One of the Horde's Officers has sent us a DVD, “The Great UN Gun Debate”. This debate is held in London between Rebecca Peters of the International Action Network on Small Arms, and Wayne Lapierre of the NRA. Wayne did an absolutely fantastic job. Unfortunately because it is held in the liberalized, neosocialistic London where people pretty much tend to scoff at America so she got most of the applause, but Wayne got a lot too from the same crowd having overcome a lot of institutionalized bias. This Rebecca used a lot of theatrics and jade tricks to pull the crowed her way and dodged any tough questions, but Wayne countered with the sharp edge of cutting logic. She really came across as quite childish in my opinion. Awesome debate. I am very grateful for this DVD. Thank you. I will be showing this to more than a few people. If you haven't seen this debate, contact the NRA to get yourself a copy pronto!

Shoes. 4 months ago I was so pleased to find a decent pair of sneakers. Adidas. Well, they have ripped apart, the shoe from the sole. I thought Adidas were good quality shoes. Guess not. So I went back to the store and spent an hour looking at shoes again. Like a picky bitch, tried on every damn pair that didn't look like something out of Buck Rogers... and hated them all. I finally picked out a pair of Sketchers... I have an old pair, and they were a pretty decent shoe. And in the store these new ones felt pretty good. But after wearing them for an hour they started hurting my feet. Not only that, I don't even like the looks of them anymore. I'm going to take them back. Try this shoe shopping thing again. Have I mentioned that I HATE shoe shopping? Stupid freaking shoes. I should just get my old boots redone again and wear them. For most of this last 10 years I've worn an old pair of Tony Lama “cowboy” boots, but those old things are just too hammered now. New ones are expensive as hell now. Sheesh... The one pair I looked at and liked, could have bought another Glock for that much. You know what? I don't even like talking about buying shoes... screw this. Never mind. I didn't say anything.

Connection! I am back online and the connection is sweet. Full speed, testing shows 1.3 is the slowest, and often well over that . No rebooting the damn DSL modem every couple minutes... Worth the wait. Okay, guys, after filtering out the spam, I am showing 185 new messages. OUCH! I'll probably be getting back to most of them this weekend, so be patient if you have been waiting for a response. Oh, and if you have tried calling, you will get the “This number has been disconnected” message. I'm shopping for a cell phone right now, I'll post when I get it so you can email me for the number. UBET Communications can take a flying leap. I am totally done with them now. I don't think I'll be referring anyone to UBET for DSL service. Not with the headaches I've had. I know there are always issues with one's connection, that's the nature of the beast. But for us, all the problems have been directly related to UBET's uncaring incompetence and unprofessional attitude. This is like, breathing fresh air again after a long drive crossing Kansas and finally seeing that “Welcome to Colorado” sign.

Sorry for the short update right now, I gotta catch up on the emails!

Monday, Feb 14th, 2005: Okay, so I was wrong about the Super Bowl. But damn if that wasn't a good game. It could be said of both teams that they didn't play their best games. Mistakes were made by both, but it was a close and exciting game to watch. The Eagles did better than many predicted. They did well, and McNabb did a good job for his first Super Bowl attempt. Let's not forget that this cat was hated by his team's home town when he first joined. He was boo'ed. But he kept his nose to the grind stone and stuck with it... I think he earned some respect this year, and it was due. McNabb threw some crazy tosses, sure. But he also nailed some incredible throws. I'll admit it, he isn't a great QB, but he has the potential to be a great QB. Just like Joe Montana and Steve Young when they first started out as the lead QB. It's called seasoning... and I think with seasoning, McNabb will become one of the greats. Let's be honest, Brady made some lame ass mistakes as well. Couple times he just threw the ball into the sidelines. I think that's a chickenshit way to play football.

Jeep Cherokee. Well, I worked some magic on the old Jeep and it's running good again. Will probably last another year now. This old AMC 2.5 liter engine amazes me. It doesn't get good mileage at all, and it's underpowered... but the damn thing is bullet proof. It just keeps going and going. One of the things I did was run a can of “Sea Foam” through it. The vac tube that connects to the brake booster, I just opened the can of Sea Foam, pulled off the vac line, and stuck the end of that line down into the can and let it suck the Sea Foam up into it. Then poured a little into the crank case directly. The smoke was bad there for a few minutes... but when it cleared up, let me tell you, the engine was smooth and idled proper. Sea Foam is pretty good stuff. What it does is cleans the valves directly and suddenly and effectively. The can was 4 bucks and change, and it was money well spent. I'll have to run a can through the Bronco next paycheck. I can't tell you the difference between the Before and the After. Drastic. Absolutely drastic. Before = “This engine is just screwed.” After = “Damn, that's not bad!” Yesterday, seriously this Jeep would struggle to hit 35MPH at full throttle. After the treatment, I hit 65 and had to back off the gas. I was even able to throw down some donuts... I'm not kidding. I've got a figure 8 mark going on outside. In the old Jeep. I'm not exaggerating. If you have an old rig that is a little rough, try some Sea Foam. I got my can at Checkers Auto, but they should have it at some other places... NAPA here has it too. Check around. It's worth it. For my Mom and Dad's cars, I'd recommend it highly.

Due to my network outage, some folks are thinking there might be a delay in shipping out the package to Iraq. This is not the case. It will be shipping out shortly. I would like to thank those who have contributed... everything sent will be appreciated by our boys in the Sandbox.

You guys remember the Sci-Fi show “Babylon 5”? You remember the character “Garabaldi”? The cat that played that roll, Jerry Doyle is his name. Evidently he is a big time conservative and even made a congressional run on the Republican ticket. Check this out... he has a radio talk show now called “The Jerry Doyle Show”. Where do these guys come up with such inspired show names? I swear. Anyways, the guy's show is good. Lot's of common sense and good conservative thought... more entertaining than Rush that's for sure. Our local radio picked up the show in place of Mike Reagan... and that's a good move. If only they would pick up Glenn Beck in place of Rush Limbaugh then I'd be happy.

The Gerber Paraframes arrived. You know what? I love them. The little one is freaking tiny. It is too small for me. I gave it to Mrs. Ogre. The medium one is what I'd call small, but it is perfectly usable and wont be too scary for polite mixed company. I'll have to get the large one now, which should be just right. The medium one is very nice of course. Smooth opening, feels solid, and the frame light while giving a good balance to the blade. It's a frame lock, which I like. There is nothing really to set it apart as being overtly special until you remember what you paid for it. These things feel like they are worth double the asking price. If you are looking for a cheap gift for a buddy or you need a new edge - Gerber Paraframe. One would be hard pressed to find equal quality for equal money. If you know of one, let me hear it. The blades on both knives are quite sharp, but not quite as sharp as a new Spyderco. Mankind's oldest tool... every guy should have a good blade.

You know what's weird? Pulling on a pair of boxers hot from the drier... and then realizing they belong to your son. That freaked me out a bit.

Odd Behavior. Cera, our little black puppy is growing into a fine dog and we are well pleased with her. She does funny things sometimes... lately she has taken to collecting stuffed animals. She will go all around the house looking for any of the kids stuffed animal, and one at a time take them to the back door and put them in a pile. That's it. She'll just leave them there. Like she's taking out the trash or something. I suspect if she had thumbs she would take them out to the garbage can and put them in there. She is a very sweet dog. Very playful and loyal and intelligent. Ranger, I love him, but if he's off the chain, he is going to go off looking for trouble. Cera will be waiting on the porch on the porch for us to come home, while Ranger will have heard the call of the wild. Looking forward to a warm dry day in the spring to take them both out on a hunt. Ranger needs it, and I'm looking forward to seeing how our girl does. Right now as I type this, there is a fresh 2.5 inches of snow outside. It had been unseasonably warm lately, so much so I was tempted to take the top off the Bronco. But true to nature, Utah's weather can turn on a dime and it got plenty cold again.

Speaking of the Bronco, it's been running great lately. No problems. And I love it... but. I've been thinking about selling it or trading it for a Jeep. I don't want to... and I'd rather not. But I just flat out need something more economical. I need to be able to jump into something, make a 6 hour trip, and not have it be a major expenditure. I know a Jeep (when I say Jeep, I'm talking Wrangler this time... something from a CJ5 on up in that style) wont hold all my boys and I couldn't take them all with me wheeling in it like I can with the Bronco... but most of the time I'm just wheeling with myself and Ranger anyways. I've spent so much money making that big Ford reliable and now it is... I don't think I'd even come close into getting my money back out of it, so selling it at a loss would be foolish. Yet what's the point if I can't roll in it? Oh sure, it can go anywhere... just as long as anywhere isn't too far away. This is where a small Jeep would fit the bill perfectly. What would be especially sweet is to get a Wranger and do it up in the same colors as Brutus. Okay, that would be kinda pointless, but I'd like it. I was thinking earlier about doing another Samurai. But I think I'd rather do a Jeep. I need something I can make trips out to the Wasatch Front with... something economical... and I am needing it so desperately I am seriously considering selling off most of my guns to finance it. I'd keep two, but the others would have to go. I'd keep the Marlin 336, and a handgun, most likely the CZ P-01. That's how bad I need a little rig. A Jeep would be great, but a Bike would also do well for me. It's no secret I've been aching for one of those as well. This might be a good time for it. A KLR-650 would be ideal.

Speaking of the Marlin: I have located a local gunsmith and I will see about getting my Marlin worked on. A couple of guys I know here have sworn by him. We shall see. It would be nice to add another Gunsmith name to the Roster for Utah. I've taken The Green Marlin to him and talked with him about the work I want done. I'm getting “The Marlin Jam” remedied and the barrel chopped down to 16 inches. The cost of the work isn't going to be that much either. Very reasonable. I'll admit, this is all probably work I could do myself, but I don't have the tools or the time... that and putting a new crown on a barrel is... well... there is an art to to doing a proper crown and this is going to be the measure of the smith. We shall see how this turns out. About 3 weeks turn around due to his workload. Not bad... and I'm not in any hurry. I'm not going to be looking at using the Marlin for at least a month or more anyways.

Speaking of Guns, I am almost finished with my Ruger SP101 article. I've got the photos ready... in fact I've had them ready for some time and this article is over due. I've meant to write it for awhile but have kept putting it on the back burner. Along with so many other things I've been meaning to do. Sigh. That's life.
Heard on the news: Writers in Ireland do not pay taxes because they are considered national treasures. Damn. That's cool. Wish the gun laws over there were not so screwed up, I'd consider moving there! Speaking of moving... well, it's no secret that I can't stand the area that I am living in. I like my job, and the people I work with... but everything else around here just irritates me to death. I can't stand it. Let me be honest about it... I hate this place. This little town putting on airs like it is a big city, but keeping a small minded small town mindset. I've been asked where would you move to if you had the choice. I don't know. The apathy I feel has soaked deep into the bone. Everywhere in the USA, our freedoms have been compromised so completely that no state, no area offers the freedoms that we used to have only 20 years ago.

My old Compaq laptop that died of a fried motherboard... Well, I pulled out the hard drive the other day to use in an external USB 2 kit. Before I reformatted the drive I found a lot of cool MP3's that I used to listen to but forgot I had. Today I'm going through them and I'm loving it. Lot's of great music. I didn't remember having so much music. When did I have “No Doubt” and “Bare Naked Ladies”? Fun stuff. I'm loving “House of Pain” right now. The USB kit works great. With some Linux systems, WinXP, Win2KPro, and Mac's OSX the drive is automatically recognized and usable. With Win98 you have to install drivers off a CD, so it's not that great for 98, but otherwise I think it's great. The kit is under 20 bucks and it made that old 20 gig hard drive useful again. A USB flash drive is over a hundred bucks for a 1 gig unit. As cool as these flash drives are, you don't get 20 gigs capacity. You can order a USB 2 kit from a lot of different places around the net. Very worthwhile device to have if you have a spare laptop drive laying around.

Looking at all the new vehicles coming out, I think Ford has really hit the mark. First off, they are really big on the 4 door pickup trucks. These types of vehicles are extremely popular around these parts. They have the Super Duty, 350, 250, and 150 in the 4 doors... and they even have a version of the Explorer with 4 doors and a pickup bed. Outstanding. Lot's of choices. If you want a straight up SUV, they have lots of choices there too. From the small and economical Escape to the giant Excursion, and lots of sizes in between. Tons of options. These sport utility mixes are outstanding. I especially love the smaller SUV's. Yes, this coming from a guy that drives a full sized Bronco... but one that also has 2 Jeep Cherokees sitting outside my back door as I type this. The Cherokee is one of my all time favorite vehicles. They are capable of doing almost anything asked of them, wherever they are asked to do it. And they are sized perfectly. A good mix of capacity and economy. Most SUV's are much larger but lately I've noticed that a lot of companies are bringing out Cherokee sized rigs. This is a good thing. Even Jeep, who killed off the beloved Cherokee has realized their mistake, and that the Liberty is no Cherokee replacement. The new Jeep Unlimited might be a stretched out Wrangler, but the new version coming out with a fixed hard top is regaining what was lost with the death of the Cherokee. Of course the Cherokee never died really... it's not even fading out yet. You might not see any new ones sitting in Dealer lots, but they are everywhere else.

On CSPAN I observed two things. First off is this Professor Churchill from Colorado. I watched and listened to one of his speeches from start to end. I want that 30 minutes of my life back. That guy is an absolute lunatic. He doesn't look a bit Native American to me. Sorry. I don't buy that. But he does look like a long haired, middle aged asshole that wants to be the next Martin Luther King Jr of the ARM movement. (didn't that go out of style in the 70's?) His spew about the poor tribe in North Dakota might have a degree of merit... IF - If you believe in any socialistic ideology of entitlement and those people have a God given right to have everything given to them. 90% unemployment there? Hey, guess what? Maybe it's time to MOVE YOUR SORRY ASSES OUT OF THERE. That's what I've done... Shit, I've moved all across this whole wide country chasing jobs. That's what you do if you are serious about making your own living. I don't feel sorry one bit about all these poor people out of work, trying to make it through Dakota winters on only 3 grand a year. His talk about kids killing themselves... Gee, that sucks, it really does. But you know what? If these kids had any brains or spirit left in them that was worthwhile - they'd buy a bus ticket to have punched instead of punching their own ticket. If shit is bad where they are - then move! This guy is so much a freaking wacko, I wont be surprised to see a photo of him standing next to one of the Clintons sometime in the near future.
The second thing I watched was Howard Dean talking about what he is going to do as the DNC Chairman. He didn't make much sense at all to me. Not only that, but he came across as just making stuff up as he went along. Then he made two statements that I just have to respond to. First is his statement that he is going to “Reach Out” to the Christian “evangelicals”, because of the DNC's strong moral background. That right there is a flat out lie. First off, the DNC hates Christians and persecutes their beliefs as much as possible. They have taken God out of everything that they can possibly get away with and if they had their way, would even take God out of all the Churches. Sure there are some Christian Democrats out there, but on the whole, Democrats hate God and hate Christians even more. This new outreach is something I don't see as being very successful for the DNC. Especially since moments after talking about this strong moral background, he talked about murdering babies in the name of “Choice”. Hey, you know what? Ted Bundy made his choices too. Don't make it right, does it? Then after this disconnect of logic, Dean was asked a question by a reporter. Dean's response was “I'm not going to answer to blind quotes”. What's this? Dodging a question just because there isn't a specific name attached? What kind of double standard bullshit is this? Didn't the Democrats, spearheaded by a certain CBS news Anchorperson, tell us that the important thing about a question wasn't forged documents - I mean the source, but the accusation its self and that the accusation - I mean question - was always still valid? Now the Democrats when questioned can just gloss it over and forget it because they have this moral superiority and they are above responding to an unattributed quote or question? Wasn't it the smartest lady in America, Hillary Clinton, that said “As Americans we have the right to question any administration”? Doesn't “Any” include “Democrats”? To prove Dean is just about as Nucking Futs as Colorado's Churchill, Dean said that the Kerry Campaign was the best run campaign that he had ever seen. WTF? You have got to be kidding me. No wonder Dean didn't make it past the Primaries. The Kerry Campaign was just about the worst political Charlie Foxtrot that I had ever seen. Kerry ruined his own image at every turn, showed his true colors when dealing with The Swift Boat Vets, and basically made a gigantic ass out of himself every time he opened his mouth. Let's not even bother talking about the Gigantic Ass that he married and everything that came out of her mouth! I'd like to hear Dean tell us just what was so great about Kerry's campaign... The place settings at their fund raiser dinners? Howard Dean... you know, I have a feeling that had he won the Primaries, he would be the President right now. Sure, we would be in a world of shit because of it, but it would be at least entertaining. I really can't see how anyone with more than two working neurons can say with a straight face that they are a Democrat anymore. Dean, Hillary, Kennedy... these are your political leaders? And you would admit this in public? That would be something I'd keep in the closet with the other skeletons.

Okay guys, only a few more days and I'll be connected again. Then I'll be able to update and answer emails properly. Until then, cheers!

Saturday, Feb, 5th, 2005: Afternoon:  After that last update Thursday, my internet connection went down again.  This was the last straw.  UBET wants to charge me 90 bucks for a new DSL modem to replace the one they gave me as part of the contract deal.  This coupled with none functioning phone service for 2 months that they still billed me for... this is too much.  I'm disconnecting from UBET effective now.  Phone is being disconnected too.  Screw UBET.  I'm going to be getting a cell phone, and we are going to be connecting some nice digital cable.  Price wise, the cable, internet and the cell phone will be cheaper than what we were paying for UBET's extremely shitty service.   I am pissed off about UBET, but quite pleased about ditching them.  Also, it is reported that the cable service is much faster and more reliable than the DSL here.  So forgive me, but updates are going to be very scarce until I am reconnected at home.  I'll be able to briefly answer emails, but that will be about it until I get hooked up.  This is a drastic move, but I am no longer tolerating UBET's extortion any longer.

I will be watching the Super Bowl tomorrow. I am confident that the Eagles will win it.  By 7. 

There is a pistol that I think I want to do a review on.  I'm contacting the maker ASAP, and have already sent a fax asking about it.  Looks quite nice, but normally I have a slight to moderate reservation about the CD guns. I like the configuration and I think that would prove to be a comfortable gun to shoot as far as super compact .45's go  We shall see.  

Thursday, Feb 3rd, 2005: 8:00AM:  Stupid Question:  Does anyone know the name of the company that CompUSA uses to buy and sell their used parts from?  Or any really good company to work with that can get me the spare parts I need ASAP?

Early AM:  Anyone want to send some goodies and stuff to the troops in Iraq? Contact me, I'm putting a big old package together to be shipped out on the 17^th or 18^th. This is going to my brothers' unit. They are an MP company out of Virginia. They are wanting music CDs and DVD's. The unit has a good mix of tastes so anything goes. If you have some music, send it. Lots of the guys there have laptops as well, so if you want to send a disk of MP3's then that's cool too. No porn. Don't be trying to get anyone in trouble with a CD of porn. Whatever else you want to send is cool, but this is going to be the Rock Iraq package push. Kind of a celebratory package. Rock. Rap. Country. Classic. Jazz. Blues. R&B. Celtic. Pop. It's all good, and there is a soldier over there that will love it. It would also be cool to include a little note of appreciation for their efforts and sacrifices. Let me tell you, this unit is a National Guard unit. These guys are not the full time professional soldiers that live for this stuff... these guys are leaving behind their full time jobs to give to this full time effort. My brothers are full time college students at SVU who had to put their school on hold right after their semester just got underway. Other guys in their unit are supporting their family and had to put that aside to fulfill their duty, leaving behind families that are now struggling to make ends meet without Dad. Let's help them out with a little motivation.

Utah State Senator Mark Madsen: He has endorsed state legislation that would allow legal Utah gun owners to carry a loaded weapon in their cars. This is the first outstanding piece of legislation I have heard in a long time. On the news, he got in one of our favorite quotes, “an armed society is a polite society.” Good show, Madsen! Good show! Outstanding job, Sir! Keep an eye on this guy people... Let's put him in DC!

The Democrats will say that they will hold Bush accountable. Accountable for what, pray tell? For freeing the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan? For breaking the back of large scale organized terrorism? For putting America's teeth at the throats of those that would slit ours? For putting a stop to a family of mad men in Iraq who threatened to destabilize the entire Middle East region and by that, the entire world? Who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent lives for their own amusement? Is that what they are going to hold Bush accountable for? I would hope so. If these Democrats want to talk about being held accountable, they better not be talking about it very loudly because if they do – people might start holding them accountable for all the shit they have been pulling. Let's ask Safia Taleb al-Souhail what Bush should be held accountable for.

Feedback from one of the Horde Officers, TheGunsOfNevada: “I have had a Gerber Para for about two years, and it hasn’t failed me yet. I swear, its the best folder Ive ever laid hands on... I had been meaning to recommend one to you.” For those just tuning in, the Gerber Paraframe is the knife that I linked to the other day. Comes in three sizes. Small, Medium, and Larger. Good deal. I ordered 2 of them today, the medium and the small one. One for me and one for my Bride. These blades are of the clip point style and I normally don't really like that style all that much. It's not that I find the blades less functional with this style, it's just that I've never really liked them. I prefer spear points or drop points. No, I'm not a tanto kinda guy either. I like blades that have a good “belly” to them, preferably with a touch of a recurve to them. This keeps the cutting edge on the material and allows for a good deep cut. In a defensive situation that is very desirable. The Kershaw Boa is a perfect example of this and this is one of the reasons I love the Boa so much. These Paras (especially the larger two) only seem to have a very slight belly if any at all, but there is something about the lines of the knife that look right. Very handsome blade. Looks like they would carry well in the pocket, and not be frightening to the sheeple if you have to pull it out to cut something in front of them. At least this is the impression I have from the photos... I've not seen one in person yet and I am looking forward to trying them out. Besides... the Boa has become quite dull and I've not had the chance to get out to Orem to my man who does my sharpening for me. I tried sharpening it myself, but it was only a stopgap effort. That cat can turn it into a real razor again... so if anything, I need a good sharp folder that will at least get me through till I can get the Boa taken care of. There is not much chatter at all about the Gerber Paraframe, but Mike Turber of BladeForums refers to it as a good quality knife. Inexpensive knives under 30 bucks never get any attention... take a look at the Kershaw Vapor. I love that knife. One of the smoothest opening manual folders out there bar none, and it's virtually ignored. I bet if it was asking a 60 dollar price tag it would have more people singing its praises. But that's okay. For 25 bucks it's one hell of a great knife. WTF happened to mine? I don't remember, but I do remember that I liked it a lot. Hopefull the Paraframe will be on par with the Vapor and if it is, I will be most happy and the Paraframe will then be an extremely good knife. We shall see.

I got an email from a cat in SLC who needs to fill some job openings in a call center. Not tech support, just sales stuff but the positions are for call center supervisors running a couple teams. Another position is for a call center recruiter. If you are in Utah and you need a job or know someone who needs a job that can do this stuff – shoot me off an email ASAP. I know we've got a great many Utah Horde Members, many of which have in the past have done some time in a Cube Farm with a headset. Not the most thrilling of jobs, but it is a job that results in a paycheck. Oh, this company is not Convergys. So don't worry about that. Anyways, let me know if you or a bud needs a paycheck.

It looks like I might not be able to get that Mac like I wanted. Or a certain Kahr. Damnit. Looks like Mrs. Ogre's Cherokee (Okay, hold on a second... no, it's not her Cherokee... it's my damn Cherokee. Okay? I got it, it had my name on the title... she took it in and got it reregistered at the DMV while I was away and they freakin let her put her name on the title as a co-owner. WTF is up with that? I didn't authorize that shit. Freakin Utah laws. Rickenschmickenfricken Utah!) isn't going to make it much longer. She has overheated the engine again... and something very strange happened. After we let it cool down I opened the radiator... it was cool to the touch and everything... poured in some coolant and as soon as I started pouring I heard and felt and loud bang and a thump. It visibly rocked the engine and radiator. Sounded like a muffled M80 going off, I shit you not. Scared the hell out of me. Mrs. Ogre was there too and she screamed a bit. Uh, guys, I've been around a lot of overheated cars and trucks... I've been around a lot of cars and trucks that have broken down. I've never heard anything like that. Well, after some time I got brave again and poured more coolant/antifreeze in to radiator and topped it off. It's not leaking or anything, but that little explosion is causing me concern. I have several theories about what happened and of course all involve a pocket of steam from a super heated component. Well, let's cut to the chase, the Jeep is fucked. Finding a replacement engine – even if the engine is given to me, swapping it isn't possible because I can't do it and I can't afford a mechanic to swap it out. It's going to have to be retired and put into mothball status along with the other Cherokee. This means we will have to find a replacement and get it with out tax return. We need a super cheap car that is economical, will be mechanically reliable, with at least the capacity of a Cherokee. If I had the money, I think a new Ford Escape would be perfect for her... but let's be quite frank. I don't. Not while trying to buy bloody house! This is very bad timing for automotive issues. That and this is really too bad because I like that jeep. Damn thing has served very well despite the troubles it's given us. We have put a whole crap load of miles on it and it had even more before we got it... Odometer is showing 250,000 and that is after the numbers rolling over. The fact that it was driving today at all is amazing. It really is. But all things come to an end.

Monday, Jan 31st, 2005: PM: You want a simple, inexpensive yet reasonably quality pocket knife for everyday kinda use? Check this out. It's by Gerber, it's less than 20 bucks. I'm ordering tomorrow. It has a 3 inch blade... so it's a decent size folder. But if it's too big or your work or local law forbids it, here you go... Same knife, 2 and a quarter inch blade... under 10 bucks. I'm ordering one of these too. You don't want small? Want bigger? 3.6 inch blade, 21 bucks. I don't think I need one that big. Thats a good deal for a decent knife real cheap. You can find cheaper, but not as good. I know Gerbers are not the words greatest, but they aint bad. Anything less than this is a cheap Chinese made knock off with piano wire pivot pins. So here you go with the medium one and the small one together, 30 bucks. That's a lot of knife for 30 bucks. One for me, and one for Mrs. Ogre. She has pretty much beaten the hell out of the knife she's been packing around lately, the little Mtech folder. Those were pretty cheap, and decent for what they were, but they just didn't hold up over the long run. I think I'll try these little babies out. I'm trying to find something that will break me of this damned Kershaw Boa. This fricken Boa has RUINED me on other knives.... I'll carry another knife for a week or so, but the Boa always finds it's way back to my pocket. I hate that. How long have I had this thing? SUCK! I like the variety that a new knife gives you... but I've lost this with this damn Boa monogamy.

Tired of Computer Games? Wanna play a good old fashioned board game but sick of Monopoly and Risk? Play Doom3. Sheesh.

Speaking of playing... I am wanting to play with a new Mini MAC. It has kinda become an itch that I want to scratch. Maybe with my tax return, I can swing talking Mrs Ogre into letting me get the Mini Mac. She already forbade guns and “truck stuff” and said she wants to only spend money on things for the house. Well, I think I swing this... maybe... but I don't know. Haven't even done the taxes yet, but we both have our W2's so we can do them tomorrow night I guess. So it's either a MAC or a PDA... Which I can rationalize. Can't rationalize a new gun, which is depressing. Of course now that I've posted this... who knows. She might get a wild hair about getting new dressers or some shit. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, I want to play with the little MAC. I've been spending a lot of time getting to know and understand more about different operating systems... might as well throw Mac's OSX into the mix. That might come in handy knowing more about it. What it can do. What it can't do. Hands on. How to configure it. How to fix it when it breaks. Speaking of fixing OS's... Windows 98, I can't stand Windows 98. I can't even stand looking at it. When I see the Win98 logo on a machine as it is booting up – I almost puke up into the back of my throat. Windows ME, as much as it sucks, is at least easier to work with. At least it has a few device drivers built in. Of course WinME will corrupt its self just sitting there in a screen saver, but hey, at least it has a few drivers with it. I wonder how much of an issue that is with the little MAC. Probably not much at all considering Apple is making all the Apple parts in it. No worries about 3^rd party functionality. Right? That and I want Mrs Ogre to be able to have her own computer all to herself so I can wipe the XP partition off my hard drive and have my box be 100% Linux. Speaking of which, latest Distro to test out: SLAX. I've actually had it for awhile now, but forgot I downloaded the ISO until I had an email saying “Hey, check out SLAX!” So now I am just looking around for a bloody blank CD to burn it to. I think Mrs Ogre has turned them all into coasters trying to burn audio CD's for her dance classes. She's a dance teacher so I have to live with this. I used to have a whole stack of blanks until he discovered them. Dang it. These Live CD's are cool. I like them. I've a growing collection of them at work. Still wish I could run OSX in an AMD box. Just to try it. Oh, I've got XP Pro 64, but I've still not played with it yet.

Sunday, Jan 30th, 2005: PM: I've already watched two movies this weekend, so screw it... I'm watching more. So I rented a couple movies I've wanted to see but have never caught. First film up was Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle. I loved the movie. Stupid... it was a stupid movie... but damn if I didn't laugh out loud the whole way through. Fun movie. Naughty... a little dirty in a few places... but I loved the movie. I might have to buy it. I was also pleased with the big orange extreme sport Bronco. Very cool. Loved the custom front bumper, very nice. My side still hurts. Damn, that was funny shit. Hope there is a part two, I'd have to catch that in the theater. (edit – I also took in Sky Captain and The Manchurian Candidate, but I don't feel like talking about them... I'm going to watch Harold and Kumar again)

Reports are coming in from the SHOT SHOW. I wanted to attend, and I was invited... unfortunately I was not able to go. Maybe next year. Well, the reports coming in are very interesting to say the least. Thanks to the fall of the AWB, the 2005 SHOT show is seeming to be very up beat and we are seeing a lot of very cool things. Lots of folding stocks and collapsible stocks are in attendance. The one item I am especially happy to see is the HEZI SM-1, a bullpup conversion for the M1 Carbine. Take a close look at this photo right here... don't just look at the gun, but look at the numbers behind it. Then look at this photo of the gun. I love it. .30 Carbine hits harder than .357 Magnum... pretty good power for such a compact little package. With a 30 round magazine, that would be one hellofagood weapon system. I want it. Bad.

Springfield has indeed made a little 1911 in .45 Gap. Look at this. The one on the left is the GAP chambered gun and the one on the right is of course, .45ACP the way God and John Moses Browning designed it. For Hobbits and little girls, I am sure the GAP will find a following. Then again I taught a petite little Asian lady how to shoot with a 1911, and she did just fine. I can't really see the point of the GAP in a 1911 type platform, but maybe I can in others... such as a .45GAP XD or a CZ P-01 size gun. Then you might have something.

EAA has nothing new to offer, so they just went with their normal tacky approach. I will NEVER buy anything from EAA until they change their whole marketing approach... these asshats are the WWF of the gun industry.

Whoa – Kimber has a new gun out! The PRO RAPTOR II. It looks... wait a second... Just like every other Kimber. Nevermind.

There is one new 1911 that I am looking forward to seeing. There is not a photo of it yet, but reports from SHOT have that a SIG Arms rep has said that a Commander sized GSR is on the way. Sweet. I LOVE the Commander size 1911's. Always have. Always will.

A Snub Nosed .460 Ruger. Judas Priest. I guess this is perfect for concealed carry in areas where there is a real threat of being mugged by a polar bear. Our man in Norway, Stig, will probably want one of these. Of course he could get by with only a pointy stick, but still... that's one hell of a potent pocket gun. Okay, yeah, I'll admit it... I want one of those too.

Back to Springfield again... You want to see something cool? Check this out. Now you can have your .308 and attach everything you would want to put on an AR-15. I like that. Not that I'd put much on it... maybe a light and that's about it. But it is still cool.

Not to be outdone, the AR-15 guys ante up with 100 points for attaching accessories. Look closely... even a little rail behind the ejection port. WTF is the point of that? I mean, really... come on.

My Bros over in Iraq have emailed me. They report that the election day there went rather well and was for the most part uneventful. There was a small attack early on in the day, but it was leveled almost instantly by a viscous American counter attack and then there was only the normal brief mortar fire and some distant explosions... so it was a pretty good day for them. I am very pleased with this. I am also very pleased with the fact that there even is an election today. This is amazing stuff and if it wasn't for George W Bush having the nuts to do what he did, commit America to spreading freedom – this would never have happened. Saddam would have (did) set up a dynasty and freedom would be unknown. Well, as much as the Liberals hate it, Bush and America – did a good thing. Freedom is in Iraq. Once they get a real taste of it, and stop living in fear... then they will start turning against these terrorists because it will be obvious to them that they are not fighting against the American Invaders, but against their own nation, a free Iraq. Freedom is a good thing, and once one tastes it, they will not let it go. Its coming. Then our troops can come home, take a break, and then go kick China's ass.

Saturday, Jan 29th, 2005:  AM:  Collateral was excellent. A good film and typical of Mann. Over at the AmBack forum we have had a long discussion about the movie. Mann's other movies are all personal favorites... and all noted for gritty and unpleasant realism. Collateral is even more so but on a much smaller and personal scale. Tom trained especially for this movie and it shows. His technique is good and sound... looking exactly like it should look. Not just in the scene I linked into before (Thanks for that link off the thread, Dean) but also in the club scene where Cruise is on the floor and engages a target. Again, almost flawless execution. I have my doubts about how well he can actually shoot live rounds, but Tom is good at making it look like he can. A worthy rent to be sure, but I think I might look for a copy of this DVD to keep in my collection right next to Heat and Ronin. Jamie Fox's performance was brilliant. You forget that he is Jamie Fox and that's the best compliment I think I can give. The guns. Tom uses an HK USP for most of the film, then a Ruger MK2 .22 with a suppressor, and then lastly a Smith & Wesson 3^rd Generation auto of some sort.

If you hate cats, you might find this link interesting. If you like cats, do not click on this link. I don't really like cats all that much, but I like my cat “Koda”. Koda is not just a simple cat, but more of a small domesticated lion. Koda can fend for himself when he is outside, he is peaceful, and he doesn't annoy me like other cats do. Regardless of this... this link... I find this to be totally tasteless. I don't like it. I am actually questioning the morality of this as if I were an animal rights wacko. Something is wrong with me perhaps. See what you think.

Speaking of pets... I haven't mentioned it before for fear of bad luck. The first two puppies we got over the summer didn't have long or happy lives. Badger drowned, and Pepper had to be put down. We'll, we got a 3^rd puppy and named her “Cere” (pronouncing it “Sarah” instead of the harder K sound. Short for Cerberus. (which was a little dog that looked just like her that I had when Mrs Ogre and I got married) She is a part boarder collie, part Rott mix. We've wanted a smart and loyal pup and this time we got it. She is another Wal-Mart store front giveaway, but she has proven to be quite the dog. We don't have to chain her up either, which is good... she can run to the bus stop and welcome the boys home from school without sending all the other kids running and screaming in terror like Ranger does. She is very sweet. She is also a great guard dog... no doubt thanks to her genealogy. She has all the protective instincts of her Rott blood, and the steady herding instincts of a smart boarder collie. She is really quite the little bouncer. Should another dog come onto the property (and she knows the boundaries quite well) she will not just engage it with barks, but will also herd the trespasser right out. Steering it and directing it with nips and growls and barks until it is run off quite properly. She will play with Ranger when she wants, and she loves to come in and lay out for a nap... but she is also content to sit on the front porch like a gargoyle, guarding her domain. Which is funny because she is still just a young pup. She's only just had her first growth spurt, being only about 4 months. Hopefully mentioning her will not bring bad luck. This morning I could hear Ranger getting excited about something. I was thinking it could have been Koda out there sprawling out just outside of his reach... teasing him. Nope. It was a Bassett Hound that lives down the road. That lurpy thing comes up once in awhile. So I go out there, and there is Cere driving the Bassett hound out like so much cattle. Ranger was excited because of this... I guess he was playing cheerleader. I gave her an extra large bowl of puppy chow for her breakfast for her good work. She is going to work out very well.

Last night I watched “Luther”. Good movie. Very good movie. I liked it a great deal. It went right with everything I learned about the subject and the time period last semester, so I was kind of “into it”. If you are not familiar with the movie, let me nutshell it for you. It is about Martin Luther. If you don't know who he is, shame on you. Martin Luther was pretty much the first man to question discrepancies with the Catholic Church during the middle ages and live. He wrote a list of questions and nailed them to the door of a cathedral. This set about an uproar inside the church and out. This movie dramatizes this. Lots of Hollywood license of course, but it still tells the story of a very interesting time and person. Most of the time such people ended up dead. Throats cut, lynched, burned, or a combination. Martin Luther is an important fellow in that because of him, we are able to enjoy the religious freedom that we have today... maybe someone else would have done it later... or maybe all Christians would still be Catholics. I found it to be most interesting.

Horde Officer Chase sends us this news link: China wants Russian Backfires to sink American Aircraft Carriers with. For those not familiar with the Backfire, just think of a cheap Russian knock off B-1B Lancer... a bomber that can carry a heavy payload of antiship missiles... race it at super sonic speeds, fire off it's payload, and turn around and scoot back out of our range unmolested. This gives us nothing to defend against other than hundreds of incoming missiles. The Soviet tactic was to “Roll Back” our defenses. Put too many targets in the air for us to get... to wear down our standoff defenses and make our phalanx guns run out of ammo. This is described in good detail by Tom Clancy in the book “Red Storm Rising”. The tactic is effective when done with sufficient numbers. Also, the Backfires have a very good range... so this means that our Navy will have to totally change the way they operate in the Pacific. You think the blood thirsty Liberal Media gets all excited about a Marine helicopter going down and killing a couple dozen Marines? Well, yeah, they do... and it's a kick in the nuts to the United States. But think for just a second about the kick in the nuts the loss of an Aircraft Carrier would be! Thousands of our men. Billions of dollars in assets. And the main strength of the American Navy. I've said it repeatedly much to my own displeasure, but China is our biggest threat next to the DNC. China wants a fight with America. And the fucked up thing about China is that they wont limit themselves to a merely conventional war. If they think they are about to loose the war, they will go nuclear. It would be a matter of face. You think fanatic Muslim extremists are dangerous? They are Sunday school teachers compared to China. Okay, that might not be a fair thing to say... The Muslim extremists are individuals taking their own actions and China the individuals do not want war. They want peace, prosperity, and in short, the American way of life. I have no issue with the Chinese people and I greatly respect them and their heritage. But the Communist Chinese Government on the other hand. Those insane sons of bitches would kill everyone on the entire planet just for the sake of their own pride. They want to fight America for world dominance and eventually they will. I'm not playing Chicken Little over here... I'm just stating the obvious. China is the enemy and we keep empowering them every day with American Dollars. Every dollar we spend on shit marked “Made in China”, that dollar is going straight in the war machine that is targeting us. It's like loading a revolver and putting it to our own heads. Suicide. Bad damn if we can't save 10 bucks on a shopping cart full of shit we really don't need because of it. If you look at China's capability... China very shortly will have the ability to devastate our Pacific Fleet and actually land ground forces on US Mainland Soil, putting the fight not in our own backyards, but in our kitchens and bedrooms. This should be obvious... because they already hold the bloody beach heads. They hold ground in California already, the own and control the Panama Canal and could roll forces up through Mexico. California would become a battlefield, as would most of the South West. They probably own a chunk in the SeaTac area as well, so we could also expect action in the Pacific Northwest too. Then there are the ports in the Great Lakes. New York. Virginia. With some careful planning we could wake up one morning to a very unpleasant surprise attack from all sides. And China would be aided by Mexico and Europe's Coalition of Weasels... As Elrond says, “Our list of Allies grows thin.” We could lose most of our overseas assets at the same time. In the blink of an eye, America's world power status would be rolled back to the same state we were in during the 1890's. Think about it. Do you think France would side with America or China? Do you think Russia would side with America or China? Considering they they are both selling China high tech weapons and systems... the answer is written on the wall. The wall America is going to stand up against blindfolded if we don't take the treat seriously.

Friday, Jan 28th, 2005: 4PM: Yesterday I posted about Linux. Today an interesting thing happened. A demo machine was up and running XP Media Center. Customer wanted to hear the speakers we had attached to it. Some reason that machine went down and we couldn't get any sound to play. So we plugged these nice expensive speakers into the Dell/Linspire box. Sounded GREAT. Oh, and this was the first time we had ever plugged speakers into it. I didn't even know of this box had a sound card. Had one, and Linux installed the proper sound drivers with no question during the set up. What's interesting about it, was the last time I had Windows installed on it, the sound never worked, hence my apprehension about the sound working. Linux = Easier to live with, every day. Guy purchased the speakers. Raised an eyebrow about the Linux. It's my goal to eventually convert the Uintah Basin over to Linux.

Another thing about work... had a customer come in with a PC issue.  On the service ticket he wrote the four funniest words I've read all year. In big bold angry letters, he scrawled “INTERNET STUFF TAKE OFF”. WTF? For some reason out here, computers can normally take reasonably intelligent individuals... guys who can tell you everything about the cattle business and the oil business... in technical detail... and turn them into gibbering, slobbering Neanderthals. “Internet Stuff Take Off”. Indeed.

The Horde's Brass Commander sent us a lovely photo of a CZ P-01 pistol with attached Kadet .22 Kit. So this rumor as I put it, is no such thing. It's the real deal. It looked awesome. Better than the photo she had send of same kit attached to a CZ RAMI. The RAMI is a super sweet little pistol, and I would love to have one... but between the RAMI and the P-01, I'd take the P-01 any day. Apples and Oranges, I know. The P-01 is a compact full duty grade weapon and the RAMI is a concealed ninja. To say I want a Kadet kit is like saying gravity can make stuff fall down.

Internet Stuff Take Off. I'm still cracking up about that. Forgive me.

The Bourne Supremacy. I hated this movie. I watched it last night because I've finished reading it and I've not seen the movie yet. These are the only reasons to watch it. The movie was in a nutshell, horrible. Start to finish. The only thing similar to the book was the name Jason Bourne. That's it. I think Starship Troopers was a better book to movie transition... Battlefield Earth was too by comparison. Even as an action flick, it was found lacking. The action, when it happened (good gosh that was a boring movie) was too fast to follow and if you blinked it was over and done. The shaking camera thing, I can see what the director was trying do, but it just didn't work. I am still of the opinion that Matt Damon is not the right actor. The Director was not the right director. The casting was not the right caste either. The only way to describe the movie is “FUBAR”. That's my take. FUBAR. Tonight I am going to watch “Collateral” and later when I get the chance, “Luther”. Collateral looks pretty good. I like Mann's films and we can see from this clip that Tom uses almost perfect technique in this situation. Impressive. I'm looking forward to watching this. Quick thing to point out about that clip... if you are going to draw... go to work. The bad guy didn't go to work.

Thursday, Jan 27th, 2005: 8:30PM: Over the last few days at work we have noticed an increase in the amount of nasty viruses and spyware... we've seen more incidences of data loss because of it. This isn't cool. If you run Windows, this could effect you. There is no “safe” Windows box if it's connected to the internet. Don't think “It wont happen to you.” Lots of misunderstanding about the threat. Did you know that your box can become a zombie in only 4 minutes? That's no shit. 4 minutes. That's all it takes... a little time and a little bandwidth and you can be done. Slashdot had the story that MS is going to limit access to security updates. This will effect even legal Windows boxes because all the bad shit will just propagate all the faster and harder making Windows all the more vulnerable. Looking at the new OS concepts that MS is working on, guys I am not impressed. Not impressed with it at all. “Longhorn” is just awful. You are going to have to have a beefy computer just to run the OS... What about the applications? You know, the things you need the computer for... your taxes... email... reading your favorite MadOgre.com... you know... the important stuff. That's what you have a PC for. The Operating System is just the foundation you work on. What did the bible say about building your house on the sand? Windows is sandy... very sandy. And it's only going to be getting worse. Just for fun I put “Linspire” on a very average PC... A 600Mhz PIII with only 128 megs of RAM. You know what? It ran great. It ran, opened applications, and with all the tools included for free in the OS – you could get any job done that you need to get done. Had a question about it, “What's that?” I answered, “That's Linux.” The person was floored, “That's Linux!?” If you have been dismissing Linux out of hand – you really need to take a good hard look at it. If you've not looked at it in some time, you need to take a look at it again. Windows isn't going to cut it for much longer. People are going to have to look for a change. If you are fed up with Windows, there are only two viable options... Linux and Mac. Take your pick. Apple as a corporation is... well, let's just say that they are not nice. Linux is the future. Embrace it.

Just for fun – Emails! “Finally ..... some honesty regarding the AR15. You are exactly right .... if the platform is superior, why have other countries not capitalized on the design? Why is the military looking for a replacement and not perfecting an already fine weapon? I need a semi auto rifle capable of dependably shooting a .308 Whisper round effectively for wild life management of Canada Geese. Ranges will vary from roughly 50 - 150 yards. What do you recommend in a semi auto? Note ....... Springfield told me that the M1A or any variant cannot used with a whisper round. Knight or SSK come to mind but are there better options in HKs or something else? Also, like you said, a .223 gives me very little above a .22lr especially in a subsonic round. Thanks for your excellent article and your honesty is appreciated. Johnny U”

I'd go with a simple bolt action and put more money into a good scope and barrel. I'd look for a CZ or a Remington.

“Greetings from CT. Just found a link to "Why I hate the M-16/AR-15 Rifle and variants." Someone had to say it, and I'm glad you did! I also have a 16" BM version and have never really "cottoned” to the rifle. Never knew really why. This article puts a lot of my fuzzy thinking into focus.”

Thanks. (Posting this because it totally gets under the AR Apologist's skin)

The Heartless Libertarian gave me the only solid argument in the favor of Kimber... 10MM. Springfield it seems has a very wide and obvious hole in their product line. So does Colt, as most used 10MM Deltas around are in need of some serious service by a good gunsmith before they can stand on the firing line.

Tuesday, Jan 25th, 2005: 9PM: So Ted Turned compares FOX NEWS to Hilter? Does Ted Turner know anything about the history behind WWII? Does he have any clue as to who Hitler was? Does he have any idea what he is talking about? I don't think so. Hey Ted.

Lots of talk about the Oscars again. Let's see... who is up for what? No Lord of the Rings and no Jenny McCarthy... I'm out. Don't care.

Horde Commander of Brass Detail sends us news that the CZ Kadet .22 kit will fit nicely on the little CZ RAMI and rumor has it that it should also fit and work on my beloved CZ P-01. This is good news. News worth exploring. She reports that while the slide will not lock back, the gun is functional with the .22 kit attached. This is good enough. I've been itching for a .22 automatic so much that I have been tempted to make a trade deal with my father in law for his busted Ruger MKII. But I don't feel comfortable in asking. What I would really like is a nice .22 that would mate well with a suppressor and those nice heavy .22 Aquila PSS rounds.

The weather around here has been dismal... the never ending fog has seemed to have finally lifted out of the Uintah Basin, but temperatures remain below frigid. I'd like to be able to go out to my truck in the middle of the day and not have to scrape my windshield... You know? Is that too much to ask? I know, I'm spoiled. In the North East they have like 10 inches of snow an hour and have to walk 5 miles up hill just to get to their windshields. Hey, that's what they get for living in the bloody North East, okay? No sympathy!

Lot's of guys are in whole hearted agreement with me about Springfield. A few with tenderized Kimber feelings and platitudes to forgive Kimber and kiss and make up. No. Let me rephrase that. Hell no. Let me put this another way. If you GAVE me a new in the box Kimber... I would sell it and buy a Springfield. Simple as that. Maybe a Colt... Perhaps... but there is a 80% chance it would be a Springfield. 10% Colt, 5% XD, and 5% a CZ 40P. So that's how it breaks down. I don't think there will ever be a Kimber in my house again.

The more I listen to Condi Rice... the more I like her. The more I listen to the asshats who are trying to stand in her way, the more I pray that they have sudden massive and painful cardiac arrests. But that's just me... something to light a candle for. Your mileage may vary.

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