Something Wicked this way comes... Project X

Wednesday, 11-30-05: You might come across a new Beta software from Microsoft called “OneCare”. Please, for the love of all that is holy – DO NOT try this abomination. I tried it. That's my job. It totally fucked up my computer at work. I'm looking at reformatting because everything is so completely fucked up now. I'm pissed off. I know there is a risk associated with using beta software, but damn. As soon as I installed it, I lost connectivity to everything including network drives and network printers. Nothing but IE and Outlook could access the internet. Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera... and of course not AVG or Spysweeper... it just locked everything out. Uninstalling didn't resolve this. Doing a System Restore didn't resolve this either. I'm super pissed off. The upshot is that I'm going to give Win XP64 a try on this machine now. FREAK!

Tuesday, 11-29-05: Dean Koontz is a right bastard. Damn him. I just read Koontz's Frankenstein. Book 1 and Book 2. Freaking awesome. Book 3 wont be out until the summer of '06? Damn it! Leaving you hanging with some major WTF's and OMG's... the mother of all cliffhangers... two books worth of suspense building up... and then “oh, sorry... you have to wait to find out what's going to happen.” Bastard! Koontz is one of my favorite writers, actually he is probably my Number 1 Favorite writer... and Frankenstein is very likely his best work to date. And he leaves you hanging. The big jerk. I'm told that this was made into a TV Mini series or something... Anyone have this recorded to DVD? I'm going to have to look into this. But Frankenstein's monster... Koontz's version... coolness. Total coolness.

Monday, 11-28-05: So I go into a customer's business to check a down network connection. I take a look at the system, no connection. So I go to move the system around to take a look at the back. As I reach for the box, out jumps an 8 inch blue spark. ZAP! As soon as that happened, I looked up at the monitor... connected. All the network drives are all the sudden there, and everything is working fine. I say “there you go.” The customer who saw this looks at me with huge eyes. “Your magic!”
“No, I'm Mormon.”
I'm going back there with a new power strip and maybe a UPC because there is definitely something wrong with the power back there. I don't know what it is right now, but you gotta leave the customers thinking you got something up your sleeve.

You know the border issue is grim when the BBC is reporting about it, in detail. Yet the major mainstream media isn't. Read this. This cowboy hits the nail right on the head. This is a war. This is a shooting war. The illegal invaders are shooting at Americans, on American soil. That's an invasion. There needs to be a new Minutemen project. One where they are armed with scoped rifles, and once fired upon, they make an accurate shot when returning fire. It is not illegal to defend yourself. If they shoot at you first – you are fully within your rights to shoot back. An AK is a good weapon. But a scoped SVD would be better. Or use something that sort of combines both... a scoped VEPR. Anyways... no, the plan of a fence isn't going to work. Maybe a 30 foot tall wall. But better yet, just open up hunting season.

After some grim news, check this out... get ready to laugh. Liberals, even if they are just sitting by themselves waiting for something to happen, get press time. There are always more reporters than there are protesters at any given liberal rally. Why is this news? The American Media is just as corrupt as Air America Radio.

Bruce Willis is the man. He's making a pro-American GI film. Thank heavens. After the abomination of a movie called “Jarhead”... this will be a breath of fresh air. There is of course “Gunner's Palace”, but that's not a feature film hitting the theaters. Speaking of movies, here's one I want to see. Yummy. The Japanese culture certainly had its perks.

Email from Reader: “Ogre, I have a theory as to why nd's and kb!s seem to happen with Glocks more than other pistols. As for negligent discharges, most of the ones I've heard of come from Law Enforcement. I think the fact that the majority of law enforcement agencies use Glocks has just as much to do with it as any design flaw the Glock may or may not have. Civilian nd's could be due to the fact that the Glock is a cool gun to own. You don't hear rappers talking about bustin' a cap with their 1911. Tommy Lee Jones didn't tell Robert Downey Jr to "get rid of that nickel plated sissy pistol and get yourself a Wilson Combat CQB." The 1911 isn't the fad gun to own, nor is the XD, to a certain extent. I think the fact that the Glock is so popular, and people with little or no knowledge of how to safely handle a firearm snatch them up because Ludacris said so, probably leads to a lot of negligent discharges with civilians. Regarding kb!s, most of the ones I've heard of were because the ammunition was a reload. As I'm sure you know, the Glock has an unsupported chamber that is supposed to help with reliability of feeding. It also creates a small spot on the case that isn't supported by the chamber. Granted, there are kb!s just due to bad manufacturing, dirty weapons, and a million other things. I don't know everything about Glock kb!s, nor have I knowledge of every kb! ever. These are just the trends I've seen in the ones I've heard of. I'm not an end all be all of gun knowledge, nor do I claim to be. That's just my theory, take it for what it's worth. Sincerely, Matthew” Interesting theories.

Looks like my AR-15 article is going around some discussion forums again... I'm getting a lot of email about it. No hate-mail though... just a ton of “I agree” types. Which is heart warming.

Friday, 11-25-05:  GM expects to sell more vehicles overseas than here in the US. Read it here. When they say overseas, they mean China. I read British car magazines, namely Top Gear... more on that later. Anyway, when I read about American Cars in the British rags, I'm not reading about very many GM vehicles. They have a very very small market share over there. So who is going to all the sudden start buying up lots of GM rigs? The arrows point to China. The consumer market in China is exploding. Any company, regardless of product, if they are not making plans to market to China, then they are going to be left behind. GM moving product in China is only a matter of business sense. If we want to avoid a firefight with China, we have to tie them into our economy so tightly that if they pull the trigger, they are shooting themselves in the foot. Pretty much that is almost the case already but we need to make it obvious to them.

BTW, it takes 6 times more energy to make Ethanol that what Ethanol gives you.  Nice.  Sounds like a Liberal plan to me.

No, I'm not Anti-Glock. I'm just not going to buy one. Ever. If you like yours, that's fine. See, Glocks have a number of good features, we'll call them “Pros”. However they also have a number of “Cons”. The Cons in this case pretty much balance out the Pros. In my opinion that is. Your opinion might be different. Like me, you are fully entitled to your opinion. Doesn't make you right though. I'm kidding. The Glock has a very clever design, very compact and space/size efficient. Probably more so than any other handgun. The basic design is a good one. But something about it has just got to be wrong. Something has to account for all the ND's and KB's that seem to be more common in Glocks than in any other handgun maker... or all the others put together? An email gave us a good question: Is there anyone, any agency with credibility that is keeping track of Nds and KB's by make and model? I don't know of any. The FBI has nothing like that. They only record an ND that injures someone, but they don't record the make and model in the reports. Just Handgun or Rifle and Shotgun. Peter made a good point about the trigger... The 1911's trigger is just as light. So is the Springfield XD. Yet I don't hear of many ND's with those guns.

I'm doing this to my Contour. Linking to The Gun Zone again here. The Green Marlin was my gun selected as my Truck Gun for Brutus. A classic 336 in .30-30. Its the rifle most hunters see in their mind when you say “Lever-Action”. It fits well for a full sized Bronco. But does it fit with a Contour? Not really. I think I might need something else for this one. A good fit for the small, quick and nimble 'Tour would be a pistol caliber carbine, but my Tour has the V-6 so I'm thinking something more powerful. I'm thinking a shotgun. BTW, that's the outfit that made the rack I put in Brutus. Big Sky. Its a good rack.

Peter has take on the Glock question: “George – RE: Glock KB. I wonder if anyone keeps data on the number of ADs by mfg or model? There wouldn’t be a “New York trigger” for Glocks if NYPD hadn’t experienced a problem with the original trigger pull, which may be getting the blame rather than a user index finger problem. I hear about Glock ADs more than any other brand, but I would trust some hard data by someone who knows what hard data is more than I trust the anecdotal evidence flying about. For what it’s worth, I’m both an NRA Certified Instructor (all disciplines) and an NRA Certified Range Safety Officer. On my RSO duty days (at my local club, Central Florida Rifle and Pistol Club, Inc.) I must average two cautions an hour to keep fingers off triggers until the sights are on target, so I know where the KBs come from. And, I cringe when I get a student for Basic Instruction or my CWP class who shows up with a brand new Glock. For those I substitute one of my guns for the first hour until they start to learn where the index finger doesn’t go. As for blaming the Glock design, thinking about it, I’m hard pressed to come up with another highly popular brand/model of handgun that goes into the holster cocked over a chambered round and has a light-to-medium trigger pull. 1911s go in cocked-and-locked, but that hammer is out in the open for all to see that it’s cocked, and it does have a safety, two if the grip safety hasn’t been crippled. And, someone carrying a 1911 is usually a bit more aware than the average new Glock owner. - Peter”

My brothers in Iraq are now on there way home. This isn't like a commercial route, so it will take them some time... but they are in route. We are most pleased. They've spent this last year at the infamous Abu Graihb prison. They got there after the whole torture thing, and their unit had nothing to do with that... but the place stinks of the taint. The commanding officers have been this whole time more concerned with the “image” than with the actual care and well being of the soldiers under their command. The prisoners would riot, and instead of locking the joint down... they would still allow visitors so everything looked just fine from the outside. This is asinine. There is a lot of other stuff that I could say, such as talking about the NCO that ordered everyone to return to their barracks to get into full uniform... while they were pouring out to respond to and repulse a huge coordinated attack. WTF? You have to be in full uniform to defend yourself? Don't even get me started. Well, by bros are on the way back to VA. Once they get home and before the next drill comes up, their enlistment will be over and they will be done with the Military. I don't think either one of them are going to reenlist. This is fine. They have served honorably in what is probably the shittiest place on the whole planet. They deserve a gracious bow out. Now they will be able to focus on a finishing degrees and one of them even has a fiance now... they can get back to their lives.

Thanksgiving Day: Started out great... had a stumble... but everything pulled together when we went out to eat our feast. After feasting, we all went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. Overall, the day went well and I'm pleased. The stumble? Wife lost the keys to the van. Took 3 hours of searching to find them... in her purse. Sheesh. Thank GOD men wear pants with pockets so we know where wallets and keys are – always. Anyways... I'm just glad my bros are on the way home. That's all that matters. Everyone at Ogre Ranch is doing well and we're all happy and healthy... again... all that matters. BTW, props to Steve Jones, the owner of the local Golden Coral. His people put on a great spread. The turkey was great, the stuffing was alright, and everything else was great too. The waitress was both pretty and prompt with the refilling of my Coke... I was pleased. And Mrs. Ogre didn't have to spend all day cooking. So she went shopping. Evidently the Day after Thanksgiving Sales are now starting ON Thanksgiving... whatever.

This is why women want SUV's, right here. I don't get the whole “Shopping” thing. Shopping is something men do because they need something. Its a necessity thing. Like bowel movement. Women on the other hand lament the fact that it is not an Olympic Sport. The only thing I'm comfortable shopping for... weapons. I'm down with that. I've got that bit down. Shopping for anything else, I'm lost, confused, and frightened.

Wed, 11-23-05: Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers out there, Horde Members, Lurkers, and the FBI who is going to be all over me for what I said about them in my SIG P229 SAS review. I hope they have a sense of humor.

Shock and Horror Moment: When I realized that Project X might require a new computer system... a MAC. I do not want to have to purchase a new computer system for this... especially not a PowerMac G5. But I might have to. When it comes to editing video, really there is nothing better than a Mac with Final Cut Pro. Another better ideas? It would be nice if this whole project could run on all Open Source software. It would be nice if I was filthy rich too. Some things go without saying.  Speaking of Project X.  I need to find a good title for it.  Project X is just the placeholder.  I've told some folks about it, and you guys who I've told... if you have an idea... let me hear it.

I was asked if I had ever “photoshopped” any of my photos for CCM. Yes, I have. Once. It was the photo showing the shot group for the Beretta Mini Cougar .45. The cardboard that my target was hanging on was hanging up before I got there, and I used it because I was lazy and it was there. It was shot up nicely. Holes all over the place. The cardboard was distracting. So I cleaned up the cardboard, filling in the holes. The target paper and everything else was untouched. What did I use for this? GIMP. Which is btw, a nice open source bit of software. If you look carefully at the photo you can see a couple light spots where I cloned the pixels from a lighter area of the cardboard. The head and the red circles were filled with ragged holes, and it looked horrible. You gotta love the ghetto tape job I did to hold that cardboard steady. That shoot-n-see target and that spot of masking tape... There was a breeze that day, and it was snowing a bit, hence the white colored streaks. But no, I've not altered the images of anything else.

This Cougar, I've toyed with the idea of selling it... tried once... but I'm going to keep it around. I love this gun. The CZ P-01 is another one that I'll not get rid of. More ergonomic than anything else.... feels like it was built personally for just me. I'm going to have Karl Sokol slick it up for me come spring time. And the S&W 640... another gun I would be most reluctant to part with. Its small, with only 5 shots... but those are 5 shots of full power magnum force. This makes for a great concealed carry package.

Another shock and horror moment. The publisher of Concealed Carry Magazine, who I write for, sent us a little story about an accidental discharge.  The Gun Zone has the full story.  I'm going to talk about this for two reasons. First, this serves as an example to us. And second, it brings up a question. Tim shot himself in the hand with his .45 caliber Glock pistol when he went to strip it down for cleaning. Handguns, much like motorcycles and poisonous snakes, and beautiful women are very dangers when you take them for granted and fail to show them the utmost respect. Tim is a pretty solid fellow when it comes to firearms and gun safety... he's carried for many years... he's responsible... and he is careful. But he blinked. Just a fraction of a second's worth of carelessness, and bang. It happened. Tim is okay. He is going to be scarred, his pride is hurt... but he will be okay. He will regain the use of his hand for the most part. It could have been much worse. The bullet only went through his hand and not something vital or someone he loved. You have to RESPECT THE GUN. Simple as that. However... (we are on to reason two now) I've heard of more than a few... quite a few, actually, occurrences of negligent discharges... another fellow right here in Utah... one is a popular internet video of a cop... and each one of them was with a Glock. I'm not going to get into any debates about the pro's and con's of the Glock handgun design or its trigger. However considering these numbers of negligent discharges and the number of instances of Glock KB's; (Means Ka-Booms, as in the gun blew up) I am forced to question the validity of the claim to Glock Perfection. If we are looking for pattern recognition here, there is either something wrong with the Glock handgun design, or there is something wrong with the people who are buying Glocks. I tend to think the problem might be in the Glock pistol design. The Gun Zone has a whole section regarding Glock KB's. Take a look at them. Sure, a KB can happen with any firearm. But they happen with Glocks with alarming regularity. You be the judge... I'm just thinking out loud here.

Tue, 11-22-05: You got to love this... Environmentalists have been pushing for “green” fuels such as BioDiesels are killing the rain forests. I didn't see this one coming, but had a good laugh about it when I saw it. This is something that the Liberal Idiots do not get... there is no free lunch when it comes to energy. If you want fuel from corn or soy, you need fields and fields of corn and soy. Even hydrogen – They think it is just like some magicians rabbit out of the hat trick. In order to produce hydrogen, you need electrical power which has to come from someplace, namely your electric company. The demand for this, should everyone decide to go Hydrogen would in turn more than double the power demands and require that much more fuel to generate that power. Fuel such as coal. This would in turn put more demand on coal mining operations and of course produce far more pollutants. Gasoline isn't really that bad. And gallon for gallon there is more energy in it than anything else out there. Ahem... anything out there that is stable and safe to use that is. Fuel from Soy sounds good. Hell, it even smells good. But its not nearly as good or as easy or as cheap to produce as gasoline. And what happens if some of those soy fields suffer from a frost or a flood or a drought or a plague of locusts or any number of other things that can happen that can cripple the yield? What would happen is of course spikes in price that wouldn't come down again until the next harvest. Yeah, that sounds great. What about miles per gallon too? How much energy goes in to produce one gallon of B-D, or one gallon of Hydrogen? The B-D will have an advantage on hydrogen here... sun and water to grow, a harvester to pick it all up, then the power to convert it to something your engine can use... And that one gallon will drive your Diesel powered Jetta... what? 30 miles? I understand that the equivalent capacity of hydrogen will only drive you about five miles. I might be wrong on that... that was some years ago I heard that. Perhaps the current tech will let you go farther... like 10 maybe? What is the real cost per mile here? Gasoline isn't that bad at all by comparison. Especially if the politicians would stay out of it and let us pull the oil out of our own back yards. Speaking of back yards... solar power and wind power. The eco-nutters talk a lot about it, but when it comes to building these magic power making machines... they throw fits. You cant put them where they need to be because that might harm the environment or kill a few birds. Are not they they ones pushing Darwinism anyway? Odd, that. They have no realistic or productive solutions.

While I'm talking about this stuff... those Tornado Air intake gadgets... they don't work.  If you want better mileage out of your car, get a tune up and keep it running right.  Widgets wont work.  I was going to change the oil in my car Saturday.  Went to Checkers and picked up some Mobile 1 and the Bosch Premium filter that I like... This is the first change since I got my Contour.  Well, I couldn't even find the damn oil filter under the car.  And the car rides so low, I couldn't even get my jack under it in the first place.  So I just took it into a shop and they used my oil and filter instead of Pennzoil (shudder) stuff.  Yeah, they actually used my oil and filter... I watched them.  My car feels a hell of a lot better now.  2500 miles on cheap stuff was probably 2000 miles too far.  Some might say 2499 miles too far.  But It's right as rain now.  Oh... another reason the car feels so much better.  The previous owner had put a Tornado Air unit in it!  I don't know if it was the oil or the Tornado - but my car is running so much better now that it isn't even funny.  And I thought it was running great to start with!  I am looking forward to seeing how much my mileage improves with that POS out of my intake.   

Akita. The other day we got an Akita puppy. She is the cutest little thing. Smart as hell too. She has a bit of Labrador blood, so she is mostly black and her tail doesn't curl up like a pure bred Akita, but everything else is. Huge paws on this pup. Way huge paws. Hungry and thirsty too. Reading up about the Akita breed, she's a perfect fit for the family. Ranger likes her too. She's been sleeping on the bed with us... a bad habit. But she cries all night if she doesn't. We shall have to break that habit quick. An Akita can get up to a hundred pounds!

Ruger. I gotta give Ruger a hand... those guys are so good to work with. I had been meaning to send that P345 back to them... and then for some reason I thought I had. The P345's box is actually very small... so for some time now I thought that that little box was cleaning kit or something. Then this weekend I needed a bore brush so I grabbed that box... “Hey, why does this say Ruger? And why is it heavy? Oh Crap!” So I run it down to the Fed Ex joint and send it off Overnight Express. Well, today I get a letter from Ruger. “Hey, uh, that P345 we sent you... if you are done with it... but if you're not you can have more time with it, no problem.” They were most apologetic, which is odd since I was the dumbass here. At least this explains what happened to my cleaning kit. SIG on the other hand... you are not going to mistake that box. It's bright blue and bloody massive. That's how you make pistol cases right there! I was reluctant to send that P345 back... I'll be honest. I liked that gun. If you need a .45ACP automatic, but don't want to spend a lot of coin on it, that is totally the way to go.

Monday, 11-21-05: Funny how Congress just about had a riot when one congressmen read a letter from a Marine who said “Cowards cut and run, but Marines never do.” If you heard the audio on the radio... damn if that wasn't the most telling audio clip you could ever here. I had a good laugh at this. You see, they are offended because this Marine was absolutely correct... they are angry because anger comes from pain and as The Horde knows – the truth hurts. The Democrats were slapped across the face by the USMC. God Bless The US Marines! And the Army of course too. :) You guys are heroes and stride the earth like giants. Keep your powder dry and stay safe.

Leaving Iraq. This is a good goal to have. It really is. However in order for us to leave Iraq in a way that is safe for departing Americans and Coalition forces, and in a way that will allow Iraq to maintain stability, it has to be done in the right way. Mainly, it has to be done as soon as Iraq is able to stand on its own feet. Liberal Democrats will say nothing but how much of a mess Iraq is, how dangerous it is, and how Iraq was much better off before we invaded. They are partially correct. Iraq was stable before we invaded, that's true. If you define “stable” as being ground into the dirt under Saddam's boot heel and any who said otherwise is fed into a wood chipper feet first - then yeah, Iraq was perfectly stable. Just a matter of perspective, isn't it? Since we have been there, coalition and American forces have rebuilt their zoo, library, museum, and a number of hospitals, schools, public works... all Saddam built was palaces and graveyards. Oh, and shrines to himself. The Liberals tend to overlook these obvious things. They also tend to overlook the fact that most of this so called “insurgency” is religious based, and not anti-US. The violence is mostly coming from the Sunni brand of Islam targeting the Shiite flavor... because they know that with this newly granted freedom and democracy, the power goes to the people, and local politics means that means Shiite vs Sunni. Debates are already raging across Iraq about how many seats a Sunni majority province has over the Shiite majority province next door. They recognize that this is Iraq's future. So it is no surprise to anyone when insurgents from Iran come in, being a Sunni majority state, and start blowing up random Shiites with the pretense of intention to kill infidel Americans. No surprise either that Saddam's regime was nothing more than a collection of high level Baath Party officials who happen to have all been – you guessed it – Sunni. The Sunni's do not want to let go of control. They are not interested in freedom of choice. They are totalitarian in their beliefs. You must believe like they do or you are disposable. I am of course talking about the extremists who believe that they are justified by divine providence to commit whatever acts of violence is required to obtain their goals. Just like Democrats, really. This isn't an easy situation to resolve. There is no answer that can be summed up in a sentence. There is no solution that will work that doesn't require generations of attitude adjustment. Just pulling out would be like opening the gate at a rodeo bull ride.

This all being said, my brothers tour of duty in Iraq is coming to an end. They are due to leave soon... only a couple of weeks left. I'm very excited for them, and relieved. They've had some very hairy and scary close calls, but they've looked the elephant in the eye and have served with honor. I'm extremely proud of them.

I picked up a new digital camera Saturday. Some bills might be paid late... but I had to have a new camera. Our old one sucked, but it did some hard duty at Ogre Ranch. My eldest son had misplaced it and I'm afraid that it is lost forever. The real dig of it is the MIA SD card. I had a nice big card in that thing! If you find the camera – you can have it. I just want that memory card back! My new camera, I don't know if it could use it or not. It takes a wee little XD memory card. Its a Fuji A360, 4.1 mega pixels. Nothing fancy, but it will take the still images that I need. I still need a digital video camera... for the price of 5 or 6 of these Fuji's. Dang it. I picked this unit up for less than 150. I wanted the Fuji E500 which was on sale for 170 but they were out. Double dang it! Now that I have a camera again, I can take some pictures that I've been wanting to take... not just for family, but also for MadOgre.com and Project X. I was also able to use the camera to take some photos of the SIG P229 and get them submitted to Concealed Carry Magazine... and the related review as well. So CCM subscribers have that to look forward to.

Friday, 11-18-05:  The Ogre is going to be in a ballet. Laugh it up now, while you have the chance... get it out of your systems... but yeah... I'm going to be in a bloody ballet. The Nutcracker. The roll of “The Grandfather” who gives the nutcracker to the girl and that's about it. Very small bit... but I'm expected to come out with a cape and flourish it about before I can exit stage right. The girl who will be playing/dancing the main roll, and my wife both begged me on their knees with much pleading, batting of eyelashes and wringing of hands... so how could I have said no? This unprecedented affair will not be recorded and I will deny everything.

Up for trade. Gerber Emerson Alliance: This is an automatic knife, so your local laws and how they effect you are up to you. Its a largish switch blade type knife, plain edge. Used for a few weeks and has only seen light cutting chores. I like it... but I was hoping it would replace my Kershaw Boa as my daily carry blade. I'm looking for a stainless handled Spyderco Native with a plain edge (what I really want, and have for some time) and something else... or something altogether interesting. Make an offer. This is pending on the good faith that you are fully able to have such a knife and are legally able to receive it. Comes with the new and unworn nylon belt sheath.

Note to Ford's SVT: I'm looking forward to seeing Ford's SVT group doing something interesting with the Fusion and the 500. The 500 is an old name plate that Ford used in the past for some pretty impressive cars. Remember the name “Galaxy”? This new 500 isn't a very impressive car at all. It's not even as interesting as a base model Crown Victoria. However, the Crown Vic made a fine police package with some tweaking. The 500 has the same potential, but it wont be the next patrol car of choice of agencies across the country. That honor goes to the new Dodge Charger. Have you seen the new Charger police package? Damn. Back to the 500. An SVT 500 could be a most impressive vehicle. The basic groundwork is all there... the potential is there. Same with the Fusion. Should the SVT team decide to do some tweaking... we could expect some suspension improvements. Some engine improvements. And that would be all fine and well. But what I'd really like to see is a good manual transmission mated up with that engine. I'd like to see some press about Ford making something that can compete with not just the likes of Volkswagen – which is seems to be the goal – but with BMW. Just some thoughts for the SVT guys to think about.

In field testing this SIG P229SAS, I have been trying to find fault in it. Something wrong. Something to criticize. Something to correct. Some downside to the gun. Guys, I have to be totally honest here. I'm not finding anything. This is how you make handguns. SIG got it right. Now if they could just do something about the Mercedes Benz window sticker price... well... in this case, you do get what you pay for. This gun is worth the price. Every penny.

A fellow at work has lent my the Season 1 DVD collection of the series “Lost”. I'm loving it. The writing and the story line is most interesting and the characters are even more so. With series being put out onto DVD, letting you watch what you want to watch and without commercials... what am I really missing out on by not paying for Sat or Cable TV? This is sweet. Lost, Firefly... and I'm tempted to checking out the original CSI series, but I'm not sure about that one yet. Another series that I'm enjoying is called “Numb3rs”. Getting bast the hard liberal slant, I like it for some reason. Probably for picking out all the errors in a show trying to be smarter than the viewers. Snipers are explained all wrong, the make out Navy F-18 Hornets to be Air Force F-16 Falcons, and they make the military – especially Special Forces – to be people not to be trusted... and all the really bad gun handling, some of the worst you will ever see on TV... for all the effort to make this show smart... they can be pretty stupid about it sometimes. I guess that's what I like about it. Back to Lost, when is Season 2 going to be out? I hate cliff hangers.

Tuesday, 11-12-05: Email from over seas: “Hey Ogre, I enjoy reading your very down-to-earth gun tests. We don't really have a firearms culture here in Copenhagen, and so we don't have access to such a wide variety of arms as you do in America -- but I have had the opportunity to fire CZ handguns, and I share your high opinion of them. Anyway, you're not the only one who dislikes the AR-15 and variants. I thought you would find this interesting. Best regards, Christian”

Milblogging.com: Milblogging.com currently has 615 military blogs in 18 countries. They have created an award, the Milbloggie... for the top military blogs out there. Looks like I'm going to help in the judging of ties and what not, so don't try to sweet talk me. I'm not into that bullshit. Hard core bribes work. Just kidding. This is a good site putting out a good effort to help good people. Check it out.

I've been working hard on Project X, getting things lined up and outlining what specifically I'd like to do. I hope to unveil Project X to the public soon... telling you guys what it is really... with the project opening publicly hopefully by April or May. I've got some big plans for this... this is nothing like you've ever seen before.

Friday, 11-11-05: Veterans Day:  Just a word to you cake eating civilians out there… You don’t say Happy Veterans Day.  You don’t say Merry Vets Day.  But just because you don’t have a meaningless Seasons Greetings for it doesn’t mean you don’t say anything.   This isn’t some fat bunny in a sled passing around Jack O’Lanterns because it’s Santa’s birthday…  This isn’t about some old fable-become-tradition.   Veterans Day is a day for those that are still alive, and for those who are dead… those who died for your freedom to flip soldiers the bird and to call them baby killers and spit on them in the airport.  Veterans Day is for the guys that died fighting for your personal independent liberty… It’s for that Veteran that walks with just a slight limp and seems otherwise fine, but he doesn’t have a spleen because an enemy of our country blew it out his back with an AK-47 so you can get 15% Off that new leather fat-ass reclining couch that your going to sit on to mock the President from while watching your 42 inch plasma TV flipping through the channels trying to find some Friends rerun.   Veterans Day is for the guy that came home while all his friends didn’t.  Veterans day is for the woman who gave up the best years of her young adulthood so she could press her hands over the sucking chest wound of some guy from her own home town 6 thousand miles away from home.  Veterans day is for that old woman over there that raised 2 kids alone because when she was young she sent her handsome young husband off to fight for your freedom and came back as a flag folded into a triangle.  That’s what Veterans day is for… and what do you say to those people who served?  You just say “Thank You”.

Thank God for Caleb Hanson of Ohio.edu, who has explained it all to me. (Email is cut and pasted, unedited) “there is a reason that the Army is not using a rifle with a large caliber. If they were to use a powerful large caliber rifle, each person they shot would die, one person for a bullet. However, if they use a rifle that will just injure a soldier, it takes several soldiers to carry them out to safety effectively tying up multiple soldiers. That is why they went to a smaller caliber.” Considering that we fire thousands of rounds per kill, I don't think the ability for one round to kill an enemy with a single shot was any concern. The “designed to wound” argument was just fabricated justification for pathetic performance.

The other day when I said I was looking up information about my 2.5 liter Duratec V-6... I found that this is the same engine that is under the hood of the Jaguar X types. On one hand I could probably boast about that. On the other I can look at the 5 or 6 X types around here and just smirk... or I could point and laugh. Its a good engine, don't get me wrong... it has enough power to do the job but it isn't a Beemer Beater (even though I've done just that, ahem) and it's certainly not swanky enough to be a real Jaguar engine... or so I thought. Evidently it is. To any Jag drivers out there. sorry about that. So is it me, driving a cheap knock off Jag. Or is it these Jaguars running around with a cheap Ford engine under the hood? A chicken or the egg sort of question I guess.

Ford is doing a lot of this lately... Most notably in the new Ford Fusion which I spun around in the other day. The Fusion looks like it's designer as spent way too much alone time with a Gillette Mach III razor. The only thing that breaks up the triple blade look is the blue oval that has appeared on the production version. Ten bucks says Chevy is coming out with one with four blades next year following the Schick game plane.

The Fusion from the inside out is actually a pretty decent car all around. The cute sales girl said “it's just like an (Honda) Accord.” Evidently she's never seen an Accord... because it's not much like that at all. Actually it is a lot like the Mazda's number 6, which the Fusion was based on. I had the impression that the Fusion was very much like a Contour/Mondeo that has grown up healthy. (Is this Fusion the same car that is being sold in Europe as the Mondeo 2? I read something about a Mondeo 2 in Top Gear) It seems a bit bigger here and there, but especially in the back seat. You can put 3 full grown adults back there and not have to worry about complaints about who is touching who.... but then maybe again, you might want that. In that case, there is plenty of room for those back seat games.

The model I tried out was an SEL version, which I found was the top of the line. The Brass Hat edition. Meaning the Fusion doesn't get any better than that from the factory. The base model S has a 4 cylinder engine and a five speed manual. The SE version has the 4 banger with an option V-6 with the6 speed automatic transmission. The SEL has the V6 and the 6 speed... but no manual. No version out has the combination that I would be looking for, the 3.0 liter V6 with a manual transmission. Evidently Ford doesn't think anyone is capable of shifting three liters of engine on their own... you couldn't even special order one if you tried. I tried. Out of the different levels of Fusion you could get, the SEL is the one to buy. The potential is there for a great mid sized car but if you want real driving thrills, save your coins for a ride in a BMW, Audi, or even VW.

The SEL's contrasting thread stitched leather looked off to me. Reminded me of the stitching on a baseball or something. But without the ball. No, wait... the ball is just sunk into the dashboard... a badly placed, chromed analog clock with a white face. I don't like that, and I think it comes off as looking rather stupid. Same with the SEL's special wheels... evidently designed to tie in with the whole Gillette theme. The lower rung versions of the Fusion have even worse wheels. If you buy any version, save some bank for some aftermarket wheels and rubber. The whole thing comes off feeling cheaper than it should. Driving it was no adventure. The engine was good enough for around town, but it didn't feel enthusiastic about anything. No spirit. The shifter always shifted either very early or very late... always managing to be in the wrong gear. Overall I found the new Fusion to be passable, but disappointing. Your mileage may vary.

Wednesday, 11-09-05: These French Riots. This morning on the news I listened to the reports that they had Night Twelve last night and that out of all the burning buildings, cars and everything... that no one was hurt. Why is that the case? Why wasn't the news something like “Fifteen rioters were shot with rubber pellet and bean bag shells by police in an attempt at restoring order.” It's as if France isn't even trying to quell the uproar. So far the only official reaction is a threat to create more laws. Creating laws is not a solution. Enforcing existing laws is! Is there any enforcement effort going on? But I guess that's what happens when you are not allowed to defend your own. Here in the USA, should such a thing happen, you would have good guys with their guns out, standing in defense of their neighborhood. That's what has happened all over the USA whenever crap happened. Everyplace save New Orleans where the police disarmed the defenders and then just stood by and let the looters have at it for almost a week. Look at the flooding in the North East that happened... no riots there. Possibly because there were defenders standing ready; the police didn't disarm anyone; the citizens there are not a bunch of uneducated drunken idiots. France, the French Quarter... is there a pattern here? Just thinking out loud.

Okay, this story about the Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders... They are denying it now. Dang. That was hot. Yeah, I know... I'm going to hell.

I decided to change my Linux box from Linspire 5.0 to Ubuntu 5.10 “Breezy Badger”. Ubuntu is much easier on this system and runs much faster. Linspire is like piloting a barge by comparison. Not that Linspire is bad, but this box is just not all that. My Linux box is a 1.5ghz AMD with 512 megs of RAM, a 40 gig hard drive, and a Radeon 7000 graphics card. not a sad machine, but not exactly anyone's dream machine. This is pretty much my writing computer. My Dell runs XP Pro, has a 2.8ghz machine, 1.5 gigs of RAM, a 120 gig HD and an 80 gig for extra storage (MP3's and such) and a 9600XT graphics card with 256 megs RAM on it... Linspire runs fine on it, but that machine is for gaming... right now you could call it my “F.E.A.R. BOX”. Ubuntu is a great distro, but it's not perfect. No distro is... but Ubuntu is very solid. The stability is there, the packaged software is a short list, but all the needed ones are here, including OpenOffice 2.0 which is important to me. Mozilla Firefox is here too, which is nice. Not having to worry about Windows targeting viruses and spyware is the biggest advantage.... the fact that this box is Microsoft Free is another advantage. To be totally honest, Microsoft does have some good products. Office 2003, FrontPage 2003, and a number of games... all are great. The software package that comes with Windows is very good too, when you compare it to other operating systems and what they offer. Of course Ubuntu can't hold a candle to SUSE 10. Few can. In fact, SUSE 10 might end up dual booting in my Dell before this month is out. Maybe.

To help Project X get started, I'm going to auction off Brutus. I don't want to do this, but I have to. Brutus is still there, parked boldly in front of the Ogre Ranch shop, looking handsome and forlorn. (Hey, I've got stables in my back yard, so I can call it a ranch if I want to) Brutus fired up last week when I started it up to make sure everything was still cool... He is not without his scars. Not unlike anyone who is unafraid of treading where Angels and Jeeps dare not. He's solid... and he has served me very well, but he must serve one last purpose for me... to help me kick start Project X. I put a lot of money into him, and I still think it was money well spent. I think a good starting bid for him would be $1500. That would be enough to get some of the required equipment that Project X requires. I'll even leave the rifle rack in it. If the bidding goes high enough, I'll even put a rifle in the rack.

I went to my University and talked with one of my professors about Project X. She was enthusiastic about it... She loved the idea. Basically, everyone who I've shared this idea with (potential contributors) have all loved the Project. It is exciting stuff, and I'm going to need a lot of help on this to get it rolling – and I'm not talking about money. The technical support for this project is high. To make this happen, I am going to need to learn a whole lot of stuff that I right now I just don't know how to do. But I'm learning it. This project is simply the combination of some high tech stuff with old traditions. I'm going to be using new technology to recreate the old into something new and awesome. Like taking an old '68 Caddy and putting in new a new CTS engine, drive train, suspension, and interior. Then mounting guns on it. Kinda, but its more than just that. You guys are going to be blown away with this once it hits the open air. And its going to be all Off Line. There will be very little online for this. But you are going to love it. I promise! I can't tell you guys how pumped I am for this.

This evening I was listening to NPR. (Hey, I listened to Rush today too) For those who don't know what NPR is, it stands for “National Public Radio” and it is federally funded platform for Liberal and Communist bullshit. But there are some other things on NPR that I actually like... for examples when writers read essays and such... I like that. I don't know why, but I do. NPR just doesn't get it. They were talking about the story of some 15 year old kid who killed a soldier with a hand grenade during a firefight in Iraq. The NPR asshole on the radio questioned if this kid should have been captured or not. His argument was that he was a 15 year old kid and as such should have been removed by US Forces from the area and rehabilitated him and released him into a safe environment. No, I kid you not, that's just what this guy was saying. It seems that the slack-minded liberals think that these “insurgents” are like wild bears and only fight us because they are frightened and hungry and that we should drop them off after feeding them and inoculating them into Yellow Stone or some place. (Sure, I agree with that... I'm thinking in the middle of the North Atlantic.) The NPR prick then complained that this poor misunderstood and unfortunate child was shackled. Oh the humanity! He was shackled and made uncomfortable for periods of time... as if this was some sort of torture.

Cry me a river. Let's not forget the bit that he killed an American Soldier by throwing a grenade at him. Now this might just be me, but I'm of the opinion that this kid is extremely lucky to alive and should pray to Allah in thanks for the great mercy and restraint of the American Soldiers... and that Ogre was not there. Because I would have put a bullet through this fuckwit's brain pan without hesitation, second thought, or remorse. I would have had a good meal later that day, and that night I would have slept well. By throwing a grenade this 15 year old enemy combatant became The Enemy. I don't care how old The Enemy is... I don't care if The Enemy is still in diapers... If The Enemy engages me or my men, I am obligated to engage him right back with a high degree of focused violence of action and overwhelming firepower. If this kid had been curled up in the fetal position, screaming for help... then my obligation would have been to attempt his safe recovery and removal from the area of conflict. No, he threw a grenade. Screw him. That's just the way it is.

There is no hatred in this... there is no animosity... it's just physics. Its like inertia. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You see, a Soldier is an ancient and honorable profession. Professional Soldiers go back to before the times of the Romans. Soldiers live by a strict code of conduct, and hold themselves to a higher standard than civilians, even Doctors, Policemen, Politicians, or Scientologists. Sure, at times a Soldier's job includes closing with and destroying the enemy. But to a professional soldier, this does not mean that he hates the enemy. Quite the opposite in fact... if the enemy is a professional soldier and fights accordingly the soldier will respect the enemy. Even honor him.

True there is some hatred from some places in the military, but not from the professional soldier... because the professional soldier understands the nature of war and he knows what it is he fights for and why. Remember WWII, there are a great number of accounts of American Soldiers coming face to face with German Soldiers outside of actual combat situations... and aide was rendered, items exchanged or traded. Because there was respect. There was a lot of respect for certain Iraqi units and Officers... some of those same officers are still leading Iraqi units. So when I say I would have put a bullet through this kid's skull, I do not say that out of any hatred... or in this case any respect either... but I would have done it. And then this kid would have nothing to whine about and this prick from NPR would have had to have come up with something else to cry about.

If you look at the average American Soldier (or Sailor, or Marine or Airmen), you are looking at not just one of the best soldiers every fielded by any army at any point in history – you are also looking at one of the finest examples of who an American citizen is. It really pisses me off when Democrat politicos, liberal pundits, or any member of the media who is pretending to be a journalist tries to make an American soldier look like a villain. American soldiers are super heroes. Dark Horse Comics should make some comic books about them, and Hollywood should be making movies honoring each and every one of them.

Monday, 11-07-05:  France seems to be full of fire and brimstone lately... fighting and rioting all over the place. We can hardly blame them for this. Only rarely does France ever get fight anyone and win, and everyone can always beat the French... so there you have it. Let them have their small victories. An ambulance here, a parked car, a random French citizen there. Whatever makes them feel special.

The US Army's new rifle, the XM-8 has been officially put on hold as of this last July and looks to be pretty much just unofficially canceled. HK is probably not too happy about this, but had HK rolled out the prototypes in 6.8MM or 6.5... or better yet, .300 Whisper... then it probably would have either fallen on its face right then and there, or it would have taken off. The bean counters must have looked at it and said “Oh, its a 5.56MM that runs of a 30 round magazine... don't we already have something like that?” No, the real problem with the XM-8 (other than its pathetic caliber) was that there was no high star count General pushing for it like they did the M-16 and the Stryker fighting vehicle. I still look sideways at the Stryker, but I do have to give the nod to the crewmen that have made these rigs really fight. They are full or problems, or so I am told, but the men are making do with what they have. This is what makes the US Military so damn good. American soldiers are some of the most determined and clever troops ever to be fielded by any military force ever in history... and while the US history is short, the US Military has always made us proud. They still do today in an unpopular war. And really, thank goodness that it is unpopular. I would not like to see a popular war, because too many people would enjoy it and look for more. No, I don't war... but sometimes it is necessary.

I was looking up some information on my Duratec V-6 engine. The information I found looks to the same typical upgrades for better performance... but then I wanted to know “how much oil” and “what grade” because, well, I'm about due for an oil change. I came across this: “If he's doing perfectly regular oil changes on a non-SVT Duratec that probably doesn't see high RPM's, there's no need for him to go synthetic. We all know the arguments for and against, but plain and simple, the proof is in the pudding, and he's at 175,000 miles, so it's pretty obvious that good 'ol dino oil works just fine.” This was off a Ford Contour discussion forum... you gotta be careful about information you get off a forum, always, but in the case like this... even more so. This forum is sharply divided between SVT owners and Non-SVT owners. I think that might play a factor here, but I'll just go ahead and think this guy is just a big freaking ID10T. I'm not going to go into all the advantages of synth-oil like Mobil 1 (which I'm putting in when I change my oil here shortly) because you should know them already. I don't care of regular motor oil is ½ price... Get the full synthetic. Just because this guy has been running regular oil for 175,000 miles with no problems so far doesn't mean this engine is going to be good for another 175K. That means nothing. You change your oil and select your oil not for the miles past, but for the miles ahead. The guy does have a point about the lower revs. I rarely go over 4,000 RPMs even when I'm hot footing it. (I don't do that very often) Mainly because I don't have to. The engine is nice and strong and pulls well in lower RPMs than other engines in such small cars like the Contour. Again, this doesn't mean a dang thing. This guy thinks engine wear only happens in high revs? Engines can wear any time you have the engine running, even just idling... so no matter what your driving, you should get the best oil you can for it. Oil filter too.

The SIG P229SAS: Damn, if I am not falling in love with this pistol. Seriously, this is one of the finest shooters I've had the pleasure to shoot. SIG says this gun is ideal for CCW. Well, I don't know about that. Its a chunky little pistol, about as beefy as my Cougar which was long regarded as being too beefy. Attractive, fun, feels good when you are messing around with it... but a tad chunky. Just like Liv Tyler's sister. I've always thought the 229 was a good handgun... but this version of it is almost a totally different animal. It's melted and smoothed... refined. It makes your typical P229 look like a brutish thug. Well, the P229SAS is still a brutish thug, but one that is clean shaven, well groomed, and wearing a tailored suit.

Friday, 11-04-05:  We are still moving forward on Project X. I have a very clear idea of what I want to do and how I want to do it. The only downside of course, as always, is funding. What I want to do will be flat out revolutionary because no one is doing anything like this, but once I start, everyone will be. The funds I need are quite small initially. I'm looking for only about 5 grand right now to start out. More money will be needed of course later, but hopefully the returns on the initial effort will provide the boost and make everything self sustaining at least, and crazy-profitable gold mine at best. I'm jazzed. I'm super jazzed about this, and next time I'm out in SLC (Not sure when right now) I want to conference with the Usual Suspects, all of who have talent enough to contribute to this project. This could very well turn into a full time gig for several people... (me included) and once you hear about this project, I'm pretty sure you will want to come on board. I'm all giddy about this over here! I've never been more excited about a project – never. Sorry for the teasing... I can't let the cat out of the bag. Yet.

On an unrelated note: I've started playing with some different Linux distributions again. The latest version of Ubuntu (Badger) and SUSE 10. Ubuntu-Badger is fantastic. I really like it... and it would replace my Linux at home if it wasn't for SUSE 10 which is just as fantastic but more resource intensive. If you have a fast machine, then SUSE 10 is for you; and if you don't have a fast machine – then you just need to get one. Life is too short to deal with slow systems. SUSE 10 has one of the most impressive software packages out there. 5 disks make up for a 7+gig install... its bloody huge if you want to install everything. I installed only 4gigs worth and I have so many programs, I don't even know what half of them are. The games alone are staggering. But for the box I'm running, I'm thinking Ubuntu might win out. Linspire is great, and I've used it regularly over this past while... but its a bit much for the system I'm running it on. The lighter requirements for Ubuntu would be a huge advantage. I think I will swap Linspire for Ubuntu at home.

SIG SAUER sent me a surprise. I was expecting a P239, but what arrived today is a P229 SAS. I've only fired a 229 once, and that was when it first came out. This P229 SAS that I have right here is in a word “Impressive”. Two toned, melt job, night sight, awesome wood grips... this is one hell of a sweet pistol. Writing a review will be difficult... it will be hard keeping it from becoming a fluff job.

Monday, 11-01-05: Please forgive my lack of posting lately. Sunday I had a wicked little idea, that has turned into a huge idea for a new project. This project is time consuming... No, I'm not talking about gaming, or technology or guns or cars or politics or movies... no... I'm talking about all the above. This is going to be a huge project for the benefit of all mankind (who like the cool stuff). I am eventually going to need some assistance from The Horde. I'm going to need some resumes from some talented people. I'm also going to need some digital video cameras. I'm going to need a machine that can crank out CD's and DVD's in large numbers. No, this has nothing to do with pirating movies. This is going to be new. The very few people I've talked to about this have all been totally jazzed about it. The downside is that this will eventually mean the end of MadOgre.com... but the birth of something completely awesome that will replace it.

Next Gun Review in the works:  SIG P239 in .40 cal.

Asshat of the Year.

“I keep two magnums in my desk drawer. One is a gun that I keep loaded.  The other is a bottle and it keeps me loaded.”

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