My job does not suck: Surefire X400 play time!

Our local Surefire Military Sales Rep (how much cooler a job could you have than selling lights, rails, suppressors and Surefire gear to the Army? His job doesn't suck even more than mine doesn't suck) let us check out the new X400 light for a bit before it gets shipped off to have an article written about it. This thing is freakin' awesome! I can see hanging it on my soon-to-be purchased Glock 19, as well as on the rail of Schwaggie. Tremendously bright light (go figger; its a Surefire) and an even brighter laser. Its a much more visible laser than I've seen from other companies. Of course, I'm a Surefire fan and this is just my impression of it by messing around in the showroom with it, but even so, it's damn bright and easy to see.

We found a couple things out, though: as is, it won't fit the MnP because of the shape of the trigger guard and how it slopes upwards towards the frame (an adapter plate that moves the lock bar rearward will solve that problem), and the XT-07 can't be used on it at the 12 o'clock position on the Daniel Defense M4. Still, this thing is a winner, and is built with typical Surefire beastliness. Now you see why I wanted out of manufacturing and back into the showroom, doncha? lol!

Google Chrome is cool!

My brother turned me on to the Google Chrome browser when I was staying at his place on my recent trip to Cali. I've been a dyed in the wool fan of Firefox for several years now, but Chrome is faster. Its also really easy to use; perhaps even moreso than Firefox is.

I just installed it a very short while ago, and I'm wondering what took me so long to do it. Check it out; it may very well be the best browser available.

Thumb Drive!

I was ordered by my Writing II teacher to get a thumb drive, so I went looking around for a suitable unit. I ended up with a Sandisk Cruzer Micro, because its cheap, but I really like this one:


Its stupid expensive at $90 (yeah, you read that right) but its cool. Sometimes cool is all you need.

Sometimes I miss the old days

Sometimes there's a reason to feel nostalgic. In many ways, technology and the like are far better now than they've ever been. Advancements have been made in many of my favorite areas: food, beer, electronics (can't afford it, but I think its cool), gear, and firearms, among others. There's even a Coke Zero now, and it doesn't taste like ass. There are cars out there now that can be had new for $15,000 (I know it won't have much on it, but it'll have wheels and a seat) that can go 30 miles on a tank of gas. The art of the carne asada burrito with sour cream and cheese added has been perfected for less than a fiver. Not here, mind you, because Messican food doesn't exist here, but they have 'em in California. I've had 'em, I know its true. 'Course, here we've mastered the $15 half rack of ribs to go. Its not the same, but it must do. The gas piston AR can be had for about what a high end DI gun goes for (I know, HK uppers sell for between $2500 and $5000, but since they'll never sell them on the civi market it doesn't count).

All these advancements were shown to pale in comparison to one Ol' Skoo' way of doing things: the epic summer blockbuster at a single screen theater. I remember seeing Hunt for Red October at a BIG single screen theatre in La Mesa. That place is a Good Guys stereo store now, and it hurts to see it. That old theatre had the ginormous screen, the Voice of the Theatre audio system...it was a great experience. The seats were like the first class seats on a cross country flight. I don't think they had cup holders-its been a while-but the seats were thick, wide and had legroom in spades. I will grant that stadium seating is pretty cool, but the seats are smaller, closer together, and its easier to hear the bung hole behind you on his stupid cell phone.

Back in the day, that screen was about a story tall. If you were in the front row, the screen was so large that all you saw was Sean Connery's nostrils. Not even the plural; just one, really. I'd have loved to see POTC: The End of the World on that screen. I saw it last weekend at our local theatre. Its a nice place; well cared for, nicely decorated, fairly comfortable, and supremely expensive. But its just not the same with that little screen. The sound is probably even better, but it all pales in comparison to that huge single screen. What a pity.

The fact is movies have gotten so expensive to make that single screen theatres are just not efficient enough anymore. That's why there's a 4567-plex theatre in the malls now, with chairs smaller than a bucket and screens the size of a piece of paper turned sideways. The ticket is $15 and a bag of popcorn and a drink is $157...plus tax. And, because of those exorbitant costs, we end up with stuff like The Hills Have Eyes 2. That means that the summer blockbuster and the single screen theatre will never happen again. That is, unfortunately, technology costing us one of the greater experiences that used to be available. And that truely is a pity.

Preparing young 'uns for the future, or making fat slobs?

I was channel surfing after watching my Michigan Wolverines win again, against a game, tough, overmatched Northwestern team. Found a couple things to watch for a few moments, such as the Sports Center after game show to catch up on scores. We all know Noter Damn is gonna beat Navy. ND is a sports franchise, Navy is a military academy that turns out leaders who play football while they're there. How ND stays ranked playing games like this is still a mystery to me.

As I commence to the surfing, I came across a couple things that really got my attention. First was a commercial for a new Penguin movie called "Happy Feet". I turned around to see an animated penguin rapping Curtis Blow's "Don't Push Me". I don't care who ya're, ats funny aight ther. The next thing that caught my attention, becuase the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special wasn't airing, was a couple of commercials for a couple new Fisher Price products. The first was a kid-proof digital camera, which frankly I find to be a brilliant idea and a wonderful product to bring to market. At least this kind of toy has the potential to get kids to go outside...although the potential downsides of what could be caught on camera are pretty obvious. Be careful, parents!

The other product I'm undecided about. The Fisher Price Star Station is essentially a kid's version of a karaoke (or as I prefer to call it, "kill me, choke me") that's been dialed in for kids. The upside of this is pointed out on FP's site: it can help a kid get used to doing things in front of people, which will make him comfortable with it later in life. I was never a show off, center of attention type kid, so when the time came in school to give presentations in front of the class, I had to learn on the job how to be comfortable in front of an audience. The other upside to this product is that it may help kids to appreciate music and pursue it. This can be a magical thing. I can say from experience that there's very little that will bring as big a grin to one's face as much as playing in front of a crowd. I got one of the biggest rushes in my life playing in front of 750 people. It was awesome. No wonder people wanna be rock stars.

The thing that concerns me, though, is that this product works through the TV. I'm torn here. Now, the upside to technology is that kids get exposed to it at an early age and grow up with it. Running computers and such will be things that they've done all their life by the time they get to the job market. That's probably a good thing. The ugly, insidious thing, though, is that anything that is TV based or computer based (like a blog! Oh, the irony!) has two effects that I consider...if not pernicious, then at least undesirable: they are visual stimulants, and they're indoors activities.

I am fearful that our nation's youth (yeah, I'm a bit of a xenophobe. I don't care that much about other nation's youth) are losing valuable skills by using the things that are available to entertain them. Video games may increase hand/eye coordination, but they keep kids sitting in front of their Idiot Boxes for hours upon hours upon hours. They're not using their imaginations, and they're certainly not out getting any exercise. That's not a good thing. We don't need fat people with no social skills and no ability to think outside of the parameters placed before them (yes, its true, I am making a concious effort not to use cliches with the terms "box" and/or "paradigm").

Its a well known fact that I think LARPing (go ahead and search LARP on your fave search engine) is at least 14 different kinds of geeky, and its got some seriously comedic aspects to it. But at least they're outside and using some imagination and creativity. The funny thing is, these are many of the same people who spent their formative years inside playing games rather than being outside running around in the world. I don't know if that's good or bad in sum; what I do know is that it beats the hell out of sitting in front of a screen ad nauseum.

All I'm getting at is that I'm seeing the results of the kids graduating after me. I'll use High School as a cut off, since that's where people either go on in their education, or they try to make it in the working world. I've worked with some of the "gaming generations". They don't think on their feet all that well. They don't deal with other people skillfully. They certainly write and comprehend what they read at a lesser level than there had been previously.

The older people I interact with tend to have a similar upbringing to mine: tearing around dirt lots on their bikes, having played a lot of "war" or "cowboys and indians", and having spent a good bit of time digging holes and making forts. That appears to be an art that is being lost. It is my opinion that not doing those kinds of things not only makes our latest crop of kidlets less fit, it makes them mentally weaker, too. That is not to say that I had a perfect upbringing and a wildly imaginative childhood, but it appears that mine was moreso than is the current standard.

Its definately not too late for our kids, but parents are going to have to make a concious effort to change the way things are. Let's face it, its pretty damn easy to let the TV and the computer be the parent and supervisor. Get it together, parents, or your kid's greatest achievment will be not unlike the all powerful player in the World of Warcraft game that Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny were into. Your kids are going Southpark on ya. Do something about it. Make that kid go outside and get dirty.

dangit

What a hassle. I downloaded what I thought was a codec for Windows Media Player, and it turned out to be chock full of spyware. I had a moment of weakness, didn't look deeply enough at what I was doing, and have spent a few days without my 'puter to sort it out. I suspect that I'm not done yet, either.

Makes me wonder, though: who's responsible for all this spyware, malware, jackassware, jerkware, etc. etc. Is it the companies that make spyware detection programs? In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter, because Webroot got $20 from me for SpySweeper anyway. This program comes recommended. Of course, you need to run right out, so to speak (its not easy to run right out online), and buy this program because some guy said he bought it on his blog.

Aha! Perhaps therein lies the difference: my blog is a self depracating blog. Look at the title. How could you not trust such a blog antiestablishmentarian? How could you not believe in a guy that can spell antiestablishmentarianism, and even know what it means and how to conjugate it? See that? That's called credibility!

If you're gonna take something useful away from my blog, it should likely be this: the online world has become a rotten place. Sure, its a great tool and a fantastic communication aid. But its also become the place where there are probably a million people out there writing malicious junk to get in your computer and make your life difficult. Use the 'net as a tool and have fun, but keep your guard up. People that wouldn't step to you in "real life" are out to wreck your stuff and cost you money, and perhaps attempt to ruin your life, when you're in front of your computer. Don't ever forget to push the chair back, stand up, and go outside.