May 05, 2009
Could this mean that I have, in fact, "seen it all"?
Not so long ago, some friends and I were making fun of the silly and strictly market-driven practice of placing the word "tactical" in front of anything a manufacturer wanted to sell to a particular demographic. You know who I'm talking about here. Gun folk. Well it seems this has reached it's (il)logical conclusion now that you can buy, and I'm not joking one bit, TACTICAL BACON.
Quite frankly, I'm surprised it didn't come in an ACU digital camo kydex can with a picatinny rail. Now that would have been tactical!
Notice that it qualifies for the 5% LE discount!
Quite frankly, I'm surprised it didn't come in an ACU digital camo kydex can with a picatinny rail. Now that would have been tactical!
Notice that it qualifies for the 5% LE discount!
// posted by wayne @ 5/05/2009 05:37:00 AM 
April 15, 2009
The Countdown Begins/Random Weekday Nonsense.
Here we go, people. THE countdown has begun! In slightly less than one year, I will turn *gasp* forty! And I couldn't be looking forward to it more. Not in the sense that I'm looking forward to the actual aging part, but unlike some folks I know, I have absolutely no reservations about that fateful day. I suppose saying goodbye to my thirties will be somewhat nostalgic, but no more so than my twenties or even my teens. As far as I'm concerned, once you get past 21 it's all pretty much academic anyway. They don't even give you an insurance break at 25 anymore so 21 is really the last "big one" in my book. And if I may speak from my own personal experience, I was a bit of a dork at 21. I think most of us were. It just comes with the territory. Unless you are called Stephen Hawking or Albert Einstein, that is. In my book the older I get, the better. What did we do for the 39th birthday festivities, you ask? Simple: IKEA. Frisco, TX style.
In other news, a good friend of mine Saturday had an unfortunate crash test while riding his uber-sweet CBR 600F4i. He's going to be fine, but the bike is a bit worse for wear. It would seem he rolled the rear tire through some oil when getting the bike out of his garage and then when making the turn off his street things went all pear-shaped in a hurry. Obviously, when there are only two wheels present, maintaining COMPLETE traction on both of them becomes paramount and oil is the last thing you want on a tire. Or maybe Armor All. Not sure, but either one will probably end your ride in a most unpleasant manner. Here's a bit of trivia about import bikes for you: the plastic from which they make the fairings and body panels is more expensive than children! (Or so I'm told) Seriously though, if you crash test your import bike and go to the manufacturer to obtain your replacement parts, you are going to end up buying the bike twice. It doesn't look that bad, but the entire left side of my bud's bike is damaged--the nose fairing, the mirror, the clutch lever and mount, the side fairing, the alternator cover, the shifter, the foot peg and even the tail fairing are all either rashed or broken. Now he could just get the essentials and get 'er back on the road for under 2 bills, but if he were to go to Honda USA and get the parts I shudder to think what it would cost. I priced the nose fairing at our local shop and it comes up to $675.96 without the little bits and bobs to hold it in place and make it look all pretty and finished. The mirror is $104.97. Yes, that is for ONE mirror. He'll probably be able to save about half of retail if he can find all the parts on eBay but that is still money that no one really wants to spend. There are a few lessons to be learned here: first, don't roll your tire through oil and wreck your bike. Second, ALWAYS WEAR YOUR GEAR! Third, ALWAYS WEAR YOUR GEAR!
And in other bike news (you knew it was coming, didn't you?) I am just about set for the next round of mods on the Mighty SV. I have, sitting in the garage right now, one pair of RaceTech Gold Valve cartridge emulators and .85kg fork springs to go with. You see, gentle reader, when Suzuki designed the SV, they were working to a price point. Probably the easiest way to save money on a bike is to skimp on the suspension. So that's precisely what they did. Instead of fully-adjustable cartridge forks, they went with damper rod forks which have been essentially unchanged for about 40 years. The factory springs are notoriously weak and the fork oil has been compared to "dirty ice tea" by some. The magic of emulators is that they take cheap damper rod forks and emulate the function of cartridge forks. I will spare you any more detail but just know that this is supposed to be THE mod to get your SV's front end sorted--short of a full GSX-R front end swap. And that opens up a completely different can (or 4) of worms. The emulators combined with the correct spring rate for my weight, and topped up with fork oil thicker than the aforementioned iced tea should get things squared away in one afternoon. The only negative? I have to completely disassemble the front end to make it happen. Not overly complicated but certainly time consuming. There will be one easy mod, though. Today, our friendly neighborhood UPS guy should be dropping off my Yoshimura RS3 stainless steel slip-on canister. Since the day I picked up this bike, I've been annoyed by the ridiculous noise it makes. A twin should make a nice, low rumble that barely hints at the insane-o, crazy goodness just bursting to get out. The factory can, however, is an embarrassment. That's all you can say about it. Well I suppose you can say that and it's DOT approved! Oh yay. But all that will change soon. Very soon. I may even make a recording of the before and after so you can hear just what I mean. Or maybe not. That might be kind of a pain while trying to do the install and youtube has about 6,271 videos of exactly the same thing--just search for SV650 Yoshimura exhaust. Oh, and while you're there, search for "SV650 Crash" and hit the top link. It should be a guy on a blue SV doing a stand-up burnout that ends with the bike pulling him into a parked car I know it's soooo wrong, but that one cracks me up every single time!
And just to make sure this post is completely random, I'll end with something our Pastor on Easter Sunday asked the congregation: "Is your religion making you the kind of person you want to be"? Didn't see that one coming, didja?
In other news, a good friend of mine Saturday had an unfortunate crash test while riding his uber-sweet CBR 600F4i. He's going to be fine, but the bike is a bit worse for wear. It would seem he rolled the rear tire through some oil when getting the bike out of his garage and then when making the turn off his street things went all pear-shaped in a hurry. Obviously, when there are only two wheels present, maintaining COMPLETE traction on both of them becomes paramount and oil is the last thing you want on a tire. Or maybe Armor All. Not sure, but either one will probably end your ride in a most unpleasant manner. Here's a bit of trivia about import bikes for you: the plastic from which they make the fairings and body panels is more expensive than children! (Or so I'm told) Seriously though, if you crash test your import bike and go to the manufacturer to obtain your replacement parts, you are going to end up buying the bike twice. It doesn't look that bad, but the entire left side of my bud's bike is damaged--the nose fairing, the mirror, the clutch lever and mount, the side fairing, the alternator cover, the shifter, the foot peg and even the tail fairing are all either rashed or broken. Now he could just get the essentials and get 'er back on the road for under 2 bills, but if he were to go to Honda USA and get the parts I shudder to think what it would cost. I priced the nose fairing at our local shop and it comes up to $675.96 without the little bits and bobs to hold it in place and make it look all pretty and finished. The mirror is $104.97. Yes, that is for ONE mirror. He'll probably be able to save about half of retail if he can find all the parts on eBay but that is still money that no one really wants to spend. There are a few lessons to be learned here: first, don't roll your tire through oil and wreck your bike. Second, ALWAYS WEAR YOUR GEAR! Third, ALWAYS WEAR YOUR GEAR!
And in other bike news (you knew it was coming, didn't you?) I am just about set for the next round of mods on the Mighty SV. I have, sitting in the garage right now, one pair of RaceTech Gold Valve cartridge emulators and .85kg fork springs to go with. You see, gentle reader, when Suzuki designed the SV, they were working to a price point. Probably the easiest way to save money on a bike is to skimp on the suspension. So that's precisely what they did. Instead of fully-adjustable cartridge forks, they went with damper rod forks which have been essentially unchanged for about 40 years. The factory springs are notoriously weak and the fork oil has been compared to "dirty ice tea" by some. The magic of emulators is that they take cheap damper rod forks and emulate the function of cartridge forks. I will spare you any more detail but just know that this is supposed to be THE mod to get your SV's front end sorted--short of a full GSX-R front end swap. And that opens up a completely different can (or 4) of worms. The emulators combined with the correct spring rate for my weight, and topped up with fork oil thicker than the aforementioned iced tea should get things squared away in one afternoon. The only negative? I have to completely disassemble the front end to make it happen. Not overly complicated but certainly time consuming. There will be one easy mod, though. Today, our friendly neighborhood UPS guy should be dropping off my Yoshimura RS3 stainless steel slip-on canister. Since the day I picked up this bike, I've been annoyed by the ridiculous noise it makes. A twin should make a nice, low rumble that barely hints at the insane-o, crazy goodness just bursting to get out. The factory can, however, is an embarrassment. That's all you can say about it. Well I suppose you can say that and it's DOT approved! Oh yay. But all that will change soon. Very soon. I may even make a recording of the before and after so you can hear just what I mean. Or maybe not. That might be kind of a pain while trying to do the install and youtube has about 6,271 videos of exactly the same thing--just search for SV650 Yoshimura exhaust. Oh, and while you're there, search for "SV650 Crash" and hit the top link. It should be a guy on a blue SV doing a stand-up burnout that ends with the bike pulling him into a parked car I know it's soooo wrong, but that one cracks me up every single time!
And just to make sure this post is completely random, I'll end with something our Pastor on Easter Sunday asked the congregation: "Is your religion making you the kind of person you want to be"? Didn't see that one coming, didja?
// posted by wayne @ 4/15/2009 03:21:00 AM
January 30, 2009
Of Motorcycles and Mangled Designs
Here's a little tidbit a lot of you have already figured out: motorcycles are almost as much about style as substance. No one, no matter how much techno-wizardry and horsepower you can pack in, is going to ride, much less buy, a bike they find hideous. It's as simple as that. When getting ready to buy the EsVee, I had a very strict set of criteria in mind (which some of you may recall): twin-cylinder power plant, half fairing or straight up naked, and at least 600cc displacement--mostly because most sub-600's are parallel twins and that is a whole different ball game. Notice the complete lack of horsepower, torque or fuel delivery specs. My choices were all about the style of the bike. I didn't want to be just another guy on a repli-racer--I wanted something just a bit different. Another big factor in omitting the current crop of crotch rockets from my search is the aesthetic trend among the big 3 these days. For some odd reason, about 5 years ago, they decided that every single bike sport bike sold in the US market would become sharp, angular, angry looking (think constipated, not enraged) and almost freakishly abrupt. They had lost the flow and subtle grace which had characterized previous generations' bikes and become the motorcycle equivalent of the F117 stealth fighter--not a curve in sight. Apparently this trend is not only here, but here to stay.
The 2008 Suzuki B-King was, in my opinion, a very bad execution of a very good idea. Take the insanely fast Hayabusa, strip it of the smooth, avian-inspired bodywork and give it enough matte-black and chrome to make anyone happy. What they ended up with is unquestionably the most grotesque bike ever produced. Keep in mind, this is not a new concept--it's been done before with excellent results. Take Kelly's 919, for example. Honda took their insane CBR929RR, tweaked the motor a bit and gave us a real-world bike that you actually ride without moving in with your chiropractor. Kawasaki did it with the ZRX1200R to great success and of course, there was the first-gen Yamaha V-Max, which was derrived from a V-4 touring motor back in the late 80's/early 90's, as I recall.
Yes, folks, I have a point and here it is: just when you think they can't make 'em any uglier, Buell tops the lot with a new take on the word "abomination". I know the curiosity will eventually get to you and you'll hit the link, but try to look at it in small doses. There is a lot of ugly going on in a little space and I don't want to be responsible for any loss of eyesight.
You've been warned: Here is the 2009 Buell 1125 CR
The 2008 Suzuki B-King was, in my opinion, a very bad execution of a very good idea. Take the insanely fast Hayabusa, strip it of the smooth, avian-inspired bodywork and give it enough matte-black and chrome to make anyone happy. What they ended up with is unquestionably the most grotesque bike ever produced. Keep in mind, this is not a new concept--it's been done before with excellent results. Take Kelly's 919, for example. Honda took their insane CBR929RR, tweaked the motor a bit and gave us a real-world bike that you actually ride without moving in with your chiropractor. Kawasaki did it with the ZRX1200R to great success and of course, there was the first-gen Yamaha V-Max, which was derrived from a V-4 touring motor back in the late 80's/early 90's, as I recall.
Yes, folks, I have a point and here it is: just when you think they can't make 'em any uglier, Buell tops the lot with a new take on the word "abomination". I know the curiosity will eventually get to you and you'll hit the link, but try to look at it in small doses. There is a lot of ugly going on in a little space and I don't want to be responsible for any loss of eyesight.
You've been warned: Here is the 2009 Buell 1125 CR
// posted by wayne @ 1/30/2009 03:47:00 AM
January 22, 2009
Here we go again...
As some of you know, I work as a contractor for a large government organization. In this "Team" there are many, many mailing lists preexisting on the outlook servers. Supposedly, these make our lives easier by providing the means to send an "important" message to lots of people quickly and easily. But that's rarely how it works.
What actually happens is someone, who is trying to generate yet another almost-useless report that his/her boss requested, selects seven or eight of the wrong mailing lists and then sends the report without really thinking about the groups which have been selected because they are in such a hurry to get out the door. Now this by itself is forgivable. Sure, we all make mistakes and selecting the wrong mailing list is almost inevitable in The Team environment because there are about 7,893 from which to choose. The problem starts when 50% of the 18,459 people on the list hit the "Reply All" button just so they can share with the group the sentiment that perhaps the email "wasn't meant for me".
I am not joking one bit. The last time we had one of these little gems it generated so much extraneous traffic that one of the reigonal outlook servers was killed dead and the IT department had to terminate the message and all related traffic because the Emergency Service Bulletin they sent, instructing everyone to DELETE the message instead of sharing with the group, did not work!
I know I've gone off on the REPLY ALL button before but, seriously people, why do we have to go through this at least once a month?
What actually happens is someone, who is trying to generate yet another almost-useless report that his/her boss requested, selects seven or eight of the wrong mailing lists and then sends the report without really thinking about the groups which have been selected because they are in such a hurry to get out the door. Now this by itself is forgivable. Sure, we all make mistakes and selecting the wrong mailing list is almost inevitable in The Team environment because there are about 7,893 from which to choose. The problem starts when 50% of the 18,459 people on the list hit the "Reply All" button just so they can share with the group the sentiment that perhaps the email "wasn't meant for me".
I am not joking one bit. The last time we had one of these little gems it generated so much extraneous traffic that one of the reigonal outlook servers was killed dead and the IT department had to terminate the message and all related traffic because the Emergency Service Bulletin they sent, instructing everyone to DELETE the message instead of sharing with the group, did not work!
I know I've gone off on the REPLY ALL button before but, seriously people, why do we have to go through this at least once a month?
// posted by wayne @ 1/22/2009 06:41:00 PM
January 21, 2009
Obama Supports Killing Babies
That didn't take long, did it?
Overseas Abortion Providers Article.
Overseas Abortion Providers Article.
// posted by wayne @ 1/21/2009 06:23:00 PM
January 15, 2009
FINALLY!
Seriously now, I've tried to put up about 4 posts recently, but my cox-hosted webspace keeps timing out during the publishing process. Apparently, they've got it sorted but I may switch back to the blogger site anway. Nothing is more annoying than working on a post for an hour, only to get the timeout message. If I do, I'll see if I can't get this url to re-direct so you don't have to muck about with your bookmarks. All four of you still reading, that is.
// posted by wayne @ 1/15/2009 02:51:00 AM
January 02, 2009
Bringing It Back--25 Years On.
Happy New Year to everyone!
And I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well. Things around here are good. Actually, they're better than good. They're pretty darn groovy. As I sit here, banging away on this poor keyboard, I can look just ever so slightly to my right and see a solved Rubik's cube. No it isn't still in the packaging, either. I solved it.
You see, back in the day, I always wanted a Rubik's cube, but for whatever reason, I never got one. So I always ended up fiddling about with a friend's cube never really having enough time to get really deep into the inner workings of that infernal device. Sure, I could solve one side--maybe even two on a good day--but that was it. Fast forward about 25 years. Yeah, I said 25. Last year (actually, it would have been November, 2007) my parents asked what I wanted for Christmas. I thought about it for a bit and, having recently seen a cube at the store, decided I would finally solve that darned puzzle and told them to bring it on. For one reason or another, we never really exchanged gifts properly and with my folks moving at around the same time, the cube was put aside and forgotten. Until last Sunday. We were having dinner down in Lex and there it was! I brought it home, and promptly started messing around with it just to get it good and scrambled. And that, my friends, does not take long. You may be asking "What makes you think you can solve it now Mr. Smartypantsguy?" Simple: I have the interwebs on my side! Granted, the puzzle does come with a solving guide, but theirs wants you to be turning front, back, lower, upper, left or right sides clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the orientation of the cube. I found solution that is MUCH easier, as it has you make every single turn from the front face. Believe me on this one, it is by far easier. Obviously, using a solution guide could be considered bending the rules just a bit, but now that I have prooved the solution and have an udnerstanding of their method, I can set about learning the fifteen or so algorithyms needed to solve the cube. Then I'll be the one doing the 'cipherin'.
If you're intersted, check out THIS LINK for a nice tutorial on how to finally whoop that six-sided demon.
And I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well. Things around here are good. Actually, they're better than good. They're pretty darn groovy. As I sit here, banging away on this poor keyboard, I can look just ever so slightly to my right and see a solved Rubik's cube. No it isn't still in the packaging, either. I solved it.
You see, back in the day, I always wanted a Rubik's cube, but for whatever reason, I never got one. So I always ended up fiddling about with a friend's cube never really having enough time to get really deep into the inner workings of that infernal device. Sure, I could solve one side--maybe even two on a good day--but that was it. Fast forward about 25 years. Yeah, I said 25. Last year (actually, it would have been November, 2007) my parents asked what I wanted for Christmas. I thought about it for a bit and, having recently seen a cube at the store, decided I would finally solve that darned puzzle and told them to bring it on. For one reason or another, we never really exchanged gifts properly and with my folks moving at around the same time, the cube was put aside and forgotten. Until last Sunday. We were having dinner down in Lex and there it was! I brought it home, and promptly started messing around with it just to get it good and scrambled. And that, my friends, does not take long. You may be asking "What makes you think you can solve it now Mr. Smartypantsguy?" Simple: I have the interwebs on my side! Granted, the puzzle does come with a solving guide, but theirs wants you to be turning front, back, lower, upper, left or right sides clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the orientation of the cube. I found solution that is MUCH easier, as it has you make every single turn from the front face. Believe me on this one, it is by far easier. Obviously, using a solution guide could be considered bending the rules just a bit, but now that I have prooved the solution and have an udnerstanding of their method, I can set about learning the fifteen or so algorithyms needed to solve the cube. Then I'll be the one doing the 'cipherin'.
If you're intersted, check out THIS LINK for a nice tutorial on how to finally whoop that six-sided demon.
// posted by wayne @ 1/02/2009 03:41:00 AM
