third world county – Page 376 – "In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."

June 28, 2007

Cautious Optimism about the Senate Shamnesty Bill

N.B., Is it possible that, for whatever reasons (because this involves politicians *spit* I naturally ascribe any apparently good act to base motives) somehow the idea that rewarding outlaws and punishing citizens just might not fly in the Senate this term? Maybe…we’ll see, won’t we?

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.” — George Washington (Address to the Members of the Volunteer Association of Ireland, 2 December 1783) [emphasis added]

Today’s cloture vote (to cut off debate on the thing) on President Fifi Bush’s (Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s lapdog) shamnesty bill falied… by a vote of 53 against the Bill from Hell–13 more than needed. Eighteen senators who voted for cloture the other day… switched.

Now? Keep the pressure on, folks. Let your Representative know as well that you oppose amnesty when current law is not being enforced (because of the law enFARCEment policies of Fifi Bush–Felipe Calderon’s lapdog–and his treasonous desire to surrender our borders). Let them know that enforcement comes before ANY consideration of visas for illegals.

Push this button long, hard and often. Use the resources available at NumbersUSA–phone numbers, addresses, email addreses and FREE FAXING. And let them know you are firmly behind making English the one and only official language of the U.S.

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But. this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is a loyalty to the American people.” –Teddy Roosevelt, 1907

Trackposted to Webloggin, DeMediacratic Nation, Wake Up America, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

June 28, 2007

T-13, 1.34: Thirteen Car Maintenance Tips

Almost time for a review of third world county tightwaddery, but this’ll have to do for now: Thirteen Car Maintenance Tips (from a third world county tightwad). Note: some tips assume either basic mechanical knowledge of some sort or the ability to read a simple instruction manual–like a Haynes *ha!* or Chilton–and decipher the cryptic comments contained therein; that is, functional literacy–a rarer and rarer capability nowadays.

1. The cheapest oil and filter are NOT the cheapest oil and filter. Unless your car leaks like a sieve or burns oil as if it were gasoline, cheap oil is a waste of money. If your car’s in good mechanical shape now, switch to an all-synthetic. At $4-$5/quart, it only seems expensive. The longer oil drain interval, engine protection and perhaps even slightly better fuel economy will more than pay for itself. And use a good filter, since you’ll only change it every six months or so with a good synthetiic. Money in the bank.

2. Cold weather–buy “gasohol”. The ethyl alcohol in a typical “gasohol” mix will absorb fuel line moisture, averting frozen fuel lines. Besides, the way the feddle gummint’s subsidizing fuel alcohol production, “gasohol” can often be less expensive (at the pump–the social costs have yet to be adequately computed) than regular unleaded.

3. Consider the new “extended life” so-called “universal” (they almost are) antifreezes, next time you do a complete drain-flush-fill of your car’s coolant system. Sure, the new “extended life” antifreezes can cost upward of 30% more per gallon, but since they are recommended for drain/replacement at three times the drain interval, if your coolant system’s in good shape, go for it!

4. NEVER buy the “50/50” jugs of antifreeze. That’s some of the most expensive water you can buy. Mix your own, but do use distilled water to mix with the new extended life antifreezes. At under $0.70/gallon all over the place, it’s worth using.

5. WHAT?!?!? You don’t check your tire pressure and fluid levels weekly?!?!? What ever are you thinking of??? Just do it. A $1.00 cheapo tire pressure gauge is money in your pocket, IF you use it regularly. (CHeck your owner’s manual and your tires for pressure recommendations.) And do at least check your oil and antifreeze levels weekly. Power steering and brake fluids are another good thing to check. Transmission fluid, as well (automatic for sure, and manual if there’s a handy dipstick). Early notice of dropping fluid levels or anomalous changes in the fluids can save you bucks, and maybe save your ride. For example, when auto transmission fluid is no longer pink but brown, get the thing seen by a competent mechanic FAST, before you are forced to replace the tranny… or the car.

6. Rain-X. Seriously. Very seriously. You’ll be much safer in any kind of precip if you’ve Rain-X-ed at least your windshield. About once a month in normal driving does it for me.

7. And while you’re at it, when you Rain-X the windshield, check those wiper blades. Heavy rains, wipers on, shredded blade. Bare metal scratching (and it will scratch) your windshield. Oh so much fun…

8. When changing brake pads (and easy, oh, maybe “two-wrench” rated job), never disassemble both brakes on an “axle” at once. Remove both wheels on an “axle” and do one brake assembly at a time. Use one as a reference for the other. Easy-peasy. Heck, brake pads aren’t the only home mechanic job; it can be less expensive to buy NEW rotors for disk brakes than having some hack mechanic do the job while hungover. Feels good knowing you saved money and KNOW the quality of the work.

9. When you need to raise your car to work on it, use a hydraulic jack that’s over-rated for your vehicle’s weight. $50 or less will buy a decent one for home use and save you tons of headaches!

10. Working under your raised car? WHERE are your jackstands??? Gotta have ’em. Stupid to learn how to maintain your car and actually do some work on it but play “Sword of Damocles” with thousands of pounds of car hanging above your head. JUst dumb.

11. Consider an inexpensive set of ramps. Neat time and energy saver.

12. Get some strong permanent magnets (those found in an old, discarded hard drive will do) and attach one to the lowest part of your oil filter and right by the drain plug on your oil pan. Think about it.

13. Keep your ears open for changes in the way your car sounds; your nose tweaked to sniff out weird smells; feel the way your car drives and note any changes; any one can avert problems. For example, the other day I felt some vibrations as I reached 60mph that grew more pronounced as I approached 70mph. Knew what it was from previous experience, so spent $10 having two tires rebalanced. Vibration gone, along with the extra stress it was causing the drivetrain, suspension and steering, as well as the extra wear on the tires it would have caused had I let it continue.

I’m sure readers will have their own tips. Heck, I guess I could have listed a few more, but then it would no longer be a Thursday Thirteen, would it? 🙂

Linked to the Thursday Thirteen Hub and Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, AZAMATTEROFACT, Right Truth, Webloggin, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Right Celebrity, stikNstein… has no mercy, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, High Desert Wanderer, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

June 26, 2007June 26, 2007

Woof! Woof!

Yeh, another one of those posts about Puppy Linux. Version 2.16 is just almost too nice.

Just download the ISO and burn it to CD* (or follow directions to “burn” it to a USB drive). Pop the thing in your computer and boot. Everything runs in memory.

I’ve not yyet had an Intel hardware compatible computer that’s able to boot from CD or from USB stick that has failed to run Puppy.

Super neat? You don’t even have to touch or in any way alter the installation of any other OS you may have installed. Oh, to access data files generated under the other OS, you’ll have to Mount the drive they’re on, but big woo-hoopsie-doo. Simple as pie. Networking? Internet? Even wireless access points, etc.? Notaproblem, and muuuuch easier than configuring most Windoze comps.

Give it a shot, just for fun. Plenty of apps for the normal user are a part of the default install, and installing other apps (first thing I always do with a new Puppy is install Opera browser) is super easy. (Neat thing: although Puppy’s all on the CD or USB stick, you can save all changes you make to a special file on an available hard drive, CDRW or USB stick.)

Take Puppy for a walk. You’ll have fun.

*Burning an ISO is a different ball of wax to burning music or data CDs. If you’ve not burned an ISO before or don’t even know what an ISO file is, no sweat. Cool lil tutorials abound. Here’s a page that walks folks through getting Puppy running. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeasy.

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June 21, 2007June 21, 2007

T-13, 1.33: Thirteen Things to Hate About ATT/Cingular

Oh, my, this one is easy! Perhaps too easy…

1. Para el espaÃƒÂ±ol, prensa dos… Big company working in concert with the government and Mexico (along with Fifi Bush, President Felipe Calderon’s lapdog) to facilitate the invasion of the U.S. by illegal aliens.

2. NO applicable options, on ANY of the contact numbers, ANYWHERE in the voicemail hell constructed by ATT/Cingular. Not. One.

3. Escalation? “I’m sorry, without XYZ information we cannot do that.” (“But I don’t have XYZ, you twit!” *sheesh*)

4. Institutionalized stupidity. “We can only do things our way–the wrong (i.e., completely unhelpful) way. And no, the left hand does NOT know what the right hand is doing and has NO way of getting that information.”

5. Sending SPAM to people who are NOT customers! (Yes, I verified that the emails my wife is getting actually DID come from ATT/Cingular–no “phishing” involved). Heck, I have no problem with ATT/Cingular sending SPAM to people who are clueless enough to do business with them. That’s their lookout. But emails to people who are NOT customers, do NOT have accounts, from ATT/Cingular (not just some doof trying to sell ATT/Cingular accounts on commission or whatever) are unacceptable.

6. BTW, No one in America’s Third World County CAN use ATT/Cingular. No coverage. (So much for its much-vaunted coverage.) OK, maybe there is an enclave parked juuuust so near the one and only secret, hidden tower that has some obscure connection with ATT/Cingular, but if so, those folks are keeping awfully quiet about it…

7. Lies. “I’ll stay on the line and connect you to… ” Lie.

8. No way to bill ATT/Cingular for MY time trying to deal with them.

9. “Escalate? We don’t do no steenkeeng ‘escalate’! WTF is that, anyway?” (Not a direct quote; inferred from actual behavior, though.)

10. Worthless phone contact numbers. Let that sink in a while. AT&T. Cingular. The contact numbers listed on the website(s) are useless. Worse than useless. Complete timesinks. Black holes. A big suck on a sour lemon. A zero with the rim kicked off. Connection to Usefull Information rating: bupkis.

11. Catch this: ATT/Cingular. Wireless phone company. Last guy I talked to about the SPAM, I could barely hear him (and I wasn’t the only one: my Wonder Woman was on the phone, too, to “good cop/bad cop” the guy–as we had the person previous to him just in order to get to this guy–and SHE couldn’t hear him, either). Of course he needed voice lessons, but it would have helped if he hadn’t been on an oldstyle landline handset. Heck, I had my phone AND my headset turned up to MAX and had to keep reminding him to SPEAK INTO THE MIC (on the handset). *sheesh* As poor a telephone presence as he had (supposedly a “supervisor,” naturally) you’d think he’d at least have a phone that made up for some of his deficiencies in speaking/communication ability.

12. Nobody knows anything, In fact, they all know nothing. (Which is as it probably ought to be, of course… *sigh*)

13. ATT. Cingular. Of course: what’s NOT to hate about that combo?

Noted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub.