Upgrades!

Check out the fancy new player on the side bar kids.  You can play any of the shows any time you want.  I'm still working on the download option.  You'll just have to be a little patient.  I've been really surprised at the level of interest.  Fact is we're getting more live listeners than I had any right to expect and the number of total listens is going up every week... far beyond my expectations.

So you like it... so we'll keep doing it.  In fact we'll do more of it.

This is where you come in.

What time is best for you guys?  when do you want to listen?  Or do you prefer to just listen to the archive?

ATF Archive Post

Hey kids.

If you missed the show... here is the link for the archive of the show.

Forgive my jackwagon brother for screwing up the production

Homecoming

So I spent Friday at Makers Mark.  Take a moment to enjoy my spoils.  The bottle you see came from my barrel of Makers.  With My name on it.  The was on the top?  I hand dipped it.  I even got to put the label on my own bad self.

We had a fantastic time there.  First of all... it is the best smelling place in all the world.  Trust me on this.  

I had called ahead so they had my bourbon all ready for me.  The family browsed around and picked out Makers Mark loot while I dipped my bottles.  I spied this awesome grilling apron... and I admit I wanted it bad.  It had a bottle opener on a retractable lanyard and everything.  Freakin' nice.  But it was like a hundred bucks so I didn't buy it.

Anyway DrWho took the kids outside to play while I finished up and I mention the apron to the cashier while I was settling the bill.  I really wanted it but just wasn't gonna buy it.  The lady went on and on about my family and my kids and how adorable they all were and how well behaved... then she noted that I wasn't wearing my ambassador pin.  I had no idea there was such a thing.  So she sent me over to another lady to get my pin.  I went over there and sure enough I was chastened for not wearing a pin.  "Oh Mr Cherolis you have to wear the pin.  Otherwise people may think you're just some common visitor.  You get respect around here."  So she pulled out a pin and stuck it to my shirt.  Cracks me up.  Anyway... I collect my loot and say bye and get a few hugs... then I go outside...  and find that the ladies have snuck out during the pin diversion... and given my wife a bag.  In it I find a very nice card and... and the apron I'd lusted over.  "A gift from the family."

Because Makers Mark is awesome.

We actually hung around and had a little picnic there on the grounds and like three or four times groups of women that worked there would sneak outside to see the kids and tell us how adorable the they all are.

Again...  Because Makers Mark is awesome.

Here is the Makers White I mentioned on the show.  You can only get it at the distillery.  Basically its Makers before it goes into the barrels.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it... other that look at it... and lord it over all of you because you don't have it and can't get it.

I'll probably drink a little and then tell you its the greatest thing ever... because you can't have it.

ATF: God Gold and Guns II

Hey y'all

Broadcasting live from our Northern Outpost in Bourbon Country.  I just spent all day at Makers Mark getting my bourbon from my barrel.  I even picked up some Makers Mark White.  Which you can't get because you can only get it at the distillery.

I will no doubt be mocking you with it later in the show.

Tune in live at 10pm central.

Expect a rowdy show.

A: Makers White... Grimbrugen Double Ale...  Wild Turkey Tradition... you name it.

T: it was awesome.. I'll tell ya about it later..  OK its later..  Alec Bradley Black Market courtesy of JAC.  Freaking fantastic.  Milder than my usual.. but very enjoyable.  Never had a bad Alec Bradley.  Highly recommend.

F:  Lots.

How Not To Carry: Girl Edition

First let me say that however you're carrying... its better to have a firearm than to not have a firearm.  So if this is the only way you'll carry its better than nothing.  Its not the absolute worst way to carry.  That would be your purse.  Everyone knows that if you have a gun, its in your purse.  The Bad Guy goes for the purse quickly.

That said... this is not how you should be carrying girls.  The problem here is like a cross draw situation only worse.  Yeah these girls look like they can draw and shoot but pay attention.  One she's starting with her left hand on her shirt, so she's ready to pull it up.  Second... she's not taking an aimed shot.  She's literally firing from the hip.  She doesn't have a prayer of hitting anything more than a few feet away.  And that matters.

Because if she's close to the attacker... all he has to do is grab the wrist she just stuffed up her shirt and pin it to her body.  This is the standard defensive tactic we apply to cross draw guys and it will work just as well in this case.  Probably better because only chicks will be using these.  (Also note the kel-tec jammed in the first shot and the poor girl didn't even notice).

My point here is... you have to disregard these times.  They are not comparable to any realistic draw times you see.  Put both hands at her sides.  Put a purse on her shoulder.  Make her take an aimed shot at say 10 yards then lets see how she does.

Ladies... these are your options:

1) Inside your purse:  Probably the worst place to carry.  Its predictable.  Its slow.  But hey its easy.

2) Ankle holster:  Slow but less predictable.  Can be uncomfortable.

3) Flashbang: Better than in your purse or on your ankle.

4) Shoulder Rig: Comfy, easy to conceal, and less limited than the flashbang.  Still cross draw though.

5) In a pocket: Comfy but Slow.  Very limiting in what firearm you can carry.

6) On your hip:  This is where you SHOULD carry.  But none of you will.

7) Small of the back:  No.  No No. No.  Yes it looks cool in movies.  It will also snap your spine if you fall.

8) In your kid's backback:  No seriously I know a chick that does this.  Her kid walks around with a backpack and she has a firearm in it that she can grab and draw if something happens.  Cracks my ass up.  I don't think this needs debunking.  If this is your method...  ...  ok.

9)  Belly band:  Look... its like a corset with a gun!  Its slimming!  Seriously!  This is a great way to carry. I highly recommend.

Ok look I know how this works.  90% of you are going to read this and roll your eyes and say, "I'm carrying it in my purse."  That's fine.  Just do so knowing you're taking a chance.

ATF Archive

Go here for the replay.  So it mostly ended up just being about gold and precious metals and the gold collapse.  This one is only thirty minutes long.  There will be some fairly serious changes next week.  The show is going to go for an hour... and it may change to 9pm.  We may even go more than once a week.

We'll see.

Regardless.  Enjoy.

ATF: God, Guns, and Gold

The show goes live at 10pm.  We have a lot to cover tonight.  We have to do some remedial work on self defense basics as it relates to firearms.  We're gonna cover the gold crash as well as what we're going to see in the near and long term future in general economically but in gold specifically.

As for me...

A: Bookers.

T: I have this badass twist of tobacco that's been soaking in knob creek bourbon for literally 3 years.  I'm gonna cut off a plug and give it a chew.  This is the sort of thing men do.

F: Spikes Tactical AR-15.  I would post pictures but that would just be cruel.  Suffice it to say... its the money is no object AR-15.  hell it even has a nice .50 beowulf upper to go with it.

ATF: Tomorrow Night

Epic news on the ATF Show tomorrow night.  Our first live remote!  That's right kids... Tomorrow night we broadcast from Tuscaloosa.  Its A-Day Eve.

God, Guns, and Gold from the holy ground of college football.

Roll Tide.

Reloading Advice

Guys...

Go buy powder this week.  Stock up.  I know its hard to find.  But we're approaching take what you can get time.  Maybe its not the best powder for your favorite load.  So what?  Most times you can find a safe load for just about any powder.

IEDs just went off on American soil.  What are the odds they won't come after gun powder?

I sincerely hope I'm wrong.  I'm not trying to be chicken little here.  I'm just saying... it makes sense doesn't it?  You don't have to be a conspiracy nut and think Boston was a false flag to see the writing on the wall.  The powder ban is extremely predictable, and just to tempting for the politicians.

That's my advice.  Take it or leave it.

The 1911 That Wasn't

When the US military decided to switch its standard issue sidearm to a .45 acp it had a long series of trials and tests that the immortal Colt 1911 ended up winning.  This is the story of the only other firearm to reach the finals.

The Savage 1907 is a confusing little pistol.  Its confusing because it has "1905" stamped on it... even though it wasn't produced in 1905 and it isn't named the 1905.  1905 was the year the designer, Elbert H. Searle, received patent number 804,985 for his new semi-automatic pistol.   To this day you will hear people talk about the Savage 1905 pistol.  There is no such thing.  If it has 1905 stamped on it... its a 1907.  E.H. Searle didn't sell Savage the design until 1907.

Its an understatement to say that its an interesting design.  The weapon has only 34 parts.  That's fewer than a 1911.  It has no flat springs and no screws.  Rather than being screwed on, the grips are held in place by simple friction.  Like John Moses Browning's masterpiece, the Savage 1907 can be disassembled without tools.  Its appears to have a hammer but that is actually for cocking and decocking only.  It is a striker fired weapon.

While the weapon was still in the proving stage Savage submitted to the US Military to be considered for the new sidearm contract.  There was a series of extensive tests all the weapons had to go through.  Most folks only know about the last one... the infamous torture test.  The only two weapons to make it to that test were the Colt 1911 and the Savage 1907.

There is an enormous amount of legend and lore about the trials and the performance of the weapons.  As such there is also controversy.  For example if you read the NRA's history of the event you will come away thinking the Savage was an unreliable piece of crap that had no business being there.  While the Colt functioned flawlessly.

The actual army reports list 37 failures of any kind for the Savage during the 6,000 round torture test.  The extent the military went to abuse these firearms is difficult to imagine.  The guns were deliberately rusted.  they were loaded with deformed cartridges that were seated either to deeply or not deeply enough.  They were fired 1000 times... then given 5 minutes to cool while they were spot cleaned, and fired another 1000 rounds.

There was a pass-fail standard on this test and both pistols passed.  Legend says the 1911 had no failures at all but the official records dispute this.  In reality the 1911 and 1907 performed about the same.  The 1911 was chosen but its not accurate to say the 1911 out-performed the Savage.  The reality is the 1911s were already in production, and the Savage was still a prototype.  Savage probably didn't know it, but the decision had been made weeks before the torture test even happened.  This was just another in a long series of screwings the Savage Company received at the hands of the US government.  Some other time we'll talk about the Savage 99... and why the Winchester 94 was profoundly outdated.

At any rate the US Military went with the Colt 1911.  The Savage was chambered in the .32acp that E.H. had originally intended... and the weapon was marketed heavily to the public as the best defensive option available.  Savage's advertisements were as fascinating as the little firearm itself as you can see from the post below.

So now you know about the Other 1911.  And now... you know that anyone that tries to sell you a Savage 1905 doesn't know much about the weapon he's marketing.

Gun Marketing

They used to be better at it.



This is an ad from probably the 19-teens.  Words don't describe the awesome.  I've got a lot more to say about this cool little pistol.  More later.

ATF Show Tonight!

Here is the link to the show tonight.  We go live at 10pm central.

The call in number is there if you want to check in.  I'm keeping one line open in case Vox decides to call in and concede the debate live on the air.

Tune in.  The show rocks.

***UPDATE***

The same link takes you to the archived version... complete with 15 minutes of bonus material that... as usual... are the best part of the show.

The Great Debate: March to the Scaffold

I know I said I would finally be explaining Hyper Inflation here, and I will be.  But there are a couple of points that Vox has made that I simply cannot let stand.  So as much as I loathe the call and response style of written debate, it appears I must resort to it.  I beg your indulgence.

"Nate begins the eighth installment in the series by getting some things factually incorrect. To begin with, Z1 did not begin to decline in July 2008, as it peaked at $52.9 trillion in Q1 2009, a figure it did not reach again until Q3 2011, when it hit $53.8 trillion. 2008 merely served as the warning sign, as total credit growth ceased to keep pace with its 60-year historical rate, thus triggering two quarters of 10 percent growth in the federal debt sector in the latter part of the year. Gold and silver prices certainly did rise during that time, as did the stock market, but this was the result of the near-unprecedented increase in federal spending which was taking place at that time; even as the Household and Financial sectors contracted, the Federal sector expanded by $3.3 trillion.Tax expense:  455.00  820.00"

Given that Vox acknowledges that there was a period of time when credit was contracting... and prices were going up, the actual timing of that period, be it July of 08 or Q1 09 is irrelevant.  He acknowledges that it happened.   The rest of this is elaborate hand waving.  Vox here is suggesting that the fact that the federal government is spending the new money, and that it somehow doesn't count as inflation.   I am beginning to see the problem here.   Vox has literally just said, "Yeah but it doesn't matter because its government spending."  If we were arguing about the health of an economy... yes... we could certainly point to the distinction and say, "Its not real growth."   But we're not debating that.  We're debating inflation vs deflation.  Inflation is never real growth.  That's the point.  Of course its government spending.  Unless Vox wants to claim that inflation isn't possible in a communist regime, then he must acknowledge for the purposes of this debate, the sector the increase is happening in doesn't matter.  That just tells you who got to spend the money that was stolen from you.

Vox later reinforces this error.

"Nate is looking at Z1 - or to be more precise, L1 - as a whole rather than in its component parts. This is not unreasonable, but unless one looks at the component parts, one cannot understand the importance or the consequences of the shift in the nature of the credit market that has seen the federal element double from 10.3 percent of the entire credit market to the current 20.6 percent."

That's because for the purposes on inflation it doesn't matter who's spending the new money.  Its new money.  Government spending is merely the delivery method for injecting it into the economy.  That method is neither limited, nor temporary.   Nor is there a limit on how much money the Fed can "lend" the government to spend. Because when a federal reserve bank is lending money to its government it isn't lending.  It is straight up counterfeiting.  

Then... yet again... Vox reinforces his error... and even manages to compound it.

"What Nate sees as evidence of inflation, the modestly higher prices in the gold, silver, and equity markets, is largely limited to the areas of direct federal intervention.  This is why health care and higher education prices are still rising to new heights, while real estate prices are struggling to get back to where they were.  The areas that are reaching new heights are where the outstanding $11.6 trillion in government credit is flowing.  That is where the malinvestment is still being directed."

No.  It is not limited to any areas at all.  It is literally visible across the board.  It happened everywhere.  It even happened in the housing market where it was detectable by the fact that the housing values didn't sink nearly as much as they should have.  And again, Vox is suggesting that where the government spends the new money somehow matters.  It does not.  What matters is new money is being injected into the system.
All of this was bad enough but I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this:

"I note that each of these hyperinflationary scenarios were very short-lived and tended to be closely tied to serious political upheaval.  The longest period is two years, which happened twice in China during the 1940s.  Note, however, that these hyperinflations tended to take place AFTER the wars or major political upheavals; the frequency with which they take place after independence is gained by a nation is reminiscent of the high inflation that plagued the American colonial currencies and the Continental Dollar.  If any hyperinflation were to take place, history suggests it would likely take place after the collapse and political chaos; it would be a result of it, not a cause."

Setting aside the fact that Vox just argued that hyper inflation isn't likely because it follows war and political upheaval, and everyone with a brain is predicting war and political upheaval...  I cannot help but note that war and political upheaval are expensive.  Particularly for the losers.  The losers also suffer because their citizens lose faith in their governments.  So you have a massive amount of debt you'll never be able to pay back, and you have citizens that don't have any faith in their government.  What do we see in the United States right now?  We see more debt than can ever be paid back.  And at risk of sounding like a Cambridge economist it appears we've reached a point where America's faith in its government is at a perpetual all-time low.  I will be explaining why that matters shortly.

"Remember, it's not enough to merely print the money. The amount printed and distributed has to be greater than the continuing contraction of private credit and the evaporation of bank deposits.  And keep in mind that the combined $4.2 trillion decline in outstanding Household and Financial sector credit since 2009 alone exceeds, by a factor of nearly four, the ENTIRE AMOUNT of U.S. currency presently in circulation."

And by Vox's own metric, price, they have been and are doing, just that.  Excepting of course that private credit has nothing to do with it.  Deposits are all that matter.  As we have seen proven by the fact that prices went up while credit was declining.    Vox wraps it up with a bait and switch:

"Nate is correct to note that people are becoming increasingly drawn to holding cash in the hand, but he is forgetting that when cash becomes more valuable in this manner, it is strongly indicative of a deflationary environment, not an inflationary one.  In an inflationary environment, one wants to take on more debt and hold less cash. In a deflationary environment, one wants to avoid debt and hold more cash.  The intellectual gymnastics notwithstanding, one's true position on this matter can be ascertained by one's material preferences and actions."

I made no such claim about people in general.  People in general are not drawn to cash at all.  The point I made was that you, the newly enlightened reader, upon enlightenment were drawn to cash.   Vox knows full well that I have been telling everyone to get out of cash likely as long as he has.  This actually brings a question to mind.  I am hording gold and silver and suggesting you should be doing the same.  Does anyone here think Vox is hording cash?  

Enough of this.  Its abundantly clear that Vox simply doesn't understand how Hyperinflation is going to happen.  He looks at all these big numbers and and throws up his hands and says literally... Deflation is inevitable!  Come along folks.  Its time we left the cave.  Because right now you're still just like the people in the cave in that allegory of the people in the cave by that greek guy.

The first thing I want to make you understand is that hyper-inflation is not the same as inflation.  Inflation is an increase in supply.  Hyper inflation is a catastrophic event that happens in different ways in different economic systems.  Its like death.  There are really only a few ways humans die... but we can get to them in a near infinite number of ways.  You can drown or you I can stick your head in a bag.  Either way you die of a lack of oxygen to your brain.  Even if I slit your throat and you bleed out, the mechanism for death is still a lack of oxygen to your brain.  Drowning and having your throat slit appear very different but the mechanism of death is actually the same.

Hyper-inflation is like that.  Its a mechanism for death.  Currency death to be specific, and we can get there in a number of ways.  These ways vary depending on circumstances like the superficial structures men have constructed on top of the actual economy.

For example in controlled economies like the USSR hyper inflation's delivery method is easy to spot.  The government just keeps spending and spending and raising everyone's wages until things go boom.  But what is the "boom" really?  Is it really just an out of control train?  Why can't they just stop printing new money?
Remember back when I explained what money is?  Remember how I talked about how there is a constant commodity competition?  it never stops.  There is a constant struggle to decide what people will want.  The commodity people want the most, is the commodity that will be the easiest to trade in the future... and therefore becomes the money.  

Now... when a government intervenes and says, "You will use X as money." they they have short circuited this competition by giving an un-natural advantage to one commodity over the others.  However that comes with a cost.  People want something they would otherwise not want because the government says so.  This works as long as people have faith in the government.  They have faith in the government and that faith gets transferred to the paper slips or magic deposits.  If they lose faith in that government.. like after losing a war... or after a big political change...  they can also lose faith in their currency as well.  By that I mean, they no longer have faith that they will be able to exchange their paper slips for the things they want and need.       
Folks.  Hyper-inflation is not an increase of the money supply.

The rapid catastrophic increase in the money supply is a symptom.  It is not the cause.  

Hyper-inflation is what happens when people decide that the fiat money they have in their pockets and in their  accounts is no longer going to be honored in the future and start spending it as quickly as possible.  That is the unstoppable train of inflation.  The printing presses cannot be stopped because the people will not stop spending the money as soon as they get it.  They don't want the money.  There are other commodities that they have more faith in, but the government has interfered and forced them to use this crap that they don't want.   This is evidenced by their behavior.  The International Accounting Standards Board established this list of criteria to diagnose hyper inflation:

• The general population prefers to keep its wealth in non-monetary assets or in a relatively stable foreign currency. Amounts of local currency held are immediately invested to maintain purchasing power
• The general population regards monetary amounts not in terms of the local currency but in terms of a relatively stable foreign currency. Prices may be quoted in that currency;
• Sales and purchases on credit take place at prices that compensate for the expected loss of purchasing power during the credit period, even if the period is short;
• Interest rates, wages, and prices are linked to a price index; and
• The cumulative inflation rate over three years approaches, or exceeds, 100%

What we see here is a clear pattern of people rejecting the cash (I say cash but it works for whatever is represented in the deposits as well, though generally the deposits disappear as folks stop bothering with banks entirely) their government is telling them they have to use.

This is why I was amused when Vox suggested that I was forgetting that in a deflationary environment people want their cash.  I am not forgetting it.  That behavioral difference is key to my case.

During the american great depression people horded cash.  They buried it in their backyard and hid it in mattresses.  In Wiemar .. people wallpapered their houses with it.  Literally.  The key is, American's retained faith in their government and therefore the purchase power of their money.  In Wiemar they had enormous debt, and had just lost a major war.  They did not maintain a faith in their government and therefore lost faith in their fiat money.

The reason hyper-inflation often follows war and political upheaval is because those are two excellent reasons for folks to lose faith in their governments.  As further evidence of this I point once again to Weimar.  Note that after the hyper-inflation a new leader emerged and restored faith in the government and the next decade was referred to as "The Golden Age of Wiemar".  This should also bring to mind FDR and the fact that in spite of his rampant stupid... people had faith that he was going to save them.  Thus they never rejected their fiat money.

That is why the broad definition of fiat is more important than the specific credit nature.  Because once people lose faith in the money... its not money anymore.  Once it stops behaving as money, what it represents or how it is created or how it gets delivered into the system doesn't matter.  Because no one wants it.  Forced to take it, they will get rid of it as soon as possible.

So... Hyper-inflation starts with people rejecting their fiat money.  Practically that means they stop saving and start spending.  They spend as soon as they possibly can.  This drives up prices and creates the unstoppable demand cycle that forces the government involved to simple change the rules and crank up the printing presses.
Did you catch that?   The important phrase there is "change the rules".

Vox and other deflationists are deflationists because at heart they are system guys.  They understand the system and how it works.  What they ignore, is that the system can be changed and will be changed.  They will have no choice in the matter.  Hyper inflation isn't a decision that is made by governments or central banks.  Its made by people.  Now in some cases governments can take actions deliberately to cause hyper inflation to happen but ultimately the mechanism is the same.  The people reject the fiat money that they are legally being forced to use.

That is one way we get to Hyper-inflation.  But there is another way as well.

Right now the dollar is the world's foremost reserve currency.  I say foremost because its not the only reserve currency out there.  Its just the one folks have the most of.  That creates and sustains enormous demand for US dollars.  If one looks at international activity during the financial crisis of 2008 we see that folks actually scrambled to get dollars.  Demand for US dollars world wide went up.  That in and of itself helped to disguise the inflation within the US internally.  This is because generally speaking folks internationally figured if anyone was going to make it through the collapse it would be the US.  I am trying not to laugh as I type that.  Its like saying, if anyone is going to make it through this nuclear blast it will be that guy standing at ground zero shouting about the bomb not really being a bomb at all.  Never the less...

Right now there is an unknown amount of dollars deposited in bank accounts and held by governments around the world.  The interesting bit?  The Fed has no idea how much.   I am going to repeat that.  The US Federal Reserve has no idea how many US dollars are floating around outside our borders.  Right now that money is mostly not doing anything.  Its just sitting in accounts.  It has no "velocity" as we call it in economic terms.  
Any ideas what happens when those folks decide they don't want US dollars anymore?  They spend it.  Ya know what happens when they all start spending it?

Right.   Kaboom.  Think back to what happened to the price of platinum when the USSR up and dumped tons of it on the market.  Now imagine if everyone else dumped their platinum too... and in response the USSR just kept dumping more and more platinum.  There is a finite supply of platinum in the world.  Dollars?  Not so much.
As the money that was just sitting around gets re-injected into the system the price of US dollars goes way down.  As that price goes down...  people lose purchase power.  As people lose purchase power... they spend more to get out while the getting is good.

And thus the cycle is born.

Again.. the credit nature of the money is irrelevant.  The money is rejected and new rules will be written.

That is why I rejected Mises' definitions and instead focused on what makes the money the dominant commodity in one going commodity competition.  Because if you have an artificial advantage like fiat... then once that advantage is taken away... you get a disturbance.  The people reject the former money and pick a new money.  This happens in different ways.  It can be relatively smooth in the case of a conquered nation switching to new money issued by the invader... or it can be ugly... as in hyper-inflation when the government tries to keep the dead currency alive via printing and spending.

So not only do we now see that deflation is not only not inevitable... its incredibly unlikely.  

We are seeing signs already.  The dollar is being rejected.  Right now china is negotiating a deal to trade directly with Australia without dollars.  This is a big deal.  

Iran is no longer pricing its oil in dollars.  This is also a big deal.

We have people rejecting the dollar here at home as they spend and spend.  We have celebrities who have suggested their contracts should be negotiated in Euros.   And think about it.. that was before the printing got good and started.  We now have several states considering passing laws making Gold and Silver legal tender.  These are behaviors associated with hyper-inflation people.  It is not only going to happen... it is going to happen sooner than you think.

So right now we have two separate mechanisms... an internal... and external.. pointing to the rejection of the US dollar.  Both lead to the same place.

We are entering what historians call.... interesting times.  In the immortal words of Admiral Josh Painter... 

This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

ok well... you'll be lucky to live through it. 

I'll be fine. 

As for the debate... I suspect Vox now finally realizes how thoroughly the rug has been pulled out from under him.  We were never debating what he thought we were debating.  My case was never what he thought it was.

Physician!

How does thy medicine taste?

Cognitive Dissonance

So... it appears that there is a big brouhaha over some ingredients in the dog food Beneful.  Most of it centers around Purina's decision to include propylene glycol in the product.

So dog owners are outraged.  Outraged I tell you to have learned that they have been feeding something so awful to their dogs.

One wonders...

If you don't want to feed it to your dogs...  Do you think you should be injecting directly into your newborn baby?

Propylene Glycol is a stabilizing compound used to prevent accidental freezing.  Its common in vaccines   In fact all vaccines have it, or something very similar to it in them.

I wish these dog lovers cared as much about their kids.

Blackberry Q10

Porn.

Total porn.

This comes out in just a few weeks.  You can get it in white too.  The battery life is rumored to be insane.

blackberry z10 review

Finally... the Canadians got something right....

Right now I'm doing the impossible. I am writing a blog post... with one thumb. let's see you do that with your iphone.


I have had the blackberry z10 for a week now so I thought it was time to fill y'all in. I think the fact that I am using it to write this when perfectly good laptops are available says plenty. Don't you?

Let me start by saying this... I used to lose my razr maxx at least once a day. I have yet to lose the z10... because I simply can't make myself put it down.

A smartphone is a tool... well several tools actually... so I will break the review down like that. How does it perform in its various roles?

As a communication device:

It is likely the best in the world bar none. The typing experience is amazing. I hate on screen keyboards and yet here I typing up a blog post on one. Everything is fast. A text or call or email comes in and no matter where you are or what you're doing with the phone a single swipe let's you handle it... or you can just give a quick peek and ignore it. Everything flows.   I don't mean you exit your app or game or whatever and respond to the text or email.  I mean you swipe... reply... and swipe again and you're right back where you were doing what you were doing.  You don't exit the browser to respond to an email.  You just flow into the email then to the calendar... then to contacts... then to twitter... and eventually flow right back into the browser where you were.  No stupid home button crap.


As a browser:

It is crazy good. And crazy fast. I hate browsing on mobile devices... ok well I used to.  Now I do it a lot. another cool tidbit... I have multiple wireless networks set up around my house. as I walk around it automatically switches between the networks without even telling me. It just happens. Like it is all one big network. As signal strength weakens on one network and gains on another... it switches.  like magic.  HTML5 performance is fantastic... and oh look!  I can view flash pages.  I can actually use youtube.com. So thanks... but I don't need an app for that.


Media consumption:

Fantastic. I read my Kindle books.. rock my tunes.. watch my movies... everything.  No netflix yet.  There is a workaround but its not a big deal to me.


Battery life?

I have never had to top it off. I use it hard all day
 I don't know what else to say. Charge it at night. That's all.


Apps?

I am not a huge app guy. Why do I need apps with a browser this good? Example... there is no Blogger app. android has a Blogger app. Yet here I am blogging.  That said there are lots of good apps and good games... but it is a new ecosystem.  On the other hand... you can side load android apps and run them just fine.  I mentioned that right?  It runs android apps.


Camera?

  I am not sure its as good as the one on my old blackberry 9810... but I really like it.  The timeshift feature just rocks.  The camera has a learning curve and we're still making friends.  Sometimes there are low light issues.  Haven't quite figured it out yet.


Overall?

It's what God intended cellphones to be.  Seriously.  If you're into getting shit done... this is your phone.  Whatever it is that I have to get done... gets done faster with the Z10.

Try it. Maybe it isn't for you. Maybe it is.

*** UPDATE***

I've decided to demonstrate with a concrete example what I mean about speeding things up.  An iPhone5 is here on my desk next to my Z10.  The iPhone5 goes ***DING***.  I pick it up... hit the home button like its 1995... and the lock screen comes up.  I put in the code... and suddenly I am in the browser.  I hit the home button again... because I love me some 1995... now I am at the home screen and I am looking around at a bunch icons to see why it went ding.  Then I hit "messages" and only then do I see what is going on.

Constrast this with the Z10.  It goes ding.  I pick it up and swipe from bottom to top. At the lock screen I'm shown that I have a new text message.  one more swipe and I'm in the text message that was just sent to me.  So much for 1995.

*** This post was brought to you by the Letter Z, and the Number 10***

ATF Show Update

Ok so we had 25 live listeners... and over the course of the weekend we had a total of 90 unique listeners including the those who listened to it in the archive.

Not bad man.  Not bad.

I'm working on show prep for this week.  Right now it looks like we're gonna talk Southern Culture and Glocks.  I'm gonna try to get JAC to call in again.  I'll probably eat another sandwich too.

ATF: Changes

ok kids...  So here's the deal...

10pm central time... you want to go here.

Bloggerblaster radio with special guest Vidad.  Now..  I'm a total rookie at this... and its friday... so I probably have had some bourbon.  If you're expecting rush hour talk radio polish... piss off.  This isn't it.  It will get better.  Bear with us as it does.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.  If nothing else... tune in just to hear the intro.  It will not disappoint.

A: Guiness Draught

T : CAO..  various... its been a good night.

F:  MSAR Bullpup.  Obviously.

***update***

Here is wikipedia link to the info on the H2000 I mentioned on the broadcast.   And no... none of that was staged.  I knew Vidad has some guns but I had no idea what they were before hand.

Volbeat meets Hank Williams.

Enjoy.

New Ride!!!

 

Finally broke down a got a decent vehicle to haul the kids in.  The Escalade just wasn't cutting it anymore.  To many kids... to big a pain to get in and out of.  The power sliding doors are what sold me on it in the end.  its the Touring Elite.. 3.5 litre V6... 250hp...  obviously optioned out.  More pics later.

***UPDATE***

It is amusing to no end that people somehow still manage to fall for April Fools jokes.  One would think that the popularity of smart phones with calendar functionality would reduce the effectiveness of these things.