Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Garmin Freeze and Fix thanks to the Internet

My wife took my GPS, a Garmin C330, on her drive with her colleagues to Washington DC, where it apparently came quite in handy while they were traveling, especially through Pennsylvania. Her friends liked it so much a few of them are planning to buy them for themselves. I managed well enough without it for the 4 days she was gone.

Today i finally plugged it in and it immediately froze, locked solid, and i could just feel myself getting lost.

Thankfully I was well aware of my location and didn't need it, but it was worrisome that i couldn't turn it off, or make it work at all. Given I often have to go to totally new locations, the lack of the trusty Garmin C330 worried me.

Thanks to the internet however all was well once i thought to Google "Garmin C330 freeze fix." One of the search results was www.fixya.com and lo and behold there was a simple solution : Under the plastic cover frame for the screen there's a tab under the Garmin logo. Pulling on the tab takes off the screen and under it, carefully hidden away is a little button marked "reset". One push of the reset button and all was well (Unlike the helpful commenter, I did not need to wait for the batteries to die for this t work). Impressively, the Garmin has been so reliable mounted in my car I never noticed the tiny tab until it was described in that most.

Thanks to the Internet and the wisdom of techy-crowds, I'm much less likely to get lost.

Obama's next move: Let them drive Ladas

After the defenestration of Rick Waggoner (on the upside, any move that brings the term defenestration back into common usage has got to be a victory for both the English language and medieval revivalism. On the other hand, that Obama is having us think of the late medieval period with the rule of Kings and nobles with the peasants and serfs toiling on the land probably isn't such a happy thought. Then again, most Democrat nobles don't pay their taxes until nominated for cabinet positions, so maybe it is more apt than not.)

Obama went on to tell Chrysler it had to complete a partnership with Fiat within 30 days or else.

Now Obama may be longing for the good old days when Fiats were used as the basis for a fine symbolic car near and dear to all progressives hearts, a "car of the people". Given Obama didn't interfere with the leadership of the UAW while forcing the CEO of GM to step down, methinks he indeed would support such government control for the benefit of the workers and peasants of America.

Yep if you didn't click on the proceeding link we're talking about Ladas, a fine example of the results of progressive government control of the auto industry. Maybe we'll call it the Obama-Lada, or Obama-Lada-Ding-Dong for the extended version.

Note: Welcome to Instapundit and View From the Porch Readers! Glad you came by. Feel free to look around, comment and have a nice view.

Islamists just not unclenching their fist

In this time of hope and change, some surprisingly won't unclench their fist.

Pakistani Taliban threatens attack on White House>
The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze" the world.

Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.


Wow, we couldn't have predicted that response now could we?

When Obama and co makes the US act like a "weak horse" the enemies of the United States are emboldened to aggresive acts, not encouraged to participate in peaceful dialogue.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Obama Cars

So I'm in a parking lot today and beside me is a nice luxury car with a prominent Obama bumper sticker.

No big deal right?

Well walking by it I notice on the passenger side, taped to the console/airbag area is not only another Obama sticker but a picture of the Obama family, another picture of Obama alone...its like an Obama shrine in that car. Wish I had a camera in my car, as this was a display to remember.

And people made jokes about some Christians praying for Bush...

This was in a synagogue parking lot by the way.

This close to Passover I half expected Edward G. Robinson to be standing by the car saying "where's your Obamessiah now?" "Where's your Obama now see?"

Sunday, March 22, 2009

"Cap and Trade" on carbon emissions will bring rent seeking to a whole new level

The Detroit News in its editorial Editorial: Cap-and-trade idea needs full debate at least begins to illuminate the problems with the Democrat push of capping and trading carbon emissions.
Enacting a carbon cap-and-trade system is too transformational to allow it to be jammed through Congress without the full give-and-take of the legislative process and with the votes of just one party counting.

Credit Michigan Sen. Carl Levin for stepping in front of his own party's bulldozer to shout, "Slow down!"

Senate Democratic leaders know that cap-and-trade is an extremely divisive issue, pitting manufacturing states like Michigan against coastal states that have lost their minds to the global warming hysteria.

Levin correctly notes that a system of auctioning off carbon credits could drive up the cost of energy, meaning higher prices for nearly all goods, and put manufacturing industries at risk. He has joined seven of his Democratic colleagues in protesting the attempt to circumvent the normal legislative rules to get the bill passed without a full airing.

The cap-and-trade plan is well short of the 60 votes it needs to withstand a Senate filibuster. So Democrats are attempting to tuck the legislation into the budget bill, where it would need a simple majority of 51 votes.

Doing so would severely limit debate on a bill that would have a major impact on the national economy and the household budgets of every American. The pros and cons of the bill should be thoroughly argued, and the final version -- if there is one -- should be crafted in the philosophical middle.

But the tactic the Democrats want to employ would shut Republicans out of the discussion, as well as Democrats like Levin who are worried about how the bill will affect their states' key industries. . . .
We'll give Senator Levin credit for at least asking Congress to slow down on this one, and given this blog is rarely in agreement with the good Senator, thats's saying something. This seems to be standard Obama and hard left Democrat modus operandi - push your agenda-driven legislation through so quickly, before anyone has time for a sober second thought or to consider the implications, and then act like its a fait accompli.

Of course capping and the trading carbon emissions will increase cost. Our economy, indeed our very exhalations produce CO2. Capping such emissions, or worse rolling them back years will harm our economy in numerous untild ways. If you like the recession now, kjust wait for a carbon capped depression due to lack of energy available. Forget about plugging in your hybrid cars and feeling pious about saving carbon based fuels -- that electricity is either coming from coal (gasp! carbon!) or nuclear (double gasp! radiation! quick panic!) as wind and solar cannot provide enough, reliably enough.

In addition cap and trade is ripe for rent seeking and lobbying for allocation of the carbon credits. The amount of gaming of the system for getting the initial bank of credits issued to various industries and then trading them will be as transparent as the last stimulus bill, and much more lucrative. Just look at Michigan's current cap and trade plan for nitrous oxide emissions (based on EPA mandates for cap-and-trade) for an example of some massive multi=million dollar system gaming going on.

Most importantly, there's still no real proof that: A. Capping and trading carbon will actually reduce global warming; B. that there really is global warming going on in the first place; and finally C.That cap and trading carbon will do anything other than harm the American economy.

But then again, C. is probably the point of the whole exercise.

Dive 104 - Union Lake in March

Just returned from my first dive of the 2009 dive season.

Water temperature: 38 degrees F.
Dive time: 30 minutes
Visibility: 15-20 feet

Overall the dive went quite well, getting back in the water after a few months out for winter. The water was cold but not as bad as we'd thought it would be. After about 25 minutes or so I had an ice cream headache without the benefits of eating ice cream.

Buoyancy control was good, back kick was still there and functional and the frog kick is working.

Not a bad start to the season.

The only downside to the dive was that as I was assembling my dive gear at the site and attaching my tank to my backplate, my left pinky finger slid around the metal of the cam band and got caught under the metal cam as I was closing it. Yeowch! I now have a very swollen and black colored top of my pinky finger that hurts like crazy. I've now learned to close the cam a lot more carefully.

Ah well, the things we do for sport.

Monday, March 16, 2009

La Raza Lobbyist appointed Obama's director of White House intergovernmental affairs,

So much for that whole "no lobbyists in my administration" promise.

The Detroit News: Michigan Latina is Obama link to states, communities
Michigan native Cecilia Munoz wasn't used to busy senators calling her personally to ask about Latino concerns, so Barack Obama -- then a new senator from Illinois -- quickly stood out.

"It is rare for someone in the U.S. Senate to call you up on the spur of the moment for help in something he was thinking through," recalls Munoz, who was then a top Capitol Hill lobbyist for the National Council of La Raza.

"When (Obama) had questions about policy, he would call. He really developed those kinds of relationships with people. I learned his openness to counsel and advice and guidance."

When Senator Obama became President Obama, he tapped the mother of two teen-aged daughters to become director of White House intergovernmental affairs, the "doorway," as she puts it, between all state and local officials and the president.

"We need a strong partnership with state and local government in order to deliver ... change. My job is to make sure those partnerships are as strong as possible," said Munoz, who grew up in Livonia, the daughter of Bolivian immigrants....

Oh, and La Raza, translation into English - "The Race" (Michelle Malkin spotted this appointment before the Detroit News and has some salient comments). La Raza as in "Hispanics uber alles". as the Germans might say, hard to imagine another ethnic group getting away with the name like that and lobbying under it, not to mention defending illegal immigration to boot.

You know the economy is bad when Casinos are losing money

MGM puts casino on the block: Las Vegas-based owner of Detroit's largest, most-profitable gaming house seeks to reduce debt.
MGM Grand Detroit, the city's largest and most profitable casino, is up for sale.

It's just one property across Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage's multinational empire being pitched to buyers as the debt-ridden company seeks to shore up its balance sheet, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed Sunday.

The specter of a sale of MGM Grand Detroit and other profitable properties like Bellagio on the Vegas Strip comes as MGM Mirage is seeking to erase tens of billions in debt, much of it financing the company's $8.6 billion CityCenter venture in Las Vegas.

Selling very profitable entities (and what is a casino but a private license to print money?) to balance out bad real estate bets has got to hurt.

Madagascar - I like to Move in! Move in!

Dozens of soldiers seize a palace in Madagascar
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar – Soldiers broke into an unoccupied presidential palace Monday and took it over in a symbolic show of force after Madagascar's opposition leader called on the army to arrest the president.

No confirmation that they were singing this song and doing this dance as they did so, but one can only hope they did for sheer style points alone:


In addition, there have been no reports of Lemurs being harmed in this current move-in attempt.

Obammo begins to go after the Ammo

The Shotist: DOD Ends Sale of Expended Military Brass to Remanufacturers
AND SO IT BEGINS...
We all wondered when it was going to start.
...
From now on, remanufacturers of military brass will not be able to buy surplus brass from DOD--actually from Government Liquidators, llc.--the corporation that sells surplus materials for the U.S. government. At least, not in any form recognizable as once-fired brass ammunition.

Now all brass ammunition will have to be shredded, and sold as scrap.

Georgia Arms, who brought this to our attention, is the 5th largest ammunition manufacturer of centerfire pistol and rifle ammunition in the U.S.
Be sure to go to The Shotist and read the whole sordid mess.

In short, the Obama Administration, instead of allowing fired brass (that's the empty cartridge case folks, not even a complete round of ammunition) to be sold, will now require it to be destroyed for scrap, making its value for reloading nil.

In the process the Administration is going to reduce the supply of brass for reloading, thus tightening an already straigned ammunition market that is already casuing scarcity due to increased mikitary need, increased police training and stockpiling, and increased stockpiling by civillian owners worrying about the admninistration pulling stuff like this.

So as a reuslt of this new ban, the price of ammunition will go up, manufactureres of reloaded ammo may go out of business due to lack of components for manufacturing, and the United States will LOSE money as scrap brass is sold for less than fired cartridge brass. Brilliant move all around if you want a nice machiavellian maneuver to harm gun owners and increase the cost and availability of ammunition without having to raise the issue in Congress and face the music for it.

As seen on, and hit tip to Instapundit.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

More Cobo Follies 2

Now with more schemes than even stimulus bailouts!

New Cobo plan would raise Detroit's stake

The plan would first give Detroit another $15 million to sweeten the deal and 2 spots on the committee and Wayne County 2, leaving Oakland County, Macomb and the State with only 1. You can see the problem with that right? Have the suburbs and State kick in the money and then never get any accountability for it. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh yeah, the two state representatives, Reps. Shanelle Jackson and Rashida Tlaib are both (D-Detroit), now why didn't the Detroit Free press point out that little conflict of interest?

Oakland County's Executive L. Brooks Patterson is no fool and isn't falling for it (He's one of the main reasons why Oakland County, while facing a lot of challenges, isn't a total mess while Wayne and Detroit are (also one reason I don't want him running for governor, he's needed here, and needed badly):

The Detroit News:
It's a compromise Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said Friday night he won't go along with.

"There's no way in hell we're going back to that plan (the seven-member board). That plan calls for two (representatives) for Wayne and two for Detroit. We're out-voted for the rest of my life," he said. "It's not going to happen. We had a deal. I don't want to return to the bargaining table after five years. I'm not sure others want to come back and renegotiate this deal (either)."


Quite simply if Detroit doesn't want to get bailed out and refuses to allow for any accountability, let them keep Cobo to themselves. Have Oakland and Macomb quit paying the hotel and liquor taxes towards that failure and direct them to the building of a new convention center. Build this new convention center outside of Detroit and away from its special costs and special interests, and closer to the Detroit/Wayne County Airport where there's room for a large world class facility on land that's pretty cheap right now and would be convenient for visitors to access, park and travel around safely. I bet it will cost less to build new and bigger than renovate Cobo, and there will be far more accountability and far less slippage than if the money is thrown at renovating Cobo.

More Cobo Follies

Some bad ideas just don't die.

Even after Detroit City Clown Council voted the deal down, there's still maneuvering going on to push it ahead.

As I wrote before, there's a push for Federal Stimulus Dollars to fix Cobo, and a federal bailout and fix-r-upper would prevent the City from giving up control of this tarnished "jewel".

Not surprisingly, the husband of Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers, US Rep John Conyers (D) is leading the push in Congress for this proposal.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Det., said that there is a chance that federal stimulus money could possibly be used to renovate and expand Cobo Center, an issue that has left state and local officials debating the future of the convention center.

“Where there is a will there’s a way,’’ Conyers told the Free Press after a rally today in support of a new deal for Cobo Center at Triumph Church in Detroit.

Detroit City Council rejected state approved legislation that would create a five member regional authority and pump $288 millions into Cobo Center for expansion and renovation. Mayor Ken Cockrel vetoed the council’s rejection. The council has sued in circuit court.....


Ah, federal dollars, nepotism, threats of court action, corruption and City Council clownery, does it get much better than this?