Monthly Archives: November 2006

DirecTV Channel 212

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That would be the NFL Channel, on which Baltimore and Cincinnati are now playing the Thursday Night game. I don’t care much about the outcome of the game, I just wanted to see whether DirecTV carried it. I missed the Kansas City Chieves (against Denver at that) on Thanksgiving night, because my brother-in-law’s cable company doesn’t carry the NFL Channel.

The NFL wants money and lots of exposure for the channel, evidently more than the CableCos are ready to fork over at the moment. Aside from being an argument for switching to satellite, it’s a classic case of the market at work. No one has a “right” to see a sporting event, and as a customer in the market, an individual can either petition the NFL and Cable, forget the whole thing, or switch to satellite.

The above all sounds great until the Washington Redskins, or some other team favored by one of our congressional representatives, is relegated to an appearance on the NFL Channel. If cable doesn’t carry it, all sorts of pressure will be brought to bear on cable, the NFL, and anyone else they can think of, to preserve some “right” that isn’t a right at all.

-k-

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Lots of Good Reasons to Drive

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Via Homeland Stupidity, many reasons to avoid TSA ineptitude at airports around the country.

Pies are common fodder during Thanksgiving; however, travellers who had the misfortune to go through Cleveland were met with:

Thousands of Americans this holiday season are going to go without Grandmother’s homemade pie, because the Transportation Security Administration has apparently banned pies from aircraft. “In the last two days, we have taken a dozen baked pies,” Rick DeChant, TSA assistant federal security director at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. But the pies didn’t get thrown out like all the other potentially explosive liquids seized at the checkpoint. Instead, the potentially explosive pies were fed to soldiers waiting for connecting flights in the USO lounge.

Cleveland was presumably the only airport so afflicted.

There are plenty of good links in the referenced article; read the whole thing. Pay special attention to the DHS alert warnings and what they mean for the rest of us.

Now, I’ll offer a solution to this mess: stop flying. The TSA operates on the whims of individual, untrained, government-bureaucrat wannabes, with security of the airline system not even a by-product. The TSA has done nothing in its 5+ years of existence, there is no review of its processes, if there are in fact any processes to be reviewed, and the cost to the taxpayers is astronomical. So: stop flying.

If enough people stop flying, the market will move the airlines to get the message, and pressure will hopefully be brought to bear against this inane security theater.

There may even be a little “No Fly Zone” banner flying from this blog in the near future.

-k-

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The Only Reason to Fly

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When one goes on vacation, visiting relatives, or whatever, there is one, and probably only one reason to fly:

You don’t need a box or two to house all the crap you bought while shopping at your final destination.

As I see it, that’s the only advantage to air travel over driving.

-k-

The Mighty Buick

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I’ve always reported vital statistics about my rental cars here on this old blog, but I’ve never before had an image of any car. Well, with this last trip, things have changed; we rented a Buick Lucerne CXS, which turns out to be the top-of-the-line Lucerne.

The life-to-date fuel economy increased from 21.7 MPG to 23.3; a noticeable, though not earth-shattering increase. As it turns out, this ol’ Buick had a 4.6L NorthStar V8. I noticed it had plenty of punch motor-wise, but compared to a Saturn, a lot of cars do.

There was also an electronic doo-dad that tracked LTD Average speed; with road driving, that went from 45.3 MPH to 55.3 MPH.

And talk creature comforts; I’d previously decided that heated leather seats perfectly symbolized America’s decline into excesses reminiscent of the Roman Empire. This car had them, SWMBO used them; she has a bad back, and finds it tedious at best and uncomfortable at worst to sit for any extended period. The butt-and-back warmers helped her to endure being confined in the passenger seat. It even had a heated steering wheel; I tried that out, just to say I had.

Having never experienced a dual-zone front air conditioning system, I’d have to label that a winner. SWMBO likes it significantly cooler than I; the dual-zone made it possible for us to maintain our preferred degree of warmth.

Then, there were the side rear-view mirrors, which automatically tilted down when the car was put into reverse, as well as the totally glare-free inside rear view, which made rolling across chunks of Tennessee at night tolerable.

There are doubtless features we totally missed, not knowing which buttons to push and all.

Why don’t I buy one? At a base MSRP of $35,440, it’s simply above my vehicular purchase threshold. I’ve lived in cheaper houses than that; don’t laugh, I come from humble roots, and am proud of that. However, when our travel plans call for long distances via car, I’m renting another one just like this one.

-k-

The picture was lifted via screen-capture from the Buick website. If any humorless GM/Buick tightasses object; then:

  • Don’t persist on using Flash Player
  • Look at the unsolicited review I just supplied, blogder-like, for free.

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    Be it Ever so Rude

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    SWMBO and I got back about 4PM local time, after 2100+ miles, 6 nights, and three states. In the 2 hours we’ve been home, I’ve witnessed more instances of dumbass driving and other general A-type yuppie rudeness than in the entire 2100 miles and six days combined.

    I miss the South already. NoVA (Northern Virginia) most assuredly is not South; RoVA(Rest of Virginia)1 is definitely South.

    -k-

    1 – RoVA may be found South of I-64 here in the Commonwealth.

    Eastbound and Down

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    The Search for America Tour, Buick Economy Rally, and Cracker Barrel evaluation finds us east of Knoxville TN, after nearly 600 miles today. We’re just over under 500 miles from home; an early start tomorrow, and we should be home before dark, get the rental turned in, and collapse into our own bed. Fortunately, we both have Tuesday off.

    I’ve got lots of good things to say about the Buick Lucerne, but I’ll save that for later. Right now, a cold one, and lights out.

    -k-

    Happy Thanksgiving

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    From Hot Springs AR, where SWMBO and I arrived tired and crabby yesterday afternoon. A good night’s sleep, and excellent weather, and we’re much better now.

    I’m posting this from the blog’s admin interface; a first for me. I’m also using my brother-in-law’s Windows powered machine to post. I’ll try not to make the Windows thing a habit.

    Happy Thanksgiving, and safe travels to all.

    -k-

    The Road Show Rolls On

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    West to Memphis, across the Mighty Mississip’, and then into Arkansas. 400 miles to go. If I’m not heard from for a day or two, blame my brother-in-law’s recalcitrant internet connection. Or my exuberant participation in depleting his liquor supply. Or both.

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

    -k-

    Searching for America Tour No. 2

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    SWMBO and I find ourselves in Nashville TN tonight, 2/3 or so of our way to Hot Springs AR for Thanksgiving. We drove; I’m so sick of TSA’s ineffectual security grandstanding that I’ll go to great lengths not to fly again.

    Plus, when one improves the life-to-date mileage of a Buick Lucerne from 21.7 to 22.8, while simultaneously lifting the average lifetime speed of the vehicle from 45.3 to 47.9 MPH, it’s been a good day.

    And, the only suckage was some as yet unexplained 2 hour delay west of Knoxville, wherein I-40 West was a parking lot. But a nice room, free wifi, and a few cold ones that can be had with a half-block walk to the Shell station, and life is good again.

    400 miles from Hot Springs now; an early, though not too early start tomorrow, and we should be there in the early afternoon.
    -k-

    Hyped Out

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    OK, I know this is the season finale for the NASCAR Nextel Cup season. But, man, there was a 3 hour NASCAR RaceDay on SpeedTV, followed by a one-hour Countdown to Green on NBC.

    I’ve grown to marginally tolerate the hype that accompanies both sporting and non-sporting events. I think that 4 hours total is crossing the line. I know, there’s a remote control, and channels can be changed. Maybe I should check how the ‘Skins are doing today. Yep, there’s the ticket.

    -k-

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