Had to cut somewhere

Unread newsmagazines have been piling up in Chez Fûz since before this weblog was even born. I used to board a plane for somewhere almost weekly, thus having an uninterrupted block of 3+ hours twice a week to plow through my favorites. Those days are over.

Also, with the intertubes commonly available in the lodgings of choice these days, there's more incentive to read what's interesting online.

The weblog didn't help either: I have a hell of a lot more to say, on the basis of what I read, and far more of a means to say it, compared to October of 2001.

The sainted Spousal Unit has noticed and reminds me frequently. She is limiting where she allows the unread magazines to pile up, and threatens to pitch them. Sorry, that's not acceptable. I keep all of them, they are boxed in my basement.

But I had to cut somewhere. Reason, American Rifleman, American Spectator, Liberty, and Wired (links on the right). The scrip to Liberty lapsed about two years ago, and I miss it.

Reason gets the cover-to-cover treatment and always satisfies. American Rifleman gets a quick browse (who else is making a 1911 clone, or an AR clone, this month?) then into the packing box.

In AmSpec, I'll skip an article if not captivated two or three paragraphs in, and I haven't read Ben Stein bitching about his spoiled son for at least three years. Still I won't give it up.

Wired began arriving at my home very shortly after Condé Nast picked it up. They excited, they stimulated. They had the quirky sense of humor, they had weird typography and novel graphics. But they seem to have gotten completely into the tank for The Won, settling into the warm KoolAid quickly but painstakingly without splashing (ooooo, what will he do without a Blackberry?). It should have been obvious from how they front-cover adored Ahhnold the Governator. Praising some Microsoft executive as a visionary for suggesting that Office will become a subscription-basis application suite? I'll be visionary for letting my subscription to Wired lapse.

Besides, Wired is the absolute worst for packaging and advertising. My first duty upon handling a magazine is removing the blow-ins, glue-ins, and bind-ins, and Wired took the longest.

It's not the money, y'all. I'll probably replace Wired with a renewed scrip to Liberty, if they're still in business (and order the back issues I've missed), and the monthly journal for the American Radio Relay League. It will cost me every bit as much casheesh as Wired won't be getting from me any more.

What Wired content I need I will follow as a link posted by somebody else. I read more Wired that way than on paper today anyway.

It was a hard choice. Too bad.

new player

The cheap little 8GB ChiPod disgusts. After the file names started looking like Old English runes, and the files themselves elicited "Format error!" after six or eight deletions and reloads, I've given up on it. Now it won't even boot up.

And taken up a new player. Cowon, whoever they are, offer the iAudio M5, packing a 20GB hard drive, and all the codecs that my beloved iRiver i120 used to, even Ogg.



There are yet more similarities between the M5 and the i120, but two very nice differences: it is about 2/3 the weight of the i120, and about a sixth the price, unadjusted for inflation.

There's a stack of them for $57 each in the BX at Andersen AFB. I'll wager this ride is discontinued. I would very much like to find the remote and the dock for it, but don't want to spend as much for them as I did for the player itself.

another fine vendor

All of Bill Quick's SHTF ruminations remind me of Honeyville Grain. Into the blogroll with them!

If I had a Mormon bishop's store nearer to me, I'd be shopping there to stock up on certain items before H1N1 hits. But I don't, and Honeyville fills the void.

Honeyville packs some very good staple foods in well-sized packages. When the shipping is considered, the prices are good, I think. We've ordered nothing larger than 5# cans, but we may be about to. The Big Brown Truck is happy to drop it off.

Whole grains, TVP, freeze-dried fruits, dehydrated dairy and egg products. Go browse. I found them while searching for bulk red wheat.

in context, not a bad price

7.62mm NATO ball ammo for under a dollar a round. Reloadable.

Not a bad price considering, well, a bloody shortage. Ctrl-F down the page for "Igman."

I'd a liked to die

Have a looky.

a new Iwanna

Something else to add to the list of things I lust for.

A Crankandstein grain mill. Just the guts, I'll build the rest. It can be chucked into an electric drill. But I'd really want a flywheel hand crank. SHTF y'know.