The Spechtacle

A site for sharing information, dropping dimes and plotting overthrows...

Month: October 2008

Recession proof hobbies… The .22 Long Rifle

October 19, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I like to shoot. I primarily have old guns, which satify my need to experience history, and also have some fun shooting them. I reload shells for these guns for 2 reasons. Some are hard to come by, (you just can’t buy bullets for M1895 Steyr rifles) and it’s also cheaper. Well, I thought it was going to be cheaper. It’s not, you just shoot more.

But there are some guns you can have fun shooting all day and not ruin your credit. The bullet for these guns is the ubiquitous American .22 long rifle. The .22 comes in many forms, .22 short, .22 bb cap, .22 high velocity and on and on, but the plain jane .22 long rifle is cheap, abundant, and accurate!

There are a huge variety of guns for the .22 long rifle, everything from tiny pistols to huge tack driving custom made rigs. For a coupla hundred bucks, or less, you can have a pistol or rifle that comes close to shooting with the best of them. You can’t reload them, mainly because of the primers, but at 8 bucks a brick at Walmart (500 shots), who cares? And if you need something more accurate, then you can pay a little more for match grade ammo.

My arthritis gets in the way of my 30-06 shooting, but not with 22’s. You can blast away all day and not feel a thing. This low recoil feature is also the secret to it’s accuracy. You can’t hit something if you can’t hold on to the gun… Even wives like to shoot them!

So you should try it. For a coupla hundred bucks, you can get a hobby that will last you a lifetime. And if you should join a local gun club, you’ll make new friends, and you won’t meet a nicer bunch of guys (or girls!). The .22 hobby won’t break the bank!

greg

We need an alternative to Alternative Energy..

October 17, 2008 / / 0 Comments


We’ve got this new windmill down on Round Bottom road… been there about 2 months now. 2 weeks ago I saw it turn for the first time, not spinning, but just a lazy trip around the block a few times… hasn’t moved since. I’ve also noticed that it’s been overcast and gloomy for the last 2 weeks also. If we put all our money in windmills and solar power, we would be screwed.

I like the idea of backups. I probably have 3 copies of this picture I just took of this windmill already, and I just took it about a half hour ago. I think I need a backup for Duke Energy, too. I recently read an article on all their new high tech monitoring gizmos, so that with their quick reaction times, they will reduce down time. Since then, my power has been out at least twice, and a couple of days each time… And Hurricane Ike about wiped them out.

Our Civilization seems to be at an energy crossroads. And I for one would like to see all the available avenues pursued, and used, and not just the green ones.

greg

You know it’s bad when…

October 15, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I am an optimist. I don’t know how I got that way. I think it is more like, I hate to give in, or give up, or to roll over. So I won’t say things are b**, but rather that they are not so good these days. You know, the economy and all.

Since the economy is not so good, all the junk mailers are taking my possible gullibility seriously. The are apparently overly concerned with not putting me off by misspelling my name. I mean, are there really people with the last name of radewhacker, or ramdacker, or radmacker?

This used to be the norm. I’ll spare you all the past misspellings. I almost started a scrap book with my kids to record all the different ways.

When I lived in Mississippi, I found out my name at vehicle registration was rademacher williams. And all the junk mail after that had that name. The great state of Mississippi had sold my data to some company that resold it and on and on and on. Wonderful.

All the current junk mail has my name spelled correctly. Things do get better! Sort of.

Bill

The newest discovery

October 8, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Prior to this latest discovery, we have been enthralled with the notion that there is matter we cannot yet see. Dark matter. Most of the universe (that we know of) is comprised of dark matter. Vast unimaginable cosmic distances of nothingness, colossal voids, or rather, dark matter…

Just as I am getting my astrophysical metaphysical brain around this wholly unimaginable concept of dark matter, a new stunning discovery makes its debut in all the cutting edge star magazines, and I develop a headache.

There is apparently a newer type of recently discovered matter in the universe, that seems to dwarf the vast nothingness of dark matter. I am of course, talking about: “Doesn’t Matter”.

We would die one thousand times before we reached the nearest habitable planet. And surrounding us all on our improbable journey would be “Doesn’t Matter”.

Doesn’t Matter is visible – in the county vehicle registration office. It’s all over in there, trust me. And, it is pouring out of the local Sheriff’s cruiser, when your are explaining your accident. On debate night for the presidential candidates, the building is literally constructed out of “Doesn’t Matter”

Parents are literally covered in it, when they are adjudicating a fight between brother and sister. Doesn’t Matter is spraying all over the place.

So, look around. Take a good look. You may get a glimpse of “Doesn’t Matter”.

A Mechanics Thoughts…

October 5, 2008 / / 0 Comments


A hot engine in the winter is your friend,
In the summer, it?s your deadly enemy?..

Cars won?t go away till they?re fixed?

What breaks on cars these days is on the molecular level,
And I can?t see down that far?

It takes 10 years to get some idea of what you are doing..
And 20 years to get good at it?

You have to find out for yourself what the customer screwed up on his car?
He won?t tell you?

10,000 miles or more is too long to go on an oil change?
No matter what the manufacturers insist on?
(Your engine won?t blow up till it?s out of warranty?)

The cars engine compartment never gives back a dropped tool?

If you drop a small part on the floor that parts doesn?t have?
You won?t find it for 3 days

You can?t teach a guy not to break plastic parts (such as dash trim)
It?s a learned skill?

You?re gonna get cut and bloody?
But you do get good at getting blood out of upholstery..

Rust never sleeps?

greg

VW ROUTAN.. Part Deux

October 5, 2008 / / 0 Comments


In my last blog on this subject, 2009 VW ROUTAN.. Sheep in Wolfsburg clothing?, this whole rebadging thing has been bugging me. I work in a European car (Saab) dealership and here is how I see what this means to them.

The mechanics that work there have probably been doing VW’s for most of their working lives. There are some gypsy mechanics , but for the most part, you make the best money when you know the product well, and that usually takes years. These guys are immersed in VW culture, including how their manuals are written and how their tools work.

Now, here comes the Chrysler minivan…. along with it comes a huge pile of tools (none of which work on their normal cars) and computer manuals (none of which translates to how they have learned to do things) and scan tools (none of which will also work on their normal cars, or even work the same).

So now these guys are the guys that are going to service your new minivan. They obviously have mechanical skills or they wouldn’t be working there. So they will get rushed training to quickly get up to speed, and here comes the new minivan on friday at 4:50 pm with a check engine light on, and a customer who wants it taken care of quickly and be on his way. Good Luck!

So, in the end, this minivan thing will go on for a few years, it will never really generate enough sales to keep it going, and VW and Chrysler will eventually drop it. The few cars that they made will drift back to Chrysler dealers or independents to be fixed. If there is a market for a VW minivan, and they engineered their own, it could have been a contender…

greg

Rat rods at the Pumpkin Run!

October 3, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Rat rods are the latest thing in hot rods. A return to the pure roots of hot rodding, when guys on a shoestring tried to make their heaps go faster and look cool. This could even be considered a lifestyle. Low buck.. cutting and welding is just your time. The rougher the better. Check out more rat rods in the gallery…

The Pumpkin Run is the premier street rod show in southern ohio… The Clermont county fairgrounds are swamped with a bewildering variety of iconic American art. And you can drive it to…
See you there.. Oct 3,4 and 5th…

greg

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