4fraziers.com

Archive for March, 2010

Do this at your own risk. If you brick your phone or it doesn’t work, or you find that it causes some incompatibility with Verizon’s automated updates, don’t come cryin’ to me. I haven’t tried this yet, but my source says it worked fine on his Droid. Here you go:

Make sure that you don’t have any past update.zip file located on your phone’s microSD memory card. If there is one, delete it.

Download this new update.zip file using your PC and transfer it to the main root directory on the DROID’s microSD memory card. Do NOT place it in any sub-directory or rename the file to something else.

Power the phone off.

Slide open the phone so you can see the keyboard.

Press-and-hold the letter X on the keyboard and press the Power button until the device powers on.
Continue to hold the Power and X button until the screen shows a triangle and exclamation mark.

Release the Power and X button.

Press the Volume UP *and* Camera buttons at the same time. Be sure to keep the phone open.

On the screen you will see several choices, use the d-pad on the keyboard to move down the list and select the “update.zip” file.

The update process will begin and will take a few minutes to load.

Once it is done, select the 1st option on the screen to Reboot the phone – NOT Factory Restore.

The phone will turn off and then restart, and the “DROID EYE” will show for about 2-5 minutes.

After the Home Screen loads, everything will be intact, including programs and settings.

Turn phone back off, remove the battery, wait 1 minute, replace battery and turn phone on.

Go into Settings, About Phone and scroll down. It should list Firmware version 2.1-update1, Build number ESE81.

Rumors are flying about a the second coming of the iPhone, this time to Big Red. There’s no proof, and until the super spies at Engadget publish another email from the obviously poorly secured Verizon corporate email system with a photo of Steve Jobs and Ivan Seidenberg tearfully hugging each other you shouldn’t get your hopes up.

An iPhone on the Verizon network would be lovely for many die hard Apple fans, and might even take some momentum out of the Motorola Droid that’s been nipping at the iPhone’s heels. Face it, the exclusive AT&T iPhone deal is obviously the only reason a lot of folks are sticking with the carrier.

Every day that the iPhone doesn’t show up in Verizon stores is a day of lost competition and less consumer choice. If you love Verizon and want iPhone-like functionality, you’re best bet is to go with the Droid. And the Droid may make you forget all about the iPhone soon. With the new Android 2.1 OS upgrade hitting the Motorola Droid this weekend (Engadget launched that story yesterday with yet another of their mysterious acquisition of a Verizon internal email) a number of functions that it previously missed in comparison to the iPhone (like pinch to zoom) will be implemented.

With Android market share snapping its jaws at the heels of the iPhone, Apple needs to get the iPhone out to other carriers before it becomes irrelevant. The application base for Android is growing like “The Blob” and there’s no stopping it. The only way to compete is via clever marketing and making it more available to consumers.

Many current Droid owners may have been down to a coin flip if Verizon had an iPhone available when they launched the Motorola/Google wonder-gadget. After all, the iPhone is time tested and proven, with a solid proprietary operating system and massive application development community. Yet the rate of Android proliferation is astounding, and Android based phone sales will soon surpass the iPhone if they haven’t already.

On the other hand, if AT&T had the Droid in it’s product line-up, how many iPhone users would be toting an open source Motorola device today instead?

The rumor mill continues to churn, and amid tales of Nexus One arriving everywhere and Blackberrys being available at practically every carrier in the nation, there is still a great deal of consumer freedom in the wild. But these are the heavy weights, and the exclusive agreements with AT&T and Verizon are simply prolonging the demise of one or the other.

An argument can be made that if the iPhone had never been exclusively offered and packaged only with AT&T no one would have bothered to develop the Droid. With a huge crowd of eager consumers stuck in Verizon two-year contracts there was a willing captive market for the Motorola A885.

Regardless, the time has come for an even and fair fight. The ring is set up at Big Red. One contender is in its corner. Now we just have to see if anyone is going to allow Apple to escort the iPhone into the cage.

See that little PayPal “Donate” button over in the upper right hand corner? Yep, it’s there so you can send money directly to me.

Why? Because some folks might want to if they enjoy reading the articles at 4Fraziers and want to do something to encourage more writing. A person so inclined can donate as little or as much as they want through that button.

And they can ignore it completely and keep right on reading the material here with no obligation whatsoever as well.

It costs about $3.33 cents to host this site at JaguarPC.com, I’ve paid it up three years in advance to get that price. I’ve spent $70 in theme building software for it. And I’ve spent uncounted hours writing articles, redesigning, responding to comments, demolishing and reassembling style sheets and scripts, and moderating the site. I don’t do it for donations. I do it because I enjoy getting my thoughts and opinions out to other people. I do it because it is a stress reliever for me, and way of expressing myself as I do when I paint a landscape or ride my Triumph through a series of scenic, twisty canyons.

I would love to be able to do it more, and the one thing that hampers my ability to do it more is lack of cash.

It’s up to our readers and their pocket books. There are tons of better things to give your money to, such as church and charity. I’m not suggesting anyone give me their tithes or their kids health insurance premiums. I’m only suggestting that if you’d like me to seriously ramp up production here I need the cash to do it with, and I don’t have it. If you read something here that entertains you, consider what the chuckles and deep thought were worth. A few cents, a quarter? A whole dollar? Just little bits from a small percentage of the 5000+ people who have visited here since September 2009 will send me the confidence to keep writing here and letting anyone and everyone have a look with no obligation.

I’ve been running Google Adsense on this site for 2 years now and it’s made me a whopping $40.00. I can go on at this pace, just pumping out a few days of moderately interesting or amusing stuff each week punctuated by short instances of brilliance and wit or I could justify returning to my roots and reviving some of those law enforcement character comic strips that nearly got me fired from the police force along with some of the other project that are destined for this blog but being held back because of the lack of investment.

There are other methods of generating revenue, and one of the best next to people just giving money to someone because they appreciate their writing is to tell others to check out 4Fraziers.com. If there’s enough genuine traffic and interest in the site, the ad revenue will grow and no one will need to decide whether or not to donate. The site will support it self.

I’d love to become financially independent because of the gift of writing God has given me, but I think He has simply planned for me to produce what I believe is right, place it upon the table, and allow the people to take it or leave it. I may obtain enough from donations to hire a professional designer or SEO expert to improve the site, I may make enough to take my wife to a nice dinner in gratitude for the late nights I spend writing articles for this site and Associated Content, but I’m confident I won’t make a living at iit.

Speaking of Associated Content, that’s another way you can donate, only you don’t have to lose a red dime doing it. AC pays me $1.60 for every thousand times a page in any of the articles I’ve published with them is viewed. That adds up, my friend, and I am approching an average of $20 per month payments from them. I’m in a quandary right now as to whether to keep splitting my talents between my own sight and Associated Content or if I should focus solely upon one or the other.

You can vote and guide by reading my articles at AC and pointing others to them, or reading my articles at 4Fraziers, directing your friend to read them, and by using that little donate button to drop a few cents or dollars on me.

Nope, I don’t feel guilty asking this. And you shouldn’t feel guilty whether you read and leave no contribution or read and send me cash to help me run this site and generate the content just a little better.

Really? After having the rug yanked out from under them on March 18th, Verizon Droid owners are getting their hopes up due to yet another leaked Verizon internal email that 1,000 random customers will get the updated Android OS starting at noon central time today (March 30), another 9,000 at midnight, with the remainder to roll out by this weekend.

THere’s nothing official on Motorola’s Facebook wall yet but as usual Engadget is spilling the beans with a posting today at 10:51 AM central time.

I’m keeping a close eye on my Droid notification bar and hoping I win that 9,000 out of 300,000 lottery. I’ll let you know how I like it if I do.

Meanwhile, here’s the text of the supposed leaked Verizon email:

Starting 03/30/2010, Verizon Wireless is pleased to announce a new software update for the DROID by Motorola. Users will be able to upgrade their software to version AP: ESE81/BP: C_01.3E.03P to receive new improvements and enhancements.

*Key Advantages:*

o Email – Yahoo Mail is now supported – customers can simply
sign in with their Yahoo! Email address and password. Note:
Yahoo! Email is not available over Wi-Fi
o Pinch to Zoom now available in the Browser, Maps, and Gallery
o Speech-to-Text – Customers can now use their voice instead
of typing whenever a text-entry box appears
o Google Goggles is now preloaded
o The new Gallery application uses 3D layout and shows both
pictures taken with the customer’s Android device and images
from Picasa Web Albums account online

*Software Schedule:*
Below is the software-upgrade notification schedule (All times listed are Eastern Time):

o At noon on 03/30, 1,000 users will receive notification of
the update.
o At 11:59 PM on 03/30, 9,000 more users will receive the
update notification.
o After the first 10,000 users receive the update on 03/30,
there will be a 24-hour period when no additional upgrades
will be delivered.
o On Day 3 (04/01), 200,000 users will receive the update
notification at 11:59 PM. This schedule will continue each
day thereafter until the update has been delivered to all users.

*Download & Install Conditions:*

o An OTA download requires 40% or more power availability if
the device is not connected to an external power source or
20% or more power if it is connected to an external source
o If roaming, the customer will not receive the update. The
only option in this scenario is for the subscriber to enable
Wi-Fi and wait for a mandatory OTA. The wait period in this
case will not be more than 12 hours
o User must wait to receive the upgrade via OTA
o User is unable to make or receive calls, including emergency
calls during this time
o Users will see the following information when they select*
More info* on the update screen:/ This software update
includes new enhancements to support Yahoo! Email,
pinch-to-zoom, and many other improvements for your DROID by
Motorola. You will be unable to use your device or make
emergency calls for the duration of the install. The
software updates automatically, and your DROID will power
off and on as part of this software upgrade.

As companies continue to look for ways to provide mediocre service at the highest possible price to customers and lowest possible cost to themselves more and more American workers are being called into that dreaded meeting with the lay-off managers and human resource hatchet men as their jobs are handed over to less demanding workers in India, Mexico, and various third-world labor forces.

Many workers fear that day, but they fail to realize that there are opportunities for them in the situation if they are prepared for it. Preparing and coaching yourself for a lay-off is not a self-fulfilling prophecy or a pessimistic thing to do. It is simply prudent and pragmatic to prepare for an event that you hope never happens, like having an emergency plan for your family in the event of a house fire or other disaster.

Companies often offer severance packages to employees who are being terminated in a reduction in force plan. They do this not out of benevolence or gratitude for your previous service. They do it to avoid higher costs in litigation and to bind you into agreements not to compete with them or expose internal company practices or other information you might otherwise legally make public. In short, it is a binding contract that buys your cooperation and pledge to not damage the company in any way.

The typical lay off occurrence involves a meeting with the employee and a manager reciting some very general statements. These statements are scripted to deliver the bad news to the employee without providing any detailed reasons for the termination. The script is also designed to quickly convince the employee to sign an agreement that includes severance pay and possible benefit extensions, along with very specific conditions for the former employer to adhere to.

Most people (more than 70% per recent studies) sign the severance agreement before the meeting concludes.

BAD IDEA!

Severance packages are almost always negotiable. Consider the package initially presented to you as an opening offer, not a take it or leave ultimatum, regardless of whether or not it is presented that way. The company will typically design their package and canned speech to convince you that there are no alternatives.

You should quietly and professionally give them indications that you know there ARE alternatives. Those alternatives can include:

A higher cash severance payment

Longer extensions on benefits

Waivers of previous non-compete contract statements and agreements

Legal action

Knowing that most other folks take the initial severance offer without protest or negotiation is a powerful advantage to you. Because of that the company is able to pay out higher severance to those smart enough to negotiate, and the company is often happy to do so to avoid costly litigation and worries about the competition gaining advantages or bad press from the knowledge provided by disgruntled former employees.

The key thing to remember during this emotional event is: DON’T GET EMOTIONAL.

Displays of anger, remorse, or (in some rare cases) absolute joy over the termination of employment will not benefit you. Demands for fairness or begging and groveling will not reverse the decision. It is sad to part company with co-workers or to lose your income, but try to focus on the fact that this is a new opportunity and you are going to get something to help you fill the gap while you search for a new job that may be even better.

Numerous cases have occurred where employees were terminated and re-hired by the same company within days or weeks. The chance for re-hire is dramatically reduced if you cuss out or threaten the folks who are simply the messenger delivering bad news. Additionally, unprofessional behavior and criminal threats or assaults will quickly turn a negotiated lay-off into a termination for cause (firing) in which you receive no severance at all and a possible trip to jail to boot.

Do not threaten legal action. If you receive undue pressure to sign the severance agreement immediately, it is perfectly reasonable and advisable to respond by telling them you’d like to review it with your own legal counsel first. That generally sends the message that legal action is a consideration, but it doesn’t come across as a blatant law-suit threat.

And seriously, it is a good idea to take the agreement to an employment or labor attorney for advice if you can afford a modest consultation fee, especially if there are any questions at all surrounding possible illegal reasons you ended up on the RIF (reduction in force) list, such as age, disability, or whistle blowing potential.

In summary, being laid off is an event that can be leveraged as an opportunity, not just a traumatic ending to your current employment.

Only 4,800 miles and it’s time to replace that back tire. It’s as bald as the top of my head will be ten years from now.

The Triumph Rocket III came with a Metzeler Marathon 880 240/50 V16 rear tire. The thing has a MSRP of $395.00. That’s going to be expensive every 4,500-5,000 miles. There’s not a whol lot of alternative, though. The Avon and Bridgestone equivalents are just as expensive. The Rocket III will go to Eurosport Cycle next Saturday for the replacement tire at a pretty fair price below the MSRP, but it’s still a lot of cash to lay out once a year. This one is worn to the point that it go more than the few yards it will take to roll our Precious onto the trailer.

Consideration was given to going to the dark side (i.e. installing a car tire on the rear wheel) as others have done. The r3owners.com and r3owners.net web forums contain copius entries from riders who have done so and swear they will never go back to a motorcycle tire on their Triumph Rockets. The car tire costs about one-third what a motorcycle tire does and will last from 20,000 to 30,000 miles. It also looks very imposing on the bike.

However it just seems a little unorthodox to assume the engineers who design the bikes and tires don’t have some very good reasons for making motorcycle tires in the rounded shape that they do. Perhaps it’s not that important when you aren’t running on a race track or canyon carving every day, but some of us are interested in maximum performance availability 100 per cent of the time…just in case we might need it.

Maybe finding a used rear wheel and installing a car tire just for an occasional swap to get the feel of it and make an ultimate decision would be a good idea.

Comments from my “Dark Side” friends will be welcome. You nearly had me convinced, but I chickened out. I still have an open mind, however.

Now why can’t the good folks at 4Fraziers score some nice swag like Engadget did with their new Scala gear? Surely it has nothing to do with the fact they they get hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of hits per month and 4fraziers gets an average of 3,000, does it?

I don’t know if they get to keep the swag, but they wrote a pretty in-depth review of the new Scala Rider G4 system. At 4Fraziers we’re looking for a helmet headset, just not too sure about plopping down 300+ clams for a full blown intercom, radio, and stereo blue-tooth set. We’re thinking the Parrot n4000 helmet headset might be better since all we really need to do is have a phone conversation once in a while.

Of course if Scala or Chatterbox want to send us a bit of their SWAG kit we might change our mind.

They don’t have to take your guns to take your freedom.

They just have to get you to vote for the evil miscreants.

Which is what too many Americans have done. That’s why we have crooks like Obama, Pelosi, Reid AND a growing number of progressive Republicans who are pandering to them (*cough* McCain *cough*).

Our liberty is being stolen with armaments that consist of nothing more than pen and paper. The pen is truly mightier than the sword. Obama is signing executive orders and bill that are 100% contrary to his oath to uphold the constitution. He is despicable and has no conscience.

A clinical definition of a person with a lack of conscience who lies and cheats for his own gain with no consideration for others is “psychopath”.

No amount of rocks through windows will stop this. It’s up to us to educate our friends and families and to go out en mass at each election and vote for libertarians and true conservatives who will pledge to repeal ObamaCare and set us back on course to become an independent nation with enough military power to tell China, Iran, and the Palestinians where they can get off. Never pull the Democrat lever, and think long and hard about whether a republican is truly a conservative before you vote for them over a libertarian.

It is past time to break the two party monopoly in United States politics. Independant and third party conservatives are our only hope for stopping and reversing the progressive trend that is currently accelerating us into a future that will match Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia. We are headed for a future of waiting in line for meager Government handouts. Is that where you want to end up?

High profile conservatives need to stop wasting time arguing with anyone who still supports Obama. If someone is still supporting him this late in the game (after all the lies and broken campaign promises) – then they have proven themselves to be brain-washed or simpletons.

I want to focus my energy on exposing our young people and disillusioned former Obama supporters to the truth

Despite being able to pass anything but a gas station, the 2008 Triumph Rocket III Classic did not come equipped with a fuel gauge. The engine could be referred to as a fuel gouge, however, as it consumes an average of one U.S. gallon of premium gasoline per 30 miles, 26 miles if you ride it like you stole it, as the owner of 4Fraziers.com does.

The system is equipped with an idiot light that glows when the fuel level drops randomly somewhere between half and empty, which is very helpful if you want to stop for fuel somewhere between twice and half as much as you need to. If that doesn’t makes sense to you, don’t worry, because Triumph’s mechanism to trigger this light doesn’t make sense, either.

Those who own one of these magnificent beasts must either purchase and install an optional fuel gauge for around $200.00 U.S. or employ the time tested “gasometer” method. Setting the trip odometer at each fill up and refueling when the mileage climbs to 175 or so, depending on how hard you’ve been driving you British muscle bike.

But what do you do when you’re en route to Big Bend, you’ve forgotten to reset that odometer at your last fill up, and those three massive pistons are spluttering on their last fumes?

Hopefully you have packed away two or three MSR fuel bottle full of gasoline and a few disposable funnels. Nobody but nobody wants to be pushing an eight hundred pound bike across the dessert for 30 miles. And if you leave it while you walk to a gas station it’s not likely it will be there when you return, considering the wandering souls who lurk in the wilds of the Texas badlands close to the border who whould rather ride a hot-wired bike than walk.

MSR fuel bottles are designed specifically for white gas camp accessories like stoves and lamps, but they are ideal for storing the fuel you need to get you to the next gas station in a pinch. They can withstand immense pressure and the caps don’t leak, so even in the sweltering desert heat they won’t bleed all over your extra pair of socks next to them in your saddlebags.

They’re a little pricey at $20.00 U.S. a pop, but worth their weight in gold if you ever run out of gas.

To keep the fuel in these nifty containers fresh just pour their contents into the fuel tank before you fill up and put fresh petrol in them once your tank is full at every other gas stop. You may never need them, but if you or a travel mate ever does run out of gas on some lonely stretch of road you’ll be happy you had this extra peace of mind stowed away in your luggage.

Does any of this sound familiar? The man was right about the Soviets. He was right about the economy. He was right about conservatism.

He’s right about this, too.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I’ve never seen a more evil looking kitten.

That special bond you form with a dog reaches so deep into the human soul that the pain is nearly unbearable when death tears it away.

Kolby was a champion squirrel chaser. One of my earliest memories of him was when Robin and I were still dating. Kolby managed to catch a squirrel in the front yard and with one shake of his head sent it to the great pecan tree in the sky. Fortunately most squrrels were smart enough to stay on top of the fence while they were chattering and taunting him.

He was a dog that got along famously with other dogs, cats, even a pet rat we had for a while. But Kolby did not suffer a squirrel to live if he caught them. And Kolby could catch them if they made a mistake and ventured to the ground when he was in range. He was the fastest dog I’ve seen short of a greyhound, equalling the speed of my former police partner, Bo, a Belgian Malinois who was something like a cross between a German Shepherd and a cheetah.

Kolby was Robin’s dog first and foremost, but he managed to carve out a spot in my heart that’s left a big wound with his passing on March 18, 2010. He was nearly 16 years old, an elderly pup who spent his last several months struggling with blindness. Despite that, and the fact that his hearing was just about gone as well, Kolby managed to keep up with our other two, Moses and Bella, pretty well right up to the last few days.

Kolby kept my darling company for a lot of years before we met, and he was always there to protect her. He faithfully guarded property and life for sixteen years, and never asked for anything in return. Sure, a lot of dogs do that, but it doesn’t make it any less meaningful for him.

Everyone who knows us knows that Robin treats our pets like royalty; Kolby had a wonderful life and received the best of care to the very end.

How it breaks my heart to see my wife’s heartbreak over losing him.

Every delivery of flowers, every time we set two dog bowls down instead of three, every mention of Kolby’s name will send us into tears for a while.

We know it will get easier as the days go by, and we know there’s a big difference between losing a person and losing a pet, but we’ll always remember and miss you, “Kolby Blue”.

For the life of me I can’t write anything about Ol’ Kolby without choking up and weeping all over my keyboard. The memorial for our late pack member is gonna have to wait another day. At least that’ll give me some time to dig out a few good pics and do it up right for the champion squirrel killer of all time. Dang, here come the tears again…

To get my mind off it I went and visited a few fellow blogger sites, one of which is PitchPull by air ambulance pilot Greybeard (don’t I have some cool friends?).  He’s dead-on with his rant from 03/17/10: A Republic Madam, If You Can Keep It.

Droid lovers everywhere are discovering that they can buy some cool accessories for their new-fangled Android phones.

A couple of the coolest accessories for the Motorola Droid are the car mount and the multimedia cradle (dock). I purchased two of the multimedia docks for Robin and myself last weekend. To my dismay, I discovered that while Robin’s worked with both our Droids, when I put a Droid in my dock it went into navigation mode instead of multimedia mode.

After research and troubleshooting I discovered via internet discussion boards that the magnet in the dock had been installed wrong way up…the polarity of the magnet is what tells the phone which mode to enter when docked. After that, it was a simple matter of returning the defective docking station to the Verizon store for one that had been assembled properly.

The next issue was a problem Robin discovered with her phone. She has one of those colorful snap on covers for hers, and in order to use the Droid multimedia dock she has to first remove the cover. Over time that’s going to wear out the little tabs that keep the cover attached to the phone.

So, being the evil genius inventor that I am, I decided to build her a multimedia docking cradle that would work with the phone cover on.

A trip to the craft store to buy some 5 minute epoxy and some rare earth (neomodium) 18 x 3 mm round magnets, and a few peices of scrap wood from the workshop was all I needed to get started.

I placed Robin’s Droid with the case on and a micro usb cable attached on a piece of plywood and made sure it was squared up with the top and centered between the edges.

Next I mixed up a quarter sized dollop of the five minute epoxy and carefully covered the end of the usb cable without getting any epoxy on the phone or its case. This ensured that the usb plug would remain in a fixed position and would be properly aligned every time the phone was inserted into the cradle once the sides and frame were made and attached.

Once the epoxy set up I removed the Droid and drilled a recess with a Forstner bit (use a drill press!) for the magnet. I had to place the magnet in the recess and verify it was flipped to the correct side in order to make the Droid enter multimedia mode instead of car mode when it was placed in the dock. Once I knew which side needed to face out, I mixed up a bit more epoxy and glued the magnet in place.

After that it was a simple matter of drilling a hole for the cable to exit through the back and glueing a pair of legs on the reverse side so the thing would stand up on it’s own. I plugged in the Droid, making sure the usb plug was fully engaged, and position four screws to act as guides and “keepers” for properly inserting and aligning the Droid in the dock.

It’s ugly, but it works! I suppose I could put my wood working skills to good use and make a really nice version out of exotic wood and use a more aesthetic method than screws for the guides…but this guy has already done a beautiful job of that and he’ll sell you one of his Mikradles that work with a Droid in a case just as well. The only problem with his is you have to plug a loose cable into the Droid and then place it in the Mikradle. Not a big enough inconvenience to worry about considering the beauty of his product and the fact that it solves the “Droid in a case” issue much more elegantly than my cobbled together thing, just click the big photo below to go to his facebook page and see how to order one:

UPDATE: Verizon has delayed the 2.1 launch indefinitely. New date is listed as “TBD”. I’m so sad…

Verizon says Android 2.1 upgrades for the popular Verizon Droid will start rolling out in batches of 250,000 tomorrow, according to Engadget.

Word on the street (and on leaked Verizon technical documents) is the update will include lots of new features and capabilities like a 3D Gallery app, voice-to-text, news and weather widgets, pinch-to-zoom support, improved pattern lock, and live wallpapers.
I don’t know what half that stuff means (3d Gallery app? Do I need special eyeglasses?), but it sounds really cool.

Instead of constantly refreshing the Engadget home page or checking your Droid status bar, you could do the following:

Work

Watch TV

Go on a date

Change the oil in your motorcycle (or add oil if you own a vintage Triumph or Harley)

Build your own Droid multimedia docking cradle for five bucks or less!

Write an article on things to do while waiting for the Droid update

That’s just off the top of my head. There are all kinds of things to do while waiting for the new Droid OS to hit your device.

Hope this helps. Now I’m going back to refreshing the Engadget page and checking the status bar on my Droid…just in case someone at Verizon jumps the gun and starts the process a day early.

If you want to see the benefits Verizon touts in the new release take a look at this .PDF.

The motorcycle helmet supercedes all othe biker safety equipment combined in terms of the number of lives prolonged because of its use.

Whether you believe it should be mandated by law or left to individual choice, no one can deny that helmets save lives. For those who wear helmets, there is lively debate about what makes a quality motorcycle helmet and what doesn’t. There are hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of helmets to chose from. Prices range from a few bucks all the way up to a thousand or more.

Modern motorcycle helmets are designed to absorb impact. Similar to car safety design that intentionally causes the vehicle surrounding a passenger to “desintegrate”, scatterring the force of a crash to avoid energy concentrations that would prove lethal to the inhabitants, most modern helmets are designed to crack, seperate their shells and linings, absorb and scatter the force of impact to reduse trauma to the wearer’s head. Thus, helmets are not to be used after a substantial impact. For this reason many riders will trash a helmet and by a new one after accidentally dropping it onto a hard surface, even though there is no visible damage.

So, in considering a new helmet, one should keep in mind that it is a safety device above all, and considerations about fashion and comfort should take a back seat. While a Roof Boxer may make you look like a radical galactic fighter pilot, there is a reason they are not DOT approved in the U.S.A. Ultimately, there are three considerations the average Joe will have when selecting a new helmet:

Coverage

Comfort

Price

Spending $500 to $1000 on a peice of equipment that might be useless after you accidentally drop it on the pavement or have a minor spill is probably not in tune the average biker budget. Our brains are our most important assets…nothing else works if the cranial contents aren’t functioning. We don’t want to cheap out on this, but we don’t want to invest thousands in one-time use products over our riding careers, either.

For most, something in the $100 to $400 range seems reasonable. That range gives us a sea of variety to choose from.

These days, many riders are going with flip-face helemts (also often called “modular”). The beaty of these designs is that you don’t need three different helmets to coincide with the seasons. The flip-face gives you the option of full face protection whith the ability to flip the shield and chin bar up for conversation or just to get exposure to cooler air while sitting at a traffic light.

Near the bottom of the price range for quality flip-face helmets is the HJC IS-Max. The IS-Max retails from around $179 on the web to as much as $209 in the average brick and mortar motorcycle gear store.

I bought one off the shelf at a local motorcycle shop in the Dallas area. The price tag was $204.00, but I easily talked the sales person into a ten per cent discount by showing him lower prices at nearby stores with my Motorola Droid “Shop Savvy” app. One of the coolest features about this helmet is the drop down interior sun visor that snaps back up with the push of a button on top of the helmet.

Initially I was very pleased with my IS-Max. It functioned very similarly to my Caberg Justissimo (retired after it saved my face in a Novemeber 30, 2009 crash), but as you’d expect it didn’t operate quite as smooth out of the box as the Caberg did.

The chinbar flips up easily enough, and the release mechanism works equally well whether you have gloves on or not. However, when it came time to pull the chinbar back down into full helemt riding mode I found that it took so much force to do so the helmet pivoted down toward my chest so much that the visor cut the bridge of my nose a little. I quickly learned to make sure the visor was up when I tried to closed the chinbar.

There may be a way to adjust the tension for holding the chin bar up…I just haven’t been bothered by it enough to go read the manual yet.

Aside from that, there’s only one other con to this helmet, considering the affordable price tag: The lower back pad “wings” that secure them to the bottom back edge of the helmet won’t stay in the grooves. They don’t fall out, but they just don’t stay completely in place, and that bugs me.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the purchase. Air flow is good, not outstanding, padding and comfort are excellent, and the internal visor with it’s top exterior slide down control and instant button retraction is pure genius.

I wouldn’t mind having another Caberg Justtissimo if I could find one in matte black, but untill then I am very happy to use the HJC IS-MAX as my primary lid.

It was Sunday, March 7, 2010 and off duty Delta County deputy Paul Robertson was shopping with his wife and infant daughter at the Walmart in Commerce, Texas.

Minutes before, law enforcement had received reports of shots being fired from a red Mustang on Interstate Highway 30 in the nearby town of Greenville. Artenio Rodriguez, the shooter, drove to Commerce and reportedly exchanged fire with Commerce police before leading them on a chase to the Commerce Walmart and entering the store brandishing an AK47 and a nine millimeter pistol.

According to a forwarded email attributed to Paul’s wife, Kristi Robertson, the off duty Deputy’s first notification that the shooter was in the store was a Walmart employee running past his wife shouting, “RUN MA’AM! HE’S GOT A GUN!”.

Deputy Robertson quickly instructed his wife to head to the back of the store and take cover, then he began a running tactical move toward the front of the store and the shooter.

Paul was carrying a .357 magnum revolver. It is unknown at this time whether his weapon was loaded with .357 or .38 ammo, but regardless six shots were not enough to stop Artenio Rodriguez, who began firing on Paul when the deputy ordered him to drop his firearms. Paul emptied his revolver, hitting Artenio Rodriguez multiple times. Paul took a nine millimeter slug to the chest, and might have taken more were it not for a Commerce P.D. officer opening fire on Artenio Rodriguez with a 12 gauge shot gun. Even that blast was not enough to stop the bad guy, and it took another shotgun round to put him down for good.

Kristi Robertson received a phone call from her injured hero husband when it was all over, and he told her he’d been shot but was going to be okay. If Paul was just saying that to calm his wife, it was a prophetic comment. Doctors discovered that the bullet had missed his vital organs and exited cleanly, entering his chest near center mass and escaping under his arm pit. The only thing that could have made the situation more miraculous would have been a New Testament in his shirt pocket stopping the bullet completely.

Paul Robertson is a hero. Paul was off duty, but he was armed. Paul didn’t run for cover. Paul acted decisively and in spite of any fear to stop a killer. If he had died in this incident someone may have made a memorial statue of him. I say make one anyway, he deserves it for putting his life on the line.

Folks who don’t believe law abiding citizens should be armed in public often claim that there’s a very slim chance of the average citizen encountering a situation where they would need a firearm to defend themselves. Those same folks will buy lotto tickets on a one in 9 million chance of winning.

Your odds of running into a violent criminal are much, much higher.

That’s why some law abiding citizens elect to carry a gun and a concealed handgun license.

That’s why virtually every law enforcement agency in the State of Texas requires its officers to be armed 24×7, even when off duty.

That’s why you should get your CHL and practice defending yourself and loved ones against the violent criminals that plague our society. You don’t have to take the extra heroic steps that Paul Robertson did of actively seeking out the bad guy and stopping them, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that you had a weapon to defend yourself if you were in that Walmart and a guy like Paul Robertson wasn’t there to put himself between the bad guy and your family?

Unless you’re one of the lucky few who owns a few hundred acres in the country, you probably have to “settle” for one of the commercial gun ranges in your area. Gun ranges, due to excessive litigation and pressure from liberal city and county governments, have implemented numerous rules over the last decade that essentially restrict shooters to simple aim, shoot, count to two, aim, shoot, repeat exercises.

At any given gun range in the DFW metroplex you are likely to hear complaints from patrons about the no double-tap rule, the two seconds between each shot rule, the no draw and fire practice rule, and the list goes on. I’ve even been to one range where they checked my ammo and sent me packing because they don’t allow reloaded ammunition.

If you want to train for self defense, you have to join a law enforcement organization or get involved in competition matches (at considerable personal expense).

With all those limitations and rules there’s not much to distinguish one public range from another any more except for price and lane set-up. So, in reviewing DFW area gun ranges, there is little point in downgrading them for these restrictions. After all, they don’t have a lot of choice as long as their patrons fail to elect common-sense minded and freedom loving politicians.

With that stipulation, let’s take a look at Elm Fork Shooting Sports range located at 10751 Luna Road Dallas, Texas.

This range has undergone a couple of ownership changes over the last decade, and the current owners have done an outstanding job of rebuilding the site from the ground up. Sitting in a flood plan for one of the Trinity River tributaries, Elm Fork used to suffer frequent closings due to high water.

That’s all changed, now. The lanes have been built from scratch and raised, levies constructed, and now the place turns into dry islands with connecting elevated concrete walkways and drives during high water conditions.

The massive reconstruction project finished last year left Elm Fork with one of the nicest outdoor gun ranges in the United States, let alone Texas. Range masters there are friendly and helpful, and while they’re not all gun smiths, they know the basics to help beginners get started right and avoid the formation of bad habits. Folks who are just starting get a different colored wrist band so range masters can tell who is and isn’t an experienced shooter.

Elm Fork has an outstanding skeet range for the shotgun lovers, as well as ample room on their rifle range.

There’s always room regardless of whether you’re there to shoot pistol, rifle, shotgun, or have fun on their too cool reactive pistol ranges. Steel targets set on various pivots and gizmos make it a blast (no pun intended) for competitions with your shooting partner.

Elm Fork has remade itself into an outstanding facility, and one of the few outdoor ranges left in the DFW metro area. Please give them a try if you’re looking for a place to shoot near Irving, Texas. It’s only a mile or so from the old Texas Stadium site.

Photos coming soon.