Category: Tech

A Tale of Tires

Today was tire buying day. My 2017 Toyota Camry has 21,500 miles on it, and before winter arrives I want to replace the very noisy Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires that came with the car. For an all-season tire, I wasn’t impressed with its traction in snow.

I have been very pleased with the Michelin Defender T+H tires on my 2011 Honda CR-V. The ride in the CR-V is quieter with the Michelins than in Camry is with the Bridgestones! Which isn’t how it should be, comparing an SUV with a passenger car. Having a set of Defenders on the Camry seemed like a good idea, but another Michelin option seems even better — the CrossClimate2. Here’s the CR comparison.

The Camry’s mileage — up to 40 mpg highway — is much better than the CR-V’s, so the CrossClimate’s lower rating for rolling resistance compared to the Defender isn’t a concern. The Camry being FWD, not AWD like the CR-V, the CrossClimate’s superior snow traction is the big attraction.

Taking advantage of a Michelin promotion at BJ’s (the warehouse store for those of us not near a Costco), four CrossClimate2’s, including installation and tax, cost $800. The tires are on order and are scheduled to be installed a week from Monday. So if there’s a freak Halloween snowstorm like the one we had in 2011, I’ll be ready!

There are a lot of YouTube videos about the CrossClimate2. This one is the most informative and interesting overall.

Matters of Ongoing Concern

This is jawdroppingly offensive. One case was designed to undo Jim Crow-era segregation; the other to promote racial diversity.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/30/supreme-court-term-conservative-targets/

The Constitution treats insurrection and rebellion as political dangers, not protected rights.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/opinion/us-second-amendment.html

Should Internet time synchronization run on rigorously tested and battle-worn but whimsical and arguably bloated code that someone may still struggle to fully understand, even after devoting decades to it?
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-thorny-problem-of-keeping-the-internets-time

Choice Music

I’m going to amend what I’ve been saying about why I am hanging onto FiOS TV. First, now that Turner Classic Movies is in true HD, and looks and so good on the JVC D-ILA video projector, I’ve cleared out DVR disk space to record selections from the channel. Being able to watch something at my convenience, without keeping an eye on the “Expires in X Days” notice in the Watch TCM app is nice. So there’s that.

Also, I would like give a nod to Music Choice, which like Watch TCM continues to require a cable subscription.

My buddy Bismo, a serious Blues fan, says the Blues channel on Music Choice is very good. I have the same opinion of the Classical Masterpieces channel, which plays a widely varied selection of music. I first heard the Swedish composers Franz Berwald and Kurt Atterberg (19th and 20th century, respectively) on Music Choice.

Sweden’s Neglected Composer

Forward as a Backup

This blog/site was down for a while today. Note: going to dograt.com is the same as accessing www.dograt.com. 

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping dograt.com
Pinging dograt.com [173.254.3.155] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 173.254.3.155:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

I don’t know why it was down. Stuff happens, as I know all too well from my many years working with computers, enterprise class as well as consumer grade. It came back briefly before crashing again, but now it seems to be holding. While it was down, SMTP continued to work.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping mail.dograt.com
Pinging mail.dograt.com [173.254.3.155] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=54
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=58ms TTL=54
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=54
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=54
Ping statistics for 173.254.3.155:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 55ms, Maximum = 61ms, Average = 57ms

Although I had no direct access to my mail service via IMAP, I forward everything to Microsoft Mail. That made it possible for me to continue directing e-mail through my domain. The Department of Redundancy Department in action.

A Very Late, But Nice, Surprise

I’ll say it again. I keep Verizon FiOS TV for only one reason.

Q: Do I need a Cable TV or Satellite TV subscription to use Watch TCM?

A: Yes. You must be subscribed to Turner Classic Movies at home through a cable or satellite TV provider in order to use Watch TCM.

https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/settings

Not only can Turner Classic Movies be watched live in HD with WatchTCM…

… after airing, movies are available for on-demand viewing.

TCM is on FiOS TV standard definition channel 230. Having TCM available only in SD, unlike other cable TV providers, I haven’t watched channel 230 since WatchTCM became a reliable online platform.

Tonight I was stunned to see TCM appearing in HD on FiOS TV channel 730. Verizon sends me all sorts of messages and promotions, but there was nothing from them at all about this long overdue upgrade. It doesn’t really matter to me anymore, because of WatchTCM. I’m nonetheless very pleased they’re finally offering TCM in HD because it was something I had wanted for a long time. I’m recording Thunderbird 6 right now.

Update – February, 2025: Verizon has forced a replacement of the DVR with a Fios TV One. TCM picture quality is terrible. It’s obvious even on my 32″ 720p bedroom TV, let alone the JVC projector, when comparing Fios TV against Watch TCM on a Roku stick. TCM needs to become a streaming subscription service on its own.

I Have Done the Unthinkable

Max GPM

The Symmons shower head in the master bath was shot. The adjustment knob wouldn’t turn, and water was spraying from only part of the nozzle.

As I recall, it cost upwards of $200 when the bathroom was remodeled over 15 years ago. Off to Lowe’s I went, with no intention of spending that much again. Ten bucks was more like it, with thread tape included in the package.

As mentioned a while ago, my last home heating oil delivery was a budget-destroying $6/gallon. With that in mind, and my hot water maker coming from a zone on the boiler, I chose the 1.8 gallon per minute max option over 2.5 GPM, and it works nicely.

https://www.epa.gov/watersense/showerheads

By the way, I had some trouble removing the Symmons shower head. It was metal-on-metal, and not enough thread tape had been used, so it didn’t extend past where the shower head and pipe met. The result was rust, and after applying 3-in-1 oil to the seam I carefully used a crescent wrench until the fitting finally loosened. I cleaned off the threads of the pipe with silicone lubricant before applying a couple wrappings of thread tape. When I had the new shower head installed, I said this to myself.