Pickle’s Perspective

July 2008, the Porsche Club of America meets at the Mint before driving to A&W for Cruisin’ the Dub.

I was looking through old photos while preparing the last post on Dirt bikes and kids.  I found this old photo Circa 1994 of a youthful GermanPickle deadlifting a dirtbike.

This bonehead move was inspired by Scott Summers, an enduro racer in the early 1990’s.  He appeared in a 1994 issue of Dirt Bike magazine holding up his Honda XR650R in the same fashion that I’m holding this bike.  The Honda XR650R is a much heavier beast than this bike.

Once I found out I could lift bikes in this fashion, I lifted a few other bikes, including Kim Houde’s YZ250 and the CR500, the CR500’s owners name escapes me at this point.

I use a plug in called Yet Another Photo Blog.   For some reason it has stopped displaying my blog photos.  I am working on resolving this issue.  I apologize.

One the weekend a friend of mine sent me a facebook link about a new law in the USA that has now effectively made dirtbikes illegal for children in the USA.

The deal is,  in the metal industry, steel alloys can contain lead.  The addition of lead to steel allows for easier machining as it reduces friction on the cutting surface and improves chip breaking during the cutting.    Once mixed, the steel and lead frame of a motorcycle would essentially need to be eaten to be of any harm to a person.   However, the lead content in this steel does exceed 600 ppm.  The law in question is the  Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

I think back at my childhood and, my dirt bike probably had a more profound impact on my youth, morals, and state of mind than you would think.  Yes, an inanimate object has shaped my life.  Does that make me pathetic? (continue reading…)

Where’s it made?  I ponder.  Where’s it made? and do I care?   This discussion has been common in my family and has in some cases even ended up in an argument.

With the economic down turn, and now a recession with more job losses than the 1992 recession, this year will be a tough one.   The US President stated last week “Buy American”, and this came with harsh international criticism. So do I care, and should you? (continue reading…)

Okay.  Gruesome I know, but let’s stop and think about this for just a second.

Why do we care about the seal hunt so much?   Is it that wild animals are being hunted?  Well we allow deer, and bear hunting.

Is it that many of the beaters are baby seals? We eat veal….

Is it that they are clubbed to death with a hakapik?  I won’t even go into detail as to what we consider normal for slaughtering cattle, pigs, or even chickens.  How about fishing; netting thousands of fish, dumping them into a boat where they suffocate and are piled on top of each other.

Some seal meat is turned into silage, which is fed to cattle for feed; so that we can eat our steaks.  Vitamin E pills, and other health food pills which contain fish oils, often contain seal oil.

What’s my point?  Well I guess.  I see the seal hunt a little different.  I don’t like how we slaughter any of our animals.  But at the same time I’m trying to see a big picture, and well although it sounds gruesome, I wouldn’t be surprised if a seal suffers less than a cow going to the slaughter house, or a laying hen in a battery cage.  But then again, we all want our steak and eggs don’t we?  Maybe it’s not about the seal hunt.  Maybe the problem isn’t the clothing industry either.  Maybe, it’s all of us wanting what we want and not thinking past our wallets.  Maybe we should step back and look at how each of our daily decisions affects everything around us.  Maybe if we choose more wisely rather than being caught in the rat race, maybe some of this stuff wouldn’t happen…. at least not to this extent.

I was taking a break, but will start posting more regularly again… Assuming I have ANY readers left….

From time to time, you read or hear about something that just leaves an imprint on your mind that lasts forever.

I’ve always believed that a country’s soldier should be held in the highest regard.  These people are heroes who help shape the future of our countries.  In some places these heroes are forced to serve, and in others brave souls willingly stand up against unimaginable circumstances; leaving their loved ones behind and in some cases leaving their lives on the battle field for their country and what they believe in.

Since the War on Terror started years ago, there have been stories about how American soldiers have been mistreated, forgotten, or left behind.  I wonder how many Americans know that in the cases where their brave soldiers are mistreated, even in the face of undeniable proof, there is nothing anyone can do about it.

My wife told me about a youtube video that I watched… (continue reading…)

I wanted to take a little bit of a time out. Summer is upon us, and this was a prime opportunity to take my Zune listen to it and play with it, so that I can provide you with the best review possible.

A little background. Before I got the Zune, I used a Sony NWZ-A816 media player and my Palm TX to play music and video.

As you know from my last post, I was very impressed by Zune when it arrived. Three weeks have now passed and I can comfortably say that I’ve given this Zune a fair chance to impress me. And has it? (continue reading…)

Well I’ve had my Zune for 24 hours now. I must admit that at first I was very frustrated at the Zune software, and I wanted to tell you all that it’s a piece of shit, and if I had paid for the Zune I would be ready to bring it back.

HOWEVER… …

I’m playing around with the Zune and the software a little tonight. Although I still am not a fan of being forced into the proprietary software, I’m now thinking the Zune software isn’t so bad. It’s usable, and actually a little intuitive. For those of you like me, that still prefer MTP or Mass Storage Device capability, there’s zSuite.

zSuite is a hack for the Zune software allowing you to modify Zune to sync with WMP, WinAmp, or iTunes. There’s also a setting to make it a Mass Storage device. I wish Microsoft offered this out of the box.

Finding zSuite was difficult, so here’s a link.

More on the Zune in a couple days.