All a dem dirty

So now that the report is out showing that all matter of people in all the clubs in the MLB have been using steroids, Jon Gruber finally has something to say about someone other than Barry Bonds. I wonder if that little NY Yankees icon will be doing a reappearance on his site in the future. I think he should also provide a nice little "daring" post in regards to putting astericks on the World Series winnings of the Yanks.

Speaking of astericks, since every team had a juiced player, wasn't the field actually "level"? Does the steroid use of players on one team negate the advantages of the steroid users of the opposing teams?

Sim City DS

I used to play this game on my computer back in the day. I recently picked it up for my DS and have been wisked away to a time when time would fly and not bullets or lasers. I was working on my city, looked up and it was 1AM. I even had dreams about how to plan out the city. Good distraction from the auto woes (yes, still). I hearty recommend for those who previously enjoyed the game or those looking for DS fare sans violence or high speed.

Speaking of Sensors

So it is reported that Ford is recallng some trucks

due to a faulty engine sensor. Over time, the sensor can degrade, causing the engine to stall.

According to Ford, there have been 14 reports of accidents or loss of control related to the faulty sensor.

The sensor in question is the Cam shaft position sensor. Why would that cause a problem? Basically the computer needs that information to know when the crank is at TDC (top dead center) and uses that information to determine how to ignite the air fuel mixture. If this information is not known, spark happens at the wrong time or more likely not at all. Dead engine. Bye bye power accessories.

Recent RIAA decision

from Ars:

It's also impossible for the true damages to be calculated, according to the brief, because it's unknown how many other users accessed the files in the KaZaA share in question and committed further acts of copyright infringement. That's significant, because it shows that the DoJ is siding with the RIAA when it comes to the issue of whether making a file available for download on a P2P network constitutes distribution. It was a contentious issue during the Thomas trial, with the jury instructions originally stating that making songs available is not the same as distribution. The RIAA objected to that instruction, and in its final form, all the jury had to do was find that Thomas made the files available.

Well actually you can know how many people have grabbed your file since most clients will tell you not only how many people are connected to your client but also how many times the file has been completely uploaded. So it is entirely knowable the exact amount of copies that have been originally distributed.

Secondly, unless we are using the same logic as the felony murder laws, what other people did once they got the files ought to be irrelevant. If this individual is going to be held legally responsible for the infringement done by others, then the on the next go round the defendant ought to claim that he got his file from Thomas and that since the court has ruled that Thomas is legally and monetarily responsible for any further infringement that occurs from files Thomas originally infringed upon, then the RIAA has already been compensated for all it's losses.

It is clear that the judge here is biased. How can the sharing of a a single file that has a revenue of 77cents result in $220,000 of damages? Even with punitive measures added that number is too high. I mean that's over 314285.714 record sales. Very few albums by themselves even sell that much in a single year much less a single track. That simply makes NO sense.

More Auto Woes

New main relay. Same old problem. At this point it's down to three things:

1) ECU
2) Unknown relay that is rusted to hell
3) Dist/coil (Doubtfull)
4) Cold Start Injector (Doubtful as it starts up and runs (badly) for a bit.

What is interesting is that I now have wet plugs. So it would seem that the engine is now getting flooded and/or no/intermittent spark.

I've found a used DME for 80 bucks. (I'm not paying 700 for a new one to find out that isn't the problem). I'm going to leave work early tomorrow so I can pull the DME out ad check it for water damage. And order the part and have it expressed shipped. I really don't want to part with this car.

Auto Woes

I have a 1987 BMW 635CSI. Wonderful car. But not today. I can't drive it 'cause it wont idle. It all started in early august when I changed the plugs and oil. I put in Bosch platinum +2's in there. Not good. I forgot that I had banished multi-prong spark plugs from my cars. What started happening as the temps dropped was that it started to idle badly until it warmed up. It would stall intermittently. Now this engine has been rock solid since I got it 2 years ago. even in the winter. Turn key, car starts. Not any more. So having seen this problem on my '88 325i I thought that it was the fuel injector temp sensor. So I replaced that. Same problem. So then I went and tossed the plugs. The OEM ones were not available so I put in another single prong plug. Still rough idle. Now I'm concerned. I ordered the specified Bosch silver plugs and installed 'em. The other plugs showed no signs of any combustion problems. Started her up and she ran nice. Then she tried to stall a bit. I thought that perhaps the ECU needed to adjust.

Anyway I took my other car to my moms house. The next day I thought I'd put it on the road. Started it up and it went to rough idling as expected. I got about 3 blocks when the car went to bucking like a first time stick shift driver. Then the car stalled out. I managed to get it into a parking lot where it became hard to start and would not idle. I could gas it and keep it running somewhat and managed to get it back home.

So today I checked the plugs. Not fouled. Checked for vacuum leaks again. None. Then I discovered that the crank position sensor connection was broken at the connector clip. I'm not sure how much that is the problem but I had to order a replacement. I also discovered that this little vacuum hose sitting on the thermostat housing was broken. Well the sensor part. Had to order that too. The I discovered that one of the relays had a connector lose. I put that back on. No change. So basically the car is immobile and I can't get all the parts I need for 10 days. Never mind the rule here in my complex that you can't leave your car in the same spot for more than 48 hours. So I'll have to tell the super about my problems.

Unfortunately if these parts don't fix the car I'll have to part with it. Which presents another problem. I keep two cars because they are both old so if one acts up or I break something when I'm working on one (it's happened) I can still go to work or the parts store. If I have to part with the 6 I will have to buy another car which I really don't want to do. I'd want another 6 but they are hard to find in the configuration I want: Black with a manual transmission preferably a tan interior.

Gabriel Union Mad at some Black Bloggers

Apparently Gabriel Union is mad at some black gossip bloggers who have her running around with all kinds of people. All I got to say is:

Gabriel If you're reading this: If you're in NY/NJ and bored drop me a line and I'll write whatever you want!

;-)