Revisiting TV

For a number of years now, I've been collecting videos.  This is hardly unusual, most people do.  Over time, however, I had collected nearly three terabytes of movies, tv shows, and home movies, nicely converted and organized as an iTunes library.  As the library grew, my media database grew out of a single hard drive, on to a raid, and then to a Drobo array.  In the back of my mind, I worried about backing this all up.  That's part of the reason it was hosted on the Drobo, so that a single hard drive failure wouldn't wipe it all out.  It was much too large for a duplicate drive, and although some of it was backed up to DVDs, my iTunes library was continually growing and changing, and enough DVD's had failed on me that I didn't have confidence in them anymore.  Certainly I wasn't about to go back to tape.

Now, I have extensive backups on everything else.  My photos are duplicated on different drives, my writing files are duplicated so many different ways it'd make your head spin.  I have a large TimeMachine backup of my laptop, and some things (like the writing files) are being daily copied off to the cloud backup services.  But I never quite took the extra step to backup the video library.  Too expensive, too time consuming, too lazy.

So, of course, (you saw it coming), an obscure glitch trashed the data on my Drobo.  The directory structure was damaged some how, probably by the common power failures that happen out here in the country.  I didn't notice it immediately, but I was running out of space on the Drobo, so I swapped in a bigger drive and waited the week or so for it to reorganize the data.  Superficially, it looked good, so I swapped in a second bigger drive.

Then it was time to head off for a six week vacation/book-tour.  I would occasionally log back in to my home system to see how things were going.  Half-way through the trip, something looked very wrong, but I had to just shut it down until I returned home.  A week or so of debugging, once I had hands-on time to work with it gave me the bad news.  Drobo wasn't going to recover itself.  Even bringing it up in raw mode so that Disk Utility and Diskwarror could work on it wouldn't work.  Within a minute of booting it up, the unit was caught in a loop and slowed to nothing.

I had a choice, turn it over to one of those pricy disk recovery firms and cross my fingers, or format the drives and start all over with an empty library.  It was a painful decision.  My video library was mostly items purchased from iTunes, so with the new rules, I could re-download all of that for free.  The rest consisted of Beta and VHS tapes digitized, a number of things pulled from DVDs, and a few TV shows captured from my Directv via Eyetv.  I still have the home movie tapes, and I can recapture those, but there would be quite a few things I would have to do without.

I formatted the drives.  There was never any hardware problem with the Drobo, so it came back up.  I wrote a custom Perl program to scan through my TimeMachine archive and pull all the videos.  I loaded those and started the process of running iTunes re-downloads.  I figure it will take about a year to get everything back -- I have slow DSL.  What with my backups and a month or so of downloading, I have 1.1TB recovered.  I also have a 3TB drive connected with nightly CCC backups running.  Backup drives have gotten cheap.  Or at least it feels like it now.

One interesting benefit of this process is that I'm re-visiting a lot of shows I saw once and then forgot.  Of course there was Firefly, Angel and Buffy, but I'm also enjoying some of the one-season wonders that came and vanished, like Haven, Cupid, Fallen, Raines, MiddleMan, etc.  I'm sure I'll need to purchase some of the things that I had captured before, but with today's better quality, and with the built-in cloud backup, it's a nice upgrade.

But... I'm going to keep that backup drive spinning!

-my books-

Apple Map Updates

I was amused by the recent Australian map problem, where a city was marked in the wrong location.  A one or two day flash of bad PR and the issue was fixed.  I'm jealous.

You see, I've been trying to get a nearly identical issue fixed for the last couple of months.  One of my towns, the locale of The Copper Room, is Canton Missouri.  When you search for that town, up pops a red pin at a rural location, while the real town, which I've marked with a blue pin in this image is way over there on the river.

Now, I'm a big fan of the new Apple Maps, and I still like it better than anything else out there, but I just wish it was easier to correct errors that I encounter. There are a number of buttons built into the app that where one can "Report a problem".  I systematically tried them all.  There's the one under the turned up corner, where one can report general problems.  There's the one where you highlight the pin and report the error there.  I even went to www.apple.com/feedback and tried to report it there.  Still, the days tick by and the false Canton pin hasn't moved.

I was willing to give Apple some slack because they get their data from third parties and I suspected that maybe the delay had to do with the long lead time of feeding the error data back to TomTom or whoever and waiting for it to ripple through the system.  Obviously, there's a quicker way, as evidenced by the Australian issue.

It's the PR, obviously.  Now I know my little blog is minor.  Goggle won't even let me put adverts on it because it's so inconsequential.  But I've had some visibility on other issues in the past.  Maybe someone will notice.  I can alway hope.

-my books-

The Enchantment of Sail

This week my sailing novel is out, Breaking Anchor.  Yes, it is science fiction.  That's how my brain is wired, but sailing has found a place in my imagination. I grew up with an outboard powered fishing boat my father saved up to buy.  I like the water, but by the time I did a little sailing on Town Lake, the lure of sail had crept into my soul.  Unfortunately, I've never bought a sailboat, nor been able to indulge my fantasy of renting and sailing the Caribbean islands.

Some years ago, my wife and I took a cruise from Barbados and visited a number of islands on a large sailing vessel.  It was a 100 passenger cruise ship, and I have many fond memories of that trip, but this was really too large for my ideal vessel.  I wanted something large enough to live in, for months at a time, but something I could handle.  I wanted to handle the sails, and to set the course, and feel the wind and adjust the wheel in response.

When I was writing the novel, or shorting before then, I was listening to all of the Furled Sails podcasts.  There were many inspiring tales of sailors, from the weekend sailors to the ones who had sold everything and lived their lives on the seas.

On one of my California trips, my wife, daughter and I took a little sail around the Santa Barbara area in a 40-foot sailboat.  It was perfect.  If anyone wants to know what I want for Christmas, look no farther.  Properly outfitted, one person can sail a boat this sized, and yet there's no limit on where you could go.  *Sigh*

Maybe someday.

-my books-

Wrangler JK Showing Aftermarket Wheels and Tires

Showing Jeep Wrangler JK,s With Aftermarket Wheels And Tires, Stock And With Lifts So You Can See How Your Wrangler Would Look.

2012 jeep wrangler with polished wheels

 2012 jeep wrangler in (Dozer Color) Wheel Brand and Name: Ultra Gauntlet
Wheel Size: 17x9
Wheels Offset:
Wheel Backspacing: 4.5"

Tire Brand and Name: Falken Wild PEak
Tire Size: 285/70/17

Lift info: Rough Country 4" Coil Lift with shocks
PICS
Photo courtesy of jkfreaks.com

Below is stock rubicon wheels, with spidertrax spacers, and 35"km2's with the 17/58 coils

Wheel Brand and Name: ProComp 8069's
Wheel Size: 15x10
Wheels Offset: ??
Wheel Backspacing: 3.6" (reduced to around 2" with my spidertrax spacers)

Tire Brand and Name: BFG KM2
Tire Size: 31x10.5r15

Lift info: 17/58's (4dr coils on my 2dr)
Photos courtesy of jkfreaks.com




2012 Rubicon

Wheel Brand and Name: Level 8 Strike 5
Wheel Size: 17x9

Tire Brand and Name: Goodyear MTR/K
Tire Size: 315/70/17
Lift: 2.5" Teraflex coil with 5100 Bilsteins
Here is a front view below:

Photos courtesy of jkfreaks.com

2013 black jeep wrangler JK with 35 inch tires and black aftermarket wheels, with a 3 inch lift.

2010 Flame Red Jeep Wrangler With Aftermarket Wheels And Tires, Sporting A 3 Inch Lift As Well. 

2013 Rock Lobster Color Jeep Wrangler With Aftermarket Wheels and 35 Inch Tires, Including A 3 Inch Lift.

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Jeep Wrangler JK Photo Gallery

2013 Jeep Wrangler Sport (Color is Rock Lobster)

2013 White Jeep Wrangler Rubicon

2013 True Blue Jeep Wrangler Sport

2013 Commando Green Wrangler Sport

2013 Billet Silver Metallic Wrangler Sport

2013 Gecko Green JKUR Rubicon Jeep Wrangler (Note the new wheels)

Above we have a 2010 Jeep JK Sport in the color Mango Tango, a color very hard to find.

Jeep Trademark Advertisement

Jeep Trademark Advertisement, a photo by lee.ekstrom on Flickr.

Classic Jeep Trademark advertisement from 1973. It reads:

"Jeep® is spelled with an "R"

We started spelling it that way back in 1950 when we registered the Jeep® name with the U.S. Patent Office. From that moment on, Jeep® has been spelled with an R.

Other manufacturers make sport utility vehicles, but they are not Jeep® Vehicles. The fact of the matter is there is only one brand of vehicle that can rightfully and lawfully be called a Jeep® and this is a vehicle made by Jeep Corporation, a subsidiary of American Motors Corporation.

We earned our name the hard way; over the roughest roads and through a few bi wars so we'd appreciate it if you wouldn't call anyone else by our name--it's a hell of a way to treat a veteran."

33's On Jeep Jk With Lift And Without Lift

Jeep Wranglers come stock with 3 different tire sizes depeding on what model, trim, or options your jeep has:
1. 225/75/16 (29”x9”)
2. 255/75/17 (32”x10”)
3. 255/70/18 (32”x10”).
The largest tire you can fit without a chance of problems on the street is a 33x10 tire (also called a “pizza cutter”). An example is the 255/80/17 BFG KM2. Because this tire is the same width as most stock JK tires, there is no issue on road, despite the larger diameter. You can run this size without issue.

On Jeep Jk you can use your stock wheels and put on up to a LT275/70R18 (33's) size tires all around with no lift or wheel spacers. You will have a little rubbing when turning full lock. To fix this you can do a few things as:

• Put on a small lift kit (1" to 2" body lift or coil spacers)
• Put on a wheel spacers (hub centric) so you have less backspacing
• Put on new wheels with less backspacing
• Or a simple fix is washers on the steering stops, which will also give you a little less turning radius, but stops the rubbing.

Stock JK wheels have 6.25" backspacing, which is why the wheels are so tight on the Jeep. Generally, for aftermarket wheels you want 5" to 4.5" bs or less. The smaller the number, the farther your wheels will stick out from the Jeep.

Not: If you are going off roading using stock wheels and 33's you need to add wheel spacers, or new wheels, or get a small lift or you will break your fenders on heavy flexing. You should avoid spacers when possible, replacement aftermarket wheels with 4.5 inch backspacing will be the exact same as adding 1.5 inch wheel spacers to a stock jeep wrangler. This will give you the "wide stance look".

2012 flame red wrangler with 33 inch BFG A/T tires on 16 x 8 black wheels, with 2 inch Daystar spacer lift. Very nice lift /tires for all around daily use.

2012 jeep wrangler with 2 inch spacer lift, 285/70/17 (33's) Nitto Grapplers and polished wheels.

2008, no lift, with BF Goodrich 315/70R17 All Terrains, plus 1.5 inch wheel spacers.
I had to trim the the plastic air dam up front, but that was a simple matter. It rides nice and road noise from the tires is minimal.
According to my GPS, the speedometer reads about 2-3 mph less than actual at highway speeds. Photo from JKowners.com

 

2012 jeep wrangler with Zone 2 inch coil spacer lift, Nitto Terra Grappler 285/70R17 tires and Moto Metal 951 Black 17x9 wheels 5 on 5 -12. Very Nice!

Here is a Wrangler Sport with No Lift and 33's tires, but has aftermarket wheels.

Here another persons JK 275/70/18 duratracs, stock suspension, no spacers. I get rubbing at full lock. Keep meaning to adjust the steering stops, but I've only rubbed once on a tight turn into a parking spot in the past few months. Will get get some spidertrax wheel spacers and a leveling kit soon.

The above 4 photo's are a 2012 stock Jeep Wrangler with aftermarket wheels and 33's Mickey Thompson Tires.

This white 2013 Jeep Wrangler has a 2 inch lift and 35 inch tires.

This Gecko Green Jeep Wrangler has a 2 ich lift and 33 inch tires.

This 4dr Gecko Green Jeep Wrangler has a 2 inch lift and 33 inch tires.

This 2012 Black Jeep Wrangler has a 3 inch lift and 35 inch tires.

This Green Jeep Rubicon has a 21/2 inch lift and 33 inch tires.

This 2012 Black Jeep Wrangler has a 3 inch lift and 35 inch tires.

I thought I would show a few Jeep wrangler JK's with a lift and 35's so you can see what that would look like also. This JK has a 3 inch lift and is running 35 inch tires. Since the tires buldge out quite a lot, I believe the tires are on stock wheels. This set up is for a little more serious off road use, but still looks great on the street.

2013 Jeep wrangler sport with a 2.5 inch Rough Country suspension lift, tires are 35X13.00X18 Nitto Terra Grapplers on 18 x 9 XD Misfit wheels and a AEV Speedometer Calibration tool.

2010 Jeep Wrangler Sport with 33" tires and a 3inch lift.

2012 Jeep Wrangler Sport with dealer installed 4 1/2 " lift kit 18" Black Mayham  wheels and 35" Tires.

Here we have a 2010 Jeep JK with 285/70/17 Duratrac tires on black 17x9 wheels 4.5 B.S. jeep is not lifted.

This is a 2011 Jeep JK 285/70/17 Bridgestone Dueler A/T tires on BlackRock wheels, no lift.


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