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Since the site is at a standstill, and the competition season is coming to a close, I thought I'd write an Op-Ed piece because I think it's worth your time to read it.

We are faced with a choice right now. We are in an energy crisis and a financial crisis. All of our pocketbooks have felt it and they will continue for some time. This is by far the most important vote of our lifetime and we've got to get it right. With that said, I'd rather not discuss these candidates at this point, but rather ideology.

On the left we have liberals and democrats who stand for large government, and pandering.
On the right we have Conservatives and Republicans who stand for small government and self-reliance.

The main difference is the appeal to voters. democrats attempt to buy your vote by criticizing the richest 5% of the country, while promising to have the government send the remaining 95% money. Republicans are for smaller government, and with a smaller government, it doesn't consume as much as the larger liberal governments. In this way, Republicans can reduce taxes, and rather than the government sending you money, you get to keep what you earned.

The biggest misconception people have about government is that it gives free money. That begs the question: Where do you think the government gets its money from? It gets its money from US! It comes out of our paychecks before we ever see them. With the stimulus package of 2008, the government sent us all a check in the amount of $600.00. This check was our money to begin with, but they took it and then gave it back to us at a loss. As we all know there is NOTHING man-made that is 100% efficient. Government is no different. If they send you a check for $600.00, it cost you quite a bit more. There were reports on the news of the BILLIONS it took to figure out who was to receive checks, to print the checks, to sort and mail the checks. The bottom line is, it was a stupid idea. If they wanted us to have more money, they should have simply cut taxes and allowed us to KEEP our money. This seems like common sense.

You might ask, how do you Republicans want smaller government? Well the answer is Republicans can be persuaded. It is true Conservatives that cannot. There is a difference. Republicans are politicians. Conservatives are ideologues. Republicans don't think we need an agency for everything. Republicans see the waste and inefficiency of government. Conservatives take it a step further. They see the corruption in government and understand that is the reason the founders of this great nation attempted to create checks and balances. It's why they limited the power of the President. They realize that the government has NEVER done anything right except our national defense. Oh you don't agree? Name ONE thing!

I recently had a discussion with someone who suggested that the FDA (Food and Drug administration) had protected him. Oh really? Is that why in the recent year tomatoes made people sick and killed people? Is that why there have been at least 3 scares in the last year where we couldn't eat certain things? Is that why we hear of new FDA approved drugs are now linked to things like heart disease? The FDA is good for nothing. The free market protects us. It's why the whistle was even blown on these things. People got sick, and the rest of us saw that and stayed away from that particular thing. It DID NOT take the FDA to tell us. As a matter of fact, after the scare broke out, the FDA could not tell us what product to avoid in certain cases and COULD NOT figure out what it was. (In the Taco Bell fiasco) In short, he was WRONG!

I hear people mention the Post office as a good government organization. I find that strange as I get other people's mail weekly, and I am often missing certain bills. The post office is far from perfect. They aren't even close.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is a TOTALLY pointless agency. On the surface you say "Well we can't survive without a healthy environment, so we need to protect it." I'm not going to argue with you right now that man is not responsible for global warming, although I don't think there's evidence to support that we are. I will merely point out what happens.
The EPA inspects factories. They say "Your emissions are too high. You have several options. You can decrease output until you comply with the regulations. You can buy this expensive equipment and maintain it and it should lower the emissions, or you can simply purchase carbon credits."
Now, the company isn't going to slow it's production. It's not going to spend the extra money for the equipment. It is not going to want to purchase carbon credits. These all decrease its bottom line and cost its employees wages and costs shareholders money. Let's back up for a second. If the EPA were there to protect our environment, how could carbon credits possibly protect it? If I need to produce so many widgets a day, and that releases x amount of carbon, and it is y above maximum emissions, they charge me z amount for the excess carbon I release. HOW DOES THAT PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT? The dirty little secret is that it doesn't because they know our environment is not harmed by us.
Next, you've been told the above by the EPA. You're the CEO of the company and you have to report to your shareholders that they are going to take a loss due to that. It is your job to find a way to make them money. What do you do? You look for a way around that regulation and you do a study to see how much of a difference it would make to move to a third world country with no emissions regulations and ship your product to the target audience. If the cost is lower to do that (and it is) the United States loses the tax revenue and jobs generated by this company and ships them overseas. Yet we have people telling us we need larger government and the EPA.

Conservatives would like to remove these agencies and decrease the bloat of government. In this way, government requires less tax money and YOU can keep more of your paycheck.

liberals believe the opposite. They have the mindset that you need someone to give you structure, because you are not capable of structuring yourself. They believe that you rely on government and without it, you would be in chaos.

Conservatives believe that BECAUSE of government, you ARE in chaos.

I have a certain responsibility at my job that requires that I drive certain places throughout the day. I often travel through a certain portion of the town I live in where people are sitting outside congregating. I used to wonder how they could do that. I assumed they all worked the graveyard shift. Then I started really thinking about it. I realized that those were not projects, but government subsidized housing none-the-less. I noticed a large amount of infants. Then it hit me. I observed our newspaper daily during and after these observations. I noticed that on those same streets, a large amount of crime occurred. It happened to be an overwhelming majority of the crime here. All the pieces fell into place after that. I realized that these people were able to stay home while I was at work because I am working to support them. They sit at home and collect a check, and then steal from those that support them, and deal and do drugs. They have ample time to reproduce and do quite frequently. Then it occurred to me. We have a welfare state and it perpetuates a generation of people who are entirely dependent on government.... US.

People you may not agree with what I've said here. If you don't, you're wrong. I am accurate in all that I have said here and I will continue to elaborate. barack hussein obama represents all that is wrong with this country. John McCain doesn't necessarily represent everything that is right, but he is MUCH MUCH better than barry hussein obama.

Well it's been a long time and the site has died in the process. I just thought I'd update on the status of this project.

Some time in March, Roger and I agreed that he would buy the equipment and I would build the box for the stereo. He bought alternators, black rims with chrome spinners, etc. Basically anything that would keep me from building the box as I needed the subs. Rather than buy the previous generation subs that were readily available EVERYWHERE but the Fi website, he went with the new BTL 18's. This delayed the project for a month or two and during that time, the arrangement was forced to change. I live in an apartment and do not have room for tools or a workshop. I was going to have to use my dad's. He added on to their house, put up a new tower, had several trips planned. So for 3 months, there was not a weekend available for me to do the project. All the while Roger is complaining. Remember, I'm not getting paid for this. I did ask that he compensate my father for his tools and time as that's only fair.
Roger kept complaining, but not only that he would talk shit about me. Every time I heard shit talk, I would simply decide to delay the project anyways. All in all I skipped 2 days that my dad had available because roger was being such a selfish prick.
Yesterday the issue finally came to a head. Thursday I had contacted Rick (rr421) to see if he wanted to help me build the box Sunday. He told me that he could not. So it was just going to be me and dad. It was on for Sunday. Then Rick txts me asking how much I would pay for Roger's equipment. I told him 1200 cash today. Roger wanted 1700. Note that you can buy 18" BTL's off of the FI website for around 1000.00 for 2 which is what he's got. The amp he has is a 4000 watt hifonics goliath. You can buy those for just over 500 shipped. He has had the subs out of the boxes and the amp hooked up to some other subs beating them to death. His wiring job is horrible. Who knows the condition of the amp? At any rate, he wanted 1700 for the two subs and amp. He was trying to make money off of the open-box, used setup. He then started txting me and when I told him my offer he told me "that's not right". He tried to guilt me instead of just saying no to the offer. He then told me that the reason he wanted to sell was that I wouldn't build the box. (Rick had already told me it's because he wants a 4 wheeler) Again, he shows how he only cares about himself and nobody else. He tried to pin it all on me. I informed him of how I was going to build the box the next day, but now he could fuck himself. Then he whined and moaned and put me down.
So now, apparently he's going to build the box himself. Look out kiddies!
At any rate, it turns out that Justin Pierce was 100% correct about roger. He is all about himself. He is not a bit greatful.
My advice, don't do him any favors. He will not appreciate them and feel that you owe him. He has more nerve than anyone I know.

Since FI released their BTL, they have not made available the T/S parameters. We acquired them and here they are:

RE 1.4 Ohms (Both .7 Ohm coils in series)
Fs 31.8
Qms 6.25
Qes .27
Qts .26
Mms 312g
Vas 164 l
Sd 1210 cm^2
Bl 18.1

FI took the BTL off of their site recently and made it unavailable for purchase until May 1st, 2008 for some design changes. The sub is supposed to have the same box requirements as the previous BTL, but instead of having a third magnet option, the sub boasts a single magnet that is stronger than the previous BTL WITH the third magnet option. All other options will remain the same. This should theoretically increase BL and thus efficiency. It shouldn't raise FS so the sub should just be better, less convoluted to configure and not have any real compromise.

Due to the Stronger magnet, the sub's base price will be the same as the old BTL's price + third magnet option. The actual pricing will be identical other than that. Unless you wanted a BTL without a third magnet, the pricing is the same.

Steve Meade has posted up some pics of his BTLs he just received over at SoundSolutionsAudio.com:

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The AVIC-F series, which will come in three in-dash flavors (two Pioneer, one Premier) and one hybrid portable model. The AVIC in-dash models are extremely impressive, featuring built-in Bluetooth, MSN-Direct, navigation, iPod compatibility, and a host of other goodies.
Pioneer really stepped up on the GUI (graphical user interface), making it really easy to navigate the different menus, via, a 5.8" touchscreen as found on the current D3 model. When using your cell phone or iPod, you can also take advantage of the VoiceBox-powered voice recognition software. However this is not your typical voice recognition software, the AVIC-F has the ability to recognize and accept conversational speech... And it works quite well! The AVIC-Fs accept voice commands via the microphone built-in to the faceplate, and users can select phonebook entries, iPod artists, songs, or genres. You can also expand the new AVIC's with XM & Sirius, HD radio, or a back-up camera. During our testdrive the AVIC had no trouble ignoring "Ums", pauses in speech, or even not following the exact command to request an artist or phonebook entry.

MSN Direct is an additional very unique feature, and provides some pretty handy information that really adds value to the navigation capabilities. The feed from MSN is provided via FM, and can provided access to lowest gas prices, movie schedules, weather, and traffic information. The MSN info is integrated into the navigation, and can re-route based on traffic information, direct you to the gas station with the cheapest prices, or find the nearest movie theater with your desired flick.
Pioneer has really gone out of their way to make sure their new navigation radios are easy to use, resourceful, intelligent, and intuitive. The new AVIC-F series arrive in shops in June, and even if you don't plan on buying a nav unit immediately, I highly recommend checking it out just to see how the bar has been raised.

Information and Images from Sounddomain.com