ZModo Doorbell Camera -Warning-(UPDATE)
Mine died yesterday. This is unfortunately the second time. I had ignored the first go around because how well the other cams had performed (and still are) and i thought it was just simply bad luck I got a crappy one. I got sent a replacement since I was under warranty and never gave it a thought till last night when it died again
I just checked and they have removed all but one of the doorbell cameras from their site. I also checked Amazon (where I bought it) and the negative ratings fore my doorbell cam had skyrocketed.
My rule for buying stuff online is that anything with a 20% ratings of 1 and 2 starts gets ignored. My camera is suddenly running 42%.
If you excuse me, I am now heading for the phone and have a nice long chat with ZModo’s customer service. Again, this is for the doorbell camera, not their outdoors.
UPDATE:
Just finished (rather fast) with their customer service. They are having issues with an internal battery they have which I did not know it existed since the doorbell is hard wired. RMA number incoming and to be substituted with a Greet HD and 6 extra months of the cloud for free.
I will admit that was faster than I thought it would happen. Good for them.
On zeroing your AR
Wirecutter posted this video over at his site:
There is another video I highly recommend from Travis Haley where he does a similar sort of experiment showing the effects of different zeroes at different ranges.
I have read a lot about different zeroes on different forums, and as people argue over which zero is the best, there is always one piece of information left out, which is the same piece of information left out of these videos.
It is perhaps the most important thing to consider.
You are not a Navy SEAL and this is not Afghanistan.
Neither am I for that matter.
Unless the shit absolutely hits the fan and we find ourselves in an ITEOTWAWKI situation, you are still responsible for every round you send downrange.
What is the worst that I’ve seen in my adult lifetime? The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, maybe the riots in Portland or Kenosha? Going back to my childhood, the Rodney King riots in LA?
Under conditions like that, do you honestly believe you are going to be legally justified in taking a 400 or 500-yard shot?
Do you have the skills to take a 400 or 500-yard shot, under stress, with a 16-inch AR carbine?
No, 99.999% chance you don’t. I’m not trying to insult you. I’m being serious.
I grew up in Miami, where a city block is 1/16th of a mile wide and 1/8th of a mile long. That means I would have to be legally justified in taking a shot the width of a city block to go 110 yards and the length of a city block for a shot of 220 yards. I don’t see that happening.
You might, in a worst-case scenario be legally justified shooting across the width of your yard. If you live in the suburbs like I do, the size of a large development plot is a half-acre. That’s a plot width of 147.5 feet, just shy of 50 yards.
This is why my preferred zero is the 50/200 zero. I zeroed my rifle for a shot the full length of my front yard. In a pinch that gives me zero the length of one city block. But I am not going to worry about 300, 400, or 500 yards because there is no way I could ever justify that in court.
It’s fun to watch videos like this, but watching special forces guys tell you about what zero they used shooting mountain top to mountain top in Afghanistan has little bearing on what you will most likely be facing and how far you will be shooting if (worst-case) you have to pop some Antifa punk on the edge of your property about to hurl a Molotov cocktail at your house.
“Will I have the proper holdover at 300 yards?”
No, but it doesn’t matter, because you will never shoot that far in a home defense scenario.
I’m sorry but I have to agree
A number of conservative websites and Twitter users I like are mad that the former CEO of Twitter said this:
Me-first capitalists who think you can separate society from business are going to be the first people lined up against the wall and shot in the revolution. I’ll happily provide video commentary.
— dick costolo (@dickc) October 1, 2020
The replies are all…
“Millionaire capital hypocrite wants to shoot other capitalists.”
Sorry, but no.
I am a capitalist, but I have come to hate the Capitalism Uber Alles that some on the Right have embraced.
“Me-first” capitalists are the CEOs who lay off an entirely factory, outsource production, kill a small town, and drive thousands into bankruptcy to pocket a fat bonus.
And yes, when the last American factory worker is laid off so the next holding company manager can make another billion, I suspect a lot of people will be stood against the wall.
Capitalists who create and innovate, that make money providing good and services that people want are good.
It’s the capitalists who lay off, leverage buyout, and outsource their way to wealth, leaving a wake of misery and destitution behind them that I have a problem with.
If conservatives can’t understand that difference and understand why the latter is bad, then we deserve the socialist revolution.
Let me put it to you like this.
The town of Ilion, New York is dead and a 204 year old American company is no more, all because the half dozen guys who owned Cerberus Capital pocketed $600 million in Remington’s money.
I guess you’re okay with that because capitalism uber alles.
Feeling confident about Mail In Voting (with a dash of fake news)
Yes, you keep trusting the USPS for your delicates, see what happens.
There was a meme floating around about how the Postal Service does not advise sending cash by mail and AFP did a “fact check” on the meme and sort of tagging it as as false, but there is something interesting in the Fact Check.
AFP does the usual job of trying to dismiss the fears of Mail-In Voting even including the President, but the quote from an USPS spokesman makes me wonder how was the question asked.
David Partenheimer, a spokesman for USPS, told AFP by email: “Regarding sending cash in the mail, no, we do not prohibit it and continue to advise customers about the options they have.” (Bold are mine)
The meme did not say prohibit but advise. I have the strange feeling that our friends at AFP kinda/sorta may have fibbed just a tad to make politics via their “fact check.” But just a little.
And next comes something that we can do with mailed cash that we should not have to do with Mail In Ballots.
Partenheimer also said that cash sent through the mail can be insured for up to $15, or up to $50,000 for Registered Mail.
Can we send out Mail In votes registered and insured up to $50,000? Wouldn’t that be a modern equivalent of a poll tax? If you create a deficient system that will not guarantee a Constitutional right unless you pay a fee, that would be a violation of Civil rights, but as usual, IANAL.
Anyway, I am voting in effing person this year, I am having serious trust issues anyway. What the hell, I am just ranting over here.