Too Much Information live chat show. Lets talk about the current Culture War hot topic: Cracker Barrel. This video is sponsored is by Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed. https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-250827-cracker-barrel/
EARLYBIRD Clue:
THIS WEEK
Moondog2A
Moondog Reviews
Moondog Go
BRAND CONTEST CLUE
This american casual dining chain was started in 1969 in Tennessee, by a Shell gas station owner who wanted to create an old-timey general store concept of a diner; to encourage longer stops and sales at his gas station. The restaurant was filled with antiques, bric-a-brack, and features rocking chairs for sale on its front porch.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Cracker Barrel announces a rebranding and remodel of its restaurants and sparks internet outrage.
What is your Cracker Barrel favorite entre and side?
In 2025, this restaurant chain’s CEO Julie Felss Masino revealed the brands their new logo and store remodel, which sparked online outrage by many of their long-time customers. Many conservative influencers claimed DEI influence while designers mocked its blandness.
YouTuber @dayattherange posted the Stretching It challenge on his channel. Elijah has invited his viewers to download his target and see how well they can group 22LR from a distance of 100 yards. https://dayattherange.com/stretching-it-2025-year-long-challenge/
I chose to take part using my factory-stock CZ 457 VPC, topped with an Area 419 Picatinny rail, and a Discovery Optics XED 6-36×56 scope (their top-tier long range optic with Japanese ED glass). For this attempt, I am trying out Norma Tac-22. This ammo is made by RWS in Germany which is also the ammo company used to proof CZ 457 rifles at the factory. I have heard good reports on this ammo but my experience with my Ruger Precision Rimfire rifle yielded mixed results.
Too Much Information live chat show. In this episode, we’ll be chatting with Professor Martin Rendel in Köln, Germany, about bridging cultures with art and design. Read my show notes https://moondogindustries.com/auto-draft/
This video is sponsored by Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed.
This German car company was founded in 1937 and its name in German means “People’s Car”.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Today from Köln, Germany we have Professor Martin Rendel. Martin is a ward winning graphic designer, author, university lecturer, and Cultural Manager. What is a Cultural Manager? Wikipedia defines this as
A Cultural Manager is a person who is motivated by the improvement of art, …as a mediator between governmental and/or private cultural institutions with artists from different areas to articulate their work in the market with promotion and national and international dissemination.
Whaaaat? Well we’re going to figure out what that division means. Speaking of Wikipedia, Martin is famous enough he has his own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Rendel
In 2025, this jeans and apparel company hit marketing gold by putting out a notable and some say notorious series of commercials starring Sydney Sweeney.
EMRs are quickly becoming the preferred pistol optics for military and law enforcement use because they more rugged and are less vulnerable to harsh environments like rain, dust, or mud. The Frenzy offers the features found in more expensive ERD from Trijicon and Holosun in a compact optic that weighs less than 3oz.
The Vector Optics Frenzy Plus is one of the most affordable enclosed emitter red dots (ERD) that I’ve come across. It checks the boxes in what the bigger name optics companies offer in an ERD. The Frenzy Plus has an ACRO-compatible footprint, an externally accessed user-replaceable CR-2032 battery, and features a solid, rugged design. And Vector Optics offers a lifetime warranty.
I tested it on my Glock 17 and shot through a box of ammo, doing multi-target drills, and the Frenzy Plus performed flawlessly without flicker. I was quickly able to find the dot and its wide window and relatively thin frame gave me good situational awareness.
The Eagle Blaze series CVLife’s newest attempt to put out a step-up from basic scope. With the 7-35×56 FFP they largely succeeded. This scope has a focal plane (FFP) tree reticle, zero stop, and uses Japanese ED glass.
The turrets push down to lock, are user-resettable with a coin, come with a zero-stop ring, and have audible and tactile positive clicks. But the turret top must be severely cinched down or else the turret top will twist from its position. You are better off leaving the turret in the up, unlocked position; otherwise, your numbers will not sync to your zero.
Optically, the ED glass did reduce chromatic aberration. While the glass is not as sharp as more expensive scopes, its higher magnification top end compensates for this loss in detail and resolution. I was able to resolve lines into the Group 0 section of the USAF chart.
CVLife continues to improve the quality and features of their long-range optics line. While not the dirt-cheap but basic, sub-$100 prices that CVLife became known for, this 7-35×56 Eagle Blaze comes in at a sub-$500 street price. This makes it possibly the cheapest 35x scope with Japanese ED glass.
I posted a review of the Discovery Optics ED LHT 3-15×50 FFP scope over a year ago. At the time, I found it and the entire ED line of scopes to be an excellent value. The 3-15×50 variant was the smallest and lightest of the ED series, with the same precision turrets and high-resolution Japanese ED glass. But it had a tight eyebox, and its tree reticle was unusually thin, even at its maximum magnification. This is probably because it uses the same etched reticle as the 24x ED variant, and when a FFP reticle is scaled to 15x, it shrinks in size and thickness.
A year later, I decided to mount this scope onto a BCA 22LR AR upper, so I could use it at 100 yards. I thought the fine reticle would not obscure the 2″ diamond bullseyes on my target, while allowing just enough top-end magnification to self-spot from the bench.
While zeroing out the scope at the gun range, I invited the RSOs and club members to test out my setup. I wanted to see if their opinion and first impressions of the scope differed from my original review. Their consensus echoed mine. The scope had clear glass, but most found the eyebox to be tight, and many were not used to a reticle that thin and fine-lined. Despite this, when I revealed that the scope cost under $275, most were surprised and nodded in appreciation.
The scope certainly performs better than its price, but its thin reticle makes it less than ideal for general-purpose shooting or hunting. It may be a better scope for airgun or rimfire Benchrest, where its thin reticle helps in aiming at the X-ring on a well-lit target?
This product is so simple, it’s brilliant. Missouri Tactical created a silicone rubber plug that fits over the hollow end of a Magpul MVG/RVG rifle foregrip and creates a water-tight storage space. Moreover, moulded into the plug itself is a slot that securely fits a CR2032 coin battery and a hole to hold a small (2mm-4mm) Allen key. Not only is this useful but its cheap. Its a perfect stucking stuffer for your 2A friends and family.
This prize supplied by ProHear and is awarded at their sole discretion and direction.
RULES
NO PURCHASE OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
1. Eligibility
Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident in the USA. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible to participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
2. Sponsors and Platforms
ProHear (known as the SPONSOR) and Moondog Industries (known as the CO-SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promoter based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, X and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.
3. Agreement to Rules
By entering the contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retains the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
4. Entry Period
Contest email entries must be received between: 12:00pm EST 1 August 2025 and 12:00pm EST 31 August 2025
5. How to Enter
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. If the page is not functioning, please notify contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
6. Prizes
The winner must be able to receive the prize by e-mail or by physical mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the winner’s entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
7. Odds
The odds of winning are dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.
8. Selection and Notification of the Winner
The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants who demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest. Winner must have a legal address within the US to ship the prize.
SPONSOR is not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided the wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
9. Rights Granted by the Entrant
The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.
Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
10. Terms & Conditions
The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.
11. Limitation of Liability
Entry into this contest constitutes the participant’s agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
12. Disputes
As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
13. Privacy Policy
Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.
14. Winners List
Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.
15. Social Media Platform Rules
Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.
16. Affirmation of Acceptance of and Agreement to All of the Official Rules
By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of them.
Too Much Information live chat show. I’m going to share my experiences searching for an Assisted Care facility for my mother, and discuss the difficulties of aging. This video is sponsored by Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed.
EARLYBIRD Clue:
#aarp
THIS WEEK
Moondog2A
Moondog Reviews
Moondog Go
BRAND CONTEST CLUE
The largest non-profit organization in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 and older. What are the 4 initials that form its name?
Prohear quietly released an updated version of their bluetooth electronic shooting earbuds. Their primary use is hearing protection when shooting firearms. This new version features enhanced sound quality, so that you can also use them as music/media earbuds, addressing a complaint of their original version and upgrading to digital from the analog volume controls.
The buds come in a USB-C charging case that is capable of recharging the earbuds up to 3 times. The buds also come with replacement foam and silicone earpads. They are activated by pressing the button on either earbud for 6 seconds, and pressing both 4 times activates Bluetooth pairing.
Testing them at the range, I found them very comfortable and their small size makes shooting rifles a lot easier for noobs. Strangely, though the earbuds have a 27 NRR, my rifle sounded louder with the earbuds than with my 22 NRR Prohear Machete earmuffs. One theory is that with eabuds, because your ear isn’t covered, sounds get picked up by the cartilage of your ear and transferred into your skull. I don’t know if that’s true but it sounds plausible.
I may just go back to using my old earmuffs. But in any case, these buds are small enough for me to keep as a backup in my range bag.
