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Marvyn's 459 arrived today!
Target sights and ambidextrous safety, but no lanyard ring.
"I will remember to not use it from horseback," Marvyn says.
Judging from the holster wear around the muzzle end of the slide, it's been carried a bunch and fired a bit.
Beans has me wondering how one opens a container of yogurt UNsafely.
I am making little paracord skeletons!
The Lovely Harvey is gifting them to her co-workers.
I just figured out what is so damn galling about Aesop's position on firearm safety.
He thinks there should be an exception to personal responsibility with a firearm.
I don't.
That's the essential conflict here.
Expanded on this my rejection that there should be special laws for people above a certain income level or in certain jobs.
Both rejections are at play here.
Yes, Hollywood created a procedure that allows dancing monkeys to hold a firearm and point it at others in a way that's resulted in damn few injuries and even fewer deaths.
But I disagree that absolves the person with the gun in their hand from responsibility for the harm done when that procedure fails.
But why did that procedure fail on the set of "Rust?"
Because there really isn't an industry wide standard with accreditation with regards to becoming an armorer.
It's a master and apprentice model. A model that breaks over and over in history when family is involved and skills turn out to not be hereditary.
The set was clearly not following the strictest guidelines with regards to firearms because there were live rounds on set, they were not segregated from dummy and blank ammunition and the cast and crew had access to both live ammunition and the firearm in question. They were plinking with it during down time.
More than a few actors have been railing on the goings on at that set. Many of them outlining what the correct procedures should have been.
My contact in Orlando (who asks not to be named because they like their job) spells out the basics:
No live ammo on set. Period
Everyone on set will be briefed about the shot and the presence of the firearm. Anyone on set during the shot can call a halt for a safety violation and the briefing informs everyone of that. Everyone knows what the rules are from this and if they don't attend the brief, they are not allowed on set. Safety is everyone's responsibility.
No live guns in actor's hands until the shot.
No blank ammo loaded until the actual shot.
The live gun with blank ammo will spend the absolute minimum amount of time in the actor's hands.
The actor does not operate the firearm unless directed to do so and only at the designated point in the script.
Blocking, rehearsals and run-throughs are done with the rubber or resin look-alikes both for safety and expense.
With modern cameras, there is no reason for anyone to be downrange of a "down the barrel" shot.
Because cameras suck at depth perception, there's no reason for the actor to have to point a firearm at anyone directly. A little to the side doesn't show on camera.
Now, how many of those rules were broken in New Mexico that day?
There's proper ways to do things when playing with dangerous items. Ways that mitigate the dangers.
At the end of the day, the person on the trigger is the one who decides that they are OK with how well the procedures have been followed and they pull the trigger, or refuse. Making them responsible for what happens in the end because they are the last go/no-go in the chain.
If, as Aesop claims, actors are too stupid or uneducated to make that decision, they should not be allowed anything sharper than a marble or harder than meringue.
If they really are that incompetent, we shouldn't be making excuses for them, we should be getting actors who know what they're doing. Actors who care about their co-workers.
Something else to consider, when you're trying absolve the dancing monkey of the responsibility of shooting someone, you're creating a situation where they don't have to care about safety. They will not suffer consequences, why should they bother with making sure it's safe?
You're guaranteeing that someone else will get killed by an actor, maybe even the same one.
The Model 59 got its debut at the theater when we went to see Dune.
As expected, it was no different from any other pistol I've carried in a Miami Classic.
It stayed concealed like it was supposed to.
I've got three Miami Classic rigs.
The Miami Classic II for the 1911 which has carried both a Springfield 1911 GI in .45 and a Colt Gov't Model in .38 Super.
The first Miami Classic is for the plastic fantastic M&P series. This one has hidden an M&P 9 and an M&P 45C.
The second Miami Class is the one I'm using for the 59 and the first one I've bought used.
I think, sometimes, that I'm obsessed with shoulder holsters.
First there was the Army and the M9 holster and M1911A1.
I tried several nylon Uncle Mike's holster for various pistols (packing illegally in Iowa). They were bulky and awkward.
My first Galco shoulder holster was The Executive for my P232. It was a very comfortable rig, but no provision for extra ammo.
Then came all the Miami Classic variations.
Reading up on the difference between the 59 and 459 leads to noticing the differences between the 459 and 659.
Steel slide and aluminum frame on the 459, stainless steel all around for the 659.
That makes the 659 a tubby girl.
An entire loaded magazine heavier than the 459.
2.3 vs 2.9 pounds.
I would express concerns over aluminum's durability here, but there's model 39's running around doing just fine. Some of them are quite long in the tooth too.
Thinking about materials always gets me wondering about changing the perfectly cromulant nylon stocks on my 59 over to something pretty like walnut.
Marvyn will soon be the proud owner of a S&W Model 459.
It is not the 459 he was bidding on these past five days.
He was outbid at the last moment.
I pointed out that he'd been watching one with a buy-it-now price set the same as his max-bid and he should do it!
JT and I were ribbing him a bit, but he appeared to be stoic and resigned to his loss.
But, as it turned out, he had already stabbed the buy-it-now button.
Was he possessed of a furor to own a 2nd Generation Smith and Wesson auto born of nostalgia from the Model 659 he used to own?
No.
His bid had stood long enough that confidence in winning had taken hold and he ordered spare magazines.
I suppose it was cheaper than tracking down a Marlin Camp Carbine for them.
The lower, quick-detach mount for Willard's Romeo-MSR has arrived!
Now he needs to bring the rifle and scope over to get it installed.
I've found that I'm far from alone in my opinion about Mr Baldwin having a large portion of the responsibility for shooting his assistant director, Ms Hutchins, dead.
And I notice that my problem commenters aren't commenting at those sites.
I've even noticed one blogger disagreeing with one of my problem children and openly quoting him and saying he's wrong.
I am thinking that he's not allowed to comment at a lot of these places any more.
I do know he's worn his welcome VERY thin here.
The two commentors who're insisting that Alec Baldwin did nothing wrong or illegal, and being VERY verbose about it have had their comments deleted.
They want there to be an exception for the dancing monkeys to be careless with firearms and be immune to the consequences so bad they're dismissing a genuine legal analysis of someone who's and acknowledged expert in firearms law.
And using specious arguments to do so.
One of you has already been warned about trying to hijack my blog.
I acknowledge that you disagree, but I've decided to not subject others to your disagreement because you're arguing your points so damn poorly.
I can get it out in a (long) sentence instead of a massive wall of text:
It's OK for dancing monkeys to be careless with guns because they're not supposed to know any better therefore it's the responsibility of the organ grinder to make sure they don't kill anyone while being careless.
You want them to be indemnified from the consequences of their actions as long as there's at least one other person who touched the gun before them and assured their tiny simian brains that it was OK.
It's a parallel of an argument I've disallowed here for a long time, Cops being held to a different standard because they followed procedures and training which lead to people being shot unnecessarily because the procedures and training don't lead to any kind of restraint about shooting someone. The only thing that matters in these procedures is the cops don't get hurt, so they can merrily fire away in situations where us common folk will get a murder rap.
"I followed departmental procedures and training" is a get out of jail free for cops. Well, it was, that's starting to change because people like me have been bitching about it.
The same goes for dancing monkeys. I hand you a gun and say, "It's OK, it's unloaded," and you shoot someone; YOU are going to jail for being stupid enough to believe me. I'm going too, but on a lesser charge.
"I didn't know it was loaded," is absolutely NOT a positive defense for shooting someone.
Why do you want it to be a defense for an actor who hates you?
Well, considering the vast difference in legal expertise, what I thought of the situation as I'd heard it agrees with Mr Branca's assessment.
There doesn't appear to be, "but it's fantasy and he's a dancing monkey," exception that has been put forth in the comments.
The clue is, "The person responsible."
Who is, "The person who pulled the trigger while pointing it at someone else?"
Alec, you don't get to dissemble and blame the props guy for what you did.
If you'd been following any of the four rules the person you killed wouldn't even be injured today. Neither would the person you injured.
How do I know this?
Because I have a loaded, chambered gun on me right now. And I have had for the most part of 15 years. Not once have I shot someone in those years.
How can this be true?
Because, unlike you, I learned the rules.
Also unlike you, when I broke them, I got lucky.
I've had a negligent discharge. I got the wall.
I was taking apart my Glock21. Because I wasn't pointing it at anything I cared about destroying and something that could stop the round, my fucking up treating it like it was loaded and pulling the trigger didn't hurt anyone.
There's redundancy built into those rules for a reason.
But, by several reports, you pointed a gun right at the departed and pulled the trigger. That also injured someone else standing behind them.
You broke all four rules.
It does not matter if you were handed a live, hot gun or a bar of soap carved into a gun shape.
YOU acted as if it wasn't loaded.
YOU put your finger on the trigger and pulled it.
YOU pointed the gun at something you didn't wish to destroy.
YOU didn't make sure that it was safe to point in that direction.
The property manager didn't do those things, you did.
I know you don't understand because you've been blaming the deodand for years, but it's what we've been trying to explain to you for those same years.
That gun didn't kill her. The property master didn't kill her. You killed her.
I honestly hope that you get what's coming to you.
Ever move a box and say, "that's heavier than expected?"
Here's what was in the box:
Willard stopped by today to have me mount a DSA p-rail top cover and SIG Romeo-MSR sight to his FAL Voyager.
Damn OEM eyeballs being as old as the rest of us sucks, and optics are a way around the problem.
We tried it in several locations on the rail and Willard settled on putting it to the rear rather than the front as shown in the pics.
The DSA railed cover is a solid optics mount for an FAL, but it's kind a pain to get on. Simple but fiddly. Once it's on, it stays put though.
Here's a pic of my 10/22!
I don't actually own an example of the most ubiquitous .22 LR ever made.
The Lovely Harvey has one, but the idea is to post a pic of your own, so...
Marv and I went to see Dune this evening.
The Lovely Harvey bought the tickets using The Boy's app so he got the points.
I hope that Dune does well enough in the box office to make the second part because the director has done the book justice.
I noticed a couple of small changes from the book because I'd just read it recently.
The only one that glared was Chani saying, "Paul," instead of, "Usul," in his vision/dreams.
The rest were really unremarkable.
Except making Vladimir Harkonnen a fairly conventional bad guy. I guess we can't have the bad guy be gay in today's woke Hollywood.
It'll be a while before we can have gay villains again. Too easy for some bigots to equate gay = evil when Harkonnen was an evil person who happens to be gay not someone who is evil because they are gay.
The woke and the bigots can't see that distinction, let alone make it.
Even if I wouldn't buy whatever it is after they threw Illinois gun dealers under the bus...
...but it's rumored to be a High Power clone.
The words out of Eugene Stoner's own mouth only support about half of what Karl Kasarda of InRange claims it does.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 6:
Part 7:
Part 8:
Karl also omits the role of Jim Sullivan in shrinking the AR-10 to the AR-15, the AR-16 to the AR-18 and the Stoner 62 to the Stoner 63 from 7.62x51mm NATO to 5.56x45mm.
What I get from these interviews is not an iconoclast but an innovator and team player who worked with others to further the goals of the company and meet the needs of the customer.
14
I keep reading the news and stories about people creating hoaxes about racism.
Most recently a black woman posing as a klansman and leaving messages in mailboxes.
I am thinking that the repeated instances of fake hate and the utter lack of real hate says everything that needs to be said about the topic.
Racism only exists in the minds of people who wish to remain "victims" of it.
I put victims in quotes because they don't want to actually be victims, but rather want the moral high ground that a genuinely oppressed person would have in the face of that oppression.
In many ways it's like a virgin claiming to have been raped because someone described having sex to them.
14
Why is Eugene Stoner thought of as a ".308 guy"?
The AR-3, AR-10, AR-12 and AR-16 are in 7.62x51mm. That's almost half the Armalite guns he was responsible for.
His first design after leaving Armalite was the 7.62x51mm Stoner 62 for Cadillac Gage. James Sullivan had more to do with scaling it down to 5.56 and the Stoner 63.
He wasn't involved in scaling the AR-16 down to the AR-18 and doesn't appear to have been involved with converting the AR-3 to the AR-10's gas system for the AR-11.
Whenever he was left to his own devices, he always returned to the 7.62x51mm.
Being a team player, he was perfectly OK with developing things for other rounds, but...
Showing a clip of Mr Stoner talking about helping develop what becomes 5.56x45mm doesn't mean that he preferred 5.56, it just means he wasn't a monomaniac about the round he preferred.
14
Coming up on six years since last contact with a friend.
I stopped making contact with him because I needed to take a break from his need to "devil's advocate" everything we talked about.
I figured it'd be a few days, tops.
Then I realized that he'd not bothered trying to talk to me altogether.
I've been waiting for the "are you OK?" call for six motherfucking years.
I guess it's not happening.
Oh well, Anglave the Sealion made his decision. I'm only a little bummed.
I strongly suspect that it was his girlfriend at the time and his being ingratiated with her college student aged circle of friends for his sudden change of political affiliation.
Checking his Facebook page shows that she's long gone. I wonder if she's more of the same or if he's just embarrassed about being a sealion.
14
Florida has, arguably, done the least with regards to forcing people to do something about Wu Ping Cough.
You'd think with our lack of mandates and wide open businesses there'd be bodies stacked like cord wood outside every funeral home and a severe shortage of grave sites...
Yeah, about that.
We did get a spike of the "delta variant" that came back down as fast as it went up.
We're doing second best with regards to cases in the nation, after basically doing "nothing." Where "nothing" is defined by forcing people to shut down businesses, hide in their homes and become vaccinated.
Notice, though, that Florida didn't forbid anyone from getting vaccinated. Florida did a great deal towards getting people tested and making sure vaccines were available. Lots of people did get vaccinated. My son is. Marvyn is. My in laws are. The Lovely Harvey and I likely will.
I'm skeptical of the need and the efficacy of the vaccines, but we also seem to be outside the groups that have adverse reactions to it.
I also, voluntarily, get a flu shot every year.
I'm generally very pro-vax. Though I'm a bit skeptical of that flu shot because they have guessed which variation of the flu will be the prevailing one quite a bit.
My objection to the vaccine mandates is the extortion aspect. "It's a nice job you have here, it'd be a shame if something were to happen to it..."
13
Something I've been seeing a lot more of now that the Federal Government is trying to create an underclass of people via vaccine mandate is the people who are most affected by Wu Ping Cough because of comorbidities demanding that we make them feel safe by submitting to the vaccination.
While story after story of someone dying fully vaccinated piles up.
Oh, and they always have comorbidities.
There doesn't appear to be an analog with other "forced" vaccination programs cited in their fearful screeds.
People vaccinated from smallpox just don't die from smallpox.
People vaccinated from polio just don't become disabled from polio.
People vaccinated from mumps or measles just don't catch mumps or measles.
Yet people vaccinated from Wu Ping Cough die from it in noticeable numbers.
A number that I am not sure we're ever going to be able to quantify is how many people have caught the disease and never knew it because it's just not very severe. It's the coup de grace for many with an existing health problem, but doesn't seem to be very severe to most others.
I'm thinking the real problem is the vaccine is completely ineffective and they're terrified that they can still catch it.
Kids, if the vaccine is completely ineffective, then forcing others to get vaccinated won't save you either.
Perhaps, the people who are most terrified should be the ones isolated and marginalized.
Their behavior reminds me a lot of people who are terrified of crime, so the law abiding must be restricted in ever increasing amounts for them to feel safe.
It's especially odd to see formerly libertarian and pro-gun people falling down the rabbit hole of tyranny to others for their personal feeling of safety.
13
Yes, the government mandating that everyone be vaccinated or be forced to the sidelines of society is controversial and unprecedented.
Federal mandates for vaccinations do not appear until the 1960's and are attached to earmark education spending and only mandated that children must be inoculated to attend a government funded school.
Their parents could still work. They could attend private schooling. They could play on public playgrounds. They could go to restaurants and movie theaters.
The historic and uncontroversial government response to epidemics is quarantine. The people with the highly contagious and deadly disease are the only ones affected by the government edict.
Even so, it was a power rarely wielded.
There is considerable disagreement that the Federal government even has the power to do this. The general welfare clause does not specifically mention sickness or disease, the preamble is not regarded to grant any powers and Article I Section 8 is about taxing and spending. The "general Welfare of the United States" is the same sort of phrase as "A well regulated militia..."
If you're quoting Article I Section 8 as the grant of power to force vaccines on people, you're a fascist and you are the one who should be shunned and marginalized from society.
13
This is getting old.
For anything you find out there in firearms, there's someone who says that it sucks and you should buy a different version.
Because.
Today's burr under the saddle is the Magpul AK and AK-74 PMAG.
"Don't buy them, they have problems."
OK, what problems?
Don't fit into the gun?
Don't feed?
Don't come back out?
Fall apart while firing?
"Commie surplus steel is best!"
Um, you do know that the Russians ditched steel for the AKM way back in the sixties, right?
Alongside the people who say that surplus steel is the only magazine you should be buying are many reviews saying they had no problems with the PMAGs.
No problems is a quantifiable statement.
Unspecified problems is not.
13
"NOTE this product is restricted in Canada and the following states: CT."
What product could this be that's restricted in Canada and Connecticut?
A four (that's 4) round magazine for a bolt-action rifle.
I was unaware that both Canada and Connecticut had laws concerning magazine capacity for such guns.
13
While it's not quite cool enough to wear the 59 outside yet, I've been wearing it around the house.
It occurs to me that since the Model 59 is a proven, reliable design that if you already had one, you didn't need to be buying a different gun to replace it.
With new magazines, it's not giving up capacity against a Glock 17 or M&P 9.
It's actually a bit smaller than a Glock 17 though it's heavier.
And I say this with a gun safe that's bulging with 9mm pistols...
If you had a Browning High Power, you weren't unarmed when the S&W 59 came out.
If you had a S&W 59 you weren't unarmed when the Glock hit the streets.
Et cetera.
But there's a strong urge to leap to the next greatest thing. That's why my safe is full...
I could see someone upgrading from a S&W 39 to a 59, moar dakka is nice. It's what made me change from an M&P9 Shield to an M&P9 Shield Plus.
If one model didn't fit your hand and one with near identical specs did... change over.
But...
I know, marketing hates this idea.
If you're armed with a pistol you shoot well in a round that will get the job done you don't need to change horses.
Need.
This does NOT address want. You want to have a safe full of 9mm pistols? Go for it!
I am in no position to call you on it.
I filled a safe Grokking to its fullness the small differences between many models of gun. I don't NEED to do this, I want to. I enjoy the process of discovering it and sharing it with all y'all.
12
Just for you, Technomad!
Super simple rotary magazine setup.
Plus, how to take it apart!
12
Got my chicago screws in today.
Installation went as expected, this holster is officially repaired and the magazine carrier I cannibalized is restored.
 |
| Factory parts that were still with the holster. |
 |
| Chicago screw from Amazon to replace the missing part. |
A little dab of Loctite and she's good to go!
12
Said idiot teen was no stranger to the criminal justice system and had, like the Parkland shooter, never actually been punished for their lawlessness.
11
Today, in 1926, is the day Mr Garand patented what was to become the M1 rifle.
John Pederson and Melvin Johnson most affected.
11
Something I've noticed more than once is that I don't seem to have problems with guns which others scream are garbage.
Case in point is my PSA PSAK.
Mollie Bean has never failed to function despite being a PSAK blem kit where I had to buy furniture separately.
That's not to say that ownership of Mollie has been trouble free. The front sight post was a trial and the gas tube and magazine latch needed some massaging.
But it has always gone bang and groups well enough.
The problems that I've had are not the problems I've seen the most complaints about. My bolt is not deforming. My trunion is not stretching. My extractor has not fallen out. My firing pin has not broken.
You would think, from reading some forums, that any PSA AK is hot garbage and can't be fired.
Those forums also have a camp of people who've decided that only AK's from formerly Godless Commie nations are worth buying and give dire predictions about how many rounds it will fire before being shot out.
Battlefield Vegas has a PSA AK that they put 17k rounds through full-auto before the nitrided barrel started showing signs of being shot out.
I'm old enough to remember when 10k rounds was the expected barrel life of a bolt action in something like a .30-06. The US Army says 5-6k rounds for a chrome lined M4 barrel.
I think that 17k is fine.
Notice that I gave a list of things that had been reported by owners of the PSAK?
The Commie Guns Is Best Guns don't tell you what fails. They just say that Commies Make Best and drop the mic like it's self evident.
Quantify your argument so you can make a falsifiable hypothesis or shut the fuck up!
11
The local Fox affiliate's web page has a "Today's Headlines" box with what's supposed to be the top five headlines from the past 24 hours in it.
Today it showed "Broward Sheriff: 17 dead in South Florida school shooting."
"FUCK! Not again!" I think as I click the link.
It's not from today. It's Parkland.
Is it any wonder that the low information people think that gun crime is up?
The news is showing more than three year old stories on their home pages as current news.
11
List from article quoted below:
Below are the 41 failed doomsday, eco-pocalyptic predictions (with links):
1. 1967: Dire Famine Forecast By 1975
2. 1969: Everyone Will Disappear In a Cloud Of Blue Steam By 1989 (1969)
3. 1970: Ice Age By 2000
4. 1970: America Subject to Water Rationing By 1974 and Food Rationing By 1980
5. 1971: New Ice Age Coming By 2020 or 2030 (still time for this one)
6. 1972: New Ice Age By 2070 (still time for this one)
7. 1974: Space Satellites Show New Ice Age Coming Fast
8. 1974: Another Ice Age?
9. 1974: Ozone Depletion a ‘Great Peril to Life (data and graph)
10. 1976: Scientific Consensus Planet Cooling, Famines imminent
11. 1980: Acid Rain Kills Life In Lakes (additional link)
12. 1978: No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend (additional link)
13. 1988: Regional Droughts (that never happened) in 1990s
14. 1988: Temperatures in DC Will Hit Record Highs
15. 1988: Maldive Islands will Be Underwater by 2018 (they’re not)
16. 1989: Rising Sea Levels will Obliterate Nations if Nothing Done by 2000
17. 1989: New York City’s West Side Highway Underwater by 2019 (it’s not)
18. 2000: Children Won’t Know what Snow Is
19. 2002: Famine In 10 Years If We Don’t Give Up Eating Fish, Meat, and Dairy
20. 2004: Britain will Be Siberia by 2024
21. 2008: Arctic will Be Ice Free by 2018
22. 2008: Climate Genius Al Gore Predicts Ice-Free Arctic by 2013
23. 2009: Climate Genius Prince Charles Says we Have 96 Months to Save World
24. 2009: UK Prime Minister Says 50 Days to ‘Save The Planet From Catastrophe’
25. 2009: Climate Genius Al Gore Moves 2013 Prediction of Ice-Free Arctic to 2014
26. 2013: Arctic Ice-Free by 2015 (additional link)
27. 2014: Only 500 Days Before ‘Climate Chaos’
28. 1968: Overpopulation Will Spread Worldwide
29. 1970: World Will Use Up All its Natural Resources
30. 1966: Oil Gone in Ten Years
31. 1972: Oil Depleted in 20 Years
32. 1977: Department of Energy Says Oil will Peak in 1990s
33. 1980: Peak Oil In 2000
34. 1996: Peak Oil in 2020
35. 2002: Peak Oil in 2010
36. 2006: Super Hurricanes!
37. 2005 : Manhattan Underwater by 2015
38. 1970: Urban Citizens Will Require Gas Masks by 1985
39. 1970: Nitrogen buildup Will Make All Land Unusable
40. 1970: Decaying Pollution Will Kill all the Fish
41. 1970s: Killer Bees!Update: I’ve added 9 additional failed predictions (via Real Climate Science) below to make it an even 50 for the number of failed eco-pocalyptic doomsday predictions over the last 50 years.
42. 1975: The Cooling World and a Drastic Decline in Food Production
43. 1969: Worldwide Plague, Overwhelming Pollution, Ecological Catastrophe, Virtual Collapse of UK by End of 20th Century
44. 1972: Pending Depletion and Shortages of Gold, Tin, Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Aluminum
45. 1970: Oceans Dead in a Decade, US Water Rationing by 1974, Food Rationing by 1980
46. 1988: World’s Leading Climate Expert Predicts Lower Manhattan Underwater by 2018
47. 2005: Fifty Million Climate Refugees by the Year 2020 (only if Islam is a climate)
48. 2000: Snowfalls Are Now a Thing of the Past
49.1989: UN Warns That Entire Nations Wiped Off the Face of the Earth by 2000 From Global Warming
50. 2011: Washington Post Predicted Cherry Blossoms Blooming in Winter
11
Greta Thunberg to begin pole-dancing at local strip club to raise awareness about climate change.
Lap dances include free lecture of how to create a sustainable and renewable environment for sex workers.
Hell, she's been a whore for years, this would just be honest about it.
10
I am officially old, because I am now old enough to remember when a general had to, at least, be an adult.
I'm not saying that we should never have opened up command ranks to women, but I do note that the present bullshit with that reserve 2-star would be impossible prior to said opening.
I even said it while I was in.
If women want equality, why all the special rules?
Lower standards for PT.
Completely different standards for grooming.
Able to get a medical discharge under honorable conditions for a self-inflicted condition. <-- Look that one up!
Not required to register for or be subject to the draft.
They never wanted equality, and they sure get mad when you point it out.
By the way, many of the requirements loosened for women were established by lessons learned in blood. This standard or people will die is why they were put at the male levels.
10
I decided to extrapolate the ship design system in GURPS: Traveller Interstellar Wars up to the 3rd Imperium.
I expected it to take a couple hours, minimum.
Nope.
Less than half an hour.
Cue up Styx...
10
The one thing that didn't bug me about Foundation is the number of POC cast.
It's more than ten thousand years in the future with people living under diverse suns, more melanin is a survival trait if your star and planet combine to let more UV in.
I got a mild freak-out from my players once in a Not-Traveller campaign I ran on the topic of race.
We didn't have any canon information why the Solomani Rim war started, so I made it a race war.
Imperial policy had embraced the Homogeneous Humaniti Project, the Sol descended people objected to the idea strongly enough to start a war about it.
What the Homogeneous Humaniti project was is simply to spread the genes of everyone as widely as possible with the idea that eventually there is no such thing as "race" and we all get along Kumbaya... The idea was lifted from the Hiver.
What the HHP would have done, eventually, is pretty much eliminate recessive traits and that would lead to darker hair, eyes and skin tones.
So a POC in the future, especially one a few thousand years from now? Not even noteworthy.
I see, now, that the HHP would never have gotten traction in The Imperium. The major races of Humaniti can't interbreed with a few of the minor races and in a universe that has that sort of racial divide shit like hair, eye and skin color stops mattering really fast.
Especially since you need a gene sequencer to tell Solomani apart from Vilani and thanks to The Rule of Man and enthusiastic interbreeding, most Imperial and Solomani major race humans are really Terrani. Oh, except for the nobility, they were Terran descended and kept it that way.
During the Rule of Man, it was advantageous for a common Vilani to marry with Sol-stock because of political power. A Terran having kids from a Vilani spouse gets that longer lifespan dominate gene. Everybody wins!
The Terran bloodlines dominating politics is what leads to the Solomani movement and first a civil war, then an autonomous region then a secession then a real war.
If you want the complicated details, you're going to have to read the books.
10
Apple TV's series "Foundation" is interesting. It's well shot, excellent special effects, decent acting.
I'm getting sick of how they're telling the story.
Even worse, it's starting to be clear that TV series has as much to do with the books as Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers."
After Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Expanse; I thought we were done making up our own story wearing the skin of a respected property.
Alas.
I read the original three Foundation books a long time ago, and expected that many things would be unfamiliar because of how long it'd been.
What I wasn't prepared for was how little of what is in the series appeared in the books.
This is a whole new story, it's a whole new setting as well!
I'm not sure I want to keep going because I hate the practice of gutting a sci-fi classic and having the filmed version wear it like a skin demanding that same respect the classic earned.
10
Danged weather.
By mid October I should be two weeks into the clear top on The Precious and wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a shoulder holster.
Well, it might start tomorrow, but I think summer has another week left in her despite the expected cold front tomorrow.
It's keeping me from starting my experiment with the S&W 59 and the Miami Classic.
9
The land of Not-Dakota was lovely.
A man could lose his soul just gazing at it.
The blue-gray of the distant mountains and odd black-green of the pine forests.
The seemingly endless waist-high grass... there must be an end, there's the mountains there after all.
It would seem a paradise if it weren't for the uncountable gulleys, streams and rivers.
Even if there was no water, there was still a steep walled eight to ten foot deep trench to cross. Always just a bit too wide to jump.
Maybe if one was a farmer, this wouldn't matter.
But Major Beasley was moving troops and wagons.
The old hands grumbled about such things hiding entire tribes of murderous red-skins back before the treaty and the spookholes.
Then there was those giant long-horn buffalo... You just wouldn't expect a bovine that large to be, well, sneaky.
You'd be minding your own business tending to getting a wagon over a ravine and suddenly there's fifty of the damnable things wandering right up to the pickets and being angry at human intrusion into their path.
The men were eating well, at least.
9
AKA Chicago Screw.
The holster for the model 59 was missing the Chicago screw that tensions the draw.
This is a style of fastener that I know, but can NEVER remember the name of when I'm looking to get one.
So I recreate the search again and again to figure out the name and get one ordered.
At present I've cannibalized the female portion of the screw from the magazine pouch from my Miami Classic II for my 1911.
I've ordered 10 sets of the appropriate size from Amazon because Galco didn't reply to my contact form.
They're 8-32x3/8" for those shopping at home.
9
These are very similar guns in GURPS terms. The M1 Carbine loses to the XM177E2 in range, but similar weights, capacities and damage.
8
I love how they claim that having a court that doesn't rubber stamp progressive stuff is harmful to our Constitutional rights when a liberal controlled court has ignored the 2nd Amendment in a meaningful way for decades.
They live in abject terror of the Constitution being read the way it was written.
The Federal Government would be smaller than the city government of Tampa if the Constitution was interpreted in the plain language it is written in.
Freedom is some scary shit, most people don't want it at all. Even conservatives.
8
The electrician was baffled by the problem at The Rents as well.
The proximate failure the GFI tripping in the small bathroom.
That entire loop ran through that single GFI in the bathroom.
The loop no longer does so.
Bonus! The baffling three-way switch has been sorted and works properly.
One breaker is identified as GNDN.
Now I can get back to installing that fan.
8
If the Western Civilization standards and institutions are the cause of systemic racism and all we need to do is get the white people out of the way...
Why is every place in Africa that has rid itself of those standards, institutions and white people a shit hole?
With the elimination of those standards, institutions and white people; shouldn't they now be economic paradises and bastions of freedom to be held as shining examples to the rest of the world about how to do things correctly?
8
People are gluing themselves to the road in England.
"Sir, do you have any idea how much damage this steamroller would sustain if I were to allow it to roll right over you?"
"No. How much damage?"
"None, whatsoever."
One thing you can be sure of when you let the steamroller roll; they will not be doing that again.
Just sayin'.
8
Learning to love the M16A4.
The LED upgrade to the M951 Sure-Fire is worth it.
It lights up the night and the tape-switch is definitely handier than the X300's rocker.
The Primary Arms 5x is proven to me after surviving all those years on Dottie.
The mass hasn't been a problem toting it to the shitter and back.
The length is something I need to get used to after using Kaylee for the home-defense role for so long.
The 20" barrel might pay off in extra velocity if someone is stupid enough to break down my door.
I have noticed that the Brownell's tube is more consistent than the Palmetto State offerings on a couple of guns. Kaylee's 14.5 is wonderful. Lavender Linda... the groups are kinda big. I need to get back to the range with her and Tonya.
One feature of the A4 I just can't seem to embrace is the vertical fore-grip. It just doesn't suit me. There's no unit mandate forcing me to have one, so I can skip it if I want.
8
Well, a couple of you. You know who you are. THANKS!
Galco shoulder holster of the Miami Classic style, but I am not sure if it's a pre-Miami Classic vintage.
Definitely not early enough to be a Jackass.
4 lb. 6.4 oz. with 52 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense FTX. Compare it to other guns in similar holsters here.
Just a little heavier than the M&P 9's 4 lb. 3.4 oz. and the same number of rounds. Heavier than the M&P 45C's 4 lb. 2.9 oz., but many more shots than the 29 .45 ACP rounds.
8
The ceiling fan in Mother-in-law's room developed a sheet-metal tinging noise once per rotation.
We just put that thing in on Friday!
But we had one still in the box, so I went to swap the motor housing from the tinging fan to the new one.
Wired it up and turned on the power to test the connection, the motor moved a bit and all the lights in both bedrooms, and all the outlets on the front wall, her bedroom wall (which affects the other bedroom too) and the outlets in the garage ceiling all went out too.
What it did not do was pop the breaker.
We tried to trace wires, in the dark, and nothing obvious showed up.
There's two breakers that don't change the state of affairs, those are now shut off.
Electrician will be called in the morning, this has gone above our pay grade.
8
I love the note of this motor, and I've been in love with the styling for 40 years.
I had the Matchbox and it got the wheels worn off. It started out blue, but was bare metal by the end. I might even have painted it myself once or twice.
Looking at ebay, I most likely had a Corgi brand toy, not Matchbox.
7
The "Danish" bow murderer was a recent convert to Islam.
We await the FBI's statement that it was definitely not terrorism to confirm that it was.
7
I have set myself to liking Valentine, my M16A4 clone.
She's the heaviest AR I own, by far. But all but 0.6 lb. over the next heaviest is from the optics and light.
There's a lot to like about her, I did use quality parts.
It's mostly the mass that's putting me off, I am sure.
It is, however, lighter than the FAL with 10 more shots, a light and magnifying optics.
7
Because we're not talking about people getting sick.
We're talking about the political divide about what we did about it while it was a pandemic.
I note that Florida did about the least invasive response in the US and the numbers are so low the media stopped reporting them as soon as the last wave of cases fell off a cliff in numbers.
Sweden is kicking everyone's ass with new cases with their "just ignore it" strategy.
Israel is getting pummeled despite high vaccination rates.
How long did the "Spanish" flu last?
7
