28 February 2006

Best Guns

Kim Du Toit has posted his. And with closed comments. Coward. Especially since he fucked up, the M21 is not a Remington 700, it's an accurized M14. The M24 is derived from a Rem 700, but it is NOT an actual Rem 700, nor is the Marine M40.

My favs:

Hunting Rifle: Remington 700, .30-06 with 4-12x scope. .30-06 is versatile. Varmits to big game it can do it. The 700 is a damn fine action. Winchester Model 70 and Savage 12 runners up here.

Fighting Rifle: FN FAL. 7.62x51mm NATO is an excellent choice. The FAL has proven itself in reliability and durability over the H&K and it fits me better than a M1A. If I was really going to buy a 7.62x51mm NATO semi-auto I would buy an M1A. Key to the reliability and durablity seems to be the FN part, US made guns just arent living up to the original's reputation. An AKM, SKS or Daewoo DR200 are also rans, but lack either accuracy or range.

Sniper Rifle: Remington 700, .338 Lapua Magnum with 4-12x scope. Just like the hunting gun, but with more thump. .30-06 would be fine for sniping, as would 7.62x51mm, but I want someone I snipe to stay down.

Pump Shotgun: Remington 870, 12ga 3", cylinder bore, rifle sights. More consistent quality control than Mossberg.

Automatic Shotgun: I don't like semi-auto shotguns. I have never fired one that worked right when it fit or fit right when it worked. SIGH.

Automatic Pistol: Glock 21. .45 ACP, 13+1, dead reliable. And guaranteed to piss about half the gun population off when it works better than they expected.

Revolver: Colt Anaconda, .45 Colt. My prejudiced choice. Cylinder rotates in the proper direction (as decreed by the Gods) big time proven bullets, stainless. I still have not forgiven S&W or Ruger.

27 February 2006

It's A Hobby People

I love cars, no secret there. All of the neat modifications to my car, I have either done myself or the lion's share of the work. Hell, I even change my own oil and do my own brakes.

To me, the act of doing the mods makes you a car-guy. If you paid me to do them for you, you are not a car-guy. You are certainly interested in cars, a car-fan perhaps, but you are not a car-guy.

Too many people in this sphere of interest are simply paying someone else to do it for them. And there are varying degrees of paying for it. But the pride of pointing to something and saying, "I did that!" is well worth it. Especially when the car next to yours isn't any better and the owner paid someone else to do it for them.

And, yes, I am guilty of hiring a friend to paint my car. I learned a lot from that though (and I WAS helping) and would like to learn more about it so that I can paint my next car myself. But for the Rogers and Charlies of the world, congratulations, you have a job. You may even have a vision of what you want in a car, but YOU did nothing but write checks. People remember the person who did it, not who funded it. Most people remember Frank Lloyd Wright for his designs, who paid for them? Boyd Coddington and Chip Foose are not famous for buying cars, they are famous for building cars. To get famous for buying them, you have to be famous for something else first, like Jay Leno, Chris Titus or Tim Allen.

So, stop paying the Kennys and invest the money in some tools and some books. Stop paying the Kennys and ask someone in the club to teach you how to do some of this stuff. You will rapidly find that once you are participating in this hobby as a full member you will get more out of it.

23 February 2006

I Just Dunno But I Am Getting Closer To Understanding

When I lived in Iowa, my main social activity was gaming. When I moved to Florida, I essentially abandoned gaming.

Until recently, my main social activity was hanging out with the car club. Because of mistakes and misunderstandings, the joy I felt from working on my car is gone. I have discovered, to my surprise, that it was the acceptance of my peers that I sought. I would have thought that the goal was the getting the car where I wanted it. Nope. What I was doing was seeking approval from others. Not what I expected of myself at all.

As one can tell from my previous post, I am still interested in gaming even if I don't get to play. Even when the opportunity to play presents itself, I shy away. I feel like a recovering alcoholic in a bar. As long as I don't drink, I will be able to face the day tomorrow. As long as I don't actually play, I will not have to face losing it again. FuzzyGeff, that is my apology for not setting aside some time when you were down. Oddly, when I visit Iowa, this isn't a problem.

I still have friends from when I was shooting regularly. I still like guns and feel strongly that the 2nd Amendment means we can have machineguns and has nothing to do with hunting or even crime. But shooting is EXPENSIVE with a capital $. And I have NEVER had the finances to shoot like I wanted or dreamed of. When the entry level guns are the price of a moderate used car, you need a very stable and large income. And I have too many interests, honestly, to commit to that level of shooting without a millionaire dropping dead and leaving me the wad.

I am still interested in cars. Cars are also expensive. In some ways as expensive as guns. Cars can be done in smaller installments than guns. One can slowly accumulate parts for a project for years and the total costs are quite invisible. For my car to be a meaningful hobby, I have to be doing it because I like what I have done and not care about or seek other's opinions.

With only the single income it is hard, if not impossible, to buy some of the more expensive items.

Losing the car club was hard. My entire social support network was evaporated in one fell swoop by a petty bitter prick named Kenny. With gaming, I chose to leave and am welcome back. No so with the car thing. I was kicked out and told to not return. My "friends" did not stand up to Kenny. He put his foot down and like good little dogs, they obeyed. Yes, I am bitter. Not one person said, "Kenny you are wrong and until Thag is allowed back, count me out." Not one person. Some told him he was wrong, but did nothing else. Gods forbid that they should take a stand for someone else and find something else to do on Wednesdays.

All of this has led to a black funk that The Lovely Harvey cannot ignore. I have not been doing my job as a husband while I was feeling sorry for myself. Sorry Honey.

My plan for the car is now simple. Install the parts that I already have stored up in the garage. Replace the transmission, I would LOVE the $4000 manual, but a $1600 GM rebuilt auto will do me fine. Fix the air conditioning, $721.13 in parts from AutoZone, plus another $100 getting it charged up. And finally just maintaining it. I really do love my car, I want it to be around for a while. Maybe the mod bug will bite The Lovely Harvey someday and we can start playing on her car.

17 February 2006

Traveller

I have decided that the official GURPS version of Traveller is not cutting it. Too many changes made to make Marc W Miller happy (like going along with the post Zhodani war chronology).

Far Future Enterprises has republished all of the original small books in anthology form. I have Suppliments and Books is coming. I wouldn't need Books, except my original three are long destroyed by my apartment in Ames flooding and High Guard is falling apart. And I think that Mercenary is actually Geff's. Better check that Geff.

I have converted Traveller to GURPS before. We had a lot of fun every time. This time I intend to make a version that is faithfull to the original small book canon with the GURPS 4e rules. I am agonizing over some of it because Space for 4e is not due until April. Somehow I don't think that it will add much that isn't in the Basic Set or change much from the 3e editions.

Well some small changes, I am going to reconcile the Book 2 designs with Book 5. This is going to impact some ships like the Type S massively.

And I may choose to ignore GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars altogether. I am curious about it, but not sure that I am $35 curious yet.

Suggestions and submissions are solicited and will be appreciated.

15 February 2006

Insomnia Returns

So I have been entertaining myself with IL-2+Forgetten Battles+Aces Expansion Pack+Pacific Fighters which has just been patched to 4.03m.

The big change from before is a bunch of flyable Italian planes (M.C. 200 III, M.C.202 III, M.C.202 VII, M.C.202 XII, M.C.205 I and M.C.205 III). Those are in addition to the Fiat CR.42 (a biplane) and Fiat G.50. So I have been doing a lot of whomping on the wops! And I have been playing the guineas too, not a big strech since I am half greaser myself.

I have noticed that I have become a damn good pilot, most of my kills are at less than 100m now.

I discovered while looking up the real life stats of some of the new planes that the top scoring Italian ace got his kills over the Russian front. I honestly didn't know they were on that front!

For the Brits, the Tempest Mk.V and Mosquito FB Mk.VI got added with another version of the Spitfire.

Japan gets a J2M3 flyable now, before it was just AI.

Germany adds the Do.335-A0 and makes the Ju.88 flyable. New subvariants of existing planes are added Bf.109K4-C2 and Fw.190A5 with the big supercharger.

There are several tweaks to the flight model which seem to make things work the way I have read them working. And the AI seems to have been given smarter tactics, the wingmen have not.

Three random screen shots!



This is the Dornier Do-335A0, designed as a fighter-bomber redesigned into an interceptor. It still has a bomb bay! The pilots called it the Anteater.



I'm in the Soviet La-7 here. It took a couple of seconds to realize that I had not just had a mid-air.



Just Showing off!

10 February 2006

Bad News

My mom called today.

Grandma Natto has passed on.

She was 85.

09 February 2006

Freedom

Freedom is a topic near and dear to my heart.

It is the core of my religious belief, "Do as you will, harm none."

There is a down side to being free. You are free to fail. I will say it again, you are free to fail.

And if you are the failure, freedom sucks. The good side of this is that I am free to help you if I want. You are also free to refuse. It is your right to starve if you want.

Freedom can be offensive. If we were really free, I could tell a dirty joke in front of the secretary. Freedom means having a thick skin. You have a right to be offended, but not to force me to shut up.

Freedom carries responsibilities. The cliche is, "You cannot yell 'FIRE' in a crowded theatre when there is no fire." Yes I can, I shouldn't. It is at the very least, stealing a portion of the program from my fellow patrons.

This idea of freedom is the core of libertarianism.

Welfare is not freedom. It steals your right to fail. It robs me of the option of helping you. Welfare forces me to aid you whether you deserve the help or not.

Politically correct speech is not freedom. It robs me of the ability to say what I wish to say. By deliberately changing the meaning of words and phrases, you rob my words of the meaning I intend. And if I cannot say what I mean, I cannot mean what I say. And make no mistake, I will find a way to say what I mean. If you leave me no other method, I will use the forbidden words, like "CENSORED and cunt".

Forcing me to be a father is not freedom. Insisting that the woman has 100% of the decision about carrying a child to term contradicts the man's responsibilities. No rights, no responsibilities girls. Now, you have 100% of the rights, guess what percentage of the responsibility comes with that.

Forcing me to pay child support is not freedom. The man is not 100% responsible for the making of the child. He is 50%. If that confuses you, you need to buy a grade-school level biology text. Mommy, you were there too and willing, because rapists go to jail, not child support hearings.

Environmentalism is not freedom. What if I like manatee burgers? Your right to have a sea cow in your canal trumps my right to a tasty snack? Ever watch the ducks and geese flying over in the spring and fall? Don't thank the environmentalists or government for that, thank hunters. They did it on their own, because they want to kill ducks, and keep killing ducks forever in "unlimited" quantities.

There are more examples. The main point is most rights are negative, meaning that you cannot get between me and that right and are under no obligation whatsoever to aid me. This is completely different from a positive right, where you are compelled to give me what I am entitled to. Notice the difference between you cannot stop me and you must aid me. At the root of it, there are very few positive rights. An example of a positive right is when you have agreed to pay me for a service I render to you. Once I have completed this service, you are obligated to pay the agreed amount. The agreement creates a positive right for you to receive a service and a positive right for me to recieve money.

Freedom can lead to ugly things. You have the right to hate. You have the right to refuse service to people you deem undesirable. You have the right to force these people to sit in a particular place in your restaurant if they wish to be served. Freedom lets the market decide if your business thrives. If the undesirables decide to not bother with your rules and shop somewhere else and that means you lose too much business to stay open, so be it. Laws forcing business to allow the undesirables in or to forbid them from shopping there are not freedom. And in forbidding, they are eliminating the gem of free enterprise, the niche market.

I'll bet you are thinking I am talking about racism, don't you?

Nope, smoking. But now that I mention it, smokers are being treated like blacks in the south.

That's enough to think about for now.

08 February 2006

From The Lovely Harvey's Blog

The average person only gets 7 correct. I got 20

This is based on U.S. info, so use all lobes of your brain. This can be more difficult than it looks - it just shows how little most of us really see!

There are 25 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little simple questions are harder than you think-- it just shows you how little we pay attention to the commonplace things of life.

Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking around! No getting out of your chair! No using anything on or in your desk or computer!

Can you beat 20?? (The average is 7) Write down your answers as you
go.

Check answers (on the bottom), AFTER completing all the questions.

REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!!! BE HONEST!!! That means no looking at your phone or anything on your desk...


Then, before you pass this on to your friends, change the number on the subject line to show how many you got correct. Forward to your friends and also back to the one who sent it to you.


LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY ARE.

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?


2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)


3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?


4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?


5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?


6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg? (Don't you dare get up to see!)


7. How many matches are in a standard pack?


8. On the United State s flag is the top stripe red or white?


9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?


10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?


11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?


12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?


13 On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons?


14. Which way do fans rotate?


15 How many sides does a stop sign have?


16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?


17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?


18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?


19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?


20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?


21 On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?


22 On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?


23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?


24. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?


25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?


Answers below the break.

Welcome Back

I stopped playing IL-2 when I got Wings Over Vietnam. I got fed up with WOV and started playing IL-2 again. I dunno what happened while I was playing WOV that grants skills to WW2 planes, but I am SHIT HOT now!

I feel damn good about this.

God Is Dead And I Can Prove It



Totally Clueless, ex Mrs Orca Shitheel, CONVICTED OF FELONY CHILD NEGLECT has been awarded custody of her children. Dead Link Do a search for Totally Shitheel at that site. Note that she is still on probation for the crime until 2009! Three years left on her punishment for neglecting these same children and they hand them back to her? WHAT THE FUCK, OVER?

Fucking judges are just fucking stupid. Judge William Webb, when these kids are suffering because of your decisions, I hope that you at least feel guilty about what you did.

She called here and expected me to be happy for her. Totally, how am I supposed to feel happy for you when I know that you aren't going to be a good parent. I know your work schedule, and Musclebound. You are going to be gone all morning and he is gone all day. Who is going to take care of them? You don't make enough collectively to pay a daycare.

If you live in Pasco County, Florida; vote NO to Judge William Webb's retention next time he is on the ballot.

07 February 2006

I Sure Am Handy When Opportunity Presents Itself

The left toe brake on my CH Pro Pedal USB broke.

I opened it up and repaired the wire leading from the pot to the circuit board.

Wooo HOOOOO!

I also cleaned about a pound of fur and grit from inside there. I love pets.

Since most of the fur was gray, it had to have been left over from Sammy, who used to sleep under my desk as close to the pedals as she could without getting kicked. I got a little choked up about that. She really was a good cat.

01 February 2006

BatQuiz

A. FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
1. Tank Crewman
2. Pizza Delivery Driver
3. Assembly Line Drone (non-union)
4. Mechanical Drafter/Designer

B. FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. Jackie Brown
2. Red Dawn
3. Trainspotting
4. Big Trouble in Little China

C. FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN:
1. Bolingbrook, IL
2. Stuttgart, FRG
3. Des Moines, IA
4. Tampa, FL

D. FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
1. Dirty Jobs
2. Battlestar Galactica (New Version)
3. Full Metal Alchemist
4. Simpsons

E. FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. Daytona, FL
2. Sturgis, SD
3. Yellowstone National Park, WY
4. Padre Island, TX

F. FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY:
1. Livejournal
2. Yahoo 360
3. Waspi Square
4. Astronomy Picture of the Day

G. FOUR OF YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE RESTAURANTS:
1. Pizza Pit
2. Miguels on Kennedy in Tampa
3. House of Chen
4. Karina Bakery (Closed)

H. FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Soups of all kinds
2. Pizza
3. Chicken and Broccoli, spicy with peanuts
4. Burritos

I. FOUR SCHOOLS YOU'VE ATTENDED:
1. Ames High School
2. Iowa State University
3. Des Moines Area Community College
4. Florida Metropolitian University

J. FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. Driving to Seattle (ROAD TRIP!)
2. Flight School
3. Museum
4. Book Store

K. FOUR THINGS YOU FIND YOURSELF SAYING:
1. I'll explain this, again...
2. Really?
3. What the fuck, over?
4. GO TO YOUR ROOM!