27 February 2009

Rant ON!

 Read this dead link and then come back.

 When you sell something, it no longer belongs to you!  If you don't like that idea, don't sell it.  When something no longer belongs to you, you do not have any right to tell the owner what they can or cannot do with the item in question.

Mr Duffy, if you wanted control of your artwork post-employ then you should have negotiated a different contract for it's use.  Of course, that would have meant taking a much smaller amount of money for it since the Register would have had to worry about you selling it again once the terms of the usage contract had been satisfied.

Scott Kurtz, the author of PvPonline, has ranted before about how artists should better protect their work.  He has linked to essays by other authors expressing that they should retain the ownership of the original art and any characters they create.  Mr Duffy did not follow that advice and is now taking the consequences.  Now that Mr Duffy is unemployed I should demand that the Des Moines Register GIVE him the art they PAID for just because he finds himself out of a job?  No, Mr Kurtz, I don't think I can support that position.  The property that the DSM Register bought from Mr Duffy is rightfully theirs to dispose of in anyway they see fit, including destroying it.  That they are choosing to donate it to a University is both within their rights and preserves the work for future generations.

I notice that there's no mention of Mr Duffy making an offer to buy his work back from the Register.  Just in case he has, I want to establish that no injustice exists in the Register refusing Mr Duffy's offer and then giving the catalog to the University of Iowa.  Again, it is the property of the Des Moines Register to sell, destroy or dispose of in any way they see fit.  That's how property rights work and that's how they are supposed to work.  I cannot get bent out of shape when they are working exactly they way they are supposed to.  I can see this hitting the courts and a judge forcing the Register to surrender the artwork to Mr Duffy.  THAT would be an injustice.  That would be stealing at the point of a gavel.  I don't think Mr Duffy is going to get very far in the courts, Paul McCartney was unable to get the songs he wrote for the Beatles back from Michael Jackson via the courts.

Let the tale of Mr Duffy be a warning to you who hope to earn a living by creating.  Accepting the steady paycheck in exchange for the ownership of the products of your imagination leads to owning nothing that your paycheck couldn't buy.  If you think that it's your work and you own it forever, then let your contract with the publisher say that.  Let your contract stipulate the terms under which they may print your work, accept your fee, let them profit as they may and retain the product of your imagination.

26 February 2009

One Month Five Days

That's all the longer it took before someone from the current presidential administration mentioned, on the record, making a new assault weapon ban.

I am Cassandra.

UPDATE

Thag brain broke.  BOTH Nancy Pelosi AND Harry Reid have said that they will not support a new ban.  Bwahuhuh?  Harry voted for the previous ban!

25 February 2009

Back Masking



OK, we all know that Eric Carmen is not singing, "Obama's Elf" but "All by myself" here. But when your brain is primed with the caption, most people will hear the incorrect line.

This is how someone who wants you to hear a satanic message in a record played backwards gets you to hear it. Without priming you on what you are about to hear, most people hear noise. When keyed to the "message" most people will hear what they have been led to expect to hear.

Plus, it's cool I got to use a joke with Obama in it without any animosity about him at all!

Bike Blog

Day 5.

My route is two laps of the neighborhood.  1 mile per lap.  2 miles total.

Last week, my route was shorter, 1.5 miles total.

1.5 miles last Wednesday took 30 minutes, including taking the bike out of the garage and putting it back.

Today 2 miles was 16 minutes including the bike unship and store.

By the way, I read the manual and discovered how to adjust the derailuers to get them to use all the gears.  It's a little thumb screw near the selectors.

20 February 2009

Nation Of Cowards

Attorney General Holder says we should do the melting pot thing for racial as well as ethnic.

Excellent suggestion!  Since we live in the United States of America, I invite him and all the other race baiters to become Americans.

Time to melt and join MY society.  You are always welcome just as soon as you accept you are one of us and give up those notions that you are special or different because of your skin color.

I somehow think that guys like Sharpton, Jackson, Mifune, or Wright will not be joining me as an American.  They make their livings as being set apart from the rest of the society that surrounds them, and as long as they do and convince others to join them there we will never get past the racism.

But then, I am not the coward or the racist here.

19 February 2009

Something I Remembered

Way back when, in or around 1985-1986 Dumbass Fuckwad Shitheel and I talked about what kind of guns we'd get if we had the money.  Of course, we didn't have the money then, so...

I had Galil lust something fierce then.  Dumbass Fuckwad Shitheel wanted a CAR-15.

I have learned a lot about guns since then and my lust for a Galil ARM has subsided a lot after experiencing the reality of hauling a gun that heavy around.

Dumbass Fuckwad Shitheel never did get enough money together to buy that CAR-15 and has become a felon who can't own one now.

The Lovely Harvey and I both own carbines that could arguably be called CAR-15 clones.  The XM177E2 clone is also in that mold.  I think FuzzyGeff should get one now.  That way everyone who didn't want one then has one and the one person who did, doesn't.  There's a symmetry to it, don't you think?

Damn but the woulda-shoulda-couldas are strange.

18 February 2009

How Many Have You Owned

By way of tribute to JMB, I propose a sort-of meme for real firearms enthusiasts, collectors, acquisitors, and tinkerers only. Take Tam’s list below and see which of the grand ole guy’s brain children you have. Better, add more detail: Embolden or put a + (plus sign) by those you currently own. Put an asterisk (*) next to those you HAVE HAD but don’t currently. (So many are financially unable to keep ALL the neat guns they’ve had. There was a period that I could only own them sequentially and had to sell or trade off some in order to obtain others.)

Single Shot Rifles:
Winchester 1885

Bolt-action Rifles:
Winchester 1900

Lever-action Rifles:
Winchester 1886
Winchester 1892
Winchester 1894
Winchester 1895

Slide-action Rifles:
Winchester 1890

Recoil-operated Semi-automatic Rifles:
Remington Model 8 and 81

Blowback-operated Semi-automatic Rifles:
Browning .22 Semiauto

Double-barrel Shotguns:
Browning Superposed

Lever-action Shotguns:
Winchester 1887

Slide-action Shotguns:
Winchester 1897
Remington Model 17 (later the Ithaca 37)
Stevens 520

Recoil-operated Semi-automatic Shotguns:
Browning Auto 5 / Remington Model 11 (+ Rem 11-48 revision of same action)

Blowback-operated Semi-automatic Pistols:
FN M1900
+Colt 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless
+FN 1906 Vest Pocket/Colt 1908 Vest Pocket
FN 1910
Colt Woodsman (+Browning Buckmark is a direct descendant)

Recoil-operated Semi-automatic Pistols
Colt 1902
Colt 1903 Pocket Hammer
+U.S. M1911
FN G.P. 35

Gas-operated Machine Guns:
Colt M1895
U.S. M1918 BAR

Recoil-Operated Machine Guns:
U.S. M1917/M1919
*U.S. M2 Heavy Machine Gun

Automatic Machine Cannon:
Colt-Browning 37mm

Bike Blog

Day 2.

MUCH easier.  I made laps around the neighborhood this time.  The ground is more level and I can't get a mile and a half away and realize that I need to get home but am pooped.

I don't know the distance but it was a good half hour of medium exertion.  My muscles are rubbery and I am a little short of breath.

This is not at all like Monday where I was gasping for breath and my heart was pounding for an hour after.

17 February 2009

Quote Of The Random Interval

"Members of Congress should be compelled to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so we can identify their corporate sponsors."

Many of them, however, would need outlandishly large uniforms to carry all the patches.

Bob Sprowl

16 February 2009

Making Progress

I found a set of correct 6-hole handguards at a pawn shop of all places.



Just waiting on Bushmaster and ATF.  Well, still waiting...

A quick comparison with Kaylee, my "XM177E3".


The 'moderator' is placed about where it will be when the XM177E2 clone is finished.  It will be about 2 1/8" shorter than Kaylee when done and would be about 1/2" shorter than the legal 16" barrel if I had the 'moderator' permanently attached.

Kaylee is the first AR I made.  I wanted the XM177E2 all along, but wasn't wise to the ways of the NFA back all those two years ago when I contracted Black Rifle Disease (BRD).  I consider Kaylee a representation of what the XM series would have looked like if the Army had still wanted such carbines in the mid to late '70's.  Just imagine that she has a 13.15" barrel and the 'moderator' isn't covering any more than the threads.

Alas, the Army wasn't interested in carbines again until Desert Storm.  The logical start point to make a carbine at that point was not to dust off where we were in 1974, but to shorten the M16A2 like the XM series was shortened from the M16 and M16A1.  Roads not travelled and what not, eh?

Exercise!

I bought a bicycle.

It's a 2009 Diamondback Edgewood.

This morning, I rode it.

I knew I was out of shape, but damn.  I went all of 3 miles and I feel like I am going to die.

13 February 2009

On The Fairness Doctrine

Democrats and Liberals; Is your argument so weak that it cannot withstand Rush Limbaugh? And if it cannot, could it be, perhaps, the fault of the argument rather than the strength of the opponent?

Just sayin'!

In this dead link, "Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, told Press Wednesday that the Fairness Doctrine is needed not to remove any conservative voices, but to ensure that there are a few liberal shows on the air."

A Few liberal shows?

A. Few. Liberal. Shows.

I simply do not have words.

In order to implement such "fairness" the government needs the power to approve or disapprove anything transmitted.  Please explain to me where the power to make such law comes from?  Of course, the very concept of "free" as mentioned in the 1st Amendment is alien to liberals.

I like free markets.  If your message sells, then sell it, make money!  If not, then don't force people to buy it.  But SELL your idea and let the PEOPLE decide if it has merits.  This is what "by the people" really means.

I seem to recall there being three boxes that we use to keep our government in check.

1. Ballot Box: free elections.  Thanks to organizations like ACORN I am not certain we're still getting those.

2. Soap Box: free speech.  This is what we're trying to eliminate here.  Taking away the ability of the opposition to criticize the sitting majority.

3. Cartridge Box: free fire.  Keep pushing, just keep pushing.  A civil war will be disastrous.  The republic that I want will not rise from the bloody ashes, so I want to avoid it.  Let's avoid it together!

12 February 2009

Back To Guns

An interesting comparison.



On top is Dottie, a Laconic Arms VKb.07; 16" 6.8x43mm 1:11 SPC barrel.  Bottom is the as yet unnamed M16 (R604) clone; 20" 5.56x45mm 1:12 barrel.  The vintage components in the R604 date from 1967.

40 years separate these guns, but they are both ARs.

Rambling

Despite my haircut, love of firearms and belief that the 2nd Amendment is the reset button for the Republican form of government; I would like to point out right now that I do not advocate or endorse the assassination or murder of any elected official.

Unlike this guy, apparently.

I don't think we're to the "shoot the bastards" point.  Ask me again around election day 2010.  I think we're getting close to the tipping point where we're going to have to admit we're not the nation defined by the constitution and draft something that more accurately describes what we're doing OR we're going to have to have blood running in the streets to put said Constitution back in effect.  That is, if we're honest.

I don't think we are.  I do think that we're going to have someone, like that guy maybe, who are going to give it a go.  If the neo-nazis rise up in revolt against the government count me as someone who would give The Devil a favourable (sic) mention in Parliament if Hitler should invade Hell.  Heck, you might even be able to count on me to stand with the government against them in a shooting contest.  I think I have made my distaste of the government well known here without putting proper distance on racists.

I rail against identity politics because the core question, for me, is, "Are they people?"  If yes, then they have the same rights and responsibilities as I do.  It says, "We the People".  Are Blacks people?  Are Women people?  Are Jews people?  Are Homosexuals people?  I say yes, to all of them.  I am not any of them.  I am white, male, atheist and hetro.  I will stand with you for your rights, as long as you stand with me for mine.

Notice that I say "rights and responsibilities" there.

Sorry about the slavery thing, but it was predominately white men who fought, bled and died to free your race.  It was also predominately Republican politicians who fought to eliminate the legal structures that prevented your equality; Lincoln and that whole Civil War thing, Eisenhower sent troops to enforce desegregation, etc...  What this fight leads to is letting you, and your people, vote and be treated just like everyone else under the law.  When we create laws that set lower standards for a black man, for example, to enter college we are not "helping overcome years of racism" we are saying, "[censored] ain't gots deh smarts ta be gettin' no learnin'."  I say it in those terms so that I cannot be misunderstood.  An equal does not need special help to achieve the same goals I do.  If there is a barrier in the law that discriminates against a black person, by all means, let us smash it down.  If the "barrier" is apathy or laziness, then I am sorry you don't want to be in college.

Standards must be the same for everyone or they are not STANDARD!  If you need the standards lowered to be there, then you don't DESERVE to be.  You literally did not earn your place.  This is where racism and sexism is breeding now.  This is where the everyday schlub is noticing the imbalance.

"But what if I did honestly meet those standards?" I hear some of you thinking.  Well, you did earn it and you do deserve to be there.  Isn't fun to encounter people who don't believe that you earned it?  That attitude is the NATURAL EFFECT of affirmative action.  Because there are people who did not earn it, people who got in and over because we didn't apply the same standard to everyone, you will be assumed to have used those breaks to get where you are and not through your own abilities.  These laws lessen your achievement.

I will support programs that give access to education to people so that they can learn what they need to enter and advance in college.  Just because you are from a shit-hole with sub-par schools should not be a barrier to you getting an education.  I oppose distributing this aid on the basic of race, religion or gender.  ANYONE from a shit-hole with sub-par schools should have access to the remedial education programs.  Hell, I will even say that ANYONE should have access regardless of where they are from.  Rich white boys may have skipped their education the first time it was presented as well.

If a job requires you to carry a given load over a given period of time, then you must carry it that long!  Period.  If you cannot, then you cannot perform that job.  Saying that women only have to carry 80% of that weight for half the time is SEXIST.  It's saying, "I am aware that you are not my equal and will never be, so here you don't have to meet the same standard I do."  Another way to say it is, "I am better than you, let me prove it by meeting a higher standard."  If someone who lifts 80% for half the time can, indeed, do the job as well as someone who meets the higher standard then we should lower it.  If the job is defined by strength and endurance, then the strongest will be more successful at it.  Setting a strength and endurance standard for entry into such a job is simply filtering for those who can perform it the best.

If you feel you must comment on this topic, I will not tolerate Devils Advocates.  Either post YOUR beliefs as to why I am wrong, or have missed something, or keep it to yourself.

09 February 2009

This Is Why We Love Tam

See, someone who rides the bullet is pretty serious about checking out of the net. That's not a "cry for help" or a ploy for attention, it's "Good Bye."

If you take that person's handgun away, they'll just go chug a frosty Drain-O margarita, do a half-gainer off the nearest multi-story building, or play Stop-The-Locomotive.

Weapons Of War



Pictured above are genuine weapons of war.  The bottom one served in the Pacific theater in WW2.  These are not neutered variations or clones of the real thing.  They ARE the real thing.

I mention this because I read this dead link and thought appropriate to mention it too.

My ARs and the SA58 are mere shadows of the guns they resemble.  All of them lack the third position on the fire selector.  Not a single one of them has that final requirement of a true assault rifle.

The '94 Assault Weapon Ban did not affect these old warhorses at all.  .30-06 HOLLOW POINTS penetrate more armor than 5.56 ARMOR PIERCING!  Put that in your pipe and smoke it.  That .30-06 will also reach out and touch at about three times the range of an AR or more than four times the AK.  The country is literally awash in these old guys.  Garand, Springfield, Krag, Mosin, SMLE, MAS etc...  All of them built around a real live high-power cartridge.

What happens if we pass no laws banning guns?  Nothing more than is happening already, really.  I definitely would like to illuminate that these old guns are simply never used in crime.

What worries me is someone will forget some hard history lessons and attempt to ban the scary looking guns.  What happens when that mythical 3% believe that they have less to lose by shooting than obeying?  These boys are shooters!  They expend thousands of rounds every year.  I've seen the police and Army shoot.  The Army makes up for their accuracy in volume.  The police?  Not so much.  And it will be the police that bear the brunt of their shooting.

I've read repeatedly about how the cops are mostly good guys and support our rights fully.  OK.  But someone is going to have to reconcile that confiscation under a ban would be carried out by the police and our "good cops" will be wearing the uniform of the enemy.  Will the good cops accept being fired and thus both unemployed and barred from future employment as police, or will they simply obey the orders to enforce the law?  Will we see sheriffs, elected officials, order the arrest of ATF or FBI agents attempting to enforce unconstitutional laws or will they order their deputies to cooperate in order to keep federal funding flowing?  I don't think this is a very hard question, really.  I also think that behavior of the police in and around New Orleans during and after Katrina shows us what the answers are.  It makes me sad.

It can all be averted.  Simply leave the topic alone.  The status quo is being tolerated.  Sure, the gunnies grumble and yes, the laws we have are unconstitutional, but they aren't causing anyone to start shooting.  The unconstitutionality of those laws are currently the subject of debate and a willingness to get them repealed by the same means as they were imposed.  Isn't that much better than civil war?  I think so.

Greed? Greed Is Good!



Remember, jobs are a side effect of a successful business not the reason for a business' existence.

08 February 2009

Stop That Tank!



A couple of things hop out; this is how Hollywood used to be, they realized they were Americans and joined on OUR side; and SATAN is presented as a more sympathetic character than Hitler.

06 February 2009

05 February 2009

Quest For Forearm

I think I have found the solution I like.

The original forearm was a YHM-9634, four rail lightweight. I put on some UTG rail covers and the grip area was way too large of a diameter.


This started a quest for a narrower grip. When Marv built his 6.8 I noticed that YHM made a different forearm that had a rail on the top and short sections on the sides and bottom near the front.


The grip was smaller diameter than a standard AR grip, quite comfortable. Until you do a lot of shooting. The uninsulated aluminum got HOT. So we wrapped ours in parachute cord to help insulate things.


Because the EOTech extends out onto the forearm on my gun, I didn't like the looks and it left a large area uninsulated. I was also concerned that the cord was blocking the cooling holes. I was playing around with the para-cord and the old 9634 and discovered that I could wrap the nubs fairly comfortably.


The problem with this solution was the cord wasn't really on that tight and it was in danger of being snagged and pulled off.

So I bought some ladder style rail covers. This is what I originally wanted to get for my gun, but couldn't find them in black. Since I changed to OD green to assist Geff in his upgrade, I realized that I could look for OD ladder covers.

Viola!


Hey! Even the handle on the bayonet matches!


UPDATE
Ever forget you'd ordered something? AIM Surplus has cleared their back-order and the panels I ordered in December and forgotten about showed up today.

I cut the solid panel in half and put them on the sides where my hand naturally falls. I am not sure I like the feel of it though. I think I prefer the all-ladder better.


Ponder

My previous post is a link to an author who's bitter about the behavior of the Democrats for the last eight years.

I think he's got every right to be bitter about it, especially since they are now calling for such behavior to stop.

OK, I'm game. And I would like to point out that the most disrespectful I have been towards the President is calling him Barry.

I will not insult him. I will point out things like his cabinet pics seem to have a lot of problems with paying their taxes, or corruption.

I'll step up and be an adult. On one condition. He's not going to be president forever. If his replacement is a Republican, the people who just spent the past eight years have to behave like adults too.

I was speaking to Tim about this and the problem as I see it is they are bullies. I have some experience with bullies. I was a nerdy twerp until my dad forced me to take karate and started pounding into my head that I had the right to defend myself. Wanna know something? The bullies stopped bullying when they got a good solid fight back. What they seem to be asking us it to ignore the bullying and behave because they want to be left alone to play with the new-won toys.

As Eric pointed out in comments, they behaved this way for Nixon. Nixon got caught doing what his predecessors had also done. I think the proper narrative should have been, "What Nixon did was wrong. We will impeach him, but he believed that it was OK to do what he did, because he saw his predecessors do the same." Then they should have named names of EVERYONE who'd done such regardless of their party affiliations. Perhaps then Nixon would have been the last one. I'm too young to really remember Ford and Carter. I was not concerned with politics during most of Reagan and Bush (41). I was doing my damnedest to ignore Clinton.

Then his wife started acting like a cabinet member. That pissed me off because that's not the presidential spouse's job. Then he passed the Brady Act and the AWB. That got my attention. Finally, he lied under oath.

When we talk about that particular scandal, we always seem to focus on the fellatio. People like to say that there's nothing wrong with that if his wife is cool about it. OK, if there's nothing wrong with it, then why LIE about it? If there was nothing illegal about it, then why lie about it in court? Especially, why lie in court when the 5th amendment allows you to snap your yap shut when your answer would incriminate you. They cannot force you to confess, but you can be convicted for lying about your innocence.

Notice that I did not ONCE insult Mr or Mrs Clinton's intelligence, breeding, religion, species, or political party by stating why I disliked the eight years of his term.

I just got done being branded as a Bush supporter.  Because I refused to hate him.  Why on earth did I vote for him?

Al Gore.  Here's one I will insult.  If he'd been elected you'd have been hard pressed to tell me apart from the sort of bile being spewed by the Kos Kidz.  But I have no time for religious fanatics, and Globull Warmening is indeed a religion.  It's set the scientific method back for decades.  His original act that got me to notice him was actually well before he was even Vice President.  I remember him from a series of hearings about the lyrical content of music.  He was heading the committee.  His WIFE was testifying!  What he should have done was recuse himself from the proceedings because that's an apparent conflict of interest.  Please remember, I was not paying attention to politics back then.  I noticed the connection in a documentary in 93-95 or so.  The environmentalists, like Gore, had been having their merry way with their junk science for as long I had been watching.  I'm an engineer and a car guy.  Two words sum up the BS of environmentalism, 'catalytic converter'.  Go ahead and check, acid rain becomes a problem just about the time catalytic scrubbers are MANDATED.  Thank goodness better tech became available and alternative scrubbers can now be used.

On a side note, a mandate to use a specific technology will also forbid it being replaced by a better technology.  Knowing that mandate prevents an alternative from being implemented until the laws are changed keeps a good many talented people from even trying.

Enough about Al 'Ozone' Gore.

Lets talk about John F Kerry.  I was a soldier.  I know from talking to my elders what it took to earn the medals that Kerry had.  One little problem about those, his service record doesn't support the conditions that normally apply to such awards.  His refusal to release such records while at the same time showing off those awards kinda tells us he knows too.  There's your core issue that the Swiftboaters were pointing out.  As a veteran, I simply could not vote for a former officer who can't seem to find anyone who's proud they served under him.

Let's talk about Illinois politics.  Mayor Richard Daley.  The man who made the graveyard vote famous.  Who got caught doing it and was never brought to task.  I lived in a suburb of Chicago when he died and I cannot recall a single kind word about him from my parents or their friends.  And they all talked about it for days after.  My mom made me and my sister watch the funeral on TV.  His son is made from the same mold, do your own research here readers.  Do you think that someone in Florida would take someone from a place that practically invented "voter irregularity" kindly when they come down here to tell us where we screwed up on counting our votes?  Especially from a place that is FIRMLY partisan?  I know that I didn't.  Corruption and scandal are part of the day to day political machine in Chicago, and Chicago dominates Illinois as thoroughly as NYC dominates Upstate New York.  I wonder if anyone has added up whether more or fewer Chicago aldermen end up in jail before they finish their term.  They've had an alarming run of governors go to prison, with another poised to go to trial.

I can hope that President Obama is not tainted by such, but I don't think it's possible.  He's just too young to have earned it without owing the machine.

03 February 2009

Quote Of The Day

 "I don't think there's anyone in Russia who doesn't know what a drunk person looks like."

Lyrics Corner Finding The Right Words For The Feelings Edition

Send a heartbeat to
The void that cries through you
Relive the pictures that have come to pass
For now we stand alone
The world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate
With no more to hate

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain

Delivered from the blast
The last of a line of lasts
The pale princess of a palace cracked
And now the kingdom comes
Crashing down undone
And I am a master of a nothing place
Of recoil and grace

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain

Time has stopped before us
The sky cannot ignore us
No one can separate us
For we are all that is left
The echo bounces off me
The shadow lost beside me
There's no more need to pretend
Cause now I can begin again

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain
Strange
Strange
Strange
(strange)
(strange)

Interesting Read

Short too.

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/thoughts-on-the-therapeutic-style/?print=1#comments_controls