I had a long, impassioned, researched and linked post about how the M-1911A1 doesn't suck all written and ready to post. It's still in drafts as a matter of fact.
I am not going to post it.
It will not change anyone's mind on the matter.
The original thread that was posted is clearly an attempt to stir things up by making people angry. A troll. We should not feed the blue trolls as well as the red.
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31 December 2010
30 December 2010
Translated from the original German, I am sure.
Manditory DUI check-point. Hat-Tip: Jay G.
For your own good, of course.
Fuck your rights, this is for safety.
I am willing to bet that that more than two thirds of the people who will be busted in such a checkpoint will be illegally operating a vehicle without a license from a prior DUI charge. Fix that problem first and I will consider your new fascist check points.
The next, gigantic problem we have with DUI is thanks to groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Do you know why the old legal standard was a blood alcohol content of 0.010? Because that was the BAC where most people's reaction speed and judgement become impaired.
MADD's campaign was to get harsh about punishing people caught legally drunk. That part worked. The number of people caught DUI went way down. The drunk drivers did not get craftier about avoiding the police, unless you count them getting a designated driver, calling a cab or letting it get out of their system before driving.
A busy-body advocate's worst nightmare is their program succeeding; so MADD demanded that BAC be reduced to 0.008. Lo and behold! more people got busted with DUI again! Just like before, people changed their habits and arrests dropped back to where they were prior to the change.
MADD has advocated that we now change BAC to 0.005. Fortunately this has not yet flown; but they are out there trying to find validity. The only thing that shows they are right is numerous arrests for DUI; they need that to promote their new prohibition.
At present, people who are between 0.008 and 0.010 are hard to spot. Most busts in this realm are from the officer noticing the smell of alcohol after pulling the driver over for a different primary offense, like speeding or a light out. Remember what I said about impairment starting at 0.010?
To get more busts, they have to pull more people over who are not obviously impaired. Enter the DUI check-point.
These are not new around here (Tampa area) the judge on hand is the new part. What they also do when they ask you to blow is enquire about guns, drugs or other things and then decide if you are acting twitchy enough to search your car. This is all excuse upon excuse to disregard my 4th and 5th amendment enumerated rights. Apparently, to a modern fascist, driving on a road on a particular day at a particular time is probable cause. I do not agree that since everyone is treated the same here that it is not a violation of individual rights, it's just a serial violation of them.
Try it this way [white robe on] "As long as we treat ALL [CENSORED] this way, it's OK?" [white robe off]
Still racist, isn't it?
When will it be time to slit throats?
For your own good, of course.
Fuck your rights, this is for safety.
I am willing to bet that that more than two thirds of the people who will be busted in such a checkpoint will be illegally operating a vehicle without a license from a prior DUI charge. Fix that problem first and I will consider your new fascist check points.
The next, gigantic problem we have with DUI is thanks to groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Do you know why the old legal standard was a blood alcohol content of 0.010? Because that was the BAC where most people's reaction speed and judgement become impaired.
MADD's campaign was to get harsh about punishing people caught legally drunk. That part worked. The number of people caught DUI went way down. The drunk drivers did not get craftier about avoiding the police, unless you count them getting a designated driver, calling a cab or letting it get out of their system before driving.
A busy-body advocate's worst nightmare is their program succeeding; so MADD demanded that BAC be reduced to 0.008. Lo and behold! more people got busted with DUI again! Just like before, people changed their habits and arrests dropped back to where they were prior to the change.
MADD has advocated that we now change BAC to 0.005. Fortunately this has not yet flown; but they are out there trying to find validity. The only thing that shows they are right is numerous arrests for DUI; they need that to promote their new prohibition.
At present, people who are between 0.008 and 0.010 are hard to spot. Most busts in this realm are from the officer noticing the smell of alcohol after pulling the driver over for a different primary offense, like speeding or a light out. Remember what I said about impairment starting at 0.010?
To get more busts, they have to pull more people over who are not obviously impaired. Enter the DUI check-point.
These are not new around here (Tampa area) the judge on hand is the new part. What they also do when they ask you to blow is enquire about guns, drugs or other things and then decide if you are acting twitchy enough to search your car. This is all excuse upon excuse to disregard my 4th and 5th amendment enumerated rights. Apparently, to a modern fascist, driving on a road on a particular day at a particular time is probable cause. I do not agree that since everyone is treated the same here that it is not a violation of individual rights, it's just a serial violation of them.
Try it this way [white robe on] "As long as we treat ALL [CENSORED] this way, it's OK?" [white robe off]
Still racist, isn't it?
When will it be time to slit throats?
28 December 2010
On Not Selling Guns to Californians
There are a few companies that don't sell firearms to Californian customers.
This upsets quite a few people, mostly Californians.
I don't think the boycott is doing anything to help the situation, but I understand the "let them sink" feeling.
What would have an effect would be a refusal to sell to government agencies in California. Imagine if Glock refused to sell to Californian police agencies unless they would allow sales to normal citizens of the same guns.
Might just change some things.
Same goes for NY(f)C or Massachusetts.
This upsets quite a few people, mostly Californians.
I don't think the boycott is doing anything to help the situation, but I understand the "let them sink" feeling.
What would have an effect would be a refusal to sell to government agencies in California. Imagine if Glock refused to sell to Californian police agencies unless they would allow sales to normal citizens of the same guns.
Might just change some things.
Same goes for NY(f)C or Massachusetts.
XM Radio
My car came with a free sample of XM when I bought it.
I liked it enough to keep the service for almost three years.
In October, I decided that it was too much money for a luxury item and called to have it cancelled. The cheery girl on the phone said "no problem" and it would be taken care of.
Just about this time, my bank sent a new debit card. They'd decided to change from Visa to Master Card.
I had read on the Corvette Forum that the only way to get XM to stop charging a card was to get a new number, so my cancellation became an experiment.
Lo and behold! I start getting letters and emails telling me that they were unable to process my account information because the (old) card number was being rejected.
So I called back and reminded them I had cancelled. "We don't have a record of that call..." of course you don't. No record of the call in October, November and I'm willing to bet December when I call, again, in January.
Every time I call they remind me I owe them for the months after the cancellation I they didn't record. This is a classic, "not my problem when you screw up". I reaffirmed that I am not going to be held liable for their error and will not be mailing them a check.
Someday there will be a class action suit over their business practices. I will gladly join in that suit and collect whatever small crumb is left after the lawyers are paid.
I liked it enough to keep the service for almost three years.
In October, I decided that it was too much money for a luxury item and called to have it cancelled. The cheery girl on the phone said "no problem" and it would be taken care of.
Just about this time, my bank sent a new debit card. They'd decided to change from Visa to Master Card.
I had read on the Corvette Forum that the only way to get XM to stop charging a card was to get a new number, so my cancellation became an experiment.
Lo and behold! I start getting letters and emails telling me that they were unable to process my account information because the (old) card number was being rejected.
So I called back and reminded them I had cancelled. "We don't have a record of that call..." of course you don't. No record of the call in October, November and I'm willing to bet December when I call, again, in January.
Every time I call they remind me I owe them for the months after the cancellation I they didn't record. This is a classic, "not my problem when you screw up". I reaffirmed that I am not going to be held liable for their error and will not be mailing them a check.
Someday there will be a class action suit over their business practices. I will gladly join in that suit and collect whatever small crumb is left after the lawyers are paid.
27 December 2010
You're darn tootin' I'm angry!
Two years in a row, the registration for my car has gone up 50%.
Every year my car insurance goes up 10%.
Every year my house insurance goes up 10-15%.
Gasoline has gone up 30% in the last year.
Bread has gone up 29% in the last year.
Hamburger has gone up 22% in the last year.
Explain to me where we get "less than 2% annual inflation" from that?
The household income sure as heck isn't going up as fast as the bills and almost all of them increasing from government mandate rather than market pressure.
Every year my car insurance goes up 10%.
Every year my house insurance goes up 10-15%.
Gasoline has gone up 30% in the last year.
Bread has gone up 29% in the last year.
Hamburger has gone up 22% in the last year.
Explain to me where we get "less than 2% annual inflation" from that?
The household income sure as heck isn't going up as fast as the bills and almost all of them increasing from government mandate rather than market pressure.
Semi-Auto Versus Revolver for the Beginner
Jay G has been asked about what would be a good first gun.
One of his commenters has stated the new shooter should get a revolver, because it's simpler and the 1911 is too complicated for a novice.
The 1911 is just fine for a first gun. I watched over 200 people who'd never fired a gun before learn to disassemble, assemble, fire and clean a 1911 in less than a week.
It was called basic training (OSUT to be nitpicky)
If we'd just offer to TEACH the new people asking about semi-autos instead of dispensing "a semi-auto is too complicated for you, kid," from our Ivory Towers™ we'd have a lot more shooters.
There is nothing about the 1911 that is so complicated that a novice cannot get a functional level of skill in an afternoon.
I am not pulling this out of my rectal cavity either. There's a reason that the police's scores improved dramatically when the change-over from wheel-guns to autos started in the '80s. A single action semi is much easier to shoot well than a double action, making the initial shots more likely to be successful giving an more immediate reward to our novice shooter encouraging them to continue shooting rather than saying, "this is too hard," and quitting. Leaving their "simple" revolver to gather dust in a drawer someplace.
I've taught lots of people how to shoot. Not a single one has been overwhelmed by the complexity of the extra controls on an auto as compared to a revolver.
Most of the people I've taught to shoot I've taken to the range and let them fire a few rounds from every type I have. Revolvers and automatics. None of my students, save one, bought a revolver (and she later changed over to an auto when she found one she could operate; I mentioned her here).
I've watched others teaching their friends and families to shoot as well. All but a couple of my "students" are still shooting. A sad majority of the people taught by others are not.
Why?
Forcing the pupil to buy a gun that doesn't suit them is the number one reason; and the number one wrong gun is a snub-nosed revolver.
Why is that a wrong gun? Double action is harder to shoot well with, short sight radii are harder to shoot well with, and lighter guns recoil more unpleasantly. This is compounded by the super light .357's that are available. I believe Jay calls his the "snubbie from hell". The snubbie I carry from time to time is a S&W 640, hammerless and stainless. It's unpleasant to fire full power loads with, but it's still more pleasant than the alloy 642 with normal .38 Special loads.
I will not take the position that a revolver is never the right gun. A snubbie is not always the wrong gun. I carry one! I have just found that most people can readily learn an automatic and quickly become proficient with one, even a 1911. Truth be told, not one of my pupils has ever bought a 1911 because they find John Browning's masterpiece to be "too damn heavy".
My recommendation to the new (handgun) shooter is:
0. Decide what you want the gun to do for you. You may be in love with a .44 Mag that fits 1 through 3, but it's not a good choice for conceal carry under most conditions.
1. Find a gun that fits your hand.
2. Find a model of that gun chambered for "at least" .380 ACP.
3. Make sure you are comfortable firing it in the selected chambering and are comfortable with the controls. More than once I've had the student go for a 9mm over a .380 because locked breeches have lighter springs than blow-back; making them easier to manipulate.
4. Get to the range and practice! Pretty soon you will not be a new shooter.
One of his commenters has stated the new shooter should get a revolver, because it's simpler and the 1911 is too complicated for a novice.
The 1911 is just fine for a first gun. I watched over 200 people who'd never fired a gun before learn to disassemble, assemble, fire and clean a 1911 in less than a week.
It was called basic training (OSUT to be nitpicky)
If we'd just offer to TEACH the new people asking about semi-autos instead of dispensing "a semi-auto is too complicated for you, kid," from our Ivory Towers™ we'd have a lot more shooters.
There is nothing about the 1911 that is so complicated that a novice cannot get a functional level of skill in an afternoon.
I am not pulling this out of my rectal cavity either. There's a reason that the police's scores improved dramatically when the change-over from wheel-guns to autos started in the '80s. A single action semi is much easier to shoot well than a double action, making the initial shots more likely to be successful giving an more immediate reward to our novice shooter encouraging them to continue shooting rather than saying, "this is too hard," and quitting. Leaving their "simple" revolver to gather dust in a drawer someplace.
I've taught lots of people how to shoot. Not a single one has been overwhelmed by the complexity of the extra controls on an auto as compared to a revolver.
Most of the people I've taught to shoot I've taken to the range and let them fire a few rounds from every type I have. Revolvers and automatics. None of my students, save one, bought a revolver (and she later changed over to an auto when she found one she could operate; I mentioned her here).
I've watched others teaching their friends and families to shoot as well. All but a couple of my "students" are still shooting. A sad majority of the people taught by others are not.
Why?
Forcing the pupil to buy a gun that doesn't suit them is the number one reason; and the number one wrong gun is a snub-nosed revolver.
Why is that a wrong gun? Double action is harder to shoot well with, short sight radii are harder to shoot well with, and lighter guns recoil more unpleasantly. This is compounded by the super light .357's that are available. I believe Jay calls his the "snubbie from hell". The snubbie I carry from time to time is a S&W 640, hammerless and stainless. It's unpleasant to fire full power loads with, but it's still more pleasant than the alloy 642 with normal .38 Special loads.
I will not take the position that a revolver is never the right gun. A snubbie is not always the wrong gun. I carry one! I have just found that most people can readily learn an automatic and quickly become proficient with one, even a 1911. Truth be told, not one of my pupils has ever bought a 1911 because they find John Browning's masterpiece to be "too damn heavy".
My recommendation to the new (handgun) shooter is:
0. Decide what you want the gun to do for you. You may be in love with a .44 Mag that fits 1 through 3, but it's not a good choice for conceal carry under most conditions.
1. Find a gun that fits your hand.
2. Find a model of that gun chambered for "at least" .380 ACP.
3. Make sure you are comfortable firing it in the selected chambering and are comfortable with the controls. More than once I've had the student go for a 9mm over a .380 because locked breeches have lighter springs than blow-back; making them easier to manipulate.
4. Get to the range and practice! Pretty soon you will not be a new shooter.
26 December 2010
Nerf!
We have Nerf® weapons!
Mine is a mag-fed pump action modular design.
Harvey's (wife's nickname, long story) is BELT FED! We've only managed to lose one foam dart so far.
The interesting thing about mine is the instructions include a bit on how to work iron sights. The vernier sights are, um, optimistic. I can crank it up so far that it looks like I am launching a grenade, and it doesn't increase the range over direct fire more than a foot.
Gun toys are the bestest!
Mine is a mag-fed pump action modular design.
Harvey's (wife's nickname, long story) is BELT FED! We've only managed to lose one foam dart so far.
The interesting thing about mine is the instructions include a bit on how to work iron sights. The vernier sights are, um, optimistic. I can crank it up so far that it looks like I am launching a grenade, and it doesn't increase the range over direct fire more than a foot.
Gun toys are the bestest!
25 December 2010
A week late to the bandwagon, but hey...
Every Question and Answer Session on an Internet Gun Forum Part 1
Every Question and Answer Session on an Internet Gun Forum Part 2
Every Question and Answer Session on an Internet Gun Forum Part 3
SWAT Sniper
Internet Gun Transaction: Typical Type: 1 Each
24 December 2010
Christmas Eve!
Not "Holiday's Eve"!
We don't say happy holidays for MLK Day, Groundhog Day, Valentines Day, President's Day, St Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, Earth (spit) Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Veteran's Day or Thanksgiving.
Unless we mean Christmas and New Years when we say "Happy Holidays!" But I don't think we do.
Oh, but it's teh evol Xtians! OK, we can't say Christmas because 76% of the nation is Christian, 3.9% has a different religion, 15% have no religion and 5.2% refuse to say. Kids, this is not like saying 'CENSORED' or 'CENSORED' or 'CENSORED' or 'CENSORED'. Merry Christmas has not ever been used as an insult or slur by a Christian. They are merely wishing you well, why do you resent it so? Does it burn? No. Are you worried that being wished a merry Christmas will somehow compromise your belief that there is no Christian God? If so, how weak is your faith?
But I say that Christmas is as religious in the US as St Patrick's or St Valentine's days. It's not about when Jesus was born (which probably wasn't in December because that's not when the Romans did the get back to your home village for census and tax reasons); it's about family and friends and getting together to strengthen and renew those bonds.
So Merry Christmas!
From an Atheist married to a Pagan no less!
We don't say happy holidays for MLK Day, Groundhog Day, Valentines Day, President's Day, St Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, Earth (spit) Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Veteran's Day or Thanksgiving.
Unless we mean Christmas and New Years when we say "Happy Holidays!" But I don't think we do.
Oh, but it's teh evol Xtians! OK, we can't say Christmas because 76% of the nation is Christian, 3.9% has a different religion, 15% have no religion and 5.2% refuse to say. Kids, this is not like saying 'CENSORED' or 'CENSORED' or 'CENSORED' or 'CENSORED'. Merry Christmas has not ever been used as an insult or slur by a Christian. They are merely wishing you well, why do you resent it so? Does it burn? No. Are you worried that being wished a merry Christmas will somehow compromise your belief that there is no Christian God? If so, how weak is your faith?
But I say that Christmas is as religious in the US as St Patrick's or St Valentine's days. It's not about when Jesus was born (which probably wasn't in December because that's not when the Romans did the get back to your home village for census and tax reasons); it's about family and friends and getting together to strengthen and renew those bonds.
So Merry Christmas!
From an Atheist married to a Pagan no less!
23 December 2010
What makes a "good" 1911.
I am not going to compare brands.
We're going to assume for the sake of discussion that quality is moot. You've chosen a brand that you like and trust.
What features are must have?
What got me to thinking about this was a link to Kimber's Desert Warrior. It's real similar to Springfield Armory's Full-Size MC Operator. It's got a railed dust cover, ambidextrous safety, extended grip safety, skeletonized hammer, extended trigger and more visible sights. Everything you could need or want, right?
All I want over an issue USGI M1911A1 is sights that are easier to see. Honest.
I know that this is a contentious issue. But what do you like and why? You don't get to tell someone else they are wrong; just state your preference.
We're going to assume for the sake of discussion that quality is moot. You've chosen a brand that you like and trust.
What features are must have?
What got me to thinking about this was a link to Kimber's Desert Warrior. It's real similar to Springfield Armory's Full-Size MC Operator. It's got a railed dust cover, ambidextrous safety, extended grip safety, skeletonized hammer, extended trigger and more visible sights. Everything you could need or want, right?
All I want over an issue USGI M1911A1 is sights that are easier to see. Honest.
I know that this is a contentious issue. But what do you like and why? You don't get to tell someone else they are wrong; just state your preference.
Missed the point
I don't think I made my point clearly about regulatory agencies.
What they are doing is legislating, all are part of the executive branch. That's not the executive branch's job; that's the legislative branch's job. You know, Congress?
What they are doing is legislating, all are part of the executive branch. That's not the executive branch's job; that's the legislative branch's job. You know, Congress?
22 December 2010
WMD
Remember when "WMD" meant real weapons of mass destruction like nuclear, biological and chemical?
I hear a 40mm grenade LAUNCHER now qualifies (don't even need 40mm grenades for it).
I hear a 40mm grenade LAUNCHER now qualifies (don't even need 40mm grenades for it).
A thought
I read that the Department of Homeland Security will begin to start protecting us from glow bull warmering.
Just taking it on themselves to start regulating without a law to enforce.
I see this a great deal with government agencies.
It's called mission creep in some circles.
What we have is Congress not doing their jobs and pawning it off on the agency tasked with enforcing the laws. They make regulations that are supposed to have the effect of enforcing the law.
My favorite example is BATFE and there are oh so many examples.
Let's start with the form 4473. Where is the law that says you have to fill this thing out? There isn't one. What it is for is to keep prohibited people from buying guns. The law about that says who cannot own a gun, and you answer Y-E-S or N-O to each of the disqualifying things.
Not that a felon would lie or anything. Thanks to the Brady Act, we have NICS. NICS checks to see if you were being honest with your answers. Why do we still have the form?
If we are going to have such a thing as a NICS, we should just call them up, give them our name and address and it should give a GO/NO-GO for the sale. No need for a paper record at all to satisfy the law.
Next is anything having to do with the National Firearms Act (NFA). The law says I have to pay a tax to buy or make something regulated by the NFA. But there's no law requiring the extensive background check. It should be send in the $200, pass NICS and collect my gun.
There's lots more.
The real solution is to end regulatory agencies altogether.
Just taking it on themselves to start regulating without a law to enforce.
I see this a great deal with government agencies.
It's called mission creep in some circles.
What we have is Congress not doing their jobs and pawning it off on the agency tasked with enforcing the laws. They make regulations that are supposed to have the effect of enforcing the law.
My favorite example is BATFE and there are oh so many examples.
Let's start with the form 4473. Where is the law that says you have to fill this thing out? There isn't one. What it is for is to keep prohibited people from buying guns. The law about that says who cannot own a gun, and you answer Y-E-S or N-O to each of the disqualifying things.
Not that a felon would lie or anything. Thanks to the Brady Act, we have NICS. NICS checks to see if you were being honest with your answers. Why do we still have the form?
If we are going to have such a thing as a NICS, we should just call them up, give them our name and address and it should give a GO/NO-GO for the sale. No need for a paper record at all to satisfy the law.
Next is anything having to do with the National Firearms Act (NFA). The law says I have to pay a tax to buy or make something regulated by the NFA. But there's no law requiring the extensive background check. It should be send in the $200, pass NICS and collect my gun.
There's lots more.
The real solution is to end regulatory agencies altogether.
Short Barrels
Three of the AR projects I have require short barrels.
The XM177E2 is finished and has its tax stamp. 11.5" barrel with a 4.5" moderator on it, so it's actually just 5/8" shorter than 16" overall.
Kaylee (mentioned earlier) and Cheyenne (wife's retroish gun) will both be needing 14.5" pencil barrels.
Kaylee is going to be a clone of an IDF gun and Cheyenne is based on the carbine carried by SSG Barnes in "Platoon"
This is all just for looks. A 16" barrel looks just a little too long, especially in pencil weights.
Cheyenne will have some "farbs". The gun from "Platoon" is a Philippine R653P. It should be gray anodizing; not black and shouldn't have the brass deflector.
Kaylee might have farbs, but with the way the IDF mixes and matches parts; I don't think you'd ever know. There's a lot of choices for barrels, the IDF uses 14.5" pencil profile, 14.5" M4 profile and has been known to cut down an M16A1 barrel to 13" and reprofile it for a carbine gas system.
All for looks...
The overall lengths are not shortened enough to really make them all that much more handy. The weight removed is nearly negligible. It definitely reduces muzzle velocity. Seems like a losing proposition. But they will look right. Proper proportions and all.
Perhaps in the future a 9mm AR SBR will have to be done! At least a 10" barrel in 9mm is an improvement over how most 9mm's are.
The XM177E2 is finished and has its tax stamp. 11.5" barrel with a 4.5" moderator on it, so it's actually just 5/8" shorter than 16" overall.
Kaylee (mentioned earlier) and Cheyenne (wife's retroish gun) will both be needing 14.5" pencil barrels.
Kaylee is going to be a clone of an IDF gun and Cheyenne is based on the carbine carried by SSG Barnes in "Platoon"
This is all just for looks. A 16" barrel looks just a little too long, especially in pencil weights.
Cheyenne will have some "farbs". The gun from "Platoon" is a Philippine R653P. It should be gray anodizing; not black and shouldn't have the brass deflector.
Kaylee might have farbs, but with the way the IDF mixes and matches parts; I don't think you'd ever know. There's a lot of choices for barrels, the IDF uses 14.5" pencil profile, 14.5" M4 profile and has been known to cut down an M16A1 barrel to 13" and reprofile it for a carbine gas system.
All for looks...
The overall lengths are not shortened enough to really make them all that much more handy. The weight removed is nearly negligible. It definitely reduces muzzle velocity. Seems like a losing proposition. But they will look right. Proper proportions and all.
Perhaps in the future a 9mm AR SBR will have to be done! At least a 10" barrel in 9mm is an improvement over how most 9mm's are.
21 December 2010
A swing and a miss!
Gov Christie Commutes Brian Aitken's Sentence
While it's great that Mr Aitken is out of jail, he's still a felon with a commutation.
Pardon is the word you were looking for Gov Christie.
Especially since the judge appears to have instructed the jury to ignore the law.
While it's great that Mr Aitken is out of jail, he's still a felon with a commutation.
Pardon is the word you were looking for Gov Christie.
Especially since the judge appears to have instructed the jury to ignore the law.
20 December 2010
Gang oft aglave
I had intended to hit the range and test a box of .45 ACP ammo from the nice people at Ammo For Sale today.
Someone committed suicide in one of the stalls at the range I am a member of. They are closed today to allow things to be investigated.
I got a new driver's license today instead.
I am now Real ID compliant! Yippie, skippy. I also notice it seems to take more documentation to get an operator's license in Florida than to be elected to the presidency. I needed the old license, a birth certificate, Social Security card, and two proofs of residency (bank statement and voter registration card). I am now legal to drive for eight more years. I remember when I had a choice between a 2 year and 4 year license, now they only choice is 8.
Someone committed suicide in one of the stalls at the range I am a member of. They are closed today to allow things to be investigated.
I got a new driver's license today instead.
I am now Real ID compliant! Yippie, skippy. I also notice it seems to take more documentation to get an operator's license in Florida than to be elected to the presidency. I needed the old license, a birth certificate, Social Security card, and two proofs of residency (bank statement and voter registration card). I am now legal to drive for eight more years. I remember when I had a choice between a 2 year and 4 year license, now they only choice is 8.
19 December 2010
Slave reparations.
It's a touchy subject.
Especially so since approximately 360,000 men paid the fullest price to end slavery.
In my mind the former slaves owe them for the gift of freedom. From what I read, it was appreciated by everyone who'd actually been a slave.
Are there any still alive?
What we are talking about when we are talking about slave reparations are really Jim Crow reparations!
The injustice of slavery was made good by the sacrifices of the Civil War. Paid in full.
Jim Crow started after the war. Those laws are why we have a 14th and 15th amendments.
What you need to ask yourself is, what party passed all those laws and have they made amends? Have they even apologized? Didn't they honor an unrepentant Klansman when he died AFTER DECADES OF BEING IN OFFICE?
Or did they blame someone else?
This is why I am angry about the idea. It wasn't me who harmed the descendants of slaves. I did not vote for or support the people who did and do. But it will sure as hell be me who's going to be paying for it, isn't it? I don't like blame shifting. I don't like the innocent being punished. I don't believe that punishing me for the sins of my ancestors is just, for the same reason that enslaving someone because their ancestors were slaves is unjust.
I also don't like the precedent. If this flies, how long before we have woman's reparations? Gay reparations? Irish reparations? Indian? Jewish? Mormon? The guilty got away and imposing an injustice on the innocent is nothing more than a new injustice. Two wrongs do not make a right.
EDIT:
I am a firm believer in the premise that if you are going to punish me for something I have not done; I have nothing to lose by doing the thing I have been punished for. I have to wonder how many racists are so because they'd been treated so. The phenomenon is real, I've known several people who didn't care about homosexuals until they'd been punished for "gay bashing"; they sure as hell care now, and not in a pro-gay way.
If you are out to punish someone for injustice, make certain you get the guilty. Punishing the innocent just gets you resentment and breeds more of what you are trying to stop.
Especially so since approximately 360,000 men paid the fullest price to end slavery.
In my mind the former slaves owe them for the gift of freedom. From what I read, it was appreciated by everyone who'd actually been a slave.
Are there any still alive?
What we are talking about when we are talking about slave reparations are really Jim Crow reparations!
The injustice of slavery was made good by the sacrifices of the Civil War. Paid in full.
Jim Crow started after the war. Those laws are why we have a 14th and 15th amendments.
What you need to ask yourself is, what party passed all those laws and have they made amends? Have they even apologized? Didn't they honor an unrepentant Klansman when he died AFTER DECADES OF BEING IN OFFICE?
Or did they blame someone else?
This is why I am angry about the idea. It wasn't me who harmed the descendants of slaves. I did not vote for or support the people who did and do. But it will sure as hell be me who's going to be paying for it, isn't it? I don't like blame shifting. I don't like the innocent being punished. I don't believe that punishing me for the sins of my ancestors is just, for the same reason that enslaving someone because their ancestors were slaves is unjust.
I also don't like the precedent. If this flies, how long before we have woman's reparations? Gay reparations? Irish reparations? Indian? Jewish? Mormon? The guilty got away and imposing an injustice on the innocent is nothing more than a new injustice. Two wrongs do not make a right.
EDIT:
I am a firm believer in the premise that if you are going to punish me for something I have not done; I have nothing to lose by doing the thing I have been punished for. I have to wonder how many racists are so because they'd been treated so. The phenomenon is real, I've known several people who didn't care about homosexuals until they'd been punished for "gay bashing"; they sure as hell care now, and not in a pro-gay way.
If you are out to punish someone for injustice, make certain you get the guilty. Punishing the innocent just gets you resentment and breeds more of what you are trying to stop.
18 December 2010
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.
Hypocrite: a person who indulges in hypocrisy.
I am extremely touchy about being accused of being a hypocrite. The reason, I think, stems from failing to live up to the standards I set for myself for so long. My behavior for a long time is what I would consider to be immoral today. Breaking those habits was not easy and I failed a great deal.
I am not sure I was a hypocrite because I believed in the morality I espoused and recognized my failing as being wrong; and I tried to make amends when I fell short. But my actions were not in accord with my beliefs.
I am a better person today than I was then.
Hypocrite: a person who indulges in hypocrisy.
I am extremely touchy about being accused of being a hypocrite. The reason, I think, stems from failing to live up to the standards I set for myself for so long. My behavior for a long time is what I would consider to be immoral today. Breaking those habits was not easy and I failed a great deal.
I am not sure I was a hypocrite because I believed in the morality I espoused and recognized my failing as being wrong; and I tried to make amends when I fell short. But my actions were not in accord with my beliefs.
I am a better person today than I was then.
17 December 2010
Teaching Gurls Ta Shoot
Since I am the person all of my friends know as "the gun guy" it's fallen to me to teach many of them how to shoot; nearly always a handgun.
I like to take my student out with one of my guns first. If they're having some fun and want to keep going the next stop is a gun show. Then I have them handle every single gun in the place. I figure if they buy one that doesn't fit, they will not shoot it and then never get any good at it.
I try to insist that they pick at least a .380 ACP. I don't think that .25 ACP or .32 ACP have enough zip to be counted on. So far it's been .38 Special, 9x19mm, .357 SIG and .40 S&W. Only twice have they picked a gun I would have bought for myself.
So far all but one has picked an auto, and she's a special case. The very first handgun I ever fired was an auto, my dad's Bauer .25. In basic training we trained on the M1911A1 and the M9. I figure if a recruit can learn auto without trouble, than it's within the reach of most anyone.
The only time I've recommended a snubbie revolver; the woman in question has nerve damage in her "strong" hand and literally cannot work the slide on an auto. Her good hand is her weak side, so we had to teach her to shoot with her off-hand from day one. There's damage to her shoulder so we had to get her as light a gun as possible too. We ended up with a S&W 642; alloy frame hammerless. The DAO trigger was very trying for her and the recoil from standard .38 was just about all she could take. But she put a lot of effort into it and became a fair shot after that. She later discovered that she can work a tip-up barrel Beretta Tomcat in .32 ACP and since it's lighter and has less recoil, that's what she carries now.
So far everyone has succeeded in learning. I am not teaching tactical shooting, just basic gun-handling and marksmanship. Two of my students have gone on to get their carry permits. Only one has stopped shooting. I consider that success; more shooters are better than fewer.
I like to take my student out with one of my guns first. If they're having some fun and want to keep going the next stop is a gun show. Then I have them handle every single gun in the place. I figure if they buy one that doesn't fit, they will not shoot it and then never get any good at it.
I try to insist that they pick at least a .380 ACP. I don't think that .25 ACP or .32 ACP have enough zip to be counted on. So far it's been .38 Special, 9x19mm, .357 SIG and .40 S&W. Only twice have they picked a gun I would have bought for myself.
So far all but one has picked an auto, and she's a special case. The very first handgun I ever fired was an auto, my dad's Bauer .25. In basic training we trained on the M1911A1 and the M9. I figure if a recruit can learn auto without trouble, than it's within the reach of most anyone.
The only time I've recommended a snubbie revolver; the woman in question has nerve damage in her "strong" hand and literally cannot work the slide on an auto. Her good hand is her weak side, so we had to teach her to shoot with her off-hand from day one. There's damage to her shoulder so we had to get her as light a gun as possible too. We ended up with a S&W 642; alloy frame hammerless. The DAO trigger was very trying for her and the recoil from standard .38 was just about all she could take. But she put a lot of effort into it and became a fair shot after that. She later discovered that she can work a tip-up barrel Beretta Tomcat in .32 ACP and since it's lighter and has less recoil, that's what she carries now.
So far everyone has succeeded in learning. I am not teaching tactical shooting, just basic gun-handling and marksmanship. Two of my students have gone on to get their carry permits. Only one has stopped shooting. I consider that success; more shooters are better than fewer.
16 December 2010
Name that party!
What was the party affiliation of the US President who raised an army and fought a war that ended chattel, race based, slavery?
What was the party affiliation of the US President who sent armed troops to ensure that black children could attend a previously all white school?
What was the dominate party in the former Confederate states that passed the so-called "Jim Crow" laws?
What was the party affiliation of the US President who sent armed troops to ensure that black children could attend a previously all white school?
What was the dominate party in the former Confederate states that passed the so-called "Jim Crow" laws?
15 December 2010
Exercise!
Today is Bill of Rights Day!
Get thee hence and exercise your enumerated rights!
Print a hand bill. Worship your God or Gods or not.
Buy, own or carry a firearm.
Kick a soldier out of your house, if you want to.
Lock the cops out of your house.
Don't talk to lawyers or judges.
Depend on the opinion of your peers, with a free lawyer.
Depend on the opinion of your peers over big money, more than $20!
Get out of jail, cheap. Receive the same sentence as anyone else (likely for trusting your peers and using a free lawyer).
Do something not mentioned here.
Twice, but let your state government do it too.
PS: I miss you Mom.
Get thee hence and exercise your enumerated rights!
Print a hand bill. Worship your God or Gods or not.
Buy, own or carry a firearm.
Kick a soldier out of your house, if you want to.
Lock the cops out of your house.
Don't talk to lawyers or judges.
Depend on the opinion of your peers, with a free lawyer.
Depend on the opinion of your peers over big money, more than $20!
Get out of jail, cheap. Receive the same sentence as anyone else (likely for trusting your peers and using a free lawyer).
Do something not mentioned here.
Twice, but let your state government do it too.
PS: I miss you Mom.
14 December 2010
Catastrophic, Anthropomorphic, Global Climate Change
First, the closest star is a main sequence variable; its output will vary. Literally by definition.
Second, because of our proximity to this star, the climate will ever be in flux.
Third, that means that while the changes may, indeed, be catastrophic, they are very unlikely to be anthropomorphic.
I've said it for years.
I note that the coldest winter I can recall since I moved to the Gunshine State is occurring right after the sun made almost no sunspots for better than a year.
Either that or what recycling and carbon crediting we did worked beyond our wildest imaginations.
I'm still betting on the sun.
Second, because of our proximity to this star, the climate will ever be in flux.
Third, that means that while the changes may, indeed, be catastrophic, they are very unlikely to be anthropomorphic.
I've said it for years.
I note that the coldest winter I can recall since I moved to the Gunshine State is occurring right after the sun made almost no sunspots for better than a year.
Either that or what recycling and carbon crediting we did worked beyond our wildest imaginations.
I'm still betting on the sun.
11 December 2010
On being a car guy...
The funniest thing I can hear about a car is "parts are no longer available" when talking about a common, popular car.
Especially wear items.
Perhaps Ford stopped stocking them, but Autozone has them. Betcha, betcha. Nine times out of ten they are identical quality and cheaper too.
I'm a hot-rodder. Parts abound! Of course, you have to take the time to learn about your car, find out what other lines used the same part, become buddies with the local junk yard, make contact with a club or forum about your car, etc...
A good example would be the front wheel hubs on an '88 Fiero. If you go to a GM dealer, discontinued. Places like Autozone don't carry them. If you are lucky, you can find a decent set at a salvage yard. But nothing new, right? Wrong. If you join the Fiero Forum and complain about not being able to find new hubs, you will be directed at The Fiero Store and they will be happy to sell you new ones they contracted to be made.
The Pontiac Fiero was not a high volume production car. The last year of production, 1988, has many items that are unique to it. Luckily there's a cult following.
But some cars, like a Ford Crown Victoria or Chevy Malibu were fleet queens. There were thousands upon thousands made. Anything that's a cop car or taxi has amazing parts support from the aftermarket.
The aftermarket routinely generates better parts than OEM too. Front steering components on my dear B-Body are in this realm. Moog mades a "problem solver" line that lasts as long as GM claimed theirs did.
So, if you love your car, don't give up on her! Learn how to fix it, learn where to get parts, buy some tools, and get wrenching! You'll save tons of cash in the long run too.
Especially wear items.
Perhaps Ford stopped stocking them, but Autozone has them. Betcha, betcha. Nine times out of ten they are identical quality and cheaper too.
I'm a hot-rodder. Parts abound! Of course, you have to take the time to learn about your car, find out what other lines used the same part, become buddies with the local junk yard, make contact with a club or forum about your car, etc...
A good example would be the front wheel hubs on an '88 Fiero. If you go to a GM dealer, discontinued. Places like Autozone don't carry them. If you are lucky, you can find a decent set at a salvage yard. But nothing new, right? Wrong. If you join the Fiero Forum and complain about not being able to find new hubs, you will be directed at The Fiero Store and they will be happy to sell you new ones they contracted to be made.
The Pontiac Fiero was not a high volume production car. The last year of production, 1988, has many items that are unique to it. Luckily there's a cult following.
But some cars, like a Ford Crown Victoria or Chevy Malibu were fleet queens. There were thousands upon thousands made. Anything that's a cop car or taxi has amazing parts support from the aftermarket.
The aftermarket routinely generates better parts than OEM too. Front steering components on my dear B-Body are in this realm. Moog mades a "problem solver" line that lasts as long as GM claimed theirs did.
So, if you love your car, don't give up on her! Learn how to fix it, learn where to get parts, buy some tools, and get wrenching! You'll save tons of cash in the long run too.
10 December 2010
And yet, nobody was killed.
The FAA lost track of 132k aircraft registrations and life has been normal. Makes me wonder if the registration was at all needed!
09 December 2010
Echo chamber, chamber, chamber, chamber...
I mentioned intractable gun decisions just the other day.
I forgot to mention the cannibal debates.
These are where people like a particular design, but feel the other person bought the wrong brand.
Tam's got a good comment thread going along those lines now.
Just makes you wanna say, "Why can't we just get along?"
My 1911 preferences are, I gather from reading some of these, odd.
I'm fine with the bare bones M1911A1. No extended controls, arched mainspring housing, and stubby beaver tail.
About the only change I would make is the sights. Perhaps on my next one...
The current one also serves a nostalgia role in that it's a clone of the gun I was issued as a tanker.
At any rate, I only have my personal experience to go on for this example. Springfield Armory did a good job with it. It's their GI model and the only upgrade I've made is a set of rosewood stocks. It's never failed to go bang and the only problem I've ever had was the $5 magazines I bought at a gun show dropping their baseplates.
I forgot to mention the cannibal debates.
These are where people like a particular design, but feel the other person bought the wrong brand.
Tam's got a good comment thread going along those lines now.
Just makes you wanna say, "Why can't we just get along?"
My 1911 preferences are, I gather from reading some of these, odd.
I'm fine with the bare bones M1911A1. No extended controls, arched mainspring housing, and stubby beaver tail.
About the only change I would make is the sights. Perhaps on my next one...
The current one also serves a nostalgia role in that it's a clone of the gun I was issued as a tanker.
At any rate, I only have my personal experience to go on for this example. Springfield Armory did a good job with it. It's their GI model and the only upgrade I've made is a set of rosewood stocks. It's never failed to go bang and the only problem I've ever had was the $5 magazines I bought at a gun show dropping their baseplates.
08 December 2010
Shame
I just realized that I only have one fully featured "assault weapon".
Kaylee is the only one with a telescopic stock, pistol grip, bayonet lug, threaded barrel, and a flash-hider / grenade launcher. I have two that come close, but the muzzle devices won't launch rifle grenades and one of those doesn't even have a bayonet lug.
Do I get bonus points that the lug on Kaylee is useless for mounting a bayonet because it's too far from the muzzle?
Kaylee is the only one with a telescopic stock, pistol grip, bayonet lug, threaded barrel, and a flash-hider / grenade launcher. I have two that come close, but the muzzle devices won't launch rifle grenades and one of those doesn't even have a bayonet lug.
Do I get bonus points that the lug on Kaylee is useless for mounting a bayonet because it's too far from the muzzle?
Hey, Andy!
If [semi-auto AK and M16 clones] are, "so difficult to control, their bullets often get sprayed beyond the intended targets, striking innocent victims even when they’re in their own homes." Then the last group of people who should have them are the police!
The vast majority of cops are mediocre marksmen. No slam intended, shooting is a teeny part of the whole job; and it shows at the range. If an AR is really that clumsy and random, then only a real expert should have them. Like teenagers straight out of high school wearing baggy clothes with bad hair-cuts (like a recruit in basic training).
But wait; the AR is not inaccurate. The AR is not difficult to shoot. The AR is not difficult to shoot well. Spraying beyond the intended target is a shooter problem, not a gun problem. The .223 round is also not good a penetrating houses, that's why it's a good home defense round, one sheet of drywall tends to stop it. My house has cinder blocks and then drywall for the exterior wall.
The AK is not renowned for its accuracy, but it's accurate enough that it's still a shooter problem.
But the ATF is all about things and rarely about actual criminals. Do something about the people breaking the laws with these guns and the problem with the guns themselves evaporates.
The vast majority of cops are mediocre marksmen. No slam intended, shooting is a teeny part of the whole job; and it shows at the range. If an AR is really that clumsy and random, then only a real expert should have them. Like teenagers straight out of high school wearing baggy clothes with bad hair-cuts (like a recruit in basic training).
But wait; the AR is not inaccurate. The AR is not difficult to shoot. The AR is not difficult to shoot well. Spraying beyond the intended target is a shooter problem, not a gun problem. The .223 round is also not good a penetrating houses, that's why it's a good home defense round, one sheet of drywall tends to stop it. My house has cinder blocks and then drywall for the exterior wall.
The AK is not renowned for its accuracy, but it's accurate enough that it's still a shooter problem.
But the ATF is all about things and rarely about actual criminals. Do something about the people breaking the laws with these guns and the problem with the guns themselves evaporates.
07 December 2010
Why I switched to Bing:
How Google commemorates Dec 7th.
How Bing commemorates Dec 7th.
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats - ...
At the beginning of his presentation, all nations have similar wealth and life expectancies. It's not surprising that, as time progresses, that will become true again as advances propagate around the world. I think it's just a demonstration that it starts someplace and that place advances ahead of the others.
05 December 2010
Quote of the Random Interval
I am enjoying the film, "Appaloosa" with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
It's a western and after the obligatory show-down the lines are:
Everett: "That happened quick."
Virgil: "Everybody could shoot!"
There's an entire body of information in those two lines.
The movie is well done, if you like westerns give it at least a rent.
It's a western and after the obligatory show-down the lines are:
Everett: "That happened quick."
Virgil: "Everybody could shoot!"
There's an entire body of information in those two lines.
The movie is well done, if you like westerns give it at least a rent.
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm
Nothing is better than a fine smoke, a single malt and a modern revolver chambered for an obsolete round.
Even if I did put ice in my scotch...
04 December 2010
Sarah Palin
I don't understand the level of hatred associated with her.
I will get out, right now, I don't particularly care for her. There's something ineffable about her that turns me wrong, but it's not hate.
It's super easy to find every gaff she's ever made too. Dumb Sarah Palin Quotes, Gaffes and Lies..
I think it's easy to demonstrate she's not an intellectual. I watched a bit of "Sarah Palin's Alaska." I couldn't watch it for the same reason I can't sit through an entire home movie. But is she an idiot?
I don't think she is. I think that she was definitely out of her depth during the '08 elections. She was clearly flustered by the pressures put to her. I don't want a presidential (or vice) candidate who can't take the heat. Since then I have seen several of her speeches at Tea Parties; that's not a moron talking. Yes, she's working from notes (some written on her hand!) but the content is more extemporaneous than anything I've seen from a politician lately. She might not be my choice as a political candidate, but she's a damn good pundit, now.
The heat that was frustrating her; if the media were impartial and unbiased it would have been applied to candidate Obama and his running mate. I would dearly love to see the gafftastic Joe "mumbles" Biden put to the same pressure. Some of his gaffs are listed under, Dumb Joe Biden Quotes and Gaffes.
People made such a huge thing about Palin making those same level of mistakes, but there's no massive ground swell of hate for Joe Biden. I deliberately sourced the quotes from the same site, why is Joe honest and Sarah a liar? Notice too that a good hunk of what's presented in her listing are not gaffes at all, or lies; merely things the aggregator disagrees with. I think my favorite quote from that link is, "'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" Um, she's right. You're mocking her about it, but she's right; and she knew about Shakespeare just making up words that have since become part of the language (that's not really common knowledge). 'Refudiate,' is actually not a bad one since 'refute' and 'repudiate' are very close in their meanings. Of course this is the same crowd that wants to ban the use of the word niggardly because it's racist.
I am just not seeing what makes people hate her. Of course, Bush was not Hitler either. Side note, if Bush were Hitler we'd have taken the neighboring French speaking nation (Canada) over without doing much shooting and we'd be well on our way to Brazil SEVEN YEARS AGO!
I think that's the real root here. They hate her for the same reason they hated Bush, they're irrational. If it was just a fringe group, it would not be such a worry, but it's the media members who are the fringe here.
I have mentioned it at the old place, it's difficult to talk about the issues when you have to spend all of your time explaining things are not as they are claimed. It was very tiresome to keep explaining that I didn't have to like Bush to see that he wasn't stupid or Hitler. I did not like him, he needed to veto a lot more and spend a lot less for me to like him. But we never get to the issues, we just talked about how he was or wasn't Hitler or how stupid he was.
Go ahead, keep thinking the people who disagree with you are stupid, it means you will constantly underestimate them.
Stop thinking that because I say you are wrong about someone that means I like them. It's your dishonesty I am refuting. My refutation is not an endorsement.
I will get out, right now, I don't particularly care for her. There's something ineffable about her that turns me wrong, but it's not hate.
It's super easy to find every gaff she's ever made too. Dumb Sarah Palin Quotes, Gaffes and Lies..
I think it's easy to demonstrate she's not an intellectual. I watched a bit of "Sarah Palin's Alaska." I couldn't watch it for the same reason I can't sit through an entire home movie. But is she an idiot?
I don't think she is. I think that she was definitely out of her depth during the '08 elections. She was clearly flustered by the pressures put to her. I don't want a presidential (or vice) candidate who can't take the heat. Since then I have seen several of her speeches at Tea Parties; that's not a moron talking. Yes, she's working from notes (some written on her hand!) but the content is more extemporaneous than anything I've seen from a politician lately. She might not be my choice as a political candidate, but she's a damn good pundit, now.
The heat that was frustrating her; if the media were impartial and unbiased it would have been applied to candidate Obama and his running mate. I would dearly love to see the gafftastic Joe "mumbles" Biden put to the same pressure. Some of his gaffs are listed under, Dumb Joe Biden Quotes and Gaffes.
People made such a huge thing about Palin making those same level of mistakes, but there's no massive ground swell of hate for Joe Biden. I deliberately sourced the quotes from the same site, why is Joe honest and Sarah a liar? Notice too that a good hunk of what's presented in her listing are not gaffes at all, or lies; merely things the aggregator disagrees with. I think my favorite quote from that link is, "'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" Um, she's right. You're mocking her about it, but she's right; and she knew about Shakespeare just making up words that have since become part of the language (that's not really common knowledge). 'Refudiate,' is actually not a bad one since 'refute' and 'repudiate' are very close in their meanings. Of course this is the same crowd that wants to ban the use of the word niggardly because it's racist.
I am just not seeing what makes people hate her. Of course, Bush was not Hitler either. Side note, if Bush were Hitler we'd have taken the neighboring French speaking nation (Canada) over without doing much shooting and we'd be well on our way to Brazil SEVEN YEARS AGO!
I think that's the real root here. They hate her for the same reason they hated Bush, they're irrational. If it was just a fringe group, it would not be such a worry, but it's the media members who are the fringe here.
I have mentioned it at the old place, it's difficult to talk about the issues when you have to spend all of your time explaining things are not as they are claimed. It was very tiresome to keep explaining that I didn't have to like Bush to see that he wasn't stupid or Hitler. I did not like him, he needed to veto a lot more and spend a lot less for me to like him. But we never get to the issues, we just talked about how he was or wasn't Hitler or how stupid he was.
Go ahead, keep thinking the people who disagree with you are stupid, it means you will constantly underestimate them.
Stop thinking that because I say you are wrong about someone that means I like them. It's your dishonesty I am refuting. My refutation is not an endorsement.
01 December 2010
Wow, that sure did hurt.
Jay G mentioned bad gun ideas.
A friend of mine has an American Derringer Company, um, Derringer. It's chambered in .410/.45 Colt.
I have always liked the looks of the old Remington .41 Over-Under and this looked just like one, except in stainless steel. Of course I wanted to shoot it!
So he provided us some ammo and we got together to shoot.
Everyone fired two shots of .45 Colt. That wasn't really too bad, it stung but it was easily bearable.
Some of us fired two more; .410 00 buck-shot this time. It had more kick than the .45 Colt and the sting had turned to actual hurt, but not to a "I'm injuring myself here" level.
The owner and I fired two more .45 Colt. My right thumb clearly expressed its displeasure about this and in no uncertain terms requested that I not do it anymore. This is where the owner quit for the day, smart man.
I loaded up two more .45 Colt rounds and fired. The first one was pretty much like the last two, "Ha! Take that thumb!" The eighth round, however, was much worse as my thumb took its revenge by dislocating at the first joint outside the web of the hand.
I no longer want a clone of a Remington Over-Under Derringer. Thag not dumb as look! Thag can learn!
So, remember kids, just say no to bad gun ideas.
I have since fired a vintage Remington Over-Under in the original .41 rimfires using black-powder. Much less devastating to the opposing digit. Of course, I stopped at four shots this time.
A friend of mine has an American Derringer Company, um, Derringer. It's chambered in .410/.45 Colt.
I have always liked the looks of the old Remington .41 Over-Under and this looked just like one, except in stainless steel. Of course I wanted to shoot it!
So he provided us some ammo and we got together to shoot.
Everyone fired two shots of .45 Colt. That wasn't really too bad, it stung but it was easily bearable.
Some of us fired two more; .410 00 buck-shot this time. It had more kick than the .45 Colt and the sting had turned to actual hurt, but not to a "I'm injuring myself here" level.
The owner and I fired two more .45 Colt. My right thumb clearly expressed its displeasure about this and in no uncertain terms requested that I not do it anymore. This is where the owner quit for the day, smart man.
I loaded up two more .45 Colt rounds and fired. The first one was pretty much like the last two, "Ha! Take that thumb!" The eighth round, however, was much worse as my thumb took its revenge by dislocating at the first joint outside the web of the hand.
I no longer want a clone of a Remington Over-Under Derringer. Thag not dumb as look! Thag can learn!
So, remember kids, just say no to bad gun ideas.
I have since fired a vintage Remington Over-Under in the original .41 rimfires using black-powder. Much less devastating to the opposing digit. Of course, I stopped at four shots this time.
Gun silliness
I am often amazed by, while I also participate in, the intractable positions about certain firearms.
Quite often there is no rational reason to take the position, nor a rational basis to defend it.
For a lot of things it comes down to an emotional decision. We simply like something and liking it we want others to like it too. Hey! Human nature again.
I have my gun prejudices, I try really hard not to mock others for theirs. If there's some factual basis for showing superiority, I try to keep it there. Oftentimes while touting the superior feature of our chosen baby, we forget the superiorities of the other.
We also fixate on our advantages while forgetting that the gun/round we are mocking may have been intended for a purpose completely contrary to the one our favorite was.
There are also a good many of these debates where the guns or rounds being compared were designed for the same thing, and do it completely differently.
The classics are, of course:
M16 vs AK
Stoner gas system (incorrectly called direct impingement) vs piston.
1911 vs Glock
.45 vs 9mm
Auto vs revolver
Semi vs Pump
Buck vs Slug
Irons vs Red-Dot
I am sure there are many others.
Quite often there is no rational reason to take the position, nor a rational basis to defend it.
For a lot of things it comes down to an emotional decision. We simply like something and liking it we want others to like it too. Hey! Human nature again.
I have my gun prejudices, I try really hard not to mock others for theirs. If there's some factual basis for showing superiority, I try to keep it there. Oftentimes while touting the superior feature of our chosen baby, we forget the superiorities of the other.
We also fixate on our advantages while forgetting that the gun/round we are mocking may have been intended for a purpose completely contrary to the one our favorite was.
There are also a good many of these debates where the guns or rounds being compared were designed for the same thing, and do it completely differently.
The classics are, of course:
M16 vs AK
Stoner gas system (incorrectly called direct impingement) vs piston.
1911 vs Glock
.45 vs 9mm
Auto vs revolver
Semi vs Pump
Buck vs Slug
Irons vs Red-Dot
I am sure there are many others.
30 November 2010
Problems
I sat down once and thought hard about where some philosophies ultimately lead.
I got some surprising answers, but I never really put them up for debate.
It occurred to me that feudalism is a logical conclusion to libertarianism. Feudalism is all about property ownership and the rights of property owners. Even if it's not where it will ultimately end, there's nothing inherent in it to violate a libertarian's sensibilities. In practice, it is much less libertarian, but it's not too hard to see a functional feudal-libertarian society.
Slavery is also A-OK with libertarians; provided that the slave sold himself willingly or as a punishment for a crime.
Interestingly, the nation-state system is a good way to point out some of the flaws about getting a libertarian society going. I'll try to find some simple examples and post them later. Actually, what Germany was up to in 1939 is a fairly decent example. Germany absorbed, attacked and conquered several nations with little to no interference from nations not attacked. What does libertarianism do to solve the, "it's not in my interest at all to honor the contract with x, especially since x will not exist tomorrow," problem? The treaty (contract) is with Poland, and there's a German answering at their number now...
I don't like having to pick on libertarianism. It's sure a spiffy utopia; but it's got some blind spots you could hide Jupiter in. For a philosophy to attain functionality it has to be practical in everyday use. Libertarianism doesn't have an effect defense against a group opting out and ganging up on the neighbors one at a time. They come pre-divided for conquer. There is no mechanism for enforcing contracts beyond shunning the contract breaker; all you have to do is watch mutual friends after a messy break-up to see how this doesn't work and there's almost nothing of import at stake there.
I got some surprising answers, but I never really put them up for debate.
It occurred to me that feudalism is a logical conclusion to libertarianism. Feudalism is all about property ownership and the rights of property owners. Even if it's not where it will ultimately end, there's nothing inherent in it to violate a libertarian's sensibilities. In practice, it is much less libertarian, but it's not too hard to see a functional feudal-libertarian society.
Slavery is also A-OK with libertarians; provided that the slave sold himself willingly or as a punishment for a crime.
Interestingly, the nation-state system is a good way to point out some of the flaws about getting a libertarian society going. I'll try to find some simple examples and post them later. Actually, what Germany was up to in 1939 is a fairly decent example. Germany absorbed, attacked and conquered several nations with little to no interference from nations not attacked. What does libertarianism do to solve the, "it's not in my interest at all to honor the contract with x, especially since x will not exist tomorrow," problem? The treaty (contract) is with Poland, and there's a German answering at their number now...
I don't like having to pick on libertarianism. It's sure a spiffy utopia; but it's got some blind spots you could hide Jupiter in. For a philosophy to attain functionality it has to be practical in everyday use. Libertarianism doesn't have an effect defense against a group opting out and ganging up on the neighbors one at a time. They come pre-divided for conquer. There is no mechanism for enforcing contracts beyond shunning the contract breaker; all you have to do is watch mutual friends after a messy break-up to see how this doesn't work and there's almost nothing of import at stake there.
28 November 2010
Instructions:
Copy this into your Blog. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Remove my (comments) and add (yours).
1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (all)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (I will not re-read this even on pain of death!)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (Part of the Chronicles of Narnia!)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare (Part of The Complete Works of Shakespeare!)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
A fair number of these I read because someone had made a movie out of it.
Copy this into your Blog. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Remove my (comments) and add (yours).
1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (all)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (I will not re-read this even on pain of death!)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (Part of the Chronicles of Narnia!)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare (Part of The Complete Works of Shakespeare!)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
A fair number of these I read because someone had made a movie out of it.
Lost Revenue.
When talking about intellectual property something comes up time and again.
How much money the owners are losing due to lost sales. Also known as "lost revenue".
It is certain that there are people who would have bought and paid for the content if it had not been available on the black market for free. What is wrong about the assumptions here is that everyone who obtained the content for free would have paid for it if that had been the only way to get it.
I think that is the majority of the "purchasers" and counting people who would have gone without rather than pay as lost sales is inflating the impact of illegal file sharing.
Let us also consider lost sales from other means. Recently Apple finally got to add The Beatles music catalog to iTunes. CNET's Buzz Report had a humorous mention of it. While they were wrangling about the right to SELL the catalog online, people were just ripping their CDs. People who would have happily paid $1.29 a song on iTunes but couldn't because it wasn't being offered for sale. This is a genuine lost sale. Even the original mp3 sharing haters, Metallica, have their tunes on iTunes.
How about "out of print"? There have been many songs I have wanted to purchase but could not because it was not available from iTunes nor from the local music store on CD. Oftentimes I am forced to make a longish drive to the used music store to see if they happen to have what I want. OK MPAA, who benefits from this if the used store doesn't have it? I don't have the song I want and nobody is getting paid. I want to pay, I spent money on electricity and connectivity to check iTunes and ebay, I spent money on gas and time to physically run to the local brick and mortar stores. Florida Power got paid. Verizon got paid. Shell got paid. The people selling music didn't get paid. The artist didn't get paid.
Tell me, MPAA, how is finding this song online from a pirate costing you money? You are refusing to sell it. I would like to point out that finding it at Vinyl Fever doesn't send any money your way either since it's used. Who's cutting whose throat here? What percentage of online piracy falls into this category?
As the copyright holder, it is your right to decide not to sell it. What I am attempting to point out to is that you are ignoring a market demand for a product you can sell! Digitize all the "out of print" songs in your vast libraries of music and sell them on your very own web sites for 50¢ a song. That's $0.50 more per song than you are making now. How much are you spending on lawyers to win judgements for sums you will never be paid? General Pyrrhus is calling on line two...
The big-huge neutronium simian in the room, movie and recording industries, is that your business model is broken. You are failing to adapt to changing conditions and it is killing you. What I think is happening is you can see that the successful music/movie model is much, much less lucrative (but still profitable) than the old one and you desperately don't want that to happen. What you need to accept is that it has already happened.
I have an IP example for you. Third Wire makes a combat flight sim I enjoy called "Strike Fighters 2". It's a series of six $20 installments. You get it via download at their web site. They do not put any form of copy protection or DRM on the files. I could pay once and make dozens of copies and send them to my friends on CD's for Holy Robaunakka without any difficulty. I don't because I am honest. What about others? The Strike Fighters series is conspicuous in its absence on torrent sites. Buh wah? How can that be?
I think it really boils down to a good product at a fair price. There's no anger about being "ripped off" to dissipate. Without the DRM there's no challenging puzzle to break for the hackers. Don't fool yourselves IP owners, that shiny puzzle is the entire reason some of these titles are out there. The DRM free pirate download is their proof they succeeded in solving the puzzle. People getting the product for free is a side effect, not a goal of the hacking.
Fix your model and business will follow.
How much money the owners are losing due to lost sales. Also known as "lost revenue".
It is certain that there are people who would have bought and paid for the content if it had not been available on the black market for free. What is wrong about the assumptions here is that everyone who obtained the content for free would have paid for it if that had been the only way to get it.
I think that is the majority of the "purchasers" and counting people who would have gone without rather than pay as lost sales is inflating the impact of illegal file sharing.
Let us also consider lost sales from other means. Recently Apple finally got to add The Beatles music catalog to iTunes. CNET's Buzz Report had a humorous mention of it. While they were wrangling about the right to SELL the catalog online, people were just ripping their CDs. People who would have happily paid $1.29 a song on iTunes but couldn't because it wasn't being offered for sale. This is a genuine lost sale. Even the original mp3 sharing haters, Metallica, have their tunes on iTunes.
How about "out of print"? There have been many songs I have wanted to purchase but could not because it was not available from iTunes nor from the local music store on CD. Oftentimes I am forced to make a longish drive to the used music store to see if they happen to have what I want. OK MPAA, who benefits from this if the used store doesn't have it? I don't have the song I want and nobody is getting paid. I want to pay, I spent money on electricity and connectivity to check iTunes and ebay, I spent money on gas and time to physically run to the local brick and mortar stores. Florida Power got paid. Verizon got paid. Shell got paid. The people selling music didn't get paid. The artist didn't get paid.
Tell me, MPAA, how is finding this song online from a pirate costing you money? You are refusing to sell it. I would like to point out that finding it at Vinyl Fever doesn't send any money your way either since it's used. Who's cutting whose throat here? What percentage of online piracy falls into this category?
As the copyright holder, it is your right to decide not to sell it. What I am attempting to point out to is that you are ignoring a market demand for a product you can sell! Digitize all the "out of print" songs in your vast libraries of music and sell them on your very own web sites for 50¢ a song. That's $0.50 more per song than you are making now. How much are you spending on lawyers to win judgements for sums you will never be paid? General Pyrrhus is calling on line two...
The big-huge neutronium simian in the room, movie and recording industries, is that your business model is broken. You are failing to adapt to changing conditions and it is killing you. What I think is happening is you can see that the successful music/movie model is much, much less lucrative (but still profitable) than the old one and you desperately don't want that to happen. What you need to accept is that it has already happened.
I have an IP example for you. Third Wire makes a combat flight sim I enjoy called "Strike Fighters 2". It's a series of six $20 installments. You get it via download at their web site. They do not put any form of copy protection or DRM on the files. I could pay once and make dozens of copies and send them to my friends on CD's for Holy Robaunakka without any difficulty. I don't because I am honest. What about others? The Strike Fighters series is conspicuous in its absence on torrent sites. Buh wah? How can that be?
I think it really boils down to a good product at a fair price. There's no anger about being "ripped off" to dissipate. Without the DRM there's no challenging puzzle to break for the hackers. Don't fool yourselves IP owners, that shiny puzzle is the entire reason some of these titles are out there. The DRM free pirate download is their proof they succeeded in solving the puzzle. People getting the product for free is a side effect, not a goal of the hacking.
Fix your model and business will follow.
27 November 2010
Violation of copyrights constitute a danger to homeland security?
WHAT?
I'll grant that what these web pages were doing is illegal, but is DHS the correct agency to be doing this? Immigration and Customs is mentioned here, but when did they get authority over strictly domestic commerce (or crime)? Isn't this an FBI thing? Like the message we all ignore while getting snacks says? It's literally an FBI warning, not a Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of the Department of Homeland Security Warning. Update: I gather that this article explains how DHS Div ICE has the authority to be enforcing copyright law. I notice the beginning of the article states "strong bipartisan support".
What leap of logic makes pirating a DVD something DHS should take action on and millions of illegal intruders from Mexico isn't?
If I watch a pirated movie, the terrorists win?
If I listen to a ripped CD, Osama Bin Laden declares victory?
This has got to the fastest I have ever seen mission creep assert itself. It took 60 years for the ATF to add explosives to their name and less than ten for DHS to assert that interstate is the same as international. International commerce, the stuff we have customs for.
This is the small thing that makes we worry that the next thing will be customs stations at state borders.
And here is my little fight back proposal. Choke this at the source.
Stop buying music and movies. Do not go to the theater. Do not attend concerts larger than a small bar. Do not buy CD's. Do not purchase DVD's. Don't download pirated stuff either, that encourages at least one person to keep buying. Consume nothing the MPAA or RIAA has hold of. Starve them. You can't tell me they don't deserve it.
This also has the side effect of starving the crazy celebrities who constantly use their status to tell us how we're living our lives wrong.
Perhaps once starved the MPAA and RIAA will adopt a business strategy that will sell the product for a price people are willing to pay.
UPDATE: More on the story.
American Thinker on the general story.
Examiner on S.3804
I'll grant that what these web pages were doing is illegal, but is DHS the correct agency to be doing this? Immigration and Customs is mentioned here, but when did they get authority over strictly domestic commerce (or crime)? Isn't this an FBI thing? Like the message we all ignore while getting snacks says? It's literally an FBI warning, not a Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of the Department of Homeland Security Warning. Update: I gather that this article explains how DHS Div ICE has the authority to be enforcing copyright law. I notice the beginning of the article states "strong bipartisan support".
What leap of logic makes pirating a DVD something DHS should take action on and millions of illegal intruders from Mexico isn't?
If I watch a pirated movie, the terrorists win?
If I listen to a ripped CD, Osama Bin Laden declares victory?
This has got to the fastest I have ever seen mission creep assert itself. It took 60 years for the ATF to add explosives to their name and less than ten for DHS to assert that interstate is the same as international. International commerce, the stuff we have customs for.
This is the small thing that makes we worry that the next thing will be customs stations at state borders.
And here is my little fight back proposal. Choke this at the source.
Stop buying music and movies. Do not go to the theater. Do not attend concerts larger than a small bar. Do not buy CD's. Do not purchase DVD's. Don't download pirated stuff either, that encourages at least one person to keep buying. Consume nothing the MPAA or RIAA has hold of. Starve them. You can't tell me they don't deserve it.
This also has the side effect of starving the crazy celebrities who constantly use their status to tell us how we're living our lives wrong.
Perhaps once starved the MPAA and RIAA will adopt a business strategy that will sell the product for a price people are willing to pay.
UPDATE: More on the story.
American Thinker on the general story.
Examiner on S.3804
Nigel Farage: 'Who the Hell do You Think You Are: The Euro Game Is Up!'
Wow! I think we could do with a bit of this insulting honesty in our legislative chambers.
26 November 2010
Organic and sustainable...
There's an old racist joke; "What do you call ten black guys sitting in a field?" "Abandoned farm equipment."
I was watching "Cadillac Records" last night and it had a couple of scenes showing how Muddy Waters was discovered and that showed how sharecropping was done in 1941. Lots of people with hand tools in the fields doing what a tractor and some chemicals does today.
Slavery was GREEN!
So was the Peasant/Serf deal.
Bear in mind that this is the logical conclusion of "organic" agriculture. To get everyone back in the fields labor has to be cheap enough that prices of the crops are not affected. Think about how little our farm equipment must be paid. It rapidly gets to the point where just feeding them is all a land-owner can afford.
Even without slavery or feudalism, manual farming is a low profit venture. The romanticized family farm for centuries was mostly a sustenance level business with very little going to sale. Access to market was a large part of it. Why grow more than you can eat if what you have to sell is going to rot before you can get it to the buyer? This is also why grain is so much more common a crop than, say tomatoes. Grain is a lot easier to render to a form that can be stored until, at least, next season. This means a wagon of it will last until it can be horse drawn to the market for sale.
Do some reading about the medieval diet. Cereals and legumes dominate. Then some fruits and root vegetables and finally a wee bit of meat. Things that were not cereal tended to be grown at home in a garden.
When was the last time you were confronted with a organically sustainable cattle drive?
Where did all this rustic, sustainable, Gaia friendly agriculture go?
It was mechanized.
Even back during the Civil War slavery was doomed. A cotton gin was simply cheaper than keeping slaves from a purely economic perspective. The moral argument falls pretty squarely on the gin's side too.
Then there are trains. Trains allowed the crops to be delivered to distant locations before they could spoil. They allowed animals to be carried to the slaughterhouse in much healthier condition, giving the rancher more profits.
Then there are plows, discs, planters, combines, pickers, seeders, sprayers... All manner of handy machines developed to make farming faster and less labor intensive. Those increased yields means more food, more food means less famine.
Then we have chemicals. Fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. More food survives to be harvested, more money for the farmer, more food-less famine. These chemicals are what makes our current methods of farming sustainable. They replenish the chemicals in the soils and just the chemicals that were depleted without dropping a large percentage of material that's hazardous to life while growing and clings to the crop all the way to market. Look up why pottage had to be boiled for three hours to be safe to eat some time; it has nothing to do with flavor or texture preferences.
Then there are genetically altered crops. Which is something I always giggle about. Our distant ancestors have been genetically altering our (their) food since before we stopped hunter-gathering. Just ten thousand years ago, that boutique toy chihuahua's ancestor was a wolf. Mr yip dog is the product of genetic alteration via selective breeding.
Wheat was, centuries ago, just a kind of wild grass. The same sort of husbandry was used to create better yielding crops.
Modern gene altering really just eliminates some random chance and speeds up the process. The output is not really any different, in fact that's a goal. To make the plant more resistant to hazard X without lowering yields or changing quality. Quality means things like flavor and safety.
So just remember, when some environmentalist starts talking about "sustainable" agriculture, it's talking about slavery and famine.
I was watching "Cadillac Records" last night and it had a couple of scenes showing how Muddy Waters was discovered and that showed how sharecropping was done in 1941. Lots of people with hand tools in the fields doing what a tractor and some chemicals does today.
Slavery was GREEN!
So was the Peasant/Serf deal.
Bear in mind that this is the logical conclusion of "organic" agriculture. To get everyone back in the fields labor has to be cheap enough that prices of the crops are not affected. Think about how little our farm equipment must be paid. It rapidly gets to the point where just feeding them is all a land-owner can afford.
Even without slavery or feudalism, manual farming is a low profit venture. The romanticized family farm for centuries was mostly a sustenance level business with very little going to sale. Access to market was a large part of it. Why grow more than you can eat if what you have to sell is going to rot before you can get it to the buyer? This is also why grain is so much more common a crop than, say tomatoes. Grain is a lot easier to render to a form that can be stored until, at least, next season. This means a wagon of it will last until it can be horse drawn to the market for sale.
Do some reading about the medieval diet. Cereals and legumes dominate. Then some fruits and root vegetables and finally a wee bit of meat. Things that were not cereal tended to be grown at home in a garden.
When was the last time you were confronted with a organically sustainable cattle drive?
Where did all this rustic, sustainable, Gaia friendly agriculture go?
It was mechanized.
Even back during the Civil War slavery was doomed. A cotton gin was simply cheaper than keeping slaves from a purely economic perspective. The moral argument falls pretty squarely on the gin's side too.
Then there are trains. Trains allowed the crops to be delivered to distant locations before they could spoil. They allowed animals to be carried to the slaughterhouse in much healthier condition, giving the rancher more profits.
Then there are plows, discs, planters, combines, pickers, seeders, sprayers... All manner of handy machines developed to make farming faster and less labor intensive. Those increased yields means more food, more food means less famine.
Then we have chemicals. Fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. More food survives to be harvested, more money for the farmer, more food-less famine. These chemicals are what makes our current methods of farming sustainable. They replenish the chemicals in the soils and just the chemicals that were depleted without dropping a large percentage of material that's hazardous to life while growing and clings to the crop all the way to market. Look up why pottage had to be boiled for three hours to be safe to eat some time; it has nothing to do with flavor or texture preferences.
Then there are genetically altered crops. Which is something I always giggle about. Our distant ancestors have been genetically altering our (their) food since before we stopped hunter-gathering. Just ten thousand years ago, that boutique toy chihuahua's ancestor was a wolf. Mr yip dog is the product of genetic alteration via selective breeding.
Wheat was, centuries ago, just a kind of wild grass. The same sort of husbandry was used to create better yielding crops.
Modern gene altering really just eliminates some random chance and speeds up the process. The output is not really any different, in fact that's a goal. To make the plant more resistant to hazard X without lowering yields or changing quality. Quality means things like flavor and safety.
So just remember, when some environmentalist starts talking about "sustainable" agriculture, it's talking about slavery and famine.
24 November 2010
Ranges
The range I frequent most often is indoor. The lighting sucks. At the firing line there are no lights. The space behind the line is well lit and the range itself is lit fairly well.
What this gives is the rear sight of my AR is lit from behind and the front sight is in shadow.
It's surely affecting my accuracy.
There's a nice outdoor type range that's a pain to get to and has hours that don't mesh well with mine. I will definitely have to see if I get different results up there.
What this gives is the rear sight of my AR is lit from behind and the front sight is in shadow.
It's surely affecting my accuracy.
There's a nice outdoor type range that's a pain to get to and has hours that don't mesh well with mine. I will definitely have to see if I get different results up there.
Something about this doesn't make sense...
“The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences,” the release said. “During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.”
Um, isn't that thing you are using to send a text also a phone? Don't try to say you didn't have minutes since every cell phone is required to be able to talk to 911 even if it's got no service connected to it.
Truly, it is the little things.
I change my own oil.
On one hand it's a tedious chore. On the other it's a moment of zen.
It's absolutely dirt simple. Get the ramps out. Drive the car up on them. Get the tools out. Crawl under the car with the drain pan. Take out the drain plug and drop the filter. Crawl out from underneath. Get the new filter ready. Crawl back under. Replace the drain plug. Install the new filter. Crawl out from under, bringing the tools and pan. Pop the hood. Put in the proper amount of the correct oil. Check the oil level. Close the hood. Drive down off the ramps. Put the ramps away. Sweep and clean up. Put car away.
Do you know how many people cannot do that even if provided with tools?
Do you know how many people can do that, but don't own the tools?
This is something everyone should know how to do and have the tools to do it. Even if you take it to Jiffy Lube, you should be able to do it on your own.
On one hand it's a tedious chore. On the other it's a moment of zen.
It's absolutely dirt simple. Get the ramps out. Drive the car up on them. Get the tools out. Crawl under the car with the drain pan. Take out the drain plug and drop the filter. Crawl out from underneath. Get the new filter ready. Crawl back under. Replace the drain plug. Install the new filter. Crawl out from under, bringing the tools and pan. Pop the hood. Put in the proper amount of the correct oil. Check the oil level. Close the hood. Drive down off the ramps. Put the ramps away. Sweep and clean up. Put car away.
Do you know how many people cannot do that even if provided with tools?
Do you know how many people can do that, but don't own the tools?
This is something everyone should know how to do and have the tools to do it. Even if you take it to Jiffy Lube, you should be able to do it on your own.
23 November 2010
Hmmmmm?
Since I have dipped my toe into product testing; I would be more than happy to give one of these a spin should one magically appear on my door-step.
+3 mag extension and bayonet lug for Remington 870.
+3 mag extension and bayonet lug for Remington 870.
Hecho en Canada.
I agree, can we give them directions too?
Read the whole thing.
Realizing that you are losing your grip on the public schools, that the youth that propelled the boy-king to victory have abandoned you, that the bitter, blue collar white workers are now Tea Party grandmas and grandpas, that you have lost control of the federal checkbook and the legislative calendar,Yeah, that says it nicely.
now you want to petition for peace?
now you cry out for civility and consensus?
I have a message for you:
Go. To. Hell.
22 November 2010
Rate of Fire
In my ammo test below, despite having an NFA registered deadlysemiautomaticassaultweapon I didn't manage much for a rate of fire.
I fired 90 rounds in about 40 minutes.
I had only brought the one twenty round evilhighcapacityfeeddeviceclipmagazinethingthatgoesup.
My cyclic rate of fire is 2.25 rounds per minute. A musket can do that!
For shame. For shame.
I fired 90 rounds in about 40 minutes.
I had only brought the one twenty round evilhighcapacityfeeddeviceclipmagazinethingthatgoesup.
My cyclic rate of fire is 2.25 rounds per minute. A musket can do that!
For shame. For shame.
Expansion on "Giving Up?"
The undertone I keep getting from the quitters is that nothing will change where we are headed, except bloody revolution.
I wonder why they are so dead set against peaceable means.
Ultimately these efforts may prove to have been futile; but only in hindsight can we be certain they are.
Besides, if you drop me in the middle of the Pacific it is very likely I will drown. That does not mean I will stop treading water because the outcome is preordained. There's a very slim chance of a ship finding me. I will take that chance.
I wonder why they are so dead set against peaceable means.
Ultimately these efforts may prove to have been futile; but only in hindsight can we be certain they are.
Besides, if you drop me in the middle of the Pacific it is very likely I will drown. That does not mean I will stop treading water because the outcome is preordained. There's a very slim chance of a ship finding me. I will take that chance.
Ammunition review
Ammo For Sale has a marketing rep who read my Live Journal and is apparently reading this blog as well.
She contacted me and asked if I would be willing to give them and some ammunition a review.
I agreed.
Two days later I had two 20-round boxes of Sellier And Bellot 5.56x45mm 55gr M193.
I cannot complain about the speed of the shipping for free ammo; but if I had paid for it I would be thrilled at how fast it got here! Yes, FCC, it was provided for free by Ammo for Sale so that I would review it. The boxes were well packed in their shipping box and were undamaged in shipping.
Another disclaimer I should put out there is that I was already a fan of Sellier and Bellot because they are one of the few companies who loads 6.8x43mm SPC.
I brought along some PPU M193 and Black Hills blue box 68gr Heavy Match HP for comparison. Previously, Sabrina has really "liked" the Black Hills ammo.
To the range!
All shots were fired from the lovely Sabrina resting on a block. Sabrina has an 11.5" 1:9 chrome-lined target-crowned 4150 barrel with a faux-moderator on it. She is a registered short-barrel rifle. I run an M16 bolt carrier and an H type buffer.
I would like to point out that I am not an elite sniper tacticool marksman or anything. I consider myself a fair to middlin shot, and you can see that here.
First I fired 10 rounds of the S&B M193 at 25m to check my zero.
Then 10 rounds at 50 yards.
Then 20 rounds at 100 yards. I should not that I can't see these half sized silhouettes very well at this distance on Shoot-Straight Tampa's indoor range very well. The key-holes on the side are caused by the ventilation system curling the target round and not a lack of stabilization in the ammo.
Next I fired 10 rounds of the PPU at 50 yards.
Then 20 rounds of Black Hills at 50 yards.
And finally 20 rounds of Black Hills at 100 yards.
I think that the S&B is comparing favorably to the Black Hills at 50 yards, but has just a bit more spread at 100. It's a LOT cheaper too. The PPU was marked as Yugo surplus when I bought it and it was about the same price that Ammo for Sale is charging for S&B.
There was a more noticeable flash from the muzzle than with the Black Hills ammo, but nothing dazzling. The spent casings were coming out in the 3-4:30 arc.
All in all I am very happy with the performance of this ammo; especially since it's cheaper and groups tighter than the surplus fodder I had been using for plinking. When I get some money ahead I fully intend to buy some!
She contacted me and asked if I would be willing to give them and some ammunition a review.
I agreed.
Two days later I had two 20-round boxes of Sellier And Bellot 5.56x45mm 55gr M193.
I cannot complain about the speed of the shipping for free ammo; but if I had paid for it I would be thrilled at how fast it got here! Yes, FCC, it was provided for free by Ammo for Sale so that I would review it. The boxes were well packed in their shipping box and were undamaged in shipping.
Another disclaimer I should put out there is that I was already a fan of Sellier and Bellot because they are one of the few companies who loads 6.8x43mm SPC.
I brought along some PPU M193 and Black Hills blue box 68gr Heavy Match HP for comparison. Previously, Sabrina has really "liked" the Black Hills ammo.
To the range!
All shots were fired from the lovely Sabrina resting on a block. Sabrina has an 11.5" 1:9 chrome-lined target-crowned 4150 barrel with a faux-moderator on it. She is a registered short-barrel rifle. I run an M16 bolt carrier and an H type buffer.
I would like to point out that I am not an elite sniper tacticool marksman or anything. I consider myself a fair to middlin shot, and you can see that here.
First I fired 10 rounds of the S&B M193 at 25m to check my zero.
Then 10 rounds at 50 yards.
Then 20 rounds at 100 yards. I should not that I can't see these half sized silhouettes very well at this distance on Shoot-Straight Tampa's indoor range very well. The key-holes on the side are caused by the ventilation system curling the target round and not a lack of stabilization in the ammo.
Next I fired 10 rounds of the PPU at 50 yards.
Then 20 rounds of Black Hills at 50 yards.
And finally 20 rounds of Black Hills at 100 yards.
I think that the S&B is comparing favorably to the Black Hills at 50 yards, but has just a bit more spread at 100. It's a LOT cheaper too. The PPU was marked as Yugo surplus when I bought it and it was about the same price that Ammo for Sale is charging for S&B.
There was a more noticeable flash from the muzzle than with the Black Hills ammo, but nothing dazzling. The spent casings were coming out in the 3-4:30 arc.
All in all I am very happy with the performance of this ammo; especially since it's cheaper and groups tighter than the surplus fodder I had been using for plinking. When I get some money ahead I fully intend to buy some!
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