Unhatched Egg

Waiting for the shipment from S&W is a bit like it being Christmas Eve and waiting for Santa.

When I first talked about this on a forum there was a lot of hopeful speculation that I'd be getting a brand new gun because the Sigma is abandonware at S&W and that there weren't parts available to fix the problem mine had.

I'd assumed since they just gave me a tracking number that I was getting my original Sigma back.

A different gun would require shipping to an FFL because The Law, right?

A couple of responses in that thread have mentioned brand new guns being sent directly to the customer in lieu of the busted original.

I really did think that was illegal.  Anyone know for sure?  A reply on a gun forum is worth what you pay for it, so they could simply be wrong.

Further Adventures With Ubuntu

Not really all that adventuresome at the end of the day.

Computers that use a GUI for the user to run things are more alike than different for most things the average person does.

I'm at the level where if I have to leave that GUI bubble, I will have no idea what to do with Linux.  Which is pretty much the same as is that happening with OSX 10.6 too.

I know a spattering of terminal stuff for Windows from my 3.11 days, but a whole lot.

The only "pressing" problem for me and using Ubuntu is to get special characters like the cross/dagger symbol, accented characters, money characters etc... That appears to be handled with a character map application.  I need to explore making keyboard shortcuts for the ones I use most.

The Mac handled this about best of any OS I've dealt with.

Something I'd forgotten when doing the "set up new computer" thing was all the personalization you take for granted.  Like your RSS notifier and script blocker.

I'm getting there.

Guess Again!

18.04 proved to be unable to play movies and TV shows from Amazon Prime.

20.04 has show it can after downloading a new version of the browser.

Mutter, mutter, mutter...

Never mind that it appears to work fine on earlier versions of the OS and browser...

Odd problems are what I have.

Guess What OS I'm Using

Because I am not an OS warrior, I've noticed that past a certain date, a computer is a computer with some small differences in where the buttons are hidden.

I posted this from Ubuntu 18.04 off a thumb drive from the same machine I had Win 7 installed on.

Update: because there's no Thunderbird 78 for this distro I can't move my email profile to the new OS.

Have I Mentioned This?

I really dislike computers.

They've got their uses, but I don't really like them.

Especially when they don't do what they're supposed to do when you've told them to do it.

Ich Keine Juden

The more I read the mass media attributing every instance of opposition to "white supremacy" I keep wondering:

If white supremacists are so damn powerful, why the heck aren't they in complete and uncontested control of everything?

It's the same question that comes up about Jews as the National Socialists take control of Germany.

In both cases, the "power" is simply an illusory attribution of a group of people looking for a scapegoat to blame to avoid scrutiny being applied to themselves for their own failures.

I've mentioned it before, ANYONE CAN BE THE JEW.

Today, THE JEW is some reddit users showing the hedge fund managers have no clothes on.

Tomorrow, it could be you.

Easy To Avoid

Now that I've tasted the sweet nectar of the S&W 59, I am reminded that I don't have a pistol caliber carbine of any kind.

That leads to contemplation of the Marlin Camp Carbine.

This path leads to madness.  Those things are as expensive as crack!

The sad truth is the the pistol caliber carbine I really want is an old 9mm CAR-15.

The Marlin is absolutely affordable by comparison.  Especially when you factor in that the SBR version of that CAR-15 is the one I want...

The 9mm AR doesn't even take any magazine I currently have.

The Marlin would use the S&W 59 mags.

A Kel-Tec SUB-2000 comes in a couple flavors of magazine I already have.

There's AR's what take Glock mags, but... I think they look silly.

Which brings us to the king of silly looking PCC, the Ruger PCC.

And at the end of the day, you have what amounts to a huge pistol.

There's a fine line between here and insanity.

Is It Just Me?

 Is it just me, or do the old S&W boxes remind you of something you'd get from Ollivander's in Diagon Alley?

Hmfph! Muggle weapons.

As Red Green Would Say

If the girls don't find you handsome, at least let them find you handy.

I fixed the kitchen drain today.

A down-drain extension and a p-trap were NOT in stock at either the local Home Despot or Louie's.

The rinky-dink teeny Ace Hardware... They had everything I needed.

The old drain was slipping off the strainer's down-pipe because the nylon compression washers were getting stiff and had shrunk.  There was also a drip at the wall stub because the previous installation had used a compression fitting instead of the correct gasketed one.

All better now.

Of course, The Lovely Harvey, only informed me of the slipping last night.  She'd be stuffing things back together for about 2-1/2 years.  This could have been fixed YEARS ago!

Less than half and hour, less than $20.

Smith And Wesson Email

The Sigma appears to be winging its way back to me.

They never did contact me about the cost of the repair, but the "Adult Signature Required" with the tracking information informs me that it's the same gun I sent them in the first place.

Now we wait to see if they fixed it, or if it's in the same state as when it left.

Eyes crossed.

Full Circle

The AMC and Gamestop stock climb fucking the hedge funds with dicks dipped in resin then rolled in ground glass is making me laugh ruefully.

I am wondering, after reading a couple of analyses, if there isn't a revenge factor involved here.

How many people lost a shit-ton in 2008 and are aware that hedge funds were at the core of that?

"The Big Short" did well at the box office, and probable informed a lot more people.

There's a worry about what will happen when the WallStreetBets people start selling.

Selling is what people who bought stocks to make money do.

People who bought these stocks to fuck hedge funds have made their purchase and don't care as long as the hedge funds got fucked.  It's also very likely that they didn't buy enough for a complete loss to hurt them at all.

Not Quite Flush

The Mec-Gar MG-SW59-17 magazines aren't quite flush...  They have a plastic bumper/baseplate instead of a sheet metal one, like the OEM mags.  This plastic bumper is the norm for 3rd Gen S&W mags.

Stock 14-rounder:

Mec-Gar 17-rounder:

π Equals 3

GURPS is coarse.

Sometimes real world things don't show up because the granularity is too coarse.

A classic example came up today.

The S&W Model 59 is 2.3 lb. loaded with its stock 0.6 lb. 14-round magazine.

A 17-round magazine is also 0.6 lb.!

This is because you round to the nearest 1/10 lb. for most things.  Too heavy for "neg" weight, but lighter than 0.1 lb. will go to more decimal places.  .22LR is a classic example of this because if you make it negligible, the players will start carrying boxcar loads.

But do the magazines, in fact, weigh the same?

No, they do not.

The 14-round magazine is 8.8 oz.  The 17-round magazine is 10.1 oz.

Making that decimal pounds comes to 0.55 and 0.63125 lb. respectively.  They both round to 0.6.

The MecGar 17-round mags fit and feed just fine.  Happy Dance!

This has come up a few times before where the extended capacity magazine weighs the same as the original in GURPS terms.  A 15-round mag for a Browning High-Power is the same as a 13-round.

Grand As In Thousand?

There's a thread on Arfcom about someone who bought an $80 grand chopper from Orange County Choppers at the height of the show's popularity and discovering that it's worth about what the stock Harley motor what's in it is.

The stock, 65hp Harley motor...

You'd think for $80k you'd get something from S&S with more balls.

We watched the show back in the day and we'd frequently notice and comment on the slip-shod quality and general lack of craftsmanship on the signature, theme builds.  I mean, how many times do you have to chase the clogged threads from powdercoating before you stop being surprised that it happens, or tell the powdercoater to plug the threaded holes?

It turns out that those theme builds on the show were them exhibiting their utmost attention to detail compared to the bikes they sold from their showroom.

There are also videos about the greatness of them!

Hilarity.

Winners And Losers

In 1955 the US Army, after dangling the promise of a large order and a prize for winning the competition in front of the firearms industry... decided that they had plenty of serviceable M1911A1's and wouldn't be needing a new pistol after all.

Smith and Wesson took their X100 design to market as the Model 39.

Saive Me

My favorite 9x19 is, by far, the JMB inspired, Dieudonné Joseph Saive developed, Grand Puissance.

When your gun is used by both sides in WW2 and almost everyone in NATO adopts it, you made a winner.

It stuck the landing so hard that it took concerted effort with the wonder nines to supplant it.

FN even registered protests with the US pistols trials over the double action requirements.

Though the first 9mm I owned was a Glock, my love has always been to HP.

The HP appears on so very many character sheets in historical settings thanks to its 13 round magazine.  More beans is never a bad choice in any RPG with firearms.  The High Power is available from 1936, and there isn't another double stack that you can convince a GM actually existed until 1971 and the S&W Model 59 hits the shelves.

Winners And Losers

Smith and Wesson introduced the 2nd Gen version of the Model 59 as their entrant into the XM9 pistol competition.

The 459 was almost the same as the 59 except with the addition of a firing pin block.

The 459 didn't win, the Beretta 92 did.

The Smith is decidedly less horse-pistol in scale.

I never really warmed to the M9.  I was issued one and didn't do well with it.  Lost my "expert" pistol badge for "marksman" in the transition from .45 to 9mm in the bargain.  The "expert" tank-weapons badge salved my pain some.

The Beretta's safety is better placed than the 59, though.

There's a part of me that's watching foreign companies supply all of our small arms that thinks we should have put a thumb on the scale for Smith.

Of course, if you'd asked me in the Iowa State Memorial Union in 1986 while we were playing Twilight: 2000 I'd have told you that we should have adopted the Glock 17.

I am a willow, not an oak.

Alternate T2K

We've done a couple three alternate versions of Twilight: 2000 set in different years than the original game.

It's included "what-if" weapons on occasion.

One version had secondary standard rifles because Springfield wasn't able to keep up with production of the M14.  So we had H&R making the US version of the FAL as the M17 and Colt making a version of the AR-10 as the M16.

Other "what-if" weapons have seen the S&W Model 39 as the M4 pistol.

Remembering that got me to thinking that if the Army had gone with the M4 back in '55; pitching the 459 for the XM9 competition might have been a shoe-in.

Narrow vs Widebody

In the wooden stocks, weighing in at 2 lb. loaded with 8-shots: A 1975-1976 Model 39!

In the nylon stocks, weighing in at 2.3 lb. loaded with 14-shots: A 1974-1975 Model 59!

These are the first generation of Smith and Wesson's semi-auto lineup.

They are way more similar than different.

The slides even nearly interchange!  The safety won't engage with the 39 slide on the 59 frame.  The 59 slide on the 39 frame is fully functional.

Be careful you don't get them mixed up!

The 39 has an arched back strap, the 59 is flat.  This give the 39 about 1/8" less reach for the trigger.

The 39 is only slightly narrower overall 1-3/16" vs 1-5/16".

The shape of the grips are completely different, the 39 is much more oval.

Neither is uncomfortable, but the 39 is more comfortable.

Special thanks! to The Chomps Collection for the loan of the Model 39!

Disconnected

Delving deeper into how the 1st Gen S&W Semi-Auto works...

There's two things that disable the trigger on this Model 59.  It holds true of the 3rd Gen as well.

The safety and the magazine disconnect.

Both are nubbins in the slide which press down on a lever in the frame.

The safety also trips the sear and drops the hammer.

Both levers press the trigger bar out of engagement with the hammer and sear.

Simple.

Legal In Washington Again

That's Washington PNW not Washington DC.

Renewed my Utah non-resident CCW permit and it gets me Washington over my Florida resident permit.

Used to get me Washington and Wisconsin, but Wisconsin and Florida appear to have kissed and made up so I get The Mystical Land of Cheese with my native permit now.

Smith And Wesson Model 59

My wide-body Model 39 arrived today!

We went, had supper, drank a couple beers, played some Gelatinous and I feel energized!

Here she is!

It got the original box, the cleaning rod and brush, a spare magazine and a warranty card.  I am SO very tempted to fill out that card!

The spare magazine has been electropenciled with a different serial number from the pistol.

It tips the scales at 2.3 lb. loaded with 14 rounds of 9mm, a loaded magazine is 0.6.  I've got two Mec-Gar 17-rounders coming.

The trigger is fairly smooth in double action at 12 lb. 8 oz.  Single is excellent at 5 lb. 5 oz.

This compares favorable with a Model 39's 11 lb. 7 oz. double and 4 lb. 8 oz. single.

It's far better than the budget 3rd gen 915 and 910.

Interestingly, the 59, 915 and 910 all seem to share the same magazine, except, the stock 59 magazines will not lock into the 910.  It doesn't quite make it up far enough to lock in.

Can a model 59 take a lanyard?

Why, yes, it can!

Definitely more to come!

Busy Day

First we awoke this morning to the overwhelming stench of piss.

The Boy's meds strike again.  They knock him out so fully that he pissed the bed.

Normally we keep pads and stuff to keep it from ruining the mattress, but sometimes the wash schedule gets off and he wets it anyway.

This was the last time the mattress would bear it.

New mattress from GoodWill.  They don't even accept old mattresses thanks to all the bed-bug infestations.  It was more than I wanted to spend, but a lot less than I expected.

Then we moved on to the main shitter.  The toilet flange had corroded beyond serviceable use.

We used a crutch flange thing that bolts to the floor.  Hopefully that will buy us a couple of years.

The S&W 59 arrived!  Too pooped to take more than the most cursory picture with my phone for now...

It actually looks better in person than in the auction.

Unpossible!

I was told promised that if we raised the age to purchase a firearm to 21, banned bumpstocks and enacted red-flag laws that we'd never see high school students shooting at other students again.

I guess they were wrong, I wish someone had said something.

Not A Real One

The Chomps Collection has loaned me a CZ 75 P-01.

The original CZ-75 is one of the original wonder-nines.

Prices on those things are impressively high and full of the big-names of customization.

The P-01 will have to serve as a representational sample of the breed for purposes of comparison.

It might not be a perfect comparison because the P-01 has a decocker.  The original had a safety.

The decocker also means there's three trigger pulls for this pistol.  One probably shouldn't be used...

The one that shouldn't be used is with the hammer fully down, even though there is a firing pin block.

But you have a different pull from fully down, half cock and full cock.  Half cock is where the decocker drops the hammer.

In The Before Time

I remember when, before the Wu Ping Cough, when you could order something from Midway and expect it to leave the building that same day.

Now it takes them a week to get it out the door.

Even the Obama panic didn't cause this much slow down.  The only problem then was it being out of stock, or over priced.

Now it's in stock, but they're so damn busy they can't process the orders quickly anymore.

This bodes well for our team with regards to the constituents reaction to gun control.

Lather Rinse Repeat

Time and time again...

Dem: We need to elect a Democrat!

Me: I disagree, they're going to do X and you won't like it.

Dem: No they won't, we donated to their campaign!

Democrat they support gets elected.  They do X.

Dem: How did this happen?  Why didn't anyone warn us?

This time it's watching the unions freak out about oil leases.

Oh! So That's How That Works!

Despite not being much of a fan of magazine disconnects, I seem to accumulate designs with this feature.

On most guns, it's pretty easy to disable.

You just have to figure out how they work.

Smith and Wesson's family of semi-auto pistols starting with the Model 39 have one.

I'd read, in several places, to disable it, you needed to remove the rear sight.

That got me really curious about how it worked.

It's really simple.

The ejector is also a lever.

If it's pressed down into the frame, it disconnects the trigger.

There's a plunger in the slide, under the rear sight, which presses down on the ejector.

The magazine pushes the ejector back up and lets the trigger work.

So far I have resisted taking the Model 910 down far enough to see HOW depressing the ejector disables the trigger.

The Reunion Attendance Possibilities Is Getting Sparse

Mira Furlan, who played Delenn on Babylon 5 has passed away from West Nile Virus at the age of 65.

There's damn few of the main cast still with us and that sucks.

Babylon 5 stood out for a number of reasons to me.

The overarching, multi-season plot was not least of it.

The fact that it was actual, Niven definition, science fiction made it really break out from it's Star Dreck competition.

It never had the budget that Paramount threw casually at Star Trek, which made costuming and sets kind of cheap, but it used state of the art CGI for all of the outside shots.

Canonical

The Lovely Harvey was just saying the other day that she had just started getting into photography when The Boy came along and everything became work all the time.

Her mom shares a similar story with film photography.

FuzzyGeff conspired to get Harvey a Canon EOS M3!

M3 with 18-55mm on the left, M50 with 15-45mm on the right.

 I chipped in for the 18-55mm lens.

She's going to want a zoom before too long, but she's already been playing with it and making happy noises.

Happy Dance!™

The Road To Wonder Nine Discovery

The germ of this obsession begins with my noticing that there isn't another double stack 9mm for around 35 years after the FN/Browning Grand Puissance sticks the landing.

The H&K VP.70 almost doesn't even count, but low production and unpopular doesn't knock it off the list.

But we brainstormed the contenders (and forgot the VP.70) and came up with HP-35, S&W 59 then Beretta 92 then a gap until Glock and then suddenly EVERYONE.  Paging Gary Oldman, paging Gary Oldman.

That got me looking at what makes a wonder-9 and thinking about going hands on with the historical analysis.

The road to getting the Model 59 leads through the Navy SEALs.

Specifically me doing the GURPS: SEALs in Vietnam playtest.

But it doesn't even start there!

Where this really starts is when I tried to find the missing M numbers. 

There are a lot of M numbers which have been assigned, but not recorded because they are XM designations.

This missing M search led me to find the several attempts to replace the M1911A1 with a 9x19mm NATO pistol.  I think the S&W X100 would have been the M4 pistol had DoD proceeded with the program... but don't quote me on that.

The X100 is refined into the S&W 39, they'd spent the money developing it, why not see if it would sell on the commercial market?

Although the Army didn't replace the M1911A1 with the Model 39, the SEALs bought a few.  They also modified some into the 9mm Pistol and Suppressor Kit Mk23 Mod0 (Mk22 Mod0 pistol plus Mk3 Mod0 suppressor) or "Hush Puppy".

Someone with the SEALs said, "wouldn't this be 20% cooler if it could take High Power magazines?"

Custom made guns were made by... someone... and S&W was asked if they could make more.

S&W reckoned that they could (with a proprietary magazine), but didn't get finished developing their version until the war in Vietnam was all but over and the SEALs were no longer receiving lavish funding that could drive weapons development.

S&W asks, again, "we spent all that money developing it, why not see if the commercial market wants it?"

And they made over 200,000 of the things in just under 10 years.

Ich Frage Mich, Neun Pistole

The S&W 59 quest led to actually looking up if there was an "official" definition for "wonder nine".

Sort of?

Wikipedia says, "'Wonder Nine' refers to any semi-automatic pistol that is chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum and has a staggered column magazine, as well as a double-action trigger for at least the first shot"

They list some examples, including the VP-70 and Glock 17.  That surprised me, I'd been thinking that to be a wonder nine you had to have a hammer.

This would make the VP-70 the first wonder nine, but I don't recall that the term pre-dating the S&W 59.

I did find this interesting write up about them though.

I did find out who coined the phrase:

"Wondernine: A term coined by gunwriter Robert T. Shimek to denote the modern breed of 9mm Parabellum auto pistols of recent design, usually featuring high magazine capacity and a double-action trigger mechanism or other modern ignition system (e.g., the squeeze-cocker of the Heckler & Kock P7 series or the Safe Action of the Glock)." 

J. Libourel

Queue The Bee Gees

One thing about buying a pistol from the 70's that's actually been shot a bit is you can look at things like this:

With amusement rather than horror.

If These Are Sequential

I just noticed my Gunbroker order number is 1,131,049 higher for the 59 than for the 45C.

In two months from late November to mid-January.

Five months before (June to November) that the order number had shifted 1,727,750.

Purchases are accelerating?

One thing is reasonable certain, nobody is buying this stuff with the intention of handing it back.

No $1,400 For ANYONE!

I gutted it out as long as I could.

Willard spotted me the money for a S&W 59.

I had narrowed my choices down three.

An early ('74-'75) one with both magazines, cleaning kit and the box that was ending within 24 hours.

A new in box ('77-'78) example with all the accessories that ends in three days.

A very nice last year ('81) with just the gun and a single magazine with a buy it now and weeks to go.

The first one ended in the wee hours this morning and that's where I had my bid.  I dig the "PAT PEND" roll mark on the slide...

I won!

Buyer's remorse of a sort is setting in as I watch nobody bidding on that NIB example; however I've been watching similar 59's going for near $700 and the bidding getting intense.  Just a bit more than I had to spend.

Never mind I have an aversion to being the first person to shoot a gun that's been kept new for so long.  Worse than a gun you can't shoot is a gun you won't.

Almost as nice, but with some wear?  Where's the ammo?  Let's go shootin'!

The NIB example starts $20 more than my winning bid on the first one, had the highest credit card fee and highest shipping charge.  I've forgotten to take this into account before.  In this case, if it goes for the initial bid that $20 extra bucks becomes $40 more when the dust settles.  Not a lot... but.

The pistol I did win also had a phenomenon I've noticed many times at ebay and Gunbroker.

Nobody bids on it, it gets relisted several times, I bid on it, several other people begin bidding as well.  There's times I wish I'd finished that psych degree and could get a grant to study things like this.

SIG Is Dropping 10mm Kurz

In a thread about SIG-Sauer deciding to discontinue pistols in .40 S&W this little gem was seen:

".40 cal was made for cop-wannabees who could never in their wildest dreams make the cut."

That's got to be the most brutal, yet subtle, slam of the FBI I've ever seen.

As Long As I'm In There

Being paranoid, I check the differential and transmission levels on The Precious every few months.

Because the concept of a dipstick has been lost to modern automotive engineering, you have to unscrew the fill port to check the fluid level.

That means putting the car in the air, and because nobody would ever service their car at home with a floor jack... the car must also be level when you make your check.

Because the transmission and differential are in the back, to make the car level you have to have the front in the air too.

Everything was properly filled.

Since the front was already in the air...  Might as well change the oil!

Two birds, one stone.

More fun than watching the media suck an old man's cock today.

Femme ST

GURPS makes no distinction between the sexes with regards to stats.

The average woman gets the same ST 10 as the average man.

Adventurers get a lot more points than the average person, but the starting strength for both sexes is still 10.

But...

In the real world I've been bumping into lots and lots of XX chromosome people who can't rack a slide.

In the Vette world I've seen many ladies who cannot remove the targa top on their own car without assistance.

It makes you wonder if ST 10 is appropriate, in the real world, for the average woman.

There's no debate in a game world.  A game is supposed to be FUN and starting two points short on ST without any corresponding advantage isn't fun.

March On DC And Disrupt The Inauguration!

I haven't bothered to watch the damn thing since before I was allowed to vote, what makes this agent provocateur think I'm going to drive a thousand miles (one way) to get my ass arrested?

Because that's what's going to happen to the LUCKY people who're dumb enough to try to violently protest the swearing in of Joe Biden.

The unlucky might just get themselves shot.

The National Guard is not well known for trigger discipline in the face of unruly crowds (cough cough Kent State).

These exhortations to come be violent at the new government smack of traps.

Considering that the majority of membership in several racist organizations was undercover feds at several points in history, it's entirely believable that some Agence trois lettres is selling rope for hangings and will let you buy as much as you'd like.

Maynard Tape Lighter

 Well worth the twenty and change minutes to watch!

Whiteness Is Too Inclusive

It appears that the problem with "whiteness" is that anyone, regardless of race, gender, creed, sex, or sexual orientation can join up.

Worst White Supremacy EVAH!

Racism, you're doing it wrong!

How many can you add?

First Transgender My Ass

Janet Reno paved this ground a long time ago.

Arts And Crafts

 Got the training pineapple all painted up.

Training grenades have this gaping hole in the bottom.  There's a training fuse that screws in the top, just like a real grenade, that has a the same delay as a frag; but with just a little squib charge to go bang so you know the grenade has gone off.

What I have is a dummy fuze.  It doesn't even have a hammer under the spoon.  It's also too modern for a Mk.II; there's a groove for a safety tab.

The yellow stripe is deliberately too wide and amateurishly done.  Don't want it to look too real, don't wanna scare people.

I'm getting quite a collection of fake grenades built up.  The best looking are the movie props I mail-ordered from Hong Kong.

I'll Give Them A Little Credit

Doing a slight bit of Devil's advocacy...

Perhaps having 25,000 troops to defend the inauguration is a simple acknowledgement that there's 75 million upset voters out there.

Three percent of 75 million is 2,250,000 pissed off people.

I recall some really inflammatory rhetoric coming out of some threeper keyboards just a few years ago, so this could just be prudence.

Of course, 12 years ago when they were being inflammatory, nobody tried to take away their blog or get them fired.

Reading Too Much Into It?

I poked at Smith and Wesson about my Sigma and got this reply.

Angus,

The firearm is currently in the repair process. Once the firearm has been repaired they will log in the repair notes. Average turnaround time for warranty repairs at this time is approximately 6-8 weeks.

You will receive an email with return tracking information upon completion of your firearm.

We apologize for the inconvenience and truly appreciate your patience and understanding in the matter.

If you have any other questions please feel free to contact us

Thank you and Have a Great Day!

Smith&Wesson values its customers and we are happy to have served you today. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require further assistance.

Regards, Veronica

That sure sounds like they're graciously covering it under warranty if it's already in the repair process without contacting me to proceed.

Eyes crossed!

How Many Military Coups By Colonels Are There?

Am I the only one who's noticed that's a lot of troops inside the perimeter with all three branches at the same time?

The FBI has, apparently, noticed and is trying to vet the troops.

Are they vetting the officers?

Not that it would do much good. The officer who would pull off a coup is also an officer who's going to withstand all scrutiny before they act.

I have several history books supporting my supposition.

It's Not Us And It's Blatantly Not Us

Looks like things are getting a little heated in DC and AntiFa/BLM are at the barricades yelling and screaming.

I am thinking that Pandora had a better chance of getting stuff back in the box than the Dems will of getting their rioters to chill.

They taught them that violence, burning and looting was how to get their way.

Now they're not happy about being ignored by the people who formerly encouraged them.

It would really be a shame for some national guardsman to channel his Kent State forebears and open up on them.

That'd be a real tragedy.

It'd probably make the news and everything.

Mañana

A long time ago I got a bare metal casting of a dummy Mk II Pineapple grenade.

I'd intended to paint it up so it'd look kewl as a background prop in the some of the gun pics I take.

That was a while ago...

My mañana is nearly in Inshallah territory.

Tonight it got a coat of olive green.  Tomorrow a yellow stripe on the top.

No filler or anything nefarious, and the half inch hole in the bottom denotes it was originally cast to be a training grenade.  I've left the big-obvious hole so that it can be easily told from a real one; especially since "inert" real ones have recently gone off on unsuspecting youths.

Angus Do You Have A Gun I Could Buy?

As a matter of fact, I often do.

I have a couple of lines of interest in collecting and have ended up with an extra example of something when I got a better one.

Sometimes I ended up with a lot of something because the sellers didn't differentiate between the sub-models.

The extras go on GunBroker and all's well.

But lately I've been asked by friends or friends of friends about buying a gun from me.

As long as they're legal to own, there's no issue selling them one.  I looked it up.  I'm a law abiding citizen of the federation.  If there's ever even a sniff they aren't allowed to own:  Meet me at an FFL, gimme the money, and now you can talk to the FFL about the transfer of your new gun; buh bye (which is what selling on GunBroker is).

The problem, over and over, is they don't really want to buy a gun.  But they string me along for a couple of months waffling about it until I give up.  I'll trade it in for a Wal Mart gift card before I'll sell to them now.

Now my reply to new petitioners will be, "show me the money."  ¡Sin dinero! ¡Sin arma!

I Have The Power

If only I can use it wisely.

It occurred to me while I was staring at the History Eraser Button "buy it now" button for a Model 59 on Gunbroker.

If I scrape the bottom of the barrel.  If we forgo getting the new kitten spayed.  If we raid the tire fund.

I, just barely, have the money to stab that buy-it-now button.

And everything will be fine because Unca Joe and Granny Nancy is sending me another $1,400 real soon now.

But it won't.

This is the power I have.

I stab that button and there won't be any $1,400 Stimulus III.

And one of the cars will break.

One of the cats will get sick.

One of us will get sick.

Or something.

The only solution, to ensure that the stimulus checks go out as planned, is for you dear readers to stab that donation button early and often to enable me to press the History Erasure Button...

Bitch Please

Maybe I'm just jaded, but the more footage from the Capitol "riot" I see and the less I think it was a riot.

VEISHA was a riot.

If an "insurrection" can't top college students having a snit over changes to underage drinking enforcement...

Let's Panic About Something Else Now!

Overheard someone breathlessly reporting that UPS had stopped all shipping of ammunition.

They said they got it right from the driver's mouth that only ammo still in the system was being delivered and no new shipments would be.

I think I found what was going on, but don't have the wherewithal to confirm it.

I believe that the issue isn't the ammo, but the change in labeling from ORM-D to some Hazmat sticker.

Anything marked with ORM-D after x date is improperly marked and cannot be shipped.

https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/packaging-and-supplies/special-care-shipments/hazardous-materials/ground-orm-d.page

https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/packaging-and-supplies/special-care-shipments/hazardous-materials/shipping-ammunition.page? 

Their own webpage seems to confirm my theory.

You Had It In Your Pocket

.25 ACP is known both as the round that's killed many, many people and as a round which is woefully insufficient for stopping an assault.

.25 ACP does a whopping 1d pi- out to 90/950.  Acc 0.

Not a sniper round.

1d pi- will do 0-3 points of damage to the torso with ball ammo.

Hollow points get upgraded to 1d(0.5) pi and 0-5 damage to the torso.

Let's start at 7 yards with our knife wielding assailant.

Range is -3.  Skill 15.

We assume we have the pistol ready at 7 yards and make a sighted shot.

15 + 1 - 3 = 13.  With a Rcl of 2, on average we should hit twice to the torso.

On average with HP we deliver 4 total points of damage.

Our assailant isn't much phased and he continues his assault and advances 5 yards.

Now that range is -0 we change our targeting to vitals.

Same chance to hit, same 2 rounds hit on average.

HP will deliver 15 damage on average.

Combined with the 4 we did earlier, that's 19.  Consciousness roll, but no death rolls.  On average they make it.

Their move is reduced to 1 at this point, but we only have ONE round remaining in our vest pocket.

Vitals again!  7 for HP (26 total) and  they will likely make the death roll.

Averages suck.

They're going to fall over dead, eventually, but probably not in time to keep you from being stabbed.

Jeepers Piepers

Willard came across this lovely today:

 

The Steyr is of the "basculant" style, which means the barrel does tip.  There is no extractor, so this is like the great-grand daddy of the Beretta Jet-Fire.

A neat, and odd, feature is you can set it to single load.  The magazine has two latch grooves in it, so you can insert the magazine partially in the well and the gun will not grab a round from it, allowing you to tip the barrel up and load one round at a time keeping the magazine in reserve.

No, I don't know why either.

 

If you're saying to yourself, "Didn't you do this one already, Angus?"

I kinda did!  This is an Österreichische Waffenfabrik Gesellschaft, Steyr Model 1909; the previous write up was a Fabrique d'armes automatiques Nicolas Pieper 1909 Model D "demontant" which means the barrel doesn't tip up.

They're very much alike (Pieper on left, Steyr on right).

Facial Recognition

Watching the facial recognition software relentlessly find and track down the people who broke into the Capitol Building makes me realize that we could be arresting AntiFa rioters too.

But someone doesn't want to, so they don't.

Tech Know Logick

I am reminded, again and again, of the sage wisdom from more than one of my hacker buddies.

"If you don't have a local copy, you don't own shit."

My first personal experience with this was buying a kindle version of TE Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom".

One day I went to open it up and the Kindle app on my phone said I had downloaded it on too many devices and would have to repurchase it.  Since I no longer had those dead phones... I tried to buy it again.

Not available for sale any longer.

Now I have a paper copy.

I've listened to more than one friend exclaim that they couldn't watch a movie or show they'd paid for on a given service.  They're doubly hot if they only subscribed to that service to buy that show.

Contemplating A Big Move

I am strongly considering a move to a Linux distro.

I've dabbled with Ubuntu before, so I'm not completely unfamiliar.

JT recommends Zorin.

It looks like Linux is much more mature than it once was.

All of the apps I use daily are there, especially since iTunes became a steaming pile of suck with regards to video playback on Win7.

I think that iTunes only runs well on the old Mac Pro because the OS got cut off from support and iTunes never got updated to suckage there.

That machine isn't online any more, but it makes a dandy entertainment center!

Yet The Estimate Never Rises

 434 million firearms were made for private sale in past 25 years.

That's fascinating.

The reason it's fascinating is the estimates of how many firearms are held in private hands never increases.

They keep saying 300 million guns.

We keep saying that MUST be low.

Hognose did a great analysis, and Looserounds saved it from being lost forever.

The things last near forever and they're still making them by the, literal, truck load. 

I'd love to find out what percentage of guns made since 2004 have been semiautomatic and have larger than 10-round magazines.

The AWB didn't slow down semi-auto pistol production one whit and compliant rifles abounded.

I do know that prior to the AWB I had to scour shops to find an AR or AK style gun in Iowa.  In fact, to get an FAL I had to make one from an Entreprise receiver and a British L1A1 parts kit and after the ban I had to special order the (ban compliant) Daewoo DR-200.  After the ban lifted, they were everywhere!

We were once the weirdos with our big magazines in our Mini-14's (because at one time a Mini was way cheaper than an AR) at the range.

I don't think I've been to the range in years without seeing someone else there with at least one.

Why am I going on and on about this?

Common use.

I cannot remember the case, but we have a ruling that decided that common use was as few as 10,000 (100,000? if someone can find this case I could quote it) knives of a certain kind were protected by common use; we've got millions of AR's out there.

Note: when there's millions of something and literally fewer than a handful used in crime: that something isn't a problem.

The rulings are generally in our favor, if we could just get standing and certiorari...

Potential For Violence

So Google has shut down President Trump's YouTube channel.

They cite its potential for violence as if it was the channel's content that has people enraged.

Liberals have never been good at cause and effect.

It's like when they blame the gun for the murder and not the person pulling the trigger.

Aside: A new level of how insane gun control is just smacked me!  They're effectively saying that without guns, the nutcase who'd murder me with one can't use a gun - therefore problem solved.  Except that the nutcase is still out there with murder in its heart... Uh...

Donald Trump getting the Republican nomination isn't the cause of the rage.

Donald Trump being elected president isn't the cause of the rage.

Donald Trump saying the things he says isn't the cause of the rage.

The rage comes from being ignored.

The rage comes from being dismissed.

The rage comes from having your motives mis-characterized as racist, sexist and homophobic.

The rage comes from being suppressed and silenced.

The people who supported Trump are the cause, he was a symptom of that pent up rage.

You could teleport him, naked, to Pluto and it wouldn't stop the rage.

Wanna stop the rage?

You're going to have to sit down, shut up, and listen to us.

You're going to have to take our concerns seriously.

You're going to have to allow that we have the right to exist.

You're going to have to abandon policies which have the effect of eradicating us.

We have every right to be whom we are.

You have to act like you believe that and you must respect that.

Otherwise...

Much hotter heads than mine will prevail and there's no coming back.

Sabers And... Snippet 9

Lieutenant Fowler was dreading this moment.  It wasn't going to be popular with the men at all.

"Sergeant Wood!  Assemble the troop!"

"SIR!"

With I-Troop assembled, Lt. Fowler addressed the men.

"Men, for the expedition through the gateway, we will be taking our sabers."

As expected, the troop responded with groans.

"I know, I know, they get in the way and just weigh the horse down, but we don't know what we're going to find on the other side and if we can expect anything like a resupply.  Your sword will not run out of ammunition and will work even under extreme magical assault."

Sergeant Jenkins raised his hand to ask a question.

"No Corporal, the fact that I have an enchanted saber was not part of the decision for us to bring our blades."

Sergeant Jenkins jerked his hand down.

Going Blind

Chief among the things that make growing old not for sissies is the loss of vision.

While playing around with some left handed pistol draws, I discovered my left eye works unassisted way better than my right.

Happily I'm not the kind of person who has to fight eye dominance.

I also found I can easily get my left eye at the pistol's sights with a right-handed stance.

I really need a set of glasses with the bi-focal range in the upper and inboard section of the lens.

That will also make working on the car a lot easier.

Cases Up CFR Down

Deaths over Confirmed Tests is still dropping!

P0.0154 at present.  P0.00093 if the CDC's estimate that only 6% of deaths are actually from Wu Ping Cough...

New tests are coming up 11% positive, and that's an increase from the 8.5% before the holidays.

I am wondering how many of the 1.5 million tests are multiple tests on the same people because that's 66 and change percent of the population.

We're also starting to doubt the veracity of the testing to a degree.

Mid November The Boy and I got sick as dogs.  I lost my sense of smell for three weeks, kept my sense of taste.  All we wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep.  No energy or strength at all.  101 fevers.

Marv got hit about three weeks after me and was looking seriously like he was looking for Death's Door to knock on.  He lost a lot a weight from not eating because everything tasted "gritty".  Even the chicken soup we brought over.  He tested negative.  It's been more than a month and two rounds of antibiotics and steroids and hes just getting his energy back.

One of Harvey's friends and her husband have tested negative and both have no energy, fevers, no taste or smell.

If it's not COVID, there's something else running around that acts like it but doesn't show on the tests.

If the tests are invalid, then we have a lot of folks running around spreading it because they tested clean.

Not that we did any running around when we got sick.  We got knocked on our butts.

Off-Handed

Something a lot of us neglect is practicing in degraded mode.

What if your good arm isn't working when you have to get to your pistol?

Can you still get to it with your off-hand?

If you can, can you hit the broad side of a barn shooting with the other paw?

Might be a good idea to find out when the stakes are low.

Hey! We Could Be Next!

The leaders of Australia, EU, France, Hungary, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Poland, and Russia (RUSSIA!) have all come out condemning the silencing of Donald Trump.

I think they might just have noticed that the very same companies which silenced him could do the same to them in exactly the same way; except, as foreign nationals, they have even less recourse to try and stop it.

These are American companies doing this, not Australian, French, German or Mexican.

As someone else put it, "you know you're over the skis when Angela Merkel is chastising you over freedom of speech."

My Ass Will Be Staying Home

It pains me to say it, but should there be a group of armed morons going to the state capitol, I will not be among them.

I know! Right?

Normally I'm as moronic as it comes.

But even I can see this trap.

And the calls to show up, armed, at the state capitols is a trap.

A ploy to begin a conflict that nobody on the pro-liberty side wants if it can at all be avoided.

We still want peace.

Someone else wants violence and Warre.

Not me.  I've been there and done that and it's not a happy place for me.

Especially since I'm old and broken.

ArfCom Revenant

ArfCom has implemented their contingency plan and moved to a different DNS provider than GoDaddy.

Who did you register your domain name with?  Was it GoDaddy?  Might wanna vote with your wallet.

Arfcom Is Slain

GoDaddy nuked AR15.com today.

This is what I was warning about when I said privatizing who runs the DNS stuff was a bad idea.

When it was government held, I could assert I had a right to a domain and to have a DNS to find it under my freedom of speech rights.

Private companies are free to squelch at will.

Live Nude Rounds

 

To help support C&Rsenal I bought their patch sets.

Then set to amuse myself!

Miracle Drives

FuzzyGeff and I were discussing the Epstein Drive from The Expanse.

It's definitely a reaction drive, but it's WAY too efficient.

That got us talking about the maneuver drive from Traveller.

OG Little Black Book (LBB) Traveller drives has fuel listed for the power plant.  The description links that fuel to the maneuver drive.

If you think of the power plant fuel as reaction mass for the entirely too efficient maneuver drive, it kinda works.

But OG LBB Traveller drives also appear to move a volume irregardless of mass.  Empty cargo bay? 1G.  Cargo bay stuffed with depleted uranium?  1G.

Later editions of Traveller explicitly stated that the maneuver drive was reactionless and made thrust and you needed to figure out the mass of your ship to get your acceleration.

I like for the players to need to get fuel to be able to maneuver.  GURPS: Traveller's power plant didn't even need fuel, it was contained inside the plant and there was enough in there for 10 to 50 years.

Since the reactionless thrusters run on the output of the power plant; you can, in theory, accelerate for 50 years.  That's some significant delta-V!

The hitch, of course, is to firewall the throttle for 50 years you're going to be skipping your annual maintenance overhaul AND that interval is based around a 50% duty cycle.

More Optimism Than Caution

Took The Precious out for an extended test drive with some spirit to force the traction control to operate to see if the problem is cured or would recur.

The light stayed off and no DIC warnings.

Cleaning that ground was, by far, cheaper than any of the parts the manual said it could be if there was nothing wrong with the wiring.

Blame AurichTech Shipyards

They did a bit of geekery in a reply about my lights and I did the same in return.

In the process of remembering that Darmok isn't the name of the race played by the irreplaceable Paul Winfield, I found an interesting write up about how the Tamarian language works and why the universal translator can't parse it.

I also remembered that I thought the conceit in the episode wasn't very believable.  No real people would ever speak like that...

Then it hit me.

Tamarians speak in what's effectively Cockney rhyming slang!

It Always Trips Me Up

.357 Magnum dates from 1934.

I know this.

I've known this for years.

But every time I see an article on George S Patton's S&W Registered Model I'm all like, "they didn't have .357 Magnum in WW2!"  George bought his in the first year of production.

Note the grip adapter!

But they did.

I think it's because S&W essentially still makes the same gun (or at least one that looks a lot like it at a glance).

Let There Be Light(s)

Took down two ceiling fans at the inlaws.

One was replaced with a simple light, the other with a new fan.

The wiring up there is... odd.

The fan in the living room, when we got there had the light operated by the pull chain, but power to the fan on a wall switch.  The new fan's light runs on the switch and the fan on the chain: like it's supposed to be.

The fan between the kitchen and garage door was basically useless where it was positioned and the light was horrid.  A new light fixed that right up!

Mother-In-Law picked the models out and she's got an eye for what will look good in the place.

Still Available

I'd mentioned abomination commemorative 1911's before.

The two I'd mentioned are still available!

Here and here.

It would seem that I'm not the only one who has the ability to resist their charms.

Hurry before supplies run out?  Or something?

Pointless Expenditure

I fired off the $25 and change renewal for my non-resident Utah carry permit.

That lets me carry in Washington in addition to the states that have reciprocity with Florida.

I don't expect to be in Washington in the next five years, the duration of the permit.

C'est la vie.

Used to be the Utah permit got me Wisconsin and Washington.  Apparently WI and FL have come to an understanding.

$5 a year is nothing for an additional state, so mox nix.

Ranking

A thought occurred to me reading about civilian control of the military. I remember Bill Clinton as being the first president in a long time who hadn't served. That got me to thinking about what rank the various presidents attained in the Military.

Note that the "reserve" does not mean "not active duty". The military has long divided the officers into regular and reserve.

I am showing election to election unless there's a death or resignation for the dates.

2020-         Joe Biden (Democrat) -- No military service.

2016-2020 Donald Trump (Republican) -- No military service.

2008-2016 Barack Obama (Democrat) -- No military service.

2000-2008 George W Bush (Republican) -- 1st Lieutenant (O-2) -- Air Force -- No combat

1992-2000 Bill Clinton (Democrat) -- No military service.

1988-1992 George H W Bush (Republican) -- Lieutenant (O-3) -- Navy Reserve -- WW2 Combat

1980-1988 Ronald Reagan (Republican) -- Captain (O-3) -- Army Reserve -- No Combat

1976-1980 Jimmy Carter (Democrat) -- Lieutenant (O-3) -- Navy -- No Combat

1974-1976 Gerald Ford (Republican) -- Lieutenant (O-3) -- Navy Reserve -- WW2 Combat

1968-1974 Richard Nixon (Republican) -- Commander (O-5) -- Navy Reserve -- WW2 Combat

1963-1968 Lyndon Johnson (Democrat) -- Commander (O-5) -- Navy Reserve -- WW2 Combat

1960-1963 John Kennedy (Democrat) -- Lieutenant (O-3) -- Navy Reserve -- WW2 Combat

1952-1960 Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) -- General of the Army (O-11) -- Army -- WW1 and WW2 Combat

1945-1952 Harry Truman (Democrat) -- Colonel (O-6) -- Army -- WW1 Combat

1932-1945 Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat) -- No military service.

1928-1932 Herbert Hoover (Republican) -- No military service.

1923-1928 Calvin Coolidge (Republican) -- No military service.

1920-1923 Warren Harding (Republican) -- No military service.

1912-1920 Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) -- No military service.

1908-1912 William Taft (Republican) -- No military service.

1900-1908 Teddy Roosevelt (Republican) -- Colonel (O-6) -- Army -- Spanish/American War Combat

1896-1900 William McKinley (Republican) -- Brevet Major (O-5) -- Army -- Civil War

1892-1896 Grover Cleveland (Democrat) -- No military service. Drafted for Civil War and paid his way out of service.

1888-1892 Benjamin Harrison (Republican) -- Brevet Brigadier General (O-7) -- Army -- Civil War

1884-1888 Grover Cleveland (Democrat) -- Same guy as 1892-1896

1881-1884 Chester Arthur (Republican) -- Quartermaster General (O-7) -- New York Militia -- No Combat

1880-1881 James Garfield (Republican) -- Major General of Volunteers (O-8) -- Army -- Civil War

1876-1880 Rutherford Hayes (Republican) -- Brevet Major General of Volunteers (O-8) -- Army -- Civil War

1868-1876 Ulysses Grant (Republican) -- General of the Army (O-10) -- Army -- Mexican/American War and Civil War

1865-1868 Andrew Johnson (National Union/Democrat)-- Brigadier General of Volunteers (O-7) -- Army -- No Combat

1860-1865 Abraham Lincoln (Republican/National Union) -- Captain (O-3) -- Illinois Militia -- No Combat

1856-1860 James Buchanan (Democrat) -- Private (E-1) -- Army -- War of 1812 -- Only enlisted president!

1852-1856 Franklin Pierce (Democrat) -- Brigadier General of Volunteers (O-7) -- Army -- Mexican/American War

1850-1852 Millard Fillmore (Whig) -- Major (O-5) -- Army -- No Combat

1848-1850 Zachary Taylor (Whig) -- Major General (O-8) -- Army -- War of 1812, Blackhawk War, Second Seminole War and Mexican/American War

1844-1848 James Polk (Democrat) -- Colonel (O-6) -- Tennessee Militia -- No Combat

1841-1844 John Tyler (Whig/Unaffiliated)-- Captain (O-3) -- Virginia Militia -- War of 1812

1840-1841 William Harrison (Whig) -- Major General (O-8) -- Army -- Northwest Indian War and War of 1812

1836-1840 Martin Van Buren (Democrat) -- No military service.

1828-1836 Andrew Jackson (Democrat) -- Major General (O-8) -- Continental Army and Army -- Revolutionary War, Creek War, War of 1812 and First Seminole War

1824-1828 John Quincy Adams (Democrat-Republican) -- No military service.

1816-1824 James Monroe (Democrat-Republican) -- Major (O-5) -- Continental Army and Virginia State Troops -- Revolutionary War

1808-1816 James Madison (Democrat-Republican) -- Colonel (O-6) -- Orange County Virginia Militia -- No Combat

1800-1808 Thomas Jefferson (Democrat-Republican) -- Colonel (O-6) -- Virginia Militia -- No Combat

1796-1800 John Adams (Federalist)-- No military service.

1788-1796 George Washington (Unaffiliated) -- General of the Armies of the United States (O-12?) -- Continental Army, Armies of the United States, Virginia Militia -- French and Indian War and Revolutionary War.

I'd Read The Paper He's Referring To

 "Stolen Land" and Fake Numbers.

I stumbled across it doing research for an Old West campaign in the pre-internet days of living in Ames, Iowa (home of the Iowa State University library).  I read this paper ON paper.

There was a lot of debate about how many plagues had traveled across the North American Continent and hence they had come.

Because there's evidence of Vikings hitting Canada in 1000 AD or so.  What diseases did they leave behind to percolate for 492 years until Columbus showed up?

But there's also some evidence that there was massive depopulation prior to any European hitting America's shores.

Not just once, but twice.  Then the post-Colombian Spanish introduction of endemic European diseases knocked a barely to not-quite recovered native population in the teeth.

I dimly recall there being record of these plagues in South American cultures, and the record may have been destroyed by the depredations of the Spanish.  Catholic priests accompanying the conquistadors did make record of some of it before it was ruined in the course of trying to subjugate the native cultures, so we have something of what went on before white-folk arrived.  The record is fragmented at best, and this dim recollection could very well be discredited by now (I'd remembered that the Chinese had landed in the Americas before Columbus as a fact, but it doesn't appear to have been taken seriously by nearly all historians).

Quote

Stolen in its entire from Larry Correia's Facebook feed:

I have had a lot of people ask me what I think of the events that took place yesterday at the capitol. My response is going to be a long one. If you don't care what my thoughts are, I understand, if you do, then I would ask you to read my whole post, not just the parts you may or may not agree with.

Believe it or not, I don't particularly like politics, and yesterday provides one more example of why.

Ultimately, I did not get involved in politics to promote a particular party or a particular candidate, but rather to promote a view of how government should, and should not, interact in our lives. A critical part of that view is the attempt to convince people that while government has a place in society, it isn't society itself. Another critical component is the understanding that while individuals tend to solve problems by genuine cooperation and compromise, government "solves" problems through force and coercion. Individuals ask you to do things, government tells you to do things. When people have become convinced that government is the primary way we address problems or adjudicate differences, force tends to follow, whether it be through the law, or through the individual actions of people convinced of this way of thinking.

For months, we have watched as politicians, the media, academia, and other political and cultural institutions have either been silent or given approval to rioting, destruction of private property and the harming of innocent people under the auspices of achieving “justice”. Some of those same politicians, reporters and professors are now shocked when another group of people have decided that their concerns over injustice warrant a similar response.

You cannot act in such a way that diminishes people’s faith in processes and institutions and then act surprised when people turn on those processes and institutions. If you claim that the system is irrevocably rigged, racist, sexist, bigoted, you do not get to then turn around and appeal to those processes and institutions for the peaceful adjudication of problems. And yet that is exactly what many in positions of influence have done. Simultaneously condemning such institutions as corrupt when it suits their purpose, and then holding them up as models to be followed when they approve of the outcomes.

I don’t pretend to know or fully understand the feelings or motivations of those who violate long held principles to effect political or societal change. I do know, from having served overseas, that it seldom produces the outcomes people claim to desire.

I would no more have stormed the capitol yesterday than I would have thrown a brick through a window in Richmond or Seattle. But I will not feign surprise when one group of people adopts the tactics of another group when they perceive them to be effective.

What angers me the most, is that the actions of those who engage in such tactics, reinforces that a large component of the population have decided that violence is the best way to adjudicate problems. This will inevitably lead to both sides engaging in greater political tribalism and cults of personality. The end result being more government control and intervention at the expense of individual liberty and freedom.

Many of our citizens, regardless of party, appear to have decided that control of the government, in order to force other people to do what they want, is the primary goal of political engagement. If this is true, then no matter which side wins, my whole reason for engaging in the political process loses.

To those on the left, I encourage them to consider the consequences of convincing millions of otherwise peaceful people that force and coercion, whether instituted by a rioter or by a government, is an appropriate way to achieve justice, peace, and prosperity.

To those on the right, if we truly believe in the values we espouse, then we had better get our act together on the cultural front. Had we not conceded the debate in education, the arts, entertainment, and other areas of life, so critical to making an argument for what we believe, do you really think we would be in the position we now find ourselves? Although we know election fraud exists, If we really believe that election fraud is the ONLY way to explain the latest results, I would argue that we are deluding ourselves. The difficult work of building and maintaining a free society includes the ballot box, but it begins in the home and our communities.

I fully recognize that this response is likely to anger many on both sides of the debate. The reason I offer it is because I believe it to be true. My responsibility as a Christian, as a citizen and as a representative should always be to fight for the truth, as opposed to that which may be politically convenient for the moment. I will continue to do so and accept the corresponding consequences.

--Nick Freitas

Excuse Me Is This YOUR Petard?

Trump Supporting Rioters might be facing 10 years in jail over their behavior from a Trump executive order.

Irony, you're never very far away, are you?

Probe Complete

For minimal losses, an unarmed party probed the defenses of The Capitol Building yesterday.

Do any of the idiots in Washington realize what that could mean to their safety?

The probe revealed procedures and response times.

If this was intel gathering, then the next probe will be armed and will take into account the escape routes revealed in the unarmed probing.

You fuckers have never dealt with real war, have you?

Hard lessons are likely coming.

This probe could be considered a warning, but you're too self centered to realize it and back off, aren't you?

I'm not going do endorse anything, or do much of anything to beyond pointing out you've shown tactical and strategic vulnerabilities and are acting like you've won not just a battle, but the entire war.

A pawn has been sacrificed to get the queen and you think you're controlling the board?

Slow clap to follow.

CFR 1.57%

Properly expressed, that's a 0.0157 probability of dying from Wu Ping Cough in Florida.

If the CDC's estimate that only 6% of the deaths are from it directly instead of being a complicating factor with a co-morbidity the probability of death drops to 0.00094.  That's in line with flu epidemics which caused barely a ripple in the way people interacted.

Since the holidays, the percentage of new tests which have resulted in a positive result has increased from 8ish to 12ish percent, but deaths are cruising about the same as before.  This helps the CFR to fall.

By The Way They're Lying

 The CMP says in their notes about round 2 of 1911 sales:

"1911 type pistols purchased from CMP 1911 cannot be transferred to 03 FFL (curio and relic) license holders. CMP’s legislation contained in the 2018 NDAA specifies FFL licensed dealers. BATF and the United States Army prefer the second background check be performed by the FBI on an FFL licensed dealer’s premises."

I sat down and fucking read the 2018 NDAA from front to back and even looked up the relevant and referenced statutes in the US Code.

The black letter law does not differentiate between the Garands that they will just mail to your door and the 1911 which needs several more barriers to receive.

The ATF and Army might have heaped extra shit on, but not Congress; so they should stop claiming it.

I don't know why they're claiming it.

I strongly suspect it's a pure cover their asses move in case a 1911 from CMP is found at a crime scene.  Pure "we did everything we could" PR and I suspect entirely generated by CMP itself rather than any agency they cite.

The reason I've come to this suspicion is how they respond when confronted about it.  They lock and delete the thread on their forum and respond with silence where they cannot delete the conversation.

If the directives did come from higher, then they could easily cite the exact spot in the NDAA and or publish the direction from ATF or Army.

Their refusal and obfuscation are disappointing.

Not disappointing enough for me to skip getting an M1911A1 from them, but still.

Again And Again

I keep wondering.

Why are so many things national issues?

The wisdom of the founders is often profound and if we'd just operated their design as intended, we'd all be far happier.

Federalism was built in by design so that a solution that worked great in one place, but not in another, could be put into place where it worked, but not impose it on the place where it didn't.

I'm not the first, or smartest, person to note that we're not working for more liberty at any level of government.

Always less.

Always more restrictive.

Never more freedom.

It makes me bitter that the people who're demanding more liberty to be at the fringes without repercussions for being so far out there are also demanding that nobody have the liberty to NOT be in the fringes.

I'm a compassionate person.  If your crazy is high-functioning, I'm pretty much OK with going along with your crazy because high-functioning crazy isn't dangerous crazy.  There's no moral high-ground to take and oppose the crazy here.

Lots of people make the mistake that crazy is a binary thing.  So the high-function crazy is the same as low-function and non-function.  They then erect moral constructions to justify being discompassionate to the crazies.

A lot of this response has to do with the people who're advocating that all crazy is high-functioning and should be allowed without sanction.

Their goal is to force you to think, or at least act like you do, like them.

Nationally.  Perhaps even internationally.

The fact that make no allowance for a different kind of high-functioning crazy than their own is, alone, a reason to oppose them.

You've read our nutters.  You know who they are.

But we never say they should NOT exist, we just gently wish they were less crazy about being on our side.  If they get too strange, we change the channel or stop visiting their blog.  We don't call up their service provider and demand they be silenced.

For freedom and liberty to flourish you ABSOLUTELY MUST let the crazies talk.  You might not want to elect them to be dog catcher, but you need to let them speak.

Most of the time, it reveals how crazy they are and at what level they're functioning.

By silencing part of the crazies, you create the illusion that the remaining crazies are, in fact, sane.

But it's an illusion.

In the long run, creating and maintaining this illusion hurts everyone but a very small group of people intent on power.

The real trick is to notice that The King hasn't enough arrows to slay all of the peasants should they say, "fuck this!"  It doesn't even take all of them to revolt to accomplish this.

The threepers are fond of pointing out that just 3% in revolt wins the rebellion.

I ask them, while they sit at their computers (like I am), "What percentage is in revolt on the other side?"

Is it 3%?

It might be.

They seem to be winning.

Bothersome Consensus

We've had a couple of reports from the ground about the rally in DC.

Hardly anyone was aware there was something going on IN the Capitol building for almost most of it.

The behavior of the people who made it inside is way more reminiscent of Antifa than anyone on the right, especially that upraised fist pose.

The press is universal in its reporting.

Whenever they fall into this could be written by a single author mode, I start smelling rats.

Because every time they done so in the past, they've been pressing an agenda.

I've caught them lying too many times in the past to blindly trust them anymore.

They have a side and it's not mine.

What really surprises me is that so few people see them for what they are.

Scanned

JT brought over his scanner.

Nuthin'.  Just a stored code from the brake pedal position sensor, which we cleared.

With his Tech-2 plugged in, we drove around the block a few times.

Steering wheel sensor shows correct readings.

Yaw and Lateral Accelerometer shows correct readings.

Brake pressure sender shows correct readings.

Voltage?

Dash says 14.5 steady.  Radar detector shows 13.6 fluctuating up and down 0.2.

Tech-2 says 14.4 and fluctuating up and down 0.2.

So I yank the battery and tray to check the body ground under the tray.

Aside: the plastic battery tray is held to a metal tube by FOUR bolts.  Overkill.

It's crusty down there.

Shine everything up.

Reassemble.

Dash says 14.4 steady.  Radar detector shows 13.9 steady.  No Tech-2 reading.

Fingers crossed.

I'm Over 2021 Already

The Precious just awarded me with "SERVICE ACTIVE HANDLING" in the driver's information center.

Just fucking lovely.

I have just enough information on what it could be to be having a raging panic attack over the whole thing.

Worse, even though the car runs, the cruise control doesn't work.  With my gimpy legs, that's an essential medical aid for driving.

I ran through the service manual, page by page, on the anti-lock brake system, which also runs the traction control and active handling.

The ABS light is off.  The traction control system can be switched off and on.  Those clues narrow the list of causes.

The list of codes that match the symptoms are:

C0136, C0186, C0196, and C0710.

Codes that seem to need the car to be in motion to set the code, and it sets while stationary at start up, are:

C0137 and C0252.

If it's not a wiring issue then the list of parts is gratifyingly short.

Electronic Brake Control Module is on all six codes.  $400 used because GM discontinued the part.

Brake Fluid Pressure Sensor (C0136 and C0137).  $75 new.  The service manual says to not replace this part, but to replace the Brake Pressure Modulator Valve it screws into.  The BPMV is also discontinued and one will come with the used EBCM I mentioned above.

Yaw Sensor and Vehicle Lateral Accelerometer (C0186, C0196 and C0252).  $125 new.  This is the easiest part to replace.

Steering Wheel Position Sensor (C0252 and C0710).  $91 new.

A friend mentioned, and is fixated on, it being a voltage issue.  Possible.  The battery has 12.67v in the chilly garage.  Could be a ground under the battery box.  Possible, I changed that cable when I did the starter.

All of this is speculative.  JT is coming over with his, superior to mine, code scanner.

Crazy Cat People

If the cat population in a house exceeds the human population, you are crazy cat people.

Bear, Dingus, and Max have been joined by Mara.

She's been wandering around the neighborhood for a couple of days.  Sunday she walked right up to Harvey at the inlaws.  Yesterday she was tentatively trying to approach us, so we gave her some Temptations cat treats and set out some food and water.

I admonished Harvey that we didn't need another cat.  I held firm.

Tonight I checked to see if she'd eaten any of the food, she'd eaten all of it.

While I was checking she trotted right up to me and demanded to be picked up.

I did.  I'm a big softie.

Now we have four cats and three people here.

"Grandma" Kiko always said having a three color cat was good luck.

Ineffable

I've been packing the M&P 45C in my Miami Classic II for a bit now.

With the pistol loaded 8+1 on one side and two 10 round mags on the other, it's been noticeably more comfortable than the M&P 9 loaded 17+1 with two spare 17 rounders.

The gun is just a little lighter and just a little smaller and that appears to have made all the difference.

Kinda makes me want the 9mm version too, but the 4" guns are much harder to find than the 3.6" guns and the way I carry doesn't need the shorter barrel.

Accepting Reality

I like flight sims.

I used to sit at my computer and fly all manner of planes in a virtual space.

But not for a long time despite still having the computer and software I last used.

I've been watching videos of people playing Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) and got excited for a while to play this new, gorgeous, sim.

I started accumulating information on what my new computer would need to be and...

I'm never going to save up the money.

It's not a matter of getting the money together.  It's that I don't want this new, expensive, computer to play a game more than I want dozens of other pass-times.

Let's face it, except for this game, it's not going to do any other computer thing I wanna do better than a far cheaper machine.

So, with a heavy heart, I unsubscribed from the channels where I'd been watching other people play the game and stopped going to forums dedicated to it.

I've got mixed emotions.  There's a measure of sadness to let this hobby go, but also no small amount of relief too.

You ARE A Time Traveller After All

You have the initiative, but you're wondering how to get out of this alive (constituting a wait maneuver).

Pete, taking advantage of your hesitation, draws.  He makes his fast-draw roll (12) and makes an unsighted shot at you (10).  He hits you in the body for 13 points...

...on your TL8 Concealable body armor!  DR 12/5*.  1 penetrates.  Ow!

Your wait ends, triggered by his action, and you draw your pistol.

Because you have initiative, you go first in the second round.

You make a sighted attack (all out attack - determined) and fire your max allowed 3 shots.  15 skill, +1 for all out attack, -4 for range, -1 for shock = 11.  You roll a 13 and miss.

Pete, thinking he's missed, aims carefully.  He's cool under fire because he knows that nobody can hit anything fanning that fast.

You repeat your previous action without the shock penalty.  You roll a 9, hitting twice in the torso.

Damage rolls are 9 and 3 which become 16 and 4.  Pete has taken a major wound and is not quite to negative HT.  He rolls a 16 to avoid knockdown and stunning against his 12 HT...  Pete is knocked down and falls on his butt, dropping his revolver.  He remains conscious.

You choose an aim maneuver at Pete's vitals, gaining a +2 from acc.

Pete remains conscious and uses this round to recover from being stunned.

You continue to aim, getting an additional +1.

Pete remains conscious and goes for his gun...

You empty your pistol.  15 + 2 + 1 - 4 - 3 = 11.  You roll a 9 striking the vitals once.

Damage roll is 6, becoming 15 damage.

Pete is not further stunned, but is knocked unconscious.

You reload with one of your spare 10 round magazines as the sheriff approaches...