That Could Have Gone Better

I'm dubbing it the Polymer 40 because it's only half working.

The slide stop engages on its own.

It misfeeds.

It stovepipes.

It fails to go into battery.

It has dead trigger.

Sometimes more than one of those things at once.

Marv has gotten some advice from SoftwareJanitor and will tinker further.

This has given me an irrational desire to get a Glock 26 as close to the $435 invested in this project as possible, just to be a dick and rub in that MY gun works.

But I won't.  My Glock 26 is a Shield Plus.

And this is my last post of the year!  See you in 2022!

Transhuman Space

I remember FuzzyGeff being pissed when he woke up.

But he was around to be awake.

Marv too.  Harvey and The Boy...

I'd won the lottery and "stupidly" invested it in things I'd read about in gaming.

Turns out that shit came to fruition.

Great news for all of us!

Ghosts and bioroids for everyone!

Especially me.

Every mother loving thing that you can eat out here is based on mushrooms.

I was allergic to mushrooms.

Ghosts in the robotic shell aren't.

It's fun being a robot.  No need to suit up before going outside.  But I miss food.  A charging station just doesn't salve the soul like food.

But being able to enjoy food means mortality.

I don't think I want mortality back.

Wisdom

 

"When you say goodbye to a friend, assume that one of you is going to die before you ever get to see one another again. If you want to leave something unsaid, fine...but be prepared to leave it unsaid forever."

J. Isenberg

Just In Case You're Curious

Ray dying could very well have been from cellulitis, and it's why I worry so about my other friends who show the swelling and cracked lower extremities.

I don't like losing friends to preventable things.

Please talk to actual doctors about it.  It can snuff your ass quick as fuck.

Fair Winds My Friend

 

One of my oldest friends has died.

It's a cliche, but he was on the way to getting his shit together.

Dunno how yet, but a week ago he said he felt like hammered shit.

I've been trying him since then every day.

I guess he was too weak to answer and they found his body yesterday in his room.

I'm going to miss my Viking buddy Ray.

Through The Looking Glass

What did Custer know about the Clintons?

What did the Clintons have on Reno that caused him to refuse to come quick with or without the packs?

Wrapped Up In Silence All Circuits Are Dead

Google Messenger/Chat doesn't appear to be sending out for me today.

Am I the only one?

Paying For It

All this physical activity carries a toll.

About 9am my right shin hurt as bad as when I broke it.

So I decided to just curl into a ball and hope it stopped hurting.

The pain has subsided into "just" feeling like my lower leg is on fire and now I can function somewhat.

Because this is a form of nueropathy, there's blessed little I can do to alleviate it.

Narcs work great to stop the pain.  But I don't like the way I feel otherwise and since I like driving, shooting and playing with heavy machinery; I don't like resorting to asking for them.

Nevermind that the war on some drugs has made getting the two pills a year I actually would need nearly impossible.

Drugs like Gabapentin kill the pain too.  Like narcs, the side effects are untenable.

On the starter dose of Gabapentin I was doing the suicidal ideation thing but hard.  Did I mention I have cars, guns and heavy machinery?  Yeah, those are excellent means to complete the circuit on suicidal ideation.  I do not feel better knowing that the odds of someone getting this side effect is on the order of winning a $1,000 scratch-off.

So  basically, I endure the pain knowing that will, probably, stop on its own; because it always has before.

What Gun I Don't See A Gun

Marv has dipped his toes into no-a-Glock making.

The moment it ceases to be a piece of plastic and becomes, legally, a firearm:

It's pretty simple.

Drill a couple of holes with the provided bits.

Remove some material that blocks the installation of other parts:

Then it goes together just like a normal Glock 26.

It would have helped a lot if we were more familiar with how a Glock 26 goes together...  There was a major but easily correctable misstep with the trigger bar.  I had it outside of a part it should have been inside...  A quick comparison with my Glock 17 showed us the light and Marv pressed on.

A wider, shorter, heavier, cheaper Sheild Plus.

 The plus 2 magazine gets you a wider, shorter, heavier, cheaper Shield Plus that's missing a round.

But Glock 26 magazines are much cheaper and more available than Shield Plus magazines; and you can use Glock 17 and 19 magazines as well.

So far everything appears to work as it should except the slide stop.

If you have the trigger pulled to the rear and you lock the slide back, the stop will not disengage when you slingshot the slide.  Typical Glock, you cannot just press that stop down with your thumb either.  To get it to disengage you have to press down and slingshot the slide.

We're thinking the holes for the trigger pin are slightly misaligned and the trigger is binding the slide stop.  I'm thinking, because that pin is MUCH tighter than any of my real Glocks that we can hog it out a bit and see if that helps any.

Spots

Because I was playing with my camera, after looking at the sun with FuzzyGeff's hydrogen-alpha scope...

Nice to see ol' Sol a bit more active.

Here's his H-a pic from Monday:

 

You might notice that the spots have moved a tad.  But the neat thing about his shot is you can see some prominences!  He's working on refining his technique to improve the focus.

I Can See A GM Disallowing This

But it's real!

Ghislaine Maxwell Suicide Watch

Day one.

Mixed Feelings

Harry Reid died.

On the plus side, he was pretty decent about guns and did keep a lot of the shit from rolling down on us.

On the negative side, pretty much everything else about him.

Science!

Done!

Got the front left bearing hub done on Moxie!

Just about every part fought coming out.

Whomever had the wheels off last torqued them to need a 5' cheater pipe to get them broke loose.  Far more than the 140 ft-lb called for in the manual.

Then the little countersunk screw holding the rotor to the hub decided to just not turn and the torx bit made a nice smooth hole.

Drilled that out.  Discovered that I only had one sharp 1/2" drill bit on the property and about ten dull ones.

Then I had to beat the rotor off the hub.  I think that screw was superfluous.

Then comes the main event!

The hub itself.

Two of the bolts came right out, no heat needed.  The third would have too, but I didn't notice the ratchet reversing itself and I wasted a lot of time trying to loosen it by tightening it.  I didn't notice because I always get confused when I'm doing a bolt from behind.  These bolt heads face the inside of the car and the hub has the threads, they pass through the knuckle.  I'm embarrassed.  Once I started turning the bolt the right direction, all was good!

Of course, the hub doesn't respond to gentle persuasion.

Hammer.

Heat.

PB Blaster.

More heat.

Bigger hammer.

More PB Blaster.

Air chisel.

More heat.

Even bigger hammer.

I whacked it a few times with the 8-lb sledge and got a bit of a gap.  But I was pupped at this point and Marv heroically developed the gap and got it broke loose.  Marv doth verily rock!

In the process of cleaning the bore in the knuckle, I see wires sticking out of the speed sensor.  That can't be good...  Not sure if I broke it cleaning the bore or if we knocked it loose hammering the hub off.

Put it back together anyway.

With everything on but the wheel I turned the key.  ABS, Traction Control, Stabilitrak all come on.

Durn it, need a sensor.

Put the wheel back on and while the bearing noise is gone, the battered brake dust shield is rubbing.

Take the wheel off, massage the dust shield.

Decide that I need to do the sensor today.

Send Our Hero Marv to the parts stores to find one.

AutoZone claimed to have it in stock on the web site, but didn't have the LEFT side one.

Call JT, a hero in his own right, who checks all the local parts stores web pages.  He finds that NAPA in Tampa has it.  I put the wheel back on to get Moxie out of The Precious' way so I can drive to get it.

Marv returns from Advance Auto Parts with the part.  Advance's web page claimed that it wasn't in stock, JT checked.

Speed sensor installed, all is now well!

It only took us 5 hours!

Old, broken sensor on top:

Fall Back And Punt

I made the mistake of looking for videos showing how to take the front hubs off Moxie.

Almost all of them include some drama getting the hub off the steering knuckle.

Steel hub, aluminum knuckle, winters in Iowa with road-salt?

Can you say galvanic reaction?

The drama was so severe I've managed to talk myself into a decent level of anxiety over the repair.

Worst case, I have to replace the knuckle and strut.  That's another $200 I didn't wanna spend.

Especially if I have to do it to both sides.

Plus an alignment.

Bother.

So I've crawled up in the wheel well and sprayed PB Blaster from the back where the hub pokes through the knuckle.

I think I will let it soak a day.

First Shot From The James Webb Observatory

 

I'm here all night, try the veal.

Oh Mr Dinklage...

The truth be told, I was "over it" until you brought it back up again.

The Game of Thrones series ending sucked.  The entire last season sucked.  Your character changed drastically in the last three seasons for no apparent reason.

It did not end as well as it started.

But I wanna address something you talked about.

It happened with another HBO series too, and it sucked.

"Subverting expectations."

This is Hollywierd for, "plot twist that doesn't make sense but the fans figured out where things should logically go and we didn't have a good twist so we did this to show ourselves that we're smarter than the fans."

If Danerys' slide into villainy had been gradual, as you allude, and not all of a sudden, as was shown on screen, people wouldn't be near as critical about it.

Especially since her devastating King's Landing happened after the place had surrendered except for the palace.

"Cersei is holding out?  Better kill everyone then!" is what we got.  It was jarring and it made no sense because the incompetent writers didn't give us anything to show that Danerys had become so insane.

As for moving on?

I have.  I noted that we got a season of nothing happening because the showrunners were hoping that George Martin would get off his pompous ass and finish the series before they got too far ahead of him, then two seasons of rush to an ending that was just scraps of flesh hanging from a plot outline skeleton.

It was bad story telling and just because a single dancing monkey is satisfied with their performance doesn't change that.

The fans are correct to criticize works they don't like.

HBO executives:  That criticism is your customer base giving you market feedback.  Pay attention.  Repeat business comes from satisfied customers.

If The World Made Sense

If the world made sense we wouldn't even be debating the issue of guns with pistol braces and if they should be registered as short barrel rifles.

We'd be noticing that there's a lot more pistol braced rifle derivatives than registered short barrel rifles and not even a hint that crime went up because of it.

We'd say that since a braced gun is effectively an SBR already and they're not causing any problems there's no reason to continue to restrict short barreled rifles anymore.

Not that there was a good reason to begin with, but that's another story.

But we'd have to admit that a braced "pistol" is actually an SBR and that most people who have them are exploiting a loophole.

I've seen lots of people using that brace as a stock, I've yet to see someone using it as "intended."

I'm Delighted

Former officer convicted of manslaughter.

Why am I delighted?  Have I gone woke?  Am I now a staunch advocate of Black Lives Matter?

Nope.

I am delighted because I've long held that the police should be held to a higher standard than the common citizen when they shoot someone.

This is a jury agreeing with me.

The cops getting a pass on things that would land us in prison should stop.  We have to demand it, otherwise it'll get worse.

We've got to shake two things.

First the idea that the most important thing is that the cop comes home at the end of the day.

Second that it is OK that an injustice occurred as long as it was in accordance with departmental standards and training.  That's just institutionalizing and codifying the injustice.

We should be aiming for a "more power = more responsibility" model.

'Tis The Season

I've been reading about several suicides on a couple of forums I haunt.

The holidays are a ripe time for suicide.

The threads are full of advice about how to keep your loved one from doing the deed.

Which is great, but...

If someone is dead set on checking out, your first clue will be the call from the cops telling you about the corpse.

The people who succeed at this don't broadcast the decision and don't give hints.

They just do it.

They are not crying for help, they are done.

Perhaps an intervention would have helped, but you would have had to have figured it out from almost no clues before they made the decision.

With that in mind, don't feel guilty that you didn't stop them.

They proceeded in a manner that kept you from figuring out what was about to happen precisely to keep you from stopping them.

Did It Work?

I know several people who got the jab who've since caught Teh Wu Ping Cough.

I don't know anyone who's avoided getting "vaccinated" whom have caught it since mid 2020.

Almost as if catching it and recovering actually immunized you and the vaccine just alleviated symptoms rather than keeping them from contracting or spreading the disease.

Years Of 1911

My first encounter with an M1911A1 was in the file cabinet my dad had in the basement.

I think it was more hidden from my mother than me.  I was, maybe, eight when I found it.

Years passed and I forgot that pistol.

My next encounter was in the Army in 1987 and we trained on them in OSUT then I was issued one at my line unit in early 1988.  Serial number 1164935; just in case you run across it.

When I got out I was all into 9mm thanks to the game stats from Twilight: 2000 and GURPS.

However, the gun I'd found in that file cabinet returned to my life.

In March of 1991 my dad bribed me to visit him by offering me that Remington-Rand M1911A1.  I managed to hang on to it for a very short time and ended up trading favors to get it back just to swap it for my Glock 21.  I regret all this horse trading and will keep that Glock 21 to my grave just to underscore my stupidity.

I, briefly, owned a stainless AMT Hardballer from September 1993 to November 1995.  I never warmed to it.

I didn't own another 1911 until December 2006 when I got a Springfield USGI.  I hung onto that one until I got my CMP M1911A1 and let it go in May 2019.  There's no room for two nostalgia purchases and a genuine USGI gun supplants a new made gun from Geneseo, Illinois.

The next 1911 is a Colt Gov't Model in .38 Super that I got in December 2012.  I've modded it a bit.  I put a short trigger, arched mainspring housing, ivory grips and arched mainspring housing with lanyard loop in it since.  It's a tack-driver and I can no longer bring it to the bowling pin shoots at Florida Firearms Academy.  I beat the guy with a Glock 17 and red-dot!  TWICE!

The CMP M1911A1 entered the fold in February 2019 and it still resides in the gun safe.

Years Of Glock

My first Glock was a Glock 17 Gen1 that I was able to buy under special dispensation in the Army because we had 9mm ammo but no M9's; the M1911A1's and their ammo were already turned in.  We got the dispensation because we were going on the Czech-German border so another unit could go to gunnery.

That was 1990.

I was not allowed to keep it because I was under 21 when I rotated back to CONUS.

My next Glock was, likewise, a Gen 1 model 17.  I owned it from October 1990 to April 1992.  I traded it in for partial value against the Glock 21 2nd Gen I still own.

The Glock 21 is my third Glock.

My fourth Glock was a Model 17 Gen 2 that I bought from Skeezer someone in June 1995 and gave to Aunt the Bat in November of the same year.  She still owns it.

 

My fifth Glock is a Model 17 Gen 2 I got in July 2014 and still own.

My sixth Glock is a Model 45 Gen 5 blue label I got in November 2019, and still have.

Had I known what a rare gun the 1st gens were, I might have passed on the Glock 21.

I really wanted one of the Gen 1 reissue P80's, but didn't hear about them until the prices were cranked through the stratosphere.  OG Gen 1 are even more expensive.  The gen 2 suffices to represent the gun I carried on the Czech border.

Do You Feel Horny Baby?

Mr Fleetwood gave me a drinking horn for Christmas!

Shown filled with a pint of Illuminated Brew Works "War on Xmas (If You Want It)" white milk stout.

Back To Traditions

Normally Christmas eve is ordering Chinese.  My mom started this one by going out to The Mandarin in Ames.  Virtually everyone she knew was invited and we'd often take up half the restaurant.

I kept this one alive by ordering Chinese take-out since I moved down to Florida.

Something I started was the Christmas Day lasagna.

I make a mean lasagna, if I do say so myself.  Plus it's simple and goes a long way.

Since Harvey's parents have moved down in 2019 we've had turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Harvey is a ham at thanksgiving kind of person.

This year she put her foot down and we had Chinese and lasagna.  Her parents boycotted because they don't like how spicy my lasagna is and neither are big "ethnic" food eaters.  Pfft, Iowans.

Besides, if Marv can happily have seconds of something it's just flavorful, not spicy.

Paid Forward

Last night The Lovely Harvey decided that she needed 1/4 Pounder.

Because the traditional dinner of Chinese food had dissipated from our gullets already, we headed out to the Golden Arches.

Things went smoothly until we tried to pay.

The car in front of us had paid our bill!

That was nice of them.

So I tossed the $20 I was going to use to pay for food into the Ronald McDonald House donation box instead.

Still The Best Mod

 

I've been rocking the Twisted Shifter round shift knob for about two years now.

My car is pretty lightly modded, but this has, by far, been the best thing I've done to it.

It just makes shifting better and anyone who disagrees simply doesn't know what they're doing in a 3-pedal car.

The factory shifter was clearly form over function and forced you to change your grip depending on which gear you were in and whether you were going up or down.

Disappointing Performance Gains

The Boy bought me a turbo for The Precious!

While installation was simple, I am not seeing much of an increase in power.

Not sure what I did wrong.

Old Joke

 

Shot my first turkey.

Man, did the people in the supermarket freak the fuck out.

Merge

I have to admit that The Expanse show has been extremely influential in my envisioning of science fiction settings.

The first place it hit was in my mini-campaign with JT and FuzzyGeff.

Traveller Interstellar Wars is set in a future where the UN takes over Earth very much like it has in The Expanse.

Another setting I'd love to play in and/or GM is SJ Games Transhuman Space.  It's a very similar setting to The Expanse already, just lacking that miraculous Epstein drive.  Genuine hard sci-fi.  That and the transhuman part which is very much like Ghost in the Shell (the manga not the movie).

Imagery creeps in.

It makes me really wanna put the screws to Marv and get him to dip his toes into role-playing.

I think he'd enjoy himself once he figured out what it is.

More players makes it more likely to actually play.

Maybe Not Wasted

I've been doing more research.

The Chinese software that you have to download for your VX DIAG dongle which trips AVG's trigger as a trojan might actually be a false positive.

It's a strange concept to me that something that makes the anti-virus software trip can be innocuous.

I think I will put it on the 320gb Win7 Pro drive that came with the computer that I replaced day-one with a 750gb.

The Lenovo has a removable DVD-ROM that you can replace with a battery or hard-drive caddy.

With the 320 installed in the caddy and booting to Windows I should be pretty safe.

Eyes crossed.

Got It Knocked Out

About an hour after I got dinner I put The Precious back together.

Took a quick test drive and the clicking was gone!

The Centric brand bearing made it a mere 43,304 miles.

However, we had an issue with the axle nuts backing off, and that might have led to some premature initial wear that caused this premature failure.

I solved the backing off issue by double nutting the axles rather than going with red Loctite.

I hate red Loctite!  There's places where it shines, but everyday automotive where something might need to be taken apart again ain't it.

Jobs Half Done

Got the RR wheel hub off The Precious and started to put back together when I decided to take a break.

I need a 24mm box-end to get the lower ball joint back on and I borrowed that from JT last time.

So I figured I'd chill a bit before running to Northern Tool and fired up the laptop.

I was greeted by the grinding sound of a failed CPU fan.

Happily, I have spares of those.

Sadly, you have to completely take the computer apart to get access to the heat-pipe screws.

So I went to Northern Tools and grabbed lunch over the next two hours and five miles then begged JT to come help with getting the motherboard out.  He's far more adroit than I am with this sort of thing.

He came over and did what I asked and I only messed up one thing in my part of the reassembly of the computer.  Which meant taking it halfway back apart to get the speakers plugged in.  Grumble, my fault, can't even take out my righteous anger on someone else!

Now I still have to get The Precious back together, but that's within my bailiwick.

So Let It Be Written So Let It Be Done

The Bear is working furiously at removing the shoelaces from my Chucks.

"Bear, why are you destroying my shoes?"

He looks at me like...

"Your shoes are evil and must be destroyed.  I am The Bear and I have spoken!"

Open Roads And Smooth Pavement

Shunji Tanaka has taken the checkered flag at the end of the track.

He dared to make a fun car during a time when they were entirely too workmanlike and dull.

The Mazda Eunos was such at a car.

You prolly know it as a Miata.

He dared make it cute.  On purpose even!

Living With 9mm

I've toted .45 ACP in both a 1911 and modern striker fired guns.

First the Glock 21, then a Springfield M1911 A1 USGI then a S&W M&P 45C.

I've carried 9mm several times as well.  S&W M&P 9, S&W M&P 9 Sheild and Shield-Plus and S&W Model 59.  (Glock 17 and Beretta M9 as well if you count my military experience).

I've carried a couple of not 9mm nine-millimeter guns too.  S&W 640-3 in .357 Magnum, Colt Pocket Hammerless and SIG P238 in .380 ACP plus a Colt Gov't Model in .38 Super.

We'll just ignore the years I packed that FIE Titan in .25 ACP illegally in Iowa.

But...

Except for the .25 nearly all of them perform the same in gelatin in the FBI testing with similar ammunition.

That's an important caveat.

But since the difference between .45 ACP and 9mm with the same brand JHP is not obvious at a glance, more beans and a lighter gun is better than fewer shots and a heavier gun.

If you shoot a .45 way better and more consistently than any 9mm you own, pack the bigger bullets!  Shot placement still matters WAY more than what caliber you're using.

While true, nothing is going to make that .45 hole smaller, modern JHP hardly have problems getting expansion any more.  Some brands do, but they're older designs or based on older designs.

For example, "ancient" Federal Hydra-Shok, when it expands, compares favorably to several modern loads.  The problem is that it doesn't always expand and clogging with clothing is the most common reason.  It's a ball round if this happens.

Technology marched on and performance through clothing improved.

Does this mean you should throw away your Hydra-Shok?

No.

Go ahead and use it until it's gone, but don't replace it with Hydra-Shok once it's shot up.

Use it as range ammo.  Use it to test if a gun will feed hollow-points because if it feeds this, it'll feed the newer stuff!

But don't fret about it.

Check out LuckyGunner's ammo comparison charts to get an idea of what should work and what doesn't.

What If The Other Side Agrees With You?

“There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives, and unfortunately, there’s plenty to go around,” Pressley (D., Mass. 7th) said on MSNBC’s AM Joy with Tiffany Cross."

Most people are getting damned tired of this unrest in the streets and there being no consequences to the people doing the unrest.

People are tired of being stolen from and burned out of business.

They're tired of the cops doing nothing, or if they do arrest the perpetrators, the prosecutor dropping the charges.

Western Civ has solutions built into it.  Solutions that are still, essentially, part of our legal traditions going all the way back to Blackstone and English common law.

Even further back is the right of vendetta.

We abdicated that right in exchange for a fair and impartial justice system operated by the government we were supposed to be in control of as sovereign citizens.

That government is refusing to bow to its rightful masters and is no longer fair or impartial.

Guess what happens when the preference cascade gathers enough momentum?

I'm also guessing it won't happen in too many places.

Tim Pool has noted that many of the miscreants are traveling from city to city and are, in essence, professional rioters.

By the way, if anyone thinks that the citizens taking the reigns of justice back will result in arrests and jail time.  There's a bridge in Brooklyn priced to move.

Oh, and vendetta seldom results in much justice.  That's kind of why everyone agreed to that fair and impartial government controlled thing...

Vendetta often results in amazingly quiet and safe places... and organizations like The Mafia who started as professional peace keeping and protection groups.  Look it up!  It's a neat bit of history.

I Couldn't Find The Quote

While I never found the quote I was looking for, this result of the search piqued my interest.

"Homos on the Range" True West Magazine

I Am Considering Withdrawing My Support

In the way back I had two friends whom were gay and I didn't know.

Both were afraid of how I would react if they came out to me.

One took the secret to his grave.  His sister outed him to me at the funeral.

RIP Reinactor Eric. (I know a lot of Eric's).

Chris came out later, because I'd had an epiphany about homo and bisexuals.

Their sexual preferences did not hurt me, I had no invisible friend telling me to hate them, and the important thing was that they were people.  Just like me.

It became no different to me than someone liking different music.  Especially since I'd taken a couple beatings for my blue mohawk and liking punk.

I've attended several LGBT (back when there were JUST four letters in that acronym) rallies and stood and supported the bents as a straight.

I've been in a couple scuffles over it too.

I've visited a friend in the hospital who was nearly beaten to death because she looked too butch to be using the women's room.

At the core of my LGBT support was a support of liberty and freedom.

Do as you will, harm none.

I am not alone in my shifting of beliefs.  As it became socially acceptable to be gay, lots of people discovered they already had a gay friend and I'd say that most of us realized that it'd be kinda stupid to nuke a friendship over the matter.

But remember that whole liberty and freedom thing?

You come after my freedom and liberty I'm going to get upset.

In addition to baking cakes, we're now looking at being forced to take pictures at weddings we have religious objectives with.

Freedom and liberty means the right to tell anyone, for any reason, "no I will not sell you goods or services."  It's corollary of the right to boycott or patronize a business.

While I wouldn't have an objection to baking that cake or taking those pictures, I disagree that someone who's in the business of baking or photography should be forced to.

Freedom and liberty means being able to speak your mind, and even be horridly offensive in the process of speaking your mind.

I am looking at several places which will sanction someone for speaking even unoffensively about no liking "teh ghey" but will let stand literal calls to murder a heterosexual.

LGBTQ pundits have become the bigots that I opposed when I started to support gay rights.

I hate bigots.

Their tactics are going to alienate people like me who would normally support them and because they're, by far, a minority, they might find that alienation leads to being ostracized.  Not a good place to be.

It really makes one wonder if the Pride flag should be displayed arrayed like a swastika:

Living WIth The Model 59

Because the original genesis of the Model 59 was a request by the SEALs to make a Model 39 take Hi-Power magazines, there's a lot of the feel of the Hi-Power to it.

S&W, of course, went proprietary for the magazine.  Can't have customers paying the competition for things we can sell ourselves!

Again and again I am struck with the question, "There's nothing wrong with this gun, why did they stop making them?"

Which is odd, because I know perfectly well why they did.

Cost.

They simply cost too much to make.

S&W surely tried.  The Model 910 is a cheap as you're going to get this design and it failed against the juggernaut of Gaston.

Plastic injection molding cost much less than machining, and the frame of a pistol is a very complex part.  The plans and tooling drawings for the M1911A1 are out there on the intertubes and you can see how many operations are needed to make that frame from a hunk of steel.

Do all that, or just pull it from the mold 96% ready to go?

But, back to the original point.

I can say, with authority, that carrying a Model 59 is not significantly different from carrying a Hi-Power or M&P 9.  As long as you shoot them all about the same, and I do.

It's making me doubt some of the other conventional wisdoms of gun magazine writers with regards to what I should be toting on a daily basis.

It's almost as if their recommendations are driven more by advertising dollars than actual needs.  That's not true, a periodical NEEDS advertising dollars a surely as plants need sunshine.

I know my decision to carry in a shoulder holster is met with much scorn by the gun writers and instructorati, but it's a comfortable way to carry.  A sure way to get someone to stop doing something is to make it unpleasant.

How many means of packing are unpleasant?

How many are fine if you are fit and trim and live 36° or more from the equator?

You've got to figure out what works for YOU and don't worry about what works for THEM.

Their job, and they've forgotten it, was to make you aware of your options so you could make an informed decision.  They, like so many other places, have become advocates of The Way and like all acolytes they will not suffer dissent from their Holy teaching.

But I say, dissent!  Be different if it works better for you!

Happy Solstice!

 It's the winter solstice at this very moment!

Half Done

Got the right rear wheel hub replaced on Moxie.

Still have the fronts left.

Moxie is originally from Iowa, so fighting rust is half the battle.

The other half is getting to the bolts.

Wasted My Money

Because every motherfucking thing on new cars requires dealing with codes, I bought a VXDIAG VCX NANO.

It's supposed to be a Tech-2 style interface between the car and a laptop.

That's all well and good until you go to install the software from the manufacturer's site.

Virus software starts screaming at you at every download link.

Fuck me.

I remember when working on cars was fun.

That'd Be Me

 

I'm the member of the group that nobody likes.

At least one segment of the group only puts up with my ass because I always bring someone they adore, but whom wouldn't show if I didn't.

Ironically, trying to be less unlikable has cost me more friends than it's repaired relationships.

With Fingers Crossed

I've ordered a Moog 512153 to correct the clicking from the right rear.

I put her butt in the air, put her in gear and let her idle in 5th while listening intently.  The traction control and anti-lock systems REALLY like this.

The click is definitely coming from outboard, which gives a great deal of relief that it's not the $1,700 differential.

With the wheel off, my head in the wheel-well and ear right up against the (spinning) brake rotor; I can tell it's not coming from the outer CV joint.

With the engine shut down I confirmed that the axle doesn't move in any manner that it should not, meaning the CV joints are fine.  (I hope).

Should this be a misdiagnosis, the correct axles are once again available from GM (Rock Auto has the best price).  The Z51 package, in 2008, uses the same axles as the Z06 and for a while you couldn't lay hands on a new one for love or money.  That was also four part numbers ago, so something must have been wrong.

It's yet another thing about the Z51 package that's irritating.  The parts stores don't seem to be aware that it uses different parts from the base model.  So many things have turned out to be shared with the higher-powered Z06, but I have to know that and trick the ordering system to see them.

Finally

Anne Rice has been staked.

While it wasn't her that ticked me off, her devoted fans made me wish her dead several times just to see the despair in their faces that their favorite series wouldn't be finished... ever.

Stay in the grave, Anne.  You wrote about how much coming back out sucked.

Same Scale

All three of these tanks are in the same scale: 1/285.

The Ogre Mk.VI is from Steve Jackson Games Ogre.

The Spartius grav APC is from FASA's Renegade Legion.

The M1A1 is a Micro-Armor item.

The grid is 1/2".

Is This Some White Cunt's Joke That Black Cunts Don't Get?

Source of the title before you get your panties all full of sand.

I keep reading that alumni donations are down.

OK.

I am fucking baffled that alumni donations exist in the first place.

Didn't those bloodless cunts get paid to educate me already?

Wasn't that called tuition?

I don't recall them doing fuck-all to get my ass employed.

I noticed that where and when I matriculated from mattered less and less against the experience I gained on the job as my wages got larger.

So why, the fuck, would I waste some of that hard earned filthy lucre on them?

Can someone explain it?  So far it's defied explanation to me.

Who Here Remembers

Finding that old pic of my DR-200 reminded me that I bought her from KY Imports.

They were a prominent advertiser in Shotgun News back in the day.

They appear to still be alive, but nowhere near as robust as their former glory.

I have the sads.

The Joys Of A 180k Mile Car

The Precious is making a noise.

It's not very loud, but it's real.

Marv can't hear it at all inside the car, The Lovely Harvey can.

It reminds her of sticking a playing card in the spokes of a bike.  It reminds me of running over leaves or something stuck in the hubcap, and The Precious doesn't have hubcaps.

It's speed related.

Stays the same regardless of what gear I'm in.

Doesn't care if the car is in neutral or if the clutch is in.

Putting the rear in the air and spinning the wheels by hand doesn't replicate the sound.

I am seeing seepage from between the diff and trans, so one or the other might be a little low, but I'd expect that to be a LOT noisier.

Marv is thinking it's a wheel hub.  I'd noticed a new pulsing type drone from the rear, so a wheel hub makes sense.

If only GM had not made it so I had to get the lower ball joint disconnected from the spindle to get the hub off.  Bastards!

Upset I Am

Doing research on Homo Neanderensis has, of course, led to reading current research.

Gods damn it!

I'm going to have to make my mooks people.

It would have been so much simpler if they were just mindless mooks.

They're not really that different from us.

But...

They use about 10% more energy than we do just moving around.  They're stronger, we're more efficient.

That's probably why we're still here and they're gone.  We go farther on the same resources and if those resources get even a little scarce we can survive while they starve.

Their thumbs don't work like ours.  Ours are more versatile.

They probably weren't dumber than us.

There's a bit of them left in some of us.  We did the nasty in the pasty with them.

They were commonly red headed!  Getting that genome sequenced is giving interesting things.

It appears that they don't have a B blood type.  We both have an O type from a common ancestor.

I think I will find a stone-age people who aren't American-Indian to steal a culture from and file off the serial numbers.

Shocked I Tell You

I bid $500 on a brand new Colt Python 2020.

I was high bidder for several hours!

Which is hours longer than I expected to be.

I expected that one of the other bidders to have already have staked out a higher position and were just waiting for someone like me to jack up the price.

In fact, my initial winning bid was more like $250, it took them hours to bid past my max of $500.

I knew that $250 wouldn't win.  I knew that $500 wouldn't carry the day.

But I've seen people forget to come back to their watch list and outbid my low-ball before.

No-stakes gambling in a way.

Holy Crap That Worked!

The tire monkeys managed to get which wheel goes on what corner of The Lovely Harvey's mount when we got her new tires.

So when the temperature in The Gunshine State dropped far enough for lead to solidify, the tire pressure in those tire dropped.

This is normal.  Happens every year.

One tire is always much lower than the others.

She gets the low tire light, looks at the handy tire pressure display on the dash and is confused to find that manually checking the pressure with a an analog gauge shows the correct 35 psi and not the low 27.

Exasperated, she calls in my expert opinion.

I check the pressures with my gauge and discover that they'd swapped front to back and side to side.  LF is now RR, RF is LR, etc...

Moxie has a relearn procedure that involves putting it in learn mode and dumping pressure on each tire to show the computer which one is which.

The Nox is the same model, but different year; 2010 for Moxie, 2013 for The Nox.  Guess what changed.

The Nox needs a TPMS reset tool.

I weighed the aggravation of getting Tires Plus to relearn the sensors against buying a tool from Amazon and got the tool.  Things like this are handy from time to time.

The tool arrived today and, amazingly enough, worked as advertised!

Everyone wins!

Hollywood Take Note

The fans accepted Hugh Jackman as Logan despite his being 6' 2" tall.

Logan is 5' 3".

Daniella Pineda is 5' 5" tall playing the 5' 6" Faye Valentine and was completely rejected by the fans.

She even posted a video claiming that the producers looked for a real woman who matched Faye's, "6 foot, double-D sized breasts, two inch waist."

Faye is not that tall, and those are C-cups.

Trust me, Ms Pineda, I really looked.

The difference in build between you is Faye is willowy and you're stocky.

Stocky isn't even unattractive.

I think Ms Pineda is pretty, so I am not rejecting her performance because of her looks.

I, and the fans, are rejecting her performance because of her performance not her appearance; though the costumer's explanation about the changes made to an iconic costume come across as "we didn't want her to be dressed sexy because male gaze bad" rather than "unless she held perfectly still she'd be flying out of that thing and we're aiming for PG at the most here," didn't help at all.

But the worst part is it's a FUCKING REMAKE.

Pretty much like Scarlet Johansen's Ghost in the Shell.

90% stuff we've seen before, and the changes are jarring and irritating rather than innovative and enhancing.

Honestly, if I wanted to see those scenes again, I can fire up the computer and simply watch the anime again.

Judging by the swift cancellation, most of us did.

Lend A Helping Hand

Mike from Cold Fury over there on the sidebar is laid up and getting bits sawn off to get ahead of the infection.

That's bad.

Big County Expat has the skinny on how to donate to the cause.

I've been reading Mike almost since I got the intertubes plumbed into the house.

Help if you can! 

Link to the Go-Fund-Mike page.

Hey! Did I Go Viral Or Something?

This little vid I shot of Marv test firing his 10.5" SBR with his home built suppressor with M200 blanks sure has a lot of hits!  1.4 million at this time.

In answer to the comments...

Marv forgot earplugs for the unsuppressed shot.

Yes, that's his bedroom, yes he's shooting in his house.  In his in-home-down-the-hall-firing-range.

All three shots are M200 blanks.  No ammunition with a projectile was used.

The second shot were everyone is certain that a projectile was expended is just an example of first-round pop.

Yes, this was filmed in America!  In Florida, by the Gods!

Nothing illegal is shown.  Both the carbine and suppressor were made on Form 1 and we waited for approval and stamp in hand before construction began.

That Didn't Take Long

Less than two weeks and people got the message.

You can be damn sure that when money's tight people get really choosy about where they spend it.

You make them feel guilty about being themselves and they will certainly not spend it on you.

Congratulations, you dolts, you got your message out alright.

Should have made sure that the message you were sending was the message you wanted people to receive.

Definitely The COVID

Or...

The far more pedestrian "didn't drink anything which wasn't a diuretic for two straight days."

Turns out if you get REALLY dehydrated you can convince yourself, via panic attack, that you're having a heart attack.

Racing heart rate, sky high blood pressure...

The rational part of my brain says, "you're dehydrated."

The lizard brain, on the other hand, can see the glowing green streams of the neurons and doesn't wait for them to be processed and analyzed before pulling the "HE'S DYING AND TAKING US ALL WITH HIM!" lanyard.

Oh and that only sleeping two hours a night for the past three years finally hit hard.

18 plus hours in bed and I just feel like shit.

Liz... Um...

 

Liz, I am with you all the way!

We should make everyone freeloading off everyone else pay taxes.

You first.

Mr Musk at least makes stuff that people want.  Stuff that people are willing pay their own money to get.

I'd also like to remind your stupid mooching ass that if he's not paying taxes it's because of the breaks that people like you built into the tax code for your wealthy associates.  You make him pay taxes and THEY will have to pay too.

Then you won't be a senator for long.

Fauci (Among Others) Might Want To Look Up Some Important Concepts

Inspired by this bloviation.

The most important concept our would be rulers need to absorb: Consent of the governed.

That consent is being withdrawn, slowly and quietly, across the nation.

It's rapidly approaching "fuck this shit!" levels in a lot of places.

The next most important concept the would be rulers need to grasp is: Information cascade. 

East Germany and The Soviet Union encountered these ideas the hard way and they had a lock on communication that the internet overloads and mainstream medial can only dream about.

The last concept I will bore them with today is: Punctuated equilibrium.

Western Civilization runs on that last one.

It endures all manner of bullshit then suddenly, seemingly all at once, it reasserts its norms.

People who cannot live under those norms have some rough sledding coming.

But all I know is history.

One final thought.

Can You Hear That?

The F-35C has been deployed on Carl Vinson for about four months now.

A sure sign that everything is going swimmingly is a complete lack of media talking about how fucked a controversial program is.

Come to think on it...  There hasn't been a whiff of Pierre Speyesque dislike of the entire program for quite a while.

Doing Alt Histories Messes With Me

$60,000 in 1960 is over half a million today.

Think about that for a second.

The traditional "good" inflation rate is 3% per year and that would be $364,101.07 today.

$60,000 to $563,408.11 from 1960 to 2021 is a "mere" 3.741% annual inflation.

Mere.

Gold in 1960 was $35.27 per ounce.  It's $1,782.94 today.  That's just 6.64% inflation.

Pay attention to that.

Gold is going up twice as fast at the observed inflation rate.

Gold's buying power is about the same as it was.

It's something that keeps occurring in my gaming notes.

An ounce of gold buys the same basket of goods for centuries, but it takes more and more fiat currency to get that ounce of gold (or the shit that it'd but).

It's Happened

Remember how I set myself to liking my M16A4 clone?

It's now my favorite.

It doesn't hurt that it groups really well.

I think it's the extra mass.

I'm as surprised as the next person!

I was never a fan of the extra length of the A2 stock, but here we are.

It's A Race Gun!

That Laugo Alien that Ian was talking about is an $8,000 (on Gunbroker) racegun.

He says he's going to subject it to the kind of treatment that nobody who's paid $8,000 for a race gun would subject their gun to.

Since it's good to be Gun Jesus and they gave him the damn thing... He might just do it!

I am most certainly not at the skill level required to wring out the extra performance that spending an extra $7,550 for a 9mm gives.

It's in the same rarefied atmosphere that the Manurhin MR73 resides.  Though the Manurhin is a lot cheaper, proportionately, than the Laugo.  It's just three times as expensive as a "similar" Smith and Wesson and just a bit more than new Pythons are running.

Besides, if I had $8,000 that was going to be blown on a gun, I'm far more likely to get an FG.42 clone or one of those bespoke .45 Lugers (also available in 10mm!)...

Hmmmm, since they're bespoke, I wonder if the guy could be convinced to make one in .38 Super.

You're Right But You're Probably Wrong

Someone, innocently, tried to opine that the US Army has adopted, just about, the correct handgun for the moment in time it was adopted.

It's an interesting thesis.

I was going to comment that they should have adopted the S&W X100, which after some refinement we know as the Model 39, in 1955.

But the thread is no longer about the US Army generally getting it right, it's now a dick measuring contest about who's right about who won and who should have won the modular handgun competition.

On one side we have someone who's obviously been following it by reading articles in the press, gun magazines and online articles.

On the other we have someone who claims to have been part of the testing.

The second person is also an asshole.

Anyone who disagrees with them "doesn't know what they're talking about but I can't explain because of NDA."

"I know more than you but I can't prove it because I'm sworn to secrecy!"

This guy has the familiar taste of stolen valor.

Twenty Minutes Later...

In case there was any doubt about the wisdom of the US military in insisting that the take-down pins on an M16 series rifle be captive...

I just spent 20 minutes looking for the rear pin for the BEBoG carbine when it de-materialized without a sound when I fumbled putting it back.

It was seven feet away and under the bed.

This is a weak point of the Cavarms and KE Arms designs.

Possibly outweighed by the positives, but still.

What Am I Doing?

Personally?

Well, for one thing, I'm not shooting up random intersections.

Keeping my guns in their safe and holsters?

Advocating that people who shoot up random strangers get punished?

Punishment like this:

Lock 'em in and let 'em starve.

Regardless of race, denomination or gender.

The constant focus on GUN violence rather than IMMORAL violence distracts from the ultimate solution to the problem.

But distractions are needed to maintain the narrative, aren't they?

Would It Be Better If They Was Pushed Outta Windows?

Mr Fleetwood opines, "Would they be deader if I'd used 9mm?"

The battle of the BTR-152 was conducted with 230gr .45 ACP ball ammo.

It's illustrative that shot placement matters and he actually struck below the rim of the helmet and into the base of the skull where the spine enters.

Even a fucking .22 LR will get the job done if you put your shot there.

.45 is certainly more than .22; so therefore adequate.  That establishes a range of hole size and 9mm is firmly in the middle here.

They would, in fact, not be any more pregnant dead if hit with any other round.

The start of this discussion was from Ian laying snail tracks for the Laugo Alien.

Does that $8,000 9mm lob the bullet better than a $600 Hi-Power?  Or a Glock?  Or an M&P 9?  Or a S&W 59?

Or does it propel a 9x19mm round in pretty much exactly the same way, at the same velocity, with an accuracy that's more related to the skill of the shooter than the inherent accuracy of the design?

It's the same conundrum I am dealing with carrying the Model 59.

It doesn't lob a round farther or harder than a Glock 45.  Or Glock 17.  Or M&P 9.  Or Sigma.  Or High Power.  Or Beretta M9.  Or Beretta M1951.  Or S&W 39...

Etc...

It boils down to if you shoot it well and are comfortable carrying it.

You won't learn that reading about 2,000 round endurance tests.

You might not learn it attending at multi-kilobuck class.

You might learn to tolerate a gun that doesn't fit you, but after such a training seminar, you're going to feel like you HAVE to keep using it, whether you like your pistol or not.

Ghost Guns

I don't object to DIY guns.

I've done one or two myself:

I know my motives for Andrea and Tonya.

Where else was I going to get a clone of my issue M16A2 down to the serial number or a GOOD clone of a Polish Tantal?

Lavender Linda was just for fun and to see if a resin lower was viable.  It is, sort of.

What I am marveling at is someone I know making a LOT of Polymer 80 pistols and 80% AR lowers and I don't get it.

Is it for the fun of making them?

Is it a thumb in the eye of the powers that be?

For me, it's not saving money because, being a veteran, I can get a Blue Label Glock for about the same price as making a P80 kit, but I get three magazines too.

I am curious, though.

Comments?

Technically...

How you get to the fight kind of defines your title.

Infantry walk.

Dragoons (aka mounted infantry, aka mechanized infantry) ride, then dismount to fight.

Cavalry fight mounted.

For most of the "Old West" era, the cavalry was really dragoons.  They rode to contact with the enemy then dismounted.

Some people get confused here because the infantry often traveled on mules for several of the big campaigns.  This doesn't make them dragoons because they dismount well before contact.  The same idea applies to motorized infantry, the trucks don't go far enough forward to take fire.  Trucks (and mules) cost money, they're not to be squandered!

Believe it or not, it has nothing to do with them using mules as mounts.

You can cavalry from a mule, you're just going to be slow and the mule will likely file a grievance and go on strike.  Army mules have an EXCELLENT union!

I Am Reminded Of The Sage Ron White

We had a shooting in Brandon today.

Except it wasn't the cops doing all the missing...

Heh Heh Heh Huh Huh Huh

 

Native VS Adapted TL8

 

On the top is a MecGar 17-round magazine for S&W 59 series pistols

On the bottom is a S&W 17-round magazine for S&W M&P 9 pistols.

The MecGar is just a little narrower and just a little longer.

The S&W is fatter because the polymer frame can have thinner walls than the metal plus stocks design of the Model 59 for the same grip width.  It is a TL8 magazine for a TL8 pistol.

The MecGar is a TL8 magazine for a TL7 pistol.

The difference in TL is sometimes vexxing.

2nd Generation Smiths are made firmly during TL8's time period.  But I tend to rule that they're still TL7 guns.  The third generation is a TL7 gun made with TL8 techniques.

Al Unser

I liked the Unsers.

Pity to see their like fade away.

Al has followed his brother to new track.

BUT BUT BUT NFA

Good to see that the National Firearms Act, especially 922(o), has ended all firearms related crime in Puerto Rico.

Click here for to view the serene peace of strict regulation of automatic arms.

With registration and background checks on private sales, you'd think there'd be no crime, especially with firearms.

Hardly A Barrel Full Anymore

Michael Nesmith has departed the coil mortal.

Just one Monkee remains.

The Monkees were a staple of my after school TV for years on the local UHF channel.

We thought it was delightfully new.

Our parents rolled their eyes at the 15 year old shows on syndication.

Come to think of it, my five year old mind really liked the Adam West Batman where my parents also rolled their eyes.

Putting My Finger On It

I think the S&W 59 carry experiment is the source of my contentment.

Despite being a 50 year old design, the only think it's giving up brand new polymer guns is a bit of weight.

That takes a lot of the shine off the newest things in the display case.

The various AR projects have gotten to polishing the cannonball level of moving the sliders around for weight and optics...

I am far from unarmed here.

As far as writing here goes, I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot.

You have to if you're going to scream into the tempest.

I'm still picking at my Sabers story and the research is enjoyable.

Astonishingly Contented

It's been a bit since I've even been in a gun shop.

The S&W 59 really marks the last obsession gun.

The BEBoG project wasn't an obsession, but an illustration that you can get a decent AR and optics for not a lot of coin.

The last gun acquired is a completion of a project that had languished for years.

I'm distinctly lacking in wants.

This is a strange feeling.

Don't get me wrong, I'd happily accept new guns to take pictures of and show off on the blog, but I'm presently without a pressing urge to get a particular one.

Data Recovery

Off site back-ups are important.

Marv is the keeper of that archive.

Things that you accumulate in small bits sure take a long time to propagate when you move them all at once.

Progress is ongoing.

Ask Me How We Can Tell This Wasn't Broward County

Busted before he even got out of his building.

The cops didn't wait for the shooter to stop shooting and get breakfast before moving on the perpetrator.

This Is Going To Be Taught In Law School

Law students will be taught using Alec Baldwin as the exemplar example of why you should order your client to shut the hell up while any case they're involved in is being litigated.

In the time since the fatal shooting of Halnya Hutchins he's gone from an ignorant dancing monkey to someone dropping suspiciously specific denials.

All by just not shutting up.

The more he talks, the more guilty he's sounding.

Not a good look for a jury, especially since he's blabbing in the public space.

Stupid Design For People Who Live There

Doing a rewatch of The Expanse in preparation for the sixth season.

Season 3 episode 2 has a moment where Prax cannot breath because the umbilical to ship's air gets disconnected because unsecured tools knock his hose off the bulkhead.

FFS, I don't even live in space, but I didn't have my systems set up like that.

Your vacc suit is always a stand alone, self sufficient system unless you deliberately do something fucking stupid.

The kind of deliberate stupid that spacers who live there don't do.

But then, I'm the GM who let FuzzyGeff's Hiver wrap up Warren's character in a vacc sleeping bag and not secure them to the deck only to have Warren get sucked out the cargo lock when FuzzyGeff opened it to space some hijackers.  His Hiver was, decidedly, NOT a spacer.

Not My Generation Not My Music

I'm borderline irritated scrolling past the gushing fangrrly squeals about that Peter Jackson Beatle doc.

While I can appreciate the impact they had on popular music, it was long before my time.

So was Elvis.

While they both had a great deal of influence on music, their direct influence was about spent by the time I could buy music.

And I didn't spend my money on The Beatles or Elvis.

Thus, I don't really care about a documentary about a band which had split up long before.  A split which took them five years to announce.

Elvis was dead (yes he was) before I started buying my own music.

What amuses me is that many of the artists I was into were contemporaries of both.

Much to my father's despair, I got into punk and not the blues.

Much to my mother's relief, I enjoyed country made before 1982.

Disco never bothered me, but I didn't buy any.

I was doing AC/DC, Metallica, Megadeth, Floyd, Muddy, Howling Wolf, Bach and Strauss in the late 80's.

Lately I'm doing everything.  Former friend Anglave referred to my music collection as "song whiplash" when it was set to random.

But not a single Beatles song except what's archived for The Boy from that movie Yesterday.

Unsettling is my discovery that I like some kinds of jazz.  A format I'd previously thought I hated, but I have discovered that I merely disliked a couple of popular forms of it.  Forms the Hipsters snootily told me I HAD to like if I were to like music at all.

I don't care for growl metal, but I increasingly appreciate metal in Swedish and Mexican Spanish.

What do you listen to?

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Disney plans on rebooting Firefly.

The article speculates that it will be more family friendly.

I am sick to death of that shit!

I want science fiction for adults, dammit, not children.

That's why I love The Expanse.  It's for grown-ups.

ZZZZZORP!

The bake element in my oven decided to do some spontaneous disassembly.

Happily, I still had the element I removed back in January '18 when we debugged the switch.

Also, luckily, I'm pretty darned handy.

The price of a replacement is under $30 shipped.  Analog ovens are superior to digital in this regard.

That Would Explain Why There's More Canadian Snowbirds This Year Than Normal

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/12/no-jab-no-food-canadian-province-imposes-new-regulations-ban-unvaccinated-grocery-stores/

Florida is a nicer place than Canada under most circumstances, starving in Canada is much worse.

I just hope that they realize that they've moved to another country and vote accordingly when they naturalize in a few years.

Perhaps Unnecessary

I have entered what guns The Chomps Collection has loaned me into my bound book.

AFT is typically unclear about whether I should since ownership didn't change with possession.

They still belong to The Chomps Collection, and will be returned on demand.

It's just going to show the same person for acquisition and disposition and the same price.

Still Packing 1975

The Model 59 continues to do exactly what a more modern gun would do.

Collect lint from my armpit in its Miami Classic II.

It should be pointed out that it's been 100% reliable at the range so far with the TL8 17-rounders.

My experience is underscoring the idea that if you have a pistol suitable for carry, there's no reason to throw it away for an improvement in the margins.

On the downside, the sights are kinda hard to see sometimes, some white dots would be of great help.

I think I will paint the front sight with my glow-in-dark paint to give some contrast.

Under normal light, it's now a white front sight.  With a quick flash from a flashlight, it's the green seen above.

I'm carrying more than one light which will do, are you?

Pop Flare

Mr Fleetwood, please come to the white courtesy phone.

Oh Look Another RINO

Why won't the GOP fucking learn?

Looks like we're getting an anti-gun RINO senator for Pennsylvania.

Northern version of Suntan Charlie Christ.

He's running as a Republican because the Dem position is filled.

It's Like Ian Reads Technomad's Comments

 

I hope this helps!

Perhaps The Ultimate Fucked Around And Found Out

80 years ago Japan launched a very effective surprise attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor.

It culminated to being the first nation to experience a nuclear attack just under four years later.

It MUST Be The Covid

This morning, about 9am, I started feeling really bad.

Dizzy and cold.

Called in The Lovely Harvey to take over The Boy and I wrapped up in two blankets almost convulsing from how cold I felt.  All while not exhibiting a fever that any thermometer could detect, though Harvey felt my forehead was warm.

I zonked out until 5pm soaked in sweat.

Got up, still not feeling 100%, ate, sucked down some fluids and promptly went back out until about 11pm.

Now I am sitting here doing the "your fever just broke" sweats and starting to feel more human.

I figure this MUST be Teh Wu Ping Cough Omnicon variant.

It has to be.

Nobody gets sick from anything else, right?

Forgot The Screenshot

Did you know that every revolver manufactured in or imported to the USA has a transfer bar or hammer block safety since 1915?

I read it on the internet.  It must be true.

Assuming they mean new made guns made just for import and not milsurps that come later...

Um.

No.

I can't find the Facebook post I commented on now either.

I want to say it was The Truth About Guns... But I can't find the post in question.  That means that even if it was TTAG's Facebook, I can't tell you if it was them or a commenter.

But it's patently untrue.

While most makers were changing over to such devices during the early 20th century, lots of legacy designs kept on with production for years without them.

Battarida Aziz

My UPS started blinking "dead battery" at me.

Easy swap...

Except for where I've placed it and keeping all the wires organized.

But, 'tis done.

Got the genuine APC approved back instead of individual batteries this time.

Eyes crossed that these last more than a year or so.

Plus 88

Today is the day that Prohibition ended, marking the termination of the Federal Government's attempts to meddle with what Americans put into their bodies...

Uh...

Not Sure This Helps

Nazi Germany managed to get The Holocaust in full swing using bolt action rifles what only held five rounds.

Such suffices against a populace which has virtually zero guns.

The panic caused among the Nazis by a few handguns in the Warsaw ghetto uprising is illustrative of how well Europe was disarmed.

I am thinking that if the government has far better rifles than a K.98k, so should the populace.

Just in case.

Australia opening up what looks so very much like a concentration camp says volumes about it.

OK, internment camp.

But I recall that until Wu Ping Cough, the left condemned the internment camps their own party put into place.

I also notice that the average Australian citizen has been as effectively disarmed as a late 1930's European.

I don't think we should emulate them.

Need I mention China or the Uyghurs?

Alec, Oh Alec

Mr Baldwin, if you were lowering the hammer, you had to have pulled the trigger.

I Just Realized

This is an old gaming story.

The second iteration of Angus The Magic User was with GURPS.

Since Angus was me transported to Carl Cross' dungeon world he knew what I knew.

Not long after doing enough adventuring and exploring to get some wealth, I decided that I needed a shootin' iron.

I knew, near enough, how a Walker Colt worked to explain how to make the parts and even many of the tools to make the tools.

So I commissioned one from the local dwarven artificer.

The next thing was powder.  Black powder didn't work in the dungeon.  Magic, don't you know?

So I embarked on alchemical research and learned to make a black powder analog.

Things went swimmingly until I tried shooting it in a no-mana zone.

Carl declared that the gun blew up in my hand.  How appropriate for a Walker, no?

I, of course, objected strenuously!

Carl explained that without magic around what was suppressing black powder stopped doing so, thus my charges were extra powerful in no-mana areas.

"Hold up!" I says, "I researched this.  I have a high skill level in alchemy and chemistry.  I would know why my powder analog works and what would happen if magic didn't work; thus I would know to not use the gun here."

Carl conceded and we re-ran the scenario.

But something else occurred to me recently.

I had the dwarf artificer use his best sword steel.  Original Walkers were cast iron.

My recreation might well have been strong enough to use even with the double charge that Carl said my loads were.

Hard Core Musical Instrument

 

I Didn't Want To Go That Bad

There's a gunshow at the Tampa fairgrounds this weekend.

The line to get in was being police directed and went up and over the hill...

Considering that we were only going to see if the crowds had thinned, we took this as a sign that they had not.

Still, it was a nice day to take a drive and grab some souless chain stir-fry from Ghengis Grill.

I Have A Pile Of Posts To Make

It suddenly occurs to me that I am lacking in write-ups of quite a few of the 1/4" bore pistols I have here.

Especially since a couple of them are quite unique in how they work.

I Don't Care About Gun Violence

What I care about is immoral violence, regardless of the instrumentality.

It doesn't matter what the murder weapon is, the murder is wrong.

It doesn't matter what I defend myself with, the defense is good.

It's not violence we need to fight, but immoral violence.

I Set My Mind In Motion

Remember when I set myself to liking my M16A4 clone?

I'm there.

She's heavy, but it's a nice mass.

5.56 didn't have a lot of recoil to begin with and 10.7 lb. (loaded, with optic and light) sure sucks a lot of it up.

I like the Primary Arms 5x scope and it makes small groups easy.

She points readily and is comfortable to shoot quickly, what's not to love?

If you have the means, I highly recommend you make your own.

Photography Is Sometimes Hard

 

I take a picture every year containing some alcohol, a firearm and some tobacco.

The alcohol is often beer and I often end up in a race to get everything all framed while there's still a head on the beer.

It looks better in the pic to have a head on the beer.

Next year will have a pipe for the tobacco.

That complicated things because I wanted to get a wisp of smoke too.

I don't think I succeeded, but you will have to wait until Jan 1, 2022 to see.

Roe V Wade

I've occasionally opined that Roe vs Wade was decided correctly on the wrong grounds.

The case was decided on a penumbra and emanation of the 4th Amendment for privacy.

I think it should have been decided on 9th and 10th grounds that no power was granted specifically to government to stop such things.

But I'm a strict Originalist about what the federal and state constitutions do and how they should work.

Even if what you're talking about is clearly evil, it cannot be made illegal until constitutional authority is given congress to make law.

So far, nobody has bothered.

No comments allowed on this topic.  Past experience has shown that people don't stay on topic and meander off into religious justifications for their pro-life stance.  A position which is forbidden by the 1st Amendment to impose on everyone else.

Externality

A connection I just made about some former friends who're liberals.

They would make sweeping declarations about people whom I resembled.

For instance, "The Tea Party is a racist organization."

I would ask, "How did you come to this conclusion?"

They would cite their favorite media source.

I would mention my attendance at a Tea Party event and how there was a strong minority representation in the crowd.

At this point dissonance occurs, but doesn't last long.

The favored media source is unimpeachable to them.  Data in conflict with this source is discarded.

I am constantly amazed that people who think of themselves as the party of science don't grasp the scientific concept of "account for all the data."

Of course, they can't make a falsifiable statement to save their lives either, and I'm thinking that they're going to have to in the near future.

Might Not Be Here For A Bit

Book 9 of The Expanse series just hit my Kindle.

Might just be busy reading it rather than attending to the blog.

Chat among yourselves while I read my book.

No Red Bucket No Irritating Bell

Buying groceries at the local Winn Dixie and I noticed that the Salvation Army bell-ringer and their red bucket were missing.  Edit: To be clear, they were there last week.

I wonder if they were getting an earful over the white guilt bullshit.

I see they've withdrawn the request for white people to apologize, but I think the damage might be done.

Phil Probably Has A Car That Uses These

 

Does anyone know what these glass domes are for in the dash of a Bentley Blower?

I feel like I used to know what those things did...

It'd be amusing to find that they're just lights.

Oh, read about the car they're from here.

Ce N'est Pas Rétro.

Watching this video:

And I am struck.

No flat-top is retro.  An A2 upper is not retro.

Retro ends with the fixed carry handle with a rear sight you need tools to adjust the windage on.

Retro:

 Retro:

Retro:

Retro:

Retro:

The battle was fought and the A2 and later were deemed to not be Retro.

Even if you mount a Trijicon reflex on a detachable carry-handle on your otherwise A4 clone.

We WERE Joking

While discussing the alternatives to using cream of mushroom soup to make green bean casserole, we all speculated about cream of bacon.

Campbell's already makes it and Publix lists it as a normal stocking item.

We're going to the store tomorrow!

As Good As The St Crispin's Day Speech

 

Bill could write, you have to give him that.

Nobody Does Coriolanus

She does a great job with the works of Shakespeare.

Worth a watch for the LOLs.

Fuck It Let's Nuke South Africa

We're shutting down air travel from Africa for a disease that presents with the same severity as jet-lag.

"It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well," Coetzee explained. "So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home."

Coetzee reported around two dozen of her patients that tested positive for the coronavirus and displayed these new symptoms. She alerted officials to the possibility of a new variant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday designated the omicron variant.

Most of the patients were men who reported "feeling so tired," and half of them were unvaccinated. The patients comprised a range of ages and ethnicities. 

Jesus Fucking Christ can we end this hoax now?

Oh noes!  I might feel run down for a couple days!  The horror!

Wu Ping Cough is following the classic trend of corona viruses and getting easier to catch and less severe as it mutates.

I wish some scientist had done groundbreaking research on this (almost two) decades ago...

Oh, wait.

A paper that basically explains that there's really no need to get a vaccine running because the disease you're trying to prevent will, in essence, cease to exist by the time you're ready for production and what remains will be, essentially, harmless.

It also mentions that the super-high mutation rate lets it get around therapies and immunities.  That worries me that the mRNA therapy we're passing off as a vaccine is making an incubator for variations which are better at infecting people and make them sicker.  It'd definitely be a case where leaving it to run its course would have been the best decision.

It's not an easy read for the layman.  Hard enough that I worry I cited the same paper I read ten years ago...  If I got the wrong one, lemme know I'll look harder for the right one.

Cleaning Up The Sidebar

Many of the blogs on the sidebar have gone silent or dark.

I've moved them down to "Blogs That Used To Entertain".

Anyone who hasn't posted in a year gets moved there.

It's a sad annual task.

Many of those blogs I looked forward to seeing new content from.

What remains is often very much worth wading through the archives.

It Wasn't Skipped

They didn't skip Ξ.

ALL the Wu Ping Cough variants are Xi!

Now I want a picture of Winnie the Pooh wearing a ΞΞΞ fraternity shirt!  Thanks Marv!

COVID-19 Omicron

Hey, fucksticks, shouldn't that be something more like COVID-21 Delta?

But using the accepted systems of naming these things would mean explaining it to people, wouldn't it?

And explaining things like you do, tends to lead to doubts about your competence, don't it?

Something I am definitely not seeing with regards to this new variation is any mention of lethality.

Did anyone else notice the shift in the reporting going from people dying to just being infected?

I'm thinking that Wu Ping Cough is doing what corona viruses do as they age and mutate.

Get more infectious and less lethal.

Otherwise we'd be hearing about how many dead there are.

The media is definitely unaware that we've been observing their methods for a while now.

Information You Needed To Know

 

The Secret

The Lovely Harvey, noting that we love, for the most part, completely different foods; wondered how it was we stuck together so long.

"You don't take my food, I don't take yours.  We're not competing for the same resources."

This is the secret.

Don't take the other's food.

Donate generously to the right, you're welcome.