Score

Carbine buffers run about $20 each.  Or did last time I shopped.

Today I nabbed two for $10.

A well loved H and an, apparently, unused H2.

I didn't really need them, but...

Spelling Is Important

Getting a letter wrong on your order form can be embarrassing.

When you order 8 of these:

And get 8 of these:

Damsel

I just got done watching Nexflix's Damsel.

It's not what the pundits who hate "The Message" think it was.

It probably wouldn't have garnered any controversy if the dancing monkeys who made it had just let the work stand on its own merit.

It's not what the makers say it was.

It does not subvert the genre.

It's female empowerment in the sense of, "what if the damsel in distress had some damned agency?"

Elodie certainly does.

She gets the shit beaten out of her in the process, it's not a Mary Sue tale.

If you're a D&D geek, give it a whirl.

You will be rewarded by a dragon with the proper four-legs and two-wings.

The dragon is voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo.  I would listen to her read a dictionary.

FIL Update

Looks like our forcing him into the ambulance paid off.

His blood pressure was very bad and the scans showed no damage from the TIA.

The doc stopped the heart monitoring, so the a-fib must have been transitory, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Looks like a diet modification and blood thinners and he's got many more miles to go.

Should be home tomorrow.

Because They Don't Need Us

The reason the RINO GOP in Tallahassee don't advance pro-gun bills is because they don't need gun owners to retain power up there.

I get the impression that the leadership up there doesn't like him much, and a decent part of the blame for that is actually at Marion's feet.

She was definitely an NRA or Florida Sportsman Association or nothing sort.

Her attitude is pervasive up there, and GOA FL is not NRA or FSA and the legislators don't feel that GOA can affect elections.

They further know that we don't wish to commit political suicide by electing Democrats.

Taking Bets

Were Mr Cuz-Choc, and the deceased here legally?

The local Fox affiliate slants liberal, so they'd never mention it.

What About After

In a world where .276 Pederson was adopted to replace .30-06; what happens after WW2?

Pederson is very similar to 7.62x51mm dimensionally, so the push to make it smaller might not be as strong as changing from .30-06 to 7.62 NATO was.

But we'd still have experienced 7.92x33 Kurz and seen the idea of assault rifles.

The British were working on .280 British during the immediate post-war time-frame and it might have gotten more traction as being a bit more compact than .276 Pederson.

In the real world, the UK even adopted it as the 7mm Mk.1Z for the EM-2 rifle (Rifle No.9 Mk.1).

I once made stats for an AR-10 in .280 Brit.  It could have been adopted as the M14...

Not sure where we'd have gone with a LMG since the M5 version of the MG.42 was working fine in .276 Pederson, but having ammo commonality is always nice.

7x43mm NATO has a ring to it...

Family Stuff Going On

Free ice cream might be slow for a bit.

Father-in-law had himself a TIA and has A-Fib.

Dealing with it.

What If Pederson

What if MacArthur had not gotten his way and the US had adopted .276 Pederson instead of staying with .30-06?

The Garand would have gotten a 10 shot clip instead of 8.

The M1918 BAR would have been changed enough for the late updates from Colt to be applied and the Rifle, Automatic, .276 Calibre M2 to replace it.

Later the Garand would be tested with a detachable box magazine and possibly adopted as the M3 rifle in 1946.

The M1919A4, when converted or made new in .276 becomes the M4 machine gun.

The M4A1 machinegun is the same pattern as an M1919A6.

The incompetent drafter who fucked up measuring a captured MG.42 for conversion to American cartridges quit in protest when .30-06 was dropped in 1936 and therefore didn't screw up the .276 conversion into the M5 machine gun, which the US still uses in 2024.

Misapprehension

What are most of my GURPS posts?

Reality checks.

Way back when, Steve Jackson Games put out that if you found something that failed the reality check, go with reality.

Since then I've made a hobby of seeing how many things I could find that passed that check, and answering, "Will it GURPS?" in the affirmative.

So far, just a single well documented death from .25 ACP has failed to GURPS of the things I've checked.

Stats for guns not included with the game or any of the supplements is another portion.

There's probably hardly a group playing GURPS 4e that needs more than you can get with the published stats, but I like the strange stuff.  We were using FG.42 in our 3e game years before GURPS WW2 came out.

But my GURPS posts aren't about how I run my campaigns.

They aren't explanations about the basic concepts of the rules or how they work.

A couple of pushy commenters aren't going to get to comment anymore because they couldn't decipher this.  Good riddance!

That pushiness makes me want to mention the sidebar to the right.

There's topics you can click on that lead you to everything I've marked with that topic since 2005.

There's a search bar at the top left that lets you search for a specific word I've used since 2005.

I use them a lot in a game attempt to keep from repeating myself.

Most galling is the times that I've been asked for an explanation to find the asker didn't even read it; then demands the same explanation again.

If you're not going to bother reading, why are you even here?

The excuse, "I don't visit every day," doesn't fly because you can scroll back to where you left off last visit; and if you don't I make about three posts a day of varying lengths.

You're going to miss something if you don't read regular like!

Like a reply to a question you asked!

Poor Marion

Let us never forget 2011 when she fucked us on open and campus carry.

Despite her denials, she withheld NRA support until it was poison pilled by amendments that had been removed in committee.

Well, she just got her golden parachute taken away.

As others have said, if I had made as much as she was making for as long as she was making it, I wouldn't be worried about making it to the end.

I do worry about the cats.

Packrat Payoff

The DVD drive in the Mac Pro decided to make whirring noises rather than play the disk.

Happily, I had a spare drive in a bin in the garage!

Which is good because this ancient thing uses IDE for the optical drives.

Remember IDE?

FTW

For earth day today I have all the windows open and the AC set to 65.

The Beast is idling in the drive.

I should burn a tire. 

What!?!

It's not like I'm composting my girlfriend.

Implications

Just watched Sound of Freedom.

Considering the implications of what is said at the end about how much slavery and how many slaves are children in the world...

African American race baiters demanding reparations over something that didn't even happen to them sounds like being bitches.

So, bitches, what are you doing to stop slavery?

I know what one white dude did.

That's Odd

I don't have a single character who is sporting a PASGT helmet or vest!

My revision of T2K and the 4e updates of the characters all have ACH and ESAPI.

The PASGT stuff was a staple of so many characters before more information became available via the internet.

I do have a Technomancer version of me who should have the helmet because I have one.

I think I'll make a small revision.

Upside Yah Head

"Sarge, I forgot my helmet!"

2d+2 cr against an unarmored skull still gets DR 2 from the bone, like a small mace or the hammer side of a martel de fer.

An average two-handed hit from a ST 14 dude will, on average, deliver 9 points of raw damage.

Minus 2 for the bones.

Times 4 for hitting the brain.

28 points of damage.

Two death rolls for a HT 10 mook and almost halfway to auto death.

A max damage roll would get 12 past the skill for 48 points of damage and 4 death rolls.

The typical 12 HP PC would fare a bit better.

The average roll will just barely get a death roll.

Max will get three death rolls.

In both cases they're major wounds to the head and bonuses to being knocked over and penalties to not losing consciousness apply.

Kids, remember, wear your helmet! 

Update:

If my much smaller, and weaker, ass swung it one handed at an unprotected noggin...

1d+2 cr will do 3-8 points of raw damage with an average of 5  This will get 4-24, average 12, points against the HP of the target.  On average the victim is looking to roll for consciousness, but not in danger of dying unless they fail that roll.  Getting a death roll is possible, but I'd have to roll well.

Two handed changes the raw damage by just a point, delivering 8-28, average 16.

Medieval For The Win

Kentucky Ballistics wonders how medieval weapons perform against modern armor.

Will it GURPS?

Scott looks like he's running a ST 14.  That's got a thrust damage of 1d and swing damage of 2d.

His helmet appears to be NIJ IIIA rated.  That's DR 12.

The first weapon is a small mace.  He'll do 2d+2 cr with it, averaging 9 damage.  It shouldn't penetrate.

The next weapon is a mace.  He'll do 3d-1 cr with it, averaging 9 damage.  It shouldn't penetrate.

Then the pick.  He'll do 2d+1 imp with it averaging 8 damage.  It shouldn't penetrate.

Using two hands, as he does, is good for an extra point of damage.  Averages are 10, 10 and 9; so they shouldn't penetrate on average.

BUT!

Maximum damage with each weapon, two handed, is 15 cr, 17 cr and 14 imp.  Penetration is possible, and, maybe, he got a good roll with the second hit with the pick.

This GURPS!

He didn't tell us what kind of vest it is.  It looks like NIJ II soft armor.  DR 10/5* (higher DR vs pi and cut).

The sword should do 2d-1 imp for thrusts and 2d+1 cut for swings.  Average hits should be 6 imp and 8 cut respectively.

The DR 10 stops the cut handily, even if the armor takes some damage.  The DR 5 stops the thrust, and his poor technique probably explains a below average damage roll.

The pick, doing 9 impaling with his two-handed swing gets 4 into the dummy.

This GURPS!

I'm not going to bother with the ahistorical morningstars or the idiotically long $1,500 not-so-great sword.  But if I did the morningstar it'd do 3d cr swung two-handed for an average of 10.  It shouldn't get through the helmet, but should get through the vest.  I think it did, but he didn't really show the effects.

His spear should do 2d-1 imp when thrown.  Average of 6 damage.  That should penetrate, and it did, slightly.

Two-handed stabbing with it should do the same damage.

This GURPS!

I don't know how fast he was going on the scooter, so I can't calculate the damage bonus.

He's Right

Willard noticed that the Luger P.08 is slightly bigger in every dimension than the M1911A1.

The Luger looks so much slimmer in profile you don't notice it by itself.

How Long You Need?

Some of the descendants of slaves in the United States claim to still be suffering under the repercussions of their ancestors once being enslaved.

8 generations.

I find that odd.

There's historical examples of nations being conquered, the once free citizens being enslaved and their grandkids being citizens of the conquering nation.

Seems that those folks had a bigger grudge than African Americans, yet...

Two generations to members of society.

Perhaps it was the shorter time of enslavement?

Well, there's a caveat to that two generations deal.  Enslaved grandfather needed to behave, free, but second class subject father needed to behave and free and citizen son needed to behave or right back to slavery because enslavement was a punishment for some crimes.

Some families never did manage to get out of being slaves because grampa never got with the idea that if he toed the line, his descendants would be free.  Or worse, decided that if HE couldn't be free, then NOBODY would!

I wonder if we're seeing some of this psychology at play with race relations today.

I do want to point out that African-Americans had sorted themselves out after the Civil War and, for the most part, had been becoming Americans.

It's true!

There were many places where racist bullshit kept them from completing the task.  This is also true.

There were also many places where there wasn't such bullshit and they settled into the same nuclear American family model that everyone else used.  The experience of a black family was no different from an Irish or Italian one in these places.

But then we put racist bullshit back on the menu.

Redline districts and welfare did more to kill the solid nuclear family than anything Jim Crow conceived of.

Destroyed with "love" as it were.

And it's kept them from succeeding as the little enclaves get more and more isolated from mainstream American culture and norms.

The thing that stands out, from my observations, is every African American I know who's rejected the enclave and the subculture that thrives there to adopt "normal" American culture is successful.

They've jobs, mortgage, family, friends...  And them being black is no more noteworthy than me being Scots/Italian.

In many ways they emigrated from the enclave to America!

It's classic melting pot stuff.

The echoes of other cultures doing this are still there.  Little Italys and Chinatowns are where the Italian and Chinese ghettos used to be.  The places where, if you wanted to skip being an American, you stayed.  Want out?  Adopt our ways and welcome, citizen!

But there's some very rich, racist, bastards with a stake in the status quo of preventing Blacks from being full members of society.  Bastards of every color, but racist nonetheless.

As Predicted By GURPS

In GURPS, .270 Win does 7d pi.  .30-06 does 7d+1 pi.

Essentially identical, with a very slim edge to '06.

I Got It Then

 

What I remember most about the first time I saw this movie was all my friends staring at me and whispering, "Oh, that's exactly how Angus is going to respond to this shit someday."

Martel De Fer

 Do you have a pick with a hammer face?

I do!

2.2 lb. of 1055 steel and American straight grain hickory...  Sold by Midway, marketed by Cold Steel, made by an American Tomahawk Co. manufactured in Taiwan...  It doesn't appear to be THE American Tomahawk Co. either.

Not ATC's logo...

If I had a nickel for every California cancer warning about nickel...

The langettes are sheet metal and installation is DIY.  The included screws are cheap as all fuck.  Pilot holes are your friend.

It's fun, though.  Especially since it was on sale for almost 43% off.  I can feature a $46 mertel de fer, I can't feature an $80 one.

A couple of whacks on our chopping stump shows that it works.  The hammer face leaves an impression, the pick side gets stuck, like it's supposed...

If I have statted myself correctly with a ST of 11...  It should do 1d+2 imp on the pick side and 1d+2 cr on the hammer side.

I Blame Al Gore

Love bug season has been surprisingly light this year.

Good!

There were reports a few years ago that some species of dragonfly had adapted to handle eating the acidic things, that could explain a lot of their absence because they're clearly unused to predation.

With A Cute Little BRRRRRT

The XM214 is a gun from Twilight: 2000 that turned out to be a solution in search of a problem.

Seems an ideal PC weapon, though.

OG T2K included it, but my GURPS conversion doesn't.  But I couldn't resist making the stats.

Troof

 "The most oppressed people in America are the law-abiding individuals."

- sloanmagnum5009

Will It GURPS - Does The M1 shoot Faster Than The M14

When the M14 being a disaster comes up, someone always says that the M1 Garand could akshually fire faster.

Does it GURPS?

Both are semi-automatic.  One by design, one by modification.

The Garand has a magazine capacity of 8 and reload time of 3 (grab, load, ready).  Basic load 104 rounds.  3 seconds of shooting, then 3 seconds of reloading.  3x13 for the shooting and 3x12 for the reloading.  75 seconds.

The M14 has a magazine capacity of 20+1 and a reload time of 3.  Basic load 100 rounds.  7 seconds of shooting, then 3 seconds of reloading.  7x5 for the shooting and 3x4 for the reloading.  47 seconds.

GURPS busted!

Even if we say that the M14's reload time should be longer because you have to drop the magazine before reloading it only adds 4 seconds to the time.  51 is still shorter than 75 seconds.

Ian Sure Can Stir Up The Hornet's Nest

 

Reading about the reaction to the video and it's clear that so many people didn't watch it before they commented. 

Regurgitated is the common refrain that they know someone who carried one in 'Nam and they loved it!

Watch the vid!  Ian covers that.  The issue isn't that the M14 that was issued to the troops was a bad gun.  The issue is only 2/3 of the guns made actually passed inspection to be issued and that all three contractors making them were losing money making them to spec.

It's astonishing that Winchester and H&R both made Garands which are thought of as better than the Springfield made guns.

The design changed enough from the M1 that new processes had to be implemented to make the M14, contrary to what Springfield told the DOD.

It's still embarrassing that Italy and Beretta did what Springfield claimed they'd done, made a 7.62x51mm NATO rifle derived from the Garand that used tooling and processes from the original gun.

Humiliating is they did it in two years, not 17 and did it for far less money.

The BM59 is a better gun in many, perhaps most, ways than the M14.

Another thing that keeps coming up is defenders of the M14 citing their M1A.  They're not the same gun at all.  The detail differences add up fast and do a great deal to explain how Springfield Armory (no relation) can economically make them.

It's A Good Question

Second City Cop asks, where's the outrage?  Here too.

If you're going to have any chance of convincing us that black lives matter, then you're going to have to start acting like they actually matter.

At present, it seems they only matter if they were career criminals who finally came to a predictable end by the hands of an officer attempting to arrest them.

Then we recount all the wonderful things they might have been if they had not been prevented from turning their lives around... by getting killed resisting arrest.

So, race baiters, why don't you get pissed off at a birthday party being sprayed with gunfire and innocent children being murdered?

I'll suggest a real reason, just in case they have a justification to ignore the violence unless it's cops.

Criminals committing violence doesn't lead to a payout to the families of the victims or the race baiters.  Likewise, stopping criminals from committing violence reduces the power the race baiter wields rather than enhancing it.

Much the same way equal rights and meritocracy is anathema to them.

Preliminary Prototype

We have a mock-up of the shift box.

LED to show that it's on.

Momentary switch to turn it on.

Momentary on-off-on switch to change gears.  Up for upshift, down for downshift.

We have a preliminary wiring diagram.

I have parts on the way to measure to make a box that has a useful cupholder in it that will also be able to hold the switches.

Refer To...

Marv and I are researching what it takes to add tap-up/down shifting to The Beast.

We could buy one of three nearly plug-and-play boxes, but they're all the same format and I don't care for how they did it.

In a word, cheaply.

Maybe $15 of components for $125 to $150.

I have the factory service manual and can see how the wiring for the shifter SHOULD run.

These shift box vendors have proven the BCM already has the programming to respond to the inputs once you run a wire between X1-17 and X1-20 on the BCM.

X1-20 shows a voltage drop from X1-17's 12v and that tells the BCM to ask the TCM to shift up or down.

What we've been trying to find is if X1-17 was hot all the time or just when the ignition is on.  We want the shift box we're making to open the switch when the ignition is off.  The factory shifter can't be in manual when you start the car because the switch can't be closed when the car is in Park or Neutral.  The aftermarket boxes are a simple switch you can forget in the 'on' position.  While nobody is reporting any problems, I don't like sending a "I'm in gear AND in park" signal to the, expensive to replace, BCM.

X1-17 also provides 12v to the cruise control switch which sends a voltage drop back to X1-3.

That sentence above took way longer to find than it should have because the table of contents and index don't include the words, "cruise control."

Happily, GM is a creature of habit and my other service manuals show that cruise control troubleshooting is at the beginning of section 9.  The Caprice, Impala SS, Custom Cruiser and Corvette manuals all have "cruise control" in their indices.

Grrrrrrrr.

Pop Smoke

Got me a new travel tumbler!

16oz, but it's held a 20oz coffee already.  Kept it warm until it was gone.

If the 32oz had come with a red cap, I might have upsized.

The lid does something I've never had in a travel tumbler.  It seals.

Good job Mission First!  Amusing and functional!

Bad Joke

If a group of Rabbis supported William III of England, would that make them Orange Jews?

Someone Might Have Gotten Hurt

Australia, famously, put heavy restrictions on who could own and carry a gun and what types of guns could be carried and owned.

Good thing, otherwise someone might have been killed in a massacre in a mall.

Oh... wait...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's the crazy (or evil) more than the guns what causes shit like this, especially since it was crazy (or evil) with a knife.

It's a pretty beefy limb to say that, if this had happened in Tampa, the stabber would have been ventilated much faster and long before a cop arrived.  With many fewer injuries and deaths.

Another Round

Have you missed out on the four previous rounds of M1911 sales from CMP?

Are you pleased with the gun you'd gotten in one of the first three rounds and want another?

It appears that good news is on the horizon!

M1911 Pistol Options:  A couple of months ago, we received the fiscal year 2024 tranche of surplus M1911s from the Department of the Army – 10,000 of them, which is fantastic. In terms of orders and availability, we are still in the process of filling M1911 orders for Round 4. We expect to announce Round Five this fall, once Round 4 starts winding down. And, I’ll give you a status update on that in October in my next update. While we are still assessing the pistols we just received, it looks like the quality is pretty good.  

From here.

I've got my single example, but I know of a couple of people who didn't already and might just be swayed to get one this time.

I'll Say It Again

May I continue to gush at the effects of modern gun cleaning chemicals and tools?

It's in distinct contrast to the stuff I had to deal back in the Army.

We got paper towels, Break-Free CLP, a well worn toothbrush and a bore brush.

Something I noticed was we needed to clean the guns several times and it was primarily because Break-Free CLP was really good at loosening things up once it had sat, but sucked for immediate effect.

I think we should have soaked them down with the stuff and come back in a few days.

But that's unthinkable to the Army, so we had to clean off all we could, then do it again when they were no longer clean thanks to the CLP dissolving stuff from unseen areas.

The amusing thing is I'm not really using much different equipment, just different chemicals.

My toothbrush gets replaced regularly.

I'm still loving Boresnakes.

Shooter's Choice (or Hoppe's) has an immediate effect on the crud and I sacrifice t-shirts to the cleaning.  Most of the time I use cloth patches to apply the solvent.

There's probably better stuff out there, but I'm happy with what I have.

 

The Pistol I Am Least Likely To Shoot

The pistol I'm least likely to shoot is the one that's in my pocket all the time.

Ironic, isn't it.

The range rules prevent me from pulling it out of my pocket to shoot it, so it tends to stay there, lest I be unarmed to and from the range.

Today I planned better and packed different heat.

Two 13-round and one 10-round magazine at seven yards.

I am reminded that the Shield Plus is louder than the 9-Compact.

It's a little harder to control and shoot fast, but I think that's a decent minute of bad-guy group.

Even better, it fired just fine caked in pocket lint.

Back In Black

Queue AC/DC

I had a black Fencer and Mk IV in my big box.  The Mk I and Mk II came with an earlybird special of a Mk III and Mk V.

Ogre I Through VI

 

With an M1A1 for scale.

I'd intended to do them all in glow-in-the-dark, but SJGames didn't offer I, II and VI in anything but black.

I have a black III and V.

I have a glow in the dark Fencer, but a black Dopplesnolder.

It Wasn't 96

I watched all five of the body cam videos of the officers involved in the shooting of Mr Reed.

Just two reloaded.  One was done shooting when they noticed they were slide locked and put in a fresh magazine.

One officer never fired a shot because he'd dropped his pistol when he reacted to being shot.

Four officers shooting.  One firing more than one magazine's worth.

Assuming the full load of 16 at the start and another 15 in the reload who kept firing.

79 shots, max.

If 96 rounds were fired, 17 belong to Mr Reed.

Two officers spend much of the fight running around not doing much constructive.  One of these is the reload after noticing slide lock after the fight.

The officer who reloaded and kept firing seems most focused on being in the fight.

The fourth firing officer spends a portion of the fight noticing he's down range from his partners, so loses some shooting time deconflicting.

It's likely less than 79 shots fired.  Especially since many cops I've talked to don't top up after chambering a round.  15 in the magazine, drop the slide, 1 in the pipe, 14 in the hole.

We're probably talking 50 shots.  I suppose I could go back and count.

Update:

Hey, there's reports in that big dump CPD put out.  Not the 15+1 Glock 22's that Not-The-Bee says.

Officer 1: Glock 17, 12 shots fired.  17+1 capacity.

Officer 2: Glock 19, 16 shots fired.  15+1 capacity.  This is the slide lock reloader, the video shows the 15 shot magazine clearly during the reload.

Officer 3: Glock 45, 34 shots fired.  17+1 capacity.

Officer 4: Glock 17, 17 shots fired.  17+1 capacity.

Officer 5 (the injured one): No shots fired.

79 rounds!  Yet every single media report is saying 96 rounds.

2011

The 2011 is just another "modern" re-imagining of the Browning Hi Power.

Change my mind!

Plain Clothes

Something alluded to in the Not-The-Bee article is, "why were plain clothes officers doing a traffic stop?"

It seems very odd for plain clothes to be working traffic.

I'm speculating that they were looking for the deceased and the seatbelt violation was the excuse to pull him over and check for what they wanted to look for.

Not that they could see that he wasn't wearing his belt through that tint.

But, let us speculate further about the deceased.

Illegal tint.

I am going to guess that he doesn't have a FOID.

He had prior arrests for weapons charges, he was out on bond for one of them.

Link to all the body cam footage.  Content warning for the squeamish.  Real guns being fired at real people who will be leaking on camera.

Not Even Full RoF

Police fire 96 shots in 41 seconds.

Five cops, each firing one pistol each.  15+1 capacity.

So, five seconds to empty.  3 to reload.  Five more to empty...

41/8 = 5.125 magazines.

Let's call it five each.  15*5 is 75 shots per officer.  Five officers is 375 shots.

So they fired just more than 25% the full rate of fire.

That means that they were pausing to assess or move to and from cover.

It wasn't a panicky mag dump.

Real panic would have been every one of them firing 15 and cowering someplace.

One cop didn't even get off a shot before he was wounded.

So 15*5*4 for 300 shots at max rate.  So about 1/3 the potential ammo dump.

But 96/4 is 24 shots per cop.  Or almost 2 magazines each.

American Society of Magic Negroes

Meh.

It's not a horrible movie, the premise seemed like it could have been fun.

But I did not care about the main character, Aren.

It's a writing fail.

The white dude he's supposed to be magicking up, Jason, is unlikeable; that part succeeded.  He didn't deserve the assistance the ASMN was giving him with his job and certainly didn't deserve to win the heart of the girl.

But the main character didn't really do the needful about earning her love either.

She likes him because the script says she should.

Justice Smith is playing the same basic character he portrayed in D&D Honor Among Thieves.

I dunno if he lacks range or the director said do like you did before.

The big speech that's supposed to evoke white guilt fails to land.  What it really gets me thinking is Aren has been attributing how he's felt about himself to outside forces when it was from within all along.   The way he explains it to Jason underscores it and Jason's reaction to it pounds it home.

In the end, it's not bad, but it's also not good.

I'd skip it; but I already watched it.

Yikes

They don't throw grenades or do land nav anymore?

Even my tanker ass threw two live grenades in the grenade course.

It's an interesting read and I've long held that spending money on ammo in training was superior to gadgets.

The 3-round burst on the M16A2 and M4 was a work-around to teaching the troops how to properly use the happy setting on the rifle.

I said, at the time, and I was a wee young waif then, "full auto is something you don't need in your service rifle very often, but when you need it, you NEED it."

The 3-round burst is an example of where you might NEED full auto, and ain't got it.

I notice it was dropped and all the M4's were converted to M4A1's with the SOCOM heavy barrel.  Really shoulda called that an M4A2.

Looking For The Real Killers In New Places

OJ Simpson has succumbed to age.

I'd forgotten him until Marv mentioned his death.

I watched the moderate speed pursuit live.

I paid attention to the trial.

I listened to conspiracy theories.

I was pissed at our "justice" system essentially trying him twice and was baffled at a civil trial could commence on the question of wrongful death when the criminal trial said, "he didn't kill anyone."

I found out that our system would still hang you with the lower standard of evidence required in a civil suit, where "eh, maybe?" is enough to get a conviction.

Pour A Big Glass Of "Told You So"

Streets fail to run in blood AGAIN after gun laws loosened.

I doubt that this will cause anyone in Tallahassee to change their minds and legalize campus and open carry.

I want campus way more than open because of where The Lovely Harvey works.

Open carry would be nice because then I could stop worrying about accidental exposure in the summer when I have to down-grade my carry gun to survive the heat and humidity.

Open carry would give me what I think of as "mostly" or "partially" conceal carry.

The problem with this method is the chance of the shirt riding up and over the gun.

The police in several jurisdictions have decided that the brief and accidental exposure law doesn't mean what it says and any exposure is illegal open carry.

They tend to be the same places where open carry fishing makes the news.

 

Feline Integration

We have three cats.

Bear, Beeper and Shadow.

Shadow is the newest and we found her just after she'd been kicked out of the nest.

She is terrified of Beeper, who will pounce on her when she runs.

We'd let it sort itself out, but Shadow panic pees when Beeper catches her.

For the past two months we've been doing "prisoner exchanges" and letting Shadow out of my room and locking Beeper in.

For about a week we've been leaving all the doors open and holding Shadow while we watch a movie or Hockey on the back porch in the evenings.

Beeper is becoming less interested in Shadow and Shadow is getting less terrified.

We're making steady, if slow, progress.

At first, when Beeper would "attack" (we think she's just asserting too hard) Shadow would disappear for hours and would have to be coaxed out of hiding.

Now she's good mere moments after we separate them.

Progress!

What's interesting about Shadow is Beeper is the only thing she's afraid of.  She uses Bear like a jungle gym, he's grudgingly tolerant of this.

Bear is also a, belated, protector.  After Beeper goes after Shadow and she screams bloody murder; Bear will go after Beeper.

Bear is a BIG cat.  17 pounds of not much fat.  He's 15 when he's totally slim.  Beeper just barely breaks 10 pounds.

When Bear is done, he's DONE.  He'd knock his brother, the dear departed Dingus, to submission and Dingus was 20 pounds without fat.  Dingus was HUGE.

I've been through cat introductions before and this has been the hardest one I've dealt with, but we're getting there.

Another Day Another Round

It's 4/10!

Bracing, don't you think?

Hold Your Breath

Many of the fundamentals of shooting guns apply to photography.

Like holding steady for 2 seconds while the camera takes an unexpectedly good pic with the sun filter on.

I was expecting just the bright reflections off Moxie, not a sepia tone image.

Running Gag

Willard and I have a little skit that amuses us to no end.

We have Antonin of the Czechoslovakian Army Armaments board and Yuri from the Soviet Union Warsaw Pact Standardization Liaison Mission.

A: (Holding a Cz.52 pistol) Is Tokarev.

Y: Is not!

A: See, uses same ammo.  Is Tokarev.

Y: It is not!  The magazine is different and it doesn't even look the same!

A: I don't understand.  Is same.

Y: They don't even work the same way!

A: But same ammo.  You said same ammo important, that is why we change SKS (referring to vz.52 and vz.52/57).

Y: THAT WASN'T AN SKS!

A: Well, at least this is good AK! (Holding vz.58)

Y: That overgrown Walther P.38 is not an AK!

A: Sure it is,  30 round magazine, uses ammo you say to use, pistol grip.  Is same.

Y: That's not the right magazine...

A: We had to change when you said to stop using our better round...

Y: (taking big swig of vodka) You didn't even use our bayonet.  And the muzzle threads are backwards so you can't even use our blank adapter.  Not one gun you've shown me is the same as what everyone else is using.

A: (Holding vz.59 MG) Then you don't want to see our PKM?

Y: (SCREAMS) Even the fucking Poles got this right!  The Gods forsaken Germans fell right into line, but you!

 A: I don't understand why you are so upset, we do what you say, we just fix.

So when I call the Cz.52 pistol a Tokarev, I am riffing off this bit of humor.

Idle Hands

The M1956A2 is now modeling a Primary Arms SLx 5x36 Prism Scope and a Magpul MBUS Gen3 rear sight.

The scope usually rides on Olive, but I wanted to see how it'd look on the AR-10.

The MBUS I got for the occasion, since I'm always short one when I want one.

It's a lot slimmer than the original MBUS and the aperture flip is very cool.  It's also a full three ounces lighter than the aluminum A2 stub!

Small aperture:

Big aperture:

Pretty cunning and easier to flip than the older model.

I know the Kewl Kids eschew the presence of back up irons, given the massive improvement in reliability and durability of optics; I'm just paranoid enough to want them.

M7/M9 Universality Check (Continued Some More)

Czech TT-33 Tokarev fits!

The Czechs call their Tokarevs Cz-52.

Ruger P95 fits!

I continue to be impressed with this holster!

Other entries in this series here and here.

Peak

The Sun God handily defeated the Moon God in Florida.

That's peak eclipse here.

We had high level haze, robbing the shot of things like sunspots.

If They Did What They Said

We got people in Dearborn, Michigan chanting, "Death to America."

They're all of a particular religion and are likely recent immigrants.

OK, Department of Homeland Security, founded while the ruins of the World Trade Center were still smoldering...

Do something to make us more secure.

Expel this dangerous element back to the homelands they love; because they are vocally declaring they don't like it here.

More Information

A different theory on the Battle of Tolense.

I'd never heard of this archaeological site a month ago, now I've read two references since.

I posted about finding flint amongst the bronze.

Did You Know

There was once a time when it was considered wrong to mutilate children.

Castrado was banned.

Interesting is the health problems noted from castrating young boys and the parallels with puberty blockers today.

This is distinct from an adult making decisions for themselves.

They're adults, they're allowed to.

A gigantic problem is how permanent the blockers are and how temporary gender confusion often is in children.

While they may earnestly believe they're trapped in the wrong body, oftentimes this goes away with the simple application of a little compassion and allowing things to run their course without intervention.

I'll Bet They Learned

Breitbart reports:

The White House tried to slow the Israeli war effort — partly out of concern for Palestinian civilians, but also out of concern that if Israel won too quickly, the U.S. would not have leverage to force Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

I don't think the Biden admin and the pro-Hamas people are teaching the lesson they think they are.

The lesson is to win it quicker next time.

Oh, and there's going to be a next time as sure as a dog returns to its vomit.

To be quicker will require abandoning the niceties of worrying about civilian casualties and collateral damage.  Things Israel was only doing to mollify our delicate sensibilities about war.

Noting that it did them no good in the end, they will dispense with such pleasantries in the future.

Betcha.

Never Got To Try It

My players weren't really interested in playing a Scarlet Pimpernel campaign, so I missed my chance to slip in a reference to see if any of them got it.

One of the nobles I was going to have them rescue would have been Raphaël Danceny.

IYKYK.

Twas Another Time

Looking something up in my copy of GURPS: Scarlet Pimpernel and I noticed:

For those of who have computers, SJ Games operates a BBS with discussion areas for several games, including GURPS. Much of the playtest feedback for new products comes from the BBS. It's up 24 hours a day at 512-447-4449, at 300, 1200 or 24M) baud. Give us a call!

For those of us who have computers...

Copyright 1991.

I didn't own a computer then.  I didn't own a computer until after I moved to Florida in 1997.

I was barely online in 1996 with a terminal and 900 baud connection!  And if my roomie picked up the phone, I was done with the bulletin boards that day.

I kinda miss talk.politics.guns.

I Know What Gun The Players Will Choose

Is the Long Land Pattern Musket aka Brown Bess superior or inferior to the French Mle 1777 musket, aka Charleville?

In the real world, the French gun is lighter, stronger, more durable and has a better chance of having parts interchange.  The British gun is easier manufacture and cheaper.

But the real world doesn't matter to MY readers!  They want the GURPS numbers.

The French gun is lighter.  9.3 v 10.2 lb.

The British gun does more damage, but not much more.  4d+2 pi++ v 4d+1 pi++.

The British gun is cheaper.  G$100 v G$150.

The French gun has more reach.  110/1,200 v 100/1,100.

You need to be stronger to use the British gun.  ST 11† v ST 10†.

The French gun is bulkier.  -7 v -6.

The British gun is more reliable.  Malf 16 v 15.  <-- This rarely comes up.

The players are going to buy the Brown Bess.  It's cheaper, does more damage and is more reliable.

Put The M Back In M&P

Even though the assembly line is here in the US, it bothers me that all three of our primary infantry weapons are made by a foreign nation.

The M17 pistol, M7 Carbine and M250 LMG are all made by SIG, a German company.

Our other machine gun, the M240 is made by FN, a Belgian company.

FN has been making our M4 carbines and M16A4 rifles for a while now.  At least they're domestic designs?

H&K, a German company, makes the Marine's M27 rifle.

I cannot help but think this is because American's aren't readily allowed to tinker with full-auto like we used to.

The pistol thing really rankles.  Beretta is Italian.

America has viable pistols and it's military value is so nugatory that we could have taken any US company's handgun off the shelf and been fine.

I am thinking that the European nations have a leg up on us because they swim in markets that are restrictive and they have trouble surviving without government red tape.

US guns typically go to American gun owners with no more specification than what ammo it will eat and if they can convince us that it's kewl and hawt.  They don't need military contracts to stay open because the American consumer outbuys NATO.

Basic Load

Some of this is repeated, but given for some context.

M1 "Garand".  104 rounds in 13 8-shot clips: 16.1 lb.

M14.  100 rounds in 5 20-shot magazines: 17.3 lb.

M16A1 (Vietnam).  162 rounds in 9 20-shot magazines (downloaded 2 rounds each): 12.8 lb.

M16A2.  210 rounds in 7 30-shot magazines: 14.9 lb.

M4 with M68.  210 rounds in 7 30-shot magazines: 15.3 lb.

M4A1 (PIP) with M68.  210 rounds in 7 30-shot magazines: 16.6 lb.

M16A4 with AN/PVQ-31. 210 rounds in 7 30-shot magazines: 16.5 lb.

XM7 with XM157 optic and suppressor.  140 rounds in 7 20-shot magazines: 21 lb.

There's a lot of forgetting some items and remembering to include others in the press gushing about the new gun.

Optics are always included with the M4A1 and M16A4; the XM157 is normally forgotten and the mass of the ammo loaded in the gun is often skipped.

Anal retentive Gamemasters keep track of this shit, because players try to sneak it past you.

Punching Armor

Armor and barriers is the justification for a lot of our ammo changes.

Let's shoot some stuff in GURPS!

7d pi M80 ball.  7-42 raw damage.   24.5 average.

4d+2 pi+ M855A1 ball.  6-26 raw damage.  16 average.

7d pi+ M1186 ball.  7-42 raw damage.  24.5 average.

First, the lowly sandbag.  About a foot of sand between the firer and the target.

DR 36.

All three rounds will fail to penetrate, on average.  5.56 will never penetrate.

Cinder blocks!

DR 16*.  * - Ablative, after a few shots, it stops having DR.

5.56 fails to penetrate on average.  M80 and M1186 get 8.5 through.  M80 will do 8 points of damage to the person hiding there, M1186 will do 12.

Wallboard.

DR 1* per inch; so around DR 3 for a complete wall.

Just about every round works inside the house through the walls.

Windshield.

DR 6 (brittle).

M80 gets 18 in, 18 to the target.  M855A1 gets 10 in, 15 to the target.  M1186 gets 18 in and 27 to the target.

Level II armor.

DR 10 (flexible).

M80; 14 penetrates, 14 damage.  M855A1; 6 penetrates, 9 damage.  M1186; 14 penetrates, 21 damage.

Level IIIA armor.

DR 12 (flexible)

M80; 12 penetrates, 12 damage.  M855A1; 4 penetrates, 6 damage.  M1186; 12 penetrates, 18 damage.

Level III and IV armor.

DR 25 and 35

No penetration on average.  Some penetration with really good rolls.

Both M855A1 and M1186 are assuming my enhanced performance ball house rule is true.  Otherwise it's just pi and no 50% bonus to damage that penetrates the DR.  That makes M1186 no better than M80.

Also note: M80A1 has the same construction as M855A1, so it should get a pi+ modifier too; making it the same performance as M1186.  What M1186 has going for it is getting it done from a 13" barrel; but that comes with attendant high chamber pressures.

Moar Weight Less Dakka

To quote from Wikipedia:

The proposed combat ammunition load for each soldier will be 140 total rounds, distributed across seven 20-round magazines, in total weighing 9.8 lb (4.4 kg). Compared to the M4A1 carbine weighing 6.34 lb (2.88 kg) unsuppressed, with a basic combat load of 210 rounds in seven 30-round magazines, in total weighing 7.4 lb (3.4 kg), the XM7 rifle weighs about 2 lb (0.91 kg) more and each soldier carries roughly a 4 lb (1.8 kg) heavier load with 70 fewer rounds.

We can GURPS the damage too!

The M4A1 does 4d+2 pi damage with M855 ammo.  M855A1 does 4d+2 pi+.

I'm showing M855 because there's a debate about M855A1 not really performing any better...

Per round is 6-26 for M855 and 9-39 for M855A1, averaging 16 and 24 respectively.

Basic load for an M4 is 210 rounds.  Average damage per basic load is 3,360 for M855 and 5,040 for M855A1.

6.8x51mm M1186 should be doing 7d+2 pi.  They're quoting 3,000 fps for the carbine, but I think it should be 2,850 with the short barrel.  3,000 is what the SAW has.  Drop damage to 7d pi if so.

Per round is 9-44 with an average of 26 (26.5 actually).  7-42 and 24.5 if lower velocity.

Basic load for an M7 will be 140 rounds.  Average damage per basic load is 3,710.  3,430 with the lower velocity.  That's not a huge improvement considering the extra weight.

It does get a bit more range, and the optic should mean the troops can take advantage of it.

The rub is...  4 extra pounds is 4 30 round magazines for an M4.  That adds 1,920 points of damage, on average, for a load of M855 and 2,880 for M855A1.

With the proposed loadouts:

3,360 M855 < 3,430 < 3,710 M1186 < 5,040 M855A1

Matching the weight of the new proposal.

3,430 < 3,710 M1186 < 5,280 M855 < 7,920 M855A1

Again, I ask, "What four pounds of gear the soldier is currently carrying will be discarded to carry this new weapon and ammo?"

It's an obvious question because we're at our limit of how much they can carry now.

Update:  It's entirely possible that the M1186 will have a composite structure that's a bit like the M855A1.  That would change to pi+ in GURPS terms; so 7d pi+

3,360 M855 < 5,040 M855A1 < 5,145 M1186  Still not a massive improvement overall.

The Mark Of Zorro

I just watched the 1940 and 1974 versions of the film.

The older version holds up better, despite the newer one being an almost word for word, shot for shot remake in color using the same music.

All the newer version has going for it is Ricardo Montalban as Captain Esteban.

It reminded me how much I love swashbuckler films.

Tyrone Power's fight against Basil Rathbone as Zorro and Capt. Pasquale in the 1940 version is a masterpiece.  Jill Bearup does a great breakdown of it.

Zoon

 

Mox Nix

It would seem they're remaking Romeo and Juliet as a movie again.  Nope, it's a stage production.

And they're casting a black woman as Juliet!

Meh.

I really only care if she can act and do the part justice.

Why am I blase about it?

Because I've seen Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves cast as brothers in a film version of "Much Ado About Nothing" and it's excellent.

If we really want to get twisted about Shakespeare, we should demand that all female roles be portrayed by men; as they were when his plays were first performed.

My personal preference is still for the '68 Zeferelli version.

So far, I don't think I've seen Juliet portrayed as described in the play unless you count Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love.

But I am braced for being told that I will not like it because they've cast a black woman as Juliet.

What I demand is the entire Capulet clan be cast with black actors!  They're blood relatives, after all.

RIP Funimation

Funimation has merged with CrunchyRoll.

Funimation "sold" content to its members.

Those members may or may not get access to the content they've paid for.

This just underscores that if you don't have a local copy, you don't own shit.

It Happens

The IDF blew up a convoy of aid vehicles.

Unless they specifically set out to kill the aid workers, this is in the same category as friendly fire.

You don't want it to happen, you do what you can to keep it from happening, but it's gonna happen.

When you go wandering in an active war zone, you run the risk of getting killed by one side or the other if they mistake you for the enemy.

Even if you sought and got permission from both sides to be where you were.

Communication breaks down and the dudes on the triggers might not have gotten the word.

Quite a propaganda coup for Hamas, though.

Who'da Thunk

Reading stories from California and the response to the increase of the minimum wage from $15 an hour to $20 an hour.

Price increases and business closures.

Mostly closures as increasing the price of many things exceeds the price elasticity of the customer who will stop buying it at the new, higher, price.

The minimum wage is, and always has been, $0 an hour.

The price of many things is tied to minimum wage and when it goes up, the prices of those goods goes up too.

Putting the buying power of minimum wage right back where it started.

I Learned A Lot

The bare patch on Harvey's car is now the factory color.

The surrounding clear coat did not respond to the wet sanding well.

A sure sign of dead clear coat.

I need to strip down the whole brow and try again.

The new paint looks pretty darn good, though.

All Modern Like

Willard's M1956A2 in modern furniture with a more minimalist rear sight:

It tips the scales at 10.7 lb. loaded.

With retro furniture.

Same weight with the PMAG.  A bit heavier with steel.

Donut Run!

 

Because Krispy Kreme is, apparently, owned by some kind of evil Zionist according to some Hamas boot-licker...

I drove the 114 miles to Gainsville and their 24-hour store instead of waiting until 0600 for the nearest location to open and snagged me a dozen donuts.  6-Kreme filled and 6 chocolate covered.

It was actually secondary to testing the mileage of The Beast with DOD disabled.

25 mpg.

Not too shabby for a two-ton car and a V8.

Can't Afford Not To

Turns out that handguard I thought I had laying around here was never actually purchased.

There was once a plan to use it on what became the M16A4 clone when I moved from having two 6.8 guns to one.

I got the KAS M5 handguard instead and did USGI A2 stock and grip instead of the Magpul rifle stuff in OD.

Well, Brownell's has the handguard on sale, so...

Should be here Friday.

LuRnInG

A huge flake of paint came off of Harvey's car, just above the windshield.

The bare patch promptly started to rust while I waited for supplies to arrive.

Body work is a skill I don't have.

But I am making a game attempt.

I sanded the rust down to bare metal and removed a larger area of paint that appeared to have been compromised.

Couple more passes with finer sandpaper, 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of color, 3 coats of clear.

Going to try wet sanding next to smooth out my clumsy work.

This shit is a skill and I'm rolling on the default.

Worst comes to worst, I can redo it.

An abject fail just means hiring someone.

Idle Hands

I've said before that idle hands and spare parts are the devils gunsmithy.

So is leaving a rifle here unmentioned for years.

I got Willard's modern AR-10 running again and we promptly forgot it in my closet.

My parts bin is full of modern AR furniture.

Since the BRN-10 has supplanted the retro goal of this AR, and since changing the furniture is 100% reversible; I'm dropping an OD green Magpul bomb on his AR-10!

Just for photos.

Just need to find that rifle length handguard I've misplaced.

Things That Should Be Simple

Company builds a house on the wrong lot and somehow the owner of the lot is responsible?

This shit would stop dead in its tracks if it resulted in a "thanks for the free house," if the homeowner wanted it.

"Restore the lot to its condition before you broke ground, at the developer and builder's expense," being another way to end this stupidity.

The idea that the property owner has the fewest rights of anyone on the land is abhorrent.

What we should be aiming at is "nobody gets fucked" if they abide by the rules and contracts and fucking the people breaking the rules and contracts with a dildo dipped in resin and rolled in ground glass; regardless of if they're the property owner, tenant or trespasser.

And building a house on the wrong plot is definitely trespassing.

Again?

Another one for the, "I didn't think I needed to explain this, but here we go..." file.

"Nothing is a war crime the first time."

It's a pithy statement describing how the rules of war are changed as wars are fought and everyone afterwards decides, "nope we're not doing that again."

All laws are such, actually.

You don't need to pass a law saying something is wrong until someone goes off and does something that you had not considered anyone would do.

Looking ahead and deciding, "nope, that thing nobody has ever done before, is wrong," is built on a foundation of hindsight from being blindsided.  You can talk yourself into passively submitting to evil because you're not willing to do what needs done to stop it because what you will need to do is "wrong".

Canada has made noteworthy contributions to the Geneva Checklist.

There's a few things on that checklist that were SOP until the technology of the time changed the scale of the action and made it horrifying.

Two atomic bombs that did less damage each than firebombing Dresden or Tokyo isn't a war crime.

Realizing that two nations who're not fond of each other possess enough nukes to make the entire world uninhabitable and will use them against the other if even one is uncorked is a difference in scale that makes using them evil.

It's not the actual use of the nuke, and it's effects on the target, that are the problem.

It's the use one, start MAD that's the problem.

An important hint is the revolutionary system Rome used on the people in places it conquered involving letting them live.  Ask yourself what happened to such folks BEFORE this revolutionary system was implemented.

Genocide, though the word had not yet been coined.  The lucky ones were enslaved, but their culture was wiped clean.

Bad Faith

The song is about you if you think I am describing you.

Even if I wasn't talking about you.

If you find the shoe is fitting, go ahead and wear it.

You will find a full refund of the money you spent on your subscription in the mail.  Hold you breath, it will make it come faster.

I have said it before, I will doubtlessly say it again, I would be batting at the bare bulb if nobody was reading.

That means the only expectations I need to meet are my own.

This blog isn't FOR the readers.  It's for the author.

You might note that the title isn't "McThag's Debating Society".

Stefan, this is for you:

There was a sentence in my original post you apparently ignored.

"There's no compelling evidence that Japan was going to surrender any time soon before we dropped those two weapons."

You go on to attempt to use the non-compelling evidence to convince me that the US is evil and should have...  I stopped reading.

I recognized your debating style and I know how it goes, so I skipped to the end.  You're not going to convince me with "evidence" I'm already aware of on a position of morality that I don't share with you.

I've met lots of historians of your ilk and it's constant proof that only the highly educated can be that stupid.

It's been decently proven, using just the facts, that dropping Fat Man and Little Boy was a net positive for everyone involved.

And for fucks sake, when I keep bringing up an asshole like Curtis LeMay, it'd do you some good to read up on him.  He's one asshole I'm not spoon feeding the readers.

But here we are, trying to apply modern liberal sensibilities to an historical event and not even trying to see it from the perspective of the people making the decision.

But let's accept, as a given, that the Japanese were going to surrender on their own on August 7, 1945.

I would still have dropped Little Boy without hesitation.

Why?

To quote Dr Strangelove, "Why didn't you tell the world!?!?"

That's the key thing about the "they were about to surrender" fantasy that its proponents always forget.

Japan was not communicating anything but "fight to the last man" outside its own councils, there'd be records if true from non-Japanese sources.

The fantasy originates from post-war anti-war Japanese activists who were both trying to sanitize Japan's evils and stain the US's reputation.

No, Stefan, I am not going to debate this until you're satisfied.  You will never be satisfied, it's not a Sealion's nature to be.  What you want is for me to admit you're right and I (and Beans, a more thorough historian than I) are wrong.  We really wanna go at this, I'll summon The Fleetwood.  He's a better historian AND smarter than us (fucker).

But there's no point.

You think war is wrong.  I don't think you realize that you do, but you do.

I think war is an evil that must sometimes be done to save what one holds dear.  The only reason to use restraint or have compassion is if it saves your people's lives and shortens the duration.  Otherwise, turn your key to the left to launch on my count...

Getting Tiresome

The quality of the commenters has taken a dive of late.

In near 19 years of this, I might even be running out of things to say.

It's damn clear that the new commenters haven't bothered reading more than the post they are commenting on.

It's a lot like firing up the last episode of a long running TV series without watching any of what came before and not knowing what's going on.

Then demanding that the writers, directors, and cast explain what was going on and change everything to your liking now that YOU are here.

Not that they'd ever risk writing, directing or acting themselves, mind you.

Cowards.

The Day Of My People!

It is April Fool's Day!

We should change it to Fool's Awareness Day.

Then I WIll Think Of Them No More

It's interesting that I can insult someone and say directly that they are engaged in inbreeding and all that matters to them is if I have a job.

Well, if they could read (and they've shown no ability to do so) they've have long since noticed that my job is to be a husband and father.

We're a single income family, as was traditional for decades.

Where we break tradition is Harvey is the breadwinner.

If they could read, they'd find that we are servicing our student loans.

We don't think it's fair that we're being burdened with them because our situation resembles being a victim of fraud far more than the typical mooch depicted in student loan forgiveness.

The school we attended was dissolved for committing fraud.

My degree (bachelors in business admin) became useless the moment that happened.  Harvey got lucky that she'd gotten some experience before the gavel fell, but her MBA is not worth as much as it should have been.

The people who committed the fraud went around the country buying up small, for profit, schools with good reputations.  They then changed the accreditation the schools were using so that students wouldn't be able to transfer their credits to a different school, or even use their undergraduate degree to enter graduate studies, without extreme difficulty.

The schools were consolidated into ever larger companies and accreditation was changed at each consolidation.

Many of us were quite close to graduating when the investigations began.

Many of us graduated before they were concluded.

Few of us noticed that the solid college we'd entered had been so devalued until the job search began.

Complicit in this fraud is the US Department of Education.  You know, the people who are supposed to regulate the education system?

They approved every sale, every merger, every consolidation, every accrediting body.

Thanks for nothing, guys!

We think we're allowed to be unhappy with the situation.  It's not the bill of goods we're paying for.

And?

Former Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka said, “From Hiroshima’s standpoint, the horror of nuclear weapons was not sufficiently depicted,” per a Japanese media outlet. “The film was made in a way to validate the conclusion that the atomic bomb was used to save the lives of Americans.”

The atomic bombs were used to save the lives of Americans.  You are correct.

Curtis LeMay, again, had the right of it.

Paraphrased, "War is killing and if you kill enough of them, they stop fighting." 

It should probably be pointed out that they fucking worked.

The war was over within days of dropping them.

That had a secondary, unintended, effect of saving Japanese lives too.

There's no compelling evidence that Japan was going to surrender any time soon before we dropped those two weapons.

Typing VS Clicking

It takes your sister fucking ass several moments to type a response that you think is getting under my skin.

It takes two clicks to delete it as I giggle.

Your repeated statements prove that you didn't read the linked posts.

I am not a Greek poet, even if one links here.

Have someone read this to you.

M48A6

Teledyne offered a light tank in the early 80's which lost to what would become the M8 Buford.

The turret lived on to be mounted on the Stryker MGS.

Interestingly, they offered the turret for retrofit into the M60 and Centurion.

The M60 and M48 share a turret ring.

For Twilight: 2000, the M48A6 is an M48A5 with the Teledyne turret.

Takes a lot of weight off the vehicle and lowers the silhouette significantly.

This Doesn't Happen To Smart People!

The US State Department has said, "Don't travel to Haiti."

So what does this guy do?

Cue laugh track!

Escape To Kalisz

The Lovely Harvey got me this fun gun case.

While not airline approved, it does lock.

Inside is a weekend fun kit!

I'm very amused!

Helpful Hint

Do you have a Canon Eos M50?

Did you know that if you stab the INFO button when its in image review, it will change what's displayed with the reviewed image?

I did not.

But I'd accidentally hit the button somehow and got a LOT of information I didn't want.

This is not mentioned in the manual at all, as far as I can tell.

It tells you that you can change the information on the shooting screen, but not the review screen.

I hope this helps you.

I Didn't Have To Use My AK

I gotta admit, it was a good Friday.

I'm not Catholic, so it's just another Friday to me.

Easter, likewise.

Though, the film Risen is well worth a watch.

RIP

Louis Gossett Jr has shuffled off.

87 years old.

I am at a loss to think of a role he played that was poorly done.

He clearly wasn't afraid to take on challenges.

Normally you wouldn't see an actor from something like Enemy Mine in something like An Officer and a Gentleman.

Econ 101

If you have to pass a law, issue an edict or create a regulation to make people purchase a good or service:

THERE IS NO REAL DEMAND FOR THAT GOOD OR SERVICE!

I say again:  When the market decides that it needs something, someone will provide it.

This is the invisible hand.

Government mandating that something be purchased isn't the market.

It disrupts the market and causes problems that radiate out like the tsunami from a volcanic explosion.

Found A Reference!

Back when, I was talking about punching the belly of a National Socialist (never forget they were socialists!) panzer with .50 BMG ammo and I couldn't find the reference for belt composition.

I was watching a YouTube vid talking about what Masters of the Air gets right and what they get wrong and they show a table with the ammo loadouts!

USAAF fighters early on carried 4 AP, 1 Tracer.  That mix was changed to 2 AP, 2 API, 1 tracer (also called 2-n-1) until October 1943.  From then to the end of the war it was 100% API.

There's A Process

Something I'm a bit sick of is how many rights issues become suicide pacts if taken to a lawyer's logical conclusion but are glaringly not that way from most normal people's perspective.

It's by far most common with libertarians than liberals, though there are plenty there too.

The inherent rights argument and illegal aliens is something that's got a lot of national and societal suicide built into it.

If anyone who manages to claw their way over the imaginary line that's our border has all the same rights as a naturally born citizen; then what distinguishes the citizen from anyone else?

Since these rights are inherent...

Somehow, I don't think that's what the founders were meaning, but they didn't leave us much in the way of notes.

On one hand, the US has survived mass, unchecked, immigrations more than once.

On the other hand, those immigrants were treated brutally, one might even say in a racist manner, until they assimilated into American culture.

On the gripping hand, they WANTED to be Americans.  While they loved their mother countries, they also saw that it was better here.

The melting pot is a crucible.

E Pluribus Unum is an apt motto.

Coming here to become an American is good, you can totally keep your motherland's customs and stuff as long as they're secondary to being American.

Italians did it.

Irish did it (TWICE!).

Cubans do it.  There's some VERY American Cubans living just a couple miles away from me, in fact.

Chinese did it.

Not insubstantial numbers of Indians are doing it.

Former slaves had done it, until it was undone by Mr Great Society.

It's not complicated.

But they have to want to, and there needs to be some pressure to cause those who don't to not want to remain.

It's Dusty In Here

One of my relatives has posted a bunch of home movies to YouTube.

It's very strange to see my mom as a young women.

I never knew her as this woman because she was Mom.

Technological Mix

I just learned about the Tollense Valley Battle.

What's interesting to me is the evidence of bronze and flint weapons at the battle.

Right at the cusp betwixt TL0 and TL1.

Rights

Been watching lawyers debate whether illegal aliens have rights.

The obvious answer is, yes they do.

The more subtle answer is, until they broke the law.

Even more subtle is the question of if we can just start shooting them without regard to whatever rights they might have had before they broke the law without convicting them of it?

That whole innocent until proven guilty thing makes me think that we accord anyone we suspect of being here illegally all of the rights a citizen or legal alien has right up until they're convicted.

After all, if they're innocent of being an illegal alien, they've never broken the law and therefore didn't surrender their rights when they crossed the frontier.

Something I do want to see more of from the government is sending the convicts back to where they came from even if the crime of being here is merely a misdemeanor.

The problem would solve itself if a couple of, small, things were done.

First:  Make proving your legal status a prerequisite for receiving any and all government aid.  I had to provide such proof to get Real ID to keep my driver's license and carry permit.  To demand less of non-citizens seems unequal protection under the law.

Second:  Tax remittances at an extortionate rate.  They've no real rights, and it's nothing that citizens are doing...  Bonus, this will also discourage things like H1B visa seekers form hitting our shores and displacing citizens for the same job.

That's really it.  Stop crime from paying and criminals tend to stop.  It's an age old solution.

Putting a fine on businesses who have employees who cannot prove they are here legally also works.  We will then find out if there really are jobs Americans won't do or if they're just unwelcome to apply as long as there's a supply of illegals to do them.

Challenge

If you're a stupid enough fuck on Facebook to call me ignorant, then read all of these posts.

Then cut your dick off with a pencil so it hurts more and you stop contaminating the world with your, sure to be, just as stupid fuck progeny.

Leave your balls.  That way you still get horny, but won't be able to do anything about it.

Too harsh?

Well, I am sick of the sanctimonious bullshit from people who wouldn't walk an inch in my shoes, let alone a mile.

When you're done lecturing me on student loans, be sure to tell me about what a lucky deal I got from the VA.

There's Such A Thing?

Russian VIP transport tank seen in Ukraine.

That beats a stretch limo, I'd say.

Danger UXB

Watching the old BBC show "Danger UXB" from 1979.

It holds up very well.

I am once again reminded about booby traps and gaming.

Any sort of trap, really.

The Type 17 fuse on the Luftwaffe bombs is a great example.

It's a time delay fuse and the Germans used several anti-tamper devices to make sure it was difficult to disarm once it was dropped.

If I let the clock run out while the player's character is next to it, I'll get accused of not giving them a chance.

Same for if they pull the fuse and the anti-tamper goes off.

Especially since there's no way to tell, from the outside, if the clock is close to running out or to see the anti-tamper device.

An SC250 does 6dx35[6dx3] cr ex.  No bueno for standing next to when it goes all angry like.

NIMBY?

I'm reading about the massive negative effects of having a single port closed in the US will have on the economy and it makes me wonder why.

The obvious answer is that all US ports operate at 100% capacity all the time and there's no slack to allow for traffic from a closure to be rerouted.

If that's the answer, then I want to know why more capacity hasn't been added.

For some ports, like Tampa, there's infrastructure preventing the entrance of the large ships.  I'd love to see Skyway III built so that the really big ships could get in.

But lots of other places the reason is lack of political will to spend the money to expand capacity.

There's gobs of blame to spread around, but it's the usual suspects when it comes down to it.

Our national transportation infrastructure should not be so brittle that losing a single node causes collapse.  Inconvenience, sure, but not collapse.

It's especially galling in that I know we had plans for several of our ports to be hit with nukes and to be back into shipping armies and materiel to Europe mere days after the attack.

What the fuck happened?

Sadly, "the usual suspects" is the answer, yet again.

Forgot Where It Was

Rebuilding the Francis Scott Key bridge...

Living here in Florida we forget about government that doesn't just roll up its sleeves and get to work.

That there's places where the reality is what the press estimates for how long it will take to rebuild, if it ever happens at all.

Florida had a similar bridge disaster in 1980.

The current Sunshine Skyway bridge was built from 1983 to 1987 and the undamaged half of the old Skyway bridge was demolished in 1990.

Shipping traffic was restored before the end of 1980.

I am reminded about the estimates to restore a single tiny bridge after Hurricane Ian being in the ten year range.

That bridge had traffic on it in a couple of months.  What's keeping things from being fixed down there, now, is endless delays from insurance companies trying to avoid paying out.

I contrast that to Katrina...  It's my understanding there's still places around NOLA that are untouched since that day and unlikely to ever be fixed.

Sad.

Back to the FSK Bridge.

Did you know it was supposed to be a tunnel?

Did you know that this exact disaster was predicted before it was built?

Did you know, after the Skyway collapse, studies were done about putting in protective measures to prevent such a collapse?

Let's see what they do.

There's a part of me that thinks that America is still great and mere engineering problems are not problems to our indomitable spirit; get out of our way for a moment and watch us do grand things!

There's another part that just knows that getting in the way of American exceptionalism is the fucking goal of too many people.

Don't Skip The Cheese

To use the entire can of soup, I made a double batch.

1 can of cream of (favorite)

1 can & 2 cups of water

Both flavor packets from two packs of Ramen

Boil

Add noodles, boil for three minutes.

Add a fistful of cheese.

NOM!

Just A Couple

 Back in 2012 I'd found that my little blog was banned in Iran.

Today I noticed, in addition to lots of hits from Hong Kong, I have 2 unique visitors from Iran.

Makes me wonder whom in Iran is reading the blog.

Hopefully someone without nefarious intent who is learning the finer points of Traveller and GURPS.

Surprised

 After the 1980 disaster of the Skyway bridge down here, I'd kind of assumed that everyone would add the underwater protections that were added to the new bridge to prevent a ship from hitting the pylon and collapsing the bridge.

You know what they say about assumptions...

The Francis Scott Key bridge clearly lacked the dolphins and barriers the Skyway has.

The new bridge will almost certainly have them, hindsight being damnedly clear.