Erratic Has Settled

Moxie refused to start at all today.

Several clunks like the (new) battery was dead.

Several solid sounding cranks but stopping before start.

Wiggled the harness going to the PCM.

Started!

Moved her to the inlaws to make way for Halloween activities.

Scanned for codes.

 

Cleared these codes four times and they came back four times.

We're getting someplace figuring her out!

That I don't have the equipment to find a GMLAN broken wire... it's a problem.

Need to find a shop I can trust to do a thorough diagnosis.

Got My Check

To all the people who are staring down no SNAP check tomorrow...

My VA disability check got deposited.

I am fascinated that the VA is funded until end of Fiscal 2026 but not welfare.

Almost as if someone WANTED to use the disruption in benefits to children and single moms a wedge issue; but knew that veterans would just stoically endure any shut-down while also burning congressional careers to the ground.

SNAP beneficiaries have no political power because they are pawns to the system.

Seeing this coming, we donated a couple flats of chicken-noodle soup to the local food bank.

It's not much, but more than a lot of people give.

I'm not uncharitable, I just object to how the government runs charity.

If I had my way WIC and SNAP would only buy ingredients.

Do not fucking try and tell me that these people don't have time to turn ingredients into food.

I strongly object to potato chips and soda being allowed for purchase.

I really fly into a rage when I see some of these people smoking.  I know what cigarettes cost, and if they can afford Marlboro Lights, they can afford a lot of food.  If you're choosing to spend that money on cigarettes, you're not that hungry, are you?

In too many cases our generous, government funded, charity is simply being used to allow people to indulge in their vices because their necessities are being covered by the rest of us.

Churches would impose rules on who can receive benefits that the government cannot.

Why I Am Not Worried

If AI really was poised to take over the world because of how smart it is...

The ads on Facebook and Youtube would be for products I might actually buy.

I Had Noticed Fewer License Plates

It would appear that the Canadian variety of the snow-bird is not migrating to Florida as extensively as previous years.

The article cites cost, exchange rates (which is also cost) and generally feeling unwelcome.

That last one I can address.

Snowbirds are generally unwelcome.  While they leave money in our economy, they are disruptive of traffic and we're definitely sick of hearing about how much better things are back home.

If it's so much better why are you here?

For Canadians, if you didn't insist on leaving seven car lengths in front of you, no matter how slow you have to go to get that seperation; or just stayed off the roads during rush hour, we'd prolly not even notice you.

But when we finally fight our way out of the rolling roadblock and see Ontario or Quebec plates... 

But He Is

I was watching a video and they put up Chuck Schumer shrilly demanding that President Trump, "obey the law," and resume sending SNAP benefits.

Charles, after seeing your utter, and repeated, failure to understand the 2nd Amendment, I am not surprised you don't understand the rest of the Constitution either.

The president cannot spend a dime of government funds until Congress authorizes it.

The authorization for SNAP benefits expires on November 1st, 2025.

If he continues funding it after that date he will be breaking the law, not obeying it.

FFS, Chuck, you're making Cracker Jack look like a more reputable law school than Harvard. 

I Understand But

There's a person who has figured out how to enable the tap-up, tap-down shifting in a 11-17 Caprice PPV.

And, by saying "figured out" I'm saying they looked at the wiring diagram in the service manual for either the Pontiac G8 or the PPV 9C3 shifter.

It's a little cryptic because the BCM is looking for a resistance value on a signal wire to send commands to the transmission.

But it's not rocket science.

It just takes some electrical knowledge (that I don't have) to figure the voltages the PCM needs to see for a given shifter input.

Or you need a shifter out of a G8 or 9C3 and a multi-meter to measure what the voltage is on the wires in question.

Make a box with a switch and a resistor that tells the PCM you're in manual shift mode and then momentary switches and different resistors to signal the shifts. 

Then you connect it to an existing line on the PCM, add a line to the PCM and give it a ground.

Viola!

They'd posted a secret squirrel link to a web page with the instructions.

People found it and were sharing it. 

Now he's pissed that people are sharing proprietary information.

First, reverse engineered information is not protected information.

Second, proprietary, but not patented, information is a trade secret and that is dead meat once someone shares it.  It's set up this way to encourage inventors to patent their ideas to preserve them.

His entire business model is based on reverse engineering what GM did and hoping nobody else is smart enough to figure out the circuit.

Oh and printing an enclosure for the switches and assembling a board with the resistors.

In the end he's selling $30 worth of parts for near $150.

But the secret is out. 

PS: I'd have bought one of his boxes already if I could figure out where I want to put it.  the traditional location is next to the existing shifter and I'm using that big flat spot to hold things. 

It's One Of Two Things

It could be the high-beam switch.

But the shape and angle make me think it's actually a starter button.

High-beam doesn't have a gasket between the outside and interior either.

Hey I Have That Album

Ever buy an album because you like a song and then forget to listen to the rest of the album?

Me too.

Reading about some bigot anti-Semites reminded me that I have a whole pile of Disturbed albums that I need to listen to on the off chance that enjoying them would cause the bigots physical pain.

Probably won't, but why risk it?

PS: Signing your name on a 155mm shell might make you cunt, but it doesn't automatically make you wrong.

PPS: Cunt doesn't mean the same thing in the UK as the US, so the accusation might not land most places.

Fuck You Andy

Why am I not shocked to find that the mover and shaker of the Volstead Act, Andrew Volstead, was from Minnesota?

Freezing your balls off six months a year must really break a mind.

In celebration of the 106th anniversary of the enacting of the act named after him, I imbibed a dram of fine Scotch!

Also, fuck be upon everyone who thinks we need to bring the full power of the government down on anyone because they think it's good for them.

Lost Magic

I huge drawback for me and gaming is I've learned too much about stuff in general to retain that innocent naivety which allowed so much better willing suspension of disbelief.

The magic died as knowledge took hold.

(Sad Face)

I'd love to have that magic back, but...

Now I know what I didn't know and am acutely aware of things that I know that I don't know.

Twilight: 2000 is a lot more grim now than cinematic when I reread the old modules.

If we're aiming at grim, gritty, realism; I'm all set.

But players don't like that because their characters die.

And because I insist on GURPS, replacing those characters is tedious.

I've lost the "Devil may care" attitude that let the players rip across Poland in their LAV-25 and lose it by trying to drive through a house and having it fall into the basement.

I kinda think that I should make the party has a LAV-25 a campaign assumption just because there's so much fun associated with the players having mobility, a little bit of firepower and a little bit of protection.

Plus I can tie them to a location while they brew fuel in the still!

I am still thinking of combining GURPS: Technomancer and T2K.  Literally putting magic into the setting! 

Maybe Things Were Better

In the way back when you went to a drag race, nobody was dressed strange.

Well, all drag races have funny dressed folk now. 

Trans also meant something completely different and nobody got offended if you needed some tranny fluid.

The Year Of Letting Go

My Utah carry permit expires in January.

That permit, on top of my Florida permit, only adds Washington to my list of states.

I no longer have any friends or reason to visit Washington, so I think I will save the $50 and ride on just my Florida permit.

Raffles

There's a charity that gives away old classic cars in raffles.

I buy tickets and get some entertainment dreaming.

One of the raffles is a 1970 AAR 'Cuda (one of 1,664) and a 1969-1/2 Road Runner A12 (one of 422).

Both are full restorations.

All I can think is, "sell the 'Cuda."

Then take the money and buy a giant aluminum BeCool radiator with electric fans.  Toss the A833 4-speed and drop in a 6-speed so I can keep the 4.10 rear gears and cruise comfortably (drop the rpm at 70 mph from 3,600 to 2,300!).  Add a Vintage Air AC system; this is Florida after all!  Yank the carbs and convert to EFI.  Prolly have to do something about the 15x6 rims and 215-70R15 tires too!

In other words, utterly destroy the restoration.

But it'd be a hot rod now.

The changes would also be fairly easy to reverse too.

Of course, there'd be a fight to convince Harvey to sell the 'Cuda because it's got an automatic and she could drive that one.

Gunfight At The Vacant Lot Very Near The OK Corral

144 years ago today the inspiration for dozens of movies occurred.

Of them all, I like Tombstone about best.

I will not vouch for any historical accuracy.

Dick & Jane

I read that "officials" at weigh stations are asking drivers to read passages from 1st grade books.

Harvey relayed some reactions from her liberal friends and it was typical "they're being racist!" bullshit.

But something occurs to me.

A literate Mexican driver without any English could bluff their way through that book.

The letters and pronunciation rules aren't that different between Spanish and English.

This isn't a nationality filter.

This is a literacy filter.

If the driver cannot read, how much are they missing?

How are they maintaining their manifests?  Their logs?

Or any of the other documents that a trucker needs? 

Signs

I have seen, on the doors of a couple businesses, a sign that says:

"Don't open carry here."

Guess how much trouble this has caused.

Go on.  Guess.

Did you guess, "zero problems?"

If you did, you were correct!

I think I might switch back to normal shoes since the blood in the streets looks like it ain't gonna happen.

Like every other place that legalized open carry...

Google Fu Fail

How many prosecutions for illegal machine gun possession are there?

Nothing I found on Google really says it distinctly and clearly.

This pdf from 1995 says 262,300 arrests for firearm offenses in 1993...  Real up to date information.

Google's AI answer is:

There is no single, regularly updated number for machine gun prosecutions, as this data is not tracked separately from other firearm charges. However, the increasing number of recovered illegal machine gun conversion devices (such as "Glock switches") suggests a rise in related cases. For example, the number of these devices recovered by the ATF at crime scenes jumped 570% from 2012-2016 to 2017-2021, increasing from 814 to 5,454. 

Machine gun conversion device statistics
• 2012–2016: 814 machine gun conversion devices recovered seized
• 2017–2021: 5,454 machine gun conversion devices recovered seized, a 570% increase
• 2019: 658 machine gun conversion devices traced
• 2023: 4,530 machine gun conversion devices recovered seized and traced by the ATF
Related prosecution and sentencing statistics
• While specific machine gun prosecution numbers are not available, overall federal weapons prosecutions have been rising.
• The number of federal felony convictions reached an all-time high of 9,559 in fiscal year 2022, continuing a trend of increases under the current administration.
• In 2023, the U.S. Attorney's office saw an increase in the number of felony arrests that resulted in prosecution. 

Notice they don't stick to apples or oranges in that answer?

It also doesn't mention a thing about arrests or prosecutions.

But... the five years of 2017 to 2021 gives 1,090.8 MG conversion devices traced a year.

If California is 28.3% of the gun owners in the US and the percentage of seizures* is even across the nation (yeah right!) then just 308.7 of those devices are from California.

Definitely need to harass the millions of legal gun owners there for that!

Even if ALL of the 1,090.8 devices were from California it's still bullshit to punish the innocent for the activities of criminals.  There's probably more than a million Glocks in private hands in California and that's only 1/10% of them.  Statistical noise even at the max annual rate.  Just half a percent if ALL of the 2017 to 2021 seizures were in Cali.  Even less for 2023...

Divide these numbers by 13 or so for the national estimate of 13 million Glocks in the USA.  0.03% of Glocks are seized with a switch if ALL MG conversion devices seized are Glock switchs!

But Glock's design needs to change.

But I'm willing to bet there's a substantial overlap in the Venn diagram between "gang member," "felon," "frequent offender," and "possession of illegal MG conversion device."

*I say seized and not recovered because recovered implies that the devices belonged to the government, who somehow lost them and is now retrieving them from the criminals.

The Army loses an M240 and finds it later = recovered.

MC Thug is arrested with a Glock switch from Temu = seized.

Where'd The Rim Go?

I think I know where some of Harvey's friends are getting their auto repair knowledge.

Sites like this!

Rotor retainer screws are assembly line items to make it simpler for the auto worker to assemble the car.

They make a lot per hour so piece rate matters a LOT.

In reality the lug nuts hold the rotor in position when the car is on the road.

Do they really think that little screw is holding the shear forces of braking?

It's the wheel studs doing that.

Gone Forever

I notice that Looserounds no longer has the Weaponsman archive up.

I worried about that when they sold the site.

Oh Crap It's My Fault

I bought a tool for the current, and past, generation Glocks.  Of course they change generations right afterwards!

They appear to be leaving the magazines alone for the Gen V, so this tool should still work should I get a new Glock, but...

Not Quite

But was it?

Because I am old enough to remember engines that couldn't make it to 100k miles because carburetors washed down the cylinders and killed them.

It wasn't all that long ago that the center of every road was pitch black from all the dripping oil from EVERY car.

Even guns from back when were no panacea.

I like how it's not even noteworthy for a gun to go thousands of rounds without cleaning effortlessly and drop-in parts.  Higher capacity magazines are also a plus.

Electronics are far better.

My cell phone is the hand computer I was promised when reading science fiction that used Von Braun's spaceship designs in the illustrations.  Only it fits in my pocket and not my rucksack.

Fuck be upon tape media for music!  Even CD's are better and digital means I can keep my entire library on my handcomp!

The past wasn't always better.  It just didn't have the new problems we have today and we've forgotten the problems which vexed us then which no longer exist.

It wasn't even simpler. 

Important Critical Research Continues Despite The Shutdown

Scientists have learned how spaghetti works.

Thank goodness that this research wasn't disrupted by the shutdown.

Trying To Figure It Out

California is banning Glocks because they're too easy to convert to full-auto.

California is blaming Glock for this.

This has me thinking.

Is there another product where the end-user modifies it and the manufacturer is responsible for the, illegal, modification?

I don't recall Ford, Chevy, GMC or Ram being implicated in the diesel tuner stuff.  Just the tuners, the companies who made the tuning software and, in some cases, the owners of the trucks.

I've seen people get in trouble for removing the catalytic converters, but never seen the automakers get busted.

I've seen people get in trouble for aftermarket lighting and never seen the automaker get even chided.

Have Apple or Microsoft been subpoenaed because their operating systems do nothing to stop child pornography?

Once again, it's guns, it's different.

Popping The Popcorn

The drama around Mr Kasarda and the Pima Pistol Club has gotten to purse swinging levels at Arfcom!

Mr Shi, referred to in the vid, has chimed in and a couple people who shoot at the club have weighed in.

While they don't care for Mr Kasarda, they really dislike Mr Shi.

DAYUM!

Wading Into It

In general, I don't particularly care for Mr. Kasarda.  I was once a patron of InRange WAAAAAAY back and they did a series of videos with another creator and I had the temerity to express that if they were going to keep doing that I didn't wanna spend my money on it.

Karl told me where the door was and I exited.

I'd always found it ironic that he extols the support of viewers but shrugs when a viewer gives feedback and ends their support.

This video is about someone who appears to be a racist and a homophobe doing their damnedest to get to a controlling position at a gun club so they can expel the undesirables from the place.

I agree, that's bullshit.

I'm pro-LGBT.  I deplore racists.

However, this little spat with the Pima Pistol Club has a different angle from other sources.

The bigot mentioned at length in the video might have gotten their foot in the door because of the Antifa angle that seems to have attached itself to Mr Kasarda.

"Thou shall not freak the mundanes!" is an old adage.  It's essentially the same thing as, "don't scare the White people."

Antifa freaks the mundanes.

If they turn a 2-gun match into a pride parade or political rally, the normies get upset.

What if they just wanted to shoot the match without the political content provided, not by the match director or range, but by fellow participants who'd been encouraged to come by the match director or their associates?

As I said about Black Star Brewing years ago, "Is the beer any good?"

Karl sounds like the people who were trying to apologize for Black Star back then to me.

I didn't take a position on race, sexuality or gender when I asked about the beer.  But I would have had to listen to a lecture about racism, sexism and homophobia to get a beer there.

What if I just wanted a beer?

What if I just wanted to go shooting?

Both the principles in this fight seem unaware of how the normies see them.

The bigot will get farther before getting replaced because bigots tend to be good at hiding what they are in the spaces that matter to them retaining power.  I've forgotten how many times I've seen that meme play out.

I'm willing to bet, though, that someone in a MAGA hat would be barred from a 2g-ACM match that Mr Kasarda or his associates were running.  I'm betting that way because I've heard tell of exactly that happening there.

Someone was definitely told to go away when they tried LARPing a Rhodesian soldier and compete with an FAL.  Something about not allowing racist symbols...  From a guy who LARPed as an SS soldier how many times?

He's talked about safe spaces and ignores that groups like Antifa and John Brown Gun Club people actively try to make normies feel unsafe.  Antifa is probably doing it from the other side of the "we committed terrorism!" legal line too.

It's a bit hypocritical. 

Stock

Cliff's Notes version of the M1903 stock.  Detailed explanations here and here.

The OG stock with its straight wrist is the "Type S."

In the mid-1920's it was decided that a pistol grip would be a good idea and the "Type C" was created and was included with the M1903A1.

There was no marking change made to the rifles, so the stock and a change in parkerization serve to ID A1's.

Refinish and repairs with "Type C" stocks make it impossible to ID a real M1903A1 from an M1903 with a "Type C" stock without the serial number and a list of production dates from Springfield National Armory.

Now the fun part!

While the M1903 was officially replaced by the M1903A1 vast quantities of finished "Type S" stocks existed, so the M1903A3 was predominantly made with those.

A beefier "Type C" stock was introduced during WW2 and is most often seen on the M1903A4.  This is also the most common version of the "Type C" found.

The "scant" stock comes from using one of the vast quantities of Type S stock blanks to create as close to a "Type C" as you can get.

Both the "Type C" and "Scant" stocks were primarily used as repair parts rather than new-issue. 

Also!  An OG M1903 "Type S" stock will not fit on an M1903A3, but a "Type S" for an M1903A3 will fit on an earlier gun because it's inletted for both.

The slim "Type C" stock is not inletted for the A3.

The chonky "Type C" and "Scant" stocks are inletted for both. 

Key Phrase

Something that I've noticed that nobody else mentions about the impending Glock V.

First examples will ship in November.

Glock is a big company and big companies don't make big changes swiftly.

A complete change to the fire control to be compliant with the impending California legislation had to have started design before their bill got traction.

If we had God's video tape, I'd bet we'd see that Glock was deeply embarrassed and troubled by the "Glock Switch" and had come to the realization that a complete redesign was needed.

Changes of this magnitude take years.  Especially since many of the better ways to not-Glock a striker system are still under patent.  Those patent holders surely remember litigation from Glock, so licensing those designs is probably out of the question.

I think that the roll-out was hurried by California's legislation, though, otherwise we'd have seen the new Glocks in the hands of gunwriters by now.  Or someone would have leaked ahead of the press embargo on reviews...  Or something.

Glock clearly got their elbow jostled. 

Update:

Looks like they actually announced the discontinuations back in April.

 

100 Years

Pawpaw mentioned that the .270 Winchester round turned 100 the other day!

It would appear I am not the only disciple of Jack O'Connor! 

Be Cautious In Your Celebration

The National Guard troops that President Trump is sending out to enforce the law happen to be enforcing a law we (including me) agree with.

I'm not reading stories about the troops refusing to deploy because it's an unlawful order.

Be cautious about celebrating the precedent established here.

It will be used against us.

And the troops will deploy.

History tells us, they always do.

This is not to say that, sometimes, the use of troops is not the right answer.

Where they're going are places that, in an earlier age, would be considered to be in rebellion with their refusal to allow the enforcement of Federal laws and giving aid and succor to Federal criminals.

The terms sedition and treason come to mind.

I just don't trust the liberals to use any kind of judicious restraint once they come to power again. 

Being Mechanically Inclined

I pulled the release tab on my recliner and nothing happened.

The release was very floppy.

So I examined what could be the problem and I find a little barrel end and a short bit of cable in the latch lever.

My chair has a clutch cable in it to release the foot rest and like EVERY clutch cable I've ever had it broke up at the lever.

Flashbacks to my Suzuki GS550L...

The original maker doesn't have parts listings on their web page, but the search results included links to Amazon.

For a princely sum of $11 I can get an assembly that's identical to the one that came with the chair!

The future is kinda neat this way. 

88 Years Ago Today

The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.

Something that takes a little digging to find is that Hollywood really WAS infiltrated with Communists by 1947!

The current liberal condemnation isn't that they were being unjustly accused; it was that they were being accused and exposed at all!

Remember.  If you're paying Hollywood; you're paying for Hollywood.

You don't need them.  You will not starve without them, like you would if there were no farmer.  You will not freeze in the dark, like you would without linemen or electricians.  You will not drown in your own waste, like you would without plumbers and sewer technicians.

What happens if the TV remains blank?

The worst that can happen is an awkward silence.  But conversation might happen.

But what happens to the dancing monkeys if we stop paying them to dance?

While I doubt that many would starve, they would not be living lavish lifestyles any longer.  Their political clout would be reduced to that of normal citizens, which they are.

Boycotting dancing monkeys leads to nothing bad.  Encourage it! 

Full Report

Harvey gave a full report on the No Kings protestors lining the roadway near here.

They'd taken over all four corners of a major intersection that happened to be where she and The Boy were meeting his girlfriend and her mom for lunch.

The first thing that she noticed is when she tried to explain what protesters were to The Boy they saw her pointing and focused their rage on them.

The Boy might have waded in with both feet, but Harvey explained that you don't need to give idiots the satisfaction.

While they were eating, she noticed the stream of tow-trucks into the parking lot.

It would seem that the businesses had partnered up with the local sheriff and were basically checking to see if someone was in the store and ticket and towing a LOT of cars.  If you're not a patron of the business, you're technically trespassing and the businesses were definitely noticing that people were avoiding going near the potential riot.

Dunno how they sorted out who was whom, but she saw a steady stream of tow-trucks hauling cars away.  Perhaps camera footage?

Also nearby was the SWAT team.

As far as I know, no arrests were made, but I giggle at them being inconvenienced by needing to find their cars.

The Army Has Cashed In

 

Looks like the Army has found a way to make payroll.

First World Problem

The power button on the Samsung is placed where I am used to holding the phone when I put it in my pocket.

I have to become accustomed to the new button layout.

Oh.  The.  Horror.

This is the kind of inconvenience that Democrats have marches about! 

Um

Robert DeNiro (a known dancing monkey) purports to think. 

He says that rural voters support Trump because the media they view isn't telling them the truth?

Does he think that Flyover gets different news sources than Eastasia?

The local affiliates regurgitate the same stuff as the national channels.

The local paper isn't and non local stories are from places like Associated Press.

It's the same news in Iowa as it is in New York, you ignorant dancing monkey.

Maybe back when I was a kid the local news wasn't just repeating what the coastal outlets were putting out, but that day is long gone now that ownership has consolidated into a very small group of people. 

Harvey Speaks

Harvey is out doing her running around and she sends:

"The fuckin' protesters. No kings protest. They are everywhere and oh my God they are stupid!"

Can't say I disagree. 

How Would You Say It

After this post, I've found a couple more bloggers mentioning the incident and it's the comments...

I have to ask, "If you weren't a racist, how would you say it?" or "Say the same thing as if you weren't a racist."

It's actually quite simple to phrase it without being racist about it.

It's good that it's simple, because it's not racist to notice it and say something; despite what the media and left would have you believe.

Just as turning up the stereo doesn't fix rod knock, not reporting on black-on-black violence will not make it go away.

But, again, it's not a racial thing even though it's a race doing it.

That's a strange turn of phrase.

It's a cultural thing and the decision to allow a race a subculture that's in conflict with the main culture.

The reasons for allowing it are completely racist.  The soft bigotry of low expectations has created people who are central casting examples of Klan propaganda.

Slow clap for the slow walk through the institutions.

Most, if not all, of the people in question would be normal American citizens if raised as one.  But they aren't because they weren't.

And correcting it now would be much harder than never letting it start, but the racists got their way and we never held our minorities to the same standard as ourselves.

We stopped treating them as equals, so they stopped acting like it. 

There's a ton of well meaning but destructive bullshit that needs discarded to fix it. 

Some Branches Are Better Equipped To Deal With The Shutdown Than Others

 Just sayin'.

What I Think When I Hear "No Kings"

 

And...

And...

 

$36 A Month!

The teachers in my county are discovering how the rest of us live.

Their new health plan will result in them paying up to $36 a month to pay for their health insurance!

AND They will have co-pays for emergency room visits.

AND They will have more limited choices about whom they go to see and under what circumstances.

Oh?  You mean just like the rest of us since Obamacare?

Harvey plunks down nearly $500 a month for healthcare, has co-pays and gets to pick from a short list of places she can see.

So, sorry, Teach, if I don't have a lot of sympathy for your plight.

We've been trying to explain to the teachers we know that benefits are part of "pay" and they make a lot more than they think they do.  I won't even begin to talk about their no-contribution-instantly-vested-retirement-plan's value.

Their real problem (for them) is Florida made it possible, simple and not very difficult to get our kids out of public schools and into smaller education venues that actually teach the Three-R's.  Public schools lose the money when a parent does that.

So lots of school districts are seeing a funding problem and rather than reduce admin overhead, they're hitting the teachers up for healthcare.

Of course, they're not blaming their unions for going along with it or the administrators for sucking up 3/4 of the funding...  Nope!  It's us cheapskate taxpayers and the Rethuglicans in Tallahassee!

Well, a lot of us watched how you behaved during COVID and we remember.  You didn't deserve what you were getting then and you haven't done anything to redeem yourselves.

So suck it! 

Chicken Little

I have just stopped following the Associated Calibers Podcast Facebook group.

Unfriended a couple of people there too.

The constant warnings about what will happen if someone actually exercises their rights and how that will doom us all was old back when Miggy still lived near Miami.

I'm sick to death of people who're supposedly all about freedom and liberty balking at the idea that you can exercise your freedoms in a manner they wouldn't.

Apparently, I did not get the memo that I was supposed to stop liking things that they disliked.

Case in point is a couple of people open carrying at the local sheriff and seeing if the sheriff will break the law and harass them.

The cries of doom that this is not helping are, almost literally, insane.

But; is it actually hurting?

Because they cited Texas as a place where open carrying at people hurt gun rights in Texas.  They do not, of course, cite any examples.

They cite California as an example of a place where open carrying hurt gun rights in California.  They alluded to an example that I recognized.  Sped up the process is probably what happened rather than caused open carry of long guns to be banned.

We get the internet here in Florida too, you know, we can use our choice of search engine to check on what happened after people open carried in front of cameras.

I keep having to make this post because they don't seem to remember that what they're scared of never happens.  Isn't odd that it's so often in October?

Green: Permitless; Yellow: Permit Required/Restricted; Red: Forbidden

 

(Help a blogger out!  Rather than complain the map, that I didn't generate, is wrong, link me to an updated one!) 

Compare that map with the one from 2019.  I'll help you out and tell you that the only place that got worse in the past six years was California.  California gets worse without triggering events, so we can't use them as a barometer of what causes things to get worse elsewhere.

Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island stayed the same with their restrictions.

But look at all the states where it got better!

Despite Open Carry Texas.

Despite Florida Carry's fishing events.

Despite the naysayers and gloomers.

You suck at this, stop making predictions. 

So You've Decided To Sell Your Car

Caprice PPVs get flipped a lot.

They're not for everyone, I get it.

But for crying out loud, if you're gonna try selling your car, at least clean it out before you take pictures for your listing on Facebook marketplace!

Then, actually clean it!

If I can smell your car through the screen, I most certainly won't be offering top dollar. 

Brakes

The Brembos sure look good when I bother to clean off the brake dust!

I got my money out of the OE pads.  0.102" remaining of 0.528"

Bedding went perfectly, good pedal feel, not pulling when I'm braking.

I know lots of hot rodders who skip upgrading the brakes.  They're like the second thing I want to do, right after better tires.

We'll just ignore that me neglecting tires led directly to wrecking The Precious... 

Brembo

The previous owner of The Beast upgraded the brakes to 4-piston Brembos.

They hit the wear screechers the other day.

Wow, changing pads is so much simpler than floating calipers.

The OE Camaro pads would make the rims black in a week.

I remember hating that with The Precious.

Going with Powerstop's Z23 pads cured the dust problem on a C6 Corvette, so I expect that to be true with a '12 Caprice PPV too.

Can I Have My FAL Back Please?

Thanks to Bloke on the Range, I have the weights for the L85A3.

The MoD lies!

The basic rifle isn't 100g lighter.

Loaded the L85A2 is 10.4 lb. (11.3 lb. with SUSAT)

The L85A3 is 10.5 lb. without optics or accessories.

The Elcan SpecterOS is 1.1 lb.  The Shield CQB is 0.1 lb.  The Grip Pod bipod is 0.2 lb.

So an L85A3, as pictured in most places, is 11.9 lb. loaded.

That's a chonky 5.56 gun.

Again, the famously heavy M16A4 with ACOG, vertical grip and light is "just" 10.6 lb.

Glad We Stood Our Ground

Despite FUDDs and scolds, I am pleased we stuck to our guns (literally) and successfully fought back since 1994 on gun control.

Looking at Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom since they put in gun control and watching what they're dealing with and what we aren't there's some satisfaction in seeing the wisdom of the founders play out in real time.

Most of the anglosphere has been reduced to saying, "stop or I will say stop again!" at best.  Because I've seen stories from England where saying stop will get you jailed for being intolerant.

That Bill of Rights thing turned out to be prescient. 

I also remember politicians in Australia, Canada and the UK assuring their citizens that their fears were unfounded and they would NEVER do what they're doing now. 

Laptop Battery Life

I get a solid two hours out of the battery on DerpyPuter.

What I dislike is the percentage lying to me.

It goes from 35% to 17% almost instantly and in the few seconds from that to plugging it in, it will show 0% when mains are restored.

I have no idea how to make the battery level show the real amount. 

Happy Western Civilization Day

There was a show on the BBC called "Connections."  It took several, seemingly, unconnected events and showed how one thing led to another and then another.

Columbus landing in the New World is such an event.  It leads to Western Civilization adopting a new home here in America.

Western Civ is better, far better, than the others.  No debate, full stop.

It's not perfect, but better is enough to keep using it.

The American Indian took the advance of Western Civ on the chin, but every Indian who adopted our ways is successful.  The ones who didn't are no different than the descendants of Europeans who abandoned Western Civ's virtues.

Failure isn't a racial thing.  Every race has failures.

But let us not dwell on failure.

Let us celebrate the first pebble that voted for avalanche and the founding of the United States!

Even if the idiot was lost and couldn't do the math correctly about the diameter of Earth. 

Size

Phones kept getting bigger for me. 

L to R: Samsung Galaxy S23+, Motorola Edge Plus UM 5G (2022), Motorola Moto Z (3rd gen), Motorola Moto X (2nd gen).

The Samsung reverses the trend of them getting bigger and bigger.

Thickness has varied a lot over the years too: 

The Moto X is still my favorite phone for hand feel.  It had football leather backing and it was PERFECT!

Motorola stopped making the X.

I liked the form factor of the Z with a case, but that's the rub.  The four generations of the Z were intended to be used with magnetically attached accessories, which you couldn't attach with the phone encased.

Motorola stopped making the Z. 

The Edge was always just a little too big to me, but a very capable hand-computer.

Honestly, if I could get the battery replaced and the OS updated to current, I'd still be using the Moto X2.  It had an SD card slot and a 3.5mm jack.  When it was new, the battery would last for almost a week. 

Wait They Still HAD Music Channels?

MTV has announced they are shutting down their music channels.

MTV is shutting down five of its music channels, including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live, by December 31, 2025. This decision reflects changing viewing habits, as audiences increasingly consume music videos through platforms like YouTube and streaming services rather than traditional television.

--Duck Duck Go AI answer 

"What music channels?" you might ask.

Especially since "what does the 'm' in MTV mean?" is a trivia question now.

There was a time when MTV was on pretty much full time at my house.  Then the shows started replacing the music videos and I just drifted to something else.

I think that Beavis and Butthead and Liquid Television was still fresh when I gave up.

Gave up?  Perhaps grew up.

God.org

Still plunking around with the ideas of a realistic fantasy world with real gods.

For a big hunk of real world history religion is an organization.

Especially the medieval / pre-rennaissance TL3 European model most people think of as the default.

That'd mean your party's cleric would be sent by their employer, The Church.

In the, common, polytheistic religions of most fantasy settings; is it The Church or churches?

If it's The Church, does each god have, like, an office in the big temple or is it dozens of competing temples?

Something I kinda wanted to upset is the idea of racial gods.

Drawing from a Babylon 5 episode, "The Fall of Night," where everyone sees Kosh in their own race's image...  An elf would see their deity as an elf, dwarves as a dwarf, etc.

I kinda like the one big church with sub-temples for each god.

Then I get to do a Cleric and cleric split where lower case clerics are specialized in a particular god and the upper case is beholden to the entire pantheon.  A lot like single college magery.

Lots of social implications.

Wireless Charging

The new phone, like the old phone, can charge from a little round plate that I set it on.

Except for the metal plate I put in my case to mount it to the dash of my car via magnets.

Sigh.

It's neat technology, but practical considerations prevent me from taking advantage of it.

I don't care for the extra stress taking it out of the case all the time would impose too.

Administrative handling is good for creating accidents in phones as well as guns!

Phones

Motorola Edge Plus UM 5G (2022) vs Samsung Galaxy S23+ 5G.

Ever so slightly smaller.

I am warming to the Samsung experience, but I really liked my Edge Plus.  It's so sad to see her reset to factory settings and awaiting shipment to the insurance company.

But she'd become unreliable.  Random restarts and refusing to charge past 80% most of the time.

The Doctor Is Out

After 55 years, Dr Demento is retiring.

I have many fond memories his show.

His opening song was based on this:

Excellent Philosophy

David Freiburger has an expression:

"Don't get it right, just get it running!"

He's taken some crap about that because people think he's saying to not bother getting it right.

But he's recently explained where it came from.

A running, and driving, car motivates you to get working better than one that isn't on the road and, thus, never gets finished because you will NEVER get to the end of everything that needs done.

That's not to say that the list of things is infinite.

It's saying that the list of "get it right" is daunting and people despair, lose motivation and stop working on the car until it disappears under boxes, blankets and trash in the garage.

How many YouTube videos are out there of some CarTuber buying such a car from the person who buried it in their garage or abandoned it in a barn?

So, get it running!  You can work on refining it as you get to enjoy the project at intermediate stages! 

I Disagree Senator

4 Killed in Mississippi homecoming celebration.

“It’s just senseless gun violence.  What we are experiencing now is just a proliferation of guns just being in circulation.”

- Mississippi State Senator Derrick Simmons.

Guess what party he's affiliated with.  Go on.

I'm calling this blood dancing because I notice a lack of quotes from law enforcement in the article.  It's nearly all Senator Simmons grandstanding. 

However, I notice that my knee-jerk reaction is to speculate that it's people from a certain subculture who ended up in the same place because of the homecoming celebrations.

Sub-groups of this subculture often have significant friction with each other and that, too often, results in violence.

I am saddened that this is my initial response because it's far too often the rational response to reports of violence where no political motive is apparent. 

I eagerly hope to be proven wrong.  (Unlike a lot of others). 

Making It Harder Than It Needs To Be

I'm in the process of getting the new Samsung S23+ up and running from my Motorola Edge Plus UM 5G.

First hurdle was the new phone not being configured to activate with an existing account.  It was set up to create a new Verizon account and had no provision for the normal activation methods.

Dude on the phone was excellent, but it still barfed when the old phone's SIM was deactivated.

Round and round with the robots and them telling me to click buttons on a chat window that closed because Samsung REALLY wanted me to finish setting up their One UI experience.

No, I want my phone to make calls first, kthanx.

Three update and reboot cycles later and it appears that I can make calls!

Now I'm transferring files from old to new.  Hours of waiting for that because I don't remember where my USB-C to USB-C cable is while looking right at the C to C power cord that's plugged into the phone.

Never mind the whole reason for the insurance claim is the Edge Plus will randomly and capriciously shut off when unplugged.  Don't want that while doing a transfer!

So we do it the wireless method with Samsung's app. 

Not Really That Amusing

It is sadly amusing watching the rest of the nation learn what Florida already knew about Pam Bondi.

I can remember when they told us that she was a good choice and we were exaggerating.

Well.

Welcome to the party, Pal. 

It's MY Store After All

Publix used to have an ad motto, "Publix, it's YOUR store!"

Well they're sure making me feel at home with allowing open carry.

Kudos to them!

I still haven't seen anyone open carrying.  Anywhere.

Just Noodling

Being the gamer that I am, encumbrance is often on my mind.

Liking historical characters means I glance at how weights have shifted.

Something I thought interesting is when the US went from 7.62x51mm NATO to 5.56x45 the weight of the loaded rifle dropped from 10.9 lb. to 7.2 lb.  (7.5 with a 30-rounder)

When we went from M16A1 to M16A2, we put on a bit of weight.  8.9 lb. loaded.

The M4 brought optics.  A bare M4 was 7.4 lb. loaded and adding an Aimpoint M68 raised it to 8.2 lb., using an ACOG M150 instead would change that to 8.3 lb.

The Royal British Army, though...  <- h/t to Mr Brock.

Their change from the L1A1 in 7.62 to the L85A1 in 5.56 didn't save much mass at all.  The FAL variant was 11 lb.  The L85A1, with SUSAT is 11.2 lb.

At least the ammo is lighter...

Even the USMC's, known to be heavy, M16A4 is "just" 10 lb. with its ACOG.

Let There Be Blood

One of the places where GURPS deliberately fudges in favor of the cinematic is wounding and injury.

Bleeding to death, in particular, is VERY cinematic and not necessarily realistic.

From B420:

If you are injured, you may continue to lose HP to bleeding. At the end of every minute after being wounded, make a HT roll, at -1 per 5 HP lost. On a failure, you bleed for a loss of 1 HP. On a critical failure, you bleed for 3 HP. On a critical success, the bleeding stops completely. On an ordinary success, you do not bleed this minute, but must continue to roll every minute. If you do not bleed for three consecutive minutes, the bleeding stops for good. Otherwise, you or someone else will need to make a First Aid roll to stop the bleeding; see First Aid (p. B424)

The GM decides which wounds bleed. Cutting, impaling, and piercing wounds usually bleed; crushing wounds generally don’t, but there are always exceptions. Minor burning and corrosion injury does not bleed significantly: the damage sears the flesh, cauterizing the wound and preventing blood loss. However, if such injury causes a major wound, treat it as a bleeding wound, oozing blood plasma until properly treated.

Of course, GURPS does not detail the exact nature of the damage beyond what caused it.

A 20 HP hit might include the spray of blood from a severed artery, so the bleeding rules might be just for a certain kind of bleeding.

Any kind of healing stops it in its tracks too.

I figured I should post the bleeding rules because I keep referring to them here.

Leaving The Womb

I was once a staunch user of LG phones.

Then LG went away.

So I developed a loving relationship with Motorola.

Gravity intervened and the insurance carrier for my wireless company says it's Samsung or nothin'!

I hear the Galaxy's are good phones.  I get to experience it first hand now!

Dead Che Day!

 

For everyone who says .30 Carbine can't get the job done!

58 Years, Still a Good Commie.

One Better On Bulk

What you get for your bullpup in GURPS is one better for Bulk.

What Bulk does:

Ranged weapons only. A measure of the weapon’s size and handiness. Bulk modifies your weapon skill when you take a Move and Attack maneuver (see Move and Attack, p. B365). It also serves as a penalty to Holdout skill when you attempt to conceal the weapon.

An M16A2 is Bulk -5.  An M4A1 is Bulk -4.  An L85A1 is Bulk -4.  A Steyr AUG is Bulk-4.

Where you get an advantage with the bullpup is the extra range and damage of the longer gun.

M16A2, L85A1 and AUG do 5d pi to 800/3,500.  M4A1 does 4d+2 pi to 750/2,900.

And that's all, folks, in GURPS terms.

Difficulty firing with your wrong-hand doesn't come into the rules as written.

The different manual of arms is covered by the Familiarity rules.

Four Posts I Already Did

I'm not linking to them, but I had ideas for posts, checked to see if I'd covered them before and had...

20 years of blogging means you've said a great deal you set out to say already.

They've Set A Price

SNT Motiv says that their Daewoo K2 clone will ship in Q3 2026 and be MSRP of $1,799.

About $600 more than they'd hoped, but $700 less than many predicted!

I have car shit to take care of, but lots of time...

Department Of...

Do you call the Department of Justice or the Department of War when you reply to terrorism?

Is terrorism crime or war?

If it's war the due process is very brief.

Declare war, start killing.  Evidentiary rules are extremely slim.

There ARE rules for how we go about it, but with that declaration the terrorists will have to find uniforms and a recognizable command structure damn quick before the section on partizans is dusted off and used.

Did you know that not even the Nazis were accused of war crimes for summary executions of partizans?

But you have to have a lot of stomach to start the process.

Which is why we treat it like crime.

Which is also why we never really stop it.

But I cannot help but think a whiff of grape shot wouldn't go a long ways to showing we're serious about not giving into terrorists.

A couple MOAB here and there wouldn't be out of line either.

Soon

They are predicting the first real cold front for about a week from today.  Maybe two weeks.

It will be nice to finally get the climate control in The Beast in order.

Eyes crossed that I can get it done in time to get to Fort Jackson to watch a family friend graduate from Basic!

Two Years

Hamas started a war with Israel.  Hamas is losing that war...

Blame the Jews?

I guess it's their "fault" they decided to fight back and evoke the ghost of Curtis LeMay.

But, really, it's a fine example of FAFO.

Now that they've found out, all they need to do to stop the "slaughter" is to surrender.  You lose a lot of right to demand the war stop without surrendering when you started it.

You want me to be mad about them finding out, just have Mr Leon Klinghoffer say I should.

New Glasses

Like many people I put off going to see the optometrist as long as I can.

My old glasses work, I don't feel like I'm straining to see.

But I worry about things like glaucoma even if I'm not having trouble reading or shooting.

Usually it ends up being moderately expensive and I get new glasses anyways.

Even if my prescription didn't change, new glasses don't have scratches.

This time was frustrating.

They put the reader portion of my bifocals set to chin distance.

That don't work for me.

They put up a lot of resistance to me telling them I wanted them at lap distance.

Phrases like, "they take some getting used to," were uttered.

I have learned this is a trap.

If you accept them, they're yours and if you don't like them once you've taken them home you get to pay for new lenses to get it changed.  My insurance only covers one set of lenses a year...

So I dug in my heels and insisted they fix 'em.  I explained they didn't even ask what distance I wanted and should have been able to figure it out from my old glasses (like the optometrist we used to go to, who retired).  They seemed very put out about it, but relented.

That was weeks ago.

I was just about to call USAA and ask them about recovering my money when they called and said they were ready.

They are correct this time!  Almost the same as last time, except my astigmatism in my right eye got worse.

I Did It For Johnny!

I know who Johnny is!

Well, it's a strong theory.

Johnny is who the greasers from The Outsiders are fighting for against the soc's in the big rumble.

Stay Gold. 

Awwwwww

Every once and a while someone will repost something I've posted.

Even rarer a former reader will comment on the repost and express how they no longer read this blog.

First off, I'd be doing this if there were zero readers, so losing one is mox nix.

Second, I normally recognize the person virtue signaling they no longer darken my digital door.

Know what they all have in common?

I stopped publishing their comments.

Mostly because this isn't their soapbox.  It's MY soapbox.

They're doing exactly what I wanted, going away.  (I especially love how they phrase it like they decided on their own to leave when I told them to go away!)

Far too many of them are trying to convince... someone (me?) that their brand of bigotry is the way to go.

I don't endorse bigotry.  I don't like bigots.

So they don't get to comment and they get to hate someplace else. 

Found On The Internet

"I would argue that if you want to kill commies, you should join the communist party and if/when the communist come to power... crank up your murder boner to 17.

NO ONE kills more communists than other communists..."

It's true.

Smedley On Duty

Got Smedley, the Grim Reaper, all set up and placed!

We're quite proud of this decoration.

Once Harvey got it draped to her liking, Marv came by and sewed some tacks to keep it in place. 

Hours Of Penalties

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are bitter rivals.

The Panthers are also what is known as a dirty team and The Lightning are generally regarded as one of the cleaner teams (no not cleanest by a long stretch.)

They played each other in two back to back pre-season games and managed to rack up almost seven hours of penalty minutes in two hours of play time.

In case you don't know hockey, most penalties are two minutes long.  Some are longer.

But this was in the neighborhood of 200 penalties in two games, with 3/4 of them in the second game.  At times there were more players in the penalty box than on the bench OR the ice.

That they were called relatively evenly makes me think a change in officiating has taken place since last season where The Panthers could commit offenses with, seeming, impunity.  I also think that the Lightning coaches said, "fuck it, hurt 'em, we're going to get penalized like a motherfucker anyway, so let's fuck Mom!"

I hope that it's a real change in officiating.

If you're going to call it, call it.  If you're going to ignore it, ignore it.  But don't let one team get away with it while being all Karen on the other. 

Split Times

Not gun contented.

I made four logs into firewood yesterday.

Made much easier with the cheap hand-pumped hydraulic log-splitter Marv bought us, but still an exercise event.

I dunno what size log it was intended for, but I don't think we've ever found it.

Mostly we end up with too short for the ram to do the job.

Still easier than with a wedge-hammer! 

Show The Me You're Talking About

A recurring ad for holsters on YouTube asks, "are you over 35 and fat?"

Then it shows me a string of 20-something, skinny models wearing the holsters...

Miss the target demo here a bit? 

Memories

In an odd confluence, there's a thread on Arfcom about going through photo albums and The Lovely Harvey archiving her photos to the NAS.

The thread is about, "should I save these?"

There's people he doesn't know in those pics.

If you're looking a pic of a place you don't recognize, with people who are strangers, should you keep it?  Especially if the person who took the picture is gone?

I take a lot of pics since the hobby went digital, and I can mostly remember what's going on in the pictures.  But will anyone else?

Many pictures I take get a caption here on the blog.  I explain what's going on and give context that won't be with a file on a hard drive.

I have folders of photos named "Card Dump" which was just moving it off the camera onto a hard drive.  Photos that should probably be culled ruthlessly because there's multiple attempts at the same photo there.  I should also organize them into other folders to that there's some damn context.

I do a better job of curating my Flickr account than my NAS.  I should probably change my habits. 

Decoratin'

Got the Halloween decorations down and many of them placed.

Gotta fix Smedley the Grim Reaper we're making.  It's a process. 

Fuck Cancer

I just found out a friend has testicular cancer.

They're in the "just got diagnosed" stage and getting tested to see how far things have progressed, how bad it is and what options they have.

Fuck cancer! 

Weep Delete

I put some extra epoxy on The Beast yesterday because I spotted some weeping at the nipple we repaired.

Either we missed that one spot or a bubble was formed during the initial application.

Today the weeping is absent!

What a slog fixing that was. 

First Shots

Took the Glock P80 to the range.

Like all factory Glock sights, I shoot low and left until I remember how they work.

My astigmatism makes the front sight slanty looking and that makes me veer off to one side with some sights, but not all sights.  I do better with dots.

But I can figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Getting the G17.1 was pure nostalgia and I remember why I was excited to get a Gen 2 when they came out.  I forgot about how the slide would bite with the pebble texture letting my hand slip just a little bit.

Even got a Lovely Harvey action shot!

She's gotten so much better than when we started shooting, though she still tires quickly with her shoulder.  Gonna be years before those muscles finally get settled.

Also of note is her wandering over and helping a group of first time shooters!  She remembers how she struggled.
 

C&R No More

I let my C&R expire.

It'd been a long damn time since I'd found anything worth buying that the seller was willing to send to me.

Too many people are paranoid about it and regular FFL's resent it.

So I didn't bother to renew.

C'est la vie!

Happy Birthday

 Mist The FEMA Kitty is (near as we can know) one year old today!

Pretty darn good for a kitten we brought in thinking she was getting Last Rites and spending her last minutes experiencing love and affection.

We are thrilled at how she rallied and thrived with us!

She's come a long ways!

29 Years Later

Twenty-nine plus years after the laws passed after the Port Arthur massacre, Australians are starting to realize that it isn't just guns.

They can still speak out, so far.  After COVID, I am not sure how long Shad is going to be able keep posting stuff like this:

I thank the Gods that our founders had the foresight to include the 2nd Amendment to, if nothing else, be a speedbump to the kind of legislation in Canada and Australia.

I Have Further Questions

 

The follow up question should be, "Under what circumstances is violence in order to achieve political goals?"

Wanna bet the triggers for the conservative and very conservative will be far more extreme than those for the liberal or very liberal? 

h/t Mostly Cajun 

Interlocks

We've all seen the scene in a movie where they space someone out an airlock.

It's been in a couple books too.

I've worked in a couple industrial settings and attended "lock-out, tag-out" classes.

I've been involved in builds where the premature opening of a valve means sewage gets into drinking water, so there's interlocks to prohibit that from happening.

Which makes me think the person being spaced will have a hell of a while to contemplate their fate as the executioner bypasses all the safeties to get the outer door open.

I can see vacc suits getting some form of RFID deal that transmits that the suit is sealed correctly to the airlock.

I can also see needing keys and passwords to work the doors at all.

Dicking around with the airlock is dangerous.  Someone could vent the compartment, or worse, the whole ship. 

A simple, mechanical, locking mechanism that keeps both doors from being open at the same time will probably be mandatory.

The execution, once the alarms are bypassed, will probably be less dramatic than the movies as well.  Vent then open is how it will likely work because pressure on the outer door makes the mechanism work much harder...

"Great, his body is halfway out because the door got stuck half open because of YOUR flair for the dramatic, Dave!"  If that's the ship's only airlock, you have a problem.

You did remember to put an emergency, portable, airlock in the ship's locker, didn't you? 

Success

Got The Beast's cooling system buttoned up.

Sadly, the intake trunk hides my pretty blue silicone hoses.

The fans come on at 104°C like they're supposed to.  They shut off at 99°C like they're supposed to.

A drive in rush-hour traffic didn't get past 99°C.

I even changed the oil before I put her back on the ground!

Take That! Sir

Color me shocked to find that flag officers weren't adhering to or being tested on the physical fitness standards.

SHOCKED!

While the job of command isn't physically demanding in and of itself, I do recall that, "setting an example for the men," is something that goes back a LONG ways.

Gonna be interesting to see how many of them retire rather than get into shape.

As long as the PT test is A test for the Generals and Admirals, rather than the only test they have to pass to keep their jobs, I'm not too worried about this. 

Shut Down!

Make sure you let everyone who talks politics with you that it was the Democrats what chose to shut down the government over the budget.

Specifically the Senate.

The House had already passed it.