Interesting Theory

 

Looking back, I realize that I've been doing this for a while.

Even stranger is some of the people I fogged over, I had thought had bailed on me when it was me walking away from them. 

Shhhhhhhh

 

Americans Really Will Use Anything To Avoid Using The Metric System

An incredible 64 million cubic metres of rock – the equivalent of 24 Great Pyramids - splashed into the water below.

For Fuck's Sake

Let's worry about tattoos as if they haven't been around for centuries!

If tattoos were a significant health risk, we'd have seen significant numbers of people being unhealthy from them over the entirety of human history.

Tattoos predate history.

I have a lot of old friends who've passed on, both with and without ink who died of similar things.

You know, typical old age things.

But, I guess we gotta worry about everything now.

Big Triggering

Marv did much the same experiment with his Ex-LEO Glock 21 Gen 3 Slim-Frame.

Stock it ran 7 lb. 8 oz. dirty and gritty.  7 lb. 14 oz. all cleaned up and polished.

Since the safety trigger stands proud of the real trigger, he found it irksome at this weight.

So he ordered the Zev connector and NY1 trigger spring before I did.  His talking about it is why I wanted to experiment here.

With the NY1 spring and Zev connector he gets a FIRM 8 lb. 2 oz. pull, exacerbating the trigger safety problem.

Going back to the stock spring drops the pull to 5 lb. 14 oz.  This is where he's decided to land.

Like I mentioned before, the best trigger pull is personal and it's cool we can personalize our guns.

My Glock 21 Gen 2 is a crisp 5.5 lb. with the standard connector and standard spring.

Replacing the connector with the Zev using the standard spring gets a scary light 4.7 lb.

Using the standard connector with the NY1 spring gets a gritty 9.6 lb.

Replacing the connector with the Zev and using the NY1 spring gets a gritty 8.1 lb. pull.

Triggering

I ordered an NY1 trigger spring and a Zev Technologies pro-connector.

My Glock 17 Gen 2 is a crisp 6.5 lb. with the standard connector and standard spring.

Replacing the connector with the Zev using the standard spring gets a crisp 5.5 lb.

Using the standard connector with the NY1 spring gets an erratic 8 to 11 lb. pull averaging at 9 lb.

Replacing the connector with the Zev and using the NY1 spring gets an interesting 8 lb. pull.  It builds to that break and is very consistent.

What I don't care for with the NY1 trigger is it binding up on disassembly and needing the trigger pulled again to free it.  It's like the worst of Glock and M&P on take-apart.

I also don't care for the little bit of trigger rebound after the sear breaks.

I was happy with the stock trigger, so I've reinstalled it and I'm marking this as an experiment.

I might see if I get completely different results from my Glock 21.

Or not...

Depopulation Bomb

Paul Erlich, a scientist known for making a bad prediction more than anything else, has passed.

If being wrong had been the only problem, we'd have never heard of him or made note of his passing.

The problem with his prediction is how many crappy policy decisions have been made since to avoid his apocalyptic prediction when the green revolution solved it without doing anything else.

Bravo

Remember this post?

Based on weight, Bravo is the Lancer L5.

Make your plans for use accordingly. 

Deciphering ATEC Project Number: 2014-DT-ATC-M4CAR-F9278 Report Number: ATC-11684 (Poorly)

The magazine makers are labeled A-L.

Alpha is 8.45 oz.  Bravo is 3.86 oz.  Charlie is 5.41 oz.  Delta is 8.92 oz.  Echo is 4.45 oz.  Foxtrot is 4.97 oz.  Golf is 4.34 oz.  Hotel is 3.94 oz.  India is 4.98 oz.  Juliet is 4.32 oz.  Kilo is 4.30 oz.  Lima is 4.23 oz.

Tested in M4A1, M16A4 and M27 weapons. 

Alpha is heavier than the others, prolly a steel magazine.

Delta is heavier than the others and works well in the M27, making me think that it's the H&K High Reliability Magazine.

Foxtrot is a Magpul windowed PMAG M3.  We know that because Magpul pointed it out.

Golf is rumored to be a Lancer Gen1 L5.  Based on weight, Bravo is the more likely candidate for a Lancer L5.

India is rumored to be a USGI Enhanced Performance Magazine (EPM).  Debunked!

Kilo is the legacy tan-follower USGI magazine.

Lima is the Enhanced Performance Magazine.

No rumors as to what Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Echo, Hotel, India and Juliet are. 

Golf and India did not fit in the M27.

Class I failures can be corrected by the user within 10 seconds with tools on hand.  Class III failures require an armorer.

M4A1 results:

Alpha: 4 failures.  3 weapon, 1 system.

Class I: 1 system.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Bravo: 10 failures.  8 magazine, 2 weapon.

Class I magazine: 8 bolt over base M4A1.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Charlie: 10 failures.  5 magazine, 5 weapon.

Class I magazine 3 double feed, 1 bolt over base, 1 OTH; weapon 3 bolt over base.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Delta: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I weapon 1 bolt over base.

Echo: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I no failures.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Foxtrot: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I no failures. 
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Golf: 29 failures.  1 ammunition, 28 magazine.

Class I 1 ammunition, magazine 22 failure to lock to the rear, 1 BLE.
Class III magazine 2 OTH.

Hotel: 5 failures.  1 magazine, 4 weapon.

Class I magazine 1 bolt over base.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

India: 19 failures.  16 magazine, 3 weapon.

Class I magazine 16 failure to lock to the rear.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA, 1 OTH.

Juliet: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I no failures.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Kilo: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I  no failures.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Lima: 4 failures.  4 weapon.

Class I  weapon 2 failure to eject, 1 failure to extract.

M16A4 results:

Alpha: No failures.

Bravo: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I: weapon 2 bolt over base.

Charlie: No failures.

Delta: No failures.

Echo: No failures.

Foxtrot: No failures.

Golf: 3 failures.  1 magazine, 2 weapon.

Class I: magazine 1 failure to lock to the rear; weapon 1 bolt over base.

Hotel: 1 failure.  1 magazine.

Class I: magazine 1 double feed.

India: 1 failure.  1 magazine.

Class I: magazine 1 failure to lock to the rear.

Juliet: No failures.

Kilo: No failures.

Lima: 1 failures.  1 weapon.

Class I: weapon 1 BLE.

M27 results:

Alpha: 5 failures.  1 magazine, 4 weapon.

Class I: magazine 1 bolt over base; weapon 2 bolt over base.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Bravo: 79 failures.  36 magazine, 30 weapon, 13 system.

Class I: magazine 1 double feed, 25 bolt over base, 1 stuck round; weapon 29 bolt over base, 1 BLE; system 12 bolt over base, 1 BLE.
Class III: magazine 2 OTH.

Charlie: 51 failures.  19 magazine, 32 weapon.

Class I: magazine 3 double feed, 13 bolt over base, 1 FSR; weapon 29 bolt over base.
Class III: magazine 1 OTH; weapon 1 FRA

Delta: 1 failure.  1 weapon.

Class I: weapon 1 bolt over base.

Echo: 1 failure.  1 weapon.

Class I: 1 bolt over base.

Foxtrot: 4 failures.  1 ammunition, 3 weapon.

Class I: ammunition 1 failure to fire; weapon BLE.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Golf: Did not fit in magazine well.

Hotel: 1 failure.  1 weapon.

Class I: 1 bolt over base.

India: Did not fit in magazine well.

Juliet: 15 failures.  3 ammunition, 4 magazine, 7 weapon, 1 system.

Class I: ammunition 3 failure to fire, magazine 3 bolt over base, 1 stuck round; weapon 7 bolt over base; system 1 failed to chamber BLE.

Kilo: 6 failures.  6 weapon.

Class I: weapon 3 bolt over base, 2 fail to fire, 1 stuck round, light strike.

Lima: 17 failures.  1 ammunition, 8 magazine, 8 weapon.

Class I: ammunition 1 failure to fire; magazine 4 bolt over base; weapon 8 bolt over base.
Class III: magazine 1 OTH.

Considering the number of weapon failures with the M27 compared to the M4A1 and M16A4, I think we can put to bed the whole "pistons are better than direct impingement" argument.

"System" stoppages don't have an identifiable source.  BLE is associated with the bolt breaking and/or the nose of the round getting stuck on the feed ramp, OTH seems to be a generic "other" cause.  FRA is some kind of feed ramp failure.

The most common failure, overall, was failure to feed because of bolt over base.

Golf's most common failure mode was to fail to lock to the rear.

Again, if anyone has a list of who was what vendor, or even which 11 vendors were tested, drop a comment!

Quantify Your Statement

“I knew it was coming, I have been preaching this stuff for 30 years, everything we’ve said about climate change has come true."

--Harrison Ford

Considering that I've been watching prediction after prediction about global warming and climate change fail for about 40 years, I am wondering what the dancing monkey is talking about.

It's especially irritating to listen to someone with a private jet lecture about anthropogenic climate change.

But he's made a claim, can he quantify it?

Here's a top ten list from 1970 to 2009...

1) In 1970, S. Dillon Ripley, a wildlife conservationist who served as secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, warned that 75 percent to 80 percent of species would be extinct by 1995. Wrong.

2) In 1970, Kenneth Watt, an ecologist and professor at the University of California, Davis, warned that “there won’t be any more crude oil,” that “none of our land will be usable” for agriculture, and the world would be 11 degrees colder by the year 2000. False.

3) In 1970, biologist Paul Ehrlich at Stanford University warned that by the end of the decade up to 200 million people would die each year from starvation due to overpopulation, life expectancy would plummet to 42 years, and all ocean life would perish. Extremely false.

4) In 1970, Peter Gunter, a professor at North Texas State University, predicted that “world population will outrun food supplies” and “the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine” by the year 2000. Didn’t happen.

5) In 1971, Dr. S. I. Rasool, an atmospheric scientist at NASA, predicted the coming of a “new ice age” within 50 years. Incorrect.

6) In 1975, Ehrlich, the Stanford biologist, warned that 90 percent of tropical rainforests and 50 percent of species would disappear within 30 years. Erroneous. 

7) In 1988, Hussein Shihab, environmental affairs director of the Maldives, warned that his island nation would be completely underwater within 30 years, which wouldn’t even matter because experts also predicted the Maldives would run out of drinking water by 1992. False.

8) In 2004, a Pentagon analysis warned of global anarchy due to climate change. Major European cities would be underwater by 2020, at which point Britain would suffer from a “Siberian” climate. Extremely false.

9) In 2008, Bob Woodruff of ABC News hosted a two-hour climate change special warning that New York City could be underwater by 2015, among other apocalyptic predictions. Didn’t happen.

10) In 2009, former vice president and climate activist Al Gore predicted the Arctic Ocean would have no ice by 2014, which is the same thing Greta Thunberg said would happen by 2022. Nope.

I ended a friendship over globull warmering because I got sick of being lectured on shit they were making the fuck up.

The East Anglia scandal should have ended it right there.

The repeated instances of data and methods being destroyed "inadvertently" so that experiments cannot be recreated should also stop the debate.

It stops being science when you cannot replicate the experiment to confirm the results. 

Important Critical Research Continues Despite The Shutdown

Scientists have learned how spaghetti works.

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

Nope No Forensics Here

Ray Donovan, despite being entertaining, has some serious problems with police procedure, evidence and forensics.

Ray is a fixer.

He's the guy who makes problems go away for the rich and famous in LA.

If only he was fucking better at it...

His boss, in a fit of rage, kills a former lover with a fire-poker.

Ray and his crew clean up the scene for the boss and create a false trail that the ex-lover stole a bunch of money and fled the country.

Someone who Ray had previously fucked over figured out Ray was involved.

This guy then gets into Ray's storage unit AND FINDS THE FUCKING MURDER WEAPON BEING STORED THERE!!!!!

He threatens Ray's boss over it and blackmails him into accusing Ray of committing the murder.

Boss's daughter doesn't back the accusation and tells the, truthful, story that Dad had murdered his lover.

Boss goes jail, happily ever after!

What about that whole accomplice after the fact and hiding the body and sanitizing the crime scene to hide evidence?

Ray and associates are still guilty of that!

Isn't that something the cops should look into?  We never see anything suggesting there was a bribe or an exchange of favors.

FFS!

Don't even get me started on an earlier episode where Ray's daughter was laying in the back seat of an SUV when the driver and front passenger were shot at close range.  The killer didn't notice her and she snuck off.  She was covered in glass and blood; but forensics didn't notice that the back seat wasn't? 

Every Single Time

Every single time I've mentioned the CMP is selling M1911s, someone just has to mention you can buy a new one for what the CMP wants.

It's an odd psychological compulsion.

I should have finished my degree and gotten a job in academia to get a grant to study it.

It happens with cars quite often as well.

Feels Like Today Is Going To Be A Long Day

Happy Summer Solstice!

Not for about 12ish hours, really.  The actual moment of the solstice is at 10:42 pm EDT.

I get 13 hours 56 minutes of daylight today!

If we were still on standard time we'd only get 12 hours 116 minutes of daylight. 

Thank The Gods They're Communists

We know, from The Bell Curve, that, on the whole, Asians are more intelligent than white people.

We know, from history, that communism is one of the worst forms of government.

We are fortunate that so much of Asia has, stupidly, chosen this form of government to waste their superior intellect on.

Full Restoration

A side effect of living in the same town as Iowa State University is rubbing shoulders with both agronomy students and farmers.

You pick up bits and pieces of practical genetic manipulation here and there.

Nothing you can use for anything, but enough to not be lost in the conversation.

Reading about these dire wolves is sounding awfully similar to listening to two friends discussing soy beans.

That makes me say that they have not made dire wolves at all.

It's not a gray wolf or dire wolf.  It's something new.

There was a quote with several articles that I can't find now but the gist was they wanted to restore the dire wolf to its proper place in the ecology.

So you're going to kill those three pups you spent so much time and money making?

Because that's a dire wolf's proper place in the ecology.  Dead.

They went extinct when gray wolves kept going.

I'm not a scientist, but part of me thinks the damn things might have been dumb as posts and that's why La Brea is full of dire wolf skulls and not gray wolf skulls...

Turkoon

The corvith just gets me going on all other kinds of hybrid animals that could be created if a wizard is responsible for things like the owl-bear.

Same sort of thing, except turkey and racoon.  Turkoon!

A sort of gryphon made with a pigeon and a rat.  Update: I asked FuzzyGeff what one would call this and he said, "I think the traditional answer is 'pigeon'."

The possibilities are endless!

The Science Is Settled

Neil DeGrass-Tyson says there's only eight planets.

OK Boomer. I have a different scientist of equal credibility!

Interplanet Janet says nine.

 If you've ever answered a test question by singing a School House Rock song to yourself, you might be Gen-X.

Clean Enough

It's a long standing axiom in engineering that the last 10% of improvement costs the same as the first 90%.

It can be rephrased as, "perfect is the mortal enemy of good enough."

I was a kid in the 70's.

I remember all the pollution my, not liberal at all, parents talked about.

I got to experience the change in air quality as it was happening in the suburbs of Chicago.

The pollution was real.  The improvement was real.

I've worked in water and wastewater treatment.  One of our bread and butter items was selling treatment plants to places that had run out of grandfathering.  The pollution was real.  The improvement was real.  Seeing how little a 1960's plant did to make the water better compared to a late '90's plant was sobering.

One of the things you get to see is the little chart of what's allowable.  Get a substance below x parts per million and you're legal and it's good.

What if x is arsenic?  Arsenic is poisonous!  That's bad!  Get rid of all of it!

Reducing it below the threshold where your body can deal with it is fairly simple and very cheap.  Getting rid of all of it is not.

And that's where we are with the environmentalists.

We've gotten rid of most of the air and water pollution.  Gotten it down below the harmful thresholds and life should be good.

But perfect is lurking, waiting, to kill off good enough to make life impossible.

That the environmentalists don't really seem to care about pollution but forcing a non-industrial lifestyle on everyone is evident in their making up new pollutants.

I am also old enough to remember when the goal was to get combustion from cars down to carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and water vapor.  The GOAL!

As soon as the automakers had pretty much done that and horsepower was returning to cars...  Nope!  Carbon emissions need to be zero!

Plus, food crops cannot be counted for carbon absorption.  Can't have man benefit from carbon in the air.

Treadmill Pride

Former friend, Anglave, was fascinated with the airplane on a treadmill problem.

Not the problem itself, but the need for people to chime in and stake out their argument; then digging in on their answer to the exclusion of all other things.

I remember when he tried to bring that up, it triggered me to passionately explain MY position.

Well, I would like to think that he'd be proud of me that the airplane on a treadmill problem is making the rounds again on Facebook, and that I am not even clicking on the link to read the comments, let alone making a comment of my own!

For the record, the problem was from a high school teacher attempting to teach the class about how forces work and was trying to show that the propeller didn't act on the ground, yet the plane would still move.

It snowballed from there.