Redacted?

The internet, being forever... and some clerk did a piss poor job of redacting the pdf.

Looks Like A Complete Miss

Isaias is going to miss the Tampa area completely.

Maybe some breezes and rain, but no real wind.

So far it looks like the New York Coast is going to be grazed, but no landfall.

Not too bad for Florida's first hurricane of 2020 considering how shitty 2020 has been on so many other fronts.

Back Dated

Florida reported 257 died of Wu Ping Cough today.

The thing is the reporting site has a bar graph showing the number of deaths per day.

It shows 20 deaths for today.

How can they disagree by so much?

Because the actual date of death is not reported in the 257.

They didn't die yesterday.  They died somewhere in the past three months.  It takes a not-insignificant amount of time to get tests run and results to be given.  The labs are busy lately for some reason.

The bar graph shifts day to day as the deaths are given their proper time of death.

The media is lying by only reporting the totals when we're well on the other side of the curve.

I can't help but think that it's because our president and governor are from the "wrong" party.

He's Right

Scott Adams asks:

Has anyone ever seen a story about a guy who got COVID-19, got early treatment with the combo of HCQ, zinc, and Azithromycin, and died anyway?

Warning, Twitter link. 

Considering the main killer in a Wu Ping Cough case isn't the disease itself but the comorbidities of  the deceased, surely there must be at least the five people Mr Adams is asking for who've died despite getting treated.

And it seems obvious that if there were even one, we'd be hearing the press screaming it from the rooftops that the HCQ cocktail doesn't work in the same way they focus on every single shooting as proof that more gun-control is needed.

But Honey...

I got the entire list of 'honey-do' items completed, including the change from chili to potato soup.

I'm going back to the store tomorrow for chili fixings though, I'm in the mood.

I already went to the store twice.

Dinner was BLT's.

You'd think when the ingredients are part of the name of a sandwich, procuring said ingredients would be simple, right?

I'd sliced the tomato before I realized that if I didn't go back to the store, we'd be having BT's.

Happily the store is near and lettuce is in abundance.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Predicted path, yesterday at 1100

Predicted path, today at 11000

Tropical weather is mercurial.

Other .45's

Colt.

Double Action.

Gate Loaded.

.45 Colt.

M1902.

Teaser


More complete.

So Very Close

Brick Arms makes some weaponry that's very close to what I need for Sabers and Sorcery...

M1909 Hotchkiss
Winchester Model 1895
Colt M1873 Artillery
Colt New Service
M1860 Saber.

I need a potato digger and some Krags...  I should write an email!

An Odd Feeling

I just stabbed "buy it now" on a Colt New Service revolver in .45 Colt.

The odd feeling is I've bought a gun from this gun shop before.  In person.

It was the only gun shop for 40 miles worth visiting when you lived in Ames when I did.

Even more fun is having a C&R and being able to just about do this directly.

Now we move at the speed of USPS.

Special thanks to Willard and FuzzyGeff for their assistance in this.

Thinking About Going For The Record

My previous best "Years Without A Facebook Account" was 40.

I am thinking about trying to break that record.

I've been weighing the pros and cons of keeping the account and...

Well...

What value are the friends who don't interact with me even there?

What value are the family who don't interact with me even there?

If you can't even bother to stab 'like' on Facebook, are we really friends?

If you don't bother to post anything to Facebook, why do you have it?  It's no good for me to keep up with your life if you never share anything.  And if you're never sharing anything with me, are we really friends?

I'm getting sick of Karens and Facebook is proving to be a surefire way to let Karen into my life.

I am sick of the scolds who couldn't pass a reading comprehension test based on a Dick and Jane book.

My joie de vivre is constantly drained by having to not only explain that what I posted about isn't what they think my post is about, but that they're also getting what they THINK my post was about wrong.

I'm sick of being chided for being controversial by these scolds.

If I have to be completely superficial to you to escape being scolded, are we really friends?

Day Devoured By Locusts

Marv bought the window unit out of the kitchen to cool the upper story of his detached garage.

We yanked it out my window and moved it to his place.

Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli showed up, read it.  I really liked it.

FuzzyGeff made it to inspect a Colt New Army in .45 Colt I saw on GunBroker.

Shiny bore, good lockup.  Cosmetic issues are shown in the pics.

I hurt my back/neck somehow and it's been SURPRISE! PAIN! moving my head for the past couple.  It's a pulled muscle and forgot what a joy those are.

I Know This Feeling

Scientist With Cure For COVID-19 Gunned Down In Sacremento

Cancer will also have to wait now too.

Here's his Harvard Diploma:

Wait a second...  That's not a diploma!

I'm starting to think that he's not a medical researcher at all!



Long but shows it from several angles.

Tickling The Ivories

Marv is cleaning out his old house and found a Sucrets tin full of dice.

These six had the look and feel of ivory.

They aren't.

The five smaller dice are.

Because I accumulate dice and liked the feel of them, Marv gifted them to me!



Happiness is a full dice box!

In The Way Back

Since I've got suicide on the brain thanks to one errant post and an explanation follow-up...

There once was a time when I had the gun in my mouth.

Nothing in my life was going right and everything I tried made it worse.

I had no money, I was couch surfing from friend's place to friend's place and it was killing those friendships.

Having once been 4.5 lb. of finger pressure from firing that round and going through the long, slow recovery from that VERY dark spot; I feel that I'm a good judge of how far from it I am.

It's a delicate moment explaining to a psychiatrist that you felt like suicide was the answer but also wish to remain a gun owner.

To quote a trite phrase, "I'm much better now."

Back during my legal drama I was very bummed, but not suicidal, and had lots of free time to kick the VA in the balls about my chronic pain from my service connected injury.

The prescribed gabapentin.

One of the rare, but serious, side effects is suicidal ideation!  I got three days of the initial dosing done when the thoughts started.  Because I knew where the dark place was, I knew I was walking right at it and stopped taking my prescription.  Oh, my legs didn't hurt anymore, that part worked.

I wonder if I'd never been so distraught to be seriously thinking about it in the way back if I'd have been unable to stop it on the gabapentin with the legal drama looming over my head.

Don't Be Worried

A lot of this blog is stream of consciousness and not a planned endeavor.

My "suicidal thought" was a capture of the moment item and not an ideation of a course of action.

If you've never had a "I wonder how things would be if I..." thought you are a vanishingly small minority of people.

What I was attempting to capture was having this fleeting thought at a particular moment of no longer drinking and getting more sober than drunk.

I wonder if a lot.

I don't act on the wonders.

I'm an important member of my family and don't think for a moment that they'd be happier without me in the picture.  If I did divorce and moving would be the far more rational plan than suicide.

I'm a rational dude.  Well...  Mostly.  You cannot engage in world creating for RPG's or novels if you're completely rational.  If you're too rational you are too grounded to make the imaginative leaps that lead to creation of the fantastic.

I'm here for a good long time.

Blogger is more likely to have its plug pulled than me.

PS: It's a LOT better to be talking about it than bottling it up.  I knew three people who've killed themselves and they didn't say a peep before they acted.  I know of a couple people whom I worried about, but they were talking about it.  As long as they keep talking, they're not acting.

I'm still talking!

It's Just The Booze Talking

There's a transition point where I think that that a bullet will make everything all better.

It's when I'm good and buzzed and coming down.

My life insurance pays even if I commit suicide at this point.

The mortgage is paid, my student loans are erased.

BANG!

The Lovely Harvey is financially better off.

It's just a point.

It's so momentary that there's not even time to grab a gun, let alone pull a trigger.

While Harvey would be better off financially, she'd not be better off, overall, without me.

Money isn't everything.

The Boy still needs my non-financial contribution to his life.

Harvey, though she doesn't have the words to express it, would also feel my absence in a profound way.

That doesn't even consider that I'm far too curious about what happens next to check out.

The universe is stuck with me, I'm afraid.

Freedom Has Warts

The joyous thing about liberty is that it has warts.

It's chock full of things that are offensive to someone else.

Glorious, isn't it?

Well, I think so.

Freedom and liberty bring an entire raft of things that piss someone else off.

IT IS SUPPOSED TO!

Take an afternoon to read The Federalist and The Anti-Federalist papers.

It shouldn't take more than an afternoon unless you're a recent high-school grad.

The beauty of the Republic that we were promised was the allowance for widely divergent points of view that didn't ever intrude on how things were supposed to operate.

I could be an atheist and you can be a Catholic and our opinion/conviction about God would not impact how Government treated us.

The thing is, you have to let me deny God and I have to let you celebrate Him.

Aside: Take note that I respectfully capitalized God and Him to show that I respect your right to believe in God as your see fit, even if I don't think He exists.

It's when I demand you cannot worship God as you see fit when it doesn't affect others right to worship that this falls apart.

I do not, and will not, demand that you change what you Believe as long as you don't bring The State to force me to change how I view the existence of God.

I, likewise, promise to not bring The State into forcing you to admit that there is no imaginary being known as "God" and subjugating you to my Atheist beliefs.

Freedom of Religion includes the freedom to deny God.  It also includes the freedom to accept God in many, numerous, sects and branches.

As long as you don't FORCE me to adhere to your Faith, we're cool.  I've no intention of forcing my Godless ways upon you.  I might hope to convince you, but I'd never dream of forcing you.

Song Whiplash

iTunes has a sense of humor.

It played "The Day the Music Died" by Don McLean and "The Saga Begins" by Weird Al nearly back to back.

It's a little jarring.

Lost Things

One of the things my "uncle" Bill loved to do was video editing.

This was back in the days of VHS and camcorders which were the size of an anti-tank missile launcher.

He recorded some flight deck stuff of F-14's launching and set it to "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits.

The actual launch stroke hits at 01:50 with the guitar kicking in just as the controls swipe started.

It was epic.

It should have been part of a Fighter Fling.

His live-in girl tossed everything when he ended up dead.

Gone forever.

Dammit!

Repeat After Me

The science is never settled.

The Googoo in Maka Tanka are neanderthals.

Doing research on them is interesting.

I have three books which don't agree with one another ©1973, 1989 and 1996.

There's a bigger change between the '89 and '96 books than '73 and '89 too.

It's very interesting stuff to hit Wikipedia and read that the theories espoused in 1973 have been completely supplanted.

Skhul V is no longer considered an advanced neanderthal, but a modern human buried in a neanderthal site.

Zoon

All In One Handy Chart!

Leading By Example

Just in case anyone missed it, I am an Atheist.

The courtesy I extend to the people suffering under gender dysphoria?

I extend that to y'all who've got an invisible friend too.

While I respect the WASP work ethic and concede that it helped build America, there's no proof that believing in an invisible friend is anything but a mental disorder that demands treatment.

See what I did there?

Can you make the connection to your not published comment diatribe about the queers?

There is no God, PROVE me wrong.  On second thought; that there is no sure proof short of the grave, maybe let's not find out who's right on this one.

I don't like shitting on people with religion.  They're, for the most part, some fine folks and I don't want to drag them into the shit because of a couple commenters who feel that I need to be taken to task for not condemning "the fucking faggots" to Hell with them.

I'm not the one hearing voices commanding me to DO SOMETHING about "the fucking faggots".

And it must be voices from the aether too, because the passage you keep citing in YOUR book doesn't say anything about being homosexual, it's about pederasty.  I find it odd that I know where to find the passage that actually condemns homosexuality in YOUR book and you don't.  Especially when the passages are right fucking next to each other.

Aside: A strict reading of The New Testament will clue you in that the Old Testament (aka The Torah) doesn't apply to Christians because NEW TESTAMENT.

Second aside:  Are you eating pork?  Shellfish?  Meat on Friday?  Observing the Sabbath on the wrong day ie: Sunday?  Same book.  If you can be let out of those rules because... reasons, then you can be let out of hatin' on the LGBT by the same mechanism.

I agree with The Bible on this, pederasty is wrong and those who practice it aren't dealt with in near as harsh a manner as I'd like to see.

What's that first rule, "Don't be a dick."

I thought long and hard before posting this, but a couple idiots just can't get the message that they're not going to get their comment diatribe posted.

Something else for y'all religiously inclined people to consider: By Atheist, I really do mean that there is no God.  That means that citing YOUR religious text to prove to me something is wrong is irrelevant.  I don't care what a fictional character in a novel has to say on the matter.  From my perspective God is no more real than Frodo Baggins and The Lord of the Rings is easier to read.

Come up with a secular argument or stop trying to convince me.

To the polite and not-at-all-being-a-dick people with religion, this was not meant to be offensive, merely abrasive, because I'm sick of the people claim to share your beliefs trying to shit in the comments.

Similar Initials

NSDAP, NAACP.

They both start with an N and end with a P.

And it's getting increasingly hard to tell them apart from quoting their leadership.

If the leftist media wasn't such a fellow traveler in antisemitism you'd prolly hear more about this.

Bottom Heavy

Something I've noticed about the composition of the Army's units in the late 19th century is an amazing lack of officers.

They're barely outnumbered by the NCO's.

Due to the dispersed nature of the frontier army, a company or troop was a fairly autonomous unit too.

It occurs to me that there's no staff built into the TO&E that's not also someone who's at the tooth end.

The 1890's US Cavalry has a tooth to tail ratio that the Mobile Infantry would respect.

Failing The Smell Test

It has been a month since Halsey Beshears closed the breweries and bars in Florida.

He said, at the time, that breweries and bars were the reason that cases suddenly spiked from under a thousand new cases a day to thousands a day.

Well, it's a disease with a 2-3 week course.  That means if bars and breweries were how it was being spread, we should see an equally dramatic drop in new cases about a week ago.

We didn't.

The big jump in cases happens, like clockwork, two weeks after the George Floyd protests and Antifa riots started.  Notably, because everyone poo-poohed social distancing and masks at protests.

Bars and breweries weren't allowed open until almost a week after the protest/riots got going.

What also have is a dramatic spike in the percentage of tests being positive each day.

We were running 5.49% average positive when the protests started.

Since then we've jumped to an average of 14.13%

We've gone from around 14 thousand tests per day to an average of 42 thousand or so.

Tripled the tests, found three times as many people positive?

That correlates better than blaming bars.

One bit of good news that the news isn't mentioning at all:  Our crude CFR has fallen from 4.44% right before the protests started to a mere 1.39% today.

Our dead per 100k is a mere 26.9.  WAY below the "success" story that is New York or New Jersey.

Violent RIght Wing Extremists

Where are the violent right wing extremists?

Where is the list of murders committed by them?

I keep hearing about how violent and murderous I am, but reports of people like me going off and killing are very thin on the ground.

This is especially noticeable because the press absolutely hates us.  Notice they always try to attribute any mass shooting to us and quietly roll it back to the actual perpetrator?

If there were numerous murders committed by conservatives, we'd be hearing all about them all day, every day.

I am reading about people being murdered for showing a bit of MAGA.  That's got to be a painful nipple twister for a media that would rather ignore the depravities of their team.

Cue Bob Seger

Canon M50 Manual Mode, Tripod, ES-S 55-250 IS, f/32.0, 1/13", 250mm, ISO 100.

There's a sunspot!  Over on the left side of the sun.  Just a wee little one.

Paraphrasing Hognose

"How do you know the police will turn on the citizens they're supposed to be protecting in favor of the state?"

"They always have."

Michelle Malkin just got that lesson shoved right down her throat.

The cops stood by and let them be mostly peacefully protested.

What were Ms Malkin and her companions doing?

Having a rally to support the cops.

I've said it before and I will say it again.

The police ARE The State.

You have to behave as if they are The State first and foremost and ignore that individual officers might, indeed, be people when you deal with them.

It didn't have to be this way, but it's fallen to it.

It's what I've been trying to get people to see for years, to no avail.

Career Limiting Move

I seem to recall that spouting off about politics, and expressing your opinion of POTUS is spouting off about politics, in uniform is verboten.

Like really against regs enough to go past non-judicial punishment.

They gave a soldier a letter of reprimand for merely giving a respectful speech at a Ron Paul rally once.  This is a lot worse.

Article 89 might apply.  Bad conduct discharge might happen.

How Many Men In A Regiment

In 1899 there are:

25 Regiments of Infantry
10 Regiments of Cavalry
7 Regiments of Artillery

Each Infantry regiment has three battalions and each battalion has 4 companies.
Each Cavalry regiment has four squadrons and each squadron has 3 troops.

Historically, they were never at full strength.

The Army requested 12 companies per Infantry regiment and Congress authorized 8 manned and 2 unmanned.

On June 26, 1876 each infantry company averaged 60.4 officers, NCO's and men.  42.3 of these men are privates.

INFANTRY

Supposedly each Infantry company got a Captain, 1 1st Lieutenant and 1 2nd Lieutenant for officers.  1 1st Sergeant, 4 Sergeants, 4 Corporals and 91 men  There were also 2 Artificers and 1 Wagoner.
8 companies of manned (A through H) and 2 of unmanned (I and K there is no J company) totals 872.
Each Regiment gets 1 Colonel, 1 Lieutenant Colonel, 1 Major (each commands one battalion), 1 Adjutant, 1 Regimental Quartermaster for officers.  1 Sergeant Major, and 1 Quartermaster-Sergeant for NCO's plus 1 Chief Musician, 2 Principle Musicians, and 20 Musicians

902 total per regiment at "full strength".  1,090 when I and K companies are manned.

CAVALRY

The Cavalry got 12 troops per regiment but, again, two were unmanned and only 44 privates were authorized.

Each troop is supposed to have a Captain, 1 1st Lieutenant and 1 2nd Lieutenant for officers.  1 1st Sergeant, 5 Sergeants, 4 Corporals 2 Trumpteers, and 88 men  There were also 2 Farriers and Blacksmiths and 1 Wagoner.

10 troops of manned (A through I and K there is no J troop) and 2 of unmanned (L and M) totals 872.

Each Regiment gets 1 Colonel (in overall command), 1 Lieutenant Colonel, 3 Majors (one squadron each), 1 Adjutant, 1 Regimental Quartermaster for officers.  1 Sergeant Major, and 1 Quartermaster-Sergeant for NCO's plus 1 Chief Musician, 2 Principle Musicians, and 20 Musicians

 1,062 total per regiment at "full strength".  1,248 when L and M troops are manned.

ARTILLERY

A typical Artillery battery is supposed to get a Captain, 2 1st Lieutenants and 1 2nd Lieutenant for officers.  1 1st Sergeant, 4 Sergeants, 4 Corporals and 56  men  There were also 2 Artificers and 1 Wagoner.

10 batteries of manned (A through I and K there is no J battery) and 2 of unmanned (L and M) totals 746.

Each Regiment gets 1 Colonel, 1 Lieutenant Colonel, 1 Major, 1 Adjutant, 1 Regimental Quartermaster for officers.  1 Sergeant Major, and 1 Quartermaster-Sergeant for NCO's plus 1 Chief Musician, 2 Principle Musicians, and 20 Musicians

776 total per regiment at "full strength".  894 when I and K batteries are manned.  The actual size of an artillery battery depends on the actual type and number of guns per battery.

Interesting

Worth the time it takes to watch.

Remember, it's important to look at stuff you disagree with if only to see if your position is flawed or not.

PS: He's chosen a position and doesn't think he has.

They're Not Silent By Choice

Muzzled Majority might be a more apt term for ye olde silent majority.

They might have something to say if there were any place they felt safe saying it.

Retaliation for speaking ones mind has blown back and gotten spouses fired.

People have been Swatted and Doxed.  I'm really starting to feel that swatting and doxing should be capitol offenses, because the intent is to cause real harm to the target.

I'm also of the opinion that the cops shouldn't roll on the word of an anonymous tip.  "Who are you and how do you know this information?" should be asked and answered before the SWAT team even sets down their coffee.  Using anonymous tips should be prohibited by the 6th Amendment because without the identity of the caller, how can one be able to face ones accuser?

There's growing evidence that people are lying to pollsters and acquaintances about their real political feelings.  The Left wants this to happen because the last thing they want is for the majority to discover that they are, in fact, the majority.  There are several information cascades that led to the Left losing control when such majorities suddenly realized that not only were they not alone, but were quite numerous.

Just about the only voice a muzzle majority has left is the ballot box.  How many attempts are in play which serve to make vote tampering easier or to make an opposition vote meaningless?

The muzzled majority is grumpy and getting agitated.  The Left had better pray that vote is all they do, but by the way they're pushing buttons things might go Ninja Turtle before the election.

But It's Thursday

I've been hard pressed to shake a case of the Monday's here of late.

It affects my post count mightily, it does.

The Boy being jumpy hasn't helped.  The lack of school is hitting him hard.

The lack of down time for me while he's at school and The Lovely Harvey is at work is hitting me too.

It's taking too long to do simple things because I'm so discombobulated from the "what day of the week is it again?" feeling from nothing keeping a weekly schedule.

Cyclic

The lack of police response encouraged protesters to become rioters.

This cuts both ways.

The person who opposes the riot, when they know the cops ain't coming, is enabled to do more than shout, "stop!"

When the dust settles and only the defenders of property get arrested, the people who were defending their property wonder why they supported the police in the first place.

When the cops leave counter-protesters hanging when the purpose of that counter protest was to support the police, they ask, why did we bother?

The average citizen knows what it wants the police to be and they aren't getting what they want in too many places.

They're sick of being told by their employees that they are not the boss.

They're sick of being told how difficult things will be if the citizens get what they want.

The politicization of too many police departments has brought us to this point.

The police unions were instrumental.

Property rights are the most important of all rights.

Property crimes are the lowest priority for the police.

Theft, trespassing and vandalism are violations of property rights.

Yet, the police put no priority on solving most of these crimes.

The criminals see the lack of police response and are emboldened by it.  They spread the word that retaliation for these "petty" crimes is likewise petty compared to the gains from it.

Because we can't get police to do much about it.

The cops aren't entirely to blame here.  Politicians reducing sentences on "petty" crime have a huge hand here.  Judges being lenient.  Prosecutors being lazy.

The servants of society believe they're our masters and we suffer and pay the price.

But I sense a change coming.

A reversion might be in the offing.

Comet

My best effort with the M50 is disappointing, but I learned some from it.

Aperture priority, handheld.

Canon M50, EF-S 55-200, f/4.0, 1.6", 55mm, ISO 12,800

I had my old SX20 with us and Marv did better.  Braced against a post.

Canon SX20 IS, f/2.8, 15", 5mm, ISO 400

If the weather holds, we're going to try again tomorrow and I will see if I can improve on it with the slightly faster kit lens.

Torque

I must say, even though The Precious is no longer a top of the line super-car, the 428 ft-lbs are verra nice and it gets near 300 from idle.

It gets contrasted with driving Moxie, whose power-band doesn't start until near 5k and makes just over half as much, in a heavier car.

Plus the Zen of rowing my own rather than dealing with the trans diving for sixth like the EPA was printing fines live via OnStar.

Rapid Dry Fire

Now that I have some .30-40 snap caps I'm entertaining myself with some rapid "fire" drills with the Krag.

I'm trying to get a feel for doing single fire until the order to change to the magazine comes and then being forced back to single fire.

If there's a lull in the action, one could replenish the magazine, put the cut-off back on and keep single firing until a rapid run is needed.

I have to say, the butter-like smoothness is WONDERFUL.

An Open Apology

After watching a lot of YouTube of people working on their Italian exotics...

GM,
I'm sorry.

You did an amazing job of making things easy to access, remove and replace on my Corvette.  My eyes were simply clouded by it being much harder than on my dear-departed B-Body.

I must also commend you on the amazing build quality under the veneer of the body and interior materials.

I've seen kit cars done with more care and neatness than I've seen under the skin of a typical Ferrari or Lambo.

Kudos, GM!