Knowledge Is Power

There is an actual fish called a brown trout.

It's not just a euphemism for a floating turd.

I did not know that.

Now, can you imagine...

"What's for dinner?"

"Brown trout!"

"Uh...."

In Murcia They Speak Spanish!

Look it up!

¡Murcia!  ¡Joder si!

700 Round Break In

Break in, broken, what a difference a couple vowel changes and a space make.

The suppressor was well dead long before they got to 700.  I applaud them for continuing.

h/t XBRADTC

Old Joke

What's happening in France today can be directly attributed to it being too long since the US Army spent some time there.

It's like their genes get stale if an occupying army doesn't inject fresh material from time to time.

Things are bad enough now, we're going to have to send the Marines.

It's A Racket

If you drive a car on public roads you're required, by law, to have insurance.

The cost of the insurance is largely influenced, not by your driving record, but by your credit rating.

Mine sucks.

Why?

Because I don't have credit cards.

I was shopping for cheaper insurance and discovered...

The consumer reporting agency provided the following description of the credit factors that had the most influence on the price we quoted you: 

No open verified bank revolving trades with valid credit limit. Optimal value is utilization > 0% and < 1% on open bank rev trades. 

Months since oldest mortgage opened is greater than or equal to 60. Optimal value is 0 to 12. 

There are 0 bank revolving trades. Optimal value is 10 or more. 

There are no credit card trades with valid open date. Optimal value is 120+ months since most recent credit card opened.

 So... I don't have a credit limit to establish that I'm using more than none, but less than 1% of it.

I have one mortgage, that I'm paying on and have been paying longer than 60 months.  Notice that optimal is 0-12 months.

OPTIMAL IS GETTING A NEW MORTGAGE EVERY FUCKING YEAR!!!!!

I looked up revolving trades.  They want you to have a card, make at least 10 payments on credit you've received per year and have had the card for 10 or more years.

This is being fucked for being responsible.

The Man Has A Point

I note with disgust that CNN can quickly ascertain the identity of a post that is negative to CNN, but seems totally unable to find the identity of all the “anonymous” sources of information negative to our president. Communist News Network, Clinton News Network, “All the news that fits our agenda” OOPS, that’s the new york slimes, my mistake.

--Roger in comments here.

MPAA Guilt

Watching a DVD and they mention how many jobs there are associated with the making and distribution of the film.

Something occurs to me about this line of guilting people into buying a movie.

The movie is long paid for in many cases today.

The people who were supported by the creation of the film are long dead in quite a number of them.

So for a movie made in the distant past, no my purchase is not supporting that many people.  Especially so since they didn't have hundreds of people involved in the process back then.

Jobs And Unemployment

I read the breathless headline that unemployment numbers were up.

Then I saw that new jobs had exceeded expectations.

Did you know that this is actually consistent?

You are not unemployed unless you are looking for work.

So, if there's more folks who have confidence that the economy has recovered sufficiently for them to look for work than before, then unemployment numbers will spike as these people check the "no job, looking for work" response on the survey instead of "no job, not seeking employment" box.

More people looking for work is a sign of confidence in the recovery.

Fingers crossed!

Script Blocker

You truly don't know the internet until you run a script blocker on your browser.

Then you get to see exactly how much dross there is when you, say, encounter a twitter hosted video.

You get to see the expansive list of sites that are allowed to do... something so that you may view a 30 second long funny.

Speaking of twitter videos, did you actually read their cookie terms of use?  Yeah, fuck them.

Both Would Be Great Too

In addition to the SHARE bill we've got a SHUSH bill.

The Sportsman's Heritage And Recreation Enhancement (S733)which has incorporated Ye Olde hearing protection act and LOTS AND LOTS of good gun stuff.

If I had to choose between SHUSH or SHARE, I'd rather SHARE.

Silencers Help Us Save Hearing (S1505) has it's good points too, and it's a lot better than nothing.

Given my druthers I'd like to see both of them passed into law.

h/t Tam for breaking the news and being the first place I saw it.

I think she's right that SHUSH is going to draw fire while SHARE advances.  The anti-gunners might be forced to accept a silencer being treated like a normal firearm, they're never going be OK with them being the equivalent of any other muzzle device.

Wait, that's not true... a suppressor isn't a flash-hider so it'd be legal in places where a bird-cage flash-hider isn't!  Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Will You Hit Snooze

CNN has been busted.

They've all but admitted to making up news to fit a narrative.

Are you going to hit snooze and fall back into Murray-Gell-Mann amnesia or are you going to ask yourself what other narratives have they been tailoring "news" for?

I know it's scary for some of you to have to face the idea that you've vested a lot into those lies.  Especially when it cost you friendships and sometimes employment.

More On That Divide

One of the existential divides between "liberals" and "conservatives" (though neither really conforms to those labels anymore) is what they would have the other do.

Virtually every liberal proposal is a raft of things that I must stop doing (that they already don't do) and things that I must begin doing (that they are already doing).

I must change and will have the force of law over my head to ensure I do.

Most conservative proposals seek to remove that force.  Do it if you want, or not and we don't really care if you already are.

I am trying ever so hard to avoid the term modern here.

Modern liberals are not liberal at all.  They don't want more liberty and freedoms.

Modern conservatives aren't conserving, they're actively seeking changes, and not changes that revert to a better time.  Changes that should lead to a better time.

The modern liberal has more in common with an Italian Fascist than anything Jefferson wrote or said.

The modern conservative has more in common with Ayn Rand than

1,500 Of 400

Still trucking!

I wonder how far it will go!

I think that Energizer Ultimate Lithium batts might simply be better than whatever Belomo uses.

Racist Ancestors

“Happy white people proud of their racist ancestors day"

--Damon Wayans Jr.

Tell you what...

First off, nothing makes me happier than to be lectured by a multi-millionaire accusing my ancestors of being racists.

But lecturing me on July 4th of all days?

Name another nation where you could become a multi-millionaire telling jokes.  Now, can you do it if you're also black?

I know of only one for certain and it's this nation.

The nation who's racism so deep that over 300,000 men gave their very lives to end slavery in this country.  July 3rd is the day that most consider that the tide of that war turned against the CSA and it cost 3,155 WHITE lives to turn the tide at Gettysburg, black regiments had not yet been raised.

Ungrateful is what you are Mr Wayans.

My ancestors weren't racist, they were Republicans.

Pure As The Driven Snow

If you accept the snow as being driven in the back of the plow after being scooped off the road.

I am a participant in the "internet lynch mob".

I will hang you from the nearest convenient digital tree every time you volunteer to speak for me, then express opinions that are completely contrary to my position.

It's just like "how to not get shot in McThag's living room after breaking in".

Don't position yourself as my unappointed spokesman and you can say any fool thing that comes into your head.

Claim to be speaking for anyone but yourself and agreeing to express even the slightest anti-liberty bullshit, we have problems.

And I will vote with my wallet concerning your business too.

If I find someone offensive, I will say so.  I will even say it here if I want to.

I tire of the term "purity test" when it comes to my rights.

I tire of it because I see it too often when someone who should know better does something stupid and gets called stupid for it.  I tire of it because it's always used to condemn the people saying, "that was stupid," and never applied to the idiot who should have shut up.

Maybe it is time for some fucking purity when we're talking about our Gods given rights!

Being pleasant and nice about things got us exactly jack shit here in Florida.

I note that bucking the niceties and being utter pricks about it got both campus carry and open carry in Texas.

I remember being told they were doing it all wrong and that wasn't the way to achieve their goals.

Yet...  Look who has the changes they sought and look who doesn't.

I think I no longer give a flying fuck that someone is offended that I want my full rights restored.  I am offended that my rights are infringed, why is there no outcry about that?

Why do you not cluck about that?

I am pragmatic enough to concede that the elephant must be eaten one bite at a time, but we must begin eating or we will never finish.

Worrying the people of Vega will be offended we're eating meat gets us no nearer our goals.

Paying people who provide comfort and succor to our opponents is even dumber than anything those people say.

I am not fine with the situation as it stands.

I think too many people have gotten too comfortable with their chains and no longer truly seek liberty.

Catharsis

One positive, as it were, I guess about some of my super liberal former friends is how many friends I have who are former super liberals.

For many of them there's a moment where something happens to them where they suddenly see what the fuck I've been on about.

Once that event occurs, they're not liberal any more.

I remember mine.  I went from being liberal to suddenly understanding what the fuck FuzzyGeff was on about.

It's a matter of perspective.  Once you've seen things for yourself from that different angle, you can't go back to not knowing its there.

Something of a common thread among these friends was they finally left the liberal nursery of a college town.  Where they went and what they did outside that college town doesn't seem to matter much, but getting away from professors pushing liberalism and students who don't know anything else seems key.

Key To The Universe

Washington did't look like he was doing anything.  Dahve sat at her nav console, also doing nothing, but peering at his console.

The trader could only pull a single G loaded as we were, the patrol cruiser could pull nearly four.

We were boned.

"Any time you want to do what you're planning, go right ahead," I said.

"Shhhhh, maths," he replied and kept looking at his console.

The customs cruiser got ever closer to a firing solution.

"We've almost got him committed to something he can't fix, then we're out of here."

I looked at the display.

Washington was right, the coastie was inexperienced and he'd been chasing us straight down the well.  He'd never change his vector enough to catch us before we'd jumped and even a three G advantage wasn't enough.

Shoulders Of Pork And Ham

Spam turns 80 today.

Some cans might be of more recent manufacture.

Just Now Found Out

Loren K Wiseman, co-founder of GDW and one of the original authors of Traveller and Twilight: 2000 passed on in February.

Dammit.

Research For Willard

Not including shipping...

The AR-10 clone made to his specifications is just under $1,300.

It's gratifying that it can be done!  Disappointing that it must be done piecemeal like this.

4e Conversion

Finally converting the hoary old third edition GURPS: Traveller weapons to fourth edition.

4e changed a LOT about how damage is done, so the conversion isn't near as simple as GURPS: WW2 was.

Worse, the conceptualization of the weapons have changed quite a bit from 1977 to today.

Staying as true as possible to the 3e stats gives guns that are notably inferior to the 4e equivalents in Ultra-Tech.

GURPS: Interstellar Wars is 4e native and it just uses the weapons stats from the Basic Set, so there's a strong temptation to simply use Ultra-Tech and note that Weapon A from UT is Weapon B from Traveller.

If We're Gonna Brag

I have scored hits at 2,000m with both a rifle and a musket.

M68 rifle and M256 musket.

Happy Birthday America

Not really our birthday.

The fighting had already begun by the time The Declaration was written, let alone signed.

We'd not yet won that war in 1776.

The nation that was formed after that war was won did not stand long.  The dissolution of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union might be characterized as a coup, leading to the present Constitution.

March 4th is THIS nation's birthday.  We turned 228 this year.

July 4th is kind of the conception date.

Things You Didn't Know You Wanted To Know

A Little Black Book Traveller shotgun is 18mm, or 13 gauge.

I Have A Space Pen

The Lovely Harvey, for our anniversary, ordered me a Fisher Space Pen.

It's zombie green anodized and the case is a .375 H&H Magnum case!

17th anniversary is the shell one.

I got her some roses made from small conch shells.

How Did They Come To Be Separated

"In Italy, there's always chickens, but no eggs. In Africa there's eggs, but never chickens. Who separated them?"

-- D. Caravaggio

At Castle keep, there was an Astra 600/43.  At Deer Hunter there was a holster and spare magazine.  Who separated them?

Especially considering every gun shipped with two magazines and a holster.

That we found a holster with its spare magazine in a different, but nearby, gun shop than the gun makes us think that they were once a set.

A working theory is the original owner decided to sell his pistol and took it to Castle Keep.  Later, they stumbled across the holster with a magazine still in the side pocket and either couldn't remember where he'd sold the gun; or didn't want to admit to having lost the holster for a while to the first gun shop so he took it to Deer Hunter.

Happily, for Willard, neither the gun nor the holster have any waffenamts or markings tying them to National Socialist Germany.  Those little marks make the value skyrocket and price it beyond all but the serious collector's range.

Clean Power

Would you be shocked to learn that making solar panels generates more toxic waste than nuclear power?

I was, and I've been somewhat aware of the pollution generated.

But 300 times as much?!?!?!

Unglaubich!

You'd Think A Lawyer And Judge

You would think that a lawyer and judge would be more familiar with civics than the average rutabaga.

Judge Milton Hirsch has declared Florida's latest law defining what Stand Your Ground means is unconstitutional on the grounds that only the supreme court can draft such legislation.

No.  Really.

Buddy, the only branch of government empowered to produce legislation is the congress.  That's why they're called legislators.

Yes, Your "Honor", the legislature can demand its employees follow procedures as defined by law.

The several attempts at defining stand your ground and self defense limitations in Florida would not have been needed if prosecutors in a certain geographic portion of the state would acknowledge that "innocent until proven guilty" is one of the cornerstones of American jurisprudence.

The tendency to defer to making prosecutors jobs easier at the expense of the innocent citizens who've had to use lethal force to defend themselves has been rejected, firmly and forcefully by said citizens.

Empirical

A long time ago...

I took Sabrina out shooting.

Because she's a 1:9 twist and an 11.5" barreled AR, I'd decided that conventional 55gr FMJ was insufficient and had been using 69gr Sierra Matchking (SMK) ammo from Black Hills.  The SMK outperforms milspec ammo at most things from what I've read.

The down side is that it's expensive and not readily available on gun shop shelves.

Luckily I discovered that it shoots to the same point of aim as M855 and XM855 ammunition which is cheap and readily available.

Unhappily, most of the indoor ranges ban M855 because of the steel core.

So I was shooting my "war-stock" SMK at the range and having fun until I'd run out of ammo.

Because I wanted to keep shooting, I bought some PMC 55gr FMJ from the range.

This did NOT fire to the same point of aim as the SMK at all!  Like 9" different low and to the right.

Because of this graphic, I just assumed it was normal and vowed to not shoot 55gr in guns that were zeroed for SMK.  (but notice that low and LEFT is what you should get with a rifle zeroed for M855 shooting M193)

Erin, on Facebook, asked her more experienced friends for their experiences with different twists and different bullet weights and I related my range trip.  I was told my assumptions were wrong and something else must be to blame.  I promised to get back to the range and see if I could duplicate the experiment.

I am here to say that could not.

That's Federal XM193 55gr FMJ at the same 25 yards which gave a 9" difference before.  This is firing slow, off hand, supported and fast...  My eyes are making more difference than the bullet weight and twist.

So, what's different?

She's sporting a different barrel nut and flash-hider than before.  This is because she changed from being a GAU-5A to an XM177E2 and that meant changing uppers.  I ruined the barrel nut when I slipped while torquing it down.

I think that the old nut was out of spec because it'd always seemed to take too much torque to line up the gas tube.  The new nut lined up at about 50 ft-lb.

The old muzzle device was very open inside:

The new, and current one, is more closed:

Seventeen Years

'Round about this time of day, seventeen years ago, The Lovely Harvey signed her maiden name for the last time on a legal document.

Henceforth she's been Mrs McThag.

We're lucky to have each other as we really do make a complete whole together.

Since There's No Comments

When technology improves something, I tend to go for the improvement.

But it has to have actually improved.

An electric drill is much better than a brace and bit.

A battery powered electric drill is much handier than one with a cord, but the one with the cord has far superior endurance.

Plastic cases on these tools made them lighter and safer.

These improvements were made and adopted without a lot of thought about how you'd look for using the new tools.

We're surrounded by electric motors.

Just about the only engines we still encounter are in our cars and on lawn / yard maintenance stuff.

Look hard.

Most of us don't have a generator, because we don't live in places like Florida.  Hardly anyone I know has a pressure washer...  And I'm out of useful things that need an engine.

As a gear head, I like my engines.  Thag grok suck, squeeze, bang, blow.

The only thing holding electric from replacing internal combustion completely in cars is battery technology.

Humble gasoline has an energy density of 9,700 Wh/l or 12,200 Wh/kg.

Lithium-Ion Polymer has ≈ 300 Wh/l or a max of 1,200 Wk/kg, or 300 Wh/kg at worst.

By mass, at best you've got 1/10 the available power with lithium-poly, at worst you've 1/40.

For the same volume of energy storage you get more than 30 times the energy out of a gas tank.

Start looking hard at that.  I know, it's math...

Most cars are rocking about a 13 gallon (49.2 l or 477,340.4 Wh) fuel tank and are running (an amazing) 35 miles per gallon to get a range of 455 miles.

That same volume gives us a mere 14,763.1 Wh or a range of just 14 miles.  Staggering isn't it?

A Prius is rocking a 1.3 kWh battery, or 1,300 Wh at 46 Wh/kg.  The 38 packs displace 22.5 l for a density of just 57.78 Wh/l.  And you should halve those densities, because in real life you can only access about half of that before it kicks in the gas engine.

You can't get far on the battery and it takes a long time to charge it back up is the problem that electric cars face.

This is not as much of a problem for an electric drill, or a lawnmower.

As long as the battery can last the job, it's sufficient.  If the battery is small and readily replaceable, then using several batteries for the job is also sufficient.

If the tool is any of smaller, lighter, cheaper or handier while also being sufficient to the task; it's an improvement.

And Another Thing!

Eventbrite is the company doing the ticket sales for both the Tampa Comicon and Florida Supercon.

There's a terms of service that you must agree to before you can buy your tickets.

It's a binding legal agreement on YOU.  It is not a binding legal agreement on THEM, and even if it were, they can change the terms at will and it's your responsibility to check for updates, not theirs to inform you of changes.

Never enter into such a contract.

EVER!

Especially when they discharge all liability for any damages incurred to you by using their service.

The verbiage boils down to you have to pay, and if you happen to receive the service/product it's great, but if you don't, well we still have your money and we don't have to do anything else.

Get murdered or raped in their gun free zone?  Not their problem.

Fuck 'em I says.

Gun Free Zones Are Not Dedications To The Safety And Security Of Anyone

No Weapons Allowed at Florida Supercon Posted on June 18, 2016
Florida Supercon is dedicated to the safety and security of ALL attendees.
Use common sense and remember what seems harmless to you may appear like a threat to someone else. All attendees must adhere to Florida State Law at all times during the weekend of Florida Supercon, including laws regarding firearms and weapons. If it is illegal outside of the convention, it is illegal inside the convention.
Please read this entire policy before attending Florida Supercon. Failure to follow this policy may result in your removal from the convention without refund. We have a ZERO TOLERANCE FOR WEAPONS.
The following items are NOT ALLOWED at Raleigh Supercon
* NO Live firearms: This includes modern guns, hunting guns, historic guns, air soft guns, BB guns, cap guns, paintball guns and pellet guns – either functioning or de-commissioned.
* NO CONCEALED FIREARMS EVEN IF YOU HAVE A PERMIT.
* NO Realistic replica firearms: This includes reproduction, fake or toy guns that can be confused for functional firearms – either metal, solid resin/plastic/rubber.
* NO Functional projectile weapons: This includes blow guns, functioning crossbows, functioning long bows, silly string, slingshots, water balloons and water guns. No props or weapons capable of firing any projectile or powder charge of any kind.
* NO Sharpened metal-bladed weapons: This includes axes, daggers, hatches, knives, kunai, shuriken, swords, sword canes and switch blades.
* NO Dull metal-bladed weapons: This includes replica swords, replica knives, and other dull metal objects.
* NO Explosives: This includes firecrackers and fireworks.
* NO Chemical weapons: This includes mace and pepper spray.
* NO Blunt weapons: This includes brass knuckles, clubs and nunchaku.
* NO Hard prop weapons: This includes props made of metal, fiberglass and glass. LIGHTSABERS ARE OK.
* NO laser pointers. If you have a laser pointer in your prop or weapon, make sure it cannot function by either removing the batteries, or simply not bringing it.
* NO Items that cause excessive noise levels like vuvuzelas, grenade whistles and grenade horns.
* NO Whips.
* NO Aerosol mustard.
* NO Tasers

These policies, above all others, are why I don't even bother looking at conventions nine times out of ten.

You might also notice that there's no guarantee of safety from the organizers. You're not allowed to have a weapon to defend yourself, and you agree to hold them harmless in the case of any injury in the event something does happen.

Fashion Victim

If some of the stupid fashions that I've seen pushed lately catch on; I'm going to be thought of being a transvestite just for dressing like I have my whole life.

Men's clothes have been OK for women for a long time and this trend to push women's styles at men might mean another fashion inversion is coming.

It's happened before in history.

More than once in courtly society the women have progressively adopted male fashion cues and then the men's fashions have swerved a decidedly feminine direction.

Open Letter To The BATFE

To whom it may concern,

Why does it take almost a year to process a Form 1 or Form 4 when most states can process a conceal carry permit in less than a month.

It's the same information.

It's the same background check.

They have the same disqualifiers.

A Moment In Time

There's days...

Such a lovely sunset.

Living in the future is very cool.  Because there's cell phones, there's smart phones and thus cameras in them.  So I had a camera with me to take this picture.

Gods Damn You Ian McCollum!

Here I was, all happy with my conversion of Twlight: 2000 into GURPS 4e...

Then he reminded me of this:





In GURPS terms, it's essentially an armor piercing .25 ACP with expensive ammo.

Well, I added it to my conversion.  I feel better for not resisting the compulsion.

Marv's Pistol Skill

Round 1:

Timer goes off, aim for 1 second.  Judging from the pace, he aimed between shots too.
Shot 1: Skill -1, miss.
Shot 2: Skill -1, hit.
Shot 3: Skill -1, miss.
Shot 4: Skill -1, hit.
Shot 5: Skill -1, hit.
Shot 6: Skill -1, miss.
Shot 7: Skill -1, hit.
Shot 8: Skill -1, hit.

Round 2:

He gains +3 for knowing the speed/range now.

Shot 1: Skill +2, hit.
Shot 2: Skill +0, hit.
Shot 3: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 4: Skill +0, miss by 1.
Shot 5: Skill +0, miss by 1.
Shot 6: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 7: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 8: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 9: Skill +0, miss.

Shot 10: Skill +0, hit.

Round 3:

Shot 1: Skill +2, miss.
Shot 2: Skill +0, miss by 1.
Shot 3: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 4: Skill +0, hit.
Shot 5: Skill +0, hit.
Shot 6: Skill +0, miss by 1.
Shot 7: Skill +0, hit.
Shot 8: Skill +0, miss by 1.
Shot 9: Skill +0, miss.

He still had a round left!

Round 4:

Shot 1: Skill +2, miss.
Shot 2: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 3: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 4: Skill +0, hit.
Shot 5: Skill +0, hit.
Shot 6: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 7: Skill +0, miss by 1.
Shot 8: Skill +0, miss.
Shot 9: Skill +0, miss.

Shot 10: Skill +0, miss.

Out of 27 rounds fired.  18 were hits at all, 10 missed by one.

Using the "bad damage roll" model that's a 66.67% hit ratio, or an effective skill around 11.

How Long Does It Take

Rodney Alcala has been sucking my precious oxygen for at least 38 years longer than should have been possible.

He's been convicted of lots of violent crimes.  Including Murder.

The oldest conviction is from 1980, and he's been in jail since 1979.

He's still being indicted on additional murders.

His first "conviction" was for attempted murder and rape; but he plead down to assault.  The crime took place in 1968, but the conviction was in 1971.

This could have been nipped in the bud right there.

I'm going to bet that this initial experience with the law taught him a he could get away with it and emboldened him.

Emboldened for perhaps 130 murders.

Add Astra

Add as in added an...

Additional Astra

The Astra Model 600/43 is a smaller, shorter, more powerful version of the Astra 400.

It's shorter, because it uses the 9x19mm Parabellum instead of the longer, weaker 9mm Largo.

It's my blog and I can make whatever claims I want!

But Parabellum really is shorter than Largo.

Arguably, when they changed round, the made the magazine release worse.  The teeny button doesn't have much positive travel and the little spur sticking out the side isn't easy to grasp.  The more conventional heel release of the 400 is just easier to use.

That said, if this was the only magazine release you'd encountered; it'd be simple to get used to.  It's not a bad way to do things, it's just odd and awkward to use if you're used to virtually any other way of doing it.

These things are built like tanks.  They're also machined to a high standard of tolerance and fit.  It's SMOOTH and tactilely nice to work the slide.