Escape From New York

Romero: You touch me... he dies. If you're not in the air in thirty seconds... he dies. You come back in... he dies.
Romero: [Romero takes a package out of his shirt and unwraps it to reveal the President's middle finger, complete with ring] Twenty seconds.
Hauk: I'm ready to talk
Romero: Nineteen. Eighteen.
Hauk: What do you want?
Romero: Seventeen. Sixteen.
Hauk: Let's go. Let's go!

That Was Sure Interesting! Power To The People!

The Illegal Immigration Amnesty got nuked.

All because we the great unwashed demanded it so hard we melted the Senate's phone system down!

Good for us! About time the Senate got a bit of a reminder that they SERVE. And they serve at our pleasure. They do not RULE.

Aside to Michele Evermore, kudos to Sen Harkin for voting to kill this thing. My Senators both wanted this bill, and hard. I wanted to get rid of Nelson from before, but Martinez was a surprise. Me thinks he'll be outside looking in next election.

The local press tried to make a stink about a Panama City sheriff operating a task force that hit construction sites and arrested illegal aliens. Guess what? It's getting hard to find illegals on work-sites now. They talked to a Mexican and he cried about how he couldn't find work around there anymore and couldn't send money to his family in Mexico.

Two things, first I don't care because you are committing a felony just by standing there and second, I don't approve of hiring people whose main impact on the economy is to export their wages. To be good for OUR economy, they have to spend them bucks here. But even if they spent it all here, they are here illegally and must go.

Anyway, our worker is whining, the press is crying and the local residents? Celebrating! Building contractors are complaining that they can't get things built. Awwwww, poor babies. Isn't hiring illegal aliens illegal? I think you should shut up before someone remembers that and fines you out of business and puts you in jail.

I know lots of people in the construction industry, my father in law for one, and they have all been talking for years about how wages have dropped through the floor because of all the illegals. I find I am fascinated that the "rah rah union" Democrats don't support the skilled construction contractor in the same manner as they support the UAW. Oh wait, no bribescampaign contributions come from the contractors like the UAW pays. I totally understand why the Republicans are for the illegals working construction, big construction companiespay big bribes make large campaign contributions.

14% approval rating for Congress? Yikes! With numbers like that I could run Hitler in Tel Aviv and win.

Dude! It's HITLER!
But he's not an incumbent?
No...
He's got my vote!
But it's HITLER!
I know, but he's not an incumbent.

That skit gets lots of laughs if you play the pro-Hitler voice with a Yiddish accent.

Fire Rocks!

That's my charcoal starter! No fluid required. Crappy photo provided by LG8600.

Mayor Bloomberg Leaves The Republican Party

There are times when I am just stumped. From the way he'd been acting, I had assumed he was a Democrat.

Wait! He was, until 2001. Then he changed his party affiliation so he could run as a Republican because the Democrats weren't letting him run for mayor.

I guess in NYC even the Republicans are Democrats. Rudy Guiliani, I am looking at you! But we knew that already, didn't we?

I've said it before, there's no point in having two parties if they behave the same. I don't want bipartisanship, I want bloody fights for every scrap of law! Sell C-Span like pay per view to see the robot-zombie Ried fight against, oh, whomever.

Arrogant McSister Update

Remember when I said that McSister said the title of the Civic would be handled, "this week"?

She e-mailed me today telling me that the contact information I e-mailed her didn't include the point of contact's e-mail address.

Um, yes it did. Besides, how damn hard is it to Google "New Mexico DMV" and get all the contact information you could ever need? That's how I got Gloria Gonzales' e-mail in the first place.

Her requesting Ms Gonzales' e-mail address today indicates that this is the first time she has even attempted to get her ducks in a row.

If the roles were reversed, I would have had that title ordered the day I found out it was not at mom's condo, a month and a half ago.

From The Earth To The Moon

Been watching the HBO series on DVD.

It's a bit emotional for a space buff like me.

We want to go to the moon again? Why are we discarding the Saturn/Apollo combination out of hand?

A totally new design is not required. The savings in just electronics mass and the use of electronic replacements for many systems that were solely mechanical in 1969 gets nearly six men to the moon!

Modifying a proven system is a much smaller risk than designing from scratch anyway.

Arrogant Bitch McSister

What a little shit.

I have attempted to call her and e-mail her for weeks now. My tone has changed from friendly to business to are you getting this to I guess you are ignoring me.

Since the last got a reply, what would you think she was doing?

She claims we should have something from the retirement folks, "soon."

The title for the Civic should be taken care of, "this week."

The condo has made little progress because, "it's too hard." Yeah, milk it baby. Mom is the only relative you hadn't alienated, I can see why that would be hard.

I left a voice mail a few weeks ago telling you that I didn't have the money to go to the memorial, and you didn't call me back like I asked. But I can see you have been getting the messages because you refer to them in your e-mail.

I don't give two shits what you think if I don't come to the memorial, Ms Queen Shit. Did you ask if July 28th was good for me? Nope. You picked it because you could schedule the use of a shelter at Brookside on that day. I hate to break it to you, Ms High and Mighty, but some of us just don't have the financial flexibility to drop everything and wisk 1600 miles to spend an afternoon around people we don't know and prolly wouldn't care for if we did know them. Things that you are missing about my situation when you get all upset about it. Ames is farther from Holiday than Denver, it's a longer trip for me. With a single income, we only can afford one "go somewhere" vacation. I used that money to get to Denver to say goodbye in May. And because you didn't uphold Mom's agreement about paying me back, I lost the money spent to get out there. I and I told mom you would do that too. Then I have to see if The Lovely Harvey can take time off during the week that straddles the date you picked. She works for a university and there are numerous black-out dates for vacation because of their class schedules. If you had asked, instead of dictated, you might have learned that the end of July, beginning of August is a start-week, that means no vacations for anyone. What that means is to travel the longer distance than you, with less money than you, I also have to find someone to care for The Boy while I am gone, again. We used up a lot of favors the first time, I tried to explain that.

Nobody wants to listen to me about that. My worthless father and his mother, Maggie, both imply that I am less of a person because I don't have a job. McSister cannot fathom sacrificing financial and personal freedom to care for a loved one. That's really odd, because that's exactly what she did to take care of mom.

Anyone want to bet on whether July 28th meshes perfectly with McSister's work, home and financial schedule?

All this shit has me in a wonderful mood. I can't sleep and I am on a short fuse because I am exhausted.

The air conditioner is toast, in Florida, in June. Oh, I don't have money to fix that either.

Father's Day

Father's day for me was good and bad.

Good in that I am a father, so The Boy's love of me was really felt. Even though I was an ogre for most of the damn day. He got me a DVD of one of my favorite movies.

Bad, in that I was in a pissy mood all day. A mood that wasn't helped by calling my own father. I think I will take the hint from that side of the family and just stop attempting to contact them. They sure don't try to get a hold of me.

McSister, the executor of Mom's will, has hired a probate attorney. She doesn't seem to have done anything else about getting Mom's estate in order. Like mailing a simple request for a title for the Civic Mom gave me. Gonna be fun attempting to register that without a title. Prolly never going to see that title and have to sell off the parts.

And I suspect that there will be no disbursement from the retirement accounts. It seems like every time I depend on my blood-relatives to merely do what they say they are going to do, the fuck me.

Your results:
You are Wash (Ship Pilot)

Wash (Ship Pilot) 85% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 65% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 65% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 60% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 60% Alliance 55% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 50% River (Stowaway) 45% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 35% A Reaver (Cannibal) 20% Inara Serra (Companion) 15%

You are a pilot with a good if not silly sense of humor. You take pride in your collection of toys. You love your significant other.

Click here to take the "Which Serenity character am I?" quiz...

Planet Earth

Watching the DVD of the Ocean segment of "Planet Earth" at Marv's last night.

Included near the end is aerial footage of two blue whales cruising along. The narrator, Sigourney Weaver, tells us that we know almost nothing about them, where they go or where they breed. We watch the footage for a bit more, she notes that they eat plankton, more footage and then, "There used to be 300,000 blue whales, now there are less than 3% of that number left."

I find that I cannot reconcile that we know almost nothing about them and that we have an accurate count.

If we don't know where they go, how do we know we aren't just seeing a very small portion of the population? Sub-populations of killer whales don't overlap much. And we don't know how blues organize. Do they behave like gray and humpback whales and the entire population moves essentially together? Do they form small packs that migrate together?

Gee, we don't know that basic stuff, but we have an accurate population count?

I call shinnanigans.

Yes, I know there is more information about blue whales out there. What bothers me here is that there is no explanation given in the documentary that brings the how we know this, but not that together.

Progress Is Being Made

Got the Magpul MIAD grip for The Lovely Harvey's Recce in. After much fitting and testing (there are three front and three back inserts) she decided that she liked the F3 and B3 inserts best. There is a storage plug that holds three spare rounds for emergencies. Magpul also offers three different plugs, one that holds a 123 battery, one that holds two AA/AAA/N type batteries and one that holds a spare bolt and firing pin.

Pictured is the Body, F3 and B3 on the receiver. Moving away from the grip forwards we have F2, F1 and then F4; moving backwards we have B2 and B1. F1 has a scrap of paper holding it in profile for the camera and I am holding B1 by hand since they have nothing that lets them sit on their sides. F4 is for using this set to mount a MIAD on a pistol-grip forward-grip mount. F2 is essentially the same as F3 without the trigger guard.

I like this grip a lot myself. I think I would go with F1 and B1...

Congress!

When drafting a law to put an end to some crime, could you JUST ONCE check to see that it doesn't fuck the people who are NOT criminals?

This is why we gun folk get so bent out of shape about you worthless sacks. Every time you pass a law about guns, it creates an additional burden on me, the lawful gun owner, and doesn't have any effect at all on the criminal.

The latest push to add mental health records to the NICS check is a great example. What I expect to happen: A lot of people who have been successfully treated and are perfectly healthy mentally now are going to be denied purchase. A few people who have been successfully treated and are perfectly healthy mentally now may have their existing guns seized by the authorities. Fearing this, a large percentage of depressed people who own, or want to own, a gun will avoid getting treated for their disease for fear of having their rights taken away.

There is a reason that the current form ATF4473 has a question 11f;

"Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective (which includes having been adjudicated incompetent to manage your own affairs) or have you ever been committed to a mental institution."

Notice the language, adjudicated and committed. Not admitted to a mental institution, committed. Adjudication and committing are legal sentences, they require due process to assign to a person, and are normally placed on a person against their will.

What the new law proposes is that anyone who voluntarily decides to seek treatment for a problem before someone gets hurt will be forever banned from owning a firearm, or at least buying one. No mention at all of successful treatment of the malady, or in fact, mention of a diagnosis!! Only that a person sought treatment! What if the psychiatrist says you aren't depressed at all, and not a danger to anyone? What if the psychiatrist says you were depressed, probably would have killed someone, but we caught it in time and fixed to problem?

See the problem yet?

I think I would be OK with changing this to a disqualifier where a TEMPORARY bar on purchases is put in force while the subject is undergoing treatment AND where the psychiatrist feels the patient might be a danger to themselves or others. That allows the person who is successfully treated to suffer no stigma for receiving treatment and doesn't dissuade people from getting treatment out of fear of losing their guns forever because they did the right thing and got treated.

There especially needs to be due process where someone who has been added to the NICS mental patient list can get their name removed simply. With the costs assumed by the State and the burden of proof being on the State to retain the subject on the forbidden list.

The C7 Rear Sight

This is the rear sight of my XM177E3. It was mounted backwards from the factory. The concave portion is supposed to face the target, not the shooter. I fixed it! Only shot the detent and spring across the room three times! And found all the parts every time too! A miracle if there ever was one!

This is the same sight set to the long range aperture:

The long range aperture is only 0.0155" taller than the normal range one. The effects are interesting though. I have a sight radius of 14.3125", changing apertures changes the point of impact 1.9335" at 50 yards, 7.7819" at 200 yards and 11.6806" at 300 yards! That means the short range aperture would shoot 11.7" below the point of aim at 300 yards, that changes it from a head shot to a torso shot!

We Had The Boy's Birthday Party Too

At one time he said he wanted a rifle, "Just like daddy!"

He can't have a real one, so I compromised. The similarities in scale and the attention to detail are outstanding. If one were to paint it black, it would be very hard to tell apart from the real thing.

I think he enjoys it...

The Lovely Harvey's Graduation Present

Gonna make her a Recce!

One Hell Of A Quote

"You know, in a way - and no offense to the real people living in and about the bay area, SJBill - this would kind of be a relief. As a city, San Francisco has long ago stopped pretending that they support their military. We could stop pretending that we like San Francisco.
We don’t have to like San Francisco. We get paid to defend them. It’s our job.
The rest of the country?
We’re doing that for free."

Edit:  The links to Lex are dead.  Gods dammit!

Lyrics Corner Bat Edition

Tossed into my mind, stirring the calm
You splash me with beauty and pull me down
Cuz you come from out of nowhere
My glance turns to a stare
Obsession rules me-I'm yours from the start
I know you see me-Our eyes interlock
You come from out of nowhere
My glance turns to a stare
One minute here and one minute there
Don't know if I'll laugh or cry
One minute here and one minute there
And then you wave good-bye...
Sifting to the bottom, every day for two
All energy funnels, all becomes you
You come from out of nowhere
My glance turns to a stare
One minute here and one minute there
Don't know if I'll laugh or cry
One minute here and one minute there
And it hurts inside
One minute here and one minute there
And then you wave good-bye...
*whisper*good-bye

Gaming Idiocy

A thread on the SJ Games forums reminded me of [a] gaming group [I was involved with].

The thread had a GM complaining about tardy and absentee players. I posted that I resented having to clock-in when I was playing with Jon's group. My position was that once you start treating the players like employees, you had better start paying them.

I am now someone who doesn't value a social contract, and other mean things.

I keep forgetting that some people thing gaming is the most important thing they do.

I did it as a pass-time. Something that was fun and inexpensive and consumed many otherwise boring hours.

Getting to a place 40 miles away in the midwest winter by noon on Sunday was iffy. It could take two hours. It could take 45 minutes. You have no way of knowing until you start driving. To be certain I was there to "honor the social contract" I would have to leave at ten AM. If I was late, and my excuse was "the roads" I was told, "You should have left earlier then." Tell me again, [GM], what's this job pay? What time did you leave? Oh wait, you live here. What time did you have to get up to get here on time? Oh wait, you live here. What time did you get to bed last night? Oh wait, you get a minimum of two more hours of sleep than I do because you live here.

Others made it on time? Your wife lives here. [Two players] have no lives outside of gaming. [The wife of one] is dragged here by [them], and gee she looks as thrilled about the hours as I am. [Another] is wholly your sycophant, he'd be here at nine AM if commanded. [The final member of the group] doesn't do anything late on Sat night, and thinks getting up at nine AM is sleeping in. Did I miss anyone?

All that really adds up to is that I am not a good fit with this group. The really fun thing about the stringent rules is they were aimed at [the low dog of the pack], who needed someone from Ames to give him a ride. I still don't understand why six people from Ames had to drive to Des Moines because two people lived there.

In contrast, the Sat gaming group met, "noonish" and nobody got bent out of shape if we didn't get started until two. And since we had the good sense to play on Saturday, we could play until the wee hours without worrying about what time we needed to be at work Sunday, unless we played in Jon's group.

This Is Entirely Too Funny

Click Me.

Immigration Reform

Some politico mentioned that some people were insisting that anything that didn't end in capital punishment for illegals would be called an amnesty.

A swing and a miss...

It's not that we want all the illegals killed, it's just we are now willing to accept it as a solution to the problem. A final solution? Lets hope not.

We really want them sent home, never to return. But we are willing to accept summary executions because the Government has ignored the problem for such a long time!

Vocabulary Corner

"Kakistocracy"--"Rule by the least-able or least-principled of citizens...a form of government in which the people least qualified to control the government are the people who control the government."

Gee, sure sounds like what we have in DC, huh?

Engaging In The Stupidest Of Passtimes

Counting chickens before they hatch.

Or in my case, counting the money from my mom's estate before it's accounted.

At one time, all I expected was half of the proceeds from the sale of her condo. I saw papers when I was out in Colorado that seem to indicate that it will be substantially more than just half the condo.

The condo should sell for between $95 and 120k. Mom paid $102k in December. I get half of that.

I found paperwork that indicates that there is $426k in her various retirement accounts. I get half of those as well. The paper I read was dated March 5th, 2007. Mom died in May, so I imagine there could be a lot of medical paid from those accounts. My sister thinks that Mom's insurance and medicaid paid all her bills, so perhaps there is not much difference between the 3-5-07 and time of death. I have been led to expect 1/3 of the retirement accounts to be sucked up by taxes.

So, $51k from the condo and estate sale, $142k from the retirement accounts. That sure seems like a lot of money doesn't it?

We have a list of things we wanna do (not particular order)

Replace house AC and duct work
Convert existing back porch to an office.
Add new back porch behind garage.
Expand living room out onto front porch, eliminating the front porch.
Make the driveway two car.
Privacy fence.
Shed for the yard equipment.
Generator for hurricane preparedness.
Fix the shower in garage bathroom.
Remodel house bathroom, perhaps combined with remodel of garage bathroom.
Replace remaining crank windows.
Paint the crown molding.
New master bedroom furniture
Picnic table.
New patio furniture.
Replace fuse panel with circuit breaker panel.
New washer/drier.
Insulate attic.
Pay Geff back.
Pay Rhonda back.
Buy Marv a G6 tranny and kit.
Toss some bucks at Bev and Bubba (they've been very supportive).
Send Curt on the Power Tour.
New desktops for The Boy and Me, New laptops for The Lovely Harvey, Her Mom, and me.
Real live gun safe.
M-1 Garand.
M-1A.
Trike for The Boy.
Family ring for The Lovely Harvey.
Adopt (finally!) The Boy. The Boy McThag has such a nice ring, doesn't it?
Two pairs of inserts for The Lovely Harvey's shoes so she can wear something besides dress shoes.
Fix the puppy. (SNIP SNIP)
Lots of nice clothes for The Lovely Harvey.
Engine/Tranny upgrade for the Biscayne
Paint/Hood/Rims/Tires for Biscayne.
Instrument upgrades for Biscayne.
Rear disc brakes for Biscayne.
Paint/Hood/Body for 9C1.

That's one hell of a wish list, huh? Paying back the people we owe and getting the house repairs done are the #1 priority for me. Then adopting The Boy, then the rest. But since the planning for mods to my car are nice and distracting, it seems like that is my sole priority. Nope. I wanna do a lot to my car, but a house with some value is more important.

They Clearly Aren't Listening To The Citizens Of THIS Country

El Presidente de Estados Unidos de Mexico del Norte, Jorge Arbusto... AND his congress...

Look, if I wanted to live in Mexico, I could live in MEXICO! The Mexicans that are living here, clearly wish to live in Mexico, but are here, and they are attempting to bring Mexico with them.

The opposition that Bush and Congress cannot understand about the immigration amnesty is that most of us Americans, Democrat and Republican alike, DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN MEXICO OR HAVE MEXICO IMPORTED HERE!!! It's not racism. It's not really nationalism. It's just we are Americans and we want to live in America, with Americans. We have no issue with a foreigner who is coming here to BE an American.

We object to colonization. I seem to recall the US making a big deal about Belgium, France and Great Britian divesting themselves of their colonies after the end of WW2. Did we do that just so Mexico could colonize us here? I don't think that's what they had in mind, especially since it was the same Eisenhower administration that cracked down on illegal Mexicans as told Belgium to un-ass the Congo.

Just In Time For Memorial Day

Remember, it's not about grandma (or Mom).  It's about the fallen.

Ron Paul

A couple of things about Ron Paul that kills him for me;

1. Open border/free trader. Sealed borders and protectionism are GOOD things. We should be selling our products to the world, not teaching foreigners how to make products and then importing them.

2. He, like many Libertarian types, doesn't get that War is the killer app of the state. And when a foreign agent, or agency tries to kill you, you kill them. Kill them until they are not capable of thinking about war anymore. Kill them wherever they are and don't wait for them to come to you. Kill them where they live, not where we do.

3. Truther! Rep Paul, I direct you to Lt Col Kyle Foley, USA, Ft Bliss, TX. His office was at the impact point in the Pentagon, he's alive because he was getting a cup of coffee. Bring your boxing gloves, Kyle is, shall we say, a passionate defender of the position that he saw an airliner hit the building he worked in.

Politics

I've been reading about the Presidential "Debates".

After reviewing the positions of the candidates from both sides; I WANT A "NONE OF THE ABOVE" OPTION!

I don't want any of them. I especially don't want to choose between New Yorkers. If ever there was a place irrelevant to my life, New York City would be it. It wouldn't be so bad if the place realized it was irrelevant. But New York acts as if they are the center of the universe and are the ONLY relevant place in the universe.

My life is irrelevant to a New York, I can accept that. I am not trying to shove it down their throats like they are trying to shove their crap down mine. I chose to live in Iowa and then Florida, in no small measure, because they were not New York.

You want to live in a place just like New York? You're in luck! There's a place, called New York, that's just like New York! Same for people who want to live in Los Angeles!

If Mom Touched Your Life

Dear Friends,
Mom was very clear that she wanted us to get together and celebrate her life after she passed and we were to do it with laughter. So please bring a good story or joke on Saturday, July 28th to Brookside Park in Ames, IA. We were able to reserve the Maple Shelter which is in the front so it will be easier for everyone to find and get to. We will have a BBQ with wine & beer lasting from 11:30 - 4:00.

Attached is a map of the park. If you need specific directions to Brookside, please let me know.

So I can plan appropriately, please let me know if you can attend. I know there are a lot of people who aren't on this list, but would like to help us celebrate, so please forward to the other friends of mom that I have missed, again, let me know who is planning so we can provide appropriately. Thank you!




McSister

Mom's Gone :(

At 0112 MDT, Mother McThag passed into the void. She will be missed.

There will be a memorial in Iowa, date to be announced.

Live From Denver

Mom's condo, where I am staying, has Comcast DSL. I'm plugged in using my laptop.

She's bad. Prolly within 72 hours. McSister thinks she might be holding on for me. I've seen her, but I don't think she knew I was there. She's on all the pain killers one could ever want, so she drifts in and out.

Looking around the condo, it's obvious that Mom did not plan on dieing. There are blank canvases and fresh oil paints. There are things that have been started and not finished. DAMMIT!

I feel like an intruder here. But I occasionally find a familiar thing. Things that tell me that this is Mommy's house.

This sucks and it's not gonna get better.

Well, This Is It Then

Mom's condition has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

I'm flying out Saturday or Sunday.

I have absolutely no enthusiasm for this trip.

I don't know how long I'll stay out there, but a week sounds right. Leave there Friday and take two days heading home, maybe three.

The timing could be better, but is there a great time for this to happen, ever?

And for all my friends who've said, "If you call at 2am, someone had better have died," well, that will be me this time, and someone will be dead. Mom.

This is made a bit tougher by having only family in Denver. If only Ray still lived out there.

On Making All Guns Illegal

I am a law abiding gun owner. I want that stated right out front. Every single gun of mine is in full compliance with the stupid laws.

If you ban them all, I certainly intend to keep them. Once I am a criminal for owning ANY kind of gun, I see no reason to limit the type of firearms I own. Unlike a lot of folks, I know HOW to convert my AR15 to selective fire. It's the law that keeps me from doing it now, because I am law abiding.

At present, I think that I can get all my constitutionally protected rights back via the ballot box; so I think that I can endure the unconstitutional laws a bit longer while Parker vs DC progresses. And even if it fails, I am still confident the worm has turned in favor of individual rights.

Banning all the guns is a signal from the politicians that the civil war is on. I start shooting the day that law takes effect. Wanna bet I am the only one?

The buying spree going on in ARs and AKs and ammo for them is not happening because people have suddenly felt a need to fill a hole in their collection, I think they are buying them because they are expecting to NEED to USE them.

Fallschirmjägergewher 42

I have FINALLY gotten a copy of Death From Above; The German FG42 Paratroop Rifle by Thomas B Dugelby and R Blake Stevens.

This also settles the hash of one Hans Christian-Vorsitch. He has been insisting, based on a series of articles referenced in the aforementioned book that there are THREE widely issued variations of the FG.42.

Dugelby claims five major variations. Those can be subdivided into about 25 total variations, but he says that they all can be categorized into one of the five main types. The issue is clouded by the Luftwaffe only assigning one designation to all types, FG.42. Most mainstream books call out FG.42/I and FG.42/II to differentiate between the two main types. Dugelby designates the FG.42/I as a Type C, D or E and the FG.42/II as a Type F or G.

Type A and B were never more than non-firing models.
Type C was the pre-production version, 50 made by Rheinmetall-Borsig; technically not an FG.42 but known by its specification number, LC-6.
Type D was the initial trials version, approximately 50 made by Rheinmetall-Borsig.
Type E was the first production model, so called the FG.42/I in most books, 2001 made by Krieghoff.
Type F was the earliest of the FG.42/II style guns, 220 made by Rheinmetall-Borsig for troop trials.
Type G was the definitive FG.42/II, 5773 made by Krieghoff and 400 made by L O Dietrich.

So, to me, we have two main types, E and G; just like most of the mainstream references say. The Luftwaffe agrees, only two manuals were issued.

Han's stats in GURPS: WW2 give a Weight of 12.4 lbs loaded and 1.8 lbs for a loaded magazine. The Lufwaffe manuals give a weight of 11.06 lbs loaded with a 1.8 lbs magazine for the Type E and 12.9 lbs loaded with a 2 lb magazine for the Type G.

I was attempting to figure out which version of FG.42 he was referencing and asked him on the SJ Games forums. We did a lot of back and forth until he established that my FG.42/I was earlier than the version he listed in the WW2 book and my FG.42/II was later. So in my 4e conversion I called his gun the FG.42/II and my later version FG.42/III. I guess his numbers could refer to the Type F. The main type is the Type G though, 6173 guns made in total.

The next thing to figure out was the RoF. The early gun had a cyclic of 900 rounds per minute (GURPS RoF 15) and the late guns had a cyclic of 750 rounds per minute (GURPS RoF 12 or 13). Hans gun lists a RoF of 15. Both the Type F and Type G have the slower cyclic rate, a lower rate was specified in the redesign. He also claimed the gun I was calling the FG.42/II had a cyclic rate of 600 rounds per minute (GURPS RoF 10). Which gun is he talking about again?

Again, this book is the definitive reference for the FG.42, and it includes the material he claimed in our web debate.

For my 4e conversion I have changed back to two listings for the FG.42. I am calling the Type E, FG.42/I and the Type G, FG.42/II. I don't think there were enough Type C, D or F were made to give them their own listings, especially since they never saw combat.

Another source, Rifles of the World, Second Edition, by John Walter lists the FG.42/I as 9.66 lbs without magazine, which yeilds 11.46 lbs loaded with a cyclic rate of 800. He also lists the FG.42/II as 11.13 lbs empty which gives a loaded weight of 12.33 lbs and a cyclic rate of 750 rounds per minute.

It's Over Before It Even Had A Chance To Start

The war with The Gnome has resulted in his defeat. The best part is, he doesn't know he lost!

That's the most amusing thing all year.

I retorted to his post and gave the unvarnished facts, even included the warts on my face. My full disclosure, including my mistakes, got him to change the subject.

From his reaction, I think that he feels that me admitting that I had made mistakes and missteps that he is vindicated. My mistakes weren't the point of the retort and most of the other readers have seen it. Ha HA!

Since I made my retort, I have felt a weight removed from my soul. Like having a tumor removed. I've had a bit of a grin on since. I am really happy to have this off me, and I get great amusement that he's still fighting the war while the rest of us are having dinner after the peace conference and talking about where to put the new factories and what sort of trade alliances will spring from the new peace.

'Tis strange times we live in, no?

I'm Losing My Mind

I can feel the tendrils of thought slipping away.

I don't know if I will get better, or worse before I get better or get worse and not get better.

I do know I am not being myself. Or if I am being myself, I don't feel like me anymore. Did that make sense?

Name That Movie

Burgundy. Please, God, tell me I have not inspired something burgundy. Red. Red. *Red*. *Red*, Charlie boy. *Red*! Is the color of sex! Burgundy is the color of hot water bottles! Red is the color of sex and fear and danger and signs that say, Do. Not. Enter. All my favorite things in life.

I Am An Evil Person

Well, not really.

Long time readers are aware of the bullshit politics that were associated with the car club.

I've left it pretty much alone, but last night fired a salvo across The Gnome's bow. He posted on the Impala SS Forum bragging about winning the "Best Fleetwood/Roadmaster" at the GOFASST spring show. His was the ONLY Fleetwood or Roadmaster there. Such pride he must feel for winning by default.

So I asked if he really was bragging about that situation in a reply to his post.

His wife replied asking why I couldn't just leave him alone. Poor Gnome.

My reply was a listing of the grievances the club has against him.

I do so love Flame Warre!

The best part is his wife's reply referenced my post to the INC FLA club page on Yahoo. She, at least, has been lurking in the pages of the club that gave Gnome the punt. Why can't we leave him alone, indeed?

Mom Stuff

Mom wants to give me her car. That's nice of her! It's a 2002 Honda Civic EX sedan, 1.7L, automatic. And knowing Mom, extremely well maintained.

All I have to do is go to Denver and get it. That's not as bad as it sounds, Mom has offered to pay for a plane ticket, pay for food on the trip and pay for the gas it takes to get from Denver to here. Literally, "I am paying you to come take this car off my hands!"

Unfortunately, for me, it's not going to be available until after Memorial Day. June is when the schedule here goes berserk. The Lovely Harvey's graduation is June ninth. I really want to see her walk to get her diploma. The good news is that The Lovely Mother In Law, will be down for the graduation. That means that I there will be someone to look after The Boy if I am gone for a few days.

Middle of May is much better for me. It's also more likely that Mom will be alert and herself to visit her.

I worry that if I wait until after The Lovely Harvey's graduation I will miss the window and Mom will gone in mind, if not yet in body.

I cannot afford to make the trip twice.

Mom Update From McSister

Dear Friends,
This update is overdue, I apologize. Mom is still at the Hospice and I think she will be staying here. Our alternatives are locations with shared rooms for little savings, so for now, we are settled.

After speaking with mom's oncologist, we received more specific info and mom said she wanted me to share this with you. The tumor in her hip has not only grown, it had doubled in size from her previous scan. The aggressive increase is one of the main reasons the Dr. suggested hospice. We pushed the Dr. for some understanding of timing and they were resistant to predicting anything that would give us false hope or hope falsely, but we pushed. With their experience and understanding of this disease, they are estimating 3-4 months. That is an estimate only and no one can be specific. They do feel that it is an aggressive cancer though.

Over the next few months, we can expect the pain in mom's hip to increase. We can also expect her breathing to become more and more labored. She's on oxygen and has been since we left the hospital in February. The Hospice nurses are giving her lots of pain medication and it seems they are increasing the amount she takes every other day at least.

Some days are good, some are bad. Yesterday/last night was one of the bad ones. This morning, she felt "just fine". I anticipate this will continue to be a roller coaster for her as the cancer continues to spread. She has said that she feels herself going further backwards every day.

She's sleeping more and more. It is helpful to call around meal times if you are going to do so (8, 12 & 5 all mountain time). Getting woken up from a good sleep is tough (I'm usually the one waking her up though). She's had a few visitors which has really made her spirits soar (thank to you guys!). She can't talk much so the phone calls are tough, but she still loves walking down memory lane. If you want to call to remind her of a story or experience, she would love it!! She still appreciates a good joke too - nothing is off limits, but we all know that. This is Mom we're talking about!

She has also asked me if I think it is weird to plan your own funeral. I said I didn't think so, so she's glad that she can contribute some ideas and plans for the memorial when that does finally take place. I agree that she should be as involved in these details now as she would like.

This is hard on all of us, especially Mom, who is one of the bravest and toughest women I've ever known! We appreciate your support and the cards/letters you've been sending. Going forward, my trips to her condo are fewer and farther between, so please send letters directly to me, and I will take them to her.

McSister

Bryan Adams Got It All Wrong

The 1993 edition of "The Three Musketeers" is on high rotation on Starz. The end credits are Bryan Adams' song, "All For One". It's all about love and how that all will be better with more love and unity.

The motto, "All for One, and One for All" is not about a romantic relationship. It's about the brotherhood of arms and esprit de corps. In a nutshell, it's a pledge that you will sacrifice yourself to save your comrades (one for all) and they will all die to save you (all for one). It's very hard to explain to people who don't just get it. And, of course, there is no need to explain to those who do.

Heinlein understood it when wrote "Starship Troopers". The MI answer would be the Musketeer answer.

A Long Dry Spell Is Over

Through creative horse trading, I obtained a cat-back exhaust system for my Biscayne SS.

Yesterday, we put it on.

Fit is very nice. Something is rubbing though in the back. I think a pipe is against a heat shield or something. Too sore from using my
flabby muscles to crawl under there and find it.

Even though the pipes gigantically huge, they are tucked under the car really well, the rear pipes aren't sticking out hardly at all, very
subtle.

It sounds great! Nice deep note. A bit of a drone from 40-55, but not too bad. The drone isn't too loud, and the radio can defeat it.

Overall the rumble and gurgle are very nice, noticeable but not too loud. My car actually sounds like a muscle car now!

There's a definite seat of pants improvement in the power. The engine revs up faster and seems to pull harder. The vacuum gauge is reading about 3-6" more mercury under most loads, so I think the engine is not working so hard for the same effect.

Special thanks to both Corvette John and Marv! Corvette John for the use of his garage, welder and welding skills. Marv for abandoning his post as observer and jumping in to help. Left to my own devices, I would have skipped the over the axle part.

UPDATE:
I found the place where it's rubbing. There's a little bracket that traps the leads that come from the rear ABS reluctor. I have bent it out of the way and it doesn't seem to be rubbing anymore. If it starts again, I have lots more room to bend.