Venus And Luna

 

EOS M50, EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 IS II; f/9; 1/8"; 170mm; ISO 100

Vaccinated

I read a lot about the old west.

Smallpox gets mentioned a lot.

You know what doesn't get mentioned about smallpox in all these old newpaper clippings, books and papers?

People catching smallpox once they've been vaccinated or survived it.

That stands in contrast to vaccinations for COVID, don't it?

Polio is still in living memory.

My mother in law has a gimpy ankle from it.  Not too severe, but it's from polio.

Once an effective polio vaccine was found the number of infections went from over 35,000 a year (crippling 15,000) to under 100 in less than a decade and fewer than 10 ten years later to being completely eradicated in 1979.

Are COVID vaccinations describing this same arc?

Are people who are immunized for polio contracting the disease and being affected as if they weren't.

If you're going to berate me for being opposed to getting a COVID shot, and supporting getting other vaccines, you're going to have to show me that getting the jab is worth getting.

Unlike a lot of panicky people I have actually had the disease!

You've got to show me that getting the jab will enhance the immunity I already have.  You've got to show that a positive outcome with the jab is more likely than a negative one without it.  You've got to show that a negative reaction to the jab is less serious than contracting the disease.

If not, why bother getting it?

Even if the jab is perfect, I refuse to obey a mandate where the company making the vaccine is absolved of all legal responsibility for the side effects of the vaccine should I be unfortunate enough to suffer a severe reaction.  I refuse to obey a mandate for a treatment that's not yet passed normal long term testing on human subjects.  We're only a year into the long term human testing.

The absolution of responsibility also means that if serious side effects manifest at, say, five years I cannot sue for damages.  What measures which normally apply to a new therapy have been ignored in the "get it out the door" rush without worry that fucking it up will have real consequences for the companies making the vaccines?

What's worse is it doesn't appear to actually be a vaccine.  It's a therapy that reduces the effect of the course of the disease.  It doesn't seem to keep you from catching, spreading or recontracting COVID later.  I know there are claims, but the places with the lowest incidences of the disease are places with the lowest rates of vaccination now.  You're going to have to account for that before you get on your perch and lecture me about not getting vaccinated for COVID.

Mine is not irrational position, so stop pretending that it is.

A Question Of Skill

Over and over I am struck with a problem in GURPS.

Using a TL skill to operate something of a different TL than your native is supposed to incur penalties varying depending on the difference in the TLs and if it's an IQ or DX based skill.

DX skills are a flat -1 per TL difference.

We are TL8 in the modern world.

When I was born, it was TL7.  Round about 1980 it beccame TL8.

TL6 ran from 1880 to 1940.

TL5 was from 1730 to 1880.

Where this concerns me is a Colt Peacemaker, or clone thereof, is a TL5 design.

I should have a  -3 to my Guns/TL8 - Pistol skill to use it.

An M1911A1 is a TL6 pistol... so -2.

BUT

I might not have Guns/TL8 - Pistol.

I learned how to shoot a pistol in the US Army on the M1911A1.

I might have learned Guns/TL6 - Pistol.

That'd be -1 for the Peacemaker, but -2 to shoot a Glock.

I don't think I exhibit that penalty because I transition seamlessly from the TL6 Browning Hi-Power to the TL7 S&W 59 to the TL8 S&W M&P 9.

One explanation could be that I've learned the same skill at four tech levels.

Another could be that Guns/TL is actually Guns/TL5+ once cartridges are invented.  The difference in loading is simply a familiarity.

Another could be that all pistols made since the mid thirties (possibly earlier) have been made to be used with the TL6 skill.  Revolvers might even use TL5 as their ossification point.

Not sure what to do with it.

Dred Scott

David Koppel opines that Dred Scott still has applicability today.

h/t New Jovian Thunderbolt

The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments fixed the problem of blacks being disenfranchised non-citizens by explicitly granting them the rights that every other citizen held.

To date, I've not seen any amendments which changed what the privileges and immunities of an American citizen are; so their definition in Dred Scott should still stand.

The piecemeal application of the 14th Amendment, thanks to the shitty Slaughterhouse decision, has meant the 2nd is getting restored in dribs and drabs rather than all at once.

I am continually amazed at how persistent the measures passed to make sure black people were discriminated against as a people are.

And not just blacks, laws against my people were passed as well.  New Yorks Sullivan act was aimed at Italian immigrants like my great grandparents on Mom's side.

Mary Rose

The Tudor era warship Mary Rose captured my imagination when I saw the news about getting her off the bottom and the recovery efforts.

I flat wore out the copy of National Geographic with her story in it.

I bought a copy of that issue on ebay not that long ago.

The United States Naval Instituted Press is having a 50% off sale and they have a more detailed book on Mary Rose.  For $45, no sale.  For $22.50 and free shipping?  Sold.

It's a delightfully detailed book on the ship and her story.

I am very pleased.

The illustrations of the various artifacts is worth the price alone.

Not Quite A Second Amendment Case

Though nobody has mentioned it explicitly in the arguments, I think that NYSRPA v Bruen isn't quite a 2nd Amendment case.

As we've been told, over and over, the Bill of Rights is only a restriction on the Federal government.  The states are governed by their own constitutions.

But...

The 14th Amendment.  "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."

I think we're seeing the Supreme Court going for 14th Amendment incorporation here.

Judging from the notes and debates surrounding the passage of the 14th, I think that the authors intended the Bill of Rights to be applied to the states the moment it was ratified, but the Slaughter House decision muddied that for more than a century now (remember when I said the Supreme Court could be wrong earlier?).

Without 14th incorporation, there's no power to hold New York's laws in violation of the 2nd.

In my opinion.

14th Amendment stuff is often very confusing.  There's broad decisions, there's narrow decisions and there's some seemingly contradictory decisions.

The trend, however, has been one of more liberty and more restriction on the government.  Unfortunately, it's often of the three steps forward, two steps back method of advancement. 

I remain hopeful!

Opining

Seeing as I am a Constitutional scholar now... being all erudite and everything...

In the first place, the Constitution was supposed to be a plain-text contract between The People and the newly constituted government.

The plain text meaning is the intended meaning and reading it like a modern union contract was not envisioned by its authors.

It was their hope (they left notes) that any reasonably well informed voter could be their own Constitutional Scholar and see the plain meaning for themselves.

I'm not a legal scholar.

I'm a history buff.  An auto-didactic polymath, in fact.

Reading the history of how the Constitution came to be and the notes of the men who authored it brought me to my opinions on the matter.

And opine I shall, in brief or at length as is my wont.

I'm probably not going to give links or footnotes, you're free to do a guided missile destroyer (being cute here, DDG or Duck Duck Go) search for the very same materials I've read.

I've less regard for court cases which stand in conflict to the plain meaning of the text and consider them to be in error.  "The Supreme Court is wrong," is not an impossible statement.  They've admitted error on several occasions, though they are loath to do so.

WHAT?

The new, improved, version of Twilight: 2000 lacks the Kbk wz.88 Tantal?

The Poles didn't convert to 5.45 in this universe?

I hate having to fix things right out of the box.

The timeline gives no clues as to why Poland would have ended development of the Tantal because the dissolution of The Warsaw Pact happens in much the same manner was Home Timeline.  The big, huge, change is Soviet Hardliners manage to keep Yeltsin from dissolving The USSR.

Obviously there's some economic assumptions that are different from Home Timeline, the USSR collapsed under its economic failure; Reagan's policies had exhausted them.

Even with this economic problem in Home Timeline, Poland was able to finish development of the Tantal and get it into the hands of troops.

I guess that since I'd intended to keep using GURPS for the rule system, I already have the equipment ready; including the Tantal.

Climatic's Mother's Sister

Aunti-Climatic.

As the, "Carrying a 1975 made pistol just for fun," experiment continues, I am totally amused.

Just as the GURPS stats make almost no distinction between 9mm pistols, there's just nothing distinguishing the 59 from the M&P 9 because the carry method is the same.

I think that while I might shoot the 59 slightly better under range conditions, I have noticed while doing my dry fire drills that the sights are harder to find when the background is confusing.

You think that the background might get confusing in a real self-defense situation?

Painting the front sight orange was common back then and I've done it with other guns.  I might just do it with this one.  Heck, I even have glow in the dark paint!  Ersatz night sights!

"Hang on for a second before you stab me, Mr Badguy, I'm charging my sights with the light on my cell-phone!"  It'll be fine!

Alternate History

 

T2K is being published again, new publisher, new rules, modified setting to better fit with how history changed underneath the original idea.

Plus there's my GURPS conversion:

It's a self made pdf from an open office file.

Oil And Sulfur

I bought a little bottle of Lucas Extreme-Duty Gun Oil.

The applicator bottle is very nice!  I like the needle that lets me put the oil where I want it instead of dribbling it around near where I'm aiming.

It's got an odd odor that reminds me of...

I can't place it.

It's like old 40 weight with a hint of differential fluid and... pine?

Like sulfur, pine and phosphorus?

It's nice and slippy and it's thick enough to be persistent.

I suppose I should mention that the experiment with Clenzoil will have me buying more.  This is a first.

I've tried a lot of other lube/cleaning products and Clenzoil is the first one that's stayed the L part of CLP for the five years I've been running it.  Nothing I've cleaned or lubed with Clenzoil has rusted or gummed up.

I'm pleased.

My opinions on gun lube is just an opinion.  There isn't much scientific method going on here.

BUT!

Products that I've had good luck with:

Hoppes #9 and Shooter's Choice are my preferred solvents for cleaning.

Old fashioned LSA has done yeoman's work on the lubrication and protection end.

Clenzoil is the first CLP that's done cleaning, lubing and protecting without failing at one prominently.

Break-Free CLP has worked for light cleaning and lubrication, but it's not really persistent enough to be a protectant in the long term.

No Steal?

Cautious optimism is starting to creep in!

Virginia still has a Republican Governor Elect.

I Tried To Listen

I had the live feed of NYSRPA v Bruen running.

I caught a couple of zingers, but it became:

I am hopeful we get an OK ruling from this.

I doubt we'll get the best, correct, ruling from this because we're in the nibbling by ducks stage of rights restoration; but forcing NFYS to have shall issue permitting would be a huge victory for our side.

Florida going shall issue set off a cascade of gun rights wins that still hasn't stopped nationally, even if it has stalled where it started, who knows where a NFYS defeat will go?

I'm intrigued by the discussion of what level of scrutiny to apply should the history and traditions surrounding the right fail to bring clarity.  The Court appears to be inching towards a, "this answer had better start getting consistent because the lower courts have produced a smorgasbord of answers and are in disarray because of it," position.

Dammit Eh

The epidemic is officially over!

The Canadians have been released to swarm us.

Snowbird season is upon us!

Time to get my license and an orange vest.

Will .300 Savage suffice?

I Need To Check On This

Someone on Arfcom says that .300 Savage is everywhere.

They speculate that its production was still following the schedule from before the panic.

To the gun shop!

Uh... tomorrow...

Unfamiliar Term

The exhaust trunks on a ship are called "uptakes".

It makes sense, they take the exhaust up and out of the ship.

The intake is still called intake...

The smoke stacks can be called funnels.

The stuff one learns looking for something else to fill in a Traveller idea.

Draw And Dry Fire

Been practicing my draw with the Model 59.

Pull it out, get the muzzle down-range, thumb off the safety while aligning the sights, double action pull.

I am an Egg with regards to this DA/SA stuff.

I can aim and hold the sights steady while doing the 12 lb. 8 oz. pull.  It is a nice smooth double action, though.

What I am doing now is form.

It's an old mantra from Karate.  Form first, strength and speed will follow.

I am getting quicker at shooting my reflection in the mirror.

Part of my drill has been to freeze after the sear breaks and check to see where the sights are actually pointed.

I've gone from being a bit off to one side or the other and varying up and down to getting the gun where I want it.

This is very different from the single action only 1911's and M&P's I've been carrying.

Still, it's fun learning a new skill and it keeps my idle hands busy.

Good Luck Virginia

Fingers crossed that the Democrats get defeated by more than the margin of steal.

I cannot help but keep thinking that honest elections are better in the long run and the candidates changing their message and actions to something they don't have to lie about to get elected ideal.

UPDATE: Looks like Youngkin has managed to pull it off.  Eyes crossed.

Sabers and... Snippet 14

Colonel Waller looked up from his paperwork and tried to figure out what was missing.

He double checked his figures.

Reread the dispatches.

Then it hit him.

No telegraphs from distant superiors or rival commanders.

Nobody jostling his elbow.

It was refreshing!

The constant infighting and backstabbing that was the norm in the Army was entirely absent here on the other side of the spook-hole.

These men were HIS!  It was sobering to realize the loyalty which had formed in the isolation of this command.

It also made him wonder what such a loyal regiment might be capable of back home if the infighting remained as irrational as it had been before they'd departed.

Laughing

Is anyone else amused that Aesop goes all personal attack when I took away his ability to comment here?

I am!

Thanks to those who took the time and risked hurt to their brains by visiting his site then informing me that I'd hit the target dead center.

I wish that Phil and Mike would see him for what he is.  It appears that commenters at Mike's have him figured out.

Divemedic sure seems to have.

PS:

Traffic from Aesop is just barely over what the hoary old Gun Blog Blacklist generates.  I guess that not many people are clicking the links to see what a shitty person I am...

Waves

If you're here because a Greek poet sent you, welcome, but read the comment rules CAREFULLY.

My sense of humor is expended.

That I can get such a response from him says that I accurately figured out what he was trying to do and it wasn't to anyone's benefit but himself.

We don't cotton to that around here.

I think it also established that English is his first language.

That means he's on the left side of the curve.

I've been wondering why people thought so highly of him for a very long time.

WeaponsMan was about three comments from banning him when Kevin had the bad fortune of dying.

The Greek Poet's modus operandi is to shit all over the comments with a wall of text explaining in spurious detail how wrong you are... then change his position in three or four months to align with the position he shit on.

Over and over and over again.

I'm sick of the deliberate misunderstanding of what I've said when he's the ONLY one who takes it wrong.

I am sure there's a screed talking about how wrong I am that selectively quotes things that ONLY supports his side, and omits the material I refer to.

That's OK.

I let Moms Demand Action be wrong all alone too.

It's simply no longer worth my time to sort the wheat from the chaff for someone whose default mode is "Be an irrational prick."

Read him carefully and you're going to see it too.

Vice Regrets

A couple of years ago, one of the FFL's Willard and I haunt had a S&W 645 for the princely sum of $700.

We should have bought the damn thing.

They've doubled in price since then, dashing my dreams of buying a wrinkled Armani suit and Galco Jackass rig...

And a Ferrari.

And a sailing yacht.

And a cigarette boat...

Fucking lottery, they never call!

(Thag, meet me halfway, buy a ticket! -God)

For the trivia inclined:

Seasons one and two had Crockett carrying a stainless Bren Ten.

Seasons three and four he packed a S&W 645.

Season five he changed to a 4506.

The rationale was that Sonny was a cognoscenti of the state of the art in firearms and those three guns were the pinnacle of personal protection at the time...

Live Dangerously?

Do magazine disconnects bother you?

Is your trigger finger your safety?

Do you own a Smith and Wesson Model 39 or 59?

If so, its deletion is simple and easy.

See that little notch in front of the "popsicle stick" on the rear sight?  Use a small screwdriver to pry it up and rotate the entire rear sight.

This lets you lift the rear sight assembly off the slide.

That gives access to the disconnector plunger and spring.  Dump it out on your work-bench.

Installation of the rear sight is the reverse of removal.

Now your 39 or 59 will shoot without a magazine.

1939 To 2008

For the English as a second language and/or "I am well to the left of median on the bell curve" crowd:

This is also for people who've never bothered with history past reading punditry on teh intartubes.

"The idea that [the 2nd amendment] only protected the militia's right to guns originates in 1939 with the Miller v US ruling."

While it's not what the Miller v US actually ruled, the proponents of gun control took the ruling to mean that the 2nd Amendment, alone of the Bill of Rights mentioning The People, meant a guarantee of government power to have a standing army.

From the Miller ruling to the Heller ruling there was not a single Supreme Court case addressing this misconception, so for the intervening 69 years there was no protection from government encroachment on the right to keep and bear arms provided by the 2nd Amendment.

Prior to Miller the scant number of rulings fall under what's known as the standard model of the 2nd Amendment.

Since I have to spell everything out in lurid detail for my readers who're left of median, the standard model of the 2nd is the gun owner wet-dream model.  No federal restrictions on gun ownership except as punishment for a crime.  We have the author's notes.  We have numerous Constitutional scholars research papers.

The second amendment applies, at a minimum, all the way up to ship borne artillery in non-government hands.

That part is actually in the main text of The Constitution, otherwise there'd be no need to empower Congress to write letters of marque and reprisal.  If it was about government ships and artillery, then declare war and send the Navy.

Since 2008, though, we have the Heller ruling and a fresh statement that small arms ownership is, indeed, and individual right protected from Federal encroachment by the 2nd Amendment.

We're presently getting cases wormed through the system to expand that ruling and reaffirm that the 19th century rulings were the correct ones.

Something else which might spill out of these new cases is 14th Amendment incorporation of the 2nd against the states.  A true expansion of our rights being recognized.

No Gotcha Today

While I know that sometimes I can be a little unclear, when it's the same person twisting what I've said and taking the wrong meaning over and over and over again...

It's not me, it's them.

They didn't take the hint.

They didn't heed the warning.

They are done trolling here.

He's told his insulting fables, now he should continue to the same end as his namesake and jump.

Archival Footage

 

Archival footage of man firing a pre-Glock concealable firearm in the 1970's.

Everyone knows that guns made before the Wonder-Nine-80's were all metal, low-capacity, heavy and bulky.

Honestly, this is how I expected my CCW with the 59 to be and it's turning out to be almost no different from carrying an M&P 9.

You Did That

"Higher gas prices hurt American families."

J. Biden

He goes on to blame Russia and Saudi Arabia for not pumping enough.

If only there was a domestic source of oil...

A source that had not just lost its leases to produce thanks to the person complaining that oil reserves outside his control aren't producing enough.

You did this, Joe.

Tip Your Waitress

I have a lot of guns.

I love them all.

I'm polyarmoryous.

Sabers And... Snippet 13

These horse-monsters were different.

The gathered in flocks like the killer-birds and worked together to hunt.

Like the other horse-monsters with feathers in their hair, they possessed the metal sticks of death.

The Wolf Tribe needed to know more about them if they were to drive them away.

They needed to be driven away before they found a place where their magic worked and the tribe's didn't like the other horse-monsters had in the dead mountains.

Lion's Bane would be honored around the fire for leading one of the new horse-monsters into the trap... an honor he would only attend in spirit.

Fleetfoot would be honored for catching the top half of the new horse monster.

Assuming his sling had not killed it.  They might be more fragile than the feather hair tops.

Sabers And... Snippet 12

"Corporal Allen!  After him!"

The Googoo was running flat out away from the scouting party.

The purpose of the scout was to find the Googoo, not to be found out by them.

Allen wheeled his horse around and gave her the spurs.

He knew from experience that the mare needed to get settled on her gallop before he had even half a chance at a shot.

He let go of the reins, steering with leg pressure and brought his carbine up and grabbed a round out of the magic loop in his ammo belt.

He'd closed within 20 yards as he chambered the round and put a bead on the back of the Googoo.

"Roll with the rhythm of the horse, don't fight the bouncing..." he thought as the sights aligned...

BANG!

A small puff of dust came off the leather shirt the Googoo wore and it tumbled to the ground almost as Allen got even with it.

Allen dropped the carbine on its sling and recovered his reins.

He never saw the Googoo that hit him in the back of the head with sling-stone...

Lanyard All The Things

Finally found a good version of the lanyard Israel used on their police pistols.

This one is genuine Beretta.  Or it's genuine Royal Army issue.  It's kind of hard to tell, who'd write a book about lanyards?

It's much higher quality than the Israeli made copy.

Happy Halloween!

It's our favoritest holiday!

That's Not Quite Right

The Second Amendment didn't protect your right to own a gun until 2008.

The idea that it only protected the militia's right to guns originates in 1939 with the Miller v US ruling. 

Prior to Miller, the Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd's meaning was self evident and its meaning was the same as what is known today in Constitutional Scholarship as the "standard model".

So, really, the 2nd Amendment didn't protect an individual right to own a firearm from 1939 to 2008.  Sixty-nine years out of 230.

Subject Before The Predicate Put

I've started reading "The War" over at Chant du Départ.

Because I didn't start reading the serial as it came, I'm in the odd position of scrolling down to the bottom, back to the top of the entry, reading it to the bottom then scrolling back up to the next entry.

That will learn me to get over there more often and actually read the fiction section!

And Another Thing!

One of the drives on the Mac Pro has died.

It was a mirror of another drive with data I want to keep, so I'm backing it up on an external and waiting for Amazon to deliver two new, bigger, drives.

Ugh!

The good news is I have a tertiary place to store the data just in case the second drive goes tits up as long as it doesn't do it in the next four hours...

Eyes crossed!

Another Sign?

I think I noticed another symptom of a bad BCM now that it's not presenting after putting the original one back in.

The chime would sound as if I'd left it in accessory mode when I opened the door to get in quite often.

All of the switches and sensors for the doors, lights and power go through the BCM before heading to the instrument panel to generate the chime.

I think I simply got a bad BCM back in August of '18 and it's been slowly degenerating over the past 28 thousand miles.  I blame removing lead from solder.

I wonder if tin whiskers are all up inside that thing.

Cold Front

Jeans and Hawaiian shirt weather means shoulder holsters!

Packing like a Miami Vice secondary cast member today with the Model 59 hidden in my armpit!

So far, there's no real drama to it.

It's lighter than the 1911 or Gov't model.

It's a little shorter than the M&P 9.

It's between both extremes I've packed at length before.  Winning all around!

Plus it's FUN!

I am so tired of everything about guns being so dour and serious all the time.

Mutter Mutter Grumble Mutter

On the way back from the store today the "Service Active Handling" light lit on The Precious' dash.

No cruise control, brake lights lit reflected in the grill of the tailgating F150...

Get home read the codes, C0161.  Again.

I've tried everything else, so in goes the original, take-out, body control module I kept when the HVAC fuse holder had gotten loose.  Happily I'd found a guide to cracking it open and getting access to the pins for the fuses to bend them back into shape.

Cleared the codes and the test drive gives no failures.

Fingers crossed that this was it.

Bagna Cauda

Every time I rewatch Babylon 5, I run across the episode where Garibaldi defies medical orders and makes bagna cauda.

It's a pint of extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 cup of butter, 10 cloves of minced garlic and 4 ounces of drained anchovies heated up and used like a fondu.

Dipping bread is the traditional thing.

Literally greasy WOP food.

Before I make it, I'd want to make sure I had someone who liked anchovies on hand.

I don't know if I like them, but I hear how overpowering they can be for a dish (prolly overwhelmed by the garlic)...

What If

I've always been fascinated with the idea of "what if?"

The 3-generation comparison of the Smiths made me think...

What if the 1954 pistol trial had resulted in the X100 being adopted as the Pistol, 9mm, Semiautomatic M4?

That would make Smith and Wesson an insider come the next competition.  The Model 459 could be the Pistol M9!

As a long time defense contractor, the M17 competition could have gone to the M&P 9.

What if?

In truth, the last military contract that S&W really tried for was the one where the Beretta 92FS was adopted as the M9.

They tested the waters as request for proposals came in from time to time, but never really made changes to a commercial model to conform to the specifications of the RFP.

I lost count of the number of times after the M9 competition where the military acted like they were going to be replacing it only to cancel the competition just after the competitors had done the requisite changes to meet the RFP, and this isn't just changes to the gun.  There were requirements for production capacity, workforce compliance issues... etc.

I wish I could find Reed Knight's rant about it.  He wanted to submit his and Stoner's LMG design, but Knight's was disqualified for lack of production space.

I noticed that the domestic gun makers flat stopped submitting designs to the things.  You can't hardly blame them, the US civilian market dwarfs the US military one.