Anthroblogogy - on the brink of civilization, or off the edge...

Whut-funz, commenty-Spam

2012-02-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

So I notice a comment awaiting moderation and go to see what has gotten stuck like a bug in the craw of der Googerl. Such a complimentary delight, and from my olde chum, Axe-Sharpening Diamantoid!

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You're very intelligent.
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Axe Sharpening Diamond

And I will handle it up! Great stuffs!

Taking Stuff to a Class

2012-02-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

I have been advised in Comments of the need to take more than one or two magazines to my 1-day Defensive Handgun Safety and Manipulation course (with the esteemed Louis Awerbuck) so as not to be constantly off-focus and re-loading, and miss what is being taught. So, on the sage advice of the Goddess of Gunology, (primary among others) and in an effort to NOT be That Guy (who I so often-are) magazines are wear items, and I have been planning and preparing in advance. Today reading ToddG's brief on human potential, The Wrong Gun, he discusses the emotional attachment that people develop to the choices they made/make - a kind of false-conscioussness of gunnery that is common and evident among Teh Gun-Culture, and then seek to justify it.
In my case the Sig P220 is there in my "collection" because 1.) it is/was an affordable used-gun choice with a good record of accuracy, 2.) came with the recommendation from a friend who carries one, and 3.) if I have to ever actually *use* it I'm going to lose it to the Po-leece - and that is NOT something I want to happen to my beloved 1943 1911A1. So in effect it's disposable and replaceable as circumstances may warrant. And since one-is-none I went and bought a second, so now I am also doubly-financially invested, and my emotional attachment is also growing. And since I have been preparing by acquiring additional magazines...

It seems I now have twelve (thanks Unc!) - good thing I didn't pay retail or I would be invested close to $400 for all this, and I get real emotional about that amount of money...

Taking a Class

2012-02-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

I finally dropped the hammer (and sold enough crap on eBay) to take a pistol shootin' class in the middle of April. It's the Stage 1: 1-day Defensive Handgun Safety and Manipulation course at Reed's, with the instructor Louis Awerbuck, and I'm all excited - so I bought a mag-pouch because I didn't have one. I'll take the Sig(s) because I have two, and two is one.

It un-snaps, but only with great difficulty.

Between that and the training barrel I hope to be safe during practice...

New Slippers

2012-02-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

(I'm trying to get used to the new and hideously fugly Blogger suck-ass posting interface, and it's causing some internal consternation and dyspepsia.)

I needed some new foot-gear since my old Zamberlan hikers had gone and shrunk on me, ever since the Great Summer of Foot-Hell Ladder-Disaster.
It seems with advancing age I have grown a size and the old boots, besides being worn to a nubby sole, were pincer-narrow and killing me and my wife pointed out that OnlineShoes was having a sale and there were some she wanted...so...me-too!
I reference-checked a variety of sources where I expected hard-use to be a factor. Military Morons for their foot-gear evaluations (got a hit), Kit-Up (which was kinda a bust), and Soldier Systems where I got a confirming hit on the Lowa GTX's - which were conveniently on-sale - but only in my size in the sand-dune color - so OK then.

New clodhoppers. Light and easy and the right width:13-M.

Now I am tacticool for the desert and should be comfy on the range. My last pair of boots lasted about seven years, from the lava fields of Kilauea to the Gunblogger Rendezvouses...so I should be able to avoid boot-shopping for a while.

Baby needs a new set of shoes!

2012-02-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

Shot the Match and got a 414-6X, way better than last time! Threw a perfectly good 10 onto my neighbor's target. That and a few flyers and it would have been even better. Did nice in the rapids finally, that really helped.
Why does it seem like an all-day event when it only lasts till 1:00PM? My cart is a POS and I need something new to drag my gear around - new wheels at the minimum!
I'm tired, but it was a big turn-out, each relay was maxed out with people shooting on 0 and 16...so 34 guys were there.

A Simply Stunning Website and Endeavor

2012-02-03T09:27:00.001-08:00

In the whole 5-gun meme I responded variously in comments about certain picks, but NJT's post reminded me of one I forgot, so I went to find a picture of it - and was amazed...

And the amazement grew... This is a stunning accomplishment in aviation. I am awestruck.

Main Justice: Extensive Involvement in Operation Fast and Furious

2012-02-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Twenty-two page report:

I. The Fast and Furious Investigation Failed in its Goal
II. Main Justice Should Have Known Key Investigative Details
III. Jason Weinstein (Deputy Assistant Attorney General - my emphasis) Knew About Illegal Activity Yet Failed To Stop It
IV. Main Justice: Failing to Ask Questions
V. Justice Department Blaming Everyone Else

...
VI. Conclusion
ATF blames Main Justice for encouraging Fast and Furious. The Justice Department
blames ATF and the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office for the use of misguided tactics. Those who were in a position at Main Justice to stop the program blame their staffs for not bringing issues regarding Fast and Furious to their attention. U.S. Attorney’s Office personnel have either taken the Fifth Amendment and refused to discuss the issue with Congress, or have been estopped by the Justice Department from talking to Congress altogether. As the former ATF Acting Director testified in July 2011, it appears very clearly that the Department is circling the wagons to
protect its political appointees.

The family of Brian Terry, the families of countless citizens in Mexico slain by weapons purchased through Fast and Furious, and the American people deserve to know the truth. The Justice Department’s failure to be forthcoming and cooperate with the Committee’s investigation is unacceptable. The Justice Department’s failure to fully comply with congressional subpoenas only prolongs the inquiry and damages the public’s trust in the Department’s leadership.

Thus, the administration that took military action in Libya without any authorization from force from Congress, that appointed czars with policymaking authority without congressional confirmation, and that made “recess” appointments while Congress was not in recess is invoking executive privilege to cover how the Department of Justice reacted when Congress began asking about a gun-trafficking operation that got U.S. law enforcement officers murdered by Mexican drug cartels.

Class Warfare Meme

2012-02-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

Following Tam and recollecting an intellectual effort by Borepatch, I wandered over to Sonic Charmer at Rhymes With Cars & Girls to smarten-up and git me some edumacation. While there I chanced to drop a comment at Andrea's Spleenville, where the meme-in-progress was being rendered with What color is your bubble?, who goes on a good tear and says:

Anyway, for your amusement, I’m going to answer RWCG-guy’s parodic takeoff on the test.

And I thought, "Hey, Likewise!" Somebody please score me because I went to California schools where they used us as New-Math guinea-pigs, and subsequently I can't do the math.

But first my Certificata from Test-Ology Camp, and before I attempt to gather some cleverness together, first I have my say.: UPDATE: bLAH-BLAH-bLAH

Moi? Part of the New Upper Colostomy? So, on to the fun part:

Ivy league? Went to one (or Stanford): 2 points. 0 or Oops 2 - does three Quarters at Stanford count as anything? I am too close to the local Megaversity.
# of Malcolm Gladwell books read? Who? 0
Best TV show in history? 0 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea! Sheesh, or Rat Patrol! The Wire? 2 points. The Sopranos? 1 point. Never watched a single episode of either of those shows, don't have/never had cable. Is CableTV a prerequisite for Teh NEW Upper Class or a precursor for Teh Damned Lower Class - is it a Uniter or a Divider?
Complete the sentence: “The science is AMAZING! VULCANOLOGY! ” Huh? Settled? 2 points. In: ? WTF? In ?? 1 point. 0 - I see what you're trying to do there but it won't work and you shouldn't sneak in another UN Globular Whore-ming question.
(a) People drive too much (b) I live in a big city where PARKING is teh SUXXOR and car-robbery is rampant: Both: 2 points. (a) only: 1 point. 0 (c) Ride a motorcycle and be even more Elitist and Superior! Where's my freakin' Flying Car they promised, you call this The Future?
What’s there to do in K-Town? 0-k, K-whaa? Karaoke and Korean food: 2 points?? Korean food: 1 point? Kolkatta on the Hoogly where the flying fishes play, and the sun comes up like thunder out of Burma 'cross the Bay...
Name a sport that’s on the decline. 0 Baseball is a sport? Don't they play Baseball-games? As Hemingway said, Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports, all the others are games...
Zagat? Have it: 2 points. Know what it is: 1 point. 0 - Something to do with Android phones, or iPhones that all the rich (employed) assholes have?
I helped recommend my college friend for a job he/she got/got a job from a college friend’s recommendation.Both: 2 points. One: 1 point. 0 - I didn’t get any help (or was in a position to offer any) from College friends for anything, jobs or nuthin - and don't have much connection with the ones I went to School with - I guess it didn't "stick".
Worse grades in college, Bush or Kerry? Bush: 2 points. I see what you’re doing there, but the premise of that question is flawed: 1 point. 0 - Kerry had 'em worse.
What’s the matter with: Wassamatta-U Kansas? 2 points. That’s a sentence fragment: 1 point. I heard it was a book or something by an Edu-snoot.
Good reason for private elementary school for your kids? I believe class size/personalized attention is bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla anecdote about your own kid]: 2 points. I researched a lot of bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla and an X% effect with an R^2 of [bla bla]: 1 point. 0 - Private Schools are good and necessary to counter and avoid the propaganda and dumbing-down of education that occurs in Teachers-Union Government Skools, but really you should get off your ass and Home-School like I was, partly anyhow.
Bush’s Brain: Yes I saw that documentary, what about it?: 2 points. Um, is dumb/damaged? (duh): 1 point. - 0 this question is a h8er.
(a) Approve of Obamacare (b) haven’t read it/pretty much don’t know the details at all: Both: 2 points. (a) only: 1 point. 0 - No. NEVER, there's no excuse for it.
Sarah Palin would be a terrible President because she’s:Dumb and crazy: 2 points. Crazy: 1 point. 0 - She's brilliant and all the rest is h8ter propaganda and some dork who thinks it's not her child.
Name two Nobel Prize winners. Nobel, Barack Obama and Paul Krugman: 2 points. Barack Obama and (someone else): 1 point. Paul who? The Peace Prize Terrrorist Killer Obama? Heisenberg! Eugene O'Neill! No Nobel Prizes awarded between 1940 and 1943, wonder why, think maybe #OCCUPYNORWAY might have somethign to do with it?
After she graduates from grad school you’d be most pleased for your daughter to get a job at a: Nonprofit: 2 points. Hedge fund: 1 point. I don’t have any children. If I had them, I’d be pleased if they got a job anywhere that got them out of the house.
(a) Believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming (b) know nothing about climate modeling and have never studied let alone engaged in anything of the sort: Both: 2 points. (a) only: 1 point. No, it's a fraud on an international scale that's rapidly coming apart.
Podcast: This American Life: 2 points. Other NPR-related: 1 point. The Vicious Circle - only podcast I ever heard about - but I don’t listen to podcasts.
Fill in the blank: GUNBOAT Diplomacy! Smart: 2 points. Cowboy (as in “Bush’s Cowboy diplomacy”): 1 point. 0
Constitution and Obamacare: I don’t see how Obamacare can be unconstitutional: 2 points. I recognize the tension but I pretend not to and instead insist on arguing that Obamacare fits inside the Commerce Clause: 1 point. Didn’t we already have an Obamacare question? It's un-Constitutional and Illegal and WRONG.
Alexander Payne movie: Max Payne? Sideways: ?Quel? 2 points. Citizen Ruth: ?1 point. Never heard of him, don't go to movies - saw Sideways on DVD.
(a) Cities are great because of all the cultural opportunities, like the symphony/museums/etc. (b) Don’t really go to the symphony/museums/etc.Both: 2 points. (a) only: 1 point. Cities are places with stuff all gathered into one place, and the Military calls it a TARGET. Bombs away!
A kind of tax we need more of: Pigouvian: 2 points. Value-added (or financial-transaction): 1 point. 0?? Pig-what? LESS taxes of all kinds, taxes are STUPID.
Who’s dumber, a PhD or an MBA? MBA: 2 points. PhD: 1 point. A PhD with an MBA. PhD's generally are blockheads who stop thinking and can't be taught anything more once the sheepskin hits their hot and sweaty little fist.

OK, I'm done - put a fork in me...

Starbucks Buy-cott Feb. 14

2012-01-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

Bitter has an interesting post on Shall not be Questioned about the absurd claims made by the new Brady boycott of Starbucks regarding their support-numbers, and she give a sampling of comments made to their Facebook page:

“reeeely EZ to boycott a place I never go lol”
“Oh I have HATED coffee shops for many many years..EASY PEASY!”
“I ALWAYS boycott Starbucks because of Schultz’ views about Palestine”
“I have always boycotted Starbucks.”
“I don’t do Starbucks because I don’t drink coffee.”
“I am in a perpetual boycott of their sub par hot chocolate and overpriced pretentious products.”
“This may not be as difficult for me as some others. I’ve never been in a Starbucks.”
“I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN A STARBUCKS FACILITY BUT I SUPPORT WHAT YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A CONSIENCIOUS PERSON WHO ADVOCATED FOR ISSUES THAT WERE IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE.”
“I quit using Starbucks more than a year ago, but I totally support your efforts on this important issue!!”

It seems evident to me that by relying on "social-media" (Facebook) they have narrowed their prospective client-base of anti-freedom protestors to those individuals with impaired brain-activity - but just imagine what the comments (and Boycott page) might be like if they advocated on MySpace!

Is if Friday already?

2012-01-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

What the hell happened to this week? Sheesh.

Tweet the Hell out of this!

2012-01-24T18:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Sean Sorrentino:

What we’ve never heard is an explanation of who is involved in Fast and Furious, the Gunwalker scandal. I think we should flood Twitter with some questions. Luckily, my good friend Bob Owens has given us some. Read the questions below and click to link to Tweet them to the advisers. Click each one to tweet all five!

Thanks to Bitter for the HTML/Twitter help.

Who came up with the idea of allowing guns to be purchased by straw purchasers and then “walked” across the border by smugglers?

Who authorized Operation Fast and Furious in the Department of Justice?

Who authorized Operation Fast and Furious in the Department of Homeland Security?

Is Operation Fast and Furious the only operation of its type, or were there similar operations in other states as evidence suggests?

What did Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Janet Napolitano know about Operation Fast and Furious, and when did they know it?

And thanks to Eric,

Where's the budget??

Why is HHS violating the First Amendment???

Why is TSA violating Article I?

Grips in 3-D!

2012-01-23T14:50:00.000-08:00

Instinct at Life in 3-D, besides having an irrepressibly cute kid is doing well with the hunk of furry timber I sent to him. I think his dad is going to be right chuffed with the new clampers:

Woot!

UPDATE: check the links (updated), call him and throw money art him for a set of excellent, no medallion, no chrome trucker-girl, no-pimp grips. :-)

Don't you guys ever click on links? I'm just showcasing Mark's work! Go throw money (and work) at him, not plaudits at me - those go to him too!

The classiest lady at SHOT-show

2012-01-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

H/T David Hardy, here's his friend, attorney Erin Simpson:

Not to dis-mention always classy SHOT-show lady Julie Goloski.

Hallway Bathroom Half-Demo

2012-01-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

Well that didn't take too long. I'm told that one should never do both (if you have two) bathrooms at the same time...

UPDATE:
Curved shower curtain-rod hung at a greater height makes the experience much more expansive. I really like the extra shoulder-room.

SOPA Rope-a-Dope-a

2012-01-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think really stupid crap like this, insane junk that is thrown like feces on the wall by the Evil Monkey Party and its Stupidslature, is just a stalking-horse for Obama to shoot-down and thereby appear to be wise, benevolent, and actually doing something besides golf and vacation. Bah!

What you cannot get at GunsAmerica

2012-01-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

This fine unit of tactical lever-action riflery is now available from Mossberg:

The only thing it's missing is the enlarged hula-hoop loop for faster functioning while wearing mittens. I believe a Mare's Leg version will soon be available in 45-70.
H/T: GunsForEveryone, and some others I can't find now...

Bug-Out Bags II

2012-01-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

Front and back - with the basic 72-hour load. Three bottles of water, a brick of emergency food-type junk, sleeping gear and medical supplies...and fresh socks.

I cannot emphasize enough how important load-bearing suspension and comfort is, even for a relatively light load. There's gonna be enough bug-out trauma, anxiety, and weighty-issue mental-stuff flying around already without adding a physical discomfort penalty and an actual weight-compromise.

Insight WL1-AA close-up

2012-01-11T16:22:00.000-08:00

The rail grabber grabs well.

It pops-off, but not easily and only one-way - it's THE TICK - a solid unit.

The double-A batteries are a plus, easy and inexpensive to source.

I got your candlepower right here

2012-01-09T13:28:00.001-08:00

Enough said, huh?

Light A Candle To Stop Violence

2012-01-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's not my carry gun since I'm not in a free-state, but an old 1909 Colt can do the job of stopping a violent person as well as a new one. Violence isn't an existential abstract *thing* unto itself that floats around in the air like a cloud raining here and there and making some unfortunate people terribly unhappy.
It's real and personal and committed by people with evil in their heart, not things. It only begets more if the begetter survives his begetting act - stop it in its tracks hard and it's over.
1909 Colt and Kukri

For every tragedy perpetrated by a lunatic, there are a thousand people who arm themselves and refuse to be made victims – in recognition of those people and in support of our innate human right to be armed, Forgotten Weapons is happy to join the Light a Candle to Stop Violence meme proposed by Weerd.

Whoops - had a weirdness with the post and Forgotton Weapons' pic.

Sig P2220 Mainspring Struts 1989 vs. 2004

2012-01-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

At the time I announced an #InstallationFAIL upon the Sig Slim-Grips I had purchased I received some feed-flack from a know-nothing fanboy who derided my choice of purchase venue: eBay.
But they were the Full-Factory Original Thangs - just not at factory price$ that I can't afford.
The mounting problem stemmed from an unannounced (to me anyhow) Sig modernization and manufacturing change, from the old steel mainspring-strut to something rather different.
Anyhow the old grips fit but new ones didn't and here's a closer examination and visual explanation of how and why it worked (or didn't).
The rear profile of the old grip is noticeably fuller to accommodate the old-style strut, and the new "Slim" grip is unable to maintain that voluptuous contour.

Bug-Out Zombie New Year

2012-01-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

We made an executive decision to upgrade the Zombie bug-out bags.

I think you can probably see why...modernity rears its ugly head.

Shoulder and back suspension mean a EVERYTHING as far as carrying-comfort goes, and the old bags were literally little more than unstructured bags with shoulder straps, and lumpy places where gear could dig into you.

I have always really liked having a separate compartment for sleeping gear, it just makes sense and keeps things clean.

I miss having a couple (or more!) side-pockets because they provide quick and easy access to things, but there's (1.) a grab-handle for quick Zombie-getaways,(2.) a couple semi-hidden zipper side pockets good for single-stack magazines and maybe a small .38,(3.) a fairly useful internal/external double top-pocket,(4.) an internal flap for a 2-litre hydration system, and (5.) a rain-fly to keep it dry.
I'll get these packed-up and take some more shots when I'm done.

New Year's beginning

2012-01-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

On the happenstance and advice of West of the West we were off to hit the coast. That necessitated a twisty mountain drive up through sun-dappled towering redwoods, and down again through darkly wooded caverns to the sand-cliffs along the shore. For some reason it always amuses me to see big agricultural equipment parked along dusty farm roads, roads that lead to a 50-foot cliff with an ocean at the bottom.
That land you see is all worked to the ocean's edge, planted with everythign from 'chokes to 'sprouts to cabbages.

Out past Pillar Point the waves were braking big in the area where Maverick's goes off, and the large shore-rocks were evident in the bright sun from a good distance.
Never noticed that before...

The green of the golf-course at The Ritz contrasted vividly with the sand and cliffs and the 70-degree weather. It made the local craziness seem almost worthwhile - to sit in contentment looking across the vast ocean.

At the parking valet every third person didn't speak English and tall gangly super-models vaulted from Ferrari's and other exotic vehicles. I guess the Europeans who still have a Euro or two parked in offshore accounts like to vacation here.

We had a nosh of chowder and a round of drinks that cost a friggin' unbelievably obscene amount of money but tasted so good.

Probably not going back anytime soon -- but for some reason (maybe this one?) we haven't been to the coast in a while, even though it's just a short drive - oh well...

Drove up the coast to The Miramar, and the chowder-house was jam-packed with people. They had expanded their service to include the side-yard and the tables were full. People were everywhere, walking up and down the road crowding the beach, throwing sticks to dogs splashing in the calm Pacific water. Cars were parked everywhere, and at odd and inappropriate locations, it just made a huge traffic jam. We drove for home to escape the crowd.

Happy 2012 ~BOHICA~

2011-12-31T18:27:00.000-08:00

As the old Year passes into the mists of oblivion and fragile memory and a new one makes its lumbering way onto the scene, remember that there is nothing new under the Sun, all is ephemera, and here it comes again...

And don't forget Hipster-Newt - the force with whom to be reckoned.

BWA-HA-haha!

A giant-gun sized hole...

2011-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

...shaped like a water heater. Yeh that was fun, but hot water is funner.

In other news, for Christmas as my sole gunny-gift, from a friend I received the Ultra-Über-Dúber Tactiçal... The Tick (AKA the EZ Add-On Rail).

It's pretty cool, just replace the takedown lever with the supplied one that has a pin extension...super easy to do and it's rock solid.

Patent # 7,117,627 B2

THERE ARE NO TOOLS REQUIRED...PERIOD!
*------ slips on and off of your weapon.
*------ accepts most Tactical Lights and Lasers
*------ will stay solidly attached to your weapon
*------ won’t scratch your weapon
*------ maintains bore-sight

TRGear is proud of the short but successful history with the EZ Rail. SOCOM liked it so much, they requested a design for the M6 Sig 226 for the US Navy SEALS.

The EZ Rail has seen action all over the world; from Iraq to Afghanistan, to the Pacific Rim. It has been tested and approved by: Colt, m1911.org, Navy Seals, US Special Forces, and Military Police.

So NOW I'm all TACTICAL and shit - I just need a light for this damn thing, and another for the other one that already has a built-in rail.
What light for TICK!?

Bird Logo

2011-12-28T17:07:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different, has anybody seen this logo before?

For gun-content, it's the logo on a set of shot-glasses - we think they might be from some kind of Scandinavian ship-line...

Did a reverse-image search at TinEye (www.tineye.com/) and got nothing...

Merry Beefmas!

2011-12-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

God Bless us each and every one, and you too!

Boneless rib-eye roast from Costco @ 350° for 1-1/2 hours or until 130-degrees, yanked from heat and then tented with foil until interior temps reached 140-degrees. And none of those sissy Centigrade degrees, either.

Trim and Paint

2011-12-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

We got the baseboard and door casings nailed up all around with my GunClub buddy's tools and direction, and then today started in on paint with the excellent Frogtape masking the walls, and blue-tape on the floor...

At this time of year the light goes away around 2:00 PM and you can't tell what's wet or dry or already painted, and since we don't have any work-lights we'll start again on the other half of the baseboard tomorrow...

Rockin' Old-School Sigstuff

2011-12-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

My friend Uncle came across an old Sig magazine in a dark corner from his Gun-snoot dayze, and currently lacking the base launcher while knowing I did not, sent it to me for a very Merry Christmas!
Quel Surprise! And it happens to be an interesting old(er) magazine in the eponymous caliber beginning with a proverbial 4 and ending with a 5.
And anybody who reads this blog knows, I have a thing for magazines and magazine-y stuff.
All my stuff is spankign new and stainless, this is blue and as you can see in the pics, the magazine uses the spring to lock the base (on the side). Also the magazine-spring fits only one-way in the body, with a pronounced anti-tilt follower - it's kinda cool...it's a zipperback! Reminds me of a ZZ Top song...

Expect to see a future comparison test of this and my other magazines, where I rapidly empty them to see if there's any functional compromises...

Doors and baseboard again

2011-12-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

All the baseboard in the "office" and the door casings are removed, and the new stuff will get put-up today. The house is a maze of stacked boxes and crap, the furniture is in the center of the room...

Bathroom Medicine Cabinet

2011-12-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

We cut holes and 2x4's and holes for 2x4's and had a double-thick wall and framed it back in to pick-up and carry the load where the cabinet went.
And fished the romex for power to the inside of the cabinet, and that came off the box with the GFI breaker-switch - so that's especially cool too.

And then we got the sink cabinet in and I almost got it wired but need a longer downspout.
Now there will be storage!

And it's up to me to work my magic with mud and texture and paint and... a new towel-rack, paper-holder, and such-like fixtures...

Anti-Gun Newt - Big Liar Pants on Fire, the Nanny-State beckons!

2011-12-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

"As long as I am Speaker of this House, no gun control legislation is going to move in committee or on the floor of this House and there will be no further erosion of their rights"
~ Newt Gingrich lying to the American people

What's up with Big Nanny-Stater finger-in-the-air Gingrinchster's position on guns and the 2nd Amendment: In '96 on Meet the Press he said the Lautenberg gun ban, which lowered the threshold for losing one’s Second Amendment rights to a mere misdemeanor, was "a very reasonable position"... WTF?
And he refused to co-sponsor a repeal of the gun-ban during the next Congress, in Helen Chenoweth's "States' Rights and Second and Tenth Amendment Restoration Act of 1997," despite repeated requests to do so. Double WTF??
He voted for an anti-gun "terror" bill that had the provisions(a DeLauro amendment) that would have severely punished gun owners for possessing a laser sighting device - a first step to banning those items, AND the Schumer (*ick!* spit/gag/barf) amendment to "centralize Federal, State and Local police." Triple WTF??? Schumer??
Other candidates own guns. Rick Perry shoots coyotes with a .380 Ruger and has demonstrated proficiency with an AR, which happens to be the favorite gun of Michelle Bachman. Rick Santorum has seven guns with his favorite being a Kimber 1911 pistol. Huntsman has the trifecta a rifle (.22), a pistol (.38Spl), and a shotgun (12 gauge) - not too bad for his name's sake there, despite being a wussy Palo Alto High School dropout, mullet-head garage-band, REO Speedwagon fan-boy. Ron Paul owns some guns but (typical) won't say what or how many.
Mitt doesn't and neither does "lifelong hunter" and MA gun-ban liar Romney.
The hell with Newt.

Nothing Spells HATE like b-o-u-r-g-e-o-i-s

2011-12-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

"Boor-zjhwah!" Cried the Marxist rolling the dice, "Death to (1.) the bourgeois class. (2.) (in Marxist theory) the class that, in contrast to the proletariat or wage-earning class, is primarily concerned with property values!!"
Simply put, to the quasi-Educated Marxist (BA Puppeteering 101, MA Street Theater, PhD Dramatic Irony), the Middle Class is the enemy.
Meanwhile the wealthy Apparatchiks who man the pumps at Le Fannie-Mac-Freddie pour freshly printed money down the flume to the Hansel the Wandering Proletariat, leaving a trail of financially wet crumbs that lead to a FREE HOUSE! (Soon to be underwater as a submarine with screen doors.)
No wonder the whole despicable primarily-concerned-with-property-values Govt. Housing Thang collapsed, the 99%ProletariatPure place no value in property! As evidence clearly, they leave their encampments filthy and denuded, looking like the Somme 1916 after a hard night of mustard gas and bombardments.
Thus lives the hipster NeoPagan, for that's what the Olde-Tyme Co-Religionists did (besides k-k-killing homosexuals). The non-property-valuing I-take-what-I-want Viking-type renters (and other) Pagan-Heathenists trashed a place and then moved on, letting the all-powerful Gaia-Natura take care of it herself. After all, it's her job. And don't say "get a job" like those other anti-hippies say, that's just mean and Mean people Suck. #OccupyFairyland! #Coexist! Etc!

Christmas Gunny Wishlist

2011-12-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

Since Nature and The Universe abhor a vacuum and a lack of symmetry, (and to double-down on SayUncle's list-post) I came up with my own future vision of what marvels of gunnyriffic excitement might-oughtta show up at Teh Shotz Shoe (which I will again not be attending because it costs too much and I don't have any money). To whit since it's Glock's World (Die Glockenwelt) and we just live in it, Glock needs to make a plastic .410/.45 pistol called..."~~Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen~~" (no that's too long and nobody could pronounce it) ~~Der Rechtsanwalt,~~ no not that either,...what is German for Leader... Der...Füh - whatever - anyhow-and-meanwhile, then Taurus can go ahead and make pink one called Judge Judy...

The Shower Valve

2011-12-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

The tile all around the valve was poorly cut and I have to caulk gaps surrounding the trim-plate. I took it all apart so I could find out what it is - a Delta 600-series.
It's not a bad valve (if a little delicate?) and it's easy to find parts and fix, and does everything with a twirl - literally.
It does Hot-Cold by rotating the round knob Left/Right, and water volume is handled with with the Up/Down function of a single knob. Some of the fancy stuff I've seen requires more rotating wheels and knobs - kinda defeats the idea of simplicity.
It is possible to get a stainless-steel trim-kit and make it work with a "handle," but they didn't have one and decided to hold off, and the H -to- C index thing is emblazoned with a big ugly colorful decal or something I don't want and don't know if I could remove.

Anyhow I gotta caulk around the trim and and fill in the unsightly and unprofessional gaps as a stopgap measure until I can line up our contractors and make a bigger move on the whole tub-shower-tile-toilet-floor assemblage...

Bathroom Renovation

2011-12-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

The Hallway Bathroom renovation has started. My carpenter buddy is coming tomorrow and I thought I do a little preparation so as not to waste his time. The first installation point being a new, Monster-Medicine cabinet and I figured I'd better remove the old one(s) I installed about twenty years ago.
Holy-Damn, that long already??
The hole on the right is just gonna get plugged with some fresh 1/2" Sheetrock.

Since the sink was in the way and I have a new one, I removed that too.

2011-12-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

The Tiki Dude is up on top of the Aloha Christmas tree...

Moto-Cops have have Hogs and dirtbikes...

And you can get a big box of Squid at Costco!

Is this A GREAT COUNTRY - or what??

Trading with the Media Enemy

2011-12-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

I wonder if Media-Matters will argue that there was no issue with the State Department selling guns to Mexico despite knowing that guns wound up in the wrong hands, or that the Fast & Furious program AND the DEA’s "Project Buckwalker" money-laundering operation both violated the "Kingpin Act" (21 U.S.C. §§ 1901-08) which was a component of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701, the follow-on to the Trading with the Enemy Act) that was expanded in order to criminalize any transactions between U.S. entities — to include departments and agencies of the U.S. government — and all foreign drug cartels.

The Kingpin Act is an extension of the highly successful IEEPA sanctioning program specifically targeting Colombian drug cartels. It expands sanctions authority against various drug cartel operations worldwide — including Mexico — which have been determined by the president to be threats to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

...crickets-crickets... Unless THIS president didn't consider the Mexican drug cartels to be security threats, perhaps he only thought of them as future campaign donors.

New Doors

2011-12-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

With a little help from Shootin'Club Buddy the Union Carpenter, I got the bi-fold doors that hide the washer and dryer and which I painted last month (or earlier?) cut to fit and hung. He needs the side-job work, what with this severe economic downturn and so little construction activity motivating the Trades...

Can't believe I don't have a before pic from the painting and baseboard work...but these have considerably fewer and larger louvers, and better match the new baseboard and door-casing.

Powdered Milk

2011-12-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

Og write about preparation and coffee and it triggers an old memory. I/we grew-up drinking powdered milk because we were kinda poor (we prefer the word "frugal") and my dad could buy big boxes of it and mix it cheaply. It was skim-milk without the fat and it was fortified with vitamins. My folks still have and use the plastic containers that came with each box.
Overseas in hot and Socialist India we got a 2-litre milk ration from the Govt. store - it tasted funky and a bit gamey. My brother and I (ages 8 and 9) rode our bikes over to the Govt. shop, each with a 1-litre pail/can that had a lid and a handle and with our family's ration-book, to wait in line for the store to open in the morning before the supply of milk ran-out. Usually we received some local Hindu harassment from adults standing in line who didn't like "f*ing white monkeys" -- and the usual reception of rock-throwing from other kids as we rode home with the milk hanging from out handlebars.
In Spain when I was stumping around with my leg all swollen up from the Brown Recluse bite, to fortify myself I drank Spanish milk from a plastic bag - it was pasteurized and sterilized (?) and designed to last without refrigeration. I left this comment there, and dammit now I have a blog post.

Soldier's Angels Effort

2011-12-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Times are tight and baby needs a new pair of shoes, but go help Linoge if you can. I am changing my SA link in the Left sidebar for the duration. He's doing well with the Current Total Donation Amount of $1270 - kewl!
How to Earn a Ticket:

1. Every five dollars you donate directly to Soldiers’ Angels nets you one numbered ticket.
2. Every five dollars you spend in their Dollar Days or Amazon shops (where the products are shipped directly to them) gets you one ticket.
3. Every five dollars you spend in the Angels’ Store for any product that is shipped to "ANY Hero", "ANY Wounded Soldier", or "A SPECIFIC Soldier" earns you one ticket.
4. DO NOT SEND ME (Not "Me," me, Linoge at Walls of the City ) MONEY. All money and goods should go directly to Soldiers’ Angels.
5. DO SEND ME (Not "Me," me, Linoge) THE RECEIPT. Anonymize it however you like, and use the actual receipt or a screencap, but email from an address I can reach you back at. Send the receipt/proof to “linoge (at) wallsofthecity (dot) net”.
6. Specify how many of your tickets you want in the "holster", "belt", and "general" pools.
7. Within 24 hours, you should receive an email from me indicating your ticket numbers. If you do not, feel free to email me again or comment here.

The Walls of the City Fundraiser Prizes:
Current number of prizes: 15
(In the order they will be drawn.)
The Dragon Leatherworks Holster Pool:

1x Yet-Unnamed-and-Unreleased Pocket Holster for a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380, as made and donated by Dragon Leatherworks. So it does not have a name yet; that is ok – maybe if you win it, Dennis will let you name it. What cannot be questioned, though, is this is a holster from a fabricator with a history of producing quality products, dressed up in some pretty shiny-looking snakeskin, and designed for one of the more-popular up-and-coming pocket pistols.

The Best Belt Pool:

1x The Best Belt, courtesy of Michael’s Custom Holsters. Whether or not this belt lives up to its name is up to you, its eventual winner, to decide, but with two layers of top-grain leather, a sandwiched layer of nylon webbing, stainless steel hardware, and a lifetime warranty, I am not really seeing how it could not. Want a way to carry your holsters in comfort and security? This is a darned good start.

The General Pool:

1x Crimson Trace Corporation Glock Lightguard, courtesy of CTC. Imagine a flashlight that is mounted underneath your sidearm that comes on when you squeeze the grip a little more tightly – that is the prize you could win, from a company who made its name applying similar technology and concepts to laser sights, and who know what they are doing when it comes to “light” and “firearms”.

1x Crimson Trace Corporation S&W M&P Lightguard, courtesy of CTC. Yes, the awesome folks at Crimson Trace donated another Lightguard to this fundraiser.

1x Crimson Trace Corporation Springfield XD Lightguard, courtesy of CTC. No, you are not seeing triplicate – Crimson Trace donated three separate Lightguards to help out Soldiers’ Angels. How awesome is that? I can put the winners of these three prizes in touch with one another if they need to swap around who won what, just for compatibility’s sake.

2x FlipSide Wallet, courtesy of FlipSide themselves. I reviewed these outstanding wallets here and wrote a follow-up here, but suffice to say that if they are worth the price of admission, they are probably worth a donation to an outstanding cause to try to win. The first one drawn will be the Mech Grey version, and the second will be Stealth (black) – appropriately “tactical” colors indeed.

2x Soft Target, by Stephen Hunter, courtesy of Simon and Schuster. I have not read my copy yet, but the reviewers, including the folks over at Downrange.tv, are writing rave reviews. In any case, this is a brand-spanking new hardback copy, straight from the publisher, and complete with its publicity insert. The book does not even come out until the 6th of December!

3x Gunwalker T-Shirt, as designed by and courtesy of Sean Sorrentino. The entire Gunwalker scandal is a disaster no matter how you look at it, but increasing public awareness of it and trying a little gallows humor will probably help everyone come to terms with it – suffice to say, this perfectly concise t-shirt accomplishes just that.

1x Monster Hunter International (Tombstone, Arizona branch) patch, as designed by and courtesy of Jason of Empty Mags. Check out that monster-whacking awesomeness! Something like that would look perfect on an IDPA vest, range bag, or just on a jacket to show off your gunny-geek cred.

2x 2 Monster Hunter International (Eastern Tennessee branch) patches, as designed by me. Yup, you get two chances to win two patches, and, yes, they look as monster-hunting-cool in person as they do on your screen.

December Practice-Match

2011-12-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

I hate getting up early in December, it's cold and dark, even here. At first the camera takes a picture of the inside of my windshield - it doesn't know where to focus. I need to clean my windshield.

The early light throws shadows on the target frames and on my position on #3, but it brightens up in the usual fashion.

I did pretty well in the rapids and managed to eak-out a 400. I need to practice more often but lately things have just been in the way - things like Hawaii anyhow, so it's not too bad.
I shot my coveted and dwindling supply of Black Hills 68-grain Match (now Heavy Match) since I was tired of the generous variability offered-up by the Army-issue XM193. I need to shoot better than it allows.
As always, click to embiggenate.

We're Winning...

2011-12-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

The somewhat fudley Hunter-Guy store that never carried "black rifles" now does, and Magpul stuff too.

It must have happened a long time ago back when the BayArea was a lot less Bay-Aryan, hipper and less brain-dead Liberal - but try not to do this especially to an early (five digit) commercial:

And that Luger will never have quite the same value either...

Climate Hootenanny

2011-12-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

The Climes they is a-changing... Science is hard, and repeating the obvious with great nuancedness and all the complicated caveatistics too - but with all the Scientifical hectoring and bumptiousness Link goes to a brief abstract that says:
Assessing impacts of future anthropogenic carbon emissions is currently impeded by uncertainties in our knowledge of equilibrium climate sensitivity to atmospheric carbon dioxide doubling.
"We have no clue about Co2 balance and just made it up."
Previous studies suggest 3 K as best estimate, 2 to 4.5 K as the 66% probability range, and nonzero probabilities for much higher values, the latter implying a small but significant chance of high-impact climate changes that would be difficult to avoid.
"Previous use of anonymous numerals (3!) and letters (K!) allowed us to flim-flam a fake (%!) equation-sounding zero-sum analysis."
Here, combining extensive sea and land surface temperature reconstructions from the Last Glacial Maximum with climate model simulations, we estimate a lower median (2.3 K) and reduced uncertainty (1.7 to 2.6 K 66% probability).
"And more of the same analysissy-stuff only more integrated with more letters and numbers - except the sea and land measurements are totally unfounded, just trust us that they exist."
Assuming paleoclimatic constraints apply to the future as predicted by our model, these results imply lower probability of imminent extreme climatic change than previously thought.
"That's it for modern-day Catastrophic Anthropological Globular Warmening! Now can I get $ome more re$earch funding for $omething $uper-$cientificky, plea$e?"

As one commenter said:When you mix politics and science, what you get is politics. That works equally well for economics, and certainly the political economics of Scientific research funding.
Politics is the P-factor where P = poo, as a chocolate milkshake made with poo is still only a poo-milkshake.

Memorial on a Heiau

2011-12-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

This lei and some white sea-salt(?) was left on the lava rocks of an ancient Heiau on the North Shore, overlooking the Waimea river's entry to the sea.

UPDATE: Oh yeh, this is the location of Puʻu o Mahuka Heiau State Historic Site, and prior (and also later) to contact with the West, the Heiau functioned as a luakini heiau where people were killed and sacrificed to the ancient Gods.
It was a bloody place and probably not very well liked by the local population since they were the ones most subject to being conveniently and involuntarily offered-up upon the altar. It remains sacred because of all the death and bloodshed that occurred, and many other small stones, wrapped and tied with ti-leaf, were found along the crumbled old walls.

And these white Plumeria exhibited a curious spiral twist.

Get Scammed Lately?

2011-11-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

PDB drew my attention to a good post on OODA loops and Conditions that caused me to respond with an anecdote.
Nice call.
Recently had a recollection of the Carter Era when some lady in the parking-lot of Safeway asked if I had jumper cables. The car was new and a mid-sized adolescent kid was in the back seat. You can't jump cars nowadays like you could back then.
Suddenly another guy passing by who overheard her question walked up and said to her, "Hey, this is why ALL women should have Triple-A, you don't know WHO I am (pointing at himself) or who this gangster is." (pointing to me) And then he said to me, "You remember what people were doing back then, when times were tough. It works both ways too." Fried a Hyundai lately? Think I couldda paid for a new electrical system - or something?
And all I could think of was Cheech and Chong and a garbage-can full leaves and old beer-cans and crud - all sloshing around in gasoline they just siphoned. Be Cool. Like back around when I hitchhiked from the Golden State down to Colorado and out East, things were a bit jumpy - and funky.
When I came out of the store she (and the kid) was gone.
Jumper cables? Check your gas-cap lately? Crap, now I have a blog post.

Noted Nobel-Prize Winning DNA Researcher Follows in the Footsteps of his Famous Geneticist Mentor.

2011-11-29T16:50:00.000-08:00

...and finds a link between cellular melanin content and career suicide. Sullivan pulls a Shockley.
I honestly don't know why anybody at all listens or reads the crap he spews out, or how he manages to sustain himself - and I don't care either.

Running against the gloom

2011-11-29T13:05:00.000-08:00

More deliciousness: a miniature papaya...

And you pay good money for this in a salad at a Sushi bar:

To counteract the effects of cold

2011-11-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

Just a quick and temporary visual remedy:

I'm not there now, I was a week or so ago.

2011-11-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

Up and running with the main-box.
Backup is actually functional (for once!) and data loss was minimal. The snorkeling on Maui is much better, but the Oahu waves were made to surf... Vacation was fun and a return to the cold and damp was not, but there it is.
I'm ready for some seasonal shopping (Midway!) but I'm not sure if I have any money (left)! #OccupyMidway~??

Morning, clouds over the Pacific

2011-11-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

You're looking at 2,388 miles to California right there...
Click to verBigulate.
The Lost banyan tree.

Windows-7 #OccupySystem Failure

2011-11-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

Still having a bitch of a time reloading the OS on the big AMD64bit Quad box..
WTF it keeps stalling and balking and sluggishly moving along to do any f*ing thing like a G*damn 17-year old.

UPDATE: Clean boot, re-boot, Anytime Upgrade fails, Windows Update fails - it's a stink-pot mess.
I'm about ready to "format c:" and just start over...

CHKDSK and what is "Heavy Match"...?

2011-11-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Since the return from the Islands my main 'puter box went on an #OccupyFail smelly-sluggish slow-down, and to reassert Mah Authoriteh I re-installed Winderz-SiebenUnProfi - and the balky bastiges bytes kept only truculently travelling so I set upon them with the curse of CHKDSK - the joke being on me that even a Quad-process tractor running a big-terrabyte bit-platter will take an afternoon or better to finish the farm furrows. At 71% as we speak, 241805966 clusters...etc...

So to kill some time I go to the local funshop to chat with my testosterone-fueled friends and get a whiff of steel and oil. Neat ACOG AR scope only costs $879 or something, substantially more than my Christmas/Birthday budget allows... And I wander the aisles of balistic happiness and spy this familiar shiny face, only different.
Back when I was employed and flush and had my own healthcare-plan and a 401K and all that Evil Corporate Grteed crap, before I got into Career#4 Unemployed-House-Husband Aged Graphic Has-Been Loser, I had the handy scratch to outright buy a case of this stuff at a decent (or at least semi-rational) pre commodities-spike price.
Now it's much higher (closing in on almost double, locally anyhow) and it's HEAVY. Same 68-grain (Sierra?) non-molly hollowptip has gained a marketing degree in Heavy.

Heavy? Not this box, it's my old one (and full). At le4qstr I still have some, maybe enough to break into Expert if I apply myself.

Stonkin' North Shore Wave Action

2011-11-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

So I take off to enjoy some surf-action with Harper's kid (and his security detail) on the North Shore about the time the Vans Triple Crown is being held, and come back to a dirt-ready computer that's running slower than molasses in Vermont and weather that sucks heinous cold-ness! Wassup with that, man?

At least the Canadians didn't hit the water with hockey sticks, and could stand up on the board, which is about better than me - but we both luckily missed the Michelle-O Motorcade that tied up Kualoa for a day...we were heading into town when they passed us with all the lights on goign the other way. You had to wonder what's up with all the stiffs in suits standing around itching their armpits, when the weather dictated boardshorts. Sheesh, some people just need a KelTec instead.

#Occupy Hoth Ice Planet

2011-11-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Seen on a Honda minivan in downtown Googlopolis.

#OccupyMorgue

2011-11-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

#Occupyfail 6-shots fired and a man was killed at OccupyOakland now known as #OccupyMorgueSlab. Just what the Anarchists hope-for, how soon before they blame the cops? But there's always this: "Don't forget, we're in downtown Oakland." Duh, didn't they know that already? Where's Horst Wessel when you need him... Occupy a morgue slab - it's freaking Oakland, don't these out-of-town nimrods know anything about OAKLAND?? Home of the Hells Angels, anyone? If you want peace and love you go Up To The Country (as the song goes), not to Oakland. Home of gangster rap, home of getting shot, home of murder, robbery, aggravated assault and more, an entrenched Socialist Government.
They thought they could get away with all the civil disobedience and unrest they could generate - only in Oakland the violence generates back on the occupier, or more often, the actual resident.

UPDATE: The current #OccupyMorgueSlab camper was an OAKLAND protestor.
A post at the PJ Media Tatler mentions the Police statement issued which says in part:

In a statement today, the Oakland Police Officers Association said the protesters need to leave their downtown camp “so we can get back to fighting crime in Oakland neighborhoods.”

“Our officers are the 99 percent struggling in Oakland neighborhoods ever day to contain the 1 percent who rob, steal, rape and murder our law-abiding citizens,”

The Tatler makes the point: Note also the interesting evolution of the “1%” concept in the police union statement: They redefine “the 1%” not as the wealthy but rather as the street criminals and thugs ...
HELLO!
History Lesson: The "1%" concept originated in Oakland many years ago, back in the '60's with Oakland the city being the home-base of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, and the self-identified most bad-ass time-serving notorious Angels being the *first* and original 1%-ers - like the guys who were on-duty as Security at Altamont when the Stones played there...just up the road over the hills. The Hells Angels MC Daily City website has a slightly different interpretation. (They have a website?!)
This is also when the original "OMG!" designation came about, standing for Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. Read up on your Hunter Thompson, please...
Sheesh.

#Abandon all hope

2011-11-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

I have a QR code for the blog. Short for ¿Quel Rétard? What's it all about, really?

With wild #Abandon

2011-11-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

Now the the #Occupy movement has proven to be a nest of vipers and begun to stink like a brain-gutted zombie and to join them is to Abandon all hope ye who enter them, so isn't it about time to #Abandon them, the Leftardos, and their locations?

Colt Facebook

2011-11-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

Colt has a Facebook page? Whatever happened to their AOL account? ;-)
No wonder I missed the news of the new Colt Mustang.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC, celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, is proud to introduce a new and improved version of the classic Colt Mustang. The new Colt .380 Mustang Pocketlite is small, lightweight and boasts enhanced durability, reliability and accuracy, making it an ideal handgun for personal protection.

I'm still waiting for the Sig clone with the pseudo diamond-plate to come with a chrome trucker-girl on the grips...

I like Sigs but this is kinda...something else.

UPDATE: The Sig looks like it ejects to the left but that's just the Sig-barrel lock-up style (more tacky Sigs) The P238 Extreme, P238 "Lady" and P238 "Gambler" - WTF? Where's Kenny Rogers when you need him?:

Midway Small Range Bag II

2011-11-08T13:13:00.001-08:00

More pictures to illustrate the enormous capacity. It's actually properly called the Compact Competition Range Bag and it's still on sale, down from $49.99 to $29.99 but they don't have tactical black, just this lovely OD color.
The other-side pocket (opposite the earlier post) has seven magazine loops, and some stitched-down elastic that will hold three more - and pens and other Gun-Bloggy implements, like a q-tip for cleaning stuff. Belly-button lint perhaps.

At each end there's also a flat little zipper pocket that easily holds your Pocket Constitution (mine's a freebie from the Federalist Society), or a Gadsden flag, or a multi-tool, or whatnot.

You can load this baby until you can't carry it anymore, but it has a very nice shoulder-strap with a curve in it and some textured rubbery stuff that grips the shoulder. It's a lot like the ones (my preferred ones) on my Eagle Creek duffle-bags.

UPDATE: Huh? What happened to the title? Blogger is acting the spazz.

Anglo-Viking Geekensprache

2011-11-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

In the course of following up thoughts on weird Viking-age culture and practices, pre-Medieval stuff, I came across this very interesting web-page from Wheaton College that deals with the actual spoken word of Anglo-Saxon, the language as it was spoken some 1000+ years ago.
It really puts the WTF in Beowulf, a strange co-mingling of what was German (the Angles and Sachsens were Germanic) mixed with Scandahoovian sounds and comes off very Middle-Earthy-Elvish.
I get a lot of the Germanistic word-sounds, but still the meanings are not exact analogs and what you hear may not be what you think you mean...

There are various poems and writings and homilies, and a charm to use if you are afflicted by a dwarf. I mean, how common was that then? Also a recipe and charm to cure "Water-Elf disease"?

You can click on a link to hear it, or have it read-aloud to you in a pop-up. It's really kind of weird and wonderful - and might be better understood, or understood at all if you had a read-along text to guide you.
What's even weirder is to listen to the Anglo-Saxons speaking Latin, as in Wulfstan's Homily, Incipiunt Sermones Lupi Escipopi
http://acadblogs.wheatoncollege.edu/mdrout/

According to Wikipedia:

English changed enormously in the Middle Ages. Written Old English of 1000 AD is similar in vocabulary and grammar to other old Germanic languages such as Old High German and Old Norse, and completely unintelligible to modern speakers, while the modern language is already largely recognizable in written Middle English of 1400 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_language

Yeh, no shit, and it makes trying to track-down proto-Sanskritic words look easy.

Midway Small Range Bag

2011-11-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

Was on sale, so I bought one. It's quite capacious.

It holds a lot of crap, and that's not the entirety of it.

The zippered outside pocket on the opposite side has pistol mag loops/pouches.

Anatomy of a Riot: Direct Action by the Black Bloc

2011-11-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

The late 70's actually sucked pretty much big-time, but West Berlin was a fairly interesting place for it to suck, what with a couple divisions of East German's finest armor surrounding the little island of Liberty in the midst of the dismal Prussian low-land swamps of Gunter-Grass Stalinism.
The sign reads, "The Wall must go! KPD/ML Red Guard" - which voices the peculiar sentiments of local (and free) in-Berlin Leftardoodles, who want the Berlin wall that they are so free to graffitti-paint on the free-side, to go away, so that they can Harmonize with their East Berlin Comrades.
The KPD/ML on the sign is translated as "Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands/Militant League" The Red Guard was also that stalwart group of Lefty pin-heads who lead Mao's "Cultural Revolution" stomping around the by-ways and rice-paddies of China a few years earlier, killing people with whom they disagreed - especially the educated eye-glass wearing Bourgeoisie.
"Harmonize," a word so common in the edicts of the EU today, where the Old Left has won a place of power and political prestige...and that has wrecked the economy/economies of greater Europe with their ignorant, idiotic, and ideological economic (of which they know actually very little) policies.
Anyhow the Red Guard referred to in the sign-painting was also known as the Red Brigade, and they were the direct-action group who attempted to mobilize the Proletariat - only instead of the Proletariat they had the hated (and dull) Bourgeousie with whom they had to deal, and were fairly unsuccessful except for a couple of guys named Baader and Meinhoff.

(sorry about the damn commercial they insert before the video)
Here in the video we see the modern reincarnation of the violent Direct Action Gruppe, the Black Bloc, sliding-in and taking their places among the ignorant and delusional, the misguided and stupid but but fairly placid hippies who think that they are the reason for this sit-in event - who actually believe that they have somehow COLLECTIVELY and spontaneously arrived en-scene to "demonstrate" against "income inequality" as it appears to exist in America.
These are the Useful Idiots of who Stalin spoke so fondly and who are useful still today as Obama's tools-in-the-street.

Random Word Generator: "Income equality/inequality"

2011-11-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

Don't be faked-out just because the speaker has the apparent ability to string a sentence together, there's nothing in the void behind the forehead and between the ears. "Income equality/inequality" really has nothing to do with anything, and is just being used as a diversion and a sound-alike sloganeering designed to distract thinking people while acting as a rallying cry to the mindless zombie hordes.
Leftard rhetoric is often and mistakenly taken by normal people as something with real and intended meaning - but it's basically just random word-generation. It's real purpose is mainly an identifying signal to the other Left-Religious - like a mating call - it only sounds like it actually means something because they use English words and word-patterns, but it's just a sociopathic vocalization, a tribal cry.

Weekend in the Country

2011-11-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

Went up to catch the last rays of summer, the evening was balmy warm and the air was soft.

The critters had a rock to climb, and I climbed it too - and slipped and bashed a hole in my shin. Damn granite messed up my golf-game the next day, or it was the rum and cola, anyhow I suck at golf but it'as nice to get out and get a bit of sunburn amid the trees and ponds and sand-traps.

Halloween Horror

2011-10-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

BOO!!

Good-grief it's Friday!

2011-10-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

I got your 99% right here, thanks to Retrospace!

M1 Garand - Recoil Experiential Citation Digging

2011-10-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

In response to a post by Borepatch regarding his wonderful wife's shooting ability with the SMLE, I made a small addendum point about the difference between the M1 Garand and the bolt-action Enfield which was not about the speed of working the close-on-cocking action or lock-time, but of shoulder comfort and user-interfaqce issues. I repeated the synopsis of a M1 Garand story I read elsewhere, but can't now find:

The gas-operation of the M1 Garand also is easier on the shooter's shoulder than the bolt-action, so the shooter with an M1 can keep on working the rifle after the bolt-action has beaten the other shooter black and blue.
In an early high-volume test of the M1 rifle they ran a squad of men shooting the '03 against a squad of men shooting Garands, and as the test wore on the '03 shooters' accuracy (and freshness) suffered - and on the second day of testing half of the '03 shooters declined to continue...

I am having trouble finding the exact source. Was it Gen. Julian S. Hatcher? I've skimmed through my hardbound copy of Hatcher's Notebooks and didn't find it there, and also his Book of the Garand". I checked my copy of Scott Duff's "The M1 Garand: World War II, and also The Fighting Garand Owner's Manual by Nolan Wilson, and a couple othe4r books to no avail.
I know I've read this story more than once, and the issue of felt recoil is a reoccurring question among first-time shooters of the M1 Garand who we train in our New Shooter Orientation on the first Saturday of each month at the club - but where is the source of this? The NRA?
Thanks in advance.

Doug Chandler 1993

2011-10-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Local guy (Salinas native) Doug got a ride with Cagiva for this event, and had quirky dude John Kocinski for a teammate, the eventual race winner after Mick Doohan crashed on the last lap coming out of the Corkscrew...

Kevin Schwantz 1993

2011-10-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Shinichi Itoh 1993 Laguna Seca

2011-10-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Always a threat, I seemed to get a couple good shots of him during the event...partly that is/was due to his flawless form.

Scanning it in

2011-10-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful fall day when the birds are chirping and the squirrels frolicking insanely in the pine-tree, I'm inside nursing a sprained foot that I re-injured, collecting digital bits and bytes - materials of my portfolio, from years ago when I cartooned a bit for CityBike. This one had to do with the return of Freddie Spencer and the issue of riding a Ducati vs. his weight...

UPDATE: That (above) was when Fast Freddie went to Superbike, after the diesels (4-strokes) took over Formula One. Before that, during the recession of '93 he was on a French Yamaha 500cc two-stroke with the semi-big-bang motor, and I was on the other side of the tape with a Media Pass and a long lens, thirty-feet from the track's edge. It was a time of great personal delight.
During practice I saw a bike come screaming into Turn #5 at Laguna. For the race (and from my Reg Pridmore class a few months prior) I remember #5 was configured as an intentionally confusing kind of nasty combination of three-apex left-hand corner with a couple dips, and a rise on exit that all played havoc with suspension and traction -- but was easy to get into from a photographer's POV, and had the potential to produced some great high-side crash-footage. A couple guys had already gone down within the hour, but in unspectacular low-sides when their suspension and traction came to odds with their braking-point.
And here comes a guy on a shabby looking nondescript blue-gray bike, well above the speeds seen earlier, practically sideways going IN and as out-of-shape as any guy who was just about to toss it away - and suddenly somehow through a series of twitchy miracles and judicious application of throttle, he snapped it through the dips, rises and apex on a completely different "line" than any rider previous, and was gone up the hill to #6... And I had to look in my book for the number: Freddie Spencer...And he was my hero after that.
I waited until he came around again and got a pretty ok shot.

Next Up: Butternut Squash...

2011-10-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Roasting in the oven to add flavor and sweetness, it will require a cup and a half of chicken stock and some lemon to tone that sweetness down, and perhaps a touch of chipotle (which is just douchebag-talk for burnt jalapeno-peppers).

Puree'd into a soup, it will fill a quart and a smaller container...

Great Green Soylent Gobs...

2011-10-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

...Of soon-to-be asparagus soup: it needs some Half & Half and a pat of butter to lend a silky texture, besides s'more salt an pepper to taste once it get's on the heat.
A whole freakin' package of Costco asparagus, parboiled and chilled with a dash of lemon in the water to maintain the green, turned to a puddle.
Silky liquifaction provided by the Vitamix's 2-Hp motor at 37,000 rpm's that absolutely obliterates any concept of the word "solid"... Zoom!
(UPDATE: AND a cup-and-a-half of chicken broth - organic, or low-sodium, or otherwise.)

Now we understand how it is possible for a small household of two to buy and use-up a whole flat of vegetables or fruit before it goes bad - this thing absolutely makes the melting-pot...the downside being you have to pee all the time.

Buddy Bleg

2011-10-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

A non-blogging buddy picked up one of these for carry (and has a CCW) - and was wondering about holsters. Any suggestions among the Gun-Bloggerati? (It's a Roodger Elsie-Ninja)

Bug-Out Radio

2011-10-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

I got this one, it's quite small but an effective and useful solar-powered emergency radio that ALSO hand-cranks for power, can be used as a flashlight, and is cell-phone re-charger (if your cell-phone re-charges from a USB port).
I thought I posted this already but I can't even find it in my own damn blog-search.

The Original OWS - Old Western Scrounger

2011-10-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

Look, it's a Krag receiver! Original U.S. Krag Rifle Recievers ~~$79.95~~ now just $54.95 - Save: 31% off All kinds of crazy old stuff, from a bunch of Mecgar 1911 .45 Mag Nickel magazines at ~~$29.95~~ $19.95! (Save: 33% off!) to a Pietta LeMat Hammer at only ~~$119.95~~ $79.95!
Save: 33% off!
It's the ORIGINAL OWS...

Fun with macro photography

2011-10-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

AR Trigger parts (click to enlarge, as always):

Mastering OWS

2011-10-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

I seldom come out in full support of certain movements because of my Libertarian side, but I can thoroughly and enthusiastically get behind this life-changing and even life-saving OWS program that can take a narrow-minded text-obsessed Facebookin' goober-yout' and turn them into skilled, world ambassadors of strength and fitness:

Remember, a bath is as good as a shower, and if you really master something you don't have to be beholden to some disgruntled grad-school 37%-er who can't even read between the lines and is obsessed with Proust or Marx, and has latent sexual jealousy of Womyns Studies majorettes.

Compare and Contrast the above disgruntled and entitlement-suffocated affluent in-bred perpetual-petulant with the optimism and energy of below.

Open Water Swimming, baby!! Win a Triathlon and BE somebody!
Take charge of your life, and get in the water!
And next to that is the AWESOMENESS of Ocean Paddling!

I hate Spiders

2011-10-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Creepiness Warning Level-Six-Plus-Dot.Seven -

During winter Vacation in 1979, to get away from cold and snowy Vienna I went south by train to Barcelona Spain for a week or so. I was staying in a cheap pensione run by an old lady who had spare rooms in her house, and climbinbg under the covers one night I got bit on the shin by a brown recluse spider. When I got up in the morning my leg hurt and over the next day the black bite-mark in my shin spread from about zit-size to a dime-sized hole.
I got myself over to the US. consulate one afternoon but the receptioonist only spoke Spanish and they were basically were useless for a long-hair Student-tramp, but they gave directions to the Free Clinic. The Dr. there said there’s nothing he could do – it’s an enzyme reaction - but I went and got antibiotics anyhow.
The center of my shin turned black and dead, and being curious I dug out the necrosis with an x-acto knife. My entire leg swole-up until you couldn’t see my ankle-bones and my hip was a size bigger. I had to loosen my belt and buy a pair of shoes in two different sizes (fortunately shoes are cheap in Spain), and threw one wrong-size shoe each. Blue, pink, yellow lines of veins in my stood-out - and it was scary. I drank a lot of fluids and it took about a month once I was back in Vienna to completely return to normal, and by then I had worn-out the shoes. Nasty little bastard creature – I hate spiders for a reason.

Problems of Media Collusion

2011-10-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Occupy Preparedness, or a Bicycle-Seat

2011-10-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Went for a bike-ride and came across this in a parking lot by a building near the overpass.

And meanwhile from a friend:

Just another insight on Occupy Wall Street movement which began their protest on September 17th in Zuccotti Park:

1. Zuccotti Park, located on 33,000 sq. ft. in New York City's financial district is privately held by the Brookfield Commercial Properties Asset Management Companies. It is not subject to the same municipal laws of a public park.

2. Brookfield holds over $100 billion in commercial real estate properties and is headquartered in Canada. It is currently listed as one of the largest commercial property management companies in New York.

3. Brookfield owns and has offices in the same building where Adbusters has its headquarters, in Vancouver, BC.

4. Brookfield's chief D.C. lobbyist is VP Joe Biden's son, Beau.

5. Brookfield was the last company to receive TARP funding as part of the Treasury Department's bailout in the Obama Administration.

6. Brookfield board member Diana Taylor is Mayor Bloomber's live-in girlfriend.

7. Brookfield Renewable Power - BRP ($13 billion in assets), a green energy company, is owned by Brookfield. It is a massive new global green energy player with substantial monetary and regulatory support from the Obama Administration's DOE. Interesting to note that BRP earned just $454 Million net income in the 2009 and increased to a whopping $3.2 billion in 2010!

PS: A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) is being used by the Occupy Wall Street protest movement to organize and disseminate information among its supporters. I sure hope DHS and the FBI are attuned to this smartphone technology.

First Kar repost (2008)

2011-10-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

All the cool kids are playing, and H/T Curses! Foiled Again! and Borepatch! (and Random Acts of Patriotism) so I’ll repeat...from Monday, July 28, 2008...

Paid $600 for it in 1981, and drove it out to South Dakota for a summer of Archaeological Fieldwork after Graduation from Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp - but not before rebuilding the worn-out motor on this Bondo-Bandit - the blow-by was so great you could purposely flick it into neutral and gas it to load the motor with gas, and then drop the clutch to produce big smoky backfires. It kept the old ladies in Cadillacs back a few yards at stoplights. You could also see the road through rust-holes in the floorboard. I filled them with some foamy junk to keep the water out.
On the way to SD it dropped a pushrod and blew a hole in the engine at 4:00 AM on a cold morning while crossing the Continental Divide about 40 miles outside Rawlins Wyoming.
After the tow I worked with Mel at AAJAX Automotive to install a new motor, and lacking funds for labor compensation, I painted a BIG NEW SIGN on the new glass, in his new location - lucky me he'd only been there a few days and needed a sign!
After four days it was done and I drove off - didn't want to be late for Archaeology class.
From SD I drove her down to a class-reunion in Ohio, and then on to see a friend in Chapel Hill, and out to Ocracoke where I saw mosquitoes the size of birds.
With summer closing I drove north up to stay with a friend in Arlington, where I got day-labor work doing gardening and yard-work with a bunch of recent ex-cons. That was unique...
After more job-hunting I finally landed a skill-set job as a stripper at Harbinger Photographic Services on N-Street in DC.
Stripping that is, assembling negatives into final composite camera-ready artwork - I worked in a darkroom. The real strippers and DC Pros were just down the street. Sometime I'd run across one or two of 'em in a little sandwich shop when I was out getting lunch for the gang. That's a HARD life and it showed.
Returned to California the following year when the household on Kenmore Street in Arlington disbanded and my sister announced she was getting married.
It's better to drive cross-country than to hitch-hike - I did that in 1978. Met some very interesting people...
I painted her myself, over time and with many cans of not always matching Krylon, The Egg was originally primer gray, and after a while using un-matching spray-cans to touch-up rust-spots, about four different colors of primer-gray - this was before "Urban Camouflage" was even invented.
She looked like a rolling speed-bump. That's a kind of dangerous condition for a long, cross-country trip.
I would occasionally get encouraging advice from other East Coast drivers who'd never seen an "Egg" before, (California surfer-lingo for the Ghia) like, "GET A FUCKING PAINT JOB YOU FUCKING FREAK!"
While they're driving a Ford Mavrick - bwhahahahah -- always glad to brighten another's day!

Occupy Astroturf - Direct Action & People to Know

2011-10-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Lisa Fithian: Career community organizer and anarchist specializing in direct action protests with close ties to labor unions has been on the ground at the #OccupyWallStreet demonstration since its inception.
She was Cindy Sheehan's organizer in Crawford Texas during the protests against former President Bush, and spoke-out against Israeli self defense against the bogus Gaza "Freedom Flotilla" that was staffed by violent Palestinian agent-provocateurs.
From the July 2001 interview with The International Socialist Review

"Nonviolence is a strategy. Civil disobedience is a tactic. Direct action is a strategy. Throwing rocks is a tactic... I guess my biggest thing is that as people who are trying to create a new world, I do believe we have to dismantle or transform the old order to do that. I just fundamentally don't believe it will ever serve our interests as it's currently constructed."

Per Breitbart's: Meet the Anarchist Leaders Behind the Leaderless Occupy Movement Part One Lisa Fithian / by Lee Stranahan,

Last year, in a radio interview, Fithian confirmed these descriptions in talking about her own activist philosophy:
“I am not a pacifist. Part of the way I talk about that is that I was raised in this culture, which is a very violent culture and I understand that I have some violence in who I am."
In that interview, Fithian also discussed (about 49:00 in) the tactical use of masks, describing how groups wearing black handkerchiefs were deployed during the Seattle protests.
It was many young people, masking themselves, covering their identity and engaging in property destruction…or not. They might just be more aggressive in their energy, right? They have some powerful and effective energy out there. But it has been really hard to build a mass movement because that type of approach is – vulnerable. It scares a lot of people and it makes it hard to do mass building, as well.

UPDATE FROM A FRIEND:

Here’s some info on the "non-organized" organized protestors... CANADA?

OWC - OCCUPY WALL STREET
* Adbusters Culturejammers Headquarters
http://www.adbusters.org/
IP Address: 67.192.229.58

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Kalle Lasn (born March 24, 1942) is a Canadian author, magazine editor and activist. Near the end of World War II his family fled Estonia and Lasn spent his childhood in a German refugee camp. He was then resettled in Australia. In the 1960s, he founded a market research company in Tokyo, and in 1970, moved to Vancouver, Canada. For twenty years, he produced documentaries for PBS and Canada’s National Film Board. He is the founder of Adbusters magazine and author of the books Culture Jam and Design Anarchy and is the co-founder of the Adbusters Media Foundation, which owns the magazine. Lasn currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

His “epiphany” that there was something profoundly wrong with consumerism happened in a supermarket parking lot. Frustrated that he had to insert a quarter to use a shopping cart, he jammed the coin in so that the machine became inoperable. This act of vandalism was the first (quite literal) “culture jam” -- defined as an act designed to subvert

* Occupy Wall Street
www.occupywallstreet.org is a domain name alias registered to
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet

IP Address:64.202.189.170

Domain ID:D163555202-LROR
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* Occupy Together
http://www.occupytogether.org/

IP Address:209.234.253.221

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* National Lawyers Guild

National Lawyers Guild chapters are working hard to provide legal support for Occupy protests nationwide.

http://www.nlg.org/

* Kickstarter

What is Kickstarter? We’re the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/610964639/occupy-wall-street-media

* NYC General Assembly

The Official Website of the GA at #OccupyWallStreet
http://nycga.cc/

* Anti Banks

On October 15th people from all over the world will take to the streets and squares. From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, people are rising up to claim their rights and demand a true democracy. Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest. OCTOBER 15TH Everywhere! – #GLOBALCHANGE 662 cities – 79 countries

http://antibanks.takethesquare.net/
http://15october.net/

The Governor Giveth and the Governor Taketh Away...

2011-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

We are losing our Constitutional rights in California, lead by a Democrat Governor:

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation criminalizing openly carrying an unloaded handgun in public and requiring the state to keep records of rifle sales, as it currently does for handguns, Brown announced this morning.

He did sign SB610 which is something of a reform bill in permit-processing requirements - not that many agencies are even willing to process permits. SB610 will require agencies to determine if an applicant has initial "Good Cause" to be issued a permit BEFORE the applicant is required to fulfill the requirements in training, classes, background checks and pay the sometimes extensive fees required to obtain a permit. SB610 will also specify that issuing agencies CANNOT require CCW applicants to obtain "Liability Insurance" as a condition for being issued a CCW permit.

Time-Warner Corporate Guy

2011-10-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Corporation (and its shareholders) owns this, and the pseudo-anarchists and bussed-in "protestors" - who pay to wear it. Occupy Reality, try it and see.

Bye-bye Steve

2011-10-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Jobs House on Santa Rita...

I was thinking of him when I drove over to Mom's to do some Photoshop work on pictures of the old Missionary Days - and the new. My buddy Pete, while working downtown at the appliance shop, sold him a vacuum cleaner - he just walked-in and bought a Miele. The Santa Rita house is next to Jim's old house, a HS buddy who later moved.
UPDATE (from my comment at SayUncle): I hated the Apple price-point and snooty exclusivity having lived with that Palo Alto attitude shoved up on me most of my life, a cost that was always over my buying power - but he was inventing the future in a way that few are anymore today - all's we get nowadays are stupid 1930's Socialist RPG re-treads, what's so "progressive" about that crap? Gas masks?

Tripp Research 7R-45-WG

2011-10-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Haven't been feeling many probulations for the Bloggnostications and my colon test came back A+ #1 fine without any bending-over or digital inspection necessary - but then this came today.

Thanks to Gun Geek Rants and No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money I was alerted to the disaster that had struck Texas and one of our/my favorites in particular.

This fire destroyed at least 1,500 homes, most of Bastrop State Park, and resulted in 2 fatalities. One of the houses that burned belonged to Virgil & Shari Tripp of Tripp research and STI fame. Their shop survived but the house is gone.

Tripp Research is Teh Awesomz! Go get yourself some of their gunny-love and superior-cycling magazines - and anything else to keep 'em afloat... Ok "Our Favorites" is bigger than I intended to suggest, since I'm a small-fry, but it provided an excellent excuse to buy a bulletproof 1911 mag!

It's the 21st Century and now I have a thoroughly modern magazine for the 1943 Colt 1911A1. I am rather looking forward to running this bad boy.

Carbon-Credits Kill

2011-10-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

CARBON TRADING KILLS - but fake science and junk-bond trading continues.

The reported killing of 23 Honduran farmers in a dispute with the owners of UN-accredited palm oil plantations in Honduras is forcing the EU Clean Development Mechanism executive board to reconsider its stakeholder consultation processes.

Among all the noisy "rights" listed by the report of the International Fact Finding Mission, from:

3.1. THE RIGHT TO LIFE,
3.2. THE RIGHT TO PHYSICAL, PSYCHIC AND MORAL INTEGRITY,
3.3. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND PERSONAL SECURITY,
3.4. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM,
3.5. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION,
3.6. THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND HOUSING,

and

3.7. THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION,
3.8. THE RIGHT TO HEALTH,
3.9. THE RIGHT TO EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE,

The Right to the ONE thing that can insure the first (3.1 LIFE) and ensure the rest - the right to Bear Arms - is not a right at all...as THEY insist on the right to foist the Junk Science ponzi scheme of of "Carbon Rrading" upon the client-citizens of the EU...

In July, a report by an International Fact Finding Mission was presented to the European Parliament's Human Rights Sub-committee, alleging that 23 peasants, one journalist and his partner, had all been murdered in the Bajo Aguán region, between January 2010 and March 2011.
The deaths were facilitated by the "direct involvement of private security guards from some of the local companies who are complicit with police and military officials," the report said.
In some cases it cited "feigned accidents" in which peasants were run over by security guards working for two named palm oil businessmen. In other cases, the farmers were simply shot, or "disappeared".

Maybe something will happen to the "Science" behind Carbon-Trading, most likely not - but damp and emotional Europeen boo-hooing and hand-wringing is in evidence.

"As a big buyer [of carbon credits], as an EU, we can say that these kind of human rights allegations are so fundamental that we will not allow them to be bought," the Green MEP Bas Eickhout told EurActiv.

Not too surprisingly there were no exclamation points in the previous sentence, as evidenced by the following weasel-words that compose an entirely bureaucratic sentence...:

Martin Hession said that he felt "extreme sympathy" for Eickhout's suggestion but was concerned that the EU might not have optimal resources to effectively investigate rights violations.

Didn't Belgium, whence the EU operates, show a similar disregard for Houmann Riightxs when it ran the Belgian Congo, and under who's predatorship that locasls were routinely relieved of their limbs?

Rubber plantation workers, punished for failing to meet quotas by having their hands cut off, Belgian Congo Free State, 1905, photo from Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy. (H/T Borepatch: Brave Little Belgium)

Backtracking quickly, an unknown scum-fed EU drone repeated the onerous difficulties associated with such a vague notion as Human Rights and said:

An official with the European Commission's directorate-general for Energy told EurActiv that including human rights in the criteria for assessing CDM projects would be "very difficult".
"You can say that 'human rights' means the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and check every project for compliance, but I think that takes us very far and the practicalities of it would be very difficult," he said.

Yes, very difficult - however there's one way to make it easier - let them have the RIGHT of Self Defense and the weapomns to procure, insure, AND ensure that it is a SUSTAINABLE right...
Instead the "right" to rip-off gullible and uninformed taxpayers with a Government-Operated fake-science ponzi scheme of "carbon trading" will continue:

For now, business continues as usual in Aguán and the world's carbon markets, despite the "systemic and grave human rights violations" noted by the International Fact Finding Mission.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, First, kill all the Bureaucrats...

Ultimate Elizabeth Warren - Government Owns YOU

2011-09-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

H/T A Arte da Fuga A propósito de Socialist Crackpot Elizabeth Warren Opens Senate Race With Unhinged Coffee House Rant (Video),

Eastward to Antiquity

2011-09-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

I had some good insights for the re-hash of my Thesis into book-form from reading The Vikings and now even more from Robert Kaplan's Eastward to Tartary.
I was hung-up on a useful way to describe and define the physical structure of horizontal and vertical integration in social institutions. So now I've got one - "carpenters and weavers."
And as an aside, did you know where Jesus' mom Mary came-from? Who his grandparents were? If he was a carpenter from scruffy old Mountain View, they were like - educated elites from Stanford...
Also, the Zoroastrian pagans worshiped fire - but why? It was a real, literal thing - not a metaphorical one. The place where they originated out in the deserts off the Caspian Sea, there's SO much natural gas and petroleum right close to the surface that it bursts forth, and in the heat of the desert gas plumes ignite and burn off naturally - and so they built temples around the sites of these "Everlasting Flames" and worshiped them out there in the desert. It was a phenomenon unlike any other, and a religion unlike any other - and one that couldn't really be transplanted anywhere else until they developed the language and higher-level metaphors to deal with it. At its base it was simply concrete (or gas) - the phenomenal-thing existed, and so they bowed-down before it. It's a situation like the petroleum tar-seeps at Santa Barbara and in Coalinga, but those never caught fire and so the local Chumash Indians didn't start worshiping them...so no California Zoroastrians until the New Age freaks showed-up...

Tactical Pants and more

2011-09-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ht/ Say Uncle and a nod to Teh Pantsless One - funny how the Interwebz works.
I get a link following Guns & Coffee to a giant tactical-tourniquet that's mainly a huge and high-tech zip-tie - which is brilliant!! But that leads to a new-to-me awesome Gear-site , where hard stuff gets in harm's way and gets smashed around. So as I peruse the lineup and OMG there's an all-wheel dirtbike (using a cable driven front wheel) that the SOF are using! And then looking at travel gear I run across an article on Tactical Pants which is intersting because I have some Levis cargo/work pants I wear but nothing all zippy-do like Operators or Contractors wear - and it turns out there's such a demand for comparative analysis that somebody has come up with a website devoted to just that thing. Tactical Pants.

There are detailed descriptions of pants from designers like Blackhawk, Vertec, Tru-Spec and EOTAC along with pricing info and a handy-dandy chart with materials and features broken down.

But also there's another pant review and a link to Triple Ought Designs' Force 10 Cargo pant.

What a world it is...and there are some cool glasses that I just might be able to get my complicated Rx into.

It's over for Thugsly

2011-09-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

It's the End of the Reign for the staunchly anti-US, anti-freedom, newspaper-silencing, corrupt Leftist thug, El ~~Presidente~~ Dictator-for-Life the Venezuelean Communist, terror of the Caribbean. (H/T Fausta)
Ambassador Roger Noriega last week was saying “we must start thinking about, and preparing for, a world without Hugo Chavez.” From Fausta's Blog we also get:
El Nuevo Herald also reports that:

On the other hand, the source stated that Chavez suffered from medullary aplasia, the disappearance of blood-producing cells in the bone marrow, which complicated his medical state. According to doctors, medullary aplasia can be total, affecting the production of red and white blood cells, or partial, which affects the production of one type of blood cells.

UPDATE,
CHAVEZ IN CRITICAL CONDITION

Chavez’ almost certain passing portends a moment of uncertainty and it is not clear how the Administration will seize it. Presidential elections in Venezuela are scheduled to take place next year. Even though the opposition seeks to unite around one candidate, it has always been widely suspected that Chavez may gain reelection by using the state machinery and the Venezuelan oil company (PDVSA) to buy votes. Others believe that Chavez could find ways to win by committing fraud in elections. In the past elected officials non-loyal to Chavez were undermined and their offices taken over by the government, the Mayor of Caracas being a vivid example. Perhaps as a first step the U.S and the Organization of American States (OAS) could demand free and fair elections. It is not clear how Chavez prepared his succession and whether the military will resist change. It is not clear what kind of effect militias, Cuban troops and Special Forces, as well as other foreign elements including terrorist and guerilla groups, may have in such resistance.

Linked by Bettina. Thanks!

Some wooden stakes and Holy Water would be good to have on hand at the vampire's funeral - or let it be a bonfire so no monument remains.

Gunwalker Form 4477

2011-09-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Did he or didn't he?

Don Vito Corleone-Warren Goof

2011-09-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

HatTip to The Ultimate Answer to Kings...
UPDATE: From Woolie.

UPDATED to add "Goof" in title and: Non Original Rants Evil Emperor

Borepatch Dumb as a Rock

totallynotadrian Fixed:

The Doofus Has Landed

2011-09-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Helicopters all buzzin' around Moffet Field... so that means Jughead's off to vacuum up as much spare pocket change and walking-around cash as he can, from Athertoon to Woodside and Portola Valley and back, from impressionable nimrods in the Social Media-set to old-school Class-Warriors and Brooks Brothers Communists driving the latest Lexus... The sooner he's outta here the better, but at least while he's here taking the Big Money from Teh Stupids, he's not doing further damage to the economy or to the Rule of Law that we once knew...

Patrick Leahy Is Eric Holder's Punk Ass Flunky Peg Boy

2011-09-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Meme this Peg-boy Leahy; You owe it to Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata, and over 200 Mexican Nationals, many of them law enforcement.
Via Borepatch, from The Drawn Cutlass, and the Sipsy Street Irregulars who notice what is observed by the Confederate Yankee - leaky-Leahy got a butt-plug, he's a leaky-no-mo':

When the Iran-Contra scandal was just beginning to brew, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy strategically leaked an unclassified draft report on the Iran-Contra affair in order to ensure a press frenzy....We're hearing the words "Iran-Contra" again.
This time they are surfacing—along with Watergate—in comparison to the greatest political scandal of our age, a number of operations where agents acting on behalf of the executive branch "walked" thousands of weapons into the hands of drug cartels and domestic gangs.
As Mike Vanderboegh points out, Leahy isn't interested in justice. He's only interested in protecting the political investment he made in President Obama.

Out and about by Googleville

2011-09-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

The heat that stayed away all Summer finally turned-up today, so I got out to ride around before it condensed into a hammer.
Out by Googlopolis in the back-forty where camera-cars go to die there's a tank-farm that appeared. It seems they are ready for a situation where people have contagious dysentery, and have readied the pay-toilets and are preparing for a quick infusion of Googlecash. I suppose they can mint their own by about now.

Milled slide Sigs and Sigs with breechblocks

2011-09-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Referencing and H/T Tam and the aftermath of an aged gun. Oldstyle Sig with pinned breech-block above, newstyle Sig with Mongo-Pin™ below:

Here you can see the difference in enclosed vs "open" (?) extractors.

No wonder I am Snarkless

2011-09-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

I try, but without the thick and richly layered depth of patina necessary, all it produces is a low rant...