tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34919472024-03-14T01:22:32.403-06:00WeckUpToThees!The weblog of first resort for those of unrealized potentialFûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.comBlogger1059125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-10874959424584696882023-03-08T11:50:00.006-07:002023-03-08T19:21:52.003-07:00CZ vz52: Don't let this happen to YOUWaaaayyyyy back in 2012 or so, Midway offered CZ-52 magazines for a pittance. I got 4 of them. Or more.
<p>
When they arrived, they clearly were fakes. "CZ mfg." stamped on the floorplates. CZ didn't stamp anything for '52s in English. However, they seated and fed. I never gave them much thought until the Tokarev round began to obsess me. Why the obsession, you ask? To be covered in a future post.
<p>
I tried #2 CZ52 with them and noticed that they don't pull out of the mag well with the slide locked open.
<p>
One, the follower doesn't push the slide lock upward enough, so there was still the slide lock lodging against the follower.
<p>
Two, the floorplates are so weak that they bend instead of pulling the mag out.
<p>
OEM floorplates $5 ea from a little shop in Colorado Springs, Apex. They're hard, don't bend.
<p>
I miked the followers and compared them to the mags originally shipped with CZ52 #1. The lip on the conterfeit mags' followers is about .060" too short to push the slide lock up decisively. A dab of JB Weld on that spot pushes the slide lock up enough. It's a step down from the deck where the cartridge rests, so it won't interfere with feeding. <p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghf8tsohDSbMCLjzvsbMf5EF5jNje__A5zMds56S5u2tgRDfBAD9_zbE0loa_BqYTo-j9H9JDOXxbQDmArF8hqXnchYRF5K48E14oK4Igs26yDj9N0uKZ28DewnNZKz4MblD-g6QOYPtIRl83Pflj6b2dVbqbL67VUcPX59wGbH4y4tWXlmG8/s3264/cz%20follower%20jbwelded.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghf8tsohDSbMCLjzvsbMf5EF5jNje__A5zMds56S5u2tgRDfBAD9_zbE0loa_BqYTo-j9H9JDOXxbQDmArF8hqXnchYRF5K48E14oK4Igs26yDj9N0uKZ28DewnNZKz4MblD-g6QOYPtIRl83Pflj6b2dVbqbL67VUcPX59wGbH4y4tWXlmG8/s320/cz%20follower%20jbwelded.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>
As I'm reassembling the CZ52, I notice in glints of sunlight off the slide that . . . .
<p>
there's a swelling on the side of the slide. Bowed outward.
<p>
Right where the locking rollers recess inside the slide. Both sides, but worse on the side with the ejection port.
<p>
There's a matching bright rub on the frame, right below where the locking rollers come to rest with slide in battery. Shaped like the bottom of a roller. <p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaARST0qmrOCHji4RSW4-Myqh4wNgweX0Z2402IUuCBK3eVIZTrXtpGZfGk2xUywQUxcjChbr5OCYnpR0CF4Px8aAPmfSOi1jOQkkIMLp8wRVjxMWAtLB48bs6T28MSsB8fvOxD25qtYeoOzZZ3RWn4cZFjf_6fv52pW8htGocjbXHoxdsbg/s3264/cz%20roller%20rub.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaARST0qmrOCHji4RSW4-Myqh4wNgweX0Z2402IUuCBK3eVIZTrXtpGZfGk2xUywQUxcjChbr5OCYnpR0CF4Px8aAPmfSOi1jOQkkIMLp8wRVjxMWAtLB48bs6T28MSsB8fvOxD25qtYeoOzZZ3RWn4cZFjf_6fv52pW8htGocjbXHoxdsbg/s320/cz%20roller%20rub.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>
The barrel trunnion, where the rollers live, has little ears over the roller pathway, to keep the rollers inside. The ears are worn such that if I gave it more force (I didn't) the roller could be slipped out of the pathway.
<p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjngoyuVyvzL0vSaJk46UNlCQs60q6Pymey062kDSZUH1QhP2N6MqcIZmq4-K2j6iO9BOx5fYkcU2t4DwXuPtS-EalCu2qHkWqXlYxXIyG7R2QqJmwHIIk-6D_CleJ0UntaNrYoG3WyAABoCWuRbYmqkwKRz6AFeUTPkO3AAm1byTOZXcX3gs/s3264/cz%20worn%20trunnion.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjngoyuVyvzL0vSaJk46UNlCQs60q6Pymey062kDSZUH1QhP2N6MqcIZmq4-K2j6iO9BOx5fYkcU2t4DwXuPtS-EalCu2qHkWqXlYxXIyG7R2QqJmwHIIk-6D_CleJ0UntaNrYoG3WyAABoCWuRbYmqkwKRz6AFeUTPkO3AAm1byTOZXcX3gs/s320/cz%20worn%20trunnion.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>
Barrel is bad, allows rollers to bounce around inside, up and down as well as in and out. Rollers maybe failing. Failing rollers putting too much force on the insides of the slide. CZ52 #1, no evidence of swelling slide, but lots of rubbing of both rollers on the frame.
<p>
Cases fired from both show that head-to-cone is greater on #1 than #2, opposite of what I'd expect. #2 brass pushes shoulder out from .675" to .680" (Sinclair 20-degree bump gauge) with fair-to-midddlin' Blue Dot handload with 85gr PPU's. #1 pushes shoulder closer to .690". BUUUUUUT #1 groups at 25 yards, and #2 will not put holes on the paper. More red flags.
<p>
My Little Old German retired gunsmith says (paraphrased): "pad your vise, and squeeze the slide very gradually to push the sides back in. We do it to tighten 1911 slides all the time. Go easy, do it a number of times, checking fit. Get new barrel and rollers. Watch for reappearance of the swelling."
<p>
New slides are unobtainium, might as well get a new gun. I've heard of the trick with squeezing the 1911 slide before.
<p>
Some easy-going vise work and the swelling is visible only at the roller recess proper, not inches up and down the slide.
<p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgktFux5YiTAI7ssio-9YCZ-uDbzvH2nN58MPanEFr4nS8dB6jyQ4qxavx6qjTTnubhkzWtnuZ4H_ebEOZjiTHyOYTtqH30v14XSXRM3tNzhtt1RoZCt5u6VK9Hp4U8PorEtWKVi-OkGqZHyBTCurRqxA6HXOktiGcQWW--6N8Tqq6_STOAnEM/s3264/cz%20slide%20bulge.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgktFux5YiTAI7ssio-9YCZ-uDbzvH2nN58MPanEFr4nS8dB6jyQ4qxavx6qjTTnubhkzWtnuZ4H_ebEOZjiTHyOYTtqH30v14XSXRM3tNzhtt1RoZCt5u6VK9Hp4U8PorEtWKVi-OkGqZHyBTCurRqxA6HXOktiGcQWW--6N8Tqq6_STOAnEM/s320/cz%20slide%20bulge.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>
Barrel sold as new from Sarco on its way. <a href="https://harringtonproducts.com/rollers/" target="_blank">Harrington rollers</a>, not sure whether to order 1 set or 2. If the Sarco barrel is in fact "NEW" with roller ears unworn as they should be, versus "Very Good," probably a second one.
<p>
So: if you encounter a CZ52 in the wild, ask to pop the slide off and examine the slide at the point where the rollers recess. Light reflected at very shallow angle will reveal the spreading. Look on the frame for abrasion from the rollers. Show its owner what you're looking at and what it means.
<p>
The saga continues. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-27837135793952632272020-05-29T00:41:00.002-06:002020-05-29T00:41:55.463-06:00I'd have to rate local police support as 'questionable' or 'disloyal'Riots in Minneapolis, shots fired outside Capitol in Denver, Phoenix cops warning pedestrians out of certain areas, and the Ohio Capitol being overrun.<br />
<br />
Reminds me of my days as a Physical Security Officer for my alma mater. In accordance with AR 190-13, I had to be briefed by the State intel guys about the reliability and effectiveness of local police departments, in case I needed their diligence to protect our modest arms room of 22 sidearms and so many (few?) rounds of 9mm ball for each. <br />
<br />
If intel thought the local constabulary had a good handle on local threats, and could respond to them if they showed a hankering for my unit's 22 Berettas, I could rate them as a 5 or better, and didn't have to work so hard with other measures to protect them. <br />
<br />
I can think of four cities where the rating would have to be 1 or 2, and arms rooms should be issuing those sidearms instead of keeping them locked up, because the only thing to make sure those pieces didn't fall into the hands of gang bangers were my own frigging Soldiers and Airmen. <br />
<br />
In related news, I <a href="http://disq.us/p/29a9miy" target="_blank">commented</a> over at Instapundit that the Left's boogaloo is underway. I failed to note that the only thing missing was AntiFa. I'm reluctant to ever again say or even think, 'Damn, <i>they'</i>ve been strangely quiet.'<br />
<br />Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-89592645186131427012020-04-15T08:30:00.001-06:002020-04-15T09:27:26.467-06:00Elections are sortition, in a limited government<a href="https://reason.com/2020/04/14/should-we-replace-traditional-elections-with-sortition/" target="_blank">'Sortition' is proposed</a> as a better way than elections to choose government officials, who will then make critical, less-critical, decisions for the entire government.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Some political theorists and others have long argued that we should at
least partially replace conventional democratic elections with
decision-making through "sortition"—using randomly selected groups of
voters to either elect government officials or make at least some types
of policy decisions directly. </blockquote>
Our Founders already addressed this, building on our inheritance of English law. They determined that most decisions affecting Americans' daily lives would be taken by, um, Americans, not a monarch. <br />
<br />
Some decisions have to be taken collectively. We empower a government, in fact several governments at different scales, each accountable in some way to the people governed by them, but empowered to take certain actions in only certain matters. <br />
<br />
We also empanel randomly-selected juries to make very specific determinations: guilt of a specific charged individual for a specific crime. One could dispute how well that random selection is working, and what constitutes a 'peer,' but there that is.<br />
<br />
Yet sortition proponents suggest that a model nation-state use it to select its chief executive:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If, for example, ... they were part of a carefully chosen (albeit
random) group of, say, 2000 Americans, to pick the next president, and
if in addition there were "hearings" at which the candidates would speak
and be subject to careful cross-examination concerning their views,
there is every reason to trust that the choice would be well within the
"margins of error" . . .</blockquote>
Academic study of the virtues and disadvantages of sortition versus election assumes that government officials are routinely making decisions of nation-state scale and importance, and by golly if we've elected a Bad Orange Man---or a community organizer groomed by the corrupt Chicago political machine---that constitutes an <i>error </i>with a wider margin than we sober contemplative folk can accept. You in Flyover Country have to concede you're not very good at this. Let's instead select <i>better people</i> to make these world-shaking decisions for us all, using a process less dependent on name-recognition, and the fund-raising necessary to achieve it, to select them . . . .<br />
<br />
. . .instead of leaving more of those decisions, and allocations of resources, to individuals or to emergent orders arising among individuals. <br />
<br />
The posters being law professors and perhaps political scientists, it's not surprising that the solution they propose sounds a lot like a university's search committee.<br />
<br />
Of course thumbs will be pressed on the scales: who will be <i>carefully chosen</i>, how to disqualify members on what criteria after having been chosen, how the "hearings" are conducted, who cross-examines, which questions are out of bounds, how to strike sustained objections from the record but not from the memories of the empaneled. The thumbs will never be held accountable. Who chooses the thumbs? <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
. . what might be termed a certain kind of "fetishism" that views our
standard reliance on certain forms of election as the one true way of
selecting leaders in a "representative democracy…."</blockquote>
Arguments for sortition are to me a fetishization of the powers of government, much like fetishization of socialism, or of universities. If only the right people were put in charge.Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-34757319281260085212020-03-19T09:39:00.000-06:002020-03-19T10:06:31.547-06:00as a blizzard moves into SE Wyoming . . . TWTR is bouncing between $22 and $23 a share.<br />
<br />
We'll have a whole new generation of preppers, now that toilet-paper hysteria has shifted into shelf-life staples, generators, and chest freezers. And a new subpopulation of gun owners.<br />
<br />
Downside: one older fellow at Big Box yesterday was prying his debit card out of his wallet. He licked his thumb to get more traction on the card, then showed it into the pinpad. The manager was initially resistant to my idea of using a marked-down pressure washer to decon all the shopping carts, but maybe is warming to it. The pinpads won't tolerate that treatment. <br />
<br />
Maybe UV will kill everything on cash. Wouldn't be hard to rig a UV diode and biscuit fan in the tills to handle that long-term. <br />
<br />
The Rock Chucker is back from depot overhaul with a few new parts and fresh lube, and a brand new primer catcher.<br />
<br />
Not too happy with the FedGov eager to print a few more trillion to bail out people who are close to the edge from market tumbles---plus airlines and cruise lines---but you go with the FDR you have and thank G-d the Wilsonians are writing off the BernieBros and breaking their backs (or their SKEDCO) dragging Sundown Joe to the finish line. Hillary is the chest-buster inside Joe, as Kurt Schlichter puts it, and she was with the Donkeys all the way. <br />
<br />
Trump is signing the package he can get out of a dysfunctional Congress. That's where the work must be done. CDC deserves a good spanking and a mass depopulation after we find that They Had Only One Job and they weren't ready for it. <br />
<br />
<br />Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-61134759874828347962020-03-14T23:51:00.000-06:002020-03-16T09:34:38.220-06:00it's time to buy when blood is flowing in the streets (updated) . . . a wise fellow once said.<br />
<br />
Gun Lobby: <br />
<br />
<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/twtr/" target="_blank">TWTR</a> is loitering around $[correction: 29]. For the price of one box of premium cartridges for your carry piece, you can own a piece of the Left.<br />
<br />
Then <a href="http://weckuptothees.blogspot.com/2020/03/activist-investor-seeks-to-buy-enough.html" target="_blank">give your proxy to Neal Knox's son, or to Elliott Management</a>.<br />
<br />
I'm watching. Update: Monday morning, it's around $26. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-83450241350608757772020-03-13T09:42:00.000-06:002020-03-13T09:42:32.290-06:00today's panic buying, 20200311Big Box Home Improvement Retail Operation put about 8 cases<a href="https://www.mercatus.org/commentary/defense-so-called-%E2%80%98price-gouging%E2%80%99" target="_blank"> </a>of a spray disinfectant on prominent display, at regular price. <br />
<br />
It began disappearing 2, then 6, cans at a time. BTW we were notching off calls and requests for toilet paper. By closing, we had about 70. <br />
<br />
Then one female customer loaded the entire remaining stock of disinfectant---maybe 3 cases---can by can into her cart and approached the cashier next to me. <br />
<br />
The partner was appalled. "You know you're just hoarding this. Other people might need some."<br />
<br />
(HQ has taken the position that we'll not put limits on any product under these circumstances because it might signal panic or elicit complaints of price-gouging.)<br />
<br />
The customer's simple reply: "I don't care." <br />
<br />
Our partner needed some calming down. We couldn't offer it. We admit, we've never been good at that. We also regard price as a signal, communication that must not be impaired, <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/commentary/defense-so-called-%E2%80%98price-gouging%E2%80%99" target="_blank">as sacrosanct as the freedom of speech</a>. My employer should consider pricing products according to shifts in supply and demand. Such a shift has been staring us in the face, and if we don't respond to it, our suppliers surely will. This alone ill-equips us to calm down our distressed partner watching the opportunism of human nature. <br />
<br />
Instead I told her about Gray Goose <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/sasse-rips-pelosi-for-trying-to-smuggle-hyde-amendment-loophole-into-coronavirus-package/" target="_blank">Nan's attempt to undermine the Hyde Amendment</a> in the Federal coronavirus spending bill. <br />
<br />
Say what you will about the argued right to abortion, but the people have spoken that they do not approve of Federal funding for it, and when we discuss Federal funding for elective medical procedures, we're not talking about rights. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-9633814280337195012020-03-12T10:46:00.000-06:002020-03-12T10:46:07.481-06:00Joe Huffman asks: <blockquote class="tr_bq">
It really is a states issue to bring the Feds back in line with the
Constitution [on individual firearm rights]. But it’s going to take more than one state to do it. I
wouldn’t be surprised if it requires a constitutional convention of the
states. And that gets us into scary territory.
The second best approach I see is the sanctuary movement and related activities. </blockquote>
<a href="http://firearmsfreedomact.com/" target="_blank"> Firearms Freedom Act</a>s. Enforced vigorously by the States. <br />
<br />
Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-83204390975611976302020-03-11T12:49:00.000-06:002020-03-11T12:49:08.089-06:00RoundupWe find that, sadly, we did not coin the hashtag #SundownJoe . Somebody else on Twtr coined it about 24 hours before we tried to. Meanwhile,<br />
<br />
<samp class="EmbedCode-container"><code class="EmbedCode-code"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
if "only
Nixon could go to China" then<br /><br />only Bernie
can safely challenge <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SundownJoe?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SundownJoe</a>
's mental acuity <a href="https://t.co/QGmhg9h0PL">https://t.co/QGmhg9h0PL</a></div>
—
Law Firm of SolitaryPoorNastyBrutish&Short (@AubreyLaVentana)
<a href="https://twitter.com/AubreyLaVentana/status/1237802578592673792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
11, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</code></samp><br />
<br />
Commenting at <a href="https://reason.com/2020/03/10/quarterbacking-a-card-game/#comments" target="_blank">Volokh</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The court system should seek ways to shrink the cost of ending a failed marriage.”<br />
<a href="https://reason.com/2020/03/10/quarterbacking-a-card-game/#comment-8161979" target="_blank">Let’s not concede this too hastily.</a> The costs of ending a marriage,
failed or not, fall mostly on the rest of society, not on the two former
spouses . . </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
A discussion on <a href="https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/361011/" target="_blank">Instapundit </a>regarding earlier action against rapid spread of a communicable disease, versus its consequences to businesses:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I'm old enough to remember when economics was taught to be a science
wherein it is impossible to conduct experiments ('the dismal science'),
so we had to test our models through study of real-world events. <a href="http://disq.us/p/27uysg9" target="_blank">Well, here we have a few,</a> regarding mobility of labor and/or capital, and
nation-states, with varying levels of trust in their institutions,
acting in various ways to prevent potential collapse. Let's pay
attention and watch, say, Mercatus Center tease out the conclusions.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-42424962938982854682020-03-09T22:10:00.002-06:002020-03-09T22:10:58.916-06:00today's panic buying . . . at Big Box Retail Home Improvement Retail Operation is for toilet paper (yes, we carry P&G and store brands), paper towels, and bleach. Customers disappointed with WalMart and the grocery chains got the tipoff that we too carry them, so they bought ours by the cartload.<br />
<br />
One troubled young gent left with one cartload, then returned from the parking lot for an encore, while whispering into his phone about it. Seems that Grandma was caught short too, so he was sent back in to supply her. <br />
<br />
I noticed that the store brand of TP is adorned with a picture of a playful puppy and his chew toy, a blue ball with spikes on it. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8RGPT-0fZFhaoqSfH1ozzHPD4DClPlW4D8LLfQ0dSXlty9qQ-fjkAaACSVHTLPfQyL0ATQwUubcMiYwz36DobGYHtxG8CmTVOJYuA9ZFAGRsK4N_2BMwsi7TUu5tBX_stdpJzww/s1600/puppy+coronavirus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="371" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8RGPT-0fZFhaoqSfH1ozzHPD4DClPlW4D8LLfQ0dSXlty9qQ-fjkAaACSVHTLPfQyL0ATQwUubcMiYwz36DobGYHtxG8CmTVOJYuA9ZFAGRsK4N_2BMwsi7TUu5tBX_stdpJzww/s320/puppy+coronavirus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I noted to my customer, "Hey, this even has a picture of a coronavirus on it. They knew you were coming." <br />
<br />
My customer chuckled. <br />
<br />
He pulled out his debit card a bit too soon so I had to back out of the order and get him to reinsert it to complete the sale. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-72775657612882725662020-03-03T11:21:00.002-07:002020-03-15T19:39:33.092-06:00activist investor seeks to buy enough TWTR to oust DorseyMy alter-ego <a href="http://disq.us/p/27p8rn5" target="_blank">posted</a> at <a href="https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/360200/" target="_blank">Instapundit</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
reminds me of Neal Knox's bid to <a href="https://weckuptothees.blogspot.com/2004/09/ownership-society.htm" target="_blank">get 2A folks to buy shares of CBS</a>, then
give their proxies to him, to counter CBS's antigun propaganda. One
could buy <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/twtr" target="_blank">TWTR</a> to the same end. But buy low and don't treat it as an
investment.</blockquote>
Even a handful of nagging votes in the boardroom would be better than we get right now. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-32240593198779441642020-02-28T08:57:00.000-07:002020-03-07T17:16:29.295-07:00commenting at Instapunditon a <a href="https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/359781/" target="_blank">post about how Hispanic support for DJT is surging</a> <strike>in spite </strike>because of his interest in honest labor:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="post-message " data-role="message" dir="auto">
<div>
I talk
to my plumber, and my customers. In Castilian when I can. <a href="http://disq.us/p/27m73mw" target="_blank">They pay cash. If only I could get them to hold on to their receipts.</a><br />
They
avoid holding receipts, or using credit, or keeping detailed records on
their purchases, *in my opinion* because they have a cultural
inclination to avoid anything---records, receipts, banks---that El
Gobierno can exploit to find their money, because El Gobierno that they
came here to get away from has screwed them over on the basis of such
records, and they assume all governments do that. It's distrust of the
Sheriff of Nottingham, plain and simple.<br />
They keep inventory
instead of cash when they can. A truckload of plumbing parts is harder
for the Highway Patrol to seize than a wad of cash. Sharkbite fittings
and Google Nests are the current favorites.<br />
Trump could leverage this distrust, damned hard. While he's at it, he can challenge asset forfeiture, for the same reason.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
I assume they'd also be more successful in their businesses if they kept better records and knew better where their money is going. Lack of these records probably leads them to devalue their own labor in pure dollar terms. They could charge more if they knew what their labor was truly worth, and I'm confident they'd rather charge more. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-10659250685999165542020-02-27T08:21:00.000-07:002020-02-27T08:21:31.185-07:00More on coronapanicA fetching woman visited Big Box last night, inquiring about sanding respirators.<br />
<br />
The word choice alone was telling. <br />
<br />
I showed her our empty shelves. They're right next to the Tyvek coveralls, and she loaded her arms with about 10 packages of those. Then she asked about concrete-mixing troughs. <br />
<br />
"You're assembling a decon."<br />
<br />
I wish I were better at reading faces, because hers changed. <br />
<br />
"You could get the same function with lower shipping and storage costs by using sheet plastic to line a cardboard box or a hole dug in the ground. Next aisle over, 4 and 6 mil thickness." <br />
<br />
Then I showed her the pool chlorine. <br />
<br />
<br />Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-68847228712620948382020-02-26T10:55:00.000-07:002020-02-26T10:55:11.120-07:00QOTD<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Of course, in a situation like this, money can only go so far. As the
CDC has demonstrated, containing an outbreak is more about
decision-making and hard choices.</blockquote>
<br />
ZeroHedge, <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/france-confirms-2nd-death-outbreak-spreads-across-europe-virus-arrives-south-america" target="_blank">CDC Reports 6 New US Cases Of COVID-19 As Total Hits 59; Italy Surpasses 400: Live Updates</a><br />
<br />
and this: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Are we the only ones who feel that this sounds like justification for <em>closing</em> the border? </blockquote>
Big Box Retail Home Improvement Operation is out of N95 masks. A caller inquired last night. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-24231801502709532052020-02-20T09:20:00.000-07:002020-02-20T09:20:25.524-07:00QOTD<blockquote class="tr_bq">
AI is famous for imitating the biases<b> </b>of the decisionmakers it learns
from – and for then being conveniently incapable of explaining how it
arrived at its own decisions. No conservative should have much faith in a
machine that learns its content moderation lessons from current
practice in Silicon Valley.</blockquote>
Stewart Baker, Volokh Conspiracy, <a href="https://reason.com/2020/02/20/what-should-we-do-about-section-230/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">What should we do about Section 230?</span></span></a>Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-51097393368115631262020-02-13T08:53:00.000-07:002020-02-13T08:53:41.946-07:00I'm of two minds on thisA gentleman arrived yesterday at Big Box Home Improvement Retail Operation to pick up his online order of a household appliance. Because it was paid for, all I needed to see was a valid photo ID. <br />
<br />
The gentleman produced a motor vehicle operator license that expired in 2014. He could produce no other that was valid. He went away with no appliance, and with a pocketful of my sincere apologies. <br />
<br />
On the one hand, it is somewhat heartening that an adult can go six years without having to cough up identifying papers to anyone. Here in the Western redoubt, if one keeps his head down and goes about one's business, one may never contact a cop. <br />
<br />
On the other hand, it's a little disturbing that one can blithely ignore some responsibilities. Should a person so disconnected from the operations of the State be allowed to, say, vote? Is he keeping up his auto insurance? Had he been the subject of a mere traffic stop, I'm not sure what
humiliation he would have suffered. A traffic accident would have had
him at fault even if he had done everything right and some tweaker,
uninsured, or illegal had negligently rammed him. <br />
<br />
<br />Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-29665629838547356852020-02-07T09:21:00.000-07:002020-02-07T09:21:15.208-07:00An afterthoughtAm I the only guy out here who thinks that DJT's one-line shout-out for the Second Amendment in the 2020 SOTU speech was an afterthought?<br />
<br />
I would have appreciated at least a paragraph, and maybe a Presidential award for the man who saved a church full of Texans in White Settlement. <br />
<br />
Maybe next year. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-36625506217197499642020-02-03T07:50:00.003-07:002020-02-03T07:50:29.664-07:00N95 respiratorsI sold 150 of them this weekend. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-31327996232523859342020-01-23T00:01:00.001-07:002020-01-23T00:01:56.364-07:00Screw it, imma . . . cut down any 9mm Para cases I have laying about to 18mm, neck-expand them for 9mm Makarov, FL-resize them, and load .365" Hornady XTP in them over some Unique, Unique-ski, or AA#5. <br />
<br />
The Radom P-64 will be fed something. The single-action trigger pull on my sample is quite crisp at 4 lbs. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-53129411088120590982020-01-20T14:00:00.001-07:002020-01-20T14:05:26.493-07:00QOTD" . . what 'natural right' could border controls possibly be a defense of? The
obvious one is that they might be justified as a form of collective
self-defense. If you’ve got a peaceful, prosperous libertopia going,
you’d really prefer not to have a bunch of people who haven’t signed on
to your social contract walking in. Because you’re likely to have to
kill or expel a lot of them in self-defense, and who wants that
aggravation?<br />
<br />
. . . I now understand that the core complaint of the anti-immigration
Trump voters isn’t even about illegals low-balling them out of jobs,
although that’s certainly a factor. It’s “I want to keep the high level
of social trust I grew up with, and I see mass immigration – especially
mass illegal immigration – eroding that.” They think the political
elites of both parties, and corporations profit-taking in the labor
market, are throwing away that intangible asset to plump up a bit more
power and profit.<br />
<br />
I now think that is a serious – and justified – complaint."<br />
<br />
---Eric Raymond, <a href="http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8342" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">A libertarian rethinks immigration</span></span></a>Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-41943117957328379142020-01-19T22:28:00.002-07:002020-01-20T21:03:08.727-07:00something else is bugging me about Gene Healy's article <a href="http://weckuptothees.blogspot.com/2020/01/if-youre-bitching-about-broad-unitary.html" target="_blank">Gene Healy's article</a> . . . about <a href="https://reason.com/2019/12/20/fired/" target="_blank">how come we don't impeach Presidents</a> more often.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Almost alone among industrialized democracies, the U.S. hews to the
old-school regime of employment at will, which means most of us can be
frogmarched out of the building at any time—for good reason, bad reason,
or no reason at all.”</blockquote>
What the fuck is he talking about? There are more than a few people I'd like to have seen fired---some firings that would have benefited me and my career, most that definitely would not---who could be removed from their positions only after painstaking cataloguing of their failures and fair warning that the cataloguing was going on. Most, of course, were never removed.<br />
<br />
In this we will include an ANG Major who, by the end of her six-month rotation to a sinecure in SW Asia, had not one but two members of our Group who demanded a witness to be in the room with them should they ever have to face her in private. One of whom was <i>her own First Sergeant.</i> Consequences to her? She received a decoration that was below the level expected of her rank. I can even visualize the C-5 pilot, who commanded the Group above her, grinning and saying to himself, "<i>That</i> will show her!" Had an enlisted man behaved that way, he or she would have been on a rotator back to the donor unit at about 45 days, and the donor unit would have been on the hook for a replacement. <br />
<br />
The old-school regime of at-will employment is a myth. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://reason.com/2019/12/20/fired/#comment-8093372" target="_blank">Comments</a> from my alter-ego Aubrey <a href="https://reason.com/2019/12/20/fired/#comment-8093374" target="_blank">were left</a> to that effect at the article.<br />
<br />
While we're at it: "This is the country that pioneered the idea of firing people as <i>entertainment. </i>For 14 seasons of NBC's reality TV game show <i>The Apprentice</i>, Americans tuned in eagerly to see which contestants would be shown the door with the signature line 'You're fired!'"<br />
<br />
Because that's probably the only place where ordinary blokes get to see genuine accountability. Don't confuse reality TV with reality. <br />
<br />
(updated) After some reading, it seems that 'employment at-will' is legal shorthand for the opposite of prior English law, which supported seasonal employment, renewable for a year at a time. Even legal descriptions of the current state of at-will employment concede that employers can't fire without cause. 'At-will' is a misnomer. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-89101820999517608762020-01-17T04:48:00.002-07:002020-01-17T04:48:11.092-07:00splitscreen for todayContrast <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/html/sexual-revolutions-angry-children-15827.html" target="_blank">Kay Hymowitz's take</a> on the ramifications of sexual liberation . . . <br />
<br />
with <a href="https://reason.com/2020/01/07/writer-meghan-daum-thinks-you-need-to-toughen-up/" target="_blank">Meaghan Daum's,</a> Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-6105189638240117652020-01-06T14:44:00.004-07:002020-01-06T14:44:49.693-07:00Reason Feb2020"On a global scale, inequality is declining. While it has increased in the United States . . . "<br />
<br />
Sounds like a long tail to me, and the sort of thing that a long tail entails. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
---David R. Henderson, in <a href="https://reason.com/magazine/" target="_blank">Reason</a>, <i>The Truth About Income Inequality</i>, February 2020 (not yet available online)</div>
Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-51025004427697587332020-01-06T14:29:00.000-07:002020-01-06T14:30:38.954-07:00If you're bitching about the broad, 'unitary' power of the Executive, blame CongressGene Healy (same guy who I used to read in Liberty? <a href="http://genehealy.com/" target="_blank">yep</a>) in <a href="https://reason.com/2019/12/20/fired/" target="_blank">Reason</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"the more fundamental problem is the office, not the man. The presidency
has grown far too powerful to entrust to any one fallible human. Will
the current impeachment drive do anything about that?"</blockquote>
<br />
The unitary executive has grown excessively powerful because Congress has passed legislation that hands that power to the Executive. Congress should not bitch when that power is abused. Write legislation that the President can execute. By the way, do we yet have a Federal budget for FY2020? (Continuing resolutions do not count)<br />
<br />
And be prepared to argue that legislation's Constitutionality when the Executive asserts its own power to decide what is Constitutional and what isn't, what is discretionary for the Executive and what isn't.<br />
<br />
In the same article, he praises Nixon-era Congressional reforms that would limit future Presidents, including (ahem) "the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."<br />
<br />
Wonder what Mr Healy thinks about FISA abuses, or whether he sees them as, in fact, abuses? Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-1241496933181620142020-01-06T07:55:00.001-07:002020-01-06T07:55:12.225-07:00Marketing study 403: Progressive pressesDillon introduces a new press with the sole purpose of preparing cases for its other progressive reloading presses. I didn't read the article yet, but it reminds me of Cabinet Man's recent inquiries about my RL450.<br />
<br />
It's a four-station press that has no separate powder-check station, which kinda concerns him. To be fair, those four stations don't reflect what I'd really want in a progressive press either. The first station is meant as full-length resize and decap, and priming. With GI brass, I have to decap separately and then swage the primer pockets, so I prep cases on a Rockchucker anyway. The Dillon's first station is used only to prime. <br />
<br />
So if somebody wants to cleverly realign reloading functions for volume with GI brass, with resize, pocket swage, shoulder and case length checks on a separate platform, the four stations of an RL450 or 550 need to be rearranged. <br />
<br />
I can't visualize one station that both drops a powder charge, and verifies that the case has received its charge. I also very much like seat and crimp as separate stations. So move the powder charge to first station, right after the primer is seated. <br />
<br />
1: Prime and powder charge.<br />
<br />
2: Powder check.<br />
<br />
3: Seat.<br />
<br />
4: Crimp.<br />
<br />
The manual of arms changes from case-bullet-up-down-back-rest-rotate to case-bullet-back-up-down--rest-rotate so the case gets primed before the charge drops. Some mechanical warning that there's no primer in the seater plug might also be useful. Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491947.post-71660002291015102082019-12-23T09:56:00.001-07:002019-12-23T09:56:34.492-07:00If I were doing this for the money, I wouldn't be doing *this*As my military career came to an end, I was noticing problems with memory. Forgetting meetings, not having a clear head for them, and tackling low-hanging fruit instead of going after the big, meaningful, change-agent kinds of things. <br />
<br />
Now, it seems my memory is sound. I remember names, faces, situations, problems, solutions. There's still plenty of keyboard time, but none of it spend interpreting a regulation or explaining my actions to dim second-guessers. <br />
<br />
My work keeps me on my feet and in front of people. I didn't realize that's what I needed. <br />
<br />
I may also be losing weight. Now for putting the garage and the radios back in order . . . <br />
<br />
<br />Fûzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14010613957566817591noreply@blogger.com1