Sourced from one of the social disease networks:
What the artist should have been going for:
One more bold, dramatic face fixed on a bold, dramatic future somewhere in the distance, off to the reader's Left.
20181019
another wish list item
I've always gotten an adrenaline rush from ELP's "The Barbarian."
Since youngest Toad, now in excess of 6 vertical feet of stature, has joined his school's marching band, I suggested that somehow The Barbarian could be arranged for a marching band. I can hear it in my mind's ear.
While looking for a marching band arrangement, this you tu b came up. Who knew that, yet again, ELP repurposed a classical piece as spaceman progrock?
These guys---3 Hungarians and a Usonan---knocked it the fuck out of the park.
Since youngest Toad, now in excess of 6 vertical feet of stature, has joined his school's marching band, I suggested that somehow The Barbarian could be arranged for a marching band. I can hear it in my mind's ear.
While looking for a marching band arrangement, this you tu b came up. Who knew that, yet again, ELP repurposed a classical piece as spaceman progrock?
These guys---3 Hungarians and a Usonan---knocked it the fuck out of the park.
20180930
well we just sit around here
Midway 1292: new motor from Grainger costs more than a new tumbler.
New tumbler: Amazon is undercutting MidwayUSA something sick.
Amazon: "hey why not stream some music from a bearded Justin Timberlake while you are sitting around in your house waiting for your tumbler?"
New tumbler: Amazon is undercutting MidwayUSA something sick.
Amazon: "hey why not stream some music from a bearded Justin Timberlake while you are sitting around in your house waiting for your tumbler?"
Midway 1292 tumbler
It just blew up.
I was cleaning up some 6.5 Grendel brass and some Lake City 7.62 after success at a range. Stopped the tumbler to have a look, figured they needed a little more cowbell.
I flicked the switch, and sparks jumped out from beneath the bowl, then smoke curled up from within.
Motor is smoked. It had a good run, I probably bought it in '92 or '93, before joining my Sainted Wife in matrimony.
Though running it on the floor of a dusty garage might have hastened its demise.
Maybe somebody has a replacement motor.
I was cleaning up some 6.5 Grendel brass and some Lake City 7.62 after success at a range. Stopped the tumbler to have a look, figured they needed a little more cowbell.
I flicked the switch, and sparks jumped out from beneath the bowl, then smoke curled up from within.
Motor is smoked. It had a good run, I probably bought it in '92 or '93, before joining my Sainted Wife in matrimony.
Though running it on the floor of a dusty garage might have hastened its demise.
Maybe somebody has a replacement motor.
20180804
Hello, Miss Margaret
Luth-AR out back, Wolff extra power buffer spring, home-milled 80% lower, no-name eBay modular trigger, Voodoo integral bolt carrier, DeadShot 24" Grendel barrel and bolt, Odin click-adjustable gas block, no-name tubular handguard. Athlon 4-14x44 FFP.
and I'm out a 20-year-old drill press, it roasted as I was finishing the milling in this lower. The Polymer80 jig kit was handy, it will probably make it through a second lower. I'll do a new lower for Bobbie Jo.
Anybody make a pistol grip that looks like a Springer XD?
20180711
maybe this can be witnessed only in flyover country
or again, maybe not:
along the shoulder of a US highway as it passes through the former economic dynamo of the town, there poddled an electric scooter, facing against the traffic, with a guy sitting on it, using one leg to try to push it along.
So let me get this straight. A person who depends on an electric scooter to get around, riding a scooter with maybe not enough power left in the battery, or a motor nearly worn out, using one leg to boost it.
If he's strong enough to boost his own electric scooter, maybe he does not need an electric scooter.
At his rate, I've been home half an hour since driving past him. I could probably find him and capture some video.
along the shoulder of a US highway as it passes through the former economic dynamo of the town, there poddled an electric scooter, facing against the traffic, with a guy sitting on it, using one leg to try to push it along.
So let me get this straight. A person who depends on an electric scooter to get around, riding a scooter with maybe not enough power left in the battery, or a motor nearly worn out, using one leg to boost it.
If he's strong enough to boost his own electric scooter, maybe he does not need an electric scooter.
At his rate, I've been home half an hour since driving past him. I could probably find him and capture some video.
20180629
tracer for 6.5mm
it's begun to annoy me that tracers are not available for 6.5mm, compared to US or Soviet calibers.
The prospect of forming a cavity in a boattail and filling it with barium nitrate, magnesium, and other pyrophoric unobtainium compounds doesn't thrill me either.
Applique tracer devices stuck to otherwise non-tracer bullets intrigue me. Glowammo seems to have disappeared, and may never have been introduced in rifle calibers anyway. And there may be a reason they were not introduced. Velocities too high for human eyes to track the glow or for the device to hang on to the tail, chamber pressures too high for the applique to withstand?
So I wonder if a phosphor compound could be mixed with ground glass filler and an epoxy, and dabbed on the tail of a bullet? Would the intense heat and light of the burning propellant cause the phosphor to light up, but not burn up?
The prospect of forming a cavity in a boattail and filling it with barium nitrate, magnesium, and other pyrophoric unobtainium compounds doesn't thrill me either.
Applique tracer devices stuck to otherwise non-tracer bullets intrigue me. Glowammo seems to have disappeared, and may never have been introduced in rifle calibers anyway. And there may be a reason they were not introduced. Velocities too high for human eyes to track the glow or for the device to hang on to the tail, chamber pressures too high for the applique to withstand?
So I wonder if a phosphor compound could be mixed with ground glass filler and an epoxy, and dabbed on the tail of a bullet? Would the intense heat and light of the burning propellant cause the phosphor to light up, but not burn up?
20170808
20170806
too cheap to buy genuine Yaesu batteries
but I'll spend out the ass to hack together battery packs from 18650 cells and trays. Four trays fit, each with four cells in series, 3.7Vdc each.
the hard part is getting the connectors that mate to the radio. I might just bind all four trays in parallel and wire them out through the charging access and over to the external DC molex. I have those parts already.
20170805
Tweet for yesterday
Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) tweeted at 08:52 on Aug 04:
Difference between Nazi and Communist is when you say how horrible Nazis have been, they don't say, "Well, real Nazism has never been tried"
https://twitter.com/IMAO_/status/893484730221547520
20170514
tired of all the winning
I believe ammunition prices are falling since the Trumpening. Gun prices, not so much, so I hear.
but when Wolf steel-cased 6.5 Grendel fodder is priced near twenty-three cents delivered, it smells time to buy.
20160805
Uniform sorting
As new uniforms roll in, I've sought to keep them together in sets so as they wear out or fade, they get disposed of in sets. At first, I labeled jacket and trousers with the month and year I got that set. Then at times I got more than one set at a time. Not very helpful for Sainted Wife to keep them together.
There were also a few sets that didn't get marked with anything when I got them, because I didn't realize how quickly the camo pattern faded. Sainted Wife got into the act, when I noticed one set with a red square Sharpied on the labels because she couldn't find any month and year.
So the next uniforms I received, 3 sets of ripstops, arrived just as a muharib shot up a nightclub in Orlando. Three sets at once, that needed to stay together as sets.
I labeled one set "Orlando." Then another set "Garland" and the third "Ft Hood."
With our new normal of Islamic atrocities on US soil, I will be renaming the other uniforms.
Update: today a uniform has been marked OHIO STATE.
There were also a few sets that didn't get marked with anything when I got them, because I didn't realize how quickly the camo pattern faded. Sainted Wife got into the act, when I noticed one set with a red square Sharpied on the labels because she couldn't find any month and year.
So the next uniforms I received, 3 sets of ripstops, arrived just as a muharib shot up a nightclub in Orlando. Three sets at once, that needed to stay together as sets.
I labeled one set "Orlando." Then another set "Garland" and the third "Ft Hood."
With our new normal of Islamic atrocities on US soil, I will be renaming the other uniforms.
Update: today a uniform has been marked OHIO STATE.
20160722
the best-kept secret in the Air Force (updated)
. . . so secret, in fact, that even members of the Air Force do not know it. Or if they do, they do not reveal it.
I refer, of course, to AFI 1-1, paragraph 1.6.5, forms of address for all Air Force ranks, and the habit of Enlisted folk addressing one another as "sir." It's not there; the AFI does not permit nor require it. Yet Airmen literally of all stripes continue to do it; I've been addressed hundreds of times at this location as "sir" but thank the ghost of Hap Arnold I haven't been called out for not addressing others that way myself.
Among the enlisted, Chiefs may be addressed in the short form as "Chief." All other NCO ranks may be addressed in the short form as "Sergeant." That's what I do, though usually with the Army-approved "Sar'nt."
Yet as an E-8, I am also addressed regularly by officers as "Senior." The AFI does not sanction that either.
I refer, of course, to AFI 1-1, paragraph 1.6.5, forms of address for all Air Force ranks, and the habit of Enlisted folk addressing one another as "sir." It's not there; the AFI does not permit nor require it. Yet Airmen literally of all stripes continue to do it; I've been addressed hundreds of times at this location as "sir" but thank the ghost of Hap Arnold I haven't been called out for not addressing others that way myself.
Among the enlisted, Chiefs may be addressed in the short form as "Chief." All other NCO ranks may be addressed in the short form as "Sergeant." That's what I do, though usually with the Army-approved "Sar'nt."
Yet as an E-8, I am also addressed regularly by officers as "Senior." The AFI does not sanction that either.
20160716
Music covers I'd like to hear
Meaghan Trainor should cover Amy Winehouse's Rehab, but maybe Meaghan's whole shtick is a cover of Rehab without the drugs and booze.
20160715
Somewhere in 38S
The Italian desert uniform looks like it was borrowed from the Canadians.
Except that instead of cotton T-shirts worn under the jackets, the Italians wear a thicker, tighter-fitting synthetic shirt that looks like part of a cycling team uniform.
Come to think of it, even Italian gas-station attendants wear stuff that looks like cycling team wear.
Except that instead of cotton T-shirts worn under the jackets, the Italians wear a thicker, tighter-fitting synthetic shirt that looks like part of a cycling team uniform.
Come to think of it, even Italian gas-station attendants wear stuff that looks like cycling team wear.
20160710
Back in teh bukkit and teh bukkit been poured
Am back in the area of responsibility, where this blog started.
20160627
One more reason I want to learn how to run a lathe and mill, edited (and updated)
The CZ Vz52 pistol perplexes me. I like the idea behind it: 7.62x25mm in a full-size service pistol, practically CCW-able, and not Soviet. Its lines are more art-deco 'ray-gun' than 'peasant woman' like the TT33 and its Browning (PBUH) predecessor.
The roller-lock is bad-ass.
But the drawbacks: eentsy sights, which can be corrected if you grit your teeth and say permanent good-bye to its collector milsurp value. European magazine release. A cast firing pin (aftermarket pin and retainer do improve the trigger pull).
The biggest negative: engineer Clark shows how the roller-lock pathways cut into the meat of the chamber, weakening it to the point that its roller lock gives it no power advantage over the Browning swinging-link unlock in the TT.
And yet . . . . if one could chamfer about the topmost millimeter from the rollers, and mill the topmost millimeter and a half from the roller cam, and machine a new barrel whose roller pathways did not pass the entire frigging way from one side of the barrel trunnion to the other, then you'd have a barrel without a dangerously thin chamber right under the barrel and directly above the trigger finger. And you'd have a pistol that could tolerate the chamber pressures of modern PPU 7.62x25 ammunition.
Then maybe it would be worth it to work a thumb-button magazine release into it. And something to warm the hearts of pistol historians, if US law would just get out of the way: a detachable shoulder stock.
No, I'm not giving a rat's ass about collector value on a milsurp pistol. I've WECSOGged nicer stuff than my 52. Besides, I have only 1 real safe-queen, my Dad's S&W M17, bought new in 1949, his wedding present to himself.
Update: We've been reading up on silver brazing, and how it's a fairly strong technique for joining metals but will not risk the temper in steel. So perhaps a slip of steel, say 2mm thick, shaped like the channel in the trunnion, could be quenched, then silver-brazed into place in the top of that channel. There would then be much more steel on that bottom wall of the chamber. Some metal would still have to be removed from the top of the roller cam, to clear the added metal. Safety-Silv 56 flows at right around 1200 F.
The roller-lock is bad-ass.
But the drawbacks: eentsy sights, which can be corrected if you grit your teeth and say permanent good-bye to its collector milsurp value. European magazine release. A cast firing pin (aftermarket pin and retainer do improve the trigger pull).
The biggest negative: engineer Clark shows how the roller-lock pathways cut into the meat of the chamber, weakening it to the point that its roller lock gives it no power advantage over the Browning swinging-link unlock in the TT.
And yet . . . . if one could chamfer about the topmost millimeter from the rollers, and mill the topmost millimeter and a half from the roller cam, and machine a new barrel whose roller pathways did not pass the entire frigging way from one side of the barrel trunnion to the other, then you'd have a barrel without a dangerously thin chamber right under the barrel and directly above the trigger finger. And you'd have a pistol that could tolerate the chamber pressures of modern PPU 7.62x25 ammunition.
Then maybe it would be worth it to work a thumb-button magazine release into it. And something to warm the hearts of pistol historians, if US law would just get out of the way: a detachable shoulder stock.
No, I'm not giving a rat's ass about collector value on a milsurp pistol. I've WECSOGged nicer stuff than my 52. Besides, I have only 1 real safe-queen, my Dad's S&W M17, bought new in 1949, his wedding present to himself.
Update: We've been reading up on silver brazing, and how it's a fairly strong technique for joining metals but will not risk the temper in steel. So perhaps a slip of steel, say 2mm thick, shaped like the channel in the trunnion, could be quenched, then silver-brazed into place in the top of that channel. There would then be much more steel on that bottom wall of the chamber. Some metal would still have to be removed from the top of the roller cam, to clear the added metal. Safety-Silv 56 flows at right around 1200 F.
NYT articles I'd like to see----Texas abortion clinic safety measures
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday struck down parts of a
restrictive New York law that limits the number of permits to carry a
concealed weapon in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of
roughly 40.
...
The decision concerned New York's Sullivan Law, that imposes strict requirements on the issuance of permits that allow New Yorkers to carry concealed, own, or even handle a handgun.
One part of the law requires the Judge of the applicant's County Family Court to individually process the application for the permit, including personal references, interviews by a law enforcement officer, an inspection of the security measures at the home where the handgun will be stored, training requirements that must take place before the applicant can legally even handle any pistol, and a process that takes at least 6 months and approximately $250 in fees paid to the County, in addition to any expenses incurred for safe storage or training.
The law is also interpreted arbitrarily across the State, with some Judges and Sheriffs placing additional limitations on permit holders: prohibitions on concealed carry, criteria for personal references, or burdensome requirements for storage. These limitations are often applied retroactively, such as requiring a permit holder to install a fixed safe after a rash of nearby burglaries in the neighborhood.
“We conclude,” Justice Breyer wrote, “that ... none of these provisions offer law enforcement benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes. Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of citizens seeking the most common and effective self-defense tool, each constitutes an undue burden on that access, and each violates the Federal Constitution. Collectively, these provisions actively discourage New Yorkers from even applying for permission to exercise what Heller and MacDonald clarified was a fundamental individual right guaranteed under the Constitution against infringement by Federal or State and local governments.”
(Ed.---this is also a comment at the appropriate post today at Instapundit)
...
The decision concerned New York's Sullivan Law, that imposes strict requirements on the issuance of permits that allow New Yorkers to carry concealed, own, or even handle a handgun.
One part of the law requires the Judge of the applicant's County Family Court to individually process the application for the permit, including personal references, interviews by a law enforcement officer, an inspection of the security measures at the home where the handgun will be stored, training requirements that must take place before the applicant can legally even handle any pistol, and a process that takes at least 6 months and approximately $250 in fees paid to the County, in addition to any expenses incurred for safe storage or training.
The law is also interpreted arbitrarily across the State, with some Judges and Sheriffs placing additional limitations on permit holders: prohibitions on concealed carry, criteria for personal references, or burdensome requirements for storage. These limitations are often applied retroactively, such as requiring a permit holder to install a fixed safe after a rash of nearby burglaries in the neighborhood.
“We conclude,” Justice Breyer wrote, “that ... none of these provisions offer law enforcement benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes. Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of citizens seeking the most common and effective self-defense tool, each constitutes an undue burden on that access, and each violates the Federal Constitution. Collectively, these provisions actively discourage New Yorkers from even applying for permission to exercise what Heller and MacDonald clarified was a fundamental individual right guaranteed under the Constitution against infringement by Federal or State and local governments.”
(Ed.---this is also a comment at the appropriate post today at Instapundit)
HK bipod, finally
RobertRTG has been promising Pakistani-made HK91 bipods for some time. They finally arrived, and I bought one, because I am not going to spend as much on a gen-yoo-wine Kraut bipod as I did for the rest of the damned rifle.
Eagerly I lifted it to the forearm of my Springer/Greek HK91 to find that the bipod just would not stick on that little device there.
Back to the interwebs, to find that Springer had milled off half of that little device there, along with slapping on a perverted thumbhole stock. I bought that rifle new in 19-mumblety-mumble when certain cosmetic features were disfavored.
New forearms cost as much, almost, as the bipod. The value proposition of the affordable POF bipod was dissolving before my eyes.
Until I found a scrap fender washer of about the right dimensions, held it with a vise, and carved away all the metal that looked like it would not help hold that bipod on.
Then I wire-feed welded that chunk on the forearm, about where the necessary parts were ground off. The bipod now hangs there, and bears a little weight. I need some pointers on what sort of spring was riveted inside the handguard as a catch to let the bipod come back off. Any ideas or diagrams, dear readers?
Eagerly I lifted it to the forearm of my Springer/Greek HK91 to find that the bipod just would not stick on that little device there.
Back to the interwebs, to find that Springer had milled off half of that little device there, along with slapping on a perverted thumbhole stock. I bought that rifle new in 19-mumblety-mumble when certain cosmetic features were disfavored.
New forearms cost as much, almost, as the bipod. The value proposition of the affordable POF bipod was dissolving before my eyes.
Until I found a scrap fender washer of about the right dimensions, held it with a vise, and carved away all the metal that looked like it would not help hold that bipod on.
Then I wire-feed welded that chunk on the forearm, about where the necessary parts were ground off. The bipod now hangs there, and bears a little weight. I need some pointers on what sort of spring was riveted inside the handguard as a catch to let the bipod come back off. Any ideas or diagrams, dear readers?
20160601
20160408
Revolver conversions I'd like to see
I've acquired a Dan Wesson 15-2, plain-vanilla medium-frame revolver with room for a 6-round cylinder of .357 Magnum.
The revolver was designed to allow the owner to switch barrels, from 2" to 4" or 6 or 8 or whatever. The barrel itself is a tube threaded at both ends, and it rests in a shroud that can be vent-ribbed, full underlug, and so forth. One end of the barrel threads into the frame, the other in a nut that in turn threads into the end of the shroud. A special wrench gets at the nut, and a feeler gauge makes sure that you put the barrel back in with the right gap between breech end of the barrel, and the cylinder.
The cylinder wouldn't be so hard to take out of the frame either.
So why not a conversion kit, with 5-round .41 Mag cylinder, and replacement .41 barrel?
The revolver was designed to allow the owner to switch barrels, from 2" to 4" or 6 or 8 or whatever. The barrel itself is a tube threaded at both ends, and it rests in a shroud that can be vent-ribbed, full underlug, and so forth. One end of the barrel threads into the frame, the other in a nut that in turn threads into the end of the shroud. A special wrench gets at the nut, and a feeler gauge makes sure that you put the barrel back in with the right gap between breech end of the barrel, and the cylinder.
The cylinder wouldn't be so hard to take out of the frame either.
So why not a conversion kit, with 5-round .41 Mag cylinder, and replacement .41 barrel?
20160213
inspiration from today's address by MG X, The Adjutant General
Do not forget that the United States became united, in a fundamental way, through force of arms. The force was publicly demonstrated, but the arms were mostly private property.
The United States' union was later given structure and form, indeed purpose, through argument in philosophies that were informed by bitter European experience.
Takeaways: establish and defend a free space by force of arms, then govern it with logical application of fact.
In that order.
The United States' union was later given structure and form, indeed purpose, through argument in philosophies that were informed by bitter European experience.
Takeaways: establish and defend a free space by force of arms, then govern it with logical application of fact.
In that order.
20151214
Hey, Cheaper than Dirt!
thanks for following.
how about some Fiocchi 7.62x39 in case lots?
Or . . . Berdan primers?
how about some Fiocchi 7.62x39 in case lots?
Or . . . Berdan primers?
Mechanical aptitude
Mlle Sklodovska inherited one of my older Windows notebooks. It since had developed a nasty wheeze in the CPU cooling fan. She was going through a can of computer air per week trying to get some foreign object out of it.
Then one night, it stopped wheezing entirely. And started issuing dire warnings that its CPU/graphics/wifi adapter/younameit was overheating.
Newegg sold me a replacement blower that would arrive in days, not the weeks that eBay's Chinese sellers promised.
I talked Mlle through taking the old one out and putting the new one in. Which involved taking off the back, and the keyboard, and the mobo, to get the blower out. Many, many M1x4mm screws.
Thank God no soldering. The ribbon connectors---trackpad to mobo, keyboard to mobo, wifi to keyboard---are surprisingly robust.
Yes, this is a rewrite of the G4 repair saga.
Mlle also knows how to weld with wirefeed and regular stick. And her coaches at youth smallbore are coaching her to move on to highpower. She wants a shooting coat for Christmas.
Then one night, it stopped wheezing entirely. And started issuing dire warnings that its CPU/graphics/wifi adapter/younameit was overheating.
Newegg sold me a replacement blower that would arrive in days, not the weeks that eBay's Chinese sellers promised.
I talked Mlle through taking the old one out and putting the new one in. Which involved taking off the back, and the keyboard, and the mobo, to get the blower out. Many, many M1x4mm screws.
Thank God no soldering. The ribbon connectors---trackpad to mobo, keyboard to mobo, wifi to keyboard---are surprisingly robust.
Yes, this is a rewrite of the G4 repair saga.
Mlle also knows how to weld with wirefeed and regular stick. And her coaches at youth smallbore are coaching her to move on to highpower. She wants a shooting coat for Christmas.
20150315
It's not me you have to worry about, updated extensively
I have now packed heat lawfully in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, Kentucky, South Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Arkansas, and Utah. Wisconsin. Ohio. Iowa.
No lives were lost.
The way things are looking, I will pack heat lawfully in Nyawk and Cahlifawnia before I become a grandfather.
Note that there are slackers: I'm talking about you, Nevada. And West Virginia.
No lives were lost.
The way things are looking, I will pack heat lawfully in Nyawk and Cahlifawnia before I become a grandfather.
Note that there are slackers: I'm talking about you, Nevada. And West Virginia.
20150220
fodmaps and QR codes
Another wish for the wish list: an Android app that looks up the ingredients of a food by QR codes and rates it for FODMAPs.
20150210
20140915
a difficult mother to tie
Prusik loops formed from .065" string trimmer line. For use as tandem belay on a hauling system based on .105" trimmer line. The 105 is powerful s#17, it broke a rope cleat today.
Tieing these little buggers was a trial. Next time, I soak the line in water a day or more before knotting.
20140909
Lautenberg violation for her too
So an ubicam in the elevator may have captured for Eternity that Ray Rice's at-the-time fiancee spit on Ray. Then he decked her with that left hook that even NPR's metrosexual sports commentators commentated. Sometime after that, they wed.
Question no one is asking: Will Mr Rice receive the coveted domestic violence misdemeanor conviction that Frank Lautenberg says disqualifies him permanently from firearm ownership?
Question that I am asking: does Lanay spitting on Ray constitute an act of domestic violence as well, rising to Lautenberg Amendment violation?
No, the question I'm really asking is: has a man been Lautenberged by a DV conviction, given for the act of spitting on his domestic partner? Yeah, that's it.
Question no one is asking: Will Mr Rice receive the coveted domestic violence misdemeanor conviction that Frank Lautenberg says disqualifies him permanently from firearm ownership?
Question that I am asking: does Lanay spitting on Ray constitute an act of domestic violence as well, rising to Lautenberg Amendment violation?
No, the question I'm really asking is: has a man been Lautenberged by a DV conviction, given for the act of spitting on his domestic partner? Yeah, that's it.
and that's when Jack said, "That's right! There ain't no frickin' french fries, just like I've been trying to tell ya!"
Visited a Jack in the box™ today and was invited to take their survey.
Had I known that they were running a special on a salted caramel shake, I might have dropped the burger and gotten that instead.
Had I known that they were running a special on a salted caramel shake, I might have dropped the burger and gotten that instead.
20140315
20140215
Bettie Jean's menu
On the left, Hornady 150gr FMJBTs in front of 56gr IMR4350. On the right, Midway blemished 168gr plastic-tip HPs in front of 48gr Win748.
20140213
A cop can find who accessed her driver license record but . . .
A highway patrolman stops a speeding cop, the cop launches a prick war against her, and she files "a public records request with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor
Vehicles. It turned out she was right: over a three-month period, at
least 88 law enforcement officers from 25 different agencies accessed
Watts' driver's license information more than 200 times"
Yet NSA can't figure out what classified information Snowden got his hands into, and assumes he got into All Of It.
The technology is there, just not being applied.
Yet NSA can't figure out what classified information Snowden got his hands into, and assumes he got into All Of It.
The technology is there, just not being applied.
20140120
a chamber cast of Anduril
I took a chamber casting of the Remington 600 known as Anduril.
At the neck of the cartridge case, diameter is .348". At the freebore, it is .312". After the rifling has begun, it's .310"
that sounds a bit over. Any ideas, readers? Is this barrel d00med?
Update: using my l33t Bene Gesserit training, I managed to slip the caliper on the cast just forward of the freebore, between the lands, and it's really .308" in there, and I'm not scraping Cerrosafe off of the casting. Maybe not d00med. But the very short magazine box plus the approximately .225" of freebore really limits bullets that will touch the rifling. Would almost rather have the barrel pulled, lop off one or two threads of barrel shank, twist it back in and have a new chamber cut with less freebore.
Update 2: gotta keep in mind that Cerrosafe expands to .0025" oversize after it has done cooling, in another 7 days or so; this cast was taken Monday afternoon. That expansion is on the same scale as my measurements tell me the chamber is oversize in diameter.
And we found SAAMI specification drawings. The freebore is supposed to be only about .08" long. That may be the only problem with this chamber.
At the neck of the cartridge case, diameter is .348". At the freebore, it is .312". After the rifling has begun, it's .310"
that sounds a bit over. Any ideas, readers? Is this barrel d00med?
Update: using my l33t Bene Gesserit training, I managed to slip the caliper on the cast just forward of the freebore, between the lands, and it's really .308" in there, and I'm not scraping Cerrosafe off of the casting. Maybe not d00med. But the very short magazine box plus the approximately .225" of freebore really limits bullets that will touch the rifling. Would almost rather have the barrel pulled, lop off one or two threads of barrel shank, twist it back in and have a new chamber cut with less freebore.
Update 2: gotta keep in mind that Cerrosafe expands to .0025" oversize after it has done cooling, in another 7 days or so; this cast was taken Monday afternoon. That expansion is on the same scale as my measurements tell me the chamber is oversize in diameter.
And we found SAAMI specification drawings. The freebore is supposed to be only about .08" long. That may be the only problem with this chamber.
20131127
componetz
Propellants are slowly returning to the shelves. The slower IMRs and Hodgdon numbers in particular, and shotshell propellants. I took 2 lb of H335 to try in Grendel and 762NATO.
Still no BL(C)-2. If this is how long it takes suppliers without permanently expanding capacity, then, well . . . this is how long it takes.
Still no BL(C)-2. If this is how long it takes suppliers without permanently expanding capacity, then, well . . . this is how long it takes.
20131105
I was really looking for election returns for the Colorado secession, and I got this (updated)
Dude, it was Czechoslovakia. Just one "k."
A columnist who presumes to "edit[] Democracy: A Journal of Ideas should rely on an editor or two himself, and a human spellchecker.
In a column where he laments the underlying discord in American politics and hopes to apply that as context to a secession vote in eleven counties in Colorado, he cites other sorrowful examples of other nations who couldn't stay married, in spite of the kids, and were sundered by the "culture-ization of their politics."
No matter that a guy named Tito kept those Yugos from piously murdering one another for most of a generation (defined as four 20-year spans, if you follow the Strauss and Howe model), for example. A generational cycle of that length is about as long as any government-imposed common immiseration can be expected to hold together. The New Deal included.
(Typo corrected)
A columnist who presumes to "edit[] Democracy: A Journal of Ideas should rely on an editor or two himself, and a human spellchecker.
In a column where he laments the underlying discord in American politics and hopes to apply that as context to a secession vote in eleven counties in Colorado, he cites other sorrowful examples of other nations who couldn't stay married, in spite of the kids, and were sundered by the "culture-ization of their politics."
No matter that a guy named Tito kept those Yugos from piously murdering one another for most of a generation (defined as four 20-year spans, if you follow the Strauss and Howe model), for example. A generational cycle of that length is about as long as any government-imposed common immiseration can be expected to hold together. The New Deal included.
(Typo corrected)
20131029
Open Letter to the GOP Congressional Delegation
Dear Republicans in the US Senate and the House of Representatives:
I am not a Republican. You owe me no particular debt. I may have voted for one or another of you while registered in several States over the years, but most of that time I was registered with a third party. I remain so today.
For some of you I had very great hopes. Some of you then turned and betrayed those hopes.
So don't get an inflated ego when I say that I generally despise the Democrats across from you, partly for their refusal to pass a Federal budget for the last 4 years they held a majority in the Senate, partly for their mischaracterization of your newer, more energetic, and dare I say more ideological members.
You can yet earn my malediction, and the best way to do so is to cave in to those Democrats. The next best way to do so is to turn on those newer, more energetic, and more ideological members of your own party. They have led a dangerous, risky, odious effort to defund, delay, or repeal the PPACA. They drew the line and they tried to defend it. The leadership of your party has abandoned and abused them.
If you're from Wyoming, you should be familiar with the name Lane Frost. All he had to do was stay on the bull for eight seconds. It took everything he had for those eight seconds, and he trained a (short) lifetime just to know what to do during those eight seconds, to last that long.
Your job is easier than what Lane Frost had to do. All you have to do is, well, nothing. Just hold on, ignore the bucking, ignore the noise of the crowds. Don't give in on a delay now, don't insist on defunding. Just keep the law exactly as it is right now, and leave the Obama administration's people in place too. Keep his team exactly as it is for a few more weeks. Insist on no firings. Pass no "if you like it you can keep it" bills. Carve no new exceptions. Mind your damned manners with your own caucus.
All you have to do is nothing but hold on. When you get thrown, the sand will break your fall, and there will be clowns unwittingly helping you to run to safety.
If you don't even bother to climb on the bull, you are on the sidelines forever.
Cordially,
Fûz
I am not a Republican. You owe me no particular debt. I may have voted for one or another of you while registered in several States over the years, but most of that time I was registered with a third party. I remain so today.
For some of you I had very great hopes. Some of you then turned and betrayed those hopes.
So don't get an inflated ego when I say that I generally despise the Democrats across from you, partly for their refusal to pass a Federal budget for the last 4 years they held a majority in the Senate, partly for their mischaracterization of your newer, more energetic, and dare I say more ideological members.
You can yet earn my malediction, and the best way to do so is to cave in to those Democrats. The next best way to do so is to turn on those newer, more energetic, and more ideological members of your own party. They have led a dangerous, risky, odious effort to defund, delay, or repeal the PPACA. They drew the line and they tried to defend it. The leadership of your party has abandoned and abused them.
If you're from Wyoming, you should be familiar with the name Lane Frost. All he had to do was stay on the bull for eight seconds. It took everything he had for those eight seconds, and he trained a (short) lifetime just to know what to do during those eight seconds, to last that long.
Your job is easier than what Lane Frost had to do. All you have to do is, well, nothing. Just hold on, ignore the bucking, ignore the noise of the crowds. Don't give in on a delay now, don't insist on defunding. Just keep the law exactly as it is right now, and leave the Obama administration's people in place too. Keep his team exactly as it is for a few more weeks. Insist on no firings. Pass no "if you like it you can keep it" bills. Carve no new exceptions. Mind your damned manners with your own caucus.
All you have to do is nothing but hold on. When you get thrown, the sand will break your fall, and there will be clowns unwittingly helping you to run to safety.
If you don't even bother to climb on the bull, you are on the sidelines forever.
Cordially,
Fûz
20130827
shortage of reloading componetz, updated
My sticker shock on primers kicks in right around 4 cents each, like a bout of GERD during a hangover.
No sticker shock here. Five thousand Large Rifle arrived in one box.
20130616
Proof, if you needed it, that guns make one stupid
I literally slapped the table with my hand upon reading it: "Few students ask to have guns on Wyoming campuses, and when they do, the answer is likely to be 'no.'"
I'm not surprised. Only one or two students, staff, or faculty need be told 'no' at local Community Cawlidge before the word gets out to likeminded others, not to bother asking. Cause and effect are likely reversed.
This is unfortunate, considering that not all that long ago, a concealed weapon would have been rather handy against a kid planning to kill his father with a compound bow and a knife. Whether bringing the edged weapons on campus violated campus policy or Wyoming law is no consolation, because the father is dead and the kid didn't ask in advance.
This pearl though: “The presence of too many firearms can inhibit the educational process.” We can see that the absence of a firearm (where and when needed) surely as hell Inhibited the Educational Process. Jim Krumm, RIP, did not finish teaching that day, let alone the semester. "[S]tudents watched horrified as Chris Krumm stepped into the classroom and unleashed an arrow at his father" sounds rather, er, educationally inhibiting, doesn't it? "Casper College, where some 5,000 students are enrolled, canceled classes for the rest of Friday;" well, there you have positive sighting of Educational Process Inhibition.
I'm willing to cut UW's Chief Samp a little slack. What cop would use such stilted and pretentious terminology? I suspect he's parroting a talking point given him by his superiors in UW administration, and woe be unto him if he were to deviate from it. That line goes something like, "guns make people stupid, if we have more guns on campus we'll have more stupid people, stupidity inhibits the educational process. Universities are supposed to have no inhibitions on the educational process, we need no stupid people in them. So no guns. The law of this unenlightened land at least requires the unwashed to ask permission, so we simply deny it." This from folks who claim to be teaching Critical Thinking to the generation who will be creating wealth to fund my Social Security benefits.
The likely result is, as suggested above, that the truly intelligent people who want to protect themselves on a college campus will simply pack heat carefully, without asking, or telling, anybody.
Which is how Wyoming law on the limits of the CCW permit ought to read in the first place.
I'm not surprised. Only one or two students, staff, or faculty need be told 'no' at local Community Cawlidge before the word gets out to likeminded others, not to bother asking. Cause and effect are likely reversed.
This is unfortunate, considering that not all that long ago, a concealed weapon would have been rather handy against a kid planning to kill his father with a compound bow and a knife. Whether bringing the edged weapons on campus violated campus policy or Wyoming law is no consolation, because the father is dead and the kid didn't ask in advance.
This pearl though: “The presence of too many firearms can inhibit the educational process.” We can see that the absence of a firearm (where and when needed) surely as hell Inhibited the Educational Process. Jim Krumm, RIP, did not finish teaching that day, let alone the semester. "[S]tudents watched horrified as Chris Krumm stepped into the classroom and unleashed an arrow at his father" sounds rather, er, educationally inhibiting, doesn't it? "Casper College, where some 5,000 students are enrolled, canceled classes for the rest of Friday;" well, there you have positive sighting of Educational Process Inhibition.
I'm willing to cut UW's Chief Samp a little slack. What cop would use such stilted and pretentious terminology? I suspect he's parroting a talking point given him by his superiors in UW administration, and woe be unto him if he were to deviate from it. That line goes something like, "guns make people stupid, if we have more guns on campus we'll have more stupid people, stupidity inhibits the educational process. Universities are supposed to have no inhibitions on the educational process, we need no stupid people in them. So no guns. The law of this unenlightened land at least requires the unwashed to ask permission, so we simply deny it." This from folks who claim to be teaching Critical Thinking to the generation who will be creating wealth to fund my Social Security benefits.
The likely result is, as suggested above, that the truly intelligent people who want to protect themselves on a college campus will simply pack heat carefully, without asking, or telling, anybody.
Which is how Wyoming law on the limits of the CCW permit ought to read in the first place.
20130417
Panic! panic! shortage of reloading componetz!
I'm down to just 3 8-lb jugs of WC846.
And an 8-pounder of W231. And 6 lbs of Unique-ski.
And an 8-pounder of W231. And 6 lbs of Unique-ski.
20130311
12V rechargeable flashlight
Blegging for recommendations for a metal bodied flashlight:
- impressive, maybe even intimidating, light output
- replaceable bulb or LED assembly
- rechargeable
- . . . by 12V via a cradle
- available replacement battery pack
- suitable for mounting in an automobile, constantly on charge by permanent wiring into the vehicle's electrical system
- body stout enough to use as a bludgeon, at least twice
- low enough price to put on an Amazon wish list without sheepish grin
- lanyard, or place to attach one
20130310
if I had an Oscar Meyer weiner . . .
if I got my hands on a 3-D printer, the first thing I'd like to try is a replacement barrel bushing for a Star PD. The 3-D printer would make a plastic version of it, but then I'd try using the plastic version as a mould for an investment casting. Somebody around here can investment cast carbon steel, no?
But the real cool thing I'd like to try is a stretched double-stack 1911 frame. Imagine slicing down through the frame along the magazine well, and making that magazine well about 2mm longer, front to rear. That ought to be just enough so a double-stack magazine of 7.62x25mm Tokarev would fit. That cartridge is too long for a standard or doublewide 1911.
3-D print that frame, with gaps for hardened steel slide rails to be pressed into the plastic. Finish with standard or double-wide 1911 parts as needed, and a .38 Super slide. 3-D print a barrel for the Tokarev, and have that buddy investment cast that for you too (update: or use J&G Sales's Tok barrel). A 3-D printed magazine will be needed too. It would probably have capacity for 15 or 16 rounds.
Update: is there any way to mix graphite fiber flakes into the plastic line that feeds into the 3-D printer?
But the real cool thing I'd like to try is a stretched double-stack 1911 frame. Imagine slicing down through the frame along the magazine well, and making that magazine well about 2mm longer, front to rear. That ought to be just enough so a double-stack magazine of 7.62x25mm Tokarev would fit. That cartridge is too long for a standard or doublewide 1911.
3-D print that frame, with gaps for hardened steel slide rails to be pressed into the plastic. Finish with standard or double-wide 1911 parts as needed, and a .38 Super slide. 3-D print a barrel for the Tokarev, and have that buddy investment cast that for you too (update: or use J&G Sales's Tok barrel). A 3-D printed magazine will be needed too. It would probably have capacity for 15 or 16 rounds.
Update: is there any way to mix graphite fiber flakes into the plastic line that feeds into the 3-D printer?
20130208
what to do until ammunition returns to your dealer's shelves
. . . well, since it may be 6 to 18 months for case lots of ammunition to come available again, what is a fellow to do with his dollar-cost-averaging in the meantime?
Let us suggest that you identify those parts that wear out the soonest on the blasters you own. Anything semiauto can be rough on extractors and ejectors, and the springs that push them, if any. If you don't know how to pull the ejector out of the bolt face of your AR, now is the time to figure that out. MBRs with fixed ejectors (FAL) and pistols (1911) can still break theirs, replacing them might be a bit tougher. Have a set of all the springs on your platform, many parts houses will sell you every part in one bag.
Unfortunately, I'm not the first to have this idea, and this is why even replacement parts for ARs are getting scarce. And 1911s too.
Don't neglect your non-patrol rifles either. The Remington bolt rifle extractors are said to be weak and will leave you heartbroken when they break. Brownell's will sell you a replacement, and the replacement includes instructions. Broken cartridge case extractors for the rifle calibers would keep your MBR out of the junk pile.
As you try these, or have a brother show you how to do them, you'll learn what tools you need. So we next suggest the books and tools that make you self-sufficient in keeping your beloved blasters a-blasting. Pin punches, including the roll-pin punches that you'll need to assemble an AR, and hollow-ground screwdriver bit sets. FAL owners would do well to get gunplumbr's guide and skim it through. Some blasters have parts that are meant to wear out, like the buffer on the Star PD.
If you are willing to go hardcore, get a spare hammer, trigger, and sear for your platform. Learn how to take them out and put them back without trashing the gun's finish, breaking tools, or seeing spring-loaded parts fly out a window.
Next, if money is still burning a hole in the ammo bag and ammo is still not available, talk to your gunsmith about some improvements to be made to your existing blasters. If you scored a spare HTS set and its connected springs, have the smith stone them together for a good trigger pull, then take them back out, mark them as a set, and wrap them for storage. A muzzle brake on a rifle would enhance its position on Diane's List. Remember, in the current unpleasantness, your gunsmiths might be worried about their livelihoods too, so support them now. Give them work.
Okay, last and most unpleasant: if this can happen to ammunition, it can happen to expendables like food too. You didn't prepare when ammunition prices were slowly rising. Will you be caught again, but worse this time?
Let us suggest that you identify those parts that wear out the soonest on the blasters you own. Anything semiauto can be rough on extractors and ejectors, and the springs that push them, if any. If you don't know how to pull the ejector out of the bolt face of your AR, now is the time to figure that out. MBRs with fixed ejectors (FAL) and pistols (1911) can still break theirs, replacing them might be a bit tougher. Have a set of all the springs on your platform, many parts houses will sell you every part in one bag.
Unfortunately, I'm not the first to have this idea, and this is why even replacement parts for ARs are getting scarce. And 1911s too.
Don't neglect your non-patrol rifles either. The Remington bolt rifle extractors are said to be weak and will leave you heartbroken when they break. Brownell's will sell you a replacement, and the replacement includes instructions. Broken cartridge case extractors for the rifle calibers would keep your MBR out of the junk pile.
As you try these, or have a brother show you how to do them, you'll learn what tools you need. So we next suggest the books and tools that make you self-sufficient in keeping your beloved blasters a-blasting. Pin punches, including the roll-pin punches that you'll need to assemble an AR, and hollow-ground screwdriver bit sets. FAL owners would do well to get gunplumbr's guide and skim it through. Some blasters have parts that are meant to wear out, like the buffer on the Star PD.
If you are willing to go hardcore, get a spare hammer, trigger, and sear for your platform. Learn how to take them out and put them back without trashing the gun's finish, breaking tools, or seeing spring-loaded parts fly out a window.
Next, if money is still burning a hole in the ammo bag and ammo is still not available, talk to your gunsmith about some improvements to be made to your existing blasters. If you scored a spare HTS set and its connected springs, have the smith stone them together for a good trigger pull, then take them back out, mark them as a set, and wrap them for storage. A muzzle brake on a rifle would enhance its position on Diane's List. Remember, in the current unpleasantness, your gunsmiths might be worried about their livelihoods too, so support them now. Give them work.
Okay, last and most unpleasant: if this can happen to ammunition, it can happen to expendables like food too. You didn't prepare when ammunition prices were slowly rising. Will you be caught again, but worse this time?
20130117
you joined the NRA . . .
. . . so now you want a medal, or something?
Sorry, I can't get very excited about you responding to the crisis only after it looks like it could really become a crisis. Every time I hear someone say "Hey, everybody, I joined the NRA today, and so should you!" I think one or more of the following:
NRA didn't help Heller very much, in fact one can argue they interfered. Thank Cato instead, their Bob Levy made the Heller win possible.
Spend as much on these institutions and organizations as you would on your next scarcity-overpriced case of ammunition or your next batch of standard-capacity magazines---if you can find the ammunition or the mags. You can't now, because they're gone. They're gone now because you didn't buy them before the sphincters closed. The sphincters closed because you didn't support the organizations back when this stuff was cheap.
In short, shame on you. Stop congratulating yourself. You have some catching up to do.
Update 1: I forgot Firearms Coalition, founded by the architect of the Cincinnati Revolt and continued by his widow and sons.
Sorry, I can't get very excited about you responding to the crisis only after it looks like it could really become a crisis. Every time I hear someone say "Hey, everybody, I joined the NRA today, and so should you!" I think one or more of the following:
- what took you so damned long?
- (update 2) are you the same guy who laughed in my face, or rolled your eyes, or called me a paranoid black-helicopter wacko when I suggested National Ammo Day a few years ago? Why yes, yes you are.
- Congratulations on waking up on the gun owners' side of the battle line.
- Get just an annual membership, then spend the dough you saved on a Dillon press and . . .
NRA didn't help Heller very much, in fact one can argue they interfered. Thank Cato instead, their Bob Levy made the Heller win possible.
Spend as much on these institutions and organizations as you would on your next scarcity-overpriced case of ammunition or your next batch of standard-capacity magazines---if you can find the ammunition or the mags. You can't now, because they're gone. They're gone now because you didn't buy them before the sphincters closed. The sphincters closed because you didn't support the organizations back when this stuff was cheap.
In short, shame on you. Stop congratulating yourself. You have some catching up to do.
Update 1: I forgot Firearms Coalition, founded by the architect of the Cincinnati Revolt and continued by his widow and sons.
20121226
was waitin for it, it was only a matter of time
. . . until someone with national reach made the observation.
Chicago alone is giving us a big enough body count every month to match the Newtown shooting. But Chicago's death toll is not as shocking to the MSM because---wait for it---
"Obama Only Cares When “Vanilla” Children Get Shot"
a whole boatload of racism is implicit in that view. When will that racism be challenged?
Chicago alone is giving us a big enough body count every month to match the Newtown shooting. But Chicago's death toll is not as shocking to the MSM because---wait for it---
"Obama Only Cares When “Vanilla” Children Get Shot"
a whole boatload of racism is implicit in that view. When will that racism be challenged?
20121223
The mess that has been left
It's bad enough that since the atrocity, retailers and manufacturers have tightened their sphincters of supply of blasters and their expendables.
It's even worse that most people I know are only now, with the supply tightening and prices rising, placing hard orders for the blasters and expendables. "Know where I could get an M4?" Me: "I used to. Probably gone now, for twice the price you could have had two weeks ago."
All I can say is "I've got mine." Now I have to put up with primers going for $.04 apiece.
Meanwhile, the NRA EVP holds a press conference, and some wank interrupts/heckles it. Nice attempt at a "national conversation." Instead, as Larry Correia explained so succinctly, it isn't a conversation, it's a lecture. Many think LaPierre rocked the presser---after looking over the release I'm not so enthusiastic. What about Fast and Furious? What about government attempts to increase violence, and cement its association with private firearms ownership and commerce, on our Southern border?
Meanwhile, and in a spirit of sincere national dialog rather than dismissing anti-gun writers out of hand, have a look at Cahan's post:
It's even worse that most people I know are only now, with the supply tightening and prices rising, placing hard orders for the blasters and expendables. "Know where I could get an M4?" Me: "I used to. Probably gone now, for twice the price you could have had two weeks ago."
All I can say is "I've got mine." Now I have to put up with primers going for $.04 apiece.
Meanwhile, the NRA EVP holds a press conference, and some wank interrupts/heckles it. Nice attempt at a "national conversation." Instead, as Larry Correia explained so succinctly, it isn't a conversation, it's a lecture. Many think LaPierre rocked the presser---after looking over the release I'm not so enthusiastic. What about Fast and Furious? What about government attempts to increase violence, and cement its association with private firearms ownership and commerce, on our Southern border?
Meanwhile, and in a spirit of sincere national dialog rather than dismissing anti-gun writers out of hand, have a look at Cahan's post:
Repealing drug laws would do more -- much, much, much more -- than banning assault rifles (a measure I would agree is quite appropriate); barring carrying of concealed handguns in public (I'd vote for that in my state, if after hearing from people who felt differently from me, I could give an account of my position that fairly meets their points and doesn't trade on tacit hostility toward or mere incomprehension of whatever contribution owning a gun makes to their experience of a meaningful free life); closing the "gun show" loophole; extending waiting periods etc. . . . we are entitled to make policy on the best understanding we can form of how the world works so long as we are open to new evidence and aren't otherwise interfering with liberties that we ought, in a liberal society, to respect.The "if after hearing from people who felt differently from me" part is what thoughtful people call dialog. Or a conversation.
20121218
'cuz they want your stuff, man
The belief that wealth consists not of ideas, attitudes, moral codes, and mental disciplines but of definable and static things that can be seized and redistributed is the materialist superstition.Tom Bethell paraphrasing George Gilder
Many of us free-marketers have unconsciously understood this. The left disparages the notion of physical property as crass materialism not because they disdain material goods, rather they want us to loosen our grip on them, so they can seize those goods for themselves. They confuse material things with wealth, they confuse money with value and love with sex, and are eager to equate spending with revenue, just as they wouldn't understand the difference between blood and saline if they were colored the same.
20121214
20121203
Something the NYTimes actually can do right
A package arrived from Numrich---er, Gun Parts Corp---today. A pack of 1911 magazines.
Instead of styrofoam dunnage, the box was packed with crumpled pages from the New York Times.
¡Vachement!
Instead of styrofoam dunnage, the box was packed with crumpled pages from the New York Times.
¡Vachement!
20121112
another pithy explanation for last week
Dreams, visions and wild hopes are mighty weapons and realistic tools. The practical-mindedness of a true leader consists in recognizing the practical value of these tools. Yet this recognition usually stems from a contempt of the present which can be traced to a natural ineptitude in practical affairs. The successful businessman is often a failure as a communal leader because his mind is attuned to the "things that are" and his heart set on that which can be accomplished in "our time." Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs. And it is perhaps fortunate that some proud natures when suffering defeat in the practical world do not feel crushed but are suddenly fired with the apparently absurd conviction that they are eminently competent to direct the fortunes of the community and the nation.Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the nature of mass movements
\
20121111
Grow a pair . . . of labia?
Unfortunately, I would have sworn that many of those fellow Americans didn't have lady parts on whose behalf they voted.
I guess I was mistaken.
20121107
post-election wrap-up
It is Mlle. Sklodovska's first night of the new junior smallbore season. As I was driving her to the range, she asked, "Who won the election?"
"Mr. Obama has been re-elected."
Hmmmm. "Is that a good thing?"
I thought for a second. "Not optimal."
"Mr. Obama has been re-elected."
Hmmmm. "Is that a good thing?"
I thought for a second. "Not optimal."
20121105
Hunh
I might have failed to tell you that on neighboring Farflung Silos AFB, the base exchange has installed a firearms counter and does land-office business in blasters. Not just yer plain-jane duck-hunting NEF break-open shotguns and bolt .22's either. They seem to lean hard on pocket blasters and Black rifles. Quite good prices on everything Springer. And I never knew how pretty a Ruger 77/44 was until I saw one there.
I walked past that counter the other day with FrankenBoy in tow, and noticed a family crowded up to the counter. Dad talking to the dealer, one or two offspring units in a stroller, and Momma in faux-stretch-leather pants handling a S&W M&P.
Double-take: she was slowly, deliberately turning the pistol and looking straight down the barrel.
I walked past that counter the other day with FrankenBoy in tow, and noticed a family crowded up to the counter. Dad talking to the dealer, one or two offspring units in a stroller, and Momma in faux-stretch-leather pants handling a S&W M&P.
Double-take: she was slowly, deliberately turning the pistol and looking straight down the barrel.
words that I wish were more common
I heard a guest on a radio talk show last week use a word that I wish I heard more often: 'whence.'
Which is proper usage: "let it go back from whence it came" or "let it go back whence it came"?
Other words that should stage a comeback:
Which is proper usage: "let it go back from whence it came" or "let it go back whence it came"?
Other words that should stage a comeback:
- disabuse
20121022
Invisible War and PPACA
Today we watched the film Invisible War, which detailed the problem of sexual assault in Uncle Sugar's services, and how assaults persist in spite of the sexual assault prevention programs Uncle has launched against it. This film is not for weak stomachs.
My takeaways:
My takeaways:
- the typical sexual predator claims 300 victims in a career. I'm torn on the idea of trying to treat this as if it were a public health problem, using motivational posters and briefings. In fact, this film brutally rips the current SAPR/BIT/SHARP programs as ineffective at best, or PR distractions at worst.
- the film's showcase assault survivors bear the scars of the assault, but even worse scars from the coverups and declined or bungled investigations after the fact. It's worth asking whether these survivors would have recovered and continued purposeful lives and successful military careers if the commanders had investigated and prosecuted the assaults more vigorously. What do we know about survivors whose perpetrators have been prosecuted fully? The film shows that most perps get weak punishment, assuming that the perps were guilty. I will not support abandonment of presumed innocence.
- the survivors had peers, both male and female, who supported them and encouraged them to report the assaults and seek justice, as well as peers who tried to persuade them to stay silent. The latter will always bend in the direction of the wind. Commanders and enforcers make the coverup possible, thus making future assaults inevitable.
- something is genuinely dicked up with the Feres doctrine. There's a reason I'm not a lawyer and the preceding sentence shows it.
20121013
Why do feminists assert nonsense that intimacy is terrifying to men?
When all you have is a lack of options, the world looks like a mandate.Roissy
20120914
teledildonics
when I send a text to the wife telling her to check the batteries in the butterfly, I mean check the batteries in the remote, too.
Has anyone fielded a Bluetooth-enabled toy that can be controlled through a smartphone? I wonder.
Has anyone fielded a Bluetooth-enabled toy that can be controlled through a smartphone? I wonder.
20120825
Self-reassurance, or affirmation statement?
About a year ago, a new family moved in across the street. A divorced head of household, her son with a girlfriend, and a daughter with two sons of her own, the elder of whom is bright, energetic, and over here with our two sons every day. Others appear, or stop appearing, randomly.
The said head of household has been revamping the landscaping and cleaning up trees and so forth. She visited the other day, asking to borrow tools for the effort. Sainted wife offered our stepladder and a telescoping pruner.
At one point during a lull in the conversation, she said, "I don't need a man." That struck me as rather queer. Did she mean she didn't need a man to handle the landscaping that has utterly dominated her spare time for the entire summer? She said it at a moment that I thought my sainted wife might not have heard it, almost that it was calculated so. In retrospect, I found it somewhat offensive.
I said, "well, you don't need a man until you need a man," meaning that it's easy for a woman to say she doesn't need a man, when she can borrow the things that tend to be available through a man from someone else's man.
Since then I 've been thinking of about better comebacks I should have offered, so she didn't think I was trying to hit on her, for example. "None was offered," for example. Please suggest your own comebacks in the comments.
"Not until you need a ladder from one."
"Is that an affirmation statement, or a self-reassurance?"
"Is that why you don't keep one around?"
"'How's that working for you?"
"Of course not, the world's your oyster, Toots."
The said head of household has been revamping the landscaping and cleaning up trees and so forth. She visited the other day, asking to borrow tools for the effort. Sainted wife offered our stepladder and a telescoping pruner.
At one point during a lull in the conversation, she said, "I don't need a man." That struck me as rather queer. Did she mean she didn't need a man to handle the landscaping that has utterly dominated her spare time for the entire summer? She said it at a moment that I thought my sainted wife might not have heard it, almost that it was calculated so. In retrospect, I found it somewhat offensive.
I said, "well, you don't need a man until you need a man," meaning that it's easy for a woman to say she doesn't need a man, when she can borrow the things that tend to be available through a man from someone else's man.
Since then I 've been thinking of about better comebacks I should have offered, so she didn't think I was trying to hit on her, for example. "None was offered," for example. Please suggest your own comebacks in the comments.
"Not until you need a ladder from one."
"Is that an affirmation statement, or a self-reassurance?"
"Is that why you don't keep one around?"
"'How's that working for you?"
"Of course not, the world's your oyster, Toots."
Eric Hoffer: where to start?
Due to recent reviews of the Longshoreman Philosopher's biographies in American Spectator and Reason, I've now got a yearning to read him. Which would be best as a first read, one that has the most relevance for today's situation? I have to make a good first cut, considering other demands on my time.
Amazon reviews are positive for The True Believer.
Amazon reviews are positive for The True Believer.
20120729
another "I'll be damned" moment
It has been maybe two years since the last time I tried to teach Frankenboy how to ride a bicycle. That time ended, er, poorly, with him tumbling ass-over-tincups off the bike, rolling on his shoulder and scraping a patch of skin from his leg. A neighbor lady out in her lawn saw the whole thing, and the boy's uncontrolled crying and howling, and thought I was some horrible abuser.
Since then, a neighbor boy has moved in and spends almost every waking hour at our house, goofing off with our two boys. He rides a bicycle.
Frankenboy thinks he wants to build a gokart or soapbox racer or some such out of discarded bicycle parts. I tell him it's a lot less work to learn to ride a regular, ordinary bike. The fear from the memory of his last painful attempt wells up. "A cart won't fall over."
So I make him a deal. Learn to ride a plain-vanilla upright bicycle down to the community pool and back, and he can disassemble one of the older 12" bicycles for parts. A 20" has been sitting in the garage, with cardboard piling up over it. We get it out and air up the tires, figure out which gears the derailleurs will in fact shift to, and he straps on his safety equipment.
He and neighbor boy disappear. I go back to working on a stubborn Coleman stove that won't shut off.
A few minutes later, I notice that a few minutes have transpired, no sight of son or neighbor boy. The neighbors' cars are gone, a good sign the boy is too. So my son is alone, on a bicycle, or maybe under one, maybe with a severly angulated extremity. Dunno.
Hmmmmm. I start walking in the direction of the goal of his heart, his way to getting parts for a cart. The pool. I keep walking. Halfway there. Did a psycho grab him? Did some teen roll over him in a Crown Vic?
Then swinging around the distant corner, there is a figure clad in bicycle helmet and knee pads, and the old combat boots and kneehigh wool socks I had given him earlier this morning (he now wears my boot size, at age 12). Doggedly pedaling a 20" bike that is too small for him. Keeping it upright. Pedaling faster than he should because the derailleurs are stuck in 1st on the front and 3rd on the rear. A smile from ear to ear.
I guess then we go shopping tomorrow for a 24".
Since then, a neighbor boy has moved in and spends almost every waking hour at our house, goofing off with our two boys. He rides a bicycle.
Frankenboy thinks he wants to build a gokart or soapbox racer or some such out of discarded bicycle parts. I tell him it's a lot less work to learn to ride a regular, ordinary bike. The fear from the memory of his last painful attempt wells up. "A cart won't fall over."
So I make him a deal. Learn to ride a plain-vanilla upright bicycle down to the community pool and back, and he can disassemble one of the older 12" bicycles for parts. A 20" has been sitting in the garage, with cardboard piling up over it. We get it out and air up the tires, figure out which gears the derailleurs will in fact shift to, and he straps on his safety equipment.
He and neighbor boy disappear. I go back to working on a stubborn Coleman stove that won't shut off.
A few minutes later, I notice that a few minutes have transpired, no sight of son or neighbor boy. The neighbors' cars are gone, a good sign the boy is too. So my son is alone, on a bicycle, or maybe under one, maybe with a severly angulated extremity. Dunno.
Hmmmmm. I start walking in the direction of the goal of his heart, his way to getting parts for a cart. The pool. I keep walking. Halfway there. Did a psycho grab him? Did some teen roll over him in a Crown Vic?
Then swinging around the distant corner, there is a figure clad in bicycle helmet and knee pads, and the old combat boots and kneehigh wool socks I had given him earlier this morning (he now wears my boot size, at age 12). Doggedly pedaling a 20" bike that is too small for him. Keeping it upright. Pedaling faster than he should because the derailleurs are stuck in 1st on the front and 3rd on the rear. A smile from ear to ear.
I guess then we go shopping tomorrow for a 24".
20120724
They are average—that’s why they’re so deadly
Stock up on flashlight batteries and canned peaches, Citizens.
Roissy is a regular read. Time to start reading what Roissy reads.
Roissy is a regular read. Time to start reading what Roissy reads.
Quote from the recent past
The village may have replaced "the state," and it in turn may have replaced the fist with the hug, but an unwanted embrace from which you cannot escape is just a nicer form of tyranny.
Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism
20120723
20120715
little chores around the house
My favorite camp axe, an Estwing with a hammerhead, is going on 30 years old, and was beginning to show its age. The chrome finish is worn away, showing pitted steel.
As I was browsing an oldtimer's page about restoring old Coleman camping equipment, there appeared a technique to remove rust and prep the metal surface for a newer finish.
The oldtimer described how to immerse the metal part in a weak solution of trisodium phosphate, with a separate electrode of the same metal as that to be cleaned (discarded steel banding in this case). Put positive voltage on that sacrificial elecrode, and negative on the part to be cleaned. Flow direct current through it for a loooonnnnng time, and the rust will be pulled off the part. It worked nicely enough that some steel wool got the whole axe looking uniformly black and rust-free. Then an old slow-cooker heated up some Brownell's zinc parkerizing solution. After that, Johnson paste car wax rubbed deep into the pores; she looks beautiful.
The camp stove that prompted me to look up the Coleman restoration page got less elaborate treatment. The drip pan was pretty rough with some rust and food drippings, but they came off easily. Garage floor cleaner (probably phophate in there too) got most of the crap off, and I tried Rust-oleum's galvanizing spary paint. Gorgeous.
But the burner will not shut off. New generator is on there, but I need to replace the packing in the fuel stem assembly. Replacement packing parts are on the way.
The oldtimer described how to immerse the metal part in a weak solution of trisodium phosphate, with a separate electrode of the same metal as that to be cleaned (discarded steel banding in this case). Put positive voltage on that sacrificial elecrode, and negative on the part to be cleaned. Flow direct current through it for a loooonnnnng time, and the rust will be pulled off the part. It worked nicely enough that some steel wool got the whole axe looking uniformly black and rust-free. Then an old slow-cooker heated up some Brownell's zinc parkerizing solution. After that, Johnson paste car wax rubbed deep into the pores; she looks beautiful.
The camp stove that prompted me to look up the Coleman restoration page got less elaborate treatment. The drip pan was pretty rough with some rust and food drippings, but they came off easily. Garage floor cleaner (probably phophate in there too) got most of the crap off, and I tried Rust-oleum's galvanizing spary paint. Gorgeous.
But the burner will not shut off. New generator is on there, but I need to replace the packing in the fuel stem assembly. Replacement packing parts are on the way.
20120626
The Burden of Perishable Skills
One of the recurring topics of conversation between the Missus and me is, "Why do we never have enough time?" Granted, we're busy people, with a regular -- and sometimes overloaded -- work, exercise, and competition shooting schedule. We're both NRA Certified Firearms Instructors and Range Safety Officers. I "volunteer" as a Steel Challenge Match Director and we'll both soon be official USPSA ROs. I'm an ARRL-qualified "emergency communications responder", for the lack of a better term. (ARECC Level 1, for those that are curious.) We like being outdoors and we work to stay fit in order to hike to the Colorado back country and snag a 14'er or two each year.
Admittedly, when we're feeling overwhelmed, we can simply let one or two things go until we're back to treading water. No problem.
Except 'letting something go for a bit' doesn't solve the core issue: many of these activities involve perishable skills. It's not so much the activities themselves that consume a lot of time, but the maintanance of the skills required to perform the activities competently that requires serious time commitments. This is a very recent realization, discovered amidst some soul-searching I've been doing in an effort to combat/overcome some burn-out problems I've been having.
So let's do a brief run-down of these perishable skills that the Missus and I must maintain:
We started taking Krav Maga classes in the fall of 2011. We did this for several reasons, the explanations being beyond the scope of this post. Much like shooting, the skills acquired thru sweat and blood (literally) are hard-earned -- and easily lost. We took off some time from Krav during the month of April and our return in May was an eye-opener. Yeah, we remembered this technique and that set of moves, but we were rusty, slow, and weak. One run thru a very simple knife defense drill and it was clear that my counterstrike couldn't have knocked over a glass of milk. We're currently taking off the month of June in order to get past some conflicting scheduling and we know our return to class in July will be . . . . .humiliating humbling.
The Missus and I are also ham radio operators, licensed General Class and Extra Class, respectively. I got my license back when Morse code was still part of the General exam, so I was obligated to learn it. I taught myself and managed to ace the exam. Granted, 5 words per minute (WPM) wasn't a huge hurdle but it was a proud accomplishment, nonetheless. I've since worked my way up to 15 WPM and practice Morse code three or four times a week. If I skip practice for a couple of weeks, it shows -- and badly. Again, a perishable skill.
Motorcycling isn't like riding a bicycle; once you learn the basics, you're not necessarily good to go. There's as much -- if not more -- art and instinct to negotiating 75 MPH highway traffic as there is to the simple act of moving forward on two wheels. I've logged well over 100K miles on various motorcycles in the last 25 years and I can tell when I haven't ridden for a month or two. I'm not quite as 'in tune' to the ebb-and-flow of traffic. Not quite as smooth and confident. Not quite as alert and cautious. I'd like to see the numbers comparing motorcycle accidents to miles ridden. I'll bet it's heavily skewed towards the one-50-mile-ride-a-month crowd.
Physical fitness is not so much a 'skill' as it is a 'state of being'. But like any skill, it's just as perishable. When I was in my mid-30s, I was a CATx USCF (now USA Cycling) road racer with aspirations to tackle the RAAM. I trained like a fiend, grinding out 200 to 300 miles each week on my trusty Litespeed. Due to changing circumstances, I had to give up that kind of training schedule after a couple of years. Backing-down turned to backing-off turned to abandonment. Six months later, I could barely pedal 35 miles. Since then, I've never been able to maintain a focused workout regimen for more than 12 months. Something always comes up -- work, family, etc. -- and I have to drop the program. Getting back into the groove gets harder each time, doubly so as "50 Trips Around the Sun" looms near on the horizon.
Coupled with the fact that these skills need to be addressed on a regular basis, I have the problem of being a goal-oriented person. All of the things I mentioned above involve "journeys", not "destinations" -- and I find most journeys to be tedious and distracting. The goal, the end-game, the finish line is what I strive for. Check a box and move on to the next thing. But none of those things have that. Intermediate goals? Yes. Ultimate goals? No. So I get bored when there's little or no apparent progress toward a destination. I also find much to mock in the 'continual improvement' mindset that's so prevalent these days. I'm sorry, but everyone has a plateau -- and once you reach that, you bump into The Law of Diminishing Returns very quickly. Who has the bandwidth for that?
So I'm always gonna' be a mid-pack shooter, a 'P' level Krav student, a 15 WPM Morse operator, a 125-pound bench presser, a 25-mile-weekend bicyclist, and a 200-mile-a-month (if I'm lucky) motorcyclist. Yes, I find it frustrating to try to find a balance between these demanding activities. Yes, I find it frustrating to continually revisit weak spots that I have worked thru in the past. Yes, I wish I could find an end-game to all these things, wash my hands of them once-and-for-all, and enjoy the freed-up time and money to pursue other things. But, no, because they're perishable skills, I will not give them up. I've worked too hard to gain what little competence I have in them. And, paraphrasing Heinlein*, I'd rather be good at several things than great at one thing.
This is my burden, even if I don't always bear it well.
TCM
* "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert Heinlein
Admittedly, when we're feeling overwhelmed, we can simply let one or two things go until we're back to treading water. No problem.
Except 'letting something go for a bit' doesn't solve the core issue: many of these activities involve perishable skills. It's not so much the activities themselves that consume a lot of time, but the maintanance of the skills required to perform the activities competently that requires serious time commitments. This is a very recent realization, discovered amidst some soul-searching I've been doing in an effort to combat/overcome some burn-out problems I've been having.
So let's do a brief run-down of these perishable skills that the Missus and I must maintain:
- Shooting
- Krav Maga
- Morse Code
- Motorcycling
- Physical Fitness
We started taking Krav Maga classes in the fall of 2011. We did this for several reasons, the explanations being beyond the scope of this post. Much like shooting, the skills acquired thru sweat and blood (literally) are hard-earned -- and easily lost. We took off some time from Krav during the month of April and our return in May was an eye-opener. Yeah, we remembered this technique and that set of moves, but we were rusty, slow, and weak. One run thru a very simple knife defense drill and it was clear that my counterstrike couldn't have knocked over a glass of milk. We're currently taking off the month of June in order to get past some conflicting scheduling and we know our return to class in July will be . . . . .
The Missus and I are also ham radio operators, licensed General Class and Extra Class, respectively. I got my license back when Morse code was still part of the General exam, so I was obligated to learn it. I taught myself and managed to ace the exam. Granted, 5 words per minute (WPM) wasn't a huge hurdle but it was a proud accomplishment, nonetheless. I've since worked my way up to 15 WPM and practice Morse code three or four times a week. If I skip practice for a couple of weeks, it shows -- and badly. Again, a perishable skill.
Motorcycling isn't like riding a bicycle; once you learn the basics, you're not necessarily good to go. There's as much -- if not more -- art and instinct to negotiating 75 MPH highway traffic as there is to the simple act of moving forward on two wheels. I've logged well over 100K miles on various motorcycles in the last 25 years and I can tell when I haven't ridden for a month or two. I'm not quite as 'in tune' to the ebb-and-flow of traffic. Not quite as smooth and confident. Not quite as alert and cautious. I'd like to see the numbers comparing motorcycle accidents to miles ridden. I'll bet it's heavily skewed towards the one-50-mile-ride-a-month crowd.
Physical fitness is not so much a 'skill' as it is a 'state of being'. But like any skill, it's just as perishable. When I was in my mid-30s, I was a CATx USCF (now USA Cycling) road racer with aspirations to tackle the RAAM. I trained like a fiend, grinding out 200 to 300 miles each week on my trusty Litespeed. Due to changing circumstances, I had to give up that kind of training schedule after a couple of years. Backing-down turned to backing-off turned to abandonment. Six months later, I could barely pedal 35 miles. Since then, I've never been able to maintain a focused workout regimen for more than 12 months. Something always comes up -- work, family, etc. -- and I have to drop the program. Getting back into the groove gets harder each time, doubly so as "50 Trips Around the Sun" looms near on the horizon.
Coupled with the fact that these skills need to be addressed on a regular basis, I have the problem of being a goal-oriented person. All of the things I mentioned above involve "journeys", not "destinations" -- and I find most journeys to be tedious and distracting. The goal, the end-game, the finish line is what I strive for. Check a box and move on to the next thing. But none of those things have that. Intermediate goals? Yes. Ultimate goals? No. So I get bored when there's little or no apparent progress toward a destination. I also find much to mock in the 'continual improvement' mindset that's so prevalent these days. I'm sorry, but everyone has a plateau -- and once you reach that, you bump into The Law of Diminishing Returns very quickly. Who has the bandwidth for that?
So I'm always gonna' be a mid-pack shooter, a 'P' level Krav student, a 15 WPM Morse operator, a 125-pound bench presser, a 25-mile-weekend bicyclist, and a 200-mile-a-month (if I'm lucky) motorcyclist. Yes, I find it frustrating to try to find a balance between these demanding activities. Yes, I find it frustrating to continually revisit weak spots that I have worked thru in the past. Yes, I wish I could find an end-game to all these things, wash my hands of them once-and-for-all, and enjoy the freed-up time and money to pursue other things. But, no, because they're perishable skills, I will not give them up. I've worked too hard to gain what little competence I have in them. And, paraphrasing Heinlein*, I'd rather be good at several things than great at one thing.
This is my burden, even if I don't always bear it well.
TCM
* "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert Heinlein
20120317
scary watershed
This week seems to have been a watershed moment, and not a good one. In 3 airports, two Wally Worlds, and many other public places, it sure as hell appears that female obesity has firmly established itself.
Non-scientific, subjective, but just so: I've seen scores of mother-teenage daughter pairs traveling this week, and in the majority of them, the mother is slimmer than the daughter. It crosses apparent boundaries of class and ethnicity.
this in spite of riding the same plane today as the Golden Girls.
Could it be that I'm on the backside of thirty? I don't think so.
Non-scientific, subjective, but just so: I've seen scores of mother-teenage daughter pairs traveling this week, and in the majority of them, the mother is slimmer than the daughter. It crosses apparent boundaries of class and ethnicity.
this in spite of riding the same plane today as the Golden Girls.
Could it be that I'm on the backside of thirty? I don't think so.
20120213
readings
Just finished: The American Revolution by Wood.
Now reading: Goldberg's Liberal Fascism.
Next up: either Strauss's Emergency, or Baze's The Road Home.
Now reading: Goldberg's Liberal Fascism.
Next up: either Strauss's Emergency, or Baze's The Road Home.
20120204
not bad
Ordinarily I don't watch any TV sports. However, there's a pretty good film on ESPN Classic about steroids, bodybuilding, and the Law.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
20120115
Buying American
Am recently on a jag to buy American more often. Seems to me that I'd rather spend $100 to hire an American to repair an older chainsaw, than $100 to buy a new chainsaw made elsewhere. The $100 spent in town on American labor to fix an older piece is likely to stay in town.
20111121
QFTD
The first generation of kids who grew up using hand sanitizer every 30 seconds and everyone gets a trophy is currently Occupying Whatever.
Says Uncle
If you can't protect it, don't collect it
Chez Fûz just received two identical letters from a company that does IT work for TriCare. One addressed to Her and one addressed to Him.
If I were the guy reading this letter, my first thought would be that this is a mother-schtupping phish. Sainted wife will call TriCare tomorrow to rule that out.
My next thought would be, DOD cannot transition from the SSN to a randomly-assigned service number fast enough. As the DOD's successes, failures, and lessons-learned accumulate, the rest of the Fed Gov should be compelled to follow suit.
The next thought after that would be, let's adjust all future contracts between DOD and TriCare to require them and their subcontractors to apply the same risk management practices over these records that GIs are required to use when they plan anything more dangerous than the company picnic. Make them liable for costs plus penalties for the abuse of the lost data. The dollar signs will probably tell them that they should catalog and encrypt every backup volume that ever leaves their data center, and use a courier service to transport those volumes.
Then let's require TriCare and their subcontractors to identify the clients whose records were on the lost volume, and notify only those clients. Within 48 hours of the loss.
And I was the guy reading that letter. How many thousands of other letters just like it have been read tonight?
We are sorry to inform you that a backup tape of many healthcare transactions, while being transported by one of our employees, was stolen from the employee's vehicle. This tape includes sosh-scurty numbers, addresses, names, and piles of other information prone to compromise. Your information may be among those records lost, we aren't sure. Because we feel so very very very very very sorry, we're telling you about it more than 2 months after our employee notified us of the theft, and encouraging you to monitor your credit reports very carefully for the foreseeable future, in case the guy who went to such extraordinary effort to steal this data tries to use it.
And by the way, we have arranged for a fourth party company to watch your credit reports for you, for free, for one year. All you have to do is send them your sosh-scurty number, name, address, and much of the other data that we already have, but have allowed to become stolen. Just fill out the attached form and put it in the postage-paid envelope.
If I were the guy reading this letter, my first thought would be that this is a mother-schtupping phish. Sainted wife will call TriCare tomorrow to rule that out.
My next thought would be, DOD cannot transition from the SSN to a randomly-assigned service number fast enough. As the DOD's successes, failures, and lessons-learned accumulate, the rest of the Fed Gov should be compelled to follow suit.
The next thought after that would be, let's adjust all future contracts between DOD and TriCare to require them and their subcontractors to apply the same risk management practices over these records that GIs are required to use when they plan anything more dangerous than the company picnic. Make them liable for costs plus penalties for the abuse of the lost data. The dollar signs will probably tell them that they should catalog and encrypt every backup volume that ever leaves their data center, and use a courier service to transport those volumes.
Then let's require TriCare and their subcontractors to identify the clients whose records were on the lost volume, and notify only those clients. Within 48 hours of the loss.
And I was the guy reading that letter. How many thousands of other letters just like it have been read tonight?
Nervous reflex
Congress punts the spending-reduction deal. All of Europe, not just the PIIGS, at risk of collapse. I missed National Ammo Day. Bennetton pulls its ad with the photo of the Pope and the imam swapping spit. My knee-jerk reaction?
I ordered more shelf-stable stuff from Honeyville Grain, and am adjusting the shopping list for Sam's Club. Buying in bulk.
I ordered more shelf-stable stuff from Honeyville Grain, and am adjusting the shopping list for Sam's Club. Buying in bulk.
20111115
third-world visual impression in DFW
Passing through a major airport this weekend, my eyes fell on a wall-sized ad for Christmas toys. Except for the name of the retailer, there were no other English characters, just pictures of the toys, each with its QR thingy beside it. It made me feel like I was back in Barrigada, or Bizerte. Don't people here read English, dammit? Well, uh, no they don't.
C33 at DFW, BTW.
C33 at DFW, BTW.
higher education bubble visible to the military
One of the biggest pushers of higher education is the United States military. They encourage it among their enlisted, they require it of their officers, and Congress lets them craft myriad ways to shower money on it. I myself am a shameless beneficiary in my own modest way.
This week, for the first time, I heard an education counselor for the military admit that there are perhaps too many Masters degrees in circulation. "How would your life be any different if there were fewer" higher-degree holders, he asked. It wouldn't, he answered for us. Then, "how would your life be different if there were fewer engine mechanics, chefs, or plumbers?" Insert vague reference to Occupy Wall Street encampments here.
He was hinting that fields needing advanced degrees are saturated with graduates, and reminding his audience that GI bill education benefits also are eligible for the trades. The benefits taper off quickly over time in such apprenticeships, because the GIs receiving them are drawing steadily increasing pay.
Makes me want to drop out, again, and go to gunsmithing school.
This week, for the first time, I heard an education counselor for the military admit that there are perhaps too many Masters degrees in circulation. "How would your life be any different if there were fewer" higher-degree holders, he asked. It wouldn't, he answered for us. Then, "how would your life be different if there were fewer engine mechanics, chefs, or plumbers?" Insert vague reference to Occupy Wall Street encampments here.
He was hinting that fields needing advanced degrees are saturated with graduates, and reminding his audience that GI bill education benefits also are eligible for the trades. The benefits taper off quickly over time in such apprenticeships, because the GIs receiving them are drawing steadily increasing pay.
Makes me want to drop out, again, and go to gunsmithing school.
20111107
It has arrived
Update: We didn't make it while it was playing in theaters. Sainted wife and I watched it, and I was delighted with how it was done. Wife at once dug out my 32-year-old paperback copy and started in on it.
20110916
an addition to the if-wishes-were-horses wish list
I'd like to see R. Lee Ermey do I Like to Move It as a jody call. Lyrics should be adjusted to suit the messenger.
Friedrich Hayek on the Military Decision Making Process
Compare this:
to this:
Such problems, consequences of how information is distributed among line units and staff agencies, appear even in very small organizations.
The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the separate individuals possess.
. . . in any society in which many people collaborate, this planning, whoever does it, will in some measure have to be based on knowledge which, in the first instance, is not given to the planner but to somebody else, which somehow will have to be conveyed to the planner. The various ways in which the knowledge on which people base their plans is communicated to them is the crucial problem for any theory explaining the economic process, and the problem of what is the best way of utilizing knowledge initially dispersed among all the people is at least one of the main problems of economic policy—or of designing an efficient economic system.
to this:
The peculiar character of the problem of battle command is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which that command operates does not spring into being in a concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the various members of the command's staff possess, and must consciously concentrate and integrate under the command's leadership.
. . . in any military organization . . . planning . . . will in some measure have to be based on knowledge which, in the first instance, is not given to the planner but to somebody else, which somehow will have to be conveyed to the planner. The various ways in which the knowledge on which a battle staff bases its plans is gathered is the crucial problem for any theory explaining the staff process-—thus the main problem of designing a coherent operation.
Such problems, consequences of how information is distributed among line units and staff agencies, appear even in very small organizations.
20110903
20110823
for a friend and valued reader
Cancer strikes another person near me. Please visit TheFatGuy, find the tipjar, and donate.
how high definition television has made my life worse
Watching HD programming on a good HD set now enables me to see the blemishes that stage makeup erased before.
Today, a fairly attractive 30-something woman spoke about finance on a cable news network. Her blouse was sleeveless and exposed all of her neck and some of her chest. The makeup on her face, under her chin, and going halfway down her neck was flawless. The digital compression of HD video also tends to smoothe out made-up skin.
But right about where the first wrinkle on her neck would be, the makeup stopped. Abruptly. From there down, it almost looked like a rash. The same fine texture also appeared on her shoulders and upper arms. It moved consistently with the limb and the skin upon the limb.
So that's what real skin looks like in HDTV under studio lighting. Gals, HD television cameras add a lot more detail than earlier cameras did. Cover up with either clothing or foundation, not just halfway down the neck.
Today, a fairly attractive 30-something woman spoke about finance on a cable news network. Her blouse was sleeveless and exposed all of her neck and some of her chest. The makeup on her face, under her chin, and going halfway down her neck was flawless. The digital compression of HD video also tends to smoothe out made-up skin.
But right about where the first wrinkle on her neck would be, the makeup stopped. Abruptly. From there down, it almost looked like a rash. The same fine texture also appeared on her shoulders and upper arms. It moved consistently with the limb and the skin upon the limb.
So that's what real skin looks like in HDTV under studio lighting. Gals, HD television cameras add a lot more detail than earlier cameras did. Cover up with either clothing or foundation, not just halfway down the neck.
20110808
Notes found in the Comments window
of the Training Schedule for Period 47 in DTMS:
The Commander has an agenda. The Deputy Commander has an agenda. The Sergeant Major has an agenda. Hell, S6 has an agenda. They're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I have no agenda. So when I say that the S4 not making captain's career course this FY was nothing personal, you'll know that I'm telling the truth.
It's the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer, you had an agenda. . . . and, well, look where that got you.
I just did what I do best. I took your little agenda and stood it on its head. Look at what I did to this unit with a couple of MFRs and FM 7-0! Hmmm?
You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to their agenda. Even if the agenda is horrifying. If tomorrow we're cancelling thirty days of leaves in the brigade to catch up on AWT, or we're changing lanes dates because of the availability of airlift, nobody panics, because that's all part of the plan. "Embrace the suck" or "everybody gets a bite of the shit sandwich" or "would you rather be in the Stans?" or some such, all just attempts to distract you from their failure to make good plans and adhere to them.
But when four of our Soldiers have overdue travel cards because they're waiting for airfare refunds, well then everyone loses their minds!
Introduce a little FM 7-0. Upset their agendas, set them against one another until they all collapse. Then the only agenda that can prevail is no agenda at all: doctrine.
I'm an agent of doctrine. Oh, and you know the one thing about doctrine?
It's fair.
20110718
Anime characters that really look Japanese
Aside from Mushi-shi, what other anime series draw their characters to really look Japanese?
I like the heck out of Mushi-shi. Damn near everything about it.
I like the heck out of Mushi-shi. Damn near everything about it.
20110615
why indeed?
The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed weapons in the state Capitol and other public places, but not in ... specifically exempted locations.
"If this bill helps make Wisconsin safer, then why are there any exceptions?" said Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville.
Because your party introduced the exceptions. You would have added more if you could have gotten away with it:
Before Tuesday's vote, Democrats introduced about 20 amendments that would have expanded the number of locations where concealed carry wouldn't be allowed. Those sites included the Capitol, polling places and places of worship. Those amendments were all voted down.
And this:
Sen. Spencer Coggs, a Democrat from Milwaukee, . . . said the way to deal with violence in cities wasn't to encourage people to carry hidden weapons.
"The solution is less guns, not more guns," he said.
Prove it, numbskull. Do you have one of those CoEx1St bumper stickers too?
20110605
Gary Johnson writing clearly
If you get the deadtree of American Spectator, the one that just hit your mailbox has a good Freedom Watch column by Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and Ilya Somin's kinda-preferred libertarian candidate for GOP nomination for President of the US.
Not available today, but go buy the deadtree if you must not wait: Government Spends Too Much Because It Does Too Much.
Not available today, but go buy the deadtree if you must not wait: Government Spends Too Much Because It Does Too Much.
"you cannot limit government spending with an unlimited government."
"Truly controlling spending demands much more than juggling numbers on spreadsheets: it demands a long overdue return to the proper role of government."
20110504
20110424
GOP Presidential straw polls
I notice ads posted by Townhall.com, polling readers' opinions on GOP Presidential candidates. (Update: I navigated back to it, here).
I picked Herman Cain, just to back the dark horse as I usually do (no pun intended) (no, really, no pun intended) (honest).
What was missing, especially at this stage in the race---it's too early even to call it a race---is the option to pick which pre-candidates do not deserve further interest. Instead of picking "your favorite Republican candidate", Republicans (and I am not one) should be winnowing the field.
The usual suspects were all there, even Santorum. I don't recall whether Trump was there (going to Townhall.com's home page didn't even cough that ad up, either, so I still don't know whether Trump is there). Trump can stay, for right now, just to give the Donks something to throw tomatoes at. Update: No Trump. Maybe Townhall takes the Presidency seriously.
It was refreshing to see "Name YOUR Favorite for 2012" where the reader could supply another dark horse name if I could think of one. Well crap, I can think of five. Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, Walter Williams, and Bob Barr. But that's not the problem. The ad/poll listed, well, there must have been at least 30 potential candidates (Update: 18 plus Fill in the Blank). This many candidates being proffered, or launching exploratory committees, is a sign of a vacuum, a dearth, a void.
The GOP needs to be told who they should keep on the back benches, who they need to bring in from outside, and who they need to bring forward from the shadows. Some folks who were listed on this poll need to stay where they are and actually achieve legislative goals there before being groomed for higher office: it's too soon for Ryan and Bachmann, for example. And, frankly, Governor Palin too. Too early for Christie, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway given his RKBA stance. We're all better off with him keeping New Jersey afloat.
Besides, the office of the President isn't where the problem or the solution lies. It's Congress---the Senate most urgently, the House only less so. They're hosed and they are where discipline will do the most good.
I picked Herman Cain, just to back the dark horse as I usually do (no pun intended) (no, really, no pun intended) (honest).
What was missing, especially at this stage in the race---it's too early even to call it a race---is the option to pick which pre-candidates do not deserve further interest. Instead of picking "your favorite Republican candidate", Republicans (and I am not one) should be winnowing the field.
The usual suspects were all there, even Santorum. I don't recall whether Trump was there (going to Townhall.com's home page didn't even cough that ad up, either, so I still don't know whether Trump is there). Trump can stay, for right now, just to give the Donks something to throw tomatoes at. Update: No Trump. Maybe Townhall takes the Presidency seriously.
It was refreshing to see "Name YOUR Favorite for 2012" where the reader could supply another dark horse name if I could think of one. Well crap, I can think of five. Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, Walter Williams, and Bob Barr. But that's not the problem. The ad/poll listed, well, there must have been at least 30 potential candidates (Update: 18 plus Fill in the Blank). This many candidates being proffered, or launching exploratory committees, is a sign of a vacuum, a dearth, a void.
The GOP needs to be told who they should keep on the back benches, who they need to bring in from outside, and who they need to bring forward from the shadows. Some folks who were listed on this poll need to stay where they are and actually achieve legislative goals there before being groomed for higher office: it's too soon for Ryan and Bachmann, for example. And, frankly, Governor Palin too. Too early for Christie, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway given his RKBA stance. We're all better off with him keeping New Jersey afloat.
Besides, the office of the President isn't where the problem or the solution lies. It's Congress---the Senate most urgently, the House only less so. They're hosed and they are where discipline will do the most good.
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