No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Plans do not have survival as their purpose. Soldiers do. The purpose of the Plan is to get the Soldiers into contact with the enemy, at the time and place most advantageous to them, and with sufficient resources to survive long enough to get to the next Plan.
20070212
20070109
Now I get to wear this
. . . instead of the DRF patch.
It's not much of a trade. Now my career field badge looks like the same dark blue smudge everybody else is wearing above his pocket flap. Took long enough for it to happen, too.
At least it's an interservice- and internationally-recognized symbol for what I do. No offense, guys, but Prime BEEF ain't about me.
It's not much of a trade. Now my career field badge looks like the same dark blue smudge everybody else is wearing above his pocket flap. Took long enough for it to happen, too.
At least it's an interservice- and internationally-recognized symbol for what I do. No offense, guys, but Prime BEEF ain't about me.
Farewell, old friend
I'm not supposed to be wearing this anymore. Hard for me to take it off, I've been wearing this since 1986.
20061231
The next K'lash
I made some mods to the 555th flat folding fixture today, the better to process receiver flats into beautiful sheetmetal carbines.
Flats usually have holes stamped in them at fore and aft so they center themselves on the fixture. That's only if the fixture has pins to engage those holes. So I marked and drilled holes and fitted pins that align with the holes. The bottom plate of the fixture needed some relieving so it would fit over the pins. Now I just set the flat on the center piece of the fixture and press it upon the pins.
Flats have dimples struck into them to align the magazine, to put tension on the selector lever, and to align the hammer and trigger axis pins. My fixture is relieved for the mag well dimples but none of the others. I made shallow drills at the right spots, then hogged them out somewhat with good buddy rotary tool, so the fixture won't damage the dimples. Below, the selector lever dimple on the op side.
Then I figured out that I could pre-bend the sidewalls of the receiver box by using the side plates of the fixture in a sheet brake. Yup, got one of those from Harbor Freight some months ago, so I clamped it all together and got the sidewall bends started. Below, the op side fold.
Since I was this far along, I figured I'd go ahead and bend the flat the rest of the way. This is a flat from AK-builder, and it's far superior to the Tapcos. I'm seeing great things in this K'lash, which is a Polish underfolder from the good people of Gunthings.
Flats usually have holes stamped in them at fore and aft so they center themselves on the fixture. That's only if the fixture has pins to engage those holes. So I marked and drilled holes and fitted pins that align with the holes. The bottom plate of the fixture needed some relieving so it would fit over the pins. Now I just set the flat on the center piece of the fixture and press it upon the pins.
Flats have dimples struck into them to align the magazine, to put tension on the selector lever, and to align the hammer and trigger axis pins. My fixture is relieved for the mag well dimples but none of the others. I made shallow drills at the right spots, then hogged them out somewhat with good buddy rotary tool, so the fixture won't damage the dimples. Below, the selector lever dimple on the op side.
Then I figured out that I could pre-bend the sidewalls of the receiver box by using the side plates of the fixture in a sheet brake. Yup, got one of those from Harbor Freight some months ago, so I clamped it all together and got the sidewall bends started. Below, the op side fold.
Since I was this far along, I figured I'd go ahead and bend the flat the rest of the way. This is a flat from AK-builder, and it's far superior to the Tapcos. I'm seeing great things in this K'lash, which is a Polish underfolder from the good people of Gunthings.
Like a Braille keypad on a drive-thru ATM
Why do you think socks are offered for sale in a resealable bag?
Do the makers think I'll wash my socks then put them back into the bag? Better yet, that I won't wash my socks, then put them back into the bag all stanksome? Like, this is a way to get them home from the gym without stanking up my car?
HS Reset time again
My valued Palm m500 once again gave me the Gray Vibrate of Death.
It could have been one of those little static shocks when I get out of a parked car---they happen all the time in the arid high plains---or it could have been a static hit from putting her in the pocket of my fleece jacket. But it's all it takes to put a Palm m500 into a death spiral.
The light in the on/off button illuminates, the vibrator sometimes runs, sometimes doesn't, and the screen goes as black as the waning voltage in the battery can stop it down.
The reset hole in the back of the unit won't revive her. I have to let her run the battery the rest of the way down, then recharge her and restore her memory from an SD backup. Good I had one less than 30 days old. I usually do.
But when this happens the USB port will not function, period. Palm's tech support, after about the fifth call on the same problem, sent me an SD card with a backup utility and an app called "HS Reset."
It backs the Palm up to the SD card, then runs the battery absolutely, positively dead dead dead. A soft setting of the USB port's clock speed gets erased---tech support says the static scrambles it so the USB port is inoperable---and then HS Reset puts the clock to the proper speed. Restore from the backup and you're able to HotSync again.
This is, IIRC, the seventh time I've had to do this in 3 years. The Palm is out of service for a full 12 hours while the reset app runs.
This got me to thinking, wouldn't it be nice to upgrade to a Palm that didn't have this problem. After a quick stroll of Amazon's new and used Palm offerings, it seems not only that I'm lucky to keep this m500 operating, I'm lucky I got the tech support that I did at the time---they sent me that SD card with HS Reset free, in Spring of '03.
In fact, I appeared twice in their database so they sent me two. I encountered a friend (Hey, TK!) who had the same problem with the same model, so I gave him the spare. These days, Palm charges bux just to take the phone call, and they are probably far less forthcoming about potential glitches like ESD sensitivity.
No LifeDrive in the immediate future for me. No Tungsten E2 either. I'll keep this m500 limping along until one of my offspring units drops it and cracks the screen.
It could have been one of those little static shocks when I get out of a parked car---they happen all the time in the arid high plains---or it could have been a static hit from putting her in the pocket of my fleece jacket. But it's all it takes to put a Palm m500 into a death spiral.
The light in the on/off button illuminates, the vibrator sometimes runs, sometimes doesn't, and the screen goes as black as the waning voltage in the battery can stop it down.
The reset hole in the back of the unit won't revive her. I have to let her run the battery the rest of the way down, then recharge her and restore her memory from an SD backup. Good I had one less than 30 days old. I usually do.
But when this happens the USB port will not function, period. Palm's tech support, after about the fifth call on the same problem, sent me an SD card with a backup utility and an app called "HS Reset."
It backs the Palm up to the SD card, then runs the battery absolutely, positively dead dead dead. A soft setting of the USB port's clock speed gets erased---tech support says the static scrambles it so the USB port is inoperable---and then HS Reset puts the clock to the proper speed. Restore from the backup and you're able to HotSync again.
This is, IIRC, the seventh time I've had to do this in 3 years. The Palm is out of service for a full 12 hours while the reset app runs.
This got me to thinking, wouldn't it be nice to upgrade to a Palm that didn't have this problem. After a quick stroll of Amazon's new and used Palm offerings, it seems not only that I'm lucky to keep this m500 operating, I'm lucky I got the tech support that I did at the time---they sent me that SD card with HS Reset free, in Spring of '03.
In fact, I appeared twice in their database so they sent me two. I encountered a friend (Hey, TK!) who had the same problem with the same model, so I gave him the spare. These days, Palm charges bux just to take the phone call, and they are probably far less forthcoming about potential glitches like ESD sensitivity.
No LifeDrive in the immediate future for me. No Tungsten E2 either. I'll keep this m500 limping along until one of my offspring units drops it and cracks the screen.
20061221
Testing
Migration to the former Blogger Beta turns out to have been a big mistake.
Dammit. I want rid of that NavBar, and my archives are missing.
Update 22 Dec: Okay, okay, RTFM. I'm still using a Blogger template dating from 2002. There are more than a few pieces of code in that template that haven't been supported since '04, archives being one of them. A quick cut and paste . . .
I just padded the BlogTitle down from the top of the blog with a sh17load of breaks so the NavBar doesn't walk over it. Might take some of them back out.
Hmmm, can I post photos from a Mac now?
Guess so. Alright, I'm not angry now.
Dammit. I want rid of that NavBar, and my archives are missing.
Update 22 Dec: Okay, okay, RTFM. I'm still using a Blogger template dating from 2002. There are more than a few pieces of code in that template that haven't been supported since '04, archives being one of them. A quick cut and paste . . .
I just padded the BlogTitle down from the top of the blog with a sh17load of breaks so the NavBar doesn't walk over it. Might take some of them back out.
Hmmm, can I post photos from a Mac now?
Guess so. Alright, I'm not angry now.
Time for a new advocacy group
All you need to know about the potential for abuse of dynamic entry is on display in the first 7 minutes of Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Life imitates art.
Life imitates art.
20061214
Damn you, Publicola
I can't get Sade out of my mind now. I've had to play her Is it a crime off my swell little player several times and still I can't quit her.
20061209
Another way to say "not a dime's worth of difference between them"?
My view: If the American Right ever establishes a fully fascistic government (not likely, not impossible) it will be done using the governmental institutions created by the Left. That's one of the reasons distinctions of Left and Right mean little.
Quote for the day, hat tip to Walter in Denver
Quote for the day, hat tip to Walter in Denver
A bunch of other people you don't have to worry about either
Ninth Stage graciously comments on my immediately preceding post, and makes a point about "just driving through."
So shall we put a finer point on it? Only those states where you carried a concealed weapon, in accordance with the law, as a private citizen, and did so by getting out of your car (no peaceful journey qualifications or McClure-Volkmer) and entered a place of business open to the public. Typically a mall or a home-improvement store.
I left Arizona off my earlier list because that was open carry.
So shall we put a finer point on it? Only those states where you carried a concealed weapon, in accordance with the law, as a private citizen, and did so by getting out of your car (no peaceful journey qualifications or McClure-Volkmer) and entered a place of business open to the public. Typically a mall or a home-improvement store.
I left Arizona off my earlier list because that was open carry.
20061205
It's not me you have to worry about
I have now packed heat lawfully in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Kentucky.
No lives were lost.
Update, 21 Dec 06: South Carolina.
Update, 30 July 07: Arizona.
15 March 09: Florida.
Update, 6 March 10: Missouri.
Update, 23 Sep 10: Nebraska.
Update, 20 Mar 11: Georgia and Alabama.
Update March 2015: Arkansas, Utah.
No lives were lost.
Update, 21 Dec 06: South Carolina.
Update, 30 July 07: Arizona.
15 March 09: Florida.
Update, 6 March 10: Missouri.
Update, 23 Sep 10: Nebraska.
Update, 20 Mar 11: Georgia and Alabama.
Update March 2015: Arkansas, Utah.
Too cheap to meter so the bastards just charge by the night instead
Is it just me or are hotels charging for wifi access again?
This is plain bu11sh!7, and makes no economic sense. Full - service hotels, even Marriotts, are charging for internet access. Meanwhile their down-market cousins, Marriott properties in particular, give it away.
Perhaps some beancounter noticed that high-speed access is no longer a luxury but an essential good for business travelers. If so, one would think access would be charged across all properties, not just at the top end properties, where its marginal cost would least affect the bottom line. Meanwhile I see burger joints and pancake houses offering wifi. Hotels, IMO, are bucking the trend where there seems to be no dollar incentive to do so.
Similarly, I'm wondering what other costs wifi access would impose on those who provide it. COPA enforcement? Spammers who check into a hotel just to use the IP address? I just can't see it.
And I won't keep paying for it if I don't have to. That means finding other places to stay, and/or finding other places to connect.
We'll start building the case again soon to direct all my soldiers to downmarket properties, even when the host of the function blocks rooms at the top end at government rate. I can't spend taxpayer money that way.
It may even make economic sense for me to investigate 1RX access over my soldiers' cell phones for longer TDYs.
What I wish there were: widely distributed wifi operated for a profit, paid by the hour with prepaid wifi cards, that I could load up with hours to burn at the airport, and at dumbass hotels that charge by the night (if I'm forced to stay in them).
I've got 4 prepaid phone cards that I just don't use. I carry two mobiles, there may be a third in my future, and payphones are a fading memory. But cards that get me into a wifi access point when I need it? I'd carry one and I'd get them for 21 other men. Where are micropayment infrastructures when you really could use one?
This is plain bu11sh!7, and makes no economic sense. Full - service hotels, even Marriotts, are charging for internet access. Meanwhile their down-market cousins, Marriott properties in particular, give it away.
Perhaps some beancounter noticed that high-speed access is no longer a luxury but an essential good for business travelers. If so, one would think access would be charged across all properties, not just at the top end properties, where its marginal cost would least affect the bottom line. Meanwhile I see burger joints and pancake houses offering wifi. Hotels, IMO, are bucking the trend where there seems to be no dollar incentive to do so.
Similarly, I'm wondering what other costs wifi access would impose on those who provide it. COPA enforcement? Spammers who check into a hotel just to use the IP address? I just can't see it.
And I won't keep paying for it if I don't have to. That means finding other places to stay, and/or finding other places to connect.
We'll start building the case again soon to direct all my soldiers to downmarket properties, even when the host of the function blocks rooms at the top end at government rate. I can't spend taxpayer money that way.
It may even make economic sense for me to investigate 1RX access over my soldiers' cell phones for longer TDYs.
What I wish there were: widely distributed wifi operated for a profit, paid by the hour with prepaid wifi cards, that I could load up with hours to burn at the airport, and at dumbass hotels that charge by the night (if I'm forced to stay in them).
I've got 4 prepaid phone cards that I just don't use. I carry two mobiles, there may be a third in my future, and payphones are a fading memory. But cards that get me into a wifi access point when I need it? I'd carry one and I'd get them for 21 other men. Where are micropayment infrastructures when you really could use one?
20061126
When in Wyoming, . . .
The weather here isn't going to get any nicer, whether the global warming is really taking place or not, whether it is anthropogenic or not. We thought it would be useful to upgrade the Pundit Sedan to a Pundit 4x4 of some kind.
The Primary Pundit Offspring Transporter is the only new car permitted in the household, so I had to work with used-car dealers.
I originally had my heart set on a Toyota 4Runner, but those things are priced like p00#t@n&. It's as if they are made of gold.
After 5 testdrives and some discussions with Mama-san over goals, objectives, strategies, criteria, and finances, I threw all caution to the wind and chose a vehicle in a matter of seconds, on the basis of how it felt as I drove it to Chez Fûz's garage to see whether it would fit.
I made it fit.
Say hello to Fûz's daily driver and huntin' wagon. A '99 Dodge Dakota with the V6 and a greatly appreciated 5-speed.
The Primary Pundit Offspring Transporter is the only new car permitted in the household, so I had to work with used-car dealers.
I originally had my heart set on a Toyota 4Runner, but those things are priced like p00#t@n&. It's as if they are made of gold.
After 5 testdrives and some discussions with Mama-san over goals, objectives, strategies, criteria, and finances, I threw all caution to the wind and chose a vehicle in a matter of seconds, on the basis of how it felt as I drove it to Chez Fûz's garage to see whether it would fit.
I made it fit.
Say hello to Fûz's daily driver and huntin' wagon. A '99 Dodge Dakota with the V6 and a greatly appreciated 5-speed.
Is this unusual?
TCM and I were busting caps the other day, and my FAL stopped ejecting its empties.
After looking the rifle over a bit, I saw threads where threads did not belong. Through a crack in the gas regulator ring.
Now how often does this sh17 happen?
We figured out how to get the split one off, and there is no shortage of replacements online. But is this gonna happen again?
UPDATE: often, if the ring was made by Imbel rather than FN, and mine was. The finish that Imbel applies insulates the ring from the spigot it is threaded on to. The ring heats less quickly than the spigot. The spigot expands, the ring doesn't. Pop.
I'm told lapping compound will remove enough of the finish that a new regulator will be my last.
20061119
Crossroads and taking offense
TCM and I met Jed Baer at the Crossroads show this weekend.
I laid in another tin of 7N6 for Jadwiga and inhaled the sharp tang of the pheromones of gunowners all discombobulated because Democrats are back in power.
FAL mags were on the shopping list, but I didn't find any priced near what I could claim new-in-cosmoline from some online suppliers, so I passed them up.
On the way home, I stopped in at a shop open for its last day of business, everything must go. All the magazines FIFTY PERCENT OFF!
He had a little box of 5 mags, clearly FAL, but some of them marked for AR-10. Hmmmm. All of them were marked for $19.95 each, and half off put them at around $10 each. That sounds a little high for used mags with some wear, mixed provenance, and the guy wasn't quite sure what they were, FAL or AR-10.
I offered him $30 for the box, he said "I don't think so" and slid them back under the counter and turned away. OK fine, he's the one going out of business, not me. I'd rather be swabbing cosmo out of cherry $9 mags than sandblasting and rebluing and Teflon/Molying $10 mags. I'll eat the shipping, I would be anyway.
You think I offended him?
You think I care whether I offended him? Truth be told, I do care a bit; gun dealers are some of America's greatest heroes in my book and they have to put up with a lot of shit from many sources (ATF, zoning, protesters, threats of lawsuits, etc) to keep doing what they've been doing. None of them are making a fortune at it. They have to be doing it for the love of it.
One can never have enough love, so this fellow apparently either had had enough shit, or just wanted to retire and go do the things he's been selling gear to other people to do. It's finally his chance. I wish him well.
But I am not paying $10 and sales tax for used mags when I can pay $9 and shipping for new.
I laid in another tin of 7N6 for Jadwiga and inhaled the sharp tang of the pheromones of gunowners all discombobulated because Democrats are back in power.
FAL mags were on the shopping list, but I didn't find any priced near what I could claim new-in-cosmoline from some online suppliers, so I passed them up.
On the way home, I stopped in at a shop open for its last day of business, everything must go. All the magazines FIFTY PERCENT OFF!
He had a little box of 5 mags, clearly FAL, but some of them marked for AR-10. Hmmmm. All of them were marked for $19.95 each, and half off put them at around $10 each. That sounds a little high for used mags with some wear, mixed provenance, and the guy wasn't quite sure what they were, FAL or AR-10.
I offered him $30 for the box, he said "I don't think so" and slid them back under the counter and turned away. OK fine, he's the one going out of business, not me. I'd rather be swabbing cosmo out of cherry $9 mags than sandblasting and rebluing and Teflon/Molying $10 mags. I'll eat the shipping, I would be anyway.
You think I offended him?
You think I care whether I offended him? Truth be told, I do care a bit; gun dealers are some of America's greatest heroes in my book and they have to put up with a lot of shit from many sources (ATF, zoning, protesters, threats of lawsuits, etc) to keep doing what they've been doing. None of them are making a fortune at it. They have to be doing it for the love of it.
One can never have enough love, so this fellow apparently either had had enough shit, or just wanted to retire and go do the things he's been selling gear to other people to do. It's finally his chance. I wish him well.
But I am not paying $10 and sales tax for used mags when I can pay $9 and shipping for new.
20061112
Scrumptious
I come up briefly for air from my election-imposed navelgazing, to promote NZBear's solicitation of questions for the GOP's new minority leadership, over here.
Please pile on. I have two questions there and I'd appreciate it if some buds went over and jacked mine upward in the popularity polls.
Some moonbat questions have been posted there too; a few Strongly Opposes are richly deserved.
That, sadly, may be the only good that comes of the enterprise.
Meanwhile I'm pondering what ammo and optics to buy for the kids.
Please pile on. I have two questions there and I'd appreciate it if some buds went over and jacked mine upward in the popularity polls.
Some moonbat questions have been posted there too; a few Strongly Opposes are richly deserved.
That, sadly, may be the only good that comes of the enterprise.
Meanwhile I'm pondering what ammo and optics to buy for the kids.
20061021
Jadwiga
Nadia now has a cousin, built from a Wz88 "Tantal" kit bought from the good people of Gunthings. The receiver is vanilla Tapco, as are the trigger pack. She has a stack of Bulgarian brown 5.45mm magazines from Copes, equipped with domestic followers and floorplates offered by a fellow on one of the boards. Manson supplied the headspace gauges. Another guy on the boards supplied a domestic piston to take me over the Federal domestic content minimum.
After 3 ugly attempts to plug-weld the rails to the receiver, I gave up and ran to the nearest Harbor Freight for a proper spotwelder. Close-up photos would reveal the attempted plugs, so I won't show them to you. Sandblasting and some bench grinding cleaned them up as well as will ever be.
TCM's good results with Brownell's Teflon/Moly Oven Cure Finish, plus his offer of the remaining portion of his can, suggested that I give the same treatment to Jadwiga. While they were still disassembled, the rear sight base, receiver, receiver cover, bolt carrier, and folding rear stock all got a coat and were cured in a barbecue grille set carefully to the right temperature. The gas block and front sight base were treated with common barbecue paint. Final assembly created several dings in the finish, but she'll get a second coat after she's run in.
The bolt carrier meets some rough spots and won't spring closed every time, and the trigger pack needs proper retainers to hold the axis pins in place; the rubber bumper on the sidefolder needs a new rivet. But all can be tuned up right.
She's purty, I think, and she is the reason I got the jones to build a Kalashnikov. I understand now how the jones becomes a regular hobby.
How she shoots? Dunno. Jeez, man, I have two tins of 7N6 and I need range time. But I have to get out to Area 46 and 39 for speedgoat first.
20061001
A $300 weekend
The POS dishwasher we got with this place began tripping the GFCI outlet we put in a year ago. It tripped the GFCI with increasing frequency until, last Friday night, the damned thing wouldn't even run, just trip the outlet as soon as it was turned on. The GFCI even arced when I reset it with the dishwasher on and ready to draw current.
Mama-san insisted there might be problems with the wiring. I dug through it, even replaced the GFCI outlet in case the arcing had ruined it. While I had the unit out from under the cabinet, I noticed corrosion gunk all over.
The house wiring looked OK though the dishwasher's didn't. I plugged the dishwasher itself into another circuit (I dragged an extension cord in from the garage) and it blew that GFCI instead.
So off to the local big box to bring home a replacement.
This is the third dishwasher to have been in this house; the water supply line had an extra length spliced to it with compression fittings for the unit I removed. With that extra length gone, the original supply line reached the new unit comfortably. So a house built in 1973 goes through two dishwashers in 33 years, meaning a dishwasher lasts about 16 years?
Mama-san insisted there might be problems with the wiring. I dug through it, even replaced the GFCI outlet in case the arcing had ruined it. While I had the unit out from under the cabinet, I noticed corrosion gunk all over.
The house wiring looked OK though the dishwasher's didn't. I plugged the dishwasher itself into another circuit (I dragged an extension cord in from the garage) and it blew that GFCI instead.
So off to the local big box to bring home a replacement.
This is the third dishwasher to have been in this house; the water supply line had an extra length spliced to it with compression fittings for the unit I removed. With that extra length gone, the original supply line reached the new unit comfortably. So a house built in 1973 goes through two dishwashers in 33 years, meaning a dishwasher lasts about 16 years?
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