The Future Of Humanity

We're all doomed, of course, but probably not right away. Here's Atlas, from Boston Dynamics:

He can walk, deal with small obstacles and remain upright when jostled. Of course the stated mission is to provide a very durable first responder. Like a fireman or a town cop. The patrol car will of course drive itself.

"Do you know why I pulled you over?"

"I don't care, just give me the ticket and don't kill me!"

Here are a collection of other 'bots more like dogs, and one like a large flying beetle that can land on a vertical curtain. The dogs have possibilities. Take one our for a walk. Meet an assailant. Tell the dog
"Sic him"

Dog sits and lets off a double tap through his nose.

The future looks entertaining, until they kill us all.

Sharknado

Just when you thought Hollywood couldn't sink much lower, they rise(?) to the occasion and deliver the goods. No I haven't seen it. It's unlikely I will, still there's inspiration to be had here:

Next up an Australian spinoff to be called "Sharkaroo" Tagline: "Down here mate, the shark jumps you!". Starring Studly Marrowbone, Australian beefcake du jour, and co-star Sheila Boobalicious locally famous for not being able to keep any costume completely attached for more that 2 scenes.

This one could be a winner.  If Studly performs most of the show shirtless as is his wont, and sufficient gunfire, gory explosions, and noisy vehicles being driven recklessly are included, there would be something for everyone here.

You heard it here first. I want a percentage.

Maker Faire

There will be a mini Maker Faire up in Loveland in October, so polish up that Death Ray or cold fusion reactor or whatever, and plan to take it up there. Details and entry form here. In past Fairs, the Denver Mad Scientists Club has been represented by fighting robots and the Pedal Air Gun which was featured here.

Other people have more socially redeeming items to display.

Health

Slow news cycle of late, so off into the trivial, if you consider imminent mortality (yours, not mine) trivial.

Certainly exercise helps, look how well it worked for Jim Fixx. Now that I'm retired and out from behind a desk, the daily bike rides have made the A-Frib symptoms disappear.

Eating carefully also helps. Moderation and wide variety seems to be the right approach, or you can take Steve Graham's approach: Not keeping a bag of chips and a can of honey roasted peanuts on the desk with the computer is also probably a good idea so I keep the chips on the printer, and the nuts on the bookshelf behind me.


I tried De-caffinating myself when I stopped working, but it seemed like I spent half the day napping. I'm back on the java, (half-caff) and only need to relax about 2 or 3 hours a day. The pot is an exercise in false advertising: It says it contains 12 cups, but I've never gotten more than 5-1/2 cups out of it.



Get your partner to help with the stress reduction. Hardly any honey-do's actually need to be done immediately as long as they don't involve rising water levels or some such.

Remember, monks don't actually live any longer than the rest of us, it just seems like it. and as one of my friends notes; If god had meant us to be vegetarians, he'd have made broccoli more fun to shoot.

Update: Yes. While coffee, beer and wine all have demonstrated health benefits, fish oil is now associated with prostate cancer.

Gun Blog Black List

Curiouser and Curiouser said Alice (and Billll) as North says the old GBBL is back and the replacement, G-B-BL is a fake or something.

Being a traditionalist, I'm putting the links back to where they were. I'm not sure what's going on, but GBBL did disappear for a bit with no explanation. It then reappeared with the hyphenated url and looked to be a proper replacement.

Absent a better explanation, I welcome GBBL back, and blame the kerfuffle on global warming/George Bush/the NSA.

Gun Blog Black List

GBBL is back with an ever-so-slightly modified url.

Still not sure what happened, but they are back.

Bleg - Colorado Gun Law

Here's a summary of an e-mail I got from ColoradoRKBA regarding the efforts to recall Senators Morse and Giron. They are fighting the effort very hard, probably suspecting that if it comes down to an election, all other things being equal, they will both lose. Mike Bloomberg, via some PACs is making sure these two have an adequate war chest, but our side is pretty much limited to local contributions.

 This is my little plea for all of you that are subscribed to this 
list to send a little money to the Basic Freedom Defense Fund.    These are the folks who are currently embattled in getting the Colorado Senate President (John Morse) recalled.   Morse's toadies are employing every little legal roadblock to short circuit this legal recall.   There have been more than enough signatures to the recall petitions.   The latest challenge has been denied.

     If you can spare a few bucks, please donate to the cause.   
President Obama is hoping to hold up Colorado (a previously freedom 
oriented state) as a blueprint to further infringe on our Second 
Amendment Right.  We absolutely do not need that kind of reputation.

Please, send whatever you can afford to this movement.   It is worth it.

https://www.basicfreedomdefensefund.org

They take Paypal or credit cards.   Just do it.   Thanks.

The latest challenge referred to above was a complaint that the boilerplate text of the petition for recall did not include language specifically calling for a replacement to be elected.  The A.G. said that electing a replacement was implied and upheld the petitions. The two of them are currently sending out mailers to everyone who signed the petitions asking them to reconsider and ask to have their name removed. Giron's people are going door-to-door and being pretty pushy about it. One got pushy enough to get the cops called who then found he had an outstanding warrant for domestic abuse and carted him off.

Gun Sales Declining

With the standard caveat that a NICS check does not equal a gun sale, I note that June NICS checks are 1.6% lower this year than from June of last year. OTOH, this fails to offset the enormous jump we saw in Jan. and Feb. so we're still on track for some 22 million plus checks this year, an all time record.

Now as soon as all those new gun owners have squirreled away the requisite 5,000 rounds in each of the standard calibers, 9mm, .45, .223, .308, and 12ga whether they actually own a gun in that caliber or not, we can expect to see normal inventories of ammo return to the shelves at your friendly local arms merchant.

Can't You Smell That Smell?

I love the smell of aftershave in the morning. The smell of victory!

Return With Us Now...

..to those thrilling days of yesteryear when the neighborhood by now sounded and smelled like the Battle of Waterloo was being fought house to house in defiance of local regs regarding bringing stuff like that back from Wyoming.

Of course this year there are 10-15 wildfires burning around the state and the air all over town smells of wood smoke so even the enthusiastic among us are more subdued than usual.

 

Not that hard actually.

 Have a happy Independence day and remember, Big Brother is Watching.

Fight Crime

Shoot back, as it were:

Found this at Ace of Spades. Too good not to pass around.

Lois Lerner

IRS spokesperson who famously told congressional investigators that she had done nothing wrong and then invoked her 5th amendment right against self-incrim8nation to avoid going into any detail about her saintly activities. Does she remind you of anyone?

Gun Blog Black List - MIA

The Gun Blog Black List has disappeared. The message left behind reads:

Sorry, the blog at gunblogblacklist.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

Anybody know what happened?

Colorado Gun Laws

Happy July first. All those dumb laws the legislature whooped through at the beginning of the year are now in effect. I feel safer already knowing that the next mass shooter will not be able to legally buy a 100-round magazine to do his evil with. He'll have to use the one he already has. That or drive 150 miles to another state to pick up a new one.

At yesterdays gun show I heard* that at least one judge has reviewed the mag ban here and came to the conclusion that while any magazine assembly with a detachable floor plate, meaning all of them, would be illegal to sell or transfer, parts and repair kits are not covered. That means that a frame, a follower, a spring and a floor plate in a zip-lock bag are legal to sell. That line in the bill about "readily convertible" is going to cause unending problems until it gets settled in court.

I also heard* from one of the dealers with a huge supply of soon-to-be-worthless large mags that this trick won't work if you consider the magazine frame to be the same as a magazine assembly. I wouldn't and I make my living using those kinds of distinctions.

*I am not a lawyer, I'm an engineer. The judge in question is a member of one of the associations I belong to and her opinion at this point is her own. The dealers position came from his attorney.

I guess I need to write ProMag and inform them that my order should be shipped unassembled and labeled as "replacement parts".  I'll see if they'll bite. 10 round mags for the Marlin were non-existant.

Several dealers had large collections of hi-cap (>15 rds) mags available. I did not see much traffic in them. At this point I'd have to guess that Magpul has pretty much saturated the market. That and the buying season, Sept to March, is over. Speculation is that all those big mags will now be moved to other states where they will become a glut on the market. Look for 30 round mags in the $10 range soon.

On a brighter note, ammo prices are heading downward. 333-round Federal .22LR was available at $30/box with only limited takers, marked down from $40 at the previous show. Everyone suspects it was purchased at Wal-Mart for $14/box anyway. Reports are surfacing of Remington 550 rnd bulk packs at $22.50 at some retail outlets recently so look for more downward pressure. 9mm lugar was $40/100 and .45 acp was $55/100 which is way better than the .80 a round it used to be.

Political Jokes

The problem with them is that they all too frequently get elected. So Paul Miringoff is asking if Marco Rubio has a political future at the national level. The answer is obvious: Yes, of course.

Hillary will be needing a V.P.