Economics

Friend of mine sent me this one from Cyanide and Happiness:

After 33 years of marriage, I fail to see what this guy has to complain about. If I had gotten to keep 30% of my earnings as disposable income, I would have thought I'd died and gone to Heaven.

The Vehicle I've Always Needed

All those years of commuting to work on the motorcycle most of the year, rain or shine, summer or winter, putting up with restricted lanes in the winter when I had to drive a 4-wheeler, and now that I don't any more, here's the answer.

A sleek 2-seater that's legal to drive in the HOV lanes with only me aboard. Went to see the Elio yesterday. Got to sit in it. Has lots of room although not having a passenger seat beside you in a very car-like vehicle took a bit of getting used to. This may be a partial answer to those long trips to the range as it will at least cut down on the gas used. You can bring your range buddy, but the amount of gear that comes along will be severely limited.

Looking into the rear with the back seat folded forward. Available space is comparable to an airline overhead bin in depth and about 24" wide. Probably 2 range bags unless you over stuff your bags. Leave the rear seat down and you could probably get a bag of golf clubs in there plus some floor space.
Still, for $6800, you can both buy one. 

Limited space is available on the floor on either side of the seats.

I took a look under the hood:

 

I was assured that this is NOT the motor the vehicle will come with. The "real" motor will be slightly different. As I was perusing the engine bay I was also told that other engines were not planned. Like the fellow could hear the clicking of the tape measure in my head as I was imagining something more sporty. I may be optimistic, but it looks to me like the old V4 engine that used to come in Saabs would fit. Barely.

I asked about a "Sport" model and was told that for the moment only this high-economy model was being considered. Bummer. With a curb weight of only 1000 lb, it wouldn't take much to deliver some pretty respectable 0-60 times. Of course at 1000 lbs, and 70 bhp, it's probably not all that bad right now. Note to marketing dept: This being a motorcycle, (legally) people will be attracted by the 49/89mpg rating, but would probably go for a turbo model for fun even if the mileage dropped to say, 40/80. This being a beta model with the wrong engine and several bits missing, they estimated the 0-60 times to be in the 9.5 sec range. Missing bits on this car included electric door lock and  electric windows.

I was told that the initial run will all be stick shifters, and that possibly cruise control will be included. Pre-production models are being driven right now, and Paul Elio has one with no cruise control and a handful of speeding tickets. One of the others has the CC and no tickets either.

 Here's the dash:

The radio would go on one side, and the heater and A/C on the other. This was as far back as I could slide the seat, but the edge of the interior is on the left just outside the vent. Imagine symmetry.


The most annoying thing about this is that after all these years of commuting, building a similar open vehicle from an old Subaru and threatening to take a Geo Metro and replace the rear axle with a single wheel, here it is, just in time for me to no longer be commuting. It still looks like fun. Maybe I can get the Denver dealership.


More at Elio website.

Economics - It's Easier Than You Thought

Just pull the right levers, and prosperity can be yours.

Colorado Election Law - Constitution Unconstitutional

The Colorado Supreme court has declared parts of the Colorado constitution to be unconstitutional.

Quick fix: The instruction wording on the recall ballots will be revised.

Permanent fix: The Colorado constitution will need amending.

Anybody out there know how to write laws? We have several openings in our legislature for people who do.

If you can't provide world class leadership, at least provide world class entertainment.

Libertarians Accidentally Do Something Helpful

Normally the function of the Libertarian party is to insure that the least popular candidate gets elected. This time it's not working out that way.

Our upcoming recall elections for Senators Morse and Giron (D-New York, both of them) was to be the first held under the Dems new Vote Fraud Enabling Act of 2013, i.e. all mail in ballots except for gypsies who evince an interest in relocating to the scene of the election, weather they actually do or not. Recall elections don't normally get a lot of participation, so with ballots sent to every single person on the voter rolls, expect a lot of them to get tossed. Makes it worth while to dive the dumpsters behind apartment buildings when the ballots arrive.

The Colorado constitution gives candidates for office until 10 days before the election to get their petitions in and signatures verified to put their names on the ballot. The Republicans got this done quickly, but problems developed due to the 60 day elapsed time between the declaration of the election and the actual voting. The Libs sued to get the extra time to submit petitions even though that meant that ballots would not be ready to mail out in time for the election, especially to absentee voters overseas. Backdoor disfranchisement of the troops, sort of, so the all mail in vote fraud festival was cancelled.

The election was changed to a conventional walk-in format, which the Dems are trying to say is unconstitutional, but so far to no avail. The Libs, were not able to collect enough signatures to get on the ballots, so the election looks like it will be as honest as any around here and word on the street is that this favors tossing the bums and replacing them.

At this point I would like to thank the Dems for demanding an unworkable election format which the courts tossed out, and the Libs for not fouling the ballot this time and making the vote fraud law unworkable. Hope springs eternal.

Look for the busloads of folks motoring on down to the Springs and Pueblo to peruse real estate and vote in the elections, although the local election commissions say they'll be watching too. Very carefully.

Bloomberg Buys Colorado

Or at least attempts to, dropping $350K on beleaguered pols facing recall. Fellow billionaire and Los Angeles arts nobbler Eli Broad* also kicked in $250K. With 2 weeks to go before the vote, the residents of Colo Spgs and Pueblo are going to be hearing a lot of radio and TV ads and getting an unending string of robo calls explaining how wonderful their senators are and how unfortunate it is that "outside interests" are trying to unseat them.

Governor Chickenpooper is already on board having ceded the title of Mayor of Colorado to Bloomberg, and taken up the job of Bloomberg's butler.

Coloradans are typically rather touchy about out-of-staters with delusions of grandeur, but with the big influx of refugees from California who knows, the nanny state may be appealing.

*He's the B in KB homes among other things.

Colorado Gun Law - Recalls

Sen Morse is asking the state supreme court to declare parts of the state constitution unconstitutional in an effort to beat the recall by getting it called off.

Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs and Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo face separate recall elections in their districts on Sept. 10. Voters will be asked whether the lawmakers should be recalled and which candidate should succeed them.
The Colorado constitution requires voters to vote "yes" or "no" on the recall question in order to have their vote for a successor be counted, but that provision could be in conflict with the U.S. Constitution, said Attorney General John Suthers.
He said a nearly identical provision in the California state constitution was declared unconstitutional during the recall of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.

Well, who knows. He sounds mighty nervous in any case.

The Future Of Transportation - Trikes

Of all the one-off vehicles that have come down the pike recently, each promising to be more "green" than the next, here's one that's actually still here. The Elio 3-wheeler has the advantage of being gasoline powered, so no technological hurdles, and it qualifies as a motorcycle, so fewer regulatory problems.

The outfit will be showing their car in the Denver area beginning this week:

Wednesday, August 28th:  Park Meadows Mall, Lone Tree, CO from 1-7pm

Thursday, August 29th: Flat Iron Crossing Mall, Broomfield, CO from 1-6pm (plus the concert after!)

Friday August 30th:  Cherry Creek Mall, Denver - inside - from 10am -9pm

Monday September 2- The Taste of Colorado!  We will be in Denver again at 1600 Broadway #610

Their website is being pretty cagy about the availability of test drives. I gather that if there are any they will be severely limited.

Gun Fun - Basic Pistol II

In an added note, I had sent SIL off to her basic pistol class with D'wifes Ruger after giving her the basics of handling and operation of the gun. She loaded one of the mags for practice, and I switched out the loaded one for the empty one. She left with both mags and put the loaded one "in a safe place" pending actually shooting.

Of course you know what "in a safe place" means. Time to panic. I believe that right now I'd sooner find a complete set of dentures for a duck-billed platypus at a garage sale before I'd find another magazine for a Ruger Mk 2 around here.

She found it this morning just before leaving, in a safe place where her dog wouldn't find it.. The shooting part will be outdoors at the instructors property in Fairplay beginning at 10 AM. It's 8:30 and she has 1-1/2 hours to get there. She's been known to spend 30 minutes on the phone explaining that she can't talk any longer because she needs to get going to her next appointment. Google suggests that the drive time is 1 hr, 32 minutes.

She also noted that one of the participants in her basic pistol class already had a CCW and had never fired the gun she brought to the class. This struck both of us as more than a little odd.

If Engineers Built Bridges...

...the way legislators wrote laws, the United States would end at the first creek west of Plymouth Rock.

There will be a ballot question in Lafayette CO. in November which was originally thought to ban fraccing within the city limits. It states that no oil or gas will be transported in pipelines within the city limits.

Presumably it would be legal to have a propane tank outside your home, but a tap into a natural gas line would be a no-no, requiring Exell Energy to turn off the natural gas supply to the entire city.

I suppose that if this bit of Luddite tomfoolery passes, the city council will rise to the occasion and quickly pass an exemption for Exell to pump gas into the town for use by the residents while forbidding the transport of gas out of town for use by the rest of us.

Transportation - Fun Stuff

While out burning up the bike trails today I passed a fellow on a skateboard being pulled along right smartly by a large Husky. He agreed that this was the best way to walk the dog he had come up with yet, as long as the dog wanted to go the same way he did.

No, my phone does not have a camera in it.

Transportation - Costs

Bankrate.com has a chart showing the cost of owning a car in the various states. Included are maintenance, Taxes, fuel, and insurance. These are probably average figures and I didn't dig for great detail. Your mileage will certainly vary. Interesting to note Colorado is 17th highest on the list. Figuring promenently is the taxes and fees department which is among the highest in the nation.

This relates to my former state rep, Joe Rice, who doubled our registration fees in an effort to sustain the monorail! light rail boondoggle. Without his help in the tax department, Colorado would be in the bottom 10 for costs of owning a vehicle.

Thanks Joe!

The Future Of Agriculture - Dehydrated Water

Yes, you heard that right, dehydrated water. Just add water of course. Found here at Political Calculations, is a piece on the stuff which is a polymer similar to what's put into diapers to absorb water. It seems that once the water is absorbed, plant roots can extract it. The process would be to plough some of this into otherwise arid soil. What little rain or irrigation would be available is held by the polymer in the tilled layer and the water is extracted as needed by the plants.

One supposes that water soluble chemicals like pesticides and weed killers when applied would be picked up by the polymer as part of the water and thus not be carried into the ground water. That would be good. One also wonders what the effect of moving an aquifer from well below the surface to the near surface would be on the existing aquifer.

Sounds like a potential solution to the problem of my dead back yard. I wonder what it costs?

Update: Even better, it's already on the market.See comments.

Soil Moist™ Polymer, 8-lb. Granular, 8 lb, $62.50.

Complete Biodegradable Granular Polymer Waters Your Plants When They Need It!

This water management system can save you money and time. Lasting for up to five years, Granular Polymer is a safe non-toxic polymer that will absorb over 200 times its weight in water. As the surrounding soil dries, the polymer releases the absorbed water making it available to the plant. The polymer will automatically re-swell during the next rain or irrigation. Granular Polymer mixes right in the soil for crops or trees. 8-lb. container.

Unemployment

You can't actually believe all the statistics regarding unemployment any more as they have been jiggered to make politicians look good since the great depression. Still, Gallup is reporting a 1.2% jump in unemployment from 7.7% to 8.9% over the last 30 days. This seems like a mighty big number

There are multiple possible reasons for this. One is that General Motors finally went terminally broke and canned everyone. This would have made the news.

Another is that all the propaganda about the Summer Of Recovery reached the discouraged workers and brought them out from whatever rocks they've been hiding under to look for work. It could happen. The 5th time might well be the charm.

Could also be the impact of Obamacare which is causing employers everywhere to reduce payrolls and switch people from full time to part time.

That would be about 1.85 million new unemployed suddenly appearing. Wonder where they came from?

Beer Summit

The Univ of Colorado is experimenting with hiring an actual conservative. That's right, and not just someone politically to the right of Ted Kennedy either.  He's Steven Hayward, and he's having a couple of meetups to see if he really is the only Republican in Boulder County like the Dean told him when he was hired.

One up in Boulder at the Bohemien Biergarten and another at a location to be named later in Lakewood.

No doubt the Daily Camera will be there hoping to get a picture of Dr. Hayward sitting alone in the BB, or alternatively to get early coverage of the Putsch to be staged from the Bierhall. We will probably have to explain to him that only Socialists do that sort of thing. He'll be so disappointed.

It's this Saturday from 4 – 6 pm at the Bohemian Biergarten at 2017 13th Street in downtown Boulder.

Anybody interested?

60 Is The New 40

Took down 3 walnut trees yesterday, reduced them to manageable sizes, loaded then onto a friends pickup, and waved them good bye.

My back is explaining to me about how the title of this post is the biggest bald-faced lie ever to come down the pike.

I did learn, however, that chainsaw chains are generic except for length so you can put a Brand X chain on a Brand Z saw. One advisory: A 14" saw might use any of 3 different lengths of chain. The one you need will be the one not commonly stocked.

Constitutional Amendments

Mark Levin has a book out proposing some 11 constitutional amendments presumably "to insure a more perfect union" or some such. Most of these ideas are good ones, but there are a few problems that I can see from my perspective as a constitutional scholar*. The link is an interview and overview discussion of the suggested amendments. Pretty good read.

Visit the link and read through the interview. The amendments are not spelled out in detail, as that would impact his book sales, but are described in general.

1. Term limits for everybody. Senators, Representatives, and Supreme court judges.
    Observation: This would probably do a lot of good, but getting the rats to vote on their own poison isn't going to happen.

2. Repeal the 17th amendment.
    Observation: Great idea. Senators would go back to being selected by their state legislators. Of course this would mean that only 10 or 15 out of 100 would ever lose their jobs over a six-year period, but the threat would be just like that of amendment 1.

3. To allow a super majority of the Congress to override the Supreme Court.
  Observation: If a law is genuinely unconstitutional, it should be struck down. Period. If the congress doesn't like that, then they can write another one and word it differently.

4. Spending and taxation limits.
  Observation: TABOR for the feds. This is possibly the best idea of the lot. Spending limited to 17.5% of GDP and the highest tax rate to be 15% of income. If this is couples with a 15% limit on business and other revenue sources as well, it would really get the economy going. Just remember: The effective tax rate on businesses is zero. All expenses, including taxation are passed on to the customers.

5. Moves tax day to the last business day prior to the national elections.
  Observation: Would give the rats some incentive to cut spending rather than produce pork. Problem is that the national budget needs to be written based on revenues received. Paying taxes on 2010 income, for example, in November of 2011, for use in 2012 seems a bit disconnected. It would probably make budgeting more predictable though.

6. Requiring reauthorization of everything called "Department of..." every 3 years.
  Observation: Yes, it's possible that the Department of Defense could be completely defunded, but probably unlikely. More likely would be a continuing resolution to keep everything just as it is. This would be a voice vote following much posturing before the cameras, thus providing campaign footage and a complete lack of traceability for the pols.

7. Redefinition of the Commerce Clause.
  Observation: Long overdue. The problem is that it limits the Fed Govs ability to micromanage everything. This is why you want it. This is why the Fed Gov isn't about to give it up.

8. Adds regulatory takings to the takings clause.
  Observation: Great idea. Right now the Feds can declare your property to be a wetland or habitat for an endangered slime mold and prevent you from ever doing anything with it without having to compensate you for the loss.

9. Allows the states to propose Constitutional amendments.
  Observation: The proposals would come from the legislatures rather than from popular votes of the citizens. Requires 2/3 of the states to enact rather than the current 3/4. Given amendment 2, this would be pretty much the same as a proposal from the Senate.

10. States would over ride Federal law with a 3/5 vote.
  Observation: Being no fan of the Feds, I'd even go for a simple majority.

11. Requires photo ID be obtained before allowing anyone to vote.
  Observation: This would extend to state and local elections. It wouldn't eliminate vote fraud, but it might slow it down.

* The standards for being a constitutional scholar have been drastically devalued. I've read most of it and lived under it for about 1/4 of its total lifetime. I've also read scholarly writings from people who actually went to school for this. As such, I feel I'm at least as entitled to the title as say the President.

Egypt

P.J. O'Rourke once visited Egypt to try to understand why the denizens of the middle east seem to behave irrationally. He flew in to Cairo, traveled to the big hotel right next to the pyramids. went to the bar, got a drink, turned on his stool to view the grandeur of the great pyramids, just outside the window, and realized "These people have always been crazy!".

Here is a report of a study that shows that Muslims are pretty much universally happier in non-Islamic states than in Islamic republics. Big deal. Everybody is happier in non-Muslim countries.

Here is another report that describes Egyptian citizens using Muslim Brotherhood protesters for target practice. The report is mixed in with another one talking about Korea, Japan, and China. Scroll down a bit to get to the Egyptian part. I find this encouraging in that the citizens of Egypt are rejecting Islamic exterrmism in the most emphatic manner possible. There are two ways this could get better.

In Mexico, during their revolution, the Catholic church sided with the monarchy. Siding with the status quo is what the church traditionally does, so no real surprise there. Following the revolution, the nationalists did not forget this, and made sure the Church didn't either, severely restricting the churches ability to influence politics. Should the same thing happen in Egypt, the situation would be much improved. Nothing like executing a few troublesome holy men to cool the ardor of the rest. The military is currently looking to ban the MB, which had been done in the past and is done in several middle eastern countries already.

Best case of course would be to ban the practice of Islam completely. Despite all the good arguments in favor of this, it seems unlikely to happen. Oh well.

Ethanol

Occasionally the government steps up and demonstrates its ability to not just shoot itself in the foot, but to do so with the selector switch on full auto. Effective August 1, President O'Bungler has issued an executive order banning the sale of Ammonium Nitrate in this country.

Obama issued an Executive order on August 1, 2013 that will effectively ban Ammonium Nitrate in the USA. It will become too expensive and create too much possible civil and criminal liability to manufacture, store, or transport it.

While it is true that AN is a primary component in several explosives, it is also true that AN is a primary component of practically all farm products including the grains fed to meat animals. As an aside, notice that some 40% of the nations corn crop is now dedicated to producing ethanol which by law must be mixed into your gasoline, lest we become overly dependent on Arab oil for our cars. Already it is required that some 2M gallons of the moonshine mixed into our gas must come from cellulostic sources, a sop to the drain on food and feed that the current law imposes. Any refinery not mixing the required minimums from this source is penalized by requiring them to buy a tax credit, currently valued at about $1/gallon of 'shine not used. This adds about a dime to the price of a gallon of gas at the pump.

Current total national production of cellulostic ethanol is 20,000 gallons/year. Not to worry, the 1.98M gallon shortfall will be paid for by the peasants. Now imagine the hit to corn (and everything else) production the proposed ban on fertilizer will have:

Food and fuel prices will skyrocket because Ammonium Nitrate forms the basis for almost all nitrogen in granular fertilizers used in American farming. There are no cost and ease of manufacture/use equivalents for ammonium nitrate. Supply and demand economics are going to be the harsh lesson of the day. Crop yields will go down. Corn is the basis for the American food supply and the fuel additive ethanol. A.N. is critical in corn production.

Hope everyone is ready for $12/gallon gasoline and $20 a box corn flakes.

Read the whole sad story here at CSIA foundation.

Gun Fun - Steampunk

Pull that Webly-Vickers 50-70 on me will you? Well take this you cad!

Easily sufficient to strike fear into the heart of the dastardly Baron von Twogoggles, or anyone else within 50 yards in any direction, here we have a prototype of a Martini-Henry grenade launcher, a 1916 M79.

The coil spring recoil buffer is certainly clever. It's giving me ideas.

The whole history, complete with a lengthy list of its progenitors is here on the Firearms Blog.

Gun Fun - Why Not?

Broney seems to be the latest sign of the end of Western Civilization as we know it so what better calling that to get out there and help fend it off.

In the near future, historians will struggle to locate the precise moment when civilization’s wheels finally, irretrievably came off. By then, there will have been too many such moments to pinpoint one with any certainty. But I’ll mark the day as having occurred on a recent August weekend when, standing in the concourse of the Baltimore Convention Center, I watch grown men with problem skin and five o’clock shadows prance around in pony ears, rainbow manes, and braided tails lashed to their belt-loops, doling out “free hugs,” starting “fun! fun! fun!” chants, and spontaneously breaking into song. “Give me a bro hoof,” says one, trying to knuckle-bump me. It’s what you might imagine heaven to be like, if your idea of heaven is hell.

Grown men or at least boys who should know better turning themselves into this:

So the obvious question arises: What caliber for Bronies?

My position is that non-serious game calls for non-serious ammo. I vote for 12 ga low brass game loads filled with the old reliable rock salt.

Gun Fun - Basic Pistol

SIL has signed up for an NRA basic pistol course. This should be a fun time if all goes well. She has no gun herself but the instructor says she has a 9mm she can loan. SIL has been calling around to find ammo, and has discovered..... There isn't any.

I also found out she had not noted how much would be required.

I have offered her the choice of several pistols from .22 to .38 to 9x18. Her instructor is suggesting she bring both the .22 and the 9mm which is what I would have recommended. Of course if she had come out with me, I'd have brought them all.

Sportsmans has .40 S&W ammo in 250 round bulk pack at $100 which I would split with SIL but the instructor has no .40 loaner.

The instructor reminded SIL that the ammo quantity for the range part is 150 rounds, and suggested that this could be split 100 rounds of .22 and 50 rounds of 9mm. The instructor is less than impressed with revolvers I guess.

Range day is the 25th. Film at 11, as they used to say.

Gun Law - It Could Be Worse

In Cali anyway, SB-53 requires anyone selling ammo to have an ammo sellers license, and anyone buying said ammo to have an ammo buyers license. So far it looks like either one of these will cost $50. The hoops one must then jump through extend to include collecting enough info on the buyer and the buyers guns to constitute a universal gun registry as an added bonus.

The bill has passed the Senate, been amended there, and the House which it's going back to to affirm the latest amendments. The government of course is exempted from all this:

(b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply to or affect the sale, delivery, or transfer of ammunition to any of the following:

(1) An authorized law enforcement representative of a city, county, city and county, or state or federal government, if the sale, delivery, or transfer is for exclusive use by that government agency and, prior to the sale, delivery, or transfer of the ammunition, written authorization from the head of the agency employing the purchaser or transferee is obtained, identifying the employee as an individual authorized to conduct the transaction, and authorizing the transaction for the exclusive use of the agency employing the individual.

(2) A sworn peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 who is authorized to carry a firearm in the course and scope of the officer’s duties.

If Ammo suppliers decided that this all seems a bit much, they could immediately alleviate the ammo shortage in the rest of the country by refusing to sell ammo to anyone in California including the above mentioned  authorities.

Colorado Gun Law - 30 Round Mags

Imagine if you will, a modern Sporting Rifle with a 10 round magazine. Now notice the minute difference switching to a 30 round mag makes:

Now I ask you, unless you're her boyfriend dragging your ass in at 6 AM, does this look scarey? Under those circumstances and at this distance would a 10 round mag look less scarey?

Found the pic at Power Line.

Gun Blogger Rendevous

I'm going this year, having been regaled by Kevin of Smallest Minority, and being otherwise unoccupied and having not had a vacation in mumble mumble years. This is turning into an interesting proposition.

Going by rail is the lowest cost and probably the slowest. OTOH I get to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and other scenic stuff going both ways. Colorado going and Nevada and Utah coming back. If 2 or 3 of us were going, it would be cheaper to drive if slightly slower. 1600 mi round trip x 21 mpg x $3.50/gal. Maybe next year.

For a while there I thought it might be marginally less undignified to bypass the TSA at the airport, but it looks like they might be at the train station as well, plus branching out to random gropings on the streets. Baggage restrictions are somewhat less than on the airplanes. Weight and size restrictions apply, but are somewhat more generous than Southwest Air Lines.

The Rendevous seems to be 3 days of speakers, presentations by industry reps, socializing and 3 range trips so luggage will include guns and ammo.Amtrak doesn't have a problem with guns in checked luggage, but disapproves of black powder and hand loaded ammo.

The hotel assures me that they do not have a courtesy car, probably because Nevada is a solidly union state. The good news is that it's only about 3 blocks from the train station.

Full details on the event are here.

Gun Fun - Marlin

I ordered a Marlin 795 .22 plinker back in Late April. The gun was difficult to obtain, being out of stock in most places, but Bass Pro came through. I got a scope and rings from Wal Mart which were delivered in under a week. I bought ammo at Wal Mart which turned out to be in stock just 2 weeks ago. I've been waiting ever since to get some spare mags for the gun which seem to be out of stock everywhere including the factory.

Happy days! CTD notified me today that they have some in stock. I've ordered 3 and should have them by next Friday, which will complete the order. Total elapsed time = 4 months.

Julie, who lives in heavily regulated Perth, Down Under, also bought a rifle, and with all the required paperwork, had to wait 3 months to actually lay hands on it. Now I'm happy to have had to deposit only one form with our government to get my rifle, and I certainly sympathize with Julie on the wait, but she did get a complete gun with the same accessories I got in that length of time. See? It's much more efficient when government agencies can share data. One filing, and your personal information goes to the ATF who puts it in a common database shared by the IRS, the FEC, the NSA, the FBI, HHS, and a collection of hackers from China, Russia, and North Korea. Gotta love it.

Tweet, Tweet

I'm not on Twitter or Facebook, but some of the people who are continue to provide great entertainment. Here, for example is Debbi Wasserman-Schultz, DNC Chairperson:

Note that the Dems don't have any trouble attracting women who apparently enjoy the abuse (B.Clinton, Filner), in most cases, or the trade, in the case of E. Spitzer and others.

Whatever turn you on lady.

A Comedy Of Errors

Here come the Libertarians again, pissing in the soup and highlighting the lack of forethought that went into the election law whooped through the Dem-controlled legislature earlier this year. First the law:

At issue is a July 22 emergency rule concerning recall successor candidates for Senate District 11 (Colorado Springs) and Senate District 3 (Pueblo), requiring a 10 day deadline for nominating petitions in a recall election. The purpose of the short deadline was to allow time for printing and mailing of ballots in advance of the September 10 election date. That meant the last day to submit completed petitions was July 29.

The law changed our elections from walk in and vote to all mail-in. This means the candidate list must be complete early enough to print and mail all the ballots. This includes ballots to the military overseas.

However, Article XXI, Section 3 of the Colorado Constitution allows any qualified candidate the right to submit completed nominating petitions up to 15 days in advance of the election date.

After submitting the petitions, the signatures need to be verified. Creates a bit of a dilemma for the printers.

The other pisser is the Libertarians desire to get on the ballot. In Dist 3, there are no Dems currently on the ballot as none were able to get the required signatures in time. Extending the deadline may change this. In Dist 11 a Dem is on the ballot. In Dist 11 the electorate is closely divided favoring conservatives by about 13.5/12. Sen Morse got the job when a Libertarian took about 10% of the conservative vote. Now they want to do it again.

Libertarians: Electing Democrats from the beginning.

The Future of Humanity - Obsolescence

So there you are, the ink dripping off that advanced degree in Liberal Arts with a major in Pre-Cambrian Sonnets, and out you go looking for work. Start right out with the obvious choices: Order taker for the drive-through line or burger flipper at any fast food outlet within walking distance of your parents basement, and what do you find?

This. In the case of burger flippers, you have been replaced by an automated line that produced (allegedly) perfect custom burgers at a rate of up to 350/hour for less than minimum wage, and of course no health care benefits. We'll talk about the service contract later.

The order taker will be replaced with a touch screen replete with drop-down menus, allowing you to customize your order to the last detail. Ordering from McBurgers has become as efficient as ordering from Amazon. If you have a wireless mouse on your cars center console, you won't even have to reach out the window and actually touch anything until you pull forward to the delivery window to retrieve your order.

The only human behind the counter will be the tech support person, so unless your degree included advanced Windows trouble shooting, you won't find a job there.

The Future Of Transportation - Hackneys

A local judge has ruled that drivers for Uber, the iPhone based limo company, would be allowed to have a clock on board, but not a calculating device. This is primary aimed at the use of the iPhone to calculate the fare, but:

"A luxury limousine may not contain a taxicab meter or other device for calculating any component of rates charged based upon time and mileage, other than a clock," states a proposed amendment from Administrative Law Judge Harris Adams.

The judges proposed rule making would forbid even the use of a pad of paper and a pencil by my reading. Since the iPhone is used to summon the vehicle, the ruling would remove that as well unless the calculator app was removed from the phone.

I guess if you're a member of the taxicab cartel, it's good to have a judge or two on retainers.

Timing Is Everything

Heard on the radio just now:

D.J.: And now this...(Opening bars of "Don't Fear The Reaper"...

BZZT>>>BZZZT>BZZZT This is the National weather service. A tornado warning is issued for central Elbert county. Should an actual tornado touch down, extensive damage would occur to mobile homes, vehicles, etc, take cover immediately!

BZZT>>>BZZZT>BZZZT  Flash flood warnings are in effect for central Weld county. Torrential rains have been reported in several locations. Several roads are reported under water. Use caution!

BZZT>>>BZZZT>BZZZT

Resumes playing  "Don't Fear The Reaper".


The NWS really knows how to make a weather alert edgy don't they?

Bloomberg's Minions Complain

About funding for the recall efforts coming from as far away as... gasp...Denver. Funding to keep them in office of course is coming from New York City, practically in their own back yards. The ads sing the miscreants praises while conveniently never mentioning the gun and tax issues that got them there in the first place. Even the local media is calling B.S. on this.

Notwithstanding the occasional tourist who asks the park ranger if one can see both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans from the continental divide in Rocky Mountain Nat'l. park, it would seem you can see the New York Times building from either Pueblo or Colorado Springs.

Who knows? From the top of Pikes Peak one can suffer enough oxygen deprivation to see a lot of things.

It's Good To Be The King

When you're king, the law doesn't apply to you. When you're connected to the king, selected laws don't apply to you.

Obamacare, for example. Or conventional labor laws.

The Lonely Lives Of Mathematicians

When all other mathematica have been solved:

I'll take their word for it.And I don't want to know about the research that went into this either.

From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

August E-Postal

Carteach has the August match up and it's vaguely similar to mine, only possibly worse since overlapping areas don't count for anything special.

Don't print this one. Go here and get the real thing. Carteach's link has the rules. Bring a calculator, math is hard.

As an exercise, see if you can figure out how to get 63 points out of this target without popping over to read the rules. Come on, not reading instructions is manly as hell and adds to the fun and entertainment value of any project.

Update: Scoring instructions on the target are correct. The original perfect score was imperfect.
E-Postal Limited Vickers: The rules call for 18 shots. If you're having a caffeinated day and your buddies are calling you "Shakey Jake" remember that shots missing the paper completely don't count. I've had a couple like that where some of the bullseyes were close to the edge of the paper and having fired the requisite number of shots, I count the holes and discover that I seem to still owe the target another round or two.

July E-Postal - Results

For a while there I was worried that this contest might be too easy, but I guess not. Here are the results. If I get any more in the next day or two, I'll add them in.

Billlls Venn Diagram – Results

Shooter           Gun                                           Score

Class 1
TBS                 Ruger Mk 3, Scoped                24
Billll                Ruger Mk 1                               23
Mike B           S&W 612                                   21
TBS                Ruger Single 6                            12
Pat B             S&W 617                                     19
Paula B          Browning Buckmark                 15
Danno            Ruger .22/45                             12
TBS               1911-22                                        9
Danno           Ruger Single 6                             9
Mr CCBCC     Ruger .22/45                             6
Mr. CCBCC     Ruger Single 6                          2

Class 2
Mike B         .22 rifle, Scoped                         23
Billll                Rem. Nyl66, scoped                22

Class 3
Pat B              Browning Hi Power                 15
C. Johnson     XDM .45                                  12
Mr. CCBCC    CZ (.40 cal)                               3
Danno            CZ (.40 cal)                                 2




Congrats to True Blue Sam for taking first in Class 1. He has a video of how he did it here. He's obviously been taking lessons from Mr. C.

I think Mike B used a 10/22, but it didn't get written down. I would have liked to have used my new Marlin, but forgot to move it to the right gun case before leaving for the range. The rather stiff trigger probably would have put me further down though.
Also Congrats to Pat B on his win in Class 3, edging out C. Johnson, who is True Blue Sams brother.

I apologize for not including a place to put in your data. Next time.

As a suggestion, when you scan targets, put a piece of yellow paper such as a yellow ruled tablet behind your target. This provides contrast for the holes. Oddly, black doesn't work as well. Go figure.

I have modeled up some targets based on the trick shots done on Top Shot. We may be seeing them on some of the later e-postals.