Friday, January 31, 2014

Open Carry

Now that it's completely legal in Castle Rock, as well as in most of the rest of Colorado, there's the matter of accessories. For myself I favor the leather rigs popular with the cowboy action people. If you incline to the steampunk, there's this:
Reputedly works like this:
Speculation is that this is supposed to be a 9x19 caliber rig.
The rest of the story (and there IS more) is here.



If A Gun Is Exchanged In A Forest...

...and there's no liberal nearby to be affronted, is a crime committed?

Apparently not according to police stats which note that right next to nobody has been arrested for selling a gun to another citizen  in a private sale without a background check. The absence of cops at the scene of the transfer, or even a liberal to call one is probably a significant factor in the lack of arrests.

The other law that has netted no arrests is the magazine capacity law which says that you must either buy standard capacity magazines at gun stores in outlying states, or get them from the same fellow who sold you the gun. And we all know that no one in the scrupulously law-abiding state of Colorado would drive to Wyoming to buy anything not permitted here. Like fireworks.

Bottom line, neither law will work without 100% registration and would also require someone at every gun range in the state, formal or informal, to run numbers on registered guns and magazines.

The next recall election is November 4th.


Thursday, January 30, 2014

QOTD From England

Found this in the comments on Samizdata:
Mr Ed
Maj.-Gen. Ross was perhaps the last person to enter the District of Columbia and achieve something worthwhile, if not enduring.
Gen Ross was in charge of the British effort that marched into Washington and burned several parts of it down in 1814.

Gun Law - Local

There is a bill (S-94) in the Colorado Senate to repeal the "universal background check" law passed last year with no Republican votes. Republican votes are not necessary here as the Dems still holt the entire government and don't have to listen to constituents.

The bill has been referred to the Senate committee on Veterans and Military Affairs, aka the "kill committee". A pro forma hearing will be held Monday, Feb 3 at 1 PM in one of the small hearing rooms on the 3rd floor. The NRA is inviting people to come testify in favor of this bill.

In a state where last month about 2000 people found jobs and 5500 gave up looking, you'd think there would be plenty of people available around lunch time on a work day to come inside and speak to the fence posts senators on this. The Democratic leadership has made it abundantly clear that as long as they hold the majority, they can do no wrong.

Remember: The next recall election is Nov 4 this year.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Gun Fun - Global Warming Impact

Back when we still had our old gun club we used to have bowling pin shoots monthly all year round. This year we've had to find a new venue and the weather has taken a turn for the worse. This in spite of a 60 degree day last weekend for the IDPA shoot, the last 3 bowling pin shoots have been cancelled due to excessive winter weather.

The team , sponsoring the bowling pin shoots will shortly be announcing their expansion into the ever-lucrative field of weather management.

If you need precipitation, which this winter has meant snow, they will schedule a bowling pin match at your location which will guarantee the worst imaginable weather appropriate to the season. Blizzards in winter and coming soon to a farmstead near you, flooding in the summer.

All they need to do is figure out how to charge for this.

Meantime the alternative is a blogger breakfast where we drink coffee and shoot the bull.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Global Warming

As I prepare to trudge off to work in the chocolate mines, through the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways, it's currently 3.1 degrees F outside. At least it's a positive number.

Not to worry. The forecast high for Wednesday is 57 F.

SOTU Drinking Games

This sort of think has become ever more popular as the Obama administration wears on. Myriad suggestions arise as to the appropriate reaction to shopworn phrases like "let me be perfectly clear"...oh wait, that was a Nixon line. Obama dropped the word "perfectly".

Here's one that will probably have you under the table in fairly short order. Picking phrases is becoming easier as the second term runs on to the point that I saw someone suggest that the SOTU address will be cancelled tonight and replaces with re-runs of previous addresses.

Steve Green will be live blogging the event which should make it more bearable. He's sacrificing his liver so you don't have to.

My suggestion is to tune in right at the end, and if Obama hasn't announced his resignation, then feel free to drink yourself into oblivion. I believe the hangover cures are covered under Obamacare.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

QOTD - Politics As Usual

The IRS scandal having been dealt with by simply appointing a big Obama donor to look into it, the FBI dually reported within a week that they found no evidence that anything wrong had been done. The IRS in turn has issued proposed rules changes that would assure that in the future what they did would be legal. That issue being settled, the "scandal" has moved off the press' radar and life goes on as usual:

"It is clear that we will not pass anything legislatively as long as the House of Representatives is in Republican control, but there are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other government agencies—we must redouble those efforts immediately,"
Chas " Smirkin' Chimp" Schumer, wannabe Senate majority leader.
 And what would a President’s Commission on Election Administration actually do aside from administering an election to insure that everything ran smoothly and the right people got elected?

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Gun Law - Good News

Remember those pictures of Connecticut natives lining up to dutifully register their assault weapons and high capacity magazines?

That picture must have been about all that did. Compliance is being estimated at 4%.
Good show Connecticut. Keep up the good work.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Self Defense For Women In India

An Indian gun maker has introduced a revolver specifically intended for women to help reduce a rape epidemic.
This little baby is a .32 cal knockoff of an old Webly top-break. I don't doubt it will work as advertised if you don't mind rather anemic performance. It's sort of a .380 -P-. On the good side, it's at least partly Titanium to keep the weight down, and it's NOT pink.

On the bad side, it's priced at around $2000 in a country with a nominal per capita income of $1219 which suggests that you better be well heeled to think about adding one to the wardrobe. The manufacturer claims to have sold some 20 of them already in a country with a population of 1 billion.

Lots of more details at Gun Watch.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Leaving New York

Gov. Cuomo says he wants all conservatives out of the state by sundown. O.K. maybe not in those exact words, but the thought was there.

My question to the Governor is weather he proposes to provide some aid to those moving or does he prefer to simply round them up, load them onto the cattle cars, and drop them off in Pennsylvania?

Probably plan B as providing relocation expenses would result in half the population of the state re-registering as Republicans and moving elsewhere. Think about it. In today's internet age, the NYSE building for example, could be an empty shell with all the actual business conducted in Dallas or dispersed all over the country.

Manic Monday


Happy Monday:

1. No newspaper today*, internet news only.

2. Milk turned to cottage cheese yesterday. I bought milk. Wife, not knowing this, also bought milk. I guess I’m having a lot of oatmeal this week.

3. Wife gets up early which is never good. Insurance company has screwed up the billing again. I need to call them. Business hours only and with a phone maze firewall. It’s the same problem as last month which they assured me they had fixed. Great. Push problem out to Friday when I have the whole day off. Could be worse I guess. Could be Obamacare.

4. Balmy weather (breath not condensing) so I take the motorcycle to work. Need gas. Stop at station. Discover billfold is still on desk where I was trying to take care of insurance company. Go back home and get billfold.

5. Get to work. Take elevator to second floor. Elevator rises, stops, and door doesn’t open. Press all buttons. Door eventually opens. Probably need to mention this to maintenance.

6. Round corner and walk past bosses office. Note that it is completely empty. This is generally not a good sign. Peeked into the interns cube. Yup, he’s gone too. Now I'm getting nervous.

7. Get to my cube. All my stuff is still there so that’s something. Check e-mail and discover that the boss has been relocated while mtce rearranges the cube farm and the intern has gone back to school so I guess all is otherwise well.

8. Pick up a part I had left to be modified from the model shop . Looks good. Take it to the prototype lab to check for fit. Prototype has been disassembled and replaced with cardboard. Take part back to my cube. Halfway through my first coffee I notice that a large feature that should have been left on has been removed. Take part back to model shop. 20 minutes later in a review meeting we decide that the part being replaced will need some major modification. I decide to leave it alone for the moment.

Aside from that, the day went fairly well. How was your day?

*Observation: Since the holiday was declared, I have never worked for an employer who observed it. J. M. Browning's birthday is the 23rd and I don't get that off either. My birthday is the 24th and I get that off, not because I'm more awesome than those other guys but because I get every Friday off.

Ammo Shortage Reason Found

The fellow pictured here seems to have visited the Centennial Wal-Mart, filled a shopping cart with some 2500 rounds of ammo and strolled out. He came back and picked up some more in the bag. If you can't find ammo in South Denver, this may be the reason.

There's a Tanner Gun Show this weekend. You don't suppose he might be selling some there do you?

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Gun Law - GRAA Rally, Denver

Today there was supposed to be a gun rights rally in every state capitol. One was held here in Denver on an otherwise fine 57 deg day. Here's a panorama of the crowd:
Sorry, I don't have one of those fancy cameras that takes breathtaking panoramas and by the way doubles as a phone in its spare time. Speakers included aspiring governors, senators, and local legislators. One of the aspiring governors was a Libertarian Party candidate without whose party's help the Dems would not have been controlling the Senate in the first place.

Ran into several old friends there from the Appleseed events and the Hudak recall effort so it was like a form of class reunion. 

Attendance was rather sparse I'm afraid. This unfortunate circumstance was blamed on outside influences.
I'm told there was a football game or something going on.  Likely story. More people should have been there as we cut the festivities a bit short in order to get everyone into a local bar with a TV in time for the kickoff. I have to say though that traffic on the way home was impressively light.

Choom Bowl

So if the Broncos wind up playing the Seahawks in the Superbowl, will the availability of weed in both home towns lead to the contest being called the Choom Bowl?

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Avast! Reboot Loop

Google and Microsoft are temporarily not quite on speaking terms with one another. The last update to Googles Avast anti-virus loads normally on Win XP machines, then when it reboots the machine it gets as far as the opening screen then reboots again. And again. And again.

The fix is to hit F8 early in the reboot process, start the machine in safe mode, delete Avast from your program set, then restart your machine.

I've been using Zone Alarm for a firewall and Avast for anti-virus, so when I did this, ZA took over the antivirus function. If you're not using two systems, the process may have you running naked until you can find a replacement for Avast.

I presume that at some point this bug will be addressed. I like Avast and have never had a problem up to this point. If you can load the previous version of Avast, then fine, just ignore the pitches regarding available updates until you hear that the bug has been addressed.

The Cost Of Green Energy

Last year the Colorado legislature passed a mandated increase in the amount of "renewable" energy that must be provided by Exell Energy, and while they were at it mandated that while the urbanized areas of the state would take a 10% increase, the rural areas would foot the bill for 20%.

Serves them right for not having enough representation.

Forbes is reporting that the little green men (and women) in the legislature have cost the average Colorado household some $350/year for the last 7 years.

For the average Boulder county resident, this is a modest price to pay for the warm fuzzy feeling you get watching the windmills turn. About the price of a couple of oil changes for the BMW 750 family grocery getter. Of course if you live in Summit county, it's unnoticeable. Hanger fees for the family jet dwarf this.

For the rest of us, it's a good thing the Colorado economy is booming and everyone has a good paying job with benefits..... oh wait.

Well, if you don't like your legislator, you don't have to keep your legislator as the new mail-in ballots will be sent out to everyone who ever registered to vote in this state for the last 5-10 years come November. Remember, if the election is urgent, extra ballots can be found in dumpsters behind every apartment building in the state.

H/T to Colorado Peak Politics for the lead on this.

Legislative Success! Mission Accomplished

The Colorado legislature, having settled all other problems facing the state, is now down to adjusting bar closing times to reduce the big rush of altercations that happen at 2AM when the bars close now.

The proposed solution is to let them remain open until 7 AM when presumably the glare of the morning sun will drop the belligerent drunks in their tracks. This is not a dumb idea, comparatively speaking. Compared to some of the other ideas coming from the legislature, this one sounds downright Einsteinian.

Write your legislators today and ask to be assured that as soon as this issue is voted on, a motion to adjourn will be entertained.

NSA Data Storage

While the president has carefully refrained from telling us that the large-scale surveilance by the NSA will be stopped or even slowed in the immediate future, he has suggested that the data be stored somewhere where it won't be abused until it's needed.

May I suggest Edward Snowden's thumb drive. Out of reach of the NSA and less likely to be used unless the data is really needed.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Sleep Apnia

Here's how we cure that down under, mate:

Conclusion Regular didgeridoo playing is an effective treatment alternative well accepted by patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.
My theory is that your entire body operates on the "use it or lose it" principle for everything from muscle function to your immune system. Anything you do that exercises your lungs will be of benefit for them including playing the harmonica.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Transportation - How We Do It Here

There is a big interchange upgrade project going on at Sante Fe and I-25 which has been under construction for about 2 years now and is showing signs of nearing completion. The ramp from northbound Sante Fe to north bound I-25 is a marvel to behold: 2 lanes wide and several stories high. The view from the top is magnificent.

Up till recently one could get up to 40-50 mph, hit the ramp, motor over the top and seamlessly merge into I-25, first the left lane, then the right. The only possible slowdown was the city of Denver setting up a photo radar truck at the beginning of the ramp to enforce a 25 mph speed limit which meant you had no momentum to get over the ramp.

The photo truck is no longer needed. Some genius somewhere decided that all the ramp traffic would merge together into one lane before reaching I-25, drive alongside the freeway traffic for about 1/2 mile, then merge onto the freeway just as the next on-ramp began dumping more traffic into the right hand lane. Speeds approaching the new ramp are now down to 5-10 mph beginning about 1/2 mile before you get to the ramp and continuing past the Alameda on ramp some 1/2 mile beyond.

The good news is that Denver is no longer raking in the revenue with their photo truck except on weekends when there is less traffic.

Here's a situation where a tagger with a can of white spray paint could ease a lot of congestion and add the title of "traffic engineer" to his business card. I wonder how long it will take for someone with the authority to actually lay down paint to figure this out.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

SHOT Show Booth Babe

At least as far as drawing attention across all demographics goes. This one looks to be pretty inert, but I bet Boston Dynamics could take care of that.

Pic from bearing arms.

Imagine you're a Muj somewhere waiting to ambush a foot patrol, and the first thing to come round the corner is one of these babies, teleoperated from way back, and equipped with all the vision enhancements we have built right into the head. Put a rifle in one arm, a grenade launcher in the other, and just for giggles, a flamethrower in the throat.....

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Warning Labels

Everything has to have one any more, but if you want to see the future, you have to visit California:
Of course the other label was left off as it harshes the meme here. It reads:
Warning!
Not driving to work
causes economic disruption.
I guess you have to decide for yourself which represents the biggest threat. Also note: Climate Disruption is the new Global warming.

Found here at Moonbattery.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Drug Crime

O.K. low level drug crime. More like making a nuisance of ones self. The pot heads, reveling in their new found legal status have been stocking up on souvenirs by driving out east on I-70 to mile marker 420 and filching the marker. CDOT has a possible solution to this:
  
Not a bad solution I'm thinking. Using 419(A) and 419(B) would also work, but we're supposedly measuring distances here.

Putting up signage is sometimes problematic. The thing you're attempting to note may have other implications you know:














For the longest time this spot was undeveloped. It was thought that this was on purpose so as to never require the sign to be put up. The shift in the image is an artifact of the Google image.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Ford Emulates NSA

Except without actually publishing anything although admitting to haveing the info invites a warrant demanding it be turned over.

So remember kids, when you took dad's car out on that date, Ford knows how fast you drove, where you drove to, and that the suspension showed suspicious bouncing even though the car was not in motion.

Watch Your Watch And Wallet

The legislature is back in session. Four gun-related bills are already in the pipe:

HB 14 1041 by Representatives Wright (R) and Holbert (R) and Senator Grantham (R)- This bill would establish "constitutional carry," with no requirement for a CCW permit.
HB 14 1059 by Representative Garcia (D) and Senator Crowder (R)- This bill would block possible disorderly conduct charges for firing blanks during funeral salutes. (Not sure why this bill was thought to be necessary.)
HB 14 1063 by Representative Everett (R) and Senator Grantham (R)- This bill is this year's version of the "Business Make My Day" concept that would apply the Castle Doctrine to Colorado businesses.
SB 14 038 by Senator Renfroe (R) and Representative Everett (R)- This bill would limit the Governor's ability to restrict firearms during a declared emergency.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and predict that none of these will get past the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee AKA The Graveyard.

Update: It is now being suggested that the Dems could redeem themselves by admitting they over reached last year. I'll stick my neck out even further and bet they don't.


Remember, if you don't like your elected representative, you don't have to keep your elected representative.

Investigating the IRS

The administration has appointed an investigator to look in to the IRS practice of targeting the political opposition. Guess what? The "investigator" is a long time party hack and generous donor. What do you bet that no report will be issued before January 2017?

In the meantime this means that no questions may be asked by the public as answering them may interfere with the "ongoing investigation". The investigator becomes the rug under which the scandal is swept. How handy.

Meantime it appears the president worked directly with senior IRS legal counsel to write the proposed guidelines for approving tax-exempt status for opposition groups which codifies the exact behavior that brought about the scandal in the first place.

Remember: The next recall election is this November. If you don't like your Senator, you don't have to keep him.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Broomfield to Change City Name To West Chicago

After this perhaps we should just call it that anyway.

They have a bit to learn though. The usual practice is to "find" as many ballots as are needed when the counting shows the Dems coming up short for any reason. A Chicago Easter Egg Hunt involves checking the trunks of all the abandoned cars in town. It seldom fails to provide the winning margin.

Gun Sales - Back To Normal

Notwithstanding the headlines being tossed about, it looks like gun sales for December ran 26% below the previous December.

Per NICS.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Mission Statement

By now I'm sure everyone has seen this graphic:
So I guess now they can call themselves the Committee for State Security if they want. Probably no one will get the joke.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Global Warming - Ridicule

M4GW, the band, strikes again. Having produced "Hide The Decline" which struck closely enough to Michael Mann to bring threats of legal action which got the tune pulled from You Tube, they now have another:

2 Below, Honey.

This one led to threats of legal action from Van Morrison's recording company, Exile, which got it taken down as well. There's a copy at the link that doesn't belong to You Tube, so get it while it's hot, so to speak.

I would think that the use of music in parody would be acceptable, but the record companies seem to have a lot of friends in Washington so it's probably only barely legal to whistle a song as you walk down the street.

H/T to Moonbattery for this one. Always a good read.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

A Solution To The Proposed New York Horse Ban

Bill DeBlasio has raised some hackles by proposing to ban the horse-drawn carriages that ferry tourists so profitably around Central Park, and replace them with replica vintage electric autos. Somehow making a draft horse do what it was bred to do is cruel and unusual, along the lines of making a hippie get a job.

Somehow I can't see the tourists taking to 1970's Clubman golf carts with quite the same enthusiasm.

But hark! A solution exists! Google can now supply the carriage drivers with electric substitutes for the hayburners now in service:
All it needs is a fake fur coat, and of course a head. Oh yes, and a tail to cover the socket where the power cord goes between rides. What's not to like? The head can be a unicorn and the passengers can ride assured that the coal that charges the batteries is being burned in another county.

Of course if your tastes run to the traditional Asian rickshaw, Google can help there too:

One of these babies can be fitted with the ethnic outfit of your choice as a snap-on coverall, and off you go. I might go for one dressed as Al Gore in a Speedo for example. Visualize that running around Central Park this winter at -20F. Your tastes may vary. Ahnald in traditional Tyrolean lederhosen or maybe the new Hefty Hefer Barbie (tm), the possibilities are endless.

Freeway Roundabout

Never seen one of those?

It's what happens when you're driving down a very icy freeway and do something unexpected. Like take your foot off the gas or tap the brakes. Then the whole world goes roundabout for a bit and when the world stops, somehow you're looking at the headlights of the cars that were behind you.

No, didn't happen to me, but it sure happened to a lot of other people today.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Shake Hands With A Republican, Get Fired

It's kinder, gentler liberalism at its very best. After all in some parts of the world associating with the enemy would get you beheaded or fed to wild dogs.

Drum, a 2013 graduate of Colorado State University, told Campus Reform that Aguilar did not explain why he had been fired.

“She just said leadership was uncomfortable with me befriending Republicans,” Drum said.

The kid was studying political science. I hope he learned something.

The article at the link comes with an unrelated picture. I suppose if you've seen one obnoxious liberal, you've seen them all and they become interchangeable.

Scotland The Brave

Go here and imagine the wailing of the pipes, sounding down the glens
 as you scroll through.

D'wife is an officer in the St. Andrews Society and says "It's all true an ya' doan know tha half of it!".

From the country that gave us the pneumatic tire (Dunlop) and paved roads (Macadam) here's this:
At that price they'd better taste like Black Grouse.

Update: Added link.

Opening Day - Pot Sales

So now you can buy pot for recreational use here, and the laws of economics are setting in. In an interview with a pot store owner, the retail price of an ounce was set at $400 which was reportedly the going price on the street.

Good thinking. The cartels don't like competition, so if your price equals their price, they get the sale by not recording your drivers license when they sell to you. One other problem: Pot is taxed at 25%, which makes that ounce cost $500, not $400. Even the stoners will figure that out eventually. Word is that retail pot is now down to $300/oz which works out to $375 out the door with your drivers license scanned into some state database somewhere.

Given the legendary paranoia of the average hippie, even this may not prove sufficient, but I'm sure the price will eventually find a point at which the risk/reward ratio puts the retailer and the corner dealer on an even footing.

Pot is famously easy to grow and a pound of the stuff on the hoof takes up little space. The retailers, being capitalists will soon discover that they have competition and will meet it in the usual way by cutting prices. I doubt we'll see the $10/oz prices we saw back in the 60's, but I expect we'll see some substantial drops in the price. This will drag down the street price as well. The cartels, however will note that aside from lobbying for higher taxes, the price will be what it wants to be. The opportunity is in interstate commerce.

Join a growing operation in Colorado, overproduce/underreport, and ship the excess out of state. Much easier than smuggling across international borders, no matter how under patrolled. Grow it here and sell it in Kansas City, St. Louis, or Chicago.

We will see in the coming year how this plays out

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Election News

The Wash. D.C. inspector general is reporting that the Federal Election Commission has been repeatedly hacked.

In possibly unrelated news, the FEC is reporting that the recount of the 2012 election, which no one seems to be able to recall, Barack Obama finished 2% ahead of Mitt Romney but both candidates lost convincingly to heretofore unknown candidate M. Mouse who seems to have garnered some 94% of the popular vote.

While Mr. Mouse consistently gets a small percentage of the popular vote in races ranging from local councils to POTUS, this is the first time anyone can remember him winning this convincingly. Officials of the FEC are seeking Mr. Mouse out and expect to have him moved into the White House shortly.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Free Train Rides

People in Connecticut shown here picking up their advance tickets:
Back story here on the Blaze.

TacTart

Sheriff Jim has coined the term TacTard to describe someone quite tactical if not completely at the top of the game. One of the commenters asked if the feminine form of the term might be TacTart. To me that conjures up a completely different picture:
TacTart. Note the use of graphite fiber armor to go with the suppressed .22. That's more like it.

Best Summary Of 2013

Or for that matter, the History Of The World To Date in 3 frames:
Scott Adams sums it up nicely, doesn't he.