QOTMoment

Sure and my family is a gift from the almighty – which is a fine thing since I certainly wouldn't have paid for them.

                Train conductor on the Wyrm of Limrick

On a possibly related note:

Do you consider the Russians to be your friends or your brothers?

Our brothers, of course. (looks around, lowers voice) You can chose your friends.

      From an interview with an Eastern European, sometime in the 50’s.

Signs Of Spring

The plants are budding, the woodpeckers are working on demolishing every house in the hood, and I dragged the bicycle out for a test ride. A modest 9 miles. Could have done more, but why push my luck this early in the season?

Maybe this year the annual heavy, wet, limb-breaking snowstorm, followed by clearing skies overnight with lows in the low 20's, won't coincide with the flowering of all the fruit trees.

Hope springs eternal.

Global Warming - Solution

Here's a piece suggesting that a small (?) nuclear exchange would bring about a modest (??) nuclear winter, thus solving (???) the global warming problem. Demonstrating why I'll never be a successful climate scientist as I would not have thought that up as a solution in a million years.

The problem here is one of complexity and durability. First you have to decide who the participants in this limited nuclear war would be. For an easy suggestion let's say the U.S. vs Iran and North Korea. Then the rules: Beginning tomorrow, both sides have 2 weeks to deliver some predetermined number of weapons to the other side and set them off. After 2 weeks, the winning side would get to deliver the losers shortfall to their targets of choice. As to durability, it is suggested that this solution might not last more than 10 years, necessitating another go-round.

I have a better and much cleaner idea: Let's let the EPA call a global conference on Global Warming with scheduled speeches by John Kerry, Michael Mann and Al Gore, to be held on Earth Day at EPA headquarters in D.C. Invite everybody; Earth first!, Greenpeace, PETA, the lot. Big draw would be a lottery for a billion dollar grant to be awarded to the winner of a drawing to be held at noon. Must be present to win. When the card is pulled and the name is announced, we detonate the modest sized nuke in the building basement. Voila! We never have to hear about global warming again. Collaterally I could think of several other problems this would solve as well.

Well I like the idea.

Beer

O.K. enough with the gloomy stuff, go on out and get your favorite grilling meat and a six-pack of some really dark beer, marinate the meat in a bottle of dark overnight, then get grilling knowing that you've reduced your cancer risk.

I'm pretty sure that putting some of the remaining beer into the BBQ participants will help as well.

The Future

I was driving home yesterday when a song came on the radio going "Oh, Lord, heaven knows We belong way down below."

It got me to thinking about another song that ran: "The futures so bright I gotta wear shades!"

The difference I suppose is that the first one came out in the Obama administration and the second one under Reagan. What a difference 30 years makes. Still there is a bit of a note of hope:

I've seen better ways, man
I know better ways
I've seen better days, man
I've had better days

I certainly have.

Meantime, remember that the cost of groceries and fuel is not included in the calculations of inflation. So far this year the price of groceries has gone up 14%. That's in ONE quarter.

Found that one over at Zero Hedge. RTWT, it's short if not sweet. If it's any consolation remember that while California, where a big chunk of the nations produce used to be produced, is undergoing a drought, the state government is letting rivers flow unimpeded to the sea in an effort to save the Delta Smelt. Meantime back in the midwest where the rest of our food comes from, corn, which is normally fed to meat animals, is being distilled and pumped into your gas tanks.

Speaking of gas, remember it's made from oil which is produced in copious quantities from fracked wells. The current plan is that since prairie dogs are considered varmints, they might be controlled by releasing black-footed ferrets, which are a listed endangered species, into the oil patch habitat of the prairie dogs. That and declaring the lesser prairie chicken to be threatened, should put a stop to oil development in fairly short order without even banning fracking.

While you're at it, don't think that graduating from college will help unless, of course, you choose your major carefully. Here's a listing of majors at various colleges that would bring you a net loss over 20 years of amounts ranging from $100K to nearly $200K compared to not getting the degree at all.  I notice that education is #1 on the list with arts coming in a close second. Anyone with an arts degree who's making money is in advertising.

Dems and Guns and Other Crimes

Sen Yee is in the news getting busted for gun running along with other prominent Dems, not all on gun charges, but a variety of things seeming to center around corruption of one sort or another.

Climb in the wayback machine ad remember when Dianne Fienstein's hubby was making big money importing Norinco pistols and AK-pattern rifles from China until his wife helped get the AWB passed. Then there was Joe Kennedy, running booze north and guns south. Made enough money to get his kids all elected.

Must run in the genes among leftists.

A commenter at Insty notes that currently some 10% of the CA state senate Donks are currently under indictment.

There was a slogan used in Louisiana at one time: Vote for The Crook. It's Important!

We may see this on a national level this year.

ACA Not About Health?

The more I watch the unfolding fiasco of the ACA the more I notice that it's not affordable, and it doesn't help anyone's health. What it seems to be about is establishing precedent for the president to rule by decree.

Think about it. The president changes dates, requirements, mandates, whatever by simply announcing the change. This is the sort of thing that used to require a bill amending the existing law to be passed with appropriate debate, by both houses of the Congress, then signed by the president.

Having established precedent, declaring the congress to be superfluous should be easy.

EPA To Regulate Dry Gulches

Expanding the reach of the Clean Water act to cover not just creeks and rivers but:

The EPA wants to cover “most” seasonal and rain-dependent streams, which account for about 60 percent of stream miles in the country, arguing they have “a considerable impact on the downstream waters.”

"Seasonal and rain-dependent" means normally dry gulches which pretty much cover the entire state out here. For that matter I've seen some of the classier houses out here that have a rock bed to lead rain gutter water away from the house. These would be covered as well.

The EPA did everything it was supposed to do about 20 years ago and has been ginning up problems to justify its existence ever since. Gotta provide those CIA agents with a cover job after all.

4095 redux

Once more dear friends, into the breach, this time testing the larger diameter assembly pins and Power Pistol powder.

The oversized pins really help stabilizing the sights and getting group sizes down in the 3-4 MOA range. This with only replacing the rear pin too. The assembly pins on the newer stocks with the swinging latches are enough undersized to add some 2 MOA to the base accuracy of the gun using the iron sights, and 6 MOA if you're using some sort of optics which rely exclusively on the bolt shroud for support and stability. I'm using a 7/32" dowel pin in the rearmost hole, the front hole proving to be just a bit sticky. Next time.

I tried Power Pistol powder as it's a rather slow-burning type on the theory that it might favor the longer barrel on the carbine. Available bullets were 155 gr Barry's plated. Sure enough:

                    Power                    
Bullet    Source    pistol        Amount    Velo        
155    Me       8.1    8.3     8.7     8.9
               1594    1617    2267    1669
               1649    1656    2114    2231
               1616    1672    1687    2158
               1690    1694    1453    1695
               1677    1656    2221    1698
                           
               1645.2    1659    1948.4    1890.2
                           
       Var+/-        44.8    35    318.6    340.8
Nice start at 1645 and 1652 fps for the lighter loads. Impressive numbers, 2267 and 2231 for the heavier loads although the variation in velocity over 5 rounds was appalling. I suspect that at the higher speeds the plating was disintegrating from the bullets. The gun is noticeably more accurate using 180 gr jacketed bullets anyway and the combination of thin plating and light weight isn't helping. I may need to get a pound of Power Pistol and some real jacketed bullets for the next go-round.

Why Your Kid Can't Find A Job

Because I got it:

I don't need to be paid as much, and I don't need health care to be employer provided.

Perhaps if the minimum wage were lower....

Found at Zero Hedge attached to a nice article and an on-target cartoon.

MA 370 - Occam's Razor

I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person (Smoking Bananas) although I really hate being forced to pay the expenses incurred by some of the more gullible among us (Global Warming). Whenever you're faced with a mystery, especially one that gets more convoluted by the minute, stop and consider if there isn't a really simple solution that explains the whole thing without involving the CIA or aliens from another planet.

Here's a simple explanation for the disappearance of MA 370 which everyone is looking for and everyone has a (conflicting) theory as to what happened. A fire on the aircraft would set the stage for everything that happened that we know about. It also points to areas to search for the plane, in this case 4 hours flying time SW of Kuala Lumpur, near Antarctica.

Trigger Time

Theoretically we have a club IDPA match this Saturday.

The weather man is calling for a high of 43 deg which is high enough for the hardy souls around here. He is also calling for 30% chance of rain mixed with snow which will likely go into the "above and beyond" category.

Winter sucks!

Easily Frightened

Some people are, to the point that a fancy tattoo of a couple of guns at the waistband can cause panic.

Of course if you don't want a tattoo, you could get the same reaction with a simple t-shirt:

Tea Party - Not Dead Yet

At least not in Pennsylvania where in a 3-way contest the Tea Party candidate, Scott Wagner, pulled down nearly as many votes as the Republican and the Democrat combined.

“With 100 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, write-in votes totaled 10,595, or 47.7 percent, to Miller’s 5,920, or 26.6 percent. Democrat Linda Small of New Freedom nearly edged out Miller with 5,704 votes, for 25.7 percent,” according to theYork Dispatch.

Yes, to add insult to injury, the Tea Party candidate was a write in candidate.

What's It All About?

Going to college? Wondering what's actually in all those majors you're being offered? Here's a quick guide to quite a lot of them with such gems as:
Engineering: The art of figuring out which parameters you can safely ignore.

From my experience here's some suggestions.
You can ignore costs on government projects. Money grows on taxpayers.

You can ignore schedules on certain high risk high cost projects like launching godzillion dollar satellites on zillion dollar launch vehicles. You get one chance and the customer likes to see it work.

Schedules are important on some government projects. SOME sort of results need to be shown before the next election. Especially if you want to keep your job on that project.

Costs are important on private industry projects. The company has very little money left after taxes, and if you don't produce the Next Big Thing before their competitors, they go broke, leaving you unemployed.

Fun stuff at the link.

Relocating?

Looking for a nice place to move to with low government interference and taxes? Here's a post complete with an interactive map that shows you how your current home state stacks up against all the others.

Spoiler: New York and California are good places to be from. Far from.

Minor problem: 3 of the top-rated states are solidly inside the frost belt, i.e. far too close to the arctic circle for my tastes. Solution: Two of the top five are in a relatively mild climate zone and are completely hurricane free to boot.

Predictions

The government runs on predictions for everything from next weeks demand for frijoles to next century's average global temperature. Most of us have a pretty good idea about just how dependable these forecasts are as witness the use and overuse of the word "unexpected" when perusing reports of last weeks economic activity or yesterdays precipitation.

The Weekly Standard has a piece discussing the impact of uncertainty on the field of economics and includes a story at the bottom on the denouement of weather forecasting when exposed to statistical analysis:

In an autobiographical essay published 20 years ago, the left-leaning economist Kenneth Arrow recalled entering the Army as a statistician and weather specialist during World War II. “Some of my colleagues had the responsibility of preparing long-range weather forecasts, i.e., for the following month,” Arrow wrote. “The statisticians among us subjected these forecasts to verification and found they differed in no way from chance.”
Alarmed, Arrow and his colleagues tried to bring this important discovery to the attention of the commanding officer. At last the word came down from a high-ranking aide.
“The Commanding General is well aware that the forecasts are no good,” the aide said haughtily. “However, he needs them for planning purposes.”

 Today we predict the weather not just one month in advance, but 10, 25, 50, or 100 years into the future with the same certainty of the weathermen of WWII. All agree there is nothing in next century's weather that can't be properly fixed with a big tax increase and an expansion of government regulating authority.

To paraphrase: “The Committee chairmen are well aware that the forecasts are no good,” the aide said haughtily. “However, they need them for planning and budgetary purposes.”

Fun With Headlines

At the Washington Post:

Feinstein: CIA searched Intelligence Committee computers

The burning question of course was "Did they find any?"

Global Warming Explained

The Dems are having a blatherfest tonight to generate the hot air necessary to sustain their claims of human-caused global warming. Our own Endangered Senator Udall will be participating. This melancholy talkathon will run all night so in case you don't plan on tuning in (I'm sure it's being broadcast somewhere) let me summarize it:

"Nice climate you've got here. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it, so gimmie your watch and wallet, and I'll see to it that nothing does."

You're welcome.

Hillary's Greatest Accomplishment

Attendees at the Dem Nat'l Committee meeting were queried as to Hillary's greatest accomplishment over her lengthy career in politics. Fair question as she seems to think that she is next in line for the crown. Interestingly no one at the DNC could come up with an actual accomplishment.

Come on folks, 40 years of being married to Bill and a stint as Secretary of State to keep her out from under foot and prevent her from primarying arguably the worst president ever and you can't think of anything?

How about this: A product of Chicago, 40 years in politics and she has yet to spend a single day in jail for anything. For someone from Chicago, that's a real accomplishment.

Udall Responds

Unfortunately it's been so long that I've forgotten the exact topic I wrote him on but it evidently was regarding UBC's and magazine capacity limits. In part, here's his response:

 I know some Coloradans may say that banning some legitimate hunting weapons is a small price to pay to keep other, more dangerous weapons off of our streets - especially for a state that has suffered mass gun tragedies.  I can relate to that sentiment, but after years of seeking to find common ground on gun-safety issues, I also know that overreach can spur the backlash that we've seen undermine even the most common-sense solutions - like universal background checks.  

So he doesn't mind gin bans but would settle for incrementalism. He can't ban all your guns today, but he thinks long term.

So do I and his current term ends this year.

Why We Win - Gun Culture

The antis love to opine at great length about the evilness of guns in general and the shortcomings of people who own them but mass shootings are so far, the exclusive domain of demented lefties. Everyone is aware of this on one level or another. Advertising through their own spittle-flecked rants that the supply of demented lefties is undiminished serves to encourage the rest of us to buy a gun and go armed in self-defense.

Is Lying Legal, and Is It Protected?

The answer seems to be "sometimes. If you lie to a judge and he catches you at it, you may be hearing words like "perjury" and "in the butt-slamming Federal joint". On the other hand, if you lie to the electorate, you pretty much get a pass. The thinking is that blatant falsehoods will be quickly outed(1), and there is such a thing as "truthiness" which seems to imply that if you really, truly believe what you said, that makes it all right.

All this nonsense is before the supreme court (again) in the case of Susan B. Anthony Fund v Dreihaus. The issue of the amount of truthfulness in political speech has been heard before and so far has always been decided to the benefit of the lying politician. Indeed, lying in political speech is essential to having an informed electorate. If politicians couldn't lie, most of them wouldn't be able to speak at all, then how could we know their positions on the issues?

An amicus brief has been filed by the CATO institute, featuring Ilya Shapiro as principal attorney, and no less than P. J. O'Rourke in a supporting role. Mr. O'Rourke's contributions make a 20 page pdf file required reading for anyone looking for relief from depression from whatever cause. Case in point is footnote #1:

1 Pursuant to this Court’s Rule 37.3(a), letters of consent
from all parties to the filing of this brief have been submitted to
the Clerk. Pursuant to this Court’s Rule 37.6, amici state that
this brief was not authored in whole or in part by counsel for
any party, and that no person or entity other than amici made a
monetary contribution its preparation or submission. Also,
amici and their counsel, family members, and pets have all won
the Congressional Medal of Honor. 

That would be footnote #1 from the brief. The one below is mine.

1. This puts a premium on timing. The wildest accusations are best reserved for two days before the election. By the time the falsehood is rebutted, the election is over. Yes, I know, this makes a case for at least limiting lying on the campaign trail but again, if the pols aren't allowed to lie, how will we know where they stand?

I found the piece to be quite entertaining as well as thought provoking. Well worth the read.

Return With Us Now

To those thrilling days of yesteryear as scientists announce that they have resurrected a giant virus from 30,000 years ago out of frozen bones found at a Siberian mining operation. This was the age of the mega fauna, the mastodon, the Mammoth, the Saber-toothed Tiger, the Dire Wolf and the dreaded saber tooth retroviruses. Roaming the plains in vast herds infecting and killing the giant woolly amoebas wherever they found them these viruses were the bane of every creatures existence.

Well now they're back. I'm sure we're all doomed. Any day now.

It's Come To This

What with the administration seemingly down with the Russians annexing about half of Ukraine, now we have a conspiracy of Albertans plotting to annex the northern tier of the U.S. (see comments to the link)

This fits in with the plot by 11 million illegal Mexicans to annex California.

I strongly encourage Texas to annex the original Louisiana purchase. The XL pipeline would never leave the borders of Greater Texas.

March E-postal Match

It must be Spring notwithstanding the sub-freezing temps I'm currently enjoying. This is because the first E-Postal pistol* match of the year is up at Mr. Completely.

Basic rules: 10 rounds from the shooting iron of your choice, from 25 ft, standing, unsupported. The center allows for you to be breathing heavily after walking all the way down to staple up the target and back, but those 4 little dots are worth 25 pts/ea. So do you feel lucky? Don't bother downloading this picture. It comes out best as the pdf available at Mr.C's.

*The rules cover pistols, but if you want to shoot this with something else, like your .22 rifle for you Appleseed fans, or your pistol caliber carbine, or your M1 Garand, go ahead, there's a class for everything. We have some budding young Olympic grade air rifle shooters at the AR&PC whom I will try to interest in this.

Madison Hill H.O.A.

When I bought my current house, my side of the position was that the place should have no covenants, no HOA, and if possible no municipal government. I got overruled on the last part. The local school system was allegedly the best around and that's what my daughter was going to get.*

My friend Robert was not so lucky as he got into a condo with an H.O.A. that left him not only completely cold, but out a good deal of money to boot. He documents his experience in his book of the same title as this post:

If you are considering buying a place, be sure you ask the Realtor first if there is an HOA or a restrictive set of covenants that you will be expected to pay in to or live up to at your own expense down stream. There is a huge subdivision jest south of me called Highlands Ranch. I razz a couple of my friends who moved in there about getting to their places by driving down Highlands Ranch Blvd to Highlands Ranch Avenue, West to Highlands Ranch Lane, up Sleepy Skunk Circle and look for the beige house with the tan roof. The joke being that beige with tan roof is about the only color combination you're allowed down there.

Anyway, if you want to see specifically why you wouldn't want to have anything to do with a HOA or restrictive covenants, his book is available at www.madisonhillhoa.com for about $10 plus shipping. If you weren't already convinced, this should do it.

*Never ask an educator which schools are "the best". You will hear which schools are fully subscribed to the latest educational gimcracks from California which is something quite different.

Jonesing For Some Trigger Time

Here it is March, and I want some trigger time. Not only that but my SIL and my "older daughter" are both bugging me to take them out somewhere to go shooting.

I'd love to.

Yesterday I was out on the motorcycle. Nice day, 58 deg and all. Today it's in the high 20's with freezing rain/light snow/heavy snow depending on where you're standing. There was supposed to  be a bowling pin shoot today but the organizers are having Pope Al's own luck with producing Arctic weather pretty much on demand.

The Arvada Rifle and Pistol Club, which I joined, is expected to have its indoor range in operation Any Day Now. A progress report will be given at the meeting on Tuesday, which unfortunately is also precinct caucus day so I'll miss it.

This Wed and Thu. look like motorcycle to work days. If I'm lucky, this will continue into the coming weekend.

Next Election

Over at Daily Pundit, Kiwi Trevor Loudons has a suggestion for the Republicans. When they pick their presidential candidate, have him lay out a slate of cabinet picks with an eye toward making as big a chunk of the base happy as possible. This has the advantage that if someone doesn't feel strongly for the president or veep picks, the secretarial picks will make up for it. He suggests:

For President: Ted Cruz
Vice President: Allen West
Secretary of State – John Bolton
Secretary of the Treasury: Rand Paul
Secretary of Interior: Sarah Palin
Secretary of Labor: Scott Walker
Attorney General: Mark Levin
Ambassador to the UN: Nobody

There are other suggestions for other positions. Click the link, scroll down a bit, and watch the video.


Not a bad start at all. My beef is that Scott Walker is probably better qualified to be president than anyone on that list. Ted Cruz would make a fine candidate for Senate Majority leader or maybe Governor of Texas. Bobby Jindal would work as Education Secretary, and Rick Perry would fit in nicely as Commerce sec.

Several other names come to mind when filling out a ticket in depth. The other advantage is that it makes the media's job of smearing conservatives that much harder with a much longer list to cover. It also makes such a wide ranging smear campaign look that much more petty than to be able to claim to be "vetting" just one person.