Next Year

I have at this point no idea whatsoever how long I'll be working next year so I'll play it by ear and keep coming in as long as my badge works.

I had really good luck a few years ago using Tubb lapping bullets in my Hi Point which got me another 100 fps at the muzzle and presumably somewhat better accuracy. Accuracy in the Hi Point carbine seems to be mostly a function of how tightly the assembly pins fit, but that's being addressed with some custom pins. The lapping bullets are out of stock but I found a kit at Midway which according to the reviews on it is easy to use, effective, and even with only 1 oz of each compound, has enough in it to lap about 100 guns. The tracking info says it arrived in Denver yesterday and will make it from the Denver P.O. to far-off Littleton (10 miles) in about a week. Go figure.

Some years ago a small (4-ft) alligator escaped from the Denver zoo one spring and got into the park lake where he seemed to enjoy the much larger swimming hole. The natives notices this and began panicking over the thought of "Albert" as he was named eating pets and small children. The folks at the zoo were less worried and knowing that the gator was much faster than anyone in a rowboat, left him there where he entertained all and sundry with the occasional sudden disappearance of a duck. Come fall the now rather logy Albert was easily picked up and tossed back in jail by the zoo people. It was a fairly entertaining summer. I'm currently working on the head and body, the part you would normally see, of an 8-footer complete with motors and radio control. A water-borne drone if you will. More on that when the local water returns to a liquid state.

Other projects as well, but more on them as they develop which means as the garage becomes habitable for periods exceeding 1-2 minutes.

Prediction: Next year will be average in the old Soviet sense: Worse than last year, better than next year: Average.

Global Warming

It seems to happen without any help from CO2. In fact, CO2 seems to be a lagging indicator of global temps.

Based on Earth’s recent geologic history, claiming that CO2 concentration causes warming is like arguing that geese cause temperatures to fall by flying South.

Here's the whole article. I've seen a similar graphic before but if anything this one suggests that periods of significant global warming might be triggered by the CO2 level falling to about half of what we're seeing today. When global temps fall they eventually (8000 years or so) drag the CO2 levels down with them.

First Amendment Not Applicable In D.C.

Among other things the first amendment forbids the establishment of a state religion, "state" being generally accepted as government at any level, federal to local. The D.C. city council is however demanding that the Catholic church include doctrine from the A/SH school of theology in its teachings. This elevates the D.C. city council to the status of Municipal Committee for Catholic Theology, displacing the Pope in that respect.

So what is A/SH you wonder? Easy. It's the religion of Atheism/Secular Humanism which recognizes the supremacy of the state over all matters secular or spiritual.

In an article in the WSJ (paywall) it is noted:

On Dec. 2, the Council of the District of Columbia passed an amendment to the D.C. Human Rights Act, repealing protections for religious schools and colleges to determine their own rules regarding gay and lesbian student activities. If the current or incoming mayor signs it, the amendment will become law and likely force the Catholic University of America and the Archdiocese of Washington schools to provide recognition, facilities and perhaps even funding to gay and lesbian student clubs that oppose Catholic teachings.

Now every religion in the world has a list of things it disapproves of and the usual reaction to this is that if you don't like their list, there is probably another religion with a different list for you to hang out with. The notable exception being Islam where if you don't like their list, you can simply go hang.

The solution to the D.C. Council's decision is of course to formally recognize A/SH as a religion and point out to the council the first amendments prohibition with regards to establishment. How about it? Write your congress animal and ask for a resolution recognizing A/SH as a religion. This would instantly put a stop to petty government agencies anointing themselves as Writers of Holy Writ over every real religion in the world.

"Crom's Devils! Let men worship what gods they will!" Conan, King of Aquilonia.

Sitemeter

I keep seeing complaints about Sitemeter putting up adverts on sites that use it. I haven't seen any such ads although that may be because I don't have any ads at all.

Anyone else seeing pop-ups or redirects here?

QOTD - Beauty

After considerable searching, I found this, variously attributed to Edgar Allen Poe and Francis Bacon:

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

Francis Bacon

The Poe version was in slightly more modern English which makes me think he was quoting Bacon. Mmmmm Bacon.

This observation has very broad application as anyone who ever owned a sports car will attest.

Brain Teaser

Found this image at Curmudgeonly and Skeptical as part of a post noting that Her Majesty's health services want doctors to turn you in if they notice you gaining weight. In North Korea this wold be done to catch people who have figured out how to get extra food rations, except the Dear Leader of course.

Now for the brain teaser: What units are the scale measuring in?

Gun Regulation

Why not regulate guns like cars, I hear the libs say. Well sure, with registration by VIN number to a specific person so that when convertibles are outlawed, the cops will know who has a convertible. But wait, there's more.

Your gun, once registered to you, would be usable in every state and territory of the US, and not just by you, but by whomever you loan it to.

It may be carried in whatever manner the carrier chooses.

Etc, etc. But don't forget the Federal input to the design process.

All guns would have a glove around the grip, pistol or otherwise, with retention straps that must be cinched up before the gun can be used. Failure to do so will result in a flashing icon and an annoying beep until you fasten your wrist strap.

The fancier sorts of semiautos will have a small camera on the top looking backwards to warn you if your thumb is about to get hit by the slide. Hyundai guns won't shoot if your thumb is in the wrong place.

Should the gun find itself in a zero-G situation, an all-enclosing air bag will deploy to prevent accidental firing. Large-caliber guns will have an additional airbag on the top of the frame which will deploy if the gun rotates more than 90 degrees after firing.

Long guns will have a pressure switch in the back of the stock that won't allow the gun to fire unless the stock is firmly against your shoulder. Or something.

Automatic Stability Control: If the shooter should pull the trigger several times in quick succession, the gun will automatically limit the rate of fire to one shot every 2 seconds.

When you empty a magazine, a panel on the back side of the gun will light up showing a "check Mag" message and icon. Every 200 rounds, the icon will read "service gun soon".

It will be illegal to remove your silencer although some people will replace the factory one with a less efficient one.

The police will be exempt from all of this.

Christmas Fun

Most of us are wage slaves and if we have a title at all it tends to be something like "Hey you!". Here's a website at which you type in your name and it produces a business card with a lengthy and pretentious title. Alas, the titles are built around the advertising and marketing biz so you won't get anything like Senior Mad Scientist or even Indispensable Minion although in that second case the name Igor is its own title.

I gave it a shot and got

                                                   Billll
Managing Consultant for Native Monetization & Interactive Product Analysis

Think about that one for a bit. Managing consultant is an outside fellow you hire to run something. A mercenary captain for example. Native Monitization means turning the Natives into money. Lots of ways to do this ranging from putting them to work in your sweatshops to renting them out by the hour or selling them outright. Interactive product analysis means either testing whatever they make or taking the potential asset for a test drive after you've picked her up at the bus station.

Worst case then the title may be interpreted as Mercenary Pimp. Oh well, at least it's a middle management position.

Merry Christmas and I hope you all get that promotion.

Liberal Bias

A Liberal academic has a short paper on why he thinks the liberal bias in academia is bad for academia.

I have had the following experience more than once: I am speaking with a professional academic who is a liberal. The subject of the underrepresentation of conservatives in academia comes up. My interlocutor admits that this is indeed a reality, but says the reason why conservatives are underrepresented in academia is because they don't want to be there, or they're just not smart enough to cut it. I say: "That's interesting. For which other underrepresented groups do you think that's true?" An uncomfortable silence follows.

He makes a good point. I was reminded of some lean times in the aerospace industry when a few of my co-workers took jobs teaching. Now in technical areas, the instructors bias has no impact at all.

or your rocket blows up.Still, the professorship was picked on with the observation that "Those who can't do, teach." Me. I appreciate the folks who pounded the basics into my head and started me off on my career.

Chatting with my fellow students who were majoring in the liberal arts however, convinced me that the study of philosophy and the social sciences required a certain willing suspension of ones connection to reality to get through. Too much like basing product design criteria on an assumption of the existence of faeries and unicorns. OTOH they wound up in high positions with the EPA and the like so I guess they didn't wind up starving no matter how much they richly deserved such a fate.

Global Warming

Here it is nearly the end of December and I haven't been able to ride the motorcycle into work in over 2 months. The Fimbulwinter is surely upon us and there's only one escape. This according to no less an authority than the President's own science adviser, John Holden who has finally read his copy of Fallen Angels.

Only AGM is standing between us and slabs of ice half a mile thick reaching down to Chicago so fill up your tanks with newly cheap gas and get out there and do 500 miles to help save the planet. We'll call this the Planetary 500 and give awards for the best time and greatest amount of gas used. Iowahawk would heartily approve as he runs an online car show for people whose transport stands out in the field of carbon emissions. He even has at least one vehicle that would be a serious contender, the Coupe of Justice.

One Death

So said papa Joe, beloved hero of the Soviet Union.

Here we do things a bit differently. One death, of a person of color, at the hands of the agents of the government is a tragedy, no matter what he was doing at the time of his expiry. Five or six hundred deaths per year of similar persons of color, at the hands of their fellow persons etc. say in Chicago, is a statistic, unworthy of mention even in the local fishwrap.

2 years ago Adam Lanza stole his mother's gun and took it to school. Today an anti-gun group is putting up a PSA advising high school age kids to steal their parents guns and take them to school. This will end well I'm sure.

A Nation Of Laws. Lots And Lots Of Laws

Here's a quote:

"There is no freestanding constitutional right to be free from malicious prosecution."
                                                   Gray H Miller, judge

So your best defense is to have doors and windows at least capable of slowing the SWAT team down long enough to allow you to get your pants on, and to advise your friends to  NEVER call the police.

Remember, YOU are the first responder. The police will get there eventually and draw chalk lines around the metabolically challenged. Try to insure that it's not you. If firearms were involved, they will all be confiscated as evidence and if one of them was yours, it will be 2-3 months before you get it back so have a spare available.

Rest of the story here.

QOTD - Sony

“We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States, because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary they don’t like, or news reports they don’t like,”
                 B.H. Obama

Of course we can't. That's HIS job.

Link may be behind paywall.

Updated to add poster. Poster by Jed. Thanks Jed.

10 Commandments, Revised

The original commandments don't have any wiggle room. They state what a person should or should not do in no uncertain terms. Things like no lying, no cheating, no stealing, and no fooling around with someone elses' spouse are pretty iron clad.

This lack of wiggle room is what makes putting up a copy in front of a government building an act of creating a hostile work environment. Now the Atheists, AKA Secular Humanists have come up with their own list of commandments which they say will offset their complete lack of moral and ethical guidance without invoking God. Or at least without invoking Him more than once.

Here they are.

Remarkably non-judgemental and free of specific compulsions to do or not do anything you like.

Someone needs to inform the Freedom From Religion bunch that their beliefs constitute a religion no different from any other, and attempting to impose it upon everyone else by statute law is just as unconstitutional as declaring anything else to be the official state religion.

DIY Splatter Targets

It turns out that black spray paint doesn't stick to white trash bags very well. Learn how to take advantage of this here.

Support For Gun Laws

Polls are problematic as they can easily be jiggered to produce any desired result. The NYT for example can produce a poll showing support for Cuban styled socialism through the simple expedient of not polling anyone outside of their own office building. A poll run by NPR likewise is immediately suspect, even when it's an on;ine poll and thus plausably open to everyone. Still when asked if participants would support stricter gun control laws:

Yes. Increased regulations on firearms are necessary to prevent another tragedy like the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary.  4.17%  (4,904 votes)  

 

No. Laws like this unnecessarily punish lawful gun owners and will do little to prevent mass shootings.  94.68%  (111,274 votes)  

 

Unsure. It's important to keep the weapons out of the wrong hands, but this may not be the solution.  1.14%  (1,344 votes)  

 

 

Total Votes: 117,522

 The old guard of the Democratic party still believes in more gun control. After all, it kept Fidel alive all these years.

Islamic Innovation

This could be the title of quite possibly the shortest book ever written. Even the use of the zero now seems to be traceable to India rather than an invention by Muslims.

Harvard U. has installed SodaStream (r) fizzwater machines to allow the students to concoct the carbonated drinks of their choice. The machines are designed and built in Israel which some of the student body find objectionable as it reminds them that their culture has produced essentially nothing in the last 1500 years. This is being called "microaggression".

To atone for the insult (micro-insult), Harvard is debating whether to either remove the machines completely, or to just remove the SodaStream labels.

Cuba

The president may have done something I approve of in announcing that normal or near-normal relations would be restored with Cuba. To my mind, the adversarial relationship with Cuba should have ended the week after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Normalization of diplomatic and economic ties would have opened Cuba to American capitalism and frankly I think Microsoft would have brought down Castro faster than a drone strike.

Socialist economies cannot exist without a nearby capitalist one to support it and if the differences in living standards are easily seen, the proponents of Socialism will be quickly ridden out of town on a rail.

Of course the way Obama is doing it, with normalized diplomatic relations comes the eligibility for foreign aid which might keep the Castro legacy going a bit longer. Anyone know who's next in line down there after Raul passes the baton? Maybe it's Obama's retirement plan to be able to run for party chairman in Cuba.

Gun Fun

Shot an IDPA match at Clear Creek Sportsmans Club yesterday with a side match featuring one's back-up gun. I had to ask, since I don't have one as such, but it seems that an auto pistol with a barrel under 3.8" or a revolver with a barrel under 3.5" qualifies.

As such, my regular CZ 82 qualifies as a BUG, but in the spirit of the event, I borrowed my shooting buddy 's S&W 340, an airweight 5-shot revolver in .357 mag.

I've shot this gun before. He handed it to  me and said "Here, try it." and even knowing better, I did. I fired one shot, and handed it back to him. If you carry one of these, there should never be any question as to whether someone you shoot with it actually needed shooting. They probably also needed skinning alive first.

So I brought some of my own .38 spl +P ammo to lessen the blow. .38 spl, +P, 158 gr bullets are not as rough as .357, 158gr loads, but not by enough in an airweight. Mike had also put a larger grip in the gun which allowed a three-fingered grip instead of the stock two-fingered one. All this helped as I was able to get off all 5 shots before holstering the gun and walking back to the start line shaking my hand to try to reduce the pain which everyone else seemed to find entertaining. You know it's going to be rough when the speed loader with 5 rounds in it weighs more than the gun you intend to shoot the bullets from.

Still I lost only one point out of 5, and that by less than 1/4" on the mid-range target shot while moving, and we won't talk about the slight nick on the no-shoot. With perfect hindsight, I also remember using a similar gun without hurting myself in a previous match although it was loaded with .38 spl with 125gr bullets.

There has to be one fun stage in there so here it is. On start, you step up onto the bouncy planks, and while moving, engage the half-covered bad guys and their dogs in 2 sets of 3. The second BG and his dogs are assumed to be non-visible until you finish the first set. The upraised finger says that the shooter should have resumed moving BEFORE firing those last 2 shots

Temps started off in the upper 30's and warmed up to the mid to upper 40's at the end. Nice day.

Torture Hearings

The Senate torture hearings accomplished pretty much everything they were intended to accomplish, namely to give the media something to write about besides the Gruber testimony on the gestation of Obamacare.

OTOH, it also appears that given the graphic videos produced by the murdering, raping, head-chopping slave traders of the Religion Of Peace, most Americans seem to be just fine with the idea of pouring some water up the noses of those captured in order to cripple the production values of the next video.

QOTD - Legal

Found at Reason, here's what a liberal federal judge thinks about privacy:

“Much of what passes for the name of privacy is really just trying to conceal the disreputable parts of your conduct,” Posner added. “Privacy is mainly about trying to improve your social and business opportunities by concealing the sorts of bad activities that would cause other people not to want to deal with you.”
          Judge Richard Posner, member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

All you guilty bastards out there, keep looking over your shoulders. This seems to be a bit of a departure from previous doctrine that suggested that what 2 or more consenting adults did with their livestock in the privacy of their own bedroom was no business of the state.

Suffering

It is said that suffering is good for the soul, probably by someone who wasn't suffering much at the time. If suffering brings one nearer to Nirvana, then I can feel the cold hand of Kurt Cobane on my shoulder right now.

I haven't had a cold in a good long time but this one is making up for the neglect on the virus' part.

Evil Black Rifle

So once again I now own an Evil Black Rifle:

Some assembly required.

One more benefit of attending Gun Blogger Rendezvous, courtesy of WGM Tactical of Grass Valley CA.

Just need to find a couple of parts. Timing might be good here as I'm told that EBR's are now a glut on the market. Now if only people would ease up on their purchases of .22lr.

President Black Eagle?

Some Amerinds are calling the president this, at least in public which is polite of them.

When they're not attending a big pow-wow at the white house, I've heard they call him Walking Eagle. Old Indian expression for a bird that has been feasting on buffalo to the point that he's so full of bull he's unable to fly.

Do I Have Your Attention?

The theory here is that once your attention has been grabbed, knowledge can be imparted. I don't speak Italian, but I can easily understand the sign. The sign! There's a sign in the above picture! Cover the top half of your screen with a sheet of paper and.... oh there it is.

There are several more along this line here. Including a couple for the ladies.

Evil me; I made the link a single word, knowing that you'll never hit it with your cursor. Bwahahaha!

And in case you can't puzzle out the Italian, cut the first couple of lines below the pictures and paste them here.