Monday, August 31, 2015

On Being More Politically Correct

Or maybe even more politically correct. The University of Tennessee has come up with some new pronouns for you to use so that the gender of people being discussed will not be readily apparent. Go read, then come back.


So all you need to pass muster with the SJW any more is the kind of phoney bad German accent popularized by SNL in some of their skits.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Fearing The Wrong Bogey-Man

Over at Liberty Zone there is a detailed Fisking of a column posted by someone under the name Dadscribe in which he goes into great detail describing why the mere sight of an NRA sticker causes his panties to spontaneously knot up.  The original column seems to have attracted enough scorn that the URL is listed as private so only Dad's friends can commiserate with him. No matter, the whole thing seems to have been posted as part of the Fisk.

Sample
I see that NRA decal on the rear window of your car and my eyes narrow. I look at the back of your head in the driver’s seat and I wonder if you are a threat.
A threat to my children. A threat to me. A threat to society.

Given that every mass shooter in the last 100 years or so has been some sort of leftist, perhaps if one were to change “NRA decal” to ” Obama sticker” the post would make far more sense.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Retirement, The Later Stage

Sent to me by a friend who shall remain nameless who got it from a source he did not name:
--------------------------------

Medicare - Part G - Nursing Home Plan
 
Say you're an older senior citizen and can no longer take care of yourself.  The government says there's no Nursing Home care available for you. So, what do you do?  You opt for Part G.
Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun (Part G) and four bullets. You are allowed to shoot four politicians.  This means, of course, that you'll be sent to prison where you'll receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating & air conditioning, cable TV, library, and all the Health Care you need.  Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a hearing aid, new hip, knees, kidney, lungs, sex change, or heart?  They're all covered.
As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now!
And, who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you they can't afford for you to go into a home. And....you can get rid of 4 useless politicians while you're at it.  And now, because you're a prisoner, you don't have to pay any more income taxes.
Is this a great country or what?
Now that we've solved your senior financial planning, enjoy your week .....
---------------------------------
Myself I'm not quite ready for this and plan to self-identify as an illegal alien in order to get all those benefits without having to go to jail first.

Friday, August 28, 2015

A Pack, Not A Herd

The Paris train incident was a near-perfect example of how a determined group of potential victims can turn a terrorists attack into an abject failure. In the account here, several people on the train acted to thwart the shooter and as a group they succeeded.

I remember seeing a TV report of a school here in the U.S. where the principal teaches this mindset to his students with occasional active shooter drills. The shooter is one of the staff, and his weapons are inert dummies but the student response is drilled into the kids and they practice with great gusto.

Street wisdom is that when the weapons come out and you don't have one, one should run from a knife but rush a gun. This principle applies double in say a schoolroom situation where there really isn't anywhere to run. Throw everything that comes to hand and rush the shooter. Bury him under the crush of bodies. Kick him when he's down, after all it's when you get your best leverage.

GBRX Continued

Thanks to Lizzie for some more pictures, this time the "before" pictures of the prize tables. See what you missed?
 Cigars, Targets, Target stands, Scope, Red Dot
 Glasses, ammo, gloves, cartredge holder
 Back packs, range bags
 Lights, AR Lower, more packs
Lizzies favorite apparel
Bottle openers, clothing, phone covers

.I even won an easily concealed Sig with retention holster. Still looking for ammo for it. Small calibers seem to be in short supply.

And a BIG thanks to Lucky Gunner who generously sponsored a lot of the gig.
Anthony of Lucky Gunner holding an impromptu press conference. We were all floored!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Next Election

How many registered voters does your county have? Most people don't know and don't care. Now how many warm bodies of voting age does your county have? At least more than registered voters since several types of persons flatly aren't allowed to vote, right?

How about if your county had more registered voters than eligible ones?
Here's the list of counties in Colorado who fill that bill:
Mineral CountyColorado133%
Hinsdale CountyColorado116%
San Juan CountyColorado115%
Ouray CountyColorado112%
Pitkin CountyColorado105%
Summit CountyColorado105%
Dolores CountyColorado104%
San Miguel CountyColorado103%
Cheyenne CountyColorado101%
Boulder CountyColorado101%

Most of these are sparsely populated but Summit is possibly the wealthiest county in the state being populated with California refugees, and Boulder is the home of the Peoples Republic of Boulder which got there by registering transients (college students) and never checking to see if any of them went home after graduating.

The results were released as a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit demanding a cleanup of the rolls before someone gets elected with 110% of the vote.

 Here's the complete national list where you can check your own state.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

GBRX

Tried driving this year. Worked OK going out, not so well on the return. The North West seems to be on fire again with the smoke starting at Cheyenne and only getting worse as you went West. Salt Lake City looked like Peking. Reno not so hot either.
There are 2 mountain ranges in the background. Trust me.
Out to the range to play with toys

Back to the hotel for technical talk on the Gardner and mike's Hi Standards
Off to the Reno Guns and Range (RGR) for an informal steel challenge match

If you're ever in Reno, make it a point to visit RGR. Big, well lit, well ventilated range, second range being installed, shoot room for simunition training being installed, classroom, and projection room. The showroom is large and not yet fully populated. The gunsmith has a nice machine shop in the back. Reasonable rates at the range as well.
Tried my own ghost ring sights and yes, they work as advertised.
Tried the Hi Point 4095 at the outdoor range and was hitting the gong at 200 yards.
Celebrities:
















And a big thanks to our sponsors. There was lots of stuff for the drawings but by the time I got the camera unlimbered:
Back packs and range bags, a scope, a red dot, specialty gloves, etc, etc.
Next year I'm going to see if we can't work in talks from some of us on the current state of gun laws in our individual states.


Time Off

Sheesh! You take 2 working days off and the world goes to Hell in a handbag.
So remember folks, be ready when the unwashed hordes come thundering over the horizon.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Ghost Ring Sights

I bought a ghost ring sight for my Ruger Mk 1 several years ago and have fallen in love with it since. Improve my groups? Absolutely. Putting the target in the center of the ring and keeping it there is much easier than aligning a notch-and-blade setup and then trying to hold that onto a target, especially an irregular one.

People who have tried my gun like the sights as well and want to know where to get one. The original source seems to be deceased so I had some made.

The originals were also made of soft steel which tended to bend if the gun was bounced about, say by TSA agents with no concept of the phrase "This Side Up". Mine are 4130 and laser cut so should be more durable. I'll have these on the market as soon as I can figure out how without incurring the anti-gun wrath of e-bay or Pay Pal. The current batch fits Rugers with adjustable sights. I'm not sure about others. If the demand is there, variations can certainly be produced.

More as it develops.

Out Of The Frying Pan

So this year instead of putting up with the morons of the TSA and flying to GBRX, I've found a co-conspiritor who sees this as a birthday vacation and we're driving. 1000miles in one day.

Not impossible by any means, with 2 of us to swap off back and forth. Set the cruise control for the speed limit +5 mph and try to stay between the lines. At this point we only have to sweat the county mounties, some of which have discovered the joys of civil forfeiture. Add to that the circumstance of driving in a vehicle with Colorado plates and holding a high average speed becomes less likely.

Humboldt county looks to be the tricky spot with Sgt Lee Dove being the head road agent. Since we're going to Reno, perhaps a quick visit to Reno attorney John Olsen who has successfully sued the Humboldt DA a couple times to see if a RICO suit would be in order at some point. He has already won a class action suit that resulted in the return of several peoples money.

Humboldt county has become so notorious for this that the press is calling for state law revisions to put an end to it. The bill passed in June and was signed by the governor. It becomes effective Oct 1.

I miss the old days when you could get in your car and go on vacation to get away from it all.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Japaese Beetles

The latest plague to befall Colorado is the Japanese Beetle. Last year I saw a few on my raspberries. This year they're all over. Dealing with them has become the stuff of folklore with everyone having their favorite method.

 Use Organic Neem oil; some are pretty sure this works. Use inorganic Neem oil; there seems to be more certainty about that especially when mixed with Dawn detergent. Possible drawback is that it affects the bees as well.

Malthion 50 works for certain if you don't mind that is works equally well on anything with too many legs.

Traps are popular with some but the caveat is that since they are based on an attractant, the ones that don't make it all the way to the trap wind up on your plants. To the observation of myself and my neighbor, the traps work over a wide area and will eventually deplete the population. The joke goes that we should each buy a six-pack of traps and give one to each of our neighbors thus creating a safe zone in the middle.

I got several hundred right away and am now getting much fewer so good. The gardeners say to empty the traps into a bucket of soapy water to kill the little bastards off. What they forgot to mention is that 5-700 Japanese beetles, even in soapy water quickly begin to stink. Note to self: Empty the trap into the bucket, then soon empty the bucket into the toilet.

Milky Spore is a longer term defense as the bacteria attack grubs in the ground. It takes 2 years to become established, and is not available here as the Colo Dept of Agriculture does not yet recognize the JB as a notable pest.

If I had a lower growing crop than the raspberries, I'd fence them off and borrow some chickens from the urban farmer up the street. The chickens think the JB's taste like candy.

Hillary's Next Interview

Reporter: Mrs. Clinton, if you are elected president, what will be your first official act?

Clinton: Pardon me?

Reporter: Thank you.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Hillary Bumper Stickers

Hillary '16!
Honesty is so last century.

Hillary '16!
Put her in the White House
Before they put her in the Big House!

Voting 3rd party means never having to admit you elected her.

Shortcut to Smarts

Folks in England have discovered that altering a single gene to suppress production of a single enzyme can make mice noticeably smarter and bolder.
Researchers from Britain and Canada found that altering a single gene to block the phosphodiesterase-4B (PDE4B) enzyme, which is found in many organs including the brain, made mice cleverer and at the same time less fearful.
 If this gets out of the lab, it could spell trouble for the rest of us. Just think: That mousetrap you put out is now located next to your bed for you to find first thing in the morning. The sticky mouse paper has been relocated to your toilet seat and your cat is now wearing bells.

Of course there is a down side. The treated mice may be quick learners, but they lose a bit of the characteristics that enable a prey animal to be successful such as the inclination to live in dark out-of-the-way places. A mouse that walks up to the cats dish, pulls the cats whiskers and walks off with a piece of cat kibble may live to produce may more such wiseass mice. Then again it may not.

In humans this could lead to some otherwise blustery windbag standing in front of a TV camera and demanding to be elected president because he/she obviously deserves it.

Oh wait...

There are probably other genes, as yet undetected that serve to moderate the production of the PDE4B enzyme rather than simply turn it on or off. Folklore abounds with tales of clever, daring people who wound up either rich captains of industry, tinpot dictators, or dancing on the end of a rope.

Is Colorados Governor Human?

It may be a valid question as Governor Hickenlooper has now followed up his quaffing of fracking fluid with a bottle of water from the lately orange Animas river.

Next we'll be hearing that the Governors Thanksgiving feast included baked fiberglass with asbestos gravy.

Idle minds speculate wildly.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

NICS Data - Gun Sales

Here's the comparative data for the last 5-1/2 years for NICS checks.
The 2015 curve looks to be following the same profile the previous years have shown but at the rate it's going it's projecting slightly lower overall sales for the year. This is probably because of early peaks in 2014 and 2013. If the bump over the average holds, the final number should be noticably higher.

Year on year, NICS check numbers keep going up at a slightly increasing rate. As it becomes more readily apparent that the administration doesn't have a real problem with violence, more and more people will be willing to fill the gap. Sad, but true.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

New Box

This one is being composed on the tablet. The chiclets will take a while to get used to.

New box

So to speak. Anticipating an exciting vacation to GBRX, I've got a new tablet. Now to see if I can make it work.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Fun With Debates

Some on the left are predictably whining that the candidates were not asked any questions from the lefty grab bag. Someone with a camera and a few friends to play some of the candidates could have some fun showing liberal hacks asking the candidates loaded and factually deficient questions and the "candidates" giving back the answers we'd like to hear.

Q "The United States is currently experiencing 2 or more mass shootings daily. In light of this do you favor more common sense gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of the public?"

Gov. Christie: "My state has the toughest gun laws in the country  and I think our record for gun violence speaks for itself."

Gov Perry: "My state has the laxest gun laws in the country  and I think our record for gun violence speaks for itself."

Mr Trump: My bodyguards all have guns and they haven't had to shoot anyone."

I see a good SNL skit here.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Justice Department Not A Bunch Of Crooks

They said so, in effect by declaring that Operation Choke Point was not used to cut off legitimate gun dealers from banks because they never used Operation Choke Point to cut off legitimate gun manufacturers from bank access.

Of course Colt, Remington, et al were never bothered. It was Charlies Live Bait and Guns. Charlie can't afford the fancy lawyers.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Windows 10 - Spyware Included At No Extra Charge

It looks like the marketing wonks at Microsoft have gotten loose and are well and truly running the asylum.

Is Win 10 better than Win 8? I'm told Win 8 is pretty awful except on a touch screen, but would it be worth installing all that spyware to get rid of it?

July E-Postal

The target turned out to be a bit different than I was expecting as most scores clustered between 50 and 70. I attribute my scores to a couple of lucky hits on the barrel bolts. If I bring some of these to GBR and we all shoot it at 25 yd, which is the shortest distance the Washoe County range has I'm sure the scores would be 10-20 points lower. OTOH if I make the numbers on the fish solid and thus easier to see maybe we'll only go 1 or 2 dozen points lower. Anyway here are the results:
 
July 15 E-Postal, Fish in a barrel










Class 1, Rimfire pistol, Iron sights




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score
Billll
Ruger Mk 1 0.22 72
Merle
Ruger Mk 2 0.22 54
Dave N
RugerMk 3 0.22 66 R.D.
Patti Ann
Ruger Mk 3 0.22 59 R.D.
Susan
Ruger Mk 3 0.22 61 R.D.






Class 2, Rimfire pistol, Magnified




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score
Merle
T.C Cont 0.22 57






Class 3, Center fire pistol, Iron sights




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score
Mike B
S&W M&P 0.45 68
Billll
Glock 22 0.4 53
Billll
CZ-82 9mm 71
Merle
Combat Cdr 0.45 59
Fred M
Beretta 92 9mm 59
Fred M
Combat Cdr 0.45 59






Class 4, Center fire pistol, magnified




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score
Merle
T.C. 9mm 68






Class 5 Revolvers, Iron




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score
Merle
S&W 625 0.45 57






Class 6, Revolvers, magnified




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score






Class 7, Target pistols & race guns




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score






Class 8, Whatever., rifles and/or carbines.




Shooter W.P. Gun Cal Score
Billll
Marlin 795 0.22 72
Mac
Savage 0.22 63 Scope
Mac
Remington 0.22 66
Mike B
Beretta CX4 9mm 72 red dot
Joe L
Ruger 10/22 0.22 72
Dave N
Ruger 10/22 0.22 60 Scope
Patti Ann
Ruger 10/22 0.22 64
Susan
Ruger 10/22 0.22 61 Scope

UPDATE: Missed 2 targets from Merle and Fred which are now included. We have a revolver!

You Take A Couple Days Off...

And the world goes plunging into Hell in a Gucci handbag.

Spent the weekend at the Scottish Festival, this year held in scenic Snowmass Village. Lots of scenery. Not really very much village, but it seems to have gone over well with lots of bagpipes(1), men and women tossing telephone poles, sheafs of grain, and heavy weights on chains which in Scotland they call hammers.

Also British cars and demonstrations of Renaissance skills such as blacksmithery and bashing folk you don't like with big swords. And bagpipes. At least one band was quartered at my hotel and practiced outside. The altitude being about 7100 ft, Milady lobbied hard for oxygen anticipating problems but wound up not using it. Others there could have used it.

I was told that this was the first weekend in anyone's memory when every room in Snowmass was sold out. They eagerly anticipate us coming back next year. Snowmass Village is a wide spot in a steep, narrow canyon with essentially one road running up it. Nevertheless, many people ride bicycles up and down it often on the unpaved trails. The average size of the front sprocket on a Snowmass bike seems to be about 4 inches.

I recomment for exhaustion resulting from wandering about at high altitude a nice bottle of Left Hand Brewing Co's Nitro Milk Stout. Yummy!

Pictures when I get them processed.

1). What's better than one bagpipe in the glen? NO bagpipes in the glen! (Or at least one bandsman seems to believe this. AC/DC sounds pretty good with a pipe in the leads, though)



Also results of the E-postal match as soon as I get them sorted.