New Shooter

Took my daughters fiancee out shooting today. He's a newbie having never fired a gun before. Started out with the .22 rifle

Which he took to easily

Nice groups, no?
We worked our way through my collection of handguns up to the .357 mag

which he liked using the .38 ammo. And a good time was had by all.

New York Approach To Crime?

Here is a couple of approaches which should work well together: First make bail proportionate to your ability to pay. Thus if you are an otherwise destitute criminal, and you get caught committing a crime, you'll be released on your own recognizance the same day so you can quickly get back to work.

Second up is a law that makes information on anyone who calls 911 available to the defense attorney for the criminal who was caught doing something naughty. Thus the criminal will have the name, phone number, and home address of whomever called 911 and ratted him or her out. This should help immeasurably in putting together a strong defense a la H. Clinton. If you can't find the witness, you won't get convicted.

Sounds delightful.

Gun Fun

IDPA; What you do until you master the force.

Happy New Year 2

Over and above the young lady in the previous pose, It seems that 2019 was pretty damn good. The U.S. economy has moved from being 20% of the whole worlds economy to being 25%. My 401k, if it could vote, would support making Trump President For Life.

I wouldn't, although as of right now and subject to change, I'd support Ted Cruz in 2024. I was wondering why, if the market was taking off like a Nork rocket, was GDP growth down at 2.1%, but I'm told the whole world has been taking a bit of a beating last year and the US is the only G7 country to show better than 2% so we're still #1.

Guns: My Hi Point finally had a failure that all have agreed is non-repairable so it looks like I'm getting a new one in about 3 weeks. Go Team Hi-Point! For you folks in Virginia, mass demonstrations are a tool of the left. The only mass demo that matters is the one at the ballot box and it looks like the left has imported enough refugees to swing the last 2 seats they needed to take the trifecta. The newly empowered El Puerco Grande, as we call him, is taking the opportunity to attempt to disarm his citizens just like several other South American dictators. This is causing some firebrands to use words like bugaloo. Stay away from that. Those sorts of things are messy and usually more drawn out than anyone expects. I recommend targeted assassinations. Saves on ammo and causes less collateral damage.

Advice:
To the College of Cardinals (hey, go big or go home, right?) Next time elect someone who is arguably Catholic. You want an economist? Hire one from the University of Chicago who knows what he's talking about.

To Greta the Grinch: Great timing, leaving the U.S. to vacation in a Mediterranean country. You could be here helping me move 3-1/2" of Global Warming from my drive and walk. Probably wouldn't pay as well though.

To the Ayatollah Hominy: Give it up. Admit you've been wrong all those years, and convert to Zoroastrianism like your forebears.

To Fat Kim: Let the Donald build a nice hotel on the coast and maybe he'll get you a Pelloton for your birthday.

Happy New Year

Looks pretty happy to me.

One More Toast

If you happen to have a bit of tipple left over from Christmas, today, raise a glass to the end of the Evil Empire, the Soviet Union which voted itself out of existence on this date in 1991. Consider also a second toast to the 40 million or so they murdered to keep the idea that communism worked alive. Numbers are sketchy since even though most of the slave states have fled the coop, Russia is ruled by leftovers from the ancien regime.

This also represents a major turning point in the Cold War which started with the end of WWII with the refusal of Russia to withdraw its troops from eastern Europe and included Korean war, the Vietnam War, and numerous other on again off again conflicts. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the torch was picked up by the Chinese who seem to have the idea that China should include every piece of land on which a Chinese ever set foot and any expanse of ocean over which a Chinese junk ever sailed.

Soy Boys?

It seems there's more to Burger Kings Impossible Burger than meets the eye. The amount of gene splicing/mixing involved results in some characteristics you might want to think about.

It seems there's enough estrogen in an Impossible Burger to begin stimulating boob development in men. Of course they also mention

Just six glasses of soy milk per day has enough estrogen to grow boobs on a male. That’s the equivalent of eating four impossible whoppers per day.

That alone sounds like enough to keep the men away from the things, but I could see a sudden influx of women adding an Impossible burger and a glass of soy milk to their diet in hopes of a figure enhancement.

The link above also serves as a great example of Bills law of election year* statistics.

....and that it has a whopping 18 million times more estrogen than a standard Whopper.

 The red flag that immediately pops up is weather this number is, in fact, statistically significant. The amount of estrogen in a standard Whopper is as close to zero as not to matter. 18 million times a number that small is still pretty small.

*When you are given a number in a conversation, the real story is frequently in the percentage, and vice versa. This is true pretty much at all times although more so in an election year. Hearing about a 100% increase in the crime rate sounds awful until you find out that this means the cops issued 2 parking tickets this year as opposed to only one last year.

Fearless Predictions

It's that time of year again and since I've been mostly wrong in the past, let's see how well my record holds up.

#1a for 2020: Pelosi will time her transmission of the articles of impeachment to the Senate so that the trial will coincide with the presidents SOTU address in a last ditch attempt to embarrass him.

#1b: This will inspire the Senate to reject the articles outright.

Nuclear Power Moving Forward

From Marc Schneider here. Check # 6 thru 10 especially. I doubt very much that I'll live to see a Gen 4 reactor up and running but at least we're headed in the right direction.

Impeachment - The Edwards Bar

At this point I'm inclined to think that President Trump has cleared the Edwards bar to re-election.

The only way I can lose is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.

This from Edwin Edwards more than slightly notorious Governor of Louisiana.

Impeachment - The Ginsburg Solution

Notorious RBG has come up with the solution to frivolous impeachment proceedings. When the issue goes to the senate:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Suggests Senators Can be Disqualified from Upcoming Impeachment Trial if they are Not Impartial

The entire Senate is thus disqualified from voting on the issue. No vote, case dismissed. This has the salubrious effect of effectively limiting impeachments to cases in which there is solid evidence of an actual crime having been committed. There must be video of Trump machine-gunning Pelosi and Schumer in Times square with certified time stamps and no evidence of tampering whatsoever or it didn't happen and their unfortunate demises are attributed to suicide.

Science Marches On

I mean, how do they make this?

Found this on the kitchen counter top, presumably brought in by D'wife for some purpose.

I suppose they take soy or almond milk, and put it in the butter churn, then have enslaved women work the churns until voila! it becomes butter.

I'm sure the churns were made to order by Peloton and come complete with a 14" screen showing some sort of inspiring video.

Just An Idle Thought

In light of the VA governors announced intent to confiscate guns he doesn't like, how about this:

DD sells a small CNC machine that comes complete with the software to make lower receivers for rifles and frames for several pistols for about $2000. A group of 20 thus could throw a C-note into the hat and have one delivered. The group could then take turns making receivers for their evil black rifles and whatever else they might own that has made the governor's naughty list and swap the new parts onto their weapons. When the Nat Guard shows up to demand your weapons, you turn over the original lowers, which legally are the firearm, and tell them to go away. Cost = $100 plus aluminum (about $20/receiver) which can be put on your tax deduction list as hobby costs. Or maybe you could put the whole $120 down as a property tax.

Sad to think a gun control measure would end up putting large numbers of the dreaded “ghost Guns” out there, but probably unsurprising.

QOTD - Gun Control

From Law Enforcement today:

“If you have firearms in your home and you do not secure them and you don’t secure them in a manner that can preclude someone from grabbing them and taking them and carrying out this carnage, [there] is a criminal liability that attaches,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo

Let me suggest that there should be some sort of liability attached to law enforcement, governing authority, or property owners if disarmament rules are enforced resulting in injury or death from which the disarmers didn't protect us.

Grandmaster Class Chain Yanking

If ever I saw it, this is it. Mike Huckabee is setting himself up as chairman of the Trump 2024 committee on the premise that all the interference from the Dems essentially deprived Trump of a meaningful first term which therefore doesn't count.

I'm expecting a thermonuclear level explosion of heads from the left and screams so loud you'll hear them from inside your dwellings without turning on the TV or your computer.

Of course if one considers Trumps first term to be significantly cramped, one can only speculate about the Dow 50,000 and doubled average wages we'd be seeing if he had a cooperative legislature.

Helping The Handicapped?

Well, maybe. I saw a video of an attachment to a wheelchair that snapped on an electric front wheel which made the basic chair quick and agile. Looked like a swell idea. Priced at about $700 or about what you would pay for one of those kits to electrify your bicycle. Sounded about right as it included all the same parts.

Later I was visiting downtown and got to see myriad people using the Lyme electric scooters, tearing up and down the sometimes steep hills there. Get on, wave your credit card, and take off. Quick transport and no long term investment.

Put the two together and suddenly a person in a conventional wheelchair can get to the 16th st food court and back on a corporate lunch hour. I happened to have a couple of Razor scooters, and with a bit of scavenger hunting, I rustled up a chair:

The attachment includes a spring since you want some down force on the scooter. With a driver, the chairs front wheels barely touch the ground and there's enough travel to avoid getting high centered.

Scoot up to a scooter, wheelie over it, and use the clamps to get attached. This scooter has lawnmower batteries installed and sits about 1-1/2" higher than normal.

And off you go. Top speed depends on the scooter, but mine top out at 15 mph. I understand that the Lymes will make 20 and the city is trying to get them off the sidewalks as a menace to pedestrians. Maybe the scooters should have horns. Like the kind Texans like to put on the hoods of their Cadillacs.

The rig is fairly agile with a 4 or 5 ft turn radius. Since the chair is attached as a 5th wheel, backing is tricky but not impossible. OTOH scooters don't come with a reverse setting so be careful about taking one of these indoors. Not impossible, but really intended for outdoor use.

Having built this and tried it out, I notice that no 2 chair makers use a common frame layout which means that the adapter needs to be peculiar to your chair. Again, I don't know enough about the wheelchair market to say, but I would guess that 2 or 3 makers account for most of the market so maybe modest mass production is possible.

NICS checks - Another Record

November is in and is edging out November 2016 by some 14,000.

I didn't buy anything requiring a check this year, but I did get some fun stuff. How much fun remains to be seen, but I'll be reporting on it before too long.

Healthy Beer - It's Good For You

Remember they say this about everything from Yogurt to Camel cigarettes at some point.