109 cases of flu in 300,000,000 person population! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!1!
1 Fatality!!!1!!! (of a child from Mexico where the disease came from).
You gotta better chance of dying from falling off a ladder people. Live your life and wash your hands. Don't let people sneeze on your head. Don't suck your fingers.
Also please don't look at what the President is trying to do to the gold-plated health care system you currently enjoy in the U.S.A. Thank you, that will be all.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Obama: He'll Pay To Fix Your Car Now
I just heard the President say not to worry about the warranty on your American car, because it's backed by the US Government.
Great. That's not socialist at ALL.
Great. That's not socialist at ALL.
1st Documented Case of Swine Flu in Georgia
A woman in Georgia has been diagnosed as having the new scare tactic strain of flu. She thinks she got it at a recent public event, but she also just returned from a vacation in _________(fill in the country) (hint: our Homeland Security Dept. refuses to close the border) (hint: people from there are flooding across the border to our gold-plated "free" healthcare with the flu (and doctors are being told to stay away from free health care clinics unless it's an emergency)) (hint: it rhymes with Texaco)
If you said Mexico, you're right. The World Health Organization has gone from 4/6 to 5/6 on its alert level, and you can't get to here from Europe, but don't worry. The flu is already here, so no need toshut the door in the face of thousands of illegal aliens coming to US hospitals . . . make the next elections harder to rig hamper commerce by closing the border with Mexico!
If you said Mexico, you're right. The World Health Organization has gone from 4/6 to 5/6 on its alert level, and you can't get to here from Europe, but don't worry. The flu is already here, so no need to
If You Drive Like This You STINK
From my perspective:
Driving to work this morning on a three-lane surface street, approaching a highway underpass. There is a traffic light before it, and another after it, and they go green in sequence to let traffic go from the first to the second light with fresh green lights for everybody. Except that sometimes people get stuck in-between. I was coming up to the first light in the #2 lane and a big box truck was in the #2 lane under the highway. There was a car in the #3 lane that was s.l.o.w. I passed them while crossing through the first intersection and went in front of them, into the #3 lane, under the highway. As I came out from under the highway, a woman coming from the right in a Tahoe BARELY stopped short of the #3 lane she was about to turn right into. I saw her coming and was ready to cut back into the #2 lane (in front of the box truck) with my right foot over the brake pedal, the clutch disengaged, and ready to downshift to accelerate and get the heck out of Dodge. As I passed in front of her truck, she honked at me. I gave her a salute through the rear window.
From her perspective:
She is coming up to the light at an intersection on a two-lane frontage road next to a highway, in the #2 lane. She is preparing to turn right on a red light. Look left, nobody in the #3 lane on the cross-street, good to go! Look right, nobody coming from the right (!) and awaaay we g-HOLY [deleted] THERE's A CAR COMING IN THE #3 LANE WHERE DID HE COME FROM!?!? ::jam on the brakes & honk::
People, on a one-way street, look in the direction traffic is coming from before you go to turn on to the street. Look the other way sure, but pedestrians will be slower than oncoming traffic and if someone is coming the wrong way down the street, that should be pretty obvious, also. Look LEFT if you are turning onto a one way street where the traffic is flowing from left to right. It prevents your insurance company having to buy me another car.
Okay? Thanks.
Driving to work this morning on a three-lane surface street, approaching a highway underpass. There is a traffic light before it, and another after it, and they go green in sequence to let traffic go from the first to the second light with fresh green lights for everybody. Except that sometimes people get stuck in-between. I was coming up to the first light in the #2 lane and a big box truck was in the #2 lane under the highway. There was a car in the #3 lane that was s.l.o.w. I passed them while crossing through the first intersection and went in front of them, into the #3 lane, under the highway. As I came out from under the highway, a woman coming from the right in a Tahoe BARELY stopped short of the #3 lane she was about to turn right into. I saw her coming and was ready to cut back into the #2 lane (in front of the box truck) with my right foot over the brake pedal, the clutch disengaged, and ready to downshift to accelerate and get the heck out of Dodge. As I passed in front of her truck, she honked at me. I gave her a salute through the rear window.
From her perspective:
She is coming up to the light at an intersection on a two-lane frontage road next to a highway, in the #2 lane. She is preparing to turn right on a red light. Look left, nobody in the #3 lane on the cross-street, good to go! Look right, nobody coming from the right (!) and awaaay we g-HOLY [deleted] THERE's A CAR COMING IN THE #3 LANE WHERE DID HE COME FROM!?!? ::jam on the brakes & honk::
People, on a one-way street, look in the direction traffic is coming from before you go to turn on to the street. Look the other way sure, but pedestrians will be slower than oncoming traffic and if someone is coming the wrong way down the street, that should be pretty obvious, also. Look LEFT if you are turning onto a one way street where the traffic is flowing from left to right. It prevents your insurance company having to buy me another car.
Okay? Thanks.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Why Close The Border?
Our Illustrious Ms. Napolitano says we don't have to close the US-Mexico border because
. . . wait for it . . .
the flu is already here.
********
Wait, what? How is that a good Security policy for the Homeland?
BOO!
. . . wait for it . . .
the flu is already here.
********
Wait, what? How is that a good Security policy for the Homeland?
BOO!
Boeing Free Electron LASER
You remember the Chinese anti-ship missle? The one that has changed the way the United States Navy does business?
Yeah, well we're working on a new kind of LASER that should be able to knock it right out of the air.
This is a hint for those who think we don't need heavy industry in the USA anymore: we don't if we don't want to be the world's sole super power.
Yeah, well we're working on a new kind of LASER that should be able to knock it right out of the air.
This is a hint for those who think we don't need heavy industry in the USA anymore: we don't if we don't want to be the world's sole super power.
Ships Run On Oil, Why Again?
The world's giant container ships with engines bigger than your house that burn (basically) asphalt for fuel, pollute more than a car that runs on propane. Who knew?
Interesting snippet: The USN has accumulated over 5400 "reactor years" of accident free experience and currently opreates more than 80 nuclear powered ships. Yes, nuclear powered. As in, a nuclear reactor or six in the hold of the ship. Instead of burning tar, they burn nothing, emit no pollution, and need refueling at decades-long intervals. Of course the watermelon fascists hate nuclear energy for a variety of reasons, but for the shipping companies, aside from the initial cost equipment and ongoing training of operators, we must ask:
Why not go nuclear?
Interesting snippet: The USN has accumulated over 5400 "reactor years" of accident free experience and currently opreates more than 80 nuclear powered ships. Yes, nuclear powered. As in, a nuclear reactor or six in the hold of the ship. Instead of burning tar, they burn nothing, emit no pollution, and need refueling at decades-long intervals. Of course the watermelon fascists hate nuclear energy for a variety of reasons, but for the shipping companies, aside from the initial cost equipment and ongoing training of operators, we must ask:
Why not go nuclear?
Madness @ Work
NM was on a tear this morning, high on Coffee, and the emotion was directed at getting the production area cleaned up after the Flood of 2009. He got me a little bit upset by cussing @ everyone in general & me in particular. I told him "Some people work slower when you cuss at them. And by some people, I mean me." I also mentioned that it must have been too long since anyone turned him upside-down.
But as much as we former military types may kvetch, we still do as required by the authority. Physically anyhow. When I got back to my desk, I had a song in my head. The hook at the end of it, when I listened to the song three times back to back, made me feel better.
Warning: the hook at the end has some pottymouth language.
Oh, what was the song? Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name"
An hour later WM was back to normal-person hormone levels and much more pleasant to share a room with.
But as much as we former military types may kvetch, we still do as required by the authority. Physically anyhow. When I got back to my desk, I had a song in my head. The hook at the end of it, when I listened to the song three times back to back, made me feel better.
Warning: the hook at the end has some pottymouth language.
Oh, what was the song? Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name"
An hour later WM was back to normal-person hormone levels and much more pleasant to share a room with.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Colonel Cooper On The Color Code
I think this goes a long way toward explaining why I am the way I am, and the thoughts I sometimes think that other people (who live in Condition White) do not think.
In the January 2005 Cooper's Commentaries, to clarify (again) what he means by the Color Code, he wrote:
That last bit about complications is in part a reference to the USMC adding "Condition Black" which they describe as being in active contact with the enemy. The Color Code invented and preached by Col. Cooper for 30 years has no higher condition of readiness to kill a man than Red (I will kill him, NOW). It is a means to help a peaceable person to cross the psychological barrier, and the colors do not describe action but rather willingness. Therefore, Black is a silly and useless addition.
I further note for those unfamiliar with the Color Code that people in Condition White are the ones who say "he just came out of nowhere" when they are mugged. They are the ones surprised when the danger that floats around all of us lands on them. Those who live in Condition Yellow are merely not-oblivious, and paying attention.
Changing between Conditions is not difficult and, once you are used to it, it happens automatically. This color code is about a mindset that prepares you to act in an unusual fashion. Even on the highway, you can use it. Yellow is the baseline, and when you see a car weaving in its lane, go to Orange. Red is slamming the brakes as the other driver swerves toward you. A book could be written about examples, but that would be beside the point. Try it, you'll see what I mean.
In the January 2005 Cooper's Commentaries, to clarify (again) what he means by the Color Code, he wrote:
The Color Code refers not to a condition of peril, but rather to a condition of readiness to take life. Fortunately most people are very reluctant to take lethal action against another human being. Most people are reluctant to shoot for blood on a harmless game animal, until they become used to it. To press the trigger on a human adversary calls for a wrenching effort of will which is always difficult to achieve and sometimes apparently impossible. Thus we live our days in Condition White, which may or may not have anything to do with our danger, since quite frequently we are in deadly danger and do not realize it. Any time you cross directions out on a two-lane highway you are at the mercy of that character coming towards you in the opposite direction. Usually he is okay, but when he is under some sort of chemical influence, or is psychologically upset, he may only twitch his wheel to produce a multiple fatal accident. Most of us would prefer to live in Condition White permanently, and many do, but those who are more aware of the nature of things are often in Yellow, which is a condition in which we are aware that the world is full of hazards which are human, and some of which may be obviated by our own defensive action. When one is in Condition Yellow he is aware that today may be the day. He is not in a combat mood, nor is he aware of any specific situation which may call for action on his part. There is a vital difference between White and Yellow, and it has to do not with any specific enemy or a set of circumstances, but rather with your awareness that you individually may have to take decisive action on this very day. If you are attacked in Condition White, you will probably die, or at least need a stretcher. If you are attacked in Condition Yellow, you will probably win, assuming that you are armed, awake and aware. The difference does not lie in the deadliness of the hazard facing you, but rather in your willingness to take a very unusual action.
If in the course of events you become aware of the possible existence in your presence of a lethal adversary, you switch from Yellow to Orange. The difference lies in the specific nature of your presumed antagonist, not in his evident competence or attitude. In Yellow you say to yourself, "I may have to shoot today." I may actually have to press my trigger on a human adversary, but I don't know who or where.
When you detect the presence of a target who may be the one you will have to engage, you shift from Yellow to Orange. In Yellow your mind-set is "I may have to shoot today." In Orange it is "I may have to shoot him today." At this point your normal reluctance becomes easier to overcome. Legal and moral aspects of the conflict are lowered and have been dismissed from your mind. Your attitude is dictated by the presence of that enemy standing there. You may have to shoot him, now, today. What is needed is a trigger. The trigger is the act establishing that the situation is indeed a matter of lethal conflict. This is Condition Red, and in Red you have solved the psychological problem and have no further concerns beyond the technical. In Red you are go, and your mind is concerned only with front-sight and surprise.
Moving from the various Conditions into each other is easy to accomplish once it is understood. If you are attacked in White you will lose the fight. In Yellow you will have the advantage of initiative response over your antagonist. In Orange you are pretty safe, provided you are armed, alert and aware. In Red you win. Simple, isn't it? Clearly you cannot go any further than Red because in Red you have already made the lethal decision. Complications are unproductive.
That last bit about complications is in part a reference to the USMC adding "Condition Black" which they describe as being in active contact with the enemy. The Color Code invented and preached by Col. Cooper for 30 years has no higher condition of readiness to kill a man than Red (I will kill him, NOW). It is a means to help a peaceable person to cross the psychological barrier, and the colors do not describe action but rather willingness. Therefore, Black is a silly and useless addition.
I further note for those unfamiliar with the Color Code that people in Condition White are the ones who say "he just came out of nowhere" when they are mugged. They are the ones surprised when the danger that floats around all of us lands on them. Those who live in Condition Yellow are merely not-oblivious, and paying attention.
Changing between Conditions is not difficult and, once you are used to it, it happens automatically. This color code is about a mindset that prepares you to act in an unusual fashion. Even on the highway, you can use it. Yellow is the baseline, and when you see a car weaving in its lane, go to Orange. Red is slamming the brakes as the other driver swerves toward you. A book could be written about examples, but that would be beside the point. Try it, you'll see what I mean.
Sometimes I Want To Go Back
Sometimes, I feel bad that my time of active duty service was during peacetime. The war was just starting to pop off when I was getting out. It was an honorable service. I did my job well, whatever it was I had to do at the time. . . but I feel like I haven't really done my bit.
I want to go back in, but not to the Navy. I want to be a Marine or a Soldier, an infantry type this time, so I can go give the Tangoes a message in person.
But this is a decision that must be gravely considered, with much prayer, and taken with the consent of one's spouse. I seriously doubt I would get that consent.
********
So I'm doing my part here instead. Spread the good word and support the men however I can. Unfortunately due to being broke, that's not going to be financially or with goodies, but I can do what all other Christians can (and should) do. I can pray. That is more than adding a full division to the front line (which I wish we would), that is asking for the Maker's help. With God on your side, you win. Without Him, you lose.
I want to go back in, but not to the Navy. I want to be a Marine or a Soldier, an infantry type this time, so I can go give the Tangoes a message in person.
But this is a decision that must be gravely considered, with much prayer, and taken with the consent of one's spouse. I seriously doubt I would get that consent.
********
So I'm doing my part here instead. Spread the good word and support the men however I can. Unfortunately due to being broke, that's not going to be financially or with goodies, but I can do what all other Christians can (and should) do. I can pray. That is more than adding a full division to the front line (which I wish we would), that is asking for the Maker's help. With God on your side, you win. Without Him, you lose.
Thanks, Mr. Vice President!
We really didn't have bad traffic yesterday. It was normal. Then the Vice President showed up and they SHUT DOWN the major arterial interstate highway through Austin (I-35) and a major surface street near the airport.
Traffic backs up for miles, making people hours late going home and getting to work, but Joe Biden got to his economic conference on time, I'm sure.
Fascist leaders: like you and me, only better.
Traffic backs up for miles, making people hours late going home and getting to work, but Joe Biden got to his economic conference on time, I'm sure.
Fascist leaders: like you and me, only better.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Jimmy Carter on Assault Weapons
Via Say Uncle. Carter doesn't think you should even want to own an assault weapon.
Mostly I wanted to have another entry in the "Jimmy Carter Sucks" category, but there are a few additional points to make: First, "assault weapon" is a scary term with no legal definition in the USA. He means "assault rifle" so let's go from there.
Assault rifles, as defined by US Federal law, are capable of select-fire, meaning they can fire one or more than one bullet with one pull of the trigger, based on the position of a selector switch. Assault weapons are very hard to get legally in the USA. They cost 5x to 20x more than 'one trigger pull for one shot' only "semi-automatic" weapons of exactly the same type. Also, they require an extensive background check, there are Federal requirements to report their location of storage and when you move you need to notify Uncle again. On top of that, there is a $200 fee (instituted, by the way, when $200 was worth what $2000 is today)
As Col. cooper repeatedly pointed out, machine guns are not good for killing people so much as they are for expending ammunition. Even a moderately well-trained operator will miss much more with an assault weapon set to automatic than one set to semi-automatic. There are very few instances where it is genuinely helpful to have a machine gun. Mostly they involve large numbers of enemy combatants at close quarters, especially in low light. Repelling boarders from your yacht at night is an ideal example. Another is taking out a whole squad of jack-booted thugs who have kicked your door in. The other type of situation where machine guns are more useful than semi-automatic guns is clearing the entire landscape, as with a door gunner coming into a "hot" landing zone raking a treeline with bullets.
Thing is, machine guns are expensive to operate. Useful ones will fire rifle bullets, which cost anywhere from $1 to $5 and up, for each shot. If you put 500 rounds into the forest, that is $2500 right there.
The only people that NEED machine guns are in combat.
The only people in combat are soldiers. Who becomes soldiers? Citizens.
Who is afraid of citizen-solders? Tyrants.
If someone wants you to NOT be able to own a $10,000 machine that costs $2500 a minute to operate, and they tell you it's for the children or because of gangs you know in advance that they are either lying or a complete ignoramus. Either way, we should not be making policy decisions based on their ideas.
If they don't realize the potential civilian applications of machine guns, even to the point of saying you shouldn't one to own one if you aren't a criminal (as with Jimmuh) they SUCK and should be quiet.
That is all.
Mostly I wanted to have another entry in the "Jimmy Carter Sucks" category, but there are a few additional points to make: First, "assault weapon" is a scary term with no legal definition in the USA. He means "assault rifle" so let's go from there.
Assault rifles, as defined by US Federal law, are capable of select-fire, meaning they can fire one or more than one bullet with one pull of the trigger, based on the position of a selector switch. Assault weapons are very hard to get legally in the USA. They cost 5x to 20x more than 'one trigger pull for one shot' only "semi-automatic" weapons of exactly the same type. Also, they require an extensive background check, there are Federal requirements to report their location of storage and when you move you need to notify Uncle again. On top of that, there is a $200 fee (instituted, by the way, when $200 was worth what $2000 is today)
As Col. cooper repeatedly pointed out, machine guns are not good for killing people so much as they are for expending ammunition. Even a moderately well-trained operator will miss much more with an assault weapon set to automatic than one set to semi-automatic. There are very few instances where it is genuinely helpful to have a machine gun. Mostly they involve large numbers of enemy combatants at close quarters, especially in low light. Repelling boarders from your yacht at night is an ideal example. Another is taking out a whole squad of jack-booted thugs who have kicked your door in. The other type of situation where machine guns are more useful than semi-automatic guns is clearing the entire landscape, as with a door gunner coming into a "hot" landing zone raking a treeline with bullets.
Thing is, machine guns are expensive to operate. Useful ones will fire rifle bullets, which cost anywhere from $1 to $5 and up, for each shot. If you put 500 rounds into the forest, that is $2500 right there.
The only people that NEED machine guns are in combat.
The only people in combat are soldiers. Who becomes soldiers? Citizens.
Who is afraid of citizen-solders? Tyrants.
If someone wants you to NOT be able to own a $10,000 machine that costs $2500 a minute to operate, and they tell you it's for the children or because of gangs you know in advance that they are either lying or a complete ignoramus. Either way, we should not be making policy decisions based on their ideas.
If they don't realize the potential civilian applications of machine guns, even to the point of saying you shouldn't one to own one if you aren't a criminal (as with Jimmuh) they SUCK and should be quiet.
That is all.
Portable non-nuclear EMP bomb
Nothing to see here. Not since they dropped an EMP bomb that didn't involve a nuclear reaction over your town . Bonus points for telling how it's done (in general terms) in the article. Oh, and the bomb is 1.5m long and 15cm diameter. Does that sound about the size of a regular bomb on an airplane? Sure does. Can we fly an airplane over Iran? Sure can.
Not that I'm proposing any aggressive activity against our good friends the Iranians. . . .
Not that I'm proposing any aggressive activity against our good friends the Iranians. . . .
Madness @ Work
When I got to work today it was a bit of a zoo. A head-sized hole opened up in our roof this weekend, right at a joint on a down slope. Then it rained.
If it were colder, we could have gone skating on about 10,000 square feet of floor in the production area. There was a new guy whose first day on the job was an all-hands effort to get the water off the floor with no apparent co-ordination or leadership. He looked shell-shocked.
It's dry(er) now but man, what a mess. At least we got some of the dust cleaned out. When the water finally evaporates, it should be nice and clean for about a day and a half. The photos below were taken about 1/2 way through the cleanup.
I think maybe Garfield may have been at least partially right about Mondays . . . .
If it were colder, we could have gone skating on about 10,000 square feet of floor in the production area. There was a new guy whose first day on the job was an all-hands effort to get the water off the floor with no apparent co-ordination or leadership. He looked shell-shocked.
It's dry(er) now but man, what a mess. At least we got some of the dust cleaned out. When the water finally evaporates, it should be nice and clean for about a day and a half. The photos below were taken about 1/2 way through the cleanup.
I think maybe Garfield may have been at least partially right about Mondays . . . .
Friday, April 24, 2009
Careful With Your Trained Hands, People.
Just a friendly reminder: if you have any useful amount of martial arts training, go easy when it comes time to make somebody you like play nice.
The other day I was involved in some involuntary grabassing and wanted it to stop, so I stopped it. The doctor says their wrists should be fine, just keep them iced for a day.
Oops. Sorry. Next time, maybe stop after I tell you to stop?
The other day I was involved in some involuntary grabassing and wanted it to stop, so I stopped it. The doctor says their wrists should be fine, just keep them iced for a day.
Oops. Sorry. Next time, maybe stop after I tell you to stop?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Banana Republic Watch: Chrysler Edition
Chrysler has been bankrupt for some time now, but finally they are going to be forced into a prepackaged bankruptcy, maybe as soon as next week.
Fiat will get the parts they can make money off of, and the leeches and hangers-on that dragged Chrysler down to the grave, YOU THE TAXPAYER get to suckle them at your teat.
Congratulations. Is this the change you were hoping for?
Fiat will get the parts they can make money off of, and the leeches and hangers-on that dragged Chrysler down to the grave, YOU THE TAXPAYER get to suckle them at your teat.
Congratulations. Is this the change you were hoping for?
Banana Republic Watch: TALF Edition
Under the TALF program, you have to have "AAA" credit ratings before they'll give you any of my grandchildrens' money.
A billion dollars was just spread between two companies that would not have received AAA ratings from one rating agency. So the program administrators asked a few other agencies what they thought of the companies in question and bingo-bango they're AAA rated and qualified.
This is the sort of shenanigans you get with a radical Marxist at the helm. Is this the change you were looking for?
A billion dollars was just spread between two companies that would not have received AAA ratings from one rating agency. So the program administrators asked a few other agencies what they thought of the companies in question and bingo-bango they're AAA rated and qualified.
This is the sort of shenanigans you get with a radical Marxist at the helm. Is this the change you were looking for?
A Worldwide Recession? That's Unpossible!
Regardless of what the lame-brained Keynesian economics professors told you in school, a worldwide recession is possible.
And by possible, I mean "actually happening"
And by possible, I mean "actually happening"
We're Still Heading Into The Woods, People.
The commercial real estate market is collapsing. Vacancy rates are increasing by as much as 50% around the country (10% to 15%). And the stock market is going up Up UP! because they are not paying attention to the "strong" or "sound" or "completely broken" (or whatever) 'fundamentals of the economy' down on Wall Street.
Credit card companies are increasingly saying that defaults are going to be increasing to 10-ish percent, soon.
And finally the Depression is starting to kick in. The fraud and liar loan foreclosures kicked us into Recession, but now that we are into a full-tilt-boogie Depression, unemployment is forcing more and more people out of their homes because you can't make a mortgage note without a paycheck.
Click on the above link and scroll down. Those who have been through College Algebra courses will recognize the beginning of a logarithmic increase in the number-of-defaults-graph for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They hold most of the crappy mortgages out there. If you have a million houses you lent $100,000 each for, that makes (counting zeros on my toes) $100,000,000,000 worth of potential losses on paper. That would be $100T which looks like it can't be right*, and they won't lose ALL the money (assuming somebody pays SOMETHING for the foreclosed properties) but it's still a pretty ugly picture. We're pretending just so I don't have to use a calculator that a whole LOT of those loans weren't closer to $400,000 than $100,000. Oh, but don't worry those losses will just fall on Fannie & Freddie right?
Hold on there.
Who backs Fannie & Freddie? The full faith and credit of your children, that's who.
*1) If $100T looks like a familiar number, it's because some people have tossed it around as the amount of unfunded liabilities YOU the taxpayer have, between Medicare, Social Security, national Debts, national debt interest, and intra-agency accounting shenanigans. But don't worry! President Obama just put you on the hook for $12T more to get us out of this mess so I'm sure it will all be okay. Also if you are interested in purchasing a used bridge, please email me. . . .
*2) It can be right. This is the kind of insanity that follows when you allow [deleted]-for-brains people like Barney Frank to oversee the regulation of gigantic financial companies that stake everything on perpetually-increasing growth of the economy, and you have a fiat currency "based" on fractional reserves.
So, do you still think the USA's economy is strong? To me, it's looking closer and closer to time to hit the Reset button. I'd even vote for Governor Perry the first time he ran as President Perry, if he would lead us away from the basket-case that is the rest of the country. Oops, I guess that makes me a rightwing extremist.
Credit card companies are increasingly saying that defaults are going to be increasing to 10-ish percent, soon.
And finally the Depression is starting to kick in. The fraud and liar loan foreclosures kicked us into Recession, but now that we are into a full-tilt-boogie Depression, unemployment is forcing more and more people out of their homes because you can't make a mortgage note without a paycheck.
Click on the above link and scroll down. Those who have been through College Algebra courses will recognize the beginning of a logarithmic increase in the number-of-defaults-graph for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They hold most of the crappy mortgages out there. If you have a million houses you lent $100,000 each for, that makes (counting zeros on my toes) $100,000,000,000 worth of potential losses on paper. That would be $100T which looks like it can't be right*, and they won't lose ALL the money (assuming somebody pays SOMETHING for the foreclosed properties) but it's still a pretty ugly picture. We're pretending just so I don't have to use a calculator that a whole LOT of those loans weren't closer to $400,000 than $100,000. Oh, but don't worry those losses will just fall on Fannie & Freddie right?
Hold on there.
Who backs Fannie & Freddie? The full faith and credit of your children, that's who.
*1) If $100T looks like a familiar number, it's because some people have tossed it around as the amount of unfunded liabilities YOU the taxpayer have, between Medicare, Social Security, national Debts, national debt interest, and intra-agency accounting shenanigans. But don't worry! President Obama just put you on the hook for $12T more to get us out of this mess so I'm sure it will all be okay. Also if you are interested in purchasing a used bridge, please email me. . . .
*2) It can be right. This is the kind of insanity that follows when you allow [deleted]-for-brains people like Barney Frank to oversee the regulation of gigantic financial companies that stake everything on perpetually-increasing growth of the economy, and you have a fiat currency "based" on fractional reserves.
So, do you still think the USA's economy is strong? To me, it's looking closer and closer to time to hit the Reset button. I'd even vote for Governor Perry the first time he ran as President Perry, if he would lead us away from the basket-case that is the rest of the country. Oops, I guess that makes me a rightwing extremist.
The Police Have No Duty To Protect You*
. . . and, apparently, nobody really has to prosecute criminals if the local government doesn't feel like it.
Oh, sure, sure, it's because of the economy. Right. Couldn't cut back on some NON-essential services to cover the cost of actually enforcing the law, now could we?
Q: David, why do you carry a gun all the time?
A: Because a whole policeman would be too heavy.
Hat tip to Uncle.
*You don't think that's true? Google it up and find out what the supreme Court of the United States has to say about it.
Oh, sure, sure, it's because of the economy. Right. Couldn't cut back on some NON-essential services to cover the cost of actually enforcing the law, now could we?
Q: David, why do you carry a gun all the time?
A: Because a whole policeman would be too heavy.
Hat tip to Uncle.
*You don't think that's true? Google it up and find out what the supreme Court of the United States has to say about it.
Jeff Cooper on Parenting
Well okay, he commented on parenting, but indirectly. Fathers of boys, take note:
"Probably it does not matter, but "terror" is an unsatisfactory adversary, since it is a mental condition rather than a tangible foe. You cannot fight against "terror," since you cannot shoot it or sink it in the sea. In addition, terror is an undignified emotion. Young men should be conditioned to rise above fear at the earliest possible age, and to the extent that this happens, they cannot be terrorized. Nobody likes to look right into the cannon's mouth, but he need not squeal about it. George Patton had some very good things to say on this subject. Nobody is immune from fear, but nobody should let fear affect his conduct."
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Earth Day 2009 Celebrations
I am so heavily involved in environmental causes, I almost completely forgot it was Earth Day!
To celebrate while I'm at work, I am leaving all the lights turned on that I can do, and I have just set my fan blowing and my heater is now on full-hot. Sure it's warm in here but I'm just going to have to sacrifice my own comfort to piss of some watermelon fascist out there.
When I get home I will be turning the a/c as cold as I can stand, and open the windows to let some heat in, and turn all the lights on. I encourage you all to do the same. Remember: Global Cooling must be combated! Everyone do your part to fight against the natural variances in the output of our sun! Lean to the left hard enough and we'll change the position of the Earth relative to a flaming nuclear reaction eight light-minutes away!
What a bunch of tripe.
********
Dateline Recruit Training Command, Navy Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. Earth Day 1996:
A bunch of soon-to-be Sailors were going about their business in the usual way: as slowly as they could due to fatigue, and as quickly as their commanders could make them move while being limited to solely verbal abuse.
One Seaman Recruit wanted to make a difference. He wanted to do his bit. He wanted to observe Earth Day and made the mistake of mentioning the day to his company commander.
As my division filed out of the mess hall to line up in formation to march off to wherever it was we were to be next, a strange noise greeted our ears. We looked around and saw a rare sight. What we heard was the voice of that one Seaman Recruit, cracking now and starting to go hoarse but still yelling as loud as he could (on orders from his company commander):
There was a HUGE tree outside South mess hall, to the right of the steps at the front entrance. Big enough a full grown man's hands were several feet from each other when he wrapped his arms around the trunk. This Recruit was showing us how much he loved the tree (again, on orders) by standing there hugging it and calling out the above phrase until he was told to stop. I would bet a small number of dollars that he had to stand there the entire time the rest of his division was inside eating lunch. Gotta love the Navy Way sometimes.
To celebrate while I'm at work, I am leaving all the lights turned on that I can do, and I have just set my fan blowing and my heater is now on full-hot. Sure it's warm in here but I'm just going to have to sacrifice my own comfort to piss of some watermelon fascist out there.
When I get home I will be turning the a/c as cold as I can stand, and open the windows to let some heat in, and turn all the lights on. I encourage you all to do the same. Remember: Global Cooling must be combated! Everyone do your part to fight against the natural variances in the output of our sun! Lean to the left hard enough and we'll change the position of the Earth relative to a flaming nuclear reaction eight light-minutes away!
What a bunch of tripe.
********
Dateline Recruit Training Command, Navy Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. Earth Day 1996:
A bunch of soon-to-be Sailors were going about their business in the usual way: as slowly as they could due to fatigue, and as quickly as their commanders could make them move while being limited to solely verbal abuse.
One Seaman Recruit wanted to make a difference. He wanted to do his bit. He wanted to observe Earth Day and made the mistake of mentioning the day to his company commander.
As my division filed out of the mess hall to line up in formation to march off to wherever it was we were to be next, a strange noise greeted our ears. We looked around and saw a rare sight. What we heard was the voice of that one Seaman Recruit, cracking now and starting to go hoarse but still yelling as loud as he could (on orders from his company commander):
"TREE, TREE, I LOVE YOU TREE! I THINK WE SHOULD GET MARRIED!
TREE, TREE, I LOVE YOU TREE! I THINK WE SHOULD GET MARRIED!
TREE, TREE, I LOVE YOU TREE! I THINK WE SHOULD GET MARRIED!
TREE, TREE, I LOVE YOU TREE! I THINK WE SHOULD GET MARRIED!. . . ."
There was a HUGE tree outside South mess hall, to the right of the steps at the front entrance. Big enough a full grown man's hands were several feet from each other when he wrapped his arms around the trunk. This Recruit was showing us how much he loved the tree (again, on orders) by standing there hugging it and calling out the above phrase until he was told to stop. I would bet a small number of dollars that he had to stand there the entire time the rest of his division was inside eating lunch. Gotta love the Navy Way sometimes.
Revisiting The High Standard
If he wrote about it before I did I suppose I must say I agree with the Colonel, otherwise he would be agreeing with me 
This also might help to explain why I tend to be a generally happy person.
In July 2004, Col. Cooper wrote:
This also might help to explain why I tend to be a generally happy person.In July 2004, Col. Cooper wrote:
The pursuit of excellence has long been our guiding principle, both professionally and personally. Since happiness is the byproduct of accomplishment, the search for excellence in both major and minor things is the key to happiness.
And this presents a social problem. If you do things well in the classroom, on the playing field or on the battlefield, you will be doing things better than some of those around you. This tends to frost the majority. You know this and the majority knows this. This makes you unpopular - "stuck up" is the term we used to use in school. This may or may not make you an "elitist," depending upon whether you flaunt it or attempt to discredit it. Modesty is a pleasant social attribute, but when overdone it can be rather silly. When a soldier is awarded his medal of honor or when a prima donna minimizes her extra bow, it is fatuous for him or her to pretend that what was accomplished was trivial. Excellence is not trivial. Excellence may be "elitist," as the Countess suggests. It may not be achieved by everyone, but it may be striven for by everyone, successfully or otherwise. In teaching so-called "Senior Problems" in high school, I used to present Kipling's great poetic exhortation "If." I remember a student approaching me after class one day complaining that the standards set forth in the verse were just too high for reasonable aspiration. My response was that while in truth the standards set forth might be unachievable, they were not unapproachable. All of us may not meet that standard, but every one of us can try to meet that standard, and ought to do so.
Economic Emergency! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!1!
The radio says that municipal governments are trying to get higher-level governments to declare states of emergency. . .
. . . over the financial crisis generated in their jurisdictions . . .
. . . because their economy was based on construction which has collapsed due to the Depression . . .
. . . so not it is your responsibility to give them more money instead of their responsibility to spend less money?
"No."
. . . over the financial crisis generated in their jurisdictions . . .
. . . because their economy was based on construction which has collapsed due to the Depression . . .
. . . so not it is your responsibility to give them more money instead of their responsibility to spend less money?
"No."
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
2nd Amendment Incorporation: It's About Time!
First sighted at Say Uncle (and then everywhere else).
The second amendment is incorporated into the 14th amendment, via the due process clause. By the 9th circuit court, no less. Then, being the 9th circuit they went ahead and said cities can limit gun posession on a fairground for the same reason they can limit them in schools & other "sensitive places" (from the Heller decision).
The opinion is worth a read if you want to have an answer to the "collective rights" interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. All emphases are mine, and links are inserted by me. Full text can be read/downloaded here.
Footnote 18 says:
Huh! They must have run out of weed long enough to be clear-headed during the writing of the first part of the decision. Then, of course, they scored some Maui Wowie and got right back to being the Ninth Circus:
and
You win some, you lose some. Sometimes in the same case. So now the defendants have lost and they (not the county) get to say when and how appeals are filed, and how far the case is pushed. This is hypothetically Good for us. It is possible that the supreme Court might overturn the verdict on appeal, but I give that only 60/40 odds. I do hope, now that SOMEBODY had the balls to raise the issue and standing was found, the supremes will hand down a once-and-for-all incorporation of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms under the 14th Amendment for the whole country.
We'll see. Start praying now.
The second amendment is incorporated into the 14th amendment, via the due process clause. By the 9th circuit court, no less. Then, being the 9th circuit they went ahead and said cities can limit gun posession on a fairground for the same reason they can limit them in schools & other "sensitive places" (from the Heller decision).
The opinion is worth a read if you want to have an answer to the "collective rights" interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. All emphases are mine, and links are inserted by me. Full text can be read/downloaded here.
We therefore conclude that the right to keep and bear arms is “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Colonial revolutionaries, the Founders, and a host of commentators and lawmakers living during the first one hundred years of the Republic all insisted on the fundamental nature of the right. It has long been regarded as the “true palladium of liberty.” Colonists relied on it to assert and to win their independence, and the victorious Union sought to prevent a recalcitrant South from abridging it less than a century later. The crucial role this deeply rooted right has played in our birth and history compels us to recognize that it is indeed fundamental, that it is necessary to the Anglo-American conception of ordered liberty that we have inherited. We are therefore persuaded that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment and applies it against the states and local governments
Footnote 18 says:
The County and its amici point out that, however universal its earlier support, the right to keep and bear arms has now become controversial. See generally Sanford Levinson, The Embarrassing Second Amendment, 99 Yale L.J. 637 (1989). But we do not measure the protection the Constitution affords a right by the values of our own times. If contemporary desuetude sufficed to read rights out of the Constitution, then there would be little benefit to a written statement of them. Some may disagree with the decision of the Founders to enshrine a given right in the Constitution. If so, then the people can amend the document. But such amendments are not for the courts to ordain.
Huh! They must have run out of weed long enough to be clear-headed during the writing of the first part of the decision. Then, of course, they scored some Maui Wowie and got right back to being the Ninth Circus:
If we apply these principles here, we conclude that although the Second Amendment, applied through the Due Process Clause, protects a right to keep and bear arms for individual self-defense, it does not contain an entitlement to bring guns onto government property.
and
Although Heller does not provide much guidance, the open, public spaces the County’s Ordinance covers fit comfortably within the same category as schools and government buildings.
You win some, you lose some. Sometimes in the same case. So now the defendants have lost and they (not the county) get to say when and how appeals are filed, and how far the case is pushed. This is hypothetically Good for us. It is possible that the supreme Court might overturn the verdict on appeal, but I give that only 60/40 odds. I do hope, now that SOMEBODY had the balls to raise the issue and standing was found, the supremes will hand down a once-and-for-all incorporation of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms under the 14th Amendment for the whole country.
We'll see. Start praying now.
BAG Day 2009 (Late Edition)
I managed to find a Smith & Wesson 619A for a price that was essentially a token, so it would be a sale and not a gift, because the previous owner wanted it to go to a Good Home. It came to me the week after Buy A Gun Day, and I learned of its existence because of BAG day discussions so I say it counts for a BAG day purchase, especially if we give Tam credit for her early BAG Day gun. 
Sure it's a 619A and they have their reputation, but this one works. The seller claims to have had no problems in 200 or so rounds - and before it was his, it was a police gun. It hadn't been cleaned in *mumblemumble* years but I gave it a quick clean/lube and it cycles smooooooth now. Ejection of a shell casing is VERY positive with a full magazine. I like the short barrel, I like the wood, I like the big Smith crest on the side. And for the price, I even like a 619A.
I think I have a new trunk gun.
Sure it's a 619A and they have their reputation, but this one works. The seller claims to have had no problems in 200 or so rounds - and before it was his, it was a police gun. It hadn't been cleaned in *mumblemumble* years but I gave it a quick clean/lube and it cycles smooooooth now. Ejection of a shell casing is VERY positive with a full magazine. I like the short barrel, I like the wood, I like the big Smith crest on the side. And for the price, I even like a 619A.
I think I have a new trunk gun.
Monday, April 20, 2009
More Bad Drivers In Austin
If you thought I was cherry-picking the bad examples, you are sadly mistaken. I took some more shots on the way home that day and caught a few fine examples of UT Team Spirit in action.
The white stripes on the road are 10 feet apart. You do the math.
The examples of [deleted]ty driving including this particular [delted] in the white Ford Explorer. I don't think it was O.J. . . .
Notice the empty #3 lane (slow lane on the right). Then notice that this joker is going full highway speed, in the rain, on a wet street, in an old truck with brakes that probably don't stop very well. This is what he did: He zoomed up behind the white mitsubishi sedan, and finally figured out that wasn't going to make the mitsu's driver speed up or move over. Then he went to follow the red Jeep within 10-20 feet also. When that didn't work, and it looked like the Mitsubishi was speeding up, he cut back over to the #1 lane (no turn signal of course). Finally, notice the lights on the back of the jeep. The driver of the white Explorer cut off the jeep within what looked like single-digits of feet of his bumper, and the Jeep driver had to brake.
This is a common occurrence in Central Texas highway driving. Once again, note that all the Explorer driver had to do was go to the #3 lane to pass them both, even at the much greater speed at which he surely wanted to be traveling.
And they do it rain or shine! Note we have all lanes of traffic going 60MPH and all the roadway excepting the space immediately in front of me is full of cars following at unsafe distances from each other. Then we have a couple of shots on the way to work this morning (lovely weather thank God). This is a car, tailgating a semi, and the semi tailgating a truck, tailgaiting a car, tailgating a truck! Just amazing.
My Darling Wife raised a concern of legality posting these pictures. This is on public roads, so I'm not too worried, especially with the low resolution of these images. She also mentioned a concern for my safety. You don't know how many pictures I discarded (the preponderance, at least) because I had the camera on automatic point/click mode. Also, these pictures are zoomed way in. The angles are severe because I was well behind the car in front of me, always, during these shoots. The camera was typically held in one hand that was also resting on the steering wheel, and the other hand held the wheel in a firm grip. Furthermore, I am such a driving superhero that I could do this while shaving, putting on mascara, and eating a pizza simultaneously, so I didn't feel like I was taking any extra risk with 3 minutes of camera time. Yes 3 minutes. It doesn't take long in Austin to see this sort of bad driving.
The white stripes on the road are 10 feet apart. You do the math.
The examples of [deleted]ty driving including this particular [delted] in the white Ford Explorer. I don't think it was O.J. . . .
Notice the empty #3 lane (slow lane on the right). Then notice that this joker is going full highway speed, in the rain, on a wet street, in an old truck with brakes that probably don't stop very well. This is what he did: He zoomed up behind the white mitsubishi sedan, and finally figured out that wasn't going to make the mitsu's driver speed up or move over. Then he went to follow the red Jeep within 10-20 feet also. When that didn't work, and it looked like the Mitsubishi was speeding up, he cut back over to the #1 lane (no turn signal of course). Finally, notice the lights on the back of the jeep. The driver of the white Explorer cut off the jeep within what looked like single-digits of feet of his bumper, and the Jeep driver had to brake.
This is a common occurrence in Central Texas highway driving. Once again, note that all the Explorer driver had to do was go to the #3 lane to pass them both, even at the much greater speed at which he surely wanted to be traveling.
And they do it rain or shine! Note we have all lanes of traffic going 60MPH and all the roadway excepting the space immediately in front of me is full of cars following at unsafe distances from each other. Then we have a couple of shots on the way to work this morning (lovely weather thank God). This is a car, tailgating a semi, and the semi tailgating a truck, tailgaiting a car, tailgating a truck! Just amazing.
My Darling Wife raised a concern of legality posting these pictures. This is on public roads, so I'm not too worried, especially with the low resolution of these images. She also mentioned a concern for my safety. You don't know how many pictures I discarded (the preponderance, at least) because I had the camera on automatic point/click mode. Also, these pictures are zoomed way in. The angles are severe because I was well behind the car in front of me, always, during these shoots. The camera was typically held in one hand that was also resting on the steering wheel, and the other hand held the wheel in a firm grip. Furthermore, I am such a driving superhero that I could do this while shaving, putting on mascara, and eating a pizza simultaneously, so I didn't feel like I was taking any extra risk with 3 minutes of camera time. Yes 3 minutes. It doesn't take long in Austin to see this sort of bad driving.
Shotgun Pellets/Shot From A Slug Barrel
Two words: Don't.
Carteach0 once again delivers the goods with a test you always wished someone would do. Well he did it, and took pictures.
Summary: the rifling does indeed send shot flying all over the place. It might be good if you got up in the middle of a flock of birds, but not so much if you wanted to hit one in particular. Possibly good for crowd dispersal from a distance great enough to inflict pain and minor injury without killing theuseful idiots people in the crowd.
. . . not that you would ever need to do such a thing. But, you know, if you did. . . .
(besides which, you would still have a rifled "slug barrel" for when you had to take out oneperson deer with a high degree of "do it hard"-ness.
Carteach0 once again delivers the goods with a test you always wished someone would do. Well he did it, and took pictures.
Summary: the rifling does indeed send shot flying all over the place. It might be good if you got up in the middle of a flock of birds, but not so much if you wanted to hit one in particular. Possibly good for crowd dispersal from a distance great enough to inflict pain and minor injury without killing the
. . . not that you would ever need to do such a thing. But, you know, if you did. . . .
(besides which, you would still have a rifled "slug barrel" for when you had to take out one
Columbine School Shooting Anniversary
Moral of the story & lesson learned: don't put your small children on brain-altering drugs because they are having problems in school. You might try actually interacting with them personally, instead.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Wall Street Investors Are Begging For It.
. . . "it" of course being drastic losses of confidence and capital.
When Wells Fargo recently announced record profits, I was reminded of a quip I read recently, to the effect that I earned 10 Billion dollars last year, unless you count the 10 Billion dollars I didn't earn.
I call "Shenanigans."
If you think trusting the press release and putting your money into Wells Fargo stock that day was a great idea, you may want to read This piece by Jonathan Weil at bloomberg.com.
This is going to be ugly when it all finally shakes out, as it must eventually. Remember that commercial real estate is still in the beginning stages of a huge bubble bursting like we just had in residential real estate (that led to the current Depression). You think losing on a loan for a $400,000 house is bad for a bank? How about a 3 Billion dollar mall that will never open and you can't sell the half-finished remains?
Oh, and credit card companies are standing by to lose around a Trillion dollars as well.
When Wells Fargo recently announced record profits, I was reminded of a quip I read recently, to the effect that I earned 10 Billion dollars last year, unless you count the 10 Billion dollars I didn't earn.
I call "Shenanigans."
If you think trusting the press release and putting your money into Wells Fargo stock that day was a great idea, you may want to read This piece by Jonathan Weil at bloomberg.com.
This is going to be ugly when it all finally shakes out, as it must eventually. Remember that commercial real estate is still in the beginning stages of a huge bubble bursting like we just had in residential real estate (that led to the current Depression). You think losing on a loan for a $400,000 house is bad for a bank? How about a 3 Billion dollar mall that will never open and you can't sell the half-finished remains?
Oh, and credit card companies are standing by to lose around a Trillion dollars as well.
Baby's Hand Trapped In The Refrigerator Door!
(about 1/2 hour after #1 made herself a bowl of cereal)
VFD: #1, Milk goes bad when it's left out of the refrigerator
#1 puts the milk back in the reefer as I get the cereal I want from the pantry
The refrigerator door closes, and I opened it again to get the milk. I poured some into my bowl of cereal and #3 grabbed a yogurt off the top shelf
VFD: #3, put it back.
#3 considers his order
#3 puts yogurt on bottom shelf in the refrigerator
VFD: That's right put it back
#3 considers his goal
#3 looks at yogurt, then at shelves
#3 puts yogurt on top shelf
VFD: Good boy, now clear the refrigerator! (pushes on baby's forehead) Back back back back!
#3 backs out of the refrigerator and I turn around
#3: mm! uh! im! ah! UH! UH! UH!
My Darling Wife and I turned around and saw that #3 was just slow enough on his extraction to allow his little thumb on one hand to get caught in the magnetic latch/seal around the refrigerator door. It doesn't close hard but it holds fast, and he was freaked out. My Darling Wife swept in for the rescue and he cried for a second because he was scared by the fridge not turning loose of him.
That's life, son, and be glad you had a rapid reaction force on standby.
My Darling Wife and I turned around and saw that #3 was just slow enough on his extraction to allow his little thumb on one hand to get caught in the magnetic latch/seal around the refrigerator door. It doesn't close hard but it holds fast, and he was freaked out. My Darling Wife swept in for the rescue and he cried for a second because he was scared by the fridge not turning loose of him.
That's life, son, and be glad you had a rapid reaction force on standby.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Did You Call Or Write Your Elected Heroes Yet?
Below is the text of the message I sent to the President, Both my Senators and my Congressman.
********
DHS Rightwing Extremism Report Is An Outrage!
Dear (insert your Elected Hero's name here),
Regarding the recently released, libelous and highly offensive report from the Department of Homeland Security Entitled Rightwing Extremism: (etc.). The Secretary of DHS has said the report didn't go through proper channels before it was released. It should never have been released.
Why then was she on all the daytime talk shows defending the report? Because she wanted me to email you and say you should demand her resignation. So as a favor to her, and the country, I am. Please do.
Thanks,
(signed)
********
DHS Rightwing Extremism Report Is An Outrage!
Dear (insert your Elected Hero's name here),
Regarding the recently released, libelous and highly offensive report from the Department of Homeland Security Entitled Rightwing Extremism: (etc.). The Secretary of DHS has said the report didn't go through proper channels before it was released. It should never have been released.
Why then was she on all the daytime talk shows defending the report? Because she wanted me to email you and say you should demand her resignation. So as a favor to her, and the country, I am. Please do.
Thanks,
(signed)
Hydrogen Peroxide As A Cold Preventative
My #3 child has come down with cold symptoms on top of teething pain. Last night he was . . . grumpy. A few minutes later, he was happy and playing again. What's the difference? Hydrogen peroxide in each ear for a minute or two. He started to get cranky again a couple of hours later and we repeated the treatment/attitude improvement routine again.
Last night on the way home from work, my left eustachian tube was closing up, and it was starting to hurt. I could feel that there was some funk trying to get a foothold in my ear. (wait a minute. . .)
I put some peroxide in my ears. This is after several minutes of pretty dramatic bubbling had already taken place, and #2 figured out how to take a picture with my camera:
Those bubbles are the signs of the deaths of a whole bunch of unfriendly things that were trying to make me sick via my left ear. I repeated the procedure this morning but there wasn't much bubbling so I knocked off after a minute. Then today at lunch time I felt my tube closing up again and I sloshed about 1/2cc of H2O2 in there. It's bubbling away as I type with my head held horizontal, and already I can feel the eustachian tube has opened up again.
Thank God for Hydrogen Peroxide.
Use the 3% stuff in a brown bottle from the store. 10% is bleach and 30% is just plain hazardous. Put the peroxide in a syringe if you have one, and hold it in your hand for a couple of minutes. Failure to bring it up to something like body temperature (room temp. from the bottle) makes it feel like you put ice in your ear when you apply the stuff.
Oh, and be careful when you go to stand up again. Walking with your head held horizontal is surprisingly difficult to do well, and when you set your head up straight vertical, dizziness is not uncommon (it goes away in a few moments).
Last night on the way home from work, my left eustachian tube was closing up, and it was starting to hurt. I could feel that there was some funk trying to get a foothold in my ear. (wait a minute. . .)
I put some peroxide in my ears. This is after several minutes of pretty dramatic bubbling had already taken place, and #2 figured out how to take a picture with my camera:
Those bubbles are the signs of the deaths of a whole bunch of unfriendly things that were trying to make me sick via my left ear. I repeated the procedure this morning but there wasn't much bubbling so I knocked off after a minute. Then today at lunch time I felt my tube closing up again and I sloshed about 1/2cc of H2O2 in there. It's bubbling away as I type with my head held horizontal, and already I can feel the eustachian tube has opened up again.
Thank God for Hydrogen Peroxide.
Use the 3% stuff in a brown bottle from the store. 10% is bleach and 30% is just plain hazardous. Put the peroxide in a syringe if you have one, and hold it in your hand for a couple of minutes. Failure to bring it up to something like body temperature (room temp. from the bottle) makes it feel like you put ice in your ear when you apply the stuff.
Oh, and be careful when you go to stand up again. Walking with your head held horizontal is surprisingly difficult to do well, and when you set your head up straight vertical, dizziness is not uncommon (it goes away in a few moments).
Thoughts On A Christian Army
It would be a constant source of blessing to be in an army that was from a country that was, and in an army that was full of men who were, intentionally, avowedly, devotedly, Christian.
Can you imagine double-timing to a field exercise, with a hundred boots coming down in exact rythym, and the cadence is called out:
and then a reminder that even 6'7" 320lbs bulletproof bricks of men should, with rifles, ammunition, and 80lbs of other equipment on their backs as they run, sing out proudly:
********
In combat, you would know you had a decisive advantage (like the founders of our country did) and if one of your men bought it, you would know he had gone to Heaven. A non-Christian won't understand, but that alone is a huge comfort.
Can you imagine double-timing to a field exercise, with a hundred boots coming down in exact rythym, and the cadence is called out:
Je-sus-loves-me-this-I-know
and the men echoing
Je-sus-loves-me-this-I-know
For-the-bi-ble-tells-me-so
(echo) For-the-bi-ble-tells-me-so
Lit-tle-ones-to-him-be-long
(echo)Lit-tle-ones-to-him-be-long
and then a reminder that even 6'7" 320lbs bulletproof bricks of men should, with rifles, ammunition, and 80lbs of other equipment on their backs as they run, sing out proudly:
I-am-weak-but-heis-strong
I-am-weak-but-heis-strong
********
In combat, you would know you had a decisive advantage (like the founders of our country did) and if one of your men bought it, you would know he had gone to Heaven. A non-Christian won't understand, but that alone is a huge comfort.
Austin Drivers Tailgate Too Much.
You think I was kidding about Austin drivers?
Today it is raining buckets and STILL they tailgate each other. Dig it: all these were with traffic going 65-ish miles/hour. The red lights are running lights, not brake lights.
Today it is raining buckets and STILL they tailgate each other. Dig it: all these were with traffic going 65-ish miles/hour. The red lights are running lights, not brake lights.
Oh Well Nevermind Then.
I'm sure that's what the Secretary of Homeland Defense wishes you would say. You remember of course that she was making the rounds of the daytime TV shows defending her agency's libelous smear job threat assessment report as a routine, perfectly-fine thing. Then today we find out that, in a move that is so much like the Missouri report you have to check the headline twice, the DHS report didn't make it all the way through the approvals process before being released. The civil rights people had some issues with the language, but it was rushed out. . . for the crisis. . . of Tea Party day.
Sorry, she needs to resign or be forced out. The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get. I'm calling my Elected Heroes today to voice mywhite hate ire.
Sorry, she needs to resign or be forced out. The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get. I'm calling my Elected Heroes today to voice my
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A Joke About Austin Drivers
Drivers in Central Texas are TERRIBLE about tailgating. I mean, in the space that should be between two cars on the highway, there are 5 cars instead of empty air. Literally. It is not uncommon to see people following within single-digits of feet at 70MPH.
I counted; between where I get on IH-35 after church, to where I get off (about 10 miles) there were THIRTY THREE places where tiremarks told on someone who had either spun out or braked across multiple lanes of traffic. It would have been more than double that if I counted places where tire marks told me a panic stop had taken place.
********
The joke? Oh, sorry.
The reason people in Austin tailgate so much is because there is an enthusiastic following for the UT Longhorns Football program. They like having parties in the parking lot before the games. They like them so much they try to do it all the time:
TAILGATING!
********
ok, not funny I know. Unless you say it to someone in the car in Austin right after you saw some dumbassery on the highway involving tailgating.
I counted; between where I get on IH-35 after church, to where I get off (about 10 miles) there were THIRTY THREE places where tiremarks told on someone who had either spun out or braked across multiple lanes of traffic. It would have been more than double that if I counted places where tire marks told me a panic stop had taken place.
********
The joke? Oh, sorry.
The reason people in Austin tailgate so much is because there is an enthusiastic following for the UT Longhorns Football program. They like having parties in the parking lot before the games. They like them so much they try to do it all the time:
TAILGATING!
********
ok, not funny I know. Unless you say it to someone in the car in Austin right after you saw some dumbassery on the highway involving tailgating.
If You Drive Like This, You STINK!
If you are coming out from a driveway, to drive 100 yards down the road, and go into another driveway . . .
And there is traffic coming, with a little break between cars that you might be able to get into if they slow WAY down when you go onto the street . . .
And there is NOBODY behind the last oncoming car for a mile or so . . .
AND you pull out into traffic and force someone to slow down or crash into the back of your car. . .
Do you really want your truck to look like this?
(image from http://www.conroetxlaw.com/AreasOfInterest.htm)
Consider what happens to the driver when this happens:
(image from http://www.ehow.com/how_4874857_avoid-car-accidents.html)
You STINK at driving. Be more respectful!
And there is traffic coming, with a little break between cars that you might be able to get into if they slow WAY down when you go onto the street . . .
And there is NOBODY behind the last oncoming car for a mile or so . . .
AND you pull out into traffic and force someone to slow down or crash into the back of your car. . .
Do you really want your truck to look like this?
(image from http://www.conroetxlaw.com/AreasOfInterest.htm)
Consider what happens to the driver when this happens:
(image from http://www.ehow.com/how_4874857_avoid-car-accidents.html)
You STINK at driving. Be more respectful!
Tin Foil Hat Discussion: Economic Disaster Designed To Get Obama In
Prologue: the current economic disaster was caused by people who did not know what they were doing, micromanaging markets best left alone. If you don't believe me, you obviously don't know what I'm talking about. Go read the old articles at Michael Shedlock's Global Economic Analysis blog.
Further, it is true that Republicans raise money from individual contributions much more than from big company/millionaire donations, and Democrats get more millionaires and fewer individuals to support their campaigns (by a pretty good margin). Also, Barry did get around 500,000,000 dollars into his campaign for hopechange.
********
The current economic downturn is a result of "Their" attempts to get President Obama eleted!
"They" knew that if the stupid plebes in flyover country had any spare money, they would BLOW it on Republican pig campaigns for elected office, so they had to take the people's disposable income! How? By causing the economy to collapse! The rich Democrat donors are still rich, but the poor who would have given to the Repub's couldn't because GASOLINE was $5 per gallon! Brilliant! Half-a-BILLION Dollars to Obama's campaign for the win!
BWAHAHA!
Further, it is true that Republicans raise money from individual contributions much more than from big company/millionaire donations, and Democrats get more millionaires and fewer individuals to support their campaigns (by a pretty good margin). Also, Barry did get around 500,000,000 dollars into his campaign for hopechange.
********
The current economic downturn is a result of "Their" attempts to get President Obama eleted!
"They" knew that if the stupid plebes in flyover country had any spare money, they would BLOW it on Republican pig campaigns for elected office, so they had to take the people's disposable income! How? By causing the economy to collapse! The rich Democrat donors are still rich, but the poor who would have given to the Repub's couldn't because GASOLINE was $5 per gallon! Brilliant! Half-a-BILLION Dollars to Obama's campaign for the win!
BWAHAHA!
Madness @ Work
One of the men needed a pencil for marking on something here at work. He went to ask the girl at the front desk if she had a pencil. Seeing as she was on the phone, he turned around to go look elsewhere. New Manager was standing there, however, and he said, "What?"
So my man explains the need for a pencil. Three minutes later (not kidding) he gathers that NM does not know where any pencils are.
::later::
Our intrepid worker is now at his desk again, and NM comes around to give him a tip: "If you do use a pencil to mark on that stuff, make sure it's HB."
That is, NM took time out of his "busy" schedule to tell one of the people that doesn't work under his management, what type of pencil to use to write with. And he used wonky non-standard terminology (you'll recognise HB pencils as #2) to do it.
::Keep this on the down-low::
I gave him a pencil and didn't even check what kind of lead it has.
So my man explains the need for a pencil. Three minutes later (not kidding) he gathers that NM does not know where any pencils are.
::later::
Our intrepid worker is now at his desk again, and NM comes around to give him a tip: "If you do use a pencil to mark on that stuff, make sure it's HB."
That is, NM took time out of his "busy" schedule to tell one of the people that doesn't work under his management, what type of pencil to use to write with. And he used wonky non-standard terminology (you'll recognise HB pencils as #2) to do it.
::Keep this on the down-low::
I gave him a pencil and didn't even check what kind of lead it has.
Phrase of The Day: McClusky's Turn
I quote Colonel Cooper's description of the concept:
"If you do not know about McClusky's Turn, you should. When Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, leading 32 SBD's, turned left instead of right on his approach to the Japanese fleet at Midway, his decision determined the outcome of the battle, and thus the outcome of the war in the Pacific. If you ever make a chance decision which results in overwhelming triumph, you have made a McClusky Turn."
"If you do not know about McClusky's Turn, you should. When Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, leading 32 SBD's, turned left instead of right on his approach to the Japanese fleet at Midway, his decision determined the outcome of the battle, and thus the outcome of the war in the Pacific. If you ever make a chance decision which results in overwhelming triumph, you have made a McClusky Turn."
BAG Day: Bubkis
That's what I got.
I did get a commitment to a payment plan from the guy with a shotgun at work. He say: "you pay me, I'll give it to you" which is about what I expected.
The good news is, another co-worker told me he has a shotgun looking for a good home too. He seemed to think that it being older than me was a problem, but I reminded him that myhigh power sniper deer rifle is at least twice as old as that, possibly 3x, and it shoots fine.
We'll see, folks, we'll see.
********
In other news, since apparently Buy a Gun Day is also the deadline to bow before the IRS, and as some don't care fore bowing, they staged protests. Typical of conservatives in large numbers, nobody got all stabby or rioty. In the news coverage that followed, I noted a nasty trend: what's up with the crazies on the left wanting us dead? We only want their minds right or at least their hands off our wallets!
I did get a commitment to a payment plan from the guy with a shotgun at work. He say: "you pay me, I'll give it to you" which is about what I expected.
The good news is, another co-worker told me he has a shotgun looking for a good home too. He seemed to think that it being older than me was a problem, but I reminded him that my
We'll see, folks, we'll see.
********
In other news, since apparently Buy a Gun Day is also the deadline to bow before the IRS, and as some don't care fore bowing, they staged protests. Typical of conservatives in large numbers, nobody got all stabby or rioty. In the news coverage that followed, I noted a nasty trend: what's up with the crazies on the left wanting us dead? We only want their minds right or at least their hands off our wallets!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
You May Be A RightWing Extremist If...
If you don't follow any of the links below, at least read this.
You perhaps heard about the Missouri bulletin telling its Protect & Serve types to look out for, oh, say, Ron Paul supporters, because they might be violent right wing extremists. That was retracted within a week or two due largely to outrage on the blogosphere. Supposedly it hadn't gone all the way up the chain of command for approval.
Well if you thought that was an isolated beaurocrat's opinion you were wrong. By now you may have also heard of the same sentiments being expressed by the Department of Homeland Security in a report titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." that report basically says "if you are a traditional conservative, you just might be a potential enemy of the State". Michelle Malkin has the report in .pdf form and she spent some time trying to find out if it was real. Her sources say It's real. If you trust Roger Hedgecock and WorldNetDaily, read his take on it at worldnetdaily.com.
You might be a terrorist if you don't like the new President's agenda, including on immigration/citizenship, the exporting of jobs overseas, expanded socialist handout programs, and restrictions on firearms. If you think it's a bad economy, and if you think it would be a good idea to have a stockpile of food, weapons and ammunition, you might be in an eeeEEEEeeevil right wing extremist militia. If you are a returning war veteran you're automatically lumped in there as a danger.
I read the whole thing (why not, it's only 9 pages) and I note a heavy emphasis on the "first African American President" line. Here let me hold up my mirror. Do you see a racist? I also note a repeated reference to the potential for stirring up the extremists if the government were to try to ban guns again. The solution to this threat would seem obvious, unless banning guns in private hands were one of your goals.
A good summary of the attitude behind this sort of thing coming from the government of the "freest country in the world" can be found in the last two paragraphs of More Political Persectution from TriggerFinger.
Hat tip to: Frikken Everybody
********
In related news: to the DHS flunky who may be reading this: Hi there and have a great day. I'm sure if you look around at my older posts you'll find ample reason to put me on your list. Fly More Flags has a message for you:
You perhaps heard about the Missouri bulletin telling its Protect & Serve types to look out for, oh, say, Ron Paul supporters, because they might be violent right wing extremists. That was retracted within a week or two due largely to outrage on the blogosphere. Supposedly it hadn't gone all the way up the chain of command for approval.
Well if you thought that was an isolated beaurocrat's opinion you were wrong. By now you may have also heard of the same sentiments being expressed by the Department of Homeland Security in a report titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." that report basically says "if you are a traditional conservative, you just might be a potential enemy of the State". Michelle Malkin has the report in .pdf form and she spent some time trying to find out if it was real. Her sources say It's real. If you trust Roger Hedgecock and WorldNetDaily, read his take on it at worldnetdaily.com.
You might be a terrorist if you don't like the new President's agenda, including on immigration/citizenship, the exporting of jobs overseas, expanded socialist handout programs, and restrictions on firearms. If you think it's a bad economy, and if you think it would be a good idea to have a stockpile of food, weapons and ammunition, you might be in an eeeEEEEeeevil right wing extremist militia. If you are a returning war veteran you're automatically lumped in there as a danger.
I read the whole thing (why not, it's only 9 pages) and I note a heavy emphasis on the "first African American President" line. Here let me hold up my mirror. Do you see a racist? I also note a repeated reference to the potential for stirring up the extremists if the government were to try to ban guns again. The solution to this threat would seem obvious, unless banning guns in private hands were one of your goals.
A good summary of the attitude behind this sort of thing coming from the government of the "freest country in the world" can be found in the last two paragraphs of More Political Persectution from TriggerFinger.
Hat tip to: Frikken Everybody
********
In related news: to the DHS flunky who may be reading this: Hi there and have a great day. I'm sure if you look around at my older posts you'll find ample reason to put me on your list. Fly More Flags has a message for you:
Too Broke On Buy A Gun Day!
Holy [deleted] I almost forgot it's Buy A Gun Day!
Well thanks to God anyhow, because we had more than enough money from our income taxhandout return check to cover all the things we needed this last month.
If I hadn't needed to buy ammo for the Schutzenfest, an alternator for my car, a water heater, and schoolbooks for the kids (listed in reverse order of expense) then I would've had the cash for a shotty from one of the boys here at work. I'll see if I can't nail him down on a payment plan. Dangit being broke stinks!
(that's what you get when you spend more money than you make - eventually you spend all your disposable income on Principle and Interest payments. The US is finding this as inconvenient as I am, except that Uncle Sugar can print more $ and I can't)
Well thanks to God anyhow, because we had more than enough money from our income tax
If I hadn't needed to buy ammo for the Schutzenfest, an alternator for my car, a water heater, and schoolbooks for the kids (listed in reverse order of expense) then I would've had the cash for a shotty from one of the boys here at work. I'll see if I can't nail him down on a payment plan. Dangit being broke stinks!
(that's what you get when you spend more money than you make - eventually you spend all your disposable income on Principle and Interest payments. The US is finding this as inconvenient as I am, except that Uncle Sugar can print more $ and I can't)
For Those Who Think This Recession Isn't All That Bad:
You are obviously not taking the time to pay attention. So here are some pretty graphs for you to look at. Worse than the Great Depression.
part of the View From The Front Porch
part of the View From The Front Porch
DIY Kydex & Leather IWB Holster
I'm still recovering from feeling like poo last night, so go see what it looks like when a Kydex & leather holster is done by a DIY'er the right way.
Thanks to Uncle for the link
Thanks to Uncle for the link
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Since Col. Cooper Has Passed On
. . . someone should say it every once in a while. He certainly made it a point not to let the faithful forget it.
"We deem it necessary once in a while to remind people that O.J. Simpson and Lon Horiuchi are still wandering around loose and that we do not know now who killed Vince Foster, nor will we ever."
"We deem it necessary once in a while to remind people that O.J. Simpson and Lon Horiuchi are still wandering around loose and that we do not know now who killed Vince Foster, nor will we ever."
Up Late. No Content. Or Initiative. Or Desire To Be Awake.
Go read an example of why multiculturalism is bad at moonbattery.com instead of forcing me to think overmuch.
Friends, President Roosevelt (the good one, not the later, socialist one) was very clear in his rejection of the idea that hyphenated Americans were good Americans. Culture is one of the main pillars of any society*. If you want a nation to fail, undermine its culture by encouraging people to immigrate without joining the culture of the nation to which they are coming.
*Borders, Language, Culture. These define a nation. Fortunately, in the USA we are staunch advocates of maintaining all three no matter what. Oh, wait...
Friends, President Roosevelt (the good one, not the later, socialist one) was very clear in his rejection of the idea that hyphenated Americans were good Americans. Culture is one of the main pillars of any society*. If you want a nation to fail, undermine its culture by encouraging people to immigrate without joining the culture of the nation to which they are coming.
*Borders, Language, Culture. These define a nation. Fortunately, in the USA we are staunch advocates of maintaining all three no matter what. Oh, wait...
Monday, April 13, 2009
Take Your Cod Liver Oil!
If you think some of my blog postings are long, you should read this article on Vitamin A.
I have been doing some research into nutrition and this has just about taken a prybar to my wallet . . . I don't care for liver, so it looks like cod liver oil is going to become a staple of my diet. Along with some more time outside to collect Vitamin D.
I have been doing some research into nutrition and this has just about taken a prybar to my wallet . . . I don't care for liver, so it looks like cod liver oil is going to become a staple of my diet. Along with some more time outside to collect Vitamin D.
First Principles: The Rights To Life and Property
Prologue:
First, let us get one thing straight: rights belong to people only, and are against other people, organizations, and governmental entities. The only natural and just limit on your rights are the rights of other people. If you begin to violate my rights, you have overstepped the just exercise of your rights. Governments and corporations have no rights of their own. They may be granted privileges, and they may receive special legal standing, but these are not rights.
Rights belong only to people, and they are both inherent and immutable. A man may give up the exercise of his rights, but he cannot give up his rights. The alternatives may be grim indeed, but no one can force a person not convicted of any crime to abandon his rights.
********
Your life is not your own, but it belongs to God. Genesis teaches us that man only came to life when God put his breath into man. The state and a corporation did not give you life. Unless you waive it, you have to the right to be the sole caretaker of your own life. You may live under a tyrant whose regime takes your life but has no right to it. You may commit a crime so severe that the law states you must be killed for it, but that crime you committed was voluntary.
You are the only one with a right to say whether you live or die.
If you have not been born yet, that does not give your mother the right to kill you. If you are inconvenient to her, she should have kept her legs crossed. If your existence causes her mental anguish because of the conditions of your conception or the identity of your sperm donor, she does not have the right to kill you, any more than a neo-nazi has a right to kill a jew whose mere existence offends the neo-nazi. In extremely rare instances, a child being borne to term would pose a hazard to the continued life of the mother. In such a case, with prayer and much consideration, that woman and she alone has the right to choose whose life will persist.
If you are deathly ill and your life is only extended by the intervention of doctors with machines and medications without which you would surely die, and you demand the removal of the intervention, that is not suicide. That is allowing nature to take its course. The State, your family, and your doctor, have no right to prevent your allowing yourself to die. Cutting your own life short is another matter. If you would live even a day longer, you should not take your own life. Your doctor says you have 2 months to live, and those months will be painful? Get a prescription from a pain management doctor and live out the life that was given to you (and is, remember, not your own).
If you have made it through that, you may find the rest of my arguments easier to agree with, so keep reading.
The right to life is fundamental to your other rights. Because you have a right to life, you also have a derivative right to sustain your life by whatever means you can find, so long as your means do not infringe on the rights of others. That means you have a right to work at a job for which you are qualified as long as your employer is willing to give you the job. When you go to work, you have the right to enforce your employment agreement against your employer and demand the wages which are your due. Another way to say it is, you have a right to wages you have legitimately earned for yourself.
Compensation at a job these days mostly means some form of currency (dollars) are given to you in consideration of your having given an employer your time and/or services. To rephrase the foregoing, you have a right to trade hours out of your lifespan for money. Those hours were yours to trade because your life is yours to care for. It is not illogical or improper to say then that your money is a converted form of time you took away from doing something else in your life while you worked for your employer.
Your money is your life, converted into a medium of exchange so that you may more easily acquire things necessary to the maintenance of your life.
It is entirely beside the point to ask how much money you make. You and your employer both consider that your wages and your time are traded at a fair rate. Everyone else in the world can feel free to take a long walk off a short pier if they think you are being given too much - or too little - media of exchange (money) for your life.
I will take you one step further and then we will be through for now.
You have a right to your money. Unless you consent to it, nobody else has a right to your money, any more than they have a right to your life. Because you have an absolute right to your money, you have the right to buy with it what you wish. We have seen that your money is a different form of your life, and here we go one step further. What you buy with your money is a converted form of your money. Therefore:
The things you purchase are a converted form of your life, and all the ways you may defend your own life may be legitimately used to defend your
Property.
Hold on there.
Did I just say I am in favor of killing people for petty theft? No.
If someone offers you a minor threat to your life, such as a simple assault, it may be that you decide the threat to your life is not worth answering with lethal force. Perhaps all that is required to preserve yourself is a gentle word to sooth someone's anger. It should be obvious that you should not reach for the shotgun in every circumstance where some other person's desire bumps into your rights! It should also be apparent that in almost every case, the only person with a right to decide what level of force is an appropriate response is the individual who has been threatened.
Let us suppose that you knew that you would die exactly one year from today. If someone tried to kill you today, would you quietly allow them to cut your life short by one year? Let us suppose that you are driving a car that cost you a full year's wages to purchase. That car, in a very real sense, IS one year of your productive life. Would you allow some car thief to take it? The answers to both of those questions, if you are honest with yourself and following my logic, should be the same. Perhaps you would allow someone to steal a year of your life. I think I would not, if I could prevent them, and that goes all the way to the extreme of being willing to end their life for their attempt to take mine.
Is it "worth it" to kill someone over a car? A computer? A pair of shoes? You are the only person with the right to decide for yourself how much of your life is worth the rest of a theif's life. I submit for your consideration that the life of someone who makes his living by stealing little pieces of others' lives, is worth as close to nothing as can be, if you insist that they must have some value. It could also be said that such a one is a net drain on society, and the value of his life is negative. I won't go so fare as to say we should kill all career criminals outright for the general good of society - though some people might - but if we would keep them safely locked away from the good people of the world, we would all be much better off.
First, let us get one thing straight: rights belong to people only, and are against other people, organizations, and governmental entities. The only natural and just limit on your rights are the rights of other people. If you begin to violate my rights, you have overstepped the just exercise of your rights. Governments and corporations have no rights of their own. They may be granted privileges, and they may receive special legal standing, but these are not rights.
Rights belong only to people, and they are both inherent and immutable. A man may give up the exercise of his rights, but he cannot give up his rights. The alternatives may be grim indeed, but no one can force a person not convicted of any crime to abandon his rights.
********
Your life is not your own, but it belongs to God. Genesis teaches us that man only came to life when God put his breath into man. The state and a corporation did not give you life. Unless you waive it, you have to the right to be the sole caretaker of your own life. You may live under a tyrant whose regime takes your life but has no right to it. You may commit a crime so severe that the law states you must be killed for it, but that crime you committed was voluntary.
You are the only one with a right to say whether you live or die.
If you have not been born yet, that does not give your mother the right to kill you. If you are inconvenient to her, she should have kept her legs crossed. If your existence causes her mental anguish because of the conditions of your conception or the identity of your sperm donor, she does not have the right to kill you, any more than a neo-nazi has a right to kill a jew whose mere existence offends the neo-nazi. In extremely rare instances, a child being borne to term would pose a hazard to the continued life of the mother. In such a case, with prayer and much consideration, that woman and she alone has the right to choose whose life will persist.
If you are deathly ill and your life is only extended by the intervention of doctors with machines and medications without which you would surely die, and you demand the removal of the intervention, that is not suicide. That is allowing nature to take its course. The State, your family, and your doctor, have no right to prevent your allowing yourself to die. Cutting your own life short is another matter. If you would live even a day longer, you should not take your own life. Your doctor says you have 2 months to live, and those months will be painful? Get a prescription from a pain management doctor and live out the life that was given to you (and is, remember, not your own).
If you have made it through that, you may find the rest of my arguments easier to agree with, so keep reading.
The right to life is fundamental to your other rights. Because you have a right to life, you also have a derivative right to sustain your life by whatever means you can find, so long as your means do not infringe on the rights of others. That means you have a right to work at a job for which you are qualified as long as your employer is willing to give you the job. When you go to work, you have the right to enforce your employment agreement against your employer and demand the wages which are your due. Another way to say it is, you have a right to wages you have legitimately earned for yourself.
Compensation at a job these days mostly means some form of currency (dollars) are given to you in consideration of your having given an employer your time and/or services. To rephrase the foregoing, you have a right to trade hours out of your lifespan for money. Those hours were yours to trade because your life is yours to care for. It is not illogical or improper to say then that your money is a converted form of time you took away from doing something else in your life while you worked for your employer.
Your money is your life, converted into a medium of exchange so that you may more easily acquire things necessary to the maintenance of your life.
It is entirely beside the point to ask how much money you make. You and your employer both consider that your wages and your time are traded at a fair rate. Everyone else in the world can feel free to take a long walk off a short pier if they think you are being given too much - or too little - media of exchange (money) for your life.
I will take you one step further and then we will be through for now.
You have a right to your money. Unless you consent to it, nobody else has a right to your money, any more than they have a right to your life. Because you have an absolute right to your money, you have the right to buy with it what you wish. We have seen that your money is a different form of your life, and here we go one step further. What you buy with your money is a converted form of your money. Therefore:
The things you purchase are a converted form of your life, and all the ways you may defend your own life may be legitimately used to defend your
Property.
Hold on there.
Did I just say I am in favor of killing people for petty theft? No.
If someone offers you a minor threat to your life, such as a simple assault, it may be that you decide the threat to your life is not worth answering with lethal force. Perhaps all that is required to preserve yourself is a gentle word to sooth someone's anger. It should be obvious that you should not reach for the shotgun in every circumstance where some other person's desire bumps into your rights! It should also be apparent that in almost every case, the only person with a right to decide what level of force is an appropriate response is the individual who has been threatened.
Let us suppose that you knew that you would die exactly one year from today. If someone tried to kill you today, would you quietly allow them to cut your life short by one year? Let us suppose that you are driving a car that cost you a full year's wages to purchase. That car, in a very real sense, IS one year of your productive life. Would you allow some car thief to take it? The answers to both of those questions, if you are honest with yourself and following my logic, should be the same. Perhaps you would allow someone to steal a year of your life. I think I would not, if I could prevent them, and that goes all the way to the extreme of being willing to end their life for their attempt to take mine.
Is it "worth it" to kill someone over a car? A computer? A pair of shoes? You are the only person with the right to decide for yourself how much of your life is worth the rest of a theif's life. I submit for your consideration that the life of someone who makes his living by stealing little pieces of others' lives, is worth as close to nothing as can be, if you insist that they must have some value. It could also be said that such a one is a net drain on society, and the value of his life is negative. I won't go so fare as to say we should kill all career criminals outright for the general good of society - though some people might - but if we would keep them safely locked away from the good people of the world, we would all be much better off.
Do Want: Beretta BM-59: M1 Garand, Select Fire, Detachable Mag.
Image and data from The Firearm Blog
It looks like an M1 Garand, the greatest fighting implement of all time.
Except it has a detachable box magazine
And it is capable of select-fire
And it is chambered in the more-modern (not better, but easier to get internationally) 7.62x51mm
And it has a grenade launcher
Somebody out there with an extra one of these kicking around, feel free to drop it by my house.
US: 3. Pirates: 0. Game Changer? I Hope So.
"extremely, extremely well-trained." is the phrase used by Admiral William Gortney to describe the one-shot-one-kill-times-three takedown of the faithful muslims pirates holding the Captain of the Alabama Maersk on a lifeboat.
My only question is, why did this take a week? Well, perhaps next time it won't. But it may, seeing the iron of reality is still sharpening the iron(?) in President Obama's character.
Of course, since there are too many handwringing bleeding heart leftists out there, and you can always find someone with a poor perspective on any matter, there is much moaning about how the game may have changed, and the Somalimuslims pirates appear to have made the very grave mistake of declaring some kind of war on the entire world.
Good. Perhaps now the rest of the world will realize that what the United States Navy did when it was first started (killing pirates) is what is required now to end the scourge of piracy on the high seas. Again.
My only question is, why did this take a week? Well, perhaps next time it won't. But it may, seeing the iron of reality is still sharpening the iron(?) in President Obama's character.
Of course, since there are too many handwringing bleeding heart leftists out there, and you can always find someone with a poor perspective on any matter, there is much moaning about how the game may have changed, and the Somali
Good. Perhaps now the rest of the world will realize that what the United States Navy did when it was first started (killing pirates) is what is required now to end the scourge of piracy on the high seas. Again.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
China: Going To Fall, HARD(er than us).
China's customers are in a depression.
Their boom was made up of lots of credit to build capacity and then using that capacity to make half of everything that was made in the world's markets last year. They were building for increasingly good boom times. There is oversupply in every sector of their economy.
And
China's customers are in a depression. ALL of us.
So what does China do? They get out the shovels and start digging themselves deeper into a hole
Their economy is slowing into low single-digits of growth. For any other country, that would be great, but for China it's a hard-core recession seeing they need around 6-8% GDP growth anually to keep up with the influx of workers from the fields.
The workers are going to be back in the fields soon, and for a long time, or China is going to have another revolution. The fiscal policy in China is going to do to them, there, what the same policies did to us, here. We will have to find someone else to make our stuff for a while, a couple of years from now, if they are not very careful with the economy in China. It looks like they are being as reckless as possible.
We'll see.
Their boom was made up of lots of credit to build capacity and then using that capacity to make half of everything that was made in the world's markets last year. They were building for increasingly good boom times. There is oversupply in every sector of their economy.
And
China's customers are in a depression. ALL of us.
So what does China do? They get out the shovels and start digging themselves deeper into a hole
Their economy is slowing into low single-digits of growth. For any other country, that would be great, but for China it's a hard-core recession seeing they need around 6-8% GDP growth anually to keep up with the influx of workers from the fields.
The workers are going to be back in the fields soon, and for a long time, or China is going to have another revolution. The fiscal policy in China is going to do to them, there, what the same policies did to us, here. We will have to find someone else to make our stuff for a while, a couple of years from now, if they are not very careful with the economy in China. It looks like they are being as reckless as possible.
We'll see.
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Point I Failed To Appreciate At The Time
Prologue:
If you break any two of the Four Rules you can give somebody a bad case of Dead without intending to do it. Read them right now if you don't know them, then read this post.
********
During Schutzenfest 2009, we had 3 new shooters and ZERO violations of Rule 2. No muzzle sweeping action. This may seem like a small thing to those who wander around gun stores pointing "unloaded" guns at everything and everyone without thinking about it, but to the Range Officer it is kind of a huge deal.
The thing is, a loaded gun is dangerous. Having it pointed in your general direction is a Very Bad Thing. Also, every Range Officer (and Range Master) should know somewhere deep down in his blood and bones that EVERY weapon on his range is loaded (Rule #1). When someone who knows what time it is sees the muzzle of a gun pointed at him, the feeling is hard to describe. Have you ever seen a movie featuring a fighter jet where the pilot has 3 different klaxons sounding and 2 lights flashing at him because the plane has detected a radar lock, missile launch, and incoming bogies? Yeah, it's about like that inside your head when a newbie sweeps you with the muzzle of a gun. Red flags and warning bells doesn't begin to describe the level of alarm raised on the inside of the person with a high degree of awareness who has a known-loaded gun pointed at him. Adrenal gland output: ON RIGHT [deleted] NOW!
And on the outside, the only evidence may be a flushed skin tone and some words of reproof, perhaps combined with some form of ducking out of the way and/or repositioning the gun-holder or gun to comply with Rule #2.
Anyhow, I had zero problems with this. There were a couple of occasions where my shooters turned a little bit to address me, and they started to move their guns away from "straight downrange". Each time, without saying anything, I shied away a little with my head and shoulders, and with one of my hands, I made a palm-out "pushing away from me" motion at the gun. The shooters invariably pointed the gun downrange and more often than not apologized.
Whew! Thank God.
If you break any two of the Four Rules you can give somebody a bad case of Dead without intending to do it. Read them right now if you don't know them, then read this post.
********
During Schutzenfest 2009, we had 3 new shooters and ZERO violations of Rule 2. No muzzle sweeping action. This may seem like a small thing to those who wander around gun stores pointing "unloaded" guns at everything and everyone without thinking about it, but to the Range Officer it is kind of a huge deal.
The thing is, a loaded gun is dangerous. Having it pointed in your general direction is a Very Bad Thing. Also, every Range Officer (and Range Master) should know somewhere deep down in his blood and bones that EVERY weapon on his range is loaded (Rule #1). When someone who knows what time it is sees the muzzle of a gun pointed at him, the feeling is hard to describe. Have you ever seen a movie featuring a fighter jet where the pilot has 3 different klaxons sounding and 2 lights flashing at him because the plane has detected a radar lock, missile launch, and incoming bogies? Yeah, it's about like that inside your head when a newbie sweeps you with the muzzle of a gun. Red flags and warning bells doesn't begin to describe the level of alarm raised on the inside of the person with a high degree of awareness who has a known-loaded gun pointed at him. Adrenal gland output: ON RIGHT [deleted] NOW!
And on the outside, the only evidence may be a flushed skin tone and some words of reproof, perhaps combined with some form of ducking out of the way and/or repositioning the gun-holder or gun to comply with Rule #2.
Anyhow, I had zero problems with this. There were a couple of occasions where my shooters turned a little bit to address me, and they started to move their guns away from "straight downrange". Each time, without saying anything, I shied away a little with my head and shoulders, and with one of my hands, I made a palm-out "pushing away from me" motion at the gun. The shooters invariably pointed the gun downrange and more often than not apologized.
Whew! Thank God.
Update On My Church
As some of you know, the church my family attends was effectively destroyed by an arsonist's fire about 19 months ago. We (the church) had known for quite some time that we were getting too big for the old building, so there was a pile of money in a building fund already. With that and with some insurance money we paid cash for several acres of prime real estate in Austin. then we went through two architects and a builder who just would not get it through their heads that we had x dollars to spend and did not want to to over, period.
Now we have a perfect storm brewing
A man whose personal ministry/mission in life is to be a minimal cost building superintendent for just our type of church, with decades in construction, including building a couple of major hospitals under his belt, is finishing up his current project at exactly the right time to start on ours.
A team of volunteers that goes around doing the actual construction of buildings for churches like ours has, if I understand correctly, agreed to help us out.
The economy is in Depression. The prices of raw materiel and labor are falling sharply.
And last week, our Pastor announced he estimates we now have all the money it will take to complete the new facility.
June 1st is the date currently set to begin the site work (turning dirt).
********
While other churches shrivel and die (as Newsweek is pleased to point out right before Easter), this one is growing. We have been running totals of 10-20 more people (around 10%) in each service from before we were burned out (two years ago), even with several families having left or moved away.
Why?
Because when people come to Trinity they get what they need: Jesus. The gospel from the Bible sans fluff, people who love each other, and not much else. There are occasional meals together and outings for the young people to wholesome activities. There is not a single's group, but there is an orchestra (but no drummer).
There are a lot of members who say Trinity is unique in Austin (and rare in the whole country).
Trinity is an independent, fundamentalist, bible baptist church. We use the KJV only, on purpose, and we sing from a hymnal the songs your father and his might have known. We ask for the old paths . . .
. . . and we are blessed for it.
The church's website is www.tbcaustin.com.
Now we have a perfect storm brewing
June 1st is the date currently set to begin the site work (turning dirt).
********
While other churches shrivel and die (as Newsweek is pleased to point out right before Easter), this one is growing. We have been running totals of 10-20 more people (around 10%) in each service from before we were burned out (two years ago), even with several families having left or moved away.
Why?
Because when people come to Trinity they get what they need: Jesus. The gospel from the Bible sans fluff, people who love each other, and not much else. There are occasional meals together and outings for the young people to wholesome activities. There is not a single's group, but there is an orchestra (but no drummer).
There are a lot of members who say Trinity is unique in Austin (and rare in the whole country).
Trinity is an independent, fundamentalist, bible baptist church. We use the KJV only, on purpose, and we sing from a hymnal the songs your father and his might have known. We ask for the old paths . . .
. . . and we are blessed for it.
The church's website is www.tbcaustin.com.
The Economy: Sinking Soon. Again. More.
Folks put it down you heard it here first (unless it doesn't happen, then fuggeddaboutit)
The economy in the US is going to sink pretty hard, starting maybe around June. Why?
Students graduate and jump straight into theworkforce unemployment line
Income Taxhandout rebate money is largely spent, even by the latest of late filers
The 8.5% of Americans who are unemployed (16% if you count those who are underemployed or gave up looking) are charging up their credit cards right now. They have to run out of credit soon.
So. June. Look for the charts to look like this: \
The economy in the US is going to sink pretty hard, starting maybe around June. Why?
Students graduate and jump straight into the
Income Tax
The 8.5% of Americans who are unemployed (16% if you count those who are underemployed or gave up looking) are charging up their credit cards right now. They have to run out of credit soon.
So. June. Look for the charts to look like this: \
Why Is This Man Still A Hostage?
Captain Richard Phillips jumped over the side of the life raft last night. I would expect any of us would try the same. He was unfortunately recaptured which does not necessarily reflect negatively on him.
But why is he still there?
Because Barack Hussein Obama is the wrong kind of man for the job.
The proper response to this would have been that a Seal Team went in a submarine last night and popped up all around the life boat. There would be 6 seconds of
submachine gun fire and then Captain Phillips would be shaking hands and slapping Seals on the back.
In international waters, you shoot a pirate dead and throw him into the drink. There, done.
Instead we have ships on the way and FBI negotiators are involved. Pirate ships are on the way to reinforce theirfaithful muslim Somali Pirate brethren. I give you even odds of seeing President Obama so badly bungle this situation that the good Captain is put on board a pirate ship and trucked back to Somalia, possibly followed by a botched rescue hampered by [deleted] rules of engagement.
But why is he still there?
Because Barack Hussein Obama is the wrong kind of man for the job.
The proper response to this would have been that a Seal Team went in a submarine last night and popped up all around the life boat. There would be 6 seconds of
submachine gun fire and then Captain Phillips would be shaking hands and slapping Seals on the back.In international waters, you shoot a pirate dead and throw him into the drink. There, done.
Instead we have ships on the way and FBI negotiators are involved. Pirate ships are on the way to reinforce their
Madness @ Work!
It's a bit dusty where I work. As in, we bring in pallets of stuff and blow them off with compressed air and there are no dedicated dust removal filters (just the a/c filter and thank God for that)
Well we were having connectivity problems for a minute and someone suggested cleaning out the switch for the room where I work. Note: the light grey stuff to the left of and under the switch is much less impressive in pictures than in person. It is a stream/cloud of dust. It's like that in EVERYTHING around here. Boo.
Well we were having connectivity problems for a minute and someone suggested cleaning out the switch for the room where I work. Note: the light grey stuff to the left of and under the switch is much less impressive in pictures than in person. It is a stream/cloud of dust. It's like that in EVERYTHING around here. Boo.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Obama: It Was NOT A Bow!
Obama: It Was NOT A Bow!
No, you see, the story from the White House goes, he is such a towering giant that he had to bend down to shake hands with the King of Saudi Arabia. Which is fine, except that tall people just put their hands down and the shorty they're shaking hands with can reach up a little. Also the President and the King were close enough together and close enough to the same height to make this excuse preposterous on its face.
Oh yeah, and if you look close, you will notice something about the two-handed handshake line:
Hmm?
As the first line of Laura Ingraham's "Power to the People" says: "They think you're stupid."
(Images from Atlas Shrugs)
********
I mentioned this unpleasant (to everyone but the French President, from the look on his face in the first photo) business to one of the guys at work, and he said the official response should be "oh, he was just looking for his contact lens."
I came up with a better one. "The President saw a reflection, in the King's shoe, of his TelePrompTer, and he was trying to get a closer look to see what he should say to the King."
********
Come on people, this isn't Chicago and problems don't just go away if you FRIKKEN LIE TO THE PEOPLE about them! There were VIDEO CAMERAS THERE! Duh? How hard would it be to come right out and say "The President got a little excited about meeting the King and forgot that America is a badass country and he shouldn't be bowing to anybody."
But then that would make the One out to have done something wrong, which of course is unpossible.
No, you see, the story from the White House goes, he is such a towering giant that he had to bend down to shake hands with the King of Saudi Arabia. Which is fine, except that tall people just put their hands down and the shorty they're shaking hands with can reach up a little. Also the President and the King were close enough together and close enough to the same height to make this excuse preposterous on its face.
Oh yeah, and if you look close, you will notice something about the two-handed handshake line:
Hmm?
As the first line of Laura Ingraham's "Power to the People" says: "They think you're stupid."
(Images from Atlas Shrugs)
********
I mentioned this unpleasant (to everyone but the French President, from the look on his face in the first photo) business to one of the guys at work, and he said the official response should be "oh, he was just looking for his contact lens."
I came up with a better one. "The President saw a reflection, in the King's shoe, of his TelePrompTer, and he was trying to get a closer look to see what he should say to the King."
********
Come on people, this isn't Chicago and problems don't just go away if you FRIKKEN LIE TO THE PEOPLE about them! There were VIDEO CAMERAS THERE! Duh? How hard would it be to come right out and say "The President got a little excited about meeting the King and forgot that America is a badass country and he shouldn't be bowing to anybody."
But then that would make the One out to have done something wrong, which of course is unpossible.
Amaze Small Children and Superstitious Adults With Smoking Fingers!
Rub your fingers together and they smoke when you do what this guy did.
You might want to wear gloves, though. And do this outside. You know, unless you want your jaws to rot off and then you die of organ failure (from Phossy Jaw).
You might want to wear gloves, though. And do this outside. You know, unless you want your jaws to rot off and then you die of organ failure (from Phossy Jaw).
This Just Pissed Me Right Off.
You know what makes me mad? The auto makers have been pissing and moaning for decades that it is impossible to get the same fuel economy in a light truck as in a car, and there is some logic to that and physics seems on their side.
Then Congress goes ahead with the creeping fascism and passes the new CAFE standards requiring light trucks to get the same half-decent fuel economy as little dinky cars.
And (gomer pyle) well golly it ain't but a couple of months later that you see an announcement for a light truck platform that will get you 100MPG by pretending to be a Prius!
You know how many gallons of oil we would save if you all bought these trucks? A brazillion, that's how many. We would literally be swimming in excess crude if everybody got one of these tomorrow. It's a conspiracy! The Big Oil companies and the Big Car companies are in collusion trying to keep us dependent on the Big OPEC Countries! It's a PLOT I tell you! The Bilderburgers are trying to keep us do---
Then Congress goes ahead with the creeping fascism and passes the new CAFE standards requiring light trucks to get the same half-decent fuel economy as little dinky cars.
And (gomer pyle) well golly it ain't but a couple of months later that you see an announcement for a light truck platform that will get you 100MPG by pretending to be a Prius!
You know how many gallons of oil we would save if you all bought these trucks? A brazillion, that's how many. We would literally be swimming in excess crude if everybody got one of these tomorrow. It's a conspiracy! The Big Oil companies and the Big Car companies are in collusion trying to keep us dependent on the Big OPEC Countries! It's a PLOT I tell you! The Bilderburgers are trying to keep us do---
You Can Run, But Don't Bother
DoD will just drop a little swarm of these things fitted with IR cameras and they'll find you.
This is a pretty neat idea with lots of uses, but I can't help but be a little apprehensive how it will be used against us in the upcoming Robot Wars.
This is a pretty neat idea with lots of uses, but I can't help but be a little apprehensive how it will be used against us in the upcoming Robot Wars.
Robot Can Scale Almost Any Wall. Great.
Story at Geekologie.
So you thought you were safe just because Big Dog can't climb up to your window and kick your teeth in?
Well sir, I think you were wrong.
I also think these people need to go watch Terminator again.
********
Oh, sure, sure, it's all for the good of mankind, right now.
So you thought you were safe just because Big Dog can't climb up to your window and kick your teeth in?
Well sir, I think you were wrong.
I also think these people need to go watch Terminator again.
********
Oh, sure, sure, it's all for the good of mankind, right now.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Ray of Hope for America
Senate unanimously rejects one of the One's proposals to punish those who do good on their own initiative vs. through the State
and then of course a cloud blocks the ray of hope
"Green jobs" initiatives cost more jobs than they create.
*sigh*
and then of course a cloud blocks the ray of hope
"Green jobs" initiatives cost more jobs than they create.
*sigh*
Communism Is No Joking Matter!
Question: What is the last thing that goes through the mind of a good Communist (/Socialist/Marxist) ?
Answer: One of these.
WHAT?! You let them through the perimeter?
Okay then you might have to use one of these:
********
While skimming his recent work, most of it excellent as always, I found out that Oleg Volk agrees with me.
Answer: One of these.
WHAT?! You let them through the perimeter?
Okay then you might have to use one of these:
********
While skimming his recent work, most of it excellent as always, I found out that Oleg Volk agrees with me.
Ameircans Take Their Ship Back.
There was an American flagged vessel hijacked by pirates.
I say was because the American crew took the Maersk Alabama back from the pirates.
"AMERICA! F*CK YEAH!"
I don't look for them to sail into Somalia with somefaithful muslims Somali pirates haning by their necks over the rails, but it would probably help out other American vessels sailing through there in the future if they did. Leaving them swinging at the entrance to harbors sure changed a few muslim minds a couple hundred years ago.
I say was because the American crew took the Maersk Alabama back from the pirates.
"AMERICA! F*CK YEAH!"
I don't look for them to sail into Somalia with some
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Economy Is Doing Great.
Select portions of it are, anyway. My company just increased its workforce by 10% (2 people) and then when I went to visit CMMG's website, I got a very surprising pop-up message. Then I read the notice on their front page.
Don't let the news readers fool you. If you look at companies that make guns or sell things super-cheap, the economy isn't looking so bad at all. In related news, a gallon of milk has fallen about 50% from the recent $5 peak.
If you can manage to keep your job and pay your bills, this depression is a Good Thing for you.
Don't let the news readers fool you. If you look at companies that make guns or sell things super-cheap, the economy isn't looking so bad at all. In related news, a gallon of milk has fallen about 50% from the recent $5 peak.
If you can manage to keep your job and pay your bills, this depression is a Good Thing for you.
Schutzenfest 2009: Great Success! (on a small scale)
As I mentioned before, it is indeed like herding cats trying to get liberty-minded individuals to do something all together. Over half the people who said they would be there, were not. We had 2 out due to surgery, 2 due to illness, 3 out because of Austin traffic, 1 because of a little league game, 1 for family obligations, 2 because it was "too far", 3 from staying out late Friday night, and 1 for unknown reasons. So, all told, there was a grand total turnout of only 5 shooters.
Hold on there.
How does 25% turnout qualify as a Great Success?
Because the venue was perfectly suited to a low number of shooters who required individual instruction
Because 1 woman is now less gun-shy than she was before. (New Shooter #1)
Because 1 woman had the look that all shooting instructors love to see: a big grin with a hint of sheepishness at having fun doing something previously taboo. (New Shooter #2)
Because 1 militiaman went from ignorance of arms in general, to hands-on familiar and comfortable with a half-dozen small arms platforms. Also, this citizen and house holder has a lot of information now, to consider in his deliberations about what type of gun to purchase to defend himself, his wife, her daughter, and their property.
Because I got to see my Buddy K.S.
Because I got in some quality Recoil Therapy.
Lessons learned for next time:
Don't forget to take allergy medications before driving an hour from home to spend the day outside!
Long sleeves and a broad-brimmed hat do not cover your hands, ears, or neck adequately to prevent sunburn. Use sunscreen.
Don't expect people to show, even if they said they would, on the phone, that same day.
Encourage new shooter participation. It is fun, watching them having fun.
Post fresh targets between new shooters' turns shooting, and a fresh backstop if you can, to help them see their bullet holes
String the cans up immediately so they will dance for everyone, not just those who stay late
Have drinks available AT THE FIRING LINE so nobody gets dehydrated
Shooting is fun. Especially shooting while advancing on reactive targets.
The New Shooters' Class was set for 11:00. My Darling Wife decided at the last minute to go with me, and her back was sore, so she held us up and we arrived at 11:35. The other participants were already there and acquainted with our hostess.
After introductions and small talk, we went right into the lecture. The night before, I had prepared some posters to help illustrate my points on: The Four Rules, Gun handling safety & shooting postures, Aiming, Eye dominance, weapons operation, and explanation of what caliber nomenclatures mean / relative cartridge power. We also had a show & tell and the ladies were impressed with the small/light nature of the Kel-Tek P-3AT. Then it was 13:00 and lunchtime. We had a brief lecture on range rules and safety and were off.
First up was C., who had shot BB guns as a girl. She started on the nice, simple .38 special revolver and did quite well, landing fully half her hits in the X ring from 5 yards
Then Y.S. went. She was not much into shooting but she gave it a go. She put 8 rounds downrange, with a couple of demonstration shots from K.S. in the middle of her shooting session. She put a couple shots out with bad form and missed badly, but she took criticism well and was doing quite well on the last few shots, so we reloaded for her and she did well on the last couple of shots.
J.F. was up next and he did alright, with posture that showed he was paying attention during class earlier.
Next, C. wanted to try the P-3AT. I had warned her that it kicks more than the .38. She said it was pushing her all over the place, but she kept it to center-of-Goblin sized groups and was not turned off by the recoil. She is a pretty short woman, so the Kel-Tek fit her hand well, which always helps when a gun is trying to get itself out of your hands. Y.S. didn't care for the Kel-Tek much at all after shooting it. Then C. had a few shots with the Marlin 60.
I had K.S. shoot the SKS because I knew he would enjoy it (he did) and then we found out to our dissatisfaction that neither an SKS or a .40S&W will make an empty 3lbs. coffe can dance on the ground (the bullets just punch straight through) unless you hit right on the rim. About that time, K.S., Y.S. and C. had to leave to run errands, but we lit a few .30-06 rounds off from my P17 first. We all went up to the house and had some water, invited the departing shooters to our church and they split.
J.F. and I went back down to the range alone, just us two blokes. It took some goading and shooting, but I finally convinced him not to be concerned with conserving ammunition just because it's expensive. He had brought .22LR, .30-06 and 7.62x39 and eventually got a sampling of what it's like to shoot all those and more besides. I introduced him to field marksmanship positions, and he and I went through a dry run on a "cold" range to practice advancing on a target. I discussed the psychology of retreat, advancing on an assailant, and the difficulties of finding effective cover. We put the range to "hot" and he ran a few slow J-hooks advancing on coffee cans that were, by this time, strung up in front of the backstop so they would dance when hit. He had the new-shooter grin on his face now, like C. had earlier. We ran through something like 100 rounds, mostly 5 at a time, advancing, moving laterally, and discussing firefighting theory & strategy. The SKS & Glock 22 were the main guns used in these exercises.
I was reminded that even my modified SKS sight is hard to hit with while moving and shooting simultaneously. J.F. generally was "close-enough" to his target but it was amusing when, one time, he shot completely over the backstop and I saw the puff of dirt 'way downrange behind the backstop. Then we went through most of a box of .22LR with the Marlin and FINALLY got a gratifying response from the cans. The 22 is slow enough to differentiate between the gun's report and the PLONK when the cans are struk. They danced when hit by the SKS but that was pretty quiet.
By now it was 17:00 and we were tired and dehydrated, so we picked up the brass and found several spent bullets. In related news, it still hasn't stopped being neat-o to recover bullets I have shot. We packed everything up and went to the house to eat and drink and converse for a while, and finally left around 18:00.
I was a little surprised at myself. I brought a camera from work to take good pictures and forgot it at the house. So all you get to see is the remnants: Behold the Ammo Box!
I'll take the time right now to repeat my standing offer: if you have never fired a gun before, or if you are scared of guns, or if it has been a long time since you shot a gun, email me at the address on the bottom of this page. Tooting my own horn a bit, J.F. says I am "an excellent teacher." There is no need to be intimidated by guns. If you want to pay range fees (I can supply guns and ammunition) there is an air condidioned range in Pflugerville, Texas that we can visit, and if you want to drive, we can go to an outdoor range in Lockhart with no rules besides "don't shoot the cows."
Hold on there.
How does 25% turnout qualify as a Great Success?
Lessons learned for next time:
The New Shooters' Class was set for 11:00. My Darling Wife decided at the last minute to go with me, and her back was sore, so she held us up and we arrived at 11:35. The other participants were already there and acquainted with our hostess.
After introductions and small talk, we went right into the lecture. The night before, I had prepared some posters to help illustrate my points on: The Four Rules, Gun handling safety & shooting postures, Aiming, Eye dominance, weapons operation, and explanation of what caliber nomenclatures mean / relative cartridge power. We also had a show & tell and the ladies were impressed with the small/light nature of the Kel-Tek P-3AT. Then it was 13:00 and lunchtime. We had a brief lecture on range rules and safety and were off.
First up was C., who had shot BB guns as a girl. She started on the nice, simple .38 special revolver and did quite well, landing fully half her hits in the X ring from 5 yards
Then Y.S. went. She was not much into shooting but she gave it a go. She put 8 rounds downrange, with a couple of demonstration shots from K.S. in the middle of her shooting session. She put a couple shots out with bad form and missed badly, but she took criticism well and was doing quite well on the last few shots, so we reloaded for her and she did well on the last couple of shots.
J.F. was up next and he did alright, with posture that showed he was paying attention during class earlier.
Next, C. wanted to try the P-3AT. I had warned her that it kicks more than the .38. She said it was pushing her all over the place, but she kept it to center-of-Goblin sized groups and was not turned off by the recoil. She is a pretty short woman, so the Kel-Tek fit her hand well, which always helps when a gun is trying to get itself out of your hands. Y.S. didn't care for the Kel-Tek much at all after shooting it. Then C. had a few shots with the Marlin 60.
I had K.S. shoot the SKS because I knew he would enjoy it (he did) and then we found out to our dissatisfaction that neither an SKS or a .40S&W will make an empty 3lbs. coffe can dance on the ground (the bullets just punch straight through) unless you hit right on the rim. About that time, K.S., Y.S. and C. had to leave to run errands, but we lit a few .30-06 rounds off from my P17 first. We all went up to the house and had some water, invited the departing shooters to our church and they split.
J.F. and I went back down to the range alone, just us two blokes. It took some goading and shooting, but I finally convinced him not to be concerned with conserving ammunition just because it's expensive. He had brought .22LR, .30-06 and 7.62x39 and eventually got a sampling of what it's like to shoot all those and more besides. I introduced him to field marksmanship positions, and he and I went through a dry run on a "cold" range to practice advancing on a target. I discussed the psychology of retreat, advancing on an assailant, and the difficulties of finding effective cover. We put the range to "hot" and he ran a few slow J-hooks advancing on coffee cans that were, by this time, strung up in front of the backstop so they would dance when hit. He had the new-shooter grin on his face now, like C. had earlier. We ran through something like 100 rounds, mostly 5 at a time, advancing, moving laterally, and discussing firefighting theory & strategy. The SKS & Glock 22 were the main guns used in these exercises.
I was reminded that even my modified SKS sight is hard to hit with while moving and shooting simultaneously. J.F. generally was "close-enough" to his target but it was amusing when, one time, he shot completely over the backstop and I saw the puff of dirt 'way downrange behind the backstop. Then we went through most of a box of .22LR with the Marlin and FINALLY got a gratifying response from the cans. The 22 is slow enough to differentiate between the gun's report and the PLONK when the cans are struk. They danced when hit by the SKS but that was pretty quiet.
By now it was 17:00 and we were tired and dehydrated, so we picked up the brass and found several spent bullets. In related news, it still hasn't stopped being neat-o to recover bullets I have shot. We packed everything up and went to the house to eat and drink and converse for a while, and finally left around 18:00.
I was a little surprised at myself. I brought a camera from work to take good pictures and forgot it at the house. So all you get to see is the remnants: Behold the Ammo Box!
I'll take the time right now to repeat my standing offer: if you have never fired a gun before, or if you are scared of guns, or if it has been a long time since you shot a gun, email me at the address on the bottom of this page. Tooting my own horn a bit, J.F. says I am "an excellent teacher." There is no need to be intimidated by guns. If you want to pay range fees (I can supply guns and ammunition) there is an air condidioned range in Pflugerville, Texas that we can visit, and if you want to drive, we can go to an outdoor range in Lockhart with no rules besides "don't shoot the cows."
Mexican Drug Gangs Use Guns From The United States
Next time someone parrots the lie that Mexican drug gangs are killing each other with weapons bought at gun shows in the United States of America, please refer them to this article at The Firearm Blog:
Lies, Damned Lies, and Mexican Guns (thanks Steve, and nice work).
The statists want you to believe that the guns used in Mexico are the same type as yours, and acquired the same way you got yours. Once you believe that, maybe they will be able to convince you to surrender your liberty to arm yourself, for the children (in Mexico).
Lies, Damned Lies, and Mexican Guns (thanks Steve, and nice work).
The statists want you to believe that the guns used in Mexico are the same type as yours, and acquired the same way you got yours. Once you believe that, maybe they will be able to convince you to surrender your liberty to arm yourself, for the children (in Mexico).
This News Article Is Racist.
Found via Say Uncle, from the Mail Online:
In UK, a handful of men were arrested. They all look to be either black or middle eastern. After they were locked up, gang killings went down by 92%.
No mention is made in the article of where they come from or their ethnicity. Why? Because, if you are a leftist fool, you would think:
In UK, a handful of men were arrested. They all look to be either black or middle eastern. After they were locked up, gang killings went down by 92%.
No mention is made in the article of where they come from or their ethnicity. Why? Because, if you are a leftist fool, you would think:
Monday, April 6, 2009
Fiddling With Blog Colors
Those of you who visit regularly will notice some pretty drastic changes to the color scheme here at Vote For David.
I originally went with grey-on-black because it is much easier on my eyes than black-on-white. Recently Sailor Curt said grey on black makes his head hurt. So I'm playing with the colors in an attempt to not drive new visitors away, especially from my two most popular (and useful) pages, the Marlin and SKS trigger job DIYs.
I originally went with grey-on-black because it is much easier on my eyes than black-on-white. Recently Sailor Curt said grey on black makes his head hurt. So I'm playing with the colors in an attempt to not drive new visitors away, especially from my two most popular (and useful) pages, the Marlin and SKS trigger job DIYs.
You May Want To Consider Stuffing Your Cash In Your Mattress.
. . . or, better yet, convert as much of it as possible into long-term storable "survival" foods, water storage, fighting rifles, ammunition, and camping equipment.
After all, it is pretty plain that the FDIC "insurance" on your account is worth exactly bubkis.
Hold on there.
The FDIC can borrow from Uncle Sam! Sure, sure. Click the link and read the whole thing. Uncle is already on the hook for (depending how you count it) over sixty trillion dollars now. Your President Hopechange just added 12.5 trillion on top of what we were liable for previously.
If you listen to the news, maybe things are about to turn around this year. If you look a little closer, maybe not so much.
If you can convert your paper wealth into real assets, even real estate without going into further debt to do it, or if you can pay off your debts, now is the last best time you may have in which to do it.
Of course, those of us who are living month-to-month don't have to worry about the FDIC guarantees on our accounts: they are already worthless!
After all, it is pretty plain that the FDIC "insurance" on your account is worth exactly bubkis.
Hold on there.
The FDIC can borrow from Uncle Sam! Sure, sure. Click the link and read the whole thing. Uncle is already on the hook for (depending how you count it) over sixty trillion dollars now. Your President Hopechange just added 12.5 trillion on top of what we were liable for previously.
If you listen to the news, maybe things are about to turn around this year. If you look a little closer, maybe not so much.
If you can convert your paper wealth into real assets, even real estate without going into further debt to do it, or if you can pay off your debts, now is the last best time you may have in which to do it.
Of course, those of us who are living month-to-month don't have to worry about the FDIC guarantees on our accounts: they are already worthless!