Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Chinese Anti-Ship Ballistic Missle Apparently Ready for Operations

I was over at Sipsey Street Irregulars, reading about the new weapon in China's arsenal, thinking it was surely nothing we couldn't handle. How sophisticated could a Chinese missile be, after all?

Low RADAR profile, sophisticated guidance, 2,000km range and oh yeah: MACH FRIKKEN 10 cruising speed.

Well, they have been stealing our secrets for quite some time now. . .

At mach 10, it's 12 minutes to 2km (or something like that) and you had better be pretty quick with the catcher's mitt if you want to knock that puppy down before it knocks you down.

. . .and in this case "you" is a United States Navy aircraft carrier. Poof. 6,000 men and several squadrons of aircraft gone, just like that. The greatest force projector in the history of Earth has an equal, and it appears to be a modified Chinese DF-21 missile.

Great.

Gee, I guess it's a good thing we have such a cracker-jack team in the State department right now. Oh, wait. . .

Obama: Actually Doing Some Good!

When I explained to my Darling Wife the possible implications of some well-intentioned things being attempted by Team Obama, she started thinking a little differently.

Today, she asked me "well, how are we supposed to store two years' worth of food, if we don't have any place to store two years' worth of food?"

And I said to myself:

A conversation followed, the gist of which was that I would have the garage all squared away like we want, if I had all kinds of time to do the work.

Then I went and started chopping limbs off a tree that is rubbing one side of the roof right off our house. After an hour or so, she came and told me she wanted me to knock off for a while, because the baby is making it hard to get supper to happen for everybody.

Gee, I wonder why I have such a long (and growing) backlog of projects?

At any rate, the point of this post is that, thanks to some things that are increasingly obviously potentially very bad, done by the current administration, my wife is coming around to a more preparedness-oriented mindset (scroll down to the definition of victory.).

Coming around a little. She would still look at me as if I had grown another eyeball if I came home with a few fighting rifles and cases of ammunition, but she doesn't roll her eyes at me quite so much anymore. . . .

I Could've Saved Them The Money (x2)

First of it's kind study finds that when you see F'd up stuff on Jury duty, you are affected by it.

Really? Wow. So when you see video of a woman being gang-raped, heroin injected into her and then having her head blown off with a 12-gauge shotgun, you don't just shrug that off and go back to life as you were? Huh! Who knew! So when you see a little kid being all kinds of abused in a kiddie porn trial and they trot out the evidence, you might be disturbed by that after the trial? WOW!

Study finds parents buy stuff their kids want in the grocery. Really? Well frikken how DO you DO? You mean, they don't even realize anymore how many purchases they make when little Johnny says "But I want an Oompa Loompa NOOOOOW! and the parents like don't even keep track?

Shazam! That's some mighty fine detective work there, Lou!

You know, for a fraction of the millions of dollars that went into these studies, I could have given them a paper written up all scientific-like with exactly the same results. ::shakes head:: Sigh. I guess I'm in the wrong line of work.

DUI Checkpoints in Texas (or anywhere)

. . . are a moral evil.

You have an arguably worthwhile goal of getting drunk drivers off the road. You even have the proper people doing the activity (civilian police force). But you are doing a Bad Thing.

Someone who is traveling in a private vehicle on a public road minding their own business and breaking no laws is arrested and assumed to be a criminal. Adding insult to Injury, in Austin they like the idea of having a zero-refusal blood draw. What's that, you say? When you are driving to Aunty Theresa's house, you are forced to stop for no reason. It's nothing personal you understand; it's for your saaaaaafety. Then (because you are going to be late to blow out her 93 birthday candles and you are not a drunk) you get combative and refuse to blow into a breathalyzer. So they STEAL YOUR BLOOD from you at gunpoint.

Sorry, you will have to be filing assault charges on me too, officer. And be sure I'll be filing a few suits back with your name on them. The suits will contain interesting phrases like "under color of law" and "$10,000 or ten years imprisonment, or both."

This is evil and they have already passed enabling legislation for it in my Texas Senate.

They want to have checkpoints only in big cities and only after midnight, and only once in the same location per year, published in advance. Oh, fine. How about this: they want to name the law after a girl who was killed by a repeat drunk driver at 3PM. I don't think they are mocking you while attempting to steal your liberty, but it sure seems like it this time.

Gee, maybe if you hadn't let this jerk out of jail after the first time, or the second time, he drove drunk, that little girl would be alive and you wouldn't be able to demagogue my liberty away in her name.

********

In other news, Representative Strama's office has my address in their robot system under my last name. Also, from the tone of voice of the lady on the phone at Governor Perry's office, my comment went straight to the circular file but maybe (let's hope) she's just tired of hearing the same comment all morning.

If not, call her and make her tired of it. The Governor's office can be reached at 1-512-463-2000

Monday, March 30, 2009

Colonel Cooper Never Stirred A Pot, Once, Ever.

Including when he wrote: "We note that there are those who object to our referring to Japanese as Nips. However, the Nips have no reticence about referring to me as a gaijin. I do not know why we have all suddenly become almost hysterically touchy. The Krauts refer to us as Amis, and I do not mind. Nor do I object when Jews refer to me as a goy. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.""

GM & Chrysler: Swimming in Quicksand.

GM and Chrysler have failed to impress upon President Obama that their continuance as currently structured is more valuable to him, personally, than the good will of the American people. So they will only get a few billion more dollars to keep operating until they can make a better sales pitch. That's one story, but there is another one here.

GM is going to fail this year. So why not go ahead and push their new 5 year/100,000 mile warranty on new cars?

Their cars have improved but continue with a public perception of low quality. Even the luxury models have cheap plastic interiors.

Hyundai is actually selling MORE cars this year than in the past. They have been making problem-free cars that don't need to use the standard-for-a-decade 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. They came on strong and stayed strong, and their luxury cars have high quality interiors.

The luxury cars from Hyundai are on a par with the (greatly fallen) Cadillac line at GM, but for 1/3 to 1/4 or less the cost of the Union-built GM product.

Gee, I wonder what's wrong with the American consumer not buying up all those GM and Chrysler products!

********

I will give President Obama credit where credit is due. Faced with the option, he came right out and said he doesn't want these companies to be operated as wards of the State, and that bankruptcy might be what's required to restructure them. That's really good news for us Capitalists, although it comes out of his mouth about 40 billion dollars after it came out of mine.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Schutzenfest 2009: saturday Saturday SATURDAY!

It's on. You know who you are, who are coming. If I haven't told you where it is yet, you need to find out from me by Saturday morning!

Don't forget the food!

Don't forget the ammunition!

Nobody has said they have too much of any one caliber, so if you can afford it, please bring a box of cartridges for whatever you want to shoot. Go to the Schutzenfest Main Page and scroll down to see what all guns are supposed to be there. The list is NOT all-inclusive because it's like herding cats trying to get some people to cooperate.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Shell Game: Follow The Americorps Language!

Okay, the public has raised a hue and cry about the expansion of Americorps to include non-volunteer laborers (read: make slaves of your children). Fine. Pull the authorization language out of the bill it was pasted into and put it into another.

From World Net Daily

Friday, March 27, 2009

Obama: The Beginning of the End (of America)?

Sure, it could be nothing, it could be nothing. But. . . well, I know I am not the only one who is drawing some disturbing analogies here . . . .



Russia and the USSR had the Little Octobrists, Young Pioneers (10-14yrs), Komsomol (through mid 20's) and then Communist Party membership.

China has Pinyin.

Cambodia went a little farther and removed children from their parents to be reared by the Angkar

Perhaps most ominously in light of Candidate Obama's own words (". . . just as well armed . . ."), Germany had the Hitler Jugend and Sturmabteilung

And now, President Obama wants you to help his attempts at Organizing For America:
"I support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's Economy"

And, because involuntary servitude apparently is legal all of a sudden in America, we have your Elected Heroes volunteering your children for "Community Service".

Sure, other countries have had leftist Pioneer Movements without devolving into bloody mayhem, but you know what? It bothers me that there are at least 100,000,000 DEAD PEOPLE saying "you know, that stuff going on in America looks a little familiar. . ."


Inspired imagery from ushanka.us.

I Guess I Am A Sleepwalker.

I was going through my normal morning routine today, and put the bedside gun in its usual daytime spot where my Darling Wife can reach it at a moment's notice. I asked her where the cough drops were, on my way out the door. She was 7/8ths asleep and couldn't recall. I bought some on the way in to work.

She called me to say good morning and told me the cough drops were right next to where I had left the gun.

Oh well.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Join the NRA. Now. It's Free. It takes 2 Minutes.

Click here to join the National Rifle Association.

This is a $35 savings, a 1-year GIFT membership. Sure they are squishy on some things and downplay the GOA's and SAF's efforts in the same fights, but when there is a major victory for gun rights, usually they are in on it.

And it's FREE people. This was the year I was actually going to pry my wallet open with the Jaws of Life and join up, at the Schutzenfest. Now I'm joined up. Your turn.

Madness @ Work!

The other day four or five of our men were lifting and carrying some heavy thing or other, trying to get some production accomplished. OM comes around with his hands in pockets, and watches for a moment before chiming in with

'So, ah, do we have any colored paper?'

That There Magnet is WOW-Strong.

Strong magnets are amazing. I have these

Photobucket

holding my hand tools to a light over my bench at work. The big black rectangular one on the far left of the image came out of an old hard drive and it is way strong. As in, you will have to twist hard to get it to move, nevermind pulling it straight off. WM found it because it jumped out of a pile of junk and clamped itself onto his little golf cart he drives around the warehouse. From several inches away.

I use it to hold up my 25 foot tape measure (as you can tell) but I just found another use for it. I wanted to clean off my bench and literally just tossed the razor blade in the general direction of the magnet. It stuck. Now I just have to remember not to pull the blade in a way that cuts my finger off when I try to get it off the magnet.

You Buy Chinese Car! Very Good Quality!

You may have seen the videos of Brilliance brand BS6 failing crash tests in spectacular fashion a while back. My favorite part was the technicians conducting the tests saying "What was that!?" (in French) in the background audio. Well, they improved the cars a little, and the ADAC standard got tougher, and the new BS4 got a resounding

ZERO STARS

crash test rating. Something tells me they will have to get that sorted before even Barry can allow them on US streets.


Image and story from autoblog.com

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Talking Points

Okay, that's 3 places I visit that are talking about it already. So here I go too!

California legislators are making noises about banning black-painted cars (and other very dark hues) because they take more gasoline to cool on hot days.

Allow me to be the first one I know of to draw the obvious connection here:

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I DEMAND they refer to these as CARS OF COLOR!!!!1! Next they will try to BAN BLACK PEOPLE because they . . . oh, nevermind, you get the joke already.

You can still buy bottled water in California. Does nobody care that it takes 2,000 times more energy to drink a bottle of water than it does to drink from the tap? Oh, right, demagoguery is much easier than taking away bottled water. Good work then California!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Still Think There Won't Be Worldwide Deflation?

Really?

Consider a few snippets from the above linked article:
Japan’s exports plunged a record 49.4% in February . . . .

Shipments to the U.S., the country’s biggest market, tumbled an unprecedented 58.4% . . . . Automobile exports slid 70.9%.

The collapse signals gross domestic product may shrink this quarter at a similar pace to the annualized 12.1 percent contraction posted in the previous three months


and

A record drop in exports is forcing companies to fire workers, depressing wages and consumption . . . . Prices will probably start falling as soon as next month and their declines will accelerate, analysts said.

“Core prices are already on the verge of slipping into negative territory,” said Seiji Adachi, a senior economist at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo. “Prices are definitely southbound and the risk of deflation warrants caution.”

Sure, sure, that's Japan, not here. Right. We haven't got any depression here

********

In related news, what's up with Deutsche Securities Inc. being in Tokyo?

Rough Night, Lost Day

Like the old song says: "I couldn't sleep at all last night. . . " and to make it worse, I waited too long to take my meds and to eat supper so the old corpse freaked out a little bit. Soooooo, I'm off from work again today to catch up on what should have been last night's sleep. I feel fine aside from being tired and the cough that I'll have for a week or two is still here. Thanks for asking.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I Am Going to Kill You.*

I am going to kill you.

Yes, you, personally.

Hold on there.

Why you? Because you volunteered for it by meeting all the following requirements:

  • There is a magic line between innocence and mens rea. You crossed it.**
  • There is a magic line around my property. You crossed it.
  • There is a magic line around my house. You crossed it. It doesn't matter if my garage door is standing open, it's my door, not yours.
  • You had a gun and raised or refused to drop it when I told you to, or you had a knife, or you made any other action that I perceived as violent or immediately threatening toward me or anyone under my roof, or my property (which is the same thing as me).

    It doesn't matter if you are a white friend of my white next door neighbor, the chico from across the street, the nice chinese family that walks down the block every night, or the black kids from down the street riding bikes casing the whole neighborhood two days ago. It doesn't matter if your mall-ninja outfit has a "POLICE" T-shirt over top of it.

    I am a killer. And you are already dead. We are just waiting, you and I, for you to voluntarily fulfill the requirements for getting shot under my roof. Do me (and yourself) a favor: don't.

    Photobucket
    Inspired imagery from All You Really Need

    *Technically, I am going to "shoot to stop" whatever it is you were doing that convinced me to shoot you in the first place. That is, I will shoot you as much as required to make you stop doing it. How many shots to your head can you survive?

    **How do I know? Because you are there. Nice, non-felon types do not B&E my house. End of discussion. We'll let your family say what a nice boy you were when the crime scene cleanup people have finished removing you from my living room.
  • Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Talking Points

    Excellence once again from the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog.

    Why is it that Obama's OFA community activist volunteers, trying to get people on board with the President's economic agenda, are saying things like

    "We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."

    Thanks Jesus, Feeling Much Better!

    ~or~

    Hydrogen Peroxide for Relief from Flu & Cold Symptoms

    I can't believe I forgot about putting hydrogen peroxide in my ears when I got sick last week. I finally did it last night and started feeling better immediately, which will be no surprise to those who have done it before.

    Consider: Your eyes, nose, and mouth all have pretty good defenses against disease vectors. What do you have in your ears? Okay, wax, but you just cleaned them all out with a Q-tip, now what do you have? Nothing. Bare skin that you are certain not to clean anytime soon. I can't remember where I saw it, but (in addition to the work referred to in the above link) I heard of a Russian study that showed it takes an order of magnitude (or two) fewer germs to get you sick via the ears than either the eyes or the nose.

    So put enough H2O2 into your ear (you have to hold your head 90 degrees sideways, duh) and hang out for a few minutes until it stops bubbling. Drain it onto a tissue and repeat with the other ear. If you have a sick child, this is something to do every few hours - especially with a baby who likes to stick her fingers in your ears. If you don't notice any bubbling action after 30-60 seconds, go ahead and drain it; you will know when it is bubbling (unless you are deaf).

    2 caveats: Don't if you have punctured eardrums, and if you have very thick ear wax, you might want to let it soak in baby or olive oil for a few minutes (to soften the wax) first, but otherwise this therapy is pretty much risk-free.

    Monday, March 23, 2009

    Good News/Bad News:

    Warning: graphic content follows, reader discretion is advised.

    Good News: Influenza symptoms typically last 5-7 days unless there are complications

    Bad News: I'm at 5 and symptoms have only just gone from fever & listlessness to respiratory gunk.

    Good News: Taking 10mg Loratadine cleared up the . . .

    Bad News: Painful coughing with light yellow sputum (from Oak, Mullberry or Hackberry pollen allergy)

    Good News: YAY DRUGS!

    Bad News: BOO Central Texas airborne pollen!

    Photobucket

    Sunday, March 22, 2009

    Your Treasury Secretary Is Costing Your Children Money

    We guarantee Citi against losses to the tune of several hundred billions of dollars.

    They have very little to lose by selling their assets way below retail price, so. . .

    they leave money on the table by the truckload getting rid of the company's assets.

    Who picks up the tab? That would be me. And you. And our children. And their children. Thanks for picking such a competent treasury secretary, mister President.

    Saturday, March 21, 2009

    "The Garage Is Full of Water"

    As my Darling Wife is about to step out with #2 and #3 to go to Wallymart, she calls into the house:

    "David"
    "Huh"
    "DAVID"
    "WHAT"
    "THE GARAGE IS FULL OF WATER"

    Well there goes my day of rest & recuperation trying to get over this flu or whatever it is.

    #1 and I spent a couple of hours sweeping the water out (it was something like 1/2-3/4" deep (who slopes a garage floor toward the house instead of toward the driveway?)) and then I pulled the old heater out. Leaking from the tank somewhere. Oh well, what do you want for the budget model from 18 years ago?

    Off to Sears to get a new heater. Off to Home Depot to get the stuff required to install the new heater. Home, install the new heater.

    Either the flu pipe has water in it somehow, or there is an internal leak, dripping down onto the burner.

    Great.

    I'll let it set overnight (and not mess with the stupid thing when I feel like lying on the floor instead) and see if it is leaking or what, tomorrow.

    ********

    Edit/update: everyone laugh at the newbie. The manual says it's common and should be considered "normal" for there to be condensation dripping down onto the burner with a tank full of cold water and/or on initial start-up.

    Oh, and the little piles of oak pollen everywhere are probably not helping me feel any better. A couple of days ago #2 was hurting, but he seems to be over it. I guess I'm the only one (lucky) who caught a genuine case of sick. Good.

    Friday, March 20, 2009

    "Organizing (blockleiters) for America" (OFA)

    This may be a moment in time the historians point to as the beginning of the end, or it may just turn out (under the glare of the public eye) to be nothing. . . .

    I had hoped to be able to give the "Obama's Brownshirts?" category a permanent hiatus.

    No such luck. He is organizing a civilian group loyal to him. Not to the country. Not the constitution, him. Blockwarts.

    You know, it would make sense if it hadn't been tried before. At least we do have the lessons of history to learn from (if we will) and our arms (if we will keep them).

    If I ever see somebody throwing that "O" symbol I will be hard-pressed to resist rearranging their face for them.

    By the way, one of my co-workers pointed out that symbol is the universally known sign for "horse's ass" at Texas A&M. So does that make Obama a . . . well, never mind.

    ********

    Edit/Update: Well it gets worse. If you think volunteering to help out your country should be mandatory, a) you are mentally disordered and b) Rahm Emanuel agrees with you.
    "They also warn, "[s]ome Republicans will squeal about individual freedom," ruling out any likelihood that they would let people opt out of universal citizen service."


    But surely the President's plan isn't so bad as to compel you to 'volunteer' right? No, no of course not citizen. It will be fully as voluntary as having a social security number:
    In fact, Obama's national service plan is "voluntary" in a technical sense -- nobody will be arrested for declining to participate. But non-participants also won't be allowed to graduate from high school, and without those diplomas, life could get a bit rough.


    You know what I would do (and advise my childrent to do)? Tell them to take their voluntary service you can't opt-out of and go to Hell. This is AMERICA people.

    He's Going In!

    To work, that is. Couldn't sleep well last night because I slept all day yesterday. So I'm tired but I don't feel like the only good thing I could do is sleep (like yesterday). Imma be late but here we go. Blessings upon the makers of Tylenol.

    ********

    Made it through the whole day. Barely. Blaaaah!

    Thursday, March 19, 2009

    Sick.

    I am it.

    Y'all are going to have to solve the world's problems without me for a day.

    Yesterday I was tired all day, really dragging. Lungs all full of junk that wouldn't come out. Last night I ran a fever with chills and then (after taking tylenol and pseudoephedrine and guaifenesin) then I started sweating out whatever it was. I'm still tired, though, and will probably miss a whole day @ work. Thanks to Jesus & my boss for sick days.

    Wednesday, March 18, 2009

    How Lucky Can One Guy Be?

    The Indigo Swing version, available HERE from Last.FM

    Stuck in my head for a week now. Go listen. Maybe it will get stuck in your head instead of mine.

    It's a good song and my wife definitely liked that I had it in mind instead of some others, but either I have a new favorite song or a really strong earworm.

    Understanding & Dealing With the Anti's

    At learnaboutguns.com there is a posted article from JPFO by Sarah Thompson, M.D., that you should read.

    A Psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality

    If you wonder why they are against guns or wonder why they are so illogical, or how you should relate to & deal with them, go read the whole thing.

    Madness @ Work!

    Our parking lot has a big flat surface and our place is in the middle of nowhere. So, the local yokels sometimes use the lot for donut/burnout practice. Somebody made a near-perfect circle on our parking lot last night.

    I was looking around for a good place to park and you know what?

    I found one.

    .

    .

    .

    Photobucket

    One guy didn't think it was funny, and one guy said he laughed when he saw it. I think it's pretty funny myself. We'll see what the concensus says when everybody comes back from lunch!

    (now if only we could convince our faithful muslim terrorist enemies to park the same way . . . .

    ********

    Opinions were mixed, most just thought it was silly. I showed my Darling Wife and she LOL'd.

    Range Report 03/07/2009

    We went out to the Super-Seekrit Schutzenfest 2009 location to make sure of the facilities and get a better idea of the Plan of the Day. After the work was done, our host asked if I had brought any guns with me.

    Funny you should mention that . . .

    I brought my Marlin 60 just in case the shooting window opened. The scope was close to sighted-in, but as I mentioned before, it was only close. I got it much closer using coke cans as targets. I'd have been able to get it 100% zero'd if I'd used paper targets, but by the end of the day one of the cans fell into top/bottom halves when it was picked up, the gun was so accurate. Close enough. I shot up a box of .22 and then our host's granddaughter came around and ran through a couple of magazines full. The Federal ammo was fairly clean, but the action got nasty-dirty but fast (as usual) with the Remington.

    Then, for kicks, I did a couple of draw-and-fire drills with my Kel-Tek. On a coke can, from conversational distances, I got a hit and a near miss, then a near miss and a hit, in 2-shot drills. Unsighted (point shooting) fire. I was pretty happy with that.

    Then, when I went to retrieve the cans I noted something strange: a bright U shaped channel in the clay, leading to a perfectly circular hole in the backstop. Knowing that bullets stop pretty fast in dirt, I dug in.

    Photobucket

    How many of you have ever recovered bullets from your daily carry weapon? It's a pretty neat thing to be able to do. I also got a few rounds from the Marlin, including some that were all smashified, and the one below. This is a pretty nice demonstration of why those nasty-dirty Remington hollowpoints are worth the effort:

    Photobucket

    There were also a few miscellaneous other rounds that were sitting on the face of the backstop since we had dug it up a little to get it ready for the Schutzenfest.

    Photobucket

    I found out the hard way that using both eyes on a scoped rifle is much harder to do when night is coming on fast.

    I also got a(nother) dramatic demonstration of how slow .22LR rounds travel. It's a little trippy having to wait a second between the report of a gun and the jumping of the target.

    Tuesday, March 17, 2009

    Don't Buy That New Car Just Yet.

    I still stand in agreement with Michael Shedlock on the summary of this post on his Global Economic Analysis blog:
    "Price wars: It's a good thing. And for those wanting to buy a car, my advice remains to wait. This is just the start of inventory clearing price wars."

    Open Carry of Firearms In Texas!

    Keep up the correspondence people. I wrote Governor Perry an email on his official contact form. It has a drop-down list (a short list, at that) with suggested topic/titles for your email.

    Open Carry was one of the topics.

    Good.

    Obama: Commander In Chief Hates Veterans!

    In case you don't read Tam's View From the Porch:

    Obama cuts funding for veterans wounded in the line of duty

    Go. Read. Be outraged.

    Texas To Take Blood Without Warrants! (?)

    Click here for the news story.

    I wrote to my Elected Heroes in the Texas Congress & Senate, as well as to Governor Perry. I encourage you to do the same. And say what? Well I'm glad you asked.

    1) Taking blood without a warrant is THEFT and a good example of an "unreasonable search and seizure"

    2) Current intent is to assist conviction of repeat DUI offenders. We used to have a law that you couldn't be stopped for not wearing a seat belt, and now it is a primary offense. Next up is taking DNA from ALL DUI suspects, then from all people involved in collisions in Texas. Where does the intrusion stop? (hint: it doesn't)

    3) What happens to the blood? Is it destroyed? Who verifies it is destroyed? Does a sample of it get put into the DNA database first? If so, what happens when your suspect ended up being diabetic and not convicted of DUI - does their DNA get pulled from the database (haha)?

    This is a Bad Law people. Let's not pass it.

    If I Were King of the World:

    I would trust my fighting men.

    Each man (yes, man, but that's another subject) would be issued a new rifle in Basic Training. That rifle would be "his" for the duration of his enlistment or commission. Every member of the armed forces would be issued a new (1911 pattern) pistol likewise. When their obligation to the State ended, they would be given the option to purchase the arms at a deeply discounted "pro-rated" price. If the arms were "lost" then full price would come out of the servicemember's paycheck.

    When they changed duty stations, they would have their arms with them on the plane/train/bus. When they were kicking it around the base in peacetime, everyone would have a loaded pistol (Condition 1) at his thigh and a rifle in his assigned location in a rack at his duty station, or at home.

    Of course (need I really say it?) they would all be properly trained in marksmanship and responsible (read: safe) gun handling. Semi-annual qualifications would be the rule. A monthly allowance of free ammunition for training and free range time on military bases & federal installations.

    And when they came to get a medal from me, I would expect them to have their arms. Erich Hartmann, the all time high scoring fighter-pilot who, when asked to leave his pistol outside when being awarded his medal by Hitler, declaimed that "If the Führer doesn't trust me, I do not want his medal." After some consultations with the powers that were, the Führer gave him his diamonds while he wore his pistol. Fighting men should be trusted around their leaders with weapons.

    If you don't trust your warfighters, you either need to get better ones, or evaluate yourself. Either way, the current state of affairs is unsatisfactory.

    New Lithium Ion Batteries Charge Faster, 2 Orders of Magnitude More Powerful

    Current Li-ion batteries take minutes to recharge and feature a power rate of 0.5-2kw/g. Researchers at MIT have found a new way to make batteries that give observed power two orders of magnitude higher (170kW/kg) and they can be charged in seconds. How about a battery that charges at 400C and is fully charged in 10-20 seconds, vs. 6 minutes?

    If it proves capable of being scaled up into mass production, this is the battery car companies have been waiting for. Drive as far as your car will go on WAY more powerful batteries, then pull up to a filling station capable of providing 180kW in 5 minutes ( ! ) and you have removed one of the main hindrances to electric cars: low range and long recharge times.

    Also, this is going to teach a new generation a new type of impatience. Like OMG how LONG does it TAKE to recharge a PHONE BATTERY! It's been, like, 5 SECONDS already!

    Two Innovative Cancer Therapies with Nanotechnology

    Little tiny pieces of gold accumulate in rapidly-growing cancer cells' blood vessels. Then a special light is shone on the tumor and they act like antennae, heating and killing the cancer.

    OR

    Little tiny machines find cancer cells and broadcast their location. Then other little tiny machines find the first lot and inject chemotherapy drugs directly into the tumors.

    Just wow. A little scary, and hey what happens to other cells in the body that these little devices are floating around in, but wow.

    gizmag.com: if you're not reading it, you're missing out.

    Monday, March 16, 2009

    If You Drive Like This, You STINK!

    I got a full tank of gasoline in my little 30MPG commuter car this afternoon on the way home from work. Leaving the parking lot at the gas station, I pull into the exit lanes of the driveway, into the far-right exit lane. In the middle lane there is a red Chevy fullsize pickup that's been lifted & a huge bumper installed on the front, with a signal flashing intent to turn left.

    Now, I have nothing against trucks, fullsize or not, red or not, Chevy or not, lifted or not, big bumpers or no. Except that they are not transparent.

    This exit driveway empties into three lanes of traffic heading to our right, and one heading left. There are very few cars coming from the left right at this moment, but it would be foolhardy to just drive right out into the street. So I edge a little forward of the pickup to see around the front of it. The driver of the pickup scoots forward. I edge forward again. He scoots forward again. I edge forward a third time and get a look at the cars that are approaching from the left. He edges forward again.

    So I waited for the cars I knew were coming (with nobody behind them) to pass by and took off.

    If you edge forward and prevent people going the opposite direction from seeing approaching traffic, you stink at driving.

    Sunday, March 15, 2009

    Gas Prices: On The Money.

    Note the historical price of gas: Adjusted for inflation, it has cost just under $2/gal. for the past couple of decades, excluding a couple of major spikes. That is, for the whole of the time I've been paying attention, the price of a gallon of gasoline has bought about the same amount of stuff.

    Right now, gas costs. . . just under two dollars a gallon. I have been having the feeling recently that it was a good price for gas to be, but now my hunch is looking even better considering the price of gas vs. the value of a dollar. This chart from calculatedrisk is talking about oil recovery (drilling) investment in the US, but I think you are all smart enough to see blue the gasoline price trendline I'm talking about. Click the image to see it full size.

    Photobucket

    By the way, my rule of thumb for gas prices relative to oil prices is also holding up pretty well. Right now we're just about $47/barrel.

    News That Sounds Like A Joke: Blind Man To Oversee The Arts

    Kareem Dale is partially blind.

    He is also the head of BO's new staff position to oversee arts & culture in the US.

    Yes, the arts & culture spelled out in the Constitution. Oh, wait. . . .

    The communists have long since succeeded in getting our perception of what qualifies as fine art reduced from "3 people in the world have this kind of artistic talent" to "look at the beautiful artwork little Johnny just made!" Now they are literally putting blind people in charge of the arts. Wow.

    Well, someone has to book all those leftist music groups for the Wednesday night concerts at the White House, right? You know, because Obama is just a regular kind of guy. . . who throws concerts at his house every week. Right.

    The New American "Tea Parties"

    a.k.a. "The Great Agitator Distraction Movement of 2009"

    Look people, Congress doesn't give 2 cents for your "tea parties". You know who shows up for protests and marches? People with no job and who don't vote, that's who. Your Congressman knows it, too. The Tea Party was effective back in the day because it was VIOLENCE directed at the STATE and it got the patriots all riled up. Barring that, you are WASTING YOUR TIME.

    Additionally, if you mail them a hundred thousand tea bags, then staffers will have a hundred thousand cups of tea and the congressmen will never hear about it. The staff that opens your mail will either be amused or annoyed, but decidedly not motivated to tell their bosses about your wasted tea.

    You want your Congresscritters to sit up and take notice? Get people registered to vote and get them to write letters to their Elected Heroes telling them they are freshly-minted voters who will vote against people who increase their taxes.

    ********

    Edit/Update: Boortz reminds the world that all the mail going to your congresscritters goes through a mail filtering facility. Remember the Anthrax scare? Remember how it didn't make it to your congressman's desk? Your teabag letters are destroyed people! Nobody is dumping a pile of tea bags on your Representative's desk! Drink it yourself or don't buy it, but don't be stupid with it. Come on now.

    Now, FINALLY, We May Be Getting Somewhere!

    Barack, this ain't Chicago. Problems in America don't just go away when you ignore them.

    WorldNet Daily was reporting earlier that it appears the clerks at the supreme Court of the United States were denying hearings of the challenges to Obama's eligibility to be a qualified candidate for the Presidency of the United States. THE CLERKS!

    Well, when that news filtered out into the public some people got to thinking, and one of us finally confronted Chief Justice Roberts in front of 800 people at a speech, with a legal brief and a petition signed by me and 325,000 other US Americans. Roberts said he would review it.

    To be quite specific, ORLY TAITZ (American Heroine) was told by JOHN ROBERTS (supreme Court Chief Justice) to give her papers to his Secret Service men. Taitz was approached by one GILBERT SHAW of the Secret Service and she gave him the following, with the understanding that he would relay it to Justice Roberts, who has publicly agreed to review it:

  • A motion for reconsideration of Lightfoot v. Bowen with all its supplemental briefs.
  • The Quo Warranto Easterling et al v. Obama et al case.
  • The WND petition, consisting of 3,300 pages of names – over 325,000 in all – of people demanding the Supreme Court hear the Obama eligibility case.
  • A copy of a 164-page dossier sent to Attorney General Eric Holder detailing suspected criminal activity surrounding Obama and his supporters, also available on the Defend Our Freedoms website.

    ********

    This, now, is in addition to the personal contact already established with Justice Scalia who, speaking for himself (not the other justices) said he would hear the case as well, if she brought it.
  • Saturday, March 14, 2009

    Bill Posey & H.R. 1503: WIN!

    A bill is filed to make candidates for President of the United States prove they meet the only 3 requirements spelled out by the Constitution.

    Good.

    "George Cecala, a spokesperson for Rep. Posey's office, told WND that constituents had been calling, questioning whether Barack Obama – who has publicized a Certificate of Live Birth, but not his official birth certificate – has demonstrated that he meets the Constitution's requirement to be a natural-born citizen.

    "Those are legitimate constitutional concerns," Cecala said. "Folks have brought the issue up, and the court really hasn't clarified. And I think American citizens have a right to have answers from their government."

    "When seven-year-olds play soccer in Brevard County, to be in Little League they have to prove their residency," Cecala said. "To be president there are three requirements: one is citizenship, two is the age of 35, and three, you have to have been a resident for 14 years. We're simply saying when you file your statement of candidacy with the FEC, you should also file documentation that you fulfill the three requirements to be president.

    "There's two standards here," Cecala told WND, "one for Little League and one for president."

    Obama: Change You Can Can't Believe In

    If you were hoping for a change, you got it.

    If the change you were hoping for was a politician who kept his promises, not so much.

    President Obama Bans Embryonic Stem-Cell Research!

    Did you ever rescind a federal policy forbidding federal funding of fetal stem cell research and then sign a law prohibiting that research after you allowed it?

    Well, President Obama did!

    (so did every other President since 1995 but hey who's counting?

    Friday, March 13, 2009

    Identifying Stroke Symptoms

    Over at Sipsey Street Irregulars, there is a very short article on properly identifying someone who is having a stroke.

    Failure to notice symptoms within a few hours can lead to death the same day, or permanent brain damage.

    Go read the whole thing. It's not long.

    Madness @ Work!

    WM just walked around handing out paychecks. As he handed me mine, he said "Alright if I give you your check, you have to come back to work. That's the rule."

    I don't go straight out to cash my check at lunch like most of the men do. It's a ghost town around here immediately after pay time.

    One of the men (recently fired) would put a bonus on top of cashing his check: taking off the rest of the day after he got his pay. Allegations of going home and getting meth'd up circulated. Hence the new rule.

    Yup, Alternator.

    I mentioned before that the alternator in my car seemed to be going out. I replaced it with a factory remanufactured unit, and I'll be returning the aftermarket reman. to the dealership as the core. . . and never buying another aftermarket reman. unless it's from a specialty shop I know & trust.

    You know your car picked the wrong day to fail when your neighbor, wearing a sweater, gets out of her car when she gets home and you are lying on a concrete slab under your car, and she says "OMG IT'S SO F--CKING COLD!" and runs inside.

    Oh well. Long-term testing is underway but it sure looks like the alternator was the problem. Bonus: my charging system connections are all tight now and the grounds are known-good. Thanks to Jesus for a high quality battery BTW.

    OPTIMA batteries. Red top, but a Yellow would have been nice to have also. I discharged it down to just over 10V and it charged right back up again, and got me THREE TIMES all the way through a 35-minute commute after being charged, without an alternator. The last time, I got jump-started and didn't use any accessories or lights and it got down only 300mV from full charge over the course of the trip!

    Probably light blogging again, I have to skip lunch to make up for the long ones I took earlier this week to work on my car.

    Thursday, March 12, 2009

    Man, I Am FAST!

    I don't seem to have much of an startle reflex.

    One of the guys saw me walking by, popped out from behind a machine and hooted at me, expecting me to jump. I continued walking unabated and casually turned my head and told him it was a nice try.

    I think he may have thought I was joking when I 'splained it to him. I'm that fast. I heard a noise and had it identified before my muscles could react. Then I told my muscles to siddown.

    It's most unsatisfying to the pranksters around here.

    1GW of Free Electricity From the Ocean

    Ho-hum. Hey Austin how about something more like this here than inefficient solar panels that take more energy to make than they produce?

    The device sits on a coastal seabed and moves with waves. It drives a piston that forces water up to an onshore station to turn a conventional generator. No heating, no polluting, just reuse of an infinitely self-renewing resource.

    Also a good way to save a beach, it would seem to me.

    Wow.

    CHL Holders In Texas CAN Carry In Churches.

    Reader Machelle points out that IF you have a CHL, nobody with authority has told you not to, AND the appropriate "victim disarmament zone" signs are not placed, then you MAY take a concealed handgun into a church.

    The law sounds backwards unless you are familiar with reading law, but here are the pertinent bits, lifted from context to save you reading the entire sections of code (which you can, like I did last night by clicking the link, below):

    A license holder commits an offense if the license Holder carries a handgun on or about the license holders person Under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code,And intentionally fails to conceal the handgun
    (6) on the premises of a church, synagogue, or other established place of religious worship.
    (I) Subsections (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (c) do not apply if the actor was not given effective notice under Section 30.06.
    (b) For purposes of this section, a person receives notice if the Owner of the property or someone with apparent authority to act for the Owner provides notice to the person by oral or written communication
    (3) "Written communication" means:
    (A) a card or other document on which is written language Identical to the following: "Pursuant to Section 30.06, Penal Code (trespass by holder of license to carry a concealed handgun), a person Licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Govemment Code (concealed Handgun law), may not enter this property with a concealed Handgun"; or
    (B) a sign posted on the property that:
    (I) includes the language described by Paragraph (A) in both English and Spanish;
    (ii) appears in contrasting colors with block letters at least One inch in height; and
    (iii) is displayed in a conspicuous manner clearly visible to the public

    From the horse's mouth

    Thanks to Machelle for sending me this, and I'll be forwarding it to GB who is a CHL holder and was trying to find out. As I have not asked permission (pretty please and paid my hundreds of dollars, submitted to a background check and fingerprinting by people who are supposed to serve me but instead treat me like a criminal) to be able to defend myself in a supposedly free State, carrying in Church would still make me a Felon, as I said.

    It makes me glad to have got too busy to call my Elected Heroes about the subject. Now all we need to do is get on them about penalizing CHL holders for open carry, and then for having a CHL program at all (OC for everyone!)

    Wednesday, March 11, 2009

    Sorry About That. . .

    Lunch, once again, went down in flames to a busted car. I'm pretty sure the alternator went south.

    No blogging today. Check back tomorrow.

    Tuesday, March 10, 2009

    Phenylephrine Dosage for Infants & Toddlers

    Don't. . . . Seriously.

    Look folks, you may have noticed the lengths to which I will go and the irritation I suffer to work around our government's restrictions on the availability of medicine for my children (see my rant here for example). But I am giving up this search as a bad job.

    I spent hours trying to dig up proper dosing information for #3 and his runny nose. Pseudoephedrine dosage we already have. Phenylephrine we didn't. We still don't. And won't, it seems.

    Why?

    Because it's not for babies. The initial research was for 40+lbs children, not 20lbs children. It was never properly studied for infant use.

    Because it's dangerous. Like, deadly. And you wouldn't be able to tell the side effects were happening until it was too late.

    Because we already have sudafed, which actually works (unlike, according to some doctors, phenylephrine).

    So don't. The life you save may be your own child's.

    1st Amendment Does Not Apply To The States.

    Laura Ingraham points out something that should send shivers right down the spine of every liberty-loving American:

    State officials trying to force reorganization of church heirarchy.

    Hello? 1st amendment free exercise clause? Anyone? 14th amendment incorporation means nothing?

    To be plain, the queers who had their "gay marriage" agenda smashed down are striking back at the religious community here. From the Statehouse.

    First they came for the Catholic organizations and I did nothing because I was not a Catholic.

    Pastor Killed, 2 Hurt in Illinois Church Shooting

    From Fox News:

    I'm going to make some phone calls to my Elected Heroes today.

    If I take my pistol into church with me, it makes me a Felon in Texas.

    If I don't, there is a chance something like this could happen.
    Was there time to go out to my car? Would I have been shot at while running out the door? Probably not, and maybe.

    This guy was talking crazy to the preacher during. A parishioner or (arguably better) an Usher could have inconspicuously slipped his hand under his (or her) coat and made a little clicky noise he could cover with a cough, and waited to see if this was crazy-and-innocuous guy or crazy-and-dangerous guy. Nobody is the wiser for the former, and if the latter, in the blink of an eye or faster Big Brother can be out and on target.

    Somebody drawing a gun on the pastor in church? That's a shootin'. If you have sane laws in your jurisdiction, that's a shootin' of a bad guy and not the pastor.

    Carry your guns, people!

    Monday, March 9, 2009

    Schutzenfest 2009: Further Details

    If you haven't told me you want in, you are a couple of weeks away from being counted out! Holla back!

    I went to the super-seekrit location for this year's Schutzenfest and I think it will be a good match for the year.

    2009: ammo prices are sky-high
    Range: suitable for 2 shooters at a time, max., with a mild concern (for the neighbors) that it not sound like a war zone all day long

    The range is immediately behind a house situated on 87 acres, with nothing behind the backstop for a good mile, including 230 undeveloped acres. The backstop is a pretty good size pile of mostly-clay earth. It stops bullets but good. Miss and you're shooting downhill at nothing.

    It's all downhill, and drainage is into the bed of a 45-acre lake. The property owner requests, if possible, use of non-lead ammunition; please bear that in mind when you are shopping. Ball is better than hollow point for the day (which is good because it's also cheaper!)

    There will be provision for shooting distances from point-blank to a full 100 yards. In case you haven't been outside lately, 100 yards is far even with a telescope sight on your rifle. Since one of the primary goals of the event is fun I'm thinking most shooting will be done at <50 yards. At that sort of range, hitting even with a a fairly poor rifle is doable.

    Targets will be mostly paper stapled to cardboard, empty coke/beer and 3lbs coffee cans. If you have something more creative, bring it and we'll run it by the landowner. It seems like as long as you pick up all the pieces he won't mind too much what you bring to shoot at.

    It is dry out there. If you smoke, you're dumb and it's a bad idea out there right now. It hasn't rained appreciably in 16 months. The grass and dirt are very dry. The only thing growing is scrub mesquite . . . wear closed shoes!

    There will be plenty of time between your turns on the firing line to socialize and tell sea stories, haze shooters for misses, etc. The food and the line will be in very close proximity, so if you want to eat, you won't have far to go.

    I've updated the list of guns I'm pretty sure will be there (see the Main Page), go check it out if you haven't in a while.

    Fluoride: Why You Should Not Have It In Your Water

    They say it is effective in preventing dental caries. They also say it's safe.

    Hold on there.

    Cavities are getting more rare all over, not just where the water is fluoridated. Effective?

    After all, it's good for teeth, right? (NO!)

    The ADA says not to give it to infants to avoid DAMAGING THEIR TEETH
    "On Nov. 9, 2006 the American Dental Association released an email alert to its members warning that, in order to prevent tooth damage, fluoridated water should not be mixed into formula or foods intended for babies aged 1 and younger.

    Currently, two-thirds of the U.S. public water supply has fluoride chemicals added, a move centered on a now-disproved theory that fluoride ingestion prevents cavities. Research by the Centers for Disease Control has shown that fluoride absorbs into tooth enamel topically, but ingestion of the chemical can cause adverse reactions. Also, the CDC admitted that enamel fluoride concentration was not inversely related to cavities.

    It concentrates in the pineal gland. Is early onset of puberty "safe?" How about faulty regulation of melatonin levels? Safe?

    Lower IQ: effective! (well, ok, effective for the people who started our government school system)

    There are a few (thousand)doctors against fluoridation.

    Maybe some of them heard about the link to bone cancers in boys?

    Or was that the link to diabetes?

    But the studies! They did studies! Well, they went back and studied the studies and they all stink. You couldn't get a peer-reviewed journal today to publish the studies used to promote fluoridation back in the day.

    If you are fortunate enough to live in a place where they don't add fluorine (and it's not naturally present in high levels) good for you. Otherwise, distillation will get rid of it for you.

    Good luck.

    Guaifenesin Dosage for Infants thru Adults

    From the Clinician's Pocket Drug Reference 2008:

    Guaifenesin
    Uses: Relief of dry, nonproductive cough
    Action: Expectorant (thins secretions so you can cough them out)
    Dose:
    Peds. <2years: 12mg/kg/day in 6 divided doses (every 4 hours)
    2-5 years: 50-100mg every 4 hours, max. 600mg/day
    6-11 years: 100-200mg every 4 hours, max 1.2g/day
    Adults: 200-400mg every 4 hours (600-1200mg slow release every 12 hours)

    Give with large amounts of WATER

    Note: because Congress and the FDA assume you and I are stupid, I had to go dig this up the hard way. Congratulations, you know how to do math and use a clock, and saved $140 on a doctor's office visit for your or your child's dry cough.

    ********

    Edit/Update: Be prepared to comfort your baby when they can't breathe/retch/choke for a few seconds on their own sputum. Holding them sideways (laying down, horizontal) in a way that is comfortable for them (on your breast, lap, or their bed) may help them to breathe easier. If they are upright, what comes up will just go back down again.

    So I Think My Alternator is Dead . . .

    Going to work this morning, the radio started cutting on/off/on/off. Pulled the faceplate. That's either alternator or radio.

    Then, taking off from a light, the tachometer went nuts. Then, the turn signal would make the tachometer dip when the lights came on. I got to work and sure enough, the windows were slow to roll up, the headlights made the tach. dip, and the air conditioner turned on for a second made it fall almost to nothing. Voltmeter say: 10.4V at the battery. :(

    Light blogging today, lunch is going to be battery testing and alternator buying time for me today.

    Edit/Update: It was the battery terminals. They were a little corroded, nowhere near as bad as I have seen some that still ran, but oh well. They've been scrubbed shiny, spooged up with vaseline, and the battery charged back up and reinstalled. It tested out at 647 of 720CCA when I got to the Advance Auto, so still good enough to run on. Well, thanks to Jesus for getting me to work, and for co-workers who will take their personal time out to drive me to where I need to go, when my car breaks down.

    Friday, March 6, 2009

    Vote For David Comment Moderation Policy

    Just so everyone is aware:

    Due to some silliness before my blog had many readers, I screen all comments prior to publishing them. Almost all of them are approved and published, shortly before my response (if any) is posted. When you post a comment, bear in mind that you are addressing me personally and if I feel like sharing with the rest of the class, I might post it. If you get bent out of shape that your comment was not posted, feel free to send another comment up for me to reject.

    To be clear: I generally prefer clarity to agreement. Make your point, but be nice about it and don't annoy me, and you will likely see your comments published here. That you are a kook or a whack-o will be plain from your own words, so there is usually no great purpose served by deleting your words just because you are wrong.

    If you present an annoying number of logical fallacies, false assertions, or repeated arguments in the face of disproof, expect to have your comments rejected. If you are rude, disrespectful, hateful, or generally go beyond what a sane person would say in face-to-face conversation, I may delete your comment. If you make arguments against a group of people, instead of against a specific person or point, expect not to have your comment published. If you engage in vain & profane swearing, your comment will be deleted, regardless of what else you had to say. If I feel like it for any other reason including but not limited to a lack of rest or need of coffee, I may delete your comment. When I decide there have been enough words said, the discussion is over. There is no appellate court.

    I check at most once a day for comments awaiting moderation. Don't be surprised if your words take a few days to show up.

    Clean Your Cell Phones, People!

    A study just concluded (heard on the afternoon radio news break) arrived at the following conclusion:

    MRSA in hospitals is being spread on hospital staff cellular telephones. Only 10% clean them regularly.

    Clean your phones. I recommend an alcohol-dampened cloth. Alright, say it with me now:

    Eeeeeewwww!

    Austin to Buy Solar Cells From China vs. Austin Company!

    I commented on this before, but the news just keeps getting worse.

    Austin is going to spend $250,000,000 for a solar energy generation plant that will take up 300Acres of valuable real-estate. This will make enough electricity for 5,000 homes. That would be a cost of $5,000 per home, but it will be spread over the entire tax base of Austin. Sure, they want people to volunteer to overpay for electricity, but if not enough suckers sign up, there's going to be some compulsion going on.

    It's not that you could put a nuclear power plant on that same 300 acres and power 5 million homes.

    It's not that the amount of energy they make will NEVER amount to the energy required to produce the photovoltaics.

    It's not that you could sell that land and make a nuclear plant somewhere else

    It's not even that the electricity is ridiculously expensive.

    No, it's this: THIS YEAR a new company is starting up IN AUSTIN to produce solar cells.

    AND AUSTIN IS BUYING THE PHOTOVOLTAICS FROM CHINA INSTEAD OF HERE!

    I swear, if I were an Austin resident (won't be, ever, due to stupidity in that city) instead of a Pflugerville sleeper, I would be running for Mayor. Heck, I would have run for Mayor of Austin already. Then again, I would have to run against Leslie, but one need not take him too seriously.

    Smart Lite CFL: Replace The Bulb (Not The Ballast)



    From gizmag:

    The Smart Lite CFL: the part that destroys the planet to make, you keep. The part that destroys the planet to dispose of, you throw out and replace when it goes bad or gets broken. This is a Good Idea but it sidesteps the main problem with compact fluorescent lights, disposable or no:

    They burn up their ballasts too. CFLs run hot. If you invert them so the bulb hangs down (you know, like in every cieling fan in your house?) then the bulb heats the ballast and fries the electronics.

    Oh well, I guess you end up with spare tubes for the ballasts that don't burn out, with this idea.

    What an environmental disaster these CLFs are. I'll be glad when we don't need artificial lighting anymore.

    Obama: "Every Idea Must Be Considered"


    President Obama actually said "Every idea must be considered" which must have sounded a lot smarter when it was written for him.

    Hold on there.

    Every idea? You mean, if I suggest that you lobotomize yourself with a pencil and let the bilderburgers take over the country, we must consider that idea? You mean Jeb out in the hills giving you a .30-30 as well as the next 5 people in line for the office, because you are all ruining the country, we must consider that idea?

    What a stupid thing to say.

    Thursday, March 5, 2009

    Madness @ Work!

    CB and WM have daily arguments about what type of music gets jammed out of CB's computer speakers. WM wants Shania and CB wants. . . almost anything else.

    Today when CB stepped away from his station for a few minutes, WM changed the internet radio channel from whatever it was on, to Ron Jeremy Porn Stars or some such. Some random bad 70s porn movie soundtrack music feed.

    CB laughed about it, and then, due to his nearly universal willingness to listen to anything but Ms. Twain, he left it on. I didn't go look at the images presented in the audio browser with each 'song' but one can imagine.

    !

    People Who Should Be Shot. 2 More.

    Judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan.

    A reader relayed these links to me:

    CNN
    law.com
    jdjournal

    The gist of the story is that, in return for $2.6M, two judges sentenced young criminals to harsher sentences than probation officers recommended.

    Hold on there.

    How? Because they were getting paid by the people running the detention facilities. The judges have pleaded guilty and are up against 87 months in prison on plea deals, and the prosecution is looking to get all the kickback money, back.

    That is not enough. These people should be hanging in the public square. While one cannot help but notice that they were sending CRIMINALS for punishment, it is still completely unacceptable that the judge gets PAID by the people running the camp to which he sends offenders, in return for extra-long sentences.

    "The best remedy for the disposition of a scoundrel is hanging."
    -Andrew Jackson

    --------

    Note: this is not an argument against elected judges, it is an argument against an uninformed/apathetic electorate. You know, the same way BO is not an argument against elected Presidents.

    Obama: Change = Administration Gangs Up On One Person?

    So the obamanation is ganging up with the mainstream press. To go after Rush Limbaugh.

    Do you really want to live in a country with a president whose "people" try to cut down someone whose only offense is honest criticism?

    Really?

    Readers of "Gulag Archipelago" will notice a certain resemblance to the Soviets' Pogroms . . . time to round up the kulaks, is it?

    Socialized Healthcare

    One of the guys @ work is sick. He said

    "Socialized healthcare: hey, if I want to share my health with the poor people, I'll cough on them!"

    and then he went in to a laughing/coughing fit.

    Wednesday, March 4, 2009

    Prostitute.

    I just heard that the woman female (whose name I disdain to mention but you have heard of her) turned down free 24-hour child care for all of her 14 children. A charity offered to care for her spawn and she turned them down because they were unwilling to make a reality TV show out of it.

    Also, she's rumored to be trying to pawn off a video of herself giving birth to all 8 of the most recent persons unfortunate enough to be her children.

    Both of the above are disgusting illustrations of why she is a filthy whore.


    . . . in case you were wondering what I thought of the subject.

    Mexicans Fear Threat to Way of Life From Growing Gringo Population

    From wfaa.com:

    The mexicans are concerned that their culture is being diluted because of all the gringos moving to may-hee-ko. Well boo-[deleted]-hoo a single bitter tear rolls down my battle-scarred cheek.

    It's almost like a parody. Is somebody in Dallas trying to make a sick joke, writing things like this?
    "Not everyone is rolling out the welcome mat to Americans. Many Mexicans complain about the rapid growth of the American population in their neighborhoods, the threat they see to Mexican culture and language, and the possible drain on Mexico's inexpensive health care."


    . . . google up the reconquista movement and you'll see that this set of concerns is mirrored North of the border, except with Mexican and American reversed in the above quote.

    You've GOT to be kidding me.

    Lest We Forget The Enemy:

    From Jeff Cooper, circa 2003:
    Reports from the front indicate that the Arabs cut down all their power lines in order to steal the copper, and then complain bitterly that power is out. Nation building, indeed, has its problems.

    So the next time some [deleted] starts trying to give you claptrap about how we don't have electric service back up to sadaam-era levels, mention that the reason, in part, is that the enemy stole the power lines, blew up the substations, and knocked down the towers.

    Then ask the wingnut (especially if they are a female wingnut) if they would prefer to still have free standing rooms with large windows, purpose-built for raping (potentially innocent/unconvicted) women prisoners as a form of entertainment for the guards. If they deny the rape rooms' existence, ask them if the holocaust was a hoax, too. Their answer in the affirmative is a positive indicator that you will never get them to see reason, and you should at this point walk away.

    OMG GFCI!!!!!1!?

    Last night I went out to the shop to work on my cylinder head port & polish project. My tool wouldn't turn on.

    ?

    After stupidly flipping the switch a few more times, I broke out the voltmeter. No power from the supply. Hmm . . . No power TO the supply. Power strip is . . . plugged in. Hmm . . . I installed this GFCI outlet right here a few months ago and it's never been tripped; hey why is this RESET button standing proud? Push that. . . click! Tool works! Here we go!

    My Darling Wife told me this morning (of course when I was in the office) that the outlets in the bathrooms were not working. I told her about the GFCI having been tripped and reset. She tried an outlet and it worked, go figure.

    She had done her hair a couple of days ago in the living room and I thought she had just wanted to do it there.

    Why wouldn't you think to mention that the power outlet wasn't working? Oh well, she was busy. It's fixed now, anyway.

    Tuesday, March 3, 2009

    You Using Your Own Password To Unlock Evidence Is Not Self-Incriminating?

    How? I'm with the ACLU on this one, and I hope it is overturned on appeal:

    Sleazy guy w/ bad kinds of stuff on his computer is forced on appeal to use his PGP key to unlock his laptop to give prosecutors access to his hard drive.

    They could use a software tool on loan from the FBI or DEA or somebody to crack it, I'm sure. Instead they want the defendant to enter his pass key into his computer, so the prosecution can have at the evidence they want. How is this not self-incriminating? If this is not overturned, we're all screwed.

    . . . of course, the innocent have nothing to fear, right Citizen Obama?

    H/T: Uncle

    Racists Are Stupid

    Boortz has aptly expressed one of the reasons BHO has been rah-rah'd in the mainstream press even though he is being dum with your money

    Like the banks and auto industry: He is too big to fail. That is, if he is allowed to fail, then it paints all future black presidential candidates with a broad brush of Fail.

    Now this is just stupid. I immediately thought of Colin Powell, Condy Rice, Clarence Thomas . . . all these were/are pretty successful, and also happen to be black. If you think Barack Obama failing to convert the USA to Socialism or Fascism somehow reflects negatively on Dr. Alan Keyes, you are a fool. Not all ___________ (fill in the skin-color minority) are the same. To think otherwise is racism

    Just sayin'.

    Monday, March 2, 2009

    Motorcycle Riding: Now Marginally Less Dangerous!

    I love riding motorcycles. I love motorcycling for the same reason bullfighting is a great sport: It is an exhilarating, thrilling, and, dare I say it, fun, demonstration (if only to self) of machismo. Every ride is a potential adventure, with a man shaking his fists in the face of Death, controlling more power than necessary at velocities to make your hair stand out (straight backwards, if you have any left). I have often said, "motorcycles are so dangerous as to be ill-conceived as a method of transportation" and I mean it. They make for great racing, and if you haven't ridden down a beach or a twisty road on two wheels, you have missed out.

    Still, I don't ride these days.

    You see, I also love my family. They depend on me and the income I provide. A paralyzed or badly-broken daddy/husband is arguably worse than a dead one, and all of the above are possible when you crash off a bike in the same circumstances that leave maybe missing paint and zero injuries in a car.

    Twice, when I was in Spain, I had my pretty face saved by a full helmet. If you ride a motorcycle without at least a full helmet, you are asking for it, IMO, but everyone has his own opinion and personal safety standards. I am a big fan and proponent of a full complement of safety gear for riders: full helmet, leathers, gloves & boots. Every. Single. Time. At a minimum, a helmet, jacket, jeans, gloves, and closed shoes should be worn when going ANYWHERE on a motorcycle, even around the parking lot.

    Well, for those who do ride, I present a pair of high-yield investments in your own safety. In addition to a SNELL-certified helmet, you can (hopefully soon) have the 2-wheel equivalent of a HANS device. This restraint from BMW's Motorrad will prevent you breaking your neck, I suppose right up till the point your head pops clean off. But cooler than that (and less-reusable, unfortunately) is the Dainese D-Air Suit


    image from autoblog.com

    Unlike the Airbag Jacket which waits for you to go flying (activated by a clip-on like the kill switch on a PWC), the D-Air suit has gyroscopes and impact sensors to get the bags inflated before you ever hit the ground. The video shows the suit inflating at just about the same time you can tell the rider is definitely going to lose it.

    This is a major advancement in motorcycle safety. I put it on a par with seatbelts for cars. I can still see (especially at race speeds) trauma to the extremities because you can't always tuck 'em in tight. At least, if you are just rolling along, you won't have your brains beaten in. The guy in the video would have been laying there moaning without the suit, I think. As you can see, he popped right up and started hooping & hollering & jumping around hugging everyone.


    The Dainese D-Air suit: coming soon to a motorcycle racing sanctioning body rulebook near you! Go get one!

    Madness @ Work!

    Sometimes I really enjoy working at a small company. One of the guys across the room (retired Major, USAF) called me over to show me the following ranger slogan on a motor enclosure, as the name for a Japanese company. I LOL'd, then I asked him, if you dropped it on someone's head, would that be "Death From Above?" He LOL'd and I went to make coffee (yes coffee at 14:30, what?).

    Photobucket

    Blogoversary: I Missed My Own?!

    Oh well. Please celebrate the occasion by reviewing the Disclaimer that would not have been necessary 50 51 years ago:

    Nothing on this blog is intended to be hateful. If you see it and think you are seeing something hateful, you are reading it wrong or taking the wrong meaning. Just because I may disagree with and denigrate you, does not mean I hate you. It just means you are wrong.

    If you perceive a threat of violence, your perception is wrong. You may be mistaking a warning or a promise for a threat.

    Some of the things discussed may be dangerous. Do not attempt to do the things I do.

    If you think I told you to do something illegal, you are reading it wrong. Always obey the law.

    Edit/update: I have several "People Who Should Be Shot" postings. Note: this means "should be shot by the .gov in an ideal world" and not "should be shot by you personally." Don't.

    This disclaimer is subject to change at any time without notice.