Range Report: 06/01/2010

As I was sweating my [deleted] off fixing a foot-sized hole in my attic floor, my Darling Wife said she wanted me to "be done for now" so we could go to BH's place.

BH's place is the place with a standing invite to go shooting anytime.

Then she said the B family would be there. Dad B had expressed an interest in having a gun class (see "Let me take you shooting" on the right side of this page) but never worked up a schedule. I brought out some guns, ammo, and teaching equipment (including PPE) just in case, then loaded up #2's bicycle so he could ride around BH's land, and off we went.

Lunch, and socializing with another family that showed up kept us busy for the first part of the afternoon, but around 16:00 I told CB if he wanted a class, it had better get started or we'd run out of time. By 18:30 we were packing it in, because my Darling Wife is 8 months into the cooking process for VFDkiddo #4 and she can only be up and doing for so long. Between those times, I ran a class with two boys and a man, and we did much less shooting than I would have liked.

I started Boy 1 off with a .22LR Ruger revolver which he liked, except that it was heavy for him. We were about 5 yards from a few aluminum cans, which danced nicely with a good hit. He kept wanting to lean backwards from his hips for some reason. Then his dad was up, and he did quite well, only requiring a couple of minor pointers. Boy 2 has been shooting before but hadn't been through my lecture, so he sat through it and waited for the n00bs to have their turns, then he lit up the berm with his hi-point 9mm carbine. It put the hurt on the cans, including sending one flying clear off into the tall grass. I sent him to get more cans.

Boy 1 wanted to have a go at the Glock foh-ty, but one shot was all he wanted from it. I think he was surprised at the much-larger recoil He handled it ok, but the Glock may as well have been a 2x4 in his little hands, so that first shot was plenty. His dad did better with it, and was happy to see one can scoot halfway up the berm from a solid hit.

I like to start folks out with light-recoiling guns, and they were up for it, so we broke out a Marlin .22LR rifle. I think Boy 1 might need glasses or something, he had such a hard time seeing the front sight. It was also heavy for him, so I provided a third hand (mine) for a forend rest. He struggled with the sights for a minute and ended up not firing a shot. Boy 2 took a turn on it and chewed the cans up. Boy 1 saw Boy 2 having fun at it, and said he wanted another try. I held the front of the stock again, and Boy 1 was having a hard time getting off a shot. The difference between the single-stage revolver and the 2-stage rifle triggers was throwing him, plus he was maybe a little scared to be shooting actual guns. I saw him struggling with the (5lbs) trigger, so I told him to just squeeze it without aiming, to see what it was like. He did, and found out it wasn't so bad, and then he got a few shots off. I need to get some child-sized safety glasses. . . the ones he was wearing were slipping off his head. Oh well.

I could tell the Dad was having fun, and he was dealing with recoil pretty well, so (after a word from my Darling Wife that time was running out) I ran him up the power ladder pretty quickly. He liked the SKS, and was impressed with its report. #3 commented from the house 100 yards away in a 2 year-old's voice that he was also impressed with the noise from the SKS (we heard "LOUD" after each shot, very cute). Then Boy 2 broke out a Mosin Nagant and THAT was the winner of the 'loudest gun yet' award, in addition to tipping Boy 2 back on his heels despite being well-positioned. The Dad shot that one, and was suitably impressed with the recoil coming through the steel butt plate. He was also impressed with the price . . . Mosins can still be had for <$100 in good condition these days. If only they had a longer frikken bolt handle . . .

Then it was time to go, because my Darling Wife was at about 97% of her capacity for not being on a couch with her swollen feet up. One of my goals for the day was to see if a few new parts for an old Bryco 59 would turn it into a functional pistol. It got off two shots. Then it stovepiped on a live round (FTF) which I cleared. Boy 2 was curious throughout the afternoon about this gun. He had never seen one and wondered why I kept saying it was cheap junk. After the third shot it showed me the new striker spring was NOT the right part by halfway disassembling itself as the slide was going back into battery. Boy 2 was watching me shoot, and I held up the partially-disassembled weapon, and called back to the spectator's area and said "Piece of Junk." He finally understood, agreed, and said back in a suitably impressed tone: "Piece of Junk."

Then we loaded up and left. We got home around supper time, and then the Zoo went down for the night. A couple of guns got a light cleaning and fresh grease, then put back in the safe. Then it was bedtime.

Good times.

Memorial Day 2010

Of course I observed it. I started the day with a prayer of thanksgiving, then we went on to do what my fallen brothers can't: live life.

Yes Obama skipped the ceremony at Arlington. No it's not the end of the world. I reckon VP Biden would be more honest about it anyhow, and (dirty little secret) some of your more popular R-type Presidents of the USA have also skipped it.

Not "Happy Memorial Day." It went as well as could be expected, and I lived to tell about it, unlike some other folks who also wore the uniform.

Remember them.

Hydrogen From Seawater

A new catalyst has been discovered that allows a 70x-cheaper (than platinum) way to make hydrogen gas from water. And it can be dirty water. Actually, it looks like they can use this new material to make H₂ straight from SEAWATER.

That, plus a few nulear reactors, and the world's energy needs are pretty much in the bag.

I May End Up With Good Teeth, Yet!

If you don't have huge, gaping holes in your teeth left by years of military substandard dental care after a lifetime of substandard nutrition, you will be less thrilled by this than I was.

In the future, you may be able to grow your own teeth. New teeth. Not your adult teeth, after the baby teeth fall out. new teeth, instead of implants to replace adult teeth gone bad.

I'll take (at least) TWO!

The Mark Of The Beast Goes Viral

Any sort of credit or identity document that is not a part of a person's body can be forged or lost/stolen. Any biometric identifier can be faked. The only secure solution for identity and payment documents is an implanted chip.

When it's getting right near the end of time, the people of the world will be clamoring for such a system. A cashless society will arise.

And it will STILL not be secure!

A man proved a point in a huge way, but it will be ignored when that time comes. A computer system was infected with a computer virus. The computer virus was made by him. It was in a microchip implant, in himself. He infected the computer simply by being in close proximity to it.

How would you like for the whole system to come crashing down, because someone walked by a scanner? Maybe the banking system collapses after the hacker pays for a dental check-up. Maybe a prisoner is checked into jail and all the doors are opened. The potential for mayhem is very nearly limitless. This is yet one more reason why you should NOT trust implanted identification or payment options.

But this warning will go unheeded.

Next Up: Invading Iran!

We have to gin up public support for it, though, so here's the first of many stories: The Taliban is training in Iran.

We are fighting an undeclared war with the Taliban
They are training in Iran
Iran is a bunch of doody-heads anyhow,
So I guess it's time for us all to start singing "Barbara Ann" with revised lyrics like they did a couple of decades ago.

Do You Like Having Less Free Money?

Then be sure to NOT contact your Senator.

The House has passed a bill that would quadruple the taxes you pay for every barrel of oil. The idea is to make YOU pay more, for cleanup funds in case a PRIVATE COMPANY has a spill.

Here's my idea: let the private company suffer financial ruin cleaning up their own messes, and someone else will still be going to get the oil out of the ground.

If this bill passes then John Q Public will have the cost of literally everything increased on him, with no corresponding increase in benefit from the government or pay from his employer. This is not good for a faltering economy, in case you were wondering, but that's not the point.

It's a power grab, to get more of your life from you (in the form of tax dollars). Poof! and the money is gone to Washington.

"You'd think they'd be saying 'Thank you'"

"Never let a good crisis go to waste"

Predator Drone Crews To Be Prosecuted?

The Fifth Column is hard at work. In a place where we KNOW our enemies hide behind women and children, an attack was made on a convoy with armed men on board. The Predator crew who called it are being thrown under the bus. What do you want, to send foot patrols to be mowed down, instead of sending drones out? There is no real alternative unless you want to move the decimal in the price tag several places to the right.

If we are not willing to fight the enemy, why are we there?

Topkill Failed Wednesday Night?

BP says they're going to try something different, a variant on the theme. Naked Capitalism hypothesizes that BP is merely putting a brave face on, and will be announcing a total failure of the top kill procedure late tonight or tomorrow, after the Annointed One gets out of the region.

Reading the comments doesn't make one feel better . . . a claim of NO prospect of stopping the flow until a relief well is drilled and online, MONTHS from now. I expect they would keep trying, but oy.

I'm not an oil engineer, but this sucks. I'm thinking a big clamp-on pipe and you start sucking whatever comes out of the pipe in the seabed, through a new fitting clamped over the old broken pipe. Then you run some ships around sucking up the undersea rivers of oil, trying to get it all before it is washed up on shore as part of a storm surge in a hurricane.

Bill Clinton To Not Pass Go, Collect $200?

The answer to my question is apparently none other than William Jefferson the Impeached. He was the courier for Rahm's offer of giving Sestak the post of SecNav in exchange for quitting his bid for Senate. Rahm is hiding in Israel until this blows over, or at least you get some beer and bar-b-q in you and you forget about it a little bit.

So that'll be Jim Messina sharing a cell with Bill Clinton then eh? No, they're not a flight risk. In fact, they didn't even mean anything by it . . . we'll just give them a warning, shall we?

One might think an allegation of this nature could damage Hillary's prospects at a run for the Presidency, but then one would be forgetting the shameless nature of the persons involved. One would also be forgetting that the current President is the least suited candidate for the office ever to hold it, but hold it he does.