I made the same request to four different AIs, “Please tell me about Boomershoot.” The AIs were Meta AI (via WhatsApp), Gab AI, Google Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot.
Only Copilot did not have serious errors. Errors are highlighted in yellow. Corrections are in green.
I received the following responses.
Image by Copilot.
I was chatting with Microsoft’s Copilot again this evening. It insisted we needed to move on to a new topic when I asked it for the Boomershoot target recipe.
I then had this conversation: Continue reading
I asked Google’s Gemini the same question Chet asked it a few days ago, “Who runs Boomershoot?” This is today’s answer:
It also gave me a pop up:
This, as is known in the software development world, is a hack. The algorithm doesn’t always work, so you kluge something together that works well enough until you can fix the code properly.
The answer is still way behind Microsoft’s Copilot, but it is a big improvement for just a few days of effort.
The image generation of people is apparently completely disabled:
It doesn’t do very well with Boomershoot images either:
Please create an image of two Boomershoot explosions.
Hi Joe,
It has been a long time since I was last able to attend the event you put on. I stayed on your mailing list with the hopes that the kids get old enough (mature enough) for me to take them to one of your events.
While I have not been able to attend in over a decade, I do enjoy reading about the event and watching videos when they become available. I have very fond memories of the 2 day clinic and the official shoot on day 3. I learned more in the 2 day clinic than I had in 15 years of shooting (including DCM/CMP competitions).
With warmest regards and a heartfelt thank you for keeping this event alive,
From the enemy occupied territory of California,Thank you.
Joe M.
February 27, 2024
Via email.
We barely cover expenses with the entry fees so things like are our real rewards.
If you have never attended this should give you a clue as to what you have been missing out on.
Don’t miss out this year. Sign up now! https://entry.boomershoot.com/
I don’t think I have ever seen this article on Boomershoot.
Microsoft’s Copilot pointed it out to me when I repeated Chet’s question, “Who runs Boomershoot?” As expected, the answer given is slightly different from the one Chet obtained:
Boomershoot is a long-range, high-power, precision rifle shooting event with explosive, reactive targets. It takes place in North Central Idaho near Orofino. The event is the brainchild of Joe Huffman, who created this unique experience for shooters and spectators alike. Participants from various locations, including India, Newfoundland, Toronto, England, Alaska, California, Florida, and Washington state, have attended Boomershoot. Joe Huffman’s vision combines precision shooting with the thrill of explosions, making it a magical kingdom for long-range shooters1. Safety is paramount, and the organizers take precautions to ensure that shooters are far enough away from the detonations and that the area around the explosives is clear2. So, if you’re interested in combining marksmanship with a touch of magic, Boomershoot is the place to be!
Learn more
The website for Boomershoot entries uses an email API to automatically send email to entrants and for sending out mass emails to the announcement list. This had worked fine for Boomershoot 2023. But as I was ready to announce Boomershoot 2024 in early summer it failed with an error:
Azure.RequestFailedException: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send. —>
System.Net.WebException: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send. —>
System.IO.IOException: Unable to read data from the transport connection: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. —>
System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host at System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
I worked on the problem for quite a while (many hours off and on over several days). Then I tried using a different provider for the email service. The same exact error occurred.
Frustrated, I would set it aside for a month or so and worked on it again on some weekends. No luck.
People realized that the web site actually accepted entries even if it had not been announced. Then, a couple months ago, to my great surprise, I discovered that about 10% of the time the email did work. WHAT?!! Is it a timing issue? I did lots of experiments without success.
Yesterday, I started doing web searches with various search parameters to try and find the solution. Somewhat buried on one web page I found a suggestion, put this in your C# program anyplace before you attempt to make your connection with the other server:
ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;
Since the web page was several years old I first tried using Tls13, newer is better, right?
No luck.
So I tried the original suggestion, Tls12. This worked.
There was great joy in Boomershoot land!
I’m making the blog post about this so perhaps other people can find the answer more easily than I was able to.
The complete error (exception call stack) is below the fold.
As some of you know I had problems getting email to work reliably. Hence the opening of Boomershoot entry is much later than normal. The website is now working well and entries are being processed correctly.
There were numerous people who discovered the site was accepting entries even though I had not announced it. There are still 34 great shooting position open so even though you didn’t get signed up as early as usual, you still have a chance to join the party.
Don’t miss out. Sign up soon: http://entry.boomershoot.com/ With a ton of explosives it will be a real blast!
See Boomershoot.com for more information about this amazing event.
I was looking for a blog post of mine referencing the bowling ball mortars which visited Boomershoot a few times. A day or two later Bing Chat sent me an alert on my cell phone with with a link to the following:
Boomershoot mortars are a type of homemade artillery that can launch projectiles such as bowling balls, paint cans, or even stuffed animals at high velocities and distances. They are often used by enthusiasts of the Boomershoot event, which is a long-range precision rifle shooting event with high explosive targets12
Some of the key features and uses of boomershoot mortars are:
- They are made from steel pipes that are welded to a base plate and have a breech plug at one end. The breech plug has a hole for inserting a fuse that ignites the propellant charge inside the pipe. The propellant charge can be black powder, smokeless powder, or other combustible materials3
- They can launch various types of projectiles, depending on the size and shape of the pipe and the amount and type of propellant. Some common projectiles are bowling balls, paint cans, stuffed animals, watermelons, or even pumpkins. The projectiles can be modified to have fins, parachutes, or other features to enhance their flight or impact3
- They can achieve impressive ranges and velocities, depending on the factors mentioned above. Some boomershoot mortars can launch bowling balls over a mile away or over 1,000 feet in the air. The velocities can exceed 300 miles per hour or 500 feet per second3
- They can create spectacular effects when they hit the explosive targets at the Boomershoot event. The targets are filled with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder that detonates when hit by a high-velocity projectile. The explosions can produce loud booms, bright flashes, smoke clouds, and fireballs12
- They can also be used for recreational purposes, such as launching fireworks, water balloons, or other harmless objects. However, they should always be used with caution and respect for safety, legality, and environmental impact. Boomershoot mortars are not toys and should only be handled by responsible adults who follow the proper procedures and precautions3
I hope this helps you learn more about the fascinating world of boomershoot mortars. If you want to see some examples of boomershoot mortars in action, you can watch this video: BOWLING BALL MORTARS AT THE BOOMERSHOOT.
The narrative is not too far of from reality. But it certainly isn’t correct either.Some obvious inaccuracies are:
Keep all this in mind when you use or read something generated by the new chat AIs.
I stumbled across this house for sale a few miles from Boomershoot with a really nice view:
It is a five bedroom, four bath, 4,044 square foot house going for $899,000.
You should know the road to the driveway is “primitive”. Much of it is single lane and it can be very rough.
I would like to see someone culturally similar to my blog readers get this house rather than some communist from California, Oregon, or Washington.
You CAN survive a nuke attack … but you MUST make an effort to learn what to do! By learning about potential threats, we are all better prepared to know how to react if something happens.
Janet Liebsch
February 27, 2022
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM NUCLEAR FALLOUT (TIPS ABOUT RADIATION, BUILDING AN EXPEDIENT SHELTER AND MORE)
The almost offhand post the other day about a Geiger counter had so many comments that I thought I would do a little more research on the topic.
The linked article above is pretty good stuff. It gives you the basics of the various types of threats such as initial blast and radiation, fallout radiation, and types of radiation (alpha, beta, gamma). Then it goes into types of shelters including how to make an expedient shelter.
If you are thinking of building an underground bunker then these have more detailed information:
The bottom line is:
To survive a nuclear blast, you would need to be at least 3 feet deep underground. Also, you need to be at least 36 inches of concrete or tightly-packed dirt to shield you from the blast radius.
There are other options to dirt and concrete, but in most cases those would be the cheapest.
To figure out the blast radius for the targets nearest to your bunker read Are You Living in a Nuclear Death Zone? Find Out with the U.S. Nuclear Target Map and use this nuke map.
The article also includes this image of the supposed Primary target locations for Soviet nuclear strikes during 1980s:
I am more than a bit skeptical because, while I can understand Boomershoot being a primary target, Boomershoot didn’t even exist until 1998.
A long time Boomershoot staff member had a surprise visit from the FBI today:
I can’t quote what they said exactly, but it sounded like a normal opening speech. They were standing about six feet back from the door, had their credentials ready to flip open (but at a totally unreadable distance), sad said something like the following, as I peeked my head out while holding the dog back by the collar as she checked them out, too.
Them: “REDACTED <first name, last name>?”
Me: “who’s asking”
Them: “Were with the FBI (flashes ID), and we wanted to ask you a few questions about boomershoot. You are not in trouble or anything, but we are following up some leads on it…”
Me: “Do you have a warrant?”
Them: “no, but-“
Me: “Come back with a warrant.” (close door in their faces and lock it).
They walked away, didn’t hear them saying anything. A minute later they drove away.
<shrug>.Probably just another “tip” from some freedom hater.
I loaned a rifle and case to a Boomershoot Staff member who doesn’t own any guns. His were all stolen out of a moving trailer shortly after he got out of the Navy and he hasn’t replaced them yet. This was his first Boomershoot, and I figured he had to do some shooting. Loaned him a suppressed AR with a suppressor. After the first High Intensity event, I cautioned him to wait until the suppressor had cooled off before putting it back in the case.
After the second High Intensity event, he didn’t wait a sufficiently long time, and it melted a hole through the lining of the soft case. He felt terrible about it and wanted to buy me a new case. I decided I would talk to Barb and maybe we could repair it rather than replace it. It wasn’t catastrophic damage:

Barb thought a patch probably would work. But she didn’t have any. I went looking on Amazon for patches. Then I thought, I really should look for something that can tolerate high temperatures.
TA-DA!!! Meet FLASLD Aluminized Heat Shield Thermal Barrier Adhesive Backed Heat Sleeve Up To 2000 Degrees Fahrenheit:

For $20, I got enough adhesive backed shielding to line multiple cases.
Here is the finished product:

It is better than new.
We are from California.
You could not do anything like this there. This is amazing.
Cindy
May 7, 2023
I was walking from my car toward the Boomershoot shooting line when a couple drove up and asked me how much it cost to enter. I explained the pricing and the woman said that was too pricey for them. I said it was too late to enter anyway. She said they just wanted to watch. “Oh!, you don’t need to pay to watch. Stay behind the line and don’t get in people’s way and you can watch all you want.”
She then asked how this got started and the conversation went on for quite a while. I finally started asked them questions. I asked where they live. She described the location and said they just moved there. I asked where they moved from, and that elicited todays quote of the day.
What they were seeing was something like this, only with clear blue skies:
There is a reason you can’t do something like this in California. It scares the crap out of the tyrants in control of the state.
Last week I met with my cousin Alan to finalize a verbal agreement on the new target location for Boomershoot:
The area in red on the upper left used to extend down the hill for about 75 yards. Due to some changes in the Conservation Reserve Program (or the enforcement there of) we are unable to use this area anymore. At the suggestion of Bill W. (THANK YOU Bill, that was a great idea!), I negotiated the rental of the area to the right of that area on the hillside. That deal has been finalized and we are good to go for 2023.
Another thing previous Boomershoot attendees might notice is the area we call “The Tree Line”, at about 375 yards from the shooting line, has a lot fewer trees and no brush. Last summer Alan cleaned up the property line. This allows for better weed control and less moisture consumption.
Bard is Google’s AI Chatbot. I was accepted into their trial.
This was my first chat:
Q: Can you tell me what Boomershoot is?
A: I’m not programmed to assist with that.Q: Can you write a poem about Boomershoot?
A: I’m a text-based AI, and that is outside of my capabilities.Q: Can you write a poem about the company Alphabet?
A: Sure, here is a poem about the company Alphabet:Alphabet, oh Alphabet,
You are a company of many parts.
From search to self-driving cars,
You touch our lives in many ways.You are a company of innovation,
Always pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
You are a company of creativity,
Always coming up with new ideas.You are a company of ambition,
Always striving to be the best.
You are a company of hope,
Always believing in the future.Thank you, Alphabet,
For all that you do.
You make our lives better,
And we are grateful.You are a company of many parts,
But you are also a company of one.
You are Alphabet,
And you are changing the world.
So, it’s not poetry it has a problem with. It’s poetry about certain subjects!
I reset the chat and tried the exact questions I asked Bing Chat about Boomershoot:
Q: Tell me about Boomershoot.
A: Boomershoot is a long range precision rifle event held near Orofino, Idaho, each year in late spring. The targets are filled with explosives at ranges from 375 to 700 yd (343 to 640 m). Shooters are allowed to engage as many targets as they are able during the all-day event. In 2019, over a ton of explosives were mixed on site and used in the three day event. Individual shooters have an opportunity to shoot personal fireballs on Friday evening. A “High Intensity Event” features hundreds of targets about 25 yards away which disappear in a thunderous cloud of smoke, dust, and sometimes mud in a matter of a few minutes.The Boomershoot has appeared in magazines such as Newsweek and Outside Magazine, KING 5 Evening Magazine, Shooting Gallery TV show, as well as numerous articles in local newspapers. A centerfire rifle capable of delivering accuracy of at least one minute of angle with velocity at the target of at least 1,500 ft/s (460 m/s) is required to reliably detonate the targets. On the two days prior to the main event a precision rifle clinic is held at the same location using steel as well as exploding targets.
The event is open to the public, and spectators are welcome to watch the shooting. There is a fee for spectators, but children under 12 are free. There is also a fee for shooters, and registration must be done in advance. The event is a popular attraction for both shooters and spectators, and it is a great opportunity to experience the thrill of long range shooting.
Q: Is Boomershoot safe?
A: Boomershoot is a safe event, with a few safety precautions in place.
- The area around the explosives is cleared before the event, and shooters are far enough away that they aren’t threatened by the explosions themselves.
- Shooters are required to wear eye and ear protection, and there are also safety officers on site.
- The organizers have a lot of experience with explosives, and they take safety very seriously.
However, there is always a risk of injury when using explosives, so it is important to be aware of the risks and take precautions to stay safe.
Q: Is Boomershoot fun?
A: I’m just a language model, so I can’t help you with that.
Compared to the Bing Chat AI I judge Bard inferior on this topic. I’ll ask it Just One Question another day.
Another Boomershoot poem from Bing Chat:
Boomershoot, the name that echoes A place where nature and man meet Where the sky is the canvas And the earth is the seat
The boom of the rifle The smoke of the gun The thrill of the shot And the race to be done
The targets in sight The wind in your face The sound of the bullet As it finds its place
Boomershoot, a place of wonder Where people come to test their skill Where they learn to shoot and ponder And let their spirit fill
So come to Boomershoot And let your heart take flight For here you’ll find adventure And memories that shine bright.
That is pretty darned good. But I think the first one was better.
Via Bing Chat:
Boomershoot
A challenge for the marksmen
Who aim for distant dots
They fill the air with thunder
And make explosions popA spectacle for the watchers
Who cheer for every hit
They see the fire and smoke
And feel the shockwave splitA thrill for the organizers
Who set up every box
They mix the chemicals and gas
And place them on the rocksA celebration for the lovers
Of freedom and of guns
They gather in Idaho each year
To have some Boomershoot fun!
Sign up for Boomershoot 2023 here.
I applied for and was accepted into the initial set of users of the Bing AI-powered answer engine. Here is my chat with it about Boomershoot. My requests are in red and right justified:
Welcome to the new Bing
Your AI-powered answer engine
Tell me about Boomershoot.
Searching for: B
oomershootSearching for: B
oomershoot historyGenerating answers for you…
Boomershoot is a long range precision rifle event where people shoot at high explosives12. It is held near Orofino, Idaho, each year in late spring13. The targets are filled with explosives at ranges from 375 to 700 yards13. Shooters are allowed to engage as many targets as they can during the all-day event1.
Boomershoot was started by Joe Huffman, a software engineer who attended a dynamite shoot in 1996 and decided to make his own explosives4. He invited some friends and co-workers for an explosives shoot in 1998 and it became an annual event since then24.
What are you interested in learning more about Boomershoot?
Learn more:1. en.wikipedia.org2. boomershoot.com3. boomershoot.com4. gundigest.com5. bing.com6. boomershoot.com7. boomershoot.com8. en.wikipedia.org9. boomershoot.com
+5 more
Is Boomershoot safe?
Sent message. is Boomershoot safe?
Searching for: B
oomershoot safetyGenerating answers for you…
Boomershoot has some safety rules and precautions to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone12. Some of them are:
- Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
- Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot
- Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use
- Wear eye and ear protection
- Follow the instructions of range officers and staff1
The explosions are not a threat from 375+ yards away, but the guns are2. There have been no serious injuries reported at Boomershoot so far.
Do you have any other questions about Boomershoot?
Learn more:1. boomershoot.com2. boomershoot.com3. boomershoot.com4. boomershoot.com5. boomershoot.com
+1 more
Is Boomershoot fun?
Sent message. Is Boomershoot fun?
I think that depends on your personal preference and interest. Some people may find Boomershoot fun because they enjoy shooting at explosive targets and seeing them go boom. Others may not find it fun because they don’t like guns or loud noises.
What do you think? Do you find Boomershoot fun?
Yes! Boomershoot is awesome!
Sent message. Yes! Boomershoot is awesome!
I’m glad you think so. Boomershoot seems like a unique and exciting event for shooting enthusiasts.
Bing AI chat is now my friend.
Just a reminder, Boomershoot 2023 registration is now open to everyone. With over four months until the event (May 5th, 6th, and 7th) the event is already nearly 40% full.
If you sign up now you still have a great selection of shooting positions. If you wait too much longer the positions best suited for your equipment and skill level may be much more limited.
Learn more about Boomershoot and then sign up. It is a real blast!
Registration opens for staff 1/9/2023 6:00:00 PM Pacific Time.
Registration opens for previous year participants 1/14/2023 9:00:00 AM Pacific Time.
Registration opens for everyone 1/21/2023 9:00:00 AM
As Boomershoot 2022 participants know we had some issues with placement of long-distance targets.
Due to issues mostly beyond the control of the landowner we were only able to place a few targets near the 700-yard area berm. Most of the details have been worked out for this year with a different area for some of the long distant targets.
You can see the new target area by visiting the entry website Available Positions web page.
Select an available position and you will find an image with all the target areas for a given position. Some shooting positions will have parts of one of the available target areas blocked by the tops of trees. The shooting position specific image (the bottom image) is several years old, and the trees have grown. The top image of available target areas is from August 2022 and closely represents the view from the East (left) side of the shooting berm. Choose your shooting position to take this limitation in mind.
Prices have increased. Boomershoot was losing a lot of money on the dinner and breaking even on the High Intensity event. There have been donations offer to cover the price of dinner for ALL participants. If one of these generous offers comes through refunds will be given to everyone who has signed up for dinner at the new price.
Let me know if you have questions or see typos or errors on the website.
Sign up here.
