I can announce it now.  She should have turned in her resignation at her old job 30 minutes ago.

Barb has comes through for our family again.  Numerous times in the past I have quit my steady paying job to work for a startup, some of them my own, other times someone else's and Barb had to pick up the slack in our finances.  Our move to Moscow in fact was because Barb got a job here for 2X her pay in Sandpoint.  And it is that same employer who is now is going to pay her 3X what she was earning in Colfax.  She is a hot commodity right now and we have suspected she was underpaid for a quite a while but we didn't know the extent.  It's not quite as blatant as you might think because she was working part time at both the Sandpoint and Colfax jobs.  But even ignoring the benefits she now gets the raw dollars per hour increase was 15%, plus the sign-on bonus, plus the $1600/year educational stipend.  It's great to be married to someone that can more than pull her own weight when needed.

James and Xenia left town last week just as Kim was moving back in (merely a coincidence).  James went 'camping' with friends at some cabin in Oregon.  Xenia went to summer camp and is then off to Montana with her boyfriend and parents for a couple weeks.

James called and left a message on my cell phone while we were in the mountains far from any cell phone service.  The message was, "Who's taking care of the dogs?"  Nothing about if we survived our Jeep adventure.  Nothing about how he misses us.  Nothing about how he hates the outdoors unless it is with someone other than his parents.  Nope.  He wanted to know about the dogs.

Xenia is not allowed to use her cell phone at camp.  However she snuck off to her cabin for a few minutes on Tuesday and called--to ask about her cat.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.

Mohandas K. Gandhi
(1869-1948), Indian political and spiritual leader.
Non-Violence in Peace and War, vol. 2, ch. 162 (1949).

I ran across a couple new (to me) anti-gun web sites today.

• Handgun-Free America
• Ban Handguns Now

I haven't really looked over either of them very well.  They are mental cases just from the names of the organizations. The first thing I saw on Handgun-free America was this screed on "assault weapons" which confirms my diagnosis:

These weapons, which are designed to spray bullets while shooting from the hip, are built to kill large numbers of human beings as quickly and efficiently as possible.

...

Plain and simple, these guns are used to commit crimes by criminals and terrorists.  While the NRA claims that assault weapons have never been used in crime, they are simply lying. 

[heavy sigh]

The NRA has never claimed anything like that.  They have claimed they are rarely used in crime--which is true.  And we don't really need to get into the "spray bullets while shooting from the hip" portion do we?  The guns have all have sights on them!  And I'm nearly certain there are more rounds fired from "assault weapons" at the Boomershoot each year than there are in criminal acts.  Here are some pictures of the more common uses for "assault weapons" (click on the pictures for the video):

No video available for this one.

That should put the "Handgun-Free America" people at ease, don't you think?

I get email about once a day from Gun Guys.  They are rabidly anti-gun and put their own perverted spin on the news.  For example on this story they have this to say:

Rapper Lil' Kim Disappointed To Only Serve Time For Lying About A Shooting.  Serving Time For A Shooting Is WAAAAY More Chic.

Of course just being anti-gun qualifies them having mental problems in my book, but now they comment on the London bombing which should put them into that category with a lot more people:

It's a humbling reminder that for all the talk about safety and self-protection, no amount of firepower can avert an attack like this.  No amount of violence can ensure such attacks won't occur again.  Perhaps the world will gradually realize that talking your differences out is much easier and more ethical than shooting them out.

"Talking your differences out"?  Osama sent us a letter and told us he was done talking.  He said either submit or prepare to fight.  And these "gun guys" claim "No amount of violence can ensure such attacks won't occur again?"  Get a clue guys!  How many villains have faced a firing squad and gone on to be repeat offenders?

From his blog posting:

I would also like to urge everyone not to get wrapped up in the particulars of the terrorist tactics. We need to resist the urge to react against the particulars of this particular terrorist plot, and to keep focused on the terrorists' goals. Spending billions to defend our trains and busses at the expense of other counterterrorist measures makes no sense. Terrorists are out to cause terror, and they don't care if they bomb trains, busses, shopping malls, theaters, stadiums, schools, markets, restaurants, discos, or any other collection of 100 people in a small space. There are simply too many targets to defend, and we need to think smarter than protecting the particular targets the terrorists attacked last week.

Smart counterterrorism focuses on the terrorists and their funding -- stopping plots regardless of their targets -- and emergency response that limits their damage.

And as usual Sen. Schumer gets it wrong:

The bombings apparently also prompted Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to look at tightening ground transportation systems. He announced he would introduce amendments to the Homeland Security appropriations bill that would double the current $100 million proposed for mass transit and rail security and double funding to $20 million for bus security improvements, particularly for New York.

Last night I read this news:

...the link between breast cancer and bras is slightly more convincing than the link between smoking and lung cancer.  They speculate that the cause is restriction of lymph circulation and resulting long-term exposure of cells to toxins, but whether this is the true mechanism or not is pretty irrelevant to the facts above.

I've been telling Barb to forget the bra for over 30 years now.  No luck.  Pointing this news out to her last night was no more convincing.  [heavy sigh]

I found this news on the web site of our ISP in a short article by Monica.  Monica has long been someone I found exceptional attractive.  Sure, she is probably as old as I am but she has the body shape that never fails to get my attention.  She appears to be is almost painfully shy but I enjoy talking to her.  I wonder if she has taken the advice on the bra more to heart that Barb...

I needed to talk to her about something today anyway.  I'll check things out while I'm there.

Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, a Democrat, apparently has some sort of mental problem.  This was reported about some things he had to say yesterday:

Bitter about efforts to loosen gun restrictions in the US capital, Washington's mayor yesterday told Congress to stay out of the District of Columbia's business and contrasted the fight for democracy abroad with the lack of rights for the city's residents.

...

In wielding its budgetary power over the district last week, the Republican-led House voted to prohibit the city from spending funds to enforce a 29-year-old gun control law requiring any firearms kept at home to be unloaded and disassembled or protected by a trigger lock.

...

''It's really no one's business other than the citizens of the district," Williams told reporters. ''It really is so galling when you're fighting for rights overseas, to build democracy overseas, and then you have the capital of this country just totally disregard any kind of home-rule consideration."

Apparently he is concerned about his "rights" as mayor to deprive the citizens of their inalienable rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.  A reminder to Williams--governments have powers, people have rights.  And in this country governments have enumerated powers.  If they aren't give those powers by the people in the constitution then they don't legitimately have those powers.  And our Bill of Rights says, "... The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Alphecca has a slightly different, but entirely supportable, view on the same thing.

While we were out in the mountains we placed a geocache.  The listing was just approved.

London was hit this morning.  Three explosions in "The Tube" and one on one of their famous double-decker buses.  Dozens killed perhaps a 1000 injured.

From the San Francisco Chronicle and others Al-Qaida in Iraq said it had killed Egypt's top envoy in Iraq.

I've reported on these particular terrorists before.  And I've said before they just don't understand what their actions mean to us.  Their attacks on the innocent only serve to further convince us that harsh actions need to be taken against them.  Of course they don't believe there are any innocents.  We don't understand how they think and they don't understand how we think.  They make demands of us that we cannot and will not submit to.  They give us no choice but to fight them:

If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him.

As sad as it makes me and I'm sure most others we have only one option available to us.  We must destroy their extremist culture.  Todays attacks will only convince still more people of what I see as a moral necessity.

Whoever uses force without Right... puts himself into a state of War with those, against whom he uses it, and in that state all former Ties are canceled, all other Rights cease, and every one has a Right to defend himself, and to resist the Aggressor.

John Locke

Exactly one year after she moved out she moved back in.  Time and again she helped 'friends' with rent, food, and bail money.  Most of them were not really friends as we know them in our family.  It's been painful for her and us to see her in so much pain but sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way.  It's nice to see her around the house even with the 'scars' she carries from the last year.

Kim du Toit says, "I’m starting to feel just like I used to feel back in South Africa." and says he will stop blogging until further notice.  Og wonders if it's time to press the reset button (see this also).  And Kevin at Smallest Minority has similar opinions about our current political situation.  My blogging about gun rights resulted in me getting fired (PNNL refused to say exactly why but examination of my web logs indicates that was a big component).  So is it time for the villains to acquire acute cases of "lead poisoning"?  Francis at Eternity Road says no.  If you haven't read it yet then read my essay on this topic from (I think) 1997.  Basically I'm on the no side as well.

That does not mean that I think one should just "take it".  In fact I am of the opinion you should never just "take it".  You must always make the enemies of freedom pay a price for their transgressions or you embolden them.  When Hitler took Poland without consequences the stage was set for further evil to occur.  That doesn't mean you need to fight your battles immediately or on their turf.  The Russian took a terrible initial blow from Germany but then defeated the aggression by using the harsh Russian winters to their advantage.  As one of the comments to Og's post explains, use cunning.  And we have lots of legal means at our disposal to inflict damage on our enemies.

Many years ago Symantec and I had a disagreement about a contract.  According to their filings with the SEC a company they just bought out (Zortech) owed me between $20K and $50K.  I requested an audit as per the terms of my contract.  They said, literally, "It's too much work.  We refuse.  Go ahead and sue.  You cannot win because we will drag out in court 'forever'."  My lawyer said, "It will cost you a minimum of $100K to see this through to the end with no guarantees that even if you do win you will get attorneys fees awarded.  Think long and hard before going down that path."  Of course I didn't go down that path.  But I didn't let it stand either.  In the end I legally (barely) helped (they made lots of enemies) inflict about $30 MILLION in damages on them by doing battle on turf (in time and space) of my chosing.  I had sources inside Symantec that said discussions went to the 'highest level' about what to do about me and they did nothing because any action they would have taken would have increased their losses.  I paid a price for fighting that battle but they paid a much, much, heavier price than if they had honored the contract.

The racist laws of the South were overcome primarily via non-violent actions.  The British were thrown out of India through non-violent actions. Compare our present situation to the situations of those people!  What is our status compared to what theirs was?  And some people think it's time to start shooting?  If you think so then you are someone only has a hammer in you toolbox and thinks every problem to be solved is a nail.  Think a little smarter.  You are much smarter than a sucide bomber so don't act like one.  And especially remember these words from Abby Hoffman, "The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it."

With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but with tyrants, I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.

William Lloyd Garrison

The pictures are up and tell most of the story.  Basically we went directly east from Moscow to within about six miles from the Montana border and then went north to Superior Montana.  We probably could have done the trip in a two wheel drive car but it would have been a bit risky in places.  Outstandingly beautiful country.  From Superior we went southeast to Missoula and then back west via Highway 12.  We spent just one night, the 4th, in a cabin at Three Rivers Resort.  The others were in the broken down (we didn't know it until we went to zip the door shut) tent.

Here is a sample of the pictures:

The road

The view

The alteration of those rules ... constitutes a gross deviation from constitutional principles and a wholly unwarranted return to a lawless and arbitrary wild West school of law enforcement.  Any reasonable law enforcement officer should have known the rules were illegal.

Judge Stephen Reinhardt
September 26, 1997
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
On the rules of engagement that lead to the shooting of Kevin Harris and the death of Vickie Weaver.

Barb and I are taking the Jeep deep into the woods of Idaho for the next few days.  We hope to exit in someplace Montana sometime on Sunday or Monday.  Obviously there won't be any posting until we reach civilization again.  The 'compound' here in Moscow will be guarded by one of our adult children with training on both handguns and rifles and a goodly supply of ammo for them.  There is a 12-gauge shotgun and ammo as well should there be a need for further "discouragement" of goblins.  And if they wanted to get a little creative they could break out my "chemistry set" since they have experience with that too.  But I would frown on that since the AN supply is limited and it would be a hassle fixing the craters and windows when we get back.

While I'm gone remember what the 4th of July is all about.

The great body of our citizens shoot less as time goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world...The first step -- in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come -- is to teach men to shoot!

President Theodore Roosevelt's last message to Congress

[Schoolgirls and women should be added to the list. -- Joe]

We took another blow to our freedom this week without it breaking into the main stream media (minor news sources only), without a law being passed in Congress, the President signing an Executive Order, or the Supreme Court redefining the Constitution.

I got this email on Tuesday from my brother:

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Huffman
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 5:18 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Fertilizer problem

Joe,

I just heard at Primeland an hour ago, Agrium has announced they are
shutting down their ammonium nitrate production.  They have about 4000
lbs left at Cavendish, that is the end of it.  They indicated we can
have that if we want it, but we have no place to store it.

This announcement seems to have caught everyone off guard.  We knew
Agrium was the last producer of it, but everyone seemed to think they
would be producing for a few more years.

Doug

Agrium (see also their press release on this topic) was apparently the last remaining manufacturer of AN in this country and I think on this continent.  Primeland is the supplier for a lot of the chemicals in the Cavendish area where the Boomershoot is held.  The last several years (when I started using more than about 200 pounds in a year) I bought this main component from them.  One of the local workers at Primeland has attended the Boomershoot as a spectator, has a friend that shoots there occasionally and "really wants to attend" but frequently has to work during that busy time of year for the farmers.  He called up Doug to give me a chance to grab the last of it they had left.  Doug and I knew this day was coming but thought it was at least a couple years away.  I was going to wait until the end of this month and buy maybe 1000 pounds for next year's event.  This forced my hand.  There won't be any more fertilizer grade AN produced in this country.  I barely mentioned this to anyone because we have people wanting to shut us down and cutting off my supply of AN for next year would have been way to easy for them until I had it in the back of our truck.  I had to improvise on storage and store some of it in places I really didn't want to store it (fear of loss, not fear of hazard).  But I did it because of the importance of having a supply for the next few years.

We bought it today to give us the optimal amount of time to get the money in before the bill comes due.  Please send in your Boomershoot 2006 entries early if you can.  I need the money to cover that bill when it comes in on the 19th.  I don't have a job right now and things are a lot tighter around here than I would like for them to be.

I had about 700 pounds left from my previous purchase of 2600 pounds in 2004.  Today I bought 3480 pounds.  That's a total of about 4200 pounds.  To put that in perspective, McVeigh (spit, spit) used about 5000 pounds.  He is a major contributor to the shut down of production in this country.  Anyway, 4200 pounds is enough to make a pretty sizable boom or collection of booms.  Assuming Boomershoot uses about the same number and size of targets my supply will last for five years.  That should give me enough time to find a supplier of explosive grade Ammonium Nitrate that isn't premixed with fuel oil or something else that ruins it for me.  Or maybe find another explosive to use for the targets.

An FYI--the main ingredient in Tannerite is ammonium nitrate also.

Here are a few pictures from today's efforts:

Drying out the inside of some of the storage containers.

3480 pounds of Ammonium nitrate

My brother Doug helping to fill the containers.

There are a few more pictures here.

Ammonium Nitrate in the news this week:

Simplot announces shutdown
Agrium shutdown in Canadian news
Ammonium Nitrate restictions in Australia

Early this morning I sent out the following email to the Boomershoot announcement alias (subscribe here).

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 12:44 AM
To: Boomershoot Announcements
Subject: [BoomerShoot] 2006 and 2005 info.

Prices and dates are set for 2006.  Sign up early, get a discount, and make sure you will be a participant rather than a spectator:

http://www.boomershoot.org/general/entry.htm

See also:

http://www.boomershoot.org/2006/blast.htm

Gene Econ put together a great AAR and it took me over a month to get around to letting you guys know about it:

http://www.boomershoot.org/2005/2K5AAR.doc

There are links to hundreds of pictures of this year's event here:

http://www.boomershoot.org/2005/blast.htm

The Boomershoot 2005 Video by Davis Productions is out now.  I'm sure you can still buy a copy.  Here is my blog posting about it:

http://blog.joehuffman.org/PermaLink,guid,6e5c8e70-ba6d-4166-bee2-c1fb92d825b7.aspx

-joe-
----
http://blog.joehuffman.org
http://www.modernballistics.com
http://www.boomershoot.org

Blood flowing into the eyes combined with pain has a negative impact on seeing and trigger control.

Eugene Econ
Boomershoot 2005 Precision Rifle Clinic After Action Review

I unpacked all the boxes I received from PNNL the other day.  Almost everything appears to be there. They even returned an almost empty shampoo bottle and an empty baby food jar that once upon a time had some change in it.  The first box I opened had the following items in it which I figured would be a high priority item to retain "for evidence" or something.  A 100 yard target and a 500 yard target:

Click here for a high resolution version.

500 yard target.  Click here for a high resolution version.

100 yard target.  Click here for a high resolution version.

The second box I opened had the items I most wanted right away--my Boomershoot hat and HP-48 calculator.  And shortly thereafter I found my collection of books on improvised explosives such as Ragnar's Guide to Home and Recreational Use of High Explosives which I also thought might be something they would want to hold on to. 

It's possible there is something I have forgotten about but right now the only thing I didn't find was some paperwork for applying to Oregon for a Concealed Carry License.  That was in the filing cabinet they claimed they didn't have a key for.  If I don't get it it's not a big deal.  I think I have copies here anyway.

Now I have several garbage sacks filled with Styrofoam peanuts to give to UltiMAK.

This guy is pushing the envelope in main stream media:

Thomas Jefferson clearly stated that when government becomes oppressive, the people have the right to throw it off and establish a new government of their choosing. I am beginning to think it is time for us to start throwing.

He expresses a little bit of fear at being so outspoken too:

About the only freedom we have left is that of the press, and I would not be surprised to hear that I am no longer allowed to speak my mind in this column.

Yup.  I could see that happening.

And what caused him to be so outspoken?  No surprise here either:

...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Amendment Five, U.S. Constitution.
Why is it that the more powerful you become the less ability you have to read clear and precise language? The Fifth Amendment states clearly that private property can only be taken for public use, and that such property must be paid for at a fair rate. How then did five U.S. Supreme Court justices decide that it was legal for the city of New London, Connecticut to force five landowners off their property so it can be given to a giant corporation? The city has no plans to use this property for highways, schools, jails or any other public use.

I think Nicolo Machiavelli may have it right.

Tommorrow I will announce the dates and pricing for Boomershoot 2006.  I will send a notice to the Yahoo group when I do.  Please either sign up to be on the announcement list or keep a watch on the web site.  There will be discounts for early entries and with all the publicity we got from the King 5 Evening Magazine show (online video is here) it probably will be a good idea to sign up early.

Scott Davis (Davis Productions) has finished the Boomershoot 2005 video.  Someone in my house must have picked it up and didn't bother to tell me it was here.  I had seen the case sitting around for a week or two but didn't look close enough to see the title.  Barb and I watched it last night.  Very nice. 

It not as heavy on the interviews as last year but does have interviews with Chuck Hurst, Jack du Toit (Son&Heir of Kim du Toit), and Sara Young.  There may be some others but I forget right now.  There is also video of the fireball opening, the bowling ball motar, and the anvil shoot.  Kirk's rifle was featured prominately (as he noted in this blog posting).  There is video of Ry and I being rather animated at one of the shooters meetings.  Thankfully our blatherings were muted and music was overlayed.

I'm nearly certain you can still get a copy by contacting Scott.

My brother found another picture of his daughter at West Point.  She is in the foreground just right of center.

In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.

Mohandas Gandhi

One of the first geocaches in the Moscow (Idaho) area was this one which I placed March 11, 2001.  A fire on September 8, 2001 destroyed it.  I replaced it on April 4, 2002.  Then the location went under new managment and no trespassing signs were put up (unrelated to geocaching).  Barb and I moved it a few months ago but I just now got around to getting good coordinates, a picture, and reactivating it.  It used to be called "Stumpy" but I renamed it "Rocky" in the new location.  Here are current pictures of the cache:

In the ammo can under the rock.

"Rocky" from a few feet away.

The UltiMAK office is just a few hundred yards away from my house and I have been hanging out there some recently.  They asked me if I would like to test out a prototype scope mount for them.  They supplied the gun and the ammo I just needed to supply the trigger time.  Yesterday, after taking care of my license to manufacture explosives renewal, I went to the range.  Below are some sample pictures--see the rest here.

A new alloy was being tested on the scope mount. No anodizing on the prototype, just the bare aluminum.

The view from 106 yards away.

About three fourths of the way through the tests the target stand on the right blew over and I took a picture of the targets before I continued.

I was shooting the targets in a quasi-random order. For each five shot magazine I would put at least one bullet on each target before shooting a target a second time. Each shot took, on the average, about one second from 106 yards away.  Each magazine change took about seven seconds.  I went through about 450 rounds nearly as fast as I could reload the magazines and get the gun back on target between shots and magazine changes.

The end result was the prototype worked fine.  It got very hot though.  Even the scope got hot enough that I couldn't keep my hand on it.  Lyle, at UltiMAK, told me that there have been times during their tests they got the scope hot enough that rain drops boiled when they hit it.  Of course these are intended to be torture tests rather than reality testing.

Yeah, I think it's a gun day.

Greg Hamilton
Insights Chief Self Defense Instructor
February 6, 1999
Explaining that sometimes you just have to accept the fact that unarmed self-defense doesn't cut it in all situations. Eg., you've been trying all your de-escalation techniques for avoiding a fight, but you find that you're faced with disparity of force.