Author Archives: Joe

Doctor Joe’s Cure makes you smarter

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Confirmation for Doctor Joe’s Cure for Everything. Indications are that it makes you smarter:

A growing body of research suggests that frequent sexual activity has brain benefits. For instance, a 2010 study on male rats discovered a link between sexual activity and neuron growth. Specifically, rats that were allowed to have sex daily over a two-week period demonstrated more neuron growth than rats that were only allowed to have sex once during that time. Likewise, a 2013 study—which also focused on male rats—found that daily sexual activity was linked not only to generation of more new neurons, but also to enhanced cognitive functioning.

Smaller studies with humans suggest the effect is present in humans as well.

Posted in Sex

Powder storage warnings

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Via email from Roger W. we have this from Hodgdon:

Powder Storage in Reloader Hoppers

Powder left in the reloader’s powder measure hoppers for extended periods, overnight or several days, should be avoided. Powder needs to be stored in original containers ONLY, when not in use. Numerous modern smokeless powders are double base in construction, containing both Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerine.

Roger sent them an email questioned them on this (“Why not leave powder in powder measure hoppers for extended periods?”) and got the following reply:

There are a couple reasons.

Despite warning some people have multiple powders on their bench, they leave the powder in the hopper for long period of times and they forget or think they know which powder is in the hopper, they pour it back into the wrong canister and there will be a problem. this may seem like common sense but we see this happen every week from a phone call or an email.

Some powders that are made today have a very high Nitroglycerin content to them, when left in  powder measures for a period of time the Nitro will seem to eat the plastic. We have seen this with standard hand thrown powder measures and electronic ones that will get ruined.

Powder has a built in moisture content to it. the proper storage of powder is in the canister with the lid shut tight, this will help keep the moisture in the powder. Most likely there would not be a problem with moisture left in a hopper unless the lid is accidently not put back on.

Mike Van Dyke
Customer Service Representative
Hodgdon Powder Company
6430 Vista Drive
Shawnee, Ks. 66218
913-362-9455 Ext. 109

I have plastic powder measures that are yellowed and I attributed it to an interaction with the powder. But I have never seen any that appear to have been eaten. Still, I probably should be more careful about leaving the powder in the measure for extended periods of time.

Quote of the day—Hollis Phelps

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We shouldn’t “take them away” from people who currently own them, necessarily. That would likely cause just as many problems. I’m sure there are more than a few disgruntled gun owners out there who would take a ban as an assault on liberty, and act accordingly. We should, rather, phase them out over time, similar to the way in which the CPSC dealt with drop-sides. Allow those who currently own guns to keep them, but ban the future manufacture, sale and resale of guns and ammunition for personal use.

Hollis Phelps
December 4, 2015
The Second Amendment must go: We ban lawn darts. It’s time to ban guns
[Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

“More than a few”? I suggest they put some numbers in their spreadsheet and reevaluate the consequences.—Joe]

Quote of the day—James Taylor

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Don’t look now, but maybe a scientific consensus exists concerning global warming after all. Only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis, according to a survey reported in the peer-reviewed Organization Studies. By contrast, a strong majority of the 1,077 respondents believe that nature is the primary cause of recent global warming and/or that future global warming will not be a very serious problem.

James Taylor
February 13, 2013
[Via a tweet from Scott Adams.—Joe]

No such thing as “too sweet”

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Barb makes an absolutely amazing caramel sauce for special occasions which she puts on ice cream. There was some left over from a couple days ago and she put it on a Rice Krispy treat. She reported, “I think my eyes rolled back in my head”.

Okay, I need to try this:

WP_20170101_14_16_27_Pro

Yup. Those are awesome!

Bullet versus glass

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I thought I had posted about this first video before but I can’t find it so I’m going to do it now as a prerequisite for the second video.

Now, see what happens when you shoot the head of a Prince Rupert’s Drop with a .22:

Here is a frame grab:

BulletVersusPrinceRupert

Now, the awesome video of a bullet shattering against a small piece of very special glass:

Jeff K. told me about the video at the match last Saturday. Then this morning gonxau (‏@gonxau) sent me a tweet about it. Thanks guys.

Quote of the day—Alison Wimmer

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They are like 2nd graders on the playground. “You cannot play with my ball. You can’t have it.” I hope the secret service does take their guns. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Big guns, oh my! They must be overcompensating for a lack somewhere else, like bravery, self esteem or some part of their anatomy.

Alison Wimmer
March 10, 2016
Facebook comment on Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America page.
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

And don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

Woo hooo! We start the new year with a double cliché score!—Joe]

Reloading report

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I enhanced my program which parses my reloading log files. It now reports on a month by month and yearly basis instead of just by caliber.

Here is the result:

 

223 Rounds Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1998: 160 0 0 0 0 0 0 140 20 0 0 0 0
1999: 1777 0 0 181 578 25 0 0 0 0 140 653 200
2000: 43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 43 0 0 0
2001: 47 0 0 0 47 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2016: 397 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 140 257 0 0
Total: 2424
30.06 Rounds Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1997: 180 0 0 40 20 79 41 0 0 0 0 0 0
1998: 150 0 0 0 80 0 0 0 0 0 40 0 30
1999: 90 20 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2003: 47 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 0
2016: 76 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 76 0 0 0
Total: 543
300WIN Rounds Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1999: 250 0 0 0 0 0 151 60 0 0 39 0 0
2000: 460 50 120 142 0 57 0 0 0 0 20 60 11
2001: 382 25 0 0 185 15 20 0 73 0 0 0 64
2013: 600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 500
Total: 1692
40S&W Rounds Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1997: 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31
1998: 11264 570 258 718 1577 1812 1710 402 0 0 1200 900 2117
1999: 2795 0 894 0 299 693 506 0 0 0 0 0 403
2000: 3187 795 0 0 0 0 1095 400 396 0 501 0 0
2001: 2295 0 300 497 300 0 0 1198 0 0 0 0 0
2002: 898 0 0 0 0 0 0 198 0 200 300 0 200
2003: 602 0 300 302 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2004: 1345 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 300 600 445 0
2005: 1059 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 659 400 0 0
2006: 1000 0 0 0 0 400 0 0 0 0 200 400 0
2007: 1136 0 0 0 0 0 0 118 518 300 200 0 0
2008: 2398 0 300 0 0 0 0 900 399 0 200 0 599
2009: 1702 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 102 300 900 400
2010: 1400 0 0 0 0 100 200 700 0 200 0 200 0
2011: 2300 300 0 400 100 0 500 500 200 0 0 0 300
2012: 399 0 200 0 199 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2014: 530 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 530
2015: 7012 1699 1630 1137 0 0 0 547 200 400 100 200 1099
2016: 17792 2197 700 1462 837 1899 1999 1000 1500 1000 1700 1500 1998
Total: 59145
9MM Rounds Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1996: 11274 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10944 141 189
1997: 7374 300 0 0 1190 640 65 0 100 1088 804 1060 2127
2015: 2993 0 1066 1927 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total: 21641
Grand Total:
85445

I was surprised how many rounds I reloaded in the first month of reloading (9mm, October 1996). That was the most in any single month. I remembered I reloaded quite a few, but I thought it was just enough for the class I was taking. My memory was wrong. I got my STI Eagle, chambered in 40 S&W, in December of 1997. My 9mm reloading stopped until 2015 when I finally got around to using up the bullets I had left.

This year was the most I reloaded in any single year with 397 of .223, 76 of 30.06, and 17,792 of 40 S&W for a total of 18,265 rounds.

This last month I only reloaded 40 S&W. They were mostly 180 grain Montana Gold JHPs for practice at indoor ranges. 200 of the 1998 total were 180 grain Blue Bullets.

The 200 rounds with Blue Bullets were actually 100 bullets I reloaded, and pulled, twice. The first time I misremembered the powder charge and had a third more powder than I planned (4.0 versus 3.0 grains). I pulled the bullets, set the powder charge to the proper amount and reloaded them again. When I weighed the powder charge of the last round I discovered it was only about a third less than what it should be (1.9 versus 3.0 grains). I pulled them again and spent probably 30 minute trying to find out why the powder measure would sometimes put out the proper charge and the the very next charge would be way low. It turns out there was a bullet in the powder measure. Apparently when I pulled the bullets from the first set I accidently dumped a bullet into the powder measure along with the powder. I believe it was blocking the powder dispenser some of the time and giving me erratic charges.

I reloaded those twice pulled bullets this afternoon and everything checked out. I’ve got a good start on the new year.

Quote of the day—Scott Adams

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You’re wondering how I can know that other people are hallucinating and not me. That’s where it comes in handy to study persuasion and hypnosis. Delusional people leave tells.

One of the tells in this case is an ad hominem attack on whoever disagrees with you on climate science. You can see that happening on my Twitter feed today as the pro-climate-science types are coming after me in numbers. When you see an oversized reaction to what should be nothing but competing scientific claims, that’s usually a tell that someone slipped into cognitive dissonance.

Scott Adams
December 29, 2016
The Illusion of Knowledge
[And in the gun rights domain we have Markley’s Law demonstrating anti-gun people are delusional in regards to their beliefs.—Joe]

Quote of the day—warddorrity

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It’s been said that when blacks riot, cities burn. When whites riot, continents burn.

warddorrity
December 29, 2016
Comment to From A Reader
[I used to know a Ward Dorrity. That was nearly 20 years ago when the Microsoft Gun Club email list was quite active. Here are some quotes by him I saved from that time:

I wonder if it is the same guy.—Joe]

Bummer

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I was at the range today. I was practicing for the falling plate match at Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club tomorrow. I was about 50 rounds in when I couldn’t acquire the front sight in the usual amount of time. After a second or two of confusion I looked closer:

WP_20161230_12_16_30_Pro (2)

Bummer. It broke off. And I just replaced the fiber optic on it night before last. I looked around but couldn’t find the missing piece.

A replacement is $39.00 from Dawson Precision but I need to know the dimensions of the factory sight before I order a new one. I have a call into Dawson and I sent an email to STI so I’ll find out soon from someone. Until the new sight comes in I’ll be using a back up gun.

Quote of the day—g_k

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Isn’t it great to be a gun owner? Without your weapons, you’d probably have to face up to being an ignorant redneck loser, but with guns you’re the man!

g_k
4:39 PM PST, December 28, 2016
Comment to Why punishing Democrats for their gun-control sit-in is dicey territory for Paul Ryan
[This is what they think of you.

In regards to “ignorant loser” we would probably find that rule number three of SJWs Always Lie is applicable here.—Joe]

Be careful out there

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I generally avoid crowds simply because I am an introvert and find contact with a lot of people to be draining. I do it sometimes when the rewards are worth the effort (Boomershoot, NRA Conventions, family gatherings, etc.).

Things have been changing and the downside of being in large groups of people is increasing. DHS and the FBI warned us (from December 24th):

Federal authorities warned Friday that ISIS sympathizers “continue aspirational calls for attacks on holiday gatherings, including targeting churches.”

The bulletin was issued by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and issued to law enforcement agencies and private security companies around the US.

    There are no known specific, credible threats, US law enforcement officials say. The bulletin was issued out of an abundance of caution given the public nature of the posted threats and the holiday season.

    The bulletin was sent Friday to law enforcement after pro-ISIS websites had published a publicly-available list of churches in the United States.

    There are also more explicit threats, ‘We will make New Year mayhem’ which include the following pictures (click to see higher resolution pictures):

    3BB20B5200000578-0-image-a-32_14830075638113BB20D9A00000578-0-image-a-26_1483007367770

    3BB20C1800000578-0-image-a-31_1483007553988

    3BB20CBA00000578-0-image-a-29_1483007535635

    3BB20DA500000578-0-image-a-28_1483007472800

    Stay alert, stay calm, and carry if you can.

    Quote of the day—Robert J. Avrech

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    This should put to rest, once and for all, the notion that support of Israel is a bipartisan issue. This talking point is fiction. The Democrats are the party of nuclear Iran, the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the enemies of of Israel. The Republicans are the party that supports Israel in spite of the shameful fact that 80% of American Jews reliably vote for the Democrats.

    Robert J. Avrech
    December 28, 2016
    Israel Responds to Antiochus Obama and the UN
    [Obama and his colleagues are continuing their destruction of the Democrat party.—Joe]

    They are seldom accused of being smart

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    Sebastian tells us Nevada Background Check Initiative Can’t Be Implemented:

    Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Years all rolled into one: Bloomberg spend 20 million dollars in Nevada to secure a razor thin win, and he still gets nothing. The Attorney General in Nevada checked with the FBI and the law as it was written is simply not implementable. The FBI stated that states can’t commander federal policy on the matter, and that they refuse to conduct the checks in accordance with the way Bloomberg’s new law requires.

    Courage

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    The New York Times Editorial Board claims Europe Takes a Braver Stance on Gun Control. They tell us:

    The proposals, which are headed toward a final vote by members next year, would extend bans on semiautomatic assault weapons to more models, institute medical checks for gun buyers, tighten sales on the internet and track the resale of guns to foil black-market dealers.

    …

    The final compromise did not ban all of the most dangerous semiautomatic weapons, like the AK-47, as some nations wanted, nor limit ammunition magazines to 10 cartridges for all of them.

    Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

    As well as other errors such as saying there were 300K homicides (most were suicides and many were justifiable homicides) committed with guns in the last ten years in this country they are wrong about Europe being “brave”.  They further claim  that in the United States, “Congressional leaders, unfortunately, show no sign of mustering the courage of the Europeans.”

    This is clearly in error. Courage would be the NYT Editorial Board taking point on the door to door enforcements of the bans they advocate for.

    I’d even give them partial credit for being “brave” and “courageous” if they were to tell the truth when they write about guns. But since I haven’t seen anything approaching that from them in the last 20 years it is unlikely they will develop the integrity or courage anytime soon.

    Quote of the day—Alan Korwin

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    FBI background check registrations are insufficient to these people. They begged and pleaded and campaigned for background checks, and now want more, but they’re obviously not enough. The smelter is the real issue.

    This is the topic Tucson raises — violation of law by elected officials in pursuit of the same irrational perverse goal their fellow leftists pursue at everyone’s dangerous expense. It is an impossible attempt to quench their paranoid fears by suppressing the rights of innocent people everywhere. The notion of guns in the public’s hands is simply unacceptable to them. It’s not political, it’s medical, they’re hoplophobic, and a dire threat to freedom. Their unbalanced actions qualify them for removal from setting public policy and destroying valuable public property in the process, in violation of law.

    Alan Korwin
    December 18, 2016
    Tucson Melting Guns. Again
    [I have nothing to add.—Joe]

    Privacy in the 21st century

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    This bears watching:

    In what may be a first, police in Arkansas asked Amazon for recordings potentially made by an Echo device in connection with a murder investigation. Amazon declined to provide the data.

    As Echo currently works it keeps less than 60 seconds of sound internally and only sends recordings to the cloud (Amazons servers do the voice recognition) after you get it’s attention with the word “Alexa”. This is probably an acceptable tradeoff for most people.

    Still, it is easy to imagine government mandates for “updates” to selected users which enable the devices to send continuous sound to law enforcement. And of course the same could be said of any other sound or video recognition devices in your home such as Xbox.

    Good to know

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    Grandparents have the best sex, scientists say.

    Posted in Sex

    Quote of the day—Charles C.W. Cooke

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    On the face of it, the AHSA was an answer to the NRA—a grassroots group for gun owners who want more gun restrictions. In reality, it was a front group masterminded by a contractor for the Brady Center, a donor to Handgun Control Inc., and a founder of Stop Handgun Violence. When, in 2010, AHSA announced that it was shutting its doors for lack of members, nobody was especially surprised: That’s what happens when you build a political outfit to accommodate a political bloc that doesn’t actually exist.

    Charles C.W. Cooke
    December 26, 2016
    Phantoms Of Gun Control
    [It’s all Potemkin Villages.—Joe]