Author Archives: Joe

Quote of the day—Hillary Clinton

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I think a total ban, with no exceptions under any circumstances, might be found by the court not to be.

Hillary Clinton
April 16, 2008
Democratic Debate in Philadelphia
[It would appear that Ms. Clinton is of the opinion that as long as there are one or more exceptions under some circumstances then a near total ban on guns would be Constitutional in her view.

This should not be a surprise to anyone. She has explicitly said that people holding the opinion that the have the constitutional to own guns “terrorizes people” and this should not be allowed. She would be the thought police if she could.

She also thinks more people exercising their rights is something to be concerned about.

See also Hillary Clinton on Guns: Not a Big Fan.

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

Please don’t let her gain the power to nominate new Supreme Court Justices.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Bacon @Baconmints

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PSA: if you are a member of the #tinycockclub you will still be a member regardless how many guns you buy. #bokbok #fuckthenra #gunsense

Bacon @Baconmints
Tweeted on December 23, 2014
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a Tweet from BFD‏ @BigFatDave.—Joe]

Steel Challenge match results

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Ry and I went to a Steel Challenge match today. I shot with a centerfire pistol and he shot a .22 Pistol.

I came in fourth out of 30 people which is significantly better than the seventh out of 36 last time with this group. I felt really good about almost all of my shooting this time. Well… except after stage 4 where I had no problems and it confounded almost everyone else in our squad and Taylor said she wasn’t going to hang out me with anymore. I completed it in 19 seconds flat and it took her over 49 seconds.

Ry made a video of me shooting one of the stages. It seems like my draw is really slow but it seems to be on the order of 1.5 seconds so that isn’t too bad.

Another thing of interest is that I was wearing a Boomershoot 2006 shirt and the R.O. said the Latin (Veni, vidi, BOOM!) was perfect.

Here are more detailed results:

Stage # SCSA ID Stage Name
1 ?? Go Fast
2 ?? Star Burst
3 ?? Concentrate
4 ?? In & Out

Centerfire Pistol

Place Name Comp SCSA Division Aggregate Total Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 DQ Additional
1 Christian S 58 PROD 57.71 57.71 10.40 15.62 15.48 16.21 Junior
2 Alexander W 55 3362 OPN 62.61 62.61 9.71 15.71 21.12 16.07 Junior
3 Connor P 60 A87260 PROD 72.30 72.30 11.00 20.43 20.04 20.83 Junior
4 Joe H 23 3799 ISP 74.71 74.71 12.54 20.58 22.59 19.00 Senior
5 Bob S 2 PROD 78.06 78.06 13.02 20.21 22.55 22.28 Senior
6 Euan G 4 ISP 81.87 81.87 13.85 26.14 20.99 20.89
7 Jeff K 15 PROD 87.74 87.74 13.69 25.61 20.77 27.67
8 Matthew M 14 PROD 88.08 88.08 13.94 24.69 25.48 23.97 Military
9 Dan P 62 A87261 ISP 89.16 89.16 15.05 25.94 24.13 24.04
10 Eric W 63 3362 PROD 90.28 90.28 16.24 22.62 27.87 23.55
11 Lukasz T 35 5956 ISP 90.31 90.31 10.87 24.60 26.03 28.81
12 Bradley M 57 PROD 96.33 96.33 13.15 23.80 29.56 29.82 Junior
13 Lance B 16 PROD 97.86 97.86 18.22 26.53 25.52 27.59
14 Tim R 20 ISR 99.84 99.84 18.85 23.81 26.24 30.94
15 Earl B 10 ISP 100.32 100.32 19.27 24.08 28.13 28.84
16 Don C 33 A85736 PROD 101.26 101.26 16.96 27.43 29.15 27.72 Senior
17 Jason F 24 PROD 104.44 104.44 14.90 29.54 30.07 29.93
18 Jeffrey K 39 A84426 PROD 106.46 106.46 16.19 31.00 25.14 34.13 Senior
19 Jesse P 28 PROD 109.06 109.06 18.42 29.30 28.91 32.43
20 Mark B 3 OPN 112.01 112.01 18.79 30.51 29.48 33.23
21 Bryce K 8 PROD 114.50 114.50 18.86 26.12 30.76 38.76
22 Brad M 49 ISP 119.75 119.75 16.98 39.49 34.20 29.08
23 Jason G 27 A86456 PROD 121.79 121.79 17.35 32.19 35.62 36.63
24 Joel F 7 PROD 124.19 124.19 18.71 29.01 33.64 42.83
25 Euan G 9 PROD 125.53 125.53 23.00 31.80 37.14 33.59
26 Patrick D 5 PROD 155.65 155.65 17.15 40.77 49.57 48.16 Military
27 Denny M 25 PROD 164.79 164.79 27.78 50.18 38.22 48.61
28 Taylor C 18 ISP 170.22 170.22 20.46 47.90 52.83 49.03 Lady
29 Gail C 19 PROD 210.22 210.22 29.49 62.28 52.56 65.89 Lady
30 Paul B 29 A87020 PROD 248.23 248.23 18.95 120.00 42.46 68.43 Senior

.22 Pistol

Place Name Comp SCSA Division Aggregate Total Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 DQ Additional
1 Christian S 59 RFPI 46.69 46.69 7.16 13.10 14.21 12.22 Junior
2 Connor P 61 A87260 RFPI 47.66 47.66 7.74 12.04 14.85 13.03 Junior
3 Lukasz T 34 5956 RFPO 50.86 50.86 8.54 14.39 13.33 14.60
4 Bradley M 56 RFPI 53.63 53.63 7.28 14.55 17.20 14.60 Junior
5 Jeff K 6 RFPO 55.02 55.02 9.39 14.23 15.63 15.77
6 Stephen D 1 RFPO 56.18 56.18 9.83 16.39 13.44 16.52
7 Alexander W 54 3362 RFPI 57.27 57.27 8.91 13.97 15.88 18.51 Junior
8 Cel A 48 4893 RFPI 58.49 58.49 11.97 15.46 15.82 15.24
9 Lance B 12 RFPI 72.81 72.81 12.20 17.27 21.37 21.97
10 Addison L 52 RFPI 73.83 73.83 9.14 20.13 26.24 18.32 Junior
11 Earl B 11 RFPI 79.23 79.23 9.65 19.77 24.54 25.27
12 Michael M 50 RFPI 93.87 93.87 17.92 26.63 23.32 26.00
13 Erik F 17 RFPI 95.71 95.71 14.51 26.51 30.53 24.16
14 Denny M 26 RFPI 103.69 103.69 11.45 29.27 36.83 26.14
15 Ry J 21 TY76202 RFPO 112.62 112.62 18.63 24.50 34.05 35.44
16 Adrian C 38 RFPI 113.81 113.81 15.13 25.98 35.98 36.72 Junior
17 James W 32 RFPI 116.89 116.89 13.68 40.04 35.67 27.50 Senior
18 Sara W 45 RFPI 117.25 117.25 30.42 30.62 30.36 25.85 Lady, Junior
19 Sabrina W 43 RFPI 125.27 125.27 19.81 37.65 36.21 31.60 Lady, Junior
20 Joey M 47 RFPI 143.40 143.40 44.56 42.90 26.41 29.53 Junior
21 Ezzy A 44 5478 RFPI 153.70 153.70 21.73 42.75 44.20 45.02 Lady, Junior
22 Isabelle M 42 RFPI 198.93 198.93 23.24 104.72 34.68 36.29 Lady, Junior
23 Paul B 30 A87020 RFPI 228.11 228.11 18.52 120.00 52.80 36.79 Senior

Quote of the day—Glenn Reynolds

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Glamour is undermined by mockery. People steeped in multicultural respect will find that mockery difficult. The other thing that undermines glamour is crushing defeat. The Axis had glamour of its own, until Dresden and Hiroshima.

Glenn Reynolds
January 6, 2015
LIKE MOST SUCCESSFUL CULTS, IT LETS PEOPLE ACT LIKE DEMONS WHILE FEELING LIKE ANGELS
[The context above is the Islamic State but the concept also applies to the anti-gun people.—Joe]

Quote of the day—C.D. Michel

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A regression analysis shows a strong correlation between handgun sales and falling crime (with statistically small odds that the covariance was based on random chance) positively certifies that California is safer when its people exercise their right to own the most effective tool available to defend themselves or their families.

Guns deter criminals and guns save lives.

C.D. Michel
March 27, 2015
More Guns = Less Crime; California Style
[As with the rest of the country gun sales in California have increased rather dramatically in the last few years. Read the post for the details.

This sort of evidence will, over the long run, make it more difficult to get repressive gun laws passed and to defend them in court. If we can get strict scrutiny at the SCOTUS level then it should just be a “mopping up” exercise.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Elizabeth Saunders

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In all the years I have been in business, I have never seen anything so blatantly un-American as that agreement. The establishment of a government oversight commission with virtually unlimited authority and no accountability is in itself a violation of the basic American concept of free enterprise. No reasonable business person could possibly sign this thing.

Elizabeth Saunders
CEO of American Derringer
March 24, 2000
American Derringer – Statement regarding S&W defection
[Smith & Wesson signed the agreement and came very close going bankrupt after gun owners spontaneously (not the NRA or any other gun rights organization) boycotted them. There were many people who were of the opinion that Smith & Wesson Must Die even after they backed out of the agreement.

See also this quote of Neal Knox about the depth the gun rights movement had fallen to in the mid 1970s. We sometimes think we have it bad now, but remember that in those dark ages we were close to getting national handgun licensing with people openly salivating at the next step being handgun confiscation:

In July 1976, Shields estimated that it would take seven to ten years for NCCH to reach the goal of “total control of handguns in the United States.”

Pete Shields was the chairman of the National Council to Control Handguns (which later became Handgun Control, Inc. which then became The Brady Campaign).

While we do have a long way yet to go we have come a long way.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rosa DeLauro

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There is no reason on earth, other than to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, that anyone needs a gun designed for a battlefield.

Rosa DeLauro
U.S. Representative (D-Conn.)
April 6, 2015
Bill would pay gun owners to hand over assault weapons
[Pictures of Rep. DeLauro from The Hill and the Washington Times:

TheHillDeLauroWashingtonTimesDeLauro

You would think they would get tired of rerunning these same tired arguments. Our standard responses are:

  • It’s a Bill of Rights. Not a Bill of Needs.
  • Since the police have them it must be in their job description to “kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible”.
  • If you really believe this then you are extremely ignorant and/or lack imagination.

Her ignorance and malice is evident in this part of the article in The Hill:

DeLauro is in favor of stronger guns laws that would completely ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, she emphasized this bill would not force gun owners to turn in their firearms.

“High-capacity ammunition”? And of course she makes it clear this is just step toward her real goal of a complete ban. Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

Sebastian and most of the commenters over there don’t see a problem for gun owners in this proposed law. Say Uncle just says, “No, thanks.” TriggerFinger doesn’t seem much concerned about it either.

But I would worry about this giving the Feds a list of people that are verified previous owners of “assault weapons”. One might imagine, in her mind, these are the people that need to “dealt with”. The administration has already demonstrated they use the IRS as a weapon. So what better way to get a list of your enemies than pay them a little something to identify themselves to your “weapon”, the IRS?

It’s a variation of the Lenin quote, “The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jawhorse

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The only persons who fear firearms background checks are people who cannot pass background checks.

Jawhorse
April 2, 2015
Comment to Gun background check hearing: Does bill close loophole or create unenforceable law?
[This is another one of those mental defects who believe they can read the minds of other people.—Joe]

Quote of the day—obvious-if-you-read-carefully

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The people fighting universal background checks are the people who deliberately want to be irresponsible.  Plain and simple.

obvious-if-you-read-carefully
April 1, 2015
Comment to Gun background check hearing: Does bill close loophole or create unenforceable law?
[The type of people who say things like this have mental problems. It is common in some personality disorders for the person to believe they can read your mind. I’ve had them insist they knew what I was thinking and/or meant even with the words I used were written down and visible in front of them and I insisted they were completely, totally, wrong. They just knew in direct disregard for all the facts.

This is why I sometimes ask how someone determines truth from falsity with stunning effectiveness. I have literally been told, “It depends on how I feel.”—Joe]

The one lie

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I’ve updated the post Two truths and a lie with the answer and further explanation of a bunch of the truths. The short version is that I got second place instead first place in the chess tournament.

Quote of the day—Donnie Brasco ‏@D0NNIE_BRASC0

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U need to stop fucking your sister & dildoing urself w/ guuuns

Donnie Brasco ‏@D0NNIE_BRASC0
Tweeted on December 19, 2014
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via a tweet from BFD ‏@BigFatDave.—Joe]

Boomershoot 2015 cups, shirts, hats, thongs, etc.

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Get your Boomershoot 2015 swag here.

The image used is this one:

Boomershoot2015Image

You don’t have to attend Boomershoot to wear Boomershoot stuff or have a cool mug laying around on your desk at work.

Rounds in the last month

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Here is an update on the total number of rounds I have reloaded:

223.LOG: 2027 rounds.
3006.LOG: 467 rounds.
300WIN.LOG: 1351 rounds.
40SW.LOG: 38807 rounds.
45.log: 0 rounds.
9MM.LOG: 21636 rounds.
Total: 64288 rounds.

This is a delta of 3064 rounds since last month. This is composed of 1,137 rounds of .40 S&W and 1,927 rounds of 9mm. So far this year I have reloaded 6,859 rounds.

This morning I ran some bullets over the chronograph using the ETR7 powder I got last month. Using the Montana Gold 180 grain JHP and the loads suggested somewhere else I tried 4.5 grains and 4.8 grains with an OAL of 1.135. The results were a little lower velocities than what I expected. All tests were with the muzzle 10 feet from the first screen of the chronograph and an ambient temperature of 32F. The low temperature may have affected the velocities some but I need to be able to make major power factor (165) even when it is cold out.

4.5 grains of ETR7:

Mean Velocity: 861 fps
Standard Deviation: 17.5 fps
Minimum Velocity: 832 fps
Maximum Velocity: 891 fps
Extreme Spread: 59 fps
Power Factor: 155.07

4.8 grains of ETR7:

Mean Velocity: 891 fps
Standard Deviation: 20.6 fps
Minimum Velocity: 864 fps
Maximum Velocity: 935 fps
Extreme Spread: 71 fps
Power Factor: 160.54

The suggested max load is 5.0 grains. But what I need to do is check the primers of the 4.8 grain loads before bumping the load up to the max. And if linear interpolation is valid for this range of loads 5.0 grains isn’t going to get me into major.

Quote of the day—Bob Owens

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Brady’s attorneys simply had no viable case against the legal protections under federal law as provided by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which prevents harassment and frivolous lawsuits from gun control cultists.

In addition to dismissing the case, the judge found that the plaintiffs owe the companies they attempted to harass an award of “reasonable attorney fees.”

Bob Owens
March 30, 2015
Brady Campaign Case Targeting Online Ammo Dismissed By Judge
[I find it interesting that as the Brady Campaign lawsuit backfired on them the last Brady (of the campaign) died.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sebastian

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Constitutional Carry is the new frontier.

Sebastian
April 3, 2015
Then There Were Six: Constitutional Carry Now Law In Kansas
[I recently had a long chat with Mike B. our friendly lobbyist at Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance about this very topic. He doesn’t really understand why so much emphasis is placed on Constitutional Carry. His point is that more benefit for more people can be achieved while consuming less political capital by getting better reciprocity and carry in places like school campuses, parks, and state and Federal lands.

I find it hard to disagree with Mike from a practical basis but ultimately we want “constitutional carry”. And the more people we have carrying without a license or proof of training and there is no “blood in the streets” the easier it is to get more lenient laws in the repressive states.

But probably the most important reason Constitutional Carry is so popular issue these days that it’s easier to get people fired up about something big than it is something incremental. Sebastian captures that with “the new frontier”.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

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My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
October 7, 1952
Speech in Detroit
[At first glance this appears to be a decent one line definition. Some simple tests are as follows:

  • In some societies it is unpopular to be of a particular religion/ethnicity/sexual-orientation. But in a free society such people will not be harmed as long as they do not intimidate or harm others. In an non-free society they may lose their jobs, socially shunned, their property destroyed, or even killed for merely for being suspected of matching an unpopular attribute.
  • In some societies it is unpopular to be a gun owner. But in a free society such people allowed to go about their business without restraint as long as they do not intimidate or harm others.

It is clear that the U.S. is not a free society. It has various degrees of freedom depending on the relative popularity of the activities of the person. 100 years ago gun owners were relatively free but today in certain political jurisdictions we are at great risk of going to jail if we attempt to go about our business even though our actions harm no one.

100 years ago to be homosexual in many locations in the U.S. was very risky and Christianity very low risk. Today homosexuality is much lower risk and Christianity is at some risk.

Stevenson definition is a pretty good for those issues. But as you dig into things more your realize Stevenson definition is not really adequate. What about alcohol production? Beer and wine are quite popular but highly regulated. Cars are very popular but highly regulated.

I have a half-baked hypothesis that total freedom in our country is a near constant. As it increases in one area it decreases in another. People demand control over something.

In the beginning it was black slavery, indentured servants and intolerance of non-Christians. Then as those went away it was regulation of things like alcohol, guns, drugs, business, tobacco, and a million little things. It doesn’t seem to have any relation to public safety, economic prosperity, or anything of importance. It’s just control.—Joe]

Vampire season again

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Last weekend Barb and I made our annual trip to Lowe’s for Boomershoot supplies. Here are 825 18” stakes in the back of my vehicle:

WP_20150329_001

As is usual I was prepared in case someone asked what I was going to do with all the stakes. The clerk did not disappoint me.

Clerk: What are you going to do with all the stakes?

Joe: Vampires.

Clerk: That makes as much sense as many of the other things people tell us.

Quote of the day—Glenn Reynolds

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If it weren’t for double standards the left would have no standards at all.

Glenn Reynolds
December 24, 2014
CHARLES C.W. COOKE: The Left’s “Climate Of Hate” Hypocrisy.
[There is more than a little truth in this even if it really should be “no principles at all”. But then the humor wouldn’t work.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Eliot Engel

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This legislation is not stopping hunters from continuing to participate in legal sporting activities. What it does is make the rational point that “green tips” are not necessary for those purposes. While some argue that these bullets have not been used to kill cops, I say why should we wait around for that day to come?

Eliot Engel
U.S. Representative
March 27, 2015
View: Deer don’t wear Kevlar
[While some may argue that Engel should be gagged, removed from office, and prosecuted before he says something even more stupid and attempts more criminal acts I say we can only prosecute him for acts committed. The principles our country is based upon say that, yes, we do need to “wait around for that day to come”. To do otherwise is called prior restraint and is, rightfully so, illegal.—Joe]

Two truths and a lie

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Yesterday at work they told me to prepare for a group meeting where I will be introduced to everyone. I’m supposed to tell them three things about myself. Two of which are true and one which is a lie. The group is to guess which is the lie.

This sounds like so much fun I’m going to prepare for it here. But since the readers of this blog know so much about me already or could easily search the blog for many of the answers I’m going to give you a bunch more truths to better hide the lie.

I’ll update this post with the answer in week or so. In the meantime post your guess in the comments.

  • When in grade school I had to milk the cows before and after going to school.
  • I went to grade school in a two room school with two teachers and eight grades.
  • I sometimes walked through snow drifts to get to grade school.
  • I first drove on a public road with the permission of my parents when I was 10 years old.
  • I used explosives to remove hundreds of tree stumps from fields before I was teenager.
  • In high school I figured out the combination to locker of the beautiful girl next to me so I could “borrow” her hard-core porn books but I was too shy to ever initiate a conversation with her.
  • I built an electronic alarm system for my high school locker.
  • I made contact sensitive explosives in high school and scattered tiny pieces on the hallway floor.
  • I have never illegally used any recreation drug except for that one glass of beer when I was 17.
  • As a college freshman three women invited me to drive to Montana with them where the drinking age was 18. They all got drunk and we shared one bed together but I was so shy I never so much as kissed any of them.
  • I won first place while playing for the University of Idaho chess team in the Association of College Unions Intercollegiate Tournaments in Region 14 (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana).
  • I had never drank any hard liquor until my girlfriend accidently switched glasses with me a few months ago.
  • I maintain three blogs and make at least one post each day.
  • I own an explosives production facility where I make about a ton of explosives each year for recreational purposes.
  • I wrote software for the CIA.
  • I took a training pistol from the chief instructor in a handgun retention class.
  • I went to Blackwater (a private military company and security consulting firm) for “summer camp” for free and was taught by one of the top handgun shooters in the world.

I think there are only two people in the world who I currently know that can identify with certainty which one is the lie.

Update: The lie is:

I won first place while playing for the University of Idaho chess team in the Association of College Unions Intercollegiate Tournaments in Region 14 (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana).

The truth is it was second place:

IMG_2525Cropped

The reason only two people I currently know who, “can identify with certainty which one is the lie” are Barb L. and Barb S. Barb S. because she was around when I played in the tournament. Barb L. because she could have looked in the trophy case to confirm or deny my claim. My kids never paid much attention to my trophy case and I have lost contact with all the other people in that tournament.

The comments to this post were some of the most fun I have had on this blog.

In answer to Ubu52 who doubted I had built the electronic alarm for my locker here is a picture of the remnants of it I found in one of my recently unpacked boxes:

WP_20150402_001WP_20150402_002

It has a single silicon controlled rectifier so it is electronic. The magnetic reed switch is for turning it off. There was another reed switch for triggering the alarm after a delay created by the resistors and capacitors. But I replaced the reed switch with just a couple of bare wires after someone used a huge (something like 25 pound) horseshoe magnetic on the outside of the locker to trigger it. The Sonalert was a new product on the market then and I used one of those for the sound producing device. It was eventually used in a different project of mine and I don’t know if I even have it any more.

And repeating for completeness this is the picture of the girl, Mary Ann, with the locker next to mine which I “borrowed” the porn from when I had the alarm in my locker:

Mary Ann

As far as the consumption of alcohol and other recreational drugs all the things I said are true. I’m even pretty sure that Barb switching the glasses on me was an accident.

The one glass of beer I had when I was 17 was my first day of college when I fell to the peer pressure, felt bad about it during and after, and didn’t do that again.

It was interesting the response my kids had to this post. Xenia hasn’t said anything about reading it but James and Kim both had the chess story and the three girls in Montana story on their short list. Kim correctly suspected that one of the women was the much older half sister of one James’ best friends in high school who was, eventually, the first girl I ever kissed (she is now college literature and women’s studies professor in a long term lesbian relationship–just so you know the sort of damage kissing me can inflict). Either I never told James about that or he forgot it. When I started to tell him about last week he cut me off as it being just too weird.