that’s not dumb. You don’t need to Hunt. It’s only because your dick Is small!
@Fedupwithfaith
May 5, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via still another Tweet from Linoge.—Joe]
Author Archives: Joe
Enforcing the Second Amendment
I have been advocating this for quite a while and I’m glad to see someone else is advocating for it as well:
We have this legal tool on our side to arrest and prosecute anyone, of any office, who violates our constitutional rights. The time is now. Enforce Title 18, USC, Section 241. We just need to agree now on an orderly procedure for carrying this out.
Random thought of the day
If corporations were really legally treated like individuals then they wouldn’t be prosecuted for organizing like unions and engaging in collective bargaining with labor organizations.
Quote of the day—Chris and Jeff Knox
Reasonable people should recognize and admit that no gun control law has ever met the stated goal of reducing crime, and there is no evidence to suggest that any of the various proposals to further restrict an enumerated right, which “shall not be infringed,” would be any more effective.
Chris and Jeff Knox
On Being Reasonable.
Front Sight magazine, May/June 2014 Vol. 31, No. 3
[Another way of expressing Just One Question.
When someone says something about “reasonable gun laws” push back on them with this. Get them to admit that it’s not about reducing crime. It’s about creating new criminals out of you and me.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (Volume One) page 13, footnote 5.
[I agree with this review on Amazon
The writing style is captivating. To some extent, it has been a series of references about how certain people or groups of people were arrested and/or executed. All too easy how people disappeared without a trace and no one even missed them and couldn’t do anything if they wanted to. And the petty, heartless, political and bureaucratic reasons people were arrested makes one closely reconsider his day-to-day activities.
Chilling, as you can see the roots of this activity growing in our country daily.
It will take a while to finish all 3 volumes, but I plan on gradually finishing. It’s hard to read too much at once as your jaw gets tired of dropping constantly and your brain can only take so much astonishment at once.
I am only about a quarter of the way through the first volume (of three) so there may be other things that strike me more profoundly. But so far it is that nearly all believed “in the system”. That once “they” got things straightened out the arrestees would be set free and they would go home. This was even in cases where the NKVD was arresting 25% of an entire town. The NKVD had quotas to meet. And there was always multiple laws they had broken and would be charged with. Just as there are in our country today.
Because of this belief in the system they not only did not resist—they cooperated. At the request of the arresting NKVD they would even tiptoe out of their apartments so as to not wake their neighbors.
I would like to believe that if a similar situation came about in our country that my only attempts to be quiet would involve the use of a sound suppressor for my firearms.—Joe]
Privacy is tough
Very interesting stuff:
The signals produced by smartphones turn out to be so identifiable that it may never be possible to use one anonymously. Even basic privacy may be difficult to achieve.
Despite all the standardization and quality control that go into accelerometers and other sensors built into smartphones, each sensor contains enough tiny, unique imperfections to identify, not only the physical component, but also the data it records, researchers from the University of Illinois, the University of South Carolina, and Zhejiang University report.
“Even if you erase the app in the phone, or even erase and reinstall all software the fingerprint still stays inherent,” Romit Roy Choudhury, the UI associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science who led the team, said in a press release. “That’s a serious threat.”
By analyzing data from the accelerometers from more than 100 devices, the team was able to determine that tiny differences in the data recorded by the accelerometers were unique to the sensor itself, rather than reflecting flaws or differences in materials or environment from a particular plant of production line.
…
It’s not even necessary to get that specific or interact that much with one smartphone to identify it as unique. In June 2013, researchers at Technical University of Dresden published a paper that said variations in the performance of the power amplifiers, oscillators, signal mixers, and other components of a cellphone radio transmitter leave patterns in the analog radio signal that become a uniquely identifiable pattern of errors after the signal is converted from analog to digital.
That makes it possible to identify and track individual phones passively by their radio “fingerprints” without doing anything but listen to it, and to identify a specific phone even if the SIM card has been replaced or its unique identifying numbers have been altered, according to Jakob Hasse, lead researcher for the paper, which was presented at an ACM Workshop.
“Our method does not send anything to the mobile phones. It works completely passively and just listens to the ongoing transmissions of a mobile phone — it cannot be detected,” Hasse told New Scientist.
I forget who and when I was telling the following story to recently but it is my understanding that during the Vietnam war we had technology that could hear the radio emissions from the ignition systems from trucks many miles away. And because of variations in the ignition systems, such as worn spark plugs, dirty points, etc. the operators of that equipment learned to identify individual trucks.
I think the lesson to be learned is that if you leak electromagnetic radiation you can be tracked.
Quote of the day—Benny @Brios82
I’m against the mentally ill obtaining guns. You know…like NRA members.
Benny @Brios82
Tweeted May 8, 2014
[This is what they think of you. If you are a NRA member that is proof that you are mentally ill.
Never let anyone tell you that no one wants to take your guns away. Or send you to a mental institution. The political left loves mental institutions and gulags.
I’ve been listening to The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I Solzhenitsyn. Scary stuff because of the easy parallels to the political left in our country right now. It’s surprisingly easy to listen too even though it is a 75 hour audible book.—Joe]
Atlas Shrugged 3 teaser trailer
Nice. It will be released September 12, 2014.
Boomershoot private fireballs
This year we had some people sign up for the private fireballs on Friday evening. Here is the result via Dave Barry:
Here is the video I took:
Update: David has a collection of videos and stills as well. Check out the great still picture of the smoke ring. Daughter Kim saw it from over 3/4 of a mile away over the top of the hill in front of us.
Update 2: Daughter Kim sent me this picture she took from 3/4 of a mile away on South Road:
Quote of the day—Jerry Large
We should repeal the Second Amendment.
Jerry Large
April 30, 2014
Common sense calls for repeal of Second Amendment: Guns will continue to be a problem until we remove their Constitutional shield.
[H/T to Sebastian.
Apparently he doesn’t realize the Second Amendment shields the Constitution.
He, as a person of color, should also read Negroes with Guns. I’ve commented on it before (and here). Ry loaned the book to me and told me he thought it should be required reading in our schools. I can’t say that I disagree with that. It has some very powerful stuff in it.
Isn’t it odd that some of the classes of people that would, and have, benefited the most from bearing arms are the same that are so opposed to the Second Amendment?—Joe]
Quote of the day—Hillary Clinton
At the rate we’re going, we’re going to have so many people with guns everywhere, fully licensed, fully validated, in settings where [one] could be in a movie theater, and they don’t like someone chewing gum loudly or talking on their cell phone and decide they have the perfect right to defend themselves against the gum chewer or cell phone user by shooting.
Hillary Clinton
May 6, 2014
Hillary Clinton pushes gun control, Obamacare
[I find it very telling that her concern is about the number of people with guns. Does she also worry about the number of people exercising their First Amendment rights? And does she think it would be appropriate to license and “validate” people that exercise their First Amendment rights?
And since she used the example of a movie theater does she also worry that if people don’t have their mouths locked shut before they enter a theater that they might yell “FIRE!” when there is no fire?
With bigotry and prejudice this severe Ms. Clinton is unfit to serve in public office. She doesn’t want to be a public servant. She wants to be a tyrant.—Joe]
503
Yes. My blog, and all my websites, have been delivering a lot of 503 error codes recently. When the error appears on my blog it also means that boomershoot.org, modernballistics.org, xeniajoy.com, scottfamilyplace.org and others are all doing the same.
When I last talked to tech support about this they said it was because I am getting more than 500 simultaneous connections. My logs from just the first four days of May show over 3000 “GET” requests for “wp-login.php” from nearly 1000 IP addresses. I read this as my blog is under attack.
I’m not convinced my logs are showing me everything.
I’ll investigate more this week.
Quote of the day—Ry Jones
Is this far enough?
Ry Jones
Asking me about the distance of his fireball creation from the spectators.
May 4, 2014
[This what the setup looked like:
It was about 30 yards from the shooting berm where all the spectators were. I said it should be fine. I had never seen any of our fireballs large enough to make that distance be an issue. And this configuration was such that it should make a “wall” of fire rather than a column or ball of fire. Even though it was nearly twice as much fuel as I we had ever used I just couldn’t see it being a problem.
I didn’t think it through.
I was doing the evaluation in regards to the spectators. I didn’t take into account that Ry had parked his pickup, lengthwise, between the spectators and the fireball. They were on the berm and could easily see over it. Ry didn’t move it as he usually did. He had Monte shoot the target probably another 30 feet from the end of the pickup closest to the fireball. This was the approximate distance Ry had set up his video camera and was hovering over when the fireball went off. This was his viewpoint:
From the viewpoint of Art to his right we see this:
Did you see that big blast of fire jetting to the left? That was directly toward Ry and Monte.
I was on the other side and this is my video:
You can see the muzzle of the gun in the video above as the fireball goes up. It disappears as the fireball grows. As the camera pans you can see Ry face down on the ground and Monte still retreating.
I think what happened was that the fuel ignited at the most distant location from the spectators. The expanding gases and increased pressure pushed the unburned fuel toward Monte and Ry. The unburned fuel then ignited as the fuel/air ratio became such that it supported combustion. This burst into the lower pressure air toward Ry and Monte.
I was correct in that it was far enough away from the spectators. But once I made that determination I did not reevaluate for the consideration of the status of Ry and Monte who were MUCH closer.
No one was hurt but it certainly was a lot more intense for them than anyone anticipated.
Here is the email thread between Ry, Monte, and I yesterday morning:
From: Monte
Sent: 5/4/2014 8:12 PM
To: Bill W.; Joe
Subject: fireballAny pics/video of the fireball / singed wookie event from this morning? 😉
Thanks,
MonteOn 05/05/2014 05:58 AM, Joe Huffman wrote:
From Ry’s Twitter feed:
@RyJones: Boomershoot 2014 fireball. from way too close. https://t.co/XnqbSpQTRu
@RyJones: Boomershoot 2014 fireball different angle: https://t.co/8y650tGLcD that big lobe going left got close
I’ll have more after I get home and have some time.
On May 5, 2014, at 6:35 AM, Monte wrote:
The first one looks kinda like my POV… but with less chunks of smoking debris inbound 😉
Good times.From: Ry Jones
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2014 7:33 AM
To: Monte
Cc: Joe Huffman; Bill W.
Subject: Re: fireballThe guys down at RNS had some video that shows both of us deciding to get down out of the impending trip to the burn ward. Hopefully they post it.
After the fireball went up I went to check on Oleg who was about 50 yards the other side of the fireball from me. The first thing he told me was, “I seriously underestimated the size of that with my camera. I got an incredible video though.”
Everyone is okay. I don’t think there were even any actual singed hairs, peeled paint, or scorched canopies.—Joe]
Update: Barron put up a video also:
Boomershoot medical emergency
If you were following my Twitter feed on Thursday you know we had a medical emergency onsite at Boomershoot. This was the worst event we have had in the 18 events we have put on. As usual it had nothing to do with the use of guns or explosives.
Scott K. was walking up the hillside to help pound stakes into the ground, went to his knees and then face first into the ground. From his perspective, as I heard him explain to the medic in the ambulance, he got dizzy then woke up with people standing around him.
From the perspective of Art, Brandon, Rebecca, and Tim Scott was unconscious for a couple minutes, taking only one breath every 30 seconds or so, with a weak and thready pulse that occasionally stopped or couldn’t be found. Then he took a couple large breathes, his pulse became normal, and he woke up.
I wasn’t there at the time. I had just arrived at Boomershoot Mecca when Art S. radioed me and said we had a medical emergency. Scott had collapsed and wasn’t responding. They didn’t have cell phone coverage at their location but since I was at Mecca with the Verizon Network Extender I did. I called 911 and told them what I knew. They dispatched an ambulance. I was at Mecca for a few minutes to make sure if they tried to call back for directions or something I would be able to receive the call.
After the first vehicle with a siren went by and appeared to find the location I headed back. By the time I arrived the scene looked like this:
A sheriff’s deputy had arrived and was asking questions and handling communication with the ambulance. Scott was conscious and talking and said he felt fine.
A few minutes later an ambulance and another sheriff’s deputy arrived:
Not too long after that a full size ambulance arrived. The medic from the first ambulance then said they would transport Scott by ground and they could sent the inbound helicopter back.
Yeah. It must have been a slow week in Clearwater County for the emergency response team and they wanted something to do.
All kidding aside, Clearwater County did a great job getting to our somewhat remote site and taking care of Scott. From the time I started my 911 call to the time the first responder arrived was about 15 minutes.
The hospital did all kinds of tests and couldn’t find anything wrong. The high blood sugar reported by the onsite medic apparently was in error. Scott came back the next day and worked as if nothing had happened.
Quote of the day—The Left Show
BREAKING: A gun will not make your penis larger! bit.ly/11bNGKW #utpol
The Left Show (@theleftshow)
Tweeted on January 30, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]
Quote of the day—Barb L.
You will be delicately chilled.
Barb L.
May 3, 2014
[This was as we were leaving my Dad’s house to go to the Boomershoot site in the morning. I had left my coats (three of them) and sweatshirt at Boomershoot Mecca. I was just wearing a t-shirt and Barb was bundled up.
I had often thought Ry was king of clever descriptions. But Barb is a close contender. She makes me laugh multiple times a day with the clever and funny things she says.
But I wondered as we drove away, if there is such a thing as “delicately chilled” then that surely must mean there is such a thing as “harshly chilled” or “roughly chilled”. What would those be?—Joe]
Quote of the day—Robert J. Avrech
In the wake of the Jew-hating shooting in Kansas, the National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox network, is urging Jews, on the last days of Passover, not to walk home alone from synagogue.
With all due respect to Young Israel, that advice is just silly and only reinforces victimhood.
Do you honestly think that a Jew-hating murderer is going to be deterred by two or more unarmed Jews strolling to or from synagogue?
Robert J. Avrech
April 20, 2014
Young Israel Urges Jews Not To Walk Home Alone
[I see nothing wrong with two more people walking together to protect one another. The real point is that when there is significant risk of being attack being unarmed is taking an unnecessary risk.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Moms Demand Action
Moms Demand Action supports the 2nd Amendment, but we believe common-sense solutions can help decrease the escalating epidemic of gun violence that kills too many of our children and loved ones every day. Whether the gun violence happens in urban Chicago, suburban Virginia, or rural Texas, we must act now on new and stronger gun laws and policies to protect our children.
Moms Demand Action
Web page, as of April 28, 2014
[I find it very telling that if they enumerate what they think are “common-sense solutions” they don’t make them easy to find on their web site. I couldn’t find them. If they really had solutions don’t you think they would announce them all to the world? What this means to me is they are running an emotional appeal, as they have already admitted, and will push whatever restrictive law they believe has a chance of passing. Facts and logic aren’t their tools in trade.
From reading their press releases and get the facts web pages it appears that for starters they want to stop public carry, ban modern sporting rifles, ban standard capacity magazines, and eliminate “stand your ground laws”. And if they were successful doing that you can be sure they would find a lot more “common-sense” restrictions they support.
I have to conclude Moms Demand Action demands are mostly hysteria and wonder if the traditional cure for it wouldn’t bring us all some relief.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Michael Schaus
Deciding that they should organize a protest outside of the NRA annual meeting in Indianapolis, gun control advocates “flocked” to show their disdain for American gun-owners… But, there was only one problem: With a mere 25 people deciding to show up for the rally, the “protest” looked more like an OFA global warming meeting.
Apparently, two dozen people was the absolute most the anti-gun group, Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence, was able to gather for the afternoon… Heck, I could probably attract a larger crowd by handing out high-capacity sodas on any given afternoon.
Michael Schaus
April 28, 2014
Bloomberg Is His Own Worst Enemy on Gun-Control
[David Hardy was there and took a picture with his cell phone (they blocked his video camera). I cannot count more than 25 in his picture yet “Moms Demand Action” claim there were “More than 100…”. And in the comments JT Niggle points out that on their Facebook page they claim “over 300”. They do have a picture up that might have 100 people in it but there is no way they have 300.
Anti-gun people almost always seem to have a problem with numbers. This is just one more example.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Cliff Schecter
LaPierre, of course, is never held responsible for this rhetoric, even though it is not too much of a stretch to say that its repetition in all of the NRA’s magazines, radio show, emails, newsletter, speeches, on Fox News, and on right-wing talk radio and beyond clearly contributes to the killing everyday American citizens and members of law enforcement.
Cliff Schecter
April 28, 2014
Preparing for War in Indianapolis: Inside the NRA Plot to Terrify America
[And is Schecter ever “held responsible for this rhetoric” intended to promote the infringement of a specific enumerated right?
Imagine the outrage (and it would be appropriate) if Schecter had a similar screed about Muslims, women, blacks, or homosexuals. He would be (inappropriately)hounded out of a job if not investigated for hate speech.
As you can expect from anti-gun people they are all about the control of others but not of themselves.
As Sebastian said:
People like @cliffschecter talk tolerance from one side of the mouth & stifling social conformity from the other. @GunNoob @RedneckSkeptic
— Sebastian (@SebastianSNBQ) April 29, 2014
Don’t you find it telling that when he talks like this about the constitutionally protected class of gun owners you hear nothing but crickets from the those who claim to promote tolerance? This is just another data point that it’s not about tolerance. It’s about control. They want you either assimilated into the collective or banished to the gulags. It’s up to us to make sure there is at least a third option.
This is why there is Boomershoot.—Joe]