Author Archives: Joe

Quote of the day–Coalition to Stop Gun Violence & the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

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An individual would need intimate knowledge of firearms and microstamping, plus the appropriate tools, in order to render the technology ineffective. These tools are certainly not “household items,” nor would the common street criminal be expected to have the knowledge necessary to defeat the technology.

[…]

One can also imagine the scene at a shooting range as criminals or gang members wander around and gather spent cartridge cases in bags. Conspicuous? One would certainly think so, and Americans should expect the owners of such ranges to engage in more responsible business practices.

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence & the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence
Microstamping Technology: Precise and Proven
[Another example of the anti-gun bigots being clueless about the real world. Apparently they haven’t heard of a Dremel tool or picking up your brass for reloading.–Joe]

My day with Ry

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The pass was still closed (they are saying maybe by midnight one of them will be open) when I woke up this morning. I chatted with Barb for a few minutes and was reading a few blogs and posting my QOTD when I  got a text message from Ry:

We went to Beth’s and I finally got on the outside of one of their six egg omelets (they have two sizes, six and 12 egg, both come with all the hash browns you can eat).

I took a couple pictures of drawings on the wall:

From there we went to Kerry Park and took some pictures:

We left the park to visit Glazer’s.

At Glazer’s I bought a new camera bag and some minor camera accessories.

We then continued south to Cabela’s in Lacy. I have never been in a Cabela’s before and Ry had only been to the original store in the Midwest. The store was pretty amazing.

The most amazing thing happened there. Someone recognized our Boomershoot coats and my hat and said hi. He said he reads my blog!

I bought a bunch of strange flavored licorice (Piña Colada and blue raspberry among others) some bullets (not loaded ammo, just the Berger, .30 caliber, 210 grain VLD bullets). Wow! Those have gone up by a factor of two since I last bought some. But I figured they weren’t going to get any cheaper.

From way down south in Lacy we went way north to Monroe for the “Fun Show” as Ry likes to call them. Actually it was one of the WAC events. I walked by all the tables and didn’t really see anything of much interest.

We then headed out of town a little way to visit a friend of Ry’s that has a rifle range Ry has permission to use. “A couple hundred yards”, Ry said. Things were in the process of changing. Soon it will be over 850 yards! We stood around and talked with the owner and a friend of his for probably an hour. Maybe next spring when there is more daylight in a day and the longer range is available I might visit again with a long range rifle.

Next we ate dinner at the Old Country Buffet and I dropped him off back at his place and came back to my bunker.

That was a nice day. It was much better than moping around writing buggy code for The Borg like I had planned.  Thanks Ry.

But the bummer part of it was Barb had an extremely light day at work and would have been able to spend a lot of time with me at lunch and then gotten off work early to spend more time with me had I been able to make it over the pass and back to Moscow last night.

Rebate alternative

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Lots of people are suggesting you buy a firearm if you get a rebate. There are numerous suggestions (partial listing):

I have another suggestion and I’ll even make the deal sweeter for you. Buy a rifle and ammo for Boomershoot and I’ll give you a free entry into Boomershoot 2009. Limit of one entry per rifle and no more than five free positions will be given away. You must purchase the rifle between now and June 1, 2008. The rifle and ammo must be capable of at least regularly connecting with the boomers at the 375 yard line. This means your ordinary hunting rifle, carbines, and pistol caliber rifles won’t qualify. Heavy barrel AR-15’s will. It should have at least a 4X (10X or greater is recommended) scope on it but I won’t be holding that against you because people have connected with red-dots and iron sights, it’s just not easy. Ammo is going to have to be match grade.

If you decide you want to participate in Joe’s evil plan then scan a copy of your receipts, send the scanned image and one or more pictures of you new rifle to me. First come, first serve, limit five prizes total.

Update: At the suggestion of Mopar in comments I’ve created a Boomershoot web page on rifle selection and threw in a little about ammo too. See also Choosing Optics (from 2001).

Quote of the day–Paul Helmke

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As someone who had received death threats and been called a “dictator” because of other government issues, I knew that there were a lot of people who I did not want to see carrying guns into city meetings and the offices of city employees.

These incidents all highlight the tensions involved when individuals argue that their “personal liberty” outweighs the rule of law and trumps community policy as decided by our governmental systems.

Paul Helmke
“Suicide Shooters” – Going To “War” With Government
7:36 pm on February 8, 2008
[“Personal liberty” is trumped by community policy? Translating to more recognizable terms:

No wonder they have comments turned off on their blog.

H/T to Sebastian.–Joe]

I love sick humor

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I don’t make cosmetic modifications to any of my guns. I’d make an exception for this one.

New pro-gun organization

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Fellow IPSC and Steel shooter Mike Brown has started a new pro-gun organization–the Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance. I have been providing some technical help and he has been working with various legislators on gun issues important to Idaho residents and visitors. Number one on our list is to strengthen preemption. Read all about it on the website and blog.

The blogroll is reciprocal with pro-gun bloggers. Link to the ISSA blog and you’ll get linked to in return.

I wonder what they think of Huffman’s Rule of Firearms Law

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From Sitemeter:

Domain Name uscourts.gov ? (U.S. Government)
IP Address 208.27.203.# (Admin OFC US Courts)
ISP Sprint
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Continent  : North America
Country  : United States  (Facts)
State  : District of Columbia
City  : Washington
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Distance  : 2,072 miles
Language English (U.S.)
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Visit Number 246,301

The US Goverment Court in D.C. did a Google search for “idaho firearms law” and ended up reading Huffman’s Rule of Firearms Law (number six in the Google results).

Bummer, the passes are closed

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I may not be going home this weekend. Both Snoqualmie and Stevens passes are closed. I could fly (very expensive on such short notice) or go through Portland (about 8.5 hours of driving instead of 5.0). I may end up spending the weekend in my Seattle area bunker, writing software for The Borg, and feeling sorry for myself.

The current report from Snoqualmie:

Restrictions Eastbound:
Pass Closed
 

Restrictions Westbound:
Pass Closed
 

Conditions & Weather:
Pass is closed due to severe weather conditions and avalanche danger. We are starting 8 to 10 hours of avalanche control, followed by clean up efforts. Motorists should expect extended delays. // Snowing, blowing snow and poor visibility

The current report from Stevens:

Restrictions Eastbound:
Pass Closed

Restrictions Westbound:
Pass Closed

Conditions & Weather:
Compact snow and ice. US 2 is closed from Scenic to Rayrock due to avalanche danger. An estimated reopen time is not determined. // Snowing, strong winds, blowing snow with poor visibility

Update 15:38 PST: From the Snoqualmie website:

Avalanche control work continues and it is now estimated that I-90 Snoqualmie pass will not open earlier than Saturday morning. Opening the roadway will be based on avalanche risk analysis. The roadway will be opened when it is safe to do so. WSDOT will give updates as work progresses and information becomes available. // Snowing, blowing snow and poor visibility

I’ll be blaming Global Warming as I’m moping around creating bugs for the Borg. I’m certain it’s all Algore’s fault.

Update 23:19 PST: From the WSDOT Snoqualmie Pass website:

Interstate 90 Snoqualmie Pass Update: Avalanche control work continues and it is now estimated that I-90 Snoqualmie pass will be reassessed Saturday, opening no earlier than Saturday evening. Opening the roadway will be based on avalanche risk analysis. The roadway will be opened when it is safe to do so. WSDOT will give updates as work progresses and information becomes available. // Snowing, blowing snow and poor visibility

Unintended consequences strike again

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From the Washington Post, Studies Say Clearing Land for Biofuels Will Aid Warming:

One study — written by a group of researchers from Princeton University, Woods Hole Research Center and Iowa State University along with an agriculture consultant — concluded that over 30 years, use of traditional corn-based ethanol would produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as regular gasoline. Another analysis, written by a Nature Conservancy scientist along with University of Minnesota researchers, found that converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands in Southeast Asia and Latin America to produce biofuels will increase global warming pollution for decades, if not centuries.

Also in the same article:

There is an urgent need for policy that ensures biofuels are not produced on productive forest, grassland or cropland.

Oh, so you expect you can just start growing corn or some other high energy crop on a bare, wind swept rock?

And finally this:

This is a good way of showing where we are, not where we’re going to be,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who is chairman of a House global warming panel and who helped write the energy legislation. Noting that the measure set benchmarks requiring any new ethanol plants to produce a fuel that is 20 percent more efficient than gasoline, and even more stringent standards for advanced biofuels,

I have a sneaking suspicious they misspelled that guys name. I’m thinking it should be Malarkey.

Ethanol has less energy content that gasoline. Unless they can produce something other than ethanol from the biomass the end result is they are doing the equivalent of legislating PI is equal to 3.00.

I’m laughing all the way to the bank.

Quote of the day–Gerald Thornton

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The only way that I can put into context that you might understand is that my brother went to war tonight with the people, the government that was putting torment and strife into his life. He has spoke on it as best he could in the courts, and they denied all rights to the access of protection and he took it upon himself to go to war and end the issue.

Gerald Thornton
Six Dead In Missouri City Council Shooting
[Also of interest is this from the NYT:

In an interview with a local television station, Mr. Thornton’s mother said that Kirkwood officials had kept after her son, “giving him tickets for everything they could.”

I’m not sure of the source and validity but one commenter said the shooter had $18,000 in parking tickets in the previous three years. My previous post may be applicable here.–Joe]

Quote of the day–James Russell Lowell

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Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.

James Russell Lowell
[Which is why we were supposed to have a Republic with a constitution which enumerated limited powers to the government and with guaranteed rights to the people. Unfortunately people found out they could ignore the constitution without consequences and we now have something much closer to a democracy with all the adverse effects.–Joe]

If they want to screw you they can and will

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This is just one example of ATF abuse.

Not by the ATF, but I’ve been screwed both with and without malice. The bottom line is that you can’t completely defend against it, you can only lower your risk. Just don’t think you are immune or that the system is fair or justice will be served.

Quote of the day–Karl Marx

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The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.

Karl Marx
[Just because Marx happened to be right about this year’s election doesn’t mean he had even a glimmer of a solution to the problem. Super Tuesday wasn’t.–Joe]

This will make making babies more interesting

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If only I could have convinced Barb when we were in the baby making business we needed some help:

LONDON (Reuters) – British scientists have created human embryos with three parents in a development they hope could lead to effective treatments for a range of serious hereditary diseases within five years.

Researchers from Newcastle University, in northern England, presented their findings at a medical conference at the weekend, a university spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The IVF, or test-tube, embryos were created using DNA from one man and two women.

Both women have could carried babies that were from all three of us. However great an idea I think this is I am sure Barb will manage to find some fault with it. She is kinda funny that way.

Quote of the day–Alan Gura, Robert A. Levy, Clark M. Neily III

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Certainly Petitioners would not dispute Americans’ justification for revolting against Great Britain, an event that would not have been possible without the private ownership of firearms. And should our Nation someday suffer tyranny again, preservation of the right to keep and bear arms would enhance the people’s ability to act as militia in the manner practiced by the Framers.

Alan Gura
Robert A. Levy
Clark M. Neily III
February 4, 2008
RESPONDENT’S BRIEF
On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit
[I just completed reading the entire thing. Lots of good stuff in it. At times I have been concerned Heller’s case would be made too narrow. That is no longer a concern. If anything this brief may be too broad because it will scare the white people. Not that I think that view is out of line with the original intent and the requirement for a free state, just that scaring the white people has it’s risks.

In this case the good guys played it as if this one is for all the marbles–which it is. Good luck to us all.–Joe]

High heels improve women’s sex life

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It’s nothing new to state that many men are attracted to women wearing high heels. But this is something new:

STILETTOS can be good for a woman’s sex life, says a study which claims wearing them “directly works the pleasure muscles linked to orgasm”.

Experts found the high heels toned women’s legs and strengthened pelvic muscles.

In tests, Dr Maria Cerruto, of the University of Verona, Italy, discovered that wearing a pair of ‘‘moderately high heeled shoes’’ had beneficial effects for a woman’s sex life.

‘‘Heels work the pelvic muscles and reduce the need to exercise them.

‘‘Wearing heels during daily activity may reduce the need for the pelvic floor exercises necessary to keep that part of a woman’s anatomy toned and elastic,’’ Cerruto said.

Dr. Joe also has verified methods of directly exercising the pleasure muscles linked to orgasm. Women, make an appointment to obtain the full details and avoid the well-known risks associated with high heels.

Posted in Sex

One shot, one kill at 2100 meters

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Ry reports on a new Army sniping record from Afghanistan by a Arfcom member. Awesome!

If you are wondering at all the amazing sniping shots coming out of Afghanistan you aren’t alone. I knew the high altitude would make a difference but I didn’t know exactly how much until I ran some numbers through Modern Ballistics. Below you see the numbers for the .50 BMG shooting a high end bullet/cartridge with a gun zeroed at sea level for 1000 yards at a target at 2300 yards (2100 meters) away for various altitudes. Notice the difference in expected group size as the altitudes goes from 0 to 10000 feet. Notice the windage difference. All those things help but still, the shooter and spotter had to be top notch and have a little luck as well. Assuming a target of 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall the altitude difference changed the odds of a hit from about 10% to 20% (not shown).

Good job SnakeaterM24!

Modern Ballistics Data Created: 02/04/08 09:24:30

Firearm: Default
Cartridge: .50 BMG HMI with 750 gr. A-MAX
Conditions: Standard Conditions.
Range: 2300
Altitude (ft):           0   1000   2000   3000   4000   5000   6000   7000   8000  10000

Drop (inches)         2263   2193   2129   2070   2016   1966   1920   1877   1837  1765
Height (inches)      -1609  -1539  -1475  -1416  -1362  -1313  -1267  -1224  -1184 -1112
Height (moa)        -66.84 -63.93 -61.26 -58.82 -56.58 -54.52 -52.61 -50.83 -49.16 -46.17
Height (mils)       -19.44 -18.60 -17.82 -17.11 -16.46 -15.86 -15.30 -14.79 -14.30 -13.43
Windage (inches)    258.89 244.21 230.39 217.47 205.43 194.19 183.72 173.94 164.81 148.27
Windage (moa)        10.75  10.14   9.57   9.03   8.53   8.06   7.63   7.22   6.84   6.16
Windage (mils)        3.13   2.95   2.78   2.63   2.48   2.35   2.22   2.10   1.99   1.79
Mid rng Ht (in)       78.8   79.2   79.5   79.8   80.2   80.5   80.8   81.1   81.4   81.9
Midrange (yds)       532.1  535.4  538.6  541.8  544.9  547.9  550.8  553.7  556.4  561.8
Zero (yds)          1000.0 1008.1 1016.0 1023.6 1031.2 1038.7 1045.9 1053.0 1060.0 1073.4
Near zero (yds)        5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3    5.3
P.B. Size (in)      157.66 158.35 159.03 159.69 160.33 160.95 161.56 162.15 162.72 163.82
P.B. Range (yds)      1182   1192   1202   1212   1222   1231   1240   1249   1258   1275
Velocity (ft/S)       1118   1157   1200   1245   1290   1335   1380   1425   1469   1553
Energy (ft-lbs)       2082   2229   2397   2581   2772   2970   3173   3382   3593   4018
PF                     839    868    900    934    968   1002   1035   1069   1102   1165
Time (S)             3.941  3.857  3.779  3.705  3.637  3.573  3.514  3.458  3.406  3.312
Group (inches)       81.20  77.10  73.25  69.68  66.37  63.31  60.47  58.02  55.56  51.17
Group (moa)           3.37   3.20   3.04   2.89   2.76   2.63   2.51   2.41   2.31   2.12
Group (mils)          0.98   0.93   0.88   0.84   0.80   0.76   0.73   0.70   0.67   0.62
Groups <= desired    0.00%  0.00%  0.00%  0.00%  0.00%  0.20%  0.40%  0.60%  1.20%  1.20%
1 grp of <= desired    0.0    0.0    0.0    0.0    0.0  500.0  250.0  166.7   83.3   83.3
—–
Constants:
M.V. (ft/S)        2794   M.V. SDev (fps)    10.0   B.C.               1.050 
Mass (grains)      750    Sight Ht (in)      1.50   Indicated SA (moa) 27.19 
SA Offset (moa)    0.00   Incline (deg)      0      Wind (mph)         10    
Wind error (mph)   2      Wind (deg.)        90     Temp (F)           59    
Barometer          29.53  Gravity            32.17  Shots per group    5     
Bullet acc. (moa)  0.50   Desired Grp (moa)  1.00   Group Simulations  500   
—-
Firearm name: Default
Firearm notes:
Cartridge name: .50 BMG HMI with 750 gr. A-MAX
Cartridge notes: BC is for Hornady A-Max.  MV is for max load of H50BMG.
Conditions name: Standard Conditions.
Conditions notes:

Quote of the day–Winston Churchill

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The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Winston Churchill
[Applicable today because of the discussion over at Munchkin Wrangler. Via Tam.–Joe]

Poor role model delivers acceptable result

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As a NRA Personal Protection Instructor I would strongly advise against using this store clerk as a role model. The robber appears to be leaving without harming anyone when she shoots him. This is generally illegal and I agree with this law. What I think happened was, as Joe D. suggested in email to the LPC email discussion list, it was an accidental discharge.

But on an strictly individual level I don’t have much sympathy for robbers, especially armed robbers. So, the bottom line is Barb and I laughed pretty hard at this guy getting “circumcised by a .38”:

Quote of the day–Lily Tomlin

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Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.

Lily Tomlin
[Politics can be pretty depressing at times.–Joe]