Author Archives: Joe

Sunday afternoon accomplishments

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This afternoon was much more productive than my wallowing in self-pity this morning.  I accomplished a bunch of stuff and still have other things in the queue:

  1. I purchased 200 rounds of Winchester Ranger self-defense ammo in .40 S&W.
  2. I purchased 50 rounds of 52 grain moly coated Blackhills Match ammo in .223 for testing purposes.
  3. I implemented on-line entry for Boomershoot 2006.
  4. I posted Eugene Econ’s details on the Precision Rifle Clinic for Boomershoot.org.
  5. I fixed various errors on Boomershoot.org web pages.

Weekend activities

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Barb and her sister Nancy made it back from D.C. 20 minutes early last night and we went out to dinner at Outback (in part because of this).  Despite being tired from the travel and time difference they were very upbeat and talk about how wonderful the hospital (except for the food), volunteers, doctors, and therapists were.  They told me stories of Jason and others in the hospital how nearly everyone was so upbeat even though many of them had lost a great deal–arms, legs, eyes, brain injuries.  The helicopter pilot that lost her arm and both legs “tooling around in a wheelchair wearing a t-shirt that said, “It’s a good thing my husband is a butt man.”  Barb and Nancy were sorry for the losses but said they were being well taken care of and they all seemed proud of what they had contributed.  Barb said I really needed to go visit Jason and meet these heroes.  I want to but even as they were telling me of all our soldiers and how well they were doing the tears welled up.  It made me very sad.  I’m not sure I could do anything but cry if I went to visit.  I think we are doing the right thing in Iraq, but the losses make me very uncomfortable.  Although I sometimes say, “Too much sand, not enough glass”  I don’t mean it.  I know that of the available options to us we are almost for certain going down the correct path.

Barb, Nancy, and I went to the Uncle Bonsai concert last night and enjoyed it.  I wanted to hear more of their old songs but they had new material and I hadn’t really heard all of the stuff that has been out for a while.  I never listened to anything but a little bit of their “Doug” album.  After hearing a couple of the songs last night I listened to the entire album this morning.  Some of the songs were sad and it probably affected me more than usual because of the stories from Walter Reed.

When we got back from the concert I did a very quick check of my email and I found out Bob Coval died yesterday.  We knew it was coming (low bandwidth version here) but still a great sadness swept over me.  Since I’ve been over here this last week I had been thinking about Bob frequently.  I should visit him or at least find out when he died.  I didn’t really want to know though.  Now I know.

This morning Nancy announced it was 6:00 AM and they needed to leave right away.  One short night is all I got with Barb before she headed home again.  They need to leave early because I-90 is one lane in both directions in parts of Snoqualmie pass because of rock slide.  The state transportation department is saying there could be long delays over this holiday week.  Five hours was mentioned but that could be for next Sunday night when the really heavy traffic occurs.  I’m hoping to go home on Wednesday night.  I didn’t even try to get an airplane ticket because they sell out a couple months in advance over Thanksgiving.  That means I need to try and get over the pass at a high traffic time.  And over course coming back Sunday night will be hell.  It might be that the return trip will be best done via Portland.  It’s normally a nine hour drive but that will be better than 10 or 12 hour drive over the traffic clogged pass (which is normally a five hour drive).

I was at my first IDPA match Saturday until just before I went to the airport to pick up Barb and Nancy.  The match went pretty well.  Lots of rules to process on a continuous basis after the buzzer goes off.  It’s not like IPSC where you often get to “shoot them as you see them.”  Gaming is still present just less obvious.  Thanks to Wendell for arranging a group of us to attend together.  Robin, Sean, and I had dinner at his place with Hobbit Friday night.  Robin and I were in pain from laughing at the S&W (Sean and Wendell, not Smith and Wesson) rendition of Whale.avi (S&W were far better than the real thing).  Then we all were in the same squad for the match on Saturday.  It was most pleasant company for both Friday evening and Saturday.

So… I’m alone here in front of my computer thinking about Bob, Jason and our other heroes that have lost so much, Barb leaving after spending just a few hours, and I will have some long drives to visit home over Thanksgiving.  I think it will be best if I get out and do my National Ammo Day purchases.  I wanted to do it yesterday but the IDPA match and spending time with Barb were higher priorities.  Anything to get out and moving will be better than here.

I’ll be back with something more upbeat later.

Quote of the day–Ward Dorrity

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If you had to choose between saving The Lying Bastard of Pennsylvania Avenue from drowning in a vat of steaming bubbling pig shit and taking a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph…

 …what f-stop would you use?

Inquiring minds want to know

Ward Dorrity
Friday, December 04, 1998 2:49 PM
SOC Constitutional Infringement Issues
Microsoft Public Folder
[Check the date.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Greg Hamilton

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A attorney who in specializes in self-defense told me that of the 300 clients who said something to the police before talking to him, only two managed to NOT hurt their case.  Those two didn’t help their case, they just didn’t hurt it any.  If you are involved in a shooting, call the police, physically cooperate with them, but don’t say anything except you want to call your attorney.

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

Mathematically challenged?

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If the vote was 44,000 to 38,000 would you say the voters were “evenly divided” on the issue?  How about 44 to 38?  I haven’t done the statisical tests on the significance of a sample size of 82 but my gut feel is you can’t justifiably call that “evenly divided”.  Yet that is what this newspaper article does:

The issue of handgun control is a controversial one, with many people saying curbs on sales of handguns will reduce crime, while others feel it’s important to protect Americans’ constitutional right to own firearms.

Visitors to the Star Courier’s Web site were evenly divided on the question last week.

The online poll asked whether people favored tougher restrictions on buying handguns in Illinois.

Of the 82 who voted, 44, or 54 percent, said “no” and 38 said “yes.”

I think I see some spin being placed on the outcome.  Either that or the Star Couier Staff need to retake 1st and 2nd grade math.

The volcano in my brothers backyard

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I had the most vivid dream this morning.  It was the most detailed dream I can ever recall having.  The conversation with my dad as we walked alone the fence was detailed and I could “hear” the tone in my fathers voice and the heavier breathing as we walked through the deep snow.  The trail in the snow had footprints that were both fresh and old.  The sounds of our feet on the cold, dry snow was accurate.  The dog we found caught in the barbed wire gate that had fallen down was whimpering and scared.  It did a realistic “happy dance” running in circles and licking me after I freed it.  Then I noticed the reason the gate had fallen down.  The ground had bulged up and hot water was pouring out of the cracks in the earth.  The bulge had tipped the gate post over enough the gate fell to the ground.  A river of hot steaming water washed across the road north of the old blacksmith shop and down through woods toward the old well.  The little meadow in the woods that always had less snow that other areas now was green with growing grass even though it was the middle of winter and other areas had five to six feet of snow.  The smell was like that of the hot springs Barb and I visited at Yellowstone National Park this summer.  We had a geothermal vent a couple hundred feet from my brother’s back door.

I woke up as I realized the impact this could have on the farm.  Best case was my brothers and parents had a source of cheap heat for the shop and their homes.  But if this was a precursor to a Mt. St. Helen’s scale eruption the entire farm would be gone.  Orofino could be at the bottom of a lake formed by the backed up river just two miles from the farm.  Lewiston and Clarkston, 35 miles down river, could be scoured clean from the valley floor as the ash and earthen formed natural dam gave way and a wall of water rushed down the narrow valley.

I’ll be visiting my parents for Thanksgiving.  I’ll need to walk down through the pasture to dispel the images from my mind.

Quote of the day–George H. Smith

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… we may indicate three minimum requirements that must be fulfilled before any belief can claim the status of knowledge: (a) a belief must be based on evidence; (b) a belief must be internally consistent (i.e. not self-contradictory); (c) a belief cannot contradict previously validated knowledge with which it is to be integrated.  If a belief fails to meet any or all of these criteria, it cannot properly be designated as knowledge.

George H. Smith
From: Atheism: the Case Against God
[Gun control advocates, socialists, and other anti-freedom advocates would do well to understand the difference between belief and knowledge as outlined by Smith above.–Joe]

Bummer

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I wonder if Monica and Bill have heard the news:

US researchers studying the effects of human papilloma virus (HPV), a leading cause of cervical cancer in women, have found a connection between the virus and instances of mouth tumours.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University compared 1,670 patients who had oral cancers to 1,732 healthy people and HPV was found in a small number of the cancer patients. Those infected carried HPV16, the most common strain of the virus, which in Britain is estimated to infect one fifth of women between 18 and 25.

The study showed that people with mouth tumours containing the HPV16 strain were three times more likely to have had oral sex than those whose tumours did not contain the virus. 

Raphael Viscidi, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said that the study is very decisive. “This is a major study in terms of its size,” he says. “I think this will convince people.”

While the US researchers said there was no need for people to alter their behaviour, this was not the line taken by the head of a similar study in Sweden.

Dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist headed a smaller study conducted at the Malmoe University Faculty of Odontology in southern Sweden that showed the same connection between HPV and oral sex. Rosenquist found that 36% of the cancer patients were carriers of HPV while only 1% of the control group had the virus.

She said, “You should avoid having oral sex.”

“In recent years (oral cancer) has been on the rise among young individuals and we don’t know why. But one could speculate that this virus (HPV) is one of the factors,” Rosenquist said.

There is a very promising vaccine that should soon reduce the risk some.

Posted in Sex

Explosive goodness

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Sean sent me this link early this morning.  We then chatted about where to find an old washing machine (he has an old one but isn’t ready for it to be deconstructed yet) and a place to try a similar experiment of our own.  I suggested a dump–we might find the desired object(s) and wouldn’t have to clean up afterward.  Sean said it was a good idea and maybe we would get lucky and ignite the methane escaping from the rotting organic matter in the dump.  That was when I realized it wasn’t such a good idea.  It would be impossible to determine the minimum safe distance from which to view the deconstruction of the home appliance(s).  If the entire landfill went up in one fireball…. well… it would be thrilling until it came back down on top of us.

A new source of exploding targets

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They cost about $2.00 each and from the video I’m guessing they are equivalent to a few ounces of “Boomerite”.  Nice packaging.

Quote of the day–James Burnham

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The economic egalitarianism of the liberal ideology implies … the reduction of Westerners to hunger and poverty.

James Burnham
Suicide of the West
1964

Machine Gun Sammy

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Gun Guys claim Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is:

Known consortion with practically criminal organizations, including the NRA.

When the truth is that it is the people in groups like the VPC and Gun Guys actually are criminals.

If it were only true that Alito has a NRA membership.

Thought for the day

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If you stop to think, men should be the ones riding sidesaddle.

Posted in Sex

Quote of the day–Aristophanes

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You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

Aristophanes
[When reading this I immediately thought of the two Senators from New York.–Joe]

A better mouse trap

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It has been said that if you build a better mouse trap the world will beat a path to your door.  I’m not so sure that is true but no matter.  The more sexually aware of you will know the Sybian has been around for several years and gets a lot of praise.  I’ve talked with several women that have tried it.  Awesome reviews.  It would be more than a little intimating if you thought the primary reason your woman hung around was for the orgasms.  But then you knew that already.

But what I’ll bet you didn’t know is that in Moscow, Idaho there is a guy building prototypes of a better machine.  Cheaper and more natural in action.  Same great results.  I know three woman that have tested one or more of the prototypes and gave them very positive, if somewhat incoherent (oh, oh, oh, oh my god…), reviews.  I haven’t checked with him on his machines for a year or more not and should do that.  It’s not exactly a mouse trap, in fact it is sort of the opposite of a mouse trap.  But I wish him luck in his endeavor.  I just wish I could help out in his research.  Surely he needs some good photographs taken or something…

Posted in Sex

Government help

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Q: What should you do if a pit bull is humping your leg?
A: Fake an orgasm.

This so reminds me of the government trying to “help”.  You certainly don’t want to resist their “help”.  That will only make things worse.

Implementing the police state

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Ry sent me an instant message today with a link.  The plans to take the UK another step closer to a police state have been leaked to the press:

A “24×7 national vehicle movement database” that logs everything on the UK’s roads and retains the data for at least two years is now being built, according to an Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) strategy document leaked to the Sunday Times. The system, which will use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), and will be overseen from a control centre in Hendon, London, is a sort of ‘Gatso 2’ network, extending. enhancing and linking existing CCTV, ANPR and speedcam systems and databases.

Which possibly explains why the sorcerer’s apprentices in ACPO’s tech section don’t seem to have needed any kind of Parliamentary approval to begin the deployment of what promises to be one the most pervasive surveillance systems on earth.

The control centre is intended to go live in April of next year, and is intended to be processing 50 million number plates a day by year end. ACPO national ANPR co-ordinator John Dean told the Sunday Times that fixed ANPR cameras already exist “at strategic points” on every motorway in the UK, and that the intention was to have “good nationwide coverage within the next 12 months.” According to ACPO roads policing head Meredydd Hughes, ANPR systems are planned every 400 yards along motorways, and a trial on the M42 near Birmingham will first be used to enforce variable speed limits, then to ‘tackle more serious crime.’

My new friend who wants to put the chips in everyone’s head would do well to watch this and see where it leads.  A lot of us will be watching.  There are lots of changes going on in the U.K.  This is a scary time to have friends or family there.

Steve has a question on concealed carry

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Steve at random thoughts is from England and has some questions about why we have such an intense interest on being able to carry concealed.  In one link (I don’t have time for this until tonight) this is my answer.

Be gentle.  He is a friend of mine.

Update: Steve and I had lunch together today.  After chatting about “old times” and catching each other up on the people we both knew, the beauty of Montana, traveling with kids, how he met his wife, and a few other odds and ends he asked what I thought of his post.  “No”, I told him, “You didn’t sound a like a liberal gun hater.  You were thoughtful and asked a good question.”  Then I went about trying to answer his questions.  I explained that with all the studies that have been done they are unable to show any benefit from gun control.  There are between 1.5 and 3 million defensive uses of guns each year with only about 10 thousand crimes committed with guns.  Criminals, who violate the laws against murder, rape, and assault, will be less affected by any gun control efforts than the “good guys” that will be deprived of the tools to defend themselves.  And putting the onus on the gun controller I ask them my One Question.

Steve listened careful, understood what I was saying, but didn’t commit himself one way or the other.  That’s fine with me.  I enjoyed the time with him and that’s what was important.

Quote of the day–King Abdullah of Jordan

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To walk into the lobby of a hotel, to see a wedding procession and to take your spouse with you into that wedding and blow yourself up — these people are insane.

King Abdullah of Jordan
November 13, 2005
From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1871428_1,00.html
[Or they are showing their dedication–their willingness to die for their cause.  This atrocity reminds me there is some symmetry in this conflict.–Joe]

How to game The Black Death

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Now that Analog Kid has posted the results I’ll explain how I was going to “game” the October postal rifle match Analog Kid called “The Black Death”.  Because you can shoot the target as many times as you want what I was going to do was put up ten targets at 200 yards.  Then:

  1. Take one shot at each of the smallest, 0.5″, squares.  With no wind I can connect with a 0.5″ square at 200 yards about 48% of the time as predicted by Modern Ballistics.  With 10 shots I should hit five of them.
  2. On the five targets I hit the 0.5″ square on I would shoot at the 0.75″ inch square.  The odds of touching a 0.75″ square is predicted to be 63%.  With five shots I should hit three of them.
  3. On the three targets I hit the 0.75″ square I would shoot at the 1.0″ target.  The odds of touching a 1.0″ square is predicted to be 75%.  With three shots I should hit two of them.
  4. On the two targets I hit the 1.0 target I would shoot at the 1.25″ target.  The odds of touching a 1.25″ square is predicted to be 83%.  With two shots I should hit one of them.
  5. On that target I would shoot the rest of the squares with the odds of 90%, 96%, 99%, 99.8%, and 99.99% of hitting the 1.5″, 2.0″, 2.5″, 3.0″, and 3.5″ targets.  The odds of connecting on all of them is predicted to be 85%.

So…with 25 shots I have an 85% chance of creating a clean target at 200 yards.  With 50 shots I have a 98% chance of doing it.

Unfortunately I procrastinated too much and didn’t make time to get out to the range until it was raining and almost dark.