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Category Archives: Boomershoot
Boomershoot update
I’ve update several of the pages on Boomershoot.org. The most changes were on the general information page.
The news release for Boomershoot 2006 is available now. See it here. Send copies to whoever, media or not, you think might be interested.
There are still 26 positions available. The last week of February is typically when the biggest surge of entries comes in.
There is going to be a similar event in Missouri on April 23rd. I’ve been giving the organizer a little bit of help via email but other than that I won’t have any involvement.
Update: I’ve been forgetting to mention that the portable toliets have been ordered, the caterer has us on his schedule, and the last of the chemicals have been ordered. The only remaining items to be purchased are the boxes used for target containers and possibly a few more stakes to put the targets on. On the portable toilets… I forgot to look at them at the end of the on Sunday. Did we fill them up? Were there long lines? Do I need to get a third toilet this year?
A call from Xenia’s chemistry teacher
I received a call from Xenia‘s chemistry teacher this morning. Uh oh… This has never happened before. Xenia has almost always been a pleasure for her teachers as well as her parents.
Rather than inform me Xenia had lost control of some explosives in her locker (like I did once when I was in high school) she just wanted to tell me that Xenia is doing great in class. She said she doesn’t get to make many of those types of calls and she wanted to let us know.
I’d like to think it had something to do with the chemistry experiments I do and have had Xenia help with. But while Xenia thinks it’s “way cool” she hasn’t had the slightest bit of interest in the actual chemistry (and here).
Survival blog
James Wesley, Rawles – www.SurvivalBlog.comTM quoted me about people, society, guns, and explosives on his blog today. He also promoted this blog and Boomershoot some too. He said this blog was “wonderfully addictive.” I hadn’t realized that anyone other than me was addicted to it. I met Rawles a couple times at gun shows a long time ago. Nice guy to talk to. I have read a couple versions of his book TEOTWAWKI which I enjoyed too.
The anvil guy is coming back
Just this last weekend I received the Boomershoot entry for the guy that keeps trying to put his anvil into orbit. I don’t know if he is bringing them back this year or not but here is a picture from one of the Boomershoot 2004 launches:
These guys are very curious
These guys have been sniffing around Boomershoot.org for years. But I first noticed them on this blog last December when they were looking for exploding targets. Now they are looking for where their own IP address can be found on the web. Very curious folks they are.
Domain Name
ISP
| Continent | : | North America |
| Country | : | United States  (Facts) |
| State | : | Virginia |
| City | : | Dulles |
| Lat/Long | : | 39.0853, -77.6452 (Map) |
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
| Resolution | : | 1280 x 1024 |
| Color Depth | : | 32 bits |
Search Engine
EST – Eastern Standard
EDT – Eastern Daylight Saving Time
Boomershoot 2006 blogging part III
More Boomershoot 2006 blogging:
- Laws and Guns and Blogs
- Range Hour
- Rangeday, Part Deux
- Meandering
- Boomershoot
- Boomershoot (some of the people leaving comments think it is a hoax)
- Press coverage of Boomershoot
- Boomershoot Rifle
Boomershooters from India
There are plans for one or more Boomershooters from India this year. This is going to be the year of international attention–the media from U.K. and shooters from Canada and India. Very cool.
Introspection hint
The more I learn about people and society the more I love guns and explosives. Guns and explosives are more understandable, more predictable, and less hazardous.
Boomershooter home from Iraq
I personally knew six people before they went to Iraq in the last couple of years. Greg and John were over and back without me knowing they were headed that way. Both made it home safely. Adam and Walter went over about a year ago. Adam came home in a body bag and Walter was seriously and permanently injured (initial reports were overly optimistic about his recovery). Our nephew Jason lost an arm, vision in one eye and other injuries. That leaves one person unaccounted for.
Boomershooter Scott, who I worked with at Microsoft in ’98 and ’99, was headed over in 2004 and after all the bad news about the other guys I knew I dreaded even trying to check up on him. Finally I got a hold of his Microsoft email address and sent him a message a couple weeks ago. No response. That could mean anything. My old email address at MS didn’t bounce so it could be he wasn’t working there anymore either. Yesterday I called him at his old MS number. There was no answer so I left a voice mail message. Again, that didn’t mean much–my old number went to voice mail too.
Four hours and 35 minutes later Scott called me. He’s back at Microsoft and in one piece. He lost friends and others that went with him to Iraq were severely injured but Scott is okay and planning to attend Boomershoot 2006 with another Iraq war vet. While in Iraq they had Internet access and spent time looking at Boomershoot.org.
I’m very relieved.
International magazine to attend Boomershoot 2006
This morning I received an email from an editor of a magazine in the U.K. who proposed sending a writer and photographer to Boomershoot 2006. This magazine, at least the U.S. version, has actually been the target of some of our discussions as an “ideal target” for getting media coverage. I immediately agreed and sent them more information. I’ll post more details if they become available.
New Yahoo group for Boomershooters
MLubrecht has started a Yahoo email group for Boomershooters. The description is:
This discussion group is for enthusiasts of the annual Boomershoot long range shooting event in Northern Idaho.
To subscribe send an email to boomershooters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Thank you Mike!
Boomershoot 2006 blogging part II
More Boomershoot 2006 blogging:
- Wonderful Things Are Afoot
- Rifle Bench Rest Shooting
- Boomershoot Rifles
- I think I need to have a fundraiser
- Boraxo (just a mention and a picture of the very first Boomershoot t-shirt)
- I forgot to show you this yesterday
- M1A
- Boomershoot (Neanderpundit posted my Boomershoot ad for free!)
Just the Blogads alone have generated over 1000 referrals in the past 10 days. I’m going to try and get the statistics generated soon so I can get a feel for the traffic.
Boomershoot 2006 is now just one entry short of being half full. The Precision Rifle Clinic is full with a waiting list. It’s going to be a big event this year. A real blast!
Puffers in airplane security
The latest technology to be employed in the unconstitutional search of people attempting to board an aircraft while exercising their right to travel is puffers:
‘Puffers’ add to airport security
1/12/2006 1:29 PM
By: Lisa Reyes, News 14 CarolinaCHARLOTTE, N.C. – Travelers at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport
will soon see new security measures. High-tech machines to detect
explosives will be located at three checkpoints.The Transportation Security Administration says the imminent danger to
aviation these days is explosives. TSA officials demonstrated devices
called “explosive-detection trace portals” or “puffers” at the airport
on Thursday.The machines puff air on travelers to dislodge particles from their skin or clothing.
“It loosens particles that are attached to a person or his clothing,
and those particles are analyzed by the machine for the presence of
explosives,” said John Gartland of TSA.The devices take about 20-25 seconds to check each passenger.
The TSA purchased the three machines through federal funding. They cost
a little over $100,000, and about a 100 of them will be implemented in
airports nationwide.
I agree that explosives is the biggest threat to safe airplane travel. Other weapons such as guns and knives are of little use if someone wanted to bring the airplane down. And if the user of such a weapon were intent on attacking people in the cabin they wouldn’t make all that much progress before they were stopped by someone else in the cabin. But a pound of explosives, about the size and weight of a pint of milk, in a tightly closed area like the cabin of an aircraft can do a lot of damage. There is a Myth Busters episode on this very topic if you have any doubts.
In any case keeping explosives off of passenger airplanes is a good idea. They aren’t useful for self-defense in an air cabin environment, as the knives and handguns are, and they represent a significant hazard to the entire aircraft and people on the ground. The problem is–How do you do it? As I have explained before with the explosive sniffing wasps the problem is one of false positives if you try to detect improvised and/or “homemade” explosives. And if you don’t address those type of explosives you have a loophole any terrorist can waltz right through. And the current explosives detection technology fails even on people that inadvertently contaminate their luggage. If a skilled adversary were to be intent on bringing explosives on board a plane nothing short of a full search of everyone will be effective. So what’s the solution? Use our limited resources on other things such as better intelligence as to who is a threat and interviews of passengers. That will guard against both the known threats using existing weapons and the type of threats we haven’t thought of yet.
Boomershoot is lame
By comparision to these guys it’s true–Boomershoot is lame. The largest Boomershoot targets are like 1/30000th of what these guys did. Boomershoot has excellent neighbors but I just can’t ask them put up with even 1/10000th of that event. Orofino would probably complain about broken windows. Man, that was awesome.
My calculation is that they were just under a mile away.
Boomershoot 2006 precision rifle clinic is full
The Precision Rifle Clinic is full. Contact Gene if you want to be put on the waiting list.
Previous years:
- 1999 didn’t fill up
- 2000 filled on March 17th
- 2001 didn’t fill up
- 2002 filled on April 22nd
- 2003 filled on February 23rd
- 2004 filled on March 1st
- 2005 filled on January 18th
28 positions have been filled in the main event. There are 32 positions remaining.
Boomershoot 2006 blogging part I
Mr. Completely and Jerry the Geek have both made positive comments about Boomershoot 2006.
Thanks guys.
Jerry, as he points out, provided some memorable tips for Boomershooting back in ’99 which I am quite fond of. I get comments on those hints every once in a while.
I really should go have dinner with Mr. Completely–I was invited two months ago and never got around to it.
Update: Doing a little searching I came up with a bunch more posts. Some of which I had seen and forgot about in my early morning (I tend to agree with my daughter Kim who says, “Afternoon IS early”) haze. I cut off the list of posts at January 1, 2006.
- New Toys on Friday
- Big Big Boom
- Boomershoot (Say Uncle in Nashville News)
- Boomershoot (Say Uncle in SaysUncle)
- Boomershoot 2006 in Comfort
- The Gun Fund
- Best Gun Buys of 2005
Boomershoot 2006 advertising
I placed a some ads for Boomershoot 2006 on a few blogs. With the event already almost half full I expect it will fill up by sometime in March. Sign up soon if you want to participate. Here is the list of blogs I’m advertising on in no particular order:
http://www.saysuncle.com/
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/
http://gullyborg.typepad.com/
http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/blogger.html
http://countertop-chronicles.blogspot.com/
Jews in the Attic Test goes to the U.K.
I received a request for a license for Modern Ballistics to be used on a computer in the U.K. that wasn’t connected to the Internet. Because the license mechanism includes information such as the processor type and the number of processors I can’t just generate a license and send it to someone. Since the guy is a private citizen and living in the beginnings of a police state I gave him a version of the program that doesn’t require a connection to the net. Furthermore I pointed him to this post about giving free entry to Boomershoot 2006 to British subjects which lead him to my Jews In The Attic Test. He responded with:
Joe, Thank you for that. Love the Boomershoot. I’ll start applying the Jews in the Attic test. Might have some effect on those over here who can’t see the danger of more government controls.
Like I have said before, it’s better to stop this sort of danger to humanity in someone else’s country before it reaches ours. I wish him and his fellow subjects all the luck in the world and if there is anything I can do to help them in their fight I’m honored to provide the assistance.
Bomb-sniffing wasps
Via Bruce Schneier comes this article in USA Today:
Scientists at a Georgia laboratory have developed what could be a
low-tech, low-cost weapon in the war on terrorism: trained wasps.The tiny, non-stinging wasps can check for hidden explosives at airports and monitor for toxins in subway tunnels.
“You can rear them by the thousands, and you can
train them within a matter of minutes,” says Joe Lewis, a U.S.
Agriculture Department entomologist. “This is just the very tip of the
iceberg of a very new resource.”…
The wasps are trained with sugar water by using
the classical conditioning techniques made famous by Pavlov’s dogs.
Rains says the wasps are sensitive to a host of chemical odors,
including 2,4-DNT, a volatile compound used in dynamite.To do their work, five wasps — each a half-inch
long — are placed in a plastic cylinder that is 15 inches tall. This
“Wasp Hound,” which costs roughly $100 per unit, has a vent in one end
and a camera that connects to a laptop computer.When the wasps pick up an odor they’ve been
trained to detect they gather by the vent — a response that can be
measured by the computer or actually seen by observers.Lewis says the wasps, when exposed to some
chemicals, “can detect as low as four parts per billion, which is an
incredibly small amount.”
I admire the innovation in the research laboratory but I am
skeptical of success in the real world. The wasps apparently have to be
trained for each specific volatile chemical. The 2,4-DNT mentioned in
the article as being present in dynamite doesn’t exist in other
explosives such as ammonium-nitrate/fuel-oil mixtures. Ammonium nitrate
by itself doesn’t really have any volatile byproducts other than, in
some cases, ammonia which would result in the obvious problem with
false positives. Fuel oil sensing would also have similar problems with
false positives as well as being easily replaced with almost any
hydrocarbon including such things as diesel, alcohol, and powdered sugar.
The ATF as well as foreign regulatory agencies require plastic
explosives to be manufactured with a small percentage of volatile
chemicals such as Ethylene glycol dinitrate,
2,3-Dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane, para-mononitrotoluene, or
ortho-mononitrotoluene. This is to make it feasible to easily detect
the presence of the explosives.
It would be overly optimistic to assume terrorists would conform to
these requirement in the manufacture of their own explosives.