A new home therapy profession

My wife, Barbara, is a physical therapist who specializes in “home health”.  She drives all over the county to see her patients.  She works with others who do speech therapists, occupational therapy, and nursing.  Many of the patients are on Medicaid/Medicare so in many cases there is government payment for the services.  The Danes have a new branch of government supported therapy which the government is also paying for.  The next time she complains about her job I’ll suggest she could change her therapy modalities and perhaps go into private practice in Denmark.  On second thought, that probably wouldn’t be a very good suggestion to make.  Via Clayton Cramer:

Danes take care of disabled to new level

Danish activists for the disabled are staunchly defending a government campaign that pays sex workers to provide sex once a month for disabled people.

Opposition parties call the program, officially known as ”Sex, irrespective of disability,” immoral.

”We spend a large proportion of our taxes rescuing women from prostitution. But at the same time we officially encourage carers to help contact with prostitutes,” said Social-Democrat spokesperson Kristen Brosboel.

Responded Stig Langvad of the country’s Disabled Association: ”The disabled must have the same possibilities as other people. Politicians can debate whether prostitution should be allowed in general, instead of preventing only the disabled from having access to it.”

High school and Innocents Betrayed

On probably the second day of class this year Xenia told me she needed ten minutes of video to take into her English class that would “get people talking.”  She asked me for suggestions.  It’s 58 minutes, not 10, but we came up with Innocents Betrayed.  She said she could just select 10 minutes of the video to show.  We watched it together and timed various segments.  She decided just the first ten minutes would work.  I wanted her to skip one of the genocides and show the part about the kids in California who were killed by a guy with a pitchfork in their home.  All the kids knew how to shoot but couldn’t get access to any of the guns because California state law requires “safe storage” to keep guns away from unsupervised kids.  But it was Xenia’s decision and she figured showing a few more million dead because of gun control would be sufficient to start people talking without getting into little kids with hundreds of stab wounds.

Her class should be over by now and I haven’t got any calls from the school to pick her up so my guess is things couldn’t have gone too badly for her.  I’ll update this posting later today when I get a full report from her.

Next on our list of projects is to take my picture from the fair and the KING 5 Boomershoot video to her chemistry teacher and suggest a field trip on “exothermic reactions”.  In an “isn’t it a small world” twist her chemistry teacher’s husband supplies the portable toilets each year for Boomershoot.  Also, Barb and I graduated from Orofino High School with him.

Update 1: Xenia called a few minutes ago on another topic and I asked how the English class went.  She said when she turned off the video it was silent for 30 seconds.  They didn’t know what to say.  She didn’t have much time and I’ll get a further update after school.  She seem pretty happy with the results though.

Update 2: Xenia reported most people didn’t talk.  The instructor didn’t commit himself either way.  Many of the kids didn’t get the connection between lack of guns and genocide, “The government would have just done it anyway.”  One suggested that taking of the guns was as much a symbolic thing as much as anything, “Maybe because they didn’t have guns they were more likely to feel helpless.”  Even if they weren’t totally convinced at least they had some doubt put in their minds about the wisdom of gun control.  Video can be a much more powerful media than the written word and JPFO did a great job on this video, although I do agree that the “gun-control enables genocide” could have been expressed better than just giving examples of when that happened.  They should also of said that genocide has never happened without there being gun control in place.  And more examples of where a relatively small number of private citizens with guns saved themselves (or at least significantly delayed their demise) from government sponsored murder would be welcomed.

Traffic spike

Below is a graph of the traffic on my blog for the past week.  As I mentioned yesterday there was a spike in activity.  If I get much more I’ll need something more than a 2400 baud modem to handle it*.


* No.  My websites are not actually connected via a 2400 baud modem.  The web server, on top of my gun safe, is connected via a 768K DSL line.

Xenia’s birthday celebration

We celebrated Xenia’s birthday yesterday.  It was nice to have all three kids in the house for a few hours.  Here is one of the pictures I took:

Xenia has information and pictures on her Live Journal.

Should I be worried?

I haven’t been following the scandal related to the University of Idaho’s University Place project.  So I don’t really know what to make of this Google query that showed up in the list of referral links for my blog:

grand jury witness list University of Idaho Foundation (www.google.com)

It could have been almost anyone looking for more information on the topic.  It could be a reporter.  It could be a lawyer.  It could be a “hit man” (or is that synonymous with “lawyer”?)  As near as I can tell they are located in North Carolina.

Anytime someone is looking for testifying witnesses I start hearing alarms go off in my head.  Any suggestions as to what, if anything, I should do?

Twenty pounds of HE versus a rock

I made an animated gif of the blasting of the big rock in our field the other day.  The combustion products from the gun show up in the second frame, then dirt is thrown up around the muzzle, then the detonation occurs.  This gives you an indication of the time delay between the bullet leaving the muzzle and the detonation of the explosion.  I was 127 yards from the explosion.  Just a little closer than I really should have been–there were clods of dirt that landed behind us.  My brother moved behind my van as the objects fell from the sky.  He was concerned they were rocks.

Before.
Before.

The jugs have water in them.  Except for the red targets all the explosives are under the water jugs and dirt.


After.

Here is a picture of one of the larger plastic water jug remnants:

Click on the pictures for a high resolution version.

See also my previous posts on this topic:

Rocks and explosives video
Little rocks from big rocks and explosives

Photographs at the fair

Earlier this week Xenia and I entered a bunch of photos in the Latah County Fair.  She entered most of these.  I entered this one:

All got blue ribbons except for three of Xenia’s.  The Blue Fairy on the next to the last row got a white ribbon, the one of the cat and the flower got a red ribbon, and one was entered in a different contest which hasn’t been decided yet.  She is very talented.  Barb and I went to the open house at the High School last night and got to meet all her teachers.  She is taking “Yearbook” this year and is one of the photographers.  The teacher held up last year’s “Inner Visions” (once a year school publication for outstanding literary works) with this picture of Xenia’s on the cover.  We are very proud.

I enjoyed hanging around my picture at the fair last night and listening to the comments of the people when they noticed it.  I think I’ll do that some more today…

Phone interview

I had a phone interview this morning with a software company.  It seemed to go very well.  My skills in the area they need help with are a bit rusty but I know I could do the job.  They said they are having trouble finding qualified people so my guess is that I’m in the running for at least a little while.  I probably won’t hear back from them for at least a week and then from there even if things went perfectly it would be at least several more weeks before I could actually start work. 

Xenia, Xenia’s John, and James were really excited about the job possibility and not just that it’s a job but because what I would be doing in this job (details after it is decided one way or the other).  Barb is less enthusiastic because it is out of state.  I share Barb’s concern on that issue but it is the number one company I would like to develop software for.  That makes up for a lot.

Rocks and explosives video

My video digitizer is not working right. The audio is messed up.  But here is the video anyway.  At least you can see the big clouds of dirt.  There was one attempt that failed to detonate when we didn’t have a “detonator target” on top of the main charge and I tried to shoot into the top portion of the milk jugs.  Also, I think there was one blast on the first rock we didn’t video tape.

RockBlasting20050913.wmv (1.59 MB)

See also Little rocks from big rocks and explosives.

Little rocks from big rocks and explosives

The complete collection of pictures for this adventure is here.  Below is just a sample.

I got up about 6:00 this morning, took Xenia to her drivers ed class by 7:00 and was on my way to the farm.  A little after 10:00 I had all my gear gathered up from the Taj Mahal and met my brothers at the house.  We went to a field they had been removing rocks from for several days.  There were two rocks that couldn’t be dug out with the equipment they had.  Below is rock number one from the “back side”:

Rock number one from the “front side”:

The rock appeared to be directly connected to the earth’s crust.  It also poked just above the surface of the dirt (prior to their digging with the back hoe and cat).  We put one of my improvised shaped charges on top of it and got back 93 yards to shoot it.  Here is a picture of the charge all ready for detonation by rifle fire:

The results were disappointing.  It removed a small “cap” off the right side and showed just a hint of a crack basically down the middle.  But not enough to brag about much.  We hit it again in the same spot with the same type of charge.  The crack got a little wider.  We tried a different approach.  A “water hammer”:

The detonating target for my rifle is on top.  In the middle is about two pounds of HE in a thin rectangle.  On the bottom is about two pounds of water in a thin rectangle.  The thought was that the HE would accelerate the water into the crack and force it open further.  The results were, again, disappointing:

We came back after lunch with more explosives and tried two milk jugs (about 10 pounds of HE) with rocks and water around the sides to help confine the charge.  This yielded a significant break in the top side of the rock which we easily exploited with a large bar:

We put about five pounds of HE under this rock and another five pounds on top of that but still in the crack.  Around that we packed dirt and water jugs:

This pulverized it:

We went on to Rock two.  Having learned our lesson we packed about 20 pounds of HE in the side of it next to the bedrock and put dirt and water jugs all around it.  It took four of the 4″ square detonator targets stacked on top of each other to reach a height we could see it from our shooting position:

I’ve never set off a 20 pound boomer before.  In fact the 10 pound boomers a little earlier were a new record for me.  We got back what seemed to be a reasonable distance which according to the laser range finder was 127 yards.  I fired and clods of dirt (sure glad we didn’t put rocks around it!) landed behind us and off to the side of us.  It had the desired effect on the rock however:

Video was taken as well.  I’ll get that digitized and up before long.

Blunt instrument number five

I just pushed the “Send” button on another FOIA request to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  This one will probably cause some people to mess their pants and perhaps lose their jobs.  And that’s even if I don’t lift a finger from now on.  The unfortunate part is that the people most directly in the path of this particular “instrument” are the one’s least responsible.  It could cost PNNL a lot of money to deal with the implications of this.  And that doesn’t count the embarrassment, loss of confidence, and potential loss of business they will suffer with their customers.  Their best course of action at this point is to give up protecting the people that committed the felonies in the process of terminating my employment at PNNL.  Things will be much more pleasant for everyone, except the felons, if they “see the light”.

I checked on the status of two of the other “blunt instruments” (there are five total now) that are working their way toward them.  I don’t have anything to report yet although I expected I something before now.  This latest one I will be able to report on in no more than two weeks.

I shot clay pigeons for the first time

Lyle (at UltiMAK) and many others have been wanting me to shoot clay pigeons with them for a long time.  I can only think of one time, probably 12 years ago, when I have even seen people do it live rather than in some video.  Lots of friends shoot sporting clays and trap, but I’ve never been to the range with them despite lots of invitations.  It just wasn’t that interesting to me.  I’m not interested in shooting birds for food.  And my shooting activities are not intended to be entirely recreational.  But Lyle got me out to the range yesterday.  I brought my SAIGA-12, ammo, and some clay pigeons Ry gave me along with another pile that Lyle had.  It sometimes took three shots but I got the first ten or so.  As I got tired it got more difficult and I started missing.  And when I tried doubles I couldn’t even hit one of them.  But I went through probably 100 rounds and 50 targets.  It was fun.

Now tell me what the practical aspect of it is for me.

Pistol Postal Match results

Mr. Completely has the results posted.  I discussed my entries here.  In the over 4″ barrel class I came in 4th and 6th with the .22LR and .40S&W.  Overall I was 5th and 7th.  If there had been a center fire category I would have been number 1 in both overall and in the over 4″ barrel class.  I had a score of 407/500 even after loosing a possible 10 points because I fired only four instead of five rounds on one target (or I suppose it is possible I had a “perfect double”–but not likely).  The next closest score with a center-fire handgun was a 383/500.

Pistol Postal Match entry

Xenia’s John (I love calling her boyfriend, John, that.  The triple meaning and all.) and I went to the range this afternoon and I shot Mr. Completely’s Postal Match #2 with two different calibers.  .22LR and .40 S&W.  Both were in the Long Barrel class.  Click on each of the pictures for a full resolution view.

 
                           203/250                                                                  212/250

Total score for the .22LR 415/500.

 
                                 205/250                                                            202/250

Total score for the .40S&W 407/500.  It should have been at least another five points higher but I only put four holes in the center target of the offhand target instead of five.  I didn’t notice it until I got home and it was way past dark.

Not great, but I’m not unhappy with my results either.

Shooting results

The results of the rifle postal match have been reported now.  I received this certificate:

Click on the picture for the full sized version.  Also note that Analog Kid at softgreenglow.com also got a perfect score but apparently didn’t put himself in the running because he is running the match.

The results from my last pistol match are posted on the Lewiston Pistol Club site.  I did rather mediocre when shooting against the clock but when we did the man-on-man portion of the event I did much better.  It’s all about adrenaline management.

Gone for the weekend

Once again Barb and I are leaving the Huffman-Scott “compound and arsenal” in the hands of one of our adult children with a couple of dogs taking the point position.  Xenia is going with us this time so if I don’t find an Internet connection there won’t be a “Quote of the day” or anything else on my blog tomorrow.  I’ll be back on Monday.

Quote of the day–Barbara Scott

Joe, you’re the gift that just keeps on giving.

Barb Scott
September 1, 2005
On Pacific Northwest National Laboratory “reconsidering” it’s initial refusal to comply with Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act requests for personnel file information on her husband, Joe Huffman.  Their “reconsideration” might have had something to do with certain “encouragement” Joe had been giving them via various “channels”.

Reconsideration

At 16:39 this afternoon I received a call from the person responsible for handling my FOIA/Privacy-Act information requests at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  He said they had “reconsidered” my request for the rest of my personal file (or “Field File” as they prefer to call it) and it will go into the mail tomorrow.

Gee, I wonder what it was that caused them to “reconsider”?  I can only think of four different “blunt instruments” they might have seen coming their way that might have caused an “attitude adjustment” on their part.  I’ll be checking on three of those “blunt instruments” tomorrow to see if any of them had something to do with it.  If all goes as planned I’ll be able to share most of the results with everyone here sometime next week.

Barb had a rather apropos quip when she heard the news.  It will be the quote of the day tomorrow.

Following the moving van

Actually it was a small U-Haul truck.  They used the “shuttle” because the big moving van couldn’t make it into the confines of where Ry used to live.  They called at 9:00 this morning to gain access to Ry’s old home.  I had the key as Ry now lives in the Seattle area working for Microsoft. 

On Saturday I helped Ry prepare for the move by taking my Astrovan over and hauling things to the dump.  Ry’s main objective was to get out of town before Barb could see all the stuff I set aside to bring home, then find and kill him.  But since she and Xenia were at yard sales all morning I figured Ry was safe.  And besides, a lot of that stuff is going to friends and relatives of mine that I’m certain will be pleased to get it.  Ry, his kids, and I worked all day Saturday to get things ready for the move.  It was a small place but there was a lot of stuff to do.  I left before it was quite all done.  Then later Ry stopped by pick up a few rounds of linked .50 BMG ammo and to say good-bye before his drive back to the Seattle area.

Yesterday Xenia and I went over to do some cleaning.  More cleaning needs to be done now that the stuff is moved out and we’ll get it done before the end of the month so Ry doesn’t have to pay another months rent on the place.

The movers arrived, called me for access and I was over there in 15 minutes.  It would have been only 10 but one of the dogs “marked” one of my shoes I was going to put on.  I pointed out the stuff to be moved and the room to stay out of because it contained my garbage can, vacuum cleaner, and a few cleaning supplies.  There wasn’t much there and it was all packed and the small truck was rolling into town to the moving van by about 11:45.  I followed the truck into town from Ry’s place.  A sadness washed over me as I watched the truck drive away with the last of Ry’s belongings.  At Mountain View Road I turned south and they turned north.  I went on to UltiMAK to dump off the stuff Ry was giving to them and they headed towards the other side of town and the moving van that would deliver Ry’s belongs to him–340 miles away.  I’m chatting on-line with him right now as I write this but I’ll miss the talks until the early morning light in my living room and the impromptu trips to the range with my chemistry set to try out a new Boomershoot mix.

Heavy sigh… closure.

IPSC results posted

I have the results posted from the August 7th Lewiston Pistol Club match.  As I stated before I came in 4th overall.  Acceptable–considering the lack of recent practice.