Snowmageddon 2021

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The sky has been sort of teasing us with a few snowflakes for several days. Then, last night, it got serious. By about 6:30 PM there was an accumulation of ten inches in our backyard.

Here is the view of the front of the house after I finished shoveling about 4:30 this afternoon. Barb started the work about 10:30 AM and I had a couple inches to remove from the stairs, sidewalk, and part of the driveway which had accumulated since she did her share.

image

So far it looks similar to Snowmageddon 2017 and just a few days later in the month than then.

We are thankful it is nothing like Snowpocalypse 2019.which gave us over 16 inches of snow and nearly canceled our wedding. Interestingly that storm was almost exactly the same days in February as this year.

We’re thinking maybe we should spend the middle weeks of February in Hawaii on the odd number years from now on.

Update 2/14/2021: Barb “played snowplow” this morning and cleaned the driveway and sidewalk again:

20210214_102947Web

20210214_102958Web

We have now essentially run out of room to put the snow. I’m glad it’s supposed to warm up today and continue with above freezing temperatures through the next few days.

Some things never change

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Communists will be communists and do what communists do. The following newspaper clippings came from my hometown paper of almost 104 years ago. Via Brother Doug:

IWW_June_29_1917

Click on the picture to get a high resolution image that you might be able to actually read. Or better yet, download it and open it in something you can enlarge it still more.

This was my great grandfather’s response:

IWW_Frank_Carey

As Brother Doug pointed out (I would add cities to the list of things they want to destroy):

The leftists were just as destructive 100 years ago as they are today. 
Back then they wanted to burn the crops.  Today they want to destroy the dams.  “IWW” stands for Industrial Workers of the World.  Grandpa Carey said, “boys and girls will patrol the entire section on horseback.”  His oldest son was only 16 at the time.  His oldest daughters, Ada, 23, Sadie, 20 and Pet, 18, were likely part of the patrol.

Sadie was my grandmother. At that time she, Ada, and Pet owned the land where Boomershoot is held.

Quote of the day—John Rubino

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If you’re over 40 you’ve lived through at least three epic financial bubbles: junk bonds in the 1980s, tech stocks in the 1990s, and housing in the 2000s. Each was spectacular in its own way, and each threatened to take down the whole financial system when it burst.

But they pale next to what’s happening today. Where those past bubbles were sector-specific, which is to say the mania and resulting carnage occurred mostly within one asset class, today’s bubble is spread across, well, pretty much everything – hence the term “everything bubble.”

When this one pops there won’t be a lot of hiding places.

John Rubino
February 8, 2021
Is This The Biggest Financial Bubble Ever? Hell Yes It Is
[I wrote about complex systems and emergent behavior last night. Our financial markets are another example of emergent behavior. The rule sets are large and complex but behavior still emerges that some may claim can only be explained by a conspiracy. But, again, no conspiracy need exist.

There is a financial bubble about to pop. Simultaneously there is a growing mass delusion about the existence of millions of “extremists” who must be “canceled” or even killed. And there is a pandemic (real or imagined, it doesn’t matter much in the context here) that are all contributing to epic shear forces in our society.

Prepare accordingly. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.—Joe]

No conspiracy required

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Lyle comments here that:

Clearly, you’re pointing to a conspiracy.

I was about to press the “Post Comment” button a couple times and kept thinking of something else I wanted to add. It became post material rather than comment material.

Study a little bit about complex systems and emergent behavior. A simple example is John Conway’s Game of Life. A very simple rule set (read the “Explanation”  on the web page) results in complex behavior and patterns. In addition to the default initial value click on three square in a row either vertical or horizontally and let than run.** The “rules of life” didn’t include explicit instructions for that pattern. Those patterns emerge from a very a simple rule set.

Or even think about a situation where a moderately large group of people (say a few thousand) are put on an unpopulated island and interact with each other with the simple rule of “do not intentionally inflict harm on others”. Or perhaps the slightly more complex rule set of The Ten Commandments.

Given the correct environment with sufficient readily available natural resources, won’t that group of people develop specialized skills, transportation systems, markets, entertainment, schools, etc.? And it will all happen without the need for any any “Master Planner” or “conspiracy” of the entire, or even a majority, of the people. Did that rule (or set of rules) include plans for some people to be farmers and others to be bakers and merchants? No. That behavior emerged from the simple rule or rules.

I claim that there exist a moderately large subset of people who enjoy, or at least get some sort of reward, from exerting power over others. Given the correct environment* that simple “rule” can result in the complex “cancel culture” and even genocidal behavior periodically emerging. No conspiracy required.

* I suspect a necessary component of the environment may be related to population size and perhaps population density. I suspect this because a certain amount of objectification is required. And with small group sizes objectification is difficult. Do we see tribes of a couple hundred people murder 10% of their own group? I don’t think so. I think the group size has to be in the thousands before that behavior sometimes emerges.

** A very cool one I just discovered is the following:

XXX
XXX
XXX

That is a cube with three on a side.

Quote of the day—Andrew Torba @a

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Data companies are starting to sell “extremists scores” to help companies avoid doing business to Trump supporters. What is your score?

ExtremistScore

Andrew Torba @a
Posted on Gab February 11, 2021
[Exercise of a specific enumerated right is evidence of being an “extremist”?

“Extremist”? With those type of numbers…

I don’t think that word means what they claim it means. Or, probably more accurately, someone is doing some really heavy duty projection.

As I have pointed out before, historically, the political left progressively tightens the purity tests and eventually eats their own. It is an almost inevitable consequence of their psychology.

This is particularly relevant to current events. For example. Gina Carano was fired by Disney for an “anti-Semitic” post on social media. One of my sources says this was the post:

GinaCaranoFiredForThis

This is, at least partially, confirmed by Variety and the WSJ.

Variety and the WSJ quote a Lucasfilm spokesperson as saying:

… her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

I see absolutely nothing to indicate she did anything even approaching what she is accused of doing. And, as one person in a private post on Facebook said:

Them firing her kinda proves her point.

We live in interesting times.

Prepare accordingly.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jim Quinn

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Based on the first three weeks of this year and what appears to be on the short-term horizon, I am confident the term “detonation” will apply to this fateful year. The intensity level has already reached 10 but is headed up to 11.

Jim Quinn
January 25, 2021
FOURTH TURNING DETONATION (PART TWO)
[Quinn points out the events of 1781, 1861, and 1941. These were 80 years apart. And 80 years from 1941 is 2021.

Interesting.

And while 2021 has a lot of potential to be something more for the history books than we have already seen I find it difficult to believe history rhymes that perfectly.

Of course they could have used a very poor pseudo random number generator in the simulator and we can now see the pattern.—Joe]

Quote of the day—sacrebleu14 / SA Hinchcliffe @sacrebleu141

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Always love when the facilitators of Rapists & Hate Crime abusers expose themselves when demanding women, minorities, & LGBTQ+ be forced defenseless.

MisogynisticGunControl

sacrebleu14 / SA Hinchcliffe @sacrebleu141
Tweeted on February 7, 2021
[This was in response to:

Martin Hussey @HusseyMartin

For a start in-depth background checks including mental health, raising the age limit for ownership of any firearm. Ban all assault weapons. Making it law that all firearms are stored in a secure place. Better still ban all firearms.

It is the obvious goal of the political left to make people helpless. That puts the politicians in a position to provide “protection” to those they decide are deserving. And, probably more importantly, to enable the punishment of those who would challenge their authority.—Joe]

Quote of the day—UR a Smart Ass, Carl @cleflore23

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Free men don’t obey unjust laws, they prepare for the tyrants who try to enforce them.

UR a Smart Ass, Carl @cleflore23
Tweeted on February 8, 2021
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Brandon Smith

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Conservatives and moderates MUST start to physically separate from the political left. We must remove ourselves from the blood sucking parasites that have attached themselves to us. This allows us to remain free to think and speak as we like, and it takes all power away from leftists to hurt us by disrupting our means of making a living.

Secession is a more extreme measure, but it WILL become necessary if leftists refuse to accept that we are no longer participating in their games of fear and subterfuge. Leftists are collectivist by nature, and collectivists see people as property. Walking away is not an option in their minds. So, though we might successfully separate, this would only be the beginning of the battle.

The important thing is to first make sure that conservatives KNOW that there are places they can go where their civil rights are valued and defended. If conservatives feel completely isolated and alone, many will give up, go dark and pray they are not discovered. This is unacceptable.

Brandon Smith
January 20, 2021
Biden’s Presidency Will Be A Catalyst For Secession – And Perhaps Civil War
[See also my previous QOTD from this same article with particular attention to the “scapegoat Olympics” comment.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Brad Bannon

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American politics would be a lot better off if we had a lot more of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

…

Now, is the time for the Democratic congressional leadership to embrace Ocasio-Cortez.

Brad Bannon
February 5, 2021
AOC is an asset for Democrats, Greene is an albatross for the GOP
[Brad, I like the way you think. You just keep believing and advocating that.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jacob Sullum

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Lee’s bill so far has no cosponsors, and it is unlikely to make much progress. But it reflects a broader mindset in the Democratic Party, which used to at least pay lip service to the Second Amendment but lately talks and acts as if it does not exist.

Jacob Sullum
February 5, 2021
This Draconian Bill Would Turn Millions of Peaceful Gun Owners Into Felons
[I see lots of chatter about this bill. I think it is best to save that energy for something else. President Biden has his own plans which have a much better chance of success than those of Representative Lee.

Give money to SAF and others who are engaged in the court battles protecting our rights. Contact your representatives and let them know how important respect of the Constitutional limits on government are to you, your community, your state, and the nation.

Other potentially useful activities might be to document your boating accidents, camouflaging your gun safe, and establishing relationships with people you meet at the range. Be creative and do what you are comfortable doing to prepare for and resist laws such as Lee’s if it does get passed sometime in the future.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Gad Saad @GadSaad

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Religion is very comforting to people because it offers complete guidance about every aspect of one’s life from what to eat, whom to have sex with, to which exact minute to light a candle. Today, religion has been replaced by “loving omnipotent” governments that offer the same.

Gad Saad @GadSaad
Tweeted on February 3, 2021
[I see the wisdom in this assessment.

More importantly, I see the terrifying consequences of this development.

What I desire to see is a large majority of the people able to think for themselves, arrive at good decisions, execute on those decisions, and take responsibility for their actions.

I fear my desires are beyond the capacity of our current population and certainly beyond their current programming.—Joe]

1,482 guns decertified

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Via a tweet from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras we have the work of gkchesterbelloc:

Forty-two derringers, three hundred forty-seven revolvers, and one thousand ninety-three pistols make the list. One thousand four hundred eighty-two total handguns are now de-certified by State of California and can no longer be bought or sold.

California should be “decertified”. It has been a long time since they have been fit to claim membership in a country which began with these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Quote of the day—Powerwagon

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Went to Boomershoot … with my son. He shot my .223 with my ballistic tip prairie dog loads while I shot a .243 also with ballistic tip bullets. What an amazing time. The .223 was killing the 375 yard targets while the .243 was in the thick of it at 600 to 700 yards. The next year, it was my son and me along with three of my brothers. The year after that, we added my son’s wife and my wife. What a fantastic family experience. It is really difficult to put into words the exhilaration that comes with successfully hitting those targets but is it ever fun!

Powerwagon
February 2, 2021
Comment to From a first time Boomershooter
[There are bunch of things about Boomershoot that have to be experienced to be appreciated.

Yesterday Keith mentioned:

700 yards is so far that you can bring your eyes up from your scope, see the detonation, and let out a holler of joy before the sound reaches you.

When you are shooting a paper target you don’t fully appreciate the time of flight involved. A spotter with a good spotting scope and watching the trace has a clue. But most people don’t have that experience either. And still the whole, pull the trigger, lift up your head, then see the column of dust and smoke erupt from the ground and then wait nearly two seconds to hear and feel the explosion is something quite different and remarkable.

Time of flight for a 700 yard target with a .308 Winchester shooting a 168 grain bullet is about 1.1 seconds. The sound arrives back at the shooter after another 1.93 seconds. From trigger pull to sound is a full three seconds.

Another thing which must be experienced is the thump to your chest. You feel the explosions as much or more than you hear it. Windows rattle and buildings shake miles away.

That’s for the one and two pound targets 375 to 700 yards away. I’ll let you imagine, if you can, what the 35 pound charge used to lift 30 gallons of gasoline into the air is like from 30 yards away:

Boomershoot 2019 Fireball from Joe Huffman on Vimeo.

Or, you could experience it for yourself.—Joe]

Gun humor

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Via email from Rolf (and Sneedus Feedus):

Garand458Winchester

Various loadings:

Bullet

Muzzle Velocity

Power Factor

300 gr (19 g)
HP

2,606 ft/s
(794 m/s)

782

350 gr (23 g)
RN

2,557 ft/s
(779 m/s)

895

400 gr (26 g)
FN

2,468 ft/s
(752 m/s)

987

500 gr (32 g)
RN

2,192 ft/s
(668 m/s)

1096

For comparison a fairly typical .300 Winchester Magnum load would be a 190 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps for a Power Factor of 551. Or compare it to a .308 Winchester with a 168 grain bullet at 2650 fps with a PF of 445.

The semi-auto action of the Garand would help a little but I couldn’t see myself shooting that except under duress.

Quote of the day—Matthew Vadum

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A lawyer who represented the Trump campaign in a legal challenge to the Pennsylvania election results was forced out of his post last week as a law professor at Chapman University in California for representing President Donald Trump as a client.

Matthew Vadum
January 17, 2021
Trump Lawyer Ousted as Law School Professor
[The lawyer says:

Eastman accused members of the university’s board of trustees of publishing “false, defamatory statements about me without even the courtesy of contacting me beforehand to discuss.”

“Had they bothered to discuss the matter with me, they could have learned that every statement I have made is backed up with documentary and/or expert evidence, and solidly grounded in law,” Eastman wrote.

There appear to be large numbers of people of the opinion that expressing verifiable facts in support of a political enemy, let alone someone guilty of a crime, is sufficient justification to make them ineligible to earn a livelihood.

Assuming Eastman is being truthful, the facts are irrelevant to these people.

That’s some really scary stuff.

I’m so old that I remember when the ACLU went to court to defend the free speech rights of literal Nazis. And now it appears the Nazis now have the upper hand and are not going to allow the free speech of others.

Another observation I have about the article is based upon this:

Chapman University President Daniele Struppa promptly denounced Eastman for engaging in constitutionally protected free speech. Struppa accused Eastman in a Jan. 8 statement of playing “a role in the tragic events in Washington, D.C., that jeopardized our democracy.”

“Eastman’s actions are in direct opposition to the values and beliefs of our institution. He has now put Chapman in the position of being publicly disparaged for the actions of a single faculty member, and for what many call my failure to punish and fire him,” Struppa wrote.

This is a way of thinking that is alien to me. As long as Eastman did not claim to be representing Chapman University I can’t imagine whatever he said or did reflecting upon the University. He was acting as an individual and represents himself. But those who demanded and/or implemented his dismissal apparently don’t recognize the existence of the individual separate from their organization.

Hence, it would appear, by implementation of their own rules at a larger scale the people of the United States could decide they do not represent the U.S. and be morally justified in expelling them from the country.—Joe]

From a first time Boomershooter

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I made a few minor technical corrections. Other than that this is word for word from an email I received from Brian K. about his first visit to Boomershoot:

“Go ahead, shoot a few rounds!”

A kind offer from the Boomershoot attendee I was spotting for.

His spotter had to cancel last minute, so I had the novel pleasure of walking this gentleman in at 700 yards.

Now he was spotting for me!

“I should start at the 375 yard targets,” I attempted to wimp out.

“I’m already sighted in at 700 yards. Just go for those” he insisted.

Remembering everything Appleseed taught me, I fired my first round at a 7″ explosive target almost a half mile away.

Miss. But less than 10 feet off, so not terrible.

Miss. Miss. Miss. Am I going to hit *anything*?

Miss. Miss. Hit!

700 yards is so far that you can bring your eyes up from your scope, see the detonation, and let out a holler of joy before the sound reaches you.

I scored a few more hits at 700, including a single first round hit.

I learned two things at my first Boomershoot:

  1. I am capable of far more accuracy that I know
  2. I need to practice far more than I do

Thankfully Boomershoot is just three months away and there is still space on the Sunday firing line so you can discover how well you fare vs small explosive pizza boxes at half a mile.

Unconstitutionally vague

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I don’t understand why this crap isn’t declared unconstitutionally vague:

AtfGunClassification

Nevermind, for now, the Second Amendment and other issues, Can someone explain how this can avoid being unconstitutionally vague?

Quote of the day—Alex Stamos

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We are going to have to figure out the OAN and Newsmax problem. These companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and such bringing them into tens of millions of homes.

Alex Stamos
January 17, 2021

[Of course they consider free speech a problem. Their ideas can’t compete in a free marketplace of ideas.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Janet Yellen

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Would I say there will never, ever be another financial crisis? … Probably that would be going too far. But I do think we’re much safer, and I hope that it will not be in our lifetimes, and I don’t believe it will be.

Janet Yellen
Federal Reserve Chair
June 27, 2017
Yellen: I Don’t See a Financial Crisis Occurring ‘In Our Lifetimes’
[I wonder, given the current state of things, if she would like to update that assessment. Or is that that she has a rather low expectation of our lifetimes?—Joe]