Quote of the day—Brief of NRA

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Just as it is no answer to ban protected firearms because they might sometimes be misused by criminals, Highland Park cannot ban them because they are too good at what they are supposed to do. Broken down to its most basic function, a firearm is a tool that is designed to leverage force. And millions of Americans prefer the prohibited firearms because they more effectively leverage force due to their increased accuracy, reliability, versatility, and safety. Pet. Writ Cert. at 9-11, 19-20, 29; infra pp. 17-27. The fact that the prohibited firearms perform better cannot be a justification for their confiscation.

BRIEF OF NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
August 28, 2015
[I have nothing to add.—Joe

More on tightening threads

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This is a deep, serious discussion of mechanical esoterica, with implications to life in general, so if you’re not interested in mechanics or in life lessons, go back to doing your nails, watching TV or stressing over your made-up relationship drama.

If you get the clamp screws tight enough, you probably don’t need the Locktite. If you don’t get the screws tight enough, the Locktite won’t help.

Thank you for sticking it out all the way to the end of this post, though if you needed to read it, you probably didn’t, and if you didn’t need to read it, you most likely did. I’m preaching to the choir then. Still it must be said.

Quote of the day—Glenn Reynolds

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Police don’t actually protect law-abiding citizens from criminals so much as they protect criminals from the much-rougher justice they’d get in the absence of a legal system.

Burglars would be hung from lampposts, and shoplifters would be beaten and tossed into the gutter if there were no police, as in fact happens in countries where there isn’t a reliable justice system and a civil-society culture that restrains vigilantism. Reminder to the criminal class: Ultimately, we’re not stuck in this country with you. You’re stuck in this country with us.

Glenn Reynolds
September 2, 2015
SEE, I LOVE RAMIREZ, BUT I THINK THIS CARTOON GETS IT EXACTLY BACKWARD
[Upon the recommendation of Ry I’m listening to the Audible.com version of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1: The Birth of Britain and was reminded of what professor Reynolds said earlier this month (above). The native people of Britain were conquered by the Romans more than once. After the first time they waited for several years and then attacked the Roman bureaucrats, the military, and the natives who had collaborated with the Romans. In some cities, with populations of tens of thousands, they killed every man, woman, and child.

There may be lessons here for those who are in the process of conquering our country today. Just because you think you are bringing civilization to the savages doesn’t mean the “savages” appreciated it or have been “domesticated” once you have achieved your immediate goals. And ultimately you may find you’re stuck in this country with us.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Shannyn Moore

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If you need a 30-round clip you’re a pretty poor hunter. If you are hoarding automatic (yes, they are legal) or semi-automatic weapons, you need Viagra.

Shannyn Moore
December 27, 2012
My Guns Are Less Regulated Than My Uterus
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via an email from Weerd Beard.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Barb L.

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It’s not an empty nest. It’s a dirty nest.

Barb L.
September 19, 2015
[This was after taking her last child living at home to college. The next morning she was up before 4:00 AM cleaning house.—Joe]

Shaggy Mane!

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Now that we’ve gotten a little rain, the wild mushrooms are coming out in force. Shaggy Manes aren’t common at my place, but they’re common enough you might want to know about them. They’re another edible mushroom likely to be found on laws and other locations similar to the habitat for the Meadow Mushrooms we’ve been using, or on roadsides in the back country. It’s called the Shaggy Mane for obvious reason. I found this one, solitary, on my lawn about fifteen yards from a nice fruiting of Meadow Mushrooms this afternoon. You’ll find them singularly, or in small groups.

This one is fairly small. They can be twice that size. Note the tall cap hanging down from its attachment point at the top inside of the cap, and the color fringe on the gills, which turn darker with age, and eventually melt into a black liquid. These are fragile mushrooms.

Still edible, but they're better before the cap has started to turn black at the bottom.

Still edible, but they’re better before the cap has started to turn black at the bottom.

Eventually the cap will turn into a black goo, so use them up right away.

Eventually the cap will turn into a black goo, so use them up right away.

They’re not as good eating as the Meadow Mushrooms, but they’re more than OK, and they’re easy to identify. They don’t store well, so use them up in a day or two. Don’t over-cook or else they become watery.

See if you can find some. They’re not as easy to spot because of their camouflage-like appearance among the fall leaves. Here’s some more information.

Quote of the day—Johnathan Cohn and Nick Wing

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Still more persuasive evidence on the effect of gun control comes from Australia, which — following a highly publicized mass killing in the 1990s — banned many types of weapons, introduced a more restrictive permit system, and then launched a buy-back program in which states paid gun owners for turning in weapons that the new laws made illegal. Homicide and suicide rates dropped substantially. And while the murder rates was also dropping before the laws took effect, researchers found that the decline was sharpest for the weapons declared illegal and in those states reporting the highest buyback rates.

AustralianGunPile

Johnathan Cohn and Nick Wing
August 27, 2015
Gun Control Might Not Have Stopped The WDBJ Shooter. That’s Not The Point.
[No consideration whatsoever of the constitutionality of what they lust for. No consideration for the deception they promulgate. No consideration for the parallels to burning books they so vividly display. And no consideration that their facts are wrong.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Robber

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There was a bank robbery here in Moscow, ID this afternoon. Somedude with a big bushy black wig, black-face makeup and loose clothing walked out with an undisclosed about of cash and got away. No story at all on how he got someone at the bank to hand over the cash, as it is reported as unknown whether was armed.

I believe it would be good bank policy to immediately open fire on anyone who attempts to rob the place, no questions asked, but that’s just me.

I wonder what this will mean for concealed carry?

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From CNN:

A cloak of invisibility may be common in science fiction but it is not so easy in the real world. New research suggests such a device may be moving closer to reality.

Scientists said on Thursday (September 17) they have successfully tested an ultra-thin invisibility cloak made of microscopic rectangular gold blocks that, like skin, conform to the shape of an object and can render it undetectable with visible light.

The researchers said while their experiments involved cloaking a miniscule object they believe the technology could be made to conceal larger objects, with military and other possible applications.

The cloak, 80 nanometers in thickness, was wrapped around a three-dimensional object shaped with bumps and dents. The cloak’s surface rerouted light waves scattered from the object to make it invisible to optical detection.

What if you had a holster that was made with a cloak of invisibility? You could have the comfort and access of open carry with the discreetness of concealed carry.

Where are the demands for knife control?

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She wasn’t playing with a full deck and had thousands of bladed weapons:

A Florida woman was arrested Tuesday night after she tried to stab a deputy with a large sword or machete inside a mobile home filled with thousands of other bladed weapons, authorities said.

You really should watch the video provided at the link above. Her collection and nuttiness was impressive:

TampaKnives

Of course there won’t be any demands for knife control. That would demonstrate the crazy of the anti-freedom people as much as the nuttiness of the knife collector.

Quote of the day—Bill S.

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I have no idea what the solution is to gun violence, but America continues to lead the industrial West when it comes to shooting it out. I think one step in the right direction would be an extension of the castle doctrine to allow shooting anyone open carrying an assault rifle.

…

If you see a couple of people carrying assault rifles openly, you could argue convincingly that they needed killing.

Bill S.
2015
From an email sent to Alan Korwin.
[Just so you know what some people think of you if you carry one of the most popular rifles in the U.S. That is, you need to be killed.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Smarter than Your Average Bear

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Time for that asshole to eat a Pb sandwich then see how he feels.

Smarter than Your Average Bear
August 31, 2015
Comment to NRA spokesman tells parents of slain Virginia journalists not to be ‘so emotional’
[He is referring to Colin Noir in this video:

This is also relevant and contains more of Colin’s video:

The bottom line is that people think you should be killed for expressing a perfectly reasonable appeal to reason and facts and to not let your emotions rule your actions.

Don’t let people like this gain political power.—Joe]

Why women should panic?

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I don’t think women have any reason to panic. The article was written by a homosexual man. He seems more than a little bitter toward women at times. He makes some interesting and entertaining points, but I disagree with most of them for the most part.

I can only speak for sure for myself, but I’m pretty sure that the drive among men to solve problems is not a result of wanting to impress women. Sure, for a young buck, that may be a big part of it, but he’ll rarely get very far in his problem solving if he’s distracted by an over-active sex drive. Once you’ve been married for decades and your children have gone on to lead their own lives, and you realize that happiness and sex have virtually nothing do to with one another, the desire to “impress women” (which is idiotic in the first place) goes by the wayside.
Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Peter Dean

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…any law enforcement or x-miltary will tell you, that there exists as likely of a chance of someone innocent getting shot unintentionally……I think they should give all you idiots a gun so you an mistakenly shoot each other when these things happen…………

Peter Dean
September 14, 2015
Comment to Professor killed at Mississippi university, fellow instructor sought
[Before his comment was deleted his first sentence was corrected by law enforcement and x-military people. But what I really wanted to point out is that he wants gun owners dead.

Keep that mind for future reference. Your life may depend upon these type of people being prevented from obtaining political power.—Joe]

Canola, rapeseed, and synthetic oils

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There has been a fair amount of discussion in the past few days about a “gun oil” that is suspected of being nothing more than repackaged Canola oil:

In response to a Facebook post on this topic I wrote the following comment:

We sometimes grow rapeseed and canola on the farm.

Rapeseed oil is the main component in all the “synthetic” motor oils. It can tolerate higher temperatures than the pumped from the ground. Rapeseed oil is believed to be toxic (not dramatically so, but you shouldn’t cook with it on a regular basis).

The Canola plant and seed look identical to rapeseed but the oil is much lower in erucic acid than the oil from rapeseed. The erucic acid is desired in the lubricating oils.

Canola oil is not going to be as good a high temperature lubricant as rapeseed oil. If you want to use something cheaper than the hyped up gun oils but better than common lubricants then use a Mobil One or some other synthetic motor oil.

There are some severe factual errors in that comment. It was probably 45 years ago Dad had told me Mobile 1 was made of rapeseed oil. Yesterday I discovered that was wrong. I went searching for a web page to show it was true and could not find evidence to support that claim.

I sent an email to my brother Doug asking him what the story was. He wrote back saying he had discovered the error many years ago himself. Dad was not one to exaggerate or make things up and Doug elaborated on how he might have come to this erroneous conclusion.

He elaborated quite a bit but it boiled down to the following (slightly edited to remove names):

I don’t think Dad fabricated the entire rapeseed story.  When I first started farming, I sat in several farm meetings where rapeseed and its many industrial uses was discussed.  I think much of it came from a certain plant breeder.  Dad really liked him and I did too.  He seemed like a great guy, but I have heard he was a bit of a visionary/exaggerator.  He left in the late 80s and was replaced.  The new breeder also seems like a great guy, but I have seen the results for enough years to know that most of his dreams don’t come true.  His great plans for various new crops have all fizzled over the years and he really has very little to show for his 25 years of plant breeding.

In answer to your question, I suspect much of the hype about rapeseed came from these two plant breeders and much of it was based on wishful thinking rather than reality.  I don’t have any other good explanation.

I did further research and found that while rapeseed oil has been used for lubricating oil for a long, long time it doesn’t have the extraordinary high smoke point that I had been lead to believe. When refined it is higher than many cooking oils but it’s not anything worthy of exception note.

The synthetic oils, like Mobile 1, do tolerate very high temperatures but it isn’t because they have any particular vegetable oil in them. It is because they have very particular, custom built, molecules in them that are temperature tolerant. Conventional oils, and vegetable oils, have a wide variety of molecules in them. Some of the molecules break down at lower temperatures than others. As soon as any component of the oil starts breaking down it changes everything. The viscosity can change, the lubricity can change, and the oil will cease to do its job.

I suspect that high temperature tolerance is important in firearms but I don’t know for certain. It’s not as if the oil is for the chamber and barrel of the gun. It’s for the metal on metal parts of the gun which doesn’t reach chamber and barrel temperatures.

Quote of the day—Bob Owens

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@shannonrwatts You simpering halfwit. Would you make murder more illegal? Criminals with ill intent walk past your silly signs.

Bob Owens
Tweeted on September 14, 2015
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

QOTD – from the guy that coined the word “menticide” in 1933

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“One important result of this procedure [use psychological torture and mental manipulation while pushing for a “confession” and public show trial] is the great confusion it creates in the mind of every observer, friend or foe. In the end no one knows how to distinguish truth from falsehood. The totalitarian potentate, in order to break down the mind of men, first needs widespread mental chaos and verbal confusion, because both paralyze his opposition and cause the morale of the enemy to deteriorate – unless his adversaries are aware of the dictator’s real aim.”

From “The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing” by Joost A. M. Meerloo, first published in 1933

This explains the true damage “PC” speak and the language police really pose. It’s a fascinating book in many ways, and I’m not that far into it yet. It really hammers home the idea of “if you are accused of being [non-PC], never apologize, never back down, never quit (force them to fire you).”

I’m reading this book at the time – one of several I’m slowing slogging through, along with the Gulag Archipelago. Combine with “SJWs Always Lie” by Vox Day, and two recent articles on victim culture, microaggression, and “trigger warning,” ( http://righteousmind.com/where-microaggressions-really-come-from/  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/ ) it’s awful easy to get depressed at just how messed up, and how mentally fragile, humans are. On one hand, these ideas explain so much of human history and current political events that it is scary, and understanding opens all sorts of doors; the fact that such ideas are all now known to me is potentially very useful. On the other hand, the fact that the people that need to know what’s being done to them are the ones that need to know this the most, and are going to be the most resistant to hearing it, and will tend to make the problems worse, is terrifying. Continue reading →

Bullets and steel

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Ry and I were at the Boomershoot site in Idaho this weekend when Sebastian sent me an email asking about steel penetration by bullets. I was pretty sure I gave him off the cuff correct answers but I was in a good position to do some of the tests. The next morning Ry and I found a piece of 0.5” mild rod and I shot it a few times.

The question was, “Could a pistol bullet severely damage the mild steel rod? Or is severe damage proof that AP rifle rounds were used?” I said, “I don’t think 1000 FPS pistol bullets will do that.” But I also said that a rifle, even relatively low powered lead core rounds, would go right through. Ry said, “The pistol bullets will only polish the metal.”

Here is the photographic evidence:

WP_20150913_10_12_05_Pro
Entrance of a .223 52 grain JHP from 30 feet.

WP_20150913_10_12_15_Pro
Side view of the .223 shot.

WP_20150913_10_12_30_Pro
Left to right are Winchester Ranger 180 grain .40 S&W, hand loaded 180 grain polymer coated lead, .223 exit.

The Winchester Rangers were probably going about 1015 fps and polished the metal a little better than the handloads going about 950 fps. I don’t have any chronograph data of my own for the .223 rounds out of my gun but Black Hills says to expect about 3250 fps.

This shows why those who wish to ban ammo that penetrates police soft body armor are actually proposing to ban all hunting ammo.

Quote of the day—Richy Wilson @RichyWilson

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@INCTBON @Minutemaniac @FreedomSR9 So you’re carrying deadly weapons around because you want to make up for the size of your penis then?

Richy Wilson @RichyWilson
Tweeted on July 31, 2015
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a tweet from BFD ‏@BigFatDave—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alan Gottlieb

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Sen. Kaine is joining a mob of gun prohibitionists who are trying every scheme imaginable to discourage people from lawfully buying and selling firearms. He apparently wants to prosecute people for being unable to see into the future, or look into the mind of a customer, and he wants us to believe this will help prevent future crimes. If we go by the standard of his bill, he should face prosecution when his measure doesn’t prevent a crime somewhere over the horizon.

Alan Gottlieb
September 9, 2015
CCRKBA BLASTS SEN. KAINE’S NEW GUN CONTROL MEASURE
[I wish we had a SCOTUS ruling saying all “rights and privileges” cannot be subject to a law which causes a “chilling effect” on the exercise of those rights and/or privileges. Then that was followed up aggressive enforcement of 18 USC 241 and 18 USC 242.

But as my grandmother used to say, “If wishes were horses all beggars would ride.” We need to vote people into office who respect the constitution. And to do that we need to change the attitudes of the voters. That is no small task but it is a task that everyone can contribute to in their own way.—Joe]