Barb and I are going on a drive and a hike up Teakean Butte near the Boomershoot site.  It’s the highest hill for many miles around in that area.  And it’s going to be the site for a wireless Internet broadcast tower late this summer.  I want to see if we will have good coverage of the site as well as just enjoying the hike with Barb.

If we have time we will check on the reactive targets I put away for storage tests last week.  Pictures and stories when we get back.

The anti-freedom crowd is “outraged“ by this:

TALLAHASSEE — The pistol-packing grandma about to be inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame is the most controversial appointment since its inception 22 years ago.

Why?

Because Marion Hammer, a squat senior citizen with a soft Southern twang, was the first — and only — female president of the National Rifle Association.

Gun control advocates and women’s rights groups are outraged at the selection of Hammer, one of three women Gov. Jeb Bush tapped this year to join writer Zora Neale Hurston, tennis star Chris Evert, former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings among others “who have made significant improvement of life for women and for all citizens of Florida,” according to the Hall of Fame’s Web site.

During the campaign against initiative 676 in Washington State a few years ago I got to meet Ms. Hammer.  She and her NRA staff helped defeat the proposed gun registration law.  I was impressed with her determination and her strength of will.  She seemed smart too.  I have no reservations about her being inducted into the hall of fame.  I’m sure she deserves it.

The article goes on to say:

Hammer, who said she never tells anyone how many guns she owns because “it’s nobody’s business,” remains nonplussed.

“Isn’t that a hoot?” she chuckled when told that the National Organization for Women and others plan to protest her nomination on Monday, the day before the induction ceremony takes place in the Capitol.

Yup.  That’s a hoot alright.

I just received email from a producer at the Seattle TV station KING asking about Boomershoot 2005.  I told them we would be thrilled to have their attendance.  Here is their home page.  The producer is John Stofflet.  Does anyone have an idea as to whether they will be friendly or hostile?

After reading the email to her this morning Barb asked me if there really are people that stupid.  I don’t know about stupid but he certainly is clueless.

I was out running errands when Kim called a little before 19:30 to announce she had arrived safely.  There was lots of laughing and giggling with Kayla in the background.  Barb and I will sleep better tonight.

As of 18:15 Kim had passed San Pablo Bay.

I ordered the boxes to be used for the medium and large sized targets for Boomershoot 2005.  Just 50 each to test and make sure everything is going to work.  Assuming they work as planned I’ll buy enough for the entire event.  Since these are standard off the shelf items there are no significant lead times and zero setup charges–contrary to last years target bodies.

The medium size targets are 6 x 6 x 1 inches.  The large targets are 7 3/8 x 7 3/8 x 1 3/8 inches.  All dimensions are interior.

I just called her.  Says she is doing fine.  She had some stop and go traffic for a while but made it past Sacramento.  She seemed to be in a much better mood this time.

PICATINNY, N.J. — Mar. 04, 2005 — The Army has approved its new long-range .50 caliber sniper rifle, the M107, for full materiel release to Soldiers in the field.

 

…

The M107 was funded as a Soldier Enhancement Program to type classify a semi-automatic .50 caliber rifle for the Army and other military services. It underwent standard type classification in August 2003. A production contract was awarded to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc., Murfreesboro, Tenn., the following month.

It’s a bit hard to see from the picture shown here but I expect the M-107 is very similar to the gun shown here at Boomershoot 2001:

More from the Army website:

The weapon is designed to effectively engage and defeat materiel targets at extended ranges including parked aircraft, command, control and communications, computers, intelligence sites, radar sites, ammunition, petroleum, oil and lubricant sites and various lightly armored targets.

In a counter-sniper role, the system offers longer standoff ranges and increased terminal effects against snipers using smaller caliber weapons.

The complete system includes: the rifle itself, a detachable ten-round magazine,a variable-power day optic sight, a transport case, a tactical soft case, cleaning and maintenance equipment, a detachable sling, an adjustable bipod and manuals.

The Army plans to modify the M107 in the future by adding a suppressor to greatly reduce flash, noise and blast signatures.

“No one said to take the San Francisco exit on 80.  They just said follow 80.”

Kim is not happy.

A while back I reported a video I had worked on was going to The Whitehouse.  It apparently hasn’t made it that far yet but my co-worker “from downstairs“ just popped her head in the door of my office to report the customer showed it to his boss and was “dancing up and down with joy” about it.  Everyone is very, very pleased so far.

I finally put up Kim’s final target from Monday afternoon.  According to this site she will need to increase her speed by a factor of about 2.4 to qualify and will need to become just a little more accurate all while using a full power handgun instead of a .22.  I expect once a week for a year should do it.

Last night after Kim went to bed I continued to work on her navigation problem.  I started guessing alternate street names and got a hit in a city just outside of Santa Cruz.  The street Kim was to take as an exit off of highway 17 was close by so everything matched.  Kim apparently misunderstood the street name.  She had one letter wrong.  I sent her a message on her cell phone to call me before she left.  She called me a few minutes ago and I gave her the MapPoint directions which avoid I-80/880 through San Francisco which Kayla had given her and instead routed her south on I-5/205/580/880 to highway 17.  We also discussed how she should leave the GPS unit on to enable back tracking should she need that and finally I gave her the lat/long of Kayla’s house.  I think I have prepared her as best I can now.