Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Readin', Ritin', Reloadin'.

It's hotter than the hinges of Hades here in Indiana in August, so what does that mean?

That's right, it's Louis Awerbuck time!

Seriously, last week it was in the 70's and 80's... not too humid... just gorgeous weather. Yesterday morning I wake up and the Weather Gnome on the TeeWee is saying "...and by Tuesday, we'll be back into the nineties..." and I start cursing at the televisor, yelling "How does it know? How does it know?!?" I'm beginning to think that the "A" in AGW doesn't stand for "Anthropogenic".

So, yeah, today is Day One of Carbine & Pistol, and I'm stoked.

And this time, I brought my own sunscreen. It's, like, SPF 100+, which means I can last 100 seconds in the sun before suffering painful burns over all my exposed skin. It kept me from cooking at the State Fair, at least.

This is the first time since the Todd Jarrett course at Blackwater that the Para Gun Blog 9 is going to get subjected to a class; and that's due to ammo considerations. As a starving artist, I've been hoarding my ammo carefully so that I'll have enough .45 for regular practice and Aim Fast, Hit Fast this October, so it's going to have to be the nine this week.

11 comments:

  1. I know you're you've taken a Lou class before so you know what to expect. Have fun, and get him to tell the story of "Death In The Desert Sun." I laughed so hard I almost pee'd myself.

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  2. Did you take both tubes of sunscreen, or just the one? That stuff was Teh Awesome at the State Fair!

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  3. You get to go to Gun School, I get to go to College. You are obviously a much smarter person than I when it comes to investing one's dollars into useful activities.

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  4. Most folks wildly misoverstimate SPF. SPF is a reciprocal, 1/N deal. Wearing SPF 8, you get 1/8 as much sun as you would with nothing.

    Sadly, humans don't intuitively grok reciprocals. We're much better with percentages, especially in matters where it's actually the (N-1)/N aspect that matters.

    Wearing SPF 4, you get only 1/4 the exposure, meaning you have 75% protection. Rounding down:

    SPF 8 = 87%
    SPF 15 = 93%
    SPF 25 = 96%
    SPF 30 = 96%
    SPF 50 = 98%
    SPF 75 = 98%
    SPF 200 = 99%
    SPF 5000 = 99%

    Ergo, anything above SPF 15 is somewhat pointless, and anything above SPF 30 is a waste of money.

    Next week's lesson will be on the mathematics of homeopathic remedies, in which the reader will be asked to contemplate 1/(10^N).

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  5. What is the SPF of a good ventilated straw hat and a longsleeved workshirt and Levi's?

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  6. >Next week's lesson will be on the mathematics of homeopathic remedies...


    But they *shake* those things when they dilute them down to nothing!

    Makes all the difference in the world!

    That's why they work better than that glass of distilled water!

    -SM

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  7. My Editor/friend who I helped move on Sunday has a "certificate" for me to attend Gunsite in Parhump. I wasn't sure whether it was the pizza-sight guy or not...I can take a Lew Awernbuck class hright here, but don't have enough money for ammmo or travel -except I can drive myselfto Reno for GBR-V and I have a big box of .38spl.

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  8. 1911Man: the SPF 100 stuff was on sale, half the price of anything else on "sun protection" shelf. More protection at a lower price? Who cares if the increase is only incremental!

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  9. jimbob86,

    probably not as high as you think. Put a flashlight inside/behind the item, and see how much light comes thru.
    Not all clothing is 100% UV blocking. Some are marked as to their SPF rating, if it's not close to 100%.

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