Part of the concept of human civilization is that you just don't go running around killing people. In fact, what distinguishes a human civilization from a bunch of monkeys standing around in a cage is the concept that you are accepting civilization's offer of protection in exchange for the promise to not go around killing people.
There are exceptions to this that arise, should you encounter an exceptional scenario like someone trying to kill you. Even then, society doesn't say "Oh, it's okay to kill him, then." Rather, we concede that you may use sufficiently urgent and violent force to immediately stop him from his attempt, and if he dies, he dies.
This is why setting booby traps is illegal. The very fact that the device is designed to deploy lethal force in the absence of a human operator means that the one key factor that warrants the use of lethal force is not present. If your self ain't there, it is ipso facto not "self defense".
Too bad the dude in Maine who whacked himself with his own booby trap on Thanksgiving Day hadn't thought this through.
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Monday, December 02, 2019
Sunday, December 01, 2019
Best intentions, and all that...
I'd really intended for this cross-country road trip to involve more stopping and taking pictures.
My trip out was initially intended to have two middlin'-easy eight hour legs, overnighting in Joplin, MO and Amarillo, TX, leaving me with a final day's drive of only about five hours to Los Alamos. If I blew out of Amarillo early enough on that last morning, the short five-hour drive (combined with the fact that crossing from Central to Mountain time knocked a virtual hour off my pace) should have allowed for plenty of pulling over to photograph whatever caught my eye.
As things turned out, the ice and snow that virtually shut I-70 down around noon on my first day on the road saw me holed up in a Holiday Inn Express in Vandalia, Illinois for two nights.
I was there two nights because on the first morning there, I turned on the TV to the network news out of St. Louis, and the morning commute was a soup sandwich. Slideoffs and wrecks everywhere. It wasn't supposed to get anywhere above the teens, temperature-wise, until that afternoon, which meant that the brine on I-70 and I-44 along my route wouldn't be doing much.
So on the way out, I ended up overnighting in Vandalia and then Oklahoma City, and promised myself I'd get some photography stops in on the way back.
While I felt like death on a Ritz pulling out of Los Alamos at 0500 last Monday morning, I parked the EOS 7D, wearing the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens, on the passenger seat. I had high hopes.
As it turned out, I got that one roadside shot of the Mustang with its headlights on in the predawn gloaming somewhere north of Clines Corner, New Mexico...and that was about it for the 7D on the trip.
Getting on I-40 eastbound, I rolled past signs for historic Fort Sumner, but I didn't know how far south of the interstate it was and how far off my time it would put me, so I passed, despite being a big nerd regarding the Billy the Kid mythos.
Similarly, I'd intended to get a photo of the Mustang in front of one or another of the classic motels on Route 66 through the main drag of Tucumcari, NM. I pulled off the interstate at exit 329, passed a deserted, graffitoed urban hellscape of abandoned gas stations and motels that looked like sets from Fallout: New Vegas, and found my way onto Tucumcari's main drag, the old Route 66...the Mother Road.
But it was 8AM in the early winter, so the sun was low and southerly. I was eastbound, which meant I was on the wrong side of the street to get any good light on the car and background. Did I mention I was sick as a dog? I pulled off in front of one of the classic old motels, left the Canon in the car, and grabbed a nasty iPhone photo as proof of life.
Back onto I-40 eastbound, I consoled myself with the fact that I was still way ahead of schedule. At the rate I was going, I'd likely hit Oklahoma City thirty minutes too early to even check into my hotel. No worries, I reckoned, because I could use that time getting some fresh photos at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo!
I hadn't been by Cadillac Ranch since 2011. It's a most un-tourist-y tourist attraction; with no signs to point you there and no parking lot, it's just out there in a field near the highway. Park on the shoulder of the access road and wander out. Maybe there'll be fresh spray paint cans, maybe not.
On the way out, Cadillac Ranch was typically fairly deserted. Coming home on Monday morning, though? There were at least twenty cars parked up on the shoulder of the access road and a steady stream of people coming and going. And the sun was still way southerly at 10:30ishAM of a mid-November morning. There was no way I was going to get a well-lit shot of the place, especially without a bunch of people milling in the frame. Plus, I still felt awful...
On to Oklahoma City.
One thing led to another, and I never did feel up to pulling over for a scenic shot. Scenic shots get pretty scarce northeast of Joplin, anyway.
I wound up yanking the EOS 7D off the passenger seat and hanging it on the coat hook when I got back to Roseholme Cottage. At least it got a good photo of Thanksgiving Dinner.
My trip out was initially intended to have two middlin'-easy eight hour legs, overnighting in Joplin, MO and Amarillo, TX, leaving me with a final day's drive of only about five hours to Los Alamos. If I blew out of Amarillo early enough on that last morning, the short five-hour drive (combined with the fact that crossing from Central to Mountain time knocked a virtual hour off my pace) should have allowed for plenty of pulling over to photograph whatever caught my eye.
As things turned out, the ice and snow that virtually shut I-70 down around noon on my first day on the road saw me holed up in a Holiday Inn Express in Vandalia, Illinois for two nights.
I was there two nights because on the first morning there, I turned on the TV to the network news out of St. Louis, and the morning commute was a soup sandwich. Slideoffs and wrecks everywhere. It wasn't supposed to get anywhere above the teens, temperature-wise, until that afternoon, which meant that the brine on I-70 and I-44 along my route wouldn't be doing much.
So on the way out, I ended up overnighting in Vandalia and then Oklahoma City, and promised myself I'd get some photography stops in on the way back.
While I felt like death on a Ritz pulling out of Los Alamos at 0500 last Monday morning, I parked the EOS 7D, wearing the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens, on the passenger seat. I had high hopes.
As it turned out, I got that one roadside shot of the Mustang with its headlights on in the predawn gloaming somewhere north of Clines Corner, New Mexico...and that was about it for the 7D on the trip.
Similarly, I'd intended to get a photo of the Mustang in front of one or another of the classic motels on Route 66 through the main drag of Tucumcari, NM. I pulled off the interstate at exit 329, passed a deserted, graffitoed urban hellscape of abandoned gas stations and motels that looked like sets from Fallout: New Vegas, and found my way onto Tucumcari's main drag, the old Route 66...the Mother Road.
But it was 8AM in the early winter, so the sun was low and southerly. I was eastbound, which meant I was on the wrong side of the street to get any good light on the car and background. Did I mention I was sick as a dog? I pulled off in front of one of the classic old motels, left the Canon in the car, and grabbed a nasty iPhone photo as proof of life.
Back onto I-40 eastbound, I consoled myself with the fact that I was still way ahead of schedule. At the rate I was going, I'd likely hit Oklahoma City thirty minutes too early to even check into my hotel. No worries, I reckoned, because I could use that time getting some fresh photos at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo!
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| Cadillac Ranch in 2011 |
On the way out, Cadillac Ranch was typically fairly deserted. Coming home on Monday morning, though? There were at least twenty cars parked up on the shoulder of the access road and a steady stream of people coming and going. And the sun was still way southerly at 10:30ishAM of a mid-November morning. There was no way I was going to get a well-lit shot of the place, especially without a bunch of people milling in the frame. Plus, I still felt awful...
On to Oklahoma City.
One thing led to another, and I never did feel up to pulling over for a scenic shot. Scenic shots get pretty scarce northeast of Joplin, anyway.
I wound up yanking the EOS 7D off the passenger seat and hanging it on the coat hook when I got back to Roseholme Cottage. At least it got a good photo of Thanksgiving Dinner.
Friday, November 29, 2019
Good Deal
This photo of the Mustang on the flat Texas panhandle was shot with a Sony RX100. This is Sony's deluxe zoom lens shirt-pocket camera.
It features a 20MP 1" sensor, which is huge for a point & shoot. Most cameras of this type have tiny 1/1.7" or 1/2.3" sensors, not much bigger than those found in cell phones, while the 1" sensor is the same size as that in Nikon's recently-discontinued "Nikon 1" series of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.
The RX100 was initially released in 2012, and I think the most recent iteration is the "RX100 VII", but Sony keeps selling older styles alongside newer ones, because newer iterations tend to change feature sets, rather than simply upgrading megapixels.
The cool thing about this is that new (or at least New Old Stock) original gangsta RX100's are on sale right now at Amazon for under four bills, which is pretty swoopy for an award-winning camera that cost over a grand when it came out.
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Black Friday Deal
Surefire's running a Black Friday special on their little Sidekick key fob lights.
Rechargeable, and sporting an output that toggles between 5, 60, and 300 lumens, these things are handier than a pocket on a shirt. The sale price is $19.99, which is dropping into stocking-stuffer territory. I use the heck out of mine.
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Rechargeable, and sporting an output that toggles between 5, 60, and 300 lumens, these things are handier than a pocket on a shirt. The sale price is $19.99, which is dropping into stocking-stuffer territory. I use the heck out of mine.
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Thursday, November 28, 2019
Believing what you read on the internet...
So, the Threepdawgs and Borthers are charging off in all directions again.
The Big Igloo may have failed to materialize in Putnam County, NY the other night, but within less than a week, everyone has found something new to cause them to run around with their hair on fire.
This time, it's that Virginia is supposedly going to outlaw firearms training. Here's a typical post sounding the warning, with a bunch of Threepdawg chest-beating in the comments.
This is the law these guys are warning you that Virginia is trying to pass:
See, §18.2-433.2 itself has been around since 1987, likely passed in the wake of early Eighties shenanigans by such wholesome folks as Bruder Schweigen and The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. It currently consists of just the first two paragraphs. The current bill only adds the third para, the one consisting of "Assembles with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof", to the existing law.
All these people wanting you to set your hair on fire and run in circles with them about ZOMG THE DEEP STATE IS TRYING TO OUTLAW GUN TRAINING IN VIRGINIA haven't even read the existing law. Consider that fact when deciding how much credence to give to their mouth-noises.
Calm your tits, Herschel, and do thirty seconds of research before running to your keyboard for a change.
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The Big Igloo may have failed to materialize in Putnam County, NY the other night, but within less than a week, everyone has found something new to cause them to run around with their hair on fire.
This time, it's that Virginia is supposedly going to outlaw firearms training. Here's a typical post sounding the warning, with a bunch of Threepdawg chest-beating in the comments.
This is the law these guys are warning you that Virginia is trying to pass:
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:If any of these 21st Century Robert Newmans had taken thirty seconds to do their homework instead of rushing to the steeple of the Old North Church (those stair treads probably need replacing; they're well-worn in the middle) they might have noticed that those italics are significant.
1. That § 18.2-433.2 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 18.2-433.2. Paramilitary activity prohibited; penalty.
A personshall beis guilty of unlawful paramilitary activity, punishable as a Class 5 felony if he:
1. Teaches or demonstrates to any other person the use, application, or making of any firearm, explosive, or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, knowing or having reason to know or intending that such training will be employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder; or
2. Assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, explosive, or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, intending to employ such training for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder; or
3. Assembles with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof.
See, §18.2-433.2 itself has been around since 1987, likely passed in the wake of early Eighties shenanigans by such wholesome folks as Bruder Schweigen and The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. It currently consists of just the first two paragraphs. The current bill only adds the third para, the one consisting of "Assembles with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof", to the existing law.
All these people wanting you to set your hair on fire and run in circles with them about ZOMG THE DEEP STATE IS TRYING TO OUTLAW GUN TRAINING IN VIRGINIA haven't even read the existing law. Consider that fact when deciding how much credence to give to their mouth-noises.
Calm your tits, Herschel, and do thirty seconds of research before running to your keyboard for a change.
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Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Home Again
I shouldn't have worried. Like Keads reassured me, the Mustang was a champ, with a fair number of good, long cross-country trips yet in her tank. Great big chunks of flyover country were flown through with the cruise control set at 80-90mph. I've got notes I need to turn into posts...
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Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Automotif CLIV...
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Sunday, November 24, 2019
Seriously?
"300 patriots guarding the house"... MY. SIDES.
We have a hard time getting that many people to stand on the National Mall or a state capitol lawn with several months' notice, and you think that many turned up to Podunk, NY in a couple hours? And the news media...which would be practically decorating their cupcakes with excitement...were somehow ignoring it?
I mean, if someone fell for stuff like this last night (or, worse, passed it on this morning), they should probably consider sleeping with their head in a dry-cleaning bag tonight out of pure shame.
Congratulations. You got your face trolled off.
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Saturday, November 23, 2019
O, Come Let Us Adore Phil
Mexican church erect's 21 ft baby Jesus. Sorry 21 ft Phil Collins in his undies #PhilCollins #scarystuff pic.twitter.com/d2xCnbEmHV— ... (@humungoushammer) November 23, 2019
No word if Sunday's sermon will be from the book of Genesis...
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Social media helps you connect.
If you're into shooting, social media can help you connect with other people who are into shooting. If you're into Japanese funny books, social media can help you connect with other people who are into Japanese funny books. If you're a furry, social media can help you find other furries.
And if you're a credulous moron, social media can hook you up with other credulous morons:
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And if you're a credulous moron, social media can hook you up with other credulous morons:
"And Davidson quickly found a large online community believing the same thing. "I thought doing a conference would just take it to the next stage where the media and the world will look at it and say, 'wait a minute -- something must be going on. This is not just some internet fad, or a bunch of crazy people online. They're now meeting in buildings.'"Oh, fer... If you can't get a transcontinental commercial flight, then one on a clear day over the Great Plains will do. Get a window seat and observe the curvature of the earth yourself from FL350. No need to listen to any "commie scientists" or "lying astronauts".
He has a few things he wants to make clear to a flat-Earth novice. Firstly, and most importantly -- "none of us believe that we're a flying pancake in space." The community merely believes that space does not exist, the world sits still and the moon landing was faked. The jury is out on gravity -- but as Davidson notes, no one has ever seen it.
Secondly -- no, you won't fall off the edge. While flat Earthers' views of the world vary, most believe the planet is a circular disk with Antarctica acting as an ice wall barrier around the edge."
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Friday, November 22, 2019
Sorry.
I have been sick unto death today, laying in bed achey and fevered.
The impeachment hearings have eaten the news, too, making it dull and repetitive and no fun to blog about.
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The impeachment hearings have eaten the news, too, making it dull and repetitive and no fun to blog about.
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Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Monday, November 18, 2019
That's pretty sick.
Nothing like a couple of turbos to help explore the scarier corners of the C2 'Vette's aero envelope!
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Bad Commands
The downside of the road less traveled.
The downside? Holsters are super hard to find. My usual go-to sources at Dark Star Gear, PHLster, and Raven Concealment don't have holsters for the SP2022 because frankly there isn't enough demand to make it viable for them.
What was surprising was that my usual sources for more unusual guns (Custom Carry Concepts, Comp Tac, and BladeTech) don't carry anything for it, either. Heck, not even DeSantis makes an IWB holster for it; all they offer in a concealable rig is a leather OWB pancake.
It looks like I'm going to need to get some custom kydex bent if I want to try carrying this blaster IWB.
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Friday, November 15, 2019
Gas Station Chatter
So, I'm pulling in to the BP on Keystone Avenue to top up the tank on the Mustang. I'm hanging a right into the parking lot off 52nd Street when the Camry in front of me just stops. He's sitting there like a duck in thunder, leaving the ass end of my car hanging out on 52nd for a minute before he decides what he wants to do and pulls into a parking spot.
I roll up to the pump and the dude using the nozzle on the other side said "Man, what was he doing, leaving you hanging out like that?"
I shrugged in response and started filling the tank.
"Hey," asked the guy, "Is that a 302 or a 4.6?"
"302," I replied.
With a wry eyebrow lift, he asked "Manual or automatic?"
Feigning indignation, I replied "Manual, of course!"
Beaming, he replied "Girl, whatchoo doin' with that?"
"Five liter five-speed is the way to go. Duh!"
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I roll up to the pump and the dude using the nozzle on the other side said "Man, what was he doing, leaving you hanging out like that?"
I shrugged in response and started filling the tank.
"Hey," asked the guy, "Is that a 302 or a 4.6?"
"302," I replied.
With a wry eyebrow lift, he asked "Manual or automatic?"
Feigning indignation, I replied "Manual, of course!"
Beaming, he replied "Girl, whatchoo doin' with that?"
"Five liter five-speed is the way to go. Duh!"
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Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Deepfake...
Given the credulity of the average person, the future is going to be super annoying for those who keep grains of salt handy.
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Which one is it?
So, which is it, Ben? Is the stock market doing good because President Donald "Orange Man Good" Trump has created a great...yuge, even...economy? Or is it because the Federal Reserve (pronounced "the Illuminati" in Garrisonland) keep pumping paper into the system?
I know which I think is more responsible, but then I don't hop back and forth depending on which argument I need to deploy at the time.
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