So, the plan is to go shooting at Iggle Crick this AM. More wheelygun shooting.
Last weekend I started working more with my round-butt 4" Model 19. I had completely forgotten how sweet of a trigger job Shannon had done on that gun; the only lighter double-action pulls I've felt were on PPC guns, and yet it was lighting off everything I ran through it just fine: 158gr LSWC-HP +P from both Remington and Winchester, Federal 147gr +P+ HydraShoks, gunshow reloads from Billybob's Big House o' Bullets, you name it. Thanks, Marko!
Maybe after shooting we'll go by the Mountain of Geese or Beech Grove Firearms to check out the ammo situation.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
That's just wrong...
In the spirit of such classics of the Story Time Corner as Mommy Drinks Because You Cry and My Weekend With Uncle Badtouch, Marko offers a list of failed children's book titles.
I felt a great disturbance in the 'net...
...as if millions of scammers cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Apparently the SAT-3 cable, which is Nigeria's main 'net connection to the outside world, has been cut, crippling the country's economy, which is almost entirely based on email confidence schemes.
In internet cafes all over Lagos, scammers continue to dutifully type their daily quota of emails, not realizing that the zeros and ones are running out the end of the pipe and bobbing to the surface of the Atlantic, where they are forming a scummy slick of "Hello, I am honorable secretary, to finance minister, Joseph Mbuto. You are the beneficiary of..." and fouling the feathers of unlucky seabirds.
The suspect list is a long one, consisting of everyone who has both an email account and SCUBA certification.
Apparently the SAT-3 cable, which is Nigeria's main 'net connection to the outside world, has been cut, crippling the country's economy, which is almost entirely based on email confidence schemes.
In internet cafes all over Lagos, scammers continue to dutifully type their daily quota of emails, not realizing that the zeros and ones are running out the end of the pipe and bobbing to the surface of the Atlantic, where they are forming a scummy slick of "Hello, I am honorable secretary, to finance minister, Joseph Mbuto. You are the beneficiary of..." and fouling the feathers of unlucky seabirds.
The suspect list is a long one, consisting of everyone who has both an email account and SCUBA certification.
Bias so thick you can smell it.
Say Uncle points out that in the Knoxville News-Slantinel, when an off-duty police officer carries his gun into a gin joint, it's "an establishment that serves alcohol", while when a simple civilian does it, it's a "bar".
Obviously I need to get one of them there journalism degrees, so I can be a detached, olympian, unbiased guardian of the public weal.
Obviously I need to get one of them there journalism degrees, so I can be a detached, olympian, unbiased guardian of the public weal.
Paging Dr. Freud:
They've killed Chevrolet, added the designated hitter to baseball, decried apple pie as fattening, and now they're going after hot dogs. My roomie suspects p33nophobia.
More posts about buildings and food.
So, Indianapolis is dealing with 8,000 abandoned homes. And by "abandoned", I don't mean the house around the corner that's sat vacant and for sale for a year and a half; I mean crack-house-plumbing-scavenged-boards-on-the-windows abandoned.
Now, add in the aforementioned houses that have sat vacant and unsold, and developments stalled in mid-construction (there's a particularly sad example up in Broad Ripple Village proper, right on the Monon, of a half completed condo project; one inhabited unit in the middle of a construction site) and one would seem to think that there was some kind of downturn in the economy.
Who could have predicted such a thing?
Now, add in the aforementioned houses that have sat vacant and unsold, and developments stalled in mid-construction (there's a particularly sad example up in Broad Ripple Village proper, right on the Monon, of a half completed condo project; one inhabited unit in the middle of a construction site) and one would seem to think that there was some kind of downturn in the economy.
Who could have predicted such a thing?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Random Thoughts...
1) Went by Premiere Arms. No .45ACP in stock. They had PMC Bronze 9mm for $19.99/box. No bulk .22LR. No .32ACP.
I bought 100rds of CCI Mini Mags because I always try to buy something when I'm in a gun store. I want them to associate my face with the jingle of the cash register so that they are happy to see me when I walk in.
He had a guy behind the counter I did not recognize. I pointed at the revolver case and said "May I see the 2" pre-Model 10 square-butt?"
He opened it and said "Now, which one?"
I successfully managed not to reply "The only 2" pre-Model 10 square-butt in the case," instead pointing with my finger and saying "That gun on the bottom with the bone grips." (See? I'm not always snarky.)
It's an early postwar with the half-moon front sight, mechanically sound with some odd wear patches right through to the bare metal and a bit of fine pitting on the topstrap and here and there on the right side. He had $249 on the tag. Were it $50 or so cheaper, it'd be neat to buy and do the whole vintage "Fitz" treatment to, just for grins. Shame, really; the trigger had a bit of cancer, and there was a tiny amount of freckling on the hammer, but the case colors on the hammer were gorgeous. Too bad the owner apparently kept it in the drawer with his damp socks.
2) Stopped at a used book store. They had a copy of the David Drake anthology Tyrannosaur. The cover blurb read "Peril In The Jurassic!" and I thought to myself "If you have a T. Rex running loose in the Jurassic, damned skippy you've got some peril; somebody's lobbing theropods across millions of years to where they don't belong."
The cover itself is intrinsically hilarious, since it's basically a repackaging of Drake's earlier (and excellent) Time Safari to catch a ride on the coattails of... well, I'll let you guess which movie
.
I bought 100rds of CCI Mini Mags because I always try to buy something when I'm in a gun store. I want them to associate my face with the jingle of the cash register so that they are happy to see me when I walk in.
He had a guy behind the counter I did not recognize. I pointed at the revolver case and said "May I see the 2" pre-Model 10 square-butt?"
He opened it and said "Now, which one?"
I successfully managed not to reply "The only 2" pre-Model 10 square-butt in the case," instead pointing with my finger and saying "That gun on the bottom with the bone grips." (See? I'm not always snarky.)
It's an early postwar with the half-moon front sight, mechanically sound with some odd wear patches right through to the bare metal and a bit of fine pitting on the topstrap and here and there on the right side. He had $249 on the tag. Were it $50 or so cheaper, it'd be neat to buy and do the whole vintage "Fitz" treatment to, just for grins. Shame, really; the trigger had a bit of cancer, and there was a tiny amount of freckling on the hammer, but the case colors on the hammer were gorgeous. Too bad the owner apparently kept it in the drawer with his damp socks.
2) Stopped at a used book store. They had a copy of the David Drake anthology Tyrannosaur. The cover blurb read "Peril In The Jurassic!" and I thought to myself "If you have a T. Rex running loose in the Jurassic, damned skippy you've got some peril; somebody's lobbing theropods across millions of years to where they don't belong."
The cover itself is intrinsically hilarious, since it's basically a repackaging of Drake's earlier (and excellent) Time Safari to catch a ride on the coattails of... well, I'll let you guess which movie
.
Seen in comments at Caleb's...
On Taurus semiautos:
I've seen PT-111 Millennium 9mm's with more frequent-flier miles to Miami than a Colombian cocaine mule.
Caleb: I also predict that in the comments, someone will accuse me of having a soft spot for Taurus…they would be correct, I do have an affinity for Taurus’ semi-automatic pistols.
Me: I have a soft spot for mentally-disturbed homeless alcoholic vets on the side of the road, but I wouldn’t bring one home.
I've seen PT-111 Millennium 9mm's with more frequent-flier miles to Miami than a Colombian cocaine mule.
Scouting report.
*Snerk.*
Sure, baseball just ain't his game, but that throwing form worries me. An American male who went through public school throwing a ball like that spent some time with his head in the locker room toilet as sure as God made little green apples, and that can leave festering resentments in some dark rooms of the mind when the boy becomes a man. It's disquieting to realize that the Commander-In-Chief of our nation's armed forces may harbor a seething inner hatred of buzzcuts.
Plus, he's wearing an American League jersey, which is right up there with a Che Guevara tee as an indicator of incipient patchouli-wearing.
(H/T to Cold Fury.)
Sure, baseball just ain't his game, but that throwing form worries me. An American male who went through public school throwing a ball like that spent some time with his head in the locker room toilet as sure as God made little green apples, and that can leave festering resentments in some dark rooms of the mind when the boy becomes a man. It's disquieting to realize that the Commander-In-Chief of our nation's armed forces may harbor a seething inner hatred of buzzcuts.
Plus, he's wearing an American League jersey, which is right up there with a Che Guevara tee as an indicator of incipient patchouli-wearing.
(H/T to Cold Fury.)
You know you're a gun nut when...
...you read the article that starts out...
...and your first thought is "Oh, an Mle.74 Gras. I have one of those. I still need to order some ammo. Mine looks a lot prettier, though."
I didn't excavate mine from a sea cave in Scotland, though. I bought it from some dude at a gun show in Knoxville. He was kind enough to include the bayonet.
(H/T to Unc.)
An old gun found on an Aberdeenshire nature reserve has been identified as a French rifle from the 1800s.
The remains of the ancient weapon were discovered last year in a sea cave on the St Cyrus National Nature Reserve.
...and your first thought is "Oh, an Mle.74 Gras. I have one of those. I still need to order some ammo. Mine looks a lot prettier, though."I didn't excavate mine from a sea cave in Scotland, though. I bought it from some dude at a gun show in Knoxville. He was kind enough to include the bayonet.
(H/T to Unc.)
Figures.
PayPal leaves wounded vets swinging in the breeze because their lawyers fill their pants every time they hear the word "gun".
(From what I can tell this morning, however, the PayPal button at Soldiers' Angels appears to be back up and running...)
(From what I can tell this morning, however, the PayPal button at Soldiers' Angels appears to be back up and running...)
Things I want, #4276
I currently own a pair of .22 rifles: A Marlin Papoose and one of their stainless 925 bolt-actions. I get to play with an assortment of others fairly frequently, too: Last trip to Wildcat Valley, there was a 10/22, a T-Bolt, and a sweet old Marlin 39A.
I need a .22 conversion for my AR (or a S&W M&P 15/22...) but I want another .22 rifle for fun.
I'm pretty sure I don't want a bolt-action. Semiauto would be okay, but I'd actually kind of prefer a manually-operated repeater. A slide-action would be awesome, but a really short-throw lever like my old Browning BL-22 would be sweet, too.
Taurus makes a shorty version of their Model 62 in stainless, which would be great for me. Not only because it's a takedown that would be very roadster-friendly, but because I shoot the whee out of .22 rifles and stainless would let me be a little slacker on the cleaning end of things (my stainless Papoose, for instance, gets the bore punched every other range session and gets really cleaned when it stops running.) Finding them used is about like finding unicorn droppings, however.
Finding a nice used Remington Fieldmaster or Speedmaster would be awesome, but people tend to want more than "trunk rifle" money for those things, and I can be awfully hard on a .22. Also I don't know anyone personally who has had one for a while that regularly shot the bejeezus out of it; I'm curious as to how they hold up under high volume shooting.
I dunno... All this wanting is probably a distraction from the fact that I need a Ruger 22/45, too. Just thinking out loud, I guess...
I need a .22 conversion for my AR (or a S&W M&P 15/22...) but I want another .22 rifle for fun.
I'm pretty sure I don't want a bolt-action. Semiauto would be okay, but I'd actually kind of prefer a manually-operated repeater. A slide-action would be awesome, but a really short-throw lever like my old Browning BL-22 would be sweet, too.
Taurus makes a shorty version of their Model 62 in stainless, which would be great for me. Not only because it's a takedown that would be very roadster-friendly, but because I shoot the whee out of .22 rifles and stainless would let me be a little slacker on the cleaning end of things (my stainless Papoose, for instance, gets the bore punched every other range session and gets really cleaned when it stops running.) Finding them used is about like finding unicorn droppings, however.
Finding a nice used Remington Fieldmaster or Speedmaster would be awesome, but people tend to want more than "trunk rifle" money for those things, and I can be awfully hard on a .22. Also I don't know anyone personally who has had one for a while that regularly shot the bejeezus out of it; I'm curious as to how they hold up under high volume shooting.
I dunno... All this wanting is probably a distraction from the fact that I need a Ruger 22/45, too. Just thinking out loud, I guess...
Waving the bloody sneakers.
"To wave the bloody shirt": To foment political strife by keeping controversies alive.The way Tom Mauser sticks those sneakers into the camera creeps me right the hell out. It seems so measured and cynical, and that is creepy as dammit. I can't imagine that photo session... "You don't look bereaved enough. Lets try from a different angle..."
(H/T to Snowflakes In Hell)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Hubris that can be seen from orbit.
Cold Fury linked to an article at CNBC (stop snickering!) that had a quote for the ages:
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the system of hefty bonuses does not make sense.
Now, I can actually understand his confusion. Like so many members of our Governing Caste, including our current President, Rep. Frank has never had to toil a day in the private sector. All his adult life, his jobs have paid the same no matter how badly his performance sucked. The only performance incentives in his circles are called "kickbacks" or "bribes", so it really shouldn't come as a surprise when a lifelong apparatchik like Barney is utterly clueless as to incentive-based compensation packages.
And yet he certainly feels qualified to monkey with the control levers. God help the people who find themselves in an operating theater or passenger jet cockpit with the man, because he'd probably happily kibbitz a heart valve replacement or night instrument approach the way you or I would give unwanted advice to a solitaire player. Except I can't send the solitaire player up for five-to-ten with time off for good behavior if he doesn't put the three of diamonds on the four of clubs...
The dumbest man on the internet.
Yesterday my buddy Robb posted a quickly-ginned-up Photoshop spoof of the Bush "Air National Guard Memo", down to the bad font choice, proportional spacing, and faux mimeograph machine spatter and fax transmission artifacts.
He was fairly proud of his handiwork and emailed a few of us a link, and we chuckled, and linked it, and it caught on and somebody over at the big kids' table with Pajamas Media saw it and linked it and...
Oh.
My.
Gawd.
Just when I think I cannot be further amazed by the abject stupidity of the average moron who has managed to figure out how to string a cable between his modem and the back of his tower case, I am proven wrong.
Remember when your physics prof would illustrate dense gravity fields distorting space-time with the "bowling ball on the rubber sheet" analogy? Well, if the internet is the rubber sheet, the comments section of that post is the bowling ball.
Let's pick a sample cretin for a swift kick in the metaphorical junk. Commenter "Syntax" writes:
To answer Enrico Fermi's questions one at a time:
And as for the 2 bonus questions:
I truly hope that "Syntax" has not yet managed to swim upstream and spawn, but I fear we saw his soulmate on YouTube just the other day.
It is reading comment threads like that that will make a monarchist of me yet.
He was fairly proud of his handiwork and emailed a few of us a link, and we chuckled, and linked it, and it caught on and somebody over at the big kids' table with Pajamas Media saw it and linked it and...
Oh.
My.
Gawd.
Just when I think I cannot be further amazed by the abject stupidity of the average moron who has managed to figure out how to string a cable between his modem and the back of his tower case, I am proven wrong.
Remember when your physics prof would illustrate dense gravity fields distorting space-time with the "bowling ball on the rubber sheet" analogy? Well, if the internet is the rubber sheet, the comments section of that post is the bowling ball.
Let's pick a sample cretin for a swift kick in the metaphorical junk. Commenter "Syntax" writes:
Who faxed it to you?
Who did you authenticate it with?
What the hell is it?
Memo to who?
Memo from who?
2 things:
1) It would take me all of about 10 minutes to create this "smoking gun" piece of cluelessness in Photoshop.
2) Does anybody really believe they had HMOs back in 1961?
To answer Enrico Fermi's questions one at a time:
- It's a joke, you simpleton.
- Dan Rather.
- An IQ test, and you failed.
- Your mom.
- Charles Darwin.
And as for the 2 bonus questions:
- Stop and think about that for a second.
- Into the Soylent Green tank with you.
I truly hope that "Syntax" has not yet managed to swim upstream and spawn, but I fear we saw his soulmate on YouTube just the other day.
It is reading comment threads like that that will make a monarchist of me yet.
Off to a slow start this morning...
The day starts at Roseholme Cottage for me sometime around six in the AM, when I feed the geriatricats and get the coffee set up in the Chemex (aka "the manual-drip coffee maker").
The next step is usually to crack a Vault Zero and start typing furiously in order to have something up the intertubes before 8AM, early enough to get picked up in the morning round of linky-love from those bloggers who post over morning coffee at work.
This morning, Shootin' Buddy had business in town and offered to take me to Taste for breakfast. So, for the sake of a delicious bacon & swiss three-egg omelette, y'all got screwzored on the morning's entertainment. Sorry 'bout that. I'm working on fixing that right now.
The next step is usually to crack a Vault Zero and start typing furiously in order to have something up the intertubes before 8AM, early enough to get picked up in the morning round of linky-love from those bloggers who post over morning coffee at work.
This morning, Shootin' Buddy had business in town and offered to take me to Taste for breakfast. So, for the sake of a delicious bacon & swiss three-egg omelette, y'all got screwzored on the morning's entertainment. Sorry 'bout that. I'm working on fixing that right now.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Score!
Shootin' Buddy claims to have actually found a source for Patio®-brand frozen burritos.
A winner is me!
Also, Fresh Market had restocked the Progresso Manhattan clam chowder. Life is pretty good right now.
A winner is me!
Also, Fresh Market had restocked the Progresso Manhattan clam chowder. Life is pretty good right now.
Reach out and touch someone.
Matt G has a typically reflective post up on his blog on the miracles of connectivity we enjoy in this fascinating modern world in which we live.
Birthers in the news.
The official Obama press department, formerly known as CNN, reports that Robert Gibbs has "shot down" the birthers by saying, in effect, "Nuh-uh! You are!" Obviously "shot down" has a different meaning when you're inside the echo chamber.
I really wish the White House would just cough up the birth certificate and shut these people up, because having lackeys come out and issue defensive-sounding statements like that just makes you sound guilty as sin. I'm half ready to buy some Reynold's Wrap and make a yarmulke myself, especially after reading incriminating evidence like this.
I really wish the White House would just cough up the birth certificate and shut these people up, because having lackeys come out and issue defensive-sounding statements like that just makes you sound guilty as sin. I'm half ready to buy some Reynold's Wrap and make a yarmulke myself, especially after reading incriminating evidence like this.
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