whining that the nasty 2nd Amendment types are out to get him. The Real Gun Guys have a nice roundup of the situation.
Oh, and they were the guys with the smoke bomb recipe. I need to go shopping...
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
As my experience now says, Don't Buy Pentax
They may make good cameras, but their red-dots suck. And so does their 'customer support'.
About a month ago at Dealer Days at H&H Range, there was a Pentax dealer. One of the things shown was their HS10 red-dot sight. Not bad, I thought, small & light, would fit nicely on the M1 Carbine, and the man said they'd been tested clear up to .454 Casull revolvers for recoil tolerance. So I laid down my money and took it home.
Fast-forward to range day, where I discover this is a piece of crap. The adjustments are uneven(sometimes a slight turn makes a BIG move, sometimes a BIG turn doesn't move at all), so it took a bit to get it zeroed at 50 yards. And then it lost zero. Reseat the battery(I know, but just in case), no difference. Damn thing now wandered all over the place.
I checked the Pentax site and it has their 'customer service' link to contact them. They say someone will get back to you within three business days. Bullshit. I sent and waiting a week, no response. So, just to see, I sent again, being sure to mention the first no-response.
It's been just over a week. And sure enough, no response. Pentax either doesn't read their web contact forms, or don't give a crap about their customers. So I look up their 800 number and decide to have everything handy before I call.
Yeah, you know what's coming.
I can't find the damn receipt, despite having set it with some others. Which means even if Pentax came through I couldn't return it.
Losing the receipt was my bad. Selling a defective product and then not responding to multiple requests for assistance, their bad.
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
About a month ago at Dealer Days at H&H Range, there was a Pentax dealer. One of the things shown was their HS10 red-dot sight. Not bad, I thought, small & light, would fit nicely on the M1 Carbine, and the man said they'd been tested clear up to .454 Casull revolvers for recoil tolerance. So I laid down my money and took it home.
Fast-forward to range day, where I discover this is a piece of crap. The adjustments are uneven(sometimes a slight turn makes a BIG move, sometimes a BIG turn doesn't move at all), so it took a bit to get it zeroed at 50 yards. And then it lost zero. Reseat the battery(I know, but just in case), no difference. Damn thing now wandered all over the place.
I checked the Pentax site and it has their 'customer service' link to contact them. They say someone will get back to you within three business days. Bullshit. I sent and waiting a week, no response. So, just to see, I sent again, being sure to mention the first no-response.
It's been just over a week. And sure enough, no response. Pentax either doesn't read their web contact forms, or don't give a crap about their customers. So I look up their 800 number and decide to have everything handy before I call.
Yeah, you know what's coming.
I can't find the damn receipt, despite having set it with some others. Which means even if Pentax came through I couldn't return it.
Losing the receipt was my bad. Selling a defective product and then not responding to multiple requests for assistance, their bad.
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!
Dammit!
Couple of days ago I ran across a blog which had-among other things- a very good recipe for making smoke bombs.
Anyone know who it might have been?
Anyone know who it might have been?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
And we're supposed to trust Federal authorities
why?
In one eye-popping exchange, two congressmen—one Democrat and one Republican—confronted Wayne Murphy, the assistant director of the FBI Directorate of Intelligence about the way the FBI uses drug informants. Rep. Dan Lundgren, R-Calif., and Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., told Murphy they were troubled by reports that the FBI had looked the other way while some of its drug informants participated in violent crimes, and that the agency then failed to notify local authorities, leaving many of those crimes unsolved.
Lundgren and Delahunt said they were also troubled by reports that in order to protect the identity of its informants, the FBI had withheld exculpatory evidence from criminal trials, resulting in innocent people going to prison.
Now, just by itself this is reason for tar, feathers and a rail; but it gets worse:
Could Murphy assure the U.S. Congress, Delahunt and Lundgren asked, that the FBI has since instituted policies to ensure that kind of thing never happens again?
Murphy hemmed and hawed, but ultimately said that he could not make any such assurance.
So the damned FBI has knowingly and repeatedly sent innocent people to prison. But when they show up to ask questions, you're supposed to TRUST these people?!?
In one eye-popping exchange, two congressmen—one Democrat and one Republican—confronted Wayne Murphy, the assistant director of the FBI Directorate of Intelligence about the way the FBI uses drug informants. Rep. Dan Lundgren, R-Calif., and Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., told Murphy they were troubled by reports that the FBI had looked the other way while some of its drug informants participated in violent crimes, and that the agency then failed to notify local authorities, leaving many of those crimes unsolved.
Lundgren and Delahunt said they were also troubled by reports that in order to protect the identity of its informants, the FBI had withheld exculpatory evidence from criminal trials, resulting in innocent people going to prison.
Now, just by itself this is reason for tar, feathers and a rail; but it gets worse:
Could Murphy assure the U.S. Congress, Delahunt and Lundgren asked, that the FBI has since instituted policies to ensure that kind of thing never happens again?
Murphy hemmed and hawed, but ultimately said that he could not make any such assurance.
So the damned FBI has knowingly and repeatedly sent innocent people to prison. But when they show up to ask questions, you're supposed to TRUST these people?!?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Another reason not to vote for Giuliani
I've mentioned before that I could not vote for him, if for no other reason than his hostility to the 2nd Amendment. Well, I was over at Confederate Yankee and found a link to The Shield of Achilles who has this on Giuliani and illegal immigration:
At a town hall-style meeting with about 100 voters at a technical college in Concord on Tuesday, Giuliani encountered a voter who asked why the former mayor made "New York City a sanctuary for illegal aliens."
"You must be talking about another candidate," said Giuliani, who went on to argue that his administration urged the federal government to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible.
However,
“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” Giuliani said at the time. “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city. You’re somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.”
As much as the encouraging of illegals, what pisses me off here is that he flat lied about his previous words and actions.
So here's two reasons I could not vote for this man.
At a town hall-style meeting with about 100 voters at a technical college in Concord on Tuesday, Giuliani encountered a voter who asked why the former mayor made "New York City a sanctuary for illegal aliens."
"You must be talking about another candidate," said Giuliani, who went on to argue that his administration urged the federal government to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible.
However,
“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” Giuliani said at the time. “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city. You’re somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.”
As much as the encouraging of illegals, what pisses me off here is that he flat lied about his previous words and actions.
So here's two reasons I could not vote for this man.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Old movies
Some are bad, some are good. And some are very damn good. Not necessarily 'won an Oscar' good, but very good movies.
Over at Seraphic Secret they made mention first of Myrna Loy and a number of her movies, and just before that a bit about screenwriting. Which reminded me of Casablanca.
A few years back my daughter was over for the weekend and I finally got her to sit down to watch it. She was writing(constantly, still does) and not paying much attention for about ten minutes, then something caught her attention and she looked up and asked "What did he say?" Aha, I thought, got her now, so I gave her a ticked-off look, rewound the tape and started it over. And this time she put the notebook and pen down and watched, and listened. Clear through to the end.
When it finished I asked "What do you think?" She sat a moment, then said "You know, everything in that movie is a cliche, but when they made it, they werent."
She liked it. Got her own copy later, too.
Over at Seraphic Secret they made mention first of Myrna Loy and a number of her movies, and just before that a bit about screenwriting. Which reminded me of Casablanca.
A few years back my daughter was over for the weekend and I finally got her to sit down to watch it. She was writing(constantly, still does) and not paying much attention for about ten minutes, then something caught her attention and she looked up and asked "What did he say?" Aha, I thought, got her now, so I gave her a ticked-off look, rewound the tape and started it over. And this time she put the notebook and pen down and watched, and listened. Clear through to the end.
When it finished I asked "What do you think?" She sat a moment, then said "You know, everything in that movie is a cliche, but when they made it, they werent."
She liked it. Got her own copy later, too.
I started agreeing with Charles and calling them Palisimians
when I saw things like this:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can’t, the young star of Hamas television’s best-known children’s show said, she’d be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.
Eleven freakin' years old.
Saraa is the sweet face of “Tomorrow’s Pioneers,” a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children’s show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogator.
...
Saraa helps deliver similar messages to Palestinian children from a Hamas TV set filled with colorful numbers and pictures of kittens. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, liberating Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun.
And one of the things that really pisses me off, as a side issue, is that an awful lot of the people who'll make excuses for this crap will have hissy fits at the very idea of a parent here in the US taking their kids to the range. THAT'S disgusting, but these kids praising death and murder? Why, that's just fine!
Oh, for... If you actually needed further proof that Once Great Britain
is in the toilet, here it is:
DOCTORS and health workers have been banned from eating lunch at their desks - in case it offends their Muslim colleagues. Health chiefs believe the sight of food will upset Muslim workers when they are celebrating the religious festival Ramadan.
Now, this would be bad enough if it were standard multi-culti bullshit. But:
The new guidance comes in the wake of the failed terror attacks on Glasgow and the death of suspect Kafeel Ahmed, 27.
So if there was any doubt, this is because a bunch of chickenshits are terrified of muslims and don't want to do anything that might upset them. Even to the point of telling non-muslims not to eat.
What? You say it only says not eating at their desk? Read on:
But Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as Lothian NHS boards also issued the advice, warning workers not to take working lunches, and said all vending machines should be removed from areas where Muslims work.
Got that? Vending machines removed, and don't even TAKE your own lunch.
The Englishman and Mr. Free Market & Co., if they haven't already, should consider stocking up on, say, anti-personnel type ammo. They may need to to repel attackers and then to fight their way out of what used to be a great country.
DOCTORS and health workers have been banned from eating lunch at their desks - in case it offends their Muslim colleagues.
Now, this would be bad enough if it were standard multi-culti bullshit. But:
The new guidance comes in the wake of the failed terror attacks on Glasgow and the death of suspect Kafeel Ahmed, 27.
So if there was any doubt, this is because a bunch of chickenshits are terrified of muslims and don't want to do anything that might upset them. Even to the point of telling non-muslims not to eat.
What? You say it only says not eating at their desk? Read on:
But Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as Lothian NHS boards also issued the advice, warning workers not to take working lunches, and said all vending machines should be removed from areas where Muslims work.
Got that? Vending machines removed, and don't even TAKE your own lunch.
The Englishman and Mr. Free Market & Co., if they haven't already, should consider stocking up on, say, anti-personnel type ammo. They may need to to repel attackers and then to fight their way out of what used to be a great country.
A bit more on point-shooting
I've heard it referred to as 'shooting without aiming', but that's not the case. It's flat wrong, in fact.
No, you don't use the sights. At least not in the standard fashion, which I'll get to later. But you aim. Go back and look at the pictures of Jordan, and you'll notice that the pistol is far enough forward that he can see it while focusing on the target. So by feel and vision you know where it's pointing. As the distance increases, you move the pistol further forward in your field of view. Please note, you're not just pointing in a direction and pressing trigger, you are aiming, using your view of the target and pistol as your reference points. And with practice, muscle memory helps out.
As the range increases and you raise your hands higher, you do see the sights- primarily the front- and that gives a more precise aim*, until- the range being great enough and/or time being available you use the sights in standard fashion.
Few people are good at this right from the start, but with a bit of practice you might be surprised how accurate you can become with this. And it has another advantage for many: if your vision isn't that good(especially dim conditions), or you wear glasses which could be wet or dirty or knocked off/lost, it saves you the time of picking out the sights and aligning them. I have the standard middle-age problem that changing from far to near vision isn't nearly as fast as it once was, which can make switching from target to sights and back a problem if speed is needed. Again, especially in bad light. Since there's not an optical/red-dot available that's small enough to fit on a holstered pistol for standard carry and affordable/reliable enough(been a while since I looked, there may be something now), that means that being able to point-shoot at closer ranges could be a very handy thing.
Generally, it's always a Good Thing to bring it all the way up and use the sights. Developing some point-shooting skill doesn't take the place of using sights, it adds a skill to your arsenal. If nothing else, get hold of a soft-air gun and try it. Which is a good practice tool anyway.
*I was once on a firing line where point-shooting was being practiced and the range master came over and told me to stop using the sights. I wasn't, I was just moving my pistol further up & forward than the others. I don't remember if I was actively noticing the front sight, but that extra bit of reach was making a real difference in accuracy.
No, you don't use the sights. At least not in the standard fashion, which I'll get to later. But you aim. Go back and look at the pictures of Jordan, and you'll notice that the pistol is far enough forward that he can see it while focusing on the target. So by feel and vision you know where it's pointing. As the distance increases, you move the pistol further forward in your field of view. Please note, you're not just pointing in a direction and pressing trigger, you are aiming, using your view of the target and pistol as your reference points. And with practice, muscle memory helps out.
As the range increases and you raise your hands higher, you do see the sights- primarily the front- and that gives a more precise aim*, until- the range being great enough and/or time being available you use the sights in standard fashion.
Few people are good at this right from the start, but with a bit of practice you might be surprised how accurate you can become with this. And it has another advantage for many: if your vision isn't that good(especially dim conditions), or you wear glasses which could be wet or dirty or knocked off/lost, it saves you the time of picking out the sights and aligning them. I have the standard middle-age problem that changing from far to near vision isn't nearly as fast as it once was, which can make switching from target to sights and back a problem if speed is needed. Again, especially in bad light. Since there's not an optical/red-dot available that's small enough to fit on a holstered pistol for standard carry and affordable/reliable enough(been a while since I looked, there may be something now), that means that being able to point-shoot at closer ranges could be a very handy thing.
Generally, it's always a Good Thing to bring it all the way up and use the sights. Developing some point-shooting skill doesn't take the place of using sights, it adds a skill to your arsenal. If nothing else, get hold of a soft-air gun and try it. Which is a good practice tool anyway.
*I was once on a firing line where point-shooting was being practiced and the range master came over and told me to stop using the sights. I wasn't, I was just moving my pistol further up & forward than the others. I don't remember if I was actively noticing the front sight, but that extra bit of reach was making a real difference in accuracy.
Monday, August 13, 2007
The son is now off to a hot and sandy place
I'm not sure what might or might not be a problem so far as information goes, so for the time being all I'll say is left Germany(in the 50's at night when he called) and deplaned into 100's. Be a bit of a shock, that.
Now it'll be a while before I have a mailing address, hopefully most things he'll need will be available there. If not, well, I've got some boxes and padding saved up.
Now it'll be a while before I have a mailing address, hopefully most things he'll need will be available there. If not, well, I've got some boxes and padding saved up.
Shameless pimping of a relative's blog
My daughter has decided to start a new one, on the subject of putting together a Writer's Guide to Weapons. It's just started, The Pen is Deadlier can be found here.
Just a handy little knife
With a bit of fancy
Blade's O1 and about 4", grip is antler, fittings are brass with a bit of filework on the edges.
Blade's O1 and about 4", grip is antler, fittings are brass with a bit of filework on the edges.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Just what IS going to happen to Russia?
The Geek had this up a few days back, and there've been other discussions about this for some time. Barring a miracle, I think Russia is pretty much screwed, and I think the big culprit is communism.
That faith dominated the Soviet Union for decades, and they're going to be dealing with the effects of it for decades longer(assuming Russia doesn't break up completely or get taken over). Lots of countries broke from being run by royal families and did well; Russia made a start and then the commies took over, cementing their control by any means available. Face it, at best a country run for so long by people like Stalin & Co. and their followers would take a long damn time to get over it. With the multiple shocks starting when the Wall came down, it was iffy but they had a real chance. But with so many- mostly older, true, but still...- actually wishing Stalin would come back...
I hate to see it happen.
That faith dominated the Soviet Union for decades, and they're going to be dealing with the effects of it for decades longer(assuming Russia doesn't break up completely or get taken over). Lots of countries broke from being run by royal families and did well; Russia made a start and then the commies took over, cementing their control by any means available. Face it, at best a country run for so long by people like Stalin & Co. and their followers would take a long damn time to get over it. With the multiple shocks starting when the Wall came down, it was iffy but they had a real chance. But with so many- mostly older, true, but still...- actually wishing Stalin would come back...
I hate to see it happen.
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