Carnival #43, the Zombie Edition!

Lots of tips on dealing with zombies, the the poor souls and idiots whose brains have already been eaten. Go here, quickly!

I dislike pain

Especially back. Yeah, while screwing around with the chipper & yardwork yesterday I pulled something, badly enough that I stayed home today. Better this evening.

I took the time to work on repairing my favorite pocket knife. It's a CRKT lockblade marked 'Mirage' on the blade; half-serrated blade and pocket clip. Discontinued, of course. Problem was the two screws at the pommel end that hold the scales on; they fell out a little over a year ago, and I found replacements, but these somehow stripped their threads on the one scale. No, I don't know how, I put them in with threadlocker and aside from checking them every once in a while have not put a lot of torque on them.

What I wound up doing was a: find some screws that would work, b: drill out the hole on one scale and the liner plates to fit the screw, c: drill out the threaded scale a little smaller than the new screw and use one of them suitably modified, to cut new threads, d: profile the head of the new screw to fit in nicely, e: cut that screw to length and finish the end, f: install it with threadlocker.

I only did one of the two; the drill bit that fit the purpose died while trying to drill the liner for the second. So there's one new screw, and I'll do the other later when I can get a new bit.

Just another day in my whirlwind life.

Well, I share some attitudes with Chris.

Surprise, surprise. You can take the test here

Curvy and Naughty Raw score: 70% Big Breasts, 72% Big Ass, and 56% Cute!

Thanks for taking the T and A and C test! Based on your selections, the results are clear: you show an attraction to larger breasts, larger asses, and sexier composures than others who've taken the test. Note that you like women overall curvier than average. My third variable, "cuteness" is a mostly objective measure of how innocent a given model looked. It's determined by a combination of a lot of factors: lack of dark eye makeup, facial expression, posture, etc. If you scored high on that variable, you are either really nice OR you're into deflowering teens. If you scored low, you are attracted to raunchier, sexier, women. In your case, your lower than average score suggests you appreciate a sexier, naughtier look. Kudos! Recommended Celebrities: Supermodel Laetitia Casta and Actress Angelina Jolie.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 81% on tit-size You scored higher than 90% on ass-size You scored higher than 57% on cuteness

Link: The Tits, Ass, and Cuteness Test written by chicken_pot_pie on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

If his mouth is the only thing in the way, we're really in trouble

Joe Biden, that is. Senator Joe Biden(musn't forget the title, he'll get the vapors). Was over at Instapundit and found this article with the title Loose Lips Sink..., subtitle Biden's Leadership Is Lost in All His Talk. Ok so far, it's about Biden huffing and blowing at the Alito("the humorless Supreme Court nominee") hearings. Read it through, and my first thought is that if Cohen thinks his mouth and not his record is the 'only' thing in the way of his becoming president...

"Biden occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party", hmm? Evidence is his support of the AWB and his "centrist--and defensible-- position" on the war. Ok, the AWB was, by the admission of the people at the Violence Policy Center and other groups who pushed it, worthless as far as cutting crime; it mainly served to help demonize 'assault weapons' and get people use to the idea of a ban on types of firearms 'for the common good'. And Biden, as I recall, hasn't met a gun ban, restriction, tax or licensing scheme that he didn't vote for. And his 'centrist' position on the war has consisted of loudly criticizing and bitching and moaning, and not having the guts to actually vote to cut and run. Maybe these things are the 'sensible center' of the Democrat party now, but it doesn't fly real well with an awful lot of people.

And I've got to take note of this: "But even before that vote, Biden was urging President Bush to seek international support for the Iraq effort, not to move precipitously, and to have a postwar plan. Bush, listening to you-know-who, did what the voices told him." This is so much bullshit it's amazing. I guess wasting all that time at the U.N. asking them to actually, you know, enforce the U.N. measures doesn't count. And the 'postwar plan' crap; "He didn't know beforehand exactly what he'd do when, so he shouldn't have done anything". And we have the obligatory "Bush talks to God" knock("The President listens to voices, obviously he's insane"). Cohen is a jackass.

He does take note that part of Biden's problem is how long he's been in the Senate, and that he's come to think "...that he and his colleagues are the center of the world." You think maybe? Cohen thinks the seniority his time there confers is one of his good points. I'd argue that it's one of his problems. We've got far too many people in the Senate and House both who think that having 'Senator' or 'Representative' as their job title means they're far above the common scum they rule. And far too many of them DO think they 'rule', or should.

Ending with this: "Biden ran for president once before -- and then, too, his mouth went off on its own. (In 1988, his stump speech was perilously similar to the one used by Neil Kinnock, Britain's Labor Party leader.) This time seems no different, except the loss is greater. Foreign policy, Biden's specialty, is the number one issue. He has much to say -- and then too much to add. He is an anatomical disaster. His Achilles' heel is his mouth." If I remember right, "perilously similar" meant he actually took whole sections for his own. And if foreign policy would suffer from Biden not being in the Oval Office, bring on the suffering.

Cheap screws and good threadlocker

Never a good combination

Having nice weather today, I decided to flip the blades on the chipper, which were getting dull. No big deal, pull two machine screws on each blade and turn it around, then put the screws back. Uh huh. Let me mention that I put penetrating oil on them a few days back, just to ease things.

One screw came out ok. One came after some bad words and fiddling. And both on the other blade stripped. Hex-head screws, yet. So get the drill and the broken-screw pullers, and drill through both screws and turn them out(I highly recommend these tools, by the way; every home should have a set. I use the things 2-3 times per year, but on those occasions nothing else would do the job). The first two didn't show any, but the stripped pair seemed to have some kind of threadlocker on them. I'm wondering if someone picked up the wrong damn tube and put the high-strength or stud-grade stuff on them. Anyway.

So now I need two metric machine screws, not something found at Wally World. So get the helmet and start the bike and go to Pep Boys. Always a good place for stuff like this, as they've had bins of bolts and screws of different types, standard and metric both. Guess what? Pep Boys doesn't have those bins anymore; they've got about six or eight feet of fasteners in little packages. No bins, no large or odd stuff anymore. Crap. Then I see a rebate on the new Sylvania halogen headlamps, which my son swears by. Except they don't have the size for my truck. Double crap. Where now?

I remembered there's an Ace Hardware on the way home, so I swing in there, and lo and behold! I find them. Bigger heads than the originals and a little longer in the shank; big deal, both fixable. So home. Chuck the shank of one in the cordless, turn on the belt sander and cut down the edge so, although it'll stick up a bit the edges will curve down nicely and leave no step for anything to catch on. Do that twice, then cut the shanks to length and use the sander to clean up the ends. And while it's out, use it to sharpen the dull side of the blades. And THEN, put a drop of medium(yes, I checked) threadlocker on each screw and turn them into place.

So a job that should have taken half an hour if I sharpened the blades took about two damn hours. And a sliced thumb. No, not from sharpening, that happened when trying to get the two #*%)$(*!! jammed screws out.

And the gas bill came in today. DAMN! Almost double what it was last year at this time! I'd expected higher, it was warned of, but it's still a bloody shock. Damn hurricanes.

Speaking of hurricanes, read earlier that someone started a petition to recall the governor of Louisiana for poor performance. The Gov. was not available for comment, being in the Netherlands. Probably looking for wooden shoes for office decorations. While they're at it, they need to do something about Schoolbus Nagin. And has anything been done yet about the Chief of Police of NO? Not about the gun seizures and connected mistreatment of people, I mean about the ghost officers, and the looting officers and the deserting officers? If not, something should be done. And while we're on the subject, the dickhead I mentioned earlier still hasn't contacted my ex and daughter to repay them for the gas; somebody needs to feed parts of him to a gator, or a snapping turtle. Bastard.

Yeah, I am in a mood today.

What got my attention on gun control laws

Some people figured this stuff out early, or had it pointed out to them. I think a lot- maybe most- of us had it creep up and whack us over the head. Which is pretty much what happened to me. I'd heard bits and pieces when I was a kid; the first I actually remember was my dad and someone else talking about a measure someone had introduced in Congress to ban 'short-barreled' handguns. Dad thought it was a dumb idea, and that led to discussion of some other idiots' idea of banning ALL handguns, including for law enforcement personnel. General outcome of that discussion was Dad saying that if it happened, he'd either borrow the cut-down Winchester idea from Steve McQueen, or quit; he would not go out on patrol unarmed. I wondered what kind of jerk would want to disarm even LE, but after that it slipped out of my mind. We were visiting my grandparents, and there was fishing to do and beehives to watch and maybe some squirrels to hunt.

It continued like that for several more years, something would bring this stuff to my attention and I'd get distracted and forget it. Then one day Dad and I went to the range. Didn't get to go often at that time, so it was an occasion. Handguns only that time, Dad's sidearm and a .22 revolver(side note: I was in my early 30's before I fired a semi-auto pistol). Great fun was had, and then it hit.

I was lining up a shot when the aforementioned Truth walked up behind me with a 2x4 and swung. There were people out there who would never let us do this again! They'd take the .22, and Dad wouldn't be able to let me shoot his .357! I'd never be allowed to own a pistol, and if I had kids someday, I wouldn't be allowed to teach them to shoot them! Hell, if those people had their way, we wouldn't be allowed to own ANY firearm!!!

It's kind of hard to overstate how strong a shock this was. I'd known it intellectually, but not in my gut where it counted. I knew it now, and it scared me. And then it made me mad.

Dammit, we were honest people! We weren't going to rob or rape or murder someone, but it might be handy to have one if some criminal came along. The thought of our own government saying "You cannot be trusted to own arms" really, really pissed me off. And I joined the NRA.
And I read the magazine every month, and I started writing letters. I was a pissed and scared teenager who didn't like the idea of my basic rights being chopped up by politicians and GFWs(damn, I wish I'd known that term then!); especially when I started finding out just how crooked and hypocritical many of them were. And how arrogant and condescending others were.

So here I am. I still write letters to my Rep. and Senator; I write letters to the editor sometimes; and I talk to people. I've helped a few people start shooting, helped others with maintenance or ammo questions. I've been an on & off member of the NRA, partly because there were years I flat couldn't afford the membership and sometimes- in later years- because I was pissed at them for compromising(or compromising excessively) on something important. When I wasn't in NRA, I was in GOA after I learned about them. Yeah, they sometimes are excessive on some things; I've decided that I'd rather support that in many cases than the 'we must compromise' attitude.

And I raised my kids as gunny people. Bill of Rights people in general, actually, which led to some funny and some scary episodes. Funny when- my daughter in particular- got into arguments with teachers about the Bill, especially the 2nd and firearms in general, and either fought them to a truce or won. Scary when they found out how little most of the other kids- including in high school- knew about their rights and responsibilities, and how little many of them cared.

So on we go. They're of age now, and as I have happily found out, willing to argue the matters with people. Oh yeah, they've discovered the "if you bring up nasty facts I'll call names and go away" method of 'argument' among many GFWs and libs. We don't agree on everything; they weren't raised to be parrots. On a number of important things, however, we're in accord. And the 2nd is one of them.

Oh, being able to point out some interesting facts to a teacher and change their mind about firearms is a fun thing, too. The hippies I just wear a suitable shirt and annoy.

It has to be said:

This woman must be stopped!

So Steve mentioned he's on a diet; good so far. And the usual bitcher- helpful commenters have their say. And then.

She struck.

First, she suggested kickboxing. Ok, it does burn calories, and might be useful someday. But does she stop there? NOOOO. Then she tells him to.. it's hard to say.. she told him to QUIT DRINKING!!!

That's it. I don't care if she IS the big-ass- er, big-shot Diva blogger, Something Must Be Done!

If you've never heard of Oleg Volk,

he makes things like this:













Don't you just love it?

Check out his other stuff at A Human Right, and here at his place.

Interesting site, and a particular post

The Carnival had a link to a site I'd not seen before, the Pro-Gun Progressive. Looking through the site, found this comparing the murder rate in the U.S. to that of other countries.

Brings up a good point. Someone starts yapping about the high rate of murders involving firearms here, they either don't know about total rates, i.e. by all causes, or don't care; guns are bad and that's all that counts. Being able to point out those total numbers can really take the wind from their sails. And in the case of the really annoying GFWs, it really pisses them off, too.

"Saddam had nothing to do with terrorists"

'Bullshit' has been the proven reply to that nonsense before; now there's this:
"THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials."

As Michelle says, this is Big News, and ought to be on the front pages. Want to hold your breath until it is?

I didn't think so.

Combat stress

I'm not writing this from firsthand experience of the real thing; it's been a long time since I've been in any kind of fight. I was just thinking back on some of the descriptions of fights in Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly from a writer like Yon. Just reading about this gets your system pumped up. One thing I do know is that while hard, realistic training will stress you out, nothing equals the wear and tear of a real fight. I've never been in a real life-or-death struggle(happily); and the closest I came to true combat exhaustion was from a demonstration, of all things.

I've mentioned I used to play around in the SCA. Well, one evening the local group had been asked to do a demo for some organization. The guy I was to fight was working hard at a Japanese persona, and at that time fought only with katana. We'd sparred some times before, and that night we agreed to use his chosen weapons. Time came and we got up on the stage and stood facing while we were introduced, rules explained, etc.

I had always seen SCA combat as a game. I'd never taken it seriously, seeing it as a real fight. Until tonight. For some reason, this time, I looked at Taisho and thought, "You're mine". Everything around me faded into the background; I could hear everything but only the sounds from my opponent counted, I knew where everything/everyone around me was without having to glance aside. And the fight began.

And this time it was a real fight to me. I was fairly skilled, but not taking it dead-serious kept me from getting much better. But this time, everything was focused. He was better, better than me at this style but I had him on the defensive from the start. I have no idea how long it lasted, probably no more than a minute, then I feinted him out of position and made a beautiful cross-body cut into him, and he folded and went down. I stepped back, they called me the winner, and then, I couldn't move. I mean I couldn't move; I had to lean my helmet on the sword pommel- point on the floor- to keep from falling over. Truly realistic training is much like a real battle, it drains you, and this was the first time ever in SCA combat I'd done this. I think somebody led me off the stage, at least I didn't really remember walking off. And after we both calmed down, Taisho basically said "What the hell was THAT?" I said something like "I remembered to concentrate this time" and left it at that.

I was wearing a steel helmet that probably weighed about 6-8 pounds, a padded tunic and leather and steel scale laced onto a leather backing body armor, shoulders to mid-thigh, some leather armor over arms and gauntlets for the hands. Probably about 45-50 pounds total weight, and the sword weighed about three.

What made me remember this was thinking of what our troops wear. Fatigues, and armor, often elbow and knee pads, helmet, goggles, sometimes night-vision gear. Ammo and first-aid kit and water and food and personal weapons. Sometimes a belt for the guy with the machinegun or other ammo for somebody with the heavy-weapons stuff. And so on. David Drake wrote in Fortress that what a lot of people didn't realize is that the infantry grunt carries everything he needs on his body, and hopes it's enough at the same time he's sweating to carry it all. And in real combat; real outdo the other guys, kill or die combat. I don't think I can imagine the level of stress, and the let-down at the end, when the shooting stops. And then they have to stay mobile and alert until things are secured and they're relieved...

A lot of people have said it better than I can; we OWE these people bigtime for doing what so many of us cannot for whatever reason.

Carnival of Cordite #42

The first of 2006 is up at Gullyborg, with a big backlog of gunny posts to check out.

I have to agree with Gunner,

this is it:
"For those who believe it to be outdated, the Second Amendment provides a good test of whether their allegiance is really to the Constitution of the United States, or only to their preferences in public policies and audiences."

And from the desks of Steyn and Lileks,

we have first "It's the Demography, Stupid" from Steyn. And then we have further on the message and on the mindset of those who hate and/or despise their own western culture from Lileks.

Go read them both if you haven't already.

OKC Bombing update

All the current screaming because the NSA was checking calls made internationally to specific phone numbers found on a terrorists' cellphone? How about this:

"A series of internal documents from the U.S. Secret Service obtained by this newspaper provide details of a project involving the transfer of thousands of telephone and bank records to a government database with the help of U.S. telephone and financial company executives. "

"Federal prosecutors would, over a year later, use the roadmap created by the so-called Daryl Bridges calling card to obtain convictions in the Denver federal trials of McVeigh and Nichols. However, during each trial there was scant mention of any role played by Riley or the Secret Service in obtaining the phone records.

Instead, a series of FBI agents and phone company executives would take the stand to tell jurors a much more “sanitized” version of how the records were obtained.

At no time did the government admit that federal agents were able to obtain thousands of unsuspecting Americans’ phone and bank records without their knowledge, nor did the government show a court any evidence that these citizens had done anything illegal."

Gee, I thought all was wonderfulness and light before the Eeeville Bushymacchimphitler took office?

If this is true, Britain's gone through the toilet

And is reaching the pond.

Update: I found this link at No Quarters; this crap is for real. Here's his post on it.


" Police in the United Kingdom have now been authorized to arrest anyone at any time for any reason, according to the UK Telegraph."

Civil liberties? What are those?

"Before the law changes, police were able to arrest suspects only if the police had reason to believe that the suspects were going to commit a crime punishable by at least five years of jail. Those restrictions have been dropped such that police can now arrest and detain anyone that they think might commit any type of crime. Police will still have to file a report explaining why they thought arresting someone was necessary."

I looked over the Telegraph site for more information and couldn't find reference to this. I did, however, find this:
"The government was accused last night of compiling a national DNA database "by stealth" as police reported a rapid increase in genetic profiling in recent years." Sound interesting?
"The growth in the UK database has followed several legal changes allowing the DNA taken from people who are acquitted, or arrested and questioned but never charged - or even cautioned - to be retained indefinitely.

No other country gives its police greater freedom to obtain, use and store genetic information and most remove the profiles if the person is acquitted or not charged."

Near the end it has this from the Home Office minister:"

Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, said: "It is vital that the police are equipped with the powers they need to enable them to do their jobs properly and effectively. The powers need to be updated to reflect modern policing priorities and the changing nature of criminal activity.

"We need to maintain the crucial balance between the powers of the police and an individual's rights.

"The introduction of a single, rationalised power of arrest simplifies arrest powers and requires the police officer to consider the necessity of the arrest." Yeah, it really simplifies things when you can bust someone you think, might, commit any type of crime.

Combine this with the ever-increasing video surveillance, and the plan to track every motor vehicle all the time... If you're planning a trip to Formerly Great Britain, be damn careful when you're there.

I think it may have been Cowboy Blob who started the 'first gun' stuff lately. I don't have the first one I bought, but I do have the second:














Ruger New Model Super Single-Six, to use the whole name. 5.5" barrel, adjustable sights, and came with both .22LR and .22 Magnum cylinders. Like Cowboy, I wasn't old enough to buy it myself, Dad did the honors there, and I've had it ever since. Not too many magnums have been fired(I was always short of money, and they's expensive), but I have no idea how many long rifle cartridges have gone down the bore. When I first heard of them, I wanted to get a Wolff spring kit to lighten the trigger, but a: didn't have the money then, either and b: since then just never got around to it. Realistically, wouldn't make a lot of difference; the trigger has a bit of creep, but it's not heavy, and someday I'll get around to taking it apart and polishing things.

Nicely accurate, and solid in the hand. I found a holster that fit, and used it to carry it on fishing and camping trips and hikes. Barring disaster, it'll go to the kids to argue over someday.

The first gun? Marlin Model 60 .22 rifle. I don't have it because it belongs to my daughter now.

And for a better level of reporting from New Orleans,

go here.

Can they tar and feather the judge?

After hanging the bastard?

"A Williston man who admitted repeatedly sexually assaulting a young girl for four years was sentenced Wednesday to spend 60 days in prison -- a punishment that angered the victim's family but was defended by the judge as the only way to provide counseling for the perpetrator."

And when the prosecutor asked for at least an eight-year sentance? "Cashman, though, told the crowded courtroom that punishment was not his priority in sentencing Hulett, but rather finding treatment for the man to prevent future abuse."

How about this, judge; you could prevent future abuse by LOCKING HIS ASS UP FOR A LONG DAMN TIME! He repeated his crime over FOUR YEARS, YOU IDIOT! He RAPED the kid over and over and over, and YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT HIM GETTING COUNSELING?!?!?

This is the kind of thing tar and feathers exist in tandem for. And a nice, splintery rail, too. It's hard to imagine anything else as vile as what this walking piece of trash did; and it's hard to believe a rational adult could do something as idiotically PC as this worthless excuse for a judge did.

And you know what? If a family member of the kid beat the crap out of the molester, let alone hanged him as he deserves, this jackass jurist would probably want them imprisoned for life; after all, the 'justice system' had dealt with the miscreant, right?

God, it's enough to make you dig up pitchforks and torches.

Book Review

Through The Crosshairs, by Andy Dougan

Found this at the library, and decided to give it a try. It's about snipers and their craft. And it does have some good bits and pieces of history. Unfortunately, it suffers from two faults: first, the guy obviously read a lot of references, but never actually learned enough about the subject to tell good info from crap; and second, he occasionally lets political bias into his writing.

The major problem is not being able to sift crap from good information. Best way to cover this is to give some quotes from the book.

On the problem of the musket ball: "Additionally the soft lead ball itself had a tendancy to deform as it traveled through the air, meaning that it lost power and accuracy in flight... Sometimes musket balls ended up as no more than flattened lumps of metal that scarcely broke the skin of their intended targets."(page 85)

On German snipers in WWI: "...using rifles with muzzle velocities of around 3,000 feet per second - more than twice the speed of the deadly Mauser of twenty years earlier."(page 165). I never knew a 7mm Mauser only had a MV of 1500fps.

Referring to the 8mm Mauser: "The bullets had hard metal jackets and were larger than the Minie' ball - about three-tenths of an inch in diameter, or .30 caliber"(page 153). Considering the Minie' ball was, in the arms he speaks of, .57 or .58 caliber, I think he needs a ruler.

And one of the really good ones. Most of you have heard of the Snipers Triangle; his definition of how it's used is priceless: "The sniper wants to place himself on high ground or in a sufficiently elevated position to be shooting down on his target. If he misses the clean head shot then the bullet should still travel through the head, down through the neck, along the long axis of the body, through the heart and out of the back. This vastly increases the chances of hitting a major organ such as the heart or liver or severing an artery."(page 252-253)

And so on. I think he must have taken some things he read or heard of and come up with his own ideas on how things work; that last bit, for instance. Either that or he swallowed the hook, line and sinker when someone threw him a line of BS.

The political bias doesn't show that often, but the time that pissed me off was a reference to a mission of Sgt. Carlos Hathcock in Vietnam. He'd been sent out to kill a Frenchman who was helping the North, among other ways by torturing American prisoners for information. Hathcock made the shot, and this jerk's opinion is "Whatever the Frenchman's crimes - and they may have included the torturing of captives - Hathcock's mission was an act of sniping as terrorism."(page 252). It takes a real friggin' idiot to pop out with this.

Overall, I'd have to say give it a pass. There are lots better books out there on the subject.

Note: I will give him this, he reminded me of something. At the Battle of Saratoga, Daniel Morgan gave the order for a British general trying to rally his men to be shot. The official words are "That gallant officer is General Fraser", he said. "I admire him, but it is necessary that he should die. Do your duty." Considering what is known of Morgan, he more likely said "You see that bastard on the gray horse? Kill him." In any case, Timothy Murphy climbed a tree for a better line of sight and did the job nicely.