To contact us Click HERE
I was in social studies as a sophomore in HS during the 9/11 attacks. I remember school getting cancelled after rolling as many TVs into classrooms as possible to inform kids of the news. Being from Upstate NY - it seemed distant. 2 years later I was living in the Bronx as a young undergraduate, and suddenly being a 'New Yorker' had meaning. Frankly, I don't think about it often. It doesn't bring up painful memories for me anymore than reading about Pearl Harbor does. I was insulated and isolated from the events by either time or distance, and the meaning of the events for me is interpreted accordingly.
Outwardly, I spend 9/11 as I do most any day. I note the flags at half mast and find myself reminded of a very different time in my life. To this day I'm not sure on what is and is not an appropriate response. As an American, I feel for the loss of hardworking people who did nothing out of the ordinary on a particular day and were cut down because of it. As a person, I feel guilt in not knowing how to grieve for a pain that didn't touch me or anyone I knew. My hurt came as an American who no longer had the opportunity to know thousands of other Americans - Not as a man who no longer could see his friends or his loved ones. Those are very different experiences, and frankly I'm still not really sure how to resolve those issues within me.
I went to the range today and I shot my ACII and my RIA Tac 9mm, and even a bit through my Ruger Mk II. It was unspectacular insofar-as everything worked well. No FTF, FTE, or issues of any kind with any gun were noted. Giving an in depth range report though seems somehow inappropriate today. Not inappropriate because I grieve as a person who lost a loved one, but inappropriate nevertheless. So instead I'll say simply that today was a good day. A day with good friends and good times. I've labored more over this post than most any other I can remember. Three rambling paragraphs and I'm still not sure what I want to say here - but I do believe that anyone who ever wanted to attack the west, and particularly America, would be annoyed by that, so I find it somewhat comforting to annoy those bastards.
30 Eylül 2012 Pazar
SoCal Blogshoots?
To contact us Click HERE
Are there any out there?
I keep reading on all the other blogs about how much fun all you fine people have going to them, but I've yet to see any mentioned for Southern California.
The local NRA group held a "Fun Shoot" a couple of weeks ago, but alas, I was out bouncing around on the ocean for work.
Hmm.....maybe I should check with the ranges I go to and ask around some more, but I've never seen any gatherings "advertised" as a blogshoot.
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I keep reading on all the other blogs about how much fun all you fine people have going to them, but I've yet to see any mentioned for Southern California.
The local NRA group held a "Fun Shoot" a couple of weeks ago, but alas, I was out bouncing around on the ocean for work.
Hmm.....maybe I should check with the ranges I go to and ask around some more, but I've never seen any gatherings "advertised" as a blogshoot.
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RCBS "Rock Chucker" Kit
To contact us Click HERE
Well, I went over to my buddy's business today to pick up my mail and my packages.
Besides the RCBS kit, I'd ordered a bunch of books on the X-15 Research Aircraft and the XB-70 Valkyrie Experimental Bomber, and another book on the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine..
It took me about 15 minutes to bring everything in from the Jeep once I got home.
I'm really impressed with the RCBS "Rock Chucker" kit! I knew it came with the big items I wanted, like the press and a scale, but I'd either forgotten, or didn't look at everything listed in the description.
It came with a hand primer, and an automatic powder measure, along with a bunch of other little things. Every box I opened was "Oh Boy!" to the point my sweet wife came over and started looking at all the goodies.
We talked about reloading yesterday when I was plopped on the couch relaxing, and I showed her pictures of all the equipment, and explained all the steps in reloading empty cases.
She agreed it was a good aspect of the hobby to know and understand, and said I'd probably "Do everything exactly by the book, and get really good at it".
At this point (Rank Beginner) I'm just looking to get performance comparable to the factory loaded ammo I buy, learn a bunch, and save a few bucks. Perhaps at some future date I'll do some experimentation to develop loads suited to my particular guns, but as Ellie Arroway's Dad told her...."Small steps".
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Besides the RCBS kit, I'd ordered a bunch of books on the X-15 Research Aircraft and the XB-70 Valkyrie Experimental Bomber, and another book on the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine..
It took me about 15 minutes to bring everything in from the Jeep once I got home.
I'm really impressed with the RCBS "Rock Chucker" kit! I knew it came with the big items I wanted, like the press and a scale, but I'd either forgotten, or didn't look at everything listed in the description.
It came with a hand primer, and an automatic powder measure, along with a bunch of other little things. Every box I opened was "Oh Boy!" to the point my sweet wife came over and started looking at all the goodies.
We talked about reloading yesterday when I was plopped on the couch relaxing, and I showed her pictures of all the equipment, and explained all the steps in reloading empty cases.
She agreed it was a good aspect of the hobby to know and understand, and said I'd probably "Do everything exactly by the book, and get really good at it".
At this point (Rank Beginner) I'm just looking to get performance comparable to the factory loaded ammo I buy, learn a bunch, and save a few bucks. Perhaps at some future date I'll do some experimentation to develop loads suited to my particular guns, but as Ellie Arroway's Dad told her...."Small steps".
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Who Am I?
To contact us Click HERE
I'm sure this has been floating around the Web, but it's the first time I've seen it.
I was born in one country, raised in another. My father was born in another country.
I was not his only child. He fathered several children with numerous women.
I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no interest in me.
My mother died at an early age from cancer.
Although my father deserted me and my mother raised me, I later wrote a book idolizing my father not my mother.
Later in life, questions arose over my real name. My birth records were sketchy.
No one was able to produce a legitimate, reliable birth certificate.
I grew up practicing one faith but converted to Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my new country, but I practiced non-traditional beliefs and didn't follow Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny.
I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them.
That was before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and embarked on a new career.
I wrote a book about my struggles growing up.
It was clear to those who read my memoirs, that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.
I became active in local politics in my 30's then, with help behind the scenes,
I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office in my 40s.
They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything.
I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization.
Yet I was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to me, as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks. I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances. This bolstered my ego.
At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy.
I was very critical of my country in the last war, and seized every opportunity to bash my country.
But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country's economy.
I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could do better, and every poor person would be fed and housed for free. I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess.
It was the free market, banks and corporations.
I decided to start making citizens hate them and, if they became envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.
I called mine "A People's Campaign." That sounded good to all people.
I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.
I knew that, if I merely offered the people 'hope,' together we could change our country and the world.
So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant, to include "persecuted minorities".
My true views were not widely known and I kept them unknown, until after I became my nation's leader.
I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have easily found out what I really believed, if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. I'm glad they didn't.
Then I became the most powerful man in the world. And then the world learned the truth.
Who am I?
ADOLPH HITLER
If you were thinking of SOMEONE ELSE, you should be scared, very scared!
I was born in one country, raised in another. My father was born in another country.
I was not his only child. He fathered several children with numerous women.
I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no interest in me.
My mother died at an early age from cancer.
Although my father deserted me and my mother raised me, I later wrote a book idolizing my father not my mother.
Later in life, questions arose over my real name. My birth records were sketchy.
No one was able to produce a legitimate, reliable birth certificate.
I grew up practicing one faith but converted to Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my new country, but I practiced non-traditional beliefs and didn't follow Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny.
I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them.
That was before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and embarked on a new career.
I wrote a book about my struggles growing up.
It was clear to those who read my memoirs, that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.
I became active in local politics in my 30's then, with help behind the scenes,
I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office in my 40s.
They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything.
I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization.
Yet I was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to me, as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks. I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances. This bolstered my ego.
At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy.
I was very critical of my country in the last war, and seized every opportunity to bash my country.
But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country's economy.
I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could do better, and every poor person would be fed and housed for free. I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess.
It was the free market, banks and corporations.
I decided to start making citizens hate them and, if they became envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.
I called mine "A People's Campaign." That sounded good to all people.
I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.
I knew that, if I merely offered the people 'hope,' together we could change our country and the world.
So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant, to include "persecuted minorities".
My true views were not widely known and I kept them unknown, until after I became my nation's leader.
I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have easily found out what I really believed, if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. I'm glad they didn't.
Then I became the most powerful man in the world. And then the world learned the truth.
Who am I?
ADOLPH HITLER
If you were thinking of SOMEONE ELSE, you should be scared, very scared!
0bama Tells Defense Contractors NOT to Issue Layoff Notices Over Sequestration
To contact us Click HERE
Seeing as most of the employees who work for defense contractors hate 0bama's guts, getting the contractors to NOT issue the legally required notices is just more smoke and mirrors from this most transparent administration in history.
Seeing as the notices would be mailed to the employees before the November elections, I guess Chairman MaoBama figures he can pull the wool/blow the smoke, and con the people into not knowing what's going on.
Article below is from The Hill:
The Obama administration issued new guidance intended fordefense contractors Friday afternoon, reiterating the administration’s positionthat the companies should not be issuing layoff notices over sequestration.
The Labor Department issued guidance in July saying it wouldbe “inappropriate” for contractors to issue notices of potential layoffstied to sequestration cuts. But a few contractors, most notably LockheedMartin, said they still were considering whether to issue the notices — whichwould be sent out just days before the November election.
But the Friday guidance from the Office of Management andBudget raised the stakes in the dispute, telling contractors that they would becompensated for legal costs if layoffs occur due to contract cancellationsunder sequestration — but only if the contractors follow the Labor guidance.
The guidance said that if plant closings or mass layoffsoccur under sequestration, then “employee compensation costs for [Worker Adjustmentand Retraining Notification] WARN act liability as determined by a court” wouldbe paid for covered by the contracting federal agency.
Senate Republicans, who accused the White House of trying tohide job losses after the first guidance, said Friday that the new OMBstatement “puts politics ahead of American workers.”“The Obama Administration is cynically trying to skirt theWARN Act to keep the American people in the dark about this looming nationalsecurity and fiscal crisis,” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham(R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said in a statement. “The president shouldinsist that companies act in accordance with the clearly stated law and moveforward with the layoff notices.”
The fight over WARN Act notices began in June when LockheedMartin CEO Bob Stevens said his company might send the notices to all 123,000of its employees.
Some companies were hesitant to follow Lockheed, but severalothers told McCain in letters earlier this month they might send the notices,too, despite the Labor Department guidance.But the new guidance would appear to address one of thechief concerns from the companies — that they could be liable to compensateemployees who were laid off if the companies don’t issue the notices.The GOP senators complained, however, that this tactic wouldpush the cost of the layoffs onto taxpayers.A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman told The Hill that the companyis still reviewing the documents.
And there's another related article here.
.
Seeing as the notices would be mailed to the employees before the November elections, I guess Chairman MaoBama figures he can pull the wool/blow the smoke, and con the people into not knowing what's going on.
Article below is from The Hill:
The Obama administration issued new guidance intended fordefense contractors Friday afternoon, reiterating the administration’s positionthat the companies should not be issuing layoff notices over sequestration.
The Labor Department issued guidance in July saying it wouldbe “inappropriate” for contractors to issue notices of potential layoffstied to sequestration cuts. But a few contractors, most notably LockheedMartin, said they still were considering whether to issue the notices — whichwould be sent out just days before the November election.
But the Friday guidance from the Office of Management andBudget raised the stakes in the dispute, telling contractors that they would becompensated for legal costs if layoffs occur due to contract cancellationsunder sequestration — but only if the contractors follow the Labor guidance.
The guidance said that if plant closings or mass layoffsoccur under sequestration, then “employee compensation costs for [Worker Adjustmentand Retraining Notification] WARN act liability as determined by a court” wouldbe paid for covered by the contracting federal agency.
Senate Republicans, who accused the White House of trying tohide job losses after the first guidance, said Friday that the new OMBstatement “puts politics ahead of American workers.”“The Obama Administration is cynically trying to skirt theWARN Act to keep the American people in the dark about this looming nationalsecurity and fiscal crisis,” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham(R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said in a statement. “The president shouldinsist that companies act in accordance with the clearly stated law and moveforward with the layoff notices.”
The fight over WARN Act notices began in June when LockheedMartin CEO Bob Stevens said his company might send the notices to all 123,000of its employees.
Some companies were hesitant to follow Lockheed, but severalothers told McCain in letters earlier this month they might send the notices,too, despite the Labor Department guidance.But the new guidance would appear to address one of thechief concerns from the companies — that they could be liable to compensateemployees who were laid off if the companies don’t issue the notices.The GOP senators complained, however, that this tactic wouldpush the cost of the layoffs onto taxpayers.A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman told The Hill that the companyis still reviewing the documents.
And there's another related article here.
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29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi
Michelle 0bama Gives.....Shopping Lessons?
To contact us Click HERE
I saw this over at wirecutter's place, and his response to it was so on-the-money that I had to repost it here.
This is just another example of the democRATS "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" thinking.
(CNSNews.com) - As part of her anti-obesity Let's Move campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama is now presenting a brief online course: “Supermarket Shopping 101.”
The course, which now appears on the letsmove.gov website, provides novice shoppers with tips such as “steer clear of the cookie, snack and soda aisle.”
More of this ridiculous bullshit here
And Kenny's response:
What the fuck is she doing "presenting" a course on shopping? When was the last time she ever went shopping for her own food? When was the last time she went to the store and had to buy generic because the better quality brand name item was 75 cents more expensive? When was the last time she thumped a watermelon to see if it was ripe? Don't answer that one..... When was the last time she had to wrap her kids' lunch in tinfoil because she couldn't afford to buy baggies until Friday? When was the last time she skipped a fucking meal so her kids had plenty to eat? When was the last time she ate Top Ramen with an egg and some slivered leftover ham in it and considered it a fucking treat? When was the last time she checked her bank balance before she went to the store so she wouldn't be embarrassed if her card was refused because there ain't enough money on it? When was the last time she put a picked clean bone in the freezer so next week's beans will have at least some flavor to them?
You want me to keep going?
Well done, Ken!!
.
This is just another example of the democRATS "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" thinking.
(CNSNews.com) - As part of her anti-obesity Let's Move campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama is now presenting a brief online course: “Supermarket Shopping 101.”
The course, which now appears on the letsmove.gov website, provides novice shoppers with tips such as “steer clear of the cookie, snack and soda aisle.”
More of this ridiculous bullshit here
And Kenny's response:
What the fuck is she doing "presenting" a course on shopping? When was the last time she ever went shopping for her own food? When was the last time she went to the store and had to buy generic because the better quality brand name item was 75 cents more expensive? When was the last time she thumped a watermelon to see if it was ripe? Don't answer that one..... When was the last time she had to wrap her kids' lunch in tinfoil because she couldn't afford to buy baggies until Friday? When was the last time she skipped a fucking meal so her kids had plenty to eat? When was the last time she ate Top Ramen with an egg and some slivered leftover ham in it and considered it a fucking treat? When was the last time she checked her bank balance before she went to the store so she wouldn't be embarrassed if her card was refused because there ain't enough money on it? When was the last time she put a picked clean bone in the freezer so next week's beans will have at least some flavor to them?
You want me to keep going?
Well done, Ken!!
.
meh......
To contact us Click HERE
Well, we were *supposed* to go see John Williams tonight at the Hollywood Bowl, but my leg has been acting up all day. Even though we get there early so we can park right across the street, we still have to walk quite a distance to where our seats are.
At least we found one of her friends who was delighted to get the tickets, so they didn't go to waste. She says she'll tell us how good the seats were, and how the show was.
As far as my work-related injury, I had my quarterly check-up on Wednesday, and my Doctor informed me that they are NOT allowed to examine or treat a work-related injury. So, after I got back (excellent check-up, btw), I spent TWO HOURS on the phone finding a place that I could deal with out of the dozens that are listed on the State Insurance Fund website.
I have an appointment with them on Tuesday at 3pm, and woe betide my employer if they give me any grief about leaving "early" to get to the appointment!
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At least we found one of her friends who was delighted to get the tickets, so they didn't go to waste. She says she'll tell us how good the seats were, and how the show was.
As far as my work-related injury, I had my quarterly check-up on Wednesday, and my Doctor informed me that they are NOT allowed to examine or treat a work-related injury. So, after I got back (excellent check-up, btw), I spent TWO HOURS on the phone finding a place that I could deal with out of the dozens that are listed on the State Insurance Fund website.
I have an appointment with them on Tuesday at 3pm, and woe betide my employer if they give me any grief about leaving "early" to get to the appointment!
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OpenSUSE 12.2 Released
To contact us Click HERE
I've been running Linux since about 1995, and various version of SuSE for just about as long. I've tried all of the major distributions, and a lot of obscure ones, and always kept coming back to Suse, now named OpenSUSE.
12.2 was released yesterday, and I downloaded it last night. Since I had a ton of files on the hard-disk in this machine, the easiest way (for me) to upgrade to the new release (I was running 11.4) was to just install another drive, do a clean installation on the new drive, and keep the drive that was running 11.4 as a secondary drive until I can get all my files transferred.
So far it's running just fine, but it'll take me a few days of tweaking it to get it to look like I want it to, and probably another week to get all the packages that I'm used to having installed.
The nice thing about Linux is that it's virtually immune to virus attacks, spyware, malware, and most of the other Bad Stuff floating around on the Web.
12.2 was released yesterday, and I downloaded it last night. Since I had a ton of files on the hard-disk in this machine, the easiest way (for me) to upgrade to the new release (I was running 11.4) was to just install another drive, do a clean installation on the new drive, and keep the drive that was running 11.4 as a secondary drive until I can get all my files transferred.
So far it's running just fine, but it'll take me a few days of tweaking it to get it to look like I want it to, and probably another week to get all the packages that I'm used to having installed.
The nice thing about Linux is that it's virtually immune to virus attacks, spyware, malware, and most of the other Bad Stuff floating around on the Web.
Car Maintenance aned Radio Daze
To contact us Click HERE
Did some minor maintenance on our four vehicles today.
Checked all tires for correct air pressure.
Checked all engines for coolant, windshield washer, and oil levels.
Replaced everybody's wiper blades and air filter.
Cleaned the windows in all four cars.
Since my right leg is feeling much better, I've been more active.
The shoulder still hurts, and it takes two Naproxens to knock the pain down. I'm going to tell them Monday afternoon at PT that I don't think my "Subscapularius" muscle is healing.
AND....I'm messing around with some radio stuff. Mostly I'm writing up a beginners guide to short wave and SHTF portable radios for wirecutter, and I'm still working on the "Expedient HF Antennas" article that I promised the guys over at Western Rifle Shooters Association about a year or so ago.
After I get the first article done on listening for Kenny, I'll start one on (legal) transmitting. He brought up some good points in our emails about most people don't know very much about practical radio use in regards to what kind of little radio to stuff into their BOB, SHTF bag, or whatever you call yours, and how to use them.
And he's 100% correct. You can get some excellent, small, power stingy, portable radios these days that cover AM, FM, and SW that you could use to at least get an idea of what's going on if/when things collapse, BUT unless you have a little basic training about how to use them, you probably won't get much "value" out of them.
Out here in the People's Democratic Republic of Kaliforniastan, we call them "Earthquake Radios", and we keep them with our "Earthquake Supplies". 25 or so years ago I was making up a list of stuff, and one of my buddies saw it, and asked if he could add something to it.
Right at the top, he added three items:
45ACP
12ga pump
ten boxes of shells for each
Interesting foresight from a good friend who's no longer with us.....
,
Checked all tires for correct air pressure.
Checked all engines for coolant, windshield washer, and oil levels.
Replaced everybody's wiper blades and air filter.
Cleaned the windows in all four cars.
Since my right leg is feeling much better, I've been more active.
The shoulder still hurts, and it takes two Naproxens to knock the pain down. I'm going to tell them Monday afternoon at PT that I don't think my "Subscapularius" muscle is healing.
AND....I'm messing around with some radio stuff. Mostly I'm writing up a beginners guide to short wave and SHTF portable radios for wirecutter, and I'm still working on the "Expedient HF Antennas" article that I promised the guys over at Western Rifle Shooters Association about a year or so ago.
After I get the first article done on listening for Kenny, I'll start one on (legal) transmitting. He brought up some good points in our emails about most people don't know very much about practical radio use in regards to what kind of little radio to stuff into their BOB, SHTF bag, or whatever you call yours, and how to use them.
And he's 100% correct. You can get some excellent, small, power stingy, portable radios these days that cover AM, FM, and SW that you could use to at least get an idea of what's going on if/when things collapse, BUT unless you have a little basic training about how to use them, you probably won't get much "value" out of them.
Out here in the People's Democratic Republic of Kaliforniastan, we call them "Earthquake Radios", and we keep them with our "Earthquake Supplies". 25 or so years ago I was making up a list of stuff, and one of my buddies saw it, and asked if he could add something to it.
Right at the top, he added three items:
45ACP
12ga pump
ten boxes of shells for each
Interesting foresight from a good friend who's no longer with us.....
,
A Little Humor Today....
To contact us Click HERE
From various sources.......
Straight From The Horse's Mouth....sortaA Biker is sitting in a bar in Sturgis, South Dakota, when Barack Obama comes on TV.The man looks at the TV and says, "Obama is a horse's ass." Out of nowhere, a local jumps up and punches him in the face, knocking the first guy off his bar stool, then stomps out.The Biker gets back up, rubbing his cheek and orders another beer. Shortly after that incident, Michelle Obama appears on the TV. He looks at the TV and says, "She is a horse's ass too!" Out of nowhere,another local punches him in the other side of his face, knocking him off his bar stool once again.He gets back up and looks at the bartender, "I take it this is Obama country?""Nope." replies the bartender. "Horse country."
Recently, while working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.
During the friendly conversation, I asked their little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied... "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people." Her parents beamed with pride! "Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that! "I told her."What do you mean?" she replied.
So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out and give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house." She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"
I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party." Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore
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Straight From The Horse's Mouth....sortaA Biker is sitting in a bar in Sturgis, South Dakota, when Barack Obama comes on TV.The man looks at the TV and says, "Obama is a horse's ass." Out of nowhere, a local jumps up and punches him in the face, knocking the first guy off his bar stool, then stomps out.The Biker gets back up, rubbing his cheek and orders another beer. Shortly after that incident, Michelle Obama appears on the TV. He looks at the TV and says, "She is a horse's ass too!" Out of nowhere,another local punches him in the other side of his face, knocking him off his bar stool once again.He gets back up and looks at the bartender, "I take it this is Obama country?""Nope." replies the bartender. "Horse country."
Recently, while working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.
During the friendly conversation, I asked their little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied... "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people." Her parents beamed with pride! "Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that! "I told her."What do you mean?" she replied.
So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out and give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house." She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"
I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party." Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore
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28 Eylül 2012 Cuma
First X-15 Powered Flight 53 Years Ago Today
To contact us Click HERE
I've always been in love with the X-15, the most successful Research Aircraft of all time. As a little boy of 10 years old, I built *every* model of it I could find. I built just the X-15, and the kit that was the NB-52 Carrier Aircraft, with a little 4" removable X-15 that you could pop off the pylon and "fly" away while your other buddies played "Chase-1" and "Chase-2" with models of the F-100 Super Sabre and F-104 Starfighter, leaving your 4th buddy to lumber around "flying" the now lonely NB-52 back to your "base".
September 17th will mark the fifty-third anniversary of the X-15's first powered flight.
There were a total of 3 aircraft built, known by their tail numbers of 66670, 66671, and 66672.
At first the aircraft were powered by a pair of XLR11 rocket engines, which were the same engines used in the Bell X-1 due to the much more powerful XLR99 engine being behind schedule.
It was the first aircraft to routinely exceed 100,000 feet, and towards the end of the program, it routinely flew at 200,000~250,000 feet.
The record altitude for the X-15 was 354,200 feet, a record that stood for FORTY ONE years, until Brian Binnie in SpaceShipOne exceeded in 2004 by achieving and altitude of 367,441 feet.
In terms of speed, the X-15 was the first aircraft to exceed Mach 4, Mach 5, and Mach 6, with its fastest flight being Mach 6.72, or 4520 MPH.
The Mach 6.72 flight was flown by the X-15A-2, a modified version of the #2 aircraft, shown above, wearing it's ablative coating.
This is 6630 feet-per-second, nearly THREE times as "Fast as a speeding bullet". The aircraft was damaged by local heating, suffering several burnt-through areas on its lower (ventral) stabilizer. Although North American rebuilt the aircraft, it never flew again, and the program was terminated after 199 flights.
A typical flight would have the X-15 carried aloft by the NB-52 to 45,000 feet and Mach .85, and then released. The pilot would light the engine, and then fly a very precise profile for either a high-speed, or high-altitude flight. High-altitude flights typically released the X-15 in the vicinity of Wendover, Utah, while high-speed flights would release the X-15 in Northern Nevada. The ground track was 300~400 nautical miles, depending on flight profile, and the aircraft landed, dead-stick, approximately 8 to 12 minutes after release.
That's right, only eight to twelve minutes for the entire flight, from release to landing!
And the landing was unpowered, "Dead Stick", with a descent rate of 12,000 feet-per-minute, and a glide angle of 12*~20*, at 200~300 knots, depending on where the aircraft was in the landing pattern.
Ten men flew the X-15, and one gave his life exploring the unknown realm of high-speed, high-altitude flight in this aircraft.
They were:
Mike Adams, USAF
Neil Armstrong, NASA
Scott Crossfield, North American Aviation
Bill Dana, NASA
Joe Engle, USAF
Pete Knight, USAF
Jack McKay, NASA
Forrest Petersen, USN
Bob Rushworth, USAF
Milt Thompson, NASA
Joe Walker, NASA
Bob White, USAF
These were very brave men, pushing forward the frontiers of flight. I'm honored to have known, and worked with, Pete Knight.
While the "Mercury Seven" were getting all the 'good press', benefits, and public adoration, the men who flew the X-15 were basically unknown, although several of them would go on to other programs, and one into the history books.
The X-15 was really America's first operational spaceship, and collected much needed data about hypersonic and high-altitude flight. Much of this information helped solve problems with the Space Shuttle, and validated or corrected, theoretical data from earlier wind tunnel research.
I find it amazing that this aircraft was flying 50 years ago, and data collected during the program are still useful.
And I find it even more amazing that we no longer have any programs of this sort operating.
The follow-on/concurrent program to the X-15 was to be the X-20 Dyna-Soar, but interagency politics )USAF vs NASA) and Robert Macnamara killed that one.
If the X-20 program had come to fruition, we would have had a fully functional, reusable, spaceplane flying ten to fifteen years before the Space Shuttle.
But that's a story for another day.....
.
I've always been in love with the X-15, the most successful Research Aircraft of all time. As a little boy of 10 years old, I built *every* model of it I could find. I built just the X-15, and the kit that was the NB-52 Carrier Aircraft, with a little 4" removable X-15 that you could pop off the pylon and "fly" away while your other buddies played "Chase-1" and "Chase-2" with models of the F-100 Super Sabre and F-104 Starfighter, leaving your 4th buddy to lumber around "flying" the now lonely NB-52 back to your "base".
September 17th will mark the fifty-third anniversary of the X-15's first powered flight.
There were a total of 3 aircraft built, known by their tail numbers of 66670, 66671, and 66672.
At first the aircraft were powered by a pair of XLR11 rocket engines, which were the same engines used in the Bell X-1 due to the much more powerful XLR99 engine being behind schedule.
It was the first aircraft to routinely exceed 100,000 feet, and towards the end of the program, it routinely flew at 200,000~250,000 feet.
The record altitude for the X-15 was 354,200 feet, a record that stood for FORTY ONE years, until Brian Binnie in SpaceShipOne exceeded in 2004 by achieving and altitude of 367,441 feet.
In terms of speed, the X-15 was the first aircraft to exceed Mach 4, Mach 5, and Mach 6, with its fastest flight being Mach 6.72, or 4520 MPH.
The Mach 6.72 flight was flown by the X-15A-2, a modified version of the #2 aircraft, shown above, wearing it's ablative coating.
This is 6630 feet-per-second, nearly THREE times as "Fast as a speeding bullet". The aircraft was damaged by local heating, suffering several burnt-through areas on its lower (ventral) stabilizer. Although North American rebuilt the aircraft, it never flew again, and the program was terminated after 199 flights.
A typical flight would have the X-15 carried aloft by the NB-52 to 45,000 feet and Mach .85, and then released. The pilot would light the engine, and then fly a very precise profile for either a high-speed, or high-altitude flight. High-altitude flights typically released the X-15 in the vicinity of Wendover, Utah, while high-speed flights would release the X-15 in Northern Nevada. The ground track was 300~400 nautical miles, depending on flight profile, and the aircraft landed, dead-stick, approximately 8 to 12 minutes after release.
That's right, only eight to twelve minutes for the entire flight, from release to landing!
And the landing was unpowered, "Dead Stick", with a descent rate of 12,000 feet-per-minute, and a glide angle of 12*~20*, at 200~300 knots, depending on where the aircraft was in the landing pattern.
Ten men flew the X-15, and one gave his life exploring the unknown realm of high-speed, high-altitude flight in this aircraft.
They were:
Mike Adams, USAF
Neil Armstrong, NASA
Scott Crossfield, North American Aviation
Bill Dana, NASA
Joe Engle, USAF
Pete Knight, USAF
Jack McKay, NASA
Forrest Petersen, USN
Bob Rushworth, USAF
Milt Thompson, NASA
Joe Walker, NASA
Bob White, USAF
These were very brave men, pushing forward the frontiers of flight. I'm honored to have known, and worked with, Pete Knight.
While the "Mercury Seven" were getting all the 'good press', benefits, and public adoration, the men who flew the X-15 were basically unknown, although several of them would go on to other programs, and one into the history books.
The X-15 was really America's first operational spaceship, and collected much needed data about hypersonic and high-altitude flight. Much of this information helped solve problems with the Space Shuttle, and validated or corrected, theoretical data from earlier wind tunnel research.
I find it amazing that this aircraft was flying 50 years ago, and data collected during the program are still useful.
And I find it even more amazing that we no longer have any programs of this sort operating.
The follow-on/concurrent program to the X-15 was to be the X-20 Dyna-Soar, but interagency politics )USAF vs NASA) and Robert Macnamara killed that one.
If the X-20 program had come to fruition, we would have had a fully functional, reusable, spaceplane flying ten to fifteen years before the Space Shuttle.
But that's a story for another day.....
.
Endeavour Came Home Today
To contact us Click HERE
It's flying over the Roase Bowl/Pasadena area right now, and then down to orange County where it will do a flyby of the Boeing plant in Huntington beach.
Then up the coast, over the Queen Mary in Long Beach, ad then to LAX.
It should get really close to us, and I'll try and grab some pix......
One crappy picture. You can barely see it between the light pole and the stern of the MARAD ship. I was walking out to see if I could spot it, and before I was out of the building, I *heard* it, and knew I was too late.
Oh, well......
And, of course, the local L.A. "news" crews are going nuts about "History Being Made".
BULLSHIT!
History was made when it FLEW, not when it's being put out to pasture.
.
Then up the coast, over the Queen Mary in Long Beach, ad then to LAX.
It should get really close to us, and I'll try and grab some pix......
One crappy picture. You can barely see it between the light pole and the stern of the MARAD ship. I was walking out to see if I could spot it, and before I was out of the building, I *heard* it, and knew I was too late.
Oh, well......And, of course, the local L.A. "news" crews are going nuts about "History Being Made".
BULLSHIT!
History was made when it FLEW, not when it's being put out to pasture.
.
Training New Shooters
To contact us Click HERE
I received an email yesterday from another NRA Instructor friend of mine asking if I could help him this morning at an NRA "First Steps" pistol course.
Of course I said yes!
Normally he limits the size of his classes to 10 people, *maybe* 12,but hes been so swamped with applicants, and he knows numerous other instructors, that he decided to increase his class size as long as he can get some of us "other" instructors to help.
We had 18 people today, and after he ran the classroom section, out we went to the range.
The other instructor and I had (somewhat) prepped the 5 lanes he reserved, having stacks of targets ready, plenty of empty magazines and ammo, and a table set up to use in between rounds.
We started the students off with just plain old 8-1/2x11 sheets of paper to see where they were getting hits, and correcting them as necessary.
We had the usual issues with new shooters; poor grip, poor stance, poor sight picture, which all resulted in them not being able to consistently hit the piece of paper. Most of them were too "aggressive" in their stance, with their feet too far apart both side-to-side, and front-to-rear, or leaning back, rather than forward, so we worked on that first. Then we made sure they understood proper grip, and reminded them of what a proper sight picture was.
Everybody got two magazines (20 rounds) on blank paper, and when we were satisfied they understood what they were doing, we moved on to "real" targets.
We let them fire another 20 rounds at the targets, had a question/answer break, and went back to another round of targets to see how they were doing.
For the Grand Finale, they got one target, and one magazine, and shot for "score".
It was amazing to see them improve from the blank paper to the targets, and improve again after the break.
We were using Ruger "Mark II" pistols, a nice little 22LR semiautomatic that's fairly easy to shoot, especially after you add a few dabs of white paint to the all-black sights!
All of the students did very well, and their range safety discipline was excellent, and was better than I've seen in some of the advanced classes I've taken.
After the range session, we went back in the classroom, and handed out their NRA cards, patches, and certificates, and had another Q & A session.
They ALL wanted to know when the next, slightly more advanced, classes would be held, how could they join the NRA, and asked a bunch of questions about going to the range, buying their own guns, and how to store and transport them safely.
The student ranged from 19 years old, to 70 years old, and all in between. The youngest and oldest were a grandmother and her grandson, and the "Best Shot" in the class was a 50 year old woman whose husband is an LAPD officer.
All in all it was a very fine day, even though the class ran over 45 minutes.
It's great to see young and old people show up for these classes, and doubly great that they all have a positive attitude about becoming good, SAFE shooters and gun owners!
.
Of course I said yes!
Normally he limits the size of his classes to 10 people, *maybe* 12,but hes been so swamped with applicants, and he knows numerous other instructors, that he decided to increase his class size as long as he can get some of us "other" instructors to help.
We had 18 people today, and after he ran the classroom section, out we went to the range.
The other instructor and I had (somewhat) prepped the 5 lanes he reserved, having stacks of targets ready, plenty of empty magazines and ammo, and a table set up to use in between rounds.
We started the students off with just plain old 8-1/2x11 sheets of paper to see where they were getting hits, and correcting them as necessary.
We had the usual issues with new shooters; poor grip, poor stance, poor sight picture, which all resulted in them not being able to consistently hit the piece of paper. Most of them were too "aggressive" in their stance, with their feet too far apart both side-to-side, and front-to-rear, or leaning back, rather than forward, so we worked on that first. Then we made sure they understood proper grip, and reminded them of what a proper sight picture was.
Everybody got two magazines (20 rounds) on blank paper, and when we were satisfied they understood what they were doing, we moved on to "real" targets.
We let them fire another 20 rounds at the targets, had a question/answer break, and went back to another round of targets to see how they were doing.
For the Grand Finale, they got one target, and one magazine, and shot for "score".
It was amazing to see them improve from the blank paper to the targets, and improve again after the break.
We were using Ruger "Mark II" pistols, a nice little 22LR semiautomatic that's fairly easy to shoot, especially after you add a few dabs of white paint to the all-black sights!
All of the students did very well, and their range safety discipline was excellent, and was better than I've seen in some of the advanced classes I've taken.
After the range session, we went back in the classroom, and handed out their NRA cards, patches, and certificates, and had another Q & A session.
They ALL wanted to know when the next, slightly more advanced, classes would be held, how could they join the NRA, and asked a bunch of questions about going to the range, buying their own guns, and how to store and transport them safely.
The student ranged from 19 years old, to 70 years old, and all in between. The youngest and oldest were a grandmother and her grandson, and the "Best Shot" in the class was a 50 year old woman whose husband is an LAPD officer.
All in all it was a very fine day, even though the class ran over 45 minutes.
It's great to see young and old people show up for these classes, and doubly great that they all have a positive attitude about becoming good, SAFE shooters and gun owners!
.
Feel Flows
To contact us Click HERE
No reason for posting this, other than the fact between this and "Surf's Up", they're my two favorite Beach Boys songs from their later works.
I guess I "grew up" at the right time as far as listening to the Beach Boys, and almost all of their songs have some sort of "meaning" to me, from the surfing/hot rod days, to their more introspective, exploratory music.
We were a different country then, full of *real* hope and promise, on our way to the Moon, and soon everybody would have a flying car, and a newfangled thing called a "Microwave Oven" that would cook your food in just seconds.
We all knew what was "Right", and what was "Wrong", and we had yet to lose our innocence in that quagmire of a far away place with a funny name. Viet Nam, I think it was called......
Every young man's dream was to cruise around in his Hot Rod, be the King of the Street, and pick up the coolest chicks.
Of course, we weren't really sure what we'd do with them once we picked them up, but then I guess the thrill of the chase is what motivated us.
Solid-lifter cams thumping away, the bark of the tires against the street when you slammed into second gear, and the smell of a slightly rich Holley carb sucking real 100 Octane fuel @ 35 cents a gallon, and exhaling it out through Hooker Headers, 2-1/2" pipes, and Chrysler Street Hemi mufflers, the hot setup for street-legal exhaust.
Catalytic converter?? Oh, yeah, my older brother works at the Texaco refinery, and I think he says that's what they use to "crack" the molecules and remake them into High-Octane Gasoline.
Almost makes me want to whisper "Rosebud"........
Whatever........enjoy!
Unfolding enveloping missiles of soul
Recall senses sadly
Mirage like soft blue like lanterns below
To light the way gladly
Whether whistling heaven's clouds disappear
Where the wind withers memory
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away
Feel flows (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel goes (Black hot glistening shadowy flows)
Unbending never ending tablets of time
Record all the yearning
Unfearing all appearing message divine
Eases the burning
Whether willing witness waits at my mind
Whether hope dampens memory
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side
Feel flows (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel goes (Black hot glistening shadowy flows)
Encasing all embracing wreath of repose
Engulfs all the senses
Imposing, unclosing thoughts that compose
Retire the fences
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether harps heal the memory
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away
Feel goes (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel flows (Black hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel goes (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feelings to grow (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
White hot glistening shadowy flows
White hot glistening shadowy flows
White hot glistening shadowy flows
.
I guess I "grew up" at the right time as far as listening to the Beach Boys, and almost all of their songs have some sort of "meaning" to me, from the surfing/hot rod days, to their more introspective, exploratory music.
We were a different country then, full of *real* hope and promise, on our way to the Moon, and soon everybody would have a flying car, and a newfangled thing called a "Microwave Oven" that would cook your food in just seconds.
We all knew what was "Right", and what was "Wrong", and we had yet to lose our innocence in that quagmire of a far away place with a funny name. Viet Nam, I think it was called......
Every young man's dream was to cruise around in his Hot Rod, be the King of the Street, and pick up the coolest chicks.
Of course, we weren't really sure what we'd do with them once we picked them up, but then I guess the thrill of the chase is what motivated us.
Solid-lifter cams thumping away, the bark of the tires against the street when you slammed into second gear, and the smell of a slightly rich Holley carb sucking real 100 Octane fuel @ 35 cents a gallon, and exhaling it out through Hooker Headers, 2-1/2" pipes, and Chrysler Street Hemi mufflers, the hot setup for street-legal exhaust.
Catalytic converter?? Oh, yeah, my older brother works at the Texaco refinery, and I think he says that's what they use to "crack" the molecules and remake them into High-Octane Gasoline.
Almost makes me want to whisper "Rosebud"........
Whatever........enjoy!
Unfolding enveloping missiles of soul
Recall senses sadly
Mirage like soft blue like lanterns below
To light the way gladly
Whether whistling heaven's clouds disappear
Where the wind withers memory
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away
Feel flows (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel goes (Black hot glistening shadowy flows)
Unbending never ending tablets of time
Record all the yearning
Unfearing all appearing message divine
Eases the burning
Whether willing witness waits at my mind
Whether hope dampens memory
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side
Feel flows (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel goes (Black hot glistening shadowy flows)
Encasing all embracing wreath of repose
Engulfs all the senses
Imposing, unclosing thoughts that compose
Retire the fences
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether harps heal the memory
Whether wholly heartened life fades away
Whether wondrous will stands tall at my side
Whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away
Feel goes (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel flows (Black hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feel goes (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
Feelings to grow (White hot glistening shadowy flows)
White hot glistening shadowy flows
White hot glistening shadowy flows
White hot glistening shadowy flows
.
Another Reason To Dump AARP, As If You Need One More
To contact us Click HERE
I had been a member up until they supported Obamacare, against the wishes of almost all of their membership.
I immediately tore up my card, and sent it back to them cancelling my membership, and joined AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens.
I figured AARP must have had some "internal" reason to so strongly support this POS legislation, and now I know why.
They license out their name to independent companies selling "Medigap" insurance, and collect a 4.95% "royalty". This "royalty" brings them in a huge chunk of money, and like most things these days, It's All About The Benjamins.
Please go read the article here on the Political Outcast site. It's very interesting.
I immediately tore up my card, and sent it back to them cancelling my membership, and joined AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens.
I figured AARP must have had some "internal" reason to so strongly support this POS legislation, and now I know why.
They license out their name to independent companies selling "Medigap" insurance, and collect a 4.95% "royalty". This "royalty" brings them in a huge chunk of money, and like most things these days, It's All About The Benjamins.
Please go read the article here on the Political Outcast site. It's very interesting.
27 Eylül 2012 Perşembe
Solarforce X2 V Streamlight Stylus Pro
To contact us Click HERE
The stylus pro and the X2 are comparable lights in a lot of ways, but for the EDC'er determining which one is better comes down to a few simple criteria. By comparing price, ease of use, ease of carry, functionality and a touch of personal preference, choosing 1 pocket light can be an easy task.
Price: Retailing at less than 19 the Streamlight 66118 Stylus Pro
is a cheaper option than the X2 right of the bat, which retails for about 24 dollars. Solarforce does make a similarly priced option in 1 AAA configuration called the X3, but the output is significantly less than either the stylus pro or the X2. So initially, the SP has a leg up of about 5 dollars. Considering battery availability between the 2x AAA SP and the 1xAA X2, I consider the cost of inputs for the lights to be a wash.
Ease of Use: No contest on this one. The SP's forward clicky tail cap is a far superior design to the X2's more traditional twist head. One-handed operation is possible with both lights, but the ability to do quick temporary on as well as continuous on is better accomplished on the larger SP. The X2 has the benefit of two modes (easily switched between by turning the light on and off quickly) and has the ability to stand on its tail cap. However this added functionality does little in the means of practical application for most tasks. Brightness between them gives a slight advantage (surprisingly) to the smaller X2. Battery life however goes to the SP, even if the X2 is used in low mode.
Ease of Carry: This is a little subjective.The SP does have a pocket clip, but I find the clip on my example is easily jostled and comes undone easily - especially when on a pants pocket. The X2 comes with a lanyard which lends itself well to removing it from a pocket, and it is shorter (but fatter). Realistically, I do prefer the slightly smaller X2 for most outfits, unless you can clip the SP completely vertically like in a shirt pocket.
Functionality: Though the X2 is brighter, the functional difference between the lights for most day-to-day applications isn't really a huge deal. I do feel as though the X2 is a slightly sturdier light, as my SP shows significant wear on the aluminum from being clipped near my pocket knife. The X2 seems to be much more durable, and comes equipped with a cute (but not very useful) GITD o-ring by the emitter. That being said, I do slightly prefer the X2, despite it being a little more difficult in the Ease of Use category.
Personal Preference: Frankly I like the X2. I am pretty hard on my gear and the Stylus Pro has really taken a beating since I bought it. Both are solid durable lights that will serve you well, but for my dollar, the X2 does it just a little bit better.
All said and done, if you need an ultra affordable light that is super easy to use and is very capable, check out the stylus pro. If you have a few more bucks to spend and don't mind a light that is less quick to deploy, but is more durable and slightly brighter, spend the extra few bucks and get the X2. I'll probably be moving my SP to my first aid kit where it will reside with a fresh set of lithium cells, while the X2 takes up residence in my pocket for most chores. Both lights are more than bright enough and have good enough battery life to do nearly everything I encounter regularly, including working outdoors in the evenings. Both have survived sand and drops on hard surfaces with gusto, and respond admirably to neglect and rough use.
Price: Retailing at less than 19 the Streamlight 66118 Stylus Pro
is a cheaper option than the X2 right of the bat, which retails for about 24 dollars. Solarforce does make a similarly priced option in 1 AAA configuration called the X3, but the output is significantly less than either the stylus pro or the X2. So initially, the SP has a leg up of about 5 dollars. Considering battery availability between the 2x AAA SP and the 1xAA X2, I consider the cost of inputs for the lights to be a wash.Ease of Use: No contest on this one. The SP's forward clicky tail cap is a far superior design to the X2's more traditional twist head. One-handed operation is possible with both lights, but the ability to do quick temporary on as well as continuous on is better accomplished on the larger SP. The X2 has the benefit of two modes (easily switched between by turning the light on and off quickly) and has the ability to stand on its tail cap. However this added functionality does little in the means of practical application for most tasks. Brightness between them gives a slight advantage (surprisingly) to the smaller X2. Battery life however goes to the SP, even if the X2 is used in low mode.
Ease of Carry: This is a little subjective.The SP does have a pocket clip, but I find the clip on my example is easily jostled and comes undone easily - especially when on a pants pocket. The X2 comes with a lanyard which lends itself well to removing it from a pocket, and it is shorter (but fatter). Realistically, I do prefer the slightly smaller X2 for most outfits, unless you can clip the SP completely vertically like in a shirt pocket.
Functionality: Though the X2 is brighter, the functional difference between the lights for most day-to-day applications isn't really a huge deal. I do feel as though the X2 is a slightly sturdier light, as my SP shows significant wear on the aluminum from being clipped near my pocket knife. The X2 seems to be much more durable, and comes equipped with a cute (but not very useful) GITD o-ring by the emitter. That being said, I do slightly prefer the X2, despite it being a little more difficult in the Ease of Use category.
Personal Preference: Frankly I like the X2. I am pretty hard on my gear and the Stylus Pro has really taken a beating since I bought it. Both are solid durable lights that will serve you well, but for my dollar, the X2 does it just a little bit better.
| Streamlight Stylus Pro | Solarforce X2 | |
| Price | X | |
| Ease of Use | X | |
| Ease of Carry | X | |
| Functionality | X | |
| Personal Preference | X |
All said and done, if you need an ultra affordable light that is super easy to use and is very capable, check out the stylus pro. If you have a few more bucks to spend and don't mind a light that is less quick to deploy, but is more durable and slightly brighter, spend the extra few bucks and get the X2. I'll probably be moving my SP to my first aid kit where it will reside with a fresh set of lithium cells, while the X2 takes up residence in my pocket for most chores. Both lights are more than bright enough and have good enough battery life to do nearly everything I encounter regularly, including working outdoors in the evenings. Both have survived sand and drops on hard surfaces with gusto, and respond admirably to neglect and rough use.
How much is enough? Primary batteries
To contact us Click HERE
We all know I talk about flashlights enough- and probably a bit too much. What I have only made minimal mention to however- is batteries. I have briefly discussed batteries before but I focused on a few rechargeable options and left primary (non-rechargeable) cells completely out of the picture.
Probably most common among CR123 options is the Surefire 123A Lithium
. These batteries are pretty good. They are consistent, and in the few boxes I have run they have all worked well. No duds, and no odd inconsistencies. I do however, find the price to be a touch high. Cheaper options exist that offer comparable performance.
Also in this price range is the quality Streamlight CR123A Lithium . Running a few dollars less than the surefires, these batteries are solid performers that I see no difference in performance from when comparing to surefire 123a cells. As such, I don't keep any surefire batteries around.
For about the same money you can have what I think is a slightly better battery in the Duracell Procell 3-volt Lithium
. These batteries are my favorites for all out performance. They are what I keep on hand in my lights that don't get battery changes often, and have to work- like the lights in my car or first aid kit. If you are fixing a flat tire or bandaging up some cuts, that is not the time to find dead batteries.
Even further up the price chain is the Radioshack CR123 batteries (in the photo section). They are actually decent, but are extremely over priced. They run upwards of 3-4 dollars EACH. Never pay that much for a CR123 battery. It just is not worth that much money. They are not magical and in no way impress me.
For budget options I recommend two batteries- first, the cheapest decent battery you will find; the Tenergy Propel CR123A Lithium
. Running under 10 dollars a pack, these batteries are very functional. I don't get as good of battery life out of them as I do the duracells, but frankly at less than half the price, that is totally okay with me. They come in a number of different quantities, so you can buy either a few or a bunch and receive discounts accordingly.
The other budget option I recommend is the batteries from solarforce
. Running right around a $1.50 each, these batteries split the baby for price, but really don't suffer in the performance category. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to order them by themselves, but whenever I order a light, I usually throw in a few of these on my order to stock up my primary battery backup bank.
How many should you keep on hand? well that is a tough question. I keep a large assortment of rechargeable batteries on hand as backups, and also in some of my lights. Other lights, with more serious applications (bedstand light, car light, first aid light, etc) get quality primaries that are the Duracells. But for backup primaries? I keep a dozen tenergy or solarforce around and call it good. There is also the remainder of the box from my more expensive cells that haven't been completely used up. So I would say 15-20 quality batteries will back up just about any flashlight combination you could have without issues.
I'm from a region where power outages are not uncommon, and multi-day outages just happen. Flashlights are necessary to get through what is generally the longer half of the day when these events happen, as they seem to favor winter in my locale. The backups I have had on hand was always sufficient for my light and a few other lights around the house to be used at will and without fear of running out of light before power was restored. You could probably get away with keeping less on hand, but I wouldn't buy the cells in less than packs of 12 as the smaller quantity prices are just too high per unit.
All said and done, most people will probably be okay with 1 good pack of backup cells, but really- when they are this cheap there is no reason to settle for a small cushion. Lithium cells keep 10 years anyhoo, and it is easy to squirrel a few away.
Probably most common among CR123 options is the Surefire 123A Lithium
. These batteries are pretty good. They are consistent, and in the few boxes I have run they have all worked well. No duds, and no odd inconsistencies. I do however, find the price to be a touch high. Cheaper options exist that offer comparable performance.Also in this price range is the quality Streamlight CR123A Lithium . Running a few dollars less than the surefires, these batteries are solid performers that I see no difference in performance from when comparing to surefire 123a cells. As such, I don't keep any surefire batteries around.
For about the same money you can have what I think is a slightly better battery in the Duracell Procell 3-volt Lithium
. These batteries are my favorites for all out performance. They are what I keep on hand in my lights that don't get battery changes often, and have to work- like the lights in my car or first aid kit. If you are fixing a flat tire or bandaging up some cuts, that is not the time to find dead batteries.Even further up the price chain is the Radioshack CR123 batteries (in the photo section). They are actually decent, but are extremely over priced. They run upwards of 3-4 dollars EACH. Never pay that much for a CR123 battery. It just is not worth that much money. They are not magical and in no way impress me.
For budget options I recommend two batteries- first, the cheapest decent battery you will find; the Tenergy Propel CR123A Lithium
. Running under 10 dollars a pack, these batteries are very functional. I don't get as good of battery life out of them as I do the duracells, but frankly at less than half the price, that is totally okay with me. They come in a number of different quantities, so you can buy either a few or a bunch and receive discounts accordingly.The other budget option I recommend is the batteries from solarforce
. Running right around a $1.50 each, these batteries split the baby for price, but really don't suffer in the performance category. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to order them by themselves, but whenever I order a light, I usually throw in a few of these on my order to stock up my primary battery backup bank.How many should you keep on hand? well that is a tough question. I keep a large assortment of rechargeable batteries on hand as backups, and also in some of my lights. Other lights, with more serious applications (bedstand light, car light, first aid light, etc) get quality primaries that are the Duracells. But for backup primaries? I keep a dozen tenergy or solarforce around and call it good. There is also the remainder of the box from my more expensive cells that haven't been completely used up. So I would say 15-20 quality batteries will back up just about any flashlight combination you could have without issues.
I'm from a region where power outages are not uncommon, and multi-day outages just happen. Flashlights are necessary to get through what is generally the longer half of the day when these events happen, as they seem to favor winter in my locale. The backups I have had on hand was always sufficient for my light and a few other lights around the house to be used at will and without fear of running out of light before power was restored. You could probably get away with keeping less on hand, but I wouldn't buy the cells in less than packs of 12 as the smaller quantity prices are just too high per unit.
All said and done, most people will probably be okay with 1 good pack of backup cells, but really- when they are this cheap there is no reason to settle for a small cushion. Lithium cells keep 10 years anyhoo, and it is easy to squirrel a few away.
sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
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No real news to report as of late. Instead, I'll just share a small trick I use to save money. I am a cigar smoker- to the tune of 2-3 cigars per week. I am not an expert by any means, but I do enjoy relaxing for an hour with a good smoke. One thing that will ruin a cigar before you even start smoking is a bad cut. Now I'm not a big fan of spending significant amounts of money on a fancy cutter. I had a decent Colibri cutter for a while, but it literally fell apart.
So instead, I use a cheap, 2 dollar cutter you can pick up at any tobacconist. Now a cheap cutter will not give you a lot of cuts before it dulls out. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 before you really should do something about the edge on that cutter before it starts smashing your cigars apart.
By prying with a small flat-head screw driver on the lip of the cutter (highlighted in red) you can disassemble most disposable guillotine style cutters. Then just remove the blade, sharpen it up, and put it back together. I find that the edge on the blades is generally a bit rough, and you want to smooth it out with the finest stones you have available. The angle though, is generally set pretty well - so I'd not try to reshape the whole cutting edge if I were you.
I've sharpened my little disposable cutter 4 or 5 times now, and it still cuts very well. If I do lose the cutter or it finally breaks, I've certainly gotten my money out of it, and it does help save a few bucks. Using your sharpening skills need not only be regulated to the kitchen and your pocket knives. Once you have the basics down and a few tools, you can clean up the edge on most anything. Go ahead, resharpen your blender blades, your cigar cutters, your scissors, and your cheese slicer. It'll make your life easier in the long run, and really- is there any good reason to use a tool in poor condition that you can maintain better?
So instead, I use a cheap, 2 dollar cutter you can pick up at any tobacconist. Now a cheap cutter will not give you a lot of cuts before it dulls out. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 before you really should do something about the edge on that cutter before it starts smashing your cigars apart.
By prying with a small flat-head screw driver on the lip of the cutter (highlighted in red) you can disassemble most disposable guillotine style cutters. Then just remove the blade, sharpen it up, and put it back together. I find that the edge on the blades is generally a bit rough, and you want to smooth it out with the finest stones you have available. The angle though, is generally set pretty well - so I'd not try to reshape the whole cutting edge if I were you.
I've sharpened my little disposable cutter 4 or 5 times now, and it still cuts very well. If I do lose the cutter or it finally breaks, I've certainly gotten my money out of it, and it does help save a few bucks. Using your sharpening skills need not only be regulated to the kitchen and your pocket knives. Once you have the basics down and a few tools, you can clean up the edge on most anything. Go ahead, resharpen your blender blades, your cigar cutters, your scissors, and your cheese slicer. It'll make your life easier in the long run, and really- is there any good reason to use a tool in poor condition that you can maintain better?
Solarforce L2 durability testament
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I recently stopped bouncing. Before I went out, my replacement asked me to help set him up with a good flashlight. I had him order a Solarforce L2 and some other assorted goodies. Well, this past weekend I got a call Sunday morning. Apparently, he had to deal with a pretty good brawl and had ended up cornered.
One of the reasons I stopped bouncing is I thought the place I worked at had cut too much staff for the volume of traffic they were handling- thus creating a less than safe situation. Well my friend ended up against 2 people who were looking for a fight, and long story short he took his crenelated bezel to the rib cage of the first one who came at him. The bezel opened the guy up fairly well, though the wounds were superficial.
The light held up and works fine still. I generally used the flashlight to blind and control while I worked, but my replacement didn't have the ability to deploy as much force as I did, and he had to use the light as an offensive striking tool.
Let this be a grim and graphic reminder: sometimes creativity and application of what you have around you is what you need to keep yourself safe. I worked in bars for 10 years, and I never close-handed struck a single person, nor did I ever hit anyone with any instrument. I don't begrudge my replacement his decision, but it honestly is something I never would have thought to do. At most, I would have used the light like a kubaton or other small leveraging tool.
Frankly, this makes a good case for aluminum bodied lights instead of the Surefire G2 or Solarforce P1 style polymer bodies. Resolution to the story (for those who are interested) is that because it was a 2 on 1, and the other guy landed the first punch to the face (which was also the first punch thrown as per the video tape) they considered it a wash with the force multiplier that was the use of the flashlight. No charges against either party. No idea if civil stuff will shake out later, though I can't imagine it will. I think the 2 just agreed not to come back for a while, and everyone walked away with a few bandages.
Not a pretty situation, but hopefully a few lessons can be learned from it.
One of the reasons I stopped bouncing is I thought the place I worked at had cut too much staff for the volume of traffic they were handling- thus creating a less than safe situation. Well my friend ended up against 2 people who were looking for a fight, and long story short he took his crenelated bezel to the rib cage of the first one who came at him. The bezel opened the guy up fairly well, though the wounds were superficial.
The light held up and works fine still. I generally used the flashlight to blind and control while I worked, but my replacement didn't have the ability to deploy as much force as I did, and he had to use the light as an offensive striking tool.
Let this be a grim and graphic reminder: sometimes creativity and application of what you have around you is what you need to keep yourself safe. I worked in bars for 10 years, and I never close-handed struck a single person, nor did I ever hit anyone with any instrument. I don't begrudge my replacement his decision, but it honestly is something I never would have thought to do. At most, I would have used the light like a kubaton or other small leveraging tool.
Frankly, this makes a good case for aluminum bodied lights instead of the Surefire G2 or Solarforce P1 style polymer bodies. Resolution to the story (for those who are interested) is that because it was a 2 on 1, and the other guy landed the first punch to the face (which was also the first punch thrown as per the video tape) they considered it a wash with the force multiplier that was the use of the flashlight. No charges against either party. No idea if civil stuff will shake out later, though I can't imagine it will. I think the 2 just agreed not to come back for a while, and everyone walked away with a few bandages.
Not a pretty situation, but hopefully a few lessons can be learned from it.
Fixus.us
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"Fixing America"
Its election season. I was contacted by an individual asking if I would link to their site running a contest on users submitting suggestions on how to fix issues with the US in 5 different domains. I receive nothing for linking them, but in the spirit of election season, it might be interesting to see what people think are the best ways to fix what they consider to be the biggest issues facing our nation are.
http://www.fixus.us/
Its election season. I was contacted by an individual asking if I would link to their site running a contest on users submitting suggestions on how to fix issues with the US in 5 different domains. I receive nothing for linking them, but in the spirit of election season, it might be interesting to see what people think are the best ways to fix what they consider to be the biggest issues facing our nation are.
http://www.fixus.us/
26 Eylül 2012 Çarşamba
Myths and Truths about 55mpg CAFE
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Ranting against the CAFE regulations is one of my favorite topics.
Here are some of my reactions to some of the myths that the Obama administration is promoting about the new 54mpg-by-2025 CAFE plan.
"Cars will still be affordable"--no, not exactly. The government's estimate on the average mark-up to meet CAFE was around $2,000/car. However, realize that this is based on various assumptions, which may not play out, and probably does not take unintended market consequences into account. If batteries continue to be very expensive; if there is a shortage of key materials because everyone is rushing to electrify; large vehicles may have to be over-priced to offset losses on small vehicles, and etc. The other unintended side effects: if cars are more expensive up front, financing will be harder to get for some customers, causing lost sales. People will hold on to used cars longer, making used cars more expensive, and ironically, reducing fleet fuel economy and safety.
"Consumers will be able to choose" -- Actually, I see consumers being pushed towards smaller, lighter vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles, giving up some utility and cargo capacity. I also larger vehicles like pickup trucks becoming more expensive. The wealthy will be able to buy whatever they want, even V8 powered muscle cars, but the average joe will be pushed towards small cars.
"This will create jobs" -- dubious. Yes, you may need more engineers to engineer the advanced fuel saving powertrains. However, that may be offset by losses in dealerships and other secondary jobs, if overall new car volume goes down. And if China starts importing cheap fuel efficient or battery electric cars down the road, undercutting the American makers, expect job losses. If new car volume is reduced, manufacturing jobs will suffer also.
"Energy Independence" -- sort of. Less oil use is good, for that goal. And so is electrification. However, the raw materials of electric vehicles--rare earth metals like neodymium, and battery components like lithium, are overwhelmingly supplied by countries like China and Russia. We will be at the mercy of a different sort of cartel.
"Good for the middle class" -- Higher cost vehicles, less choice in the market, older average age of vehicles on the road, possible job losses in dealerships and manufacturing plants. The only thing good here for the middle class is a smaller gas bill.
Here are some of my reactions to some of the myths that the Obama administration is promoting about the new 54mpg-by-2025 CAFE plan.
"Cars will still be affordable"--no, not exactly. The government's estimate on the average mark-up to meet CAFE was around $2,000/car. However, realize that this is based on various assumptions, which may not play out, and probably does not take unintended market consequences into account. If batteries continue to be very expensive; if there is a shortage of key materials because everyone is rushing to electrify; large vehicles may have to be over-priced to offset losses on small vehicles, and etc. The other unintended side effects: if cars are more expensive up front, financing will be harder to get for some customers, causing lost sales. People will hold on to used cars longer, making used cars more expensive, and ironically, reducing fleet fuel economy and safety.
"Consumers will be able to choose" -- Actually, I see consumers being pushed towards smaller, lighter vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles, giving up some utility and cargo capacity. I also larger vehicles like pickup trucks becoming more expensive. The wealthy will be able to buy whatever they want, even V8 powered muscle cars, but the average joe will be pushed towards small cars.
"This will create jobs" -- dubious. Yes, you may need more engineers to engineer the advanced fuel saving powertrains. However, that may be offset by losses in dealerships and other secondary jobs, if overall new car volume goes down. And if China starts importing cheap fuel efficient or battery electric cars down the road, undercutting the American makers, expect job losses. If new car volume is reduced, manufacturing jobs will suffer also.
"Energy Independence" -- sort of. Less oil use is good, for that goal. And so is electrification. However, the raw materials of electric vehicles--rare earth metals like neodymium, and battery components like lithium, are overwhelmingly supplied by countries like China and Russia. We will be at the mercy of a different sort of cartel.
"Good for the middle class" -- Higher cost vehicles, less choice in the market, older average age of vehicles on the road, possible job losses in dealerships and manufacturing plants. The only thing good here for the middle class is a smaller gas bill.
Return Of The Rotary?
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Mazda recently killed off its consumer market rotary offering, the RX-8, but according to Motor Authority, Mazda may use a rotary engine as a range extender in a hybrid electric application.
The neat thing about using a rotary (or any other) engine as a range extender, is that you can optimize the engine for electricity generation duty, and run them at a more efficient operating point.
The neat thing about using a rotary (or any other) engine as a range extender, is that you can optimize the engine for electricity generation duty, and run them at a more efficient operating point.
Dirty Blonde
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I love good beer in cans, because they are lighter and less fragile than glass bottles. And, you might be surprised ot hear, beer stays fresher in cans because they are opaque, unlike brown bottles. Light is bad for beer.
If you have never tried it, Dirty Blonde is a cloudy light ale, not too hoppy, with a hint of orange peel. It is a great summery brew.
I love good beer in cans, because they are lighter and less fragile than glass bottles. And, you might be surprised ot hear, beer stays fresher in cans because they are opaque, unlike brown bottles. Light is bad for beer.
If you have never tried it, Dirty Blonde is a cloudy light ale, not too hoppy, with a hint of orange peel. It is a great summery brew.
Leaf Batteries Wearing Out Early
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Looks like Nissan's decision to use an air-cooled battery system on the Leaf is going to cost it a lot of goodwill. Inside EVs writes up a well controlled test to determine if reduced capacity display Leafs also show reduced range. Which they do.
Bottom line: if you live in a hot climate, don't buy a Leaf until they change the battery temperature management system design.
Bottom line: if you live in a hot climate, don't buy a Leaf until they change the battery temperature management system design.
Fisker's Bad Karma
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Consumer Reports is a fairly tough judge of consumer vehicles. I frequently disagree with their judgements, but they are very influential, so much so that the major automakers strive to develop their vehicles with CR testing in mind.
Consumer Reports does not like the Karma. In fact, they give it a failing grade.
Ouch.
It looks to me like Karma is going to be a beautiful failure. With Tesla coming online, with a much more practical vehicle, and other big luxury players looking into electrification, customers will have few reasons besides styling to pick the Karma. Years from now, collectors will gather to share horror stories about bad software and clumsy user interfaces.
Still, I have to give credit to Fisker, even if they do fail, at least they managed to produce a beautiful and driveable vehicle, which is more than can be said for many other electric start-ups.
Consumer Reports does not like the Karma. In fact, they give it a failing grade.
The Karma ranks as our lowest-rated luxury sedan. Of all sedans, only three have lower overall scores: Chrysler 200,Dodge Avenger, and Nissan Versa SV.
Ouch.
It looks to me like Karma is going to be a beautiful failure. With Tesla coming online, with a much more practical vehicle, and other big luxury players looking into electrification, customers will have few reasons besides styling to pick the Karma. Years from now, collectors will gather to share horror stories about bad software and clumsy user interfaces.
Still, I have to give credit to Fisker, even if they do fail, at least they managed to produce a beautiful and driveable vehicle, which is more than can be said for many other electric start-ups.
25 Eylül 2012 Salı
Passing on an announcement from the good folks at Brownells....
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Folks, Carteach was a customer of Brownells for years, and found them to be as good a company to deal as could possibly be found. They have been a friend to the shooting family for a long, long time. When they announce taking on a whole new area of the genre, I sit up and take notice.
As shared by Larry Weeks of Brownells:
Brownells Launches a Large Selection of High-Quality, Popular Reloading Supplies
Folks, Carteach was a customer of Brownells for years, and found them to be as good a company to deal as could possibly be found. They have been a friend to the shooting family for a long, long time. When they announce taking on a whole new area of the genre, I sit up and take notice.
As shared by Larry Weeks of Brownells:
Brownells Launches a Large Selection of High-Quality, Popular Reloading Supplies
Brownells – The World's Largest Supplier of Firearms Accessories and Gunsmithing Tools™ - is excited to announce that it now offers an expansive line of reloading supplies from the most reputable brands on the market today – all backed by Brownells industry-exclusive, unconditional lifetime guarantee.
The new Brownells Reloading line features dies, presses and tools from RCBS, Lee Precision, Lyman, Redding, Sinclair International, and many more. In addition to stocking a wide-array of equipment, the offerings also include components from major manufacturers including Hornady, Nosler, Sierra, Hodgdon, Remington, Winchester, and others.
"We are excited to launch our new reloading category," said Pete Brownell, President/CEO of Brownells. "Much like the addition of our ammunition line last year, the 'You asked, we listened' philosophy played a major part in our decision. We found that many of our customers enjoy reloading and find it to be a cost saver, so we're happy to provide them with the supplies they want."
As a part of the Brownells Reloading official launch, customers are encouraged to take advantage of a reloading-specific, limited-time offer that allows them to receive a $10 discount on orders totaling more than $99, a $20 discount on orders totaling more than $199, or a $30 discount on orders totaling more than $299. These offers are valid Thursday, August 16, 2012 through Monday, August 20, 2012.
Founded in 1939, Brownells is an Iowa-based, family-owned company that supplies more than 75,000 firearms parts, accessories, reloading components, gunsmithing tools, and ammunition to armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. In addition to their industry leading 100% lifetime guarantee on EVERY product sold, their staff of veteran Gun Techs are available to assist customers with any need – free of charge. There are no minimum order sizes or fees. To place an order, or for more information, call 800-741-0015 or visit www.brownells.com.
Time to say thanks...
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To all you folks who take the time to stop in and read here, my heartfelt thanks. I know the free ice cream has dropped to a trickle, and I lay that directly at the feat of my work schedule. Still, over a thousand people a day drop in here... I suppose just to check and see if I'm alive. How can I not be overwhelmed by that?
A life change led me to my current employ, and left so few hours to enjoy writing here on the blog. On the other hand, life changes happen more than once.... and perhaps another is coming down the road.
On another note, thanks also to all those who click through the ads or buy through Amazon links here on the blog. Those pennies add up, and are very much appreciated.
To all you folks who take the time to stop in and read here, my heartfelt thanks. I know the free ice cream has dropped to a trickle, and I lay that directly at the feat of my work schedule. Still, over a thousand people a day drop in here... I suppose just to check and see if I'm alive. How can I not be overwhelmed by that?
A life change led me to my current employ, and left so few hours to enjoy writing here on the blog. On the other hand, life changes happen more than once.... and perhaps another is coming down the road.
On another note, thanks also to all those who click through the ads or buy through Amazon links here on the blog. Those pennies add up, and are very much appreciated.
Ruminations on being armed for defense...
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This question comes up at every gun shop, every gun show, and every time two or more shooters get together. It's the old 'Ford vs Chevy' argument, although it can feel a little more like 'The Hatfields vs The McCoys' at times.
"What is the best pistol to carry for self defense?"
Like my dad used to say, "Now There's a hole with no bottom!".
At the risk of opening a can of worms, stirring them up, and spreading them out across the gun shop floor...... here is what 'Ol Carteach thinks.
My ideal carry pistol? One that works, one that is on me when I need it, and one that's sufficient caliber to likely deter someone who wishes me harm. In other words, carry pistols are like tools in a tool box. The right tool for the right job, or at least as close as one can get. Notice, there is nothing here that says a carry weapon must be a revolver, or must be self-loading. There is nothing here that says it must be made of steel, or plastic, or even melted down barbie dolls. It need not be cheap, nor expensive, nor pretty, nor ugly. It does not need a whiz bang laser, nor a flashlight, nor dual matching cup holders.
A defensive carry weapon must work, must be there, and be big enough to do the job at hand. More than that is personal choice (not a bad thing).
'Must Work' means the pistol needs to be reliable. In this case, reliable is usually determined by the number of rounds the weapon can go through without a failure of any kind (not directly related solely to ammunition faults). A not uncommon notion, and one I subscribe to, is that a carry weapon should be able to digest thousands of rounds in a row without a single hiccup. Not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands.
Revolver shooters may look at this number differently, and with good reason. Solid, old school, double action revolvers have a reputation for reliability that is unmatched. This stateme
nt may drive some Glock shooters into fits of frothy fury, but it's no less the truth. With fewer moving parts, robust designs, and no safeties to get in the way, revolvers have earned their reputation for dependability. Not that wheel guns are infallible. No, they are far from that. No machine is free from all failures forever. But.... a good quality revolver is the standard others are measured against.
Weighed on the scales of reliability, revolvers as a genre have an edge. Not a big one, in these modern times, but there is a measurable lean to the wheelies side of things.
Most importantly, and back on the topic, carry weapons need to be reliable. This means their owners, if they really care, should be shooting them a lot. Not a box a year at the family Fourth of July picnic, in between the hot dog course and the pie extravaganza..... but several hundred rounds a month, if possible. Many defensive shooters believe a carry pistol should have a solid thousand rounds through it, without a glitch, before it is really dependable enough to be relied on.
In this area of concern, there is no substitute for round count. Folks who carry, and do it with forethought and reason, need to spend quality trigger time with their weapon. Should it not be true, should it suffer failures of any kind.... then it's time to move on to another weapon. Allowing for a short break in time, several hundred rounds or so, a serious weapon simply should not fail to work afterwords.
This is not to say that failures don't occur. They always will, as we are dealing with machines. Machines break, machines fail, and machines are only as good as t
heir designers skull sweat and their owners care. If you have one steel ball.... you are pretty safe in that it's not likely to fail. As soon as you introduce a second steel ball and let it touch the first... all bets are off and it's just a matter of time till they fail. For that reason, good shooters practice for failures. Reload drills, failure to feed drills, and even 'move to a backup gun' drills.
Now, once we have a reasonably reliable weapon, where should we keep it? The answer is really very simple. A defensive weapon needs to be on you, or where you can lay your hand on it RIGHT NOW. That's it, pure and simple. Anything less means your defensive options are diminished tremendously. Understand... it's all about time. The time it takes you to move your weapon into service, Vs the time it takes a bad guy to surprise you and take the advantage. If your 'time to armed' is less than the bad guys 'time to overpower', then you may win. If not, you are likely to lose. 'Time to armed' means weapon in hand, ready, aimed at the threat. A weapon anyplace else but there mean
s you are not armed yet.
This notion of 'time to armed' must be balanced against risk, and against social need. As I sit writing this, I am perhaps twenty feet from a substantial house gun (a twelve gauge pump action shotgun), tucked away in a safe and concealed position. Am I armed? Sadly, the answer is no... or least "not very well for the situation". I know from experience that someone can be on the front porch without my knowledge, and through the front door far faster than I can vacate this chair and get to that shotgun. But, should I have that weapon leaning against my chair, as I write? Or, perhaps in my lap? No, that would be unreasonable, given the threat level right now, which is approximately 'zero'.
The single best place for a defensive handgun to be is on your person. That is the one place it's best suited to fulfill it's role.... defending your life in a violent encounter. In keeping with this thought, some consideration must be given to the size and shape of the carry weapon, as opposed to other factors. How does the carrier dress? What environment are they in? How much weight can they comfortably bear all day without fatigue or irritation?
Above all else, a weapon left at home in the safe because it was unsuitable to carry... is no longer a defensive weapon. The words "Leave me alone, I own a gun!" will carry no weight when shrilly screamed during a violent encounter. A defensive weapon has to be on the person to be of use, and this means it must be suitable to the situation. If the only possible carry position is on a neck cord, with the weapon hidden under a tank top, then so be it. In that case, the weapon must be small enough, and light enough, to be carried so.
On the other hand, most adults who can wear any type of loose clothing can carry a full sized (and full power) pistol on their person without too much difficulty. There are any number of quality made and well designed belt holsters. There are belly bands, pocket holsters, 'Grip Clips', shoulder holsters, and purpose designed carry bags. There is clothing specially designed for wear with concealed carry. There are... options... many options, and very few real excuses.
It's in the 'carry arena' that semi-auto pistols gain an edge over revolvers. A modern defensive 'pistol' can carry ten rounds of .45 ACP in a reliable weapon that's flatter and lighter than most snub nosed .38 Special revolvers. Moving to even lighter calibers, such as .380, gives automatics the decided advantage. There is an entire new genre of very small, very light pocket pistols built around the .380 cartridge. Plastic bodied, double action only, minimal carry signature.... all designed to BE THERE in your pocket, because they are just so easy to carry. True, the .380 is not a mighty power house of defensive thunder, but even a pipsqueak .380 (in the pocket) beats a .500 magnum in the safe.
My opinion? The largest reliable pistol you can carry, comfortably concealed all day, that is the way to go.
The last criteria, that the weapon be in sufficient caliber to perform it's job, is at the heart of a never ending discussion. What caliber is too small? What is too big? What is too 'unusual'? What has the best terminal ballistics? What has the best track record?
Carteach has definite thoughts on the issue. Consider what we ask the defensive pistol round to do. Ideally, it should be able to deter or stop someone from violently attacking. How does it do that? A pistol round works primarily in one way... it punches holes in people and things. If it's large enough, fast enough, or heavy enough, it can cause shock and trauma in addition to punching holes, but the very least a defensive pistol round must do is punch holes in people. Deep enough, and damaging enough, to deter an attacker (with luck).
On the low end of the scale, the .380 auto is considered the bottom rung. With modern ammunition, it has the ability to gain a bad guys attention. It certainly will not 'blow them twelve yards backwards, doing flips all the way', but a solid hit with one should let a bad guy know they made a serious error in the victim selection process. At the very least, it should cause enough pain and disruption to allow the victim to escape. At the worst, it may result in a dead bad guy. The same can be said for both the .32acp and the .22 rimfire, but both those rounds have a sad record in shutting down attackers. Kill people, eventually, sure. Deterring violent criminals bent on personal destruction? Not so much.
In the revolver realm, the .38 special is generally regarded as low man, although the venerable .38 Special +P 158 grain FBI load has a reputation as a man stopper.
From there, the field is wide open.... right up till the cartridge becomes just too strong for the shooter to efficiently and accurately handle it. There are some who regard the 9x19 parabellum as 'too harsh' in recoil, while others shrug off the muzzle blast of a .44 magnum as tolerable. The real consideration on top end is what can the shooter handle well. Too harsh, and accuracy suffers tremendously, especially as the shooter becomes afraid to practice.
As far as caliber is concerned, Carteach's thinking is.... The biggest that will fit the pistol you will carry, and not so big that you won't practice often. As for the rest, there is a good argument that can be made for every single cartridge out there, and each will have supporters and detractors. When it comes to tools in the tool box, chose the best you can, and one you have faith in... if such is possible.
Putting all this blather into real world reality, here are 'Ol Carteach's choices: For everyday carry, a Glock G-30 in .45acp. It's reliable, reasonably powerful, surprisingly accurate, easy to shot well, and on my large body it simply vanishes under a loose shirt. The full magazine of heavy .45acp is comforting, as the round has a long track record of success in defensive shooting. Over 100 years worth, come to think of it!
For backup, or times when I cannot carry on my belt, a Taurus model 85 .38 special snubnose with +p ammunition. The old snubby is one of the original Taurus imports, and I have owned it almost 20 years now. It's had thousands of rounds through it, and is quite reliable. For carry, it snuggles into a belly band and simply goes away, even under a loose T-shirt.
For times when nothing else will suit, a Ruger LCP in .380 finds a home in my pocket. Tiny, light, reliable, and reasonably accurate given the LaserLyte unit I mounted on it. With Federal Hydroshocks on board, I think it's a significant threat to any violent criminal with intent on ruining my day.
There are others in the Carteach CCW stable, but those three account for 99% of regular circumstances. Each pistol gets used, fairly often, and trained with under various situations. None are target pistols, plinking pistols, nor hunting weapons. They are defensive concealed carry weapons.... and ones I have faith in.
What do you chose to carry, and why?
This question comes up at every gun shop, every gun show, and every time two or more shooters get together. It's the old 'Ford vs Chevy' argument, although it can feel a little more like 'The Hatfields vs The McCoys' at times.
"What is the best pistol to carry for self defense?"
Like my dad used to say, "Now There's a hole with no bottom!".
At the risk of opening a can of worms, stirring them up, and spreading them out across the gun shop floor...... here is what 'Ol Carteach thinks.
My ideal carry pistol? One that works, one that is on me when I need it, and one that's sufficient caliber to likely deter someone who wishes me harm. In other words, carry pistols are like tools in a tool box. The right tool for the right job, or at least as close as one can get. Notice, there is nothing here that says a carry weapon must be a revolver, or must be self-loading. There is nothing here that says it must be made of steel, or plastic, or even melted down barbie dolls. It need not be cheap, nor expensive, nor pretty, nor ugly. It does not need a whiz bang laser, nor a flashlight, nor dual matching cup holders.
A defensive carry weapon must work, must be there, and be big enough to do the job at hand. More than that is personal choice (not a bad thing).
'Must Work' means the pistol needs to be reliable. In this case, reliable is usually determined by the number of rounds the weapon can go through without a failure of any kind (not directly related solely to ammunition faults). A not uncommon notion, and one I subscribe to, is that a carry weapon should be able to digest thousands of rounds in a row without a single hiccup. Not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands.
Revolver shooters may look at this number differently, and with good reason. Solid, old school, double action revolvers have a reputation for reliability that is unmatched. This stateme
nt may drive some Glock shooters into fits of frothy fury, but it's no less the truth. With fewer moving parts, robust designs, and no safeties to get in the way, revolvers have earned their reputation for dependability. Not that wheel guns are infallible. No, they are far from that. No machine is free from all failures forever. But.... a good quality revolver is the standard others are measured against.Weighed on the scales of reliability, revolvers as a genre have an edge. Not a big one, in these modern times, but there is a measurable lean to the wheelies side of things.
Most importantly, and back on the topic, carry weapons need to be reliable. This means their owners, if they really care, should be shooting them a lot. Not a box a year at the family Fourth of July picnic, in between the hot dog course and the pie extravaganza..... but several hundred rounds a month, if possible. Many defensive shooters believe a carry pistol should have a solid thousand rounds through it, without a glitch, before it is really dependable enough to be relied on.
In this area of concern, there is no substitute for round count. Folks who carry, and do it with forethought and reason, need to spend quality trigger time with their weapon. Should it not be true, should it suffer failures of any kind.... then it's time to move on to another weapon. Allowing for a short break in time, several hundred rounds or so, a serious weapon simply should not fail to work afterwords.
This is not to say that failures don't occur. They always will, as we are dealing with machines. Machines break, machines fail, and machines are only as good as t
heir designers skull sweat and their owners care. If you have one steel ball.... you are pretty safe in that it's not likely to fail. As soon as you introduce a second steel ball and let it touch the first... all bets are off and it's just a matter of time till they fail. For that reason, good shooters practice for failures. Reload drills, failure to feed drills, and even 'move to a backup gun' drills.Now, once we have a reasonably reliable weapon, where should we keep it? The answer is really very simple. A defensive weapon needs to be on you, or where you can lay your hand on it RIGHT NOW. That's it, pure and simple. Anything less means your defensive options are diminished tremendously. Understand... it's all about time. The time it takes you to move your weapon into service, Vs the time it takes a bad guy to surprise you and take the advantage. If your 'time to armed' is less than the bad guys 'time to overpower', then you may win. If not, you are likely to lose. 'Time to armed' means weapon in hand, ready, aimed at the threat. A weapon anyplace else but there mean
s you are not armed yet.This notion of 'time to armed' must be balanced against risk, and against social need. As I sit writing this, I am perhaps twenty feet from a substantial house gun (a twelve gauge pump action shotgun), tucked away in a safe and concealed position. Am I armed? Sadly, the answer is no... or least "not very well for the situation". I know from experience that someone can be on the front porch without my knowledge, and through the front door far faster than I can vacate this chair and get to that shotgun. But, should I have that weapon leaning against my chair, as I write? Or, perhaps in my lap? No, that would be unreasonable, given the threat level right now, which is approximately 'zero'.
The single best place for a defensive handgun to be is on your person. That is the one place it's best suited to fulfill it's role.... defending your life in a violent encounter. In keeping with this thought, some consideration must be given to the size and shape of the carry weapon, as opposed to other factors. How does the carrier dress? What environment are they in? How much weight can they comfortably bear all day without fatigue or irritation?
Above all else, a weapon left at home in the safe because it was unsuitable to carry... is no longer a defensive weapon. The words "Leave me alone, I own a gun!" will carry no weight when shrilly screamed during a violent encounter. A defensive weapon has to be on the person to be of use, and this means it must be suitable to the situation. If the only possible carry position is on a neck cord, with the weapon hidden under a tank top, then so be it. In that case, the weapon must be small enough, and light enough, to be carried so.
On the other hand, most adults who can wear any type of loose clothing can carry a full sized (and full power) pistol on their person without too much difficulty. There are any number of quality made and well designed belt holsters. There are belly bands, pocket holsters, 'Grip Clips', shoulder holsters, and purpose designed carry bags. There is clothing specially designed for wear with concealed carry. There are... options... many options, and very few real excuses.
It's in the 'carry arena' that semi-auto pistols gain an edge over revolvers. A modern defensive 'pistol' can carry ten rounds of .45 ACP in a reliable weapon that's flatter and lighter than most snub nosed .38 Special revolvers. Moving to even lighter calibers, such as .380, gives automatics the decided advantage. There is an entire new genre of very small, very light pocket pistols built around the .380 cartridge. Plastic bodied, double action only, minimal carry signature.... all designed to BE THERE in your pocket, because they are just so easy to carry. True, the .380 is not a mighty power house of defensive thunder, but even a pipsqueak .380 (in the pocket) beats a .500 magnum in the safe.
My opinion? The largest reliable pistol you can carry, comfortably concealed all day, that is the way to go.
The last criteria, that the weapon be in sufficient caliber to perform it's job, is at the heart of a never ending discussion. What caliber is too small? What is too big? What is too 'unusual'? What has the best terminal ballistics? What has the best track record?
Carteach has definite thoughts on the issue. Consider what we ask the defensive pistol round to do. Ideally, it should be able to deter or stop someone from violently attacking. How does it do that? A pistol round works primarily in one way... it punches holes in people and things. If it's large enough, fast enough, or heavy enough, it can cause shock and trauma in addition to punching holes, but the very least a defensive pistol round must do is punch holes in people. Deep enough, and damaging enough, to deter an attacker (with luck).
On the low end of the scale, the .380 auto is considered the bottom rung. With modern ammunition, it has the ability to gain a bad guys attention. It certainly will not 'blow them twelve yards backwards, doing flips all the way', but a solid hit with one should let a bad guy know they made a serious error in the victim selection process. At the very least, it should cause enough pain and disruption to allow the victim to escape. At the worst, it may result in a dead bad guy. The same can be said for both the .32acp and the .22 rimfire, but both those rounds have a sad record in shutting down attackers. Kill people, eventually, sure. Deterring violent criminals bent on personal destruction? Not so much.
In the revolver realm, the .38 special is generally regarded as low man, although the venerable .38 Special +P 158 grain FBI load has a reputation as a man stopper.
From there, the field is wide open.... right up till the cartridge becomes just too strong for the shooter to efficiently and accurately handle it. There are some who regard the 9x19 parabellum as 'too harsh' in recoil, while others shrug off the muzzle blast of a .44 magnum as tolerable. The real consideration on top end is what can the shooter handle well. Too harsh, and accuracy suffers tremendously, especially as the shooter becomes afraid to practice.
As far as caliber is concerned, Carteach's thinking is.... The biggest that will fit the pistol you will carry, and not so big that you won't practice often. As for the rest, there is a good argument that can be made for every single cartridge out there, and each will have supporters and detractors. When it comes to tools in the tool box, chose the best you can, and one you have faith in... if such is possible.
Putting all this blather into real world reality, here are 'Ol Carteach's choices: For everyday carry, a Glock G-30 in .45acp. It's reliable, reasonably powerful, surprisingly accurate, easy to shot well, and on my large body it simply vanishes under a loose shirt. The full magazine of heavy .45acp is comforting, as the round has a long track record of success in defensive shooting. Over 100 years worth, come to think of it!
For backup, or times when I cannot carry on my belt, a Taurus model 85 .38 special snubnose with +p ammunition. The old snubby is one of the original Taurus imports, and I have owned it almost 20 years now. It's had thousands of rounds through it, and is quite reliable. For carry, it snuggles into a belly band and simply goes away, even under a loose T-shirt.
For times when nothing else will suit, a Ruger LCP in .380 finds a home in my pocket. Tiny, light, reliable, and reasonably accurate given the LaserLyte unit I mounted on it. With Federal Hydroshocks on board, I think it's a significant threat to any violent criminal with intent on ruining my day.
There are others in the Carteach CCW stable, but those three account for 99% of regular circumstances. Each pistol gets used, fairly often, and trained with under various situations. None are target pistols, plinking pistols, nor hunting weapons. They are defensive concealed carry weapons.... and ones I have faith in.
What do you chose to carry, and why?
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- There is a laser accurate .22 at the front of the gun safe.... and it hasn't been fired in months.
- You have a table reserved for the gun show at your local club, and you have to cancel it because you are working all weekend.
- You own an AR that hasn't been fired. Any AR, for any length of time... unfired.
- Your favorite gun shop calls you just to see if you are Okay, since they haven't seen you in a while.
- The .22 swingers in your back yard are actually rusty (gasp).
- There is dust accumulating on the handles of your ammo cans. Not the ones in storage, but the ones in 'regular' use.
- Your Garand whines at you when you open the safe to get some cash.
- You have three new Magpul magazines..... and they are still in their factory bags.
- You drive past your range and see a new 200 yard backstop... and you don't know when it was installed.
- You can't recall what IMR4895 smells like in the morning breeze.
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