Only problem was, it didn't happen...

I don't know when it happened, sometime in the last couple of years maybe, probably not long after 9/11. I quit listening to the news to get information, and began listening to it to hear about things that I needed to get more/other information about because what I had just heard was probably wrong and/or a lie. Michelle Malkin has some reasons why.

Simple, direct, but incomplete...

Fact Shirt is a site that you have probably already been directed to by several other blogs. However, it seems to me they are seriously lacking in certain areas. Their t-shirts are simple white with large black lettering, stating a simple statistic. Some of them just make you shake your head and maybe say a prayer, like, "About half the pregnant women in Southern Asia get no prenatal care." Others lead one to ask another question, such as, "1 in 32 American adults were incarcerated or on probation or parole in 2003." Okay, question: How many of them deserved to be there because of their behavior? Here's one that confuses me: "Risk of death from maternal causes is 89% greater in Africa than in Europe." What the heck does this mean? You're 89% more likely to be killed by your mother if you live in Africa? Here's another one that should be accompanied by an additional statistic on the reverse side of the shirt (or something): "Over 32 million adults are living with HIV/AIDS." Question: How many contracted HIV because of irresponsible behavior?

After looking through the site and searching for a few keywords, it seems they have no shirts detailing the number of uses per year of a firearm legally used in self defense, or the number of unborn babies every year killed by abortion.

Great-great grandmother fights off orc

A Positive Gun Story at Alphecca, as told by an NBC-TV affiliate in Florida. Jeff says:

"I do think Campbell Brown tried a couple times to cast a story in a less than good light first by asking Grammer why she fired again after the suspect had started to flee. Grammer said (rightly) that she was still scared and let's face it, everything happened in a matter of seconds so it's not as if the she had given chase and followed the mutant out through the parking lot."

Yeah, I'd like to see this Campbell Brown character in this woman's shoes. How could you be a 64-year-old lady working at the local stop & rob and not keep shooting as long as the perp is moving? She had no way of knowing if you first shot had any effect. Maybe the guy was running for cover so he could return fire. This country needs more old ladies like Mrs. Grammer.

"Volunteers have shown how easy it would be for the U.S. government to do the same."

"Consider the horrors and threats our 'neighbor watch' has frustrated along that section: No longer are bandits harming and killing migrants. Illegal crossers aren't being robbed, raped and kidnapped. Deaths from exposure of illegals abandoned by 'coyote' guides have stopped. Women and children destined for sex-slave dens aren't being smuggled in."

An editorial in USA Today about the Minutemen Project. Not vigilantes, just fed-up citizens doing a dirty job and making a point.

tnx to Right Hand of God

Friday night ramble

It occured to me that I might post some info what this blog is and isn't. It isn't in any way related to the abhorred Necronomicon, except that I am a fan of H.P. Lovecraft and when trying to think of a catchy name for a blog, thought this one up. It is not a blog recording occult experimentation with said tome. Neither is it a blog about blogonomics, or the economics of blogging. It isn't the place to come to stay updated on all the latest shenanigans of all your favorite people/organizations/politicians/governments. There are lots of other bloggers who have the time and talent to do a much better job of such things than I. It is primarily a collection of links which I find interesting, amusing, or important. Such links will often be in regard to the right of personal self defense, various links & info about guns, and occasionally items relating to my job as a meter reader.

I went back to meter reading on Thursday, after spending nearly a month at delivering overdue bill notices. This means that last night I was nearly dead from exhaustion, since my legs had lost their long-distance walking condition through lack of intense daily exercise. I encountered only one questionable dog this week (today actually). It always cracks me up when people warn me about their dog because it likes to bark. There was one doberman that couldn't get far enough away from me and a pit bull that wanted everyone to be his friend. Yesterday held the most interesting encounter, with an idiot mailman. "How do you handle that dog," he said, pointing across the street. "What dog?" I asked. The only dog I could see was a little scruffy whitish cur about 3 times the size of your average barn rat. "That dog there," he said, "I had to spray him to keep him off me." "That dog by the door over there?" I asked, incredulously. "Yeah," he replied, "I had to spray him." I snorted, trying to suppress laughter. "You sprayed that dog? All he does is run around and bark!" "Oh," he answered sheepishly as he drove away. I got news for everyone who carries dog-grade pepper spray: It doesn't work. The only dogs it works on are the ones that don't need it. Any dog who's really going to attack will not be stopped by a little pepper burn. Here's some more news: I don't carry dog spray. I use an item called a dog stick. It is only a length of PVC with a tennis ball attached to the end. Mine is long enough to use as a walking stick, a jimmy for certain types of gate latches, and to fend away dogs. It isn't used as a weapon, but simply as something to put between the dog and myself. I also use my own wits and judgement to determine if I should even enter the property in which a dog lives.

I only recently discovered the tradition of BAG Day. Unfotunately, since I recently purchased a computer, I felt that I didn't have any business making another large purchase. But if I had participated in BAG Day, I would be looking at things like the Ruger PC9, the Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Long Colt, or even one these Raging Bees. Why would I want a .218 Bee revolver? Well, when I was a teenager, I said to one of my friends, "I wish someone would make a big revolver in something like .22 Hornet or .218 Bee. He thought it was a dumb idea, but there you go.

ACLU aiding illegal entry into U.S.

WorldNetDaily: ACLU aiding illegal entry into U.S.?:

"Deacon said the ACLU representatives make noises and flash lights as a signal to the illegals and their human smugglers that the area is being patrolled. Thus, he said, those intent on entering understand they should move on to other areas of the border that are wide open for illegal entry."

Well, after all, they call themselves the American Civil Liberties Union, not the United States Civil Liberties Union.

Even more info on Ruger DA revolvers at Wadcutter

This is way more tinkering that I am willing to do, but today's installment is still interesting and informative:Further disassembly of Ruger DA revolvers.

I am looking forward to the upcoming "Accessories" installment.

What am I doing here?

I shouldn't be here right now. On rare occasions (3-4 times per year or so) we run out of work. So I technically only worked for 2 1/4 hours this morning (but got paid for 5--not a full day, but better than nothing). And now I'm home. Under normal circumstances, blogging should be light during the week, and then heavier on weekends when I catch up with everything.

Everyone can relax, we're safe now...

UN Assembly Approves New Nuclear Terrorism Treaty:

"The 191-member U.N. General Assembly approved a nuclear terrorism treaty on Wednesday that would oblige governments to punish those who illegally possess atomic devices or radioactive materials."

Thank goodness. Now that they've passed a new law, Osama and his camaras* won't dare to attack anyone with nukes. Whew!

tnx to Little Green Footballs

*Tex-Mex for "comrades," just in case, well, you know, it isn't exactly classic Castillian.

Metonymy and clinking glasses

This site always has stuff that I didn't even know was interesting until I read about it. For example, here is today's entry: Interesting Thing of the Day: The Toast

WorldNetDaily: Mexican army escorts border drug-runners

Living in southern(ish) Texas as I do, this is something I've been paying attention to:

"Border Patrol sources say the Mexican army recently moved about 1,000 troops to the Agua Prieta region, just south of where the Minutemen are. These troops, the sources say, are diverting all of the illegal alien and drug-smuggling traffic away from the Minutemen."

Update: More comments at Lest Darkness Fall.

CCRKBA News Release April 12

Some info on SB 195 in Kansas:

"'I find it amusing, curious and the zenith of hypocrisy,' Waldron continued, 'for certain anti-gun zealots to suddenly be out front defending the concept of local gun laws, when for years, they campaigned for national gun control laws, including waiting periods, background checks and outright bans. Now that those strategies have failed, and studies reveal that such laws have had questionable results, suddenly these same extremists are defending the concept of local control. They are not interested in public safety, but only in passing laws that are confusing and designed primarily to trap law-abiding citizens.'"

Shooter tells it

One last post for the night...be sure and check out Stupid is as stupid writes over at parallax adjustment. This part really cracks me up:

"First of all, some Nimrod the Magnificent brings a .22 to a bar with his buddies? Please, spare me! What macho, beer quaffing stud-muffin wants to be caught dead with a girlie gun? Give this guy a bit of credit, will ya? He's most likely carrying the latest and greatest Kimber Pro Carry II 1911 in .45 Auto. He's got all the gadgets and doowikedies on it. Beveled frame, ambi-safety and mag release, Wilson Combat Mags, and Trijicon night sights."

But seriously, he points out lots of ignorance and bias in a Virginia-Pilot article. Good stuff.

Two Pit Bulls Rescue Woman From Red Chow

I have been told by a breeder that the genetic predispositon of a pit is to be friendly to humans and unfriendly to other animals. When I run into pits (during the course of my job) who are free to roam, well-fed, well-cleaned, and obviously cared for, they are friendly. The ones who are chained to a tree when they are 3 months old and left there to slowly go more insane year by year are not. Neither are the ones whose owners take time out every day to poke at them with a broomstick in order to "teach them to be a good guard dog." Yeah.

Chows just aren't friendly, but at least they aren't crazy like Dalmatians.

Must-read at The High Road

There Are No Barbarians At the Gates

"What I want is to never be necessary. I devoutly hope to never see true violence, and I have so far managed to avoid even bar fights. I want to be the absolute last line of defense for me and mine, behind every person my tax money has hired to keep my community safe. But no amount of wanting will mean that I am not that last line of defense, and I need, I deserve, I demand the right to be that last line. This is the final remaining vestige of the barbarian impulse, the warrior spirit, that I posess."

tnx to GeekWithA.45

CBS coordinates with terrorists?

I don't usually post about things like this because I consider it outside the scope of this blog or my own knowledge, but this is really ticking me off. In the remote chance that you have stumbled through here and have not heard about this yet, please go read it. Some "cameramen" are getting suspiciously complete coverage of terrorist activity in Iraq. Also check out this at Little Green Footballs.

It seems to me to be the Peter Parker method. Remember how he got such good photos of Spiderman?

Update: More here.

Mudville Gazette link tnx to BLACKFIVE

Bob Dole on Fresh Air

Bob Dole was the guest on today's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She constantly kept trying to get his stand on certain controversial current issues, which he rightly refused to answer because he has not held an official position in several years and does not know enough about what's going on, as he said, "I don't have the facts." At one point he left Ms. Gross almost speechless because of his refusal to answer and his reference to her questioning tactics as "gotcha journalism." He also commented on John Kerry's use of his military service during the recent presidential campaign. You can listen to the show online right here: NPR : Bob Dole: 'One Soldier's Story'

Comments on CHL qualification at parallax adjustment

Shooter at parallax adjustment has some comments on his recent CHL qualification. In the comments there I said this: During my recent re-qualification, we were told very specifically, "if you have a malfunction, do not attempt to clear it--WE will clear it for you." This is exactly wrong. Part of knowing how to use a semi-auto is knowing how to clear a jam, not just punching at least 175 points worth of holes in the paper. Unfortunately, under Texas law (I think), the ability to clear a jam is not required, only that one achieve the minimum score when shooting.

At my recent re-qualification (at which all 15 of us were re-qualifying), the most disconcerting thing I saw was the guy next to me who was shooting a Bersa .380. The sorry thing jammed constantly--I'm not kidding. He had to call the range instructor over to clear that thing 7 or 8 times during the entire 50-shot course. I hope he was only using it to qualify, and doesn't actually carry the thing. I'm hoping he carries a good, dependable revolver, if that's the only semi-auto he could come up with.

(In Texas, you must qualify with a semi-auto to be licensed to carry a semi-auto. If you qualify with a revolver, you are allowed to carry only a revolver.)

Oregon Senator tries to ensure that school children remain easy targets...

Senator Ginny Burdick of Oregon apparently thinks that law-abiding citizens are more dangerous than psychopaths:

"'I'm talking about Sally the reading mom who happens to leave her purse behind' with a gun inside, Burdick said."

Exactly how many times has this happened in Oregon, or anywhere else for that matter? And how many times have things like this and this happened?

Update: Or this?

Update #2: Or even this?

Follow up...

Clayton Cramer has more recent information on the old Hale DeMar case.

Less than 4% must be right...

Only gun advocates speaking out:

"More than 100 passionate, angry readers from around the nation told me I was wrong. I have heard from exactly four gun control advocates."

Well, gee whiz, maybe you could look at the evidence and think for a change. This from Chicago, a city with some of the most repressive, anti-self-defense gun laws in the country, and also with one of the highest crime rates in the country. Seems like sooner or later they would figure it out.

New to Blogroll: Lest Darkness Fall

I am accustomed to seeing lots of other blogspotters showing up on my web stats because of the "next blog" button which just selects a blog at random and sends you there. But when I noticed that I had had three hits from the same site, I had to check it out and see what was up. So now Lest Darkness Fall has been added to the blogroll. While there I also discovered the neat anti-spam web-doohickey that is now at the bottom of the sidebar: Spam Poison.

Yep, home sick

I should be working right now but am too knocked down from this thing I caught. It's one those things that starts at the top of the head, rips the throat raw, and keeps going down. So until I knock myself out with some Nyquil or something, I thought I'd just spend some time cruising. Just went over to Cruffler.com to get the C&R forms. I had this license once before, but accidentally let it expire. Now several months later, and I think I'll get it again. There are still a few old guns I'd like to get my hands on, although my funds are not unlimited. During my last stint as a cruffler, I picked up a Hungarian 7.62x54R carbine, a M1923 Argentine Colt (M1911 clone), and a CZ-52 (7.62x25mm pistol). The CZ-52 really draws looks at a public range. It sounds like the cough of God, kicks like nobody's business, and throws empties a good 30 feet before they hit the ground. Fortunately, it throws the empties at an almost perfect 90-degree angle, so I've never had one hit me when shooting left-handed. It is very fun to shoot.

Update: In case you are unfamiliar with the 7.62x25mm round, it is a bottlenecked cartridge that fires an 85 grain bullet at somewhere around 1,400 fps.

The Anti-Gun Male by Julia Gorin

Just came across a three-year-old article over at Cruffler.com that is, of course, still quite relevant: The Anti-Gun Male:

"He often accuses men with guns of 'compensating for something.' The truth is quite the reverse. After all, how is he supposed to feel knowing there are men out there who aren't intimidated by the big bad inanimate villain? How is he to feel in the face of adolescent boys who have used the family gun effectively in defending the family from an armed intruder? So if he can't touch a gun, he doesn't want other men to be able to either. And to achieve his ends, he'll use the only weapon he knows how to manipulate: the law."

This sounds like fun...

Australia politician urges golf with cane toads:

"CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australians in the country's Northern Territory should start smashing cane toads to death with golf clubs and cricket bats in a bid to stop the spread of the toxic creatures, a government politician has urged."

I bet if you hit them just right, a .45 round would really make those suckers pop. How about this (yikes!):

"Cane toads, which now number in their millions, are so toxic that crocodiles, death adder snakes and wild dingo dogs can die of cardiac arrest within 15 minutes of eating a toad."

And this:

"Animal welfare groups discouraged people from taking up Tollner's call to arms, saying freezing the animals to death was more humane."

I still don't get why they think a slow death is "more humane" than a fast death.

"Female cane toads can lay 8,000 to 35,000 eggs at a time and may produce two clutches a year. The toads reach maturity within a year and have a lifespan of at least five years."

Sheesh. That's potentially 350,000 new toads in one lifetime. Almost makes me glad I only have to worry about fire ants. Whoops, Australia has them too.

More on Ruger DA Revolvers at Wadcutter

Tune up your trigger pull here.

Left-handed comments on the Ruger P95D

Someone came to this blog by Googling "Ruger P95D report." I don't know if they were looking for info on the gun in general, or if by "report" they were wondering about how it sounds when it goes bang. I do own one, and have mentioned it previously. I guess more comments on it would make as good an entry as any.

Southpaw shooters might be interested in this information. I bought the P95D primarily because of two things: its ambidextrousness and its price. Ambidextrousness is an important consideration for lefties which many gun companies have overlooked/ignored until the past few years (or so it seems to me). Ruger semi-autos have long had ambi tendencies because Bill Ruger himself was left-handed (or so I've read). The P95D is about as ambidextrous as they come, with an ambi magazine release and ambi decocker. It does not have an ambidextrous slide release, and of course, as with just about all semi-autos, ejects the empties to the right. If standing in an isosceles position, my pistol ejects at an obtuse enough angle that all the empties miss (miss hitting me, that is). If shooting one-handed (with the left hand), and presenting a narrow side profile to the target, the empties come nowhere near me. However, shooting in the Weaver stance gets me tapped in the right shoulder/right side of head with almost every empty. This is only a mild annoyance and since I'm usually wearing a hat anyway it doesn't bother me. The slide release is not a problem during normal operation, since a pull back on the slide itself releases it, just like any semi-auto. It is only a problem during disassembly for cleaning. It might be easier to disassemble for a righty, but I don't know. It has always seemed to be a little bit of a trick to me to line up the marks so the release can be pulled out. I would also add that although I am primarily left-handed, I am also somewhat ambidextrous, and when practicing, I alternate hands every time I put in a fresh magazine. (My left eye is my strong eye).

As the name implies, this version is decocker only, it does not have a "safety" that locks the trigger or any such thing. You draw it, you pull the trigger, it goes bang. No unnecessary extra steps. This is another reason I chose it. The first, double-action shot does have a long, heavy trigger pull, and it pays to do lots of practice decocking after every shot so you can get used to that first pull. After that, single-action follow-ups are a piece of cake.

I have shot a full-size M1911 as well as a more compact version, both of which were all metal. Compared to the P95D, which has a polymer body, the P95D (vs. the 1911 in .45) seems to have a much sharper recoil. I have attributed this to the very light lower body against the very heavy slide assembly. The 1911 is more of a push, while the P95D is more of a twist, if that makes any sense. It is a very sharp twist that, to me, is harder to recover from than when shooting the good ol' 1911 in .45.

This is Ruger's idea of a "compact" gun but I think if they put their minds to it they could come up with something that really is compact. This is still a fairly large gun, strictly speaking about how much space it takes up. I have carried it concealed, but not comfortably.

One problem with mine is that I have yet to have it function 100% reliably with 115-grain ammo. It works perfectly and has never failed with 147-grain, but the lighter ammo sometimes fails to feed. I have not yet tried any of the 124-grain version. My carry ammo (when I carried it) was 147 grain Hornady XTP.

This pistol was the first semi-auto I ever purchased, back when I was planning on first getting a CHL (Concealed Handgun License, for you non-Texans). I have since kind of started leaning toward the "anti-9mm" crowd, but I don't ever plan on getting rid of this gun, mostly because I want to have at least one of each of the most popular calibers in my collection, and this one makes a fine representative of the 9mm. In fact, I would someday like to add one of Ruger's 9mm carbines to the collection, so I'll have ammo and mags that will fit both a pistol and a long gun.

I used this gun for a carry piece for a while, but for the past few years have switched to a Ruger SP-101 loaded with .357 magnum (I like revolvers, and wanted something that generally inflicts more damage than a 9mm). I have also recently purchased a Springfield XD40 and am still working it through a break-in period. When I feel confident enough with it, I intend for it to replace the SP-101.

I mentioned price at the beginning. This P95D (blued slide) cost me $350 at a gun show about 5 years ago. Ruger has a nice way of coming out on top of the cost/quality scale.

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a professional gun review. It is just a few of my own impressions based on my own experience. Your mileage may vary.

Neat CSS Button

Thanks to 4GuysFromRolla, I now have a nifty little button created entirely by CSS for the Atom XML link.

Anti-gun bias at Snopes

As a regular reader of Snopes (yep, they're even on the blogroll), I must point out this analysis from Insane Troll Logic, which, in all fairness, must now also be added to the blogroll.

MSM does it again

Strong words but true at Alphecca.

Ruger DA Revolvers

I finally got around to reading this quick history of Ruger DA Revolvers over at Wadcutter, which just got added to the blogroll. The SP-101 is one of my favorite shootin' irons. Now how about something on the single actions?

"No guns" sign = "please rob us repeatedly" sign

Five Ohio stores in ''no-guns'' UDF chain robbed!:

"Last week, Ohioans For Concealed Carry began receiving reports of 'no-guns' signs being posted in United Dairy Farmers (UDF) stores in Ohio. An investigation by Business Education Coordinator Joe Eaton discovered the Ohio-based chain had just ordered signs to be posted in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana stores.

Although it didn't take long for OFCC supporters to begin responding to the discriminatory signs, OFCC has learned that criminals in Ohio appear to have responded even more rapidly."

"Somewhat Normal"

I like doing these little "tests" that keep turning up. I don't know why. This is about what I expected.

You Are 50% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

More comments on Florida's new "Home Protection"

Kim du Toit has more insightful comments on Florida's new clarification.

News release from CCRKBA

CITIZEN'S COMMITTEE SAYS PROSECUTOR MADE RIGHT CALL IN MILWAUKEE SHOOTING:

"'It is sad that a young man lost his life over this,' Waldron stated, 'but the fact remains that he initiated the attack, and was joined by his companions. The victim had no choice but to defend himself, and if there is one thing positive about this incident, it is that the Milwaukee District Attorney's office did a good job and made a common-sense decision that recognizes the right of self-defense.'"

This guy can write

If A Day In Iraq is not part of your blogroll, it should be. Go read it all.

"Kofi Annan could come to collect some kickbacks he's still owed from the oil for food program. Sean Penn could come to promote peace, all while getting in fights with anyone who tried to take his picture. John Kerry could come get another Purple Heart. Barbara Streisand and Justin Timberlake could sing Iraq's national anthem before the race. Justin, I already have a place for you to stay. It's called the Neverland Ranch. Reporting live for everyone back home would be the dynamic duo of Dan Rather and Katie Couric."

Right for self-defense in Hawaii

Women of Hawaii Should Be Allowed to Carry Firearms:

"Opponents to the right to bear arms say we should rely on police and calls to 9-1-1. But how does 9-1-1 help the young woman as she is snatched into a car with five men who intend to cause her harm.

How does 9-1-1 help the 85-year-old woman who is about to be tied up and raped by a man with previous sex offense convictions?

How does a 9-1-1 call help me when in the face of danger?

Truth is as good as police may be -- or not be -- at their jobs, they need time to respond to a call, and they need to be called.

What rapist is going to allow a woman to call police from her cell phone? What gang member will enable a victim to call for help? No such opportunity exists.

But what every gang member, what every rapist, what every previous sex offender can understand and will respond to is the barrel of a gun pointed between his eyes -- or lower."

Scents inspired by H.P. Lovecraft

With a name like Blogonomicon, I would be remiss in not providing a link to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Perfume Oils: Dark Elements

Al-Azif is described as: "A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay."

I am not surprised...

When nature calls, cell phone owners should answer carefully: "Powers said that last year about 20 percent of the claims coming in were because phones were damaged by some kind of liquid, including 'being dropped in a lake, pool, and, yes, in toilets.'"

This shouldn't surprise anyone. As someone who worked as a pager repair tech for many years, I can't count how many pagers I came across that had been dropped in toilets, and yes, even septic tanks (those septic tank clean-up guys just can't hold onto their pagers). And you would be amazed at how many people tried to dry their pager in a microwave.

"Stand Your Ground" bill passes in Florida

"For a House that talks about the culture of life it's ironic that we would be devaluing life in this bill," said Democratic state Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. "That's exactly what we're doing."

I personally have no problem with devaluing the life of murderers, muggers, and their ilk. Fortunately, Florida has decided that you don't have to give a crook a chance to shoot or stab you in the back (which is what happens when you try to run from an armed criminal) before you're allowed to defend yourself. I don't know why this was considered "odd news" by Reuters. Just that "liberal bias" I guess.

Guilty until proven innocent in China

"'I want those officials involved in my conviction punished,' he was quoted as saying."

Don't hold your breath, Xianglin.

Work Report

Just delivering notices again (as last week), but that could change any day. Delivery duty is like having a day off with pay--you get paid to drive around for several hours, listen to the radio, buy a cold drink now and then, and so forth. Did have one slightly close call with a dog today, some kind of big bulldog (not a pit). Tried to jump a fence, but fortunately could only get his head over. I hope the delinquents can find their notice on their mailbox post, because I couldn't stick it on their gate.

There is more reading I would like to do but I am getting tired.

Oh, by the way, Kim du Toit hates DST too.

Central American drug smuggling gang plans U.S. invasion...

Gang will target Minuteman vigil on Mexico border.

Big stink in the Great White North, eh?

There's a big scandal a-brewin' up Canada way, and now I'm apparenty at risk of being prosecuted by the Canadian government for linking to this article. Heh.

tnx to The American Princess

What the...?

An unusually pro-self-defense story in the New York Times: Shootings Fuel a Drive to Ease Gun Laws.

tnx to Alphecca

Adventures in computer shopping

I recently got a new computer, and although it isn't top-o-da-line anymore, it still does everything I wanted it to, and probably a few things I haven't even tried yet (for example, I didn't necessarily need a DVD burner, but hey). It was somewhat difficult to find such a machine, for one simple reason: it had to have USB ports as well as a parallel port. I have a perfectly good flatbed scanner which needs a parallel port, and I screwed up with my last machine and got one that was USB only, so for the past several years I have had an old computer taking up space just so I could occasionally use the scanner.

Where did this special computer come from? I hate to say it, but it was the Walmart website. CompUSA had an IBM Thinkpad that fit the bill, but by the time the funds became available, they were all gone. So I was stuck with Walmart.

Here's a list of computers I have owned, not counting a couple that I purchased really cheap because they were obsolete and were dedicated solely to ham radio purposes (all of which I no longer possess).

Circa 1990: a laptop. First computer was a laptop, and I don't remember the maker anymore. Purchased from a mail-order place called DAK. It had a 640x480 blue "supertwist" LCD screen, no hard drive, dual 3.5" (double density--720K) floppies, and an output for a CGA monitor, which I bought along with it. It did have a mouse. It was an 8088 with an 8 MHz processor. I still remember the blurb in the catalog, which went something like, "burn through applications at a blazing 8 MHz!!!" Primary purposes were running Wordstar and playing Ultima V and another game in which I raced greyhounds (very low-tech graphics--the hounds were just dots on the screen). Cost was around $700 for the computer and around $200 for the monitor.

1993 or so: Leading Edge 486SLC, 25MHz processor, 4 meg RAM, 120 meg hard drive. Had Windows 3.1. Cost of machine plus a VGA monitor was around $1,400. I can't imagine paying that much for a computer anymore. Came without a modem. Bought a cheap obsolete 2400 baud modem at a swapmeet ($5), later upgraded to 14400 and added a sound card system with a CD-ROM drive. Started logging into local BBS's with a terminal program (Comit for DOS). First accessed the Internet in 1994 with the 2400 baud modem via a service called Novalink. First used the WWW with same old 2400 modem, using NCSA Mosaic and Win32s. In 1995 first had real, unlimited access to the Internet via Netcom, using their Netcruiser software (Google Groups--orignally Deja News--has my earliest usenet post archived, the date was April 20, 1995). Played a few neat games, used Wordstar a lot, and started using it for ham radio stuff. Kept using for ham radio after buying next computer.

Several years later: Hewlett Packard 60 MHz Pentium with 480 meg hard drive and 8 megs RAM. Later upgraded to 40 megs RAM and added an extra 1.5 gig hard drive. Came with 14400 baud modem, later upgraded to 28800. Also came with Windows 3.11, later upgraded to Win98 (never used 95). Bogged down really bad with Win98, but I persevered for a few more years. Cost of computer and a new VGA monitor, around $1,200.

Around 2000: AST 500 MHz Pentium III with 64 megs RAM and 40 gig hard drive. This is the machine I am typing on right now and I do not intend for it to become a relic just yet. The Leading Edge went on the shelf, the old monitor went to the HP, and the newer (but not new) monitor went to this computer. Cost of this machine (came without monitor, but having 2 VGA monitors already, I didn't really need one), $500. That's more like it. This is the machine that has nothing but USB ports. It also doesn't have a floppy drive of any sort, which at the time seemed odd but is now the norm. I guess it was ahead of its time. This one was later upgraded with an external CD burner. But upon purchase of this I swore I would never go into the guts of a computer again. Came with Win98SE, remains with Win98SE, and will always be so until it is dead.

Last week: the brand name is Balance, I don't know much about it but I took a chance and so far it's working just fine. Notebook with 1.5 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 256 meg RAM and 40 gig hard drive. I would have liked a bigger HD but then I've never come close to filling up the 40 gigger on my desktop so I'm not really worried about it. It looks like upgrading the RAM is pretty easy, so I might do that sometime, since I wouldn't really be having to open up the machine itself, just a panel on the bottom. Cost of this machine, plus 128 meg DiskGo! flash drive (I shoulda got a bigger flash drive), plus tax and shipping, $779. More on this machine as I play around with it. Oh yeah, this one has WinXP (I never used 2000 or ME).

Update: I thought I would add that the first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe in 1982 or so. For some reason my high school purchased one and put it in an empty classroom, then informed several of the more tech-oriented students they could go play with it during free time. Most of our time was spent playing Little Brick Out, but some of us did play around with BASIC programming.

Of Arms and the Law: 1789 Senate action on right to arms

A good article from Of Arms and the Law, which just got added to the blogroll.

Gun control's best friend - PittsburghLIVE.com

Amnesty International thinks that mass genocide is better than self-defense.

Viscious Attack on PG&E Meter Reader Serves as Stark Reminder Of Dog Owners' Responsibilities

Note this quote:

"The meter reader was reading a meter as three dogs in the neighboring backyard jumped up against the fence, knocking it down."

They conclude with a list of things that people can do to make it safer for their meter readers. For some reason, they didn't list the obvious: MAKE SURE YOUR &^%$#@! FENCE CAN HOLD IN YOUR DOGS!!!

The most dangerous dog encounter I've had so far was with a pit bull, whose property I didn't even enter (read the meter from a vacant lot next door from about 40 feet away), busted out under their rickety gate and harrassed me for two blocks. I kept looking for something to throw at it, and finally it was driven away by another customer. It followed me onto her property and while it was trying to get at me again, she sucker-punched it with a roll of garden hose from the safety of her porch. Several people in the neighborhood spoke with me afterward, complaining that they as well are often harrassed by this dog. The animal control folks were called in. I don't know if it did any good.

Keep your passwords safe

Password Safe 2.03, downloadable from Castle Cops, is another tool that I consider pretty much essential, and it's free. The Password Safe home site is sourceforge.net but I am having problems accessing them at this moment. The newest version at sourceforge is 2.09. Version 2.03 is available from Castle Cops.

Oh yeah, what is it? It's a small application that provides an encrypted database in which you keep all your passwords (and usernames, by the way). You only need to remember one password: the one that opens the Password Safe database. It will even generate random passwords for you, using a combination of upper- and lower-case letters and numbers. It sure beats keeping everything in a notebook.

The Dreaded DST

A Short History of Daylight Saving Time at Snopes explains some advantages of DST, but I still don't like it. It messes with my sleeping, for one thing. The worst thing about it is that now it will still be dark when I start work. This means I will have to wait for 8:00 AM or so to begin reading meters. If the day is cloudy, there may not be enough light to read them from a distance until 8:30 or even 9:00. And you will be reading them from a distance. Having full daylight at 7:30 in the morning (or earlier) is a huge advantage for a meter reader.

Pat Sajak - Sajak Says...

Pat Sajak - Sajak Says..."Arguing with Liberals and Why I've Stopped"

Check this out, a very cool website from the man himself, with lots of articles archived.

Seymour Hersh Interview | David Barsamian | April 2005 Issue

"Born in Chicago, Hersh began his career in 1959 as a police reporter for the City News Bureau. He later worked for UPI, AP, and The New York Times. Since 1993, he's been at The New Yorker. His piece on neocon stalwart Richard Perle, "Lunch with the Chairman," provoked Perle to call him the "closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." Perle threatened to sue him for libel but later backed off. Recently, Max Boot, another neocon favorite, called him "the journalistic equivalent of Oliver Stone: a hard-left zealot who subscribes to the old counterculture conceit that a deep, dark conspiracy is running the U.S. government." For Hersh, their criticism is a sign he's doing his job."

Or maybe it's just a sign that he's an annoying twerp.

"I can't tell you whether they are technically breaking the law, but basically, the American government has been hijacked by neoconservatives."

Who were all elected by their respective constituencies.

"Bush certainly sees himself as having been given an endorsement."

He was elected, right?

"He was asked about accountability in an interview, about why Rumsfeld, Rice, and Wolfowitz have been promoted, these people who led us into the debacle in Iraq. Bush said there was accountability--it was the election. So there we are."

Ah.

"I'm worried about people who say Bush is lying. It's much more frightening that he's not lying, that he believes what he believes: that it's his mission to change the Middle East into a democracy. That's more unnerving."

God forbid we should get one honest politician in my lifetime.

"We'd be better off if the whole purpose of the adventure in Iraq was, say, to protect Israel or to protect the flow of oil to America and keep it at a reasonable price and try to get some more control."

Or, "I can understand if he's a dirty rotten money-grubber who just wants cheap gas, but he actually wants to bring democracy to the Middle East! That's crazy!"

"Q: What will it take for a majority of Americans to say no more torture, stop the war in Iraq?

Hersh: You're missing the point. It doesn't matter what a majority of Americans say."

I think it has already been said.

For more comments that are much more well-thought-out and eloquent than I am capable of, check out this article at Countercolumn.

Link removed

Visicom Media has discontinued its freeware version of AceHTML, therefore I have removed them from the "Links" section. They still offer a freeware version of AceFTP. Fortunately, I have a lot of installation files backed up on CD, just in case something like this happens. The new version is not always better (and in this case, the new version must be paid for).

Ratdog runs amok

I am employed as a meter reader, and let me tell you, this is no joke. Ratdogs have attempted to bite me more often than any other larger dog. A Rottweiler can be dealt with; after all, they are too big to hide inside the hollow of a cinder block, and are easy to spot. They can be felt out easily, they can sometimes be worked around. These little rat b------s will go into such an apoplectic frenzy that they will throw themselves through the holes of a chain-link fence. They also exist mostly in large packs. I mean, think about it, the food that it takes to feed a Rott or Pit Bull (excuse me--American Staffordshire Terrier) can feed a dozen of these little suckers for a year. People who own them, own them in lots. They also have the fecundity of an oversexed rabbit. By all of which I mean, they rarely operate solo like this one apparently did. Fortunately, they are too short to reach over the top of my boots, and too stupid to figure out how to jump when they bite. So I usually just wade through them all, leaving a horde of screaming ratdogs with nothing but the taste of mud and leather in their mouths.

All that said, I must add that these mailmen were wimps if they couldn't deal with one scrawny Chihuahua.

I'm a French Guard?!

There should have been more questions. I thought I was more of a Brave Sir Robin.

Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla

tnx to Fun Turns to Tragedy!!!

The first Sunday after the first...yeah, yeah, I know...

On what date have Christians celebrated Easter:

"The Encyclopedia Britannica states: 'There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians.'"

Here's a short but interesting article on various ways that Easter has been calculated throughout the centuries.

By the way, here's a neat Excel formula for calculating the date of Easter (western Christian tradition). I picked this up from J-Walk a while back.

=DOLLAR(("4/"&A1)/7+MOD(19*MOD(A1,19)-7,30)*14%,)*7-6

I was born on Palm Sunday in 1964, and I had always been curious if my birthday would ever fall on Palm Sunday again. Using this formula, I found that the next time it happens will be 2054, so I will have to live to be 90 years old to see it. That would be cool.

Hymns

link deleted

Block this!

A great comment over at Resistance is futile!:

"Typical liberal moonbat pap; they'd rather be 'aware' of a problem than actually do anything about it. People are starving? Let's record a pop album! That's much better than overthrowing the fascist regimes that control the food supply and allow millions to starve! People are dying of AIDS? Let's all wear ribbons! That will stop the problem faster than teaching people to be responsible about sex. So what to do about FoxNews? Let's sell a redundant device that no one needs to raise awareness, rather than encourage CNN and the other FoxNews competiors to improve their quality, thereby lowering the people's demand for 'Fair and Balanced' programming. Yes siree, Bob, that will do it!"

Read the whole thing. Just once I'd like to somehow understand why liberals think the way they do, like this guy with his channel blocker. I find it especially dumbfounding because any cable service there is allows selective lockout of any channels you wish for no extra charge. Oh, I get it. He's not really a liberal, he's just a plain ol' capitalist, out to make a buck. Now I understand.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

I will never buy Diamond brand strike on box large kitchen matches ever again. I bought a case of these a while back (yeah, I know, that's 1,500 matches, but at least I wasn't buying 30,000 paper matches). They do not strike reliably and are dangerously prone to snapping off during a strike, which causes a flaring match head to fly into ones clothing. I like to use matches to light my pipe when at home, and the best matches, in my opinion, are Ohio Blue Tips (the strike anywhere kind). These are apparently available locally only at your friendly neighborhood H.E.B.

H.E.B. is also, by the way, the only place I have found (other than ordering it online) that sells Sontava habanero sauce. This is my favorite general-purpose hot sauce. Be sure and get the XXX version, the XX isn't hot enough.

Irons in the Fire: Makarov tryout

Irons in the Fire: Makarov tryout: a nice range report on the Makarov. I got one of these Bulgarians myself about 4 years ago, and recently used it for my CHL qualification renewal. The place giving the class is a range where Glock is king: all the employees wear Glock t-shirts, there are Glock posters everywhere, and fully 50% of their retail shelves are stocked with Glocks. I hadn't practiced in a long time, so my score was significantly down from my first qualification back in 2001 (238 out of a possible 250), but I beat the pants off the guy next to me who was using a Glock. There was one other man there who had one of the original Russians with adjustable sights, and he was complaining about having a hard time finding ammo. He showed me the box he had purchased at a gun store, $21.99 for 50 rounds, to which I replied with a consternated "holy !@#$." I advised him to visit the monthly gun show and buy boxes of Sellier & Bellot or Wolf for $6 to $7 per box.

At my original qualification I used my Ruger P95 in 9mm, which is a great gun but doesn't function 100% with anything but 147-grain ammo (previously mentioned). The Makarov has been 100% with anything I can shove in the chamber. Also, being a lefty, I sometimes have to consider ejections. The Ruger will usually bonk me in the right shoulder with its empties (a minor annoyance), but the Mak throws the shells into a beautiful arc that drops them at about a 45-degree angle 3 feet behind me to my right. As I expected, I got every shot into the 5-ring at the first two lines, but due to lack of practice my pattern opened up considerably when I went back to the 15-yard marker. The S&B ammo functioned flawlessly, as always, and the Mak performed perfectly.

I don't like the original Mak grips, though. The thumbrest is impossible for a lefty, and the plastic non-thumbrest grips are very skinny and uncomfortable. I bought some padded grips for it that are great. I also advised my fellow Makarov shooter to visit Makarov.com and get himself a thumb-saver to help in loading the magazine.

The Makarov is utterly reliable, the only real drawback being its fairly low-powered ammo. This is why for the past few years, when I have carried, it has been a Ruger SP-101 loaded with 125-grain Remington Golden Sabres in .357 magnum.

First Things and First Principles @ AMERICAN DIGEST

Gerard at American Digest has been hitting the nail so squarely on the head lately that even if his blog weren't alphabetically at the top of my list, I would move it there anyway.

Odd weather

When I checked the thermometer at 7:00 AM today it was already 75. It is now 62, with only 64% humidity. I wish we'd had this kind of weather yesterday, when it was in the high 70's by midafternoon with a humidity around 90%. Beautiful spring day, indeed. According to the radar and the purpling sky outside, it is going to come a real thundering rain any minute now.

Blogroll revisited

Okay, forget about blogrolling.com. After many searches through the Bloglines help system, the tip-o-da-day finally showed me how to get the blogroll code from Bloglines. This makes it much easier. You may occasionally notice that blogs on this roll come and go with alarming rapidity. This is because, when I find a feed that I even remotely think is interesting, I will throw it into the list so I can check it out for a few days. I might delete it after a couple of days if I think it's not worth spending time on. I have seen some bloggers who display a blogroll of a couple hundred other blogs. Where do they find time to read all those things? If I find myself ignoring a blog for too long, I will delete it just to cut down on clutter. I don't have time to read everything.

and while I'm at it...

News from February 11, 2005:

This is the latest in a long string of cases at both the trial and appeals court levels holding that manufacturers of lawfully-sold, non-defective firearms are not legally at fault if these products are subsequently illegally acquired or misused by criminals.

Good news for law-abiding, gun-owning citizens, good news for law-abiding gun manufacturers. Bad news for the googooheads.

and speaking of which...

Here's some news from last December about an Army contract with Ruger. I have a P95D (blued slide). The only gripe I have about it is that it functions with 100% reliability only with 147-grain ammo. The 115-grain sometimes fails to feed or stovepipes. I haven't yet tried any in the 124-125 range, but I did recently purchase some so I can give them a shot.

Just in case...

...you get jumped by a 10-foot tall, 1500-pound, fur-bearing mugger. I'm a big fan of Ruger firearms, especially their revolvers. I guess somebody has a practical use for this gun. I think this is one of those things that they built because they could, and people will buy it because they can: the new Super Redhawk Alaskan snubby in .454 Casull.

Blogroll

I'm working on building a blogroll using blogrolling.com. I don't know why blogspot can't just provide their own blogrolling gadget--probably some techy reason beyond my comprehension. Anyhoo, the Twyllyp Blogroll is not every blog I read, at least not yet. I use Bloglines for my aggregator.

Email just received...

Just received the email about the stupid criminal who tried to rob a gunstore. I knew this was a lot older than the email said (I sort of keep up with this kind of thing) so I had to check Snopes. I suppose his ".38 caliber semi-automatic" was a .380. The only other gun I can think of to fit the bill would be a .38 Super. As for the store owner, he grabbed the right gun. I'm surprised the crook lasted 4 hours if he was hit by a .50AE.

File under what are you going to do with that?!

One last post for the day. A few days ago, while standing in the check-out line at Walmart, I noticed the guy in front of me was purchasing six cases of matchbooks. I am a compulsive reader (have I mentioned that?). So it only took me a few seconds to read the fine print on the cases and do the numbers in my head. Six cases, five boxes per case, 50 matchbooks per box, 20 matches per matchbook. The guy was buying 30,000 paper matches.

At least he wasn't like the guy in front of me at H.E.B. one time who was buying 16 boxes of the store brand of sudaphed. After he was gone and I told the checker what was probably going to happen to the stuff, she paled a little and wondered if she should have called the manager.

One answer...

I don't usually make these kinds of comments because I don't consider myself knowledgable enough on most issues. I am a habitual listner who rarely speaks. But...I have heard some people ask, "Why are Terri Schiavo's parents so desperate to keep her alive?" My question has always been, "Why is her (ahem) 'husband' so desperate to see her dead?" Gerard Van Der Leun at American Digest has an idea.

How not to handle a Glock...

...or any other semi-automatic handgun, for that matter. Keep your finger off the trigger when releasing the slide. Snopes has the scoop.

Dragons

The folks at Animal Planet seem mighty proud of themselves to have come up with "scientific" reasons why and how dragons could breathe fire and fly. Only problem is, the problem was already solved by Peter Dickinson in The Flight of Dragons 24 years ago.

The Blog is back, more or less

Back to the original url and site name, with another change in direction. It's hard to believe I've began this blog more than a year ago and have been updating it off and on (more off than on) since December 2003. However, I think I will try to add something at least once per week, knowing that it may be some time before anyone reads it. I am a regular reader of several other blogs, but I have to pick and choose and limit the blogroll because I just don't have the time. Soon I hope to purchase a notebook computer which will allow me to read and post more conveniently and more frequently. Don't expect anything controversial or mind-shattering from this blog, it's just not that kind of blog. You shouldn't expect much of anything really, except observations of the behavior of humans that I encounter.

Eureka!

I have definitely eliminated one problem: a bad solder job (er, my own, actually) on a PL-259. This was on the stretch of coax that I had previously used for mobile ops, which may be why I was always having so much trouble getting anyone to hear me when I went mobile. I'm feeling a lot better now. This should mean my problem will be solved by a new piece of coax. Also a new PL-259 to fix the coax for future mobile operations.

I think I finally figured out a way to mount the HTX-100 in my truck. Yeah, yeah, 10 meters is dead, but this is when it's the most fun. You never can tell when a band opening will happen, and when it does, it's lots of fun.

Get your Desktop UTC clock here!

Here's another ham radio aid I found recently. Just tuck this AlphaClock - miniature digital desktop clock down into the corner of your screen and you'll have a UTC clock right where you can see it easily above your regular clock. This has been very useful for me.

And by the way, in case you don't know about these little programs, you should also get Atomic Clock Sync, so you and your computer will really know what time it is.

Sigh...

deleted

60 Minutes is full of it.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Blogs v. 60 Minutes: Since you probably won't hear about this on the news, I'll have to post a link here, just to do my own little part.

"To hammer his point home Johnson superimposes the purported memo with his Microsoft Word, typed today version. Literally 1:1, not even fuzzy, not a letter out of place."

If Bush were more like Clinton, he might start saying, "It's the character, stupid." But he wouldn't say that. It's not in his character.

Technology, shmecknology.

I recently switched to a normal Internet service. By which I mean, no special proprietary software to access the Internet. Just plain ol' Windows, like back in the old days. Odd things happened, however. I tried out the newest version of Pegasus (Pegasus was the first email software I ever used, long ago) and it was working great, then suddenly it stopped. In my inexpert level of expertise, I can only figure that somehow it has stopped properly translating my IP address from winsock, and my email server thinks I'm not supposed to be there. I can still send emails to others within my domain (blazeisp.com), but not to anyone outside. Oh well. Eudora comes up with the same problem. Fortunately my old standby Agent works (I've been an Agent user for years). Unfortunately, even the new 2.x version of Agent is straight text only. From a security standpoint, this is the best way to go. However, I don't think anyone I receive email from has been using the Internet for more than 5 years (if that long), and they almost all use html-formatted email. It gets to be a drag to launch a web browser just to read email. So, it looks like I'm using Outlook Express. I really dislike this program, but so far only it and Agent are able to talk to my email server.

Although I don't remember the exact date, this year will mark my 10th anniversary of using the Internet. I suppose like many people back then, I had already spent some time logging on to local BBS's and had tried a few online services (for you newbies, AOL, Compuserve, et al, did not originally provide access to the Internet). The first Internet service I used was called Novalink. I have forgotten the monthly fee, although I think it was $14.95, and for this you got 5 hours of access per month. That's right, 5 hours. You could either log on to their in-house service using a simple terminal program, or you could fire up Windows (3.x), start up Trumpet Winsock, and access the Internet using NCSA Mosaic (but only if you had also installed Win32s). I remember one of the few websites I visited back then was a catalog of Rush lyrics. The front page was a collection of thumbnails of all their albums up to that point, and you could click on the thumbnail to see the lyrics for that album. I thought it was fantastic. The only problem was, it took a long time to load all those little pictures at 2400 baud. Yeah, 2400 baud. Oh yeah, and back then Mosaic couldn't display inline jpgs, only gifs, so the pictures tended to be somewhat larger than the norm now.

I bought that 2400 baud modem for $5 at a ham radio swapmeet. By that time, I think the cutting edge was 9600, so it was obsolete. But it worked. I thought I was really going blazingly fast when I jumped up to 14400.

The first search engine I encountered back than was called Infoseek. It's now called "Go.com" and pretty much stinks. It apparently is owned by Disney, and it no longer bothers even to use its own search engine. It uses Google.

So ten years have passed, and the Internet has been a big part of my life, providing me communications with family and friends, allowing me to make some new friends, and providing a source of knowledge and humor. I just hope that in another 10 years, high-speed technology will have advanced to a point where it's affordable.

A New Song

I have been sitting on this one for a while because I don't actually have rights to use the words. The words are a poem written by Katherine Artus Taylor, who is (or was) a woman who my late grandmother knew when they were girls. Mrs. Taylor wrote a small chapbook of poetry late in her life, which my grandmother had a copy of, and which she passed on to me before she passed away. The poem actually consists of three stanzas. I used the first two stanzas for the stanzas of this song, and the third stanza for the chorus. I don't know if Mrs. Taylor is still on this earth, and if she is, where she may be living, and I have been unable to get any contact information. So, I guess I have to say "lyrics used without permission." On the other hand, I think I did really well on the music.

So the new song is God Shall Keep Me Ever, and as usual, the midi file will be coming along later.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff's Reading List

I don't read nearly as much as I used to. I still read when I can, but not as much as I should. Here's a site that I might someday find very useful if I can afford so many books. Maybe it's time to get a library card again. U.S. Army Chief of Staff's Reading List:

"The Professional Reading List is a way for leaders at all levels to increase their understanding of our Army's history, the global strategic context, and the enduring lessons of war. The topics and time periods included in the books on this list are expansive and are intended to broaden each leader's knowledge and confidence. I challenge all leaders to make a focused, personal commitment to read, reflect, and learn about our profession and our world. Through the exercise of our minds, our Army will grow stronger."

I do already have one book in Sublist 1: Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.

Files Update

I finally got around to fixing up and adding the midi file for My Heart Is Steadfast. Each voice part has its own track so you can use your favorite midi player to mute, solo, or change instrument tracks for learning purposes.

New Truck

I guess I should try to post more often, but I usually can't think of much to write about. So how about this.

Four years ago I bought a Toyota Echo. It got great gas mileage (about 41 mpg highway) but was just a tiny little car that did not come close to replacing my old '89 Ford Ranger (which got over 30 mpg highway, by the way). This year the balloon payment was coming up on the Echo so it was time to get rid of it, or something. So I ended up with a '03 Ranger.

I spent a lot of time outside yesterday with the truck. I gotta say although the mileage is going to stink, it's really nice to be in a truck again. To be up off the ground where I have some decent visibility is just flat-out wonderful. The previous owner had spilled some oil (not motor oil, something like 3-In-One oil) in the toolbox, so I got some Dawn soapy water and cleaned it up, then started putting stuff in it. Then I broke out the owner's manual and figured out how to break out the jack and spare tire (it is actually more like my old Courier than like my last Ranger) and then spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how in the heck to put a radio in the thing (ham radio, that is). It has an extra auxiliary power jack in the cab that is rated at 20 amps, so I might be able to get away with just hooking up to that, and not running power cables all the way to the battery. This still leaves the problem of how to get the antenna cable out. My old Ranger had several rubber grommets in the floor that were seemingly made just for such a thing (as did the Echo, in fact), but no such things exist in this Ranger. It looks like I will have to drill a hole somewhere.

One nice thing is, the extended cab creates a much larger roof area, so large that I could actually get one of those big 4-magnet mag-mount bases and put a big antenna up there if I wanted--although I probably would not actually move with a bugcatcher on the roof. I still have the mount that I fabricated for the old Ranger, and it might work on this one--it might not, because this one is slightly different in the area where I had it mounted on the old one. This magmount scheme might be okay for what is called "Rover" operations, where you drive somewhere and park before operating the radio. There's a special Rover class for the annual Field Day event.

I mention radios because, as I was driving it home the other day, I realized something that I had thought about several years before--an automatic transmission means no stick in the middle of the floor. There's a big empty area there that will hold multiple radios if the proper mount can be created. Some hams are kind of snobby about magmounts, but to me they have always been very useful and versatile. I have even occasionally operated with a magmount stuck the roof of my house. But then, living in a trailer house doesn't give me room to be snobby about much.

Nearest Book Meme

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

"As far back as the 1930s Giovanni Montini as a young ecclesiastic had been profoundly influenced by a single attitude that would, thirty years later, go a long way toward making him a Pope unlike any Pope before him." --from The Final Conclave by Malachi Martin.

via Peachwater, Tx. Journal

What Famous Leader Are You?

Another one of those what something-or-other are you tests. I get a kick out of these, though I don't know why. I took the long version of the test.

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Five more LPs

I should do this more often, just so there's a new post every day. Five more vinyl albums.
David Bowie Tonight (accidentally got from RCA Record Club, decided to keep)
Jackson Browne For Everyman (bought used, has Jackson's original version of Take It Easy)
Tony Carey Some Tough City (bought new, still think it's a cool album)
Harry Chapin Greatest Stories Live (bought new, haven't heard it in a loooong time)
Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Front Boulevard (bought used, not a huge Clapton fan)

New Books

I got some new books this week. I am now reading The First World War by Hew Strachan. It got very high marks at Amazon.

New Files

After struggling over some changes today, I trashed most of them and went back to the original version of this song, more or less. So both round-note and shape-note versions of "My Heart Is Steadfast" have been added to the files section. A midi version will be forthcoming when I can get around to it.

Tomorrow might be busy. I don't do much here during the week, so if I don't get the midi version up tomorrow, it will probably not be here until next weekend.

Still Songstering

I thought I would have another song ready for posting today, because I thought it was finished and would only require some tweaking of the print to make it look good before I uploaded it. But alas, I decided there were bits that could be better, so I have been touching it up slowly, a little at a time. Maybe next week.

It is a one-liner. Another term I just made up, meaning it doesn't have stanzas and a chorus in the traditional style. It has only one line sung straight through, and is taken from Psalm 108.

The Shape of Things

Someone had asked me about shape notes. There are actually several shape styles, but the one I refer to is the 7-shape system. Information on shape notes can be found at Christianity - Shape Notes Top Links. This site has a load of links regarding shape note singing.

If you take a look at any of the files here you can get the idea. Each note of the scale has its own particular shape (Do is an equilateral triangle, Mi is a diamond, etc.).

There are still a few publishers who sell hymnals in this style, most notably Howard Publishing, publishers of Songs of Faith and Praise.

What I've been reading.

For lack of anything better to post, lately I've been reading the Book of Acts, various Psalms, and occasionally progressing slowly through "In the Company of Soldiers" and "The Dead Sea Scrolls." I have a hard time sticking to just one book at a time.

What do I have in my music collection?

Someone might be curious. And I figure if I list 5 albums/CDs per week, it should keep me going for about 3 years. These will be listed in no particular order, except that most of them should be more or less alphabetical. I'll start with the records (that's a 12-inch wide, flat, round piece of vinyl with grooves on it, you know, they used to record music that way, hence: "records"). ;-) So here we go:
David Bowie--Pinups
Syd Barrett--The Madcap Laughs/Barrett
Jon Anderson--3 Ships
Jethro Tull--Aqualung
The Eagles--Greatest Hits 1971-1975

I said they should be more or less alphabetical. I don't know how Jethro Tull and the Eagles got put there at the beginning, but then I haven't reorganized the collection in a while.

Site Feed Fixed

I just noticed that I had forgotten to reset the site feed for the new url. So now it's fixed. Not that anyone has actually subscribed yet, but still...

Bible Versions

Bible Versions at kenanderson.net: "There are so many versions, which is right? Although there are still those who will insist on the King James Version, also known as the KJV, an important trend during the 20th and 21st centuries has been an abandonment of this longstanding tradition in favor of the KJV...With the discovery of older and better manuscripts, giving the translator a more accurate basis for translation, the Bibles of today may be closer to the original intent of the author than were those of a hundred years ago."

This site has information on the origins of more than 20 different Bible versions, in case you've been wondering what the New Revised Standard is, anyway.

Files Update

The round-note version of "We Gather Now" has been added.

New Files

So the first of the files have been added. This is a hymn called "We Gather Now to Praise the Lord." I write as I have been taught, using the rules of classical four-part harmony. I don't write pop songs with "religious" lyrics; this is just a good old-fashioned hymn (at least, I hope it's good). I write in shape notes because that's what I'm most comfortable with. Tomorrow I plan on posting a round-note version also, so anyone who is interested can use whichever one they are most comfortable with. I also don't write instrumental accompaniment. If you want to do that, it's your business, I only ask that you don't republish it with any such accompaniment, under the terms of the Creative Commons License.

This print-out is not perfect. There are bits here and there where you may want to use white-out to clean up the print (like all the long underlines in the chorus). Also note that with the software I'm using (more on that later), I can't insert a rest unless both voices are resting in one staff, so in the eighth full measure (right where the chorus starts) there should be a quarter rest in the alto part. You might want to hand-write a quarter rest in there. There is also one place in which Do and Re are right on top of each other, instead of slightly staggered as they should be with adjacent notes. This is another small issue with the software--unless I just haven't figured it out yet.

I've also included a midi version with each voice on its own track so you can use it for learning purposes, if desired. With this midi version it should be easy to mute or solo specific tracks, or change the instruments for the tracks, or whatever you wish, just to help learn the song. And as always, if you find an error in either the pdf or the midi, please let me know so I can correct it.

I should have two more songs ready to post fairly soon.

Sun comes up, it's Tuesday morning...

I step outside for a few minutes and come back in to hear anomalous strains of music, something I haven't heard in a while. I discover that my 4-year-old daughter has dug out a toy from Christmas that she hasn't so far touched: a little kid's karaoke box, which also serves just fine as a tape player. She has managed to find my old tape of The Caution Horses by Cowboy Junkies. There she is, sitting still and staring at nothing, the player in her lap. "Dad, is this a sad song?" she says. "Does it sound sad?" I answer. "Yeah," she says, and returns to silence.

I never could listen to this tape too often. I had to be in a special mood of lonely, contented resignation, something I haven't felt in a long time. It was good on slow afternoons, when there was nothing to be done but drink some Jack Daniels and listen to music. Or possibly go to sleep, because the music on this tape is so lethargic.

Voltaire should have lived to see the Internet.

"The multitude of books is making us ignorant." (Voltaire)

Weekend

Well, I just didn't feel much like putting a daily pipe diary on the blog this week. I've been having Yale Mixture in a Dr. Grabow and the Velani dublin, then on Friday I tried some of the Billy Budd in the dublin. Somebody somewhere probably really loves the Billy Budd, but I'm not the one. I will have to keep trying it to see if I can find some merit in it. Not that it's bad, it's just not my thing, I guess.

Ballistic Shockwave

Check out this poster of the gas-and-shockwave photo of Glock 17 in 9mm. This 1/500,000 second snapshot shows the escaping gas and shockwaves in the air around the muzzle of a Glock pistol just after it was fired (the bullet is still visible). Very cool.