Saved by the cell phone

More about Giuliani and his cell phone escape technique at Red Pills:

Last April 9, NewsMax reported that Giuliani was attending a roundtable discussion with heavy-hitter Republicans at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Two of the three co-hosts were CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

One participant started to ask a question about Iraq.

“In the middle of the question, Mayor Giuliani’s personal cell phone rang, and he answered it,” a participant said. “At first, I think people thought he was kidding. But then he just started talking, and without looking up or saying anything to us, he just got up, left the room, and never came back!

Everyone waited about 20 minutes, and then the room started to break up. It was bizarre behavior.”

Genes no longer the center of the genome universe

At The Boston Globe (might have to use BugMeNot):

For half a century, the core concept in biology has been that every cell carries within its nucleus a full set of DNA, including genes. Each gene, in turn, holds coded instructions for assembling a particular protein, the stuff that keeps organisms chugging along.

As a result, genes were assigned an almost divine role in biological "dogma," thought to govern not only such physical characteristics as eye color or hair texture, but even much more complicated characteristics, such as behavior or psychology. Genes were assigned blame for illness. Genes were credited for robust health. Genes were said to be the source of the mutations that underlay evolution.

But the picture now emerging is more complicated, one in which illness, health, and evolutionary change appear to be the work of almost fantastical coordination between genes and swaths of DNA previously written off as junk.

...and...

"The picture that's emerging" of how living cells actually operate and evolve "is so immensely more complicated than anyone imagined, it's almost depressing," Rigoutsos said.

The more we know, the more we don't know. A pattern that will continue, I daresay, until we finally realize that what we don't know is indeed infinite.

As usual, read the whole thing.

Got your papers?

Read the whole thing at Papers, Please!:

In a series of recent publications in the Federal Register, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing a comprehensive new system of surveillance and, perhaps more important, control of both domestic and international travelers.

The proposed new rules, which are currently open for public comments, would require that:

1. All would-be international travellers to or from the USA (even US citizens crossing the U.S.-Canada border on foot) would have to have government-issued ID credentials

2. All would-be passengers on international or domestic flights to, from, over, via, or within the U.S. would have to have both government-issued ID credentials and explicit case-by-case prior permission from the DHS to the airline to allow each passenger to board a plane.

The proposed rules would enforce the requirements for papers and permits through default provisions that would:

1. Require all air travellers to show their papers (”government-issued photo ID”) to airline staff on request of the DHS, under penalty of denial of transportation.

2. Forbid any airline from issuing a boarding pass to anyone, or allowing them to baord a plane, unless and until the airline received individual permission (a “cleared message”) authorizing that airline to allow that specific person on that specific flight.

Got that? It goes from "anyone can fly unless they pop up on the 'no fly list'," to "no one can fly unless they are on the 'allowed to fly list'." Read it all for more details and even more bad news.

Via The Club Above.

Caves on Mars

From NASA:

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. The find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet.

Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 328 to 820 feet puzzled researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters. Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be windows into underground spaces.

Run across the entrance first, and see if any fireballs come out.

Sunday Vintage Pipe Ad, 1932: Kaywoodie Drinkless

The Kaywoodie Drinkless was the bottom of the ladder in the Kaywoodie hierarchy. It was the cheapest, and therefore billed as "the everyman pipe," because it was cheap enough that every man could afford one. If it wasn't good enough to become a Drinkless, it became a Yello-Bole. I have some Kaywoodies, and they are good pipes, but I must say that this ad is playing somewhat fast and loose with the "facts."

To begin with, the "secret alloy" is aluminum. It may have been slightly alloyed with something to harden it up just a little, but basically it's aluminum. As for the "460 degrees centigrade at the bowl," this is a little misleading. The only place where the temperature is going to approach that high is at the exact point of the char: a very thin line where the tobacco would be glowing red if it were not covered by the already spent ash higher in the pipe. Even only a matter of millimeters lower at the bottom of the bowl where the air hole comes in, it's much cooler than that already. The fitment does not have any magical temperature reduction properties, except that it does trap some moisture.

"Rock Ambera" is Bakelite that was colored to vaguely resemble amber.

The best thing about these old pipes is that they had a screw-in stem so it's safe to remove the stem while the pipe is still hot and run a pipe cleaner into the shank to sop up any excess moisture.

And if you get hold of an old Kaywoodie, don't take a hacksaw to the fitment. Leave everything intact. Some people complain that it's impossible to run a pipe cleaner down the stem during a smoke, but like I said, it's perfectly safe to unscrew the stem while the pipe is still hot. Cutting off the fitment is just mutilation.

Saturday Night Poetry: Nemesis by H.P. Lovecraft

Nemesis

by H.P. Lovecraft

Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight;
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright.

I have whirled with the earth at the dawning,
When the sky was a vaporous flame;
I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.

I had drifted o'er seas without ending,
Under sinister grey-clouded skies,
That the many-forked lightning is rending,
That resound with hysterical cries;
With the moans of invisible daemons, that out of the green waters rise.

I have plunged like a deer through the arches
Of the hoary primoridal grove,
Where the oaks feel the presence that marches,
And stalks on where no spirit dares rove,
And I flee from a thing that surrounds me, and leers through dead branches above.

I have stumbled by cave-ridden mountains
That rise barren and bleak from the plain,
I have drunk of the fog-foetid fountains
That ooze down to the marsh and the main;
And in hot cursed tarns I have seen things, I care not to gaze on again.

I have scanned the vast ivy-clad palace,
I have trod its untenanted hall,
Where the moon rising up from the valleys
Shows the tapestried things on the wall;
Strange figures discordantly woven, that I cannot endure to recall.

I have peered from the casements in wonder
At the mouldering meadows around,
At the many-roofed village laid under
The curse of a grave-girdled ground;
And from rows of white urn-carven marble, I listen intently for sound.

I have haunted the tombs of the ages,
I have flown on the pinions of fear,
Where the smoke-belching Erebus rages;
Where the jokulls loom snow-clad and drear:
And in realms where the sun of the desert consumes what it never can cheer.

I was old when the pharaohs first mounted
The jewel-decked throne by the Nile;
I was old in those epochs uncounted
When I, and I only, was vile;
And Man, yet untainted and happy, dwelt in bliss on the far Arctic isle.

Oh, great was the sin of my spirit,
And great is the reach of its doom;
Not the pity of Heaven can cheer it,
Nor can respite be found in the tomb:
Down the infinite aeons come beating the wings of unmerciful gloom.

Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight;
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright.

"A mountain walked or stumbled..."

The Giant Cthulhu, another one by Cyril Van Der Haegen. Follow the link to see how the painting was developed. Inspired by N.C. Wyeth's The Giant.

Excellent perspective on this one. The impression of overwhelming height is something I attempted to capture in words when describing a form of Nyarlathotep in my story Nyarlathotep's Lament.

I cannot describe what he looked like. Part of my mind went into hiding, refusing to witness what stood above and before me, towering into the sky, scraping its topmost parts against the stars, howling soundlessly into the void of outer space. Another part of my mind whirled with a bizarre reverse vertigo from the intense height of the thing. The earth shuddered beneath its weight, bending to fit strange dimensions that it was never meant to fit. Rainbows of unearthly hues rippled through the air as the titanic alien violated reality. My mind was utterly consumed with the awesome immensity of the thing.

Successfully describing such awesome immensity is something I've tried in more than one story. I don't think I've adequately succeeded in doing so just yet.

And I've re-written that story about a dozen times. I still am not really satisfied with it.

I'll just keep the coin in my pocket

Tam put it very well:

This is the sad impasse your party has come to; if the best thing you can offer me on election day is the gun-grabbing mayor of NYFC or the governor of Taxachussetts, I don't see any reason not to stay home. Don't ask me your tired "Would you rather see Hillary as president instead of Rudy?" questions because the answer is that between the two, you might as well flip a coin from where I sit. This ain't a high school football game, sport; I'm not waving pompons for the guy just 'cause he's wearing the jersey.

Exactly. There was a time, a long time ago, when I considered myself a conservative, although I never thought of myself as a Republican. I don't think of myself as a conservative anymore, although that may be because the Republicans have hijacked the term and it no longer truly means "conservative" any more than "liberal" truly means "liberal." I'm just the crank who everyone rolls their eyes at when I go off on something.

Let me tell you something. If it turns out to be Guiliani against Clinton MkII in the general election, I hope Hillary wins. If she does, it's going to be terrible. It's also going to wake a lot of people up. It's going to be either the worst or the best thing that's happened to this country in a long time.

Compromise and "settling for the lesser evil" may be how politics works, but that doesn't make it right--only accepted. And I don't accept it anymore.

Blogging note

The reason I have two adsense things in the sidebars is because the one on the left was installed with Blogger's widget. The one on the right I installed manually. I just want to see if the ads feed any differently between them. Curiosity, that's all.

The case for open carry

Spanish fashion designer Andres Sarda has unwittingly made a very strong argument for open carry.

See what I mean?

(Since I don't post these kinds of pix on my blog, you'll just have to follow the link).

Not a joke

Crisp, buttery, compulsively irresistible bacon and milk chocolate combination has long been a favorite of mine. I started playing with this combination at the tender age of six while eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in maple syrup. Beside my chocolate-laden cakes laid three strips of fried bacon, just barely touching a sweet pool of maple syrup. Just a bite of the bacon was too salty and yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate syrup. In retrospect, perhaps this was a turning point, for on that plate something magical happened: the beginnings of a combination so ethereal and delicious that it would haunt my thoughts until I found the medium to express it--chocolate.

From Voges Chocolate. Bacon and chocolate is probably not my thing, although I'd try it if the opportunity arose. However, I am quite fond of dipping bacon in honey. I'm also very partial to ham dipped in honey. In fact, I'll dip meat of any kind in honey unless I'm physically restrained.

Via meine kleine fabrik.

Public Service Announcement

Cowboy Bebop is back on Cartoon Network.

Click for the big graphic, sized for wallpaper.

The right place at the right time...

Worked a rough neighborhood today, on the west side. Not a bad route, except for the dogs. I was working my way down Romero street when I came to a house where an old lady was lying on the ground and when she saw me, she said, "I fell down..."

It was one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up" things. It might seem funny on television, but it's not funny in real life. She was lying in direct sunlight. It wasn't as hot today as it has been, but it was still plenty hot enough to badly dehydrate someone who was lying helpless in full sunlight.

I reached over her fence, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She thanked me profusely, and I just said "you're welcome" and went on my way.

But it made me think. So many little things can affect where you are, when you are. If I hadn't had trouble working my way up General McMullen earlier that morning, I might have been going a lot faster and already passed her house before she needed help. Or if I had managed to leave the office a little earlier, or...lots of other little things.

I just said a little prayer of thanks that someone was there to help her when she needed it.

Later on someone else gave me a cold Big Red when I got to their house, so I guess my karma was working.

And I only had to stare down two loose pit bulls, so it wasn't a bad day.

Also, I found a house with a Dogo. Man, those suckers are huge.

Zombie Pumpkins

Yesterday my son was drawing pictures of jack-o-lanterns. He starts celebrating Halloween early, which I can understand.

So up he came, walking one of these paper pumpkins across the desk like a kid does, and making some kind of weird roaring monster noise.

"Look, Daddy! It's a zombie pumpkin!"

"A zombie pumpkin?"

"Yeah, see--he's missin' a eye!"

A weird kid after my own heart.

Tainted Science

An interesting article from the Wall Street Journal claims "Most Science Studies Appear to Be Tainted By Sloppy Analysis":

These flawed findings, for the most part, stem not from fraud or formal misconduct, but from more mundane misbehavior: miscalculation, poor study design or self-serving data analysis. "There is an increasing concern that in modern research, false findings may be the majority or even the vast majority of published research claims," Dr. Ioannidis said. "A new claim about a research finding is more likely to be false than true."

The hotter the field of research the more likely its published findings should be viewed skeptically, he determined.

Take the discovery that the risk of disease may vary between men and women, depending on their genes. Studies have prominently reported such sex differences for hypertension, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis, as well as lung cancer and heart attacks. In research published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Ioannidis and his colleagues analyzed 432 published research claims concerning gender and genes.

Upon closer scrutiny, almost none of them held up. Only one was replicated.

Statistically speaking, science suffers from an excess of significance. Overeager researchers often tinker too much with the statistical variables of their analysis to coax any meaningful insight from their data sets. "People are messing around with the data to find anything that seems significant, to show they have found something that is new and unusual," Dr. Ioannidis said.

Read the whole article. Lots of thought-provoking stuff.

The Cult of the Global Village

So what do you do when most sane people have dismissed you as a bunch of communists, socialists, victimization apologists, dhimmis, and enemies-of-freedom-in-general?

This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken. Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair.

Answer: you declare yourself an "elder of the global village" and wait for all the other authoritarian nannies and their mindless sycophants to gather.

"Support courage where there is fear." Yeah. Take a look at the list of "elders." Is there anyone on that list who advocates actually empowering individuals to fight back against those they fear?

"Foster agreement where there is conflict." By doing everything we're told. End of conflict. Right, Jimmy?

"Inspire hope where there is fear." Guess what. I have plenty of hope, and you bunch of goons aren't part of it.

As for "working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken," well, there's not much I can add to that.

Yo ho ho, he took a bite o' gum-gum!

Cowboy Blob reminded me it's Talk Like a Pirate Day.

So here's a couple of One Piece pix, me hearties!

I have studiously avoided the entire lolcat phenomenon...

But this is more like it.


See more at lolthulhu.com.

Thanks to both Baboon Pirates and Cowboy Blob.

Wednesday Vintage Gun Ad, 1940s: Marlin .30-30

Another old ad with a brief hunting tale included. From World War 2 when this ad encouraged the reader to turn in old brass to help the war effort.

Click for a larger version that is readable.

Lovecraft and guns

Lovecraft liked guns. He cherished the collection of rifles and pistols he had inherited [from his grandfather, Whipple Phillips--ed.] and added to it a series of .22 rifles, which he took into the country to shoot. Laws against carrying and shooting firearms were fewer and laxer then than now. Lovecraft later said that he had become quite a good shot until, around 1910, eye trouble forced him to quit. "The lore of hunting allured me, and the feel of a rifle was balm to my soul; but after killing a squirrel I formed a dislike for killing things which could not fight back, hence turned to targets..."

Later, Lovecraft sold or gave away the entire collection piece by piece, save for one flintlock musket, which he kept as an antique.

from H.P. Lovecraft: A Biography
by L. Sprague De Camp

A fate worse than death

The author of the blog Nobody's Business recently tried to adopt a dog. He was not allowed to because he has two children under the age of 12. Since no one else wanted to adopt this dog, it was killed. Full details at The SPCA Killed My Dog.

Apparently the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals doesn't know the definition of "the society for prevention of cruelty to animals."

Sometimes odd things happen

I had a route today that finishes at the Alamodome. It was grueling. A mere 322 meters took 5 1/2 hours. Sheesh. But the last meter was in a big vault, and it was too deep for me to reach in and clean it by hand. Yes, it was too dirty to read. Rubbing at the dirt with the meter hook didn't work, and although the vault cover wasn't hot enough to fry eggs on, it was way too hot to touch. It was starting burn me through my jeans, even. So I thought to myself, man, I really need a tissue or cloth or something. I was just about to walk back to my truck to get a Kleenex when I suddenly noticed...something.

A used-up fabric softener sheet was sticking out of my pants leg. What the...? Apparently it had gotten stuck in there when the pants were last washed, and didn't come out when I put the pants on this morning. It had slowly been working its way down the pants leg all day. So I stuck it on the meter hook like a cleaning jag and cleaned off the meter so I could read it. That was pretty weird.

And if you're thinking I still got off light because I was done in 5 1/2 hours, no. I still had another 200 to do on another route right next to that one. This was the hardest day I've had in a long time. So now, counting my last job, I have read gas, electric and waters meters all in that same area. I hate that place. No matter what you do there, it sucks.

Where can I get one?

The "Reuger 9mm" with a "75-round clip." "Fresh hollowpoints" not included.

It would make concealed carry slightly difficult, I'd guess.

"...something was amiss..."

Caracas, Venezuela:

A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.

Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.

"I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.

His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor -- and alive.

Reuters could not immediately reach hospital officials to confirm the events. But Camejo showed the newspaper his facial scar and a document ordering the autopsy.

Sunday Vintage Pipe Ad, 1934: Granger Tobacco

Like other Granger ads of this era, pipe smoking is portrayed as something that is enjoyed by the entire family. See other examples here and here.

I've never tried Granger, and I don't plan to. Since it's an old-fashioned burley with some unidentified "flavor" added, odds are I wouldn't like it. This is still a great example of magazines ads from a bygone era, the like of which will never be seen again.

If anyone ever sees me holding a pipe like that, you have my permission to slap me.

So that's how it happened...

The Birth of Cthulhu by Cyril Van Der Haegen.

Seriously, check out his site. Especially if you're into macabre and fantastic artwork. Or should I say "phantastic."

Oh yeah, and parts of the site are probably NSFW.

A corny tribute

A corn maze of the late Gerald Ford at Gull Meadow Farms.

Amazing (hee hee).

The Grotesque and Sublime

Art by Kris Kuski. More at kuski.com.

Early morning grumble

This afternoon I have to attend a three-hour dog attack seminar.

On the upside, it means I'll be doing less actual work today, and we are allegedly going to be paid overtime for the three hours.

On the downside, it will be a complete waste of time. Learning how to wear dog armor and get attacked by trained attack dogs who are trained to attack an armored extremity is not going to help with being unarmored and defending one's self against untrained, wildly vicious street dogs.

These seminars are all for appearances. Nothing else.

UPDATE: Well, at least it wasn't boring. I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know, as far as handling dog attacks out in the field. I did learn a couple of bits of dog trivia that were interesting, though not really what I could call useful. For example, the Rottweiler was originally a cattle dog. Also the chocolate Lab has a much higher pain tolerance than yellow Labs. While the yellows were bred for retrieving waterfowl (which I knew), the chocolate was bred for jumping into icy water and retrieving fish nets (which I didn't know). I also learned about a breed of dog I had never heard of before: the Presa Canario. They were almost unheard of in the U.S. until they became infamous in this incident. (Apparently this trial was big on CourtTV but I never watch that channel). The lady who taught the class was extremely critical of the media in this case, because she believed that it was wrong for them to publicize all the results of the dogs' autopsies. It seems that the male dog involved had consumed 4 1/2 pounds of the victim. When this got out, it immediately created a high demand for this breed. (It just goes to show what I've always said: people are slime).

I also got to see an Argentine Dogo in action. That is one scarily impressive dog. The one they had originally came in on a drug boat. She said such a boat was seized off Florida which contained two tons of cocaine and 40 Dogo puppies.

So it wasn't boring, but three hours for a couple of trivia items is still a waste of time. And it was a real drag having to hang around until 5:00 when on a normal day I would have been out of there at 1:45.

One other thing. The German Shepherd she had would have been dwarfed by the Shepherd that mauled me a couple of years ago. I think the one that got me must have been crossed with something else much bigger. That sucker was huge.

That's because you're an idiot

Full-scale, blithering, utterly irrational PSH in Albany, NY:

"I was surprised and disappointed that this was a prize that was given away," he said. "We shouldn't send mixed messages to kids that we give a replica of a firearm."

Especially sensitive--he says--because one 15-year-old murdered another 15-year-old. Well, golly gee, Jimmy, even a backwoods hick like me can see that this isn't a gun problem. This is a gang problem. That's what you call teenage thugs running loose in the street shooting at each other and usually taking out innocent bystanders in the process.

And it's all the fault of a vaguely gun-shaped water squirter.

On more thing. Since when does your position as city councilman grant you the authority to steal toys from children? Or does that fall under your purview as "lifesaver?"

Wednesday Vintage Gun...from 1956, anyway

Not an ad this time, but a letter to the editor in Outdoor Life that I thought was interesting. I also thought that I had already posted this, but it wasn't in my "uploaded" directory so I guess I haven't. Click for the big version that should be readable.

Memento Mori: The Bone Church

From Curious Expeditions:

It is easily the best manifestation of Memento Mori in the world. The meaning of Memento Mori, "Remember that you will die" is impossible to forget in a room centered with a chandelier composed of every bone in the human body, and then some. To look up at the swooping strands of jawbones and sections of spine is to be one with the feeling of Memento Mori.

The 40,000 skeletons within Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic welcome you with, quite literally, open arms. D and I travelled to the Czech Republic and had the pleasure of seeing this truly unique sight in the flesh, or bone, as it were. Known to most as "The Bone Church", unlike your every day ossuary, the Bone Church is not merely a home for the deceased. Instead of resting eternally in neat piles, the bones of the dead have become the medium of some of the world's most macabre art. In addition to the splendid bone chandelier, the ossuary displays two large chalices, four baroque candelabras, six enormous pyramids, two monstrances (a vessel used to display the Eucharistic Host), a family crest, and is topped off with skull candleholders, statues of angels holding skulls, and festively looping chains of bone at every corner like crete paper at a birthday party.

So I've gone through a bunch of newsfeeds and blogs and can't find anything that I can add something new to or say something insightful about. Maybe I'm suffering burnout. So forgive me if I start wandering down some shadowy paths into other areas that I think are absolutely fascinating.

Follow the above link for more info and more pix. This amazing ossuary (how about that, the spell-checker doesn't know "ossuary") is not just a collection of bones, but a monument to the human skeleton as an artistic medium. And it was begun 800 years ago.

Bummer

Joe Zawinul died yesterday.

Zawinul was one of the founding members of Weather Report and a fantastic keyboardist who wasn't afraid to mix electronics and jazz. Some jazz purists didn't care much for Weather Report, but what do they know.

The M1. I think that's a Korg, isn't it?

I ain't afraid o' no bloody Pew!

My pirate name is:

Dirty Sam Flint

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Flint! Now that's a name for a pirate. 'Twas Flint who buried the treasure on that blasted isle, and left a trail of bones from those who dug the hole.

Seen at Parallax Adjustment.

My wife didn't buy me this outfit for nothing.

The ultimate nannyists

L. Neil Smith writes about a group of liberal fascists who call themselves the "National Initiative for Democracy" at NI4D: DANGEROUSLY STUPID OR STUPIDLY DANGEROUS?:

The gist of the thing is that they want to pass a law, add another amendment to the Constitution, giving "the people" power to end-run Congress and create new legislation -- new laws -- directly. I can see how this might seem like a good idea at first. Humorist P.J. O'Rourke once suggested that the first six-hundred people in the Manhattan phone book could do a better job running the country than Congress ever has. But wasn't it Robert Heinlein who observed that "Vox popula, vox dei" is best translated as "How did we get into this mess?"

Yes, I know what today is...

But I have nothing new to say about it.

Here's the link to what I think is my best post on the subject, from two years ago.

Can I get that on a t-shirt?

By Kevin Tuma.

Via Liberty for All.

Saxet gun shows

Just noticed that they're planning on having a gun show at the Freeman Coliseum next month.

I was wondering if they'd pick the old coliseum since the convention center was torn down. It's not nearly as long of a drive as the Alzafar place, either. I still might go there, though, just to get a gun show fix.

Schedule here.

Curious Convergences

I've been poring over my usual blogs and newsfeeds and can't come up with anything clever or provoking to write, myself.

But sometimes various bits of contemporary culture collide and the result becomes somehow quite interesting.

Loren Coleman writes: Is Bin Laden As Tall As Bigfoot?

The sixth anniversary of 9/11 is here. It seems like the right time to consider: Is bin Laden as tall as Bigfoot? For this is a serious consideration of a subject few would rather make fun of by just reading the headline and not the blog here: What happens with eyewitness reports of height? The parallel between the alleged stature of Osama bin Laden and Bigfoot, two topics that do not make me laugh, is remarkable.

I have a feeling Charles Fort would get a kick out of this short article. A brief examination of how perception can sometimes overshadow fact.

Parody State Quarters

Parody state quarters by Daniel Carr. New York might be the best one.

Via Snopes.

Roll d20 SAN loss just for looking at the picture

An especially bizarre artistic interpretation of Great Cthulhu. A 1600-pixel-wide version is here.

Via UVoD.

New Liberty Creation

I stumbled across an interesting blog today.

NewLibertyCreation.com is dedicated to spreading the good news of new creation in Jesus Christ. Part of this agenda is exploring how the ideas of liberty and freedom are integrally tied to this concept, and of tearing down faith that people have in the false gods of government.

Some especially interesting recent posts are Christianity has been hijacked by terrorists parts one and two, and Americanism, The National Religion of the United States.

PVC Target Holder

I've been planning on one of these, but in my own mind couldn't think of a way to secure the target to the stand. I don't know why I didn't think of strings. Just a mind-block, I guess.

Here are some plans for a simple, cheap and portable target stand made from PVC.

Sunday Vintage "Pipe" Ad, date unknown

No, this is not actually an ad for pipes or tobacco. It's an ad for what appears to be a hemorrhoid cream. I just think it's cool because it portrays a linkboy lighting a gaslight with his clay pipe. Or maybe he's taking advantage of a gaslight to light his pipe. Hard to say.

Snagged from eBay, as you can see.

Oh wow, I think I just experienced a negative reality inversion.

By now I'm sure everyone has heard about the woman who was kicked off an airplane because her attire was allegedly too skimpy.

The thing that amuses me is that Michele of Reformed Chicks Blabbing appears to be defending her, while Fits of Shooting the Messenger is castigating her.

I personally have no opinion on the subject, because 1) I am a married man, and am therefore no longer interested in women, and 2) skinny blonds don't do much for me. Sort of puts me in mind of an albino flamingo, actually.

UPDATE: On the other hand, buxom brunettes with long, straight black hair...uh...what was I talking about again?

I wanted to be a programme planner, but unfortunately I have a degree.

Interesting. From BBC News:

The BBC has scrapped plans for Planet Relief, a TV special on climate change.

The decision comes after executives said it was not the BBC's job to lead opinion on climate change.

Celebrities such as Ricky Gervais were said to be interested in presenting the show, which would have involved viewers in a mass "switch-off" to save energy.

The BBC says it cut the special because audiences prefer factual output on climate change. Environmentalists slammed the decision as "cowardice".

[...]

[Said an unnamed BBC spokeswoman:] Our audiences tell us they are most receptive to documentary or factual style programming as a means of learning about the issues surrounding this subject, and as part of this learning we have made the decision not to proceed with the Planet Relief event.

Instead we will focus our energies on a range of factual programmes on the important and complex subject of climate change. This decision was not made in light of the recent debate around impartiality.

I would be surprised and impressed if they did switch to "factual style programming." Not factual programming, mind you, but factual style programming. Still, that's a start.

Maybe they just realized something.

Or maybe they just realized that promoting a mass switch-off would be bad for ratings, if that mass switch-off included switching off the telly.

Heh

So I guess if you're a reloader, you could call it "Chamferin' Around".

Via Say Uncle.

Dan McKown in the news again

Since I haven't seen anyone else mention this. I'm sure everyone who reads this blog knows his name, but in case you don't, he was carrying a concealed pistol the day an evil maniac shot up a mall in Washington (state). He hesitated before shooting and was badly wounded because the shooter did not hesitate. He's still a hero in my book.

McKown recently testified in the Tacoma Mall shooting trial:

"I prayed a very unappropriate prayer – 'God let me shoot this guy before he shoots somebody else'. I thought I was dead," said McKown.

Not so inappropriate. Praying for strength to stop a force of evil is never inappropriate.

The shooter survived. Many of his victims did not. Dan McKown will likely be partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.

So much for "Leslie"

The headline says "Venezuela to ban stupid names." No. It should read: Venzuela to ban names that some socialist government bureaucrat thinks aren't socialist enough. But then it's from Metro UK so what should I expect?

Thinking of naming your baby Hersony, Nohemar - or even Superman?

Such odd names might be turned down by the civil registry if Venezuela approves a bill barring parents from giving their children 'names that expose them to ridicule, are extravagant or difficult to pronounce,' or that raise doubts about whether a child is a girl or a boy.

Nobody's business. Although I suppose if you name your kid Fire you can't take him into a crowded theater.

The new bill proposes to create a list of traditional names that could be offered to parents 'as a reference' to provide options when they are registering their child's birth. It says the list would have 'no fewer than 100 names' and would grow over time.

"Fidel" and "Ernesto" are at the top of the list, I'm sure.

What most people don't know is that this is directly related to a traumatic odd-naming experience in Hugo Chavez' own past.
UPDATE: As of September 13, they have apparently changed their minds. The Venezuelan government is concerned about "the right to liberty?" Now that is odd.

More Pratchett Wisdom

God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.

--Terry Pratchett

That's one expensive rubber stamp

The classification process cost us $8.2 billion last year:

Among the findings from the report:

Businesses enjoyed a no-bid process for 26 percent, or $107.5 billion, of the federal government's business last year.

President Bush has issued at least 151 signing statements challenging 1,149 provisions of laws passed by Congress. Before 2000, presidents had signed fewer than 600 statements over the nation's 211-year history.

The Defense Department has more than doubled in real terms the amount it spends on classified weapons acquisitions since 1995. While the number of classification decisions actually dropped by 10 percent to 231,995 last year, the number of documents related to each one of those decisions ballooned to 20.3 million, up by 43 percent.

And those figures do not include the untold number of documents that are locked away by federal agencies in categories known as "pseudo-classification." These are unclassified documents that government bureaucrats deem too sensitive for public consumption. There is no oversight of these categories to ensure that the documents should be removed from the public domain.

The report also found that the Bush administration has invoked a legal tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.

Between 1977 and 2000, administrations used the privilege 59 times. Over the past six years, the White House has invoked the privilege 38 times, more than double the rate of administrations during that time frame.

That emphasis is mine. Read it all, but take your Tums first.

Who says retirement causes boredom?

Blogging notes

I installed the old favicon. You might have to reload the site or delete your browser's cache or something before it shows up, but it's working with Firefox.

I'm going to be posting some of the more high traffic posts from the Eponym blog over here. I'm going to post them with their original dates, so they probably won't show up on the front page or the RSS feed, but if they do, I'm just posting them for the archives.

I don't think I'm going to be joining any of the big blogrolls this time. However, there are still a few things I need to add to the sidebars.

R.I.P. Global Warming

Interesting essay by Alan Caruba called The Year the Global Warming Hoax Died:

When did the global warming hoax die? Historians are likely to pinpoint 2007. It will take another decade to insure it cannot be revived, but the avalanche of scientific studies and the cumulative impact of scientists who have publicly joined those who debunked the lies on which it has been based will be noted as the tipping point.

It took some forty years to unmask the Piltdown Man hoax that began in 1912 alleging that the skull of an ancient ancestor of man had been found in England. Any number of British anthropologists unwittingly contributed to the hoax by confirming the authenticity of the skull until it was found that the jaw of an orangutan had been cunningly attached. The unmasking of “global warming” has taken less than half that time.

Maybe he's too optimistic. Once people dedicate themselves to a religion it takes a lot of work to dislodge them. And of course NPR will still be flogging the skeletal remains of something that may have once been that horse for decades to come.

A good read, anyway. Sort of a collection of "nails in the coffin."

Xrlq debunks Snopes

Snopes appears to be working for Hillary. Or at least doing their best to cover her ***.

Bias at Snopes is not something new. Insane Troll Logic noticed it more than two years ago.

Letter to the editor response

I finally got a response to the letter to the editor that I sent in regarding the August 28 ammo buy. As I feared, my letter was sent too late to appear in the paper for that week. They could have printed it the following week but by that time it would have been too late.

However, the editor did invite me to write a follow-up letter, so I guess I'll need to put something together about activities on that day. I think it would be best to focus on the "hordes" of protesters that didn't actually show up for the protests.

So now I'll have to start combing through everyone's recent archives to gather the information.

My local paper is a weekly that covers the county I live in. I don't count any San Antonio papers as "local" because I don't live there.

Unlike most big-city papers, our little paper is focused on small town and rural happenings and is quite conservative in nature.

Wednesday Vintage Gun Ad, 1940s: Western Super-X Ammo

Western Super-X in .22 Long Rifle hollow point: the solution to the Evil Woodchuck Menace.

Thanks, Blogger!

They fixed my blog so I don't have to word-verify my own posts anymore. I think Scribefire will work now. This is a test post.

Interesting visit today

Cthulhu Milhouse Ftaghn

At Far Out Shirts.

Interview with Michael DeBose in USCCA Magazine

If you're not a subscriber to Concealed Carry Magazine, beg or borrow a copy because there's an interview in it that should be read by everyone. Even better that it be read by those who think self-defense is wrong.

Mark Walters, who writes the regular "The Ordinary Guy" column for the magazine, interviewed Representative Michael DeBose of Ohio. DeBose had a solid record of being against individuals carrying a handgun for self defense, and voted against Ohio's concealed carry bill twice, before it became law.

He was recently the intended victim of an attempted mugging, and it changed his mind.

Well to be honest with you, I'm not promoting guns quite honestly. I voted against concealed carry twice but when this happened--someone points a gun at you and you feel hopeless and helpless and you want some way to defend yourself and your family--then your perspective changes. Any person who has a gun pulled on them has walked in my shoes. Quite frankly, I don't want to experience that again. I don't want them to either. It changed my views in that I'm only dealing with me. I can't tell other people what to do and I'm not encouraging other people to do something that I'm doing. I'm only dealing with myself. It's in my best interest to get a gun.

[...]

I would like people to understand one thing. Don't judge people by what they do or what they don't do. Until you've walked in that person's shoes, you don't understand what brought them to that decision. This decision has been a personal one. I'm not after anyone to be a copycat and I'm not going around starting trouble with a gun. I'm not going around asking people to get out of my way and like I'm some type of bully. The only thing I'm saying is that you have to have an equalizer on the street. These streets are dangerous. There are killers and they're equal opportnity murderers. These people are mean-spirited and they're evil. You have to have a way to get their attention to let them know that you're not playing with them. Bottom line is, personally I'm not taking it anymore. We have to take our streets back. We have to take our neighborhoods back. I'm not moving. I'm not going to leave the area. I'm not going to run and I'm not going to stop taking my walks because I need the exercise. So I'm going to continue to do what I was doing and nobody's going to stop me from doing it.

Also worth pointing out is that he says "I got hammered in the papers." But on a personal level, he has "got more support than negative publicity." That is, person to person he's had a lot of support on his decision, but the media was against him. His local paper wouldn't even print any letters to the editor that supported him--even though he knew such letters were being sent in.

There are also a couple of things worth mentioning in the epilogue to this interview. Jim Irvine of The Buckeye Firearms Association organized a concealed carry training class for DeBose which also included "a group of his associates, friends and neighbors."

Also, Cor-Bon donated "several thousand high quality rounds of various calibers used during the training class."

The final word:

Rep. DeBose and his wife have since applied for and received their Ohio CCW licenses.

Indeed

Via The Militant Libertarian.

Seafoam

Nothing to do with meerschaum this time, but this:

It was as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender.

Suddenly the shoreline north of Sydney were transformed into the Cappuccino Coast.

Foam swallowed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguards' centre, in a freak display of nature at Yamba in New South Wales.

One minute a group of teenage surfers were waiting to catch a wave, the next they were swallowed up in a giant bubble bath. The foam was so light that they could puff it out of their hands and watch it float away.

No, it was not due to human pollution of the ocean. It was something natural that just happens sometimes. Follow the link for all the details and some cool pix.

Via The Agitator.

Drive faster, Grace...

For David Codrea's Hitching a Ride with Grace photoshop suggestion. This is really the only photo I have of myself that's easily GIMPed. Taken when I was posing for one of those old-timey photos dressed as a Civil War-era soldier. Back then I wore glasses only for reading. And I don't have a photo of myself with a pipe.

I couldn't resist adding a little something extra.

Barbecue time again

I got volunteered to barbecue tomorrow. It seems even my dad was impressed by my barbecuing skills, so he wants me to smoke up a bunch of meat for him.

So I went to H.E.B. yesterday and got one of those combination scraper/brass brush thingies and just did a major clean-up on the old New Braunfels Smoker. I just now finished cleaning it up in time for it to start raining hard. Lately the rain has been sticking to the late afternoon, so I'm hoping I have some non-rain barbecue time tomorrow morning. If not, it's not like I haven't barbecued in the rain before. Shoot, I even barbecued in a freezing rain once. They're forecasting a 70% chance of rain tomorrow.

I also stocked up on some mesquite and hickory chunks. I have eaten meat barbecued with oak, and I'm sure I will again, but I won't be the one to smoke it. I much prefer mesquite. I smoke it on a mixture of about 2/3 mesquite and 1/3 hickory. I've also used pecan wood before, and it was nice. It has a much mellower flavor than mesquite. I think next time I do chicken I'll try it with pecan. I haven't tried any fruit-tree wood yet, but I've heard good things about apple wood.

UPDATE: On the menu for today: beef shoulder roast, pork roast, pork ribs, and a sausage made by the local meat market.

UPDATE 2: Success! Also on the menu were mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, zipper peas and pinto beans with butter cake (chocolate icing) for dessert. Whew. Also while tending the smoker, I did a thorough reaming and cleaning of my old Wellington pipe. It really needed it. Once put back into condition, it reminded me what an excellent old pipe it is.

No "back-ho" jokes, please

If you haven't already seen this collection of vintage album covers at Dark Roasted Blend, then by all means go check them out. There used to be a few used book & record stores that I would haunt in which I would go through the old albums just to look at the covers. Some of these shown at the link are funny, some are just odd, and some show how times have changed.

Alien Puerto Rican goat suckers in Texas

I suppose someone out there might be waiting for me to comment on the alleged chupacabra that was recently found near Cuero. It has something to do with Texas, and I've made no secret that I'm sort of a minor cryptozoology buff.

I don't for a minute believe this is anything but a canine with a horrific case of mange.

The person of interest says she thinks it's Chupy because her chickens weren't eaten, just killed, and "all the blood was drained from them."

Dogs will do that. I have witnessed dogs killing for fun--and put a stop to it, but not before several livestock were killed. And, well, when a chicken is mutilated by a dog it tends to bleed out, you know.

The picture accompanying this article isn't very good, only the head. I saw a full body picture somewhere else several days ago and immediately thought it was probably a fox.

Of course, I'm still looking forward to reading about the results of the DNA test they're planning on.

I'm thinking that the wildlife biologists should start studying why these kinds of cases of very bad mange are getting to be more common.

The unspeakable deeps

The feeling of wetness at meine kleine fabrik:

In 1928 the naturalist William Beebe described his experiences as a helmet diver in the book Beneath Tropic Seas. Beebe felt that our existing terrestrial vocabulary was an inexact and at times unimaginative instrument for gauging the world beneath the waves. For example, he wrote: "I know the exact shade of a certain feathery sea plume, but resent having to refer to it as zinc orange. Yet I am always pleased when I detect salmon, or pearl-grey or ultramarine." Beebe struggled to present an accurate and poetic account of the fantastic visions presented to him by the ocean realm, but he was not the first.

[...]

During the fall of 1957 an unusual find was made at Cornell University in upstate New York. Professor Thomas Eisner, a young faculty member who was working in Roberts Hall and had begun to explore its musty corridors, found a series of locked antique wooden cabinets. Through the dingy glass windows were visible hundreds of delicate and unusual sea creatures, all the more extraordinary because landlocked Ithaca is several hundred miles away from the closest tide pools. Eisner, now recognized as a founder of the field of chemical ecology, and his graduate student Roger Payne, who later discovered that Humpback whales sing songs [endnote 1], picked the locks with a paper clip and were absolutely mesmerized to find that the highly detailed ocean invertebrates, including octopus, squid, pelagic snail, and sea cucumber, were made of glass. Altogether, 570 creatures had been-well, how had they been?-fashioned by someone, for some purpose. But why? And when?

Another item that reminds me of Lovecraftian things.

The beauty and detail of this naturalistic artwork is also amazing. Check the link, there are more pictures and lots more information there.

Got my buckshot

The FedEx guy showed up around 9:00PM Thursday night. What a job, to be delivering ammo way out here in the boonies so late at night. He had his hazards flashing as he came down the driveway, which I thought was kind of strange. It's not like he was parking in the driveway at 5:00AM or anything.

Anyhow, the .410 buckshot is a sleek-looking load. Makes me want to get a motorcycle and a derringer so I can go bear hunting.

I need to do some patterning tests now. For the record the .410 is just a single-shot H&R. The 20 gauge is a Mossberg pump.

Why a 20 and not a 12? Because I bought it for dove hunting, and I can't hit a flying dove--well sometimes I can. The 20 is much cheaper on the wallet when I don't have much chance of hitting anything anyway and I can bang away all day without tenderizing my shoulder.

I was once told that I'd be able to hit more dove if I put in some practice, but I think it's because the doves around here can go between.

HELPS

The Firearms Coalition is going on the offensive:

The Firearms Coalition has drafted legislation which would restrict any federal funds from going to any college or university which prohibits employees and students who may lawfully possess and carry defensive weapons off campus from possessing and carrying those weapons on campus. We call it HELPS, the Higher Education Lawful Personal Security Act and we believe it could be passed in the 110^th Congress.

There is absolutely no way to keep armed and dangerous criminals and lunatics from bringing weapons onto a college campus. The forced disarmament of employees and adult students does nothing but reduce the likelihood that there might be someone with a gun in the right place at the right time to stop criminal violence and save lives. Disarming law-abiding adults, who happen to be employed by, or attend a college and who lawfully and safely carry defensive firearms when not on campus, is not just irrational - it’s downright criminal.

It’s past time for the gun rights movement to stop pussy-footing around and take a strong, public, and principled stand. We know what’s right and sensible and we need to act on that knowledge.We must stop playing political games, by the politician’s rules, at the cost of our children’s lives. The United States Congress has the power to stop federal funds – including research grants and student loans – from going to schools with disarmament policies – whether those policies come from the school itself or from state government. The people have the power to force Congress to take such actions.

I'm sure there will be plenty of nay-sayers who will declaim it as a waste of time. But if you get enough people hammering at a brick wall long enough, eventually something's gotta crack.

A Schott in the Dark

From The Gazette-Enterprise of nearby Seguin:

La Vernia Mayor Pro Tem Harold Schott retired from the San Antonio Police Department after a 33-year career.

One would be wise not to charge at him with a weapon, because he is a deadly-accurate shooter. Not one of his bullets hit outside the “bread basket” area on his target, and a couple of holes were on dead center in the bullseye.

But Schott was renewing his concealed handgun license by taking Cope’s class, and he explained the reason for it:

“If you go to buy a new shotgun, even if you’re in a policeman’s uniform, you have a five-day wait for an FBI background check. If you have a concealed handgun license, you could have the gun today. If you want to purchase a gun, a license makes it easier,” Schott said.

Wrong! Texas has no state waiting period. Period.

I would have assumed an ex-Only One would know that.

And yes, I noticed that his statement also reeks of elitism. But then I suppose that's par for the course.

Via Front Sight, Press.

Dustin' off the Diamond

For The Gone Rick Motel caption contest.

Guitarist gets his doctorate

In 1970 a British astrophysics student and aspiring rock star dropped out of the university to join a rock band. The band he helped form went on to become one of rock's most famous and legendary supergroups.

This week Brian May was awarded his astrophysics doctorate for his thesis "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud."

Looks good

I think I can stop tweaking the blog for now and start catching up on other's blogs again.

Leaving Eponym is kind of sad, because I was headed for two notable milestones. By the end of the year, I would have probably hit my 3,000th post (which includes the 900+ that were originally imported from this blog in 2006) and I would most likely have attained 100,000 hits. If their servers are left online long enough, I have no fear that it will reach 100,000 anyway. There are several posts over there that regularly generate high traffic. At the current rate, I would have reached 100,000 in another 85 days, more or less.

I needed only 115 more posts to reach #3,000.

Coming back to Blogger isn't too bad, now that I'm better at hacking templates. If I can just get someone to turn off that stupid word verification for my own posts. Man, that's annoying. Especially because about 25% of the time I misread the letters.

September 1: Castle Doctrine Law

A Keyboard and a .45 has posted a reminder that Texas' new Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground Law becomes effective today.

Back from the dead

Just trying a test post with Blog This! since I can't get Scribefire to work.

Okay, everything seems to be working well enough to start with. I'm sure I'll be tweaking things for weeks to come, but it looks like the original blog is now back in business.

Gun Review: Walther P22

This is an archive post. Originally posted on my other blog on 18 March 2006.

The P22 is designed to be nearly identical to, although smaller than, Walther's P99 (a 9mm or .40 S&W gun). I decided to take my new one out today for some shooting. Please excuse some of the blurry pictures, I was in a hurry because it was about to start raining (unfortunately, the rain didn't last long).

Ammo being tried out today was Remington standard "High Velocity" .22 LR and Remington Subsonic .22 LR as pictured. Grouping and accuracy didn't seem to matter--both kinds of ammo shot the same. Recoil was more noticeable with the High Velocity ammo, but it's a .22, so who cares? Just above the trigger in the above picture is the trigger lock, if you ever care to use it.

As usual, I have to make some left-handed comments. Shooting in the isosceles position kept popping the Subsonic empties right back into my face, and one even went down my shirt (ouch). Adjusting to sort of a hybrid isosceles/Weaver stance took care of that (I just shifted my feet a little). The High Velocity empties ejected with more force, and flew clear of me without me even noticing them.

I'm trying in this picture to illustrate the ambidextrous magazine release located on the trigger guard. The mag release makes this gun very lefty-friendly. The safety is also ambidextrous.

The P22 has what they call a "loaded chamber indicator," but it's the kind that is simply a small gap through which to look and see if it's loaded. It's not the tactile kind. Personally I'd rather just press-check it.

It has a magazine disconnect so the hammer won't fall with the magazine removed. What may seem odd to some (it did to me), is that when the safety is on and the magazine installed you can pull the trigger and the hammer will fall. However, there is a hammer block that prevents it from transferring the impact to the cartridge. According to Walther, this is the decocker. Still, it seems odd to use the trigger for a decocker rather than have a separate decocking lever.

To disassemble, first ensure it is not loaded, then lock the slide back and remove the magazine. Slide the take-down lever down. This is not actually a lever, it is more of a sleeve. It must be pulled down with equal force on either side. If you try to walk it down one side at a time, it won't work.

Lift the back end of the slide up slightly and carefully allow it to go forward. As with some other semi-autos, if you aren't careful the spring could pop out.

The P22 has a fixed barrel. It comes with an accessory wrench to remove the barrel. Walther also produces an optional 5" barrel which can be installed by the owner--no gunsmithing required. The 5" barrel is called the "target barrel." I don't have one, yet. The gun also comes with three front sights of varying heights. The factory installed front sight can be removed with a screwdriver and a new one installed by the owner. The rear sight is micrometer adjustable for windage. There is also a second palm swell that can be owner-installed on the back of the grips to increase the size of the grips if desired. I plan on trying that out too, but I haven't yet. It also comes with two 10-round magazines, and it has a light rail.

The tricky part is putting the gun back together when you're finished cleaning it. In the little accessory bag which includes the wrench is a plastic rod. This rod is used to guide the guide rod back into its respective hole in the end of the slide.

Carefully--making sure everything stays lined up straight--pull the slide back into its locked open position. The plastic guide rod will pop out unless you have a third hand to catch it, so be sure it pops out where it won't get lost. On mine, there is one extra step which took me a while to figure out. After the slide is back in its locked open position, a light tap to the back of the slide with the heel of the hand is required to finally seat it into its correct position so that it can slide forward again. After sliding it forward, push the takedown lever back into its previous position, and lower the hammer. You're done.

How does it shoot? you ask. This gun shoots way better than I do, but that can be remedied with practice, which is the main reason I bought this gun.

This 8" Shoot-N-See target shows--although it's hard to count them all--40 bullet holes from a distance of 25 feet. I am almost certain the rightward drift of the group is due to me rather than the gun. I should mention that for the last two magazines, I was shooting about as fast as I could and still keep them all in the black. (The extra black circle that was stuck on there didn't cover any holes, that was just my son sticking a sticker there because he likes to do that sort of thing). Other bullet holes in the backing are from previous sessions.

This gun is sweet. It is so comfortable that I could easily just stand and shoot all day. I just need to teach the kids how to load the magazines so they can load while I shoot.

If Walther were to ask me for any suggestions, I would recommend an extended magazine. By the way, here's a factory picture of the gun with the 5" barrel and the accompanying barrel stabilizer installed.

Visit Walther's P22 page for technical details.

MSRP on this little guy is $295. I got mine brand new for $243 plus tax. An affordable gun that shoots affordable ammo.

UPDATE: Check the comments for another tip on how to reassemble the gun without using the plastic guide rod. I'll have to try that!

COMMENTS ARCHIVED FROM THE ORIGINAL POST BELOW:

by drstrangegun:

Instead of the little plastic rod, when I reassemble my P22 what I do is bunch the recoil spring up on the guide rod, insert the rod through the slide and hold the rod on the outside (keeping the spring compressed), I then put the slide back on the gun partially and release the rod, and wiggle it a little until the rod pops into the retaining hole in the frame. It's much faster and requires no extra parts to lose.

by Chris Byrne:

I do the exact same trick for reassembling mine.

Ok some important notes on the P22.

1. The safety will loosen up and come on by itself over time. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN the screws that hold the safety levers onto the safety barrel. This will split them, AND reduce the tension on the barrel making the problem worse. Find the right tension and loctite the screws there, but check them every one in a while.

2. Cleaning... Get yourself some plastic safe but otherwise very strong solvent, a solvent safe container to submerge the gun completely, and a can of compressed airto blow the solvent out again.

Trust me, it's the only way to clean the crud out of the little spaces that you can't get to. You literally cannot diassemble this gun far enough to clean it completely.

Once youlve dunked and blown, reoil the gun VERY LIGHTLY, because too much oil jsut invites more crud.

3. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN THE BARREL NUT. The barrel shroud will actually peen down the key in the aluminum barrel lug mounted in the frame. This is not a replaceable part.

Dont let these points scare you off, or suggest I don't love the gun; I do. It's a great little pistol, and everyone should own one. You jsut need to know those particular idiosyncracies.

by anonymous:

The NEWER P22's are labeled with an "L" prefix before the serial number. These seem to have less problems with misfires as the older (pre-2004) models did. Also, be sure to check the magazine for the letter "A". These are the newer mags that Walther replaced the old, "defective" ones with. Other than that this is the best little .22LR auto I've owned. 40-gr. CCI mini-mags are by far the best rounds for this gun. Enjoy.

by anonymous:

Due to the inertial firing pin, the P22 should not be "dry fired" extensively during aiming practice. Doing so not only risks deformation of the chamber face, but the repeated forward action of the firing pin into and beyond the space normally occupied by the rimfire casing will eventually distort the firing pin spring. If this happens, the firing pin will no longer return vigorously to its default at-rest position at the extreme of its possible rearward travel within the breach block. This could result in less or none of the firing pin's rear surface portruding beyond the rear of the breach block for impact by the hammer.

Other comments at the original post.