I have to agree. Where is the change? There are lots of broken promises sure, but that’s not change… that’s pretty par for the course.
Robbie seems to be starting a nice tally of the broken promises.
Month: February 2009
Quantifying trillion
JR helps us quantify just how much a trillion is. Gah.
Update: Via Tam, another quantification of trillions.
The first pig with lipstick
John Longenecker talks about the very first pig with lipstick on it.
Sunday Metal – Corrosion of Conformity
I don’t know why, but Sunday and Metal seem to be going together these days. So I might as well throw my horns up and into the ring.
Corrosion of Conformity is one of my favorite bands. For music, lyrics, and overall attitude and outlook, few stand up with COC. Their Deliverance album is only surpassed by In The Arms Of God, which I think is one of the best albums ever (one of my desert island discs, and tops in my iTunes rotation) — Pepper’s scream at the end of the song “In the Arms of God” always gives me goosebumps. Always. The song is that powerful.
Songs like: Vote With a Bullet, Albatross, Clean My Wounds, Señor Limpio, Wiseblood, Drowning In a Daydream, The Door, Diablo Blvd., Who’s Got the Fire, 13 Angels, Paranoid Opioid, Rise River Rise, The Backslider, In the Arms of God, and so many more.
While I’m down with Down, I hope Pepper doesn’t forget COC.
“Vote With a Bullet” from COC’s Blind album. At the time COC had a different (new) lineup. Pepper was actually a “backup” guy back then, but had this as a one-off on the Blind album. Call it the start of a great era in the history of COC.
As they wrote in the liner notes of their Live album, “to all the free thinkers and beer drinkers… this one is for you.”
Range Report
Went to the range with my buddy, foo.c. Apart from the cold wind cutting through us (and blowing uprange, right into our eyes), a nice day at the range.
One thing I love about gun-folk is how friendly most are. On the rifle range there were only 2 shooters: myself (foo.c was spotting, then we’d switch off) and another gentleman. Foo.c pointed out the other guy was shooting an SKS then a Mosin-Nagant. We stopped our shooting to watch the other gentleman fire his Mosin-Nagant, and the wicked fireball that came out the barrel with each shot. It was a thing of beauty, and we could only imagine how cool that would look at night. 🙂
The gentleman noticed we were talking about his rifle, so we all got to talking. He took an interest in my M1A Scout Squad, asking questions, and I think I may have convinced him to buy his own. He then let us shoot his Mosin, and I gotta tell you… that was fun. Never shot one before, kicked more than I expected, but boy it left me giggling. I’ve gotta get me one of those for myself.
On the downside, I just don’t like XS Sights. I put a set of XS Big Dot 24/7 Express sights on my Springfield XD-9 Service model. I did this because I wear glasses, and if something went bump in the night and I didn’t have my specs on, I’d still like some way to see the front sight. So I thought I’d try out the XS Sights to see if they would help. Well, my eyesight is so poor that without my glasses on I still can’t see the big front dot. Still tho I thought I’d give ’em a whirl. And over the months I’ve had them and used them I’ve discovered I just don’t like them. Yes they are very fast to acquire, and they certainly work for their purpose: as a defensive “fighting gun” sights they ought to hit the bad guy where it counts. But I just don’t like how they line up. If I want even a small degree of accuracy, it’s tough to get. Today I was just shooting 6″ paper plates at about 10 yards, the big dot front sight covered the plate completely, but even then I couldn’t hit the plate (I was constantly hitting high). The way to use these sights is to put the big dot over what you want to hit and press the trigger. So that’s what I was doing, and I wasn’t hitting what I wanted to hit (tho I was grouping ok). Now sure, if this was a bad guy and I put the big dot over center mass, it’d be effective enough. But sometimes I want a little more accuracy, and I just don’t get that out of these sights. Sure, you can compensate, but the way the sights work, it’s just tough for me to get that.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the sights are really cool and very good for their intended purpose. I know there are people out there that swear by them and I wouldn’t tell them they were wrong. But for me, these just don’t work. Recently I tried out a set of Dawson Precision fixed sights: a 0.100″ red fiber optic front with a fixed all-black rear sight. That worked out great for me: fast to acquire (the fiber optic front vs. the all-black rear), and where I would aim the bullet would go no matter the distance: I had no problem hitting a small 6″ popper “on the shoulder” of a no-shoot at about 25 yards. I just can’t “point and click” and do that with the XS Sights. The XS might work for you and I certainly think they’re good for what they are, but they just are not right for me.
So, time for me to ship my XD-9 off to Springer Precision for new sights and some other work.
Kids and cooking
My daugther just came up to my office with some bread in hand. And not just any bread. It’s a recipe she found herself. She made it, baked it, everything. I’m having a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (never had one before, very hoppy), and the taste of that in my mouth, the fresh-baked bread… and it just needs something like apricot or peach preserves. Mmmmm.
If you don’t know how to cook, you should learn. If you do know how to cook, you should teach someone else how to cook. If you know how to cook and have kids, you should teach them how to cook. You don’t have to be a gourmet, just as long as you like and eat what you cook. With kids it teaches so many things: chemistry, safety, following directions, creativity, self-sufficiency. When you cook together, it’s great time spent together. So much goes into worrying about building up a kid’s self-esteem… teach them how to cook, watch that self-esteem grow. Don’t believe me? Try it.
Name me one success
I find it fascinating that people turn to government (local, city, state, federal especially) thinking it will solve their problems. Number 3 on Anthony G. Martin’s list of 10 Conservative Principles notes that usually government is the problem.
So I’ve been curious. Can someone name for me something the government (and for purposes here I’m talking US Federal Government) has done that has been good? That has been run efficiently, has been properly accountable, has done a better job than the private sector, has left the majority of people as “satisified customers”. I’m honestly looking to find something the Feds have done that one could say was great. If you know of something, please add a comment and some evidence to support it.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So, when you have failed government program after failed government program (e.g. FEMA), why do folks keep turning back to government expecting success?
10 Key Conservative Principles
Today’s popular definition of “conservative” means little more than “that group of people/notions that stand opposite to what the ‘liberals’ stand for”. And even then I’m not sure how often they’re actually opposing.
Anthony G. Martin has a nice summary of 10 Key Conservative Principles.
Duck dinner
I’ve been encouraging the wife to buy different things at the grocery store. Doesn’t necessarily matter what, just let’s break out of ruts and try some new things.
So this past grocery shop she came home with a duck. This isn’t the first time we’ve eaten duck, but is the first time we’re prepared it at home. We figured to start with a simple recipe: stuffed with apples, some onion, wrap it in bacon, roast it in the oven, and it turned out ok. Gave us a lot to think about for the next time (e.g. gotta make a sauce).
When the Mrs. told me the price of the duck my jaw hit the floor. You know, I can buy a couple boxes of birdshot for my 12 gauge for that. I could come home with more birds and have more fun doing it.
Yeah, I’m about “this close” to starting hunting.
Update: I forgot. I was corrected. Birdshot and duckshot aren’t the same thing (lead issues). Duckshot’s more expensive. Still tho, it’ll be more fun and more satisfying. 🙂
A Simple Experiment
What I’m about to say I’ve said before, but after reading this, I think it bears repeating in a post all its own.
The post over at Hecate’s points out that the police were nearby… about 200 yards away in an adjacent parking lot. The responding officer was on the scene about a minute after the 911 call went through. But yet, 5 dead, 1 wounded, and the gunman was nowhere to be found.
Moral: even if the cops had to protect you, even if they wanted to protect you, they can’t. They just can’t be everywhere all the time. They just can’t respond fast enough to save you and prevent tragedy.
Some still refuse to believe this. So I offer this simple experiment. I find this useful to present in either a one-on-one or small group discussion. Usually it’s met by stunned silence because people don’t want to think about such things, especially such things happening to them. I only hope it gets people to seriously think about taking care of and responsibility for themselves. NOTE: I’m not actually advocating doing what I write below; it’s a presentation of a hypothetical situation for the purposes of discussion.
Stuff From Hsoi 