Author: hsoi
Today is going to suck.
I just bit myself, hard.
Day job has me as a software developer. I was testing out some changes to a window layout. This window allows you to configure automated tasks… so say, at midnight your computer will automatically execute whatever you told it to do. Well, I was just testing out the GUI changes but needed a task in the window so I created a dummy task. The task ended up being set to move basically every file in my home directory into my Documents folder. I didn’t set it that way, those are just all the initial settings when you create a new task. I didn’t care.. .it was just to be a dummy task for the GUI testing, right?
Only I forgot to remove the task before I stopped work for the day.
I get to my work computer this morning and about shit myself because I saw everything was gone.
Only no, it’s not all gone, it just moved some 97,000 files to a single folder.
Shit. Shit. Shit!
And the sad thing is, my Time Machine backups were turned off because last month it started to constantly choke on these particular files, and I couldn’t resolve the issue. So the last backup I have is a month old. But hey, if I had a backup from a few hours prior I could just blast it back and be done with it.
Damnit.
Well, I know what I’m spending today doing.
*sigh*
Berry’s Tour
A guy goes on a tour of the Berry’s Mfg plant.
I use Berry’s bullets in my reloading, so that was neat to read.
And to boot, the blogger is a homeschooled kid. Try having field trips like that in public schools!
Home invasion defense handgun choice
Via SayUncle I’m pointed to this 3 part series on home invasion defense.
The intentions are good, but I take issue with a few things.
From part 2
Handguns are more portable and easier to keep with you, and can be kept on your person if they are not too large.
If they are not too large? Can someone show me a handgun that is too large to keep on your person? OK, maybe some of those “pistol AR’s” or something like the Ruger Charger. But most of your traditional “full sized handguns” (think 1911 with a 5″ barrel) are able to be kept on your person. Concealed even.
Then in part 3:
Revolver manufacturers also make double action only (DAO) revolvers, such as the Smith and Wesson Model 640 at right. The advantage of the DAO revolver is the fact that the hammer is completely enclosed.
And how is a completely enclosed hammer an advantage in a home defense situation? It’s useful in a concealed carry situation, sure, but I’m unclear as to how it’s an advantage for home defense.
Semi-auto handguns come a a wide variety of sizes and functions. The Beretta Model 92 at right is the civilian version of the military issue M9. It comes in 9mm Luger caliber. The Model 92 is a double action/single action autoloading handgun. This means that the first cartridge is fired with a long DA (heavy) pull, and subsequent shots are fired single action (light). Pro – proven as the primary US military sidearm for over two decades, large capacity magazines. Con – fairly heavy.
Fairly heavy is a con? No, that’s a pro because being heavier will help with recoil management. The author also implies the DA/SA trigger is a pro. No, that is a con. Previously in the article the author says how the double-action trigger pull is a con of revolvers (for the correct reasons). If a double-action trigger is a con, it’s a con.
The author then goes on about a S&W 640 (snub revolver), and other small guns like a Sig P238 and Kel-Tec P3AT. He talks about how great they are because they’re so lightweight, portable, how they can be carried in a holster. Um…. I thought this article was supposed to be about home invasion defense? The choice of guns here is arguably more geared towards carry guns, tho I’d debate some of the selection there too.
While the author’s intentions are good, the article loses focus and even contradicts itself. The guns recommended are not good choices for home invasion defense. While I have my take on good tools for home invasion defense, if we want to talk handguns for home defense I’d have to err on the side of larger guns. You can shoot larger guns better. You’re not necessarily going to carry this thing around, so it’s not a consideration. While a self-defense situation on the street is likely to happen within 5 yards of you, a home defense situation could require a shot up to the longest distance across your house. In my house it could be 25 yards, and frankly I’d rather take a 25 yard shot with a full sized handgun that provides me with excellent sights and a long sight radius vs. say a snub revolver or pocket semi-auto with their crappy sights and miniscule sight radius. So big gun, proper gun fit, adequate caliber, that’d be my general guidelines for a home-invasion defense handgun.
Tactical – Even my kids think it’s silly
Returning from the mailbox yesterday I started flipping through the latest Cabela’s flyer.
Tactical Turkey shotgun.
What the fuck is a TACTICAL turkey shotgun? To help you take out those Ninja turkeys? Has Al-Qaeda started recruiting gobblers? Or is this perhaps to help prepare for great turkey uprising, because they’re tired of the mass slaughter of their feathered brethren every November?
*sigh*
So Youngest overhears me spouting off about “tactical” and he asks what the word means. I explain what the word really means, then I explain how it’s become bastardized by marketing departments. How is making the barrel of a gun a particular length, tactical? How is making something out of black plastic, tactical? Giving it a pistol grip is tactical (so all handguns must be tactical by definition). We can’t forget needing a shoulder thing that goes up. Hell, you can make a pen tactical! Of course, CMMG understands how silly this all is, thus we have tactical bacon, black can of course.
Hrm. Does anyone make tactical toilet paper yet? It’d have to be black (natch), the tube would be made of plastic (not cardboard) and come with an ergonomic grip for ease of deployment. I’m sure if we could put a fart silencer on it that’d jack up the tacticalness.
Oldest and Daughter wandered over as I was explaining all of this to Youngest. My kids agree, it’s silly.
Updated: of course, earlier this morning I posted on the “tactical reload”. What makes it so tactical? Using the proper definition of the term, aren’t all reloads ultimately tactical? Bitch bitch bitch… 🙂
Texas Gov… decisions… decisions
I was listening to KLBJ-FM the other day and the morning jocks were talking about Farouk Shami, Democrat candidate for Texas Governor. They were ripping on him and with pretty good reason. This guy might be popular in Houston but the majority of Texas is not Houston. Could he win the Primary? perhaps, but he’s not going to win the General. He better not.
Bob S. gives analysis as to why.
As for me…
Medina of course seems interesting and I do want to like her, but I fear voting for her will pull votes away from Perry. I may not like Rick Perry but I sure as hell don’t want Hutchison. I always prefer to vote for who I think is the best candidate and I despise voting to game the system. Well, I don’t have to make a decision yet.
Updated: TSRA has released their voter guide for the Texas 2010 Primary Election.
Perry: A+ and the endorsement
KBH: A+
Medina: A
Shami: ? (yes, a question mark)
The crazy thing? If you ignore the ?’s, most people on the list grade decently.
On the Tactical Reload
Found at tgace’s blog and worth reposting to spread the word:
Clint Smith, of Thunder Ranch, on the tactical reload:
I too must agree here.
If your gun is working, why put it into a non-working state?
If your gun isn’t working, you need to get it back to working as fast as possible or transition to a backup gun.
If you must put it into a non-working state, you should ensure you’re in a position that can manage that. So you’re behind cover, you have a partner, you know you have time/opportunity, or you have no other choice.
I forget exactly where I read this, but I know the source is Tom Givens. Tom has had a lot of interaction with folks in gunfights, from studying fight reports, being involved in hundreds of post-fight debriefs, to 50+ of his own students being involved in a gunfight. He has yet to find a time when there was a need for that “ammo/magazine retention”, at least in civilian situations. In Tom’s classes he advocates the “speed reload”, which is dropping the magazine out of the gun and onto the floor and inserting a new magazine. You work to keep the gun running and keep downtime as minimal as possible.
When Security isn’t.
So a girl gets attacked while 3 security guards look on. That’s right. Look on. They do nothing. Read the appalling story here.
The video clearly shows that all of this is taking place right in front of three security guards. They are well marked with bright yellow jackets that have SECURITY written on the back. While the victim is on the ground getting punched, the guards immediately reach for their radios and call for help, but they do little else.
OK, I stand corrected. They did something. They radioed for help. Big deal.
After the victim is punched, the attack gets worse. The suspect then kicks the girl’s face and stomps on her head six times. The guards make no attempt to get in the middle of the girls or to pull the attacker away. One guard is seen in the distance looking on. He never approaches the scene. Another guard turns his back on the assault. The third stands just inches from the girls, looking on.
And the beating isn’t over. The attacker comes back without anyone trying to restrain her and stomps on the motionless girl’s head one final time.
The attacker and her crew of 10 others – eight boys and young men, and two girls – run up the tunnel escalators.
One of them is clutching the purse he stole from the unconscious teen. Two others have stolen her cell phone and iPod.
A woman who witnessed the entire ordeal from her seat in a bus parked in the tunnel talked to KING 5.
“All of the passengers, we were all up against the side looking, like, who is going to do something? Do something, do something!” said the witness. “Why on earth are there three security guards standing there watching it? And actually allowing her to come back and kick her in the head again!”
When the beating is over, you see on the tape that not one guard bends down to see if the victim is breathing or needs help.
“Really? You’ve got three male security guards and there’s a young girl getting kicked in the head, lying on the ground, motionless? And they couldn’t do anything? Doesn’t seem like security,” said the witness.
Just a reminder folks that the only person you can count on to help you is you. Security guards? I think the only security they were worrying about was keeping their jobs… and the transit authority about being secure in avoiding liablity and lawsuits. That’s the only thing they’re working to secure.
It’s sad this is the way the world can be, but this is how the world can be.
Damn you, iTunes
Overkill‘s new album, Ironbound, is now out in the US.
Yesterday I visit the iTunes Music Store to buy it. Purchase. Download. Listen…. hey this is good. What’s that noise? Popping? crackling? static? WTF? let’s try the next track? It’s worse! next track? more of the same. Crap! Every track has some sort of noise on it! That’s a let-down, but unacceptable.
Use the in-app “report a problem” on those tracks. This morning I receive an email that the order is still in process and my report has been flagged for a later follow-up, which could be 3 more days until it happens.
*sigh*
I don’t want a refund, I want tracks that are crystal clear.
Oh well. Meantime I’ve still listened to the album and tried to ignore the noise. The album is good. I’m liking it. “Ironbound” is good. “Bring Me the Night”. “The Goal Is Your Soul” is cool. Really, I’m digging the whole album. Hopefully iTMS will properly fix things.
Stuff for sale
A friend of mine has some stuff for sale. I’m posting it here to increase exposure:
If you are interested in any of this stuff, please contact him directly at perdurabo93@yahoo.com or via the mechanisms in the following posts.
- Springfield 03A3 and a Yugo Mauser
- Romanian AK kit and US parts
- .50 BMG ammo and 30-06 ammo
- .30-06 brass and dies
He may have a few other things for sale too… those would be posted as he sorts through his inventory.
Note again: this is a listing for a friend. I am not selling this stuff. Please do not contact me about these items because I know nothing about them and cannot help you.
