Author: hsoi

Getting Involved

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Another good post from Matthew over at Ikigai, discussing another video that’s been going around. In short, some TV show was filming a prank and the prank backfired when the prankster/actor got a wicked kick to the face from a Good Samaritan. You can watch it below. You’ll see all you need to see in about the first 10 seconds of the video.

Speaking purely as a martial artist about the kick… awesome kick. 🙂

But what Matthew really wants to discuss is getting involved.

Part of me applauds him for his quick thinking and desire to help make the world a little more scum-free. It takes courage and conviction to step in and aid your fellow man. Furthermore, his technique selection was probably a good one – if he tried to tackle the guy, he ran the risk of getting stabbed or shot while tussling. If he tried to stand in the bad guy’s way non-violently he would have gotten bowled over or pushed aside.

I too want to applaud the guy. He heard something bad going down and wasn’t going to let bad things stand. Given what he knew about the situation at the time, he did the right thing.

Unfortunately, as we see in this video, quick acts of effective violence are sometimes misplaced. As it turns out, there was no theft occurring, and the man in the leather jacket was angry and loud because he was annoyed at the childish prank pulled on him. The striped-shirt-kicker made a big leap in judgment assuming that the man trying to escape was both a.) a perpetrator of crime, and b.) the actual bad guy in the situation (he might have been trying to escape a bad situation himself).

This is a very good point. Just because you see things unfold a certain way doesn’t necessarily mean that’s how things are. So you’re pulling up to a convenience store and you see someone running out in a panic saying they store has just been robbed. You would naturally assume the person saying this was a victim, or at least not the thief. But if they were a clever thief they may well have used that as a ruse to distract you so they could get away. Things may not always be what they seem.

Furthermore, the kicker took the law into his own hands and introduced violence into a non-violent situation. In a crowded mall like that, it is very possible to grab the attention of nearby security and alert the authorities to a crime in progress. In most large shopping centers there is both mall security and real law enforcement officials nearby.

I take odds with this. Where was the nearby security guard? Watch the video. Much time passes and at least I would think if there was a security guard around they would have gotten involved in the scene… someone lying on the ground, people huddled around minding them… wouldn’t a security guard get involved? I never saw any security guard in the scene. Meantime, a potential scumbag gets away. It’s just like the old saying: when seconds count, police are only minutes away!

Nevertheless, the discussion is a valid one: should you get involved?

In this case, it was just a kick. How about people who carry concealed handguns? There’s greater potential for lethality there. The rule generally is that you should only draw your gun if you or someone else’s life is in danger. You use the gun to defend life, not to stop a criminal and/or hold them at bay. In a case like this, no one’s life was in danger so no gun should come out. If the gun did come out, it greatly changes the situation for all involved parties.

Me, I’m torn on getting involved. My heart says yes, get involved. Bad things should not be allowed to stand, even stupid prank shows that pull crap like this (IMHO, they reaped what they sowed here). My head knows that there’s great risk for legal and other trouble if I did get involved. Is it worth it? It’s hard to say. To me, it all depends upon the circumstance and situation, and that I can’t know until I’m there and in it. One good question to ask yourself is: is it worth dying for?

I don’t feel good people should be or feel crippled to help those in need, because the bad guys certainly feel no restrictions. It’s sad that our society is moving in a direction that encumbers good people and makes them have to think twice about doing the right and good thing.

Make Mine Freedom

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

From 1948.

When anybody preaches disunity, tries to pit one of us against the other through class warfare, race hatred, or religious intolerance, you know that person seeks to rob us of our freedom and destroy our very lives.

And we know what to do about it.

The sad thing is, 61 years later I think a lot of people don’t know what to do about it.

I love Texas

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Why do I love Texas? Because people are friendly.

I had to ship two packages this morning. The first was returning an MTAC holster. Yes, Comp-Tac (located in Spring, Texas) didn’t get my holster order fulfilled to my satisfaction. The kydex slide shell wasn’t formed quite right: didn’t cover the magazine release button properly; was shorter than the “same” slide shell on my other MTAC, and that coupled with a slightly deformed “channel” at the top would cause the front sight post to snag on draw (not good); a couple other minor issues in the Kydex forming. Put all those little problems together and I just can’t accept it. Contacted Comp-Tac, they issued an RMA, and it’s on its way back. If it all gets corrected to my satisfaction, that’s fine. A bummer that it happened, but folks are human, shit happens, they’re working to make it right. I’ve been generally satisfied with Comp-Tac’s products and service, so I have no reason to believe I things won’t turn out right.

Speaking of which, the combo magazine/flashlight pouch/holster has been working great. Very pleased with it.

Second package was shipping my Smith & Wesson 442 off for some smithing. Upon the recommendation of Tom Hogel, I’m sending the snub to Verne Trester (not in Texas, but we’ll forgive him). Going to have the trigger/action jeweled, ensure the timing is sound, and getting a red ramp insert on the front sight base. Whenever I get it back and get to the range, we’ll see how it goes.

What was fun about it was going into the FedEx Office location (same one I used when I shipped an XD-9 to Springer Precision). No one that worked flinched about shipping a gun (tho I did notice one guy in there that was trying to figure out where a package went did seem to step a bit further away from me once I declared I had a firearm). Even better, struck up a conversation with the manager of the location. Talked about guns. He’s got a CHL (from a different state, but with reciprocity). Had a grand old time.

Texas… full of friendly folk. 🙂

Updated: Looky here… apparently there’s nice folks some of those other lesser states too. 😉

Could Be Oldest’s Favorite Website

/ hsoi

Pickles and Beef Jerky… dot-com.

Looks to have been a short-lived venture into the world of pickles and beef jerky (natch). Yes, Oldest could love this website.

Things I found to be pretty cool:

The guy likes Korean food.

He tried Alton Brown’s beef jerky. I always thought Alton’s approach was cool and have been curious about it, but the whole notion of using furnace air filters always put me off a bit. Just didn’t seem “food grade”. Still doesn’t. But the results seemed to be good.

He knows about Robertsons! You see, not too far north of Austin there is another Robertson’s in Salado, Texas. I always thought it was just the one store, but doing a road trip a couple years back I stumbled upon another Robertson’s up in Oklahoma. Turns out the one in Salado is actually a franchise, and they add a lot of their own products to the mix. I’m glad they do. I don’t like the “true” Roberston’s jerky… it’s hickory smoked and dry as a bone (sometimes brittle!); I know some folks like it this way, and it’s really not that horrible, but it’s just not my preference. However, the Choppin’ Block stuff the Salado folks make? Awesome. Any time I pass the store (conveniently located off Interstate 35 at exit 285) I stop in and pick up a 1 pound bag of the mesquite smoked beef jerky. The taste, texture, everything, just the best. And checking their website this morning to make this blog entry and lo… they have buffalo jerky! I’ll have to try some of that next time I pass through. They’ve got great smoked meats and cheeses too.

OK, I’m hungry now.

Good parenting advice… from Gene Simmons

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I know. You’d want to think that Gene Simmons wouldn’t know a thing about parenting. He does.

Never negotiate with kids. They don’t have life experience, and they don’t have repercussions for bad decisions, they still get fed and housed. And most importantly: I’m bigger! Don’t hit, but don’t pander or give power to kids. They have to know where the power lies. Otherwise, why would they respect it?

Whenever I see poorly behaved children, I look at the parents to see why. Without exception the parents negotiate with the kids, beg and plead with the kids… the parents give the kids the power. If the kid makes a bad decision, there are no serious negative consequences for it. Folks, you reap what you sow. Gene nails it.

If Sophie [Gene’s 17-year-old daughter] came home high or drunk, she’d find her Beverly Hills butt in the middle of the Arizona desert in a work camp. I’m deadly serious. The only jobs kids have are to do well in school, to be charming and polite, and be thankful. That’s it. I’ll house you, protect you, I’ll even give my life for you, and in return, you will behave.

Yup.

It’s always possible the way Sophie and Nick (Gene’s 20-year-old son) behave on the family’s TV show is not how they really are, but I doubt it because that’d be one hell of a charade. Same goes for Ozzy’s kids, Jack and Kelly, on their show. Compare and contrast their behaviors. Sophie and Nick seem to have their heads screwed on pretty well, despite their family situation. So again, see how the kids behave and look at the parents. I think Gene knows what he’s talking about.

Love him or hate him, he’s always interesting. Give the whole article a read. A lot of good stuff in there.

Now you see me

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I’ve never been one to hide my identity. I’m John C. Daub, millionaire; I own a mansion and a yacht.

I admit in my early online days I was a bit more reluctant about sharing my identity because hey… there are crazies out there. But while I may not have been as forthright with my identity, I didn’t lie or hide or refuse. If someone wanted to know who was behind the moniker, it wasn’t hard to find out either by searching or just asking me.

The advantage of “Hsoi”? Well, plug it into Google and apart from some acronyms and foreign words, Hsoi equals me. It’s nice to have a globally unique identifier, because there are other John Daub’s out there.. There are disadvantages to being unique, a discussion for another time.

The one thing I have still been reluctant to do is post my picture online. Oh sure, there are some pictures of me online, but usually my face wasn’t directly visible. I’ve had some bad experiences in the past with posting pictures online, mostly because there are assholes in this world and I have better ways to spend my time and energy.

Nevertheless, a friend of mine who is really into social media made a good point. Your avatar is who you are online. It makes a big impact and impression. I recall meeting lots of people in real life that didn’t ring a bell until I was able to put their email address with their name and face. That was kinda weird to know them more by their email address than anything else, but yes it’s a unique identifier. I’d rather know people by their faces. Call me old school that way, but it’s far more personal to be able to associate a name/blog/email address/twitter account/username/etc. with a face.

So, I finally hooked into Gravatar and put my face back online. We’ll see how it goes.

On Safety Glasses

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Brigid has a great write up on safety glasses for shooters.

Most shooters wear hearing protection, but few wear eye protection and often when they do it’s just sunglasses or prescription eyewear that may not be able to handle the impacts. You may need hearing protection more often than eye protection, but when someone whizzes back and hits you in the face what then? Your ears may be able to take a lot of blasts before you lose your hearing, but your eyes will probably only take one hit before you lose your eyesight. I can take losing some hearing, I can’t take losing my eyesight… I could deal with being deaf, I don’t know if I could deal with being blind.

My trouble has been that I wear prescription glasses and it’s been difficult to find protective eyewear that can fit comfortably over the glasses. What I’ve found so far works for protection, but not for comfort. Granted there are some options (Brigid mentions them) but they are wicked expensive. I admit, that there are times I wear just my prescription glasses alone. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not ideal because 1. they only cover so much, leaving things like the sides wide open, 2. they’ll only take so much impact, 3. if they do get damaged, even slightly (e.g. a little lead ricochets back) then I’m out an expensive pair of glasses and perhaps “blind” for a while with the loss of the glasses (good luck driving home from the range).

Lo and behold, a few days ago an email from the NRA Store arrives in my inbox, and it advertises a pair of NRA OTG Shooting Glasses. They are designed to fit over most prescription glasses. They have two styles for indoor and outdoor shooting. Meetings ANSI standards and UV protection too. Seems like a win-win and yes, I plan on ordering a pair.

Winchester Ballistics Calculator

/ hsoi

Winchester has made a Ballistics Calculator.

It requires Microsoft Silverlight (meh). What I like about this calculator vs. others is that the application is a bit more interactive. It’s not just plug in numbers and get out numbers. Sure you do plug stuff in and get numbers out, but you can also play with things like the zeroing point, simulated wind and temperature, and try and compare other loads.

It’s nifty.

Sunday Metal – Overkill

/ hsoi

Soldiering on for almost 30 years, Overkill never achieved the level of success many of their 80’s thrash contemporaries did. But they’re still around, still making music (15 albums to date), still touring, and still flying the flag for metal. Staying power often means more.