Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click here. The first rando Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
Go to the Quotations Page and select “random quotations” or click here. The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”, or click here. The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
Post it with this instructional text, tag your friends.
The first EP release from Lisma — Silence Is More Musical Than Any Song.
The intent of the course is to lay the foundation for the use of a long gun in a defensive manner. While many such courses are about “defensive shotgunning” or “defensive carbine”, this course is unique in that it’s about the use of any long gun: rifle, shotgun, or pistol caliber carbine. The basic principles are the same regardless of the particular firearm: presentation, rapid acquisition of sight picture (cleardistinctfrontsightpost-press-cleardistinctfrontsightpost), shooting from standing, shooting from kneeling, shooting around barriers, shooting distances of 3-25 yards, cover, movement. Another nice thing about having any sort of long gun in the class is that you get to see the effects of other long guns. For instance, shotguns are wicked things but as the distance to the target increases it becomes difficult to control where every pellet lands (e.g. at 25 yards, maybe you’ll need to use a slug). Or as well, using an AR, where the sights are very high above the bore, when shooting at close ranges you really have to compensate with holdover. The class gives you an opportunity to not only pick up skills with your choice of long gun, but it also gives you a chance to see how other long guns fare in the same contexts, learn the strengths and weaknesses of each. The class does teach some specifics about particular long guns (e.g. good techniques for shotgun reloading), but for the most part you realize that the principles are the same.
The “defensive” aspect is using the long gun for self-defense (i.e. this isn’t a gunfighting course, this isn’t military training). The course is aimed for situations such as home-defense, or maybe you’ve got a lot of land and need to be mindful as you’re out working on your property (people in Texas can have vast acreage). There’s time taken in the course to talk about tactics, situations, mindset, law and legal implications.
One other thing that I appreciate about KR Training’s classes (mostly in the more advanced courses) is the use of FoF — Force On Force. This is using things like AirSoft guns with safety gear, which allows us to actually shoot each other. The purpose is to role play, to be in scenarios. It’s realistic training, and any martial artist can tell you that training “alive” is the best way to train. What I like about such training is it’s open-ended: you get put into a situation, you have to figure how to get out — and the answer often doesn’t involve shooting anyone. It enables you to be in as close to a real situation as possible, but no one gets hurt; in fact, usually what gets hurt is your ego (that’s fine). This is the time and place to make mistakes and learn from them, in a forgiving learning environment. I find these situations to be the most humbling and best ways to learn. It’s a shame I cannot take KR’s AT-2 Class on Feb. 28. If you can, you should.
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.
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.
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.
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. 🙂
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.
I carry a SureFire E2L flashlight. Yes, I carry it with me everywhere. I did realize what a Good Thing™ it is to carry a flashlight until I started carrying one. I use it frequently. I carry a Leatherman Wave too. My wife says I have a Batman utility belt. You may laugh, but tools are more useful when they’re around when you need them. Being on my belt, I’ve got tools on hand when needed. It’s that whole Be Prepared thing.
Last week my flashlight broke. I was unscrewing the tailcap and the spring that goes against the battery was tilted and fell off. I noticed one of the plastic retaining clips in the tailcap had broken off and then fell into a crevasse within the tailcap rendering it impossible to screw the tailcap back on. I couldn’t get the plastic bit out, and while trying to do so pressed the tailcap button and parts flew everywhere. Ick. I have no idea how the retaining clip broke in the first place.
I telephoned SureFire’s customer service. The man listened to my explanation, double-checked the model, took my address and phone number, and said a new tailcap is on its way. The UPS man just dropped it off. I have my flashlight again. Yes, I need to buy another (2 is 1, 1 is none… redundancy is good).
So let’s hear it for SureFire. No questions asked. No b.s., no runaround. Polite, friendly, helpful, and fast service. And of course, their products are great.
Where the Sidewalk Ends was one of my favorite books when I was a kid, and I still love it. We’ve own most of his books and all the kids love reading them.
One that I love to recite at the kids from time to time:
Teddy said it was a hat,
and so I put it on.
Now Dad is saying,
“Where the heck’s the toilet plunger gone?”
The first album I could call my own was Twisted Sister’sStay Hungry. My little sister gave it to me as a Christmas present one year (probably back in 1984). And a record no less. I believe I still have it in my closet somewhere (tho no record players in the house any more).
My mom took one look at the album cover and hated it. So of course that made it even more awesome to me. 🙂
I loved the music videos (back when MTV was actually cool). I loved the music even more. What got me was not just that the music was heavy yet melodic (i.e. you could sing along with it), but there was some sort of artistic point to it and even a message! And what made the lyrical content doubly cool was the surface presentation that belied the real message.
Their song “Burn In Hell” is a perfect example. It’s all heavy, sounds forboding with those opening droning minor chords and Dee Sinder’s low voice speaking out an invocation that sounds like he’s inviting you through the Gates of Hell for an eternity with The Dark Lord. And of course, the fact the song is titled “Burn In Hell”! Hell! Burning! Looks nice and scary on the album sleeve, especially to parents and the PMRC. So of course, to a teenager this is totally cool!
But then you listen to the song and what Dee’s really singing about:
You can’t believe all the things I’ve done wrong in my life.
Without even trying I’ve lived on the edge of a knife.
Well I’ve played with fire, but I don’t want to get myself burned!
To thine own self be true, so I think that it’s time for a turn… before I burn in Hell.
So he’s talking about how he’s been living a life on the road to Hell, but he’s waking up and realizing that this isn’t good. He doesn’t want to suffer and pay for his sins. He realizes that he better change and clean up his ways. But he doesn’t just stop there:
Take a good look in your heart (and) tell me what do you see?
It’s black and it’s dark; now is that how you want it to be?
It’s up to you, what you do will decide your own fate.
Make your choice now, for tomorrow may be far to late… and then you’ll burn in Hell.
Now he’s calling you, the listener, out. He’s calling for self-examination. He’s seeing the bad in your life and calling you out to change your life. There’s no forcing, it’s your choice, and whatever you choose there will be consequences. Remember, this is in the context of heavy metal, which is all about sex, drugs, rock and roll, drinking, debauchery, Satan worship (or at least faking it for record sales), and basically living that destructive lifestyle. And here’s Twisted Sister coming out with a message rather contrary to the style yet still within the mode of the style. It was all really cool, and still is.
These days, Twisted Sister is still going strong but with a different sort of happy message:
And Lita Ford too! It’s great to see their sense of humor is as strong as ever, never taking things too seriously and just having fun.
Stuff From Hsoi 