RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - JULY 2006
1199 - Wednesday, 5 July 2006: Good holiday! No disasters, blew up lots of stuff including more-exciting Washington-state-legal products outlawed in Oregon. Even participated in Gun Chat on Sunday.
Successfully concealed from too-generous first sis that I quit my job two weeks ago, though I think she figured out that I was unemployed again. She did spend some money on me, though I generally protested the customary three times each; a fill-up for the Corolla, a pair of 9x19mm UMC MegaPacks, bunches of fireworks (most of which were consumed in second sis' backyard and cul-de-sac), and four days & nights of room & board (including cable TV - saw Discovery launch live on NASA TV feed on one of the cable-access channels, and got a good Fox News fix). Did not accept wad o' cash. Pride.
So, Saturday I drove up, and aside from a half-hour delay for a wreck on I-5 that was without incident. That evening first sis and I went to a local indoor range for handgun practice where she did really well. Sunday we got the streaming feed from Gun Talk and did the chat thing too (though Tom Gresham seems to have grown leery of us Elves - he hasn't mentioned the chat room in three weeks, though the link is still up on the site when the broadcast is on), then went to the Everett Sportsman Club on Ebey Island, a not-bad little outdoor range (certainly far better than English Pit, but Clark Rifles has really spoiled me) and I live-tested the Queen. And I snugged in behind her on a bench at 100 yards and started with my handload and this is the first three rounds I fired since fixing the sights, on a typical one-inch grid sight-in target:
OMG and Woo Hoo too. No stock bedding, no National Match parts, rack-grade Greek-return CMP randomness, peen & Loctite the gas cylinder grooves & replace the rear sight spring cover and Wow.
Okay, then I went up three clicks and then I started flinching:
But then I look at it again and I'm still crowding two MOA. Then I tried some Federal red-box #AE3006N and got this:
And I knew I jerked that one off to the left. Good Gods A'mighty What a Weapon. Tucson Tom, this rifle has found a home!
PRAISE BE UNTO Tucson TOM, THE ARIZONA CRUFFLER, BENEVOLENT DONOR OF THE BATTLE RIFLE!
Meanwhile, sis with her Mosin and my handloads did this:
That's an NMLRA standard target and the 9 ring is a bit less than four inches. I don't know exactly how many rounds she fired, but I'm pretty sure some were just enlarging previous holes. I count 17 impacts, and only one was outside Fred's recommended 4MOA, which is all that's required to hit a JBT's torso at a quarter-mile. Note also that about half are rather tighter than that (and that the Mojo sight might need a very little careful tweaking). Yay sis!
Monday was spent shopping for pyrotechnics and Tuesday morning and early afternoon were spent preparing them. In Washington, unlike Oregon, you can get items that go up in the air (anybody know the fireworks laws in Wyoming?), including the ones I always wanted and never had as a child, real live mortars.
Three of the most beautiful words in the American language: SHOOTS FLAMING BALLS.
For the past few years I've been saving up the used tubes and making ever-increasing simultaneous volleys of these. I get the cheaper ones that come in a box with one tube and six single-break shells - most of the brands use about the same size shells & tubes (probably they're all made in the same commie-slave-labor sweatshop with different labels slapped on for the American market). This year I set a new record with twelve. The cardboard box is the case that some quantity of the original 6-shot boxes came in, and the plastic bases of the tubes are stabilized with patio bricks from sis' back yard. Cannon fuse can be found several places, including some sporting goods stores that stock muzzleloading accessories (and the Sportsman's Warehouse chain), and it's held together with ordinary masking tape:
Now, note the four match heads around the tip of the fuse. That's a single strand of 3/32" cannon fuse and the matches are from an ordinary paper matchbook, like you get from a bar or in an MRE, disassembled. The matches are in little platforms of eight or ten or so, and I find that tearing off a block of four of these is just right to wrap around a piece of 3/32" fuse. (1/16" fuse is also available, and I imagine there are other sizes too.) Then tape the heck out of it.
The next step, and the point of the exercise, is the friction surface on the matchbook cover. Keep most of the cover, but tear off the short part next to the friction pad - leave the long cover (where the advertising usually is) intact for a gripping surface. Wrap the friction part around the clustered match heads & fuse, below the match heads:
Then you also tape the heck out of that, punch a hole in the end and run some twine or something through for convenience:
Note the narrow white ring at the bottom. That's the paper of the matchbook cover, showing that the tape on the cover does not overlap onto the tape around the match head bundle. Now: if you've done this right and taped everything tight enough, you can just give the string a yank like a satchel charge and away it goes. This year it worked perfectly and I, single-handed, launched twelve loud and colorful fireworks within a couple seconds, taking into account variations in fuse burn rates. New record!
And a usefully subversive bit of kitchen-table pyrotechnology. Who knows when you might have to prepare something for convenient ignition ahead of time, and then light it in a hurry when you don't have a fire source on you? Anyway I'm pretty sure I learned this from some ancient usenet discussion on rec.pyro.something, years ago, so here it is back on the net, with pictures even. Matchbooks that some restaurants still give out free, cannon fuse from a sporting goods store (typically sold in 15' lengths), ordinary adhesive tape (hot-glue might also work), and there you are. No struggling with a lighter, no fighting the wind with matches, just pull and run.
And here's second sis' house, where her husband qualifies as SuperPatriotTM:
Tuesday we went to second sis' house and literally burned a lot of money. The cul-de-sac's pavement will bear the scorch marks for weeks, and the spent cakes and tubes and boxes looked like a miniature city on a plain. One really big cake, one of those ~$80 finale things, had a hangfire as I went out to place my 12-shot mortar array. The man who's pyro it was warned me and I began moving away just as the hangfire fired. I hit the deck, then rolled over and looked up to watch. Everyone got a thrill from that. :) And even with 20-some surplus pounds it seems I still have good reflexes and can Move when necessary. :) :)
I don't think I have permanent hearing damage....
Then it's midnight and rather than drive three hours in the wee hours I spent that night at first sis' place again (I have a regular room there now, heh) and trekked back to Oregon Wednesday morning, reaching the hovel without incident about half past noon. The Corolla still runs, though one crack in the windshield has now spread the full width of the glass and another is still spreading, and one of the front turn-signal lenses got broken somehow (probably road debris) - another trip to U-Pull-It in the future for the latter, and the safety lamination on the windshield is doing its job (like I can afford a new windshield for a $500 car).
And just after I unload the car UPS delivers the new Simmons Redline 20-60x60mm spotting scope (and Lee .30-06 crimp die)! Looks like a decent scope, of the same basic design but bulkier than the old Tasco 45x (which I handed down to first sis) (the bulk is probably why it's on clearance, in favor of an improved model), includes plain black nylon case and actually a quite nice tripod with traverse & elevation knobs. Looking forward to testing it after Barberton this Saturday.
Well over 200 emails waiting and in one of them Tucson Tom sends:
No phone messages at all! Tired today, will phone temp service tomorrow.
And Fuji's fine too, though he's in his summertime Not-Going-Inside mode again.
During the Gun Talk chat someone cued on my Jeffersonian handle and asked me about some recent bit of legislation which I've now forgotten and I responded in what I hope was proper Jeffersonian fashion, that "A bad law ought not to be obeyed" (I still haven't found a source for that quote). And a few lines later someone offered, Lex mala, lex nulla! Which naturally is Latin for "A bad law is no law!"
About halfway through The Fountainhead and when I visualize Dominique Francon - and remember, I saw the film before I read the book - I see not Patricia Neal but Katherine Hepburn. Eh?
1200 - Thursday, 6 July 2006: Zzzzz.
Zzz.
Zz.
North Korea is cruisin' for a fusin'. It sure would be nice to have a conservative in the White House about now....
Phone temp service - no word back from the job yet, but the schedule - day shift, Fridays off, $10.50/hr - sounds ideal. No telling what the work environment is like of course, what will be the frequency of moonbats and third-worlders....
Library, The Classic M1 Garand by Jim Thompson! Page 45:
And what ever became of the rest of my property? I have my suspicions. You blueshirts still reading this? Prove me wrong, I dares ya.
Set up Lee .30-06 crimp die, crimped small test quantities of my handload and Federal red-box (which on closer examination may come with a roll crimp) for accuracy comparison with untreated rounds.
Radio talk, state wants GPS transponders in everyone's cars for road-use taxation. The transponder, which individual drivers would be required to buy, costs... nearly as much as my ‘87 Corolla. I wonder whose district the factory for these things is in, or who owns stock in the company? And that's without even considering the civil-rights, privacy, freedom-of-movement issues. (A true libertarian would be fangs-out on the very idea of driver's licenses and license plates. And for the Christians in the audience, wasn't there something in Revelations about "every man shall have his number"?) Then there are all the new cars being built with such, like OnStar. Wire cutters. Snip.
Fuji losing weight but still seems healthy enough, maybe a little less creaky with all the time spent outside in summer warmth. Total lap-pest if he comes in at all. Tossing crunchy salmon treats at him through the hovel door.
Corolla may actually run a little smoother after the 400-mile round trip, maybe I blasted something out. No serious loss of any fluid, and I've been carrying extra fluids (fuel, oil, coolant, brake/steering/clutch) on principle since my last car. One front tire still slowly leaking, but I'll just get a whole new set next time I have money.
Local ARCO holding at $2.83, one 76 and one Mobil near library $2.79.
Holy Smoke. Do I really have a 1MOA rifle here? And all this time I've been thinking I was a lousy shot.... Time to dig out the AQT again. From dollar store, got one of those little digital kitchen timers for practicing my rapid-fire stages. -Looks like the gas cylinder is staying put. Still haven't had the rear handguard off and... I don't think I'll muck with it. (Although there's this cool scout scope mount that replaces the rear handguard - but that's for my second or third M1. This one's fine just as she is.)
Sorting regular & bonus brass from the trip, gained a little .30-06. Some Mosin to reprocess for sis, 8 pieces .223 WSSM (the necks are thicker than I've yet seen), a couple stray .38 Special and .45ACP, and yet another fistful of .223/5.56mm. ‘06 and Mosin sized, will tumble tomorrow. Sight-in days at my club start in August and I'm sure the "sportsmen" will generate plenty of bonus brass while blowing the cobwebs off their Remchesters.
If I hadn't quit my job I'd be stocking up on IMR4895 and somebody's 150gr FMJBT. Oh well. At least I still have some IMR4064 and Sierra #2305s to keep sis' Mosin supplied, least I can do for her generosity, and with my own M1 at last my remaining Mosins aren't seeing much daylight.
Data point: when firing the Federal red-box from my M1, the brass was deposited in a neat pile about 2 meters forward and one meter right of the shooter. Also, this brass was dinged little if at all on ejection, unlike my handloads. This was single-loaded only, due to range rules, so I can't say how it performs internally with a full clip, but the bolt locked back every time and I anticipate no problems with it. $12/20 at Sportsman's Warehouse, BTW.
Non-gunfolk and new gunfolk do not grasp what, and to how many, the M1 rifle means. Here's a hint: I could probably blow $500 on books dealing exclusively with the M1. Never mind the historical significance, this is a Good Rifle. I mean, look at those targets! And this is full-power, kill-a-fascist-at-a-quarter-mile stuff here, not the "poodle shooter" or "mouse gun" our guys are stuck with today! Furthermore you can also beat a fascist to death with it, something also not recommended with the M16/M4. $omeday I'm going hunting and until recently I expected to have to use the VZ24, not least because it can be loaded hotter - but a 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2,700fps, with that kind of accuracy, might be adequate all the way up to elk. (Or maybe a 165/168.) Scrawny northwest deer won't know what hit ‘em.
Ellsworth Toohey is evil. As is his philosophy, the same one that, taken far enough, leads to the aforementioned pyramids of skulls. Like most utopian novels, The Fountainhead could never happen in the real world - like Steven Mallory asking Roark, "How did they ever let you survive?" Well, in this world they wouldn't. Roark would be destroyed, by the Vince Foster method if other means failed - and so we must play this filthy game of politics, choose the lesser evil, and all the rest.
But... if only.... And that's the point of the book.
And that's why I have trouble keeping a job. I have some Howard Roark in me, that makes me near-retch at being a mere cog in someone else's machine... but not enough of him to succeed on my own terms. Remember Poul Anderson's "The Master Key" and the wild-animal men? It's a terrible thing, being partly domesticated - and knowing it.
Crap, now I've gone and depressed myself more than usual. Fondling the M1 helps some. Anyone tries to take that away from me and I'll give 'em what's in it.
Perhaps the greatest "weakness" of the M1 Garand is that it requires some training, knowledge, discipline, and instinct to use, let alone maintain. I consider that, by the way, one of the rifle's greatest strengths, for it is an apparatus virtually useless to those who are unsuitable to own anything more dangerous than a spoon.
This book was published by Paladin Press in 2001, right at the end of the Clinton years, when the "assault weapon" ban was still in effect, DCM/CMP was under attack as "providing cheap weapons to gang-bangers" or some such, etc., and the author vents throughout. Like my percussion revolvers, subliterate parasites like Willie would have no idea how to use an M1.
Huh. Tom Clancy wrote Debt of Honor, where a 747 kamikaze strikes the Capitol Dome and destroys most of the US federal government... before 9/11. Tom Clancy wrote The Bear and the Dragon, where communist China launches ICBMs against the US, which are shot down by AEGIS missile cruisers... before this North Korea thing. I'm not saying certain people take certain lessons from these books. I'm saying certain other people should have. (Okay, in the second case it seems they did - I've heard that our warships, equipped with the upgraded surface-to-air missiles Clancy described, are now in appropriate locations.)
Ohhh yeah, that fits. Coming back from the laundromat the Corolla made a dramatic clanking and spat out... something... from underneath and now I have no traction, i.e. the car is not moving. If I'd been thinking a little faster I'd've tried to coast another couple blocks and turned down the hill toward the hovel at least. Parked in the shade at a Catholic church.
Hike to hovel with laundry, take a moment, hike back, jack up car - the starboard transaxle has come off the drive shaft and is dragging on the ground, so it's probably just as well I didn't try to go those extra few blocks. Can't seem to get it back in past some kind of structural flange. Recovered the cap and gasket that keeps the grease in, can't figure out how the gasket is supposed to go on, put it in the trunk and clipped the cap on for the time being. Looking at the other transaxle (which was replaced when I bought the car), it appears that nuts and/or bolts have let go. If I could get the transaxle past that flange and onto the drive shaft, and if I had the bolts & nuts to secure it, it should be driveable again. Spoke with lady at church, expressed hope to remove car no later than tomorrow.
Called cable-company-ex-neighbor, who suggested I call Woodworker, with whom I feel I've burnt a political/social bridge. Did that, left message offering money I can't spare for his assistance.
Brass tumbled, processing - all .30-06 ready, all Mosin reloaded for sis.
Woodworker calls, not available until tomorrow. So much for Barberton.
Can't. Get. Ahead. Every time something good happens, something bad happens. Go Christmas shopping for myself, get burglarized. Get a Garand, the car falls apart. If I won the lottery I'd probably be hit by a meteor the next day. And PRIDE prevents me from begging for help ‘cause I quit my last job. I'm getting out of this without sponging off my sister or my readers.
Somehow.
Meanwhile, reader sends this on Ted Nugent. Limeys. They don't understand. Even after we whupped their ass twice, and saved it twice. (Thrice if you count the Cold War.)
1202 - Saturday, 8 July 2006: Zz.
Hike out - car's still there. Church lady left note for towing company to not tow it until 4pm. Hike back, phone Woodworker - arrange meeting - work on car. Some hours and surprisingly few cusses later, it's fixed, with new hardened bolts & all-metal locking nuts from the hardware store. Unfortunately part of the flange, against which these bolts bear, broke off in the process. Fortunately it's on the transaxle and not on the engine block side, which would make it, not easy, but easier, to remedy or simply replace. Unfortunately that's another hundred bucks I can't spare right now, not counting specialized tools like a pullerwhatchamacallit, and if I took it to a shop I'd probably spend more on parts & labor than I paid for the whole car. Fortunately Woodworker only accepted ten of the forty dollars I offered so I can at least eat and buy gas for a while longer, but if I don't get income again starting, well, Monday or Tuesday, I'm in trouble. Anyway she drives again but I don't know for how long. With my luck she'll probably spit the thing out again on Hwy 26 in rush hour. :( When I get income again I'll try once more to raise the gumption to work on the Escort, which I suspect has a blown head gasket. I'll gather parts at least. Probably need a new battery by now, Bi-Mart has those, a special red-painted shopping cart for the exchange even....
Gaaah. It's probably a very good thing I never acquired a drug or alcohol habit. Eh, that stuff's all too expensive anyway, that's money I spend on cartridges. Back to hovel, shower, change clothes, eat pineapple sherbet, fondle M1.
Gaaah.
Oh yeah, here's the "before" picture, though after I retrieved the end-cap and got it back on to contain the grease:
Later, surfed into this Suprynowicz article confirming, with sources, my impressions of public education.
And in Vin Suprynowicz's column in Shotgun News, this, which further explains why I've walked off so many jobs:
"Vin, I wanted to share an occurrence that I am forced to endure upwards of three times a week. I am the manager of a major sporting goods store, and part of our hiring requirement is the successful completion of a math test.
"This is a timed test. In six minutes a candidate must complete at least 25 questions correctly and must not have missed more than 7 percent of the total attempted problems.
"This test is really a 'no-brainer.' Here's one of the most difficult questions in the entire exam: 'A customer would like to purchase 6 pair of socks. Sock packages cost $2 for three pair. How much would 6 pair of socks cost the customer?'
"Applicants must be at least 18 years old ... and must have either a high school diploma or G.E.D. Yet each week I fail at least three applicants! Some weeks I'm unable to hire a single person because of failed math tests.
"Recently, a nice young woman (23 years old) was looking for a part-time position as she finished up her nursing degree. After giving her the required six minutes I asked her how she did. She said, 'Great! I got to 63.' (This was very good news; most applicants don't get past 30.)
"To my horror she had skipped over every single problem with words in it, contrary to my instructions. Of the 63 attempted problems she answered only 24, and of those 24 she correctly answered only 12.
"I asked her if she was unsure about the instructions. She parroted them right back to me: 'Six minutes, don't skip any, make sure to read the question before answering.' (I add that last part because most high school grads think multiplication and subtraction really mean add.)
"I politely informed the young woman that her answers on the math test precluded her from employment at this time. In an impressive display of understanding, she then asked me what her pay rate would be and when she could start! After I explained that she failed the math test, she got very upset and said it wasn't fair for our business to require a math test without giving the applicant time to study for it.
"Another example of the fine products we pay for each year when 'graduation' time rolls around."
1203 - Sunday, 9 July 2006: Znrk. Stress, can't sleep.
Remember when I mentioned cannibalism in North Korea (while our poor people get fat)? I'm not making this up, folks.
Gun Talk! On location at GunSite, the academy created by Col. Cooper, though he's no longer associated with it. Very nice... and very expensive. And Tom Gresham's back! In the chat room!
Oh crap, Jim Baen has passed away! David Drake's official obituary - John Ringo's.
Recently I got the Battlestar Galactica miniseries (the new one) from the library and thought it didn't (completely) suck (though it bothers me that Olmos is a racist lefty (repeating myself again?)). Season one of the (new) series is in my hold queue. But now I read this review from one of my favorite authors. Well, at least I'm not paying for it.
Nearing the end of The Fountainhead. Part 4, Chapter VI, sounds like the Democratic National Committee tore it out of the book, ran off a thousand copies, and issued them to their candidates nationwide. Fangs! Now, I expect lots of people over the decades have read The Fountainhead and feel their lives have been changed by it. Me... it just seems to be confirming principles that have grown in me all my adult life, that collectivism is the most destructive philosophy yet devised, that all governments inevitably become inherently evil, that the only path to true progress and true prosperity is the liberation of individuality. Just in the Gun Culture and with an eye toward history, where would the world be today without geniuses, of varying eccentricity, like John Moses Browning and John Cantius Garand, men who in this modern over-regulated era would likely have been murdered by the BATFE? Cooper got this too, when he said "Personal [emphasis added] weapons raised mankind out of the mud".
As a would-be writer myself I must also admire the craftswomanship of the book. Nicely built.
It was a short test drive Saturday, just to the ATM & back, then yesterday to the library and a (very) little shopping. This morning, while it was still cool, put car on ramps, crawl under, inspect (both sides) - all seems well.
Phone temp service - still no word, maybe tomorrow or later today. I think I'm in trouble.... Schedule- and money-wise this sounds like a job I want, despite another long commute, so I'm waiting to land it instead of calling the other two temp services or looking for other work.
GAAAH! Part 4 chapter XIV, Toohey's pages-long speech to Keating as though evil incarnate were talking. Sixty years later it sounds like it fell right out of today's DNC playbook - the one they don't show the public! "...where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there's someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." "Kill the individual. Kill man's soul. The rest will follow automatically." This book was first published in 1943, and Rand obviously saw no difference between Stalin and Hitler. And was there any, beyond the cut of the uniforms, as I've observed here before? Was der Volk und der Reich so very different from the Proletariat and the Party? The absolute subordination of the individual to the State, to the Race, to a Faith... and, ultimately, always, to a handful of the self-selected, openly or concealed, pulling levers, collecting the bounty of others' work, reveling in their power.
(And yes, I despise unto death Barney the purple collectivist dinosaur as yet another symptom, as one more enemy combatant deserving of destruction as is an animal or insect carrying malaria or rabies.)
Anyone who wants to know what the Culture War is about, read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. It's in there, sixty years ago and sixty thousand before that, to the day the first caveman thought of himself as chief of his tribe and murdered any who rebelled. The details, the depth, things I've seen every waking moment of my life and never had words for, a meticulous definition of the enemy of all thinking beings. Whoo.
[ramble="on"][rant="on"] Pondering a re-rewrite of the Declaration of Independence - the one, which I haven't yet placed online, for my own personal utopia. "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness", Jefferson got right the first time, but I fear that "created equal" bit is dangerously liable to misinterpretation toward the lowest common denominator and pyramids of skulls. Sure, we know what he meant, I'm talking about people who deliberately take it the wrong way. (JMB was not "equal," nor should he, nor should he have been forced to, be. The first (superior! Not equal!) caveman who figured out how to make fire on his own did it for selfish reasons - he wanted light to see by, heat to survive and to cook by, a weapon against things that were trying to eat him, he was no altruist. (You see why Tom Hanks' character in Cast Away went nuts on the beach? It was a Big Thing.) Yet that selfish act on the caveman's part led through the long millenia to industry, technology, this journal you're reading now, the tools Saint John wielded to create the tools we treasure (as did, for his own reasons and for creation's own sake, Howard Roark, because he knew it could be done better and it would be a crime for one with that knowledge and the necessary skill to not do so) - in Toohey's world, or Hillary's, there would be no such progress, we'd still be shivering in that cave and handing over our pitiful share of nuts & berries to the tribal chief's designated thugs.) (But don't let's get started on the 16th Amendment just now....) But any change here requires long and careful thought. Our way, Jefferson's way, is still the best anyone's ever figured, and it's not to be mucked with lightly. [/ramble][/rant]
The things one thinks about while unemployed, in denial over shrinking bank accounts, staying up too late with mind-bending literature.
And I'll have you know I made that rant before I read Roark's courtroom speech at the Cortlandt trial. I've just finished the book, including Leonard Peikoff's 1992 afterword, which includes some of Rand's own notes, and among those I found this gem: "The paradox of the dregs of humanity actually feeling contempt for their betters, because they are better." And how many "leaders" of the "black community" are condemning demonstrably-superior minds like Condoleeza Rice and Clarence Thomas for "acting white"? Rand wrote that in 1937.
I'm pleased to have read this book; it's a book I needed to read; I probably wasn't ready to read it before now. And anyone who claims to think independently had better grab a copy before Queen Hillary has them burned.
Bombings in India. I'm sure the New York Times and the University of Wisconsin will find some way to blame it on Bush.
With The Fountainhead still reverberating and Atlas Shrugged in the stack, starting something different, Men Against the Stars, a 1950 anthology via Martin Greenberg, theme of progressive exploration of space, with introduction by rocket scientist Willy Ley. ...And there are some parallels with Rand. Robert Goddard was laughed into submission, much as Roark in the courtroom described the fate of creators and original thinkers throughout history. Indeed the first story, Asimov's "Trends" (1939), reads like a much-condensed version of The Fountainhead with a rocket scientist in place of an architect. But Goddard was right, and eventually the rest of the world wrapped their minds around it, and Discovery's crew is up there tinkering on the International Space Station as I type.
1206 - Wednesday, 12 July 2006: Zzz. Rain today. Fuji complaining.
Temp service calls, possible job in Tualatin, QA tech, day shift, five/8 (so much for Fridays), $10-$12/hr. Yes, send resume there. Did not ask about the Hillsboro four/10 job, this may be more money.
Recently in an email conversation someone referred to the "venomous" Ann Coulter. And yes, she is. Kipling might have been thinking of her when he wrote:
Unprovoked and awful charges - even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons - even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish - like the Jesuit with the squaw!
But we're not talking about objectivity, are we?
Finished Men Against the Stars, quality vintage man-conquering-the-universe stuff. Not ready for another Rand yet, starting David Fairbank White's Bitter Ocean: The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945. And just from the jacket blurb I'm reminded of Rommel's Law, that battles are won or lost by quartermasters before a shot is fired.
1207 - Thursday, 13 July 2006: Zzz.
In an email exchange an individual wants to learn about weapons. Great, I think, a new subvert to the Culture. So I begin the process... and in response, every other sentence out of his keyboard sounds like it was cut-and-pasted from the Daily Kos or the New York Times. And then he says, "I am hoping to concentrate on the guns, and not the politics." To which I respond:
Radio talk, more eminent-domain, government-knows-best, obey-or-be-destroyed stuff. Gods I hate Oregon. On Gun Talk last week representatives of Gunsite were boasting of Arizona being an open-carry state, sigh. (But I've heard AZ has crappy fireworks laws, and they're still way too close to the border....) But reportedly at least parts of Wyoming are still open-carry too. Libertarian authors like Smith and Suprynowicz keep writing about how the western states are the last bastions of the intent of the Founders, and I've been hearing about the Sagebrush Rebellion for years....
Phone temp service - no news on either job. I'm in trouble....
Lebanese Hezbollah poking a stick in Israel's rattlesnake cage and getting it properly bitten off. Iran rattling sabers, now unconfirmed reports that Hezbollah is moving two abducted Israeli soldiers to Iran, and that Iran is already shooting at Israel. UN's Kofi Annan (the same guy that wants to disarm us) calling Israel's retaliation, against Arab terrorist rocket attacks on civilian targets, a "terrorist" act. Just like Sarah Brady, blame the victim.
Meanwhile, surfed onto this CNS story on the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Some blacks are standing up and acting like civilized human beings, but it must break their hearts to be in that kind of minority. -Kinda like me and that would-be gunfolk who just wants to have fun, while blindly voting for the people who want to destroy the right he wants to exercise. What can one do with such people except cut them loose before they drag one down with them?
Screw 'em all. Go Israel. If I ever sit down and really work on my story all I'll need is some news archives for the backstory of one particular planet. New bumper sticker while I'm ranting:
Deer on the range! This was behind the handgun berm, where the plate match is held every month. I coulda tackled this deer, as you might surmise from the pretty-good quality of the photo:
Sometimes cheap is too cheap. A couple weeks ago I tried some Federal American Eagle red-box .30-06 150gr FMJBT, #AE3006N, in my M1 - but it was all single-loaded. Today I finally tried some as a repeater, and out of ten rounds it doubled twice. (30+ rounds of handloads with CCI200 primers worked perfectly however many I loaded, so it's not the rifle.) So be warned! In my experience the Federal .30-06 FMJ ($12/box at Sportsman's Warehouse) is prone to slam-fire and therefore not safe in the M1! Accuracy... somewhat eluded me today. But this is only the third time I've fired this rifle. The new Simmons scope worked well, but I was only shooting at 100 yards today as there was a match on the lower line, so I don't know yet how well it will perform at 200 and 300. Some P35 practice too, zero malfunctions still.
Brassaholic! Scored .38, .357, and 7.62x39mm, plus another hundred-odd .223 (mostly S&B this time), three 12ga hulls, four IMI .50AE, two .45ACP and one 6mm Remington (heh), in addition to recovering all my .30-06. And it's not even sight-in days yet. Unfortunately, now I've used up all my handloads, I don't dare use the 40 rounds of Federal I have left (I guess I'll use them up single-loaded over time to free the brass, maybe 5 or 10 per practice session - maybe as a warm-up, yeah), and I'm still not sure if the TW5 surplus is corrosive and/or collectible. Of course in an emergency I have all the ‘06 clipped, so if you find me dead I hope it'll be in a pile of brass and field of JBT corpses - but I need to practice with this rifle.
$igh. If I had disposable money I'd be loading up a heap and driving to the range every weekend.
Car neither blew up nor fell apart, though I am somewhat concerned about the reinstalled transaxle shedding grease - I think that gasket was there for a reason but at the time of repair it was thought to be part of a boot that tore off at the time of failure, and now it's been discarded. Portland and Vancouver ARCO still $2.83, though local stations popped up to $2.85 a couple days ago.
Not very impressed with White's Bitter Ocean. The writing style seems to me... sloppy, lazy, untidy, even repetitive, not at all like the crisp clarity of Kipling or Rand or the smooth progression of Ringo. Furthermore, this is supposed to be a book about the entire six-year Battle of the Atlantic, and he's concentrating almost exclusively on the U-boat war - whole chapters on single convoys being set upon by Wolf Packs, yet barely a full page on Bismarck.
1209 - Sunday, 16 July 2006: Zzz.
All processible brass processed.
No GunTalk! The chat room worked but the station I usually hear it on, KBNP, was not broadcasting (though the signal-strength gauge on my old radio said there was still a carrier wave). And, very suspiciously, the station was broadcasting again within minutes of the show being over. And, the only stations I could get streaming audio to work on, were running different programs.
In email, sis... offers money. Argh....
1210 - Monday, 17 July 2006: Zzzz.
No word from temp service.
Skimmed through the rest of Bitter Ocean, not meeting my standards for historical books (i.e. Sloan's Given Up for Dead, Fischer's Washington's Crossing). Starting Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
A little backed-up email, but little of it is personal. Here's a Gun Nut Test - I scored a perfect 21 of 21. Sending it to the family. :)
1211 - Tuesday, 18 July 2006: This is the first time since I became motorized that I've missed a car insurance payment. Argh.
Phone temp service - still no word, my resume being sent to a third possibility that sounds less appetizing. Gaaah.
In email, sis implies that she has already sent money. Argh.
New American Rifleman, what I thought was a skimpy article on the Taurus 1911; historical article on post-WWII Garands. New Shotgun News, in-depth articles on the 6.8mm SPC cartridge, the Kalashnikov family as available to us peasants, and building one's own unregistered AR with a JPFO lower receiver made by KT Ordnance - who were raided, near press time, by BATFE. "The implications of this are disturbing on a variety of levels." No kidding. -I found the article interesting for the VolksGewehr implications, but at $195 for the unfinished receiver, then hundreds more for the rest of the rifle, that wasn't what I was after. -Still percolating through my subconscious is the vaporware design for my VolksPistole (which I actually mentioned in the GunTalk chat room on Sunday - if someone else wants to design one, so be it; this isn't a profit-driven idea, I want a weapon that can be widely and independently produced with relatively simple tools, outside of government control - I believe it was George Orwell who said something like, "When the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people will have a chance" - that's my goal, "that every man be armed" whether the murderous thugs in blue shirts and black armor like it or not). Even more vaporous are my plans for a VolksGewehr. I was thinking of all those take-off Remchester barrels I see at the shows, and of designing some shockingly-simple block-o'-metal receiver, condensed from designs like the Browning 1885, Martini-Henry, Sharps, Ruger #1 or #3, or Remington Rolling Block; something that could be milled & drilled out of plain billets quickly and easily. For both pistole & gewehr, barrels would be the sticking point.
Radio news, Israel may allow UN peacekeepers. Is Israel suicidal? Isn't their sovereignty fragile enough already? I bet the Blue Helmet Thugs are looking forward to adding little Jewish girls to their list of rape victims. -This fits so well with my story - the settlers of the planet New Israel, disgusted with their government for caving in to their enemies, gave technical, monetary, and logistical assistance to the Jeffersonian Escape, in exchange for a world of their own - it's spooky.
Made 120 rounds .357 plate loads for sis, all .358" projectiles gone - no, I still have two hundred Speer 110gr JHP, but I haven't developed a load for them and I only have a handful of .357 brass left. Don't want to use the mountain of .38 brass ‘cause it leaves that nasty fouling in .357 chambers.
NewsMax has this report from the Cato Institute on the alarming rise of Blueshirtism.
Rand writes good, with tasty bits like " Aaand the ISP's down again. Yep. You know in Niven & Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer, the scout troop leader who's in various financial and social binds, and the rock hits and the world changes and his slate is wiped clean? ...I know how he felt.
My last practice with the Queen was on the Adco five-place target, with blacks that were much smaller, at 100 yards, than the M1's front sight; that is, difficult to see. This may have contributed to the disappointing accuracy from that session. Up in Everett, on Ebey Island, I fired at a big orange square and got much better results. Next time, try a larger target, easier to visually align with the front sight. Except now the only .30-06 I have left is the Federal I don't dare use except single-loaded, and a bunch of surplus that is either corrosive or might be.
Okay, new inside-my-head drawings for the VolksGewehr, inspired by the JPFO/KT AR receiver and other companies' developments of interchangeable magazine wells for the AR: basic chunk of universal receiver with simple falling-block action, bushing/block added at front and secured with big honking bolts like the KT receiver is assembled. The bushing is machined separately so it's easier to get at, to give it the proper threads for whatever salvaged barrel gets threaded into it ('98 Mauser, Rem700, Win70, Ruger 77, etc). Perhaps another such bushing/adapter at the rear, to accept take-off buttstocks from common Mossberg 500 or Remington 870 shotguns, again to simplify supply and manufacture.
Nitpicks from Uncommon Valor: when Col. Rhodes is sighting-in his M1, he turns the windage knob the wrong way for the shots called by Lt. Scott; and the burlap camouflage wrapped around the rifle blocks the sight picture.
Okay, after a while Rand gets kinda repetitive and overly preachy on the evils of collectivism. It is evil, but the message needs to be delivered properly. Toohey, now, Toohey was properly Evil, when he spelled it all out for Keating at the end you could see the manipulative beast behind the mask, that much worked, chills down the spine even; but the collectivist villains, at least to start with, in Atlas Shrugged are kinda shallow, like they're mere tools of someone else's philosophy and are spouting off by rote, having no purpose of their own. (Kinda like modern leftists I've attempted, and of course failed, to converse with.) Well, I'm just getting started with it, too soon to judge. Anyway she's much better with the individualists and the Soaring Triumph of the Will of Man. -Rearden is a sort of inside-out Roark, methinks.
Forthcoming project: online pictorial tutorial of How to Reload Cartridges.
Three-digit (F) heat wave forecast.
Meanwhile, going through old emails, sis sends this story on the town of Hazelton, PA, passing restrictions on illegal immigrants; from the lists, this story on dissidents in communist China being chopped up for body parts, just-like-Larry-Niven's-organleggers-I-am-not-making-this-up; from a reader, this steaming pile of media bias from New Orleans; Chicago Sucks; Government Sucks; LA Sucks; Czech Republic Doesn't Suck (tres un-PC!); and what the heck is this? A "new" pistol called the Cougar? Didn't Beretta introduce this very thing years ago? But not enough years for the patent to have expired, methinks, huh? And, reader sends this Cato map of botched Blueshirt raids. Hsssss.
The first couple hundred pages of Atlas Shrugged (1957) are actually quite depressing when I look around me at the world of 2006. :( The stuff Rand had her villains saying fifty years ago, "Corporations are evil," "Profit is bad," "Force people to share," "We must take from the productive and give to the useless" - it's almost word-for-word what I hear from the moonbats today. And who do those moonbats think made their microwaveable breakfast burrito, the oven they nuke it in, the store they buy it in, the car they drive there in, the power plant that generates the electricity, the refinery that makes the fuel? Corporations, for profit. Self-interest is what makes the world go 'round. Enlightened, debatably, but self-interest nonetheless, "What's in it for me?" That caveman rubbing the sticks together did so for his own ends, and most of humanity has been living off the surplus fruits of his genius, his selfishness, for thousands of generations. Poul Anderson's/Nick van Rijn's "wild-animal men", Rand's individualists, history's Yeagers and Lindberghs, Columbuses and Magellans making the world bigger and smaller at the same time, and yes, even the occasional Cortez doing it by accident and messily but still making genuine progress if by no other method than upsetting the apple cart and getting things moving - these are the people responsible for all the advances and comforts we enjoy today. The leftist, collectivist philosophy would never have ventured out of the cave. And if Darwin and Spencer were right, how can such worthless, destructive creatures still exist in our society? Indeed, how is it their numbers seem to be growing? Somehow, natural selection has been derailed. And there we are at Lucifer's Hammer and the scoutmaster again, or Dean Ing's Pulling Through if you prefer. Will such a drastic event be necessary to put humanity back on track?
Gaah, depressing myself even more. Anyway all that collectivist, "gimmegimmegimmeyouhavetoomuchgimme" whining is why I haven't updated this journal online for three weeks, 'cause I don't want to sound like I'm begging for handouts.
Why can't there be more stories like Jack Vance's "The Kragen"? That was a damn good story, the spirit and will and desire of man, improvising, adapting, OVERCOMING, CONQUERING!
Sigh.
1213 - Thursday, 20 July 2006: Aargh.
Lars mentions Hazelton, PA, and a city council member in Springfield, OR, mouths off in similar fashion - then the mayor of Springfield apologizes on his behalf. Interviewed, the councilman rejects the mayor's apology; callers take councilman's side; mayor on show with some no-doubt-weaselly words I didn't catch all of. The backlash is rising.
Sis sends money and I need it. Aaargh. Bought groceries, paid car insurance only two days late. Smart of me to have previously paid the storage rent into mid-August.
Heat wave starting:
Tucson Tom sends:
Phone temp service - both recently-dealt-with reps are off site, call back tomorrow. Aaaargh.
Ah, clamp-on bayonet lug! Meant for ARs but I'm sure clever people like gunfolk can find their way around that.
Phone temp service - can't reach temp reps.
The entire first section of Atlas Shrugged - well, almost - is depressing. Sure, the first run on the John Galt Line was inspirational, but the decaying, fictional world Rand created in 1957 bears too frightening a resemblance to today's. (See also, again, Ringo & Evans' The Road to Damascus.) I'll finish this book, but now that I've reached a division within it I'll set it aside for Destiny's Forge, a new Man-Kzin Wars novel by Paul Chafe.
Readers inquiring. Sigh. Embarrassed that I walked off yet another job.
Destiny's Forge off to a good start. But I've come to expect as much from a Baen writer. In this volume we learn more of kzin history and culture.
Second place! I was having accuracy problems, and I did have one misfeed with the P35, with UMC MegaPack FMJ - possibly dirt or dust in the chamber or on the cartridge. Jim Breen has now won four of the last five months, but I'm getting closer. In fact I beat him in the first round (he qualified first, I second, in a field of ten), but he came back through the Loser's Bracket.
Later, shopping, sis buys for me (sigh...) Caldwell electronic earmuffs at G.I. Joe's tent sale, twenty bucks, couldn't resist. Most of the range officers I've seen use them, so they can hear what's going on around them on the firing line while still protecting their hearing, and I've wanted some for some time. I did start to pay for them myself (...with the money she sent me...) but she actually took them out of my hands and put them in her shopping cart.
Hung out in her air-conditioned motel room for a while watching Fox News (Shep Smith looks & sounds like he's angling for the Geraldo Award) and the History Channel (sigh). Later, after (she bought me...) a chicken sandwich at Burger King, she encouraged me to try to make something of my writing, nor is she the first to have done so. If I had the time, and didn't have to worry about rent and electricity and food and fuel and so on, I'm fairly confident I could edit much of what I've written so far into a few pretty-good short stories. But I'm di$tra˘ted.
1216 - Sunday, 23 July 2006: OAC show, sis & I both got in free with ACSWW badges - bought nothing but sis fondled non-firing replica of Gen. Patton's Colt SAA. Expo show - disappointingly small for the $8 admission, bought nothing, but sis, in the market for a Proper Pistol, got to fondle a bunch, I steering her toward P35s (i.e. FEG, FM, for half the price of Browning - some as low as $300, apparently NIB, though magazines were a question), 1911s (saw new GI-style Springfield (with lock, but I think that can be negated with a replacement mainspring housing) for $400), CZ75s, EAA Witnesses. Only saw one Witness, in .45 with .22LR kit included, $400 (Wanted Real Bad, $igh). Genuine CZ75s & 85s, various finishes & features, within spitting distance of +/- $400 (one with low-profile adjustable rear sight, $igh); CZ97, just over $500. (Data point: I am given to understand that 9x19mm Witness and CZ75/85 magazines are interchangeable, as are .45ACP Witness and CZ97 magazines.)
Sighted interesting new product (target holders).
Springfield Armory Inc. still hasn't put bayonet lugs back on their M1As, and the SOCOM carbines, with lower velocities and shorter sight radii, do not appeal. Anyway now I have a real rifle of my own. Appealing scout mounts for Garand, M1A and Mini-14, on display. DuraCoat represented, including the flag-pattern AR on the cover of the 20 July Shotgun News, or one with the same finish scheme. Also saw there a photo of a Glock pistol DuraCoated with a Flying Tigers-style mouth around the muzzle - I'm deeply prejudiced against Glocks, but that is a Glock I might own. -I wonder how that would look on a CZ97, yeah, with that full-length dust-cover frame, big empty surfaces to work with....
Sis gives more money after several refusals, argh. Must get job. But, job must not suck or I'll run screaming into traffic or something.
Continuing Chafe's Destiny's Forge, page-turny with swell action, deep characters, intrigue-y plot, and detailed kzinti culture.
Previously I noted that the Olympic brand, Greek-made rifle ammunition, while in brass cases, was Berdan primed and therefore not (practically) reloadable. But yesterday morning, waiting for more people to show up for the plate match, I picked up a 7.62x39mm case which appears to bear the same headstamp, but is Boxer primed (though it uses a Small primer, like Remington in this caliber, while most other reloadable brands I recover in 7.62x39mm use Large). So, data point. (Olympic brand primers are also three-point crimped, but I have the RCBS swager now. Also, in my experience a three-point crimp can usually be removed with the chamfering tool, while ring crimps require swaging before seating new primers.)
Second sis sends this Stupid Cops story, which I sent on to David Codrea for his "Only Ones" files. Later first sis emails of her safe arrival.
Moonbat wants a third political party that will "feed the children and let me keep my guns." One more time, here's the sequence:
1. Government feeds children.
2. Government taxes us to pay for feeding children.
3. We hate government for taxing us.
4. Government doesn't dare let us have weapons.
See also in other words. Okay? Does everyone have that now?
Heat wave continues.Phone temp service - still waiting to hear back. Aaaargh.
Made new printouts for the plate match, a 16-place tournament tree, a loser's bracket tree based on one I found for a pool tournament in a web search, and a qualifying-times chart. Will make copies. On Saturday, delivered next two months' worth of prize certificates to match director, in case I can't make it.
Continuing to build web tutorial for reloading cartridges. Processed some Mauser brass and sis' .357 from the match, not least so I'll have something to take useful pictures of.
Reader sends less-biased article. Another reader sends a tragic Stupid Cops story.
Still reviewing the plate match. My P35 is just not as accurate as my stolen GP100, I know I had good sight pictures, it was like the bullets passed immaterially through the steel. Examination shows some peening of the barrel lugs, but I have been firing a hundred-odd rounds per session, and the single misfeed I had was the first malfunction I can recall in at least 500 rounds. I want that adjustable-sight CZ75 I saw at the Expo show yesterday, $igh.
New Shotgun News and I see DSA is finally (if expensively) addressing the issue of FAL sights by offering a lower receiver with an M16A2 sight. Of course the weapon shown has Picatinny all over it, but now I'm interested in FALs again. Also in this issue, big Makarov article.
When I fondled a Bushmaster AR in approximately-A2 configuration at the show Sunday I was surprised how heavy it was, noticeably heavier than my M1. Eh?
1219 - Wednesday, 26 July 2006: Aaargh.
Phone temp service - still no word. Phone second temp service - reactivate account. I know I have a head problem about work. Minutes later second service calls back, one-day job at a tea company - I temped at this company years ago. But this is only a financial band-aid, not enough to justify resuming this journal in public. Probably I'll be heaving sacks of tea leaves, at $9.62/hr. The first service has less-strenuous, better-paying jobs. Znrk. Gods I hate work. My back hurts, my wrist hurts, the skin on my arms was irritated by a dozen different spices, and I think I ingested enough tea dust to make two pitchers. And for this I might net $60, probably less.
Finishing Destiny's Forge, a worthy read in which much is learned of kzinti culture and history, likely far more than even Larry Niven knew. The Man-Kzin Wars saga could end cleanly here but I hope it doesn't. Resuming Atlas Shrugged.
1221 - Friday, 28 July 2006: Ow.
Heat wave ending.
No word from temp service.
Continuing work on reloading tutorial pages, rifle section about done I think. I may have to make a test batch of .38 Special with the Speer JHP to get the pictures I need for the handgun section. The shotgun section shouldn't be difficult, as I'm basing it on my Load-All II.
1222 - Saturday, 29 July 2006: Zzz.
Blogsurfing onto this site I found: Cop Assaults Toddler, Gets Wrist-Slap. Sabers at dawn. Hsssss. Hey, Portland Blueshirts, is this one of your esteemed colleagues, your beloved brother in blue? Is this what makes you proud to put on your uniforms every morning? When you start your shift each day, do you think to yourself, "Hey, today I'll go rough-up some three-year-old, and I'll get away with it ‘cause I Am Da Law"?
And hey, guess what! A Muslim! Attacked some Jews! In an American City! And how much do you wanna bet that the Jewish Federation building has a "no weapons" policy?
Collection of anti-freedom quotes.
Collection of pro- and anti-freedom quotes.
Continuing Atlas Shrugged and it's difficult, because the thinking-man's horror story that is the first 400 pages at least, is so terrifyingly similar to what's coming out of both sides of our government (yes, especially the left, but not exclusively) today. Ms. Rand must spin in her grave. This is combining with my personal financial straits to increase my depression.
1223 - Sunday, 30 July 2006: Gaaah, rent coming due. I should be able to pay half of it with a note that the rest will follow the following week, as I've gotten away with before, but where am I getting the other half?
Gun Talk, discussion of recent Wall Street Journal (!) anti-knife article, interview with Benchmade honcho. (Links to article: 1 2 3) And, organization forming. What, am I going to have to manufacture a VolksMesser too now? (Well, no, there are lots of people who know how to make knives. And there's always banging the rocks together. Oh, that reminds me, I'd better email one of my web design clients with the news....) And Bob Morrison from Taurus again, more news on their offering for a new SOCOM pistol.
Arranging to sell a cache of 7.62x39mm for money. Since my Simonov was stolen I have less reason to keep it, but as Cruffler commiserates, it hurts.
1224 - Monday, 31 July 2006: Argh. Carefully juggled accounts, mailed check for half rent. With my pending paycheck for tea-heaving and the pending sale of the 7.62x39mm, I might just barely make the rest if I stop eating and driving.
Phone first temp service - still no word. Phone second temp service - decline swing-shift warehouse work - accept interview tomorrow morning for day-shift sheetmetal manufacturing at $9/hr. Sigh. Shorter commute at least, if I get the job and don't walk off it. OTOH it's dangerou$ly close to $port$man'$ Warehou$e.
Contemplating a test batch of .357 with the Speer 110gr JHP, so I can take pictures so I can finish the handgun section of my reloading tutorial - Sierra's starting loads are 7.1gr Bullseye, 7.5gr Unique, or 8.0gr W231, for the powders I have here. I've had the 231 the longest. -50 rounds done, handgun reloading page done I think. Shotgun page soon.
Cruffler sends a "picture worth a thousand words":
In the news, domestic terrorism from the animal-rights freaks; David Codrea adds the toddler-strangling cop to his Only Ones files - and dig the comments; more on the raid of KT Ordnance; commentary on the depressing ignorance of the common man in the modern world; more on Blueshirtism.
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