Thursday - August 14, 2008

A rare record of life “below decks” in the British Navy between 1790 and 1833. A MUST READ

FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN HISTORY, THIS IS AN AWESOME FIND.  SELF EDUCATED AND IN THE NAVY AT AGE 13. IMAGINE THAT FOLKS.  AND NOWADAYS STREET PUNKS ARE PROTECTED FROM HAVING THEIR UGLY FACES OR NAMES IN THE NEWSPAPER IF THEY’RE “YOUTHS” OF AGE 16.

THIS SAILOR BELONGED TO A TIME WHEN THE SHIPS WERE MADE OF WOOD AND THE MEN MADE OF IRON!  FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS.

IT BELONGS IN THE BRIT MARITIME MUSEUM. IT BOTHERS ME THAT IT ISN’T HERE.  IT NEEDS TO COME HOME!  THE GOVT. SHOULD BUY IT BUT DON’T HAVE ENOUGH CASH AS THEY’RE SAVING TO PUT ON THE 2012 OLYMPICS.  DICK HEADS.

Diary of 19th Century British Navy life ‘below decks’ for sale
A rare record of life “below decks” in the British Navy between 1790 and 1833 penned by a sailor who served under Lord Nelson has been unearthed.

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 2:01PM BST 14 Aug 2008

The diary of George Hodge, a lowly sailor, whose rank is unknown, contains colour paintings and the words to sea shanties that the men sang.
The self-educated seaman, who spells words as they sound, begins the journal: “George Hodge his Book Consisting of Difrint ports & ships that I have sailed in since the year 1790. Aged 13 years.”

He recorded details of the ladies of leisure with whom he associated, and painted pictures of ships and flags as well as a self portrait. Images of ordinary seamen from the time of Nelson’s Navy are rare.
Hodge lists one or two skirmishes, but many entries cover the mundane activities of life on board vessels.
He began his career at sea as a cabin boy in coaling vessels between Northumberland and London.

In 1794 he travelled to a Russian Baltic port and on the way back was captured by the French, but was then sent home in a cartel sloop.
He was captured again in 1797, but was returned home and then spent months on the run from press gangs.
But in 1798 he was caught and joined HMS Lancaster. For the next nine years he served mainly along the West African coast, but also in Ceylon and the East Indies.

In 1808 he joined HMS Marlborough, 74 guns, and spent the years until 1812 mostly on blockade duty around Europe.
In 1815 he returned to Britain and served at Greenwich, ending his career in the merchant navy. An addition made after his death shows he had children.

The 500-page journal includes lists of ships and their guns, lists of crew, and a list of 192 flag formations. These include: “1. An enemy is in sight. 2. Prepare for battle. 3. Sail by divisions… 5. Engage the enemy (If red penant shown engage more closely) ... 10. Enemy retreating at full speed.”
It also shows that danger was ever present for crews, even when the ships were not in battle.

On Dec 26, 1812, an entry reads: “A fresh breeze a strange sail in sight. Empl painting quarterdeck. Fell from the for top mast Mathew Donelson and was drownded.”
Another entry reads: “July 19 light breeze at 5am picked up body of John Carter and buried him on the Isle of White.”

On Christmas Day, 1806, he writes: “Employ’d in wartering ship and seting up the riger ... fish for dinner.”
Hodge writes that he was born “In the Parish of Tinmouth in the County of Northumberland” and that his career began under “Capt Edger” who commanded the “brig Margerey.”

The journal belonged to the maritime collection of American J Welles Henderson, who died last year. He bought it at a rare book shop in London in the 1980s.
It is being offered for sale on August 16 by Peter Coccoluto, from Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, America, is expected to fetch £30,000.
He said: “It is very unusual because the man appears to be self-educated which is why he spells as the words sound.

“You do get midshipmen’s diaries that they had to keep which show sextant readings, weather conditions and diagrams of ports.
“But this is much different because it is from below decks.”
“There are wonderful water colour paintings of ships and flags and various other subjects are depicted.”

http://preview.tinyurl.com/6bph65

Posted by Drew458     on 08/14/2008 at 10:26 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • UK •  
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Rat’s ‘brain’ used to power robot .  Not a joke. It’s for real.

I THOUGHT AT FIRST HEY! WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD THE FIRST EVER ROBOT POLITICIAN.  BUT THEN I REMEMBERED, THERE ARE SOME THINGS EVEN

A RAT WILL NOT AGREE TO.

A robot has been created which is powered by a rat’s “brain”.

By Kate Devlin
Last Updated: 1:14PM BST 14 Aug 2008

Electrical signals from rat cells have been harnessed to drive the robot, which is on wheels, around a laboratory.
By stimulating certain responses within the cells scientists have even been able to make the robot, or “animat”, move.
The “brain” is actually rat brain tissue which has been artificially grown in a lab.

The scientists at Reading University hope that they can use the machine to understand more about how our brains work, and even to develop treatments for diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease.

To create the machine scientists first grew rat nerve cells in a laboratory.
These cells connect with each other, sending signals within around 24 hours.

After a week the scientists can detect activity similar to brain activity. Within two or three weeks the cells can be hooked up to the robot.
The team uses bluetooth technology, which allows them to send communication without the use of wires.

Scientists can also use sonar signals to cause the robot to swerve to avoid a wall, by triggering different signals in the “brain”, reports New Scientist magazine.
The robots currently turn eight out of 10 times, but Professor Kevin Warwick, head of cybernetics at Reading University, who led the study, said that figure could increase substantially.

He said: “[The animal] is actively learning.
“The signals and the pathways are strengthening as each action gets repeated.”

Prof Warwick said he believed that eventually the robot would turn 100 per cent of the time.
He also hopes to use the animat to try to understand more about how the brain works, for example how it remembers things, by capturing the signals.

However, these “brains” have a limited lifespan and currently live for only around three months, as long as they are regularly fed in temperature controlled incubators.
Prof Steve Potter, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, who has been involved in similar technology involving animals and robots, said that it was clear that brain cells have “evolved to reconnect under almost any circumstance that doesn’t kill them.”

http://tinyurl.com/5w3nkj

Posted by Drew458     on 08/14/2008 at 09:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Medical • Science-Technology • UK •  
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More Rancino Graphics

I know it’s not the weekend yet, but these are too good to wait on. I don’t know where you find all this stuff R-man, but they rock!!

And a bit of a slightly naughty video below the fold. I’m not sure if you have to log into YouTube to see it; if so I’ll provide the link. 

Posted by Drew458     on 08/14/2008 at 09:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Politically-Incorrect •  
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   Wednesday - August 13, 2008

Im in!!

Geez, I have been trying to get access to this blog all evening. Every single time it times out. Gak. Ok, now that I’m here ... what do I have to say? Sorry, not much. The situation in Georgia is not good. My bet is that this is going to ignite Cold War II, with incremental hot spots. I read on FoxNews that the US is going to rush all sorts of humanitarian aid to the Georgians. To be delivered by the US Military. Aw shit. While the Russian military is still in country. This is NOT GOOD people, not good at all. Let’s hope cool heads and smooth diplomacy prevail. I don’t want even a small shooting war with Russia ... those thugs are unhinged IMO. But it’s nearly funny how John McCain came out all hawkish on this situation from the get go, with Black Jesus was all “let’s talk and hold hands”. And then the White House followed McCain’s lead. And now B. Hussein is acting all Mr. Tough on Reds guy. What a crock. It looks to me like Black Waffles here is just as much a reactive poll driven politician as Blow Job Clinton was. And that is NOT leadership. It’s followship. It keeps you popular, whoopie do. But we need a leader, not a poll junkie. McCain wins this round by a friggin mile in my opinion.

Lots of gakking over the pre-pubescent Chinese gymnasts. Yeah, they won, they were superb. But they are all little girls, and China is lying out it’s ass about their ages. I suggest that all Olympic gymnastic events be limited to those 21 and over. You know what? The whole damn Olympics should be for athletes 21 and over. Otherwise it’s the Juniors. If gymnastics has devolved into a sport where only pre-pubescent children can succeed then it has no business in the Olympics. Leave it as a Junior event, and let the grown-ups do something else. Like shoot guns and ride horses and throw spears. Which is what the Olympics are all about anyway. And the fucking commie fake out with teh CGI graphics for the opening ceremonies? You suck, m’kay? ‘Nuf said.

Oy, what else is news? I dunno. I’m trying to focus on things that I can write about. Right now that kind of limits me to what’s going on in my life, which isn’t that exciting if you aren’t me. I’ll try and keep up the Obamabashing, but I am so !@#$ sick of this jerk I don’t know what to do. He’s a Red. He’s an empty suit. He’s a jerk. He’s a socialist. He’s a flip flopping liar. He has no experience with anything, and his wife is a flaming bitch. What else can I say?

Rancino has been sending me lots of graphics. Thanks man, you don’t know how much that helps. I don’t post even 1/5 of them, but it’s always nice to see something in the In-box besides another 2 dozen BS users signing up from Russia. Every day. It’s a never ending spam attack, is what it is.

Ok, I’ve got to visit family tomorrow. My brother and I will have a bit of woodworking fun building the cartridge thingies I’ve been designing. Find your fun where you can, right? I’ve got 26 perfectly clean, nice and shiny, matched headstamp cases to use. All PMC, from their foray into .45-70 a couple years back. Their high powered ammo was a dud in my opinion. My lightest loads far exceed what their “Silver Line” was selling. Bah. Enough with the gun stuff for a bit. Unless I’ve got shooters here? I don’t really know. My father in law is feeling his age after yet another surgery, and he’s thinking of picking up a .38/3.57. I told him to go S&W. Sure, Rugers are stronger, I love my GP100, but the S&W is just glass smooth. He’s looking at used guns, so he won’t be picking up any of the new ones which may have quality control issues.

I’m still grinning over last night’s 257 at bowling. Cufk yeah man! Call me “dude”!! Next week I’m going to throw the SpazBall every throw. It hooks good. It’s mostly a stroker release but I can never get my thumb out early enough, so I twist my wrist on the release with my thumb as the axle. And the ball revs just fine with a bit of reverse roll. So it slows down just as it hits the dry, and comes over a good 10 boards. Right into the pocket. Boom!

I’ve gone through the first 3 books of the Jack Whyte pre-Arthurian Skystone series. Again. I bet I’ve read it 10 times. Peiper, if you haven’t read these, do so. The best of ancient Rome mixed with fierce independence and some local flavor. A little island filled with quiet people who are heroes when necessary. That’s the roots of Britain in my mind. Good reading.

Righto, I’ll try and keep y’all posted.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2008 at 09:25 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Card-playing pensioners landed with £250 health and safety bill .

EVERYTHING here is Elf ‘n’ Safety.  Okay, Health and Safety. There. Said properly. But any way I say it, it’s spelled thus >>> royal pain in the arse.
Just ask any Brit.

So here are these older retired folks getting together for a game of cards. Simple enuff you might think. Not very complicated. Right? Ah well. Till gummint gets involved.
Generally as all know, gummints are made up of lots of bureaucrats with little or nothing to do. Which is really quite frustrating when you need to look busy to justify your pay packet to the people who are being robbed blind to pay the bill.  But never mind, given enough time and thought these “crats” can always come up with things for the taxpayer to do or else not do, all according to the whim of those in power.  Wouldn’t be so awfully bad if they had a real sense of humor. Like Macker and Drew for two zany examples.  Tis better to be tickled to death then stabbed if you’re gonna get screwed. (financially speaking.) But that isn’t quite the way it works over here.

Card-playing pensioners landed with £250 health and safety bill
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 13/08/2008

The 14 whist players - aged between 70 and 90 - met every Friday for almost 10 years in a communal room at a sheltered housing complex in Norfolk.

But officials at Neville Court, in Heacham, told the group they must pay liability insurance for all those who did not live at the complex before they could meet again.

Tom Coulstock, from Hunstanton, said the cheapest insurance the group could find was £250 a year, which would have to be paid in addition to the £1.50 a head entrance fee.

Just six of the players are residents and as none of the group can afford to pay the charge, the card-lovers have been forced to disband and re-locate elsewhere.

Freebridge Community Housing (FCH), which runs Neville Court which comprises 20 flats, said the insurance was “common practice”.

But player Bill Corbett, who lives nearby, said: “Perhaps they think that pensioners will attack one another with the playing cards? The situation is so stupid its laughable.

“Freebridge claim the insurance is a matter of course but you can’t tell me every group meeting needs public liability insurance.

“They are just trying to cover their own backs. We should not have to pay for that.”

Mr Corbett, 86, said the game took up five tables in a corner of the communal room and insisted there had never been any trouble in the club’s eight year history.

He said the six residents who live at the home find it hard to travel outside the premises.

“They don’t understand why they can’t have their friends over to play cards,” he said.

“It’s health and safety gone mad and it is short-sighted of Freebridge.”

Mr Coulstock said: “It’s a farce. If they offer room hire they should have the insurance cover in place for the service they offer.

“We won’t be using the room in the future. We’ll find somewhere that already has the insurance in place.”

Another player, who did not wish to be named, added: “It’s disgusting that Freebridge is more concerned about making sure no-one could ever sue them than ensuring their residents have a good quality of living.

“How on earth is someone going to injure themselves whilst playing cards?”

The card players were told they had been banned from the premises after their game on August 1.

Tony Hall, chief executive of FCH, said it was standard procedure to ensure members of the public using their facilities were insured.

“Freebridge Community Housing actively promotes the use of its community rooms as the social interaction of its elderly residents and people from the local community is a positive contribution to their lives,” he said.

“It is general practice that any room hire includes a requirement for insurance.

“This can be covered by the group, club insurance or could form part of the hire cost. Freebridge charges a nominal hire charge but then require individuals to organise their own insurance.

“The requirement has been in place for many years, but as Freebridge has recently updated the hire agreement it is checking that groups have their own insurance in place.

“I am surprised Mr Corbett has been quoted £250 for insurance and Freebridge will make enquiries with our own insurance company to see if alternative quotes are more competitive.”

FCH owns and manages around 7,000 properties for rent in the King’s Lynn and West Norfolk area.

http://tinyurl.com/636lv3

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2008 at 12:01 PM   
Filed Under: • Nanny State • UK •  
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forgot where he left them while practising yoga late at night. Forgot where he left his cloths.

Nobody could make this up I don’t think.  The guy actually forgot where he put his cloths and finally walks into cop shop in his briefs.
funny stuff.

Most American might not understand the reference to Reggie Perrin.  It was a very funny TV series with one heck of a wonderful acting cast and especially the lead who played Reggie.  Leonard Rossiter. Try YouTube if this link doesn’t work. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fallandriseofreginaldperrin/index.shtml

This guy was a gas.  Brits used to produce comedy shows that were classics right outta the box.  Seriously , seriously funny were the Brits. They still are actually. They just don’t produce the TV comedy series they once did. It’s cheaper to broadcast tripe like Big Brother. Which I grant ya, has an audience.

Yoga fanatic sparks police hunt after leaving his clothes on the beach
A man who sparked a Reggie Perrin-style mystery after two sets of abandoned clothes were found on a beach said he forgot where he left them while practising yoga late at night.

By Jessica Salter
Last Updated: 10:30PM BST 12 Aug 2008

A £10,000 police search involving lifeboat crews was launched when the clothes were found late on Monday night.
Officers feared that two people were in “grave danger”.
Police divers were expected to join the search, but a man in his 40s from Margate turned up at a police station in his boxer shorts and solved the mystery.

He told officers he had been practising yoga on the beach and had taken two sets of clothes with him in case he lost the first set.
A Kent Police spokesman said: “A man practising yoga on the beach in the early hours contacted police at 11.30am this morning to say both sets of clothes belonged to him.

“The man, in his 40s and from Margate, advised police he had forgotten where he had left them. He had taken a spare set in case he lost the first.
“Police divers, which had been due to search the pool this afternoon, have been stood down.
“No further police action will be taken.”

A source at Margate police station added: “The cost of the operation would have easily run into five figures – frankly we’ve got enough crime around here as it is without having our guys’ time wasted with some idiot who fancied trying out the Lotus position in the middle of the night.”
The riddle echoed 1970s sitcom character Reginald Perrin, who faked his own death by dumping his clothes on a beach and running into the sea then staring a new life

http://tinyurl.com/69qukb

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2008 at 11:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Humor • UK •  
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Patients ‘should not expect NHS to save their life if it costs too much’

It’s Natl. Health. It’s costly.  But what about the folks who have paid into the system for a lifetime? Anyway, this really is cold.
The Brits LOVE making words out of various initials. Sometimes not even words. OK, maybe not the Brits but the newspapers. They always lump a few letters together after the name of someplace or thing.
Now here, the letters NICE until very recently stood for, National Institute for Health and Excellence. Or something very close. Suddenly it’s, Health and Clinical Guidelines
But no matter. this is National Health in action if this goes thru.  And I believe every word of this article.  If you lived here, you would as well.

Just another reason no doubt Chris and LyndonB are leaving this place.

The NHS should not always attempt to save someone’s life if the cost is too much, the medical regulator has ruled
By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor
Last Updated: 1:55PM BST 13 Aug 2008

Doctors have also criticised the ruling and would be opposed to ignoring a rule of rescue when it introduces a degree of flexibility around extreme cases Photo: IAN JONES
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Guidelines (Nice) has ruled for the first time that saving a life cannot be justified at any cost, in a review of its ethical guidelines.

The ruling - made by the board of the controversial organisation - contradicts advice it received from its own ‘Citizens Council’ which offers advice from a representative sample of the general public.
Nice is facing growing criticism over the number of drugs it is now rejecting which are available throughout Europe and in America. Last week, it refused to sanction four kidney cancer drugs which can double life expectancy.

It has now rejected the so-called “rule of rescue” which stipulates that people facing death should be treated regardless of the costs. The rule is based on the natural impulse to aid individuals in trouble.
In a report on “social values judgement” the regulator says: “There is a powerful human impulse, known as the ‘rule of rescue’, to attempt to help an identifiable person whose life is in danger, no matter how much it costs. When there are limited resources for healthcare, applying the ‘rule of rescue’ may mean that other people will not be able to have the care or treatment they need.

“Nice recognises that when it is making its decisions it should consider the needs of present and future patients of the NHS who are anonymous and who do not necessarily have people to argue their case on their behalf…The Institute has not therefore adopted an additional ‘rule of rescue’.”

The ruling contradicts the advice of Nice’s Citizens Council, which said that a rule of rescue was an essential mark of a humane society. The report said that where individuals are in “desperate and exceptional circumstances” they should sometimes receive greater help than can be justified by a “purely utilitarian approach”.

Doctors have also criticised the ruling. Tony Calland, chairman of the ethics committee of the British Medical Association, said: “We would be opposed to ignoring a rule of rescue when it introduces a degree of flexibility around extreme cases. So what if you waste a few pounds if you are doing your best for humanity?”

Nice defended its ruling last night saying that the Citizens Council provided useful input to its decisions but that the organisation’s role was to determine how best to allocate the health service’s limited resources.

Nice is facing increasing accusations that it is giving undue weight to financial considerations - rather than medical benefits - when making decisions on whether to allow drugs or other treatments on the NHS. Doctors and patients have alleged that they are treated with contempt by the organisation and that life-saving drugs are being unfairly denied.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday that Nice is preparing to offer patients advice on the medical benefits of drugs that are not available on the NHS. The disclosure is likely to anger patients who face paying tens of thousands of pounds for expensive drugs which may prolong their lives.

http://tinyurl.com/6lgbyf

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2008 at 11:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine • UK •  
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Tesco plastic bags go under the counter: What?  Are they filled with PORN? Gasp. More stupid stuf.

I reported on this insanity a week or more ago when the wife came home and told me about the new policy at the now gween supermarket.

But this is the official announcement I just spotted in the paper.  It’s so totally stupid there aren’t enuff Moonbats here to award.
And of course the gummint is gonna get into things to gum up the works for sure.  Jeez this was a great country once upon a time until the tree huggers and like minded twerps took control of the thinking of the public at large.  Least that’s my take on it.

Well, like 100w light bulbs, we’re taking as many bags as we can get away with as they are also used for trash.
Something you folks in the USA might find of interest.
The plastic bags here all have these little holes punched in them so mommy’s little helper won’t smother itself should it decide to try and wear one.  Thing is, many of these perforated bags don’t actually have the holes punched thru all the way. Parts of the plastic are still in place.  But I suppose it’s really a good thing in a way as it’s one less responsibility the customer has to carry in this busy world.  So much more comfortable to simply let the gummint think and do for us.

Notice to Macker:  Notice not even the use of frak here.

Tesco plastic bags go under the counter in green move By David Thomas
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 13/08/2008

Tesco is to stop the mass distribution of plastic carrier bags at its larger stores, in a move to boost its green credentials.

Government may stop supermarkets giving away plastic carrier bags

It has introduced a “bag on request” scheme at its larger “Extra” hypermarket stores, where bags are kept out of sight under the tills and only given out if customers specifically ask for them.

A spokesman for Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, denied that it would be banning bags entirely, saying that it was merely “offering choice” to its customers.

He also ruled out charging for bags. “While one-use carriers will no longer be on display at checkouts, customers can ask for them and they will be supplied without charge,” he said.

“A few Extras have been given the flexibility to remove bags from display but give them out on request.”

Plastic bags are the current bête noire of green campaigners. Up to 17 billion are currently given away annually – three billion by Tesco alone – and they take up to 1,000 years to decompose, taking a damaging toll on wildlife.

The Government has said that it will consider introducing a mandatory charge of up to 10p per bag unless retailers take greater steps to cut the number that are used.

Marks and Spencer, Aldi, Lidl and Netto already charge for carrier bags. And several towns, led by Modbury in Devon, have banned the distribution and use of plastic bags.

http://tinyurl.com/69kdyl

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2008 at 09:27 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •  
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Eagles’ in-flight .  Something worth seeing and a break from the usual.

Gee these are beautiful.  Nothing for me to add.

Eagles’ in-flight food fight
By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 1:01pm BST 13/08/2008

A white-breasted sea eagle with a six-feet wingspan expertly scooped up a fish at Seven Mile Beach in the Kiama area of New South Wales in Australia.

But as it soared effortlessly into the skies with its prize the adult female was buzzed by her own fledgling daughter.

An aerial dogfight developed with the screeching adult desperately trying to drive off her wilful and hungry daughter.

After a melee lasting several minutes the adult bird was forced to release its grip on the fish which the adolescent then quickly grabbed.

Photographer Shane Chalker who lives nearby managed to catch the tussle on film.

“Taking photos of these birds is how I got into photography but they have always been too far away and I couldn’t get close enough until now,” he said.

“It was an amazing sight, they made a screeching noise unlike anything I’ve heard before. The young bird was certainly rewarded for its efforts.”

The eagle is Australia’s second largest bird of prey but it is equally at home in the coastal areas of India through China to the Philippines.

Because of its size most of its hunting is done from in a gliding attack with the raptor swooping down on its prey which includes all types of fish, eels and birds such as coots and gulls.

http://tinyurl.com/5vh2d2

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2008 at 09:13 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography •  
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   Tuesday - August 12, 2008

.45-60 Blogging: The 2 Cent Machine Shop

Ok. Last week I took a cut down .45-70 down to my chiropractor to test fit on his new Uberti 1876 in .45-60. While the action closed on the case, it was rather tight. This week I took in another case that I had thinned the front part of the rim down by a few thousandths. The action closed much easier. Question answered.

What question? According to the cartridge specifications, the .45-60 was designed to have a rim that was 0.059” thick. The .45-70 was designed to have a rim 0.070” thick. While the .45-60 is essentially a defunct round these days, the 135 year old .45-70 is still quite popular. The brass cases however, are almost always made with rims thinner than specified. They average 0.064”. Is that an Ok thickness for the .45-60, or does that one want something thinner?

Ok, so to make .45-60 cases for this Uberti the rims need to be thinned. I did the first two by hand, with a file and a power drill. There used to be a saying in the computer world: “Do a task once, do it manually. Do it twice, develop a process. Do it three times or more, write a program.” The same concept applies to making things. Especially if you want them all identical. Since my doc is going to want 100 or so cases, it was time to build a machine. Hmm ... what to do? If I only had a Unimat milling machine! Yeah right, for $500? Not happening.

He has a drill press. Super! Set up properly, a drill press is almost as good as a milling machine or a lathe. So let’s think this through ...

• A good production tool has to be easy to use


• A good production tool has to be more robust than the material being worked on


• A good production tool has to let me get the job done quickly


• A good production tool has to let me swap new work pieces in and out quickly


• A good production tool has to keep me from screwing up


• A good production tool will do the same job every time with almost no variation


• The best production tool will allow any numbskull to do the job properly with minimal training and skill

Hmm ...

Ok, here’s a solution. I used a resizing die to hold the cases when I did them by hand. I chucked the end of the decap in a drill, stuck the case up the die until it was tight, then held a file in my hand and went at it. This worked, but it wasn’t easy. Or easily repeatable. And the case was only held by one end, so I wasn’t confident that it was centered. But I had no other choice, since the decap rod wasn’t long enough to both center the decappng pin in the case’s flash hole AND leave enough extra rod sticking out the other end to chuck into a drill.

Solution #1: use a longer decapping rod. The .45-70 is a fairly short case, only 2.105”. Most rifle cases are longer, some by more than a full inch. So the decapping rods for those cartridges have to longer. Die companies aren’t stupid, so all their rods are the same diameter irrespective of what cartridge they’re intended for. So I got out a longer rod, in this case from a .30-30. It was long enough.

Now, how do I hold it still? A lathe works by attaching the bit to be carved between two points, called centers. One center just spins, the other one is driven. Two centers keep the workpiece from wobbling. The longer decap rod could be set so that the decapping pin protruded about 3/16” of an inch. Fine. Good enough. Take a bit of 2x4 and tap in a 6d finishing nail, then pull it out. Ta da, it’s a center. So now I’ve got a gizmo that will hold the case perfectly in a drill press. Just set the stop nuts on the press, and we can file the rims all day long. But how will I know when the rims are thin enough, without stopping a million times to measure? hmm ...

Solution #2: find some spacers. So I’m looking around with my calipers for thin things that are strong enough. Cardboard is out. Plastic is out. Ah ha! It turns out that a penny is just about exactly the right thickness. So I epoxied two of them to the 2x4, one on each side of the nail hole. They will support a small mill file. Cool! I’m almost there. Now, how to I make it screw-up proof? The last thing you want to do is cut into the web of the case while thinning the rim. That could weaken things, and might cause a rupture. Bad. So let’s put some stops in place. Ah, a couple of finishing nails should do it. Now I can’t cut too deep, I can’t cut too narrow, and I can’t cut out of squareness.

And that’s all it took. 2 pennies, 2 nails, and a chunk of scrap wood. And now I can thin hundreds of case rims to exactly the right thickness, nice and square, exactly the same every time. All I have to do is turn on the drill press and just lower the file until it stops. I don’t even need to stroke the file back and forth. See? I told you this was going to be a fun little project!

Next I have to figure out a no cost way to trim the cases lengthwise. Carving off a quarter of an inch with a hand trimmer isn’t hard, but it takes several minutes. Fug that, let’s find a way to do it in 5 seconds. You can’t use a pipe cutter though, because the case is slightly tapered and the cutter will just slip off the end. I think. I’ll find out tomorrow!

UPDATE:

Why put off for tomorrow what you can design today? This should do the trick. It’s just a block of wood with a groove in it, with a hacksaw blade screwed to the top. It just has to be cut or sanded to the proper height. I figure 1.92”, which leaves just 0.03” to trim off with the case trimmer. That’s like 10 spins. A similar collet arrangement would hold the case in place in the drill press. Actually, in the pictures above you can see the collet that holds the decapping rod in the sizing die. It’s the bit with the bolt head on it. On the inside that collet is just about the right size. A few wraps of duct tape will snug things up tight. Then just slide the case up around the tool, start the drill, slide the cutter over, and it will cut through the case, which is only 0.011” thick brass, in a couple seconds.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/12/2008 at 12:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

BEYOND MOONBAT … way beyond ….  THIS GUY IS NUTS and DANGEROUS..

Man what has gotten into folks these days. OUCH!  Musta hurt. 
Can’t even imagine what it must have been like for the other guy arrested for crimes he didn’t commit.

Man who stabbed himself to frame his neighbour is told to move house or go to jail
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:01 PM on 12th August 2008

A ‘neighbour from hell’ who stabbed himself to frame a husband has been given six months to move house - or face going to prison.

David Constantine’s lies nearly led to newlywed Stefan Ward being charged with attempted murder after he was found with a knife sticking out of his chest.

Constantine was arrested after discharging himself from hospital.

He was originally charged with perverting the course of justice, which he denied - and causing the injuries to himself.

Today he admitted the charge of putting a person in fear of violence by a course of conduct between March 2006 and January this year.

Judge Peter Bowers deferred sentence for six months to allow Constantine time to sell his home in Lanchester, Co Durham.

In the meantime, he must live at a bail hostel.

He will only be allowed to visit the house to carry out work to make it saleable and must be accompanied by a solicitor, a probation worker, a police officer or a workman.

A restraining order was imposed to stop him communicating with the Wards or making complaints about them.

Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said the police search of Constantine’s home also revealed hostility towards Derwentside District Council officials.

He was said to have been angry that his complaints - even though they were clearly made up - were not being taken seriously.

Mr Knox told the court: ‘It was as a result of this accumulation of evidence that the Crown took the view he was not the victim, but the aggressor.’

Constantine’s barrister, Tony Davies said his client still denied causing the injuries to himself on New Year’s Eve and the previous December.

He said the log of complaints were ‘random ramblings’ and added: ‘He never intended to carry out any of the private things he had written about the Wards.’

Constantine disputed the elements contained in the admitted charge that on two separate occasions he made false allegations of assault against Mr Ward.

Officers also spoke to previous occupants of the Wards’ home and they revealed how they were forced to leave by Constantine’s aggressive behaviour.

The trouble for the Wards started soon after they moved into the semi-detached house in March 2006 and were unable to help Constantine with a problem.

Several weeks later the couple received the first of what became a flurry of letters from council officials.

Environmental health workers installed noise monitoring equipment, which proved the dog rarely barked, and it became clear Constantine’s complaints were unjustified.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the former Hell’s Angel waged a vendetta against his next door neighbours, Mr Ward and his wife, Lucy.

Police called to Constantine’s house found him in a chair with a knife sticking out of his chest.

The 60-year-old claimed his neighbour had assaulted him and police arrested Mr Ward on suspicion of attempted murder.

But the truth began to emerge when police searching Constantine’s home in Manor Grange, Lanchester, found his diary.

The court heard how Constantine fell out with his neighbours after they were unable to give him a lift to Newcastle to collect a bike.

Christopher Knox, prosecuting, told the court how:

Constantine complained to the council about the couple’s dog barking. Bur recording equipment proved the pet rarely made a sound;
Kept a log of incidents that did not take place;
Threatened to kill his neighbours, made vulgar gestures and used his fingers to imitate a gun;
Accused Mrs Ward of throwing a brick through a window. Although police proved that was impossible.
Mr Ward was twice arrested for crimes he did not commit.
In December 2006, Constantine claimed Mr Ward attacked him with a frying pan.

His neighbour was arrested but later released without charge.

Constantine, who needed six stitches, received £1,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

His former girlfriend later told police that Constantine had admitted he had not been assaulted by Mr Ward.

Worse was to come, when police were called to the house on New Year’s Eve and found Constantine with a knife embedded in his chest.

Mr Ward was arrested and questioned about the stabbing, but freed when police found ‘a mass of disturbing material’ at Constantine’s home.

The search team uncovered knives, axes and airguns. A log containing fabricated complaints showed Constantine’s ‘extremely hostile’ behaviour.

http://tinyurl.com/6e98wy

photo at link ^

Posted by Drew458     on 08/12/2008 at 10:59 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Insanity • Stoopid-People • UK •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Dogs yawn when their owners do. A barking mad theory?

Don’t know why scientists would be bothered or even curious about this subject. But it’s a howl ok and I just had to post it.
A brief (very brief) break from crime and war and blood etc.

This week scientists claimed dogs yawn when their owners do. A barking mad theory? Mail writers put it to the test...
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:00 PM on 12th August 2008

Yawning is infectious, we all know that. But new research shows that dogs can catch yawns, too. Scientists from the University of London’s Birkbeck College found that 72 per cent of dogs placed in a room with a yawning man would follow suit. And they don’t do so out of tiredness or boredom, the researchers suggest, but as a way of empathising with their master.

The scientists also discovered that some breeds yawn more than others. Border collies and labradors, for example, were most prone to catching yawns, while dachshunds, cocker spaniels and West Highland terriers were more or less immune. But does the experiment work at home? In a bid to find out, we asked some of our top writers to give their dog a yawn - with hilarious results.

Quentin Letts and Cinders

WHEN not barking at the wind or chewing on the corpses of diseased rabbits, our 14-year-old dog, Cinders, part bedlington part heinz, spends most of her days in slumber. It surely wouldn’t be hard to get her to yawn, would it?

First, I tried yawning myself. No luck. So I decided to read to her. That is normally enough to get our children yawning. We started with that temple of Left-wing navel-gazing, the Guardian newspaper, and a thoughtful leader column about bank management. Cinders listened. She blinked. Still no yawn.

It was time to play my ace: a novel by Salman Rushdie. Excruciating. Just reading it aloud nearly sent me off. And for one moment, I swear I saw our mutt stifle her boredom, eating something very similar to a yawn. But maybe it was just a bit of rabbit innards stuck in her teeth.

ISN’T ALL ABOUT DOGS EITHER ........ CATS HAVE THEIR SAY HERE TOO ......

http://tinyurl.com/69ydre

Posted by Drew458     on 08/12/2008 at 10:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

BAD NEWS BEARS AGAIN … RUSSIANS ARE COMING, OOPS. HERE THEY ARE.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/12/2008 at 10:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Monday - August 11, 2008

Prediction: say goodbye to Georgia

UPDATE: THE END IS NEAR

Russian troops on the move toward Tbilisi. War likely to be over by Thursday at the latest.

Fat lady starts signing before the curtain goes up
Part 1: a look at pre-emptive surrender, um I mean “anticipatory capitulation” from Europe.

Part 2: Analyzing Georgia’s loss even while the fighting continues. Sad to say, but sometimes the bear eats you, and sometimes the bear eats you. It’s tough to eat a whole bear all by yourself.

Part 3: Atlanta Georgia in flames. Cities of Gori, Senaki, Zugdidi falling as Georgians exit post haste. South Ossetian capital city of Tskhinvali is in ruins.

Part 4: UN still useless: 4 meetings in 4 days and they can’t even agree to draft a resolution.

Saakashvili also warned that Russian aggression, if unchecked, would spread.

“Unless Russia is stopped … tomorrow Russian tanks might enter any European capital,” he said in a televised address on Friday. “I think everyone understands this by now.”

And after having attacked Russia and received an instant bloody nose, Saakashvili and various world leaders called for a time out an immediate cease-fire, which the Russians are ignoring?

That’s about what it looks like to me. Piss of the bear and get mauled. And the bear will chew on you as much as he wants until it gets boring. And there ain’t a thing you can do about it. Looks to me like the break-away republic of Georgia will be part of the N.C.C.P. inside a week. Bad move Saakashvili.

I could not be more wrong. IF, and it may be a big IF, IF this map is correct:

then South Ossetia is a region within Georgia. Which would explain why it’s being called a break away province. Duh. Well, when this hornet’s nest was first kicked over, I used Google Earth to find the place, and it really looked like South Ossetia was the region south of North Ossetia, south of the Caucus Mountains that run east-west there, but part of Russia, north of the Georgian border. So it could look like Georgia was trying to steal territory from the ruskies.

So it must be the case that “South Ossetia” is one of those unmapped regional zones, like “Kurdistan” that refer more to a region where some indigenous population lives, and less to where some arbitrary lines are drawn on a map? Ok then. I get it now.

So why has Russian been handing out passports to the people who live in this area for quite some time now? Isn’t that a rather dirty trick? Wouldn’t that be like Mexico mailing everyone in Texas and New Mexico a passport, and then sending in their army when the feds raid another religious cult center (like Waco) down there?

Ok then. This is looking more like typical Red thuggery. Dirty bastards. But they are going to win unless Georgia gets major outside help. The UN will do nothing. The euro-wienies will do nothing and they have no army to do it with. They dicked about so long with Georgia’s attempt to join NATO ... and Georgia still isn’t a member IIRC. So that won’t be a motivation for them. What kind of forces does the Ukraine have, and will they get involved in neighbor vs. neighbor? Probably not. That leaves the US. But we seem to have our hands full elsewhere. So how can we rush to the defense of this ally? Air campaign? Without their planes, tanks, trucks, and artillery, the Russian Army is just an armed mob. A big armed mob, but a mob nonetheless. If we went in and blew up all their toys that are inside Georgia, and defended their airspace, with that be enough to stop the Bear from advancing? I don’t know, but I bet we have less than 3 days to find out. And then what?

TBILISI, Georgia — Russian forces swept across Georgia on Monday, capturing the town of Gori and moving to within 35 miles of the capital city Tbilisi, FOX News confirmed.

Georgia reportedly was rushing more than 1,000 troops to Tbilisi in anticipation of a battle with Russian troops.

Russian armor, meanwhile, moved beyond two breakaway provinces and seized a military base and police stations in the country’s west, officials said.

The new forays into Georgia — even after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed a cease-fire pledge — appeared to show Russian determination to subdue the small, U.S.-backed country, which has been pressing for NATO membership.

The latest developments indicate that Russian troops have invaded Georgia proper from the separatist province of Abkhazia while most Georgian forces are locked up in fighting around South Ossetia.

That means Russia has them pinned but good. They have the Black Sea to the west blockaded. They have a ton of troops coming down from the border in the north, who by some convenient miracle just happened to be sitting en mass across the border just the other day. Hmm. Now they’ve come in from Abkhazia from the northwest, which takes out half of Georgia’s coastline. Um, I may be seeing some media bias here? Just how “separatist” is this province anyway? Because it’s about a fifth of the entire country. And coming into “Georgia proper” from there pretty much means they already control that entire area. I think Georgia is well and truly fucked.

The West has sharply criticized Russia’s military response to Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia as disproportionate, and the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations urged Russia on Monday to accept an immediate cease-fire and agree to international mediation.

“We want to see the Russians stand down,” deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters in Washington.

In your dreams. Ain’t gonna happen. Unless you can smack the bear hard enough to stop him in his tracks. And that probably won’t happen either.

The United States is campaigning to get Russia to halt its retaliation and American officials have accused Russia of using the fighting to try to overthrow the Georgian government.

Um, am I misunderstanding everything all over again? The Georgian leader sent troops in to an area in his own country right? So how on earth is Russian involvement “retaliation”? Or is the modern way to steal territory from your neighbors the issuing of passports? “Look, more than half the people here have Russian passports. Therefore they must be Russian citizens. Therefore this must be Russian territory.” Pretty sneaky move there Vlad.

Putin’s comments reflected Russia’s growing irritation with Western condemnation.

“The scale of their cynicism causes surprise,” Putin said. “It’s the ability to cast white as black and black as white which is surprising, the ability to cast the aggressor as the victim and blame the victims for the consequences.”

Putin remarks also reflected deep anger at Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili.

“Of course, Saddam Hussein ought to have been hanged for destroying several Shiite villages,” Putin said. “And the incumbent Georgian leaders who razed ten Ossetian villages at once, who ran elderly people and children with tanks, who burned civilian alive in their sheds — these leaders must be taken under protection.”

Putin is telling the story ass backwards, and his story is that everyone else is seeing this situation ass backwards. It’s a double negation. At least! Yeah, it’s Good Mother Russia rushing to the aid of some poor mistreated victims. Like that’s ever happened. But it shows an essential truth:

Control the press and you control the truth. And perhaps the world as well.

I welcome comments from readers who have a better understanding of this mess than I do and can find some grains of the truth.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/11/2008 at 12:27 PM   
Filed Under: • War-Stories •  
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