Tuesday - May 03, 2011

Bad Gun Pr0n

Here’s a link to a video CVA put up about how to NOT properly load your muzzleloader. Watch guns explode, then watch them explode again in sort-of-slow-motion. Think about what would be left of your body if this happened in your arms. Not much. Be warned, then be smart from now on.

I have no idea why they chose to use Hodgdon HS-6 as their demo smokeless powder. It isn’t even close to the burning rate you’d use if you happened to own a Savage 10ML, one of the very few muzzleloading rifles built to be used with smokeless powder. HS-6 is way too fast. It’s a good powder for .38+P loads with lighter bullets, and is an OK powder for .45 ACP. But it is only a top choice for .357 and .44 Magnum loads that use light bullets and are intended for very short barrels. Too much pressure too fast, and not even gas generated. HS-6 is a shotgun powder and that’s about it. So they probably chose it precisely because it was completely wrong, even though many other powders exist that are much faster, and many other powders that are much slower would be “safer”. Perhaps HS-6 is at the really fast end of “possible choices” for muzzleloaders if you aren’t very smart? Whatever. I don’t have one of these rifles, but if I owned the Savage 10ML I’d think IMR3031 or IMR4198 would be a safe choice; you’re making an end-fed .45-70, kind of. Don’t take my word for it, go look it up.

CVA uses this HS-6 powder in 3 rifles not designed for smokeless powder, and drops a heavy black powder charge weight’s worth down the barrel (about the same weight of [much much slower burning] powder you’d use in an elephant gun), and then makes a barrel obstruction. BOOM, shredded gun. No kidding. It’s suicidal. Death by shrapnel. Lesson: know your powders and charge amounts, load your own gun, and make sure it isn’t loaded before you load it.

The video ran jerkily for me, with a lot of drop outs and freeze frames, so I snagged the video with the Download Helper add-on, and then ran the .flv file from my desktop with the Moyea FLV player (both are free apps). It ran just fine. So I blame low bandwidth.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/03/2011 at 09:03 AM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Monday - May 02, 2011

And on to the expected spin

I followed the Osama story all day long. I heard and read all the stories from everywhere. I noticed with slight wry amusement as the building that was identified late last night as his secret hideout on Google Maps changed to a different building not once, but twice, as the news reports changed from said hideout being right by the front gates of a military academy to 100 yards away, to 500 yards, to 1000 yards and currently to “less than a mile”. The present building, with it’s triangular property, matches up pretty well to the buildings we’re seeing on TV. It’s out past the edge of that Hey Abbot!-tabad town, near to a small neighborhood called Bilal. in the middle of some large acreage of farm fields. Yeah, whatever. For a “million dollar compound” it sure looks like a bare ass concrete dump, and the pictures of the inside that I’ve seen don’t show a standard of living much better than that of a typical semi-homeless college student.

I’ve even heard and read some of the spin that’s already starting on the left. Obama the fearless war hero, doncha know. How this “un-Carters” him and gives him a lock on the 2012 election. As if. It’s all crap, so I’m not going to write about it.

But one image has surfaced a little, a small bit of history from back in the day (February 2009) when he was winning Nobel Prizes and all sorts of worldwide acclaim for the things he was going to do. Expect to see this one more and more. I’ll put the image under the fold, because some might feel the need for eye bleach after seeing it and want to avoid the pain. Prophetic artwork, but as of today it’s come true in a way.

Oy, this is gonna be one tough 18 months until Election Day.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/02/2011 at 08:43 PM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The One • War On Terror •  
• Comments (9) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Left Wrong As Usual

When Bush was President, we heard an almost daily barrage against the enhanced interrogation practices that he had authorized. Oh, they’re terrible! Oh, it’s awful! And of course, the ever popular Everybody Knows They Don’t Work.

As soon as Obama got in the White House he closed the several secret prisons the US had in other less moral countries where that kind of interrogation took place. It was all an evil Bushism, and had to go!

Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, the story is coming out about the first lead about the courier and his brother, the guys whose trail ultimately allowed our spooks to find that walled compound. That lead came from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and that information was extracted in an enhanced manner in one of those prisons in Romania. Other sources are saying that some of that information came out of Gitmo, another prison that candidate Obama pledged to close and then reneged on. Another guest of Guantanamo Bay, Abu Farag al Liby, is also being named as a source of information; Fox News is saying that it took years of questioning - 5 years?? - to get the information and put the facts together.

Gee, I guess those methods don’t really work after all, huh? We’ll never know exactly when the CIA first got the nicknames of that courier, but in his late night speech last night Obama said that we had been aware of the compound in Pakistan since last August.

Double Gee, what might have happened if Obama had kept that campaign promise and shut the place down right away, well before last August?

The Left: wrong again, as usual.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/02/2011 at 12:07 PM   
Filed Under: • War On Terror •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Nothing To Crow About

Hopewell Township is about 2 dozen miles south of us. It’s north of Trenton and west of Princeton. About 8 miles west of where Dr. House would work if he was real and not just a TV show.

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP — Roosters looking to get a little action in local henhouses must first produce a clean bill of health under a newly adopted law regulating romantic interactions among chickens in backyard farms.

The so-called “chicken legislation” — the butt of jokes in news stories around the globe — was adopted unanimously by the township committee Monday night after nearly three hours of debate.

The measure not only limits the amount of time male chickens can spend with their female counterparts to 10 days each year, but also requires them to prove they’re disease-free before they’re allowed access to the hens.

The male fowls are allowed limited time on the property “for purposes of fertilization” but must keep quiet during their stays. Any rooster caught crowing for a prolonged period of time will subject the property to a two-year moratorium on all rooster visits.

Mayor Jim Burd told The Times of Trenton the ordinance is a compromise between today’s lifestyle and the township’s agricultural history.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/02/2011 at 08:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Government • weird stuff •  
• Comments (0) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

do see doe or, who’s on first?

This reads like “Who’s on First” so pay attention. There might be a test.

Kate’s first lesson: Who must curtsey to whom

By CHRISTOPHER WILSON
Last updated at 5:10 AM on 2nd May 2011

The first thing the new Duchess of Cambridge will have noticed about her altered status is that the Palace policemen have started saluting her.

In the state rooms of Buckingham Palace on Friday afternoon, female servants began to curtsey and grizzled retainers in their 100-year-old livery bowed their heads low.

One former courtier said: ‘At first she’ll be embarrassed by all this courtly attention from people she barely knows. But she’ll soon come to realise that it’s not what she wants, but what everybody else wants that matters when it comes to people showing their respect.’

As a brand new royal duchess, and wife of the second in line to the throne, Kate will need to bone up on who curtseys to whom.

In case nobody’s told her yet, here’s a rough guide to how things work.

If the Queen comes into the room, it’s simple enough – Kate should curtsey to her.

If Camilla appears and is with Charles, William’s wife should also curtsey to her.

But if Charles is absent but William is present, then Kate outranks Camilla, who should – in theory – curtsey to Kate. This is because William outranks Camilla in terms of the lineage, which means that effectively so does his wife while he is present.

If neither William nor Charles is there, then Kate curtseys to Camilla because – woman to woman – Camilla is her senior in the Firm.

In the case of Princess Anne – born a princess – and Princess Alexandra (the Queen’s cousin and granddaughter of George V), both these women have royal blood in their veins and therefore are more important than Kate – unless William happens to be around, in which case she’s more important than them. (Sophie Wessex, being married to a royal junior in rank to William, just has to curtsey to them all).

As for Prince Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, they out-rank Kate – but again not when William’s in the room.

Fortunately, Kate has had a long time to absorb what might politely be called the ‘ancient traditions’ of monarchy.

Those privy to the plans she and William are laying down for when they are King and Queen, believe that much of this ancient courtesy – well-meaning though it may be – will be swept away as the Cambridges seek to rejuvenate the monarchy.

courtesy curtsey

Posted by peiper     on 05/02/2011 at 03:19 AM   
Filed Under: • UK •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Sunday - May 01, 2011

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead

10:40pm Eastern Time

Osama Bin Laden is dead, US has the body, proof is in. Where? Pakistan?

Story breaking.

Obama to speak momentarily.

Oh hell yeah.

Michelle Malkin -

News breaking all over the place tonight that Osama bin Laden was killed and that his body is in US possession.

Latest reports via Fox News live right now are that he was killed over a week ago by a US missile.

President Obama to speak any minute. Stand by. 

God bless our military.

Fox News -

Usama bin Laden is dead, multiple sources confirm to Fox News.

President Obama is expected to deliver a statement from the White House Sunday night to discuss the major development.

Sources said bin Laden was killed by a U.S. bomb a week ago. The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity.

The announcement comes nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks which started a tireless hunt for the terrorist mastermind and Al Qaeda leader.

A drone attack in Pakistan? Living in a mansion outside of Islamabad Pakistan?

Islamabad is NOT in the “unregulated tribal border area”. It’s the freakin capital.  Which implicates the living heck out of the Pakis, don’t it?

(CNN)—Osama bin Laden is dead, sources told CNN Sunday night.

A senior U.S. official tells CNN that Osama bin Laden was killed by the U.S. forces in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members.

Congressional and administration sources say U.S. officials have the body of bin Laden. Further details around his death were not immediately available.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to address the nation shortly.

Report coming across Fox News: Pakistan confirms he was killed in Pakistan. Gee, and today Al Qaeda announced their new Spring Offensive.

via Australia -

THE United States is expected to announce that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Rumours of bin Laden’s death were reported on Twitter before the official statement.

Keith Urbahn, Chief of Staff for the Office of Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted: “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”

Minutes later a CBS news reporter tweeted: “House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. US has the body.”

via the Daily Telegraph in London, who, no matter what, stops for a moment to actually write a few decent paragraphs -

By Toby Harden in Washington 4:10AM BST 02 May 2011

Mr Obama was due to address the United States and people across the globe shortly after 11pm local time on Sunday night from the East Room of the White House.

He was expected to say that the Saudi-born Islamist had been killed by an American “asset” and that his body was in US custody in Afghanistan.

Military sources said that bin Laden was killed in a mansion outside Islamabad along with other family members after “actionable intelligence” about his whereabouts was received.

Bin Laden was widely assumed to have been hiding in the remote tribal areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The fact that he was killed close to the Pakistani capital will fuel fears that Pakistan has been giving sanctuary to al-Qaeda leaders.

In the days after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush said that bin Laden was wanted “dead or alive” while Vice President Dick Cheney said he would willingly accept the al-Qaeda leader’s head “on a platter”.

UPDATE: 11:40pm: Obama speaks - “LAST AUGUST WE HAD A LEAD HE WAS IN ISLAMABAD” “Last night we took action” [or did he say last week? I’m sure he meant to] “The United States is not at war with Islam”. Obama is saying that US troops-forces-assets went in, on the ground, shot their way in to the mansion through a firefight, took out bin Laden, and killed or captured others, then took the body. “Justice has been done.”

... and he closes with “One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. God bless America.” Horry clap. Well, it is a soundbyte for the history books.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/01/2011 at 09:54 PM   
Filed Under: • War On Terror •  
• Comments (14) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

eye candy for a lazy sunday afternoon

MIRANDA KERR

Posted by peiper     on 05/01/2011 at 09:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

the check is in the mail

Away 2daze and boy is “daze” correct.

Kudos Drew. Your comments re. the wedding very well done and made the wife’s day. Only time in all the years here she’s ever made direct comment in reply.

Christopher: Good post re. Trek. Interesting stuff and great response.  If there’s one thing about sci-fi that has always confused me, it’s why authors must make up names that are barely pronounceable. Did I say barely? Hmmm. Usually fits the case.  It’s almost as though writers believe that if they don’t use spaghetti
alphabet, then nobody will enjoy the work. Can’t they still have odd names but ones that are easier to say?

JimS, who hit the nail on the head re. LOUD music and FX making it near impossible to hear the dialog. And that’s true of much besides SciFi movies.  There are times when the dialog can’t be heard at all. They even do it here on radio when running a documentary or some kind of news/interview/public interest etc. Music and fx. That’s when we switch off.

Now howz that for a starting Sunday post. That is, I’m off topic before I even start.

None of the above was planned when I originally found this bit of silliness a couple of days ago. But I needed to write it while the thought was there.
Anyway ... how is this for bizarre?  Worth a laugh er what?

The secret service: Royal Mail refuses to tell customer where post boxes are

By Daily Mail and Daily Mail Reporter

A radio presenter who wrote to Royal Mail asking where his nearest post boxes were received an astonishing reply to say: ‘Sorry, it’s a secret’.
David Heathcote was fed-up scouring the streets looking for a place to send letters to his listeners - and thought that, as most post boxes are bright red, over four feet tall, and have been a familiar sight on Britain’s streets for well over a century, it would be a simple request.

But the 61-year-old was told by a Royal Mail ‘Freedom of Information Support Officer’ that precise post box locations couldn’t be ‘released into the public domain’ because doing so would ‘undermine their commercial value’.
The extraordinary two-page reply went on to claim that, as Royal Mail is a publicly-owned company, there was a ‘significant public interest’ in keeping the information private.

Today, Mr Heathcote, who is also a retired deputy headteacher, said: ‘It just beggars belief. All I wanted to know was where I could post a few letters.
‘I had to re-read the letter to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood. It’s unbelievable. For the Royal Mail to say they don’t their locations releasing into the ‘public domain’ is ridiculous - they’re already in the public domain by virtue of the fact they stick out like sore thumbs. It just strikes me as being very, very silly. It’s a bit Monty Python-esque’.

Mr Heathcote, who works as a presenter on High Peak Radio, a commercial station in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, made his request under the Freedom of Information Act after becoming fed-up at scouring the streets looking for post boxes.

He added: ‘It’s a 45-minute drive home from the station through a number of Peak District villages, and I like to drop listener correspondence I’ve completed while I’m at work off on the way. It’s one less thing to do the following day.

‘There is a post box at the end of the road close to the studio, but sometimes I just fly out of there and remember I need to post something later in the journey.
‘I don’t have that much to post, but I just thought it would be useful to know where local mail boxes are in the area. Sometimes I don’t know, so I end up looking all over for one, and they are very hard to find sometimes.’

However, a month later, he received a reply from the Royal Mail’s Freedom of Information Unit, based in Sheffield, confirming it had the information - but wouldn’t be releasing it because it was ‘prejudicial to commercial interests’.

The letter went on to say: ‘Royal Mail has gathered the information requested using it’s own business resource and there is continuous investment in updating and improving the accuracy of the information held.

‘We believe this (releasing the locations) would clearly be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Royal Mail; significantly reducing, if not completely removing Royal Mail’s ability to exploit the information commercially.
‘Whilst we recognise there is a public interest in promoting the access of post boxes, and informing the public of their location, we believe that the overwhelming majority lies in maintaining the exemption.
‘As a publicly-owned company there is a significant public interest in protecting the commercial interest of Royal Mail Group and its ability to provide public mail services.

‘In the face of declining mail volumes, Royal Mail is reliant on revenue from all possible avenues.
‘As Royal Mail has developed this data at i’s own expense, and continues to invest in updating and improving the accuracy of the information, we believe it would not be in the public interest to deny Royal Mail of the full potential value of this information in future commercial use.’

Mr Heathcote, of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, said: ‘The closest analogy I can think of was the location of bus stops: every single bus stop in the country can be found, for example, on Google Maps - so why not Royal Mail boxes?

‘And rival bus companies are in competition with one another, so I can see an argument why bus operators might want to keep the location of their stops a commercial secret.

‘But the Royal Mail enjoys a monopoly: no-one else in this country can set up a network of letter collecting boxes.
‘In their response, the Royal Mail point out that the volume of post is declining - well, I’m not surprised, if they won’t tell us where the mail boxes are!’

DAILY MAIL

Posted by peiper     on 05/01/2011 at 03:05 AM   
Filed Under: • UK •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner