Volume I, Edition II: January 19 - January 24, 2006
We've been surfing the blogs lately, and there are some interesting things to read out there.
Tyler at .45 Caliber Justice showed a nifty little US Map with "Places I've Been In America" (or words to that effect.) It's an interesting graphic you can create to show your own travels.
Here's mine (resized via ImageShack, click on image to see full size):
create your own visited states map
Not surprisingly, most of the 'visits' were for hunting, participating in IPSC matches, or travels while I was in the army. That long southern link from Georgia to Texas represents a cheat. After I completed NCO Candidate School (Ft. Benning, GA) in 1969, my then-wife and I drove our nifty 1969 Ford Maverick from my OJT Training station in Ft. McClellan, Alabama back to Oregon via Tennessee, (don't ask me how we ended up on the outskirts of Memphis), Mississippi, Louisiana, then into Texas and on to California, then up to Oregon.
Winchester
Michael Bane featured Stephen Hunter's Paen to Winchester (I mentioned the other day that they were closing their New Haven plant, but not as eloquently.) Bane calls it "Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant", which has a pithy eloquence of its own.
Here's the opening:
Out With A Bang
The Loss of the Classic Winchester Is Loaded With Symbolism
By Stephen HunterWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 20, 2006; Page C01A famous ad that most boy baby boomers will recall from Boys' Life, the old scouting magazine of the '50s, showed a happy lad, carrot-topped and freckly like any number of Peck's Bad Boys, his teeth haphazardly arrayed within his wide, gleeful mouth under eyes wide as pie platters as he exclaimed on Christmas morn, "Gee, Dad . . . A Winchester!"
All gone, all gone, all gone. The gun as family totem, the implied trust between generations, the implicit idea that marksmanship followed by hunting were a way of life to be pursued through the decades, the sense of tradition, respect, self-discipline and bright confidence that Winchester and the American kinship group would march forward to a happy tomorrow -- gone if not with the wind, then with the tide of inner-city and nutcase killings that have led America's once-proud and heavily bourgeois gun culture into the wilderness of marginalization.
And now Winchester is gone too, or at least the most interesting parts of it. The traditional company whose symbol was a fringed rider flying across the plains on a pinto, gripping his trusty Model '73, is finally biting the dust ...
Read the whole thing.
Gun-Blog Beauty Contest
Wadcutter mentioned the voting for best gun blogs presented by Countertop Chronicles, including a gracious thank-you for his own honorable mention. Since I had encouraged you to participate, it occurs to me that you might like to know how the voting came out.
The winners in each category are (TA-DAHHHHHH!)
Category 1: Best Gun P0RN
1: Olek Volk
2: Castle of Aaarrrgghhh!
(NB: Kim du Toit was a dead-heat tie for 2nd place, I don't know what criteria was used for the tie-breaker. NOTE also that this is NOT the link for Kim's "Original" blog.)
Category 2: Most Educational
1: The ArchAngel
2: Mr. Completely
(Runner up: Head's Bunker)
I'm pleased to see Mr. Completely finish so well, as he was one of my premier picks. You'll see a lot of him in the results, although perhaps not QUITE as much as Kim du Toit. Mr. Completely accomplishes his goal of communicating without angst, anger or foul language. When it comes down to it, I'll vote for a Gentleman every time. No, this isn't meant as a criticism to Kim's more . . . aggressive style, and I have not doubt that personally he is a fine gentleman; but while Kim has been blogging for a LOT longer, with a LOT more hits, much of his success has been due to his rants. One tires of that, eventually.
I note that Mr. Completely posted some rather modest comments last Sunday night.
Category 3: Best Rants
1: mAss Backwards
2: Kim du Toit
(3rd place, Gut Rumbles)
Happily, The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler was never a contender.
Unhappily, Geek With a .45 was sadly under-rated. I really think he deserved a better evaluation from his peers. If for no other reason, any man who deliberately moves out of New Jersey because of the anti-RKBA attitude there just naturally deserves to be recognized.
Category 4: Best Legal Analysis
1: John Lott
2: David Kopel
(runner up: Eugene Volokh)
When you think of it, and I did, John Lott was pretty much a no-brainer. The real race in this category was between 2nd and 3rd place, and it could have gone either way in my opinion.
Note that the link for David Kopel also takes you to "The Volokh Conspiracy", which is the child of Eugene Volokh. Kopel is a prominent, but not the sole, contributor. You can also read Kopel in his many articles posted to National Review Online, and at his personal Home Page . Volokh can also be read at NRO and at World Net Daily's Commentary Page)
The Smallest Minority was facing such fierce competition from professionals that he never had a chance. Maybe next year, if there IS a 'next year', professional writers will not be considered unless they can prove that they do most of their writing while wearing pajamas.
Category 5: Best Aggregator
1: Alphecca
2: Mr. Completely
(Runner up: Resistance is Futile, another of my recommendations)
I'm not sure what "Best Aggregator" means, but I assume it means quality of a cross-section of posts. Something like "All-Around Cowboy", perhaps. I note that Cogito Ergo Geek actually got two (2) votes in this category, which would be flattering except that I'm not sure those two fine, upstanding and stalwart individuals didn't read "Aggregator" and mistakenly thought it meant "Agitator". Whatever the reasons, I'll paste it in my scrapebook and ... Thanks For The Memories, Mom! (But you really shouldn't have voted twice.)
Category 6: Best Range Reports
1: Mr. Completely (who lead through EVERY round of balloting)
2: Kim du Toit
(Runner up: Texican Tattler)
NOTE that Mr. Completely was one of my recommendations. Other contenders included Cowboy Blob, Michael Bane (two more of my recommendations) and, a complete surprise to me, Michael Yon. Mr. Yon is a powerful writer, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to consider his Iraqi blog as "Range Reports". On reflection, however ... why not?
See above for a stylistic comparison of the writings of Mr. Completely and Kim.
Category 7: Best Commentary
1: Kim du Toit
2: The Smallest Minority
(runner-up: Ravnwood)
A well-deserved vote for The Smallest Minority, proving that Geek-Length Posts still have a place in this world.
UPDATE: The comment (see the link below) from Mr. Completely informs us that voting will continue until January 31. His advice is to keep on voting!
It's late, I have more to talk about but tomorrow's a School Day and I REALLY need my Beauty sleep. I'll add the rest of it another day, but for now ....That's All, Folks!
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