Memorial Day!

I plan to be busy later today, and perhaps tomorrow ... so please accept this as the Official Geek Memorial Day tribute to our service members today , tomorrow, and yesterday.


Please include in your thoughts Sgt. Paul Phillips, my mother's brother, who lost his life in the Massacre at Malmady in WWII.

PS: I have been dealing unsuccessfully with Insomnia for several years. This has been another such day ... I haven't been able to sleep for the past 24 hours, so if my friends AJ and KJ notice I'm not present at the annual Memorial Day Usual Suspects BBQ .... please understand I'm probably safe at home, asleep in my bed.

Or my chair, in front of this computer.

Goodbye AlQuida Rose

Is it ... "Civilized" ... to be satirical about the death of another human being?
In the words of Gremlins 2: "Civilized? No, decidedly not ... but funny!"


*

H/T SnarkyBytes via
Zeta Wolf


LATER:

Actually, this all makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Do you remember the images of Arabs dancing in the streets when they heard the news that the Twin Towers had been taken down?

This is nothing more ... or less.

I think it's the smarmy looks of the pianist (Is that Martin Short on a bad day?) when he perceives that he is pleasing the audience. It's an expression of gloating, and if Shadenfreud had not been invented before by the Germans, it would have been re-invented now.

Whatever the reason, when we gloat on the death of Bin Laden .... it doesn't exactly put us in the same barbaric league as those Arabs who danced in the street at our misfortune, but it certainly is a significantly similar state of mind.

I, for one, do not care for the comparison.

Yes, I know that Bin Laden gloried over his deliberate murder of 3000 innocents.
Yes, I understand the difference between gloating over the 3,000, and gloating over the death of a single not-innocent.

But I still don't like it.

It was necessary for us to but down the mad dog Bin Laden.
It is not necessary for us to act like irresponsible rabble in celebration.

We're better than that. We had damn well demonstrate that to the World, if we wish to establish the clear difference between 'us' and 'them'.

I don't want to look like 'them'.

I Am Number Four

Watched the movie.

It's more of a pilot for a television series. Think of it as "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer". Except with less sexy girls and less sexy scripts.

Then I put "RODIN" in the video player. No comparison at all; DeNiro made it a practice to appear in movies with good scripts and good directors.

Some people could learn from that.

NCIS FULL EPISODE

Courtesy Comcast. Er ... I mean .... XFINITY

Not sure this will work without a Comcast Internet account, but worth a try if, like me, you don't have a TV but enjoy NCIS

VERY Interesting -- but Stupid!: Freedom For Cash

YouTube - Video Shows Officer Offering Truckers Freedom For Cash
Tennessee Law Enforcement ... "Give up the Drug Money, and we'll let you go free!"

I don''t know if this is a legitimate law enforcement tactic or not, but the District Attorney General has a hard time deciding how to justify the practice of intimidating truck drivers to get them to give up the 'Drug Money' they are carrying (supposedly, knowingly).

Anything that undermines the profit motive from Drug Running is "A Good Thing", right?

Or is it? I don't know.

YOU watch, you decide.



Hat Tip:

War on Guns

PS: I would LOVE to hear how these drivers explain how they lost a half-million dollars to their drug-dealer honchos.

Wouldn't you?

Especially, after the seizure is posted on You Tube.

Sorry, guys, but I think that the Tennessee cops have just undermined their program: these drivers will no longer be seen, except perhaps as evidence in the alimentary tract of no-longer-starving coyotes in Mexico.

How the Rapture Was One

familyradiocountdown20110521.jpg (JPEG Image, 496x467 pixels)

Greetings, from Rapture Central

Hello my Friends.

Well, here am I in the bosom of Heaven. Yes, the Rapture has come and gone and I find myself among The Taken.

I've been looking for you all ... can't seem to find any of you anywhere. Should we perhaps set up a Bulletin Board system? You know, like:

"Adam; miss you. Meet me by the Old Apple Tree, please? I'm so sorry! All my love -- Eve"

Well, perhaps not.

Actually, I'm pretty lonely here. Having led such a sinful life, I'm amazed to find myself here. Also, I'm surprised to discover that I am allergic to the pollen from Angel Wings.


It's very nice sitting at the Left Hand of God, and all that.

But I do miss my friends.


So having spent 24 hours in Heaven, I plan to abdicate. That's right, I'm turning in my wings and heading back to "Left Behind, Oregon". There I intend to meet my friends at the umpteenth-annual Memorial Day BBQ, song-fest and reunion of the Usual Suspects, where I will open a virgin bottle of Jameson's Irish Whiskey and lead the toast to .... Absent Friends.

I just hope the Irish Dancers, who provided the entertainment at an earlier meeting (2005), were "Taken".

That would make it all worth while.




PS: From now on, no more morbid topics. Back to Blogging As Usual.

Geek Promise!

Eulogy to Mom

Wilhelmina Hanna Phillips (1917 - 2011) quietly passed away in her sleep a few minutes before 3pm on Tuesday, May 17, 2011. Her planned 94th birthday party was not celebrated on May 9 due to critical illness.

Cause of death was complications of the surgery performed May 11, 2011, attempting to correct the cause of her critical illness. At her request, no further surgery was performed in an attempt to resolve the complications; the best resulting physical condition was not acceptable to the patient and further major surgery itself held a low survival prognosis.

Wilhelmina changed her name in when she was married, in the early 1930's. (Her married name is with-held to protect the privacy of herself and her family.) She changed her name legally in the 1960's, from "Wilhelmina Hannah" to "Mina", because she was known familiarly by friends and family as Mina (to rhyme with "Myhana", not "Meena"; she was insistent upon the correct pronunciation).

Mina's husband, Vernon, proceeded her in death in December of 1994 after more than sixty years of marriage.

Mina is survived by two children (Shirley, of Eugene Oregon and Jerry, of Corvallis Oregon). Other survivors include four grandchildren, about 22 great-grandchildren, and a mixed Shi Tsu / Lhasa-Apso named Bogie.

All of the surviving members are now struggling to re-envision their own lives without the love of the woman they knew variously as Mom, Mina, Nana and (in Bogie's case) a gleeful "Woof!".

A private celebration for family and invited friends is planned for June, when goodbye wishes will be inked on helium filled balloons, which will then be released to follow her soul to heaven.

For EPA definition purposes, the withered remains of these balloons will be classified as "free-range prayers".

Environmentalists who wish to protest these arrangements may apply directly to Mom, c/o God, in Heaven.

Unsuccessful protests may be adjudicated by Satan; travel by POV is authorized, and encouraged.

Not Mother's day

We were all so pleased, and optimistic when my mother came through her major surgery on Wednesday, and even more pleasantly surprised when her first day after the operation proved her to be in very little pain, relatively speaking. The third day, second after the operation, I spoke to her on the phone and she seemed more concerned about me and my sister than about herself.

That was Friday.

Saturday, the nurses recorded a significant change in blood pressure. Blood tests were not encouraging.

The following day, Sunday, my sister phoned me in tears. The doctors had determined that regardless of their prior optimism, apparently some sort of "infection" had developed within the operational area, defined by the surrounding pelvic girdle. Their only choice would have been to immediately re-enter the torso, remove the colon, excise any possibility of infected tissue, and fit her for a colostomy bag.

Mother had already decided against 'heroic' (or "extreme") attempts to extend life, and voiced a strong preference to NOT ending her life with a bag on her belly. The doctors told my sister thta the only possible outcome was that the infection would prove fatal in the near future.

Mom is in the hospital doped to the gills with Morphine Sulfate; both to minimize the amount of discomfort (searing pain) ad to encourage her to sleep as much as possible.. She is incapable of lucid communication, obviously suffers hallucinations when the painkiller dose is too low, and does not appear to recognize any of her family or personal friends who have visited her.

We are on a death watch. It is almost the same situation as the family of Mom's friend and neighbor endured earlier, except that we don't know if our mother will linger for days or weeks ... or hours.

I've returned home to shave, shower, and get a few hours of sleep. Yesterday slept from 4am to 6am this morning; Friday I didn't sleep at all. My sister gets by on her firm intention to be as much help to her mother as possible, and the support of friends and family. My eldest niece is an active Christian and supports us all with prayer from time to time.

Obviously I won't be talking here much for a few days. I may borrow my sister's laptop if I feel I need to vent, but I'll try to spare my friends that experience.

Court: No right to resist illegal cop entry into home

Court: No right to resist illegal cop entry into home (New York Times; May 13, 2011):

"INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

'We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence,' David said. 'We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest.'

David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system"

[emphasis added]

Let me see, now ... according to this Indiana Supreme Court ruling, the Fourth Amendment protections which we have enjoyed for over 2o0 years ... no longer applies.

You are NOT protected from "illegal search and seizure" .. instead, you are allowed to protest against illegal search and seizure.

That's hardly the same thing.

In Indiana today, instead of arguing that an unwarranted Search and Seizure is "unconstitutional", you can only protest by bringing suit against the LEO agency. The disposition of your case, then, is not to be decided upon Constitutional issues, but upon your (or your lawyer's) ability to make a case protecting you on 'other than Constitutional issues'.

This is CLEARLY not the same thing. The burden of proof is now your responsibility ... essentially, in Indiana you need to prove your innocence.

That's hard to do. Often, it's impossible. It is contrary to the concept that a citizen is "innocent until proven guilty", too.

That means, any LEO can enter your home and perform .... whatever actions he considers reasonable. You must hire a lawyer (at your own expense?) and defend yourself against the CHARGES brought against you, even though the entry was not effected in response to the presence of any evidence which might have been supported by a legal search warrant.

For example, they can (and probably will) seize any firearms and 'drugs' (including legally acquired prescription drugs). They may remove your children from the home. They can shoot your dog, they can point a gun at your wife or your children ... anything that they would earlier have been permitted to do under the auspices of a search warrant which specifically included searches for objects, they can now do and can now expect that the 'evidence' would be acceptable in a court of law in Indiana.

(Most such actions, performed during "legal raids" by LEOs who were operating under the auspices of a search warrant, have before been penalized by judges and courts when the search warrant did not specifically permit the LEO's to address these specific situations .)

When the U.S. Constitution can arbitrarily be undermined by "local" or State judicial authorities, then the rights of "The People", as acknowledged by The Constitution, has been violated.

The rights of the Federal Government are narrowly described in the Constitution; all state and local authorities are required to recognize these narrow descriptions, because the Constitution is essentially intended to define the rights of "The People".

"The People"... includes individual citizens of the United States, and the Constitution was specifically framed to protect their rights. It also restricts powers of the Federal government. Not entirely incidentally, it also restricts the authority of any 'lower power" to infringe upon the rights of "The People".


The Constitution allows local, state and Federal authorities to operate within the restrictions there-in defined. These rights of "The People" can NOT be abridged by any authority at any level.

No State Court can independently determine that these protections of "The People" may be abridged at a State Level.

It ain't right.

-----------------------------------------

UPDATE: May 18, 2011
It's no longer a matter of states permitting violations of the 4th Amendment. Kevin Baker at The Smallest Minority provides a link to the PDF of "Kentucky vs King" where in SCOTUS agreed , on May 16, 2011, to the violation of your constitutional rights in "The War On (some) Drugs".

No, it's no longer a matter of States Rights; it's a matter of Individual rights.

Cabela’s Destination Store Boosts Oregon’s Eugene, Cascades & Coast Brand - Small City Branding Around the World

Cabela’s Destination Store Boosts Oregon’s Eugene, Cascades & Coast Brand - Small City Branding Around the World

Mother's Day

It all began on a little forty-acres-and-a-mule farm in Eastern Oregon on May 9, 1917.

That's when my mother, "Gramma Geek" was born. She was the fifth of six children (3 brothers, 2 sisters) borne by my maternal grandmother. All of them born at home, with no more help than neighbors and relatives as midwives.

One brother was killed in the war, at the Massacre at Malmedy. One brother died on his own farm, the other in a hospital. One sister was a schoolteacher, the other the wife of an abusive bastard (she was the youngest, who died 3 years ago).

They have all died; my mother is the last of her family, and often wonders why she was doomed to be the Last Living member of her family.

Last weekend my sister planned to take my mother to the Oregon Coast for an annual pilgrimage. Since Mom's birthday was so often close to Mother's Day, Mom missed out on a celebration every year; Mother's Day and Mom's Birthday were celebrated together.

This year, their plans were cancelled due to illness. Mom had severe digestive problems for the past 10 month, and this year she was overwhelmed by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe cramps.

Instead of the coast, my sister took Mom to a doctor. He referred her to a new specialist, who immediately checked her into the hospital.

Mom's chronic Diverticulitis had caused a stoppage in her large intestine. The Diverticulitis had caused scarring in a section of her colon, and shrinkage in the diameter. He saw no alternative to operating.

The usual solution is to resection the bowel; cut out the obstructed part and sew the two major parts back together. The problem was that the affected section was so large (long), the remaining sections were dramatically different in diameter. In his discussion, the doctor described it as "trying to attach a garden hose to a drinking straw". After reviewing the images from the MRI, he was not certain that it would be possible to do a simple resection.

The best alternative might turn out to be a Colectomy ... that is, a resection as described above.

But if that proved during the surgery to be impossible, the alternative would be a Colostomy. That is the solution where the severed colon is connected to an artificial portal outside the body, and the product of the colon is collected in a bag which must be emptied manually, every day.

Mom has been experiencing depression since the death of her last sibling, and the thought of a Colostomy bag was, in her mind, worse than her own death.

And in fact, that third alternative result of the operation was a very great risk. Because of her age (94 years), her poor general health as a consequence of her extended debilitation, and what seems to be a random toss of the dice ... she may not survive the operation.

The surgeon claimed to have a great deal of experience in this procedure, but he was unable to be more reassuring than to say he would know what needed to be done when the surgery allowed him to actually view the state of her organs, first hand.

The operation was scheduled for 8am this morning. The doctor decided to delay the operation so that all of the normal day-shift medical professionals would be on duty, alerted to the possibility of extravagant medical reactions to what he found, and be able to respond immediately. He warned that there was a very good chance that the surgery may only be partially successful, or fatal.

My sister and I agreed to meet at the hospital at 6am, so we would have an hour with Mom before they begin at 7am to prep her for surgery.

Mom was already awake when we got there. She had not slept well the night before ... the pain and discomfort were only partially alleviated by a wide range of pain-killers, including Morphine and its derivatives.

We tried to be as positive as possible, but in all of our minds we were aware that this was the last time we might be able to talk. The kiss I gave her on greeting her might be the last kiss.

The hour we had together passed quickly, and we were all, I think, pleasantly surprised by the calm (or fatalistic) attitude we shared. Whatever happened, we were together as a family.

They took her to Surgery pre-op at 7am, and my sister and I went to breakfast. Neither of us were able to finish the excellent meal we had been served. Still, it helped.

Then we went to the Surgery Patient Family Waiting Room at Sacred Heart ("Riverbend") hospital in Springfield, and settled down for a long wait. The doctor told us that nothing would happen for at least two hours, so at 8am we went to look at the new Cabela's store which had just opened last week. My sister and I shopped ... I bought a holster and a box of .45acp bullets ... and tried to keep our minds off what was going on. That didn't last for more than an hour, though, so we went back to the waiting room.

Ten o'clock came and went, with no word. Eleven o'clock ... still no word. By 11:30 we decided that the operation had went past the expected duration because they had to do more than the simple resection; they must be performing the Colostomy.

At 11:45 the doctor came out to talk to us in the waiting room. He was surprised, he said, that he was able to join the two ends of the colon to bridge the gap left by removing the damaged portion. He said he had double-stitched it, so that it would remain strong while the body began to heal itself. There was no danger of sepsis; it was a clean operation with no actual complications. He rated her chances of complete recovery very high, although he emphasized the she would have to stay in the hospital for five to seven more days, until they were sure she could accommodate solid foods and process them correctly.

We were stunned. Both of us had been reluctant to expect this most perfect of all possible results. We were not sure, we said, whether the Colostomy or death would be the preferred solution for our mother ... but we were actually both convinced that Mom would rather be dead than to spend the rest of her live with a Colostomy bag taped to her side.

It was as if we had both received the best Christmas Gift ever. Mom was going to be in Recovery for another two hours, so we (my sister and I) retired to the local Steak House for lunch. We both had drinks before and with our meal ... neither of us quite finished our meal, but we didn't leave unfinished drinks behind and I gave our waitress a 40% tip: no reason why we should be the only ones celebrating an unexpected gift today.

We got a call from the Hospital as we were leaving; Mom was on her way back to her room. And we got there just after they had got her settled in.

Mom was in a lot of pain, so the nurse gave her a shot of something more powerful to bolster the on-demand Morphine derivitive they had flowing through her IV. After she fell into a deep sleep, I said goodbye to my sister and told her I would let her know what time I would be back tomorrow. She was going to stay for a while, "just in case Mom wakes up".

But we also called our friends and family, and gave them the good new.

My sister's short discussion to Mom, while we were waiting for the nurse to bring the seditive:

"Mom, you're a tough old bird, and you can get through this and it will better than it has been for a long time. I'm a tough old bird, too, and together we can get through this. I know it hurts now, but that's just the incision from the operation. It will heal. And you won't have the pain you've had to live with for the past year."

What she didn't say, but she could have, was: "Next year, we'll all go to the coast together".

I'm planning on that. Our family has more than one generation. Today I realized just how much I would miss Mom, if she wasn't here for us.

I grow tired of losing the important women in my life.

Obama on 60 Minutes, 05.08.11: 60 Minutes Full Length Episodes Online | Free on XFINITY TV

Watch 60 Minutes, 05.08.11: 60 Minutes Full Length Episodes Online | Free on XFINITY TV

I don't know how interested you are in hearing Obama's interview with 60 Minutes regarding the assassination of Osama bin Laden, but I found it interesting.

It's a full-length episode, so you don't need to watch the full 40 minutes of actual run-time of a "Sixty Minutes" episode.

History Rewrites: Is this how we will see yesterday ... tomorrow?

H/T: Mark the Rock

Clueless Gun Store Owners

I went to a gun store today!

That may not be as exciting to you as it is to me, but listen!

It has been a long time since I went to a gun store. All of the local gun stores have gone out of business, and I have to drive 12 miles to find the nearest one.

Okay, so there's one less than ten miles away in Philomath, and I've bought 3 guns from them ... but I've been burned at least one. It was my fault for being gullible, but the rancor still burns. I was looking for my own .22 pistol. I let them talk me into selling a revolver with no finish, double-action but with a hammer-spur, and the only way to eject empty cases was to remove the cylinder and use the cylinder pin to punch the empty brass out ... and I payed them $200 for it!

I hate people who take advantage of me. Worse, I hate having to admit I've been taken! (That was over a year ago, and I haven't fired a round out of the pistol yet; I'm afraid to risk the "Collector Value"!)

Most of those in "that town" (Albany) are "specialty" stores. The single exception is a very small one-man operation with a very classy store and very classy merchandise. Except he's mostly a S&W dealer, and no matter what you walk through his door looking for, before you leave the store he's going to try to sell you a S&W.

Let me illustrate:

One of my ex-co-workers asked me if I knew where he could pick up a .22 pistol. At the time, I was still working so I couldn't go to this store in Albany that I've always wanted to check out, but they're closed on weekends. (WTF?)

But I've since retired, so this afternoon I spend an hour driving to Albany, checking out the store, and driving back without either a gun or a business card.

I show up about 3:30, charge into the store and the owner is standing at his counter with a perplexed look on his face. I say "Hi! I'm looking for a .22 pistol for a friend of mine!"

"Oh!" (he says) Well, we're closed."

[Picture me looking around] "Huh? The door was unlocked, The sign says open from 1 pm to 4 pm and it's only 3:do. I came in looking for a gun, and ..... ?"

So he explained that he is closing early today, he had turned the lights out and turned the sign on the door to "CLOSED".

Geek Perplexed Look. (I've gotten pretty good at looking perplexed. Practice ... constant practice .. that's the ticket to communication!)

The guy is a nice guy, but his marketing skills need work. He has signs all OVER his shop reading:

NOTICE!
If you are unable to legally possess a firearm, you may NOT enter the premises!

I can't blame him for that, but I would have thought that the sign on the door would have been enough. The sign on the wall facing the door, the sign on the sidewall leading to the counter, and the sign over the counter ... that strikes me as overkill. But it's his shop, and obviously he has a LOT of time on his hands since he's only open 6 hours a day, seems to close early and won't let anyone in his doors on weekends.

Still, he relents when I explain that my mission is to find a .22 pistol for a friend.

"I have a Walther .22. $800."


He doesn't have a card, but when I ask for one he hands me a flyer. I haven't read it yet.

I turn and begin to leave, and on the way out I notice the display of handguns (mostly S&W) in his display cabinet. "Nice Guns!" I mention.

I may have pushed his hot-button; either that, or he woke up and realized he had a customer in his store. Running around his counter he invites me to look at the Forty Caliber S&W. Being a nice person, I decide not to tell him my opinion of the .40 Slow-and-Wimpy cartridge, or how much I love (not!) the flipper/de-cocker mechanism of the S&W Semi-Automatic Pistols. Instead, I say: "Real nice. Looks just like my old Model 659. I gave it to my son."

It is always, ALWAYS a Bad Idea to say anything to a gun dealer which may lead him to believe you are interested. I wasted five minutes listening to his tales of the Mighty Forty, the Wonderful (all steel) 4006, and what a "stopper-cartridge" it was.

Then he hits me with the bad good news: ONLY $895!

Just to impress me, he adds that S&W only made (I don't know, some obscure like "235 of them", and adds: "I have twelve". I think I was suppose to be impressed.


I'm looking around, he's got a steel gun-cabinet (rifle-length floor model, looks like a 5- or 6-gun capacity), also priced at ONLY $895.

Scooting for the door, I make the final mistake of actually listening to his "I See A Customer Heading For The Door" spiel. If I am a 'close' family member of a serving member of the military, he will sell me a special-order firearm without charging me the usual price for "special order" firearms. (Anything that he had on his shelf, of course, was not subject to any kind of discount.)

It took me another five minutes to get out the door. And it struck me, as I as leaving, that there was something peculiarly WRONG with his salesmanship.

• I wasn't greeted as if I was a valued customer.
• In fact, he acted as if I was an inconvenience, and I was stupid to have walked through the (unlocked) door during posted business hours.
• He didn't have what I was looking for in any kind of variety except for a very narrow (and not widely popular version).
• He didn't seem interested in trying to find out MORE about what I wanted, or offering suggestions that might be helpful to me.
• He wasted my time in trying to sell something to me ... a product in which I was obviously NOT interested.
• He made it clear that a pistol (which was so widely unpopular that there was only a very limited run) was something in which he was obviously overstocked.
• And he put a premium price on the pistol.
  

The guy had a very classy store front, and obviously is living off his inheritance because I cannot see how a man with a narrow inventory, a narrow mind, closes his shop arbitrarily early and has no people skills ... can stay in business without an extraneous source of income.

---

The best gun store I even patronized was in Salem about 10 years ago. The owner was a guy whose hobby was trapping. He opened the store to sell trapping supplies. Because that didn't fill many shelves, he also added a 12-point indoor shooting range, rented guns for the range, sold a LOT of reloading components at a competitive price, had an in-store gunsmith, had a very wide range of both new and used firearms (and ammunition, holsters, and other accessories), sold the brass swept up from the range as "once-fired brass" at a reasonable price, and always had at least three salesmen on the floor besides the guy who ran the indoor-range (gun rental) counter.

That store would have been open .. and profitable .. indefinitely, except that one day he became despondant that he wasn't selling any traps, lost interest in the store, and arbitrarily just closed it down. Almost overnight.

What IS it about Gun Store Owners that they can be so clueless?

Who is "Seal Team 6"?

- WWW.THEDAILY.COM

I don't know, you don't know, and I'm not completely convinced that the folks who produced this article / "app" really know who or what Seal Team 6 is, either.

But I HAVE read one of Richard Marcinko's books. (He has published over a dozen books, most of them in the "Rogue Warrior" series. Most, if not all of them, are available at Amazon.com.)

And I have at my desk my dog-eared copy of "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and The Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10", by Marcus Luttrell (with Patrick Robinson).

About half of that book addresses the selection and training for SEAL team acceptance. The training and winnowing-out process described there provides some small amount of understanding about what sort of man can call himself a Navy Seal.

And I am very impressed all over again, every time I reread Luttrell's fascinating, dramatic ... saddening account of the extended firefight which lead to the virtual elimination of that select group of warriors.

Getting back to "SEAL TEAM 6"; The Daily has also published an article which it says describes "The Raid". Among other information, the article refutes earlier reports to the effect that "... one of bin Laden's wives was killed ..." during the firefight.

(For further information about the background of involved agencies, read "The Secret Team that Killed bin Laden", from National Journal. H/T Michael Bane; "Who Says Double Taps are Old School?" May 02 2011)

Providing further background information, USA TODAY reported that "Obama laughed at a bin Laden joke" the night before the raid, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. It's an interesting footnote, demonstrating that this raid ... the planning for which began last February ... had actually been delayed for one day. We can only imaging that this was an odd moment in the President's career, when he was forced by circumstances (and the need to maintain operational security) to publically dissemble in reaction to the joke about bin Laden hosting "... a daily program on CSPAN between Four and Five (pm) ..."

We must remember to give President Osama Obama credit for his great leadership: he has proven once again that he can dissemble with the best of them.

And finally ....

FROM ONE DEAD MAN TO ANOTHER:



Lyrics:

Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go

Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this
Are you hangin' on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat - yeah

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, eh
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

Dick ... couldn't have said it better.

Geronimo-E KIA

AND .... America Reacts:


AND ... Apparently Rush Limbough isn't the only 'talker' who can't keep track of the difference between "Osama" and "Obama" when discussing the political assassination



(H/T: "Max Redline")

bin Laden dead!

Obama: Al-Qaida head bin Laden dead | General Headlines | Comcast.net: "WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan early Monday in a firefight with U.S. forces, ending a manhunt that spanned a frustrating decade.

'Justice has been done,' President Barack Obama said in a dramatic announcement at the White House.

A jubilant crowd of thousands gathered outside the White House as word spread of bin Laden's death. Hundreds more sang and waved American flags at Ground Zero in New York — where the twin towers that once stood as symbols of American economic power were brought down by bin Laden's hijackers 10 years ago."

Michelle Malkin � Baseball’s Greatest Play, 35 Years Later

Michelle Malkin � Baseball’s Greatest Play, 35 Years Later

I don't know how many people who are reading obscure blogs this week/month/year would be interested in this, but I'm pretty sure that everyone who is reading this obscure blog will appreciate the "Save The Flag" moment brought to us via Michelle Malkin, courtesy of Rick Monday.

H/T "The Hobo Brasser"

NRA/Lou Dobbs appalled about ATF "Fast and Furious" program

NRA 2011 Annual Meetings & Exhibits - Contact Us

Wayne LaPierre discusses the BATF scandal on Lou Dobb's Tonight


Shocking Evidence Revealed: Obama Administration Stonewalls Congress By Covering Up BATFE'S "Fast and Furious" Gunrunning Scheme That Sent Thousands Of Guns To Mexican Cartels ... Watch here, Watch Now!

This was the text of an email from the NRA which I received on April 25, 2011.

It seems that Wayne and Lou are reacting (slowly, if surely) in the context of the 2011 "NRA Annual Meeting" (link provided by the 4/25 email, replying in the context of the 4/29-5/01 2011 annual meeting ... which began 4 days AFTER the email) to the ATF "Fast and Furious" program.

As if this was "New news".

The "scandal" isn't new; it has been discussed to the point of ennui in so many contexts. I'm wondering why this release from the NRA is being sent to NRA members now, since Project Gunrunner has been also the subject of many earlier NRA announcements.

And the YOU TUBE video (see below) was first loaded on April 21, 2011.

These guys post as irregularly as *_I_* do!

Still, I wonder why Lou Dobbs continues to talk about "Assault Weapons", and the NRA publishes his comments as if they are the official position of the NRA.

My understanding has been that the weapons in question are NOT "Assault Weapons" (eg: full-automatic) but instead semi-automatic versions of military weapons. (For example: AR15 rather than M16, etc.) None of the weapons required special licenses to purchase or transfer.

At least, that was true of the "Project Gun Runner" weapons which have been reported in the Popular Press (MSM). There were no announcements in the accompanying video which suggest that true "Assault Weapons" were involved in these exchanges.

The National Rifle Association, and Wayne LaPierre in particular, continue to disappoint me. This is exactly why I continue to "Join the NRA" (in hopes that they will someday provide true, sane representation of American Gun-owners) and then invariably fail to renew my membership when they let me down.

I was not impressed by Harlon Carter, and and I have not been impressed by Wayne LaPierre. Even when Charlton Heston was 'honorary' President of the NRA, he went on record stating that he saw no reason why any American would need an M16 or even an AR15.

This goes far beyond the failure of the ATF to screw up the program to entrap gun dealers. It goes directly to the failure of NRA to adequately serve as sane, reasonable representatives of the American Firearms owner.

These people are a blight on the Second Amendment movement. I am not a current member of the NRA (even though these idiots continue to send me their email, after I let my membership lapse last year) because I am embarrassed to admit to my friends and family that they represent me. That implies that they way they present my case for legal firearms ownership is the way that I would present it.

Yes, my friends have been arguing for decades that the NRA is the only consistent force which argues in favor of the Second Amendment.

And I remain embarrassed by our leadership.

It's like being a member of the Republican Party; I'm still disappointed that there are no sane, reasonable, candidates for the 2011 Presidential Election.

I can defend myself against my enemies; can no one save me from my "Friends"?

Professional Shooting Websites

I've just added a new section to my Sidebar ... it's called "Professional Shooting Websites".

While I was struggling (unsuccessfully) to define "Professional Shooters" in the context of Practical (Action) shooting competition, it occurred to me that everyone in USPSA --- and, to a certain extent, IPSC --- intuitively "knows" who is a 'professional shooter', it's difficult to do more than select sufficient identifiers to differentiate between a "professional" and someone who has less lucrative, but still significant, connection with the Firearms Industry and also with Internet resources.

One major factor may be that the "Professional Shooter" often makes a significant portion of his or her annual income by training. They may be training amateurs, they may be training other professionals (eg: military, LEO), but they have established a business on the basis that their training is recognized as a benefit to people who want to shoot.

If I started a business training people to shoot, I probably wouldn't make much money at it, if any. I know a lot of what NOT to do, and even some of what a shooter SHOULD do. But my competitive success (or lack of it) demonstrates clearly that people who have much success in competition would probably not benefit from my instruction.

In short, I'm just not 'good enough' to support myself through training.

On the other hand, we can name a long list of people who can win matches, can benefit a sponsor who is willing to at least pay his or her expenses, and can probably attract a lot of people to attend any training session which they may choose to offer.

This is my attempt to identify those people who can considered professional in that they provide training, and they are able to attract enough 'students' so that their income probably exceeds their expenses.

This last is not an Iron-clad guarantee, but they at least have sufficient standing in the shooting community that they think they can make a profit.

I'll be working on this concept during the ensuing weeks, but my first connection is "Ron Avery - PSA".

Ron Avery is President, and Director of Training at the "Practical Shooting Academy". He is a contributor to POLICEONE.COM

PSA is apparently homed at the NRA Whittington Center (near Raton, NM) and is centered at Ouray, CO, judging from the website's "About" information. It offers training in Tactical, Practical and NRA courses. It also offers "Online" training courses. (Most of these seem to be used to discover the skill-level of prospective students, in one context or another.)

Ron Avery has historically been one of the "Greats" in IPSC/USPSA competition. Several years ago I purchased Ron Avery's 3-volume video series on Practical Pistol competition. I found it sufficiently helpful that I subsequently loaned the tapes out to a series of friends and new shooters. Unfortunately, that practice seems to have back-fired on me, as I cannot now find the tapes.

However, the website does contain a number of videos which the student may find informative, perhaps elucidative, and always impressive.

I've included a 10-minute video of Ron Avery appearing as an "Adjunct Instructor: at the Sig Sauer Academy in Exeter, NH. This video is (curiously, to me) titled "American Guardian". I understand that this is cut down from the original 12-minute version, to meet the then-limits imposed by you tube.



Watching this video, I found several very useful tips on shooting a pistol in a situation which involves multiple shots fired from a position oriented in the same general direction. Watching new shooters (and more, watching videos of myself shooting) I see a lot that I can learn from this single video about grip, body stance, adjustment of weight and tension .... it's all the same old stuff that I've read (for example) in the Brian Enos book "Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals". But I was unable to get such a clear understanding, without the video experience.

Ron's earlier videos were not as helpful to the inexperienced shooter, actually, as was this single video. At that time (ten years ago?), Ron wasn't as good a trainer. I suspect that the information in this single ten-minute video would be extremely helpful to the student who was willing to watch it several times, and make note of the points presented ... and then practice them.

If course, it's difficult to be your own trainer. That's why professional trainers can charge hundreds of dollars for a single day of personal training ... and why it's often worth it to the student.

BONUS MATERIAL:
PoliceOne.com published an article by Ron Avery on July 26, 2010, titled "Dealing with Citizens Carrying a Concealed Weapon". While this may be a useful bit of information for LEOs, it may also prove helpful to honest citizens who are lawfully carrying concealed. The emphasis here is that LEO and CCW citizen can become aware of the kind of activities and other 'indicators' which may help to LEO to understand the difference between a (potential) felon and an honest CCW citizen. I found it helpful; you may, too.

Summer Flu, Summer Colds

I'm told that the worst colds (or flu) are those you catch in the Summer.

I think that this flu, the one I've been fighting for two weeks, must be a Summer Flu. It just came early this year.

I haven't posted anything for a week, mostly because I've not felt like doing anything more than lying around and drinking Alka-Seltzer Cold medicine. And reading, watching old movies. Usually try to east something once a day ... if I can stay awake long enough to nuke a can of soup.

Yesterday I did go to the store, bought a small steak, came home and cooked it. Mashed potatoes, brown grave, ate it all and boy was it good!

Then I slept until about 1:30 this afternoon. Went to the bathroom, came back and slept for another 3 hours.

This is the first time I've felt like posting for a week, and I think I've just about worn myself out.

Tomorrow I'm going to do what I PLANNED to do last .... clear up the last details on disposition of my pension funds, and insure that the Social Security payments are set to start on schedule.

Some of this stuff just can't be done over the phone. Especially when you keep nodding off.

Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last!

(I'm really quite excited about being shy, and retiring)

But I have a plan for my retirement.

First I have to work on my "people skills"; then to cure my stutter. Then I have to work on my Anger Issues. These are all problems for people of "my generation".
Hope I don't blow it. (Watch the drums, Sparky!)

Down To The Wire

Top Shot — History.com Videos (Season 2 Semifinals)

Since I realized last week that I could see Full Episodes of the History Channel's popular "Top Shop" show via the internet, I decided to try tonite to see what yesterday's show looked like.

This was the penultimate show of the season. The competition had been winnowed down to the last 5 contestants, and this show was to eliminate the last shooter --- leaving four challengers for the $100,000 prize to be awarded on the April 29, 2011 show.


The main test was to use a Glock 17 to shoot 10 balloons. The trick was, the shooter was suspended from a 125' tall crane, and then dropped .... there were only a few seconds to actually engage the targets.

The winner got 5 balloons, the loser got 3 balloons.






Then they went to the challenge to see who would be voted the Weakest Link. Or whatever they call the guy who got voted off.

Two people were chosen, and they had to do a shoot-off using a Benelli M2 against 8 Clay Pigeons. The trick was, they were riding in the back of a truck driving 25 mph down a dirt road.

The winner got 5, the loser got 3 targets and was dropped.





I know, it sounds pretty ho-hum but the show is beautifully produced, the props are professional, and the production values (and editing) are surprisingly well done. It's no wonder this television show is so popular. For a minute there, I was tempted to have Cable Television installed here in Geekistan. Almost.

Which is just my saying ... I think this is MUCH more interesting than watching "Dancing With The Stars"!

Well, except of course I do kinda miss the Lady Dancers.

You can click on the link at the beginning of the page and see the whole thing yourself. It runs about 40 minutes.

Olofson's Out!

Olofson Out - Gun Owners Of America

You remember David Olofson, don't you?

Short version: He's the U.S. Army Vet who loaned his AR15 to a friend, who took it to a shooting range where it malfunctioned by firing several rounds 'very quickly'. Someone heard this, thought it sounded like a "machine gun", and since full-automatic weapons were not permitted at this range they called the police. Police went to the "friend's" home and confiscated the weapon. Six days later they arrested Olofson at his home and he was eventually convicted in Federal Court of "... knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun".

BACKGROUND IN DEPTH: Gunowers.com has a decent summary, and links to MANY supporting documents to the Olofson Case.

Olofson has completed his 30 month sentence in prison and has been released. Now he's trying to make some money to pay his expenses and get back to his life. GOA's press release asks for people to check an online website to see if they want to buy anything that Olofson is trying to sell.

There has been a lot of commentary on the Olofson case over the past 3+ years, much of it generated by Snowflakes In Hell blog.

Four points:

(1) At first blush, this is seems to be a situation where bad judgment and bad mechanics combined to put a man in prison and ruin his life; a man who has honorably served his country and not only has NOT committed a violent crime (such as robbery with assault, which would probably get him about the same sentence) but arguably has done NOTHING wrong, or even illegal. It's just a Bad Thing all around, and the least we can do is shake our heads sadly and say "There but for the grace of God ....". Because, conceivably, any of us could be ensnared in the Nest of Vipers that is our legal system today.

(2) One of the most egregious enforcers of that legal system is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ["ATF"]. This agency is part of the Treasury Department, and was essentially established to enforce laws which were created to regulate "noxious substances" by forbidding their use without paying applicable taxes .... and then refusing to accept the taxes (if payment had been offered) because they just didn't want you to HAVE the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms or Explosives. Yes, this is a gross oversimplification.

The point, though, may be that the Federal government has chosen taxation as a means of justifying regulation. The agency committed some very strong offensive moves against people who tried to sell alcohol during Prohibition, and now they are committing some very strong offensive moves against people who try to sell (or in the Olofson case, merely "lend") firearms. Is ATF a governmental over-reaction? Is it an "Out Of Control" governmental agency? Is it really necessary that the Federal government should be empowered to define what inanimate objects we may possess, and is this constitutional? Or, in this more "civilized" era, do we need the federal government to protect us from our own excesses?

(As a side note, GOA just documented disturbing news about ATF efforts to ban the importation of several brands, makes and/or models of SHOTGUNS because they include features which make them look 'military'; and “military shotguns, or shotguns with common military features ... are unsuitable for traditional shotgun sports.” Who defined "traditional shotgun sports", and what does that have to do with the Second Amendment?

(3) Was this a simple case of "Presecutorial Zeal"? The Supreme Court definition of a machine gun includes the phrase " ... a firearm that shoots automatically more than one shot by a single function of the trigger until the trigger is released, or the ammunition in the magazine is exhausted". The judge's instructions to the jury had been to accept the Persecutor's Prosecutor's definition: " ....shoots more than one shot with one pull of the trigger". Those of us who fire semi-automatic weapons extensively have usually witnessed one or more incidents where a semi-automatic firearm "doubles" or even "triples". This is universally (except for the AFT, the Prosecutor and the Judge) acknowledged to be a malfunction. In a 1911 model pistol, that can be caused to occur by improper installation of the "3-finger" spring, or "sear spring". Correcting that mechanical error will stop the malfunction. Conversely, if the weapon had been modified to shoot in full-automatic mode, the AR15 would have continued to fire. However, in this case it was clear ... both from the testimony of the ''friend" and that of the ATF technical witness that the AR15 would jam (stop firing) after only a few rounds had been fired. There was NO evidence that the ATF laboratory was able to cause the AR15 to fire an entire magazine of ammunition without jamming.

S0 ... was it a 'full-automatic" weapon, or was it a malfunction?

And WHY was the prosecutor so determined to get a conviction that he deliberately changed the definition of a full-automatic weapon to suit the facts of the case?


(4) As for poor Mr. Olofson, it may very well be that his life purpose has been only to serve as a Bad Example to the rest of us, "pour encourager des autres".

Here's a Lou Dobbs TV commentary on the Olofson case, after Olofson had been imprisoned. The video is dated January 22, 2009. I think that the commentary does a very good job of making point (3):



The Bottom Line:

I'm glad he's out of prison --- finally. It probably comes as no surprise to the reader that I think Olofson should never have been put through this ordeal in the first place.

In the spirit of "Full Disclosure", I've had a firearm malfunction and fire multiple shots with one pull of the trigger, also.

It was at the 2001 Area 1 USPSA match in Washington. I had given my STI Edge 2011 pistol to a gunsmith-wise friend a week before the match, asking him to do a thorough cleaning and function-check of the pistol, in preparation to this Major Match.

Unfortunately, I neglected to provide him with magazines and ammunition so he could function-test the pistol. And when I received it back, 10 minutes before the beginning of the first day of the match, there was insufficient time for me to check the pistol.

When I started the first stage, I engaged the first target and the gun Doubled. The Range Officer stopped me, because I obviously had an "Unsafe Gun" (according to the USPSA Rules of Competition.)

I looked up my friend, who was also competing at the match. We retired to a Safety Area where he disassembled the gun and discovered that the Three-Finger (Sear) spring had been incorrectly installed. The Sear 'finger' had been installed over, rather than under, the sear. (Or the reverse, I can't recall just now.)

Having no tools with us other than a small screwdriver, he used a rock as a hammer and the screwdriver as a punch to drive out the mainspring retaining pin, and when the grip assembly was removed he could tell that he had installed the spring incorrectly. He re-installed it, checked it, and re-assembled the pistol. I paid a dollar to test-fire the gun at the Function Test stage (monitored by a Range Officer), and it functioned correctly.

Cost to me? One dollar. Penalties? None ... I actually was allowed to reshoot the stage, due to a technical glitch in the Stage Range Officer handling the problem.

However, if the ATF had been present, chances are that I too would have been accused, charged and convicted (under the rules of the Olofson case) with having "...an unregistered machine gun".

The Ruger SR1911 (Video) | Down Range TV

The Ruger SR1911 (Video) | Down Range TV

Michael Bane and his DOWNRANGE TV website helped introduce the RUGER SR1911 pistol this week. (Michael has been taking some heat on his weblog lately for "Dissing" the pistol ... which he didn't even identify or comment upon before it was announced by the manufacturer.)

Until we have our hands on the gun, it's going to be difficult for any of us to speak to the quality of the pistol, so it's not reasonable to comment on Bane's description of the product or its functionality.


Bane's description of the pistol sounds .... about as swell as any shooting-magazine writer would present when a manufacturer cooperates in the publication of a "first release" article on any kind of firearm or associated equipment. That is to say: if he gives a bad review, that will be the LAST time when that manufacturer allows him first-day access to the product. It's not that Bane, or any gun-writer will deliberately down-rate a new product. However, unless there is something majorly wrong with the product, you won't learn about it here.

That's not a comment on Bane or his show; it's just a comment on the industry. That's the way it works.

---

Accepting, temporarily, the above caveat, Bane's evaluation of the pistol sounds both positive and fair. Ruger (a surprise tome) has, Bane says, been producing 1911 pistols for some years. I assume this has been as a sub-contractor to some other manufacturer .... there's nothing new about this; I simply was ignorant of the fact.

And the accoutrements, for example, include Novak 3-dot sights. As Bane says, if you dont' like 3-dot sights, you don't have to have them.

All the specifications are available on the Ruger website, so you don't have to rely on me to 'get it right'. Which is a relief, because there have been rumors about this product since December, 2009 (perhaps earlier ... I didn't bother to research the rumor mill further back than that.)

In short, a reliable gunmaker has jumped on the 1911 Bandwagon, and I'm glad they did.

I'm also glad that Michael Bane is there, right on top of things to provide us with a reliable "First Look" and an old reliable.

---

7-round vs 8-round Magazines:

The only negative thing which came to mind when I watched his video was purely peripheral ... Bane's mention of the fact that Ruger had decided to include both a 7-round magazine and an 8-round magazine with the new gun. Bane stated that the 8-round magazine did not feed as reliably as the 7-round magazine.

I don't know why he said that.

I've only been shooting 1911's in .45 acp since 1997 (Not counting several thousand rounds I fired in Vietnam in the late 60's / early 70's from 7-round magazines), so I cannot count myself as an expert on the care and feeding of the pistol/magazine combination in that caliber. However, I have to say that the only failures to feed have been from failure to load the ammunition to specifications (usually too short), when the magazine was improperly maintained (eg: magazine spring old and weak, like me; or the feed-lips were not adjusted properly) and when the handgun had not been adequately maintained.

And again, when the ammunition was not re-loaded appropriately; usually due to not full-length sizing the cartridge correctly, crimping them correctly or using the 'wrong' bullet.

On the other hand, the quality of the magazine is ALWAYS suspect. The military issue 7-round magazines I used in 1969 were, in my experience, "questionable" using Military Hardball ammunition. But those magazines, and probably the ammunition as well, had probably been created during WWII ("The War To End Wars To End Wars") and most likely had been over-used and under-maintained.

Put a new quality magazine spring in any "name brand" 8-round magazine and tune the feed lips, they'll perform as reliably as any 7-round magazine that has ever been made.

WeBlog Stats

I've not been very good about posting regularly, for quite a while. As my retirement date (April 21) nears, I've been finding more time to devote to the project. And it has been very rewarding, both in terms of finding something 'useful' to spend my spare time on, and because the blog seems to continue drawing interest.

This is my opportunity to say "Thank You" to my readers.

Generally, based on the number of comments submitted, it's easy for me to assume that my "regular readers" are but a handful. However, the following statistics from my Stats-Counter Service suggest that there is, indeed, a "Silent Majority". And they're not just out their to stab Bill-Hilary (or Nixon) in the back!

This week was a milestone; over a quarter of a million page loads, total, since the blog was started in December, 2004. That makes it "pretty old" and "Pretty Slow", which seems appropriate, since I demonstrate the same virtues. (To which those who have seen me shoot may attest.

And the week past when I am STILL not writing regularly, demonstrate an increased audience if only I can get out of bed and write for an hour or two in the morning. Or the evening.


URL: http://jerrythegeek.blogspot.com/

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	166	134	95	128	92	111	118	844	121
Unique Visitors	118	102	70	109	76	85	92	652	93
First Time Visitors	103	88	57	84	63	71	72	538	77
Returning Visitors	15	14	13	25	13	14	20	114	16

So I thank you "unique visitors", be you returning or first-time. You encourage me to indulge in one of my favorite activities. Writing.

You ARE an odd bunch, aren't you?

WEBRING

I've been receiving MULTIPLE complaints that some folks try to sign on and the WEBRING connection at the bottom of the website takes over ... they can't even see MY blog, let along send nasty comments.

Thankfully, most of the people who send Nasty Comments to me are personal friends, or they otherwise have my email address.

Due to these informal communications it has become increasingly clear that the options which I added in 2005 and 2006 for the convenience of my readers have overwhelmed the original purpose of this blog.

In other words, the Progressives are taking over my website!

I tried last month to take care of the few 'most popular' WEBRING sites by commenting out the code from the Template, but either it didn't actually work or the ones I 'removed' were not those which were causing problems.

I've lost patience, and it may be too bad that because of one badly-programmed function I've lost several similar functions which may not have been causing problems.

However, in fairnes to me few but faithful readers, I have today DELETED all WEBRING connections, including those which I only (tentatively) "Commented Out" ('deactivated').

That's right. I dumped them, for now and for always. They will not be available in future versions of this website. I've discarded the code; even I don't know how to get them back.

As it happens, they probably not only did harm, but did no good either. I know that I never received a comment from anyone that they were grateful for the WEBRING access; only (recently) that they could not access THIS website because they were always redirected to another WEBRING sight. It was 'vended code', Folks, and I had not access to correct their programming ... only sufficient parameter detail to join and participate in the 'community'.

I hope this clears it up for everyone. If not, I hope you will let me know at jerrydgeekblog (at) comcast (dot) net.

In other words:

"Can you hear me now? NO? Okay, then send me an email!"

PS: Latest H/T: BigDawg

Clarification from STI

Saturday (April 16, 2011) I wrote about "STI UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP", describing (based on available media releases) that Dave Skinner (and Pauletta, too!) have retired, and that the new CEO --- Tim Dillon -- plans for the new version of STI [Would that be STI 3.0?] to lend a new emphases on Defensive Handguns rather than Competition Handguns.

Today I received an unsolicited email from Rabbitt Boyett, the Marketing Director of STI, who very kindly and generously helped me to better understand their new current marketing plan.

I will reproduce his email in total in a moment, but the main point is that STI current leadership has no intention of paying less attention to it's Competition Market. In fact, as Rabbit says:
"we are planning to offer MORE support than ever".

While it's quite understandable that STI is going to work harder to broaden their appeal to the "Self Defense Market", it's impressive that they intend to put another serious effort into growing another market. I don't know where they're going to find the resources in R&D and new manufacturing, but it sounds as if they have an infusion of cash and are willing to spend the money designing and developing new market lines. And I'm assuming that the manufacturing will be moved from Georgetown, Texas, to The Philippines.

(I have to say, I'm not so happy with that. But SWMBO and I visited the Georgetown facility in 2005, and even then they were running out of room in their SteelBarn building ... and there wasn't much room, either, to expand in their current Industrial park.)

I'm impressed. I know that they have spent a lot of time, effort and money lately in developing:

• the GP5 (Polymer Frame, exposed hammer, double-action in 9X19 w/3.25" barrel)
• the GP6 (Polymer Frame, exposed hammer, double-action in 9X19 w/4.25" barrel)
• and the GP6C (Polymer Frame, adjustable sights, exposed hammer, double-stack,double-action in 9X19 w/4.25" barrel)

... these three choices make a "good start" into the Wide Wide Wonderful World of Self-Defense guns.

What can we expect to see in future Self-Defense pistols from STI?

the following are just my guesses, and yours are as good as mine, but I can identify a couple of niche markets which are becoming more popular, such as:

• Sub-compact double-action with fixed sights in 9x19, Very Short Barrel (2"?), and 6-7 round single stack magazine;
• Sub-compact in .380, similar to Compact or Kel-tec P3AT;
• Mini-Compact in calibers larger than 9x19;
  

Those are just Wild Ass Guesses, of course, but they are, or have been, fairly popular in Self Defense handguns over the past few years. (And no, I don't really think STI is going after Kel-Tec; any improvements would be in ergonomics or power or magazine capacity, and by then you're automatically in the "Mini-Compact" genre.)

So ... yes. This is, indeed, a Marketing War and STI is late in getting into it. Can they develop their own niche? I don't see it.

Can they bounce early entry manufacturers? Well, Ruger has (this month) the hottest of the hot in their LC9, and it seems as if they have already set the standard; can STI make up for ergonomics and power with excellence of manufacturing ... and if so, can the set a competitive price? Can they beat $433 for the LC9? Or will they go for the larger frame/length/weight etc and compete against Ruger's SR* series?

We don't know, but it's an exciting Next Chapter in the Never Ending Story of STI-World!

(Full text of email follows.)

Hi Jerry-

I read your post about Tim Dillon taking over as President/CEO here at STI and while that is true, there’s a little misunderstanding about just one thing: when you say “he is going to move the company away from the ‘Competition’ market toward the ‘Self Defense’ market.” While we ARE going to be expanding our CCW/LEO offerings, we are NOT going to be diminishing our support of the competition market. We fully understand that it is our competitors who put us where we are today and we are not EVER going to turn our backs on those customers and friends- quite the contrary, we are planning to offer MORE support than ever: better guns, better options, better lead times, better customer service, and better communication between us and the public. The changes will be a little slow initially as Tim is using his experience in logistics and efficiency to improve processes around here (without sacrificing ANY of the quality people have come to expect from us, btw. I’m sure you can see how that might take a little time…) Some of those changes won’t be noticeable at first to anyone that doesn’t work here, but I promise you that in a year or two everyone will be able to tell how much better we’ve gotten as a company. Tim has a very clear vision of what STI is capable of and I speak for all the other employee owners when I say that I am just thrilled to be a part of helping this company to live up to its full potential to benefit ALL shooters- competitors, LEOs, self defense folks… everybody! Thanks again for noticing, Jerry, and if you or anyone else wants to weigh in you can always reach us at Feedback@STIguns.com

Rabbit Boyett

Employee Owner | Marketing Director

512.819.0656 | Fax: 512.819.0465

l

Monster Hunter Nation

Have you read Larry Correia's "Monster Hunter" series yet?

No? Why not? You read this blog, think guns are neat and monsters are awesome (as I said ... you read this blog).

Larry Correia published Monster Hunter International in 2009. It wasn't a really major publishing house, but it sold like the proverbial condom at a nymphomaniac convention, and impelled Correia to stardom!

Well, sort of. Those of us who DID buy and, and DID like it, also bought his next book THIS year (okay, late last year if you were into pre-buying books)

I got into the swing of it after buying Book #2, Monster Hunter Vendetta, and decided that this was a series that I wanted to follow.

It doesn't hurt that he has already got a pre-release date on Book #3 in the series, Monster Hunter Alpha. No, I don't have the date it will be released, but I HAVE already pre-ordered it because .... well, it's like eating Caramel Corn.

And because he's still a 'small name' writer, they're being published in soft-cover for the low-low price of $7.99 -- not even previously owned by a little old lady from Pasadena, but entirely new with that new-book smell inside every cover.

So I'm all about Correia's fun-fantasy schtick about professional monster hunters, festooned with 1911's and M5's or whatever ... who hunt and slay MONSTERS for a living. And yes, it's really hard to get through a chapter without either reading or thinking about the phrase "Target Rich Environment".

When I found a link to the (previously unknown to me) blog that Correia has been writing for who-knows-how-long, I put off trying to eat my burned pasta for just a while longer to read the latest 3 posts at Monster Hunter Nation.

I've rewarmed dinner 3 times so far, choosing instead to pour another small glass of Crown Royal (cheap-price courtesy of snow-birder Hobo Brasser) and warm up the pasta for one minute with a few stirs of the pot to keep from burning it even more than it already has.

My advice: Check out the books (not forgetting that he has OTHER books, such as Dead Six, co-written with Mike Kupari ), and also read the Monster Hunter Nation wordpress blog. Check above for the link, okay? 'Cause it's late and I'm tired.

The think about the blog is that it seems to kind of wander down the road barely keeping between the fence posts, but every article shows the kind of verbose enthusiasm that makes me think "Gee, I write long articles; why can't they be as interesting?"

I know that unless you're not sitting at home with an hour to kill before it's late enough for you to go to bed (which implies that you don't have a television), you probably won't want to go read a blog written by someone who had the #27 "new book" on the market.

So I won't say "Go, Read The Whole Thing" (or RTWT, as bloggers say when they don't tend to overwrite).

I'm just saying, the guy can write and he has some interesting things to say.

It's not like watching a rerun of Cheer's, for Goodness Sake!

I Burned Dinner Again --- Thanks, Walt Scholl!

page7b

I started dinner tinite at 8pm, and by a quarter after I was ready to let my pasta-with-meat dish simmer for 25 minutes. I knew I needed to stir it a couple of times, but while I'm waiting it seemed reasonable to run upstairs to the computer and check my mail.

Uh huh, Mom's out of the hospital ... turned out to be nothing.

Uh huh, Digger has a "Gun Free Zone" video to show (I've seen it, posted it here last year)

Uh Huh, Walt has a link to Steve Ricciardelli's "ON-LINE MANUAL FOR EVERY GUN ON EARTH" page (as Walt referred to it). I just HAD to go check this out at http://stevespages.com/page7b.htm

It was an impressive looking website, with a HUGE list of links to manuals which the website-owner has compiled from .... well, all over I guess.

When I tried to right-click on one of the links, though, I got an error window "FUNCTION HAS BEEN DISABLED".

Ha Ha, good joke. It's a gag page. Right?

Wrong. I browsed back through the list and noticed that I had already viewed the manual for KEL-TEK P3AT. I just hadn't bothered to share this find with anyone else at the time ... which was 2 years ago. So I did a little checking. Turns out that the manuals are THERE, you just can't right-click the links to bring it up on another tab or window.

The website home page is http://stevespages.com, and if you follow that link back to the main webpage you will learn that there are many other resources available, not including firearm-related pages. For example, there direct links to about a dozen different on-line news websites.

One thing on the home page you need to note, though, is Steve's warning:

The pages you encounter inside ARE NOT for the hit-and-run user, nor are they for the hit-and-miss user. If you are in a hurry, then don't even bother entering.

I read that and laughed, then started to surf the website.

Forty minutes later I realized that I had not even stirred the pot, let alone shut off the burner, let alone stopped long enough to eat supper.

I think maybe there's some sauce and pasta on the top that I can skim off and it won't taste too burned. I've been a bachelor for a couple of decades, so I'm not entirely unaccustomed to eating burned dinners.

So, I turned off the heat, stirred the pot a little, put the lid back on and came back to warn you: as much as I recommend this site to you --- before you go check it out, please ensure that you don't have your dinner on the stove when you start reading.

I should have posted this on BUY-A-GUN-DAY! But I didn't, so I will add it to my website under "RELOADING SOURCES".

But I'll go eat my dinner first. Even if it will be cold by the time I get BACK to the kitchen

[PS: H/T Walt]