winsor

Ming the Merciless?

I am not sure what to make of Ann Coulter, since the raw poison of her delivery makes it tough to get to the substance. She is apparently pretty bright, having come up with a schtick that sells. She plays her looks well as part of the overall package. In any event, her career seems to be based on stirring the pot such that people keep paying attention. I am not convinced that her stance on any issue is anything but a calculated ploy. I would not be surprised if she turned out to be like Moshe Hurwitz, who was a truly decent human being when he was not playing "Moe Howard." Upon reflection, I gave G.W. Bush the benefit of the doubt, assuming that he was sandbagging to get his opponents to underestimate him. Okay, so I was wrong - he is truly as dumb as a box of hammers, and she may well be mean as a snake to the very core. As far as her sexual orientation goes, I do not see how that is a factor either way. Regardless of what she actually is, it would not surprise me if she worked suspicions to the contrary to her benefit. Thus, Ann Coulter could simply be a slinky bitch with a talent for air-headed venom. If that is the case, please do not link it to her sexuality (if any), since anyone that mean can give a bad name to any group. BSBD, Winsor

Wow! Ever thought about moving somewhere else?! Allow me to clarify - each make and model has been successfully used for self defense at one time or another, but not mine in particular, and never by me. I, personally, have taken every opportunity to run like hell whenever faced with physical confrontation. When someone has called me a coward as I disappeared into the sunset, they were most likely right.

I know what you mean. I've got two different sized Glocks. Both are difficult to pack around. I'm still searching for an easier way. I like carrying it on my hip, outside my pants in a paddle holster. It's hard to conceal without a coat, vest, or long shirt. They say you should carry every day, because you don't know when you'll need a weapon. I just don't do it because the bigger pistols are such a pain to carry all the time. I bought a Ruger LCP 380 a while back. There's really no excuse not to pack it around. It fit's in a pocket just like a wallet. The bottom line is that little pistols are more difficult to shoot. Small pistols usually are. It would sure be a lot better than nothing though. I put a laser on it. That makes aiming a lot easier..... Let's see, some of the pistols I have carried concealed over the years in various situations include: Beretta Minx .22 Short Astra Cub .22 Short Beretta Jetfire .25acp Colt Junior .25acp Bauer .25acp Titan .25acp NAA .22 LR Mini Revolver Beretta 21 .22LR Walther TPH .22LR Walther PP .32acp Davis Derringer .32acp Savage 1907 .32acp S&W Model 30 .32 Long AMT Sidekick .380acp Walther PPK .380acp American Derringer .38 Spl S&W Model 36 .38 Spl Astra M30 9x19 HiPower 9x19 Firestar .40 Ruger Security Six .357 Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Spl AMT Sidekick .45acp Astra 75 .45acp 1911A1 .45acp SIG Sauer P220 .45acp Ruger Super Blackhawk .44RM All of the firearms in the above list have been used successfully in self-defense at one time or another, so it comes down to what YOU prefer. My preference is the stainless variants with the highest reliability and accuracy. The little Berettas are fun toys; though James Bond was partial to the .25 Jetfire, he was ordered to upsize to the 7.65 (.32acp) PPK. The TPH would be fine if not for the rimfire ammo - it is a really keen little plinker. The Walther .380 PPK is my first choice for an all around social sidearm. With an appropriate holster, the .45acp Backup is impressive (little pistol with a BIG hole in front), but it takes more work to get good enough with it for lifesaving purposes. It simply doesn't have the ergonomics and natural accuracy of the PPK. The heavier calibers are in the Business Piece category, and require a higher level of dress to avoid freaking out the populace. The most successful arrangement I found was the 6" Security Six in a strong-side holster, tucked into the back pocket. With a windbreaker it was completely unobtrusive, but I could clear leather and be on target in well less than a second. The 1911A1 I carried in a DeSantis shoulder rig, which was very secure and comfortable, and could be deployed about as fast as the wheelgun from the hip. I never found a convenient way to carry a Glock concealed; an exposed service holster was about all the better I could do. As an aside, accuracy is an ethical requirement for anything you might possibly have to use in an antipersonnel role. You do not have the right to fire so as to put innocents at risk - EVER. The abysmal marksmanship of various LEOs (certainly not all), coupled with near-infinite supplies of ammunition, have resulted in an unacceptable level of 'collateral damage' amongst the citizenry. Bat Masterson's advice regarding conduct in a gunfight was "take your time, and don't miss." Taking that approach, a 5 shot J frame is more than sufficient. BSBD, Winsor

Exactly my point...and why I went with an ultra lightweight snubby smith wheelgun. It's not my first choice if heading to the OK Corral, but I never go there anyway. Like my car keys & pocket knife, it's just something I take along...throw it in my pocket or use an inside the pants, belt clip holster, and not make a big production out of it. I'm a fairly big person, but still - the big bore mini-autos just get to be a burden to carry all day/every day. Hurt bending or twisting sometimes, pinch getting in & out of a car...I'm not an undercover LEO, so in my daily routine I'm not intentionally putting myself in hazardous situations... Like Skydiving - if I'm just making a common sport jump I carry a good hook knife...doing CReW I carry THREE of 'em & they are much larger, because what I doing at that time raises the odds of needing it. --on a boring 4way they just get in the way. ~ Then again, THIS looks interesting! http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/20/check-out-smith-wessons-new-beast-of-a-revolver-the-backpack-cannon/ Another thing people tend to overlook when selecting a defensive firearm is the likelihood that they will likely not be wearing ear or eye protection if they ever have to use it. I do NOT recommend touching off a full-patch .44 RM or greater in the absence of hearing protection, since the hearing loss attendant upon one round can be permanent. The muzzle blast and muzzle flash of a .357 with a 4" barrel are most impressive, indeed. Either one may make if difficult or impossible see for a follow-up shot in the case that you face multiple assailants or missed with the first shot. Anything running into the 40,000+ psi/CUP range is going to be problematic in closed quarters and low light situations. What a .380 or .32 acp won't do may not necessarily see much improvement by going to a Magnum of some description. The lesser calibers are not as likely to leave you blind and deaf, however temporarily. Similar to the response time in skydiving, you may have the rest of your life to line up the next shot, so any delay in doing so is a bad thing. Thus, the biggest thing you can carry comfortably and shoot with 100% accuracy and reliability in a defensive situation without ear and eye protection is a good choice. BSBD, Winsor

One of the things I recommend is having video available the the greatest extent possible if you have a firearm around. If you adhere to procedure line and verse, you can then address any claims to the contrary with a simple 'go to video.' There are cheap dash cams out there, and having a lapel camera that you wear any time you have a firearm can save a hell of a lot of grief in the long run. It is easy to follow procedure, but it can be very difficult to prove it if you do not plan ahead. BSBD, Winsor

The only purpose for a self-defense round is to stop an active attack, period. Trying to quantify quite what will do that is tough. You have one shot kills with a BB gun and people who took multiple hits with a machine gun and survived (I was hospitalized with a couple), so there is no magic formula for what works and what doesn't. The Taylor Knockout formula emphasizes bullet mass and bullet area, while there are those who claim that Kinetic Energy is the key. Statistically, bullet construction is a big factor. In addition, the rules for high supersonic rounds seem to differ from the trans-sonic regime in which pistol cartridges operate. Add to the variability of terminal ballistics the fact that the person who warrants lethal force may well be chock full of pain killer medicine, or enough fire water to render the brain a vestigial organ, and things can be very weird. According to Evan Marshal's statistics, the most effective one-shot stopper was the 125 grain SJHP .357 Magnum and the 230 grain FMJ .45 acp was not far behind. The one thing upon which all authorities agree is that shot placement is paramount. As the saying goes, a solid hit with a .22 LR is infinitely better than 6 misses with a .44 RM. The bottom line is to have the most effective firearm that you can conceal with which you are SUPREMELY PROFICIENT. I placed respectably in a target match where the only pistol I had with me that day was a Stainless Walter PPK through which I had put many a round - keeping it in the black was child's play. Having used a pistol to keep meat in the pot for months at a time, I am absolutely confident regarding my use of a sidearm in the field against dangerous game. I agree that a 1911A1 variant is close to ideal if you can keep it concealed (and really, really know how to use it), but the .380 with defensive ammunition has a superb track record in the hands of skilled practitioners. If you are going to carry defensively, pick a sidearm that is 100% reliable, comfortable to carry, and learn to use it until it is second nature. My heartfelt recommendation is to run away from a confrontation whenever you can, either before an attack can be mounted or after the attack has been halted, with one exception - if an innocent is at risk, you have the ethical responsibility to intervene. Whichever firearm you master to the 'if I can see it, I can hit it' level will work just fine in the long run. I would include .22 LRs if it weren't for the inherent difference in reliability of rimfire priming. Practice seriously and routinely, and do everything in your power to avoid ever having to break it out. BSBD, Winsor

As far as the three plinkers you listed, they are all quite reliable and effective. It comes down to the one on which you would stake your life.l Given a satisfactory level of reliability and ergonomics, there are three major criteria for a carry pistol - size, weight and stopping power. The first two are related to actually having it on hand, and the last only matters if you are ever unfortunate enough to have to use it. Double stack .40s tend to be pretty chunky, even in their truncated form. The plastic variants are reasonably light, so that makes their bulk a little better to tolerate. They are not given to rust, so leaving them somewhere given to sweat is not as much of an issue. Depending on quite how you will be carrying, you may want to rethink your options. I know people who got a popular setup after careful review, but found they were likely to leave it at home because it was a real pain in the ass to schlep around all the time. The first rule of a gunfight is: have a gun. A smaller caliber in a lightweight single stack DAO version may well be the way to go. Kahr and Kel-Tec have firearms that go 'bang' when necessary but stay completely out of the way at all other times. There is a lot to be said for that. Like a lot things, your personal opinion is likely to change greatly after a few years of experience. Also, there is no formula that is ideal for everyone. My suggestion is to set up the Smith, use it for a while and only then gravitate to your newly developed personal preference. Bear in mind that a defensive firearm is a lot like an emergency parachute - if you ever have to use it, you are in pretty deep shit to begin with and your sole goal should be survival in largely undamaged condition. If you really need it, it may well be insufficient for the task REGARDLESS of what it is and how you go about using it. My personal recommendation is to get a good set of sneakers and learn how to use them. If it ever seems likely that the firearm might be useful, the running shoes may do a better job of keeping you alive. A moving target is hard to hit, as are distant targets. A defensive firearm need only provide you the opportunity to run like hell. As a final remark, staying in practice with both the firearm and the running shoes is a very good idea. Pick a sidearm that you like to shoot, and get a pair of high velocity shoes that you like. BSBD, Winsor

I suspect it was the father who came again. The priest's remark now makes sense. "Sex? Nun for me, thanks!" Q: How do you get a nun pregnanat? A: Dress her like an altar boy. Now Winsor, must we review sex ed for you? You CANNOT get pregnant from buttsecks. Okay, YOU be the one to break that to Richard Simmons. I warn you, he will be heartbroken.

I suspect it was the father who came again. The priest's remark now makes sense. "Sex? Nun for me, thanks!" Q: How do you get a nun pregnanat? A: Dress her like an altar boy.

She did not name the child 'Brian.' Odd.

I never said they would. The planet really doesn't mind at all, and I don't mind much. Not being in denial doesn't make one an alarmist. I just believe the climate science rather than the shills for the Koch brothers. That is where we differ. Being a skeptic, I believe nothing. There are things that I accept for their utility, but it does not rock my world when someone finds a factor in a popular equation that changes its overall meaning. Just because I like a source does not make everything they say accurate, and even the most clueless can make the odd accurate statement. Nobody bats a thousand, a broken clock is right twice a day (at least mechanical analog ones) and all that. P.J. O'Rourke observed a fundamental flaw in Environmentalist thinking, and it had to do with our propensity to view the recent past as a baseline. We tend to look to our youth and think that is 'the way things should be.' P.J.'s comment had to do with a slogan along the lines of 'Save the Bay!' or some such. He commented to the effect that the Bay and/or Earth had been through much worse and would be there long after we were all gone, and that the shrill voices were actually hoping that we could somehow maintain the Bay to our liking for the foreseeable future. This is, of course, fine, but it is a separate issue altogether. In the Boy Scouts we prided ourselves in leaving an area in a condition at least as good (to our eye) as it was when we got there. From our ethical standpoint, it was human intervention that we sought to minimize. Natural forces, OTOH, are not always pleasing to the human eye - Mother Nature is a bitch. Smokey the Bear, in the attempt to rid the U.S. of the scourge of forest fires, served to interrupt the natural cycle of burning and regrowth in large areas of the Lower 48, and the Corps of Engineers attempts at regulating the hydrodynamics of Florida and other swamp areas has had the usual range of unforeseen consequences. Environmental Science is like Oncology in that its practitioners are focused on symptom management to the detriment of overall system control. I would expect anyone who ever studied Boundary Values (as I suspect you did) to look at the limits first and to worry about the details thereafter. Picking flyshit out of pepper is a sign that someone really does not get it. Having spent many years in Postgraduate Academia, I greatly prefer the input of people who have done their homework. I do not, however, accept their conclusions out of hand, particularly when their patrons link their funding directly to clear agenda (DOD, DOE, DOA, FDA, etc.). The applicants who fail to stifle the urge to question the basis for the $1.7 Million grant are unlikely to wind up on the short list of recipients. In any event, I do not pay much attention to what the Koch brothers tout, but I am equally suspicious of anything Al Gore has to sell. If that dumb sonofabitch buys into something, there has to be something seriously wrong with it. BSBD, Winsor

By your same criteria, He would have evolved out of our consciousness long ago. Only that which is true persists. You obviously know to much about the subject to have not once searched for Him. ... A+ for cluelessness

It does not wash. When I first had a ferret as a pet decades ago, I was amazed at some of the stuff he did. I then wound up with four of them, and found out that much of what I thought was unique they ALL did (some things were, in fact, unique to the individual). An evolutionary basis for the tendency to accept the divine has been suggested by Dawkins, and it makes sense as an atavistic throwback survival mechanism. It is actually much simpler to accept perceived reality as extant without causal basis or motive than to postulate an invisible, omnipotent, infinitely powerful, complex and capricious prime mover - also extant without causal basis or motive. That, unfortunately, flies in the face of the wiring of most of us. Unfortunately, in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is not a king, he's a pariah. BSBD, Winsor

um, no.. not at all proven. Man is man made... and, I believe, so are the gods. "In the beginning, God created Man. Man, being a gentleman, returned the favor." Clarence Darrow

Come on, human lives are a dime a dozen but a Golden Globe? Now that's impressive. How could you compare being a meatware mechanic to achieving immortality? That's a no brainer.

I would prefer to avoid using the ambiguous term 'God' for most of its common definitions or interpretations, since that covers a lot of ground. One could be referring to anything from some vague notion of an unspecified presence ('God is love!') to an anthropomorphic prime mover of the universe. The idea that said universe is the brainchild of a cognizant entity of infinitely greater scope and complexity than the known universe - one that knows when we're sleeping, knows when we're awake, knows when we've been bad or good - and is revealed only to isolated desert dwellers, may be dismissed out of hand. Trying to postulate some definition that will supplant the model born of consummate ignorance is a fool's errand. Indeed, the atavistic hard-wiring for superstition may well be the downfall of our species. The reluctance to call bullshit in the face of popular delusions has resulted in disaster throughout history, and there is no reason to think we're out of the woods. What the hell, "Live for a while, die and be forgotten. So it goes" K. Vonnegut BSBD, Winsor

Define: God, M Theory

i admire him for being a man and apologizing and firing people. not only did he hold a press conference where he gave an apology but he then stood for two hours and answered questions from a frothing media. that shows some character. Hmmm. His apology appears to consist of denying any involvement, blaming his aides, saying that he was "betrayed", and firing people. Doesn't seem like much character to me. Dick Nixon's downfall was his loyalty to underlings who screwed the pooch. Admittedly, the fact that his retinue was made up of such sleazy types did not speak well for him, but that seems to be the norm in politics in general. Nevertheless, the transgression for which Nixon was taken to task was covering for his people when it came to light that they had overlooked a couple of laws in their exuberance. While I would much prefer a chief executive whose staff was clever enough to achieve their purpose in a strictly legal manner, I am unimpressed with anyone who will not take responsibility for what happened on his/her watch. When P.J. O'Rourke says "it's not my fault, and I won't do it again," it's a joke. It turns out that Christie took that as an example of how to handle the situation in which he now finds himself. Given that scum rises to the top, it is hardly surprising that someone like Christie should prevail in the cesspool that is New Jersey politics. The thing that is most surprising is that anyone is surprised. BSBD, Winsor

Holy thread resurrection Batman. The OP's long gone. Yes, but God hasn't gone anywhere. Still in your head. My invisible friend is superior to your invisible friend. (with apologies to the Onion T-shirt)

Sounds like a PA to me, or does that only apply to those seeking spiritual Truth. If someone can make such a dogmatic judgment of right and wrong, how are you any different than what you claim to despise? ... What is the saying? Something about you can't hate or love something about someone else unless you hate or love that same thing about yourself. Kinda telling Absolutely, you can only recognize or understand the aspects of your own personality and psychological makeup in others. That principle is used in counseling. "A man sees in others what he knows of himself." Socrates

It's an ill wind that blows nobody good.

I would argue that non-liberals are attacking him because he was seen as supporting (read: not visciously negative towards) Obama before the last election. I can't remember non-liberals haveing anything bad to say about the way Sarah Palin ran her governor's office. I do not think I qualify as a Liberal, but Sarah Palin strikes me as being incompetent at all levels. I am flabbergasted that she was selected as a Vice Presidential running mate.

I got about halfway into the table he was populating and concluded that the guy is an idiot. I am not curious regarding where he went with it.

I think a vindictive bully is just what we need in the Oval Office. Actually, the only New Jersey Governor for whom I would vote for President is Christie Whitman. Many years ago I walked into the office at Spitfire Aerodrome, 7N7, and the owner had a look of shock on his face. "Do you know who that was that you just drove past? The Governor!" It seems he had been having fits getting approvals for grants for upgrades to the airport, with roadblocks at every turn. Christie Whitman had walked into his office unannounced, shook his hand, and asked what he needed. For over an hour she asked key questions and took notes. She then thanked him for his time, said she would see what she could do, shook his hand and left. She had driven herself, an hour each direction in a motor pool sedan, with no police escort or press presence. The airport now has had the runway repaved, new landing lights (I had become pretty good at landing in the dark), a rotating beacon and a non precision approach. The difference between Christie Whitman and Chris Christie is night and day. I would vote for Christie Whitman in a heartbeat but I would not trust Chris Christie as far as I could throw him. BSBD, Winsor I guess you'd like Rod Blagojevitch too, then. He was a bully, and he called in at Skydive Chicago airport and asked much the same questions. The first line was facetious. For the record, the last thing in hell I want is a vindictive bully in the Oval Office. The difference between Rod Blagojevitch and Christie Whitman is night and day. FWIW, Christie Whitman did a lot of her best work below the radar. Her goal was to get things accomplished for her constituency with the greatest bang for the buck. Is Rod Blagojevitch still in prison?