winsor

Once the decision is made to shoot, you need to shoot to kill. Sometimes shooting people in non vital areas just agitates them and they then take you weapon and don't show you the same common courtesy you tried to show them. I have to beg to differ here. The only legal and moral justification for shooting when attacked is to stop the attack, and the same is true if using lethal force to halt an attack on an innocent. The difference is significant; the purpose is to incapacitate, not kill. Additionally, if someone shoots to maim they are entirely in the wrong. If you have enough control of the situation that you can selectively shoot a knee or hip instead of center of mass, you have enough control of the situation that you do not need to shoot. One should view a concealed firearm as one would an emergency parachute. For one thing, it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, since when you need it you need it badly. For another thing, if you actually need it you are in pretty bad shape to begin with, and it provides no guarantee of a satisfactory outcome. Another analogy is between CCWs and AADs. Only an idiot would enter into a situation where they were reasonably sure that that either was necessary for survival. If Z had used pepper spray or a taser instead of lethal force, he would not be as likely to have the legal troubles he now faces. Since he put himself in a position where he may (or may not) have been subject to an ass-kicking, it was his actions that resulted in his further decision to resort to lethal force - a decision for which he will be held responsible. If he was truly in danger of immediate death, I suppose being on the green side of the sod in any form is preferable. If he was simply being thrashed for being an overbearing busybody, his response was entirely unwarranted and he should not expect a lot of sympathy for his current straits. All things being considered, if he had left well enough alone and a cop then had reason to shoot the kid, the squad car would likely have video of the event and it would be easier to tell if it was justifiable. Even when armed, the best defense is found in Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail - "Run away! Run away!" BSBD, Winsor

Inasmuch as my text on Radiation Heat Transfer was the product of NASA Engineering, I beg to differ with your assertion that they are inexpert in the field. Anyone who puts forth a model which describes the climate as a single-input single-output (SISO) system is definitively inexpert. Latching onto one factor to the exclusion of all others is characteristic of someone who took a single watered-down "science" course in college and barely passed - someone like Al Gore. Though CO2 is a factor, Global Warming/Climate Change is based on the kind of science that keeps comic books in print. BSBD, Winsor

I skimmed the article, and it seems to fit what I've observed. Both of my parents are artists, so I grew up around gays without thinking much of it. Even now, my basic reaction to homosexuality is one of indifference. My brother worked for a guy who was openly gay, but still had a wife. When asked about it, he was very open. He said that he didn't want to believe he was gay, and his marriage had been part of a pattern of denial. Who wants to be a pariah? He attributed his early homosexual experiences to youthful indiscretion, and was sure that as an adult he was "perfectly normal;" see? I have a wife! Eventually he came to the realization that he was, in fact, gay, and that "normal" for him meant being gay. Needless to say, his wife had pretty much figured it out before he did, but she still loved him. I am no more offended by a gay showing interest in me than I am by a woman to whom I am not attracted showing similar interest. If anything, I am somewhat flattered that someone who is a good judge of male attractiveness considers me worthy of attention, and I have yet to have anyone take it badly to find out that I am strictly a breeder. My son gets hugs and kisses from both parents, all his grandparents and all his uncles and aunts. What will be his orientation when he hits puberty is not my call, but I doubt if the love and affection of male family members will be a threat to future heterosexuality. If he turns out to be gay, he turns out to be gay, and I will not love him one iota less either way. Who does or does not sleep with whom is generally not an issue as far as I can tell. Even if I was a real Lothario, the actual percentage of women with whom I interacted that I actually bedded would be zero to significant digits; operationally speaking, it is irrelevant if a woman is straight, lesbian, bi or celibate, regardless of how attractive I might find her (my wife is an exception). Similarly, whether a man is straight, gay, bi or saving himself for marriage is his problem. I am much more concerned with someone's honesty, reliability, intelligence and initiative than their sexual orientation when all is said and done. All told, I prefer an environment where being straight or gay is not considered a big deal. Being around people who get worked up over such things gets old fast. Blue skies, Winsor

I have an RWPC, and I love it. It is basically a short-lined MK-1 constructed of 1.5 Ripstop with 325# dacron lines. Openings are great and landings are much softer than with taffeta MK-1s. I have mulled over the prospect of making a ZP version with microline to see how it packed, opened and flew, but I do not have all the machines necessary to do the job properly without undue effort (and a few other excuses). I think a PC made with modern materials would be a great canopy, but the reality is that packing it would never be as simple and convenient as with a ramair. D-bagged into a Wonderhog, mine takes about twice the time to pack, but Packing Cathy would do it for the same price at the Convention (just to give her people the experience, I suppose). My guess is that a ZP PC with small enough pack volume to fit into (some) modern rigs would have enough of a market to justify its manufacture. Frankly, if on a big way I would prefer it if everyone had PCs than 2:1 loaded crossbraces. I have lost too many friends to canopy collisions - and still have the scars from my own - and would like to load the dice a little more for survival, but that's just me. Blue skies, Winsor

It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

I am given to reading between lines. If you have a point, feel free to make it.

Your point?

I draw the line at a double-standard. If something is reprehensible for a member of group A to say regarding a member of group B, but a member of group B gets a pass for saying something equally reprehensible about a member of group A, I have a problem with that. For example, I have been subjected to venomous racial slurs by people whose impunity was by dint of a fashionable skin color, where I would have faced charges if I had been the one uttering venomous racial slurs. Whenever a subject becomes the third rail of social interaction, things get crazy. You can have a detailed discussion of equine or canine breeds and genders, but when the species under consideration is human, all bets are off. It as though one is forced to pretend that Chihuahuas and Mastiffs are interchangeable, or that Clydesdales and Arabians must be equally represented in a race or in a team. Add to that, of course, the requirement that no preference be made to whether we have a stallion, mare or gelding. I have met exceptional people from all parts of the world, and I have come across few groups that did not have some seriously bad apples. Having said that, I think that having identical expectations of people coming from vastly different cultures is absurd. Something that might be quite normal in Osaka could be viewed as horrific in Santiago and vice-versa. At any rate, organizations with race-based agenda are, by definition, racist. I see the Aryan Nation to be no more or less racist than the NAACP or BET. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are professional racists to a greater extent than is David Duke. Having spent an awful lot more time in Africa that all but a vanishingly small number of American negroes (most of whom could not find Chad or Zimbabwe on a map), if I ever refer to anyone as an "African American" they are likely to be Berber or Boer. "Racism" is largely a cop out. BSBD, Winsor

There you go with them ten dollar words again, perfesser.

Guns are fine given that there is an obvious effort and regulations stated that keeps them out of the hands of people who are a danger with them. I am going to come pretty close to the third rail on this issue, but it is largely a matter of demographics. In Switzerland, keeping a fully automatic firearm and ammunition operational and close at hand is legally mandated, and the rate of crimes involving firearms is vanishingly small. In Chicago, it is a felony to even think hard about a firearm, and the rate of crimes involving firearms is high enough to be considered a commonplace occurrence. Take a close look at the elements of the population involved and get back to me. As I understand, the circumstances in So. Africa are pretty much the same. BSBD, Winsor

I think instructional videos should be part of the curriculum.

It is just as true as that bit about armed societies being polite societies. When I lived in Switzerland, that struck me as being very much the case.

James Bond's Aston Martin DB-4 had a pair of forward-firing machine guns, as well as an ejection seat. It was really cool - the best of both worlds. "Guns don't kill people - James Bond does."

With something like a .303 SMLE, I highly recommend Lee Collet Dies. They very accurately neck resize without touching the shoulder, which greatly reduces the problems associated with full-length resizing. Since you have a bunch of them (I only have a Ross and a No. 4 Mk. I), it might make sense to get them to some common chamber dimension. You can swap out bolts until they are pretty much in agreement and/or or you can have a talented gunsmith bring them into standard chamber dimensions. The latter approach might make sense for M-1 Garand built to National Match standards (mine is exquisitely accurate), but is likely more than is warranted for military grade Enfields. Even though the .303 is limited to 45,000 CUP, case failure is a bad thing. It is better to wear protective glasses and not need them and all that. At any rate, the kind of case failure you depicted rarely occurs the first time the case is subjected to excessive headspace, so I suspect a lot of your reloaded ammo is compromised. I tend to fire Berdan primed surplus ammo when I can, so what happens after reloading is not much of an issue. Perhaps you could headspace your .303s and only use those within SAAMI specs for Boxer primed ammo you intend to reload. The rest can be relegated to disposable-brass ammo. BSBD, Winsor

That measurement you quote is not a fixed number for all circumstances. It varies depending upon the sight radius of the particular firearm you're trying to zero. One with 4" between the front and rear sights will be different from one with 6" between sights. He said snubby, so I worked with the dimensions of a 2" J Frame. I should have been more specific regarding how I came up with that SWAG.

The first thing to rule out is trigger pull issues. A slight tweak at release that would be no issue with Goncala Alves or Pachmayr grips on a 6" Model 19 can move the point of impact quite a bit with small grips on a 2" Model 36. Shooting big groups is a sign that grip & trigger control may be involved. For a snubby with demonstrated windage issues, the only thing I can think of is to adjust the rear sight notch with something along the lines of epoxy. The center of the notch has to move 0.023" to the right for every inch the group is off to the left, so you need to fill in the left side of the sight notch enough the the center of the notch is properly aligned to center the group on target. If the desired notch is too skinny, you can then use nail polish on the front sight to compensate - and to further adjust windage as well. T do this, you need to blacken the front sight, and put a line of either white or other bright color so that it is outlined by the rear sight when the pistol is on target. The advantage of this approach is that it gives the confidence that comes from practicing with something that you KNOW can hit where you aim. In a combat situation, you then rely on muscle memory; if something is more than 6 yards from you, departing immediately is probably the best option, if it is less than 6 yards and approaching, 5 deliberate shots should be effective. Up close and personal, instinct shooting is more useful than finely honed target skills. In any event, you may prefer to simply replace your daughter's carry piece with something that instills more confidence right out of the box. The best firearm for self defense is the one on whose performance you would stake your life, and one size does not fit all. BSBD, Winsor

You realize, of course, that your use of such verbiage as 'deniers' rather neutralizes your intended argument, much like the term 'heretics' calls into question charges against people who fail to adequately support the Church. To find Al Sharpton despicable is a sure way to garner the accusation of being 'racist' - even if one merely sees him as the equivalent of David Duke with a fashionable skin color. The religious fervor surrounding the 'climate debate' is both distasteful and distracting. Monitoring the temperature of our planet should be viewed as is sticking a thermometer in the mouth of an ailing patient. The symptoms are indictative of much more life-threatening conditions, and only a fool would conclude that temperature is the primary issue in and of itself. Having 8 billion people starving to death under perfect climactic conditions is viewed as an ideal solution? Give me a break. The whole 'climate change' issue is a red herring. Do we face real and overwhelming issues in the forseeable future? Yes. Is 'climate change' on the short list? Not hardly. BSBD, Winsor

I dunno. If you're Jewish, getting wiped out en masse seems remarkably like the 'end of times.'

Boy, it sure looks like he taught her a lesson! I doubt if he was expecting so sincere a public apology from her though.

most people just assume whatever symbol they have on them means what the shop/artist says it does, they dont do any outside research on their own. The tattoo artist could have a lot of fun! Might not be too safe for the bearer of the tattoo. Chuck You do have to be pretty careful what your tattoo says. "Who's Bob?"

Given that any of our economic models seem to base "success" upon some amount of continuous growth, it seems like Oncology should be a be requisite for a course of study in Economics.

But they're AIR CONDITIONERS! Wouldn't they contribute to global COOLING? I'm so confused.

It's in the subtext of the whole thing though. The fact the guy thought his gun was the solution to that particular problem says a lot about how he deals with life in general. I'm sure there is a faction of folks out there who think he's some kind of "hero" now because he put a few holes into a laptop. However, it's not parenting; it's childish. IF, in fact, the video is actually real. IS it? Or is it simply a great way to get hits on YouTube? ----------------------------------------------------------- Yeah you are correct...pulling a gun out just shows he's more of a douche than he's letting on and he said that he was in IT. If it were me, I'd just set up a proxy server and redirect her IP traffic to the proxy that would only display pictures of animal turds to illustrate how much her attitude sucked. Sounds like if he wasnt such a cornhole, then perhaps she wouldnt be making such facebook posts about her parents in the first place. Good point. She may have been out of line for telling the world that she thought he was a schmuck, but I can't see what he had to gain by proving her estimation correct.

This is the link to the place. The geodesic dome was there into the early '90s, but now not even the slab remains. The airport bears only a slight resemblance to the way it was when Ripcords was open. If you're in the neighborhood you may stop in, but it might be hard to figure out what was where from all the remodeling. Blue skies, Winsor

Yeah, I suppose. Also, he could well have swapped out a dummy for the expensive unit and everyone could assume that he actually wasted her laptop. Also, he could have been pretending to be all warped out of condition, and his outfit could have been selected for effect, in a different manner than I suggested. I still think it would have been more entertaining if his approach had been "gee, there is something wrong with this computer if it puts stuff like this on the internet. Let's see what we can do to rectify that!" "There, that problem has been resolved!" BSBD, Winsor