I know you're all eager to see it, so I've taken a screenshot!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Lookin' good
I set up a new layout for my blog.
I know you're all eager to see it, so I've taken a screenshot!
I know you're all eager to see it, so I've taken a screenshot!
Buying AR-15s? Must be terrorists
Ryan Horsley, manager of Red's Trading Post in Twin Falls, says sales of assault-type rifles, such as military-style AR-15s, have jumped, far outselling traditional, bolt-action hunting rifles.
Why are regular people buying AR-15s? I thought they were evil weapons of war? I though they were "assault" weapons!
Could it be that they're just good rifles?
This is the disconnect that those faux-pro-gun politicians are so slow to keep up on. Joe Biden stands up and says, "I love the second amendment! I have a duck gun! That means I'm pro gun!" But the rank of hunters is dropping while the rank of shooters are growing.
No liberal politician would DARE claim to support the second amendment for *gasp* shooting paper! Oh no, guns are just for shooting furry and/or delicious animals. Just like it says in the Bill or Rights; "...the right of the people to shoot furry or delicious animals shall not be infringed."
We the people have chosen our guns.
We've chosen AR-15s.
A letter to Obama from one of the "privileged rich"
There's an awesome letter over at Joe's place. It's long, but the whole thing is very good.
Here's a snip...
Here's a snip...
If you and your liberal comrades in the media and school systems would spend half as much effort cultivating a culture of can-do across America as you do cultivating your entitlement culture, we could see Americans at large embracing the conviction that they can elevate themselves through personal betterment, personal achievement, and self reliance. You see, when people embrace such ideals, they act on them. When people act on such ideals, they succeed. All of America could find herself elevating instead of deteriorating. But that would eliminate the need for liberal politicians, wouldn't it, Mr. Obama?
In short, Mr. Obama, your political philosophies represent everything that is wrong with our country. You represent the culture of government dependence instead of self reliance; Entitlement mentality instead of personal achievement; Penalization of the successful to reward the unmotivated; Political correctness instead of open mindedness and open debate. If you are successful, you may preside over the final transformation of America from being the greatest and most self-reliant culture on earth, to just another country of whiners and wimps, who sit around looking to the government to solve their problems. Like all of western Europe. All countries on the decline. All countries that, because of liberal socialistic mentalities, have a little less to offer mankind every year.
I yelled at the radio today. I feel old.
The news played a clip from a certain socialist running for president.
"If you're going to lose your house, we're going to buy up your loan, and make you a new one you can afford. That's the American dream."
NO! That is NOT the American dream, John McCain! It is NOT the American dream to live in a government-owned house! It is NOT the American dream to give congress the power to vote restrictions on the property THEY OWN that you HAPPEN to live in!
You think you're going to be able to smoke in your government-owned house?
You think you're going to be able to use a NON-APPROVED plumber on your government-owned house?!
Wait till the government SAFETY INSPECTORS show up to make sure you're complying with all the regulations they've imposed.
Living FREE is the American dream.
Living with government assistance is NOT the American Dream. Time and time again, the government insinuates itself into new markets and imposes its will with the promise of FREE MONEY.
The states jumped at the idea of free money for their highways. But once they were dependent upon it, the government threatened to turn off that money unless the states complied with their demands.
It will happen to your house. Even if it doesn't happen in the first round of home buying.
Free money is VERY expensive.
"If you're going to lose your house, we're going to buy up your loan, and make you a new one you can afford. That's the American dream."
NO! That is NOT the American dream, John McCain! It is NOT the American dream to live in a government-owned house! It is NOT the American dream to give congress the power to vote restrictions on the property THEY OWN that you HAPPEN to live in!
You think you're going to be able to smoke in your government-owned house?
You think you're going to be able to use a NON-APPROVED plumber on your government-owned house?!
Wait till the government SAFETY INSPECTORS show up to make sure you're complying with all the regulations they've imposed.
Living FREE is the American dream.
Living with government assistance is NOT the American Dream. Time and time again, the government insinuates itself into new markets and imposes its will with the promise of FREE MONEY.
The states jumped at the idea of free money for their highways. But once they were dependent upon it, the government threatened to turn off that money unless the states complied with their demands.
It will happen to your house. Even if it doesn't happen in the first round of home buying.
Free money is VERY expensive.
Too much youtubery
Seems youtube is being ghey.
If the blog is taking a long time to load, and you're seeing it waiting on "ytimg.com" for some such image, it's the youtube preview picture. Reload, and you should get a better server.
If the blog is taking a long time to load, and you're seeing it waiting on "ytimg.com" for some such image, it's the youtube preview picture. Reload, and you should get a better server.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
What nonsense is this?!
Ofdensen does not fail!
That season finale? He's faking it. He's biding his time. He's about to spring like a cat!
OFDENSEN LIVES!
New partners in the second amendment, and polite range instruction.
Xavier has a post up about a friend of his he has been teaching to shoot. This post in particular is a treasure trove of information.
part 1
part 2
(part 3 linked in the above paragraph)
This series should be the HOW TO for introducing new shooters to the sport.
Very right.
He also likes to point out the other shooters at the range who did not get training, and lacked the basic fundamentals. At first, it seems good for a chuckle, but it's more bothersome than humorous.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with turning cash into flash and noise (that's why we buy fireworks!), but I think we should all take every opportunity we can to politely (VERY POLITELY!) show up these shooters.
I've only had success one way; shooting their gun. There are a number of ways to do this, you can choose whichever works best for your favorite range.
I'm a good shot. It took a lot of practice, and I'm a pretty humble guy, so believe me when I say it. When I shoot someone else's gun, I take extra care to make sure I outshoot them. This shows them two things;
1. The gun is not the problem.
2. They could be better.
Some people just don't care how well they shoot, and that's fine; but most want to shoot better, and jump at the opportunity to get some free advice from someone who has proven they know what they're doing. Even if they don't ask for tips, they have a goal, and a reference for improvement.
You've probably seen the indoor range anomaly where everyone's targets are around the same distance. When someone shoots at one distance, other shooters want to see how they stack up at that distance. When someone breaks the pattern, and pushes their target all the way to the back, you'll see the other targets move back. People want to see how they compare. It is a sport after all...
A month ago I was at the range, practicing standing position with my 10/22. After stacking shots at the closer ranges, I pushed the target all the way to the rear (50') so my inaccuracies would be accentuated. Two others were shooting at 30 feet pretty quietly. Usually there is a little bit of chatter. When I offered to let them shoot my 10/22, they both declined, and one commented he wouldn't even be able to see the target all the way back there. I almost offered to take off my glasses and shoot again, but thought that would seem boastful. Seeing the target isn't the problem. As long as you can identify the fuzzy blob of your target, and put your front sight in the middle of it, and squeeze the trigger correctly, you hit. The next week, I saw the same gentleman shooting his .45 at a target at 50 feet. He wasn't grouping on the paper, but he was hitting it. Two weeks later, I saw him again shooting his .45 at 50 feet, with greatly improved groups. Each time I saw him he went out of his way to greet me warmly. Might he have done that on his own? Sure. Might I have encouraged him? I'd like to think so.
part 1
part 2
(part 3 linked in the above paragraph)
This series should be the HOW TO for introducing new shooters to the sport.
As we discussed what he had learned and accomplished, QJ asked me "Why did that guy let me shoot his gun?"
"People who shoot want other people to shoot," I replied. "There isn't a more inclusive group of Americans around. He recognized you as a good guy, someone learning to shoot. He wanted to help. You exercising your rights helps him preserve his. We are all partners in preserving the second amendment."
Very right.
He also likes to point out the other shooters at the range who did not get training, and lacked the basic fundamentals. At first, it seems good for a chuckle, but it's more bothersome than humorous.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with turning cash into flash and noise (that's why we buy fireworks!), but I think we should all take every opportunity we can to politely (VERY POLITELY!) show up these shooters.
I've only had success one way; shooting their gun. There are a number of ways to do this, you can choose whichever works best for your favorite range.
I'm a good shot. It took a lot of practice, and I'm a pretty humble guy, so believe me when I say it. When I shoot someone else's gun, I take extra care to make sure I outshoot them. This shows them two things;
1. The gun is not the problem.
2. They could be better.
Some people just don't care how well they shoot, and that's fine; but most want to shoot better, and jump at the opportunity to get some free advice from someone who has proven they know what they're doing. Even if they don't ask for tips, they have a goal, and a reference for improvement.
You've probably seen the indoor range anomaly where everyone's targets are around the same distance. When someone shoots at one distance, other shooters want to see how they stack up at that distance. When someone breaks the pattern, and pushes their target all the way to the back, you'll see the other targets move back. People want to see how they compare. It is a sport after all...
A month ago I was at the range, practicing standing position with my 10/22. After stacking shots at the closer ranges, I pushed the target all the way to the rear (50') so my inaccuracies would be accentuated. Two others were shooting at 30 feet pretty quietly. Usually there is a little bit of chatter. When I offered to let them shoot my 10/22, they both declined, and one commented he wouldn't even be able to see the target all the way back there. I almost offered to take off my glasses and shoot again, but thought that would seem boastful. Seeing the target isn't the problem. As long as you can identify the fuzzy blob of your target, and put your front sight in the middle of it, and squeeze the trigger correctly, you hit. The next week, I saw the same gentleman shooting his .45 at a target at 50 feet. He wasn't grouping on the paper, but he was hitting it. Two weeks later, I saw him again shooting his .45 at 50 feet, with greatly improved groups. Each time I saw him he went out of his way to greet me warmly. Might he have done that on his own? Sure. Might I have encouraged him? I'd like to think so.
Quote of the Tam
"I have never in my life been so ready for an election season to be over and done with. I can hardly wait for the Messiah to be sworn in so unicorns will start farting rainbows on the front lawn of my gold house and I can run them over with my rocket car on the way to my governmentally-guaranteed middle class job."
From the endlessly quotable Tam
From the endlessly quotable Tam
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Kisho the Samurai
I started a Samurai (on the suggestion of someone in the irc channel), and decided to be aggressive. I tried to get my long sword leveled up as quickly as possible, so I barely used my bow. A few levels down, I found an armor shop. After some cursed/uncursed checking, I decided to buy some cheap kit. I bought some inexpensive armor and brought my armor class down to a tolerable level. Samurai start pretty lightly armored.
Down in the mine town I saw the temple was neutral, and I was lawful. Oh well. It's been a long damn time since I've seen a co-aligned temple in the mine town. I set up a small corner in the temple with my stuff and identified the cursed/uncursed status of everything, and tried on everything that was safe to try on. One of the shops had a can of grease, which I bought quickly. I wanted the can of grease to grease some of my items, because it can be useful. Greasing your outerwear (cloak, mummy wrapping, etc) will allow you to escape grab attacks, greasing your bag will make it waterproof. I did both actions, and remembered the other thing I could grease, a helmet. Greasing your helmet is to protect from a mindflayer brain-suck attack, I wouldn't be running into a mindflayer for a VERY long time, but I did it anyways.
After my kit was squared away, I decided to continue deeper into the mines to see if I can find something interesting before returning to the regular dungeon. I find a magic whistle and return to town and get an idea. I empty my bag, enter a shop, put all the items into the bag, and have Hachi, my dog, pick it up. It's easy to get your pet to pick up items, but to get them out of the shop before they drop the item is harder.. unless you have a magic whistle, and it teleports your pet to your side when you blow it. I steal the items easily with the help of my dog and magic whistle, then return to the shop and sell the items back to the shopkeep. I do this for a while, and get more money than I could possibly need. I didn't think to make an offering to the neutral priest for protection, because I didn't want to piss off my lawful god.
Surprisingly, a cockatrice appeared, and was quickly killed, leaving a corpse. I though about picking it up, and turning bad guys to stone just for fun, but I didn't really have any reason to take the chance, and didn't have any real nasty enemies to contend with. I decided to pass on it. As I wandered the town Hachi had been picking on the soldiers. Fighting a bit, then running away; well, he did it one too many times because he was killed by one of the soldiers. I was pissed, and that cockatrice corpse was still sitting there. I checked that my hands were gloved, and flew my black flag.
I picked up the cockatrice, and slapped the soldier that killed Hachi across the face with it. He turned to stone. Take that dog killer! I get the message, "You kill the soldier! You murderer!" Yeah, yeah, lawful characters aren't supposed to do that. Fuck you. A whistle blew as the soldiers descended on me. By the time I'm done the town is adorned with four new soldier statues. I realize my god is probably pretty fucking pissed at me, so I return to the temple and think about trying to convert the altar. I worried about the priestess, who would kick my sorry ass when I converted the altar, then realized that I was still holding a cockatrice. I'll probably die, but fuck it. It took a few tries, but I finally hit her with the corpse, and she turned to stone in two turns. Bam! The voice of Raijin (the neutral god) booms, "How dare you!" and he zaps me with a bolt of lightning, which I survive. I soon find a monster worth offering, and attempt to convert the altar. I fail! I converted myself! I'm now Kisho, the neutral Samurai. At first I worry about the change, but then I realize it doesn't make much difference. It occurs to me now that the quest artifact (an awesome sword) will dislike being used by me unless I'm lawful.
I sacrifice to my new god a few times, and he's much easier to placate than my previous lawful god. I use his power to make some holy water, and strip down to identify some scrolls and potions.
A little bit smarter, I leave the mines and continue down the regular dungeon. I'm surprised by the amount of monsters who won't bother you if you're neutral. What else have I been missing by playing lawful characters? On an unimportant level with not much going on, I run into an oddly strong monster; a hill giant. I evade him for a bit, then duck into a room to get him close so he won't throw a boulder at me. But when he comes around the corner, he's a FUCKING MINDFLAYER!
I freeze up, and after some careful consideration, decide it's a chameleon, and will change to something less dangerous soon. I back away from it, and try to keep a red mold between us. It doesn't work, and it catches up to me. It attempts to suck my brain, but can't get a grip on my greased helmet. Thank god I greased it! I keep hitting it while it keeps trying to suck my brain, and it changes into something smaller, and dies immediately. It leaves a chameleon corpse. If I eat the corpse, I'll polymorph. I wish I had polymorph control... I look at my unidentified rings, and decide to go for it. I lock myself in a room, check for monsters with my telekinesis, put on the two rings, and eat the chameleon. You feel a change come over you! What would you like to polymorph into? YES! I choose vampire lord, because they're fucking awesome, and the polymorph fails for some reason. Shit. I mark the rings as possibly polymorph control, and move on.
I decide to hit sokoban and unfortunately, had just gotten a new pet dog. Pets can get in the way in sokoban, but with a magic whistle, I wasn't too worried. I completed sokoban easily, and got a number of new rings and wands. Sadly, I got the amulet of reflection instead of the bag of holding... again. As I continue deeper, I lose my dog again. Shit.
In sokoban, I made myself invisible, and picked up some mummy wrappings so I could be visible when I chose. I was also playing on nethack.alt.org, which allowed other users to watch my game. I got a message of mail, which is usually logs on the linux computer I was playing on, but decided to read it anyways. It was a letter from "Jew" that said, "i see you as a . what are you poly'd to?" At first, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. After a while I realized that someone was watching me play, and had sent me a message. I opened the help where you can type whatever you want in, and typed that I was invisible. Weird. I've never had a viewer before...
Deeper I found a temple to the lawful god, complete with priestess. Luckily, it had a closet in the temple. I set up another closet there. I was accumulating a lot of stuff, and this looked like a good place to get all the new kit squared away. A short while later I had everything moved into the closet, and had picked out all the useful stuff. I kept losing pets as I was playing, and chalked it up to me fighting everything, and leveling up too quickly, resulting in tougher monsters.
A few levels down, I cleared out a bee hive, and ate a ton of royal jelly only to have a hill giant wander in. Damnit.
Around now I realized I hadn't leveled up my longsword skill recently. I checked it, and saw it was expert. I decided to work on my dual wield skill, and went into two weapon mode with a regular longsword in my other hand. Further down I found another treasure zoo, and bypassed it, choosing to go deeper. I found my quest level, and ignored it. A few more levels down I saw a mindflayer using telekinesis, and retreated. I didn't want to deal with that right now.
I went back up, and explored the levels until I got back to the treasure zoo. Eh, why not? I cleared out the treasure zoo easily, and found someone else had died there. There was a ton of stuff there, and most of it looked pretty cool. I sat on the throne there, hoping for a wish, but it was a bitch and vanished on the first try. Why can't I get a damn wish.
When dead players drop their stuff, it usually goes down a cursed level. Blessed stuff becomes uncursed, uncursed stuff becomes cursed, and cursed stuff stays cursed. I loaded up as much as I could, and went back up to my outpost in the lawful temple. After a few more trips I had everything moved to my outpost. Unfortunately, some douche bag gnome went pick-axe crazy, and dug around my door, opening my closet and my stuff to every Tom, Dick, and Fire Giant on the level. I decided it was about time to start cleaning up the nearby levels, and bring all the potentially useful kit to my outpost for identification.
I packed light, and set off with some extra tripe rations for any pets I might run into. I quickly ran into a few pets, and before I knew it, I had two cats, and a pony. Unsure of how I was going to feed the pony, and longing for a wand of polymorph, I wandered around gathering up all the kit. *Poof* my dog changes into a lizard. *Poof* my pony changes into a rock mole. There's a polymorph trap around here! I search for it, and eventually find it. Sweet! I've played with polymorph traps and polymorph control before with awesome results! Pet dragons, pet cockatrices, eating rings to make their powers permanent, or just changing into something killer. Notice that my pets are disappearing, and realize they must be going into the undiscovered magic teleporter to my quest. I decide to follow them, but not as myself. I put on my polymorph control ring, and hop into the trap. I polymorph myself into a vampire lord, but the trap disappears after I use it! Damn! Good thing I didn't start with a cockatrice or something! I hop into the magic teleporter, and see... NNNNNINNNNJAAAAASSS!!!11
I decide they're no match for an invisible vampire lord samurai dual wielding a +3 katana, and a long sword, and tear them apart. Sadly, since my pets were not optimally polymorphed into something badass, they all died in the ninja assault. (which was much tougher than the beginning of the valk quest)
I return to the dungeon, and to my outpost, and start eyeing all the sweet-but-cursed kit the dead dude left. I needed holy water. I needed a LOT of holy water. I needed to go all the way back to the mine town. It would be a long way.
I found all the nearby fountains, and dipped all the crappy potions I didn't want, turning them into water. I was loaded down with water, and started on my trip back to the mines.
On the way up, I ran into a sink I had forgotten about. I had a ring that didn't have any obvious effects, so I just said what the hell, and tossed it in. The sink revealed it was a ring of conflict. Fuck. I should have worn it more to see if its effects became obvious. Somewhere along the way, I changed back into a human. Fuck. I liked being a Vampire lord. Maybe I'll find a wand of polymorph, and re-up.
After a long trip to the mining town I sacrificed a few monsters to my neutral god, and he seemed pleased. So I dropped my water on the altar, and prayed. My god was happy to bless the water, and I was happy to have it. I dug through some of the stuff I stored there, and managed to pull out some more potions and useless scrolls, which I turned to water, and blank scrolls for writing on later. After some more sacrificing, I blessed another lot of water. I sacrificed some more, and got ready to take a chance. I put on some cursed but useful rings, and weilded a cursed but awesome sword, all picked up from the dead dude. I prayed again (after sacrificing some more), and my neutral god was happy to remove the curse of the items I had attached to me. NICE! My lawful god always found some reason to be mad, and screwed me on uncursing items I was stuck using.
So now, dual wielding frostbrand and my +3 rustproof katana, carrying tons of holy water, and eager to make it back to my outpost to get all that kit uncursed, I was ready to deck out Kisho.
After my neutral god's performance in the mine town, I kind of wanted to stay with him. Sadly, the samurai quest artifact is too valuable and useful to pass on. Maybe it will only blast me when I equip or unequip it. If it becomes too much of a burden, I'll probably just piss off my neutral god, and sacrifice to my lawful god again in the temple outpost... and hope it doesn't convert the alter, and give me two pissed off gods, and a mean priest inside the safety of my outpost.
We'll see...
Down in the mine town I saw the temple was neutral, and I was lawful. Oh well. It's been a long damn time since I've seen a co-aligned temple in the mine town. I set up a small corner in the temple with my stuff and identified the cursed/uncursed status of everything, and tried on everything that was safe to try on. One of the shops had a can of grease, which I bought quickly. I wanted the can of grease to grease some of my items, because it can be useful. Greasing your outerwear (cloak, mummy wrapping, etc) will allow you to escape grab attacks, greasing your bag will make it waterproof. I did both actions, and remembered the other thing I could grease, a helmet. Greasing your helmet is to protect from a mindflayer brain-suck attack, I wouldn't be running into a mindflayer for a VERY long time, but I did it anyways.
After my kit was squared away, I decided to continue deeper into the mines to see if I can find something interesting before returning to the regular dungeon. I find a magic whistle and return to town and get an idea. I empty my bag, enter a shop, put all the items into the bag, and have Hachi, my dog, pick it up. It's easy to get your pet to pick up items, but to get them out of the shop before they drop the item is harder.. unless you have a magic whistle, and it teleports your pet to your side when you blow it. I steal the items easily with the help of my dog and magic whistle, then return to the shop and sell the items back to the shopkeep. I do this for a while, and get more money than I could possibly need. I didn't think to make an offering to the neutral priest for protection, because I didn't want to piss off my lawful god.
Surprisingly, a cockatrice appeared, and was quickly killed, leaving a corpse. I though about picking it up, and turning bad guys to stone just for fun, but I didn't really have any reason to take the chance, and didn't have any real nasty enemies to contend with. I decided to pass on it. As I wandered the town Hachi had been picking on the soldiers. Fighting a bit, then running away; well, he did it one too many times because he was killed by one of the soldiers. I was pissed, and that cockatrice corpse was still sitting there. I checked that my hands were gloved, and flew my black flag.
I picked up the cockatrice, and slapped the soldier that killed Hachi across the face with it. He turned to stone. Take that dog killer! I get the message, "You kill the soldier! You murderer!" Yeah, yeah, lawful characters aren't supposed to do that. Fuck you. A whistle blew as the soldiers descended on me. By the time I'm done the town is adorned with four new soldier statues. I realize my god is probably pretty fucking pissed at me, so I return to the temple and think about trying to convert the altar. I worried about the priestess, who would kick my sorry ass when I converted the altar, then realized that I was still holding a cockatrice. I'll probably die, but fuck it. It took a few tries, but I finally hit her with the corpse, and she turned to stone in two turns. Bam! The voice of Raijin (the neutral god) booms, "How dare you!" and he zaps me with a bolt of lightning, which I survive. I soon find a monster worth offering, and attempt to convert the altar. I fail! I converted myself! I'm now Kisho, the neutral Samurai. At first I worry about the change, but then I realize it doesn't make much difference. It occurs to me now that the quest artifact (an awesome sword) will dislike being used by me unless I'm lawful.
I sacrifice to my new god a few times, and he's much easier to placate than my previous lawful god. I use his power to make some holy water, and strip down to identify some scrolls and potions.
A little bit smarter, I leave the mines and continue down the regular dungeon. I'm surprised by the amount of monsters who won't bother you if you're neutral. What else have I been missing by playing lawful characters? On an unimportant level with not much going on, I run into an oddly strong monster; a hill giant. I evade him for a bit, then duck into a room to get him close so he won't throw a boulder at me. But when he comes around the corner, he's a FUCKING MINDFLAYER!
I freeze up, and after some careful consideration, decide it's a chameleon, and will change to something less dangerous soon. I back away from it, and try to keep a red mold between us. It doesn't work, and it catches up to me. It attempts to suck my brain, but can't get a grip on my greased helmet. Thank god I greased it! I keep hitting it while it keeps trying to suck my brain, and it changes into something smaller, and dies immediately. It leaves a chameleon corpse. If I eat the corpse, I'll polymorph. I wish I had polymorph control... I look at my unidentified rings, and decide to go for it. I lock myself in a room, check for monsters with my telekinesis, put on the two rings, and eat the chameleon. You feel a change come over you! What would you like to polymorph into? YES! I choose vampire lord, because they're fucking awesome, and the polymorph fails for some reason. Shit. I mark the rings as possibly polymorph control, and move on.
I decide to hit sokoban and unfortunately, had just gotten a new pet dog. Pets can get in the way in sokoban, but with a magic whistle, I wasn't too worried. I completed sokoban easily, and got a number of new rings and wands. Sadly, I got the amulet of reflection instead of the bag of holding... again. As I continue deeper, I lose my dog again. Shit.
In sokoban, I made myself invisible, and picked up some mummy wrappings so I could be visible when I chose. I was also playing on nethack.alt.org, which allowed other users to watch my game. I got a message of mail, which is usually logs on the linux computer I was playing on, but decided to read it anyways. It was a letter from "Jew" that said, "i see you as a . what are you poly'd to?" At first, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. After a while I realized that someone was watching me play, and had sent me a message. I opened the help where you can type whatever you want in, and typed that I was invisible. Weird. I've never had a viewer before...
Deeper I found a temple to the lawful god, complete with priestess. Luckily, it had a closet in the temple. I set up another closet there. I was accumulating a lot of stuff, and this looked like a good place to get all the new kit squared away. A short while later I had everything moved into the closet, and had picked out all the useful stuff. I kept losing pets as I was playing, and chalked it up to me fighting everything, and leveling up too quickly, resulting in tougher monsters.
A few levels down, I cleared out a bee hive, and ate a ton of royal jelly only to have a hill giant wander in. Damnit.
Around now I realized I hadn't leveled up my longsword skill recently. I checked it, and saw it was expert. I decided to work on my dual wield skill, and went into two weapon mode with a regular longsword in my other hand. Further down I found another treasure zoo, and bypassed it, choosing to go deeper. I found my quest level, and ignored it. A few more levels down I saw a mindflayer using telekinesis, and retreated. I didn't want to deal with that right now.
I went back up, and explored the levels until I got back to the treasure zoo. Eh, why not? I cleared out the treasure zoo easily, and found someone else had died there. There was a ton of stuff there, and most of it looked pretty cool. I sat on the throne there, hoping for a wish, but it was a bitch and vanished on the first try. Why can't I get a damn wish.
When dead players drop their stuff, it usually goes down a cursed level. Blessed stuff becomes uncursed, uncursed stuff becomes cursed, and cursed stuff stays cursed. I loaded up as much as I could, and went back up to my outpost in the lawful temple. After a few more trips I had everything moved to my outpost. Unfortunately, some douche bag gnome went pick-axe crazy, and dug around my door, opening my closet and my stuff to every Tom, Dick, and Fire Giant on the level. I decided it was about time to start cleaning up the nearby levels, and bring all the potentially useful kit to my outpost for identification.
I packed light, and set off with some extra tripe rations for any pets I might run into. I quickly ran into a few pets, and before I knew it, I had two cats, and a pony. Unsure of how I was going to feed the pony, and longing for a wand of polymorph, I wandered around gathering up all the kit. *Poof* my dog changes into a lizard. *Poof* my pony changes into a rock mole. There's a polymorph trap around here! I search for it, and eventually find it. Sweet! I've played with polymorph traps and polymorph control before with awesome results! Pet dragons, pet cockatrices, eating rings to make their powers permanent, or just changing into something killer. Notice that my pets are disappearing, and realize they must be going into the undiscovered magic teleporter to my quest. I decide to follow them, but not as myself. I put on my polymorph control ring, and hop into the trap. I polymorph myself into a vampire lord, but the trap disappears after I use it! Damn! Good thing I didn't start with a cockatrice or something! I hop into the magic teleporter, and see... NNNNNINNNNJAAAAASSS!!!11
I decide they're no match for an invisible vampire lord samurai dual wielding a +3 katana, and a long sword, and tear them apart. Sadly, since my pets were not optimally polymorphed into something badass, they all died in the ninja assault. (which was much tougher than the beginning of the valk quest)
I return to the dungeon, and to my outpost, and start eyeing all the sweet-but-cursed kit the dead dude left. I needed holy water. I needed a LOT of holy water. I needed to go all the way back to the mine town. It would be a long way.
I found all the nearby fountains, and dipped all the crappy potions I didn't want, turning them into water. I was loaded down with water, and started on my trip back to the mines.
On the way up, I ran into a sink I had forgotten about. I had a ring that didn't have any obvious effects, so I just said what the hell, and tossed it in. The sink revealed it was a ring of conflict. Fuck. I should have worn it more to see if its effects became obvious. Somewhere along the way, I changed back into a human. Fuck. I liked being a Vampire lord. Maybe I'll find a wand of polymorph, and re-up.
After a long trip to the mining town I sacrificed a few monsters to my neutral god, and he seemed pleased. So I dropped my water on the altar, and prayed. My god was happy to bless the water, and I was happy to have it. I dug through some of the stuff I stored there, and managed to pull out some more potions and useless scrolls, which I turned to water, and blank scrolls for writing on later. After some more sacrificing, I blessed another lot of water. I sacrificed some more, and got ready to take a chance. I put on some cursed but useful rings, and weilded a cursed but awesome sword, all picked up from the dead dude. I prayed again (after sacrificing some more), and my neutral god was happy to remove the curse of the items I had attached to me. NICE! My lawful god always found some reason to be mad, and screwed me on uncursing items I was stuck using.
So now, dual wielding frostbrand and my +3 rustproof katana, carrying tons of holy water, and eager to make it back to my outpost to get all that kit uncursed, I was ready to deck out Kisho.
After my neutral god's performance in the mine town, I kind of wanted to stay with him. Sadly, the samurai quest artifact is too valuable and useful to pass on. Maybe it will only blast me when I equip or unequip it. If it becomes too much of a burden, I'll probably just piss off my neutral god, and sacrifice to my lawful god again in the temple outpost... and hope it doesn't convert the alter, and give me two pissed off gods, and a mean priest inside the safety of my outpost.
We'll see...
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Half
Coworker: Dude, I was just looking at you while you were programming, and you weren't blinking...
Me: No blinking. Just coding.
Me: No blinking. Just coding.
Monday, October 27, 2008
slight confusion
I just saw an anti-Dana Rohrabacher ad that said he voted against veterans.
Next was a pro-Dana Rohrabacher ad that featured veterans who supported him.
When will there be any truth in politics?
Next was a pro-Dana Rohrabacher ad that featured veterans who supported him.
When will there be any truth in politics?
Quote of the election
"It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution."
~ Barak "Constitution? Toilet Paper? What's the difference?" Obama
~ Barak "Constitution? Toilet Paper? What's the difference?" Obama
Quote of the Packin' Pooh
"I think right now people are scared Obama is going to take their rights away," said Margaret Marcus, who was carrying a Glock 19 9mm semiautomatic pistol under a blue jean jacket embroidered with "Winnie the Pooh" characters. "He's definitely anti-gun, despite what you see in the mainstream media."
How must this make a criminal feel? Who's an easy mark? Who's going to shoot back?
Friday, October 24, 2008
Saturday Oct 25th is the last day
I hope everyone thinking about buying a gun in California knows what tomorrow is...
(EARLY) Tomorrow is the latest you can purchase a gun, and expect to have it in your hands before the election results are announced.
Buying a gun at 11 am Saturday October 25th will result in your being able to pick it up at or after 11 am Nov 4th.
I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think there will be rioting at the results of this presidential election. No matter the outcome.
If this is your course of action, I HIGHLY recommend-- no, I REQUIRE you go to the range and familiarize yourself with a rental of the same gun, or similar gun. Don't forget to buy ammo for the gun before you pick it up! (preferably right after you purchase it) An empty gun ain't worth a damn, and neither is a gun you don't know how to use, or are afraid to use!
Fuck it. Why not pick up some candles while you're out? :)
LA? Can you hear me???
(EARLY) Tomorrow is the latest you can purchase a gun, and expect to have it in your hands before the election results are announced.
Buying a gun at 11 am Saturday October 25th will result in your being able to pick it up at or after 11 am Nov 4th.
I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think there will be rioting at the results of this presidential election. No matter the outcome.
If this is your course of action, I HIGHLY recommend-- no, I REQUIRE you go to the range and familiarize yourself with a rental of the same gun, or similar gun. Don't forget to buy ammo for the gun before you pick it up! (preferably right after you purchase it) An empty gun ain't worth a damn, and neither is a gun you don't know how to use, or are afraid to use!
Fuck it. Why not pick up some candles while you're out? :)
LA? Can you hear me???
Thursday, October 23, 2008
How to be a hero, then an asshole
Enter the NOC, and say "Who wants hotwings?!" And then leave during the gratuitous praise before the hungry engineers realize there are a grand total of SIX hot wings in the box.
And you're not on the IRC channel, why?
Unix-Jedi: Even if the men had received weapons training, she wrote, that "cannot alone show they are dangerous, unless millions of United States resident citizens who have received fire arms training are deemed to be dangerous as well."
Unix-Jedi: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzcyZjU2NWY4MjhkYjczYTg2ZmYyNmEyZTg0OGVkYmQ=&w=MQ==
Unix-Jedi: Well, now.
Unix-Jedi: I guess we're all equal to Jihadist in the activist judge vision
Salamander: I feel better already
ET: Wonder if I can train under a pseudonym
Unix-Jedi: You can be Hakim
Unix-Jedi: pdb is Achmed
ET: I was thinking something along the line of, hakim mohammad mohammad mohammad
Unix-Jedi: Stingray is Saleem
ET: or maybe mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad
Unix-Jedi: I, of course, shall be Mohammed.
ET: or maybe mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad al-mohammad
ET: bin-hammad
Unix-Jedi: Just so you have no image of him!
Unix-Jedi: Unless, of course, you're one of the 40% of Muslims who are OK with that, and carry one daily.
Salamander: I'll be Saleemander then
* Stingray has quit (coruscant.slashnet.org vortex.slashnet.org)
ET: they got stingray!
* ET does that crazy warbling middle-east yell
* Salamander fires rounds into the air
ET: I <3 this channel so much
pdb: dirka dirka mohammad jihad?
LATER
* Stingray (~stingray@cloak-299EEDE8.phndaz91.covad.net) has joined #gunblogger_conspiracy
ET: Stingray returns!
* ET does that crazy warbling middle-east yell
pdb: lililililililil!
ET: thank Allah you are safe, al-hakim-mohammad-Stringray!
Stingray: The joy-hating gaze of Allah, praise him, compelled me to inventory ammunition which apparently disrupted my connection to this magical box of information which I do not understand, not having invented anything in the last 2000 years other than a new way to roast a goat.
ET: ROFL
Unix-Jedi: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzcyZjU2NWY4MjhkYjczYTg2ZmYyNmEyZTg0OGVkYmQ=&w=MQ==
Unix-Jedi: Well, now.
Unix-Jedi: I guess we're all equal to Jihadist in the activist judge vision
Salamander: I feel better already
ET: Wonder if I can train under a pseudonym
Unix-Jedi: You can be Hakim
Unix-Jedi: pdb is Achmed
ET: I was thinking something along the line of, hakim mohammad mohammad mohammad
Unix-Jedi: Stingray is Saleem
ET: or maybe mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad
Unix-Jedi: I, of course, shall be Mohammed.
ET: or maybe mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad mohammad al-mohammad
ET: bin-hammad
Unix-Jedi: Just so you have no image of him!
Unix-Jedi: Unless, of course, you're one of the 40% of Muslims who are OK with that, and carry one daily.
Salamander: I'll be Saleemander then
* Stingray has quit (coruscant.slashnet.org vortex.slashnet.org)
ET: they got stingray!
* ET does that crazy warbling middle-east yell
* Salamander fires rounds into the air
ET: I <3 this channel so much
pdb: dirka dirka mohammad jihad?
LATER
* Stingray (~stingray@cloak-299EEDE8.phndaz91.covad.net) has joined #gunblogger_conspiracy
ET: Stingray returns!
* ET does that crazy warbling middle-east yell
pdb: lililililililil!
ET: thank Allah you are safe, al-hakim-mohammad-Stringray!
Stingray: The joy-hating gaze of Allah, praise him, compelled me to inventory ammunition which apparently disrupted my connection to this magical box of information which I do not understand, not having invented anything in the last 2000 years other than a new way to roast a goat.
ET: ROFL
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
RWVA Appleseed Rifle Clinic
Before I get into the details, let me quickly cover a few things that happened, and a few things that didn't happen.
Things that happened:
Everyone was taught the 6 steps of shooting.
Everyone was trained in how to use a sling for stability.
Everyone was told the story of April 19th 1775.
Everyone had their targets "read" to show what they needed to work on.
Everyone was trained with one-on-one attention.
Everyone was taught how to calculate MOA to clicks on their sights.
Everyone who needed it, got help using their gear with the training exercises.
Things that DIDN'T happen:
Nobody was turned away.
Nobody was hassled for using a scope.
Nobody was pressured to buy a sling.
Nobody was singled out except when used for group instruction.
Nobody instructing used the word "kill."
Nobody instructing uttered a single political word.
Nobody instructing said anything bad about anyone except the redcoats.
This post recounts my experience with the program, and as with all things in life; your mileage may vary.
Appleseed is a rifle marksmanship training program that is meant to teach Americans how to shoot accurately. It's run by the RWVA, the Revolutionary War Veteran's Association, which may seem like a silly name since veterans of the Revolutionary War are all quite dead. The group wants to honor the courage and memory of the Revolutionary War vets by training marksmanship.
I signed up for Appleseed because I like rifles. I like being able to shoot them accurately, and I like being able to shoot them without the aid of a benchrest. I signed up with a friend of mine who is an Obama supporter, and he was expecting to get an earful of politics when he went. I too was a little cynical, having read the complaints other people had with the program.
The day started at 8:30 at a local range. We arrived early and helped them set up the target stands at 25 meters. As people trickled in, everyone was told they could set up a spot on the line, and not to bring out any firearms yet. Everyone signed in, got an envelope packet of papers, and got two duct tape nametags to put on their front and back. The attendance was all male except for two females, and the age group went from one young boy (10?) to a particularly seasoned gentleman. Some boy scouts arrived, apparently earning their shooting badges (they still have shooting badges?!), and as soon as it seemed everyone had arrived, they started the introduction and safety discussion.
The instructors used nicknames (from the RWVA forum?) instead of their names, this seemed odd at first, but being from the internet generation I didn't care. The safety was a little longer than I was used to, but we had two new shooters. They also wanted us to repeat the rules aloud, which made sense considering not everyone was the same skill level. After talking about safety, they talked about what RWVA does; specifically teach marksmanship and tell the history of the start of the American Revolution. After that they talked about the 6 steps of firing a shot, and how mastering the rules would dramatically improve our shooting. After that they covered the range rules, and the range commands we would be hearing, and how to react to them. We were to be given preparation periods wherein we would be allowed to handle our rifles, followed by a load command where we would load a magazine filled with the quantity of rounds they specified. Pretty simple stuff, a little cumbersome for me, but all formed around keeping everyone safe.
Safety discussion concluded, we were dismissed to gather our firearms, and bring them to the range while keeping our muzzles pointed in a safe direction. There were a lot of .22s, but there were also full power rifles. An AK or two, ARs, a keltec su-16ca, lever guns, M1As, even a real-life Steyr Scout; all with or without scopes (Though there were more iron sights than there were scopes)
We were introduced to the redcoat target. A long strip of paper with red bell-shaped targets meant to simulate redcoats at the distances 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards (on a 25 meter range). It also had a small red square that was meant to simulate a "headshot" at 250 yards because the snipers of the Revolutionary War were capable of making this shot. The idea was; if we were sent back in time with our modern day rifles, and current skills, how effective would we have been against the redcoats? We were given a prep period to prepare 13 rounds, and prepare to shoot at the redcoat target from any position we wanted. We were to fire three rounds at the four targets, and one at the "headshot." (the "headshot" is called "headshot" on the paper, however, it was called a square by the instructors, except for the last time shooting at it on the second day)
We were given the "load" command, followed shortly by the "fire" command. The berms of the range were meant to direct the sound upward, and I couldn't help but enjoy the sound of my .22 going off next to some 308s and 223s. Whenever someone with a .22 shot, all you could hear was *click!* *sssssh* *wap!* It took a little bit, but I soon realized that the *wap* was the sound of the round hitting the paper and plastic target board. I had brought two magazines, so I shot off my 10 rounds, changed mags to the other one loaded with three, and finished.
Three shots on a target "qualifies" you for that target. Two and one do not count. My results were less than satisfactory... I can't find the first redcoat target I did, but I was not sighted in correctly, and hit about three inches high. Even accounting for the three inch high sighting, my grouping meant I only got three shots on the 100 yard target. The rest were too wide to get all three on the target. When we checked our targets we raised our hands to indicate how well we did. We didn't do very well. We were assured by the instructors that this target was just for comparison after the class was over.
We returned to the line and had an instruction session to cover the 6 steps of firing a shot. They used visual aids for sight alignment of peep sights, and taught a 6 o'clock hold (I bisected the target), but told us it didn't matter as long as we knew how we were aiming, and were consistent.
The six steps to firing a shot were sight alignment, sight picture, respiratory pause, focusing your eye on the front sight and focusing your mind on keeping the sights on target, squeeze the trigger, and follow through. Each step was covered in detail, and explained with examples. We were made to repeat the steps to make sure we knew them, and then we returned to the line to shoot some one inch squares
I adjusted my front sight slightly to reflect the high shooting I was doing (really just gave it a few turns), and decided to do a 6 o'clock hold. After my shoddy performance on the redcoat target, I unhooked the rear of the sling and looped it around my arm for increased stability. I knew I could do better, and I did.
The first group I shot was the one in the middle. 5 shots, all within the black square. I lucked out on the front sight adjustment, but I was just a little too pleased with myself.
At the targets, everyone got an individual review on their target, and were given recommendations on how to improve. We were gathered around some targets as examples to show how you group when you jerk the trigger, push your shoulder, breathe wrong, or don't have your elbows in the right spot. It was all pretty interesting. The holes in the paper were no longer pass or fail, but an indicator of what you were doing wrong, and how to fix it.
We continued shooting the squares until we started developing groups. My groups were getting worse, and I was having trouble identifying the problem. Feh. After we had a few groups on the paper, they told us how to adjust our sights (and recommended we NOT adjust until we had 5 MOA groups) and how to figure inches, minutes, and clicks. Everyone was helped with figuring their sight adjustments where applicable, and we shot some more groups.
We were then introduced to natural point of aim. We were told how to develop our natural point of aim (NPOA), and how to adjust it in the different positions. NPOA is finding where your relaxed body points the rifle while in a properly formed shooting position. I was already introduced to natural point of aim, and thought I knew the right way to use it. We shot some more squares, and switched to some green bell-shaped targets.
After a few more groups we were excused to lunch in some nearby shade. Midway through the lunch, One of the instructors walked into the middle of the group, and recounted some of the history of April 19th 1775, the first day of the American Revolutionary War. The instructors switched off recounting a timeline for the day. The emphasis was on the very real dangers of the day, and the bravery of a bunch of farmers organizing to attack the best fighting force in the world. Being shot in the foot could have been a death sentence, and any maleficence or perceived maleficence against the British meant immediate death.
The passed around musket balls, and showed off British bayonets that threatened the militias of the day. As the story was told, important shots such as the shot heard 'round the world were punctuated by a musket fired by one of the instructors at the range.
I found the history interesting, and really had no idea of the specifics of that day in our history. They then talked about California, and how they were opening up many new Appleseeds in the state. They wanted us to understand that gun owners in California are not alone, and that the only way we're going to change things is by bringing people to the range. Most gun owners in California are "closeted," and need to be willing to be open about their gun ownership (where safe) and offer to bring people to the range.
After lunch, we returned to the line and did a ball-and-dummy (?) exercise wherein, one person shoots, while another loads the shooter's magazine, and watches for shooting mistakes. The magazine could be loaded or unloaded to bring out the flinch, blink, and other bad habits of shooting. Everyone seemed to find this exercise very educational.
We then began training to participate in Appleseed's measure of shooting ability, the AQT. From what I gathered, the AQT was an adaptation on the Army's shooting qualification target. It doubled the score on the bottom row, and used a low contrast gray bell-shaped target to simulate targets that were difficult to see. Scoring 210 or above qualified you for Expert, and got you Appleseed's Rifleman patch.
We practiced switching shooting positions, and learned tricks to track our body positions for our previously established NPOA. The AQT was to be shot, 10 shots standing into a 100 yard target, switch to sitting position and shoot 10 shots at two 200 yard targets, switch to prone and shoot 10 shots at three 300 yard targets, then 10 shots at four 400 yard targets. 40 shots at 10 targets from three positions in four minutes. After practicing on some green AQT targets, and having our positions tweaked by instructors, we ran the AQT.
I fail!
I scored unqualified on the first AQT. I was confused as to why I was getting worse as the day wore on, but just chalked it up to fatigue. (only had 4 hours of sleep)
We packed up, and wrapped up for the day, and two of the boy scouts who had been shooting in the next range over showed us all up by making Rifleman on the first day.
Back in the comfort of my home, I was tired, sunburned, sore, and annoyed with myself. The friends I met there were not going to be going to the second day, and I knew I was going to be sore. I carpooled there the first day, but would have to drive myself the second. I really felt like skipping the second day. My crappy AQT score made me go.
SO! Up bright and early the next day, sore as hell, and feeling two decades older, I made my way to the range.
The turnout seemed to be a little under three quarters of what it was the first day, which suited us just fine, because the first day was crowded. We all kept our firearms in the car again while we set up our positions on the line. After another safety discussion we were allowed to return with our firearms. The second day was going to be about polishing what we'd learned the first day, and shooting AQTs. I was glad for the chance to redeem myself.
This time around we seemed to have even more individual attention, and were given tips, and corrections to improve our shooting. I was shooting like I was the beginning of the first day, and was afraid I'd lose it again. Thankfully, the skill seemed to remain. I think I was able to shoot properly when rested, but once fatigued, I needed to rely on proper NPOA to shoot consistently well, and my NPOA needed work.
As we shot the individual attention we got kept my groups consistent. Using my hips to adjust my NPOA instead of my muscles or breath or feet gave me the boost I needed to shrink my groups a little bit more. We did an NPOA exercise where we found our NPOA, and sighted in on the target. A card was used to block view of the target, we closed our eyes, and took a deep breath. After we were settled again, the card was removed, and we would see if our NPOA really was on the target. Here's where I discovered my NPOA was slipping because my sling (non GI web sling) was too big to get totally tight. I tightened it as much as I could, and was rewarded with tighter groups.
Lunch had some more stories from the Revolutionary War, the second day focused on individuals who were unable to serve in the war officially, but participated in their own way. Individuals who stood out for bravery or effectiveness in the war. These stories were very entertaining, and seemed to go over better than the first day's history.
We started shooting AQTs, and I realized that proper NPOA was making a huge difference. We shot AQTs in stages broken up by reloading and preparation times, and I was seriously improving.
I scored a 187 on the last "staged" AQT test, then we did a "speed" AQT, where all the stages were shot start to finish in 4 minutes. This required 40 available rounds, and I only had two 10 round magazines (having read you only needed two mags for mag change exercises). Fortunately, the instructors were willing to help us by load the empty mag while we shot the the other one.
I was a little worried about the speed AQT, because I felt rushed in the first AQT, and wondered it it was fatigue, or anxiety of the time limit.
I only score 4 points less than the broken up AQT
We continued shooting AQTs, and continued getting tips on our positions, I gradually improved until I scored my best score on the AQT.
4 points short of a Rifleman patch.
We wrapped up by shooting the redcoats as he had the beginning of the first day.
From left to right; End of first day, beginning of second day, end of second day. I described my first redcoat target, and feel that this is a pretty good indication of how the instruction helped me improve.
As we wrapped up, we had one attendee who achieved the Rifleman patch. At first I was a little jealous for having come so close, but when he described the training he did at home, and the three Appleseeds he had attended, I realized it was a little arrogant of me to expect to get my patch on my first Appleseed. During the wrap up, they talked briefly about politics. I readied my guard, and prepared for the worst, but all that was said was, "Think before you vote."
I left with some contact information for the people I had met there. I'm always pleasantly surprised how friendly gun people are. Everyone called eachother by their first name (thanks to the nametags), and was helpful and supportive. Thinking back, I can't think of a single bit of negativity that was expressed. I only head the word "cook" twice, and can only remember people being impressed with their improvements, no matter the level.
One of my friends who attended was new to rifles, and began the first day having difficulty staying on the paper, but ended the same day with five inch groups. He said he understood what he was doing now, and knew what he needed to work on to improve.
I enjoyed some delicious humble pie the first day, and realized that I really needed to allow them to direct me to get the most out of the class. My second day results speak for themselves. To be completely honest, I went into the class wanting the Rifleman patch. I practiced at home with whatever instructions I could find online, and was pretty sure I was going to get it the first class. I realized that being able to shoot a Rifleman score is more involved than just showing up, getting the patch, and moving on. I needed to be able to shoot a Rifleman score consistently, and improve it. That wasn't going to happen in one class.
Throughout the class there was an emphasis on the need for volunteers for the program. It was repeated, but not hammered, or pressured.
I'm going to be attending the next Appleseed at the same range in December. I will be practicing until then. I still want a Rifleman patch, and want to try the class with something bigger than a .22.
If you have any specific questions about my experience, please don't hesitate to ask them in the comments.
Things that happened:
Everyone was taught the 6 steps of shooting.
Everyone was trained in how to use a sling for stability.
Everyone was told the story of April 19th 1775.
Everyone had their targets "read" to show what they needed to work on.
Everyone was trained with one-on-one attention.
Everyone was taught how to calculate MOA to clicks on their sights.
Everyone who needed it, got help using their gear with the training exercises.
Things that DIDN'T happen:
Nobody was turned away.
Nobody was hassled for using a scope.
Nobody was pressured to buy a sling.
Nobody was singled out except when used for group instruction.
Nobody instructing used the word "kill."
Nobody instructing uttered a single political word.
Nobody instructing said anything bad about anyone except the redcoats.
This post recounts my experience with the program, and as with all things in life; your mileage may vary.
Appleseed is a rifle marksmanship training program that is meant to teach Americans how to shoot accurately. It's run by the RWVA, the Revolutionary War Veteran's Association, which may seem like a silly name since veterans of the Revolutionary War are all quite dead. The group wants to honor the courage and memory of the Revolutionary War vets by training marksmanship.
I signed up for Appleseed because I like rifles. I like being able to shoot them accurately, and I like being able to shoot them without the aid of a benchrest. I signed up with a friend of mine who is an Obama supporter, and he was expecting to get an earful of politics when he went. I too was a little cynical, having read the complaints other people had with the program.
The day started at 8:30 at a local range. We arrived early and helped them set up the target stands at 25 meters. As people trickled in, everyone was told they could set up a spot on the line, and not to bring out any firearms yet. Everyone signed in, got an envelope packet of papers, and got two duct tape nametags to put on their front and back. The attendance was all male except for two females, and the age group went from one young boy (10?) to a particularly seasoned gentleman. Some boy scouts arrived, apparently earning their shooting badges (they still have shooting badges?!), and as soon as it seemed everyone had arrived, they started the introduction and safety discussion.
The instructors used nicknames (from the RWVA forum?) instead of their names, this seemed odd at first, but being from the internet generation I didn't care. The safety was a little longer than I was used to, but we had two new shooters. They also wanted us to repeat the rules aloud, which made sense considering not everyone was the same skill level. After talking about safety, they talked about what RWVA does; specifically teach marksmanship and tell the history of the start of the American Revolution. After that they talked about the 6 steps of firing a shot, and how mastering the rules would dramatically improve our shooting. After that they covered the range rules, and the range commands we would be hearing, and how to react to them. We were to be given preparation periods wherein we would be allowed to handle our rifles, followed by a load command where we would load a magazine filled with the quantity of rounds they specified. Pretty simple stuff, a little cumbersome for me, but all formed around keeping everyone safe.
Safety discussion concluded, we were dismissed to gather our firearms, and bring them to the range while keeping our muzzles pointed in a safe direction. There were a lot of .22s, but there were also full power rifles. An AK or two, ARs, a keltec su-16ca, lever guns, M1As, even a real-life Steyr Scout; all with or without scopes (Though there were more iron sights than there were scopes)
We were introduced to the redcoat target. A long strip of paper with red bell-shaped targets meant to simulate redcoats at the distances 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards (on a 25 meter range). It also had a small red square that was meant to simulate a "headshot" at 250 yards because the snipers of the Revolutionary War were capable of making this shot. The idea was; if we were sent back in time with our modern day rifles, and current skills, how effective would we have been against the redcoats? We were given a prep period to prepare 13 rounds, and prepare to shoot at the redcoat target from any position we wanted. We were to fire three rounds at the four targets, and one at the "headshot." (the "headshot" is called "headshot" on the paper, however, it was called a square by the instructors, except for the last time shooting at it on the second day)
We were given the "load" command, followed shortly by the "fire" command. The berms of the range were meant to direct the sound upward, and I couldn't help but enjoy the sound of my .22 going off next to some 308s and 223s. Whenever someone with a .22 shot, all you could hear was *click!* *sssssh* *wap!* It took a little bit, but I soon realized that the *wap* was the sound of the round hitting the paper and plastic target board. I had brought two magazines, so I shot off my 10 rounds, changed mags to the other one loaded with three, and finished.
Three shots on a target "qualifies" you for that target. Two and one do not count. My results were less than satisfactory... I can't find the first redcoat target I did, but I was not sighted in correctly, and hit about three inches high. Even accounting for the three inch high sighting, my grouping meant I only got three shots on the 100 yard target. The rest were too wide to get all three on the target. When we checked our targets we raised our hands to indicate how well we did. We didn't do very well. We were assured by the instructors that this target was just for comparison after the class was over.
We returned to the line and had an instruction session to cover the 6 steps of firing a shot. They used visual aids for sight alignment of peep sights, and taught a 6 o'clock hold (I bisected the target), but told us it didn't matter as long as we knew how we were aiming, and were consistent.
The six steps to firing a shot were sight alignment, sight picture, respiratory pause, focusing your eye on the front sight and focusing your mind on keeping the sights on target, squeeze the trigger, and follow through. Each step was covered in detail, and explained with examples. We were made to repeat the steps to make sure we knew them, and then we returned to the line to shoot some one inch squares
I adjusted my front sight slightly to reflect the high shooting I was doing (really just gave it a few turns), and decided to do a 6 o'clock hold. After my shoddy performance on the redcoat target, I unhooked the rear of the sling and looped it around my arm for increased stability. I knew I could do better, and I did.
The first group I shot was the one in the middle. 5 shots, all within the black square. I lucked out on the front sight adjustment, but I was just a little too pleased with myself.
At the targets, everyone got an individual review on their target, and were given recommendations on how to improve. We were gathered around some targets as examples to show how you group when you jerk the trigger, push your shoulder, breathe wrong, or don't have your elbows in the right spot. It was all pretty interesting. The holes in the paper were no longer pass or fail, but an indicator of what you were doing wrong, and how to fix it.
We continued shooting the squares until we started developing groups. My groups were getting worse, and I was having trouble identifying the problem. Feh. After we had a few groups on the paper, they told us how to adjust our sights (and recommended we NOT adjust until we had 5 MOA groups) and how to figure inches, minutes, and clicks. Everyone was helped with figuring their sight adjustments where applicable, and we shot some more groups.
We were then introduced to natural point of aim. We were told how to develop our natural point of aim (NPOA), and how to adjust it in the different positions. NPOA is finding where your relaxed body points the rifle while in a properly formed shooting position. I was already introduced to natural point of aim, and thought I knew the right way to use it. We shot some more squares, and switched to some green bell-shaped targets.
After a few more groups we were excused to lunch in some nearby shade. Midway through the lunch, One of the instructors walked into the middle of the group, and recounted some of the history of April 19th 1775, the first day of the American Revolutionary War. The instructors switched off recounting a timeline for the day. The emphasis was on the very real dangers of the day, and the bravery of a bunch of farmers organizing to attack the best fighting force in the world. Being shot in the foot could have been a death sentence, and any maleficence or perceived maleficence against the British meant immediate death.
The passed around musket balls, and showed off British bayonets that threatened the militias of the day. As the story was told, important shots such as the shot heard 'round the world were punctuated by a musket fired by one of the instructors at the range.
I found the history interesting, and really had no idea of the specifics of that day in our history. They then talked about California, and how they were opening up many new Appleseeds in the state. They wanted us to understand that gun owners in California are not alone, and that the only way we're going to change things is by bringing people to the range. Most gun owners in California are "closeted," and need to be willing to be open about their gun ownership (where safe) and offer to bring people to the range.
After lunch, we returned to the line and did a ball-and-dummy (?) exercise wherein, one person shoots, while another loads the shooter's magazine, and watches for shooting mistakes. The magazine could be loaded or unloaded to bring out the flinch, blink, and other bad habits of shooting. Everyone seemed to find this exercise very educational.
We then began training to participate in Appleseed's measure of shooting ability, the AQT. From what I gathered, the AQT was an adaptation on the Army's shooting qualification target. It doubled the score on the bottom row, and used a low contrast gray bell-shaped target to simulate targets that were difficult to see. Scoring 210 or above qualified you for Expert, and got you Appleseed's Rifleman patch.
We practiced switching shooting positions, and learned tricks to track our body positions for our previously established NPOA. The AQT was to be shot, 10 shots standing into a 100 yard target, switch to sitting position and shoot 10 shots at two 200 yard targets, switch to prone and shoot 10 shots at three 300 yard targets, then 10 shots at four 400 yard targets. 40 shots at 10 targets from three positions in four minutes. After practicing on some green AQT targets, and having our positions tweaked by instructors, we ran the AQT.
I fail!
I scored unqualified on the first AQT. I was confused as to why I was getting worse as the day wore on, but just chalked it up to fatigue. (only had 4 hours of sleep)
We packed up, and wrapped up for the day, and two of the boy scouts who had been shooting in the next range over showed us all up by making Rifleman on the first day.
Back in the comfort of my home, I was tired, sunburned, sore, and annoyed with myself. The friends I met there were not going to be going to the second day, and I knew I was going to be sore. I carpooled there the first day, but would have to drive myself the second. I really felt like skipping the second day. My crappy AQT score made me go.
SO! Up bright and early the next day, sore as hell, and feeling two decades older, I made my way to the range.
The turnout seemed to be a little under three quarters of what it was the first day, which suited us just fine, because the first day was crowded. We all kept our firearms in the car again while we set up our positions on the line. After another safety discussion we were allowed to return with our firearms. The second day was going to be about polishing what we'd learned the first day, and shooting AQTs. I was glad for the chance to redeem myself.
This time around we seemed to have even more individual attention, and were given tips, and corrections to improve our shooting. I was shooting like I was the beginning of the first day, and was afraid I'd lose it again. Thankfully, the skill seemed to remain. I think I was able to shoot properly when rested, but once fatigued, I needed to rely on proper NPOA to shoot consistently well, and my NPOA needed work.
As we shot the individual attention we got kept my groups consistent. Using my hips to adjust my NPOA instead of my muscles or breath or feet gave me the boost I needed to shrink my groups a little bit more. We did an NPOA exercise where we found our NPOA, and sighted in on the target. A card was used to block view of the target, we closed our eyes, and took a deep breath. After we were settled again, the card was removed, and we would see if our NPOA really was on the target. Here's where I discovered my NPOA was slipping because my sling (non GI web sling) was too big to get totally tight. I tightened it as much as I could, and was rewarded with tighter groups.
Lunch had some more stories from the Revolutionary War, the second day focused on individuals who were unable to serve in the war officially, but participated in their own way. Individuals who stood out for bravery or effectiveness in the war. These stories were very entertaining, and seemed to go over better than the first day's history.
We started shooting AQTs, and I realized that proper NPOA was making a huge difference. We shot AQTs in stages broken up by reloading and preparation times, and I was seriously improving.
I scored a 187 on the last "staged" AQT test, then we did a "speed" AQT, where all the stages were shot start to finish in 4 minutes. This required 40 available rounds, and I only had two 10 round magazines (having read you only needed two mags for mag change exercises). Fortunately, the instructors were willing to help us by load the empty mag while we shot the the other one.
I was a little worried about the speed AQT, because I felt rushed in the first AQT, and wondered it it was fatigue, or anxiety of the time limit.
I only score 4 points less than the broken up AQT
We continued shooting AQTs, and continued getting tips on our positions, I gradually improved until I scored my best score on the AQT.
4 points short of a Rifleman patch.
We wrapped up by shooting the redcoats as he had the beginning of the first day.
From left to right; End of first day, beginning of second day, end of second day. I described my first redcoat target, and feel that this is a pretty good indication of how the instruction helped me improve.
As we wrapped up, we had one attendee who achieved the Rifleman patch. At first I was a little jealous for having come so close, but when he described the training he did at home, and the three Appleseeds he had attended, I realized it was a little arrogant of me to expect to get my patch on my first Appleseed. During the wrap up, they talked briefly about politics. I readied my guard, and prepared for the worst, but all that was said was, "Think before you vote."
I left with some contact information for the people I had met there. I'm always pleasantly surprised how friendly gun people are. Everyone called eachother by their first name (thanks to the nametags), and was helpful and supportive. Thinking back, I can't think of a single bit of negativity that was expressed. I only head the word "cook" twice, and can only remember people being impressed with their improvements, no matter the level.
One of my friends who attended was new to rifles, and began the first day having difficulty staying on the paper, but ended the same day with five inch groups. He said he understood what he was doing now, and knew what he needed to work on to improve.
I enjoyed some delicious humble pie the first day, and realized that I really needed to allow them to direct me to get the most out of the class. My second day results speak for themselves. To be completely honest, I went into the class wanting the Rifleman patch. I practiced at home with whatever instructions I could find online, and was pretty sure I was going to get it the first class. I realized that being able to shoot a Rifleman score is more involved than just showing up, getting the patch, and moving on. I needed to be able to shoot a Rifleman score consistently, and improve it. That wasn't going to happen in one class.
Throughout the class there was an emphasis on the need for volunteers for the program. It was repeated, but not hammered, or pressured.
I'm going to be attending the next Appleseed at the same range in December. I will be practicing until then. I still want a Rifleman patch, and want to try the class with something bigger than a .22.
If you have any specific questions about my experience, please don't hesitate to ask them in the comments.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
John Stossel: Politically Incorrect Guid to Politics
This is the winning play. Fight for less government in all aspects.
Watch them all. Pass them along.
Part 1 of 6:
Part 2 of 6:
Part 3 of 6:
Part 4 of 6:
Part 5 of 6:
Part 6 of 6:
From The Economists Cookbook
Watch them all. Pass them along.
Part 1 of 6:
Part 2 of 6:
Part 3 of 6:
Part 4 of 6:
Part 5 of 6:
Part 6 of 6:
From The Economists Cookbook
Monday, October 20, 2008
More Awesome
Animated general Grievous kicks 11 different kinds of ass.
For a shortcut to the awesome, skip to 4:25.
Where was this shit in the live action movies?!
For a shortcut to the awesome, skip to 4:25.
Where was this shit in the live action movies?!
Taste of the Clone Wars Animated Series
As always Gendy Tartakovski's animation style, and sense of scale impresses.
The clone wars
Star Wars The Clone Wars, directed by Samurai Jack animator Gendy Tartakovsky was the only recent Star Wars worth seeing.
It was the shit.
Gonna see if I can find some videos...
It was the shit.
Gonna see if I can find some videos...
Missed it by 4 points
Almost scored expert at this weekend's Appleseed shoot.
A full post is in process, and should be out tomorrow.
In the mean time, Arbys has a 2 for $5 sub deal that is quite good.
See you guys tomorrow.
A full post is in process, and should be out tomorrow.
In the mean time, Arbys has a 2 for $5 sub deal that is quite good.
See you guys tomorrow.
Friday, October 17, 2008
MiniDiscs from heaven
Minidiscs didn't catch on here in America. Which made it even stranger for me to see an unmarked minidisc lying on the ground in a parking lot.
Even stranger was that it was good.
It was some Japanese band with a good beat, and I'm not sure if it was the novelty, or that it was found music, but I loved it.
Thanks to the internet I was able to find some info on the group, and one of the songs on youtube. Gotta love the internet.
Namie Amuro - Respect the Power of Love
Even stranger was that it was good.
It was some Japanese band with a good beat, and I'm not sure if it was the novelty, or that it was found music, but I loved it.
Thanks to the internet I was able to find some info on the group, and one of the songs on youtube. Gotta love the internet.
Namie Amuro - Respect the Power of Love
The dignity of free (wo)men
Ethics from the Barrel of a Gun
This is quite possibly the best essay about gun ownership and personal responsibility I've ever read.
If you have to choose between reading this and reading my blog for a year, read this.
Bookmark it. Put it on your to-do list. Write down the tinyurl link (http://tinyurl.com/mgmk) on the back of your hand. ANYTHING.
Read it.
Share it.
Live it.
This is quite possibly the best essay about gun ownership and personal responsibility I've ever read.
If you have to choose between reading this and reading my blog for a year, read this.
Bookmark it. Put it on your to-do list. Write down the tinyurl link (http://tinyurl.com/mgmk) on the back of your hand. ANYTHING.
Read it.
Share it.
Live it.
Quote of the depression
This.
The entire post is the quote of the day.
It's impossible to pick anything out. The whole post is made of win.
The entire post is the quote of the day.
It's impossible to pick anything out. The whole post is made of win.
VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO
IT'S CRUCIAL THAT YOU SEE THIS VIDEO IMMEDIATELY, AND FORWARD IT TO ANY VOTER WORRIED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT NATION!
PLEASE EXCUSE MY ALL CAPS, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WATCH IMMEDIATELY!
PLEASE EXCUSE MY ALL CAPS, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WATCH IMMEDIATELY!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Old Valk, New Valk, Hungry Valk, Dead Valk.
There was a bit of talk on the IRC channel about Nethack, and by the next day it had sunk in enough that I wanted to play. So I connected to alt.org's nethack server.
(you can play too, just click here)
telnet://nethack.alt.org
I rejoined a long forgotten game in progress. My Valkyrie was in the mine town, hanging around near a stockpile inside a co-aligned temple. Sweet! I've got a co-aligned altar, a pile of stuff, pretty good kit. Missing a pet, but that's easily remedied. I stepped toward the door to leave and rediscover the town, and the priestess attacked me, and blinded me. Oh yeah, I remember! I attacked her on accident! ... And now I'm going to die. And die I did.
I started a new game and picked up an unidentified wand in the first room. A newt approached me menacingly, and I stepped close to it, and zapped it to see what the wand did. In the next turn two things happened. The newt was hit by the wand, now identified as a wand of polymorph, and turned into a random monster, in this case, a fucking green dragon. Secondly, my pet kitten stepped between me and aforementioned dragon. It was green dragon, kitten, me. I'm literally 6 turns into this new game, and about to be obliterated by a dragon's blast of acid. With my kitten in the way I couldn't polymorph the former newt into something less menacing. Wait. Could I? I don't remember if polymorph wands effected multiple spaces... Well, it's not like I've got any other choices. I zap the wand again and my kitten changes into an acid blob, and the green dragon changes into a dingo. Whew! Ok, polymorph wands work on multiple spaces. I take care of the dingo, and zap my pet a few times to see if I can turn it into something more useful. After a few zaps I've got a pet bugbear, and figure it's good enough for a wand with an unknown number of charges left. I name him Bugs.
I weild my dagger to get my dagger skill up quickly, and to increase my chance to hit, and continue deeper. I try to let Bugs do most of the fighting, but he seems unsure of himself. We luck out and find an alter (non-aligned) on the second level, and I greedily identify the status of all my kit. When we make it to the mines, Bugs is almost useless. In the darkness I can't just dance around him while he decides whether or not he's going to smash a nearby Gnome, and wind up taking on most of the monsters there. I instantly go from level 1 to level 5. Oh well.
We progress with few problems, I have a ton of kit to sort out, and Bugs picks up some armor and a short sword and becomes much more willing to jump into the fray. We make it to the mine town and are greeted with a few killer bees and an invisible centuar, we have a little trouble, but get through it OK. I start gathering the dropped items, and in walks one of the most dangerous things to early characters. A swarm of bugs. Even worse; a swarm of fireants. I'm several spaces from the up stairs, and I don't have a place where I can back into and take them one at a time. I'm about to have some problems. I move forward to keep my escape open and manage to take one out before I start getting in real trouble. I run for the stairs and barely make it.
Upstairs I go through some of the kit I gathered, and heal up to half my hit points and try to go downstairs again. I jump right back into the fight, and am almost surrounded by fireants as soon as I go down. I keep an eye on my hit points and stupidly don't attack the fireant Bugs is fighting to thin the ranks. I switch to attack the same one and drop one before I get too badly hurt, and escape upstairs. I do this three more times before all the fireants are gone, fortunately Bugs hadn't gone feral during the time I spent healing upstairs.
The town holds nothing of particular interest. An unaligned temple, a hardware store with a bag of tricks in it, and no general store. I notice a ghost hanging out in a corridor, and ignore it for now since it doesn't seem to be interested in me. I realize this is a bones level (a level another nethack player played on, and died in) and realize those fire ants were probably what took care of the last player who ventured down here. I gathered some kit in the temple, and checked the cursed/blessed status of everything, then went a few levels up and gathered everything into one pile to test out. As I tried out the uncursed armor Bugs helped himself to some armor and weapons, and was feeling more adventurous. He was gleefully taking out the peaceful soldiers in town one at a time. I would have cared more if they didn't keep dropping such interesting kit.
A while later, I had a -6 armor class, and was invisible (but visible because I wrapped myself in mummy wrappings). As I was leaving I took out a gnome lord who was carrying way too much stuff, curious where he got it from I wandered around and saw the ghost was now looking for me, and had abandoned the space it was previously occupying, leaving its grave site unprotected. I picked up all the stuff and identified it (it was all cursed, like all the stuff dropped by dead players), but I tossed it in the pile anyways.
I headed back to the altar on level 2 so I could convert it, and sacrifice to my god until he gave me a neat prize. I used the bag of tricks to get plenty of monsters to sacrifice, and after the alter was converted, Tyr was happy to give my Mjollnir. Ready to continue, I wanted him to uncurse some stuff, and make some holy water, so I sacrificed to him until he seemed mollified, and put on a cursed blindfold, and weilded some cursed daggers, dropped the water on the altar, and prayed.
Except Tyr seemed to realize I was taking advantage. He got angry with me, and knocked me down a level. So I was weilding some cursed daggers, and blind, and trying to get more monsters to sacrifice to get back in his good graces. I managed to get a black unicorn on the altar, and Tyr seemed mollified again, but he thought me arrogant, and knocked me down another level. I tried to get more monsters to try again, but I had spent so much time trying that I was hungry, and started fainting. I passed out and was killed by some nonsense monster.
Bugger.
See you space cowboy.
(you can play too, just click here)
telnet://nethack.alt.org
I rejoined a long forgotten game in progress. My Valkyrie was in the mine town, hanging around near a stockpile inside a co-aligned temple. Sweet! I've got a co-aligned altar, a pile of stuff, pretty good kit. Missing a pet, but that's easily remedied. I stepped toward the door to leave and rediscover the town, and the priestess attacked me, and blinded me. Oh yeah, I remember! I attacked her on accident! ... And now I'm going to die. And die I did.
I started a new game and picked up an unidentified wand in the first room. A newt approached me menacingly, and I stepped close to it, and zapped it to see what the wand did. In the next turn two things happened. The newt was hit by the wand, now identified as a wand of polymorph, and turned into a random monster, in this case, a fucking green dragon. Secondly, my pet kitten stepped between me and aforementioned dragon. It was green dragon, kitten, me. I'm literally 6 turns into this new game, and about to be obliterated by a dragon's blast of acid. With my kitten in the way I couldn't polymorph the former newt into something less menacing. Wait. Could I? I don't remember if polymorph wands effected multiple spaces... Well, it's not like I've got any other choices. I zap the wand again and my kitten changes into an acid blob, and the green dragon changes into a dingo. Whew! Ok, polymorph wands work on multiple spaces. I take care of the dingo, and zap my pet a few times to see if I can turn it into something more useful. After a few zaps I've got a pet bugbear, and figure it's good enough for a wand with an unknown number of charges left. I name him Bugs.
I weild my dagger to get my dagger skill up quickly, and to increase my chance to hit, and continue deeper. I try to let Bugs do most of the fighting, but he seems unsure of himself. We luck out and find an alter (non-aligned) on the second level, and I greedily identify the status of all my kit. When we make it to the mines, Bugs is almost useless. In the darkness I can't just dance around him while he decides whether or not he's going to smash a nearby Gnome, and wind up taking on most of the monsters there. I instantly go from level 1 to level 5. Oh well.
We progress with few problems, I have a ton of kit to sort out, and Bugs picks up some armor and a short sword and becomes much more willing to jump into the fray. We make it to the mine town and are greeted with a few killer bees and an invisible centuar, we have a little trouble, but get through it OK. I start gathering the dropped items, and in walks one of the most dangerous things to early characters. A swarm of bugs. Even worse; a swarm of fireants. I'm several spaces from the up stairs, and I don't have a place where I can back into and take them one at a time. I'm about to have some problems. I move forward to keep my escape open and manage to take one out before I start getting in real trouble. I run for the stairs and barely make it.
Upstairs I go through some of the kit I gathered, and heal up to half my hit points and try to go downstairs again. I jump right back into the fight, and am almost surrounded by fireants as soon as I go down. I keep an eye on my hit points and stupidly don't attack the fireant Bugs is fighting to thin the ranks. I switch to attack the same one and drop one before I get too badly hurt, and escape upstairs. I do this three more times before all the fireants are gone, fortunately Bugs hadn't gone feral during the time I spent healing upstairs.
The town holds nothing of particular interest. An unaligned temple, a hardware store with a bag of tricks in it, and no general store. I notice a ghost hanging out in a corridor, and ignore it for now since it doesn't seem to be interested in me. I realize this is a bones level (a level another nethack player played on, and died in) and realize those fire ants were probably what took care of the last player who ventured down here. I gathered some kit in the temple, and checked the cursed/blessed status of everything, then went a few levels up and gathered everything into one pile to test out. As I tried out the uncursed armor Bugs helped himself to some armor and weapons, and was feeling more adventurous. He was gleefully taking out the peaceful soldiers in town one at a time. I would have cared more if they didn't keep dropping such interesting kit.
A while later, I had a -6 armor class, and was invisible (but visible because I wrapped myself in mummy wrappings). As I was leaving I took out a gnome lord who was carrying way too much stuff, curious where he got it from I wandered around and saw the ghost was now looking for me, and had abandoned the space it was previously occupying, leaving its grave site unprotected. I picked up all the stuff and identified it (it was all cursed, like all the stuff dropped by dead players), but I tossed it in the pile anyways.
I headed back to the altar on level 2 so I could convert it, and sacrifice to my god until he gave me a neat prize. I used the bag of tricks to get plenty of monsters to sacrifice, and after the alter was converted, Tyr was happy to give my Mjollnir. Ready to continue, I wanted him to uncurse some stuff, and make some holy water, so I sacrificed to him until he seemed mollified, and put on a cursed blindfold, and weilded some cursed daggers, dropped the water on the altar, and prayed.
Except Tyr seemed to realize I was taking advantage. He got angry with me, and knocked me down a level. So I was weilding some cursed daggers, and blind, and trying to get more monsters to sacrifice to get back in his good graces. I managed to get a black unicorn on the altar, and Tyr seemed mollified again, but he thought me arrogant, and knocked me down another level. I tried to get more monsters to try again, but I had spent so much time trying that I was hungry, and started fainting. I passed out and was killed by some nonsense monster.
Bugger.
See you space cowboy.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Gimme somethin' ta learn!
I finally got some other nonsense out of the way at work, and am free to do more coding work. But as I learn more about the direction the software is taking, I'm realizing I'm probably going to have to use Java for continuing development. I've used a bit of Java in the past. I don't much care for it. Honestly, though, Java developers annoy me even more than the language. Saying Java is the best because it works on all platforms is like saying anal sex is the best because it works on all sexes. It's the lack of definition that makes Java a jack of all trades and a master of none.
The further I dug into the software developer kit, the more likely it was that I was going to have to learn Java. Damnit. I express my dismay to a coworker, and go get a soda for the learning process that was about to start.
When I left I realized I was excited and happy. I wasn't doing the nonsense work anymore, and I was doing what I wanted. I was excited to have something new to learn. Even if it was Java.
I returned to the NOC with a spring in my step, ready to begin a worthy challenge.
The further I dug into the software developer kit, the more likely it was that I was going to have to learn Java. Damnit. I express my dismay to a coworker, and go get a soda for the learning process that was about to start.
When I left I realized I was excited and happy. I wasn't doing the nonsense work anymore, and I was doing what I wanted. I was excited to have something new to learn. Even if it was Java.
I returned to the NOC with a spring in my step, ready to begin a worthy challenge.
Document Destruction
Me: Just as an FYI; if you want to make some paper unrecoverable, you're supposed to burn it, put the ashes in water, and stir the water vigorously.
Coworker: ... then DRINK the water!
Coworker: ... then DRINK the water!
Google-fu
My Google Fu is strong.
Download some Aphex Twin albums here.
Get it before they realize they forgot to button up.
UPDATE: See? All gone. How about this one?
Download some Aphex Twin albums here.
Get it before they realize they forgot to button up.
UPDATE: See? All gone. How about this one?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
My Plain Jane gets TACTICOOL!!!!!1111
I kept my AR carbine as stock as possible. Carry handle rear sight, no free float, standard pistol grip, collapsible stock that only holds batteries if you tape them to it, you know, just the regular work horse that's been hard at work all over the world.
I wanted to make sure I didn't become one of those guys who spends more on accessories than they do on their AR, so I kept it simple until I was satisfied with my skill level.
I've experimented with different sling styles enough to add my first deviation;
AN UBER TACTICAL CYBER L337 SINGLE POINT SLING ATTACHMENT!
The vltor is ambidextrous, which beats having loops on both sides, and it is unobtrusive enough for my sensibilities. I rather like this style of sling mount point since its design is both clever and functional. Attaching an attach point to the rear of the receiver gives a great balance point, and since only one mounting point is required, detaching and reattaching is simple and quick. I also very much like the idea of being able to comfortably shoulder my carbine while it is in the slinged (slung?) position.
Regular slings certainly have their place, since dangling a rifle across your chest is a tad cumbersome, but being able to wear an empty single point sling with a small clip waiting to be attached in case it becomes necessary to have the rifle in a more ready position is valuable. I'll be experimenting with different sling styles to find out what works best for me.
The only other addition was an ambi-safety.
Being a lefty hasn't much affected my ability to shoot my AR. The lefty upper has done little more than keep the cordite from my side of the rifle since most of the controls are on the standard lower I have. The military standard grip says I have to hold the pistol grip with my thumb on the same side as my trigger finger so my finger can be on the safety until I'm ready to turn it off. I have practiced this, and have found it annoying, and troublesome. Without my thumb on the opposite side, my grip wants to tip to the left. The ambi-safety was something I wanted to do without, but I also wanted to be able to take advantage of Mr. Stoner's great design that allows the user to disable the safety without compromising a full firing grip. It was there, and it was a good price. I went for it, and am glad lack of it won't be bugging me in the future.
The only other thing was the monsterman grip.
The monsterman grip is the culmination of a bunch of California gun owners staring at the California Assault Weapons Ban for months. Gaps, loopholes, and downright omissions were discovered. One of which was the definition of a pistol grip. Notably, it was described as "protruding conspicuously beneath the action" So, why not make a grip that doesn't protrude?
But, is it legal? Ever since "off-list" lowers in combination with gaps in the configuration laws to allow California gun owners to own legally configured AR and AK type weapons, the California DOJ has been very tight lipped. At the beginning of this year, they lost the ability to update the list to include current manufacturers, so they can no longer threaten us with that. Even if they could convince someone to update the AWB laws, it would result in an amnesty, and registration, and a dramatic increase in the "Assault Weapon" count for the state, and no politician wants that number to jump under their watch.
Even so, all that aside, Calguns has publicly orchestrated shoots where many people showed up with monsterman grips, bullet buttons, and mag locks (legally configured), with no arrests or confiscations. They know they screwed up, and they know they can't fix it with the tools they have.
BUT! Is it legal? Well. Prosecutors are unwilling to try these cases after one was lead to believe the case was airtight by the CaDOJ, and got burned on it.
Where was I? Oh yeah, so I got the monsterman grip to build up my other lower into the second legal configuration for California semi-automatic rifles. No evil features (flash hider, telescoping or folding stock, or pistol grip), with detachable mags. The other configuration (the one I have now) is evil features, and a fixed (removal requires a tool) 10 round mag.
My next build should look something like the above, I'll probably go with a varmint 20" bull barrel free float upper, with a full length stock, monsterman grip, and detachable 30 round mags that I have from pre2k. The possibility of using the 30 rd mags in a shtf situation made me realize I haven't used them since they were given to me, so their reliability may be in question. Maybe I'll just replace them with pmags and forget about it.
I wanted to make sure I didn't become one of those guys who spends more on accessories than they do on their AR, so I kept it simple until I was satisfied with my skill level.
I've experimented with different sling styles enough to add my first deviation;
AN UBER TACTICAL CYBER L337 SINGLE POINT SLING ATTACHMENT!
The vltor is ambidextrous, which beats having loops on both sides, and it is unobtrusive enough for my sensibilities. I rather like this style of sling mount point since its design is both clever and functional. Attaching an attach point to the rear of the receiver gives a great balance point, and since only one mounting point is required, detaching and reattaching is simple and quick. I also very much like the idea of being able to comfortably shoulder my carbine while it is in the slinged (slung?) position.
Regular slings certainly have their place, since dangling a rifle across your chest is a tad cumbersome, but being able to wear an empty single point sling with a small clip waiting to be attached in case it becomes necessary to have the rifle in a more ready position is valuable. I'll be experimenting with different sling styles to find out what works best for me.
The only other addition was an ambi-safety.
Being a lefty hasn't much affected my ability to shoot my AR. The lefty upper has done little more than keep the cordite from my side of the rifle since most of the controls are on the standard lower I have. The military standard grip says I have to hold the pistol grip with my thumb on the same side as my trigger finger so my finger can be on the safety until I'm ready to turn it off. I have practiced this, and have found it annoying, and troublesome. Without my thumb on the opposite side, my grip wants to tip to the left. The ambi-safety was something I wanted to do without, but I also wanted to be able to take advantage of Mr. Stoner's great design that allows the user to disable the safety without compromising a full firing grip. It was there, and it was a good price. I went for it, and am glad lack of it won't be bugging me in the future.
The only other thing was the monsterman grip.
The monsterman grip is the culmination of a bunch of California gun owners staring at the California Assault Weapons Ban for months. Gaps, loopholes, and downright omissions were discovered. One of which was the definition of a pistol grip. Notably, it was described as "protruding conspicuously beneath the action" So, why not make a grip that doesn't protrude?
But, is it legal? Ever since "off-list" lowers in combination with gaps in the configuration laws to allow California gun owners to own legally configured AR and AK type weapons, the California DOJ has been very tight lipped. At the beginning of this year, they lost the ability to update the list to include current manufacturers, so they can no longer threaten us with that. Even if they could convince someone to update the AWB laws, it would result in an amnesty, and registration, and a dramatic increase in the "Assault Weapon" count for the state, and no politician wants that number to jump under their watch.
Even so, all that aside, Calguns has publicly orchestrated shoots where many people showed up with monsterman grips, bullet buttons, and mag locks (legally configured), with no arrests or confiscations. They know they screwed up, and they know they can't fix it with the tools they have.
BUT! Is it legal? Well. Prosecutors are unwilling to try these cases after one was lead to believe the case was airtight by the CaDOJ, and got burned on it.
Where was I? Oh yeah, so I got the monsterman grip to build up my other lower into the second legal configuration for California semi-automatic rifles. No evil features (flash hider, telescoping or folding stock, or pistol grip), with detachable mags. The other configuration (the one I have now) is evil features, and a fixed (removal requires a tool) 10 round mag.
My next build should look something like the above, I'll probably go with a varmint 20" bull barrel free float upper, with a full length stock, monsterman grip, and detachable 30 round mags that I have from pre2k. The possibility of using the 30 rd mags in a shtf situation made me realize I haven't used them since they were given to me, so their reliability may be in question. Maybe I'll just replace them with pmags and forget about it.
Quote of the Tea
Having tea from China one microwaved cup at a time is probably some sort of blasphemy.
~some kind of robot
The world can be an informative place
If you know what to look for.
1 hour video on No-Tech Hacking.
VERY worth your time.
I don't think I'm going to be missing any DefCons in the future.
From SurvivalBlog
1 hour video on No-Tech Hacking.
VERY worth your time.
I don't think I'm going to be missing any DefCons in the future.
From SurvivalBlog
Thursday, October 09, 2008
If the Second Amendment was Repealed, What Happens to the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?
What happens if the worst of the worst happens?
Click the link and find out.
If the Second Amendment was Repealed, What Happens to the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?
By Peter W. Wickham, Jr. AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost
There is a fundamental bit people seem to forget about the bill of rights. It does not confer rights. It merely lists them.
Self defense if a human right.
Click the link and find out.
If the Second Amendment was Repealed, What Happens to the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?
By Peter W. Wickham, Jr. AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost
There is a fundamental bit people seem to forget about the bill of rights. It does not confer rights. It merely lists them.
Since you exist in nature, you have a natural right to perpetuate that existence, and that includes protecting your life and health from those entities in nature that can destroy both. Amongst living creatures, man is on the losing side when it comes to natural weapons inherent in his physical makeup ("My, what large teeth you have, grandma.") so he has to build them from the natural resources available to him. The right to keep and bear arms is a right derived from nature and man has a natural right to own, carry, and use these arms, of whatever degree of advanced technology that he chooses, as long as he does not intentionally cause unnecessary direct and measurable harm to another.
Self defense if a human right.
Banned SNL Skit
It gets put up, it gets yanked, put up, yanked.
Yank this, bitches...
I loled at Barney Frank. Hard.
As uncle says; Can't stop the signal.
Yank this, bitches...
I loled at Barney Frank. Hard.
As uncle says; Can't stop the signal.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Women earn 79 cents on the dollar vs men?
Then why don't employers only hire women? They're cheaper!
The Suicide of Capitalism
There is a grave post over at Front Sight, Press.
The Suicide of Capitalism
Read the whole thing.
If you can.
This was the opener, and I thought it was a bit exaggerated until I read the rest of the post.
This puts a pit in my stomach that I can't get rid of. Part of me wants to talk to our CEO, and ask if we're accepting any govt cheese. Another part of me is afraid to ask.
Read the whole thing.
The Suicide of Capitalism
Read the whole thing.
If you can.
A coup d’état took place in this country during the past two weeks ... The United States ceased to be a capitalist economy and became a managed socialist state.
This was the opener, and I thought it was a bit exaggerated until I read the rest of the post.
If you receive a paycheck a month from now, it will likely be possible only because the government insured the business loan that allowed your employer to cut your check.
This puts a pit in my stomach that I can't get rid of. Part of me wants to talk to our CEO, and ask if we're accepting any govt cheese. Another part of me is afraid to ask.
The supreme irony here is that capitalism has committed suicide. The greed, the risk taking, the predatory behavior and lack of responsibility among the most powerful financiers in the world has triggered a global financial collapse.
I will also observe that this feels like extortion, like we are being forced under threat of destruction to hand over our economic self-determination to the benevolent government.
The government got what it wanted: more power. The robber barons of Wall Street walked away with billions of dollars in their pockets. You know who will get the bill.
Read the whole thing.
Quote of the depression
They have formed mountains of debt that is classic malinvestment of the worst sort. This debt creation was like winding up an enormous clock spring. Debts were taken on by unworthy borrowers that never had a hope of repaying them, and then those same dodgy debts were re-packaged and re-sold to unwitting dupes--like pension funds in Denmark. This explains the umpteen foreclosed and abandoned tract homes that stretch from around the DC Beltway to the heartland of Ohio, to southern California. Inevitably all debt--whether good or bad--must be un-wound. And the more malinvestment there is, the uglier and protracted this unwinding process gets. Instead of a recession, we will probably witness the worst economic depression since the 1930s.
~Jim Rawles - Survivalblog
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Suddenly, lack of content!
Sorry about the lack of content folks. Being sick has killed my drive to do anything that requires actual thought, which is why I'm at work. (slow month) So I'll share some random thoughts I've been working on.
Band of Brothers: Bought the box set, and watched it while sick over the weekend. It's fucking awesome. Reaffirms my suspicion that paying for teevee entertainment is the best way to go.
Carls Jr new steak sandwich thing: Pretty fucking good.
Jury duty: The government spends literally BILLIONS on complete bullshit, but when it comes to our civic duty they can't be bothered to offer more than $8 a day or whatever the pay is for jury duty? What the shit? Where is the push to match work pay for jury duty? You would think that people would be more inclined to push for this, but then you remember that getting out of jury duty is easy, and courts probably prefer the caliber of mind they can buy so cheaply.
Sick: I'm just now starting to get some new symptoms for my... whatever I have. Stuffy nose, and phlegmy cough. It's like I'm getting sick in slow motion. Ghey.
Absolved: Absolved is a work of fiction written by Mike Vanderboegh. I put off reading it for a long time, and finally forced myself to start it, and wound up burning through the first 4 chapters in one session. An entertaining, informative read that is definitely worth your time.
9mm AR: I've been looking for something to fit a niche in myarsenal collection. An SMG basically. Something small, reliable, and in an available pistol caliber. I was thinking about building up a sten or a ppsh (legally california neutered, of course), but the solution was staring me in the face the whole time. Just get a 9mm upper that can use those 9mm mags I have from before 2K.
Extra money: It's always worrisome when you check your account, and see too much money. Because then you worry what bill you missed.
Guns: No new guns. I've been paying attention to the ones I already have. Ammo, and practice, and such. I'm pretty sure the Buckmark is improving my handgun skill. I picked up my XD, which I had been neglecting, and found my groups greatly improved from the last time. Last range trip I was doing some seriously good shooting. I showed the guys I know who work there the groups and they joked that it might be time to start shooting for money. Been thinking about M1As for a while.
Most important meal of the day: A while ago I realized that I was eating two meals a day, which must have been hell on my metabolism. I started eating oatmeal before I leave for work, and not eating right before bed, and in about a week I could see a difference. Just gotta figure out light snacks to keep my body chugging along while I sit and do nothing at work.
Rush: Started listening to Rush on the way in to work, just 15-20 minutes, and damn is he good. No wonder he's the man.
Bailout: Pretty much. So where's all this liquidity? Where's the HUEG rebound? Where's the chicken in every pot, and welfare check in every-- whoops. So, can you smoke in your government-owned house? Can you use a non-government approved plumber?
McCain's numbers fall: I already came to terms with a democrat win a while ago. I really like Palin, but McCain seems hell-bent on reminding me why I shouldn't like him.
MSM: Is it just me, or are the democrat lap dog press easing up? Methinks their public circle jerk of Obama love was enough to make even them realize how hard it is to assume some level of objectivity with Obama's flacid dick in their collective mouth.
Gun Boards: I ignored gun boards I frequent for a while because I was just annoyed with all the political nonsense. I missed out on a few important events that were well covered on the board. These forums are becoming news services, and early warnings, and I'll try to sift through them every day.
Barney Frank: I don't know how I went so long without hearing him speak, but did he have a stroke or something? Is he a little slow? How the fuck do you walk into a booth and pull the lever for that? He sounds and looks like a damn cartoon character. His beliefs are certainly cartoonish.
Halloween: All my costume ideas would require beard shavery, and I'm not sure I wanna.
Hearts and Minds: When people start talking about the economy, and how horrible things are right now, just ask them two things. Ask them what they've had to sacrifice, and when they say they've had to give up very little, but they're so sure everyone else is suffering; ask them to ask a friend the same question. Even if they don't figure out that things aren't that bad, you can amuse yourself with their tap-dancing to explain their "unexpected" results.
Long curly hair: Chicks dig it. Srsly. Glances last longer, smiles come with winks, and butts wiggle more. I'm not really interested because I'm already taken, and pretty selective anyways, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it.
Conditioner: I know this is man card revocation stuff right here, but conditioner is the shit. My long hair has been difficult to manage, but when I tried some of my girlfriend's conditioner it was like night and day. Easier to brush, dries better, and stays awesome longer.
Conditioner is the shit.
Hunting: I've been entertaining the notion of going hunting. Probably a guided thing to start out, but I just want to know I can do it. Unfortunately most clubs are too... odd... for me.
Superjail: The new show on Adult Swim is insane even by Adult Swim's standards.
Holy shit. What the Fuck. AWESOME.
Band of Brothers: Bought the box set, and watched it while sick over the weekend. It's fucking awesome. Reaffirms my suspicion that paying for teevee entertainment is the best way to go.
Carls Jr new steak sandwich thing: Pretty fucking good.
Jury duty: The government spends literally BILLIONS on complete bullshit, but when it comes to our civic duty they can't be bothered to offer more than $8 a day or whatever the pay is for jury duty? What the shit? Where is the push to match work pay for jury duty? You would think that people would be more inclined to push for this, but then you remember that getting out of jury duty is easy, and courts probably prefer the caliber of mind they can buy so cheaply.
Sick: I'm just now starting to get some new symptoms for my... whatever I have. Stuffy nose, and phlegmy cough. It's like I'm getting sick in slow motion. Ghey.
Absolved: Absolved is a work of fiction written by Mike Vanderboegh. I put off reading it for a long time, and finally forced myself to start it, and wound up burning through the first 4 chapters in one session. An entertaining, informative read that is definitely worth your time.
9mm AR: I've been looking for something to fit a niche in my
Extra money: It's always worrisome when you check your account, and see too much money. Because then you worry what bill you missed.
Guns: No new guns. I've been paying attention to the ones I already have. Ammo, and practice, and such. I'm pretty sure the Buckmark is improving my handgun skill. I picked up my XD, which I had been neglecting, and found my groups greatly improved from the last time. Last range trip I was doing some seriously good shooting. I showed the guys I know who work there the groups and they joked that it might be time to start shooting for money. Been thinking about M1As for a while.
Most important meal of the day: A while ago I realized that I was eating two meals a day, which must have been hell on my metabolism. I started eating oatmeal before I leave for work, and not eating right before bed, and in about a week I could see a difference. Just gotta figure out light snacks to keep my body chugging along while I sit and do nothing at work.
Rush: Started listening to Rush on the way in to work, just 15-20 minutes, and damn is he good. No wonder he's the man.
Bailout: Pretty much. So where's all this liquidity? Where's the HUEG rebound? Where's the chicken in every pot, and welfare check in every-- whoops. So, can you smoke in your government-owned house? Can you use a non-government approved plumber?
McCain's numbers fall: I already came to terms with a democrat win a while ago. I really like Palin, but McCain seems hell-bent on reminding me why I shouldn't like him.
MSM: Is it just me, or are the democrat lap dog press easing up? Methinks their public circle jerk of Obama love was enough to make even them realize how hard it is to assume some level of objectivity with Obama's flacid dick in their collective mouth.
Gun Boards: I ignored gun boards I frequent for a while because I was just annoyed with all the political nonsense. I missed out on a few important events that were well covered on the board. These forums are becoming news services, and early warnings, and I'll try to sift through them every day.
Barney Frank: I don't know how I went so long without hearing him speak, but did he have a stroke or something? Is he a little slow? How the fuck do you walk into a booth and pull the lever for that? He sounds and looks like a damn cartoon character. His beliefs are certainly cartoonish.
Halloween: All my costume ideas would require beard shavery, and I'm not sure I wanna.
Hearts and Minds: When people start talking about the economy, and how horrible things are right now, just ask them two things. Ask them what they've had to sacrifice, and when they say they've had to give up very little, but they're so sure everyone else is suffering; ask them to ask a friend the same question. Even if they don't figure out that things aren't that bad, you can amuse yourself with their tap-dancing to explain their "unexpected" results.
Long curly hair: Chicks dig it. Srsly. Glances last longer, smiles come with winks, and butts wiggle more. I'm not really interested because I'm already taken, and pretty selective anyways, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it.
Conditioner: I know this is man card revocation stuff right here, but conditioner is the shit. My long hair has been difficult to manage, but when I tried some of my girlfriend's conditioner it was like night and day. Easier to brush, dries better, and stays awesome longer.
Conditioner is the shit.
Hunting: I've been entertaining the notion of going hunting. Probably a guided thing to start out, but I just want to know I can do it. Unfortunately most clubs are too... odd... for me.
Superjail: The new show on Adult Swim is insane even by Adult Swim's standards.
Holy shit. What the Fuck. AWESOME.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Bah! Still sick!
Last Thursday morning I had that tickle in my throat I always get before I get sick, so I took the day off, bundled up, relaxed, and by the end of the day I felt much better. Friday morning, I felt exactly the same as I had the previous morning, but no extra symptoms. Same thing Saturday. Sunday, I did some extra sleeping, and more relaxing.
I woke up this morning feeling exactly the same as I did last Thursday.
In the morning my throat is scratchy, and I'll start coughing unless I get some water. Swallowing is painful, and talking is iffy. It just slowly gets better through the day, and by the end of the day, it seems OK. It's like I'm sick, and the only symptom is the sore throat. Weird.
I woke up this morning feeling exactly the same as I did last Thursday.
In the morning my throat is scratchy, and I'll start coughing unless I get some water. Swallowing is painful, and talking is iffy. It just slowly gets better through the day, and by the end of the day, it seems OK. It's like I'm sick, and the only symptom is the sore throat. Weird.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Is the cold war really over?
If someone posed that question to me, I would laugh in their face.
After hearing this interview with a Soviet defector from 1985, everything might still be going according to plan...
These are strange times.
Strange, dangerous times.
UPDATE: Stout Republican does a bit of searching and finds something even more disturbing...
After hearing this interview with a Soviet defector from 1985, everything might still be going according to plan...
These are strange times.
Strange, dangerous times.
UPDATE: Stout Republican does a bit of searching and finds something even more disturbing...
UPDATE: Doing just a run of this guys name on Google has a lot of links to youtube videos that don’t exist any more due to terms of use violations...
Did anyone hear the CLUNK?
In the VP debate last night, you could tell when Palin was free to respond or when she was being forced to tow McCain's line by the audible CLUNK sound.
It was like night and day...
It was like night and day...
10/22 Tech Sights installation
The front sight wasn't fitting into the dovetail, so after wondering if I would have to file it slightly to get it started, I realized I should just toss it in the freezer.
An hour later, it fit right into the dovetail, and hammered in without incident.
An hour later, it fit right into the dovetail, and hammered in without incident.
Is Dayquil worse than Nyquil?
I'm a big fan of Nyquil because it puts your malady on hold long enough, and makes you sleepy enough to doze off when you're sick. Since it had no effect on my malady yesterday, I decided to come into work since I woke up feeling no different than yesterday. I took some Dayquil since my girlfriend uses it all the time.
Wow.
I feel more altered than when I take nyquil, and this stuff isn't supposed to have alcohol. Nuts to this. I'd rather feel sick and tired than sick and... weird.
Wow.
I feel more altered than when I take nyquil, and this stuff isn't supposed to have alcohol. Nuts to this. I'd rather feel sick and tired than sick and... weird.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
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