Category: Guns

Monday Links

May 29, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Happy Memorial Day! We’re going to start off with several Reason articles.

First, the face of teachers’ unions during the COVID pandemic only taught for three years, but is expected to get a full pension. I’m of the opinion that if you’re working for the union, the union should be dealing with your benefits.

Next are a couple items on the reshuffling of the political parties. I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves. The left-right spectrum is mostly meaningless and the rise of right-wing progressivism. Just as the labor market is in flux, the political market is similarly in flux. Fun times.

Finally, an article from The Volokh Conspiracy discussing a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that loading and openly carrying a gun on your property is not criminal use of deadly force. Although, if you’re having to face multiple attackers on your property, it may be more prudent to have your weapon already loaded. Or get behind cover to load and wait for the police.

In the vein of self-defense, we have an article from The Hill about a “prank robbery” going horribly wrong when the pranksters came across an armed civilian. And this kind of outcome won’t slow down these kinds of pranks. Because the dumb fucks think it won’t happen to them.

Now for our light items.

I think this is probably vapor-ware, but this Extreme Tech article depicts a “laptop” with six monitors, dual AMD Epyc “Genoa” 96-core CPUs, and 24 DIMM slots for up to 6TB of DDR5 memory. And it weighs 55 lbs. Um, yeah. There’s part of me that wants one in a kind of morbid fascination way.

Finally, we have a Variety article on Weird Al. Because Weird Al.

Monday Links

May 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Well, this week’s links will probably be all over the map.

First, let’s start with an AP article on Disney scrapping a billion dollar project because of DeSantis fighting with them. Y’know, I hear a lot of gunnies decrying when certain states use their power to compel companies to do gun-prohibitionist things. Or when they chase companies out of states with ridiculous regulations. Shoe. Other foot.

Speaking of Disney, this article from Techradar, states that when Disney merges their Disney+ and Hulu services, they will probably shrink the available library. One of the tech podcasts I listen to was commenting that the Streaming War is over, and now the Great Streaming Consolidations will begin with the survivors. Guess I should watch the Willow television show before it disappears.

It’s not Monday Links without Reason articles.

First is Reason’s take on the Durham report. When a report like this makes a stalwart like National Review’s Andy McCarty think hard on if the FBI is salvageable in its current state, then it’s a damning report. IMHO, it’s high time to, at the very least, split the FBI’s intelligence role off of its law enforcement role.

Second – can Uvalde’s authorities not do things to prove how incompetent and authoritarian they are? From the article: “Adam Martinez’s youngest son was at Robb Elementary on the day of the shooting—though thankfully he was physically unharmed—and, like many other parents, he became a vocal critic of the police department. However, in retaliation for his criticism, the school district banned him from school property—and school board meetings—for two years.“

A couple of other headlines that grabbed my interest.

From Insider, a Michigan teen used a slingshot to stop the kidnapping his sister. The suspect was apprehended with wounds consistent with being hit by a slingshot.

From CNET, a new company is going to be offering free 55-inch televisions. The catch? It has another screen to just for ads. Maybe other stuff too.

Finally, a light item.

Hurricane Learnings

May 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Last weekend, The Wife and I trekked up to Tampa to take in a program at the Straz. One of the local weathermen, Denis Phillips was giving a presentation on his time as a meteorologist and things to keep in mind as we go into the upcoming season. He’s a local celebrity for a bunch of reasons, but the two biggest reasons was he was the first to predict Charlie’s swing to Punta Gorda in 2004, and his Rule #7:

Stop freaking out… until I tell you to freak out. We’re fine

It’s that kind of levelheadedness that makes him trusted by wide swathes of the Tampa Bay viewing area for storms. This includes The Wife – which was why we went to the presentation. It was very entertaining with many hilarious anecdotes.

For myself and my own preparations, there were three major takeaways:

  1. The warming of the Gulf is going to make storms intensify quicker. As in storms going from Cat 1 to Cat 4 in 36 hours.
  2. If a storm looks like it is possibly aiming for the panhandle or the west coast of Florida, the five day forecasts are worthless. For those kinds of storms, landfall won’t be determined until 36 hours out.
  3. Which leads to the third point – that if there’s a storm that looks like it may go to the west coast of Florida, then the entire west coast should consider themselves as a likely target and take appropriate action. If it looks like we need to evac, we need to evac ASAP. Waiting until those 36 hours out, we may not be able to evac due to the sheer number of people that has moved to the area.

I am taking this into account as I make my plans.

Here’s a good checklist that was shared during the meeting.

Monday Links

May 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This may be a bit of a hodgepodge.

First, we go to Reason for:

Debt ceiling fight is hitting a hard deadline. Yes, we need to cut spending. No, we should not allow the government to default.

Inflation ticks up again in April. Surprisingly, the culprit is rent. Which is a big issue in my neck of the woods.

No, universal background checks do not stop mass shooters. It’s a complicated issue. As previously discussed.

Now that we’ve consumed our vegetables, we can have some fun dessert articles.

First, Recoil has a review of the Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol shotgun. This one is in the running for the new Ward semiauto shotgun.

Next from The Drive, an article on FHP’s Mercury Marauders.

Finally, from the local news station, the local high school drama group is garnering some well-earned attention for their version of Disney’s “Frozen.” Like the movie or hate, the kids done good.

Monday Links On Wednesday

May 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be kind of short this week.

First a couple of gun related items.

From TFB, a discussion if gun sales are declining. I would think of it more regression to the new mean.

Then from Mas Ayoob, a defense of the AR-15. I generally take anything from Mas as close to gospel when it comes to guns and gun issues.

Now, on to a couple of tech items.

From CNBC, we have an article about Apple and Google working to keep AirTags from being used maliciously.

A couple weeks ago, I posted an article about the feds warning against using public USB charging ports. Via The Brother, comes an Ars Technica countering that bit of wisdom.

What Kind of Mass Killings?

May 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This isn’t going to be revelatory for those who study violence in depth, but I’m trying to get to an analogy that most people will understand. Particularly when the media splashes all of the “mass shootings” and bring on panelists asking for the same laws. Those panelists who sneer at me when I say that what they’re asking for won’t work.

I was listening to The Reload podcast back on the 17th, and they were talking about mass shootings / mass killings. The first part, is of course, on definitions. Because, as the host describes, depending on the definition used, the Louisville bank could have been the 156th, 46th, or the fourth.

Definitions matter for another reason. How to prevent these events will change depending on the motivations for the shooting.

The best analogy I can come up with is cancer. Cancer is not one disease. It’s a series of different diseases with similar features. You also cannot treat lung cancer the same way as you treat prostate or breast cancer.

Monday Links

May 1, 2023 / / 0 Comments

It’s going to be a little sparse on the ground this week.

First, we have a Reason article about Disney suing DeSantis. Based on statements made and the timing of actions, I think Disney has a decent case. I’m also not liking this populist trend of DeSantis using government power to achieve political ends regardless of civil liberties.

Next, Professor David Yamane has an article in The Hill explaining that Stand Your Ground laws do not give people a license to kill. I agree with a lot of commentators that the consistent repeating of this mantra is misinforming a large segment of the populace – who then rely on that misinformation to inform their actions. When it comes to self-defense, that has life-changing and life-ending consequences.

From The Verge, we have an article that Microsoft is shuttering a large segment of its peripheral business. They’re shifting to “premium” Surface-branded peripherals. Which means I probably need to stock up on some Sculpt keyboards.

The Drive has a profile of an Oregon company that does custom lifts for Subarus. Okay, the idea of lifting the Ward Wagon intrigues me, but the likelihood of me using any off-road capability is minimal.

Finally, Blabbermouth reports that a new Savatage album is coming next year. According to Jon Olivia, this will be the last album for Savatage. Thank you Jon for giving me decades of music.

Tab Clearing

April 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Monday Links was pre-empted by history. I still need to clear out some links that I’ve built up.

Let’s start with a few Reason articles.

First, one on the EPA banning the production of gas-powered cars. I’m not a fan of mandates. I know surprise.

Second, a discussion on the benefits of teen employment. I am a fan of young people learning work ethics from their first job. My years managing fast-food showed me the best and worst of employing teens.

Third, a discussion on proportional representation. I’m kind of leaning more and more to something like this.

From ABCNews comes a story about every gun owners worst nightmare. Police get wrong address, homeowner comes to the door with a gun, and as the article states “chaos ensues.” Homeowner ends up dead.

An article from Android Authority reports that the FBI warns not to use public charging ports. Also, don’t plug your phone into the USB ports in a rideshare or taxi. Just don’t.

An article from Bounding Into Comics about WoTC’s decision to remove half-races from Dungeons and Dragons. On the one hand, it invalidates decades of lore and characters (both in the novels and players’ favorite characters). On the other hand, it would be more in line with actual biology – unless orcs and elves are some form of human. On the gripping hand, the stated reason for the change is fucking bullshit.

Finally, an article about finding the original recording of the Wilhelm scream. H/t to FB friend Rob Reed.

I Was Really Planning On A Shotgun This Year

April 13, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Then Smith & Wesson had to go and release a carbine that took the same magazines as my sidearm. Okay, it wasn’t what I was expecting in terms of form factor. And I’m not sure if I would ever fold it. Yet, there’s something nifty about it. Plus, the sub-$1,000 MSRP didn’t hurt.

Then, David did a review. Then a local gun shop had it for $700.

Yeah, one came home with me.

Initial impressions? I like that the ergonomics are similar to my sidearm. I like the compactness compared to the Bren. I dislike the stiffness of the bolt release. I haven’t really played with the spare mag holders on the stock, but I’m not too keen on the way it’s set up.

I have a red dot coming for it. Then, I need to see how it fires. And handles my Gold Dots.

If everything goes smooth, I’m going to have to make a decision if the FPC or the Bren will be the home defense carbine.