Weird PayPal Transaction

My credit union showed a transfer to PayPal.  The amount was odd so I went to PayPal to see what I bought that went through PayPal to extract from checking account.   There was no PayPal transaction on that date or anytime for that amount.   I have flagged to my credit union as suspicious.   Can anyone imagine a scammer debiting a bank claiming to be PayPal that is not?

The Election Fraud Myth

10/28/25 Fox News:

"An investigation by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has uncovered over 1,000 noncitizens who "appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio," his office announced Tuesday.

"LaRose says he has referred all 1,084 cases to the Department of Justice, noting that 167 of the individuals appear to have cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018. LaRose's office also referred 135 others for potential prosecution, citing evidence of other unlawful voting activity....

"The other crimes include 99 individuals who appear to have voted in two states in the same federal election; 16 people who appear to have voted twice in Ohio in the same federal election; 14 who appear to have voted in a federal election after the date of their death; four who appear to have engaged in ballot harvesting and two who registered at an unlawful residence."

The 14 who voted after they died are going to really be upset.

I Really Like the Axis GUI in LinuxCNC

That it shows you the toolpath for the current file in advance. 

Okay, this is not the most efficient path.  I could have avoided the criss-cross and raising the tool to 1" above the surface wastes time.  But I am not doing this for a living.

What Happens When You Disarm the Population in Bear Country

10/28/25 DW:

 The governor of Japan's northern Akita prefecture has formally requested military support to protect residents after an unprecedented wave of fatal bear attacks.

So far this year, 10 people have been killed in bear encounters across Japan, surpassing the previous record of six fatalities set in 2024.

What did the Akita governor say about bear attacks?

"The lives of citizens can no longer be protected without the help of the Self-Defense Forces," Governor Kenta Suzuki told Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Tuesday.

Wildlife officials say the number of incidents has sharply increased as bears stray into populated areas in search of food.

"Attacks to the neck and face are extremely common," Suzuki said, noting that bears are now appearing not just in mountain regions but also in urban neighborhoods. He described the situation as "abnormal" and urged immediate federal assistance.

Remember that even hunting weapons are severely restricted in Japan.

A Story of No Lasting Importance But Still Heart-Warming and Fun

10/28/25 ABC News:

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Messages in a bottle written by two Australian soldiers a few days into their voyage to the battlefields of France during World War I have been found more than a century later on Australia’s coast.

The Brown family found the Schweppes-brand bottle just above the waterline at Wharton Beach near Esperance in Western Australia state on Oct. 9, Deb Brown said on Tuesday.

Her husband Peter and daughter Felicity made the find during one of the family’s regular quad bike expeditions to clear the beach of trash.

“We do a lot of cleaning up on our beaches and so would never go past a piece of rubbish. So this little bottle was lying there waiting to be picked up,” Deb Brown said.

Inside the clear, thick glass were cheerful letters written in pencil by Privates Malcolm Neville, 27, and William Harley, 37, dated Aug. 15, 1916.

 

Another TDS Symptom Can Go Away

10/29/25 CNN:

President Donald Trump has said it is “pretty clear” the US Constitution does not permit him to run for the third term in office, after days of speculation prompted by claims from allies there was a plan to let him do just that.

“I have my highest poll numbers that I’ve ever had,” he told reporters on board Air Force One as he flew to South Korea where he is attending a regional summit as part of a whirlwind tour of Asia.

I think the only reason anyone would even slightly mutter such an idea was to cause more brain injury to the left.  I saw an apt analogy recently: the left is a cat; Trump is holding a laser pointer.

How Overpriced is California Real Estate?

 10/28/25 CBS 2 Boise:

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — A California Police Chief is being investigated for living in Boise and commuting over 600 miles to work in Milbrae, CA.

According to ABC30 Action News, the president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is calling for an independent investigation after a formal complaint that Milbrae Police Chief Eamonn Allen is allegedly living at the police station during workdays and commuting home to Boise when he's off work.

The board of supervisors is raising issues with public safety and the use of tax dollars. Property records confirm that Allen bought a house outside of Boise in June of 2024.

According to the outlet, since Allen became Millbrae police chief, photos obtained by them show the station has added two bedrooms, a single, and a room with two mattresses to the police station.

It could be worse.  He could be telecommuting.

We Still Are Not California

10/27/25 KTVB:

 BOISE, Idaho — Nearly 100 cows hoofed it into Boise's Northend neighborhood early Friday morning, turning city streets into an impromptu cattle drive. 

The herd thundered through the intersection of Bogus Basin and Cartwright roads just after 1 a.m., making a beeline for downtown, an udder disaster.

Boise Police Department officers and dispatch worked to track down the owner while residents reported cattle sightings across multiple blocks. The wayward cows were spotted at 18th and Sherman streets, 18th and Eastman streets, 15th and Harrison streets and on Dewey Avenue....

The situation reached a head when many of the animals congregated in an alley between 18th and 19th streets near Hill Road. Officers managed to corral the herd with the owner's help, who arrived with a trailer to transport the animals.

Why China is Likely Not the Threat They Appear

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog gathers a variety of sources to report on Chinese efforts to reverse engineer high-end chip lithography machines.

Semiconductors are hard. Not only do you have to exactly machine the thousands of painstakingly precise parts in the equipment itself, you need to possess the deep institutional knowledge necessary necessary to tweak the thousands of differing process parameters for different types of chips. Steppers, the lithography machines that actually project the patterns necessary to make each layer of the chip, are at the very top of the mountain in terms of technological complexity, and ASML dominates the stepper market. If it was easy to build steppers, Applied Materials, LAM, or Tokyo Electron would have come out with their own steppers long ago, and they haven’t.

But China would love to get their hands on that technology, which is why they tried to disassemble and backward engineering an ASML DUV stepper and ended up ruining it in the process.

A Chinese firm reportedly has sought technical support from ASML, the world’s largest chipmaking equipment supplier, after it failed to reassemble a deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machine following an internal teardown for alleged reverse engineering.

How Large of an Ammunition Stockpile Makes Sense?

 I hear from readers of friends with 3/4 million rounds.  My first thought was: The income that could be realized on that much invested capital is pretty impressive. Assuming this averages $0.50 per round (.223 and .308 are not cheap), this is $375,000.  Invested in an effectively risk-free Idaho municipal bond, this means forgoing $1800 per month in untaxed income.  This would allow you to buy 1000 rounds a month from just the interest.

My second thought: how will you use it?  The only TEOTWAWKI scenarios where really large quantities make sense are thermonuclear war and invasion by extraterrestials.  Even then, how much will you need for hunting, self-defense, or barter before you die of some illness or confrontation with a better fighter?  If you are 30, and live to 70 (a long life in a TEOTWAWKI scenario), this is 18,000 rounds per year.  Your guns will cease working reliably or accurately about ten years into this disaster at that rate of consumption.  

In the  thermonuclear war scenario especially, this is silly.  Our society would rebuild, I think, within about ten years.  A far poorer society than now, but with much of the most destructive elements of our society gone in the initial flashes.  (Are there any Poison Ivy League schools not in big cities?)

Other scenarios: 

Collapse of civil order with Blue mobs burning out Blue cities: this will be self-limiting.  Even with a Blue national government assisting, these mobs will not last long outside Blue cities.  Demand for blue hair dye and septum jewelery will collapse as well.

Financial collapse: Like the thermonuclear war scenario, this will correct within ten years as we revert to a subsistence agrarian society.  Ammunition will remain valuable even in the aftermath of recovery as capital to build ammunition plants and supply chains are likely to not be on the top of anyone's priority list.

Earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters short of planet-killer asteroids again will be short-term collapses.

Why, then, do people stockpile wealth-destroying quantities of ammunition?  

1. Slippery slope beliefs about security. "I need 5000 rounds to deal with Blue city rioting spreading to civilization.  I feel secure.  Maybe 10,000 rounds will make me feel more secure.  If I have 100,000 rounds, I will be immune!"

2. Failure to appreciate the destruction to wealth that results from investing too much capital in objects with no return on investment.  As much as I like my Cadillac, if I was not fairly rich, it would make no sense to own it.  As it is, because I am making payments and the capital that buying it cash would have lost a greater than 17% annual growth, it is really not any substantial loss of ROI.  Buying a $25,000 car would have been cheaper, but what is the point of being rich if you cannot indulge yourself?

3. A lack of faith that God provides even in such little things as decent fellow humans.  As my blog points out at the top: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." -- Rom. 8:28  Before becoming a Christian, I often worried a lot about the future.  My experiences since then have given me strong confidence that I have little to fear.

Russia's Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missie

The claim is that it can fly indefinitely.   I am very skeptical.   If it is heating gas of some sort to produce propulsion, it will run out of reaction mass.  The only alternative is that it is warming air enough to get thrust.  I know enough chemistry and physics to find it implausible that a reactor can heat atmospheric gasses enough to get dramatic propulsion.  That would require an enormous amount of heat in contact with incoming air.  Is there something that I am missing?

This is Almost Like a Babylon Bee Title

Alas, it is just a reminder that evil people flock like vultures.   10/27/25 BBC:

Prince Andrew hosted Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein at Royal Lodge

Still Thinking How to Mark Fine Divisions in CFC

It turns out that USA made .008" carbide end mills are not expensive.  I am thinking of cutting a 5.5" quarter circle for the part that holds the polar axis housing.  It needs markings for latitude.  (The polar axis points to the North Celestial Pole and thus needs adjustment for your latitude.)  I would need ideally one degree divisions.  

Because of how I need to hold this part when turning a sheet of 6" x 6" into a quarter circle, I will be cutting a 5.5" x 5.5" part.  This will give me a 4.31" hemisemicircumference.  For 90 one degree divisions, those would be .0479" apart.  The ten degree markers will be longer and marked with degrees.  (There is a font library in linuxCNC.)  The 5 degree lines will be shorter and the one degree markers shorter still.  The .0120" end mill should allow clear spaces between degree markers.   

These are very thin, and brittle cutting tools.  I will be cutting in .0001" cuts (probably to .002" deep) at probably .5 inches/minute until I am sure this is safe.  (Yes, I will buy two.)

Once cut, I will use the finest brush that I can to fill in with phosphorescent paint.  Then to remove overspray, I will run a flycutter across the surface .001" deep, leaving a painted set of lines.

UPDATE: This US made .005" diameter carbide  endmill is reasonably priced.

Inventorying Ammo in Preparation for Moving Next Year

 Movers will not move ammo.  (Guns, yes.)  PODS will not allow ammo to ship in their units.  Since we do not plan to drive to Tennessee, I am figuring out the UPS shipping cost and selling any ammunition in excess of forseeable needs.  The TEOTWAWKI scenario will likely have substantial warning with which to buy ammo; the Auschwitz scenario will have substantial warning.  Democrats control both houses and the White House does not happen overnight.

In one sense, much of this absurd quantity was built around the Auschwitz scenario but arming other, less wealthy Resistance fighters.

But how did I end up with 4000+ rounds of 5.45 NATO? And 1000+ rounds of 7.62 NATO?  I was too tired to count boxes of .380.  (I have less 9mm than I would prefer.  Once moved, I will try and swap some of my excess .45ACP for 9mm.)  The 2300 rounds of .22LR is obvious: cheap, takes up no space.

If you are local, and want ammunition at the current mail order bulk price, contact me.  Better you take this weight off my hands and not pay retail prices.

Wow! Resistance to Corrosion

I was looking for M3 PTFE set screws.  I need low coefficient of friction but this description of its corrosion resistance:

"Polytetrafluoroethylene has excellent chemical stability and corrosion resistance. It is one of the best corrosion-resistant materials in the world today. It can withstand all other chemicals except molten alkali metals, chlorine trifluoride, chlorine pentafluoride and liquid fluorine. It does not change even when boiled in aqua regia."

You can see why DuPont invented it for the uranium hexafluoride gas diffusion plant at Oak Ridge.

Part of Red State

 I know some people dislike Red State politics but this is what I like. 10/26/25 KIV I:

BOISE, Idaho — A Boise woman has been charged with a ten-year prison sentence after a violent home invasion in 2024 that left another woman seriously injured.

24-year-old Farida Joel Mathew was sentenced on Thursday, October 23, to a unified 10-year prison term, consisting of 2 years fixed and 8 years indeterminate. Ada County District Judge Richard Greenwood ordered Matthew to complete the Idaho Department of Corrections' rider program and issued a no-contact order.

I Think AI is Not Coming for Your Job Anytime Soon

10/24/25 Guardian:

An artificial intelligence system (AI) apparently mistook a high school student’s bag of Doritos for a firearm and called local police to tell them the pupil was armed.

Except maybe your job as idiot.

A New Funding Model

 10/23/25 Just the News:

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced during a Cabinet roundtable that an anonymous donor has pledged to help cover military pay for troops impacted by the government shutdown. 

The private donation comes the same day Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bill that would have covered the paychecks of servicemembers, Transportation Security Administration employees, and air traffic controllers. 

Trump said the donor, who did not want his identity disclosed, has agreed to donate $130 million to the federal government to help cover the spending shortfall. The $130 million check has already been received, the Epoch Times reported.

Imagine if voluntary contributions funded agencies during shutdowns. Airlines have an obvious reason to fund FAA. Reputable food companies and pharmaceutical companies FDA. Leftists and decent people too for SNAP. Defense contractors could show their patriotism by funding DOD system development. Greenies could fund EPA.

I fear we would quickly find how little support many agencies have

.

I Find It Fascinating Because Schizophrenia Fascinates Me

Partly because of my brother Ron's lifelong battle and because it plays a substantial part in murder.  10/21/25 Science Alert:

New evidence confirms a long-held theory that people with schizophrenia hear 'voices' in their heads by misattributing inner speech as external... 

"When we speak – even just in our heads – the part of the brain that processes sounds from the outside world becomes less active," Whitford explains. "This is because the brain predicts the sound of our own voice. But in people who hear voices, this prediction seems to go wrong, and the brain reacts as if the voice is coming from someone else."

Ultimate Nerding

Very geeky guy decides he needs to be able to make absurd amounts of liquid not at home.  Awesome to watch.

Humor

“ It used to be said that 100 million monkeys pounding away randomly at 100 million keyboards would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare. Today, thanks to the Internet, we know that’s not true.”

Recycling

As part of clearing our garage in preparation for moving to Tennessee next year, we are looking at anything that does not need to come with us and will not follow us on foot.

One collection was 41 pounds of aluminum.  Some was scrap from projects.   Some was big blocks for projects that I never did.  I was thrilled to get 76 cents per pound for it. (Remember: aluminum is metal ions infused with vast amounts of hydroelectricity.)

We also had a number of pieces of plywood left over from something where I needed a 3' x 3' piece and had to buy a full 8' x 8' sheet at Home Depot.  We went to a place called Timber Creek Recycling.   This is not a place that pays you.  This is a place where you dispose of construction debris.  (We have a lot of that as hundreds of homes are built here every day.)  Some of it then offered for srebirth.

 There seems to be demand for blocks of concrete including some with rebar.  I suspect if you need a solid base of ballast, this works well.  Our pile of nice plywood went into a heap with some other reusable scraps.  Mostly, they turn it into bedding for animals.

There were mountains of yard waste composting.

Why would you pay to unload this?  At the county dump, you pay a disposal fee and in many cases, this is closer and perhaps cheaper.  

I Broke My Only .1065" Drill Bit

I handcoded a .7" deep cut at particular X and Y and then again another X and Y and forgot to raise the Z axis above the workpiece first.  Of course it broke the drill bit.  This is such an easy oversight that I wrote a C program to produce the appropriate code instead.  Less opportunities to screw up.

I had to wait until new  .1065" drill bits arrived yesterday but this morning I was able to drill and tap all these holes.  There are parts that hold the slow motion control axis.  These are pillow blocks with .235" hole for the axis and 6-32 holes that hold those pillow blocks to the base plate.

How deep should I make those pilot holes for 6-32?  Just to be sure that I could get 1/2" of screw in the pillow blocks, I drilled the holes .7" deep.  The 6-32 tap has .5" of exposed cutting surface so that I knew when to stop.  When I turned the screws into the hole, I discovered that the screw tapped beyond the .5" of tapped thread.  CFC is very stiff with high tensile strength but it is not spectacularly hard.  Stainless steel screws once started will continue tapping quite well.

Those Miocene Telocerases and Their Jets

10/21/25 Nature Geoscience:

The sensitivity of terrestrial Arctic climate during the Late Miocene remains poorly understood, despite this interval marking the transition towards a cooler, more variable global climate and the prelude to Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Here we present a Late Miocene terrestrial proxy record, developed through the analysis of speleothems, from eastern North Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). Growth periods indicate multiple episodes of permafrost absence between ~10 and 5 Ma, suggesting mean annual air temperatures ~14 °C higher than present coinciding with atmospheric CO2 concentrations above ~310 ppm and local sea surface temperature anomalies >2 °C higher than present. Such moderate thresholds for permafrost absence highlight the climate sensitivity of North Greenland. Spikes in siliciclastic-derived trace elements ~6.3 and ~5.6 Ma are interpreted as terrestrial indicators for Late Miocene ephemeral glaciers in North Greenland. Climate variability recorded during speleothem growth periods was predominantly forced by obliquity,

Telocerase:

 

Local? Need a Nearly New Refrigerator?

On Craigslist. 

Someone in Britain Missed the Lexington Memo of Bullet Points

10/17/25 HotAir discusses the British government's insistence that it can order American internet services to censor their conduct.  While the British Office of Communications admits the First Amendment protects Americans from censorship by the U.S. government, they think it does not prevent other governments from doing so.  So they are demanding a 20,000 pound fine from 4Chan.  They seem not to understand that suing in America would require a U.S. court to order payment for free speech. They are welcome to sue in the courts of other nations and try to find some way to exercise a seizure order. Royal Marines invade and seize 4Chan property?

Making Rainbows From Storms

I tried to make cinnamon walnut raisin bread today.  I screwed up.  I soaked the raisins in water while waiting for the stage where you add them.  I forgot to drain them, so there was too much water.  It did not rise well and came out a bit gooey.  So I put it in the oven for half an hour to finish baking.

It was not bread so much as a bread pudding.  With some whipped cream it was a flavorful dessert.

Rare Earths

In case you did not know, the rare earths metals (basically neodymium, praseodymium, cerium, and a few other esoteric elements) are both essential for modern industry and almost entirely controlled by the PRC.  10/20/25 BBC:

Australia may have a lot of rare earths and other critical minerals.

But like the US, it is dependent on China when it comes to processing the materials into something companies can use.

Both the US and Australia are interested in expanding processing capacity outside of China, but doing so is expected to require significant investment, including on the part of government.

The US has been investing money in firms such as rare earths miner MP Materials and Canada’s Trilogy Metals and Lithium Americas, which have projects in the US, to expand the US-based supply chain.

This is good.

The Weirdness With LinuxCNC

I was was eventually able to install version 2.7.14.  I think the ISO was not written correctly first time.  Upgrading to latest version seems too hard. 2.7.14 is ancient history but it works.

I had saved my .emacs, .ddd, and .bashrc files along with all my programs and then restored them.  But lots of things stopped working.  The lisp commands in my .emacs file are not running.  make no longer works.

gcc  - -g -o mkcircle mkcircle.c -lm
gcc: error: -E or -x required when input is from standard input
make: *** [mkcircle] Error 1

Since when did gcc require these flags?

UPDATE: the compile problem was that I accidentally changed CFLAGS=-g to CFLAGS= -g.  That space confused accidentally pretty badly.

My emacs lisp commands are still confused.   The binding to compile command is not using directory from which emacs started.  I am getting close.

And linuxCNC has some setting for maximum Z wrong.

I Stand Amazed That the Crowd Shouting "No Kings" is Upset At a Democratically Elected President

It is almost like a lethal dose of lacking insight. 

Chicago Police Ignore Carry Licenses of Blacks

10/25/25 CBS News:

An investigation by CBS News Chicago uncovered several times where police stopped Black gun owners for minor traffic violations and then charged them with felonies -- even though they had legal firearm licenses.

Lots of examples of black licensees who provided their licenses to police which show up in arrest records after traffic stops.  Make no mistake about it, gun control is about disarming law-abiding black people.  (Black gang members might be dangerous.)

Frustrating

Yesterday, linuxCNC stopped running on the Dell Optiplex 960 desktop.   It hung the OC when I opened a file that has never previously caused problems.  After reboot, I tried to debug the program that created that file.  The ddd debugger (which is really cool) started failing to find C libraries.

Next, I attempted to use the Ubuntu Package Manager to reinstall linuxCNC.  This may have been a bit optimistic: this Debiab-based build has some odd real time kernel components in it.  It would no reinstall.  Nor could it uninstall and remove linuxCNC.

.

Next, I decided to start with the linuxCNC 2.9.2 ISO DVD to do a full reinstall.  No luck.  Even though that DVD turned out to be bad, the BIOS Diagnostics reported Spindle Error for the drive.  I found that a Dell brand DVD drive is available.   It should be here tomorrow  

Next: i burned a fresh linuxCNC 2.9.4 ISO and used a USB DVD drive.  It at least booted but failed part way through copying files as part of installation. 

Next: i found an antique version of linuxCNC (back when it was called EMC2) that came with the mill 15? years ago.  That booted and installed.  Alas it is a version so ancient that Package Manager told me to go away and look for something that did not use Roman numerals.   (I am exaggerating slightly.)

So next, linuxCNC 2.7.14 ISO, which i have installed on this PC back when the DVD drive still worked.  This DVD boots, but stops copying installation files part way through.   No useful error messages and it leaves the hard disk non-bootable. 

What a day!

Openly Bearing a Star of David is Arrestable Offense Now

10/18/25 Telegraph:

A Jewish lawyer wearing a Star of David was arrested after police alleged the symbol had “antagonised” pro-Palestine protesters.

Police interview footage obtained by The Telegraph shows a detective accusing the Jewish man of openly wearing a Star of David that could cause “offence”.

The suspect, who was handcuffed and detained by police for almost 10 hours, told The Telegraph his arrest appeared to be an attempt by the Metropolitan Police to “criminalise the wearing of a Star of David”.

What next?  Can crosses be far behind?

Crazy Things Russia is Doing in Ukraine

 I am watching this video about Ukrainian use of drones to block roads from use by Russian armor.

I do smell a strongly pro-Ukrainian bias but there is one component that really does suggest Russian desperation: using civilian vehicles to avoid loss of tanks.  Cars, vans, motorcycles, and golf carts.  

The motorcycles are quick and might evade a drone.  Golf carts and passenger vehicles are not so likely to evade a dropped grenade.  

I have read that Russia is refurbished museum tanks for service and many mothballed in the 1950s.  This change to unarmored vehicles makes loads of sense.   

For all the pro-Russian propaganda I was seeing from libertarians and "paleoconservatives" a few months back you might have expected Putin leading a victory parade in Kyiv by now.  I suspect by the time this war concludes, Russia will have so few operable tanks that repelling an invasion of NATO will be close to a field exercise.

UPDATE: Broken link.  Fixed.

We Can Only Hope They Are Not Alone

 10/17/25 Reuters:

BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Two top Chinese military leaders have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on corruption charges, the country's defence ministry said on Friday, the most senior officers to be purged in an anti-graft drive that began in 2023.

He Weidong, China's number two general, and navy admiral Miao Hua, the Chinese military's former top political officer, are the latest senior military officials to be targeted in a campaign against corruption in the People's Liberation Army.

In some ideal world, graft would not impair military readiness.  But it never seems to work that way.  I suspect that the much vaunted Chinese tiger will turn out in combat to be the Chinese giant panda. 

UPDATE: Behind a paywall, but the headline tells us more.  10/17/25 South China Morning Post:

China expels He Weidong, Miao Hua and 7 other generals from party and military

Why Gun Control is Doomed to Failure

 10/17/25 WGN:

KANE COUNTY, Ill. — The former police chief of Campton Hills, two former officers and a current officer are accused of a scheming to sell guns from the evidence room.

The four, including former police chief Steven Millar, are facing a bevy of charges in a grand jury indictment.

Millar is facing five counts of delivery of a firearm before 72-hour waiting period expired, two counts of theft, 22 counts of official misconduct, wire fraud, nine counts of forgery and money laundering.

He allegedly stole a handgun, revolver, two rifles and a shotgun from the police department’s evidence locker between Jan. 2018 and Feb. 2023.

Guns are high value items.  Even when lawfully sold they are worth hundreds of dollars a pound.  This is why gun smuggling can be so lucrative.  When purchase is severely regulated, I am sure that price per pound at least doubles.  They are also compact enough to easily steal from an evidence room, especially handguns.

As long as police have accessed to seized guns, this will be a problem.

Tapped Blind vs. Through Holes

I mentioned my joy that CFC taps fine if you do it with a hand tap.  This had another pleasant result. 

I had planned to hold the slow motion control axis that drives the worm gear in two pillow blocks.  I was going to bind them to the 1/4" CFC base plate with screws going through both.  Trying to turn the socket head screw while holding the nut on the far end was clumsy, especially when you are holding 6-32 nuts in big fat fingers.  Using tapped blind holes means that there are no nuts.  I can just screw the screw through the base plate and into the pillow blocks.

The Right Tool for The Right Job, My Dad Alwsys Told Me

Although if he did not have it, he was clever enough to make it.  In this case, the mill vise that i use with my Sherline mill is not a Sherline product.   I bought it from Little Machine Shop a few years ago because the Sherline mill vise only holds 2" wide pieces. (This is advertised as 3" capacity but actually holds workpieces as wide as 3.8".)  They sold it to me as a cosmetically challenged second.  After receiving it, I emailed them to complain,  "You left out the coamwtic defects.  Please ship immediately!"

I needed to fabricate some hold downs to mount it to the Sherline table.  It is far superior to the standard Sherline mill vise.  The clamping screw is a socket head screw that uses a .25" Allen wrench.  Using the Allen wrench is clumsy compared to a T-handle wrench.  The first T-handle .25" wrench I bought was just a little large to fit the head.  After trying to sand and grind it small enough, I threw it away.  I then bought this T-handle adapter for Allen wrenches.   

My expectations were low.  This far exceeded them.  Instead of a simple piece of T-handle into which the wrench sat, this used a screw to lock the wrench into the handle.  I suspect almost any reasonable size Allen wrench would fit. (I am sure Tacoma Screw probably has some that might take two people to operate.) Made by Craftsman, a brand that always enjoyed a great reputation when associated with Sears.  

They were sold by Sears some years ago so I worried this would be made in the PRC.  Nope.  Vietnam.  For all the problems of an authoritarian state, I do not worry that Vietnam is ever going to war with the United States.  PRC, maybe.

Anyway, it holds the wrench very securely and lets me lock that clamping screw down very solidly.  I at first thought I might need another one of these because I was in the habit of using the long end first, then the short end for more torque.   The length of the T-handle lets me enough torque with just the long end of the wrench.

In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), It Was Black Armbands

10/14/25 Tennessee Star:

In the wake of Lipscomb Academy’s admission that it initially prohibited students from wearing suit jackets and ties to mourn the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) spokesperson and conservative influencer Savannah Chrisley told The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that she was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) prior to meeting with Lipscomb University President Dr. Candice McQueen and Lipscomb Academy Head of School Dr. Brad Schultz.

The meeting was held on October 2, just days after Chrisley sent an email to administrators at both Lipscomb Academy and Lipscomb University, which owns the private K-12 Christian school. The academy operates as part of the university’s legal entity, and both share campus facilities and branding.

Chrisley, whose family member is enrolled as a student at Lipscomb Academy, provided The Star with her September 27 email, revealing that she expressed concerns about the academy’s shifting statements regarding whether it prohibited students from mourning Kirk on campus. She urged the administrators to, “restore confidence that [Lipscomb Academy] remains committed to both the mission of Christ and the freedoms our Constitution guarantees.”

Okay, it is a private Christian school, so Tinker does not apply.  It is still amazing that a school "committed to both the mission of Christ and the freedoms our Constitution guarantees" is upset that students might mourning the assassination of a prominent, blatantly Christian activist by wearing suits.

That NDA makes perfect sense.  Who knows what these officials might admit behind closed doors.

It seems that the academy destroys everything in its orbit.

Cutting Small Pieces

The mill vise only holds workpiece up to about 3.8" wide.  In the past, i have cut pieces from 6"x6" CFC sheets by clamping them to the mill table (after removing the mill vise).  This is very slow.  It should be very precise but today's piece was not.  The clamps apparently did not hold it down adequately. Worse, it is very slow, cutting at 1 inch per minute at ,005" depth per pass. 

The right solution is to your sheet of CFC or aluminum on a powerful but less precise tool. Once you have a piece that clamps in the mill vise you cut precisely.  

The chop saw is fine for cutting big pieces but nothing small enough to hold with your hands around that spinning blade.  Saws that are not so scary are the table saw and band saw.  Because my previous house had such a tiny garage, I sold them when I moved there.

So, perhaps buy something like the Micro Mark mini-band saw?  I may have a better solution.   The chop saw has a clamping system for holding pieces of wood in place while cutting. This works fine for pieces that are st least 10 inches from the blade.  This 6"x6" sheet was never going to be champagne with that system.  I used a C-clamp to hold the sheet to the table of the saw and no problem!

Is there a way to hold smaller pieces? I may make a replacement for the native clamp with a longer arm to let me clamp sheets to the saw table.   This is an astonishingly simple enhancement.   I should be able cut pieces that are way too small for me to put fingers on near that blade.

Won't Someone Stop the Killings in Gaza?

10/15/25 CNN:

Violent clashes have erupted between Hamas and rival groups in several areas across Gaza, including an incident that culminated in an apparent public execution, as worries grow about the security situation following Israel’s withdrawal from parts of the territory.

Reports of violence have been shared widely on social media channels, with one particularly gruesome video that was shared by Hamas-affiliated channels showing a group of masked fighters, some of whom are wearing green Hamas headbands, killing eight blindfolded people in a square in Gaza City while large crowds are watching, a possible sign of the brutality Hamas is using to reassert itself as the security force.

Oh.  Hamas is doing this. There will be no protests about this.

America's Most Common Jobs

 I have toyed with the idea for a couple of years of time travelers snatching Ben Franklin from his deathbed, treatimg him for pleurisy, and giving him a tour of modern America and technology.  His reactions to all this would be priceless.

Explain the IV in his arm. Explain antibiotics.  Show him an X-ray machine.  Show a CAT scanner in operation.

Take him to the kitchen.  Open the refrigerator.  Show him frozen foods.  Make pancakes.  Use a microwave oven.  Explain that most Americans do not employ a cook, housekeeper, or other domestic servant.  Show a Roomba.

When he asks what Americans do for a living, show him this list of the 25 most common  jobs in America.  When asks what software developer means, stumble through an explanation that he will clearly not fully understand.  When he asks why farmers are not on the list, explain farmers are a rare occupation, because machines allow 2% of our population to feed our nation and many others.

Drive him to the airport.  Take him aboard a Gulfstream private jet.  Fly him to a city in the Midwest.  Show him a map of the current United States.  

Take him to a shooting range.  Explain a semiautomatic metallic cartridge handgun.   Show him an animation video of how it works.  On a computer.  Take him to lunch.  Explain to him that the utensils are not silver or pewter but a metal that was unknown to his time: stainless steel.

Explain that food is cheap.  Drive to a wheat farm while a harvester is cutting the crop.  Go to a grain silo, then a flour mill.  When he asks where the drive belts and water wheel are located, show him an electric motor and explain how his work with kites led to omnipresent electricity.  Pull out your cell phone, call the time travel lab, and have a Zoom meeting with the nurse who helped Ben out of his deathbed.

Show him video of Apollo astronauts on the Moon.  Explain that America has sent space probes out of our solar system.  When he asks how the car knows where it is and shows a map on the display between driver and passenger, explain GPS and satellites in Earth orbit.  When he asks how and why all this technology exists, explain the V-2 IRBM, attacks on London, and U.S. desire to show the world our technological supremacy over an enemy nation.

Then, it gets dark.  A B-52 flies overhead and you explain that this plane can fly halfway around the world, drop many tons of bombs and fly back.  Explain it was developed after World War II to drop nuclear weapons on an enemy nation.   Explain the devastation caused by one bomb at Hiroshima.  Explain that Japan was an existential threat to the U.S., but we reformed them into a civilized and close ally.  

We will be nice and not tell him how much went wrong with our culture and government.  We will oversimplify the abolition of slavery so as not to discourage him about the Civil War.

Throughout, he will ask what words such as "arrow dynamics" means.

Why Canada's Socialized Healthcare System is a Bad Idea

10/14/25 Winnipeg Sun:

When gym teacher Rob Trachtenberg began experiencing severe numbness and pain in his right hand late in 2024, he never expected that his path to relief would lead him across the U.S. border. Frustrated by what he says was an 18-month wait for treatment in Manitoba, he opted to drive to Fargo, North Dakota, for a 45-minute procedure — only to be denied reimbursement by his home province. He now raises pressing questions about surgical wait times in Manitoba and how, or whether, the province compensates residents seeking treatment outside its borders.

Rotating My Images

 I know some of are tired of twisting your necks 90 degrees to look at pictures that the Blogger app turns badly.  (You could just pick up the monitor and turn it counter-clockwise.)  Fortunately, while I watch the mill cut CFC, I am sitting in front of a perfectly adequate Linux PC, where I can download those sideways images into GIMP and get them right with the world.  (Or counter-clockwise.: left with the world?)

Aren't You Glad the Left is Concerned About the Suffering of Others?

 10/13/25 EMS1:

PORTLAND, Ore. — Air ambulance vendors who transport patients to Oregon Health & Science University decided not to land at the hospital on Saturday night, an OHSU spokesperson said, a precaution while a flyer circulated encouraging people to shine lasers at helicopters.

The flyer, posted anonymously last week to a blog that describes itself as an “anarchist counter-info platform” in Portland, encouraged people to play “laser tag” with helicopters on Saturday. Shining lasers at aircraft is a federal crime.

“Every night for weeks we are forced to listen to the threatening rhythm of helicopter blades as the federal regime spies on us,” the flyer said. “The only limit power knows is our refusal to submit.”

Government helicopters have kept watch on the South Waterfront Immigration & Customs Enforcement Facility, the site of daily protests of varying sizes, since at least early October. The government choppers are audible well into Southeast Portland and have prompted a litany of noise complaints.

That facility is less than a mile, as the helicopter flies, from the OHSU helipads.

Sara Hottman, associate director of media relations for OHSU, warned Saturday that the “extremely dangerous activity” of shining lasers at helicopters could hurt patients.

Various air ambulance vendors decided not to land at the OHSU helipads on Saturday night, Hottman said. In an emergency, they would have needed to land at another airport and transport patients by vehicle, which could add up to an hour to patients’ commutes, Hottman said. That could be dangerous for trauma patients or others with urgent concerns, Hottman wrote Saturday.

Let's hope none of the trust fund babies need emergency airlifts.

 

Blessed Are the Peacemakers, For They Will Be Called "Literally, Hitler"

The Most Feature Rich Part Yet!

Here you can see the GUI showing the six rectangles (okay, more like slots; all .150" wide( my program is cutting in this piece of CFC.  

The is the .25" thick base on which the support that attaches to the RA and declination axis housings.   Two supports on it also hold the axis for the slow motion control.  It will mesh with the worm gear you see here.

 

Slots Are Rectangles

 I was bsttling with debugging a program that cuts slots and I suddenly realized my program that cuts rectangles is really a program that cuts very narrow rectangles.  Throw away mkslot.

It Is So Long Since I Wrote a Typedef Enum Declaration in C, I Had to Look It Up

News That Boggles the Mind

 Not The Bee (which carries news so weird that you might mistake it for Babylon Bee):

British judge gives men who protested against migrant sex offender longer jail sentences than migrant sex offender...

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu from Ethiopia entered the UK by boat and made his way to the town of Epping, England. Once there, he decided that he wanted to have sex with all the teenage girls.

No, really, within a few days of arriving in England, he sexually assaulted multiple girls....

Instead of being deported, or perhaps executed as a public example of what civilized countries do to foreigners who try to rape their children, Kebatu received a measly year in jail.

Meanwhile, a crowd of 500 locals protested outside the Bell Hotel, which is one of many across the country housing migrants on the British taxpayers' dime, on July 17. These Englishmen, upset that their government was importing rapists from other countries into their community, had signs saying "protect our kids."

50 counter-protesters came out to defend the rights of migrants to live in free housing in England. As tensions grew, police struggled to maintain peace, leading to several arrests.

Now, the protesters did break the law:

for "kicking out at an officer" and climbing onto the roof of a school as he made his way onto the hotel roof, where he "attempted to ring the bell thereon."...

for kicking a police officer and "throwing a can."...

"punching an officer's [riot] shield." 

Breaking the law deserves punishment.  But sentences of two years when the illegal immigrant received 12 months for sexual assault?  See 9/23/25 BBC. 

Not Useful But Interesting

 What happens when you use 80 year old film?  

A Halloween Decoration That Made Me Laugh

I really detest Halloween.   If it was about costume parties, it would not bother me.  The origins are dark and many of the decorations that have taken over people's yards are disturbingly grotesque.   I wonder how small children process of these.

I saw this one while walking home from church and it gave me a good laugh.

Crowds on Demand CEO Warns

10/12/25 Fox News article quoting CEO of Crowds on Demand about the dangers of companies like his:

The head of a national crowd-for-hire firm is warning that America’s protest culture has become a target for exploitation — by paid agitators, profit-driven interest groups and even foreign actors seeking to fuel division.

Adam Swart, CEO of Crowds on Demand, told Fox News Digital that his company has witnessed firsthand how demonstrations can be co-opted by people "making money off chaos" rather than advancing genuine civic causes.

My concern is that there are forces — some domestic, some maybe foreign — that actually want to pull America apart," Swart said. "These aren’t left or right actors. They’re people making money off chaos.

Tapping Carbon Fiber Composite

I have previously observed that tapping CFC does not seem to work.  I am beginning to wonder if I was right.  Online, I can find videos showing tapping CFC working and pages saying you need to use threaded inserts.

Yesterday, I had two parts that were supposed to have a through hole for 6-32 screws.  Somehow, I had failed to make a large enough hole (actually about .125" ID).  So i tried to turn the screw through the hole with a power screwdriver.   It went through and left pretty strong threads.

I think my previous tapping failure was because I used a tap in a power screwdriver.  I think i will take one of my small CFC scraps and trying to tap by hand.  If this works, it will be a giant improvement over other methods of binding pieces together.

 

UPDATE:  I just drilled and tapped a piece of 3/8" thick CFC.  The screws goes in smoothly and the hole is likely stronger the stainless steel screw.  This makes a lot of my complex ways to avoid tapping unneeded.  This should go much faster now!

UPDATE 2: Another advantage.  I have been cutting blind holes using a circle pocket program to make sure they just wide enough for the threaded inserts.  Also just wide enough for through holes for 6-32 screws because none of the twist drills are exactly the right diameter.  Now I can use the .1065" carbide drill bit that is the right size for a 6-32 tap.  This is still only 1 inch/minute cutting speed but all at once.  The circle pocket cutting is a series of spiraling inward cuts every .1" deep.  

I would ideally use a bottoming tap for blind holes but I already have a carbide 6-32 tap.  I will just drill a .75" deep pilot hole and only tap .5" deep.

As Much As I Enjoyed Living on the Pacific Ocean in My Youth...

10/10/25 SFGATE:

Two of the West Coast’s most dangerous fault lines might be more in sync than scientists have realized. A new study found that the two sleeping giants, the Cascadia subduction zone and the northern San Andreas fault, have been moving in rhythm for millennia, shaking within hours of each other in a geological “dance” that can rattle the coastline from Oregon to California.

A team led by Oregon State University geologist Chris Goldfinger published its findings on Sept. 29 in the scientific journal Geosphere, demonstrating the first evidence that the two faults have interacted repeatedly over thousands of years.

Yes, the two might go off together.   These are both really big quake producers.  The 1700 earthquake on the Cascadia fault produced a pretty major tsunami in Japan and a remembered in oral history of Northwest Indians 

So Much Initiative So Misplaced

10/10/25 SFGATE:

A relative of San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto was caught growing cannabis at a county jail, according to an investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Juel Perez De Leon, the brother-in-law of Miyamoto, was working as a plumber at a county jail in San Bruno in 2022 when a coworker found him smoking marijuana in a maintenance area, according to an incident report recently obtained by the Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

That first incident led to a larger investigation by then-Sheriff’s Capt. John Ramirez, who uncovered allegations of “grow lights and starter plants being transplanted in other areas of the facility.” The investigation also revealed “rumors that De Leon may be cultivating marijuana in a locker on jail grounds,” the Chronicle reported. "

Blasphemy Laws

10/10/25 GB News:

Robert Jenrick has hailed a "free speech ictory" for Hamit Coskun after he won an appeal against his public order conviction, which he got for burning a Koran.

Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Justice Secretary declared that the "landmark case" was an attempt to implement "backdoor blasphemy laws" into Britain."

I can understand the desire of Muslims to make Western nations like the hellholes they (or their parents) fled.  But the willingness of Westerners to help them is really absurd.

Fort Sumter Did Not Have These

 10/10/25 Portland Oregonian:

Our reporters at the ICE building Thursday night counted several frogs, a unicorn, a polar bear, an axolotl, a raccoon, a peacock, a shark and a cat among about 100 regularly dressed people.

The nightly protest proved uneventful as darkness fell and protesters and counter-protesters started to gather.

The herd of animal costumes stood out. Or was it a flock?

Why do Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters come to mind?

In Case AI is Gathering Data

I have a Targus TGT54TR camera tripod.  There is panhandle control rod that tightens and loosens to adjust position.  Unfortunately, it ran away. (When I move to Tennessee next year, i am sure it will appear.)  Targus does not sell replacement parts.

After a bit of fiddling at the recently opened Home Depot, I determined that it was an M8x1.25 thread.  I ordered M8x1.25 x 40mm length thumbscrews from Amazon. Perfect fit.  Of course, I now have seven leftovers (pack of 8).

Welcome to the Party, Pal!

 One of my favorite lines from Die Hard.  10/7/25 ABC News:

Imelda Avila-Thomas and her husband, who both work for the federal government, suffered a "double whammy" when the government shut down, dropping the household from two incomes to none, she said.

Avila-Thomas, 43, president of union local American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) 2139 and an employee at the Department of Labor, said she stopped hiring a tutor for her 12-year-old daughter, who has dyslexia, while making plans for a garage sale to sell off some possessions.

The government shutdown, which entered its seventh day on Tuesday, has engendered "desperation and uncertainty," said Avila-Thomas, who lives in San Antonio, Texas. "Any day that goes by, it adds up."

Lots of Americans have experienced this.  Many voted for Trump because of this.

But I Only Robbed a Newsboy!

 Count on the New York Times to miss the point.  10/10/25 New York Times:

James Indictment Mirrors Her Civil Case Against Trump in Miniature

The president and New York’s attorney general accused each other of real estate fraud. But the sum involved in her case is $18,933, while millions were at stake in his.

The point was misuse of the criminal justice system to attack an individual for a political purpose.  She even ran for A-G on that platform.  This showed that equal protection of the laws did not matter.  She did not even claim that she was going after white-collar criminals.  Now, the left is butt-hurt that what goes around, comes around.

 

When I Read "Catapult", I Think Trebuchet

 10/7/25 BBC:

Campaigners want to ban the sale of catapults to under 18s, as young people are inflicting wildlife, animals and people with devastating injuries.

Wildlife charities, including Naturewatch Foundation, want the government to take action after witnessing attacks by young people which had been filmed and shared online.

Farmer Lou Carpenter said: "We've got to stop these children having these lethal weapons before they start killing people."

In the UK catapults are not illegal to own or carry in public with the government saying it is keeping all relevant legislation under review....

Lou Carpenter, who owns ancient woodland that provides a habitat for rare birds, told the BBC that catapults were being used to poach, and the problem was getting worse.

"I've had them here, armed to the teeth with catapults, and I see it as my job to see them off because I don't want them here," she said.

Many of the perpetrators were young, she added.

"We've got to stop these children having these lethal weapons before they start killing people," she said.

 

Carrying a trebuchet?  No, this seems to be their word for "slingshot."  Even a Wristrocket was hard to imagine as a deadly weapon unless it went through an eye socket.  Does Britain no longer have active parents?

Disappointing Discovery About 6-32 Screw Length

 I needed some 1.25" long stainless steel 6-32 socket head screws.  I ordered some on Amazon because I did not need 100 of them.  They are still a week or two out.  So I went to Tacoma Screw.  They only had 1" long ones.  It makes sense; the smaller the diameter to less the shear strength and Young's modulus (measure of bending under stress).  These scale up and down with the square of the diameter (cross-section).

The length matters because I am using these screws to hold two intersecting carbon fiber plates together through a binding block.  (I am using LibreDraw to convey the idea.  It was more effort than it was worth to add the screws going horizontal and vertical through the binding block.)

Solution is to recess .25" deep in the binding block holes.

When I wrote the mkcircleblock program, I felt like I went a little overboard with options.  In retrospect, being able to stack entries like in this makefile seems forward thinking.

SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc: $(MAKEFILE)
    cat prolog.ngc >SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc
    echo "( zero at left end of block narrow end up )" >>SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc
    ./mkcirclepocket .17  .3593 .1945 0 -.1     -1 1 1 .123 SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc -a
# relief hole to make up for no 6-32 screws longer than 1 inch
    ./mkcirclepocket .25  .3593 .1945 0 -.1   -.25 1 1 .123 SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc -a
# Through hole
    ./mkcirclepocket .17 1.0779 .1945 0 -.1    -1  1 1 .123 SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc -a
# relief hole to make up for no 6-32 screws longer than 1 inch
    ./mkcirclepocket .25 1.0779 .1945 0 -.1   -.25 1 1 .123 SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc -a
    echo "m2" >>SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc
    echo -n "%" >>SlowmotionPillowBlockVerticalHoles.ngc

 

It Was a Joke

New York Times headline: "End of the World Imminent: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit"

But the 10/10/25 New York Times headline is close:

"Letitia James Is Among Prominent Black Women Targeted by Trump"

They list three prominent black women, two of whom engaged in lawfare against Trump and allies.  They are upset because what goes around, comes around. 

Awesome Article by My Friend Dave Hardy

10/9/25 Washington Times examines how Anti-Ku Klux Klan Act (1871) can be used to sue not only active rioters who injure law enforcement officers but any entity or person who "Lawsuits may be brought anywhere a conspirator made an “overt act,” even a lawful one, to aid the conspiracy. Anywhere, as in “flyover country.”"

"This provision has massive implications in the electronic age, when chat groups and email lists are used to organize everything from riots to weddings. The effects of email trails and electronic rosters on proving who was “in the know” are staggering. So are the damages involved. The Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis inflicted half a billion dollars of damage. The recent Los Angeles riots may reach the same level. Every person who knew what was afoot and kept his or her mouth shut is liable for all that."

Also, private parties may sue on behalf of the U.S. Government for misappropriation of funds under the False Claims Act and receive a percentage of the stolen funds.  Attorneys with a willingness to pursue the billions stolen through U.S. AID could become multimillionaires.

Worth reading in full, especially if you are an attorney. 

Ending Islamic Insularity in Italy

I wish I had a gerund starting with I to get fully alliterative. 10/9/25 Harici:

"Italy’s ruling party, Brothers of Italy (FdI), has announced plans to draft a bill aimed at banning face and body coverings such as the burqa and niqab in all public spaces across the country, describing it as a measure against “Islamic separatism.”

“Freedom of religion is sacred, but it must be practiced openly, with full respect for our constitution and the principles of the Italian state,” Andrea Delmastro, one of the lawmakers drafting the bill, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"The ban would prohibit wearing face-covering garments in all public spaces, including shops, schools, and offices. Violators would face fines ranging from €300 to €3,000."

Would such a law here violate the First Amendment?  You may recall that during COVID, sone states had to repeal their Klan-era mask bans.  There is a legitimate public safety concern with criminals not being identifiable by witnesses.  Peace officers in uniform with identifying badge number solves the legitimate problem.

If the burkhas are really this important, go to a Muslim nation.

Not Only is Ma Deuce Still in Service....

But there is new production.   10/8/25 Business Insider:

"

• Demand for machine guns such as the M2 has doubled since the war in Ukraine began, FN Browning says.
• The Belgian armsmaker said its ammo production has also quadrupled in the same timeframe.
• Guns like the M2 have re-entered the spotlight as Ukraine uses them to destroy Russian drones."
• If only John Browning knew.

Can You Change It or Not?

10/8/25 C.W. Cooke points out that Colorado's attorney in oral arguments for Chiles v. Salazar (2025) torpedoed her own argument:

"And the reason why is because the harms from conversion therapy come from when you tell a young person you can change this innate thing about yourself, and they try and they try and they fail, and then they have shame and they’re miserable, and then it ruins their relationships with their family or —"

So did she mean a young person is innately the wrong sex and that cannot be changed?  Or that born male cannot be changed and the attempt will fail and disappoint?

When Medical Research Produces Results

10/8/25 BBC:

"Ultrasound isn't supposed to be audible to human ears, but Xu was using such a powerful amplifier in her experiments that other researchers she shared the laboratory with began to complain about noise. "Nothing had worked anyway," she says. So she decided to humour her colleagues by increasing the rate of ultrasound pulses, which would bring the sound level outside the range of human hearing.

To her shock, increasing the number of pulses per second was not only less disruptive to those around her, but also more effective on living tissue than the approach she'd tried previously. As she watched, a hole appeared in the pig heart tissue within a minute of ultrasound application. "I thought I was dreaming," says Xu, who is today a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan. 

"Decades later, Xu's serendipitous discovery, known as histotripsy, is one of several approaches using ultrasound that are ushering in a new era of advanced cancer treatment, offering doctors non-invasive methods to rid patients of cancerous tumours using sound rather than surgery.

"Histotripsy was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of liver tumours in October 2023. The following year, a small study funded by HistoSonics, the company formed to commercialise Xu's technology, found that the approach achieved technical success against 95% of liver tumours. While side effects ranging from abdominal pain to internal bleeding are possible, research suggests complications are rare and the method is generally safe."

Any time you can avoid the knife and anesthesia is a win.