Just Love Having a CNC Mill

Somehow, I screwed up cutting a couple of pieces of acetal at 30 degree angle so that they were not parallel cuts, but because the sides were square, just dropped in the mill vise, and ran the mill over the top and ended up with a perfectly square surface.  It takes a while, but once started, I just leave my robot to work.

The History of Future Folk

This is the most stupidly entertaining schlock sci-fi I have watched since The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).  No spoilers once you are past the first five minutes.  Sent from planet Hondo to find a new home for species at risk of destruction by an incoming comet, General Trias is all rady to realize a virus to exterminate mankind, when he hears our unique gift: music and decides to save us, ignoring his mission, falling in love with a Pam Dawber look-alike with whom he has a child.  (No, he doesn't say Nanu.)  The first half feels like an out of control Saturday Night Live skit, right down to the Devo-inspired spacesuits.  Then it turns into an adventure, where he launches a Titan II from the museum where he works on an interstellar mission to destroy the comet.  I know, it sounds dumb, but there are some very light touches: one alien stealing a cop's heart dancing the tango in tge manner that usually requires marriage afterwards, while an alien species that is severely repitiloid with severe piercings fights it out with our hero, intercut into the tango,.

HD Glasses

I found it hard to believe, but I can now see non-right angles, even as little as 2 degrees off!  Stuff that used to require a square.

Another Reminder Who the Democratic Party Is

5/27/16 KTLA:

California billionaire Tom Steyer stars in a new Spanish-language television commerical attacking presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

From PowerLine:

Billionaire hedge fund operator and “green” energy magnate Tom Steyer has pledged $100 million in the 2014 election cycle to help Democratic candidates who oppose the Keystone pipeline and who favor “green” energy over fossil fuels. Steyer claims to be a man of principle who has no financial interest in the causes he supports, but acts only for the public good. That is a ridiculous claim: Steyer is the ultimate rent-seeker who depends on government connections to produce subsidies and mandates that make his “green” energy investments profitable. He also is, or was until recently, a major investor in Kinder Morgan, which is building a competitor to the Keystone pipeline.

Go here, here, here, here, here andhere for more information about how Steyer uses his political donations and consequent connections to enhance his already vast fortune.But Steyer’s hypocrisy goes still deeper. Today, he is a bitter opponent of fossil fuels, especially coal. That fits with his current economic interests: banning coal-fired power plants will boost the value of his solar projects. But it was not always thus. In fact, Steyer owes his fortune in large part to the fact that he has been one of the world’s largest financers of coal projects. Tom Steyer was for coal before he was against it.

Unlike Suicide-By-Lion in Santiago

that happened a few weeks back, this was probably parents not willing to discipline their child. 5/29/16 Cincinnati Enquirer:

A holiday weekend outing at Cincinnati's zoo turned doubly tragic Saturday when a 4-year-old boy was hospitalized after falling into a gorilla enclosure - and zoo workers had to kill the rare gorilla to protect the boy.

Cincinnati police and emergency crews responded to a report of a child falling into the exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden at about 4 p.m. Saturday. Police confirmed the child was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center near the zoo, and was treated for serious, but non-life threatening injuries.

Cincinnati Zoo President Thane Maynard said the boy crawled through a barrier and fell an estimated 10 to 12 feet into the moat surrounding the habitat. He said the boy was not seriously injured by the fall.

At 4, many kids require constant supervision and regular discipline.

Social Conservatism in An Age of Revolution

should appear in paperback on amazon shortly.

Broadcast Antennas on Bogus Basin

From my smartphone through Big Bertha 3.0

What Is Going On At Catholic Universities?

The College Fix reports:

It’s uncommon at Jesuit universities these days for someone to openly share a traditional Catholic viewpoint.

When it happened at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, the school was so spooked it called the Los Angeles Police Department.

Both the police and the university’s Bias Incident Response Team are investigating the stated belief that only two genders exist, male and female, as a hate crime.

When will Catholic doctrine, or even free speech, be allowed on Catholic university campuses?  I have seen this rapidly accelerating PC crap at theoretically evangelical Protestant colleges as well.  At the core is the desire of academics to be taken seriously by their secular counterparts.

I Am Marie of Roumania

Last line of a quatrain by Dorothy Parker.  Brought to mind by this quote from a law professor denouncing the transgendered garbage:

We are teaching young people a terrible lesson. If I believe that I am a Russian princess, that doesn’t make me a Russian princess, even if my friends and acquaintances are willing to indulge my fantasy. Nor am I a Great Horned Owl just because—as I have been told—I happen to share some personality traits with those feathered creatures. I should add that very few actual transgender individuals are confused in this way. They understand perfectly that their sex and their gender do not align. Some choose surgery to make their bodies better align with their gender. Most choose not to.

Historical Evidence Concerning Climate Change

Now out in paperback.

Trump on AGW

The True Believers are very upset:

No one expected Donald Trump to give a single energy speech and suddenly pivot to the left on global warming, after a record of expressing skepticism that global warming exists on several prior occasions. 

However, few of even the most die-hard, wary environmentalists likely expected what they got on Thursday, when Trump both effectively clinched the nomination and gave a dismissive energy speech in North Dakota. 

The speech amounted to a broadside against the Obama administration's climate and energy policies, as well as Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's proposals, in addition to climate science and energy market realities.

Trump revealed he does not see global warming as a threat, and instead wants to burn more "sweet oil." He said he would "cancel" the Paris Climate Accord, which was negotiated in December of last year. The Paris Agreement is the first-ever global agreement to commit industrialized and developing countries to act on global warming. 

The Case For Destroying Universities

They seem to produce such utterly irrational nonsense.  5/1/16 Australian Broadcasting Radio interviewed some "intellectuals":

The power of the family to tilt equality hasn’t gone unnoticed, and academics and public commentators have been blowing the whistle for some time. Now, philosophers Adam Swift and Harry Brighouse have felt compelled to conduct a cool reassessment.

Swift in particular has been conflicted for some time over the curious situation that arises when a parent wants to do the best for her child but in the process makes the playing field for others even more lopsided....

Once he got thinking, Swift could see that the issue stretches well beyond the fact that some families can afford private schooling, nannies, tutors, and houses in good suburbs. Functional family interactions—from going to the cricket to reading bedtime stories—form a largely unseen but palpable fault line between families. The consequence is a gap in social mobility and equality that can last for generations.

So, what to do?

According to Swift, from a purely instrumental position the answer is straightforward.

‘One way philosophers might think about solving the social justice problem would be by simply abolishing the family. If the family is this source of unfairness in society then it looks plausible to think that if we abolished the family there would be a more level playing field.’   ...

‘We could prevent elite private schooling without any real hit to healthy family relationships, whereas if we say that you can’t read bedtime stories to your kids because it’s not fair that some kids get them and others don’t, then that would be too big a hit at the core of family life.’

So should parents snuggling up for one last story before lights out be even a little concerned about the advantage they might be conferring?

‘I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally,’ quips Swift. 

 You may recall that abolition of the family and sex was part of 1984.  There should always be room for thinking outside the box, but his lack of concern for how crazy this all sounds suggests that he isn't concerned how crazy this will sound to the rest of the academic community.

Madness

From CampusReform:

Earlier this month, a professor at Santa Monica College led students in an ‘EcoSexual Sextravaganza’ in which participants ‘married the ocean.’

Amber Katherine, a philosophy professor who helped organize the May 14 event, explained toCampus Reform that the purpose of the “wedding” was to bring about a deeper love for the planet through “ecocentric passion and even lust.”

The ceremony began with Bruce Cartier, a former SMC student, proclaiming to those gathered at Santa Monica Beach that “today we stand upon this holy earth and in this sacred space to witness the rite of matrimony between the sea and us all.”

Next, leaders of the event distributed rings to the students, announcing “with this ring, I bestow upon the sea the treasures of my mind heart and hands—as well as my body and soul. With the power vested in us, we now pronounce you ‘married to the sea.’”...

Compared to same-sex marriage, this is just a bit out there.

One attendee of the event—who identified herself only as “Serenity”—spoke about the importance of gaining consent from the earth before proceeding with a physical relationship.

“Back when I would hug trees in Santa Cruz, I would sort of ask the tree if it was okay if I hugged it and I would feel their spirit or energy or something give a response back, and then proceed accordingly,” she told The Corsair. “Consent is definitely important. Do you think the Earth would consent to fracking and pollution? Probably not”. 

Remember the "meat=murder" and "dairy=rape" bumper stickers.  (I was in the Bay Area at the time.)

I See a Saturday Night Live Skit

5/26/16 Daily Mail:

Saudi police have arrested a man after he shot a male doctor shortly after he helped deliver his wife’s baby.
It is understood the suspect was angry that the hospital had allowed a male doctor, named locally as Muhannad al-Zabn, to treat his wife during birth.
The man, who has not been named, is believed to have wanted a female doctor to deliver the baby and was upset that the male doctor would have seen his wife naked. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3610866/Saudi-father-shoots-doctor-shortly-delivered-wife-s-baby-didn-t-want-man-spouse-naked.html#ixzz49sHOUKli Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Obstetrician wearing blindfold delivering baby.

Hildebeast Doesn't Know How to Use a Computer?

5/27/16 Fox News:

A longtime State Department official said he assumed that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was using her personal email to "stay in touch with family and friends", not conduct official business.

In a two-hour deposition with the conservative legal watchdog group Judicial Watch last week, Lewis Lukens also said he offered to set up a "stand-alone" computer for Clinton to check her personal email account, only to be told that she "does not know how to use a computer to do email."

Lukens' testimony was released Thursday, the day after the State Department inspector general released a report criticizing Clinton's email setup, saying that it violated federal records rules and cybersecurity guidelines.

Definitely smart enough to be President!  Yes, she's old, but at 99 my mother could do that.

Emacs on Windows 7

I have been a fan of emacs as a general purpose editor for decades.  I have long used Epsilon, an emacs clone on PC-DOS and Windows through XP.  It does not seem to work in Windows 7, and installing the open source version was a pain, until I found this.

Blood Pressure, Heart

I was having some fatigue problems, so I started taking my blood pressure again, and it was higher than it should have been.  In response, I started treadmillinf 30-40 minutes a day.  The fatigue went away and my blood pressure is down to 115/62.  My cardiologist saw me last week, pronounced my echocardiogram and EKG healthy, and said lose some weight, see you in a year.

Snakeshot

Ever wondered what the characteristics of .22LR snakeshot are?  Me too.  So I set up boxes at 6 and 12 feet and shot them with a Colt/Walther .22 and a Ruger 10/22.  Unsurprisingly with the Colt/Walther Government Model at 6 feet the #12 shot in this CCI shotshell, hit well around this box

and penetrated both sides.

  Like a shotgun, it spreads fast, but packs some force: notice the box is tipped over.

At 12 feet, I thought perhaps I was aiming too low, but actually the spread was just too wide.

Some shot penetrated the cardboard.

The 10/22 provided a lot tighter group at 6 feet with better penetration as might be expected.

At 12 feet still more penetration than I want for intended purpose.

It also requires centering the scope crosshairs a bit high about 25 moa.  Recoil with both guns was minmal, even for .22 LR, and unsurprisingly neither gun succcessfully cycled the action.  I suspect this make more sense for a revolver.

Email From the Great Beyond

I just received an email purportedly from my late mother.  No, spam impersonating her email.

Alien Gear Holsters

I mentioned a few days ago that I had received Alien Gear's modular holster with exterior shells for both Browning Hi-Power and Colt Mustang.  I posted ny comments about the Hi-Power holster and promised to post about the Mustang holster in a day or two.  When I replaced the Hi-Power shell with the Mustang, I discovered that I had the shell for right-hand carry.  Because of how securely the holster holds the gun, I could have used it with the gun upside down.  (Not recommended, unless you have a hobbit living in your boot to provide low covering fire.)  Alien Gear beamed me down the correct shell today.  (They are an Idaho company.)  Easy mistake to make because you are looking at a mirror image for left/right.  The correct shell having arrived, I tried it on.  All the good things about the Hi-Power holster apply here as well.  Good retention makes a safety strap unneeded.  While it still feels a bit bulky, it conceals under my leather coat just fine, and there is no danger of losing the gun except if falling down a very steep hill.  The matter of putting it on and off a belt is if anything less of a struggle with a smaller pistol in it.

Both packages also included instruction sheet explaining how to use the screw and washer set to adjust retention; although for the Hi-Power and Mustang they work perfectly.  Also adjustments for rake.

Looking more carefuuly at the Hi-Power shell interior, I see how theyget such a tight fit: the mold is from a Hi-Power.  You can see the lettering from the side of the slide.

Gender Is An Identity. So Is Species.

5/25/16 Guardian:

I

t’s easy to laugh at a grown man in a rubber dog suit chewing on a squeaky toy. Maybe too easy, in fact, because to laugh is to dismiss it, denigrate it – ignore the fact that many of us have found comfort and joy in pretending to be animals at some point in our lives.
Secret Life of the Human Pups is a sympathetic look at the world of pup play, a movement that grew out of the BDSM community and has exploded in the last 15 years as the internet made it easier to reach out to likeminded people. While the pup community is a broad church, human pups tend to be male, gay, have an interest in dressing in leather, wear dog-like hoods, enjoy tactile interactions like stomach rubbing or ear tickling, play with toys, eat out of bowls and are often in a relationship with their human “handlers”.
In the documentary, we see Tom, AKA Spot, take part in the Mr Puppy Europecompetition in Antwerp, a mix of beauty pageant, talent show and Crufts; David, AKA Bootbrush, talk to camera in a leather dog mask; two pups walk through London pretending to wee on lampposts to raise awareness of their identity; and lots of men jumping up for “treats”, barking and wagging their mechanical tails.

Some day, after the closet doors have been slammed shut and padlocked the LGBs will recognize that adding the T to the acronym was a bridge too far.

Travelocity's Web Site Seems To Be Overloaded

How do they expect to stay in business?

Oberlin Used to be An Elite Christian College

5/25/16 The Week:

Students at Oberlin College are asking the school to put academics on the back burner so they can better turn their attention to activism. More than 1,300 students at the Midwestern liberal arts college have now signed a petition asking that the college get rid of any grade below a C for the semester, and some students are requesting alternatives to the standard written midterm examination, such as a conversation with a professor in lieu of an essay.

The students say that between their activism work and their heavy course load, finding success within the usual grading parameters is increasingly difficult. "A lot of us worked alongside community members in Cleveland who were protesting," Megan Bautista, a co-liaison in Oberlin's student government, said, referring to the protests surrounding the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a police officer in 2014. "But we needed to organize on campus as well — it wasn't sustainable to keep driving 40 minutes away. A lot of us started suffering academically."

The Trump Campaign and Incipient Fascism

Yup, Trump holds a rally and there is violence.  5/25/16 AP;

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — In one of the presidential campaign year's more grisly spectacles, protesters in New Mexico opposing Donald Trump's candidacy threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, injuring several, and toppled trash cans and barricades.

Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center.

During the rally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers.

The banners included the messages "Trump is Fascist" and "We've heard enough."

Trump lashed back at protesters, tweeting Wednesday: "The protesters in New Mexico were thugs who were flying the Mexican flag. The rally inside was big and beautiful, but outside, criminals!"

Revolutionary Era Email?

I am searching for the Test Acts that some states passed disarming those who would not swear an oath of loyalty to the Revolutionary governments.  This was in response to the Continental Congress' request:

That it be recommended to the several assemblies, conventions, and councils or committees of safety of the United Colonies, immediately to cause all persons to be disarmed within their respective colonies, who are notoriously disaffected to the cause of America, or who have not associated, and shall refuse to associate, to defend, by arms, these United Colonies, against the hostile attempts of the British fleets and armies; and to apply the arms taken from such persons in each respective colony, in the first place to the arming the continental troops raised in said colony; in the next, to the arming such troops as are raised by the colony for its own defence, and the residue to be applied to the arming the associators; that the arms when taken be appraised by indifferent persons, and such as are applied to the arming the continental troops, be paid for by Congress, and the residue by the respective assemblies, conventions, or councils, or committees of safety.[1]


[1] Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (1906), 4:205.

In this brief submitted by two law professors in the DC v. Heller (2008) case:

The right to keep and bear arms was not infringed by laws, such as those in  Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, which banned possession of a firearm by any person who failed to swear a loyalty oath. See Act of Apr. 1, 1778, ch. LXI, 2, 5, 1777-1778 Pa. Laws 123, 126; Act of Mar. 14, 1776, ch. VII, 1775-1776 Mass. Acts 31.

I am still looking for this law in official journals.  That's impressive performance,   A request from the Continental Congress in Philadelphia made it to Massachusetts fast enough for the Massachusetts legislature to pass a law the same day.  I guess Ben Franklin texted the request to Sam Adams,  Or, as usual, the anti-gunners are just sloppy on their scholarship.

Sanders' America

Sanders talks about socialism, but Venezuela is what it will look like:

THE army has moved in, Coca-Cola has stopped production and inflation is expected to hit 500 per cent.Venezuela’s economic crisis has ratcheted up a gear in the last week after President Nicholas Maduro deployed the army to strategic areas for two days of “war games” designed as a show of strength to a population increasingly pitted against him.
The drastic escalation follows a major deterioration in the country’s finances that have seen widespread shortages of food, basic goods and power cuts, fuelled by years of economic mismanagement and corruption that have seen unemployment skyrocket to 17 per cent as the oil price has plummeted.
University College London’s leadership professor Marco Aponte-Moreno, who was born and raised in Caracas, told news.com.au the past few days had seen the stakes raised for both corrupt officials and those dying from lack of food and medicine in his home country.
“The stakes are very high [for the government] if they lose power,” he said, adding that many involved in illegal activities could be charged and taken to trial.

A generation of Americans love Sanders because they aren't learning the lessons of history. 

Need a Cheap House 1/2 Mile From Ocean?

My late mother's house is for sale.

HD Glasses Sounded Like Hype

A lot of glasses places have been hyping "HD" glasses.  I just got a new pair of glasses, and HD really makes a huge difference in clarity.

Island of Dr. Moreau?

One of H.G. Wells more disturbing sci-fi stories is the Island of Dr. Moreau,  where a mad scientist has been creating human animal hybrids.  Now 5/18/16 NPR reports on somewhat similar efforts:

A handful of scientists around the United States are trying to do something that some people find disturbing: make embryos that are part human, part animal.
The researchers hope these embryos, known as chimeras, could eventually help save the lives of people with a wide range of diseases.
One way would be to use chimera embryos to create better animal models to study how human diseases happen and how they progress.
Perhaps the boldest hope is to create farm animals that have human organs that could be transplanted into terminally ill patients.
But some scientists and bioethicists worry the creation of these interspecies embryos crosses the line. "You're getting into unsettling ground that I think is damaging to our sense of humanity," says Stuart Newman, a professor of cell biology and anatomy at the New York Medical College.
The experiments are so sensitive that the National Institutes of Health has imposed amoratorium on funding them while officials explore the ethical issues they raise.
Nevertheless, a small number of researchers are pursuing the work with alternative funding. They hope the results will persuade the NIH to lift the moratorium.
"We're not trying to make a chimera just because we want to see some kind of monstrous creature," says Pablo Ross, a reproductive biologist at the University of California, Davis. "We're doing this for a biomedical purpose."
The NIH is expected to announce soon how it plans to handle requests for funding.
Recently, Ross agreed to let me visit his lab for an unusual look at his research. During the visit, Ross demonstrated how he is trying to create a pancreas that theoretically could be transplanted into a patient with diabetes.

Niche Marketing

Back in the 1990s, I worked in marketing for Diamond Lane Communications, one of the pioneers in DSL access multiplexers.  Then Nokia bought us cheap.  After I left Nokia, Alcatel bought their DL operation.  Rather like this:

When writing some promotional literature, I explained megabit Internet service would enable highly specialized videos to have a distribution market not possible with video rental stores.  (These are an ancient, nearly forgotten enterprise in the era of Netflix and Redbox.)

The examples I gave of such narrow market specialized videos were "Helicopter Maintenance for Fun and Profit" and "Janet Reno Dances the Dance of 10,000 Veils."  Little did I know that lemon-lime shaving cream would soon be that narrow.  I used to buy this when I was young and now no store carries it except...Amazon.

;

Dangerous Ideas Will Not Be Tolerated

5/22/16 New York Times:

On a four-day journey through this lush swath of China’s Zhejiang Province, I spoke with residents who described in new detail the breathtaking scale of an effort to remove Christianity’s most potent symbol from public view. Over the past two years, officials and residents said, the authorities have torn down crosses from 1,200 to 1,700 churches, sometimes after violent clashes with worshipers trying to stop them.

“It’s been very difficult to deal with,” said one church elder in Shuitou, who like others asked for anonymity in fear of retaliation by the authorities. “We can only get on our knees and pray.”

The campaign has been limited to Zhejiang Province, home to one of China’s largest and most vibrant Christian populations. But people familiar with the government’s deliberations say the removal of crosses here has set the stage for a new, nationwide effort to more strictly regulate spiritual life in China, reflecting the tighter control of society favored by President Xi Jinping.

In a major speech on religious policy last month, Mr. Xi urged the ruling Communist Party to “resolutely guard against overseas infiltrations via religious means,” and he warned that religions in China must “Sinicize,” or become Chinese. The instructions reflect the government’s longstanding fear that Christianity could undermine the party’s authority. Many human rights lawyers in China are Christians, and many dissidents have said they are influenced by the idea that rights are God-given.

Now you know why progressives are so intent on marginalizing Christianity here.

The Washington Post Has Just Discovered How Pissed Many Americans Are

5/21/16 Washington Post:

REDMOND, Ore. — B.J. Soper took aim with his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and fired a dozen shots at a human silhouette target. Soper’s wife and their 16-year-old daughter practiced drawing pistols. Then Soper helped his 4-year-old daughter, in pink sneakers and a ponytail, work on her marksmanship with a .22-caliber rifle.

Deep in the heart of a vast U.S. military training ground, surrounded by spent shotgun shells and juniper trees blasted to shreds, the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard was conducting its weekly firearms training.

“The intent is to be able to work together and defend ourselves if we need to,” said Soper, 40, a building contractor who is an emerging leader in a growing national movement rooted in distrust of the federal government, one that increasingly finds itself in armed conflicts with authorities.

Those in the movement call themselves patriots, demanding that the federal government adhere to the Constitution and stop what they see as systematic abuse of land rights, gun rights, freedom of speech and other liberties.

Law enforcement officials call them dangerous, delusional and sometimes violent, and say that their numbers are growing amid a wave of anger at the government that has been gaining strength since 2008, a surge that coincided with the election of the first black U.S. president and a crippling economic recession....

President Obama’s progressive policies and the tough economic times have inflamed anti-government anger, the same vein of rage into which Donald Trump has tapped during his Republican presidential campaign, said Potok and Mark Pitcavage, who works with the Anti-Defamation League and has monitored extremism for 20 years.

Much of the movement traces its roots to the deadly 1990s confrontations between civilians and federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and in Waco, Tex., that resulted in the deaths of as many as 90. Timothy Mc­Veigh cited both events before he was executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, and said he had deliberately chosen a building housing federal government agencies. 

At least are saying coincided and not directly blaming this on racism.  If only they could spend some time in America's shoes, jobs, and stop blaming this on people "clinging to their gun and Bibles."

Just Waiting for the Democratic Convention

5/21/16 New York Times:

Doubling down on his feud with the Democratic Party leadership, Senator Bernie Sanders said that if elected president, he will not reappoint Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

He made the comments during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that is set to air on Sunday. Mr. Sanders also said he was supporting Tim Canova, a law professor who has begun an insurgent campaign against Ms. Wasserman Schultz for her South Florida congressional seat. They will face off in a primary this summer.

“Well, clearly, I favor her opponent,” Mr. Sanders told Mr. Tapper. “His views are much closer to mine.”

For months, Mr. Sanders has accused the party of favoring Hillary Clinton, often calling her the “anointed candidate.”

Seriously, the Sanders/Clinton squabble is now much worse than the 1980 Democrat intraparty fight.

My New Book

Historical Evidence Concerning Climate Change.  Paperback should be out in a week or so; Kindle edition in a day or so.

What historic evidence is there that raises questions about the claims of anthropogenic global warming. Historian Clayton E. Cramer presents both historical and archaeological evidence that you probably have not seen showing that the current warming is not unprecedented, and is not caused by man.

Kindle version is up for $2.99.

Excel 2013 Has Made Line Graphs Too Hard

It used to be back in Excel 2007, that if you selected two columns: years in one, and numbers in the other that inserting a line chart would plot the numbers against the years.  Now, it assumes both are data.  I can't find an explanation of how to do this.  Am I only the only person who wants to plot yearly data?

Horn Tooting Time

A few more cases citing my work:

City of Seattle v. Evans, No. 90608-4 (Wash. 2015)(Fairhurst, J., diss.)

 State Appellate and District Courts

 In RE E.C.(N.J.App. 2015) citing Mental Illness and the Second Amendment.

Com. v. McKown, 79 A. 3d 678, n.11 (Pa.Sup.. 2013) citing The Keystone of the Second Amendment: the Quakers, the Pennsylvania Constitution, and the Flawed Scholarship of Nathan Kozuskanich

Fully Threaded Stud Question

I make some use of fully threaded studs for one of ScopeRoller's products.  Turning into a threaded hole is a struggle because they don't have a head.  Usually fully thread studs are flat on each end.  I bought a batch a while back that had a hole for an Allen wrench, which of course greatly simplifies turning these in without damaging the threads.

Can't get a sharp focus this close with a webcam.

Is there a special name for this type of stud with an Allen head end?

UPDATE: The vendor MSC Industrial indicates no special name for it.  Disappointed to see that a larger version M8x1.25 that arrived today are conventional.

Concealed Carry Permits Still a Good Idea

5 seats remain available at this writing, seats will be reserved only with deposit
Sunday June 5th 2016

 

NRA Personal Protection Handgun Course

 

Idaho ENHANCED Concealed Weapon License

 

12 hour course 8am - 8pm

NRA Personal Protection in the Home Course exceeds Idaho 18-3302K ENHANCED Concealed Weapon License requirement, certificate recognized by all states as firearms training (Though NOT for certain states' CCW , see list below) 

$150 Course Fee includes NRA handbook, fliers & NRA Course Completion & Idaho State Police Training Certificates. Classes are small (7 at most). PAID advance registration is required to reserve your seat. Class is open to Instructor-approved citizens who have no felonies or other legal gun-ownership disabilities. Liability Release form signature required. 

Course consists of approximately 4 Hours Classroom, 4 Hours on the Shooting Range, 4 Hours Legal Instruction. Includes Basic Handgun Safety, Familiarization, Hands-on Firearms Handling, Shooting Skills & Instruction. Personal security & avoiding violent confrontations will be covered in depth. Safety & Awareness are critical.

Several hours will be spent on the firing range bringing student skills up to standards. Idaho State Law and Federal Law regarding firearms, concealed weapons, self-defense and after-event issues will be taught by a licensed Idaho attorney (formerly served as a prosecutor and as an Idaho deputy attorney general)

BRING: warm jacket & hat (it gets cold and windy at the desert shooting range), eye and ear protection and handgun & at least 2 boxes of 50 rounds of factory ammunition ( Idaho law requires 98 rounds ), lunch snacks drinks notepad highlighter pencil post-its (Don't have a handgun or eye/ear protection? let me know I have a few loaners & can help you select the right one)

T. Allen Hoover

NRA Certified Instructor           NRA Training Counselor

(208) 631 3003                          PO Box 6232 Boise ID 83707

TALLENHOOVER@AOL.com      www.TALLENHOOVER.com

THE IDAHO ENHANCED CONCEALED WEAPONS LICENSE IS VALID IN:

IDAHO (and at Boise State University and Idaho State colleges)

NEVADA NEW MEXICO SOUTH CAROLINA WASHINGTON MINNESOTA 

 

The Idaho Enhanced and Basic Concealed Weapon Licenses are good in:                

ALABAMA ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS COLORADO DELAWARE FLORIDA INDIANA IOWA KANSAS KENTUCKY LOUISIANA MICHIGAN MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI MONTANA NEBRASKA NEW HAMPSHIRE NORTH CAROLINA NORTH DAKOTA OHIO OKLAHOMA SOUTH DAKOTA TENNESSEE TEXAS UTAH VERMONT WEST VIRGINIA WISCONSIN WYOMING note: states laws change constantly, this list may not reflect current status.
  

 

 

INSTRUCTOR-Level courses: Call for Dates & Availability

 

NRA BIT Basic Instructor Training course $100

(the first class required) Offered weekday evenings by arrangement

 

NRA Basic Pistol Shooting Course Instructor course $250

NRA Personal Protection (in the home) Instructor course $350 (BIT & Basic Pistol Instructor are prerequisites).
NRA Basic Rifle Shooting Course Instructor course $250

NRA RSO Range Safety Officer $125

 

 

Group & Individual classes available upon request. Liability Release form signature required. A written test will be administered (it is possible to fail this course). Instructor reserves the right to dismiss anyone, anytime, without refund. All rights reserved. No Warranties are Expressed or Implied.

Idaho Constitutional Carry - Things to know

 

You cannot possess a firearm if you have been convicted of any felony at any time in your life (unless special rights restoration has been secured by the courts and the ATF), and as well cannot possess if convicted of any domestic violence misdemeanor, have been adjudicated mentally defective by a court of law, Dishonorable discharge, Illegal alien, have Renounced citizenship or are under indictment for a crime or are under a restraining order. Possessing a medical marijuana card also prohibits your possessing guns. RememberFederal laws restricting "ownership" or "possession" of firearms and/or deadly weapons supersede any and all State laws involving carrying firearms and/or deadly weapons concealed . . . . period! Idaho Constitutional Carry applies to HANDGUNS only, not knives etc)

The Idaho law does NOT take effect until July 1, 2016.

You cannot carry if you are not an IDAHO Resident.

You cannot carry if you are not over 21 years of age (18 to 21 if pass Enhanced class can apply for a Basic CCW)

You cannot carry into K thru 12 schools, private colleges, or Idaho State Colleges (Retired Law Officers & Enhanced can)

You cannot carry into ANY Courthouse or jail or detention facility or any Federal Building or Post Office

You cannot carry under the influence of alcohol/drugs (ANY amount as there is NO legal definition of allowable!)

You cannot carry onto any private property where signs prohibit the carrying of firearms / weapons ( Boise Town Square Mall for instance) If any city, county or state properties have such signs, please notify your local militia or NRA representative. (This list is NOT a complete listing, other stipulations apply, please check with an attorney or the Idaho Attorney General)

Remember also that one may carry on private property where the person has permission to carry concealed weapons from any person with an ownership or leasehold interest.

And remember The law in no way absolves or provides immunity from civil liability for the destruction caused by use of a concealed weapon. 

Constitutional carry is a great thing but has its limitations, and is not good OUTSIDE the State of Idaho except in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Oklahoma. Wyoming Constitutional Carry is for residents only. Arkansas's law is under dispute so don't risk it.

One drawback is that if you get stopped and do not have a ccw and do have a gun, the law-enforcement officer is going to run your police record as, essentially a 'field NICS' check which may take awhile to verify that you are legally entitled to con carry, also they will likely run the serial number of the gun, so be sure where you got it...have a copy of the bill of sale stashed somewhere you can show them if stopped and it turns out to be stolen (NOTE:  If a gun is sold to, or pawned at a PAWNSHOP, most cities require that pawnshop report the gun & serial number to the police for checking that it is not stolen.  However, if you buy a used gun from a gunshop (that is not also a pawnshop) in say, Nampa, there is no legal requirement that the gunshop check with the police to ensure that the gun is not stolen.  If it you bought one and it was a stolen gun, YOU got some 'splaining' to do Lucy. (The gunshop would show the police the sales receipt with the seller swearing that the gun is legally his to sell, and the cops confiscate the gun and return it to the owner who reported it stolen, and the only recourse of the hapless buyer would be to sue the seller to get his money back).

 

So while Constitutional Carry has its place in a self defense pinch, expect, if stopped, to be looked at and the gun looked at and maybe a lot of time spent waiting to be cleared before the cops will let you go.

 

On the other hand, if you have a CCW  they may ask if you have a gun and where it is in the car, but go no further, and often with just a traffic warning, whereas when so much taxpayer time is spent extensively checking you out, the ticket will off set the cost of the stop.

 

 Also, if you have a valid CCW, you can buy a gun and fill out the paper and leave and NOT have to wait while the store calls in your information to the NICS background check department of the FBI.  While the law requires the data obtained during such NICS checks be destroyed after 3 business days, and our NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) has determined that they do, it does not mean that the data was not vacuumed up by the NSA spy programs that record everything and store everything until they need it.  The paper version of the form is stored at the gun shop until a crime gun is recovered and then a copy can be demanded as part of an active criminal investigation. 

Enhanced Idaho (ECCW) valid in IDAHO (and at Boise State University and Idaho State colleges) NEVADA NEW MEXICO SOUTH CAROLINA WASHINGTON MINNESOTA VIRGINIA   The Idaho Enhanced and Basic Concealed Weapon Licenses are good in: ALABAMA ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS COLORADO DELAWARE FLORIDA INDIANA IOWA KANSAS KENTUCKY LOUISIANA MICHIGAN MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI MONTANA NEBRASKA NEW HAMPSHIRE NORTH CAROLINA NORTH DAKOTA OHIO OKLAHOMA SOUTH DAKOTA TENNESSEE TEXAS UTAH VERMONT WEST VIRGINIA WISCONSIN WYOMING note: as states laws change constantly, this list may not reflect current status, check with Attorney General of the state you are visiting.

The Three NRA Rules of Gun Safety: ALWAYS keep a gun pointed in a safe direction.. ALWAYS keep your finger OFF the trigger until ready to shoot. ALWAYS keep a Gun UNLOADED until you are ready to shoot it.

You Can Never Make Whiners Happy

Seattle raised the minimum wage to $15/hour.  6/8/15 KIRO reports:

A Seattle-area nonprofit observed some workers recently asking for reduced hours, as they feared that their higher wages now put them at risk of losing housing subsidies.
Nora Gibson is the executive director of Full Life Care, a nonprofit that serves elderly people in various homes and nursing facilities. She is also on the board of the Seattle Housing Authority.

Gibson told KIRO 7 she saw a sudden reaction from workers when Seattle’s phased minimum-wage ordinance took effect in April, bringing minimum wage to $11 an hour. She said anecdotally, some people feared they would lose their subsidized units but still not be able to afford market-rate rents.

For example, she said last week, five employees at one of her organization’s 24-hour care facilities for Alzheimer’s patients asked to reduce their hours in order to remain eligible for subsidies. They now earn at least $13 an hour, after they increased wages at all levels in April, Gibson said.

More Good News for Trump

5/18/16 CNN:

Washington (CNN)California Sen. Dianne Feinstein warned that Bernie Sanders' intention to take his candidacy to the Democratic convention in July could spark unrest similar to the chaotic 1968 convention in Chicago and the riots surrounding it.

"It worries me a great deal," Feinstein told CNN's Manu Raju. "You know, I don't want to go back to the '68 convention, because I worry about what it does to the electorate as a whole -- and he should, too."
Her comments were the latest evidence that Democrats are increasingly fretting that the divide between supporters of Sanders and backers of Hillary Clinton will be difficult to bridge in time for November's general election.

Earlier Wednesday, California's other Democratic senator, Barbara Boxer, said Sanders supporters should attempt "to change the primary process, but not to go out there and throw chairs and to put people's lives in danger because the democratic process as put forward and ratified by the two parties is being carried out."

Boxer said she felt threatened after outbursts and threats at the Nevada Democratic Convention from supporters of Sanders over the weekend.
"I feared for my safety and I had a lot of security around me," she told CNN's Kate Bolduan on "At This Hour." "I've never had anything like this happen."

Much nastier than the intraparty split in 1980 that helped Reagan get elected. 

Another Reminder That Islamoterrorism Needs Extermination

5/20/16 British Sun:

TERRORISTS were last night feared to have overpowered crew in an EgyptAir jet cockpit, causing it to crash into the sea killing all 66 people on board.

Flight MS804 from Paris was about to start its descent into Cairo from 37,000ft when it made “sudden swerves”.

A life-or-death struggle between hijackers and the crew as the plane plummeted from the sky was emerging as the most likely cause.