Natural Hydraulic Mining

For a number of decades after California's Gold Rush started in 1849, some firms used hydraulic mining (huge high pressure hoses aimed at the sides of hills) to knock gold deposits into rivers to be recovered by sluice boxes.   This had substantial consequences downstream, including changing shoreline of San Francisco Bay.  2/27/17 CBS San Francisco reports on the natural form of hydraulic mining:

JAMESTOWN, Tuolumne County (KPIX 5) — Weeks of rainy weather across Northern California and the storm runoff through the hills of gold country have triggered a new gold rush.

“Miner Gary” Thomas said he always finds at least a little gold here on his property near Jamestown in Tuolumne County, but this year, there’s so much more runoff than normal and it’s shaking the gold from these hills.

Thomas said it could provide a “Eureka” moment for those inclined to come up here and look for it. “(The runoff) kind of ‘etch-a-sketches’ everything,” said Thomas. “Eveything I had dug up and now my dig spots are all gone.”

The known gold digs were washed out, trees uprooted, and landscape eroded. The runoffs have also removed gold out of the old abandoned mines and sent it down the river.

Glad to See This Isn't a Horseshoe Bend Specific Problem

Horseshoe Bend's school district has a stack of problems.  They have had embezzlement problems (as do many parts of Boise County government), a big drop in student enrollment after they went to a 4 day week, a principal with two wives (one a former student in the high school), and yet they are one of the better districts in the state in spite of a nearly stereotypical blue collar rural population.  They keep asking voters to approve bond measures to keep them operating.  This 11/11/01 San Francisco Chronicle article is old news, but still disturbing:

San Francisco school officials misspent and mismanaged tens of millions of dollars for school repairs and modernization projects -- and then covered it up to win voter approval for more funds, a Chronicle investigation found.

During the past 13 years, the city's school district raised $337 million through four voter-approved bond and tax measures, but nearly all the money is gone and many promised facility improvements have not been completed or were never even begun.

Records show San Francisco Unified School District used as much as $100 million of the bond and tax money to support a sprawling bureaucracy and to finance ill-conceived construction projects that ran far over budget or were never mentioned to voters.

Most of that money -- as much as $68 million -- was spent on salaries for nonteaching employees, including several officials who are now the focus of corruption investigations.

As a result, elementary school children in South of Market attend classes in seismically unsafe bungalows. An earthquake-damaged building near the Civic Center that was planned to be a new home for the city's acclaimed performing arts high school sits abandoned. Many schools remain inaccessible to the disabled. Others contain asbestos, lead and other hazardous materials.

Progressives wonder why voters so seldom give a blank check to public schools.

I Wan to Feel Sorry for These Telemarketeers

My wife and I keep receiving these phone calls that start out, "Our records show you recently stayed in one of our resorts..."  Already, we know that's a lie.  We have never stayed in any resort.  I'm not sure if this is an attempt to lure us into staying at some resort, or if they are trolling for a credit card number, but there is no pause before they just unloading their pitch.  Trying to get these human robots to stop is a waste of time--they aren't listening. These are more frustrating than robocalls.  And again VoIP spoofing means never the same number twice.

Book Contract Arrived for Lock, Stock, and Barrel: The Origins of American Gun Culture

Signed, going out in today's mail.

RPN

If you arre an aging computer nerd like me, you probably have always preferred RPN calculators over algebraic calculators (the kind with an = sign).  Perhaps it is just being a rapscallion or the result of writing arithmetic parsers in computer science classes (where RPN really matters).  Or maybe it's just my weirdness.  But while my wife was paying a mental health visit to a thrift store, I was trying to use an algebraic calculator on my phone called PowerCalc to calculate joules of energy delivered by projectiles at near-light speed.  In frustration, I downloaded an app called RPN Calculator which was quite reminiscent of my long departed HP 45, except for lacking the EEX button for entering scientific notation numbers.

The Jaguar X-type

The only offer so far is $3500, which makes me want to wait a few days.  Driving it back from the dealer reminded me what a lovely car this is and with only 72,000 miles.  I don't need the capital that badly.  Having a quick luxury car as a spare is worth some lost interest.

Sold for $4500.

What a Great Way to Kick the Progressives in the Teeth!

2/24/17 The Truth About Guns reports that Trump may be considering an executive order defining Maryland's assault weapon ban as interfering with the militia.  The supposed EO under consideration:

By the authority vested in me as President and Commander in Chief of the Militia by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to ensure the ability of citizens of the United States to defend themselves, their communities and their States, as well as to ensure the safety and security of our Nation, I hereby order as follows:

Section 1.  Purpose. Both individual and community safety are critically important to the national security of the United States. Terrorism, transnational criminal activity and potential acts of war by foreign nations present a significant threat to national security and our citizens, who have the right and the duty to defend themselves, their communities, their States and the Nation.

Section 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of the executive branch to:
(a)  Support and defend the Constitution, including the Second Amendment right of citizens to keep and bear arms for Militia purposes,as well as self-defense.

(b)  Encourage citizens to be prepared to act as members of the Militia to defend communities, States and the Nation, as part of the common defense contemplated by the Constitution of the United States.

(c)  Discourage restrictions by States and political subdivisions on individual possession of firearms suitable for Militia purposes by citizens of the United States.

That would be gutsy and a nice jab at progressives who thought Obama EOs could force all public schools to have transgendered bathrooms. And we do have Supreme Court decisions recognizing that rifle possession is protected as part of maintaining a militia. Presser v. Illinois, 116 US 252, 265 (1886):

It is undoubtedly true that all citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserved military force or reserve militia of the United States as well as of the States, and, in view of this prerogative of the general government, as well as of its general powers, the States cannot, even laying the constitutional provision [Second Amendment] in question out of view, prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to the general government.

Trying to Do Something Painfully Simple

This should be simple: take two stereo inputs as two separate tracks.

I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, which has two XLR inputs.  Apparently each input records only mono.  It should be possible to hook up a stereo mike to the PC's input plug and record from both devices as separate tracks.  One of you pointed me to instructions for how to do that with Ableton Live 9, but those instructions do not work.  Ableton Live is about as simple to operate as an interstellar spacecraft, with zillions of ways to set it up.  It doesn't help that the intro videos on Ableton Live 9 show different screens than the version on my PC.

There is supposed to be a way to do this grabbing inputs from two devices with Audacity.  Supposedly, the Line In selector will pull in tracks from all devices up to the last one in the list, but it really only grabs from the device selected.  I don't see a way to grab inputs from more than one device.

Another State Goes Constitutional Carry

2/22/17 Concord Monitor:

It’s now legal to carry a concealed, loaded gun in New Hampshire without a license.

In his first bill signing since taking office, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed so-called constitutional carry into law Wednesday.

“It is common-sense legislation,” he said during a ceremony in Executive Council chambers. “This is about making sure that our laws on our books are keeping people safe while remaining true to the live-free-or-die spirit.”

The Anti-Zoolander

Zoolander is a marvelous piece of satire.  So imagine my surprise at this story.  2/22/17 Yahoo News:

Two male models who were skateboarding in Central Park and paused to take a picture of the sunset ended up saving the lives of seven teenagers who had fallen through ice.
“It was all a matter of ‘right place at the right time’ for the two of us,” Ethan Turnbull said today on “Good Morning America.”

Turnbull, 24, was with fellow model Bennett Jonas, 23, in New York City’s Central Park Monday when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a group of teenagers playing on ice atop a pond.

“I said to Bennett, ‘Look, man, there’s some kids over there on the ice,’” Turnbull recalled. “Within the time it took me to say that to Bennett and look back, the ice had actually broken because they came together to take a photo.”

Blasphemy Laws: I Thought We Were Past That

UK Independent:

A Danish man who posed a video of himself setting fire to the Quran on Facebook has been charged with blasphemy in the first such prosecution for 46 years.

The Costs of Politeness

2/24/17 U.K. Guardian:

It was July 2014, Nashville Tennessee. I was walking into a gas station for a bottle of water when the man behind me stepped up to open the door for me. With that act of kindness, something inside me snapped and I flew into a blind rage. I began screaming at him at the top of my lungs.

“No, you can not open this door for me! You wouldn’t have opened it two years ago, so you damn sure can’t open it now!” I scowled and stormed away, completely enraged.

It was the third time that week that a man had done something polite for me. First a man had bought me a drink at a concert, and then there was the nice man who had helped me scoop up my groceries after I dropped my bag, and now this man with the door.

Why so angry?  Feminist rage?  She had lost 2/3 of her body weight, and was convinced this politeness would never have been offered when she weighed 365 lbs.  Some men were raised to do this for all women.  The heavy ones especially deserve such help.

3D Printing: Carbon Fiber and Sintered Metal

See here.

TrailBlazer Sold

It sold for $3700, although we spent $418 getting the Check Engine light problem fixed, and a couple other minor issues.  Now, all that's left is the 2005 Jaguar.  It is such an incredibly nice car that I hate to let it go, but you can't drive two Jaguars at once, and with two new cars under warranty, it doesn't make sense to have this much capital tied up in it.  With a little care, the proceeds of both cars should make two years of payments on the Jeep.

More Evidence of Progressive Insanity

2/23/17 Elle:

Those who don't like Donald Trump and the current Republican administration are mobilizing in all sorts of ways. They're speaking up in town halls and calling their representatives. They're organizing protests and demonstrations. And, for the magically-inclined, they're casting spells.

Starting at midnight on Friday, witches around the country are calling for a mass spell to be cast on Donald Trump every night of a waning crescent moon until he's driven from office.

The spell was publicized by Michael M. Hughes, who told ELLE.com that it was tweaked from multiple spells he saw going around private witchcraft groups. He published it on Extra News Feed because he felt "it would be very welcome to a lot of people." It quickly spread, with events being formed around the country and support on social media.

Hint, progressives, the Harry Potter books were entertainment for children, not a how-to manual.   And Voldemort did not have Cheetos hair!

Why Clinton and the Progressives Lost the Election

CNN host Chris Cuomo Tweets his response to:

What do you tell a 12 year old girl who doesn't want to see a penis in the locker room?

with:

i wonder if she is the problem or her overprotective and intolerant dad? teach tolerance. 

Why Jews Continue Voting for the Party of Muslim Immigration Confuses Me

From WND:

A Jew-hating Muslim preschool teacher in South Arlington, Texas, was fired Wednesday after she urged her social media followers to “kill some Jews” and tweeted: “How many Jews died in the Holocaust? Not enough…HAHAHAHA.”

Nancy Salem taught preschoolers at the Children’s Courtyard in South Arlington. She is also an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Texas,

Arlington, according to campus watchdog group Canary Mission. Salem also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, an anti-Israel movement that advocates severing global economic relations with the Jewish state.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/02/u-s-muslim-preschool-teacher-urges-kill-some-jews/#MKlCgSFxfye8Qyor.99

Think the Holocaust can't happen here?  It won't be native bo=rn neo-Nazis.

New Law Review Article

How Much is Too Much?: Excessive Gun License Fees and Constitutional Rights

Abstract

Most states charge fees for either concealed carry licenses or gun possession licenses. The range of those fees is quite dramatic. At what point does such a fee constitute an infringement of the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms because it renders the right too expensive to exercise, especially for the poor?

Even in Boise

I like to talk about how safe Boise and Idaho in general is, but there are still enough times that having a handgun on you makes sense.  2/22/17 KBOI reports on a woman who was attacked through her car window in a robbery attempt, foiled when she drew what appears to be a Ruger LCP.

I Used to Be Able to Do This, Several Versions of Word Ago

I am inserting index entries in the book.  This puts the field codes in the display.  gunsmiths{XE "gunsmith"}  How do I make those field codes disappear?  Alt-F9 should, but doesn't.  File, Options, Advanced should have a checkbox for this, but doesn't.

I Have a Publisher!

I won't identify them until I have signed the contract, but I have a reasonably prestigious publisher for my book about gun culture, gun making, and the myth of creating a gun market.  There will be a bit less blogging for a while as I write two new chapters.  Passers-by will likely hear the rat-a-tat-tat of my keyboard.  Before the stroke, it sounded like weapons fire from a tiny machine gun.  Now, more like carefully aimed fire from a .05 caliber semi-auto.

Thanks to all for research assistance, title suggestions, and your enthusiasm.

Things I Love and Hate

Things I Love to Do: go shooting with the men from my church.

Things I hate: cleaning guns afterwards.

Things I really hate: trying to reassemble a Colt Mustang after cleaning.

Every time I reassemble this gun, I find it takes way too long.  Unlike an M1911 or the Mustang's big brother, the Colt Government Model .380, there is no bushing at the front of the slide.  The recoil springs (two) ride on a recoil spring guide made of a plastic that feels like acetal.  You are supposed to put the recoil guide and recoil springs in first, then the barrel above it in the slide through the hole in the front of the slide.  I finally succeeded after 90 minutes of misery.

The barrel barely fits into the slide: a sign of someone trying to make a gun with high accuracy.  You can put it in easily enough with the recoil guide and springs not installed.  The recoil spring guide will fit in once the barrel is installed, but with the recoil springs on the guide, you have to simultaneously depress the springs on the guide, and slip it in once the barrel is in place.  This is not easy if there is any oil on your fingers and the springs.  It is also not easy to slide the barrel in above the recoil guide unless it is fully depressed.  At the same time, while holding the front of the receiver and pressing the guide forward, you can't block the barrel orifice on the front of the slide, or the barrel won't go into its little home.  The guide isn't flexible of course, or it would make the gun unreliable.  I see a pressing need for a tool that compresses the back of the guide and holds the front of the receiver with plastic or wooden jaws so you can drop the barrel in, then release the recoil guide.  I may have to make one.

UPDATE: At the suggestion of a reader, I emailed Cylinder & Slide about their stainless steel guide and ambidextrous thumb safety.  Their email to me bounced as often happens, but they called me up on the phone to say that many customers install the ambi safety themselves without problem.  Then he explained the process, and the $71 for fitting it suddenly sounded pretty reasonable.  It is not even close to being as simple as an M1911.  I may call Boise Gun to see if they have the ambi safety and what they would charge.

Concerning the recalcitrant recoil spring, he suggested that I turn the springs until I can't see it through the guide hole and that generally solves it. Cylinder & Slide: above and beyond the call of duty.

The Resurrection of Gavin Stone

Went to see this at my wife's request Sunday afternoon.  I really enjoyed it.  It is part of an emerging group of Christian films that are at least on a par with the "mainstream" movie industry in production values and writing.  Without spoiling anything: Gavin Stone is an aging 1980s child TV star almost lost in his self-destructive substance abuse problems.  He returns to his home town in rural Illinois and causes enormous destruction to the roof of his hotel.  We never find out what he did, but we are given the fact that it involved a catapult to keep us intrigued.  The court sentences him to 200 hours of community service, with his choice of janitor at a church or working at the sewage treatment plant.  Easy choice.

The church, a fairly typical evangelical church, is putting on a stage production of Jesus' life for Easter.  Gavin of course eds up in the title role: not exactly what the court had in mind for community service.

It is of course a film about spiritual rebirth and his relationship to his father, a widower, and the pastor's daughter (an actress that I can't immediately recognize, but she looks familiar).

Wait! That's Our Job!

2/22/17 Newsbusters:

During the 6 am hour on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski made an alarming admission about what she thinks the media’s role is. During a panel discussion on President Trump’s revised immigration order, Brzezinski complained that Trump was undermining the media and taking their “job” of “controlling exactly what people think.”

If she meant "informing people about the news," that would be arrogant--but this is the sort of totalitarianism of 1984.

Bullying of Straight People

2/22/17 San Diego Union-Tribune reports on a recently retired Women's National Basketball Association player:

Wiggins, a four-time All-American at Stanford, asserts she was targeted for harassment from the time she was drafted by Minnesota because she is heterosexual and a nationally popular figure, of whom many other players were jealous.

“Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge,” Wiggins said. “I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they (the other players) could apply.

Imagine if a gay NFL player retired and made the same remarks.  It would all be Trump's fault.

We Have Identified the Progressive % of U.S. Population

Yahoo News reporting on Iran's threats against the U.S. includes an opinion poll about whether Iran is a threat to the U.S.  80.5% say they are a threat.  6.5% say not a threat.

Learning to Think Like a Criminal

I put a 2005 Jaguar X-type for sale on boise.craiglist.com.  A "Dustin Welch" texted me asking to buy the car, sight unseen, for payment of $5000 through PayPal.  This seemed suspicious and I asked for his PayPal account address, so that I could verify his existence with PayPal and duration of his account. No response.

I added some pictures to the ad, and soon received essentially the same message from him with no apparent awareness that we had exchanged messages two hours before.

This suggests fraud and a computer program searching all regional Craig's Lists for cars for sale with a phone number that accepts text messages--hardly the actions of a legitimate buyer.  It is pretty easy to create a false PayPal payment notification email which takes you to a false PayPal web page for capturing your account and password.

Milo's Troubles

Milo Yiannopoulos, the gay British conservative (or something hard to categorize) is apparently in trouble for reportedly endorsing pedophilia.  His version is that these statements are being taken out of context.  For all I know, they may be.  He does enrage the left so.  But of most interest:

I am a gay man, and a child abuse victim....

I do not believe sex with 13-year-olds is okay. When I mentioned the number 13, I was talking about the age I lost my own virginity.

Those who have been reading my blog for a while are probably aware that there is a strong correlation between child sexual abuse and many other problems, including deviant sexual orientation.  Not necessarily  the only cause.

Bought My Wife a New Jeep Renegade

A 2016 year end closeout.  Of course, the rebates that they advertise are generally not available in conjunction with the killer loans (0.0% for 60 months; 1.9% for 72 months), but the $1000 off coupon in the mail was.  It is not quite as fancy as the Jaguar of course, but the driver's seat has a bunch of nice manual adjustments.  It's not quite as wide in the cargo area as the TrailBlazer, but it also fits better in the garage.  Because of Jeep's repair record, we bought the extended bumper-to-bumper warranty, which also covers lost or destroyed key fobs.

For a 4 cylinder, it has a lot of pep.  This is mostly the 3.734 final drive ratio.  This used to be a way to get blinding acceleration out of muscle cars, at the expense of top speed and gas mileage.  But combined with a nine-speed automatic, you get great mileage and good acceleration.  Now just need to sell the 2007 TrailBlazer (175,000 miles) and ideally the 2005 Jaguar X-type (72,000 miles).

Jeep Renegade

Looking at buying a 2016 for my wife.  Any experience?

JPorter

Trying to email you and I get: account is overquota (in reply to RCPT TO command)

Call me 208-761-5916

Pope: "Muslim Terrorism Soea Not Exist"

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/768948/Pope-Francis-Islamic-terror-terrorism-speech-Christianity-Catholic-populist-movements

Reality also non-existent.

How You Know You Live in Idaho

You go shooting with your church, and the pastor screws a suppressor on his Sig.

CalExit's Russian Connection

Since the left is playing, "Trump's a Russian agent games," this SF channel 7 report suggests the left has projection problems.  2/15/17 ABC 7:

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) --

It would be easy to dismiss this as some fringe group trying to make California into its own country, but former intelligence officials tell the ABC7 News I-Team the ballot initiative leader's ties to Russia raise serious questions.

"You don't need this to be involved in California's campaign for independence," Marinelli said holding up an American flag.

He's the leader of the Yes California campaign, also dubbed Calexit. Marinelli is an American who lives in Russia, but his movement is getting a lot of attention stateside.

Louis Marinelli has received support in Russia from a far-right nationalist group that wants to break up the United States. Former intelligence officials say that association raises serious questions about his intent.

Firearms License Fees

I'm writing a law review article about inordinate firearms license fees,  $100 might be reaasonable; $10,000 would be clearly prohibitory.  (Think about parade permits.)  Give me a pointer to your state's website listing their firearms license (either home or concealed carry).

For those who live in the USA: in some places, a home or premises license is required to have a gun in your home or place of business.

Connecticut government has already done the job.

How to Get Your Cool Little Project Funded

2/16/17 Guardian reports on efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth.  Part way through an interesting description of implanting a genetically modified embryo into an Asian elephant:

Church, a guest speaker at the meeting, said the mammoth project had two goals: securing an alternative future for the endangered Asian elephant and helping to combat global warming.

Woolly mammoths could help prevent tundra permafrost from melting and releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

“They keep the tundra from thawing by punching through snow and allowing cold air to come in,” said Church. “In the summer they knock down trees and help the grass grow.”

A simulated ecosystem study has indicated that mammoths in Siberia could cause local temperatures to drop by up to 20C.

My wife pointed out that putting these into the wild not pnly interferes with Mother Earth's carefully created ecosystem, but likely will create problems for near competitors like musk oxen and caribou.

Remember When Progressives Pretended They Were Part of the "Reality-Based" Community?

2/8/17 New York Post:

The principal at a progressive Manhattan private school told parents in an email last week that the Trump presidency was more troubling than Vietnam, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the September 11 attacks and Watergate, The Post has learned....

Elsewhere in the lengthy missive, Nelson acknowledged the theoretical need to avoid political bias in a school environment. “One in my position must be scrupulous in avoiding partisanship,” he said.

But he later asserted in the same message that “there are matters that transcend political diversity.” 

What makes this especially entertaining is that he runs the Calhoun school.  Yale recently renamed the Calhoun  residential housing hall.  Calhoun was a racist!

What's the Gestation Period of Jaguars?

What Am I Missing Here?

2/14/17 Washington Post:

Flynn resigned Monday night, days after The Washington Post reported that intelligence officials had recorded Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. before Trump took office. Those recordings, The Post reported, appeared to contradict Flynn’s own claims that he had not discussed easing U.S. sanctions on Russia.

So a private citizen talks to the Russian ambassador and this justifies firing him.  I get that he should not have lied to the VP about this, but is this the real reason he is gone?

Need a Book Title

I finally have a publisher for the book on early gunsmithing.  They want it recast as a history of American gun culture; then and now.  No problem.

I need a catchy title for what will be a popularly targeted book.  The book explores the evidence of America's gun culture through thew Mexican War; evidence of early gunsmithing and gun making and how the industry changed the world.

Suggestions for titles that would force you to buy?

Magic Buttons on the Jaguar

I knew that I wasn't going to have Corvette-level cornering from the Jaguar, but I am still pretty happy with it.  There are two not well described buttons: one has a checkered flag, which effectively changes the natural state of the car from mild understeer to something a bit more balanced.  I still defaults to understeer but application of the gas pedal can move it to neutral and even mild oversteer.  Very nice.

The other button disables traction control.  The owner's manual indicates it is for advanced drivers.  I suspect that means the ones who understand understeer and oversteer, and aren't going to pass themselves on the left because of an oversteer induced spin (more a problem of rear engine cars like Porsche 911s).

It turns out that it does more than turn off traction control.  It puts it in sports car mode, with much stronger cornering and more abrupt  transmission shifts to go with the more neutral balance.  I doubt it is cornering at Corvette levels, but as I took the ID-44 to ID-55 sweeper, my viscera couldn't tell the difference as they tried to go west while the rest of me went north.

Another discovery: I live near the ridge of a small mountain range.  ID-55 going into Horseshoe Bend drops 1000 feet in about five miles with some parts steeper than the average.  Going into Eagle is a little less steep.  On both roads, cruise control is not sufficient and I either spend a lot of time braking, or I put the transmission in S mode (semiautomatic?) and use the paddle shifters to burn off speed while still using cruise control.

When DSC is disabled, I can put it in S mode and no need to manually shift.  It knows, somehow, to downshift to maintain cruise control.

Centering in 4-Jaw Chuck

I am trying to center a rod in a 4-jaw chuck.  There are a number of descriptions such as this.  But when I try them, the step of loosening to jaw on top and tightening the jaw on the bottom fails because the other two jaws ale preventing the rod from moving.  Loosen them and the rod falls out.  Suggestions?

If a Christian Wrote This, It Would Be Islamophobia

But it is a Muslim's recounting of a lecture by a professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University (a pretend Catholic institution):

Last night I attended a lecture by Georgetown Islamic Studies professor Jonathan Brown at the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia. I’d never met Brown and don’t know really much about him other than a brother was amused he scheduled a recent lecture during the Super Bowl.

Not knowing what to expect from Brown I was shocked when he basically went into a 90 minute defense of slavery which included an explicit endorsement of non-consensual sex....

When the conversation would briefly flip to historic slavery in the Arab and Turkish World slavery was described by Brown in glowing terms. Indeed, according to Brown, slaves in the Muslim World lived a pretty good life....

“It’s not immoral for one human to own another human” Brown stated in his clearest defense of slavery. Brown went onto state that being an employee is basically the same as being a slave and painting himself as a real romantic Brown told me his marriage was akin to slavery because his wife held rights over him. The fact that both of these arrangements can be terminated and are consensual seemed lost on the aloof academic.

“Consent isn’t necessary for lawful sex” said Professor Jonathan Brown of Georgetown University.Shortly after I asked Brown my questions about his defense of slavery a woman seated in front of me asked about the permissibility of sex with slaves. Brown emphatically stated consent is a modern Western concept and only recently had come to be seen as necessary (perhaps around the time feminism began to take root and women decided they wanted autonomy over their bodies). Brown went on to elaborate consent wasn’t necessary to moral and ethical sex and that the morality of sex is dependent on the lawfulness of the sex-partner and not consent upholding the verdict that marital-rape is an invalid concept in Islam.

Connecticut Residents

Governor Malloy is proposing enormous increases in concealed handgun license fees.  Please ask your legislators to stop this.  Us non-residents don't have much say, obviously.

Turn-In of Illegal Guns in London

The London Evening-Standard reports on illegal weapons turned as part of an amnesty.

My thoughts if most of these were pulled on me in London:

I didn't know they had time machines in your century, sir.

Do  you know what metal fatigue is?

Research Assistance Request

I need photocopies of pp. 61, 65-68 of Daniel D. Hartzler, Arms Makers of Maryland for a law review article that is preparing for publication.  Unfortunately, my local library can't seem to interlibrary loan books from outside Idaho. It seems silly to fly somewhere to get 5 pages copied.  I'm more than happy to pay someone to go and get these for me.  The following libraries have copies:

Family History Library 

Salt Lake City, UT 84150 United States

McCracken Research Library - BBHC 

Cody, WY 82414 United States

Northern Arizona University
Cline Library

Flagstaff, AZ 86001 United States

University of Alberta 

Edmonton, AB T6G 2J8 Canada

Arizona State University Libraries 

Tempe, AZ 85287 United States

University of Texas at Arlington
Central Library

Arlington, TX 76019 United States

Saint Louis County Library
Headquarters

St Louis, MO 63131 United States

University of Illinois Springfield
Brookens Library

Springfield, IL 62703 United States

Washington University in St. Louis
.

St. Louis, MO 63130 United States

Wisconsin Historical Society 

Madison, WI 53706 United States

Newberry Library 

Chicago, IL 60610 United States

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 

Urbana, IL 61801 United States

Allen County Public Library
ACPL

Fort Wayne, IN 46802 United States

Indiana State Library - ISL 

Indianapolis, IN 46202 United States

Miami University Libraries
King Library

Oxford, OH 45056 United States

The Henry Ford
Benson Ford Research Center

Dearborn, MI 48124 United States

Cleveland Public Library
Main Library

Cleveland, OH 44114 United States

Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library 

Montgomery, AL 36108 United States

Ohio State University Libraries 

Columbus, OH 43210 United States

Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
Central (downtown Buffalo)

Buffalo, NY 14203 United States

Thanks.  One of my loyal readers has taken this on.

Grammys: Politics? Of Course

But look at this MAGA dress one person wore.

An Absolutely Fascinating Book

At my daughter's house.  Just read this fascinating and beautiful book.

Trump Needs to Stop Calling it A Wall

2/9/17 Bloomberg reports that Paris is improving Eiffel Tower security:

Paris is spending 20 million euros ($22 million) to build a protective barrier around the Eiffel Tower to replace temporary structures that were put up after a series of terror attacks.

“Sadly, the risk of terrorism hasn’t gone away,” deputy mayor Jean-François Martins said at a Paris press conference. “It’s not a wall, it’s an aesthetic perimeter.”

Unfortunately, Not the Onion: Cannibal Madman Released

2/11/17 NBC News:

A man who was found not criminally responsible for beheading and cannibalizing a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada has been granted his freedom.

Manitoba's Criminal Code Review Board announced it has given Will Baker, formerly known as Vince Li, an absolute discharge, meaning he is no longer subject to monitoring.

Baker, a diagnosed schizophrenic, killed Tim McLean, a young carnival worker who was a complete stranger, in 2008. A year later he was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

McLean's mother, Carol de Delley, has been outspoken against granting Baker freedom, saying there would be no way to ensure he continued to take his medication.

Last I heard, he no longer thought aliens had taken over the Earth.   But fools took over Manitoba.

How Many Different Types of Taps Are There? And Why Do You Pick One Over Another?

Spiral flute taps channel debris upward, which matters a lot on soft materials like aluminum and acetal.  Changing to such dramatically improved shop productivity today.  My experiment using a 6" long drill bit to drill both sides of these square tubes in one operation was a great success.  The pilot holes only need marking by the mill on two of four sides.  I will I could find a drill/tap combo with enough length to do both sides at once.  For some reason, you get such for 1/4"-20 just long enough for one hole at a time.

What Have I Been Doing?

You may wonder why I have been blogging less.  In addition to machining, I have been finishing work on an upcoming Southern Illinois University Law Journal article.  If you have never been through this process: let me explain.

Law reviews expect every point or quote in an article to have what is called a pinpoint citation to a specific page.  And at least the better ones check every pinpoint cite for accuracy of claim and quote. If the sources you cite are not readily available to the law school students who do the editing, you must provide photocopies.  Fortunately, after finishing publication of Armed America, I scanned in nearly all my non-book sources before destroying the paper.  This was good; how else could I find an 1821 Cleveland newspaper?

In my experience, some lesser law reviews do not do this pinpoint citation checking, especially when the article is antigun.  Yes I am thinking of an article by Nathan Kozuskanich that failed this test but was published in University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law anyway.  Dave Kopel and I checked his more outrageous claims and found widespread Bellesilism.

Also, I am on the verge of finding a prestige publisher for my book on gunsmithing and gun marketing.  We are at the "We have some requests for changes" stage.

Machining Lessons Learned

Most of the art of machining isn't operating the lathe or the mill, but recognizing the proper order of operations, tooling to use, and limitations of the machines.  I have been trying to efficiently make a part that is 5/8"or 1/2" OD at one end (to fit in the drill press chuck) and 3/4" ID on the other to hold a tap wrench, with a 3/8" wide, 3/8" long slot to accommodate the handle on the tap wrench.  If you drill out the 3/4" ID end and cut the slot, the 3-jaw chuck on the lathe can't get a good grip.  (Draw three jaws at 120^o and try to get two slots 180^o apart to fit those jaws, even ignoring bending under chuck pressure,)  So start by turning down the other end first.  Once you reach 1/2" diameter, the workpiece starts to bend under load from the cutting tool, causing chatter and eventually the workpiece exits the chuck.

Solution, cut down to 5/8" diameter.  Reverse workpiece in chuck.  Use 3/4" end  mill in tailstock chuck to bore hole.  Use boring tool to make any final size adjustments.  Put workpiece in mill.  At about .1 inches.minute advance 1.5" long x 3/8" diameter mill  3/8" inch from end.  Since I need two holes, one 1/4"-20 threaded and another 1/4", I will change to center drill on the mill, and drill pilot holes for drill and tap on the drill press.

I tried to make this part from a 1" 1/8" wall tube and a 4" long, 3/4" OD rod turned down to 5/8" OD on one end, but getting a press fit into the 3/4" ID tube was harder than it sounded.  Drilling and tapping through the tube and rod and holding them together with 1/4"-20 bolts worked, but it was ugly.  I'm not even sure it saves much time over starting with a 1" rod and machining it as one part.

My Friend Dave Burnett Linked to This Bizarre News Story

He posted this "Withdrawing from a federal program because you don't like the person nominated to its helm...who supports withdrawing from federal programs. This is so meta." on Facebook.

2/9/17 NBC News:

Among the initial opposition to Betsy DeVos' confirmation this week as education secretary were calls on social media by parents, including liberals, to start homeschooling their children.

That reaction to DeVos — a billionaire school-choice advocate who has never worked, attended or sent her kids to a public school — reflects how polarizing her nomination was.

It also comes layered with paradox.

That's because DeVos, whom the Senate confirmed Tuesday to head the Education Department, is herself a big proponent of homeschooling.

If this seems odd: I have a hard left sister who homeschooled her daughter in the suburbs of Portland.

Does Your Brain Work This Way?

Some years back, I mentioned the way I remember the spelling of words to someone and they indicated that their brain doesn't remember words this way, and they gave me a look somewhere between envy and horror.

When I think of the word Missouri, I see a torrent of water passing through an imagined Gate of the Mountains (video) and a North American rivers map with the letters M-i-s-s-o-u-r-i superimposed on the image as though typed on an IBM Selectric typewriter in a Times-Roman font with a carbon film ribbon.  I have similar images for most other non-abstract nouns and verbs.  Many I recognize from either real life ("Mississippi" brings up images of seeing it from New Orleans or crossing it on a bridge during a 1967 vacation).

Ever Read An Article By Yourself That You Didn't Write?

2/3/17 Yahoo News:

Bruce Riedel is a widely known expert on the Middle East who helped guide U.S. policy in the region as a member of President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council. So he was more than a little surprised recently when an obscure website ran an article about Saudi Arabia he had never seen before — with his byline.

Riedel wasn’t upset just because he hadn’t written the piece, which appeared under his name on the website of something called the “Center for Global Strategic Monitoring,” or CGS Monitor. The phony piece espoused views — about an alleged Saudi role in the 9/11 terror attacks — that he has publicly rejected.

“It was very disturbing,” said Riedel, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a prominent Washington think tank. “The article was entirely fictitious. This attacks the whole basis upon which our press works.”

There are reasons to think the Russians are behind this.

When I Hear the Roar of A-10 Warthog Over My House...

I imagine a terrorist hearing that same noise and saying very quietly,"If Allah is on our side, and Allah itold us to be warriors,why are the infidels so much better armed?"

Clinton News Network Must Be Racist

2/10/17 Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Lawsuits accuse CNN of racial discrimination

True?  Not sure, but just the accusation is enough when aimed at Republicans.

Illegal Aliens Voting?

Remember when the MSM made fun of Trump's claim?  2/9/17 CBS channel 11:

DALLAS (CBS11) – The family of a woman convicted of voter fraud is speaking out after a Tarrant County jury sentenced her to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors say the reason officials at the elections department in Dallas didn’t stop the voter fraud from happening is because Rosa Ortega claimed she was a citizen on her application....

“What’s going to happen to the kids? So it’s not fair,” Rosa’s uncle, Felipe Ortega said.
He points out his niece has spent almost her entire life in the U.S. Her attorney said she has a learning disability and was confused about the difference between being a citizen and a legal resident, so she thought she was allowed to vote.

“The jury didn’t believe that story. They believed that the defendant knew exactly what she was doing, and they responded accordingly,” Prosecutor Jonathan White said.

White told CBS11, when Ortega tried to register to vote in Tarrant County, she admitted she was not a citizen, so her application was rejected. When she told them she had already been voting in Dallas County, that’s when investigators started looking into her case. Defense attorney Clark Bidsall said his client’s case has been politicized and now Ortega has a difficult road ahead even after her sentence.

If she hadn't already voted in Dallas County, they never would have noticed.

In Case You Missed This Socialist's Trump Compliment

2/6/17 Boingboing:

TPP wasn't a "secret plan to make the world a better place." It wasn't even a trade deal. Virtually every good manufactured in virtually every one of the 12 TPP members could be imported into virtually any of the other members with no tariffs at all -- something CNN conveniently failed to mention.

What was TPP then? A sweetheart deal for giant corporations: it would have banned states from keeping their citizens' data out of the NSA's reach (a gift to the James Clapper set), allowed Hollywood to put people in jail for watching movies the wrong way (a gift to the SOPA set), allowed telcoms giants to sue to dismantle net neutrality protections (a gift to the Comcast set), jacked up the price of pharmaceuticals for the poorest people in the world (a gift to the Shkreli set), banned governments from requiring open source code for public procurements (a gift to the Microsoft set), limited fair use (a gift to the Righthaven set), required all states to establish criminal sanctions for breaking DRM (a gift to the printer ink business-model set), and expanded copyright terms across the board (a gift to the Disney set).

And it goes on from there, refusing to credit Trump for doing what the corporate Democrats refused to do.