Rocket Song

Newt wins SC

2012-01-21T20:25:00.002-07:00

Looks like Newt has overwhelmingly won in South Carolina, to the point that he has captured all 19 delegates. That means that Newt and Mitt are tied in delegates at 19 each.

We might have a small bit of a race after all. Florida will be a real test. Romney has the money to saturate the FL airwaves with negative adds. That's bad. On the other hand it took him 4 million in attack adds to come in second in Iowa. That's Good.

I suspect that Jan 31 is going to be a long night.

Perry out

2012-01-21T13:40:00.001-07:00

Perry is out and has endorsed Newt. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but every percentage point counts.

Rick Perry reads this Blog

2012-01-11T18:03:00.004-07:00

So, apparently Rick Perry has been going around calling Mitt Romney a Vulture Capitalist due to the way Bain capitol did leveraged buyouts of companies, stripped the carcass off all useful assets, and then left the bones.

Hey Rick, way ahead of you there, but at least you could give me proper credit.

Link of the Day

2012-01-02T22:41:00.002-07:00

From Forbes, why Maximizing Shareholder "value" is the dumbest idea in the world:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/11/28/maximizing-shareholder-value-the-dumbest-idea-in-the-world/

Vulture Capitalism

2012-01-02T14:02:00.004-07:00

All right, here is a free catch phrase for my left wing friends: Vulture Capitalism

Venture capitalism is a process where investors pool their money and buy into smaller companies. Buy investing in a small company the investors are taking a larger risk than by investing in the larger market, thus venture, as in "nothing ventured nothing gained".

On average, over many such investments, the venture capitalist should expect to do better than the market as a whole, otherwise why take the risk?

What Mitt Romney and the Bain Group did in many cases was the traditional definition of venture capitol, though in many cases the companies invested in were fairly large, not the traditional start-up.

What they also did, quite a bit actually, was to buy up companies, and then dismember them for the assets. That is, they bought them not because they thought they could make money through the business, but they could make a profit by parting out the company, getting rid of the employees, selling off the land, buildings, fixtures and anything of value.

I call this dismembering of the carcass Vulture Capitalism. Even if it is necessary for the smooth running of a capitolist economy, it's the rather unseemly destruction of Jobs that leaves a rather bad taste for most Americans. Americans understand that businesses go under, and that businesses fail, they don't really understand or like it when businesses are closed on purpose in order to make money for outside investors.

So there you go my liberal friends: Mitt Romney, Vulture Capitalist.

Newt Gingrich

2011-12-31T01:59:00.002-07:00

Top Ten Reasons I am supporting Newt Gingrich for the Republican Nomination.

10 - As Speaker of the House, he actually balanced the budget of the United States. Yes, there was probably some shuffling of accounts, but when Newt was Speaker was the closest we have been since WWII to having a balanced budget.

9 - He's not Mitt Romney

8 - Newt had the balls to actually shut down the nonessential portions of the Federal Government. Sure Clinton helped, and actually it was mostly Clinton's fault, but Gingrich got the blame. Therefore, by all rights he gets the credit as well.

7 - He's NOT Mitt Romney

6 - Newt is a Historian by trade, not a lawyer. This is obvious when you listen to him speak. he actually understands the background of the things he talks about.

5 - Again, he's not Mitt Romney

4 - Did I mention that he's not Mitt Romney? Because that's pretty important.

3 - Oh yeah, he's not Rick Perry either.

2 - Newt is the one person who can clearly articulate a philosophical basis for why everything the democrats have been doing is not only wrong from an outcome based approach, but from a moral and ethical standpoint as well. And let's face it, watching Newt in a debate with Obama would be kind of like watching Mike Tyson beat up your 8th grade bully. Satisfying and a bit disturbing at the same time.

1 - And most importantly, he's NOT MITT ROMNEY.

If somehow Mitt does manage to get the nomination, that means that we get 4 more years of Obama, and an economy that is starting to make the Carter malaise years look like "the good old days."

Mitt is the guy who couldn't beat the guy who couldn't beat Obama. He's the guy who is actually less attractive to the base than McCain. (remember McCain lost due to low voter turnout among republican demographics) Frankly he's less exciting that Bob Dole, and that's really really hard to do.

Mitt simply can't win. And even if he could win, having a large government, anti-gun, big business crony capitalist, nanystate Rebublican in office is not measurably better than having a large government, anti-gun, big business crony capitalist, nanystate Democrat in office is it?

Open legged Seated

2011-12-31T01:29:00.003-07:00

The "Field" sitting position.

For competition use the Crossed Legged position is greatly preferred, as it is the most stable of the seated positions. For field shooting, or informal target shooting, the open legged position is almost as steady, and allows for a much greater field of regard. Useful when shooting multiple targets instead of a single bull.

Note how the subjects elbows are forward of the knees, locking in support. By repositioning the feet one can change the natural point of aim.

Rifle is a Remington Model Five (made by Zastava), and yes I really should add sling swivels and a model 1907 sling.

Bonus points to the first person to correctly identify the revolver.

Still in the Dark

2011-12-19T19:19:00.003-07:00

In a little noticed provision of the latest spending bill, the Republicans mannaged to block any expendature of money to enforce the ban on 100+ watt incandescent lightbulbs.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/16/congress-overturns-incandescent-light-bulb-ban/

Again, this does not actually repeal the law, it just makes it illegal to spend money enforcing the law. While this does count as a victory for common sense, it still strikes me as a rather small one.

Since the law was set to go into effect in 2 weeks, most manufacturers of such bulbs have already moved their production oversees, so while you may be able to buy lightbulbs, you won't be buying ones made here.

P rated Tires

2011-12-10T16:15:00.002-07:00

I soooo HATE P rated tires. Seriously, what's the point in tires for an off road viehicle than can have holes poked through them by little rocks?

*sigh*

Anyone have anything bad to say about the Cooper ATRs? I'm going to pull the Goodritches off and upgrade to either Coopers or Nittos.

Harrier Time

2011-11-26T13:41:00.004-07:00

Ate Breakfast at the Flight Deck Cafe this morning.

Weekends they have a buffet for about $9, and the kids are something like $4.50. Bacon was great, biscuits and gravy were outstanding, potatoes were the worst potatoes ever. *sigh*

The nice thing about the Flight deck is that there are usually some .mil aircraft parked right outside the window, since it's in the building that serves as the general aviation terminal.

Today we had Harriers and C-130J models.

The Genessis Bow

2011-11-20T22:51:00.002-07:00

The girls have been doing 4-H shooting sports for a while now. Mostly they have been doing compound bow and air rifle. The bows are fairly neat. Mathews built and designed them for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP).

Genesis Bow

Single cam with an idler wheel. Adjustable draw weight from 10 to 20 lbs. Zero let off.

Only real issue so far has been that daughter the eldest is left eye dominant. Right handed, but left eyes, just like her Opa. *sigh*

Shooting right handed she was doing pretty good, if "good" is defined as hitting the wrong target. Ended up asking the instructor if she should shoot left handed since she is cross dominant.

Last meeting they had 3 or 4 left handed shooters but only one left handed bow. *grumble*

Ended up buying our own off of E-bay. Even if she outgrows it it will get some more use, since the boy child also appears to be cross dominant. In fact the younger daughter was teaching him how to shoot it this afternoon.

As for firearms, looks like I'm going to have to buy a .22 caliber lever gun...

Aggregate good

2011-11-01T22:33:00.002-07:00

Keen insight from Aretae, burred in comments.

There is NOT a common good. There MAY be an aggregate good...what is good for Abel,Baker,Charlie,and Dennis, but bad for Eddie and Frank may be worth "2 points" of good. And, if it's only 1 point of good each for ABCD, and 5 points of bad each for EF...that may not even be true. But it sure ain't in the "common good"...

Nothing the government does is good for everyone, someone always suffers from any government action.

The dreaded PO401 Code

2011-10-31T20:18:00.002-07:00

The mustang was sporting a "Service Engine Soon" light for several weeks; I finally decided to take care of it this weekend.

Go to Checker (or whatever they call themselves now) and get the code read. Code = PO401.

Hmmn I don't recognize that one, and the Checker dude knows nothing about cars. Seriously, I had to show him how to use the code reader. I tell the guy "no worries, I'll see what the internet has to say, that is why god invented Google." Took him a second before he realised it was funny.

The interwebs say this is the EGR valve insufficient pressure code. They also say that dispite the name of the code. It has nothing to do with the actual EGR valve, but is either the EGR solenoid, or more likely the DPFE sensor.

Car runs perfectly, so most likely the sensor.

Wait two weeks to get around to going back to the parts store. Buy DPFE sensor. Explain to parts guy what a DPFE sensor is. Tell guy, no not the EGR solenoid, the Differential Pressure Feedback EGR sensor. *sigh*. "just type DPFE into your computer ok?"

I get the sensor and it looks identical to the old one, only twice as big. Hmmn. Well, the plug is right, and the pressure lines are the right diameter... If it doens't work I can always return it.

Install in about 2 minutes (bare hands no tools needed) and a day or so later the light went away.

Victory!

Though I really wish the auto parts stores would hire someone who knew something about auto parts.

Applied Chemistry

2011-10-04T02:16:00.003-07:00

From NPR, a tale of disolving two Nobel prizes:

Niels Bohr story

I think it would have been easier to electro-plate the gold onto a substrait, then plate silver over it. (after all mirrors in a physics lab are pretty innocuous), regardless it was a clever way to hide the gold.

I still prefer the "heavy water in the beer bottle" story though.

Back from DC

2011-09-21T21:33:00.003-07:00

Well I'm back from visiting Ft. Belvoiur and DC. Initial thoughts: people in DC drive worse than in the SF Bay area. Second thought, these guys have some of the worst signage, and worst designed interchanges of just about anywhere.

Got done with the army around 10:00, and my flight wasn't until 17:00 so I took the opportunity to hit the Smithsonian. The air and Space museum hasn't changed much since the lat time I was there 15 years ago, basically proving that we have been stuck in low-earth-orbit for decades now. (and we can;t even do that anymore) Blew through that museum in about 2 hours, so I hiked over to the Natural history museum for an hour.

The Natural History museum is pretty nice. Wonderful mineralogy collection, and they have a newer exhibit on "human origins" that was at least well put together. The Home Diamond is surprisingly unimpressive.

Feast of Crows

2011-09-12T22:30:00.003-07:00

Feast of Crows
Music & Lyrics (c) Mark E. Horning
9-12-2011: 6/8 time - strum

All on command –Now let the gulls fly
'till the shafts are so thick that they blot out the sky
Where the shafts fall - watch the foe writhe and die
....And none shall feast but the crows

/Dm - G Em/ C - Dm E/D C G E/ Dm CBbA Dm/

Fire one volley and fire two more
then fire at will at the foe in the fore.
Pull aim and fire – let the shafts soar
....Like an Eagle that feasts among crows

Hear the pipes thunder and hear the drums roar
We'll fight here again as we've fought here before
The wages of sorrow are the wages of war
....And they fly on the wings of the crows.

We fight for our families and fight for our land,
And we fight for our freedom, but we understand,
The only victors when the blood stains the sand
....Are the vultures, coyotes, and crows

So whisper your prayers, for if our friends we die
Fate is unkind, so this could be goodbye
But we'll see them in hell ere the sun quits the sky
....And leave out their bones for the crows

So here is my gift, it's a full cloth yard long
And it leaps from my bow with a heart full of song.
Those who would conquer, please know you are wrong
....And give my regards to the crows.

Instrumental break

All on command –Now let the gulls fly
'till the shafts in the air nearly blot out the sky
Watch the foe wither and watch the foe die
....Where none shall feast but the crows
....None shall feast but the Crows.
....No, none shall feast --- just the Crows.

Gibson raided - Again

2011-08-27T23:29:00.003-07:00

Looks like the Feds have nothing better to do so they have taken to raiding guitar companies. This time over an apparent Lacy Act violation.

You see, according to the Feds, it is illegal to import plant or animal products if doing so violates the law in the country they came from. Indian law says that exported wood must be "finished" and no thicker than 6mm.

Gibson is accused of importing wood that is 10mm thick.

Yeah.

Story HERE.

I Don't Know

2011-08-20T12:14:00.002-07:00

This is the argument that Penn Jillette makes as to why he is an Atheist and Libertarian. Others have posted part of this, but the key item here is the difference between Democracy and a Republic:

I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone. The fact that the majority thinks they have a way to get something good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that don't want to pay for it. If you have to use a gun, I don't believe you really know jack. Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.

Read the whole thing HERE.

The Unincorporated Man

2011-08-14T23:21:00.003-07:00

The counterpart for education would be to "buy" a share in an individual's earning prospects: to advance him the funds needed to finance his training on condition that he agree to pay the lender a specified fraction of his future earnings. In this way, a lender would get back more than his initial investment from relatively successful individuals, which would compensate for the failure to recoup his original investment from the unsuccessful. There seems no legal obstacle to private contracts of this kind, even though they are economically equivalent to the purchase of a share in an individual's earning capacity and thus to partial slavery. - Milton Friedman, The Role of Government in Education

So begins The Unincorporated Man, by Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin. You know when a book begins with a Friedman quote it is going to be interesting, and not exactly light reading. On that promise the Kollin brothers deliver.

The Kollin brothers that Friedman's idea and run with it, exploring the consequences of such a system. Just as micro-loans to the third world are perhaps the best way to help third world farmers and entrepreneurs, would not buying stock in such folks be even more beneficial.

This is the grand idea, would not owning stock in others thus harness the mighty engine of enlightened self interest? War would suddenly become unprofitable for example. You certainly don't want to go around shooting people you own stock in after all.

The down side is naturally that your investors expect a good return on their investment. Now as you save you can buy your stock back and get more control over your life, but as you become more successful your stock will naturally rise in price...

Enter into this world one Justin Cord, wealthy industrialist who had himself cryogenicly frozen when dying of cancer. He's from 300 years in the past, and older than the concept of personal incorporation. He IS the Unincorporated Man.

4 out of 5 stars. 5 for concept and 3 for execution. Lots of reviews say it reads like Heinlein, but it really doesn't. (Varley reads like Heinlein.) This novel reads more like someone tossed Asimov and Rand books into a blender but poured out the resulting mix while still a bit lumpy. It starts out well and ends well, but slows down quite a bit 2/3 of the way through.

And yes, I know this review is late, and everyone else read it last year. I picked up my copy at last year's CopperCon, (signed by Dani & Eytan) but these days it seems I only read while on business trips, and I haven't had to travel for the new job until last week.

Charter Arms - not vaporware - maybe

2011-08-11T20:16:00.002-07:00

So remember way back when (December 2008) Charter announced they were building a revolver that took rimmless cartridges:

http://rocketsong.blogspot.com/2008/12/charter-arms-rimless-revolver.html

Well it looks like they have finally (maybe) built one or two.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/08/12/charter-arms-pit-bull-40-sw-rimless-revolver-carr/
Early guns are in the .40 S&W, which I have no use for. Still waiting on the .45. And , as always, moon clips are a feature not a bug, so a moon clip enabled version would be preferable.

Minor home repairs

2011-08-06T20:02:00.001-07:00

Drained the water tank at the old house and installed a catch pan under it. Not easy. Took 3 hours to install that stupid $9 part.

Lodi

2011-07-30T16:20:00.001-07:00

A bit humid and sticky. Nice breeze, but you have to be outdoors for that. Just finished helping my dad install a new microwave. Took a bit of work, as we had to modify the kitchen cabinets to prevent the microwave from being too close to the cooktop.

SCOTUS gets another one right

2011-06-28T00:51:00.002-07:00

The US Supreme Court just struck down the matching funds provision of the so-called "Clean Elections" law in Arizona. It's a good first start. The whole thing is blatantly unconstitutional as it forces people to fund the campaigns of those they disagree with.

Standard 5-4 split. I don't need to lay out who voted which way, because everyone knows how the court breaks on these issues.

Unalienable?

2011-06-22T00:48:00.003-07:00

Fascinating discussion over on Volokh over the use of unalienable vs. inaliable in the Declaration.
HERE.

As far as I'm concerned it's "inalienable." It's a Latin root and therefore should have a Latin and not Grmanic prefix.

Besides, while the printer may have used unalienable, every copy in Jefferson's own handwriting uses the proper Latin form.

QoTW

2011-06-08T01:38:00.002-07:00

From Eric over on TheGunCounter:

Evil and highly intelligent means showing some form of rational behavior and predictability. Evil and stupid means they can come up with anything at any time no matter how weird, crazy and destructive it is. It's the leftist version of "hold my beer and watch this!"

Rolling Thunder

2011-06-02T00:21:00.002-07:00

Currently reading Rolling Thunder by John Varley.

Quite possibly the best Heinlein novel not written by Bob Heinlein. The main character is named Podkyne. Yes that's right.

I like Varley's sense of humor as well, from page 197:

I finally read the book my parents stole my name from, Podkayne of Mars.
What a Horrible book! What a mean old man! He spends the whole book getting you to like this sweet little airhead, and then he does terrible things to her. Don't you hate it when an author does that? I'm not reading any more of his books I promise you.

HA. Foreshadow much ?

QOTD - El Neil Version

2011-05-16T18:40:00.001-07:00

There is a war going on, after all, between the so-called "dominant culture"—for which read the Parasitic Class—and the American Productive Class that clothes, feeds, and houses this country and much of the world and generally keeps the whole thing running.

The Parasitic Class decided for themselves long ago that we, the members of the Productive Class, should keep our places, work hard, turn over all our money to our "betters", and shut up.
-L. Neil Smith

The question isn't whois going to let me;

2011-04-23T22:28:00.002-07:00

it's who is going to stop me." - Ayn Rand

That quote probably embodies the spirit behind the new Atlas Shrugged movie better than anything from the book actually.

The director and producers didn't have a studio, didn't have actors, didn't have a distribution network, didn't have any of the normal resources required to make and distribute a movie.

They did it anyway. And it's good.

Other than Armin Shimerman I didn't recognize a single actor in the movie. And it didn't matter, because they were good. Taylor Schilling does a great job as Dagny; Graham Beckel (he's had bit parts in Castle and Battlestar Galactica) is outstanding as Ellis Wyatt.

The pacing is a touch slow, but it's meant to be an epic, so that expected. The score is outstanding. Frankly Elia Cmiral deserves an Oscar for the score. He won't get it, but he deserves it.

The biggest problem with the movie - it's "Part 1" of 3. Much like The Fellowship of the Ring, it feels unfinished. And of course it's a rather depressing film because it is only the first 3rd of the book. The movie ends on the iconic scene of Wyatt Oil's burning fields.

I left it as I found it
Take Over
It's Yours

I've always loved that scene...

At $10 million to make the film, and earnings of $2.5 mil in the first week (with only 299 screens) I predict that this movie will be a modest success under the traditional criteria; i.e. it will make it's nut.

On the other hand, we are talking about a book that 50 years after it was published is number 1, 2, and 3 on Amazon.com's political literature best seller's list. (1 and 2 have different introductions, 3 is the audiobook). Thus I predict over 1-million sales of the DVD when it comes out.

I also predict that this is the movie that, like Silence of the Lambs did for Jodi Foster, will make Taylor Schilling a star.

Patriots day

2011-04-19T20:30:00.001-07:00

19 April - Lexington and Concord.

Keep your powder dry everyone. I find that little brass cylinders sealed with a primer on one end and a bullet on the other are excellent at that purpose.

New Expedition

2011-04-17T00:11:00.002-07:00

Ended up buying a 2003 Expy. This one is 3 years older than the other one we looked at, but actually has fewer miles by a few thousand. Blue/Tan with cloth seats, 4WD, Heavy Duty Tow package. Goodyear Wranglers with pretty decent tread left as well.

Oh, and the dealer did not try to blatantly screw us. He put on new front brakes (including brand new calipers), and we ended up paying about $3000 less than we would have been willing to pay for the other one.

BAG Day Delta Elite

2011-04-15T17:03:00.004-07:00

Today is April the 15th. Everyone knows that the 15th of April is Tax Day. It is also BAG day. (Buy A Gun day).

It is of course important to keep up these important civic traditions. I therefore give you the BAG day Delta:

Did NOT buy a new truck today

2011-04-09T21:55:00.003-07:00

So I was all set to buy a used 2006 Expedition. Decent shape, ok mileage, pretty much everything we wanted except it had the light duty towing package instead of the heavy one and it had leather seats :-(

This is AZ, Leather is HOT.

Anyway Dealer is asking $13K, and I know he won't come down much. I offer $14.5K out the door. Plus he has to fix the CD player and DVD player. This was actually about $150 too high. Basically I was asking him to eat his .doc fee.

He comes back with an extra thousand in "super secret" fees.

I say fine. I'll give you your asking price, just fix the broken stuff.

Sales guy says we have a deal.

Then my wife looks at the paperwork and it says they will fix the electronics and we will pay their cost. Um... NO. Oh and he also wants to charge us for the cost of tinting the windows.

So I tell the wife to give the phone to the manager. He makes a bunch of excuses. I finally say something allong the following:

Let me get this straight, I'm offering you your FULL asking price as advertised. I'm offering to pay ALL the Taxes, and your doc fee, and you want ME to pay to fix items that you advertised as present in the viehicle and working?!?!

"Well I'm already loosing money one this deal"

Too bad, we're done.

I intend to call the BBB or e-mail them on Monday.

Regardless, the folks at Certified Benz and Beamer are a bunch of crooks and weasels, don't buy from them. (In fairness, I think the sales guys are fine, its the manager who is a crook).

Edit to add: Found the BBB complaint form on-line. Look like they have 4 complaints about advertising and sales practices in the last 12-months. No wait... make that 5.

Guns Guitars and a lousy day

2011-04-03T23:01:00.002-07:00

So I had saved up quite a bit of "fun" money. I was thinking about a new Guitar. I've been really enamored of the new BreedLove American Series guitars, and since Breedlove recently got bought out, there is a good chance that this series will be temporary.

Last night I saw that Elderly had a used on in stock for abut $250 less than new, and the deep concert size is a sweet body size.

Linkie

Alternatively I'd love to have a smaller bodied 12-string, either a Concert or OM size. I thought really hard about buying that guitar from ELderly, but in the end decided to give it a day or so because I planned to go to the fun show on Sunday.

I got up early and picked up my friend Scott. We managed to hit the show about 20 minutes after opening, so there was almost no line to get in. Decent sized show, 4 fair pavilion halls plus some tents.

Now there are only one or two things that I was really interested in: A Dan Wesson 22 Revolver, a nice .45 acp revolver, or a decent 1911 in 10mm.

Wandering the show I found a very nice 1955 Smith and Wesson .45 acp target revolver. Now, I wasn't 100% certain that the gun was not originally chambered for .45 Colt and cut down for moon clips, but I made a note of it. The fellow was asking $650 which I think was probably a pretty nice deal.

Later on I found a Colt Delta Elite at a dealers table for a bit over a grand. I laughed a little bit. Then I saw the Argentine surplus Sistema Colt he had with a price of $750 and I just shook my head.

In the same hall I saw another Delta Elite, this one priced at $850. That's not a great price, but it's certainly a fair one. I grabed the guys card and made a note of the price.

A bit later I saw another Delta Elite, this one priced at $800. Better yet this was a private sale so no paperwork and no sales tax. Made another note.

After we ate we were getting about ready to leave. I kept thinking about the Delta. I went back to look at it and the guy offered to let me have it for $750, the exact same price as that Breedlove I was thinking abut.

I've wanted a 10mm for a long time. I'm looking it over and it looks ok. The barrel has been swapped out for a match style barrel but again that is ok.

This is the Delta Elite:

I was feeling a touch of buyer's remorse because I really do prefer a GI guiderod and bushing, but the price was good enough that I was willing to overlook that.

I take it apart and clean and lube it at Scott's place. Looks clean inside, not abused at all.
I get it home and go to load it and the cartridges won't go into battery.

What the...?

Take it apart again. Drop a cartridge into the chamber. Wont go in. Think about it. I grab a 40 S&W cartridge. Perfect fit.

Arrrgg.

Some idiot, and probably the guy before the guy I bought it from, converted a Colt Delta Elite, one of the finest combat handguns in existence, from the mighty 10mm to the .40 S&W. Most likely this was to shoot IDPA or IPSC where a 40 could give you a slight advantage over a .45 or 10mm. (1 more round than the 45 and softer recoil than the 40)

I suppose it could make a nifty pin gun as well. (Pin Gun = gun for shooting bowling pins off of a table). It is NOT however a ten mike mike. I wanted a ten mike mike.

Arrrgh.

I'm extremely frustrated right now. I've already listed it on our local gun board (with a completely honest listing) and will be happy if I can get out of it what I paid. Otherwise I can fix this. It will probably cost about $200 in new and used parts but it is recoverable.

I'm still pissed though.

Trees

2011-04-02T22:29:00.003-07:00

One of the orange trees that was dieing finally got to the point where we ripped it out last weekend. I let the kids play in the hole for a week then went tree shopping.

Since we have 19, count them 19 orange trees left I thought we ought to put in something different so I went on the hunt for a Grapefruit tree.

I went to 4 nurseries before I finally found a Red Grapefruit tree at Lowes.

Special plug to SummerWinds Nursery though:
http://www.summerwindsaz.com/

They had a huge selection of fruit trees, including pluots, low chill nectarines and peaches, as well as the new low chill cherry trees. They also had several multiple budded plum trees, some as many as 5 on one tree.

Guess what followed me home...

FEED Review

2011-03-26T02:20:00.003-07:00

4 out of 5

FEED has been sitting in my backpack for several months in the virtual "I really need to get around to reading this" pile. I'm glad I did. It's quite well done.

FEED starts out somewhat slow, but that is to be expected for the first novel set in a new universe. It does after all take some time to get the reader up to speed on the way things work 20 years after "Rising Day". Once fleshed out though, the book becomes a fairly fast paced romp.

Several of the negative reviews on Amazon have centered on the fact that the book is not really about fighting zombies. True. The zombies are mostly background material, they are the reason for the story, not the focus. One might as well complain that they were mislead because they thought that Huckleberry Finn was going to be about the river.

Primarily the book is about the rise of new media over the old in the post-zombie-apocalypse. Those complaining that it was more about blogging than zombies should take note of the giant RSS feed symbol on the cover.

It's about living in the post zombie rising world, not about the zombies. Says so right on the cover: Good news: we survived; Bad News: So did they. Seriously Hello People, pay attention here.

McGuire does an excellent job of world building and of characterization. She does fall short a bit in the plotting department, as the bad guys are way too obvious, and I thought she telegraphed the ending pretty early. A little better plotting would have earned this 5 stars.

Spoiler Alert: I knew Seanan was going to go with the Podkayne of Mars ending by page 3 or 4. Now other than Heinlein, I can't think of anyone else who has used that ending, so most readers might not be expecting it. And of course I mean the original ending to Pody, not the sanitized one the publisher forced on Heinlein.

The odd thing is, I've known Seanan since high school, so when her characters go into expository mode they speak in Seanan's voice. It's a particular voice unique to Seanan. Using a pseudonymn is silly. The book is written in Seanan's voice, style, and particular sense of humor; there is no point in pretending otherwise, even if Mira Grant is an open pseudonym.

And don't worry, there are enough zombies to go around.

QOTW

2011-03-20T00:02:00.002-07:00

Over on The Gun Counter Chris Byrne made the following comment:

When you have a choice, you should choose not to support evil.

We were talking about specifically about DeBeers, but it works on any level you want it to.

Up to Four with Wyoming

2011-03-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

Wyoming just became the fourth state to join the constitutional carry bandwaggon.

Gov. Mead signed the bill today, and the new law goes into effect in July. Arizona welcomes Wyoming to the club.

Article

Dancing skyclad befor the alter of Free Trade

2011-02-27T17:48:00.003-07:00

So my anarcho-capatalist Libertarian friends continue to prance nekkid before the holy alter of Free Trade, see HERE

And yes, they are correct in that tariffs stifle growth, and economic growth (in the end) trumps all. Of course, corporate taxes also stifle growth, as do consumption taxes, construction taxes...

I still maintain that if you are going to tax, it's far better to do it on imports than on corporate profits. Tax corporations too highly and they just move offshore, tax imports to highly and people might pay more, but they start making stuff here.

Now maybe, just maybe, my friends are taking the long view. After all, if you pursue unrestrained "free" trade with China, eventually you have no jobs left, and thus no taxpayers. That's a rather long term method of starving the beast, and it's awfully rough going, but I suppose it would work out in the end.

Competition wise, it's not the wage difference either, it's China's refusal to float their currency, and the stifling regulations we have here. OSHA, EPA, Sarbanes-Oxley etc. are not designed to destroy American industry, that's just a "beneficial side effect". In fact, pretty much anything a government does is BAD for the economy, bad for growth, and bad for jobs.

Regardless, I did my part to support international trade this afternoon:
I needed some stakes to stake my trees, so I bought some steel T posts at Lowe's. They were lousy quality, but it was all they had, and of course they were made in China.

I also needed a new lamp for my bedroom (also made in China)

I also found some lightbulbs (China again) but I put them back and found some different bulbs made in the U.S.A. (sorry guys)

As an aside, how did that happen? I thought these days we just sat around in a circle and sold each other financial products.

Anyway, for those who actually WANT to buy stuff made here, Sylvania still makes light-bulbs in Pennsylvania., so shop accordingly.

The Rising

2011-02-26T22:19:00.001-07:00

Leprecon is May 6th through the 8th.

Seanan will be our Music Guest of Honor. Because Seanan is our guest, I have been tasked with writing at least 2 zombie themed songs before the con.

BRAAAANZ.

Thought for today

2011-02-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

Today's thought on the Budget:
"We have finally run out of other people's money."

Tree planting

2011-02-06T16:54:00.002-07:00

Lemon tree very crispy and lemon flower is dead,
Lemon tree, there's no saving, so I'll dig it up instead.

Global Cooling managed to get my Eureaka Lemon tree. Fortunately it was less than a year old (and I save my tree receipts). Lowes gave me my money back, but had no citrus in stock yet, Home Depot did though.

Ended up buying a Meyer Lemon. Now the Meyer lemon is not a true lemon, rather it is a rather slutty citrus that climbed in bed with a mandarin sometime back in history. Still they are very popular, though a touch sweater than a true lemon.

Cobbler

2011-01-23T21:53:00.003-07:00

Made this for the filk last night.

4 cups sliced apples (I used apples and pears)
1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and juice from a lemon

Mix and dump in a 9x9 backing dish

Mix 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup oats and 3 tbs butter with a pastry cutter and sprinkle over the top.
Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes.

QOTD

2011-01-21T12:18:00.002-07:00

From Stuckinmassachusetts :

The Bill of Rights is a sum-total package; we take all the freedoms enumerated therein or we take none of them. For far too long both the left and the right have viewed the BoR as a buffet, where some rights are added to the dinner plate with gusto while others are left to languish - or worse, removed entirely from the menu.

Well said.

TJIC

2011-01-20T21:03:00.002-07:00

Regular readers here know TJIC, a frequent commenter here. It looks like the jack-booted thugs in Massachusetts are after his guns due to his somewhat inflammatory, but constitutionally protected free speech.

Some details from Borepatch.

Let me explain this in little words to the Arlington Massachusetts PD: expressing an opinion that the entirety of congress is a bunch of traitors that have violated the constitution and ought to hang by the neck till dead is NOT a threat. It's protected political speech.

It may be outrageous, or inflammatory, or even incorrect (after all, I can't think of anything the Gentleman from TX 14 has done that is traitorous or anti-constitutional) but it is nonetheless protected free speech. Taking TJIC's property without due process is a violation of his civil rights under color of law.

If they can do this to Travis, they can do this to you if they decide they don't like your politics. Remember the bumper sticker from the Clinton Administration: Is your church BATF approved? Same thing, different scale.

I AM TJIC.
If you write a blog of any sort, or state a public opinion of anything, you are TJIC
We are ALL TJIC.

And the Jack Boots all were polished,
and the uniforms were neat
they all were so polite that day - they smiled so bright and sweet
they looked just like they boy next door, they did it all so well
they looked a lot like you and me...We did it to ourselves.
-J. Bethancourt

Oil Change

2011-01-17T19:43:00.005-07:00

I think I just remembered why I don't change my oil any more and PAY someone else to do it.

The local place up the road give me an oil change and a car wash for $36 +tax. Unfortunately they close at 18:00 and I normally do not get home until 18:00. This really needs to be done before the weekend. That's ok, I can change my own oil right? It's not like it's hard, just annoying. Besides, I need to return a gas cap.

Go to the auto parts store. Hmmn, oil costs a LOT more than I remember. I always use either Valvoline or Castroil, doesn't matter because they are priced the same. So lets see, 6 quarts of 5W-30 and an oil filter comes to $30 +tax.

Get home, try to get the old oil filter off. Fail. Get giant pair of channel locks. Succeed in poking a hole in the filter but not otherwise budging it. Hmmn, I could reach it better if I took off the front tire. Jack up front of truck, remove tire. All right now I can get on this thing. Suceed in poking second hole in filter...

I know I've got an oil filter wrench around here somewhere. Nope.

Big-assed pipe wrench? Actually worked.

20 minutes later I've got it done, other than some new stains on the driveway.

Hey, I think I remembered why I pay someone else to do this.

Why Americans Hate their Government - ADEQ Edition

2011-01-15T15:06:00.003-07:00

A week ago I got my viehicle registration renewal form in the mail. It included the dreaded note : Emissions Check required.

This was expected actually.

In Arizona you have to get a smog check on your viehicle every two years if you live in either the Phoenix Metro or Tucson Metro area. Basically then, 90% of the population has to put up with this BS.

Step one; Drive 12 miles to the smog check location. Burn 1 gallon of gas in the process.

Millage of the truck when we started the smog check : 122,766 miles

Step two; Wait while the guys at the smog check place drive your car on the treadmill for the IM147 test. Here is the fun part, the operator has to drive a particular acceleration profile. If you miss the profile they have to try again.

My truck is a stick shift. My truck is a stick shift equipped with Fords old 300 CI in-line 6 cylinder engine. (all torque, no horsepower)

Guess how many times the guys had to drive the profile. Hint, it was more than 3 and less than 5.

The truck passed the emissions test with no trouble otherwise. After they run your car on the treadmill you get to

Step three: check to make certain your gas cap makes a good seal on the tank.

One of my gas caps failed. *grumble*

Pay $28 for the privilege of having your car tested.

The rest of the steps we shall leave unnumbered.

Drive 12 miles to Checker Auto. Pay $9 for a new gas cap. Drive 12 miles back to smog check place. Burn 2 gallons of gas in the process.

Wait in line. As expected, they have to do the entire test all over again, because the computer won't let them simply retest against the failed portion.

Run the profile. Miss the profile. Several times. Finally one of the guys figures out that the DOS computer is not talking to the Windows computer. (yeah the computer that measures the exhaust components for NOX and hydrocarbons is running DOS)

Back truck out of test land and into adjacent test lane.

Rerun the test about 12 times. It finally passed when the supervisor held the measurement probe against the exhaust pipe. Apparently the problem was fairly straightforward:

My exhaust was too clean. Yup, the hydrocarbons were coming in at 6 out of an allowed 25, so the computer kept rejecting the data as too low.

Finally they get to test the gas cap again. Pass - no surprise there.

Mileage when done testing 122,812 miles. Subtract out the 24 miles to get to Checker auto and back and they ran my truck for over 20 miles on the stupid treadmill.

In their defense, the technicians were very professional and apologetic about the whole thing, and worked very hard to keep the lines moving for everyone else.

Oh, and there are big signs stating that "enhanced testing is the result of Federal Law"; i.e. don't blame us, it's the Feds fault. Of course it's really jointly the Fed and ADEQ's fault for having such a poorly designed procedure.

So let's see, not counting getting there and back, we wasted about 50 miles of driving, 3 hours of my time, and a quarter tank of gas because my gas cap did not quite seal properly.

This is why we hate our government, because the whole process is inane and stupid. And since the test is over, I'm sure my readers can guess which cap is back on my rear tank.

On Tucson

2011-01-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

From one of my local firearms forums:
Tucson is Phoenix's little sister, you know the one that never shaves her legs, want's to save whales and free the illegals, and shows up to family events with a Tofu casserole smelling like pot. - Gunslinger808

So spot on there I'm not even sure if it's funny or not.

Kitchen

2011-01-10T21:19:00.002-07:00

Saturday we got our granite installed in the kitchen. Thus Sunday I spent cursing the sink and plumbing hookups. After 3 trips to the hardware store, I got it reassembled and working.

Shopping tip of the day

2011-01-10T19:54:00.003-07:00

Midway USA has Browning hi-power mags on sale. The good 15 round Mec-Gars. If you need hi-power magazines now just might be a good time. What with the gun grabbers preparing to dance in the blood of the slain and all.

More Guitar Geeking for TJIC

2011-01-09T23:00:00.002-07:00

Joe Bethancourt just posed a youtube video of him playing the cedar/rosewood Breedlove I talked about the other day.

I think he has it tuned down to double-drop-D. Sounds like it at any rate, I can't see his chording hand well enough to know for certain.

Tonight's BBT

2011-01-06T19:42:00.001-07:00

Sheldon plays a theremin on tonight's Big Bang Theory.

Why do I suspect this will lead to a run on theremin sales?

Sick

2011-01-05T15:21:00.001-07:00

Today is 12th night, and I am feeling way too crappy to take down Christmas decorations.

Fid's

2011-01-02T00:59:00.002-07:00

Just got back from Fiddler's Dream. Double concert set featuring Joe Bethancourt and Leslie Fish.

Was nice. They held it in the fellowship hall since they needed the extra room. Joe bright 3 guitars (C.J. old Maple Martin 12, a 000C Martin Signature series, and a Cedar/Rosewood Breedlove.

He had the Breed tuned down to double drop-D, and it had some serious low end growl to it.

Les played Monster.

Joe played one song by a local called "Confederate Souvenirs" that was simply an outstanding example of songwriting. Picked up a couple of Joe's CDs since I have all of Leslie's already.

Aaron Zelman RIP

2010-12-30T01:00:00.002-07:00

Aw Crap.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/2010/12/29/aaron-zelman-rip/

That is all I have to say right now.

Lowers in place

2010-12-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

Lowers are in place. Countertop folks are supposed to do a final measurement tomorow.

Kitchen Cabenetry

2010-11-27T00:33:00.006-07:00

Yesterday my father showed up with a trailer full of kitchen cabinets. We unloaded the trailer, but didn't actually get to installing anything untill today. Hurray for Thanksgiving leftovers.

Today we spent 8 hrs or so installing new uppers in the kitchen. The old ones were ugly, poorly made, and will make excellent shed cabinets.

California Ranch architecture and "southwesty" cabinet doors just do not go together. Note, not Southwest, "southwesty".

Here is the before pic. The microwave was already taken down since it failed spectacularly a couple weeks ago. (click to embiggen)

The new ones are just a wee bit sturdier, have 1/2" backs, and go all the way to the ceiling to get rid of the annoying gap one gets as a result of builders simply slapping cheap cabinets up. Oh, and I dropped in a new microwave.

I'll do the crown molding tomorow. Then we have to do the doors on the pantry cabinet, the doors and drawers in the bathroom vanities, and possibly add some shelves to the pantry.

Lowers will go in after Christmas, and countertops hopefully very quickly thereafter.

Quantitative Easing Explained

2010-11-16T21:47:00.001-07:00

Just in case you need a better explanation of the QE2.

Randslide

2010-11-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Looks like Rand Paul won 55% to 45%.

Randslide.

Predictions

2010-11-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

My prediction for tomorrow:

R's take 64 house seats and 8 Senate seats. I'm not going to bother with an over/under on how long it takes them to go back to their old ways.

Quote of the Week

2010-10-26T23:08:00.002-07:00

From Seanan, re the Rocky Horror Picture Show:

If you've never been a Rocky fan, it was sort of like being a Browncoat, only sluttier and with more sing-alongs.

Yeah, that says it all.

Pegaus Winners 2010

2010-10-23T17:54:00.002-07:00

Copied from the announcement by the Pegasus committee -

The Pegasus committee is very pleased to announce this year's Pegasus
Award winners:

Best Filk Song
A Thousand Ships - Juliane Honisch and Kerstin Droege-Macdonald

Best Classic Filk Song
Fire in the Sky - Jordin Kare

Best Writer/Composer
Heather Dale

Best Performer
S.J. Tucker

Best Magic Song
Where the Magic is Real - Paul Kwinn

Best Mad Science Song
What a Woman's For - Seanan McGuire

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all who voted!

I'm reasonably happy with the selection. I voted for Seanan and Paul, and Fire in the Sky was my second choice in that category. For the record, I have absolutely no clue who S.J. Tucker is nor Juliane Honisch and Kerstin Droege-Macdonald.

Party like it's 1773

2010-10-21T21:56:00.002-07:00

So...

Apparently the other day Sarah Palin told some Tea Party folks that they needed to buckle down and work hard until the election is over and that it was not yet time to "Party like it was 1773".

Predictably the far left media went nuts and immediately started making fun of her (again) because after all nothing important happened in 1773.

Um... Yeah.

How shall I put this? I expect the far left media to look like complete idiots every once in a while, but when you guys make yourselves look stupid compared to Sarah Palin, well I really don't know what to say.

Oh, for those who slept through or were busy smoking pot during history class (and apparently also can't figure out how Google works), Palin was addressing a TEA PARTY group. Want to hazzard a guess what year the Boston Tea Party was. Yeah, didn't think so. Put down the roach clip and pay attention. 1773.

As for the rest of us, We can see November from our house.

On the ethics of voting

2010-10-21T21:50:00.002-07:00

Jen up at A Call to Wings has a huge rant about the government education system and the ethical implications of living in a republic. A small taste:

... Because I live in a republic, and I hold the franchise thereof. That means what my country does, so long as I vote, the moral weight of those decisions, their enactment, and their outcomes is on my head to. When the time comes to answer to account, I don't get to tell the Good Lord don't look at me - the King did that.

No, I have to say "yes.... I voted for that decision, because I thought it was least bad of a host of a bunch of bad options. I know that people were killed because of that choice, but I still put my name to it. ...

I don't think I get to say "well... a hundred million other Americans voted for X, so if X wasn't right, it's only one hundred millionth my fault." Because my ethical decision was my ethical decision.

LINK

I have been thinking about doing so for a while, but as of now A Call to Wings has been added to the blogroll over on the right.

Mark's Guide to the Arizona propositions

2010-10-20T00:07:00.002-07:00

Generally speaking, "If in doubt vote No, it maintains the status quo". However, this year I am actually voting yes on most of these.

My thoughts:

106 - YES ...Heath care - Individual choice over .gov bureaucrats every day. Gives you a constitutional right to opt out of govenment mandates and a right to pay for your own medical procedures if you want.

107 - YES ...Civil Rights - Makes affirmative action unconstitutional. Affirmative action is wrong, people should be judged by their competence, not race or gender.

109 - YES .-Constitutional right to Hunt and Fish. In truth it actually does not make any real changes, but it pisses off the bunny hugers, so yes.

110 - YES .- Alows municipalites to buy state land to protect military bases (and thus jobs).. I don't think I see any downsides here. Certainly willing to be convinced otherwise.

111 - NO - Claims to rename the Secretary of State the Lt. Governor, but in reality it does a lor more than that. It makes elections worse, since it would force the parties to run a ticket rather than pick the best person for Sec. State.

112 - NO - Initiative deadline. The legislature supports it, so I'm against it. Earlier deadline for initiatives tips the balance away from grass roots to paid petition gatherers. I think that's a bad shift.

113 - YES - Card Check/Secret Ballot. I've worked in a Union Shop before. I HATE unions. Union bosses should not be allowed to know how you voted on unionizing.

203 - YES - Medical Marijuana. I'd rather see us end the war on (some) drugs entirely, but medical MJ will piss of the feds, so yes. The opponents claim it is a slippery slope to full legalization. Um, ok, not winning your argument here. I don't like drugs, I think they are stupid and bad for you. On the other hand Government bans on recreational substances are even more stupid, and worse for you.

301 - YES - Redirects Growing Smarter funds to the general fund. I opposed "Growing Smarter" back in 1998. State trust land is supposed to be used to fund education, not buy playgrounds for rich hikers/yuppies.

302 - YES - Redirects Cigarette taxes to the general fund. Cigarette taxes should go into the general fund, not pay for some leftist wish list.

Re 301 and 302. I'm pretty much always opposed to voter mandated funds for stuff. It's always left wing "feet firmly in the clouds" type stuff, and that money is used at the expense of things that the state is constitutionally obligated to do like, oh you know, actually balancing the budget.

And Shuffle off this Mortal Coil

2010-10-12T22:47:00.002-07:00

Mood = indescribable

A friend of mine was shot dead last night. He was shot dead by his own son, who then turned the gun on himself.

News Article Here

Jeff was one of the first people I met at the Air Force Laboratory when I started there. He and another fellow had a telescope set up in the back parking lot and were watching mercury transit the sun. Jeff loved astronomy, and wrote all of the ephemeris software for the NVTS program.

He worked for a satellite company for a while before coming back to the lab and he was one of the folks who came to my going-away lunch. He shall be missed, and it still does not feel real.

Commuting

2010-10-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

The drive could have been worse. Could have been better too. Getting out of work was actually a bigger hassle than getting there. Time to study the satellite maps.

Last day at AFRL

2010-10-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day working for the US Air Force Research Lab. Monday I start with L-3 Electro-Optics in Tempe.

I am NOT looking forward to the drive. On the other hand, the lab is moving to Ohio, and driving to Tempe is a lot shorter than driving to Dayton.

Since it was my last day, I decided to do it right and bought beer for anyone who showed up at the conference center. My team bought me lunch at Joe's Farm Grill and gave me a nice plaque to put up at the new place.

Mourning in America

2010-09-27T22:33:00.004-07:00

Someone over on the Republican side just earned his November bonus.

A bit of a history lesson, back in 1984 the Reagan campaign ran an add entitled "Morning in America". Actually it was titled "Prouder, Stronger, Better", but nobody remembers that. This advert, along with the "Bear in the Woods" add cemented the largest landslide victory since Nixon beat McGovern.

Well some folks still remember that add, and they don't much like the current President, or his policies.

Powerful stuff.

Lookin' like a nail

2010-09-24T22:44:00.004-07:00

While I am not a big C&W fan, this guy has that sort of Charlie Daniels Band vibe I rather like.

heh

About that new Republican "Pledge"

2010-09-24T00:44:00.002-07:00

Picking between the R’s and D’s on fiscal responsibility is like picking between two drunks to drive the car.

One guy sideswipes a bridge abutment so you take the keys away and give it to the other guy who promptly drives into an oak tree. Then the first guy says "hey I’ve sobered up and found religion and am attending AA" so you give him the keys, even though we all know he’s got a flask in his hip pocket.

Seriously. That's the choice.

Let me make this as clear as I can:

The problem is the spending. It’s not earmarks, it’s spending.

the R’s missed a golden opportunity to be really bold and capture the attention of the American people. They could have proposed an actual Constitutional Amendment requiring a balanced budget. Regardless of whether they could have gotten it through the Senate (never happen) just bringing it to a vote would be a big bold statement that said “We are fiscally responsible and mean it this time”.

Or how about we eliminate the Dept. of Education which has never educated a single child.

Slash the Dept. of Agriculture which has more government employees than the US of A has Farmers.

Eliminate HUD.

Combine the DOE with the NRC and eliminate half the positions.

Cut every other .gov agency by 20 %.

Hey, I'm a libertarian, I'm just getting started. But no, let's give the keys back to the guy with the flask.

On the O'Donnell Primary Victory

2010-09-15T23:00:00.002-07:00

The Tea Party folks are acing more libertarian all the time. It appears they nominated a candidate who appears utterly unable to win over a shoe in for the Delaware Senate slot.

Why would they do that?

Because frankly, they are tired of voting for The Lesser of Two Democrats.

This is a clear case of the primary voters saying “No more Olympia Snows”. General election voters would have easily elected Castle. Primary voters on the other hand recognized Castle as someone who would stab them in the back on important issues.

Even if O'Donnell looses, the fiscal conservatives win, because that means that Castle did not get the seat, and the republican establishment is on notice that they need to nominate fiscal conservatives if they want to party folks to actually vote for them.

I predict that this time around thee Republicans will easily retake the House of Representatives, but will fall 2-3 seats short of taking the Senate. After that, I fully expect them to be back to their spendthrift ways, and the pendulum to swing back the other way in 2012.

If and only if they can actually get a handle on Federal spending will the voters reward them in 2012. This is why some of the folks winning primaries (e.g. O'Donnell) are somewhat “kooky”, right now the primary voters are acting like “single issue” voters.

Government spending is that issue, and it does not matter if someone has rather odd Christian viewpoints or dances skyclad in the woods about a copy of Great Expectations. Single issue: Stop the damn spending.

Amazing Grass

2010-09-10T19:28:00.002-07:00

No not that kind of grass you damn hippie.

This kind of grass, as in Bermuda grass. I do this every once in a while for the kids. Jen helped make part of this as well.

It's kind of like a hedge maze, only, well...
shorter.

Picture only shows about 1/2 of the maze actually.

I call this one Foldey

2010-09-06T20:48:00.005-07:00

Harvey Leach, California Luthier kindly allowed me to borrow a VAOM-04 Voyage-Air guitar for the long weekend.

Harv (or as I like to call him Inlay Dancing God) invented the Voyage-Air folding neck guitar 10 years or so ago, and I remember reading about it on R.M.M.G.A back in the day when people hung out on Usenet instead of on internet Forums.

The Voyage-Air is a very cool concept. It involves a stout internal hinge that allows you to fold the neck of the guitar, thus allowing you to fit a full-size guitar into a backpack sized instrument.
Lots more info here:

http://www.voyageairguitar.com/

The -04 series instruments have a solid spruce top and laminate back and sides, which IMHO is a pretty good combination for a travel instrument, as it adds a level of durability over an all solid box.

Initial thoughts upon inspection.

Folding guitars are cool. The hinge mechanism is ingenious. Neck angle, playability, and action are very good. When you realize that the neck join is the most important part of all of these things it's simply outstanding.

I like the neck feel. Feels like a slightly chunkier Tacoma neck, or maybe a satin finished Larrivee. The neck has a very thin, matte finish on it which is a good thing for moving up and down the neck.

Intonation is frankly outstanding, and was spot on to the 14th fret for most strings, and a couple of cents off for the A string. (odd since normally the B and high E go sharp if any)

Part of the way the guitar achieves this is via the use of a zero fret and captive nut. A zero fret allows for a nice low action without having to tweak the nut. It's also a good thing for playing lead guitar as your open strings technically are no longer "open" as they are actually fretted.

Since I was going to CopperCon I took the Voyage-Air with me. After all who better than a bunch of Sci-Fi fans to appreciate a folding guitar.

I showed the instrument to a lot of folks, introducing it either as Foldey (my wife's nickname), or The Origami Guitar (mine), and everyone thought it was the neatest thing since sliced bread and nuclear weapons. I handed out several cards for Harvey Leach which is sort of the point of this exercise.

The real question though is: how does it sound?

It sounds good, but not great. It sounds much better than my cheap plywood sacrificial instrument I bought to tempt the United Airline Gods, but can't hold a candle to my Larrivee OM-03R. Now in fairness, it really shouldn't be expected to, after all it's a solid top, not all solid.

Pros:
Lightweight. Even in the case people were shocked at how little it weighed.
Folds!!!
Counts as a carry-on for most airliners. You will have to gate check on the little commuter birds.
High playability marks.
Great padding on the backpack-carrier. Extremely comfortable.

Cons:
My other guitars sound a bit better for the type of music I play.
Constant retuning. You are supposed to slack the strings before folding (I went down about a full step). That means every time you take it out of the case you have to re-tune. At one point I carried the guitar to a different building in my hand (and the case in another) so I wouldn't have to re-tune.
Lots of padding on the backpack carrier straps makes it hard to sling a book bag over your shoulder.

One very cool thing is that the Voyage-Air is available in multiple configurations, from all laminate to all solid, to a fully custom Harvey Leach creation.

Would I buy one?

At this point in my life, no. It's an awesome instrument for a college student or someone who travels a lot by aircraft and wants/needs to take a full sized instrument with them. At this point I'd rather take a traditional guitar and not deal with the tuning hassles. The solid top/lam sides is the sweet point on the pricing scale, once you get up to the all solid guitars you are talking some real money (around a grand and a half). Since you can buy some outstanding all solid guitars these days for under a grand from Larrivee, Breedlove, and even Martin the all solid Voyage-Air would be a hard sell to me.

What would convince me to buy one?

I think a 00 size rather than the 000/OM size would be pretty compelling (especially a deep-body (4 -4.5") 00. Even folded and stowed the 000/Om size is a reasonably large package. I'd also like to see a cedar top to get the most out of a solid top/ laminate sides combo.

Later this week I shall send Foldey off to the next person on the great 2010 Voyage-Air travel/trial list. I expect that person shall enjoy it as well. Though at this point I personally wouldn't buy one, it was nonetheless a neat experience.

EDIT:
I have been told that the instruction to "detune before folding" in the instructions was added at the behest of the lawyers, and is not actually required for the happiness and well being of the guitar. That makes the Voyage-Air quite a bit more attractive. It's also the sort of thing that makes one sympathetic to Dick the Butcher.

More CopperCon Thoughts

2010-09-06T09:43:00.002-07:00

This is a seriously small convention. There are only 5 meeting rooms, and one of them is a bit off the beaten path. They are making good use of the convention space that they have, so that's good.

Pretty small attendance too. I think only about a dozen folks showed up to my concert, and I have yet to see more than 20 folks at a panel, and that was the best attended one.

On the other hand, this is a pretty great hotel from my perspective. Good blackout curtains so the room gets nice and dark. It's a bit spread out, but it's been here long enough that there are plenty of mature shade trees so it's not too bad. Lots of parking.

Parking is FREE (hint for the folks in LA and SD this is important)

Place definately has that " we were a nice place in the 60's and 70's but then the freeway passed us by". The location is on Main/Apache so this did used to be Us-60 until the freeway bypass in the 80's. Free breakfast if utterly uninspiring. Best thing from the kid's perspective is that the swimming pool is open 24 hrs. I appreciate that. The pool is sufficiently far from the rooms that the noise won't bother folsk so why not keep it open 24/7?

And the 2010 Campbell ...

2010-09-05T11:40:00.002-07:00

Hail Seanan, Queen of the Poison Frogs. Hail

I'm very pleased to note that my friend Seanan has won the 2010 Campbell Award for best new Writer

2010 Hugo Award Winners (and Campbell here)

Hail Seanan, oh great and powerful Queen of the Poison Frogs.

CopperCon - Saturday

2010-09-04T10:33:00.002-07:00

First real day of the Con. I had a panel scheduled for 0900. As expected not too many folks showed up.

Small convention in general. Small dealers' room, although there is one vendor of really nifty blown glass items. Definitely has "small con" vibe, although they are using their convention space pretty effectively.

Not even certain there is a separate art show. There is some art in the corner of the dealers' room, but currently no bid sheets.

Of Fish and Beacons

2010-09-02T19:56:00.002-07:00

Today, I'm going to speak from the heart.
You, turn of the teleprompter.
No seriously, turn it off, I'm not going to use it today.

(I'm writing this free-form, no editing, other than fixing the spelling)
(no I'm not certain why today's rant turned into a political speech)

Let's get back to basics.

If you had to pick one single principle upon which this nation was founded, it would be the principle of self determination. A nation, born in blood and fire, fought a revolutionary war for this singular principle. The inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of property is fundamentally about the right of people to determine their own destiny. Sure, Jefferson wrote pursuit of happiness, but Locke and others from whom Jefferson cribbed spoke of property.

And not just a right of self determination, but an inalienable one. Whether one believes as the Christian Madison did that this right is a result of God's creation of man, or one believes as the Deist Jefferson did that it is simply a natural part of man's existence, or you conduct a rational basis as does the Militant Atheist who has perhaps read one too many treatises by Ayn Rand, the result is the same. A fundamental, inalienable right of self determination.

This singular principle is the one that has led this nation to greatness. It is this principle that caused Ronald Reagan to refer to these United States as a "shining beacon upon the hill". A beacon because it is a shining example to others, not an invitation to take the shininess part it out and redistribute it to the less-shiny.

Importantly, it is a path, not a destination. You have the right to try, but you also have the right to fail along the way. And just as importantly, if you do fail, the right to get up, dust yourself off, and try again.

Aye, we have stumbled along the way. That principle conveniently didn't apply to darker skinned folk in half the country at the founding. We solved that with another bloody war (the bloodiest in our history). But here is the important part, so important that the government education system goes to great lengths to hide it. While it is true that many in the North saw that war as a principled war to bring self determination to the slaves, almost everyone fighting on the other side saw it as defending their own right of self determination and self government.
After all, hardly anybody down there actually owned any slaves; that was a rich land-owner's pastime. Then as now, the rich could be a convenient excuse.

We stumbled again in WWII when we rounded up Americans and placed them in camps due to their ethnicity and descent. And though we didn't learn directly from that experience, Eichman and his buddies showed the entire world where that path leads.

But perhaps our greatest stumble along the path towards greatness was the implementation of the "Great Society" after the assassination of J.F.K.

Where the liberal sees giving people who are down and out a helping hand, the Libertarian sees people enslaved by a culture of dependency.

Consider the well trod parable of teaching a man to fish:

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

-What happens though, when you give a man a fish, and tell him that if he goes fishing you are going to take the fish away from him?

-What happens when you incentivize him to not provide for himself and his family?

-What happens when you use government policy to make it materially harder for him to even buy the tools to go fishing?

Because that is what we have done with the entitlements and entitlement mentality of Johnson's great society.

What you have done, is robbed him of his self determination, and of his pride and of his honor.

It is a fundamental law of nature that you cannot keep people from falling through the cracks using the force of government because every time you do that you make the cracks bigger and trap more people. That means that government is not the solution. The government is never the solution. The solution is to pave over the cracks. If someone needs a hand, you give them a hand up, not a handout, and under no circumstances whatsoever should you let the government ever be involved.

That means that the liberals in congress and holding the presidency must be fought tooth and nail and inch by inch. Not just no, but Hell NO! Because every single item on their agenda is the antithesis of self determination. It's not about leading by example and inspiring others to follow, but about spreading the shiny, and making the whole world a dimmer place as a result.

At some point you have to draw a line in the sand and say, no more, not a mile, not a yard, not an inch. Ask any Army infantryman and they will tell you that when you are pressed you win by taking up a defensive position and letting the enemy throw themselves against your
fortifications until they are weakened to the point where you attack their heart with maneuver and determination. Ask a Marine rifleman and they will tell you the same thing. Heck, ask any Marine, as we all know that every Marine is a riflemen first.

When pressed you fall back, regroup, then attack. And now is our time to attack. Now is the time to say: No more government programs that only enslave the people in a culture of dependency. No more government programs that only serve the interests of fat-cat bureaucrats. No more
government bailouts of failed policies. No more unconstitutional government mandates. No more.

It is time to once again elevate that principle that Jefferson so proudly elevated above all others as the most righteous reason to fight oppression in his time. It is time to once again say that
self-determination is the fundamental right, and that allowing people to pursue their own destiny, and succeed or fail on their own merits, is not only the right thing to do, but the only way out of the economic malaise we have found ourselves in.

It is time. Time to make this nation great again, not only as a shining beacon to others, but as a true land of opportunity for those already here.

Thank you, and good night.

Dove season

2010-09-01T08:26:00.002-07:00

Today is the opening day of dove season when millions of people take out their shotgun they have not fired in over a year and attempt to engage small feathered targets with built in air-to-ground radar and ballistic armor under their feathers.

Sunrise was at 0600, I had my limit by 0645.

I'd call that a good hunt.

Got my first white-wing ever this morning as well.

Happy dove season everyone.

Arizona CD 7 Endorsement

2010-08-25T16:49:00.002-07:00

At Rocket Song we are going to do something we seldom do, explicitly endorse a congressional candidate.

Always one to enjoy a catchy campaign slogan we are proud to endorse Physicist Ruth McClung for Arizona's District 7, after all how can one not love her slogan:

"Maybe it does take a rocket scientist?"

Yeah. She's a Physicist who designs missile guidance systems.

Here is a sample of her writing on what happens when you allow Politics to trump Physics:
http://www.ruth4az.com/Issues/EnergyIndependence.html

Now CD 7 is normally a very safe Democrat seat with very heavy Democratic registration majorities. On the other hand, Raul Grijalva is weak this year since he was publicly calling for a boycott of his own constituents. Seriously, way to go there Raul.

Thus we are officially jumping on the Ruth McClung bandwagon, even though we are in a completely different Congressional district. Or as Ruth's new campaign slogan says:

Boycott Grijalva, not Arizona.

Besides, can you really have too many physicists in congress?

The Ground Zero Mosque

2010-08-23T22:39:00.002-07:00

A lot of digital ink has been spilled over this issue.

However, some things should be pretty obvious to everybody.

1. The location was picked intentionally to be as offensive as possible to the majority of Americans. Seriously, more people are opposed to this thing percentage wise than voted against Walter Mondale.

2. They (the Cordoba folks)have every (1st Amendment protected) right to build it at that location once they have legal title to the property. That's how the 1st amendment works: The more offensive the speech the more protected it is. And do not make the mistake of thinking this is about freedom of religion. It's clearly a big "screw you" message, and thus protected speech.

3. The folks who are opposed to this thing have every (1st Amendment protected) right to protest it, short of actual violence. Oh and for you folks on the "moral relativist, all cultures and religions are equal" side of the isle, remember: The more offensive the speech the more protected it is. Works both ways.

These are not contradictory statements.

Primary Voting

2010-08-23T21:58:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow is the Arizona primary.

A Primary is where we go to the voting place where we vote for the least bad person with an R after their name. Or if a Democrat, the least bad person with a D. Libertarians don't necessarily bother since none of the races are generally contested.

Contrast with the general election where we go to the voting place and vote against anyone with a D after their name. (Or R if you are a Democrat) Again, unless you are a Libertarian in which case you actually vote FOR the guy with an L after his name, and then have to decide whether you hate D's or R's more.

Capitalism 101

2010-08-19T19:29:00.003-07:00

For the benefit of those who are a product of public (i.e. government) education (or Harvard Law school), today's lesson will use small words.

Today let's talk about Capitalism.

First lets talk about what capitalism is NOT. Capitalism is not free-trade. It is not lack of government interference. It is not mutual trade for mutual benefit.

Capitalism is about CAPITAL.

Yeah, I know kind of an A is A statement there. (you, the Randian in the corner, stop snickering)

Capitalism is about capital. Capital, again using small words for the Harvard Law set, is a bunch of money piled together. Once it's gathered up, it can be used to DO stuff. All that other stuff is just decoration on the cake. Market Capitalism, Free-Market Capitalism, Anarcho-Capitalism, laissez-faire capitalism, are simply methods of implementation.

Capital is a pile of money that can DO stuff.

The next time one of your liberal friends complains that the rich are getting richer, look them straight in the eye and say to them, "Are you on crack?"

The rich getting richer is a good thing; it's a feature, not a bug. Quick, when was the last time a poor person gave you a job? Oh, oh, I know the answer...pick me pick me

How about never.

Show me 1001 people with a hundred bucks and what do you have? Nothing. Show me 1000 people with $10 and one guy with $90,000 and what do I have? I have two decent jobs, or I have a milling machine, or delivery truck, or ...

Redistribution of wealth makes the entire society poorer in aggregate. (that means mixed in all-together for the Harvard Law types).
Redistribution of wealth kills jobs.
Redistribution of wealth kills innovation.
Redistribution of wealth kills investment.
Etc. Etc.

Capitalism is about capital. It's about gathering money together and putting it to work. It is about how you create the means of production. Contrast to Marxism which is about who owns the means of production.

I don't care if one guy has a million bucks or if a million people all throw a buck into a pot. (i.e. form one of those evil corporations). When you convert money into capital you now have the means of creating new means of production, delivery, or distribution.

New means of production, delivery, or distribution means new jobs, and general growth of the economy as a whole. And growth, as my friend Aretae like to point out, is dominant.

Not only that, but the feedback loop is resonant, not dampening. Again, for the Harvard Law set, that means small changes in output, put back into the system, get amplified (made bigger) yielding large changes in overall output for very small inputs.

Or put simply, when you pile a bunch of money together, put it to work, hire new people, and create new jobs those people in turn pile their money together, put it to work, hire new people, create new jobs, and then those people...

...and it keeps going until you run out of people to hire, with is usually an unemployment rate of around 3-4% because a certain percentage of people are simply unemployable no matter how much you try.

That other stuff above, free markets, laissez-faire, etc are simply ways of tuning the efficiency of the feedback loop. A free market, or removing the shackles of regulation, simply means that you get more feedback. Again in simple words, the more free the market, the more jobs and growth you create for every dollar of capital.

And that my friends, is why you want the rich to get richer, and why "spreading the wealth" is bad.

Kid's Karate

2010-08-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Daughter the Eldest was awarded her Black belt after testing this evening, along with another girl in the class.

Actually a little surprised she stuck with it this long, but also proud of her for sticking it through.

CopperCon - T minus Four Weeks and Counting

2010-08-08T23:18:00.001-07:00

CopperCon is in 4 weeks.

It's looking to be a pretty good convention overall. Despite the fact that the Author GoH is a very well known fantasy author (Stephen R. Donaldson) this year's theme is "Science".

While ostensibly Arizona's "literary" leaning Science Fiction convention, CopperCon has always been a very filk-friendly con. We tend to have multiple concerts, open filking on Friday and Saturday nights as well as a dead-dog/filk jam on Sundays.

For those who will be attending, I have used my influence to place an "AZ filk con brainstorming" panel onto the con schedule. Unfortunately my influence does not extend to getting a good time for said panel, and I think we have 0900 on Saturday morning as the only open slot on the schedule.

(note, The schedule being full this far in advance is a good sign for this year's con to be a well run event)

Anyway, if you are planning on attending CopperCon, try to make it to the filk-con planning panel. The goal is to determine if there is enough interest to try to kick off a bi-annual (every other year) filk convention down here.

Also, rumor has it I have been assigned an "empty" panel where I am allowed to talk about whatever I like. I could talk about science, or recording, or music theory, or turn it into a workshop if folks wanted. Ideas?

QoTD

2010-08-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

From Fill, on arizonashooting.com

Regulation - Is there no problem it can't make more expensive?

Black Day, White Sands

2010-08-03T17:53:00.006-07:00

Jerry Pournelle points us towards an article at Air & Space on the DC-X/DC-XA aka the "Delta Clipper"

LINK

I remember watching a video of the DC-X at ConFransico, where Jerry spoke the immortal lines:

That my friends is a SPACESHIP! And she lands like God and Robert A. Heinlein intended, on her jets!

I'm not really sure what he said next, since at that point there were several thousand people cheering at the top of their lungs.

Of course, that was before they transferred the program to NASA...

Alaska = something out of Joss Whedon's Head

2010-08-03T17:20:00.001-07:00

From Jenny, at A Call to Wings, living in Alaska is like living in Firefly.
Possibly without the swearing in Chinese, waiting on more data.

Hulu, DSL, and old Sci Fi

2010-08-03T17:00:00.005-07:00

One of the things I did when we moved to Queen Creek was to upgrade the DSL speed from bottom tier to second from the bottom.

Yeah, living on a dirt road means no cable, no cable means no cable modem...

Anyway the second from the bottom tier of DSL is just fast enough to enable streaming, which means I can watch Hulu.

Hulu has lots of neat stuff like old canceled Sci Fi shows.

So I've been watching this show that I used to watch. It was a Fox property. Fox being Fox, they ran the episodes out of order, and kept interfeering in the writing because they thought the show was too cerebral, and needed more action.

I am of course talking about ~~Firefly~~ Sliders.

What's that you say, yeah, Fox has been screwing over their properties for a long time.

Fox, the Network called Fox...
When X-files was canceled, they found a new show
The story quite brilliant, to make lots of dough.
It had thugs and heroes, a girl in a box.
they aired it on Fridays, the network called Fox.

Oops, wrong show again.

Anyway, the first two seasons of Sliders were the best. Both were partial seasons of 10-12 episodes each. After that, for the 3rd season the network moved production to LA (too keep a firmer hand on the production crew) and the writing got worse and worse. The first half of season three is still pretty good, but it's pretty obvious that by halfway through the entire production staff had simply given up all hope.

Link to the Hulu Page.

90 days Sine Die

2010-07-29T00:53:00.001-07:00

As of 53 minutes ago, most laws passed by the AZ legislature became law.

We now have Alaska style constitutional carry. Welcome to the United States. Please ignore the sound of freedom and go back to your daily lives.

That Neo-Kipling thing I wrote

2010-07-25T20:58:00.003-07:00

Regarding that "I am now channeling the spirit of Rudyard Kipling thing I wrote last week:

I tweaked the scansion a little bit. It now scans to Leslie Fish's tune for Bridge-Guard in the Karoo. (one of my favorite Kipling poems actually)

I also varied up the chorus a bit. (as Kipling was wont to do)

Want to play a game? How many poems do I explicitly or implicitly reference?

WWRW
(What Would Rudyard Write?)
Words copyright Mark E. Horning

I read in the paper this morning,
I've seen it again and again,
As the oil spreads to the beaches,
Where the sea-walls fail to retain,

That the sons of Mary still dither,
While Martha's Sons still toil,
Ignore the bureaucrat mandates,
And strive to recover the oil.

...And hist'ry repeats before us,
...As we struggle (with) the past in vain.
...The lesson still stands before us,
...And Kipling he saw it plain.

The Treasury's printing out paper,
Our gold and silver replaced.
But it cannot appease the builders,
Nor the Gods of the Marketplace.

The Gods of the Copybook Headings
Have told us down throughout time,
(That) You first have to slaughter the meat-beast,
Before you intend to dine.

...And hist'ry's bearing down on us,
...Like a relentless fate-bound train.
...The lesson still stands before us,
...And Kipling he saw it plain.

Our troops are set forth to conquer,
In Iraq and Afghanistan,
While our leaders refuse them (their) honor,
Or even a vic'try plan.

And invaders trouble our borders,
Seeking our wealth for to pay.
The rich lazy nation's yielding.
That danger shall not go away.

...And hist'ry repeats before us,
...Amazing, uncaring, arcane.
...The lesson still stands before us,
...And Kipling he saw it plain.

The chattering classes bicker,
And struggle for power's reins.
The recession widens and deepens,
While men succumb to the strain.

The Old Issue stands before us,
Dwarfing our hearts and our brains.
Hear the reeds of Runnymede weeping,
(As we) bow down to take up our chains.

...And hist'ry's repeating before us,
...The same struggle day after day.
...The lesson still standing before us;
...What would old Rudyard Say?

Mark E. Horning

CDNN Hi-power Grips

2010-07-23T20:29:00.003-07:00

CDNN has Herret Cocobolo Hi-power grips in stock for $27.

They look like this:

A bit sharper than I like, but that's common for Herrets. Fit isn't perfect, but fitting Hi-power grips is a lot harder than simple 1911 slabs. For under thirty bucks I'm not going to complain too much.

The example wearing the new grips is one of the Arginting P90 Hi-powers that J&G sales in Prescott is currently selling for $299. If you need a 9mm for any reason go pick one up.

This will be a range toy and possibly woods or camping gun. I prefer the .45 for a normal carry gun.

State of Nature

2010-07-21T18:08:00.003-07:00

I'm sure you all ave read this already, but if not, go forth and read Coyotes in the State of Nature:

Not one, not two, but three money quotes right here:

To use lethal force in self-defense is the ultimate declaration of independence, a kind of momentary secession from the authority of the government whose laws and prisons and police officers have, in that moment, failed the citizen. To acknowledge the right to self-defense — and the concomitant right to be forearmed against aggressors — is to acknowledge that some things are outside the state and its authority...

The horror that progressives feel for gun owners is in many ways like the horror they feel for homeschoolers, whom they recognize, correctly, as one of the few truly radical movements in America...

Just as state schooling is not about education, but about the state, gun control is not about guns: It’s about control. A citizen who can fend for himself when the predators come or the schools fail is less inclined to look to the state for sustenance and oversight in other areas of life. To progressives, that’s an invitation to anarchy. To the men who wrote the Second Amendment, it was a condition of citizenship in a free republic. It’s what free men did, and do.

WOW.

Wal-Mart civic Champion?

2010-07-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Oh this is just rich.

Walmart is suing OSHA.
They are suing over a $7000 fine.
In fact, they are spending millions of dollars just to screw with OSHA to prove a point.

Details HERE.

What would Rudyard Write

2010-07-19T17:25:00.003-07:00

Not a song. A poem maybe? Neo-Kipling?

Oh I read in the paper this morning, and I've seen it again and again,
As the oil spreads to the beaches, where the sea-walls fail to retain.
And the sons of Mary still dither, while Martha's sons still toil,
And ignore the bureaucrat mandates, and strive to recover the oil.

And hist'ry repeats before us, as we struggle with the past in vain,
The lesson still stands before us, and Kipling he saw it plain.

The Treasury's printing out paper, our gold and silver replaced
But it cannot appease the builders, nor the Gods of the Marketplace.
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, have told us down throughout time,
That you first have to slaughter the meat-beast, before you intend to
dine.

And hist'ry repeats before us, as we struggle with the past in vain,
The lesson still stands before us, and Kipling he saw it plain.

Our troops are set forth to conquer, in Iraq and Afghanistan
While our leaders refuse them their honor, or even a vic'try plan
And invaders trouble our borders, seeking our wealth for to pay,
The rich lazy nation's yielding, and that danger will not go away.

And hist'ry repeats before us, as we struggle with the past in vain,
The lesson still stands before us, and Kipling he saw it plain.

The chattering classes bicker, and struggle for power's reigns
The recession widens and deepens, while more succumb to the strain.
And the Old Issue stands before us, dwarfing our hearts and our brains,
Hear the reeds of Runnymede weeping, as we bow down to take up our chains.

And hist'ry repeating before us, as we struggle again and again,
The lesson still stands before us; Kipling he saw it plain.

Neither Mary nor Martha

2010-07-19T16:47:00.003-07:00

We are neither Mary nor Martha,
Neither fish nor stone,
With no regard to our station
We toil and ponder alone.

--Mark E. Horning

Kipling has been on my mind lately. In particular The Sons of Martha.

The administration, the Democrats, and especially that portion of the left referred to as the academy, are the sons of Mary. Seriously.

And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessèd -
they know the Angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessèd,
and for them are the Mercies multiplied.

They think deep thoughts, about admittedly very important subjects, but do not create. The very definition of the ivory tower academic, or the anti-pro-cause-of-the-day-week-hour protester. Sons of Mary indeed.

The Republicans are the sons of Martha. They are the ones who make the trains run on time, see to it that the roads get built, and that the bridges stay bridges rather than piles of stone. They are the ones who make it possible for the Sons of Mary to think their deep thoughts.

It is their care in all the ages
to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages;
it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly;
it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly
the Sons of Mary by land and main.

Talk to the folks who make things run, they are overwhelmingly republican. Even in a union shop, which is defined as working to keep from doing work, the actual workers are generally conservatives while it is the union bosses that are the liberals.

Libertarians are both, and neither. Libertarians are libertarians because they took the time to really think things all of the way through. We have a philosophy of liberty. (pure Sons of Mary right there), yet at the same time we have jobs. Standard joke, why do libertarians never show up at protest meetings, because they are working.

So who would you rather be, the Son of Mary or of Martha? The scientist or the engineer? The thinker or the doer?

Maybe a little of both.

Vocations vs. Avocation

2010-07-13T18:42:00.003-07:00

I swear if I'm ever in that part of the country I;ll have to buy TJIC a Beer.

In talking about a whining leftie who is complaining that she can't get a paying job in international human rights and welfare, he writes:

I might as well bitch and moan that I’ve never held a paying job in my field – reading cranky libertarian science fiction novels at coffee shops while checking out the racks of every red-head and brunette that crosses my path.

As a matter of fact, even though that may be my avocation, I realized long ago that there’s not much money in it, so I decided to pick up a vocation as well.

Read the rest HERE...

Random Thought on the President

2010-07-12T17:19:00.002-07:00

The administration continues to show it's utter and complete incompetence on just about every issue, it's not that they don;t know the answers, it's that they know the answer is more regulation, they just don't know how to force the question to fit.

Or as is increasingly obvious, Jimmy Carter is no longer our worse president.

Rational, thoughtful, deliberate and scientific responses to a crisis will always take a back seat to the teleprompter sound bite. I have come up with a simple phrase to describe the president.

"This is a man who does not cross his sevens."

Mark

Clarence Thomas on McDonald

2010-07-12T17:09:00.002-07:00

Let's play a game, you get to have lunch with a Supreme Court Justice. Who do you pick?

For me it's always been Clarence Thomas.

Thomas is clearly the brightest guy up there. He's not always right mind you, but he's clearly the brightest and has the keenest understanding of the historical context.

Note in this context: Right = Agrees with Mark.

Consider Thomas's concurrence in McDonald.

Thomas's reasoning is exceedingly clear. The "rights of the people" listed in various places in the Bill of Rights are not granted rights, they are enumerated rights. I.e. they are innate rights not "procedural" rights.

This should be pretty clear to anyone who has actually read the Federalist, AND Anti-Federalist papers.

Thus invoking the due process clause of the 14th Amendment is stupid. It simply does not apply, and the proper way to apply the 1st through 8th amendments to the states is via the Privileges and Immunities clause.

So wile Roberts and Alito are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to honor stare decisis in order to get the proper result Thomas is more than happy to say the hell with precedent, the Constitution clearly says what it says, and if the court said otherwise in the past they were wrong then as well.

Note, there is an interesting side effect. The privileges and immunities clause specifically references "citizens" not "the people" and thus the end up-shot of McDonald is that strictly speaking, the court has only enjoined the states from violating the 2nd amendment rights of citizens, and not of legal resident aliens.

This raises the interesting question of whether Thomas would have invoked BOTH clauses had McDonald not been a citizen.

On Eccomomics

2010-07-10T17:02:00.005-07:00

All right, let's get one thing clear from the get go:

Keynesian Economics is not just simply wrong, it's the most positively debunked theory since Galileo irrefutably disproved Copernican Heliocentrism. On the scale of rational theories it is somewhere behind the Luminiferous Aether and Lamarckian Evolution.

It's so glaringly wrong that you have to wonder if folks have actually, you know, been paying attention to the past 100 years of history.

Velocity of money is simply wrong. If I give you 5 bucks and you give me 5 bucks, Keynes counts that as $10 of economic activity. Despite the fact that no product was produced and each of us has the same amount of currency as before. (actually we have less, since the exchange took some amount of time greater than zero and so some of our buying power was reduced by inflation).

Arthur Laffer (yes the Arther Laffer of the famous Laffer Curve) has an article in the WSJ on why unemployment benefits are not stimulus.

Laffer WSJ

Here's a teaser:

On the face of it, the idea that higher unemployment benefits won't lead to more unemployment doesn't make much sense. Imagine what the unemployment rate would look like if unemployment benefits were universally $150,000 per year. My guess is we'd have a heck of a lot more unemployment. Common sense and personal experience indicate higher unemployment benefits will make unemployment less unattractive and thereby increase unemployment even in the Great Recession.

Read it. It's a powerful rebuke to the Keynesian ideal. Which, again, shouldn't be necessary to anyone who has been paying attention at all to economic matters since, oh, 1928 or so.

We all know what is required to stimulate the economy. The Laffer curve tells us that above a certain point, tax revenues go down as the tax rate increases.

Simple proof:
At 0% tax rate the government gets $0
At 100% tax rate same thing 0% (think about it)
At some rate betewwn the two, the government does take in income.

It's been obvious for decades that we are somewhere above the apex of the curve. Every single time tax rates have been lowered, government revenues have increase. Every time. Thus lowering tax rates not only increases total taxes, but increased real economic growth as well.

In time of war, I think it makes perfect sense to try to optimize said revenue. Otherwise, we should be well below the Laffer peak. Growth, as my friend Aretae is fond of saying, trumps everything else in the end.

Thus one might wonder, if it's clear through evidence that we are above (well above) the Laffer curve peak, why is the tax rate so high. Hint, it's not about government services, it's about control.

Lowering the tax rates would mean more money for both guns and butter, as well as increasing employment rates. The only reason for high taxes is control. The one thing a Statest (of either Conservative or so-called progressive bent) cannot stand is the thought that an individual might be better off making his own choices, even if he has to suffer the consequences of bad ones.

The Lodi Trip

2010-07-05T21:20:00.003-07:00

Other than the ill fated air conditioning compressor and it's attendant repair bill (ouch) the Lodi trip went pretty well. Long, very Long though.

Since the trip was for my dad's 70'th birthday, how about a pic of the two of us.