Open legged Seated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.