Happy New Year everyone.

Three and a half hours to go yet, but this is the end of 2008.
Been a heck of a year, I think 2009 will be better but we shall see.
Take Care, drive safe, and don't let the Drunk Drivers get ya.

MagiK

Surviving Christmas

We managed to get through the most hectic time of the year, our Dog had a shattered limb that had to be pieced together and plated in place, with a large cast. He's doing pretty well now, and We have relaxed again to try and make the most of this most restful part of our year.

Coming up is Fleiz Navidad, My Birthday January 6th, and it brings me one step closer to that big 50....funny, I dont feel any older. Though I will admit that the old joints do ached a bit more.

Well I wish to reach out to two friends of mine who I have not heard from in a while,

Machine Head, hope you and your daughters are well.
Atty, get well soon!

Best Christmas Wishes to you all

Merry Christmas to you all and to all a good night!

Tragedy Strikes when you least expect it

Our oldest dog, an American Eskimo slipped down the steps on his way out to do his business last night about 3am. He is 16 and can hardly hear, or see but still he has managed those steps fairly well over the years (it is a spiral set down from our deck to the back yard, about 15 feet long)
The other two dogs run up and down these stairs in all weather with nary a problem, but they are much closer to the ground and if they slip its like a sled rids down a hill for them.

Kodiak however is taller and somehow managed to shatter his front right leg, radius and ulna both. It is a really nasty looking X-Ray.

Where I grew up and with pretty much everyone I was raised with, this would mean putting the dog down. (I mean he is 16, and suffering from a number of dog ailments and on more pills than my grandma).

But here in the city C. will be with him during the surgery tomorrow and will have to nurse him back to health for what will be a protracted period. The Surgeons fee alone is about $3k plus a weekend in the ER plus a day or two for recovering in the Animal Hospital plus the cost of X-Rays and the emergency room 3am arrival and the pain meds and other assorted shots...all told this will hit $6k easy. Fun fun fun. Just in time for Jingle Bells. The real pain is that now someone will have to put him on a leash and walk him out front several times a day (the meds he is on means he urinates like a firehose all day long).

Long story short, if Algore would get off his ass and get that global warming here, we wouldn't have had icy steps!

100 Things I have Done or may do....or not

Saw this over at Roberta X's blog and thought I'd put up mine:

100 Things

THINGS I'VE DONE (in bold):

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars. .
3. Played in a Band. (I cannot carry a tune and have no msical talent).
4. Visited Hawaii. (Only for Refueling stops in a P3).
5. Watched a meteor shower. (Many Times)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity. (once by accident, once on purpose)
7. Been to Disneyland. And Disney World.
8. Climbed a mountain. (Mounts Moffit and Adagdak on Adak Island)
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. (during a disasterous attempt to join the choral group)
11. Bungee jumped. (Are you friggin nuts?)
12. Visited Paris. (I'll stick with photographs. France holds no interest for me.).
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. (From the shore)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. if cooking is an art.
15. Adopted a child. (Grew two of my own though)
16. Had food poisoning. (ohh would that it werent true)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables. (grew up on a farm)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. (See 12)
20. Slept on an overnight train. Yes in a sleeper car, from Seatle to Pittsburgh
21. Had a pillow fight. Yeah but it lead to lots more :)
22. Hitch hiked. Only a few times.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. (of course. Mental Health days are important)
24. Built a snow fort. (We made some huge forts in my day)
25. Held a Lamb. (no but did help deliver and hold a new born foal)
26. Gone skinny dipping. (too many times to count, when you live in the Carribian...)
27. Run a Marathon. (10k's were my longest)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice. (See 12)
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise. (Not yet, may still do one, want to do the Alaska coast and maybe a med cruise)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. (Absolutely awe inspiring)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. (Might do it, some day...Germany and Poland and Ireland)
35. Seen an Amish community. (Sister married a mennonite and they live in Amish country)
36. Taught yourself a new language. (Failed french two years running)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. It happens occasionally with varying degrees of frequency.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person. (See 12)
39. Gone rock climbing. (so many many times)
40. Seen Michelangelo's David. (See 12)
41. Sung karaoke. (only if I was drunk and I dont recall it.)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt. (All of Yellowstone is on my todo list, if the libs dont lock it down first)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. (Not out side of an arranged business deal and I dont count dates)
44. Visited Africa. (No, thank you. Nothing of any interest to me on that continent.).
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. Many many times. Alone and together.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. (More than once :( )
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person. (See 12)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. (See 12,).
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. (Snorkling: This, I'd love to do again!)
52. Kissed in the rain. (and made love)
53. Played in the mud. (and tried to make love ;) )
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie. (Extra in Stephen King's Pet Semetary)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China. (Nothing in this region of the world interests me)
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class. (Yes in Puerto Rico Kim po tai, I believeit was called)
59. Visited Russia. (Not allowed there due to secret squirrell work in my past)
60. Served at a soup kitchen. (Not a soup kitchen per se, but a Feed the Homeless thing for the Catholic Church)
61. Sold Boy Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason. (I have received other gifts spontaneously)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma. (Used to do it regularly when it was more convenient, now they make it more dificult)
65. Gone sky diving. (Are you crazy?)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp. (Historically fascinating, emotionally to devastating)
67. Bounced a check. (Yes my paycheck bounced so consequently my checks bounced, it was a hoot....not)
68. Flown in a helicopter. (As an Emergency Medical Case....kinda fun except for the blood)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. (Dad believed in tossing things out if they were not functional or practical)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. (Many times, and all the other memorials in Down Town DC)
71. Eaten Caviar. (Once...ugh bait!)
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square. (I try to avoid NY)
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job. (Once, it was a learning experience)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London. (Maybe some day if the brits get it together again.).
77. Broken a bone. (several)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. (a few times, riding and driving)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. (not yet)
80. Published a book. (Had a short story published in my home town news paper though)
81. Visited the Vatican. (Lovely place, maybe some day)
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem. (Nothing of any real interest there for me to warrent the risks.).
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible. (During Navy Basic Training...aka Boot Camp)).
86. Visited the White House. (Also saw President Reagan laying in State at the Capitol).
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. (Deer, Squirrel, Rabbit and Grouse)
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury. (Murder Case in SanDiego, convicted the guy then learned that the principle Cop involved with the case was sleeping iwth the wife and had as much motive and opportunity, Hope the guy got an appeal. We learned the truth after the fact))
91. Met someone famous. (Several).
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. (Well not myself no...but I planted two of them)
95. Seen the Alamo in person. (I really should.).
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. (not too into swimming in most landlocked waters, the crystal clear carribean has spoiled me)
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

101. Traveled the world and been to places 99% of the rest of the world will never see. Yeah got that one checked off, and I still prefer home.

Hooray hooray the range is open again.

Our local indoor range has been closed for months for renovation, but is now open again.
Mysti will have the chance to try out her new Walther now.

Post Turkey Day thoughts: Network Television

Watching Boston Legal last night and they hit on something that has had me mystified lately.
With the large number of boomers over 50, with the amount of disposable income they have available, why do the networks not Put programming on for them? Why is it that the only demographic they pitch to are the pubescent and young 20 somethings? Nearly all the shows I have liked have been pitched to small demographic groups, shows like Firefly, Buffy, Angel, Farscape, Treks, and the Stargates all of which had seriously diehard fans, all of which had story lines people of all ages could follow and all of which got less than 1/10 the promotional network backing they should have had.

Will the networks realize their untapped audience before Television peters out and no one bothers to watch at all? They are moaning about low viewership, and yet seem to be ingnoring the largest group of potential watchers. I just do not get it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Friends, Family, Home and Food. Beyond that I don't really care today for those are the most important things of all. (No necessarily in that order) :)


Have a good day everyone.

Where are the planes?

Just realized I haven't changed my plane picture in ages, which reminds me...Im waiting for some pics of aircraft from a friend of mine :) Maybe for Christmas MH? ;)

Chantilly Gun Show

Was huge, the Expo center is one of the largest in this area, and the lot was packed, no one got parking by the time I got there at 9am until someone else left.

When I got into the Show at about 10 (yes an hour to get a parking space) I went directly to the Ammo booths..... by 10 AM (they opened for business at 9) they were out of .357, .38 and 9mm bulk ammo and only had the really expensive .22 ammo left ($52 a brick) I did manage to find one small dealer who had 500 rounds of .22 for $25 so got those for Mysti and I snagged 1500 rounds of 5.56 ammo for the AR....by 2pm the ammo dealers were out of all the bulk ammo. I saw more people buying what was left of the black guns...and there weren't many to be had. I did hear several dealers mention that they were on back order from 3 to 6 month waiting list. I did manage to snag 3x20 round mags and 2x30 round mags for the AR as well and some ammo cans for storage of my bulk ammo. Today I've got to run out to get some dessicant packets to put in the cans with the ammo.

Total cost for 1500 rounds of 5.56, 500 rounds of .22, 4 mags for the AR and 4 Ammo Cans just shy of $500 prices are insane. Sure hope O is too busy to mess with guns for a while.

Tomorrow I Celebrate a Belated National Ammo Day

Headed to Chantilly Va. first thing in the morning to by some 5.56, 9mm, .357 or .38, Ammo Cans, Maybe a second upper for my AR, and some desicant packs.....on the way home have to buy a turkey :)

Black Rifles, now scarce. No Surprise.

Well now, I am really really glad I bought my XM15 last month, the price and availability of these things are ridiculous now that the election is over. My buddy Jeff at "Just Guns" in Baltimore is out of stock now and the waiting list is crazy.

I need to get out this weekend and get ammo, before it too is scarce.

Update: oops too late, everyone is sold out. Every dealer I called suggsted next weekends gun show at Chantilly Virginia...its quite a drive but I guess I will have to get there.

If your Vista looses it's DVD/CD Drives

Then you can try this solution: **** WARNING MESSING WITH YOUR REGISTRY CAN BE DANGEROUS **** SO do this at your own risk. It worked for me.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11­CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Apparently it seems that this is an age old fix for even XP systems. If you venture to the registry key above by doing the following steps:

1. Click on the start menu.
2. If this is a Vista machine in the search box type in “regedit” without the quotation marks.
3. Maximize the HKLM and then go ahead and browse until you reach the key listed above.
4. In the right panel you’ll see something along the lines of “UpperFilter” and “LowerFilter” you want to click on each “filter” key and hit delete. Click yes when it asks to confirm if you wish to delete the key.
5. Restart Windows.

** Note it is not uncommon for one of the entries to already be missing, (Upper or lower) just delete the ones listed that are actually there.

AAArrrrgggggghhhhh

No that was not me being a pirate! At some point over the evening my Vista64 Ultimate Operating System has decided to quit talking to all 3 of my DVD drives. 1 internal SATA and 2 External USB. They work fine when I boot into XP so it has to be a Vista thing.

Im at a losss, tried removing the drivers and reloading and multiple reboots and variations on the theme....no luck, Im left resorting ot The Geek Squad

Just shoot me now. :P

I blame Obama

Mysti's brand spankin new Walther P22 broke while she was working the slide getting used to the feel of the gun. She has been sitting with it in her hand while watching TV (With Snap Caps loaded in the clip) so she could work the action and pick off bad guys to get used to the feel of the trigger. At one point she racked the slide and out popped a 1/2 inch flat piece of metal which for the life of me I cannot figure out where it came from. Walther/Smith & Wesson are being very good about getting the warrenty work done, but holy smoke! I was surprised.

Horror and tragedy.

The Socialist Libs took control and it was due to the Majority of American voters.
The Dems have the House, Senate and White house. Shortly with the Democrats appointing the judges they will effectively control all three branches of the government.

The democrats will have what they have wanted for years, and while they are not filibuster proof, its pretty damn close. They will be able to claim all the praise for any good over the next 4 years and will be unable to blame the Conservative Republicans or Independent politicians for any failures. Glad I bought my gun when I did, hope I can some day buy another....or even keep the ones I already have.

Halloween

Mysti did up the house and I'll have a few pictures to post once I resize them.
We also took some video but it really was too dark to see too much. When she started
this craze of hers, we would have over 250 kids come by, each year the number dwindles
and this year we didn't even hit 75. I guess at some point she is going to realize it
just isn't worth the hassel. But for now she gets a real kick out of the kids being scared witless.

Waiting:

We have to wait till mid November to join the right Gun club to access the range where we can try out our new long gun....ugh a new toy and I can't play with it for the first month of ownership! Our indoor pistol range should be back on line next weekend.....so....we play the waiting game.

Where are they now?

Mysti and I stayed in this past weekend, the weather was cold and very verywet with fairly high winds. Our usual indoor shooting range is down for renovation for another week or so...so it has been all about staying in, cutting hardebaker board for shower repairs. Mysti really gets into this home repair thing, reminds me of Brigid, or vise versa.

Yesterday was Buy a gun day

Drove out to Essex for Mysti to pick up her Walther P22 (pictured previously) and on the way home we stopped at our friends Gun Store and I picked up a Bushmaster XM15 E2S, it is a base config but I intend to customize it later.


It's an M3 model (heavier barrel than the M4) which means It is not classifed in Maryland as an "Assault Weapon". Maryland Laws state it has to have at least a 16" barrel that is not cut to reduce the weight in any way,However I am permitted to purchase any upper for it that I see fit for it after the initial purchase. So now I can mod it all I want and put any optics I want, heck I can even get it made full auto with a silencer....just not allowed to put a flash supressor on it....This state is weird...just freakin weird. It took me 20 minutes to make this purchase (because we were shooting the breeze) and I walked out of the store with it....it took Mysti 13 days to be able to get her P22 pistol....simply because it was a pistol. Did I mention weird gun laws?

I have not abandoned the Blog :)

No, I started a new profession. Yes to be sure I will be leveraging my technical talents from my life long technology pursuits, but this is something new, and as such I feel the need to focus on learning how to do this new stuff well. Yes this means I spend a whole lot of un-reported OT reading non-recreational material but in the long run it should pay off.

Benefits:
Very little in the way of Night work
No weekend work (normally)
simple 8-5 hours monday - friday
No micromanagement
Low pressure so far
I get to explore new tech.

Down Side:
I am not the expert any more.
For the 1st time in 20 years I feel like a noob

ummm thats it....so I think Im looking good and so far insulated from the Market turmoils, as long as I don't look at the bottom line of my 403b. *sigh* Patience young skywalker the market will recover.....

New Job

Learning new stuff...totally different from what I was doing before....brain hurt, skull expanding to try to accomodate more info.....cerebelum liquifying melt down imminent.

Gun Show results.

Due to issues that I will not go into, I did not get to the Gun Show on Saturday, however Mysti and I did get there today. I picked up some Ammo Cans and 500 rounds of 9mm ammo. While Mysti found many little doodads that she wanted to pick up. They were not really gun related per-se, however the big purchase of the day was a Walther P22 pistol, so now Mysti has her very own weapon. Of course with the regulations in this state she wont actually get the thing till next week.

At least now she has her own reason to be at the range with me :)
This is the model she got.

Gun Show redux

6 hours of work left, then hiho, hiho, it's off to the Timonium Gun show we go. I'm betting even money that Mysti decides to buy a .22 of her very own to shoot with, rather than beat up my collectors item :)

This show promises to have approximately 600 tables so we should come home with the trunk loaded. I'm hoping to score some water tight ammo cans, some silloette targets, some snap caps
and ammo.

A plan I can Agree with.

Here’s the Kim Du Toit Prescription for Economic Recovery, Sweetness And Light, and All Good Things To Come:

1. Top tax rate (gross income > $250,000): 20%
2. Middle tax rate ($100,000 - $$250,000): 15%
3. Bottom tax rate: 10% ($25,000 - $100,000)
4. Alternative minimum tax: abolished, forever
5. Capital gains tax: 5% [update]
6. Death tax: abolished, forever
7. Corporate tax rate: 15%
8. Not one red cent for banks, insurance companies or other financial institutions.

A good Video with more than you ever wanted to know

By gone days of youth

Carteach0's recent blog post about his first BB Gun brought back a whole flood of memories.
As a kid I had the seemingly obligatory Red Rider type BB Gun, made famous in "A Christmas Story" and various other models that you could pump several times to increase the power.

I remember living on the Farm in Western Pennsylvania (near the home of Ground Hog day, Punxsutawney) part of the farm had been strip mined while we lived there and had an AWESOME area where there were huge piles of rock and shale before they restored the landscape along with a largish fresh rain water pond. This are provided endless hours of fun using little green army men and small pieces of shale to construct bunkers and forts for the little green guys, which I would then demolish from several yards away with the BB Gun sending in round after round of make believe artillery fire. :) Another favorite BB wasting pastime was Wasp hunting. After large thunderstorms we had huge puddles laying around on various parts of the farm with surrounding mud flats, mud wasps would proliferate on these shoals and gather mud or whatever it is they do, and I would pick them off. I would thereby eliminate a nuisance from the farm and enjoy the imaginary war theme I would construct (yeah I was a lonely kid out in the boonies on the farm) the BB's would make these beautiful craters and the sheer enjoyment cannot be explained to an adult, you just had to be a kid at the time to experience it.

WoooHoooo Another Gun show

Jeff, one of the instructors at our range class yesterday also operates a Gun Store in Baltimore (Parkville) and while I was up there today getting cleaning supplies he told me the Gun Show I attended is not the one I thought it was despite the naming similarities. The show that got kicked out of my current county has a new name and is happening this coming weekend in Timonium. This show is set to have well over 500 tables as opposed to the 20 something at the other one.

Sooooooo My shopping list is:
Environment Resistant Ammo Cans
Snap Caps for .22, 9mm, and .38, .308 and possibly .223
Ammo for the 9mm and .22 and an initial stock of .223

Jeff, has me interested in two possible rifles which I am going to wait till after the new year to decide on. A Bushmaster M4 and a Sig M4. Both are outfitted with the rail systems and stocks I want but the Sig is a special deal he runs and comes with a Hogue (sp) optical site for $1390

I want to time my purchase so that I can take the class these same guys teach on rifles (we get a discount on the class as we have taken the other class with them) I need to learn about the AR15 style weapons. All my Military training and work was done with M14's.

Range Report

Well we had a 10 hour class and by the time we were ready to put some lead down range the skys had cleared and the rain had stopped. There were three instructors, the ""Gunny" is a nationally ranked shooter and knows his stuff, as did the Sheriff, Jeff and The former Russian "Gene" all of them very very good with their weapons. The class was somewhat basic overall, but perfect for C.

I learned what my problem has been with my Sig, three very simple things.
1. I now use an Overlap grip instead of a pedestal grip
2. my overall body stance was not optimal
3. The indoor range I normally shoot at is too dimly lit. I could really see so much better outside, and by see, I mean how the sites line up.

I fired off 60 rounds very quickly and hit center mass with every shot, the groupings were not too bad, but need work and at least I'm getting them much closer to where I am looking. Over all I used up about 150 rounds with nothing off the center mass. (9" pie plate) Not great shooting but good enough for home defense.

C. using the Huntsman had to overcome an initial fear and tension about the weapon, then had to get used to the guy next to her shooting. Once she stopped shaking and jumping out of her skin she settled down and did very well, her last 30 rounds were center mass. When she gets more comfy with the pistol and doesnt take so long between raising the weapon and firing she will do great. (One funny bit, on preparing for her first shot, she racked the slide back and the mag fell out of the gun. Totally hilarious and totally my fault, I didn't push the latch forward far enough when I was showing her how to secure the mag in the pistol)

We had a good time and C was showing interest in taking the rifle course to learn about the M4 and AR15 style weapons, We got our certificates AND our first "rockers".

Range day tomorrow.

Heading out to take our NRA course and state certs for handguns tomorrow. Also getting some shooting instruction from a real pro. Former Marine Gunnery Sergeant and a state champion shooter. Maybe I'll be able to hit the broad side of a barn with my Sig after he makes me give him 20 :)

Will be my first time out shooting with C and I was surprised when she wanted to go along too.
Really looking forward to this.

I'll be shooting this P226 Sig 9mm















While C will be shooting this Colt Huntsman .22.

The Reveal

Some more vanity from me.
Picture is 7 years old and I am now heavier and much much much greyer.
This is back when I worked in an office. As you can see we were a casual dress
code environment. I am a jeans and sweatshirt kind of guy and don't like the
pretentious attitudes of the people that I have worked with who maintain that
in order to be "Professional" you have to wear a monkey suit and a noose...I mean tie.

I can pull off the suit look if I want to, the problem is, I just so rarely want to.
Need to find a newer picture that doesn't make me look as dorky as the ones I already have.

I have to write more about this

I had to bring this up because the press is really pushing disinformation on what really is going on and why. This whole Subprime thing started on Bill Clinton's watch and was directly caused by Congress. Congress letting themselves be directed by those of socialist bent and the race baiters. The be all and end all of this market collapse is that it is directly due to congress forcing unsound policy and regulation, in their effort to gain votes with blocks of voters. They went out and messed with the market that they apparently know nothing about. What I want to say to Congress is "listen you jerks, until you manage to balance your own budget and live within your means, stay the hell away from the economy."

Stan Leibowitz does a good job:

How did America wind up in its worst financial crisis in decades? Sen. Barack Obama explained it this way last week: “When sub-prime-mortgage lending took a reckless and unsustainable turn, a patchwork of regulators systematically and deliberately eliminated the regulations protecting the American people.”

That’s exactly backward. Mortgage lending took that “reckless and unsustainable turn” because of regulation - regulation driven by liberals and progressives, not free-market “deregulators.”

…The mortgage market was humming along just fine when, in the late 1980s, progressives decided that it needed to be “fixed.” Their complaint: Some ethnic groups got approved for mortgages at lower rates than others.

In reality, mortgage lenders were simply being prudent - taking care to provide mortgages to those who could best afford to make the payments.

The shift began in 1989, when Congress amended the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to force banks to collect racial data on mortgage applicants. By 1991, critics were using that data to paint lenders as racist by showing that minority applicants were approved at far lower rates. Banks were “Shamed By Publicity,” as one 1993 New York Times headline put it.

…[In 1993] the Boston Fed announced new requirements for banks - rules that have now turned out to be monumentally catastrophic: Adopt “relaxed lending standards” or risk being labeled as racists, and face serious penalties under the federal Community Reinvestment Act.

Gone (as “arbitrary” and “outdated”) were traditional lending requirements such as requiring a down payment or limiting mortgage payments to 28 percent of income. (Of course, the loosened lending standards weren’t limited to poor and minority applicants - that would be discriminatory.)

…Time after time, Fannie and Freddie trumped criticism by pointing to how they were helping broaden homeownership. Because of the subject’s racial overtones, they beat back calls for reform even after financial irregularities were found.

The Whole article can be found here

A pity that this wasn't about the Lehman guys

Or the WorldCom and Enron guys. The Lehman execs are going to receive a 2.5 BILLION dollar bonus/payout that is protected by the Bankruptcy courts in the Buyout of that firm. Where the hell is the accountability? 2.5 BILLION for abject failure? jesus. Words fail me when it comes to these top level execs, and how they can in good conscience live with themselves after this kind of disgrace. They have to be completely bereft of any humanity or dignity,

Anyway read the whole thing and just tell me you don't kinda sorta wish it were about some people closer to home.

Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.

Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, an Italian-headquartered manufacturer of car parts, died of severe head wounds on Monday afternoon after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said.

The incident, in Greater Noida, just outside the Indian capital, followed a long-running dispute between the factory's management and workers who had demanded better pay and permanent contracts.

Previous post.

Was my first attempt to use Scribefire a plugin for Firefox 3. Mixed results there, will have to further refine.

Cool Tech, Japan leading the way with serious effort

Japan hopes to turn sci-fi into reality with elevator to the stars

Leo Lewis in Tokyo

From cyborg housemaids and waterpowered cars to dog translators and rocket
boots, Japanese boffins have racked up plenty of near-misses in the quest to
turn science fiction into reality.

Now the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking
the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far
conquered space by painfully and inefficiently blasting himself out of the
atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride to the
final frontier.

For chemists, physicists, material scientists, astronauts and dreamers across
the globe, the space elevator represents the most tantalising of concepts:
cables stronger and lighter than any fibre yet woven, tethered to the ground
and disappearing beyond the atmosphere to a satellite docking station in
geosynchronous orbit above Earth.

There are huge engineering and materials breakthroughs necessary for this project to succeed, but the first nation to actually have one of these will more than recoup the costs I think. Much like the Apollo program spun off many technologies that made hundreds of billions in profit possible, so to this project could really kick start a new world.

I know many people who think "All that space stuff is a waste of money, we should help people here at home first" but they for some reason don't see how that is such a socialist and backward thinking idea. Moving out into the solar system will bring us wealth and resources beyond measure if we ever manage to do it.

What a week

Changing Jobs and the current boss is trying to squeeze every last drop out of me before I go.

I hope everyone enjoyed International Speak Like a Pirate day, I found out about it too late.
But I did learn my Pirate Name be "Krang Redheart".

Movie Review: Clone Wars, Babylon AD

Well after this weekends major bummer with the Gun Show I was in a funk. I didn't do anything constructive at all the last two days. What I did yesterday was see two movies back to back.

While I am not a total Star Wars groupie, the trailer for this animated movie was interesting enough to make me want to watch. It was entertaining and fairly well acted and proved to be a decent diversion for something like 98 minutes. So if your looking to kill an hour and a half, this is worth a single $8 ticket.

Babylon A.D. was what you should expect an action flick starring Vin Diesel. A fun romp with lots of action, and explosions. The end sort of left me mystified, one of the main characters dies for no apparent reason and I just did not get whatever was being hinted at in the last scene. I suppose there is some printed source that would have given me some idea of what is going on.
I'll have to look it up. All in all, it was worth the $8 matinee fee.

Totally Disgusted

The gun show wasn't worth the 40 mile drive to get there. About 2 dozen tables, 4 of them empty, 4 knife vendors 6 were WW II junk tables. No really it was junk, bits and pieces of Uniforms, patches and rank insignia along with some photographs. Another 4 tables were Airsoft product tables and Air rifles. The 5 tables were battered antique tables with waaaay over priced product. I mean these examples were roughly used along with a few newer hunting rifles and shotguns, basically nothing of any interest to me. The last table had a small selection of modern handguns nothing exciting and 3 DPS AR15's (base model no mods) for roughly double the normal asking price, $1850 was the cheapest. I am so disapointed.

Mr. Obama the Socialist

Every time I hear him speak, he has something to say about: "Economic Justice"

This is apparently palatable code for robbing the rich and giving to the poor or something like that. I just cannot fathom how a supposedly educated intelligent man can think of our economy as a zero sum game, where for the poor to be better off you have to take things away from the middle and upper economic classes. Away from the people who are working their asses off and succeeding in our capitalism based society. He sits there in comfort undreamed of by most of the non-democratic world and he speaks as if he wants to ruin the system that made not only his success possible but the success of countless small business owners and middle class workers.

Does he want to tear down all successful people to reward those who have proven incapable of succeeding in the most favorable environment for individual success ever conceived? Apparently.

His other plans include:

• Universal, health care.
• Free college tuition.
• Free child care and universal preschool. (no need for parents then)
• Universal national service (Some kind of civilian Draft?)
• Universal 401(k)s meaning that tax money was taken to match the input of the contributor
• Free job training for everyone.
• Wage insurance to make sure no one ever has to work for less no matter how outdated their skills or saturated the market.
• More subsidized public housing. (Living here I see how successful that program is....hint: this is sarcasm)
• A larger earned income tax credit for working poor. (ie taking one persons tax money and just giving it to someone else)

I just do not see how he can believe this fairy tale society could work, all I see is ruining any chance for anyone to succeed on their own.

In memory of those we lost

I have no words for the grief and horror I felt that day 7 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday and I still feel the impact.

I got the Job.

Completely new type of job for me starting on the 22nd. I am looking forward to something new and a little ... nervous I guess is the word about something completely new. I am moving out of a support and engineering type role and into a testing and documenting role. I will need to do some serious improving to my writing skill. I had planned on taking a technical writing course this semester, but decided to take a break between the AS and BS phase of my formal education. I did find out that I have the equivalent of a BS EE from my Navy career and now have an AS in Technology Studies and will work towards a BS in Information Systems Management.

I guess if I want to make any more significant increases to my income, I will have to consider at some point moving into management, however I may not do that before I retire at my planned retirement age of 56, of course when I say retirement it is a relative term, I'll definitely want to switch to a lower stress, more fun but probably a less lucrative job to keep myself occupied.

Sarah Palin: The more I learn the more I like

Have to admit that I saw this on Kim Du Toit's Blog before I read it myself. (See my links to the left)

Going to have to start reading more of my American News from the UK it looks like.
Nice to see SOMEONE doing some investigative journalism without having a smear campaign in mind:

From Here

In short, far from being a small-town mayor concerned with little more than traffic signs, she has been a major player in state politics for a decade, one who formulated an ambitious agenda and deftly implemented it against great odds.

Her sudden elevation to the vice-presidential slot on the Republican ticket shocked no one more than her enemies in Alaska, who have broken out into a cold sweat at the thought of Palin in Washington, guiding the Justice Department's anti-corruption teams through the labyrinths of Alaska's old-boy network.

It is no surprise that many of the charges laid against her have come from Alaska, as her enemies become more and more desperate to bring her down. John McCain was familiar with this track record and it is no doubt the principal reason that he chose her.

Focusing on the exotic trappings of Alaskan culture may make Palin seem a quaint and inexplicable choice. But understanding the real background of her steady rise in politics suggests that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are underestimating her badly. In this, they join two former Alaskan governors, a large number of cronies, and a trail of enemies extending back over a decade.

James Bennett is the author of 'The Anglosphere Challenge'

7 Days and counting

Till the gun show in Maryland. I'm really looking forward to it and the possibilities of finding a decent deal on an M4 style rifle. Originally I wanted the .308 version of the rifle, but decided that I should get the 5.56 instead. Partly because of cost of original purchase and of Ammo. Later I'll see about modding and there is also Beowulf which has to be factored in. .50 cal Beowulf would be very fun to shoot, but at a buck a bullet rather expensive I think.

Democrats turning out to be complete sleaze.

Oh freakin unbelievable. The asshats are releasing her personal info, phone numbers, home addresses, SSN #'s and ragging on her daughter. Can you smell the hypocrisy? can you smell the smug assholes just tossing away any shred of fairness or objectivity in the political arena?

The major News papers and George Soros are just breaking their own rules to smear a decent woman. Did anyone go after Chelsey Clinton? Is anyone out there harassing Obama's daughters?
Oh hey wait, Doesn't Obama's VP choice have a Lobbyist son who benefits directly from his fathers connections in Congress? Is anyone splashing that on the headlines?

I am so very sick of the main stream media and the democratic party and the looney liberal left.
Billionaire Liberal Democrats (yeah I know redundancy there) are funding massive programs to turn this country into a socialist slum to prevent anyone from profiting from hard work and dilligence...and yet all we hear about is those darn "Rich Republicans".

It seems like every where I turn I am being bombarded by hypocritical attack campaigns waged by front groups who are investing billions to basically tell us, that if we don't elect Obama we are racist. Hell I can't even complain because should I complain, I am labeled "A bitter white guy clinging to my guns and my religion". I wish I could use the language that Rachel Lukas does, but it isn't my style...still this crap just makes one want to scream. I am expecting the dems to release Palin's OB/GYN records next...along with accounts from her highschool sweety about what they did while parked in a secluded spot.

Oh lord help me survive the next 2+ months.

Oh Mama! it's Beowulf.

No not the cheesy movie with Angelina Jolie. No this is a .50 Cal rifle based on the M4/AR15 style rifle. The great thing about this is that a standard M4 5.56 can be converted to Beowulf by replacing the Upper Receiver of the M4, It takes less than 5 minutes.


The Beowulf is made by Alexander Arms. The .50 round is intended for short range maximum stopping power. Short range being 200 yards or less, at which point the massive flat nosed round drops below supersonic speeds. (Alexander Arms also makes the versatile 6.5 Grendel rifle also built on the AR/M4 frame). I am still getting info on this particular weapon, but it sure makes me want to get an M4 so that I can convert as needed. I will also be looking for more images.

Colt Huntsman

This is my favorite gun. At least of the ones I own. My dad has a very similar looking Colt Woodsman which I grew up shooting. So when I had the chance to buy the Huntsman a few decades ago, I jumped on it and have loved shooting it ever since. I am most accurate shooting this and my Smith 686, I can hit what Im looking at, unlike my Sig P226 and Ruger Mk I. I really need to see what I am doing wrong with the Sig. I should not be so badly off my aim.


.22 caliber smooth as silk action, I just love this gun. It has a serial number of 091048S which I believe indicates that it was manufactured between January and April of 1976. I really should learn to care better for the blued steel, aside from keeping it lubed and cleaning the best I can. I still have to find a good set of instructions on how to field strip this gun to clean the slide and inner mechanisms. What little I have found is confusing and not very well detailed or diagrammed.

Next Step.

Well the interviews are done, I did well, as usual.
I would feel good about my chances even if I hadn't already been
told to get ready to move (figuratively) and that I should be
contacted next week. Pays the same, I get to keep all my accrued
benefits and time to retirement....but the Job will be as big a change in
paradigm as I have ever made in my working career.

Big Changes

Major Career happenings in the works for me. Things will be slow here (for a bit longer), but not dead or forgotten. Don't ya just hate that feeling before plunging head first into something risky and utterly new?

Because It has to be heard

This is a link to a post about the current presidential election contest.
The link is because I believe everyone everywhere should be hearing these things
because I believe them as well.

This first couple of paragraphs I think are telling:

My work has value. My mind has value. I won't do it for free. those that do that, are amateurs (coming from the Latin amator - meaning lover), not professionals. As a professional I expect to be paid. Nor will I do it to pay the rent and gas and food of those who aren't willing to put forth their own effort to the best of their own ability. A hard working person, down on their luck, I will help in many ways. I've added to the tip jar of many a hard working blogger, caught up in exploding cars, dysfunctional pets, and bad experiences with Comcast. I've helped people in my community, neighbors, suddenly and through no fault of their own, out of a job, with food and/or child care while they went to an interview; with assistance with crafting a new resume and getting them some job contacts. Helping those that actively worked to help themselves.

But do not ask me to support, through work or taxes or even my time, which has value of it's own, a class of people who only wish to take, because they feel they are owed it for breathing, for crossing the border illegally, or for being a specific race, creed or religion.

I love Global Warming

August has been wonderful here in the People's Republic. at least a weeks worth of temps down in the low 70's and high 60's. This morning at 11am Bailey Pig and I took a walk around the neighborhood in 69 degree partly cloudy conditions. Very few days this year have been in the 90's, contrasted to when I first moved here and we had many days in the high 90's. Bailey still has a fairly heavy coat so she appreciated the cool temps and nice breezes.

Range Time

Wow, I really sucked today. Went through about a hundred rounds each of .22 and 9mm ammo this morning. You know, I used to be pretty good, I qualified expert pistol in the Navy 5 years straight. I grew up shooting and have gone through lord knows how much ammo. So when I got to the range today I expected much better. I suppose I did ok with my trusty Colt Huntsman .22, it wasn't great or even good, but compared to how I did with my Sig P226 it was acceptable. I can't figure out what my problem is with the sig, but at 25' I am doing well to get a 6" grouping and I cannot seem to get my sighting down. I suppose lack of practice can account for most of the crappy shooting but jeeez. So I've decided that along with more range time (I quit shooting for a long time too wrapped up in my work and school) and some professional instruction. I want to be more than merely acceptable, I want to be "pretty good" :)

Anyway I sucked so bad, I didn't bother taking any pics of my targets...and I forgot the camera anyway.

An Armed Citizenry

The Police of the state should never be stronger or armed better than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom.....Robert A. Heinlein; Beyond This Horizon

I am writing today about the wrongheaded and foolish notion that the Police are there to protect you. In fact the Police are not there to protect YOU, they are there to clean up the aftermath and protect OTHERS from those who attacked you. The simple laws of physics and economics means that the "police" are not going to be present to stop the violence being perpetrated against YOU at any particular time. No, they will show up after the fact and attempt to keep the perp. from accosting others. Police were created to protect society, not individuals. It is nice if it works out that they can prevent a crime, but the truth of the matter is, most often they are not there.

The simple plain truth that our politicians and civic leaders wish to ignore, is that only one person can protect YOU. That person is YOU. YOU are the only person you can count on to be there the instant some aggression is taking place upon or against you. Each CITIZEN should be not only encouraged, but required to know how to defend themselves, with arms and without. No strike that, the State has no business requiring you to know how to defend yourself....I think a simple Darwinian fix should be allowed to prevail, those who refuse to learn, or refuse to arm themselves, should be permitted to perish if that is their desire. One cannot force someone to work for their own survival.

Sure we can form police departments to attempt to enforce our social laws but no one should never confuse the police for personal protection squads. Only our politicians get that fringe benefit from the tax payer funded police departments.

I am not attempting to denigrate the honorable people who choose to "Protect and Serve" I am merely asking that people not kid themselves about the reality of the world.

By the way someone on some blog was wondering if Heinlein was a Gun man or a Blade man. I have to point out that in several of his books, his characters seem to favor the .45 Automatic Pistol so I do believe the man was M1911 enthusiast. (during his stint in the Navy the 1911 was the sidearm issued)

Site Update

Data Transfer from the NAS device to the FreeAgent Pro 1TB drive is under way, should complete in another few hours.

Cooookie!

Technical Hiccup

Tank Thing, Irish Red and A new fighter plane will be delayed / postponed while I change hardware configurations. I've decided to move the files off the NAS and onto a local Firewire 400 attached drive. The response from the NAS is just slow enough to annoy me, while not poor enough to give up the 2TB of RAID protected space. So while I am transferring the raw files off the NAS and onto the new drive things will be on hold.

The upside to this is that with speedier access to the files I will be able to catalog them a lot quicker and get them all renamed to a set standard.

So from here forward the RAD NAS disks will be for System archiving and the local disks will be for day to day work.

Wolf in sheep's clothing

I think all voters in the upcoming election should read this piece. I thought Hillary was scary but this guy really really really reminds me of Damien Thorn (ever see the Omen Movies?)

No I am not saying he IS the anti-christ, just his rise to fame is somewhat similar in the "out of nowhere" sort of way. Im not that religious ;)

The title is the link. This is also a link

Time for a change

Over the last little while I have been noticing that I fell into a trap where I let work become all and life almost nothing. I noticed that while I was working I was fighting the system and ramming my head into brick walls (metaphorically) over and over again trying to halt what I see is a downward spiral in my department and when I was not working, I was thinking about work. This situation leads to a build up of stress that can make one angry and irritable and one has to step back and ask. "For what?" With these thoughts in my mind, I decided that I needed a change. Many times I thought I would do some job hunting to find a different place to work and time after time I found that all I would be doing is trading in one headache for another. From what I can see, it appears that the American Technology Industry is looking like a pack of lemmings. I see Managers and Senior managers who have no experience with technology trying to lead, but their vision of leadership is to ignore the very experts they hire to advise them. It is as if they want to do the exact opposite of what their hired professionals tell them needs done. It also seems as if an expert from outside the company is automatically more knowledgeable than anyone who was silly enough to become an actual employee of said company.

I decided a week ago after talking to a friend in a different department that maybe if I cannot seem to find a good fit at another company, perhaps I can make a direction shift within my own.
To that end, yesterday I officially applied for a different position in my company, which still IT related would take me out of the hardcore technical side of things and put me more into the leadership and management side of things. Inside sources lead me to believe I would be a perfect win win for that group, however there are political issues centered on geographical location that may throw a wrench into my plans. I look at it as a "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" type of thing. I have always enjoyed being a "Technical Expert" and advising management, but now that "Management" does not appear to trust nor want advice from those they hired to do the advising...it may well be time for me to move on to a new phase. One thing I AM sure of, is that under no circumstances will I relocate to California.

Now, all I need to do is manage to make my brain shut off when I'm not working so I can focus on having a life again. I know it is possible, but like all worth wile things, it takes some work.

Oh and anyone who knows of anyone who is in need of a very experienced UNIX System Admin who has years of leadership experience feel free drop a line to immagikman@gmail.com.
Salary and Location negotiable as long as it is not in NY, IL, CA or MA ;)

Tank Thing: German StuG III

Sturmgeschutz III
Armament: 1x 75mm (based on the Pak 40 ATG) 2x 7.92mm machine guns
Armor: Max of 50mm
Crew: 4
Range: 96 miles
Speed: 25 mph

A self propelled gun based on the Panzer III chasis, this unit originally started out with a shorter barreled StuK 40 L/24 but was later up-gunned to the Ausf G model with a longer barrel 75mm StuK 40 L/48 (based on the Pak 40 ATG).
Intended to be used for direct fire close infantry support and as an assault gun, when the longer barreled 75mm was added the StuG III was often used in Panzer formations to provide a boost to the numbers. Not an Ideal platform for anti-tank work, it nevertheless served well in the German order of battle.

Irish Red #3: Boldly Going...

Born: Cheryl Gates McFadden, 2 March 1949, Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

I know every guy who watched STTNG lusted after her, and while Marina Sirtis was supposed to be the Enterprises resident hottie, the costuming worked out that Gates looked way hotter in her uniform than did Marina.
Gates is undoubtedly most famous for her role as Beverly Crusher, and that seems to make up the bulk of her television career but her role prior to ST was as a muppeteer with Jim Henson and was involved in the production of "The Dark Crystal". Gates also had roles on Mad About you and All My Children.

Gates also has a body of work on the Stage and is currently working with "Doctors Without Borders". She may be getting older now, I definitely would not say no to her.....well if I wasn't already attached to M that is.

Olympic Mania

I remember as a kid really getting into the Wide World of Sports and the "Agony of defeat" and that the Olympics were special. I guess they were special to me back then because I was too naive to understand the big business nature of what it has become. You cannot call any of the competitors "Amature" and be honest with your self. In the case of non-western countries you can barely call their Olympic hopefuls humans. These results of dictatorial cruelty over the course of their early lives has them becoming little more than machines with little humanity left in them.

They end up having children 2 or 3 or more years too young to qualify being bogusly listed as "16" when other documentation shows them being just 12, 13 or 14. I just can't watch these games any more. The IOC has become just another example of What happens when you let the worng sorts of people be involved. Basically I see them about the same as the blood suckers at the UN, sucking up billions in cash and resources and returning nothing but hot air. To quote Popeye. "I yam disgustipated".

State of the Union assessment

Ok it is the state of my Union, aka my assessment of my blog.
First and foremost trying to do this thing has given me a whole other
level of appreciation for those who do it day in and day out with such
quality. I see my own limitations in the writing, and my lack of real
creativity in the writing. I remember when I used to write a lot more
than I do now, when I seemed to have time to allow my imagination to run
free. However in the last few years I find that the struggle to make up at
work for lack of proper staffing levels and suffocating inexperienced leadership from those in that type of role, that I am being sucked dry and that I am being consumed in an impossible race to beat the odds. In the past I did enjoy my job and the challenges it brought and even the long hours, but now the bean counters are in charge and seem to be free to willy-nilly ignore the long term consequences for short term gains. One used to be able to take heart knowing that other places, other companies were smarter and better and you could just hop on over. Now though
it seems to me that the entire national corporate structure has jumped on the band wagon of expedience. To hell with quality, to hell with customer satisfaction (there are always going to be new customers) and to hell with "quality is job 1" now the era of 60-40 engineering is in play get it 60% right and we'll let the understaffed IT department fix the other 40% on the fly.

It is easy to fall into the trap of despair. Guess I need to take some vacation time.
I don't intend to stop posting, and it doesn't matter if I get any more readers than I have now I think it only matters that I have fun trying to learn something new. The readers I do have are awesome beyond compare anyway :) Even if one of them shows me constantly just how poor my composition skills are.

You know, I think I need to rediscover my sense of humor. I know it is in there, I make people laugh all the time...Sense of humor, sense of interest, a sense of proportionality, get my life back on track to something a bit more meaningful than the rut I have slipped into.

.308 or .223 for a fun and functional Semi-auto.

I find myself in a quandary, I have always prefered the .308 to the .223 and I am contemplating getting a semi-auto AR style in the .308 caliber. I suppose that the .223 is cheaper to shoot, but it just doesn't match the .308 in other respects. Range and power is where it's at, but how to really decide. I am going to have to seek out people with more knowledge.

On a Silly ass unconstitional GFW note. I just looked into Marylands actual rules and laws. No open carry allowed, no CCW for anyone that is not LEO, Phamaceutical or Cash carrier. Transporting your weapons out and about involves the weapon being in a seperate locked compartment of the vehicle than the ammo. Effectively the only place you are permitted to have a loaded handgun is in your home or at the range, nowhere in between.

Did I mention, I really need to move?

Range Rove: A hunt for a shooters paradise.

Yesterday (Sunday) I decided that instead of going shooting at the same old range I had been going to since my arrival in Maryland, that I would spend the day scoping out the area to see what was available for the would be shooter. My friend Brigid had blogged about various kinds of shoots which got me interested. Up till now all my shooting was me alone or with a friend or three in the woods, or canoeing down rivers either hunting or plinking. I also spent a large amount of time in the fields picking off groundhogs and other varmints. In the Military I did a lot of volunteer shooting as my rating was not an arms intensive one, however our small facilities and commands never had enough Marine guards so us Spooks would be organized into volunteer defense (NEGDEF) Teams which would hold off would be attackers until the Gunships arrived.

Anyhooo I started my trek at 9am. I used the Internet to locate as many places in my area that looked promising and used my GPS system to plot my course for the day. I purposely avoided anyplace that was inside the DC Beltway due to extreme aversion to the traffic. Not surprisingly most of the hits I got lay in the DC/Baltimore Corridor (I also didn't bother with places inside the lesser known Baltimore Beltway either).

My first stop was Atlantic Guns, in Rockville. I believe this is strictly a gun and ammo sales shop as it is tucked away in a tiny storefront with no room for any kind of indoor range. Unfortunately I would not be able to look around as it was closed on Sundays. It's hours were M-W 9-6, Thu-Sat 9-8.

Next Up was the Gilbert Indoor Range. Situated on a cul de sac on Rothgeb Dr in Rockville. A nicely located convenient place for me, I had my hopes high going in. The place was fairly new construction and looked great from the outside. Hours are M-F 12-9, Saturday 10-7, and Sunday 12-6. I got there a bit before they opened so I sat in the car making notes to post in this blog about my journey. The place opened a bit early which is surprising for this area, most of the time you are waiting for places to open a little late.

The facility was pretty nice and I was surprised that they had both pistol and rifle lanes. Though to me it seemed kind of silly to have a 75 foot rifle range. I mean 25 yards with a long gun...there is not much challenge there. The place used to sell guns but new Montgomery County rules had changed and they were debating on what to do about it. Still they had some interesting weapons on display to drool over. I got a nasty surprise here though. Montgomery County is one of the more GFW filled counties in Maryland and that is saying something (Gun Fearing Wussies) The county had enacted what is in effect a gun ban without actually banning guns...you aren't allowed to transport ammo. You can carry the gun apparently but you are not permitted to have it loaded or to transport ammo, thus to use this range, you are required to buy all ammo on site. My next shock was sticker shock. To use the facility you had to be a member, no big surprise there, but the annual membership was freaking $300 per individual or $60 a month or $1000 for 5 years. I know I have not been involved in Maryland's shooting arena but yeesh, this seems a bit excessive. Between the high cost of membership and Montgomery County's little rule about Ammo and having to purchase it all on site, I don't think this will be my choice of places to shoot.

Third up on my list was a place called Beam Hit LLC located in Columbia Maryland. This was a bust as they no longer were in existence.

4th on the travel Itinerary was the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore Inc. Located near Patapsco Vally park in Marriottsville. This was a beautiful outdoor range where I met several friendly and helpful people. The only downside was that there was no one present on Sunday who could tell me the details about membership/usage fees but It was NOT in Montgomery County and was free of that stupid Ammo restriction. There are a couple of caveats to using the range, one is that I would probably have to join a "sanctioned" local gun club but they had the information available for several such clubs, the second little gotcha is that It may be required that you belong to the NRA. I used to support the NRA but over the years it seemed to me that they had been caving in on too many issues and were allowing too many firearms restrictions go by without putting up a fight, as if they had become part of the political process....even so, if it is required I may actually join up to use this range. This range has trap shooting (which I used to love), rifle, pistol and black powder ranges. The one real drawback is that it is a bit of a drive, 30 to 40 miles I would say.

My next stop was BassPro which is a nice place to get some discount merchandise WalMart style shopping, though they had pretty much none of the staples I wanted to pick up. I wanted some really good 9mm self defense rounds (I have great .357 rounds but wanted something for in the P226) which BP did not have in stock. I also wanted a good holster/mag holder combo for the Sig but again BP didn't have any. (Would LOVE to know what the rig Bruce Willis wore in his last Die Hard Movie was, it is exactly what I was looking for) If anyone should read this who has any suggestions for carry rigs for the Sig P226 I would like to hear them. I hate buying holsters off the net, I like to be able to see them and try them before committing. I did pick up A new cleaning kit and mat, and a new Gerber knife.

My last stop was to my reliable and economically friendly "On Target". Located just outside the back gate of Ft. Meade on rt 175. It is a no frills indoor pistol range but hey, it is affordable and I can bring my own ammo. They also sell some weapons though the selection is not large, ammo and accessories.

All in all it was about an 8 hour day of driving and looking and I covered roughly 140 miles.
Maryland is not as bad as CA or NY or Illinois but it is not all that much better either. I seriously hate hate hate living in a GFW county but this is where M had her house (and a really nice one it is too) and this is where she wants to live for now, so I persevere.

Another Bonus is I found out about an upcoming Arms and Militaria show In Fredrick Maryland September 13-14 at 289 Willowdale Drive, Fredrick Maryland 21702. The hours of the show are 9-5 on Sat and 9-3 on Sunday. There used to be several gunshows in Montgomery County but they have all been banned by the county now. So it is a nice surprise to find out about a reletivly close out of county show without having to go to Virgina. Marylanders can't buy handguns in Virginia.

Tank Thing: German Panzer III

Panzerkampfwagen III Medium Tank.
This tank designed in the 1930's along with the Panzer IV was to be the backbone of the German armored forces. The Panzer III was to be the lighter speedier heavy punch against mobile forces while the Panzer IV would offer up the heavy artillery of it's 75mm short barrel cannon. The design was forward thinking, though successes in the Spanish Civil war made war planners believe that 37mm cannons were sufficient for the time. The Panzer III was designed with space enough in the turret to up gun this tank to a 50mm gun with ease. (one way to tell the III from the IV models is to count the road wheeels, the Pz III had 6 vs the PZIV's 8)

Mods A, B and C were only built in limited numbers and were only different from each other in minor ways. Models D, F, G, and H were all up gunned, up engined and up armored versions of the same tank. Running into the T-34 which could shrug off their 50mm L/42 shells required the development of the J which was up gunned with the 50mm L/60 gun which was much more effective. The M and N variants carried the short barrel 75mm cannon that the Panzer IV started with.

• Pz. III Ausf F
• Armament: 1x 37mm cannon (1.46in) 2x 7.92mm MG (.312in)
• Armour: Max 30mm (1.18in)
• Crew: 5
• Weight: 19.2 tons
• SPeed: 24.8mph
• Range: 102.5 miles

I think the L model was probably the best of the lot, with 50mm of main armor upgraded with 20mm plates at strategic points, and it mounted the 50mm L/60 gun which was adaquate for it's tasks.

Irish Red #2: Maureen O'Hara (This time it's for real)

Born Maureen Fitzsimons in Ranelagh County Dublin Ireland.
Date of Birth: August 17 1920 (now 88)
A true Irish Red!

This lady is and was magnificent, of course she had the good taste to work with John Ford and John Wayne frequently so that cemented my attraction. She was very talented, her acting career started when she was 14. Her film list is very long and with many impressive titles, I will list a few of my favorites but her career is well documented elsewhere.

My Favorites of her films in no particular order are:

• Miracle on 34th Street
• Sinbad the Sailor
• Big Jake
• McClintoc
• Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
• Sons of the Musketeers
• The Parent Trap
  

Maureen was sultry and beautiful and almost always played the part of a fierce and passionate and even strong willed woman, which really mirrored her own real life personality. Maureen is well known for her long list of films but her writing and singing were worthy career potentials in their own right. Among her surprising or is it not so surprising works was an Irish cookbook. What is it with Irish Reds that move them to write about delicious foods? Maureen was an iconic symbol in Hollywood's "Golden Age" and was considered by many to be one of the most beautiful women in the world, and who can argue?


Always classy and full of energy, Maureen could serve as a role model for many of today's young aspiring actresses. I wonder when leading ladies slipped away from the role of "Lady" and into the role of public displays of bad behavior? I will have to give some thought as to when the last time I saw a new Hollywood starlet that had this kind of class.

Maureen stayed active into 2004 with her writing and public causes, and I hope that she enjoys a long and comfortable retirement.