Month: August 2010

Bottom Cylinder Firing Revolver Shipping

According to The Firearm Blog Chiappo has begun shipping the 2″ version of their Rhino revolver. The Rhino peaked my interested because it’s one of the rare revolvers that fires from the bottom cylinder.

The idea is pretty simple, the lower the bore axis on a handgun the less muzzle flip you have to deal with. Glocks are noted quite often as having a very low bore axis while XD pistols are known for having a higher bore axis. Frankly I own both and can’t tell the difference but still I have to say the Rhino Revolver is on my hopefully-get-somebody-maybe list just because I would like a revolver that shoots from the bottom cylinder.

I don’t know much about Chiappo (in fact I never heard of them until this revolver came up some months back) so I don’t know if they have a reputation for making shit or not. I do know that the Rhino appears to have no real rear sight to speak of which kind of turns me off. But the gun in unique enough where I’m certainly interested.

Stop Me if You’ve Heard this One Before

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has public comments open on a petition submitted by some jackasses Center for Biological Diversity. The petition is to ban all lead ammunition from the United States under the Toxic Substance Control Act, which had a specific exemption for ammunition contained within it.

A lot of people are jumping onto the fact that the EPA is the bad guy here. They very well could be but from what I’ve gathered they are required to hold public comments on any petitions they receive. I could be in error on this but that’s what I’ve determined from what little research I’ve put into this so far.

The good thing is comments are being taken and you can submit your input here. We have until October 31st to submit comments so let’s inform the EPA why this petition is a bad idea wrapped in a worse idea.

You have to give the anti-gunners credit for one thing, they’re relentless. Now that the right to bear arms has been incorporated they are going after ammunition. If they can’t get the ammunition they’ll probably go after springs because somebody could poke their eye out with one. Oh and they happened to be used in firearms.

I Can’t Tell You How Many Times I’ve Wanted to Do This

Just read the first paragraph of this article:

A Salt Lake City mortgage company employee allegedly got drunk, opened fired on his firm’s computer server with a .45-caliber automatic, and then told police someone had stolen his gun and caused the damage.

Minus the getting drunk and accusing somebody stole my gun this paragraph really describes one of my dreams, shooting a server. Of course I wouldn’t lie about what happened unlike this drunkard mentioned in the story:

A probable cause statement alleges that Campbell told police he had been “mugged, assaulted with his own firearm and drugged” by a mystery assailant.

Yeah because that’s certainly a believable story. Pro tip here, if you’re going to make up a story in an attempt to lie to the police make it a believable one. Better yet don’t have a gun one you while you’re drunk.

I Thought They Called Themselves Gun Owners of America

Why the heck did Gun Owners of America (GOA) get themselves involved in net neutrality? According to Mr. Pratt:

“Back in 2006 we supported net neutrality, as we had been concerned that AOL and others might continue to block pro-second amendment issues,” said Erich Pratt, communications director for GOA.

OK I get the idea that GOA doesn’t like the idea of a filtered Internet but aren’t they a second amendment rights organization? I’m a firm believer that you can’t be an expert in everything and you need to focus your resources on the most critical things. GOA does a lot of complaining that they don’t have a whole lot of money to work with and yet they are splitting that cash between two subjects. Likewise I highly doubt that GOA has any real expertise in the field of net neutrality since they did say the following:

“The issue has now become one of government control of the Internet, and we are 100 percent opposed to that,” Pratt said.

Let me get this straight. You’re an organization that generally hates government involvement in the life of average citizens and you supported the Save The Internet organization. Save The Internet’s primary purpose has always been to get legislation through that will allow government enforcement of net neutrality. As soon as the word legislation is involved it implies government control hence there was no point in the history of the Save The Internet organization that they weren’t about government control. The fact that GOA got involved in net neutrality was questionable to begin with, but then they didn’t realize the organization they were backing was asking for government control shows a severe lack of research into the subject.

Here’s my two cents of advice GOA, leave net neutrality to the experts over at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and keep your focus on whinging about the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun rights. If you get yourself involved in another fight you may very well get sucker punched because you didn’t study whom all was going to show up for the brawl.

Misleading Questions from Minnesota’s Legislators

This just came across the wire (yes I have a telegraph which is the true source of all my news). It’s a notice of this years Minnesota House of Representatives questionnaire [PDF] for suckers attending the State Fair. The first question is, ”When someone wants to purchase a firearm at a gun show, should a background check on the buyer be required prior to the sale?”

A certain “representative” here in Minnesota by the name of Michael Paymar has been trying to pass a law that would bar private sales of firearms in the state. Even though the bill has not once made it out of committee he keeps trying and trying again. The question as stated on the questionnaire is misleading and incorrectly written. It should state, “Do you believe people should be barred from selling their private property without government permission?”

Anyways if anybody is going to the State Fair make sure you get a copy of this and let the legislators know we don’t want a ban of the sale of private property in this fine state.

Starship Comparison

Welcome to what may well be the geekiest topic of the week. Random Nuclear Strikes pointed out an awesome website that has size comparisons of starships from different science fiction series.

Is it sad that I recognize a majority of the ships on those pictures and have at least heard of, if not watched, some episodes of a majority of the series listed? Is it also sad that I know all the original models from Babylon 5 were lost and therefore the exact sizes of the various ships is left to estimates only?

Building a “Green” House

Anybody who reads what I post was probably struck with a bit of worry upon reading the title. Don’t worry I haven’t jumped on the green movement bandwagon I still drive a horribly fuel inefficient truck (take that hippie scum!), have two computers running 24/7, run my air conditioners even while I’m away (sure I turn them up but that’s to save me money not the Earth), and believe if you’re eating more vegetable matter than meat you’re doing it wrong.

With that said I did find an interesting article by Scott Adams (the guy who does the Dilbert comic) about building a green home. I found it interesting because Mr. Adams is capable of cognitive thought and realizes there is a trade off between green and ascetically pleasing. He also is able to bring up the fact that bike riding hippies are hypocrites:

The greenest home is the one you don’t build. If you really want to save the Earth, move in with another family and share a house that’s already built. Better yet, live in the forest and eat whatever the squirrels don’t want. Don’t brag to me about riding your bicycle to work; a lot of energy went into building that bicycle. Stop being a hypocrite like me.

He also has a useful definition of the term green:

I prefer a more pragmatic definition of green. I think of it as living the life you want, with as much Earth-wise efficiency as your time and budget reasonably allow. Now back to our story.

I wish more hippie scum would understand the fact that their green lifestyle is OK for them because they’re hippies and don’t have jobs. Those of us who have jobs can’t pick and chose what devices we want (for instance if I can’t use a computer I don’t have a job). I like Mr. Adam’s definition of green because it’s pragmatic and I can still ignore it and thus piss the hippies off.

Alas this was the thing that really caught my attention:

As a rule, the greener the home, the uglier it will be. I went into the process thinking that green homes were ugly because hippies have bad taste. That turns out to be nothing but a coincidence. The problem is deeper. For example, the greenest sort of roof in a warm climate would be white to reflect the sun. If you want a beautiful home, a white roof won’t get you there. Sure, you could put a lovely garden on your roof, because you heard someone did that. But don’t try telling me a garden roof wouldn’t be a maintenance nightmare. And where do you find the expert who knows how to do that sort of thing?

Ding, ding, ding. I’ve always through greener labeled homes, cars, etc. were ugly as sin. Take the Toyota Prius, it’s an ugly piece of shit. It seemed purpose designed to look as much like ass as possible without it being an actual ass. There is no character to it at all, it extrudes ugly wherever it rolls. You want an awesome looking modern car? Get a new Ford Mustang or Dodge Charger. Both look and drive bad ass. They’re also about as green as the color brown. Green homes are ugly as sin as well. I’d rather spend my money on a nice looking home and deal with the slightly higher energy bill. What’s the point in going home to a domicile that you can’t stand the look of?

This whole concept of being green is one thing. I’m green so far as saving myself money. In other words I don’t turn the air conditioner down when I’m out to save the planet, fuck that. The only reason that thing gets turned down is because it’s a power hog that costs me money the more it runs. Unfortunately for hippies I’m not so cheap as to make my life something they would approve of. I’m willing to spend extra money on gas just to piss off the green group simply because I don’t like them. Why don’t I like them? Because 99% of them try to force their lifestyle and belief upon you while regarding themselves as better people because their “saving the planet.” If more of these hippies would explain things such as Mr. Adams does in the linked article I probably wouldn’t invest time into pissing them off.

Playing Dirty

I’m generally the last person to buy into a conspiracy theory but sometimes there is enough evidence that I’m willing to acknowledge there is some merit. You’ve most likely heard an arrest warrant was released for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, on charges of rape. Shortly afterward the warrant was redacted.

According to Assange Australian intelligence warned him up an upcoming smear campaign aimed at discrediting him and WikiLeaks. Normally this is where I just scoff and figured the theory of conspiracy going on is due to paranoid delusions. Alas given the current atmosphere surrounding Assange and his organization I’m actually willing to nod my head and say there most likely is a smear campaign being performed against him. The timing seemed awfully convenient that these charges would surface so shortly after our administration urged other countries to open criminal investigations against Assange and then shortly be dropped.

Anybody who has read Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA [not an affiliate link] knows that the CIA has a long history of dirty tricks, smear campaigns, and various other misdeeds.

Fight Fire with Fire

OK I like this, I like this a lot. Somebody has setup a site called Gun Owners Against Illegal Mayors. This was bound to happen of course and the site is full of win. It lists the rap sheets of members in Mayors Against Illegal Guns who have committed crimes.