Month: November 2010

Cold Weather Carry

It’s winter and that means heavy coats are back in season. This comes as a double-edge sword for those of us who carry because a large coat offers better concealment of our firearm but also makes getting to it more difficult. For example it would be damned hard for me to draw my .45 sitting inside my inside the waistband holster while I’m wearing my greatcoat. Since cold weather preparation is important I thought I’d bring up some points to consider when carrying in the winter.

Last year I purchased a Ruger LCP because I wanted a small pocketable pistol. Most people want a small gun for carrying in the summer as higher heat usually means shedding of clothing making concealment of larger firearms more difficult. I really have no issue concealing my Glock 30SF in the summer and wanted the pocket pistol for a different season, winter.

My Ruger LCP fits perfectly inside the front pockets of my greatcoat meaning I have something at hand while walking around in the winter. As I said there is no practical way for me to draw my primary gun while wearing my coat but I do have constant access to my front pockets. I could probably fit a larger firearm in there but then I’m dealing with having a gun that works well for winter and really nothing else (I also carry my LCP when I have to wear a suit as my suit pants are large enough to accommodate a pistol and I often find times where I have to take the suit coat off). Thus I’m an advocate for purchasing a pocket pistol for use during the winter in Minnesota.

Another thing to remember is shooting with gloves on can be difficult. I have some cheap knit surplus gloves that I wear in the winter because they’re fairly warm and thin enough that I can get my gloved finger into the trigger guard of my pistols. If you have very large gloves to note you may not be able to get your finger on the trigger while wearing them. Thus it’s important to head to the range and test your winter gear as it relates to carrying because an attacker probably isn’t going to give you time to remove your gloves in order to shoot him. Another option are mittens with the flip up from that exposes your fingers. These are popular with hunters but once again I question being able to get my fingers exposed quickly if I’m in a self-defense situation.

Basically we’re back to the basic rule of carry, test your setup with all your different clothing options.

North and South Korea at it Again

It seems North and South Korea are having a not-so-friendly game of artillery tag. Although North Korea is claiming South Korea fired first I’m a little skeptical when it comes to anything Kimmy Boy says.

My biggest worry though is this combined with the fact there are rumblings of a uranium enrichment plant in North Korea will give the United States cause to enter into yet another expensive and pointless conflict that doesn’t involve us.

Incorrect Diagnosis

It seems that 911 is getting with the times so to speak as the FCC is updating the 911 system to handle text messages. I can see it now we can have quality texts such as:

OMG SUM DOOD SHOOTIN DA SKOOL, SEE PIGS

I’m guessing a dispatcher will be wasting more time trying to decipher most peoples’ text messages than sending actual help to an emergency. What really puts the icing on the cake for this story though is the reason the FCC is updating the 911 system:

“The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences,” the release said. “During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.”

That’s an incorrect diagnosis if I’ve ever read one. The problem with Virginia Tech was the fact there was a gunman walking around killing people. There aren’t a lot of solutions prevent such a case, you can only strive to make the situation end quickly. I highly doubt being able to receive text messages would have allow the police to arrive any faster. What would have had potential to end the situation faster would be to allowed students and faculty to legally carry their firearms on campus. Even to this day if a student or faculty member has a carry permit they are not allowed to carry at Virginia Tech. This limitation means any guy walking around shooting people on campus has several minutes at the last until the police are able to arrive.

If the FCC wants to limit the impact of these types of situations they should be placing their support behind a law to abolish the concept of the “gun-free zone.” Obviously that’s not the FCC’s area of jurisdiction so it’s best if they just stay out of it all together but it’s the only real solution to the problem they’re claiming to address at the moment.

Improper Use of a Firearm

Look I understand the desire to MacGyver tools into solutions for problems those tools don’t normally solve. Firearms are not tools you should be MacGyvering with. For example if you have a bout of road range pulling a gun on the person angering you is not the right thing to do. Remember the only time you should be pulling your gun is when you need to use it to defend your life or the lives of your loved ones.

It’s Winter

This weekend marked the first real start of the official Minnesota winter, really bad weather. Although winter technically starts on an arbitrary date here in Minnesota it’s no official until you have a single night were over a foot of snow falls or pure ice accumulates. Saturday evening we had the later and likewise the local police departments were overrun with calls of accidents that had occurred.

I present to you a remind of how to drive in the winter. First when the weather turns to ice accumulation just stay home if possible. There isn’t anything you can do that will give you acceptable traction on ice. Some people of questionable intelligence seem to think having winter tires or four wheel drive allows them to drive on ice with impunity and they’re wrong. The largest number of vehicles I saw in the ditch on Sunday morning were four wheel drive trucks and SUVs. Be smart and realize when it’s icy you’re fucked.

Deep snow is another problem around these parts. Luckily snow is a place where winter tires and four wheel drive do give you advantages, they increase your traction. This does not mean you can drive a normal highway speeds through so don’t be that guy.

Eventually the mercury will start dropping fast and your survivability will decrease on the same scale. You should have a winter survival kit in your vehicle that consists of (at the very least) extra cloths (warm winter cloths, not t-shirts), cold weather sleeping bags, a fully charged jump pack (because jumper cables require another vehicle), and a shovel (I have an entrenching tool which is both compact and a good shovel). It is also wise to ensure you fuel tank is always at least half full.

Basically don’t be that poor schmuck who gets into a ditch in the middle of nowhere with the only cold weather gear at hand being the overly light coat that he’s wearing.

Everything You Need to Know About the Recent TSA Fiasco

With all the shit flying about the recent TSA molestation of airliner customers it’s become very difficult to keep up with events as they unfold. Thankfully Bruce Schneier has a really good summary covering pretty much everything. Read it.

Secretary of Transportation Looking to Require Cell Phone Jammers in Automobiles

Once before I’ve mentioned Ray LaHood on this site. LaHood is the Secretary of Transportation and is on a crusade to abolish all use of cellular phone technology in automobiles. To further this crusade he’s made mention of requiring automobile manufactures to equipment their vehicles with cell phone jamming technology.

LaHood seems to believe that cell phone use has cause a dramatic increase in automobile accidents over the years which I’ve previously research and found not to be the case. The only thing LaHood is chasing is a red herring. Automobile accidents have actually been on a slight decline since cell phone technology has become more popular which leads me to believe cell phone usage has had no negative impact on the rate of automobile accidents. I’m still of the theory that shitty drivers are shitty drivers no matter what laws and regulations you put into place. Yes you can jam a cell phone but you can’t stop people from reading a book, doing their make up, eating, or any thing else from a long list of potential distractions.

I wonder if LaHood has any investments in a company that produces cell phone jamming technology or if he’s simply a fucking moron.

Ron Paul Does it Again

Even if you don’t agree with Ron Paul’s stances you have to admit he’s consistent. Yesterday he introduced legislation to deal with the issue of TSA and their groping of anybody and everybody who comes through the airport. His speech was pretty good to boot:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-N5adYM7Kw]

Here is the statement from his website. The actual text of the bill hasn’t been posted online anywhere that I can see yet so I’ll reserve ultimate judgment for later. I will say through that I’m optimistic considering Dr. Paul’s track record.

At My Wit’s End with Android

It’s not secret to anybody reading this blog that I’ve developed quite the love/hate relationship with Android. On one hand I love many of the capabilities of Android but on the other hand it’s been plagued with bugs to the point of unusability in some cases. Well I just ran into another problem that’s really set me off, the Android Market appears to have lost all record of my purchased applications.

I went to apply a couple of updates a few days ago and noticed two applications wouldn’t update. I thought that was odd so went into the Market to do a manual update and noticed when I tapped the update button I was sent to the purchase page. The Market wanted me to purchase my application again. This seemed really odd so I logged into my Google checkout account and went through my purchased application history and found that everything was still in order that.

Obviously I needed to contact Google… which is impossible. Seriously, there is no technical support number for Google anywhere. Their support forums have left me with no answer but the knowledge other people have had variations of this problem without any reliable method of resolving it. Some people broke down and just repuchased the applications in essence paying for them twice. Nothing pisses me off more than getting ripped off and buying an application twice constitutes are rip off.

Basically I now have a portfolio of purchased applications that I can no longer use. Technical support is non-existent and frankly I’m pissed off. I wonder if Google actually has an competent people working on their Android platform or if they just toss shit at the wall and see what sticks.