The Christian response, to Christian gun control advocates

Luke 22:36

"Then said he unto them, but now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."

The Creepy-ass Obama Worship Breakdown

I was going to say something funny about Roman Polanski...

...But then I remembered that there is nothing funny about a 44 year old man drugging and anally raping a 13 year old girl; and I thought better of it.

NCIS Los Angeles

So far. the pilot (which was shown last season) pretty good.

The first episode (from tonight), really, really, really bad...

Also VERY different from the pilot in general, and from NCIS; which is at least in part, why it's really, really, really bad.

Lesseee...

The characters in the pilot: Interesting, great potential.

The character in the first episode: Completely different, one dimensional, ridiculous, just very very bad.


The writing in the pilot: Intriguing, and challenging. Like NCIS, but with a twist.

The writing in the first episode: Ever see the Vin Diesel movie "A Man Apart"? Yeah, it was better than this. So was the '84-'85 season of Saturday Night Live.

At least they avoided the CSI:Miami style pseudo science glitz they were playing with in the pilot.

...Although, seriously, Linda hunt? I mean, I love the woman. She's a great actress, and always interesting to watch... but what the hell is she doing in a show about naval criminal investigations?

I'mna give it a couple more weeks, see if it gets any better. I'm not hopeful.

Sadly...

It seems that this isn't a political posture; they seem to actually believe it:



More fools they.

A Voice Made For Radio

You might have noted that some folks in the gun community, and more broadly in the community of people online (and in person for that matter) are quiet polarizing.

Apparently, I'm one of them, lord knows why.

Another is a man I consider my good friend, and who I have missed terribly these past two years since I saw him last, or the nearly a year since he last wrote on his own site.

I'm speaking of course of Kim Du Toit.

I won't rehash all that has gone before. Dramatic writing, and stupid drama are behind us.

Something about Kim that people who only know him by his writing: All of his friends have been saying for years, that he has the kind of voice, both literally and rhetorically, made for radio.

Well, it seems that he's finally decided we were right. Kim and his beloved wife Connie have decided to start an internet radio show.

The Kim and Connie Show 1910 People in a 2010 World We chat about everyday life, especially politics and values. Our politics are strictly conservative, our social values very conservative, and our views on manners and morality carved-in-granite conservative. We are staunch believers in the U.S. Constitution, as written with its original intent. We are not: racists, homophobes, misogynists, religious intolerants, conspiracy theorists or any of that nonsense—although, in these oh-so politically-correct times, the Perpetually Sensitive may occasionally be mistaken for thinking so. We welcome callers to the show, with this request: please be polite and rational.

Live Internet Talk-Radio Schedule Broadcasting live every Every Saturday & Sunday beginning October 3, 2009: * 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Eastern) * 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm (Central) * 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm (Mount.) * 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Pacific) Click to listen/talk on BlogTalkRadio.com or... Not near a computer? Call in to listen or participate: 1 (347) 855-8684 (Toll charges may apply. Check with your local carrier for rates.)

Sample Show Show Listings

By the by, even if you disagree with Kim and Connie politicially (and god knows we have as many points of disagreement as agreement) they are hilariously funny people, and great conversationalists. This should be very fun.

I wish them the best of luck in this, and I know I plan on listening.

Ok, now THAT is a cause I can get behind

I normally don't join those facebook or other online "causes", but for this one, I make an exception:

Why this man is a Democrat, I'll never understand

American Ride - Toby Keith

Better than Jib-Jab, seriously.

TOBY KEITH - American Ride

Winter gettin' colder, summer gettin' warmer.
Tidal wave comin' cross the Mexican border.
Why buy a gallon, when its cheaper by the barrel.
Just don't be busted singin' Christmas carols.

That's us, That's right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin'.
Funny how the world keeps turnin'.
Look ma, no hands.
I love this American ride.
Gotta love this American ride.

Momma gets her rocks off watchin' Desperate Housewives.
Daddy works his can off payin' for the good life.
Kids on the YouTube learnin' how to be cool.
Livin' in a cruel world, pays to be a mean girl.

That's us, That's right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin'.
Funny how the world keeps turnin'.
Look ma, no hands.
I love this American ride.
Gotta love this American ride.

Poor little infamous America's town.
She gained five pounds and lost her crown.
Quick fix plastic surgical antidote.
Got herself a record deal, can't even sing a note.

Plasma gettin bigger, Jesus gettin smaller.
Spill a cup of coffee, make a million dollars.
Customs caught a thug with an aerosol can.
If the shoe don't fit, the fits gonna hit the shan.

That's us, That's right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin'.
Funny how the world keeps turnin'.
Hot dog, Hot damn.
I love this American ride.
Gotta love this American ride.
Oh yeah,
na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na........... nanannaaa

More of "My Life as Drawn by Scott Adams"

In a two day training session

Posting will obviously be light to non-existent.

At least it's an actual useful class; and hopefully the software we're being trained on will actually make out job easier and results better.

20 Years... Damn...

And still... perhaps more than ever... relevant today.

Last night Living Colour were on Jimmy Kimmel live plaing a cut from their new album.

As a special bonus, they also plaid their biggest his, "Cult of Personality"; which came out 20 years ago this past April.



After 26 years of making great music (the band were founded in 1983 - well... minus a 5 year break from '95 to 2000) it amazes me that Corey Glover and Vernon Reid are not household names.

Anthropogenic Global Warming is a Politically Motivated Scam

Which engenders an evil delusion in many of its adherents.

The result of this is hysteria, anti-scientific dogma and rhetoric, and witch hunt like behavior as related in the closing paragraphs of this tremendous blog post laying out the rationalist objection to the AGW premise:

There is another very serious unintended consequence that I would like to raise here; one that concerns me very deeply.

When I listen to the public AGW debate I hear very high profile politicians and prominent public figures calling for people who openly disagree with AGW to be put on trial for treason. I hear many cases of people losing their jobs because of voicing sceptical opinions. I hear prominent global warming advocates refusing to enter into debates or trying to avoid debates by claiming the science is settled, and by claiming we do not have time, we have only weeks to act. I hear AGW advocates resorting to personal attacks against people who disagree rather than addressing the technical issues they raise.

I hear AGW proponents claiming to be the under funded underdogs, fighting to protect the planet against greedy capitalists, yet the reality is their funding is at least 1000 times greater than the sceptics funding. I see many reports of scientists refusing to release their workings, thus preventing review of their methodology, despite the fact that their work was funded by public money.

I see how the established media abandons balance in reporting by strongly favouring proponents of AGW, ignoring or denigrating sceptics and forcing most onto blog sites like this one. I hear some environmental groups and activists publicly claim that its OK and even necessary to exaggerate the threat so as to get the public to engage. I see the courts condoning acts of vandalism and even violence against essential public infrastructure. I see high profile public figures supporting such acts and claiming them to be reasonable and justified.

In short I see our society abandoning some of our most vital democratic freedoms over this hysteria: Free speech, impartial enforcement of the law, balance in reporting, freedom of information. These are freedoms our forebears gave their lives to bequeath to us, they are our most valuable inheritance and we seem to be throwing them away over an unproven hysterical hypothesis.

More recently I have read articles from England advocating individual ration cards for petrol, heating oil, gas, electricity. Is water and food next? War time austerity as an ongoing future way of life? A return to the agrarian poverty of the middle ages? I note the new film “Not evil just wrong” has had to be distributed via the internet rather than traditional media. One step from distribution through an underground network? Will that apply to all future sceptical writing? What about other writing contrary to the popular opinion of the day?

These are the issues that differentiate between a free democracy and a totalitarian regime and the further one goes down this path the harder it is to pull back. History has shown us that the disease is far easier to acquire than to get rid of.

To those of you who still cling to the AGW scam, look at the behaviors and attitudes it has engendered, and ask yourself: If this was for a cause you didn't like or support, wouldn't you be condemning this behavior and denouncing it at?

The Problem With Cortisone Shots

Is that they wear off.

Venns a Bitch

Morons Make My Life More Difficult

Well, in general, they make everyones life more difficult, but I'm referring to something specific.

So, my ATV has had a fuel leak for a while; and I just managed to get the time today to get around to fixing it.

Or rather, them.

I got the tank off, filled it with water, and discovered five separate leaks.

Oh joy.

There was a leak at the petcock, and a leak under each mounting bracket; and I'm pretty sure I know why.

Whatever genius assembled this thing, used an impact wrench to do so. I know this, because it took an impact wrench to get the damn things off. Some of the threaded brass inserts were turning in their holes. One of them under each bracket, and the petcock also had cracks leading from them.

Remember, we're talking about steel bolts into rubber mounts, and brass inserts into plastic. you should NEVER use an impact wrench on these things... Or you get stripping and cracking.

Long term, it needs a new tank (about $80); but my friend Jim wants to go riding tomorrow, so I figured, might as well try and do a temp fix.

So what I did was I took a ballcutter on the dremel and I routed out all the cracks, and all around the brass thread inserts. Then I used plastic welding epoxy to fill in the troughs I made.

I waited till the epoxy cured, then I spread a flexible fuelproof sealer around the bosses and cracks, and used gorilla tape to make a soft adhesive gasket (with more sealer against the metal) under each of the brackets and the petcock.

I filled the nut bosses with the sealer, tightened them down, and then bedded the brackets in more sealer.

Theoretically, this stuff should be soft, goopy, and flexible enough, that the little hairline cracks (which are hopefully repaired with the epoxy anyway) wont leak even if they open up again.

Not so sure about that, but we'll see.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

On this day, in 1947, the United States Air force was chartered under the national security act:

• to preserve the peace and security, and provide for the defense, of the United States, the Territories, Commonwealths, and possessions, and any areas occupied by the United States;
  
  
• to support national policy;
  
  
• to implement national objectives;
  
  
• to overcome any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the United States.

In general the United States Air Force shall include aviation forces both combat and service not otherwise assigned. It shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The Air Force shall be responsible for the preparation of the air forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war except as otherwise assigned and, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of the peacetime components of the Air Force to meet the needs of war.

In the air, on the ground, and in space

NOTHING CAN STOP THE US AIR FORCE

Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun!
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one hell of a roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey!
Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force!

Minds of men fashioned a crate of thunder,
Sent it high into the blue;
Hands of men blasted the world asunder;
How they lived God only knew!
Souls of men dreaming of skies to conquer
Gave us wings, ever to soar!
With scouts before And bombers galore. Hey!
Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force!

Here's a toast to the host
Of those who love the vastness of the sky,
To a friend we send a message of his brother men who fly.
We drink to those who gave their all of old,
Then down we roar to score the rainbow's pot of gold.
A toast to the host of men we boast, the U.S. Air Force!

Off we go into the wild sky yonder,
Keep the wings level and true;
If you'd live to be a grey-haired wonder
Keep the nose out of the blue!
Flying men, guarding the nation's border,
We'll be there, followed by more!
In echelon we carry on. Hey!
Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force!

* I HATE the AIDS ribbon logo. What was wrong with the great seal logo above? Nothing. Another Merrill McPrick POS.

Yes I know, it didn't debut until 2000, but it was McPrick who started the whole modernization kick, and decided we needed a new one. It just took them 8 years to decide to replace the hap wings and the great seal. Idiots.

We Report, You Decide

Albino Gorilla...


Or Brian Dennehey after a bad night...

Hmmm... Interesting...

I wonder if this design will scale up well....

As it is, it's a bit small; though it seems a much better solution for a small multi-turbine array than most other small systems. Certainly much more efficient.

The list price for the "system" is $6k, but that includes interconnect, panel, inverter, wiring etc... which I wouldn't be using in my installation. All that would be handled at the central powerhouse, to match the solar, and backup generators into the battery bank, and grid tie.

According to Popular Mechanics, the turbine and mounting hardware only price, is $4500. That's something less than half what I was looking at for considerably larger conventional turbines of a similar capacity; and I'm guessing from the construction that they'll handle overspeed wind a lot better (no gear train to damage). Also, most conventional turbines have a startup speed of 6-9mph, and a cut off around 20-25mph of wind, this one has a 2mph startup, and cuts off at 42mph.

That's a hell of a lot more useful capacity on the average day. I just wish it was a bit higher capacity overall. In a class four wind region, more than 60% of the average day is spent at between 6 and 14mph windspeed; at which these turbines generate between 40 and 250 watts.

Even at 250 watts, that's only about 5% of our peak hour load (and a lot less than peak instantaneous, which may reach as high as 14kw when multiple AC units and refrigerators are kicking on). Of course we DO live in Arizona, in a poorly insulated house.

Long term, we're looking at living in a class 4 wind region (possibly a class 5 depending on the exact home site), and building towers above the treeline. Under those conditions, a turbine like that one would only realistically generate something like 2000-3000kwh per year; or an average of 160-240kwh per month (Honeywell says that in a class 3 zone it can do 2000kwh per year mounted on a house roof - about 75% less output than a class 4 above the treeline installation - so I figure my estimate is pretty realistic).

Although, we are looking at living in a net metering sellback region with a 100% tax credit after the federal 30% credit (capped at $20,000 total after federal). With that incentive program we could buy seven of them and the things could pay for themselves immediately; but it really would take something like seven of them, or more, to meet our power needs.

The average household in the U.S. currently consumes something like 12,000kwh per year; but about half that is the utilization of air conditioning in the sun belt states, or electric heat in the cold states. Outside the hot zone, and for households with gas or oil heat, the national average is more like 6000kwh.

Right now, living in Arizona, we use about three times the national average (or about six times the average someone in say, New Hampshire would use). We run from around 1500kwh in January to 5500kwh in August; and total around 35,000kwh per year, for which we pay almost $4000.

We once used 6500kwh in a single month (for which we were charged over $800), but that was with our pre-replacement 30 year old primary AC unit, plus a messed up air handler and heat exchanger, and running two large supplemental AC units 24x7 that entire month (not coincidentally, the month before the old unit died horribly).

We have what they call a "smart meter", which lets us see our spot utilization day by day, and hour by hour. Just for fun, we looked up how much power the house was using when we weren't even in it, for our vacation this past few weeks.

With us out of the house, the AC and all the lights and computers off, we used about 30kwh per day, just keeping the fridges and freezers cold etc...

Uhhh... that's almost the national average for people who are actually, you know, using their houses and AC and heat and computers and TVs etc... WTF?

For a little more masochistic fun with the smart meter, we averaged 50kwh per day in January, one of only two months this year when we didn't run the AC at all.

So... even on our best day, we're using about 1.5 times the national average juice, and about 3 times the average for a cold state; however, we are only using 20kwh more per day to run all our stuff than the house is using all by itself...

Ok that's screwed up right there.

Anyway, back to the cool stuff.

When we move, since we're planning on moving to a colder state, and not using electric heat; we expect to cut that excessive "3 times average" utilization down a lot, because of the dramatically reduced AC requirement. That still gives us a baseline of something like 12,000kwh per year however.

Any savings we make using hyperinsulation, and efficient lighting and appliances, we expect to more than offset with greater use of tools and power equipment (welders alone... oy).

Ideally, I'd like something that could generate more like 3 times that 2000-3000kwh per year, per turbine; and build an array of say, four of them, for total spot capacity, and for redundancy.

...But even as it is, with seven of them paid for entirely by tax credits (not including installation, and the towers of course) we could likely generate 14,000-21,000kwh per year...

That's pretty decent. Even when you account for losses in the storage battery system and inverters, that's probably most of the household power requirements at any given time (not include surge power when the welders are running, or the AC and fridges start up at the same time of course).

That would of course be in addition to solar, and micro-hydro if the property is capable of it; and back up diesel or propane generation for full capacity. Then of course there's all the storage batteries.... ooooh boy those are gonna cost.

Anyway, at that cost per turbine, if you've got enough land to set up six or seven of them (and we will) it's viable. Importantly, it's a LOT cheaper than an equivalent solar setup.

A solar system in the same region, with the same capacity, would cost about $120k. Of course you'd still get the 30% federal credit plus $20k from the state, for a $64k total cost to us, vs. a near zero cost to us (again, not including installation costs, just to keep it apples to apples).

Of course, as I said, we plan on having wind, solar, and generators (and would really love a property with micro-hydro capability) anyway. Ideally, we want to have a diversity of power sources, AND enough power even on cloudy days, or wind free days, to run whatever we need (again, short of the welders at full duty cycle etc...).

The great thing about combining wind and solar, is that when solar tends to be performing poorly, wind tends to be performing well; and vice verse.

Now if they would just get those cheap, relatively efficient, printable solar panels to market, we could do BOTH relatively cheaply.

Politicians, judges, and the rest of us caught in the middle

This past holiday weekend, one of my cousins was pulled over in a drunk driving checkpoint in Florida. Not being an idiot, he was of course sober; and there was no probable cause for pulling him over, questioning him, or performing a field sobriety test.

The courts, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that this is not a violation of ones fundamental rights.

They are wrong; but they have been so wrong, so often, that this is frankly unremarkable.

A discussion about his being stopped started on his wifes facebook page, as she vented her frustration at the unjust stupidity that is represented by checkpoints.

A friend of theirs who is a cop chimed in, and the discussion got interesting (the names have been modified to protect the guilty, spelling and netspeek have been corrected, and irrelevant comments to the core conversation have been snipped):

Cousins Wife: my poor baby got stuck in a dui check point on the way home from a long day at work! =( stupid cops!

Officer Tom: I hate those pigs...always ruining everyone's fun...

Cousins Wife: Well of course not you Officer Tom

Officer Tom: The cops don't set up roadblocks unless politicians tell them to by the way. Its all good, our roadblock didn't go through.

Minarchist Chris: Yep, it's more like "stupid, constitution abusing, nonrights respecting public servants with delusions of being public masters", not "stupid cops".

Officer Tom: You've had a bad experience with a cop or two so all of them must be assholes...brilliant!

Minarchist Chris: Actually no, I generally love cops. I'm Boston Irish, and I've got literally dozens of cops in my family. I'm also a former law enforcement trainer.

I wasn't talking about cops. better than 90% of all cops are genuinely driven by their desire to serve the public, or at worst are just doing their jobs.

I was speaking of the politicians, in uniform and out, who believe that they are a separate, privileged class, and that peoples rights don't count when it comes to their desires, their need for control, or their convenience.

Those, and the small percentage of cops who have a militant "the public is the enemy" mindset (unfortunately, in my experience that mindset is growing, and current training regimes and institutional culture are reinforcing it) who enable them to become oppressive so easily.

Officer Tom: My bad... I meant "right on!

(my aside: Cops are so unused to having non-cops on their side in this sort of argument that they often get reflexively defensive)

Minarchist Chris: It doesn't matter why you become a cop. If two years on nights (or a month of court duty) doesn't cure you of whatever idealism you had, there's something wrong with you.

What matters, is why you stay a cop...

There are three reasons to stay a cop; one good, one bad, and one indifferent:

1. The pay and benefits don't suck if you know how to work the system, and your department is good about overtime.
   
   That's the indifferent. Some days it's all that puts feet on the street though, and that's important.
   
   
2. You get great satisfaction in helping people who need help, and in doing bad things to bad guys.
   
   That's the good. The one that keeps you REALLY showing up, not just retiring in place.
   
   
3. You get off on exercising power over others, and the "perks" of the blue wall.
   
   That's the bad. That's how cops become criminals.

Every cop who stays a cop, has some measure of all three motivations in them. You need it to keep going, doing that hard a job, taking those risks. Otherwise, like I said, you quit, burn out, or you just retire in place and serve out your time until you get your pensions.

The problem is when they get out of balance, and when politicians take advantage of that imbalance to further pit the police and the non-sworn public against each other for their own benefit.

Meanwhile the judges stand by, effectively making and changing law as they see fit... how are cops, or everyone else for that matter supposed to keep up?

The answer of course is, they're not. That's the way "the system" works, or rather doesn't work. That way everyone is guilty, and everyone can be controlled (Ayn Rand had a point there).

The more cops are isolated, separated, and alienated from the non-sworn public; the easier it is for politicians to get them to enforce bad laws, which give the politicians (again, in uniform and out) greater power and control over EVERYONE.

Officer Tom: Damn... I hate cops too, I swear.

An Abomination Before God and Man...

... It's a frikken MetroSexual CANTEEN!

It's even got a frikken purse.

And it's $60, for JUST THE DAMN CANTEEN, never mind the $100 purse.

Yaknow how much a U.S. canteen costs? About $2 surplus at retail.

If you can stomach it, look at the user pictures. Ferchrissakes.