The stupidity is back in full force

Thats right the stupidity has come back to my life in full force and it happened around 4:00 in the am on thursday March 24th when Big D almost had his life ended by my hand. For some reason he decided that he need to come back to Columbus a few days early I don't know why he has no job, no life, and no real friends outside of Kim, Jo, James, and I and there are still his friends back home. So any way I am in my basement putzing around on the computer and I hear a god awful racket that sounds like my front dor being kicked in. So I grabbed my .45 and quickly worked the slide and grabbed my spare magazine and work my way slowly up the stairs because what or whoever had just come in my door was between Kim and I and that was something I could not allow. I get up the steps and peer around the corner and see a form moving around in the dark and it is a big guy so i step around the corner and am about to yell I have a firearm leave now and just as I am bringing my gun to bear he turns on the lights and it is Big D. He still hasn't noticed me so I quickly safed my weapon and stuffed in into my belt at my back, the last thing I needed was to have the neighbors hear his high pitched feminine scream when he saw me. So I greeted him and told him that he should call ahead and tell us if he is planning on coming home at 4:00 in the morning and walked to the basement thinkiong to my self only 5 more months or so and hes gone.

Absence of stupidity leaves nothing to report.

Well I have been away from school for two weeks or so now and Big D is gone for a week as well, and my life is peacefull (aside from the cat escaping for a few days). This week is when I made a somewhat disturbing discovery, unless I am around liberal idiots at school, who instead of having an opinion of their own or really look into the issues they just jump on the band wagon and bash Bush, or if Big D is around to annoy me with his OCD or Star Trek obsession I have nothing to imflame me enough to blog. School resumes on Monday and Big D will be back all to soon so regular blogging will begin shortly.

Not much to report

Sorry all no new ammusing anecdotes or anything else really just living in the here and now I guess so good spring break to all of you and Mike I am coming home this saturday and will be in town till monday so lets try to hook up for a while.

My beef with the M-1911 and concealed carry

I'll admit it I don't have any desire to carry a M-1911 from any manufacturer. There are too many issues that I personally have with this particular gun. The first issue is a matter of weight, the standard weight of a 1911 is 38 ounces unloaded on average. This weighs in about 15 ounces more than the firearm I carry the Taurus PT-145, also a .45 caliber pistol http://www.taurususa.com/products/product-details.cfm?model=145SSP&category=Pistol . Anyone who has ever carried concealed can vouch for me that weight is a serious issue to consider when you are going to be lugging a firearm around tucked in the waistband of your pants. The next issue is one of cost. A M-1911 is going to cost you at least 500 USD and this price is just for the fire arm not for the ad ons you will need later if you are truly concerned with self defense here is the link to Springfield Armory and their M1911 section http://www.springfield-armory.com/prod-pstl-1911-GI.shtml. The Taurus will cost you roughly the same amount but the Taurus comes ready out of the box to do one very important thing Feed Defensive Ammo. Most 1911s do not come this way they have a shortened feed ramp probably due to copying the original design by Browning, or the fact that in all of the years that the Unted States used this model as its military issue side arm(Military weapons can not use defensive ammunition because it would be considered a war crime under the Geneva convention). There are some companies like Kimber that have 1911s that feed hollow points and the like out of the box, but it is far from the norm and you will have to spend around 500 USD more to have a gunsmith make it feed defensive ammo. Size is another issue with the gun the M1911 is a large frame revolver and the fact of the matter is it is very hard to conceal large guns especially is you are not a large person or not in the habit of wearing a jacket of some sort everywhere you go. For all of the size the M1911 only gives you 7+1 rounds my Taurus is a 10+1 and about half the size. My last issue with the M1911 is its cocked and locked safety. I have never liked and probably will never like this type of safety, the fact of the matter is that this safety just isn't as safe as others no safety is 100% reliable. When I have the Taurus loaded with one in the pipe it is every bit as safe as the M1911 because of a firing pin block safety. Unless that trigger gets pulled all the way back it is not firing and it has a very long trigger pull, basically until the trigger is touching the frame, it also features a manual safety lever if you should choose to use it but in the heat of an attack it is just one more thing you have to remember before you are ready to fire. Having said all of these negative things about the M1911 I would like to point out that my dislike for them comes from my concern with self defense. They are just not a practical for carring concealed.

Smells like grape nuts

Hi all I would just like to announce that my buddy Shane and I just started brewing our own beer and the one observation that i have to the whole process is that the cooking ingrediants smell like grape nuts you know the cereal that looks like kitty litter. Anyway I hope this is a succes but I won't be drinking any from the first batch until my health insurance kicks in in a few weeks. Well wish us luck

Why Dogs are better than cats

I always hear cat people talk about how great their cats are and how they are better than dogs. They say that cats are such clean animals and so self sufficient, they will sing the praises of these cats day and night. These people are often unable to see the value of a dog so I just tell them that they are right cats are great pets, and I really mean it. Cats are wonderful pets; but dogs are more than pets to me they are companions and friends let me tell you why. In all the time Kim and I have had our 3 cats they have been decent pets for as long as they lasted. (Our first died mysteriously in her apt one day, the second ran away when Kim's friend was checking on him while we were away for a week, and the one that is currently residing with us.) But they are just pets to me no better then hamsters who have been held enough so they are used to people and accept your petting from time to time. The dogs I have owned however were different. The first dog my family ever had was a Schnauzer/Scotty terrier mix named Beau he was about 5 years old when I was born and remember him from about the time he was 10 on and he formed my love for mans best friend although he was old and small he was very energetic until his last two years or so and he loved children so he was constantly around Josh and I growing up and would even put his 20 lb body between us and anything he perceived as a threat. I have never had a cat do this for me. Sadly after he lived to the ripe old age of 16 he passed away and it was 3 or 4 years until we could talk my parents into letting us get another dog. Our beagle named Flash. This was right at the time when a young man is a well of conflicted emotions and often I was angry at the world; my brother would constantly attack me verbally and on occasion physically at home; and at school I had a hard time fitting in because I refused to conform to what the cool thing to do was or dress a certain way and when all else failed there was one thing that would always brighten my day and that was walking home from school and seeing a set of ridiculously floppy ears and a white tipped tail moving so fast that it was nothing but a blur ready to greet me at the gate to our yard. This little hound never failed to brighten my mood because for a few minutes at least there was one thing in the world happy to see me and wasn't afraid to let me know it. It was these little moments of happiness that got me through a lot of tough times and a chapter of my life when it seemed I had hit rock bottom without the aid of a substance abuse. So as time progressed things got better and I moved off away from my little friend and started a new life at college. Well college can be a trying experience as well but a lot of places won't let you keep animals if you are a renter and truthfully I didn't have the time to dedicate to training a puppy or giving it the attention that it needs and deserves. Then one day Lucille walked into my life. Lucille was a stray I found behind my house in the campus area, she was emaciated and distrustful of everything. I remembered how much a dog had helped me so I saw the opportunity to return the favor for another animal. I quickly went into my kitchen and grabbed a few slices of ham and a 5 foot rope from a drawer and went back out and approached her slowly and speaking softly and dropped a piece of ham in front of her. She scarffed it down so quickly I had to make sure I actually threw it to her. The next piece I laid down a little closer to me and let her come to me by the third piece of ham she was my new best friend. My initial plan had been to take her to the Humane Society. But there was a problem she was at least half Pit Bull and no shelters will take them for more then three days before putting them down because she was of a dangerous breed. I could not allow that to happen here was an animal who had been abused neglected and turned loose to fend for itself and the Humane society an organization that is dedicated to helping animals wanted to kill her. So I decided to keep her until I could find a good home for her. About two weeks into the search I was involved in an accident and was laid up for several weeks unable to move very much or far or often. I spent my time between my house and Kim's (her house had less steps and she was taking care of me) All of the time I spent on the couch in my house Lucille spent it right next to me, the cat hardly gave me a second glance at Kim's. This dog that was supposed to be a dangerous breed and couldn't be trusted was acting like a nurse maid. She wouldn't eat unless I was in the room where she knew I was safe and she wouldn't even answer nature's call unless I was nearby and this resulted in a few messes believe you me. But I Cleaned them up with no complaint. She like Flash had transcended the place of a pet she was a companion as valuable as any of my human friends to me. The day finally came when I found a suitable home for her with another dog her age and several acres of land she could have to roam and play at her will and as much as it broke my heart to let her go I did because I knew it was what was best for her. Now I am back to having just the cat and Big D for pets. I still miss Lucille and I know that no cat could come close to becoming the companion she was there is something missing in my life, but I have a hope now, my 23rd birthday present from Kim was a promise that I can have another dog soon and a puppy at that. Her aunt breeds labs and has told us we can have one any time they have a litter and I haven't been this excited in a long time Because while I know that this puppy won't be able to replace Beau, Flash, or Lucille it will be a new companion in my life and one that I will be able to enjoy the company of for years to come no matter where my life takes me after graduation and on the job hunting trail.

Bush is a Fascist

That got your attention didn't it? Well that is something I hear on a regular basis either from the left leaning people at work or the extremely left people who attend the same college that I do. Now I understand that there is a certain amount of disappointment that people feel when something they support loses be it their favorite sports team, or the person they chose to vote for. I also understand that there is some residual hostility towards the one that bested your horse and I will go ahead and say it FUCK THE YANKEES but when I hear people saying President Bush is a fascist and that the country is so screwed because people were too stupid and voted for Bush I have a few reactions to this first of all they are right the Majority of the American people chose Bush in an election, last time I checked free elections weren't one of the key features of a fascist regime. And secondly if this were truly a fascist regime then every time someone spoke ill of Republicans or president Bush they would be labeled detractors and summarily jailed and most likely executed. Obviously the people making the Bush is a fascist statements wouldn't recognize real fascism if it goose stepped up to them and kicked them in the face. In closing all of you who threatened to move to Canada if Bush got re-elected I haven't noticed a large drop in the population around me, and I live in one of the counties that voted most strongly for Kerry in my State, I know why you didn't make good on your threats, there are two reasons, the first being that you realize that you get another chance for your party to try in another four years and from the buzz I have heard Hillary in 08 has a lot of support already. The second being you realize how great you have it here in the United States and you are really just bitter about your defeat. So I say this to every one angry about the election results because I am tired of hearing about it, My condolences to you and your party better luck in 08 and shut up already you lost it is over and time will heal all wounds. Oh yeah one more time FUCK THE YANKEES!

Too sick to blog

sorry got the flu took nyquil sleep now

Too sick to blog

Sorry all but the flu hit me like a freight train so I am about to wash down a couple Nyquil liquicaps with a Labatt and call it a night I will try to give you something tommorow......

Do straight men own hair dryers and watch Lifetime?

Those of us who know big D know that he is eccentric to work it nicely and during high school we often wondered wether or not he wa a homosexual. I am no expert on the subject of homosexuality and I have heard of well groomed men being called metrosexuals, but i have trouble attaching that title to Big D. First of all he is not really all that well groomed, despite the fact that he spends more time working with his hair then I spend on showereing, shaving and looking for cloths to wear. He is constantly walking about art and how the color scheme of our hand-me-down furniture just doesn't work ect... He is always quick to tell Kim that she is doing something wrong in the kitchen if she isn't doing it his way (a source of constant frustration to her). And just today I walked in the living room to find the T.V. tuned to the Lifetime channel. When I changed it he came back in the room and told me he was watching that so I gave up the remote and returned to the basement and see if any one can answer the question: Do straight men own hair dryers and watch Lifetime?

PA-63 9x18 Makarov Review

The 9x18 Makarov is a good reliable gun for a shooter on a budget who's main concern is self defense. The Makarov is a relatively inexpensive fire arm, I paid about 175 USD for mine about a year ago and in the time that I owned it I never had a single problem when it came to feeding ammunition, jams or break downs of any sort. The particular model I had was the PA-63 of Hungarian make. http://www.hellinahandbasket.net/archives/000852.html This is a picture of that style it is very similar in looks and design to the Walther PPK featuring a drop safety and and double/ single action trigger pull and is a very small framed pistol ideal for concealment. It also features relatively easy break down and cleaning, there is only the slide, one recoil spring and the barrel is attached to the frame. The praises of the model being said, there are a few drawbacks to this model the first being size. I have relatively large hands and it was impossible for me to get a comfortable grip on the gun and avoid having the the top of my hand sliced open by the slide. The second draw back was magazine capacity and availability. This Model could only carry seven rounds in the magazine and extra magazines are particularly hard to find for the PA-63 so if you are interested in having a lot of extra rounds ready expect to pay around 60 USD per magazine. The magazines also did not have a very forceful release instead of dropping completely free of the gun they require your spare hand to remove, the extra time you have to take for this could mean life or death in a tight situation. Another draw back is availability of defensive ammunition, while it is findable on the internet I would avoid buying the Silver Bear brand JHP and don't expect the local gun store to have any defensive ammo in stock. Lastly is the fact that like all makarovs it functions on the Blowback Breach principal, this conjoined with the fact that it is a small light gun makes it very brutal on the shooters hand so practicing is likely to be a painful endevor. All in all I would recomend the PA-63 to an experianced shooter with small hands that is looking for a small easily concealable pistol and is looking for something stronger than a .25 or.380

The NRA and Colt

The Basics of Pistol Shooting this is an NRA publication that I had to buy for my Air pistol class and I noticed one inaccuracy in the book that got me wondering just how much money Colt gives the NRA on a yearly basis. In the glossary of terms they define ACP as Auto Colt Pistol. The only problem with this is the first ACP round was the .32 ACP developed for Fabrique Nationale a Pistol Company from Belgium. It was first produced in 1899. 3 years before the .25 ACP the first ACP cartridge for Colt, and 6 years before the popular .45 ACP round was developed by Colt. The more accurate translation for ACP is actually Automatic Cartridge, Pistol. But I have heard the Auto Colt Pistol for the majority of the time I have been shooting. So this got me wondering did Colt Trademark or copywrite ACP to mean this or did they just start this in order to market their products better, and if so how much money do they donate to the NRA a year in order to keep them using an incorrect term? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Police and use of force.

My friend and shooting mentor James http://www.hellinahandbasket.net/ posted about the tools that police forces have adopted over the years MACE, Batons, stunguns/ tasers ect. To sum up his post he talked about the fact that many of these innovations have come as a result of lawsuits of people claiming excessive force that resulted in the death of someone while in police custody. I have just a few thoughts on this matter. The first being the fact that a police officers job is to protect the public from those that would do innocent civilians harm for whatever reasons criminals commit crimes. This puts police officers in a situation where they are dealing with the worst elements of society on a regular basis and they need tools to defend themselves from the people would would hurt them and us. A little ground work for the rest of my rant. We live in a society of laws, by living in this society we agree to play by the rules. If we don't play by these rules and start doing what we please the society breaks down in to anarchy and not the kind that Greek philosophers dreamed of. So we bring in a group of people who will protect us by enforcing these laws we agreed to live by enter judges, lawyers, legislators, and Law enforcement officers. The law enforcement officers have to have tools in order to fulfill their duties if criminals have guns the officer needs a gun as well. Now not every criminal has a gun and since we are not living in Mega City the officer is not Judge Dredd, so officers need intermediary weapons, enter the baton. The baton is a useful tool and all new officers are trained in proper use and have diagrams that show different zones in a color coding red being areas that a baton strike could cause serious or lethal injury like the head or joints. Officers are not allowed to strike in the red zones unless their life or the life of another is in danger. A well placed strike to the nerve group just above the knee on the outside of the leg will cause both legs to temporarily collapse it is a sympathetic reaction, I have had this demonstrated on myself and can tell you that full use of my legs returned in around 30 seconds more than enough time for an officer to have the suspect on the ground and hand cuffed. So what if the baton can not be deployed quickly enough or the suspect is wrestling with another officer or civilian and there is no clean strike? This is where Mace or a Taser comes into play. Most major urban police departments have both these days. The department I know best uses a a mace that has a combination of OC and CS. Every officer on the Department has been through what is known as sympathy training they get maced by their instructor to let them know what it feels like so they can use good judgment when employing their mace on others. Fatalities from the mace are rare but not unheard of, the most common source of these deaths is from the combinations sprays, because they contain both upper and lower respiratory irritants, which can lead to suffocation if the suspect is left with out medical attention for too long. It is also conceivable that a person could have an allergic reaction to the ingredients in the mace. This leads me into Tasers; this nifty little invention shoots two metal hooks into the target, with the normal effective range being between 15 and 30 feet, the taser then gives a debilitating shock to the target for either a preset amount of time like 5 seconds or for as long as the Officer holds the trigger. However aside from some muscle pain after the shock is over the target is able to move normally again until they receive another shock. Death can occur with these Taser due to rare circumstances in which the suspects heart stops due to the shock. These deaths are very rare. Big D once went on a rant about how he thought that tasers were too dangerous and that they should not have been issued to the local Police Department. However when I asked him if he would rather be shot by the .45 that the police carry he said no. Which gets me to my final point. The members of the law enforcement community are trying to preserve life that is why they have employed these intermediary weapons but still accidental deaths do occur. There is a very simple solution to these deaths though DON'T BREAK THE LAW AND PUT YOURSELF IN A SITUATION WHERE AN OFFICER HAS TO USE ANY FORM OF FORCE. I know that this will never happen though I guess I just dream too much of an ideal society. I am going to get off of my soap box now and go to bed sorry to rant at you for so long.

Great quote from a friend.....

Mallrats Fan: I learned not to expect much a long time ago

Air pistols sweet victory and bitter defeat...

For those of you who know me, you know that I love shooting as a sport and for the purpose of home and self defense. Fortunately this quarter at school I was able to combine my love of shooting with the need to fill credit hours in order to keep my financial aid and enroll in International Air Pistol for an easy P.E. credit. Pro's free range time, finally a conservative place for me to hide from the left wing nuts that are overabundance on the campus. Con's the only thing we are allowed to shoot is very old very crappy air pistols that couldn't hit the same spot twice if the were clamped in a vice, and several people belonging to the .45 Mafia. (I myself have a .45 auto, but I at least acknowledge the fact that there are other cartridges that are every bit as effective and some even have advantages over the old .45 ACP. My purchase was based on the comfort of the gun in my hand. )
Anyway one of my classmates is the Captain of the University's pistol team, and he gets to use the nice fancy air pistol that he was provided for being on the team. If I am not mistaken it is an Aeron B99-AIR http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/model.pl?model_id=594 this pistol goes for about 700 USD. The rest of us commoners have to use something similar to this http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/model.pl?model_id=308 these go for about 150 USD except the ones we use are about 20 years old. But I digress about the second week of actual shooting the Team Captain is shooting with his fancy air pistol out of the bench rest position and I was using an old daisy shooting with my weakest position the one handed right next to him. He had been talking up his skills to the relatively attractive young lady on his right when I pulled my target back in. It was a fairly decent score 40 I believe so I am looking it over when he pulls his in and he sees that I had bested him by approximately 10 points, here is the kicker I only found 4 holes in my paper as opposed to his 5 so I either lost count of my shots or more likely just missed entirely with my 5th round. He realized this too but more bruising to his ego was the fact that the young lady next to him and the gentleman (and ROTC buddy of his who proceded to give him &*$# for it) that I was sharing my pistol with did as well. He did not react well at all, he made all sorts of excuses for this attributing my score to dumb luck and stating the nicotine from his Skoal made him shaky. I am not going to rule out dumb luck, I'll even admit that it probably was, but I couldn't help myself I had to rub a little salt in the wound, so I told him that I really didn't care about target shooting for score my only purpose there was to improve my chances of hitting an attacker if I were ever in a situation where I had defend myself or another with a gun. For some reason my humble act got him even madder about his score then. Since this incident I have noticed two things one being that he never shoots next to me anymore, if at all, during class and secondly other students have come to me on occasion to help them with thier own shooting issues.

Lost in my own kitchen

Over 7 months ago I Moved into a townhouse with my Fiance and another roommate. And in writing this first post I came to the conclusion that in order to make it though class in an hour I would need some coffee. Now for a little usefull info to you who don't know me I work a thankless public safety job that has me on the streets until 4:00 am most nights so this is the first time I have actually made coffee for myself in this apt in about 4 months, it is either free at work or my roommate Big D has a pot on the warmer at all times. Also important Big D has this problem where he is constantly rearranging things to be more efficient. So the coffee, filters, and sugar have all moved since I last used them the only thing in the same spot was the coffee pot. Long story short I only found two of the three components, both of which were in opposite sides of the kitchen, that I was looking for and had to settle for putting what I pray was brown sugar in my coffee.

Sorry long introduction to a short gripe about the stupidity of people. Big D will remain anonymous because one day he may eventually find this blog and given his capacity to piss me off he will more than likely be a common target for my rantings. But unfortunately class is soon and if I am ever going to fully understand both sides of the conversation in the movie ZULU I must go attend my Zulu 102 class at The Ohio State University (Easiest way to fulfill my language requirement and final graduate).