Monthly Archives: June 2013

Gun Stuff

Top Twelve in Ammunition Purchases

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I stole this list from Sipsey Street Irregulars. I’ve added some comments

1. .22 LR – developed 1887

2. .38 special – 1898

3. .357 magnum – 1934

4. .45 ACP – 1904

5. .45 Colt – 1872

6. . 223 / 5.56 Nato – 1964

7. .30-.30 – 1895

8. .30-.06 – 1906

9. 7.62 x 39 – 1943

10. .308 / 7.62 Nato – 1952

11. 20 gauge shotgun – c. 1870??

12. 12 gauge shotgun – c. 1870??

It is interesting to note that four cartridges on the list are less than a century old.

Second, since 9mm (designed in 1901) isn’t on the list, I doubt the veracity of the entire list.

Third, I firmly believe that military calibers, i.e., 762×39, 7.62×51, 5.56, would be at the top of the list if we went strictly by numbers of rounds sold. The newest of those is a mere half-century old.

I’ve followed the shooting world, rifle mostly, since I was a kid and I am always amused by the roll-out of new cartridges like for instance the WSM (Winchester Short Magnum) series. Marketing is all it is. Not much is new under the sun.

The Name Game

The name Game #328

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Eighty by eight this morning, headed for only the low nineties.  Humidity is 63%.  Nothing much more to say.  We’ve had a bit of slightly elevated temperatures.  Yesterday topped out at ninety-nine.  A bunch of heat records were broken in Texas yesterday.

I opened the paper this morning and found the birth announcements, thirty-eight from between June 7 and June 24.  Eighteen are to unwed mommies, and three of the mommies don’t have a solid lead on a name for a baby daddy.

Let’s just take the plunge together, shall we?

Apparently being fans of anime’, Kade & Sarah J. do a daughter as Saylor Grace.

Miss Kittie M. does up twins, a boy, Jaxon Douglass-Caine and a daughter, Gemma Nicole.

Johnathan S. & Kelly b. apostorophize a daughter, little Brielle Me’Khayla.

Patrick & LaTasha(!) S. wander through the alphabet and tag their daughter with Lamorii Daniese.

Justin B. & Amber S. triple up on their son, little Javon Kyle Michael.

Rayburn C. & Tracey D hearken to waking up in the Walmart parking lot after a night of meth, so their daughter is Crystal Dawn.

Braylon(!) & Jasmine H. heard a word in a church once so they used it on their son, little Zion LaTrez.  That second name?  Made that puppy up on the spot!

Eric ‘n’ Mandy M. name their daughter after a textile pattern, so she’s Paisley Marie.  Wonder if there’s gonna be a son, Plaid Harry?

Miss Christy E. does a daughter all by herself and tags the kid with Areli Laney.  “Momma, I gonna have a baby an’ I don’t know who de daddy be.”  “Areli?!?”

Another triple hits the books as Jesse P. & Kara B. roll out a son, Colton Ray Benny.

Charles S. & Sharee A.  present their son, little Chase Ja’Michael.  The apostrophe lends a certain air of sophistication, don’tcha think?  I know that I, for one, am impressed.

Since the apostrophe is a known method for lending that sense that parents are persons of elevated taste, Arnold L. & Desirae C. Use one too, giving us their daughter, Nia La’Shelle.

Ivy G. & Courtney C. do a son up as Xander Brent, because ‘Alexander’ is just, yaknow, like, just COMMON!

And that’s a good place to stop.  In the half hour that it took to put this post together, the temperature has climbed two degrees.  Have a good week!

History

Today in History – June 30

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1520 – The Spaniards are expelled from Tenochtitlan. White European interlopers were trying to interfere in the indigenous peoples’ quaint custom of splitting open the chests of living victims and waving the still-beating hearts to heathen gods. I find it curious that “Aztlan” proponents affect the trappings of this same ethos today.

1886 – The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal. It arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4. People get off the train, look around, and say “Dammit! STILL in Canada!”

1908 – The Tunguska Event occurs in Siberia. We still aren’t sure what it was, but it was definitely an event.

1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place. People with opposing viewpoints died, just like Vince Foster.

1950 – I was born.

1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan, is bought by a newly-divorced bald guy who badly needs to compensate for something.

1960 – Congo gains independence from Belgium. Freed of the interference of the white European interlopers and fueled by its rich natural resources, tribal harmony is restored and the region becomes a beacon of peace and tranquility known for its fairness and cultural richness. Right?!?!?

1966 – The National Association of Gals (NAG) National Organization for Women (NOW), the United States’ largest feminist organization, is founded.

1971 – Ohio ratifies the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, lowering the voting age to 18, thereby putting the amendment into effect. “Dude, I’m, like, votin’ fer him ‘cuz he’s, like, all cool, ‘cuz I seen him on MTV.”

1990 – East Germany and West Germany merge their economies. As in “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down THIS wall!”

Current events - state & local

See something, say something…

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So we can go bat-shit crazy. Over a chess set.

scaryoldbomb

MANDEVILLE, LA (WGNO) – Mandeville police spend Saturday afternoon investigating a suspicious package that was found at the front door of a home on Devon Drive. According to Chief Rick Richard, a former IRS employee lives in the home.

The roads around the home were blocked by police. Some neighbors closest to the scene were told to leave their homes. Others were asked to stay indoors while Mandeville’s bomb squad investigated.

According to police, an initial x-ray of the box revealed, what appeared to be, all the elements needed for a pipe bomb. They used a robot to blast the box with a water cannon.

Once investigators could get a close look at the box, they found out it was a chess set. They say the intricate pieces looked just like parts found in pipe bombs.

Around 5:00, the streets were cleared and people were allowed to resume their Saturday plans.

I’m indeed fortunate that my UPS and FedEx boxes haven’t been spotted. I’ve received stuff a lot scarier than a chess set lately.

Domestic Bliss, Music

A Little Advice

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In an effort to continue to foster happiness, domestic bliss and harmonious interpersonal relationships with your partner, let me recommend that you do NOT listen to this song, look at your lady, and grin:

And no, I run counter the advice in this song myself. Sweetie KNOWS she floats my boat.

History

Today in History – June 29

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1613 – The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII and ignited the theatre’s roof. Sure! Blame the pyro guy. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale. Yeah, in its day, Shakespeare was “must-see TV”, the entertainment of the masses.

1922 – France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge “freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes”. Can you imagine how much foreign blood has been spilled in France over that last hundred years just so they don’t have to speak German?

1956 – The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.

2007 – Apple Inc. releases their first mobile phone, the iPhone.

Current events - national

Dear Paula, tell ’em to go to hell!

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I am, I found out, a contemporary of Paula Deen, ex Food Network star. I admit to watching Food Network from time to time and I’ve even caught her show a time or two. I tend to strike out on my own for recipes, so I don’t watch for recipes, and if I watched more than a couple of episodes, I’d be surprised.

Paula’s not on the Food Network any more. Nor is her product line going to be sold at that bastion of Americana, Wal-Mart.

You see, Paula, like me, a child of the 1950’s South, used the ‘N-word’. “Nigger”. If you’re a rapper or a black comedian, you’re allowed. Right now. Today. You can storm around the stage spouting vulgarities by the bucketful and say ‘nigger’ or ‘niggah’ and it’s fine with everybody.

But if you’re a sixty-odd year old white person… Nuh-uh!

I was raised in the days when there were three bathrooms at upscale establishments in the South: Men, Women and ‘Colored’. My pediatrician had two waiting rooms at his doctor’s office, one for white folk, one for colored. I personally SAW the water cooler for white people and around the side of the gas station, the water fountain, uncooled, for colored people. People talk about segregation. I was raised in it.

The vocabulary was a lot different then, too, and ‘people of color’ were also colored folks or black or ‘nigra’ or Negro. Also coon, jigaboo, blue-gum, a long list of other names, and yes, ‘nigger’.

Those names are seldom-used any more among the circles in which I exist. They’re anachronisms, hearkening to times long gone.

Did I use them when I was young? Yes. Likely that if Mom or Dad heard me, I got rebuked, too.

That was decades ago.

I cannot take back what the world was when I was young, nor can I erase my own past. And if you have to look at those details long receded into the mists of time and tell me that I must give up what I am today? How many of you out there would survive that scrutiny?

And if you tried, I would grimly tell you to go to hell and then I would get on with my life.

Paula should do the same.

History

Today in History – June 28

1894 – Labor Day becomes an official US holiday. Naturally we celebrate “labor” by taking the day off.

1902 – The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal, enabling Jimmy “I never met a murdering dictator I didn’t like” Carter could give it away later.

1914 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I.

1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending World War I between Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, the United States and allies on the one side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other side. The terms of the document, mainly due to French demands, place such an onerous burden on German that the foundations of WW II are laid. Twenty-one years later Hitler “let” France sign the surrender to Germany. In the delicate terms of international diplomacy, this is called “rubbing their noses in it.”

1950 – Seoul is captured by troops from North Korea. North Korean Army conducted Seoul National University Hospital Massacre, murdering 900 including doctors, nurses and patients.

1965 – First US ground combat forces in Vietnam authorized by President Johnson . Ain’t nothing like a dimmocrat president playing with the military… MC note: “Wow, man… like deja vu…”

History

Today in History – June 27

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1898 – The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia, in his 36+ foot converted oyster sloop, Spray, thereby feeding the dreams of sailors and wanna-be sailors ever after…

1905 – (June 14 according to the Julian calendar): Battleship Potemkin uprising: sailors start a mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war. “an end to war”? You’re serving on a BATTLESHIP. What do you think it’s for? Fishing?

1915 – Temperatures of 100 degrees F (38C) recorded at Fort Yukon, Alaska, a state record. Da*n those SUV’s!

1923 – Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane.

1941 – Romanian governmental forces, allies of Nazi Germany, launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Ia?i, (Romania), resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews. Like Obama’s IRS, they didn’t need specific orders. They knew what the boss wanted without him having to tell them.

1950 – The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War. Can’t have commies just arbitrarily running the place, that is until they can fool half the country into electing them…

1957 – Hurricane Audrey kills 500 people in Louisiana and Texas. The number of deaths is an arbitrary figure. I was almost seven. Dad worked the night at the refinery, straight through the storm. Our next hurricane worthy of the name wouldn’t come until 2005 when Rita showed up.

1967 – The world’s first ATM is installed in Enfield, London. Second customer waits ten minutes while the first customer, a woman, rifles through her purse looking for her card, then tries to find her PIN written on the back of a scrap of paper.

1980 – Italian Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 mysteriously explodes in mid air while in route from Bologna to Palermo, killing all 81 on board. Also known in Italy as the Ustica disaster
. No official cause of the crash is given although there is somewhat credible evidence that the plane was shot down by the French who mistook it for Moammar Gadaffi’s plane.

1981 – The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issues its “Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China”, laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong. Somewhere between one and twenty million people died. We’ll never know for sure, but what does it matter? You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.

1985 – U.S. Route 66 ceases to be an official U.S. highway, killed by the Interstate. Traveling the old US Highway routes is a trip into Americana that you miss from the interstates.

1986 – The International Court of Justice finds against the United States in its judgement in Nicaragua v. United States, mainly because the ICJ is an arm of the UN, composed of a majority of people that only WISH their sh*thole nations amounted to a pimple on America’s a*s.