Funny

PETArds.

Heh - I'd never heard that one before.

Sorry - I know that's juvenile of me, but it really tickled my funny-bone.

PETArds. Teehee...

Hectic

Busy week. I'm in the last week of overlap between the 2 online classes I'm taking this summer - an Interpersonal Communications class and a Math course.

There's something not right about taking an Interpersonal Communications course online, but hey - it makes it easier for me to sit here & "go to class" in my underwear while sipping coffee, so what do I care? But I digress...

I need to take the last test for the Communications class today, which will leave one more quiz and the Final Exam for me to take before 11pm on Friday.

I also have a test to take for the Math course this week. Technically I have until 11pm Sunday to get it done, but it has to be proctored, which means I'll have to get it done by COB Friday.

Now for the inevitable monkey-wrench in my gears: my parents are now officially retired, and they're moving up here to a town about 2 hours away. I'll be helping them move in.

On Friday.

In order to make things "easier", I'll probably head up there Thursday night so we can get an early start Friday morning.

Yeah, that cut down my timeline a bit.

Soooooo, between now and sometime Thursday evening, I need to get done: a test, a quiz and a final exam for Communcations; and homework (over 4 sections in the text), a discussion-board posting and a proctored test for my Math class.

I know there was a reason why I quit my job and went back to school ... I just can't seem to recall exactly what that reason was right now...

Time to put the hammer down.

I have other stuff I'd like to write about: I'd like to post some pics of the Black Dog mags and give a more thorough range report, and I've got a newer acquisition to which I've referred previously, but which is in the process of being transferred and is in need of being blogged about.

No time for that now, though. I'll get to it when I can.

Too funny...

I got this in an e-mail entitled "Major Terrorist Captured".



I lauged 'till I nearly wet myself.



It may have been photoshopped ... I can't tell for sure...

Focus! FOCUS!!

I'm so distracted ... I can't keep my mind on what I'm doing to save my neck.

I've got a paper and a test to do for one of my on-line classes due by noon tomorrow, and my other on-line class started yesterday...

Must ... get ... off ... internet...

Bah.

Cameras fail again

Nobody wants to state the obvious:

A man seen in a surveillance video following a Kansas teenager out of a store has been arrested in her abduction and slaying, police said.

...

During the search for the teen, police released a pair of videos. The first showed Smith leaving a store, soon followed by a man with a goatee. The second, which is of poor quality, shows a woman police believe to be Smith being forced into a car by a man. (Watch the struggle in the parking lot )

Smith's body was found Wednesday afternoon near a lake in a park across the state line in Missouri. Police have not said how she died.

Captain Obvious just had to say it:

"I realize this is not the preferred conclusion," Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said.

You mean the camera couldn't save her?!?!?!?!?!?

Note to society: This Orwellian obsession with CCTV cameras is over. This case is a perfect example: the camera did absolutely nothing to deter, much less prevent, the kidnap and murder off this girl. What the camera did do, however, was to provide CNN with emotionally-soaked fodder to keep us watching, while the ad dollars roll in.

Tam has been experiencing firsthand a different kind of failure of CCTV technology to keep us safe. Check it out.

CCTV Cameras are intrusive. The threat their presence poses to our civil rights far outweighs their usefulness in fighting crime. Ask any Brit.

Cameras. Do. Not. Keep. You. Safe.

Get rid of them.

I just got...

... a 6-pack of mags from Black Dog Machine LLC. They're 30-round mags to be used with my Ciener .22 converter in my AR. Evidently, modifications are required in order to get 'em to function properly. I've only done one of 'em so far, and although I don't like the fact that I had to work on 'em myself (I want things to work right out of the box ... so call me lazy) I have to admit that the one I've modified ran like clockwork.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I've had my Ciener converstion kit for a few years now. Especially with ammo prices continually getting more expensive, it's nice to be able to shoot drills with my regular AR, but with .22s. I bought a 3 pack of Ciener's steel mags, and they cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 each. Ouch. Combine that with the fact that one of them didn't function, and I decided against ordering anything else from Ciener. (I'm not going to go on a rant about Ciener's lack of ... um .... "customer service" ... I'll save that for another time.)

I didn't think I had any other options in terms of mags to use with the Ciener converter, since it's a pretty unique product, and I'd never seen anything else on the market.

Enter Black Dog.

They're making polymer mags which are compatible with the Ciener converter ... but at about $30 a pop.

So, I ordered up a 6-pack.

When I took 'em out for a trial run, every mag jammed. I'm talking every single one of 'em, with each of the 3 kinds of ammo I tried. Kept kicking empties up into the action, or stovepiping.

I nearly went Chernobyl.

Before melting down, though, I sent Black Dog an e-mail. In my experience, my Ciener mags would only work with certain kinds of ammo. I figured maybe these mags were finicky in the same way.

To their credit, the guys at Black Dog replied within just a few hours, with very specific instructions submitted by one of their customers who had similar problems. After following their instructions on one of my mags, it worked like clockwork.

In essence, I had to file down part of the front aspect of the right-side feed lip. Strangely, there's a machining mark there to use as a guide. I have yet to ask why, if that mark is there, it's not machined that way to begin with.

Anyway, I'll file another range report when I get the other 5 mags done. Hopefully this'll work.

The first Sunday in June is...

... National Cancer Survivors Day.

I've been down that road twice ... and I'm 32 years old.

As my profile says, having survived cancer has a lot to do with the gun thing. Once you've cuddled with your own mortality, it becomes very clear just how much your life is worth. I carry a gun because cancer couldn't kill me, and I'll be damned if some jerk is going to have the power to off me for the $5 and 2 credit card receipts in my wallet. I've had to fight for my life, and it's worth protecting.

I think I'll put some lead down-range today in celebration...