STS-134...Not! Also, other stuff.

Outside...





Inside...




A closer-view of my World War Two era M-1. The Marlin is no slouch either; it's a .44 mag. They're both fun to shoot.



So, you can see I finally bought a gun safe. After reading up as much as I could on the subject I settled on this one, a 10-gun Sentry. At less than $300 it's what some articles on safes call an "entry-level" safe, but I figure it'll do. It was the only safe at any of the local stores that was light enough for me to get up the stairs to my apartment. Also, it's light enough I don't have to worry about it falling through the floor. (The modular, $1200 Zanotti I considered buying weighs over two and a half times as much as this one.)

Though a lot of safes now have digital locks instead of mechanical dials, I don't see the point of those. They seem to be a solution in search of a problem. This one works fine.

In other news, I did not make the trip to see the launch of STS-134. Just as well as it got scrubbed, but also there were supposedly 750,000 people in attendance. When I saw the last launch there were "only" half as many people in the area yet traffic coming back was still horrible. Unless I could possibly get a room over there for a launch I won't be going back for any more; it's just too much of a hassle.

As for why I missed the launch...in addition to having reservations about traffic and whatnot, I ended up getting some minor (outpatient) surgery done. Around five years ago I had either a horrible case of stomach flu, or maybe food poisoning. Regardless of the cause it gave me such bad stomach cramps that I actually gave myself a small muscle tear. For years I didn't notice anything except a small bump near my bellybutton. Well, it got worse so I finally went to a doctor.

I had an "umbilical hernia". Turns out that's a weak spot in the stomach muscles, and it tore. My bowels were trying to go out through the hole. So, they put a piece of mesh in there. It's about 2.5 inches across. (Now that I think about it, you can repair holes in wallboard the same way.) They did it back on April 29th. It's an outpatient thing, so I was home the same day. And after the Percocet started working, I was feeling no pain. (I stopped taking the stuff two days later. By that time the pain had diminished greatly, and I was getting a bit tired of being stoned all the time.)

Anyway,I'm out on disability until the 23rd of May. Other than the fact that I can't lift anything heavy until that time I'm fully functional, yet because my job entails heavy lifting I can't do it. Oh, well.

Until that time I'm trying to stay busy working on my novel. I'm also spending time making some ammo, though I'm limiting myself to tasks that require no lifting, like cutting already-sized cases to length and re-priming them. By the time I'm well, I should have about 200 .45 ACP cases ready to be completed.





100 cases, ready to be primed. I have another 100 that need some work before they get to this point.







Without a primer in the pocket you can see all the way through the case. They call this the "flash hole." This will be how the primer ignites the gunpowder. Fascinating, no?

Anyway, my enemy now is boredom. I'm not used to sitting around on my butt so much. Yesterday, I drove 30 miles just to buy two pounds of coffee. With the launch of STS-134 scheduled for the 16th, maybe I will drive over there after all....

STS-133

I saw Discovery's launch for maybe twenty seconds, then it disappeared into some clouds. I did, however, get to see it through my 20x spotting scope. It looked pretty good, for the short period of time that I could see it.

For the most part though, the trip wasn't really worth it. Traffic was so bad it took me five-and-a-half hours to get back. (It took only four to get there.) Honestly, if I'd had any sense I would have just gotten a motel room in Cocoa Beach and stayed the night. There are, after all, other things to do there.

All the way back I told myself I'm not going to the next launch, but I probably will. There won't be any shuttle launches after that, so I'd hate to miss the last one. I'll just get a room.

Also, there are other launches, as satellites and whatnot are always being sent up. Many are so unpublicized that you have to search the web to see when they're being launched. (More than once I've turned on NASA TV and been surprised at seeing a rocket going up.)

So anyway, here's the video. I was looking through the scope, which is why the camera is just pointed in the vaguest of directions.

RIP, Glass Shelf

I came home at 1am to find this. It took me until about 3am to clean it up. I still feel like a dumb-ass for putting too much on that shelf. And I still get a chuckle out of looking at these pics.

Seriously though, that shelf was supposed to be able to handle 25 pounds. I don't think I had anywhere near that on there. (The only heavy unit is the stereo, and that's on the bottom shelf.)

The glass was heavy, tempered stuff. I'm still surprised that it cut loose like this.

RUGBY! (or, Wait...what?)

Wait...what?

I just watched my first Rugby match. BBC America is carrying it every Saturday over the next month or so. Times start around 11:30am eastern time, 8:30am pacific.

I'm hooked.

BBC America Six Nations Rugby

I didn't quite get all the rules, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. It's a lot like our football, but tackling doesn't seem to do much as the person tackled can still toss the ball to the nearest teammate (though I guess if you hold his legs still, the ball becomes dead at that point.) And though I don't quite get the point of a "scrum" (one commenter said it looks like a cross between a tug-of-war and an orgy) I'm guessing it's something like a face-off in hockey.

A few neat things: they don't stop play for much of anything. Except for maybe the halftime, I don't think there were even any commercial breaks. Even injuries are tended to while play is still in session, with the game sometimes going right over injured players and medical staff on the field.

I actually enjoyed it more than the Super Bowl, which was sort of left me cold. (It's just another football game. Why all the hype? And I'm glad I'm not the only one who was underwhelmed by the Black Eyed Peas. Then again though, don't all halftime shows suck?)




BBC America has some neat hosts. Here they are with some American football player. (I can't remember his name.)

And somehow, he got seated in front of an athletic supporter and a cup! Very nice. He was a good sport about it.



Anyway, Rugby has no pads, no real breaks, no commercials, and unlike soccer, no one fakes injuries because it doesn't do one any good to do so. If you haven't tried watching a game, give it a shot.

Old vs. New, pt. 2

Home-made fireworks. I make a good-looking round, don't I?


I went shooting the other day. I shot .45 ACP and .38 Special, 100 rounds of each. In terms of caliber, the .45 ACP has been around since 1905, the .38 Special since 1902. There have been no significant changes in their designs in a century, yet they work fine. I was certainly able to hit the target with both.




(I actually shot four guns, two of each caliber. It took three hours to clean them. Ugh. I gotta stop shooting so many guns at once.)


Anyway, I don't totally want to bust on new things. For example, my 1911-type .45 is a classic design, yet has more parts than my .45 Ruger. This is because the 1911 hasn't been changed significantly since the 30's, while the Ruger is a more modern design.



Ruger P-97, stripped. Ain't much to it, is there?






Para 1911-type, stripped. Ain't a whole lot more, but I count two more parts to it than the Ruger has. Also, it's harder to strip as you pretty much need a tool to get it to this point.


So, not all modern things are crap. Still though, the improvement(s) of the Ruger over the 1911 are pretty slight; some people might even prefer the 1911. Also, the Ruger is based on the 1911 (almost all pistols today are).

So, one could say that the Ruger is an old design. Though that's debatable, there's one thing that's not: barring natural disaster, both guns will be working long after both my t.v.'s have crapped out.

Old vs. New, pt. 1

My 19" RCA still works. I bought it around '92, and until '07 or '08 it was my only t.v. That's at least fifteen years of daily duty, and it's still trucking.

Meanwhile, my 42" Vizio crapped out after about 18 months. So, while I'm waiting for it to get fixed (they apparently take their time on warranty work) I'm back watching my little t.v.

I can't believe this was my only t.v.--for fifteen years. Good God, it seems tiny now.

Anyway, is there something about new technology that causes it to become worthless quickly? Why is it that hardcore bikers can roar around on 50's era Harleys while cars made today won't last even twenty years? Is it due to an overbearing urge to make things work better today, even at the expense of longevity?

I recently had to rent a car for a week. It was a 2011 Nissan something or other, with almost no miles on it. First off, I was blown-away at all the controls the thing had. Its dashboard looked like the Space Shuttle's, and even more functions were on one of two turn-signal type levers that required the dexterity of a brain-surgeon to use correctly. It took me almost the entire week to find out how to open the rear hatchback. (It this wonderful futureland, there will be no mechanical button or latch to open your trunk. Oh no, it's a hidden electronic-type button that only works if you first push the "unlock" button twice on your keyfob.) Opening the gas-cap required serious study (that button is down near the driver's knees), and, well...the entire car was nice but overly-complex.

So, how long before all that crap breaks? Does anyone care? I'm guessing not. After all, isn't the name of the game to sell people even more crap that they don't really need?

In Hoc Anno Domini, by Vermont Royster

The WSJ has printed this every Christmas since 1949.

In Hoc Anno Domini


When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14