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Targeted Ads

August 15, 2015, 5:24 pm
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Or should I say Searsed since it's Sears generating them...


I sure hope this combination is causing some confusion with the NSA's tracking system.
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Remiss

August 15, 2015, 5:33 pm
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Today, on the deck of USS Missouri the Second World War ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan.

This is also the last actual war the US has fought, everything after that lacks a congressional declaration of war; including D'Warren Tara.
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Assassins!

August 15, 2015, 8:37 pm
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It only occurs to me after I've done the search...

In our massively connected and recorded internet existence...

Is looking up "Failed Presidential Assassination Attempts" likely to get a visit from the Secret Service?

My original reason for looking is my memory remembers more attempts on Republican presidents than Democrat.  It's about the same.

If there'd been more attempts on Republicans I was going to see how many of the would be assassins were some flavor of Socialist.

The Socialists are falling behind in their attempts and being replaced by Islamists, just in case you're curious.
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Alternative

August 15, 2015, 10:59 pm
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In Traveller, the Star Trek could be regarded as an alternate history because it's set 3,300 years in the past.

It could be also be considered a fantasy story as well because of the unrealistic and magical technology compared to the surprisingly mundane Imperial tech.
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On Birthright

August 17, 2015, 12:35 pm
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I've said before...

"To be considered a natural born citizen of the United States your parents must have been legal residents or citizens of the US at the time of your birth. Persons born to illegal aliens will be considered citizens of their parents country, but will not be charged with illegal entry."

A simple change.  Easily done.  Well, if not easily, simply.

This ends the anchor baby problem.

Yes, I would send these children back to their parent's country.  They're not our problem.  Their parents created what problems exist with them and It's not our responsibility.
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Percussion

August 17, 2015, 4:44 pm
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What the heck happened to black powder?

It wasn't all that long ago that you could buy a complete set-up in Wal Mart.

Now I can't even find percussion caps at a gun store!

I've found them online and the hazmat charges are insane.
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I Just Wanted One Thing

August 17, 2015, 6:41 pm
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Dear Brownell's,

All I wanted was a couple of replacement followers for Harvey's M&P 9.

Since the shipping would be more than the parts I actually needed, I looked around for stuff that would be "worth" the shipping costs.

An hour later with $500 of stuff in my cart...

DAMN YOU BROWNELL'S!  Damn your meretricious nature!

Ten minutes later I finally admit that I don't need everything right now and that I don't have $500 anyways.

An hour later I have it pared down to the parts I originally wanted and a Stripula.

Brownell's knows if you are weak and they, like wolves, only prey on us.

Be wary if you enter the woods internet with your credit card loosely secured.
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New Game

August 18, 2015, 1:19 am
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Thirdwire is having a sale on their older PC titles, so I dropped on First Eagles 2.




The flyable list is:

Albatros D.III with 160 hp Mercedes d.III engine.
Albatros D.III with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa engine.
Albatros D.III made by Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW)
Albatros D.V with 160 hp Mercedes d.III engine.
Albatros D.V with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa engine.
Albatros D.V with 180 hp Mercedes d.IIIaü engine.
Albatros D.Va with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa engine.
Albatros D.Va with 180 hp Mercedes d.IIIaü engine.
Fokker Dr.1 with 110 hp Oberursel Ur.II 9-cylinder rotary.
Fokker D.VII with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa engine.
Fokker D.VII(F) with 180 hp Mercedes d.IIIaü engine.
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a with 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba or Wolseley Viper engine.
Sopwith Camel F.1 with 110 hp Le Rhône 9J Rotary.
Sopwith Camel F.1 with 130 hp Clerget 9B Rotary.
Sopwith Camel F.1 with 150 hp Gnome Monosoupape 9N Rotary.
SPAD S.XIII with 150 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Aa engine.
SPAD S.XIII with 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba engine.
SPAD S.XIII with 235 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Bb engine.

WWI planes are emphatically different from the jets I've been flying.  Frustrating learning the new tactics and having the top wing in the way.
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What Are We Proving Again

August 18, 2015, 2:31 pm
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Tam's testing to 2k rounds on that SiG has me to thinking and Willard to mentioning...

What are we testing here?

It's a great demonstration of reliability, to be sure.

What did Tam get for failures in that SiG?  Like three ammo-related out of 2,000?

It's almost boring, except it's shooty and that's nearly always fun.  A shitty day at the range beats a great day at the office, I says.

I think we're at the point in history where the gun's going to work as long as the ammo does, and factory ammo is damn near to the goes bang without fail point.  0.15% failure is damn good, really, and unless all three of those bum rounds happened in sequence with each other in a fight, you're prolly OK.

I think the market has winnowed out the truly bad designs from the serious competition and where such designs still cling is where cost is the overriding factor not performance (ala High-Point).

This reliability standard has been on the horizon for a while.  The original M1911 testing required 5,000 rounds with zero gun related failures, and the issue M1911 could routinely do it as long as you used the issue ball ammo.  I frequently have to point out that damn few "1911's" are made to the US Army's specs, which carries both good and bad with the changes to those specs.

But a 1911 that survived the acceptance endurance test would shortly need a few parts replaced.

New guns wouldn't.  The materials and the designs are really improved.  Engineering didn't sit still for 100+ years even if the basic idea going on with the gun isn't much changed from when Browning came up with the dropping barrel.  A modern gun is a refined and constantly improved linear descendant.

So, what are we proving by dumping 2,000 rounds without cleaning or lube?

Most armies and police forces carry a pistol and two reloads.  That's common for the CCW holders who carry spare ammo too.  That's a mere 52 rounds for a Glock 17.

I think all we're demonstrating with these endurance tests is that our new gun is, indeed, a modern well engineered pistol.  Sadly, it's something that needs to be proven and we can't just take it for granted.
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Wing Tip Clearance

August 18, 2015, 9:30 pm
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While it appears that there's plenty of room between the water tower and the church steeple...  The game box it occupies must be much larger because it took off the left wingtip when I flew between them.

I'm flying a November 1918 campaign in Cambrai, France with Jasta 8 flying Abatros D.V (170 hp engine).

I survived the crash so they gave me a new kite.


Despite the 170 horsepower 4.1:1 compression ratio 903 cubic inch engine... I would not be able catch a Cessna 150 in level flight!
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First Eagles 2

August 18, 2015, 11:20 pm
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A sort of review...

Great War planes are slow.  Slower than Cessna slow.

They are also a lot more work to fly, even simplified like the game is.

You have to give it rudder to counteract the prop torque.  Trim what tabs?

The amount of rudder changes with airspeed and power setting too.

Next is the gun sights, or lack thereof.

On the Albatros, the convergence point is a little solid block up front between the guns, not a gunsight at all.  Not that it matters except in the most steady state trailing shot.  Kentucky windage is the preferred method.

Get in close, no closer, NO closer, NO CLOSER.  Like fill your sight picture with his plane.  That's about 100 yards for range.  Then it's astonishing how many rounds don't connect with anything vital.  You can perforate the wings and fuselage of a WW1 plane and not affect it's performance much, let alone kill it.

After a couple hours in an Abatros, you're not going to think of an F-4B as lumbering or wallowing anything.  The Phantom is fast, responsive, accelerates quickly and is very predictable.

These planes are frustratingly stable, they feel like they actively resist maneuvering.  This is good for staying in the air at all, but not so great about pointing the guns.  The good news is everyone has this problem.

That said, the turning circles are amazing.  Of course, at 100 mph you're not pulling very many G and you're bleeding energy like a stuck pig.

Yet, I am having a great time!  Learning something new, these games always inspire me to look up the historical information.
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Hard 'n Phirm - Pi [Sing-along version]

August 18, 2015, 11:52 pm
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Getting Pissed

August 19, 2015, 1:40 pm
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There are some things in customer service that drive me batty.

This firing pin for the Star is getting to be one of them.

If you're not going to bother with an online ordering system that works, just don't bother with a web page.

When your online ordering system fails, don't put the entire onus on the customer.

When you insist that the customer check to see if their card had been billed NOW instead of in a few days when the statement arrives because, "I would love to get this taken care of sooner than later if possible," you'd better have your shit together when the card information is straightened out.

You don't hand off the responsibility to someone else when the customer confirms for you that his card had not been charged.

You make sure they don't wait two days before following up as you said they would after YOU said, "I would love to get this taken care of sooner than later if possible."

Once they do call, you get the fucking parts in the motherfucking mail the next cocksucking day!

You DO NOT MAKE THEM WAIT ANOTHER FUCKING WEEK WITHOUT ANY CONTACT and no parts.

The post office might be slow, but they're not this slow.

I put in the initial order on July 22nd.  I waited two weeks before complaining.

That puts us to August 7th.

There's three days of emails back and forth trying to get him to see if he'd been paid before he admits that he's got no system for checking to see if a particular customer has been charged if his ordering system fails like it just did.

So I called my bank on the 10th and spent two hours on the phone because you can't just talk to a person anymore to learn that my card had not been charged, because he was in a hurry and couldn't wait two more days for my bank statement.  I emailed him my findings minutes after learning them.

His wife called me on the 12th.

Still no parts.

For someone who can't wait two or three days he's sure generous with my time.

Do not do business with Bob's Gun Parts out of Royal, Arkansas if you can in any way avoid it.

If you are in Royal Arkansas and see his shop on fire, there's a gas station just up the street where you can piss without accidentally putting the fire out.
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Concession

August 19, 2015, 1:52 pm
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If the pro-choice side concedes that abortions are repugnant.

Will the pro-life side concede that making them illegal will be as effective at ending them as the war on drugs has been at stopping the sale and distribution of marijuana?
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Surprise

August 19, 2015, 3:35 pm
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It just occurred to me that the entire point of, "we have to pass it to find out what's in it," was to obscure congressional intent from the courts attempting to discern such intent later on.
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Finally

August 21, 2015, 12:15 pm
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The Star B firing pins finally arrived.

He put them in the mail on the 17th, the monday following my conversation with his wife on the 12th.  Arrival was four weeks two days from when his ordering system failed.

Then he charged $5 for a $2.04 first class bubble envelope.

On the plus side the new firing pins appear to be new firing pins and the one I installed fits and appears to function.

A pencil is launched about a yard straight up.

Next stop is the range.
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Injustice Inside Information

August 22, 2015, 1:46 pm
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A son of a friend has been shot in a home invasion.  Dead center in his left knee-cap, will prolly be OK in time.

Apparently this is the fifth such invasion and the same description of three suspects and an SUV.

This SUV has been sighted trolling the area, particularly near the son's house.

You'd think that the sheriff would be balls on to catch these people, wouldn't you?

Nope.

Sheriff Chris Nocco's detectives have determined that since the son was (note the past tense) a well known juvenile offender (no felonies!) that this home invasion and shooting must be because he's a drug dealer, so no need to investigate.

WHAT!?!?

How did they determine the, now 23, kid was a drug dealer?  He had a small safe with a fair amount of cash in it and his mom found a glass pipe while she was helping with the clean-up.

It appears that the unofficial policy is that as long as the savages are hurting each other, to let them run rampant and the finding of so much as a single item of paraphernalia, such as a pipe, makes you a druggie.  Especially if you take the political position that marijuana should be legalized and say so on Facebook.  Isn't it nice that you can be written off by law enforcement if you hold a political position that's disagreeable to the sheriff?

Even more fun is five home invasions in the same neighborhood in the past two months in the same general neighborhood didn't even deserve a mention to the media.  I'm of a mind to mention it myself now.

I was willing to forgive Nocco's changing the deputy's uniforms to OD Green, and their starting to look more like troops than law enforcement, because it seemed like he was doing a good job of keeping the peace.

It now appears, to this voter, that all he's doing is not talking to anyone who'd relay the actual state of criminality to me; i.e. the local media.

He barely survived being primaried last election, so he's vulnerable to be deposed by his own Republican party.  And since he's a non-signer of NFA paperwork, how would he be different from a Democrat?
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Bulletproof

August 22, 2015, 5:46 pm
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When I was 14-18 I was immortal.

When I was 18-21 I knew I wasn't immortal, but knew that nothing bad would happen to me for years and years.

When I was 22-25 I knew something bad could happen to me, but I didn't care if it did.

That I survived those 11 years sometimes makes me doubt my atheism.

Examining, hard, what deity would consider my behavior pious and reward me with divine intervention... um... Yeah, they're not on the "good" side of the ledger.
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Like The Weather

August 23, 2015, 12:44 pm
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The Hugo awards...

It was interesting watching the controversy, but...

I realized that I did not care before the whole Sad Puppy thing and that I don't care now.

Just like the movies I really like tend to not get Oscars; the books I like don't get Hugos.

All you can do about it is to buy the products you like and not buy the products you dislike.

If you dislike the organization that puts out the award, you should stop paying them too.  For the Hugo that means you need to not go to the convention or pay for a membership.

If you're paying them you really can't complain you're getting what they're selling.

It's like I've long said, if you're not stealing from Hollywood, you're paying for Hollywood.  And even stealing it, you're not getting your money's worth.
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Planes And Engines

August 24, 2015, 2:14 am
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Pics of each flyable plane in First Eagles 2.  Because they're mostly just re-engined variations, it gets repetitious.

The Luftstreitkräfte planes had much smaller increases in engine power than the Allied though both sides were getting their increases from higher compression and higher octane fuel formulations.

Also of note is the Oberursel Ur.II which is a licensed copy of the Le Rhône 9J used in many Allied planes, including the Sopwith Camel.  Some German pilots obtained improved engines from downed allied planes and mounted them in their Fokker tri-planes even!

It astonishes me over and over how gigantic these engines are given their output, and how low the rpm is for peak-output.  Never mind that most engines started the war with around 4:1 compression and the "overpressure" engines were barely approaching 7:1 by the end.  This is all natural aspiration too!

Below the fold for the bandwidth disabled.



Albatros D.III with 160 hp Mercedes d.III inline-6 engine.
Albatros D.III with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa inline-6 engine.
Albatros D.III made by Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW) with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa inline-6 engine, note the D.V style tail!
Albatros D.V with 160 hp Mercedes d.III inline-6 engine.
Albatros D.V with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa inline-6 engine.
Albatros D.V with 180 hp Mercedes d.IIIaü inline-6 engine.
Albatros D.Va with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa inline-6 engine.
Albatros D.Va with 180 hp Mercedes d.IIIaü inline-6 engine.
Fokker Dr.1 with 110 hp Oberursel Ur.II 9-cylinder rotary engine.

Fokker D.VII with 170 hp Mercedes d.IIIa inline-6 engine.
Fokker D.VII(F) with 180 hp Mercedes d.IIIaü inline-6 engine.
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a with 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba V-8 engine.
Sopwith Camel F.1 with 110 hp Le Rhône 9J 9-cylinder rotary engine.
Sopwith Camel F.1 with 130 hp Clerget 9B 9-cylinder rotary engine.
Sopwith Camel F.1 with 150 hp Gnome Monosoupape 9N 9-cylinder rotary engine.
SPAD S.XIII with 200hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba V-8 engine.
SPAD S.XIII with 220 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Be V-8 engine.
SPAD S.XIII with 235 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Bb V-8 engine.

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