Wednesday, 21 June 2017

By on June 21st, 2017 in amateur radio, personal

09:56 – It was 62.6F (17C) when I took Colin out around 0700 this morning, mostly cloudy. Barbara is off to the gym. We’re working on kit stuff this afternoon.

Barbara brought home a “Herd Starter Kit” from the golf tournament yesterday. It’s a small plastic bag that contains what looks like four Lima bean seeds with black spots on them. But the label assures us that if we plant them properly and keep them watered they’ll produce four heifers to get our herd started. No instructions, alas, on when and how to pick them or how to save seeds to ensure an ongoing supply of cows.

As I was looking up my own ham radio license in the FCC database yesterday, I had a thought. I started checking to see if various PA novelists were in the database. Franklin Horton is, although the FCC thinks he lives in Huntington Beach, CA. Chris Weatherman (AKA Angery American) is, under his real address in Umatilla, FL. Steven Bird is, also under his real address. I was surprised that Konkoly isn’t in the database. Nor is Forstchen, Akart, Craven, Mann, nor numerous other PA novelists.

Then I started looking up people who have prepping websites. Lisa Bedford (Survival Mom) is in there, as is Pat Henry. There are ten Creekmore listings, but none of them for M. D., nor is Rawles in there, nor several others that I’d have expected to find.

Being a good boy, I’ve played by the rules. I haven’t keyed the transmitter on any of my 2-meter/440 handhelds because I wasn’t yet licensed. So now the next step is to get these things programmed and working. The BaoFeng programming cables are a PITA. Supposedly, the name-brand ones just work, with Windows or Linux, because they have a current chipset. The cheap ones, including the ones supplied by most BaoFeng vendors, use an older chipset. If you try to use the cable under Linux, it just doesn’t work. If you try to use it under Windows, it downloads an old driver that screws up your Windows installation even worse than Microsoft screws it up to start with.

I do have one of the official BaoFeng cables that does work, but it’s buried downstairs behind stacks of furniture and other stuff. So my choices at this point are to wait until I can get to it or to program this UV-82 manually with the local 2M repeater frequencies.

82 Comments and discussion on "Wednesday, 21 June 2017"

  1. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Incidentally, if you have a BaoFeng/Pofung HT, this is the cable you want:

    https://smile.amazon.com/BTECH-Genuine-Programming-Cable-BaoFeng/dp/B00HUB0ONK

    It just works, unlike the cheaper cables.

    There is a difference between a programming cable and a clone cable. The former has a USB connector for the computer end and a two-prong connector for the radio end. The latter has a two-prong connector on each end that allows you to connect one radio directly to another and transfer the programming. I have both, just in case I ever need to program one radio from another, but it’s easy enough to program multiple radios sequentially with just the programming cable.

  2. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    The heck with it. I just ordered another name-brand programming cable from Amazon. While I was at it, I ordered another Nagoya NA-771 whip antenna. (We used to call rubber-duck antennas “radial dummy loads” because they’re so inefficient. Replacing it with the NA-771 dual-band whip should increase my effective range by a factor of at least two.)

  3. nick flandrey says:

    I run mine with the Nagoya 626 dual band, its flexible and you can telescope the second part of the antenna when you are on 2m .

    Works fine.

    For now, you only need one or 2 local repeaters programmed. That’s easy enough to do manually. Same for finding your WX station, go to 162 and scan up until you find them.

    FWIW, there are rubber duck antennas that are effective. All the public service HTs have rubber ducks and no one is F’ing around there. Same for the Moto pro class business radios. Some of them do tricks like use part of the springy mic cable and the mic as antenna, but so do smartphones…. whatever works.

    Speaking of radio, this is the FEMA monthly CommEx on HF…

    5,330.5 kHz, 5,346.5 kHz, 5,357.0 kHz, 5,371.5 kHz, and 5,403.5 kHz. if you want to try to listen in. I’ve not been able to hear them.

    nick

  4. nick flandrey says:

    And as another data point for the real and true condition of the economy, I’m seeing a much greater willingness to go to the grey market for parts, spares, or repair and replacements for my industrial items. A couple years ago, I’d never be able to sell used 3 phase circuit breakers, but I sell them all the time now. Ditto for small PLC controllers.

    I’ve sold really old in car dash cams to a police agency, and now sold some of my older (but very high quality) surveillance cameras to another state agency, I presume to keep a current system operational.

    Also, the local auctions are much sparser than a couple of years ago, and the stuff is older and more worn out.

    Agencies are holding on to old stuff longer, and going to lengths to keep it running longer for less money. And they are doing the purchasing directly instead of using a middleman contractor.

    All that adds up to – hard times coming, and for some folks hard times are here.

    nick

  5. DadCooks says:

    @nick deals in the part of the economy that is the best true bellwether of things to come.

  6. MrAtoz says:

    I was bad when I got my PaoFung’s. I xmit’d to my FRS cheapo’s from Walmart. They worked fine. Just a check. Don’t rat me out to the Ham Gestapo!

  7. CowboySlim says:

    “Franklin Horton is, although the FCC thinks he lives in Huntington Beach, CA. ”

    FCC probably thinks that I do too, correctly so. OTOH, it would have to find my CB license paperwork from 40+ years ago.

    Roger that, good buddy. 10-4, over and out, Catch you on the flip-flop!

  8. lynn says:

    “It’s now a “human right” to NOT be offended. Unless you’re the one who’s offended.”
    https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/its-now-a-human-right-to-not-be-offended-unless-youre-the-one-whos-offended-22076/

    Isn’t this how the Hatfields and McCoys feud got started ?

    Oh Canada, you were once the refuge of the USA. Now you are as crazy as the rest of us and you don’t have Bill of Rights to protect you from the ultra crazies running the place.

  9. Harold says:

    Recently had a chance to put my get-home bag FRS Motorola radios to good use. For our summer “vacation” we visited wife’s mother. Not my favorite vacation spot but have to keep on her good side if we hope to inherit the 40 acres someday. Living alone now, her husband passed last year, in a rural setting with lots of valuable stuff, she wanted a video surveillance system installed. I shanghaied my son for a day, and we installed a Zmodo, $300 / 8 camera system I had from Amazon. Since I was inside monitoring the video feed I needed a way to tell my son how to position the cameras (up / down / etc). So I pulled the pair of FRS units out of my get-home bag and they worked a treat, I gave my son the in-ear PTT accessory so he could hear over the noise of his equipment. I was happily surprised that after 2+ years in the bag both units still worked. I pulled the batteries this last weekend, cleaned the terminals, and put new eneloop batteries in Ziploc bags with the radios. I also have a 45 watt folding solar USB charger in the bag for SHTF scenarios.
    Nice to have the wife see me put to use all the “expensive stupid stuff” i put in the get-home bags. I did get a pass for the $500 generator I bught last year when it saved 2 chest freezers full of meat in our recent 4 day power outage.

  10. OFD says:

    “Now you are as crazy as the rest of us…”

    They got crazier with this stuff before we did and are crazier still with it. “You will never hear a Canadian say “They can’t do this to me!”” (Mrs. OFD, many times over the years).

    “Recently had a chance to put my get-home bag FRS Motorola radios to good use.”

    Excellent prepper success! Hats off!

    And a reminder to us all to reach into the bags, pull stuff out, dust it off, and test it in this dimension, you know, the one most of us Normals inhabit day to day.

  11. DadCooks says:

    For those without a generator here is an exercise in reality for you. Just do a quick and dirty inventory of your refrigerator and freezer (you say you don’t have a freezer? put it on your list). Then figure out what it would cost to replace all of it. You’ll soon find that it is more than a generator.

  12. Harold says:

    RE: Generator – DadCooks is right
    At Costco last weekend I saw they had the Champion 7K/9K dual fuel, electric start, generator for $550. https://www.costco.com/Champion-7000W-Running–9000W-Peak-DUAL-FUEL-Generator-wElectric-Start.product.100220385.html
    I bought this same unit referb last year for $499 but even at $550 it’s a bargain. Saved well over $800 of frozen food in our last power outage. Hint: use propane. It will run cleaner and extend engine & oil life on propane PLUS you don’t have to mess with pouring flamable gasoline near (on top of) a hot engine. I bought several 20 gal and a 100 gal bottle at the last big yard sale so I am set.
    PS: this is a lot noiser than an EXPENSIVE Honda generator but I can live with that

  13. OFD says:

    “DadCooks is right. Again. FIFY

    Fridges and freezers all by themselves often cost more than a decent generator. We’d be looking at a dual-fuel unit, and given the noise level around here with various folks’ lawnmowers, tractors, backhoes, snowplows, snowblowers, etc., etc., I would probably now agree with Mr. Harold that we could live with the noise during SHTF if it was only on a few minutes per day to run the well pump or whatever, rather than spend zillions on the Honda units.

  14. Harold says:

    While up at Mother-In-Laws over the Memorial holiday I discovered that she had bought a “whole house” generator for her double-wide from a door-to-door salesman. (Door to door salesman on a rural dirt road?) I went out back to see it. It was a no-name, portable 7kw unit, sited next to the dog kennel with a single 15 amp extension cord next to it. I asked her if I could start it to see how it ran. She fetched me a can of ether because she said it was “hard to start” … and it was. Ran rough then died. The fuel system was full of sludge. She had never used it in the 3 years it sat there in the rain & snow and only tried to start it once or twice. Good thing she didn’t need it. People all to often take advantage of the elderly (said by a person ready to take retirement next year). If I were in the home I plan to retire too, I would invest in a REAL whole-house unit with transfer switch and all. But not quite there yet.

  15. lynn says:

    All that adds up to – hard times coming, and for some folks hard times are here.

    All I know is that the price of crude oil is drifting down again, $42.67 today. Maybe down to $35 over the next couple of months. Not good for the oil patch. Maybe that is why we have so many troops in the middle east, trying to keep them from selling their oil.
    https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CL=F?p=CL=F

  16. lynn says:

    I shanghaied my son for a day, and we installed a Zmodo, $300 / 8 camera system I had from Amazon.

    URL ? Does this system save local or to the cloud ?

    Is this it ??? This system says it saves local and uploads to the cloud as desired.
    https://www.amazon.com/Weatherproof-Surveillance-Security-Camera-Detection/dp/B01KZJ3T4E/

    I want to put one of these on my office building but running wires everywhere is a pain. I do have my “Smile, you are on camera” sign for my road that I intend on putting up some year.
    https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Reflective-Aluminum-Highway-Traffic/dp/B01N17AILD/

  17. Harold says:

    Lynn: Yep, that’s the one. I had bought a Swann 4 camera system for my house for $100 more last year. The Zmodo has motion sensing and alerting but I didn’t mess with those as MIL has pets. I was impressed with quality of the video. MIL says most evenings she only watches the camera monitor instead of TV. You can attach a wireless camera to these but the cameras are expensive and range limited.

  18. DadCooks says:

    This email from M.D. Creekmore was in my email this afternoon:
    http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/how-to-get-a-family-of-four-quickly-prepped-for-one-year-in-the-easiest-way-possible/

    I have seen this before and so probably have many of you, but a little refresher and brain jogger doesn’t hurt.

    Preparedness is a journey, not a destination.
    Be Prepared

  19. Greg Norton says:

    Oh Canada, you were once the refuge of the USA. Now you are as crazy as the rest of us and you don’t have Bill of Rights to protect you from the ultra crazies running the place.

    Again, if you don’t believe Canada is in trouble, go watch the milk palettes at the Costco in Bellingham, WA, and count the British Columbia license plates in the parking lot. Granted, the situation may have changed since we lived up there, but I doubt it.

  20. lynn says:

    “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Now Has 200 Backers in Congress!”
    http://gunowners.org/alert062117.htm

    “Time for Congress to Stop Messing Around and Pass the Bill!”

    “The concealed carry reciprocity bill (H.R. 38) has just reached 200 backers in Congress.”

    My rep, Pete Olson, is a sponsor.

  21. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I still say Trump should order the Post Office to issue a federal concealed+open carry permit to any US citizen on request. That carry permit should be good anywhere within the US. Anywhere.

  22. CowboySlim says:

    10-4 on concealed carry! Passage will not cause any difference in the number of criminals killing each other in the major cities, such as Chicago and Baltimore.

  23. lynn says:

    I still say Trump should order the Post Office to issue a federal concealed+open carry permit to any US citizen on request. That carry permit should be good anywhere within the US. Anywhere.

    Can he ? I’ll bet that some federal judge in Chicongo or San Fran would just overrule Trump immediately.

  24. OFD says:

    The Fed does not have the Constitutional authority to issue a nationwide reciprocity “permit.” We already have not only 2A but Natural Law on our side.

    We should be able to, and ought to be, carrying whatever we want anywhere we want, period.

  25. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I agree, but we already have that right.

  26. DadCooks says:

    It’s too bad the Constitution and Bill of Rights can no longer be taught and that people do not understand what the simple phrase “shall no be infringed” means, IMHO the strongest admonition that there is. But then again most people seem to have no concept of what Natural Law is or means either.

    Life would be so very much better if we would just KISS and tell the oligarchs to kiss our asses.

  27. lynn says:

    So if this Concealed Carry Reciprocity passes, looks like people from the Constitutional Carry states like Vermont are covered in other states.
    https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/38

    ” This bill amends the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms.”

    “A qualified individual must: (1) be eligible to possess, transport, or receive a firearm under federal law; (2) carry a valid photo identification document; and (3) carry a valid concealed carry permit issued by, or be eligible to carry a concealed firearm in, his or her state of residence.”

    “Additionally, the bill specifies that a qualified individual who lawfully carries or possesses a concealed handgun in another state: (1) is not subject to the federal prohibition on possessing a firearm in a school zone, and (2) may carry or possess the concealed handgun in federally owned lands that are open to the public.”

    But it does not cover California, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York since it does not overlay their state codes. Or am I reading the summary wrong ?

  28. OFD says:

    I don’t believe in all that Fed malarkey or their “qualified” hoss shit, either.

    And rest assured, if I tried to CCW in MA or Manhattan or NJ or Kalifornia or the new failed state of Illinois, they’d hang me, regardless of whatever new Fed thing. Judges in these places just do whatever the fuck they want.

    Currently I won’t shop or eat in establishments that are anti-gun, and I won’t go to states that are like that, either, with the exception of MA, where most of my family still lives, and there I take other precautions anyway. Plus I’m usually with somebody who’s licensed there.

  29. SteveF says:

    The Fed does not have the Constitutional authority to issue a nationwide reciprocity “permit.”

    Sure they do. The bill of rights is deemed to be incorporated, meaning that even though the plain text says “Congress shall make no law” it applies to the states as well. That being the case, 2A’s “right … shall not be infringed” automatically invalidates every law and regulation infringing gun rights.

    I’m no fan of incorporation, but since it seems to be the law of the land* we might as well ram it down the gun grabbers’ throats.

    * It isn’t, of course. Or only when convenient for the ruling class.

  30. OFD says:

    If they do set up a nationwide “permit” it will come with several qualifications, at first, and then they’ll keep piling it on, probably with each new incident where they can wave the bloody shirt. And of course they’ll continue building their secret databases and data farms anyway.

    But we’ve all been “made” by now so it’s all moot. If they decide that I’m too much of an annoyance to them, which is doubtful currently, they can just erase me from existence and any sign that I’ve ever been on the planet. Or they can make an example, you know, shot resisting arrest, shot as a dangerous armed fugitive, etc., after they’ve shut off all utilities, bank accounts, credit cards and seized all the property.

  31. Rolf Grunsky says:

    @Lyn
    Canada most certainly does have a Bill of Rights! But, and this is a very big but, it works somewhat differently than the US since we are under a Westminster Parliamentary style government. Under this system, parliament can do whatever it wants including abolishing the Bill of Rights. When Trudeau (père) repatriated our constitution, the provinces demanded a mechanism to invalidate any legislation passed by the federal government that they felt intruded on their rights. And the Canadian provinces have been extremely protective of their rights! Hence our constitution has the “Notwithstanding Clause”. To date, only Québec has invoked it, to pass their bill 101.

    At the moment, I don’t think our Bill of Rights is working any worse than the US Bill. In both countries the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

  32. lynn says:

    I thought of Lynn when I saw this:

    https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/cures-deemed-worse-than-misdiagnosed-chronic-lyme-disease

    I’ve heard about the CDC report. Funny how they can outline five people with a disease that by the CDC ‘s own admission is occurring to 300,000 new victims per year. One could argue that 5 over 300,000 is statistically zero.

    I wish the CDC could explain my daughter’s seizures, constant migraines, constant fevers, and many other problems. According to the CDC, she is perfectly healthy. We’ve taken her to see so many doctors that I’ve lost total track of them.

    My daughter is the only Lyme patient that her current doctor has not been able to cure. Her doctor is an infectiousness disease specialist in the Houston medical center and does know a few things. Her doctor also treats AIDs and any other infectious disease. My daughter also has the complexity that she had to have her thyroid totally removed at age 18 due to three golf ball sized benign tumors (goiters). I suspect that the lack of a thyroid makes her more susceptible to catching diseases.

    This is an ongoing nightmare for my wife and I. Our daughter just turned 30 years of age and is totally nonfunctional. She was initially diagnosed with Lyme a little over ten years ago. She rarely leaves the house because loud sounds and bright lights trigger her migraines to radically worsen. We cannot leave her for 24 hours because she cannot take care of herself so we rarely take trips together.

    And, my wife feels that the CDC is actively targeting Chronic Lyme patients for some weird reason. Me, I am just living the dream day to day.

  33. lynn says:

    At the moment, I don’t think our Bill of Rights is working any worse than the US Bill. In both countries the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

    The SCOTUS in the USA just had a far-reaching decision that restricting speech by the government is a violation of the first amendment in the Bill of Rights. “Supreme Court: Rejecting trademarks that ‘disparage’ others violates the First Amendment”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-rejecting-trademarks-that-disparage-others-violates-the-first-amendment/2017/06/19/26a33ffa-23b3-11e7-a1b3-faff0034e2de_story.html

    “In a ruling against the government, the court said the “disparagement clause” of the federal trademark law was not constitutional, even though it was written evenhandedly, prohibiting trademarks that insult any group.”

    “This provision violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote in a section of the opinion supported by all participating justices. “It offends a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend.””

    This is big decision by SCOTUS. Big, very big. Federal judges will be referring to this in their decisions for a long time. And, it was an 8-0 decision also (the new guy abstained since he was not there for the arguments). The federal judges know this and will be dancing lightly around it.

    So, our lunatics are being restrained. Good luck with yours, sounds like you need it.

  34. lynn says:

    Barbara brought home a “Herd Starter Kit” from the golf tournament yesterday. It’s a small plastic bag that contains what looks like four Lima bean seeds with black spots on them. But the label assures us that if we plant them properly and keep them watered they’ll produce four heifers to get our herd started. No instructions, alas, on when and how to pick them or how to save seeds to ensure an ongoing supply of cows.

    Huh, my grandfather bought his herd starter kit at the county calf auction in 1978 when he retired from TAMU and went back to the family farm. A male calf and a couple of female calves. Within five years he had about 20 to 30 of them wandering around the place. Literally, they would walk through any barbwire fence they wanted to, I never want to string any barbwire again.

  35. OFD says:

    I hope and pray that your daughter gets well again ASAP, Mr. Lynn; that is just horrible. Somebody somewhere must know what to do for her.

    Speaking of SCOTUS and Fed stuff; Judicial Watch sued to get the expenses incurred by the Obola administration WRT their travel and security and suchlike and it comes to $100 million for the eight years. They’re also suing for the Clinton Crime Family’s and SecState expenses, plus the current tRump regime’s. Since the SS and Air Force do not respond to legit requests for the info. What a bargain, huh? Our tax money so that musloid commie metrosexual piece of shit could swan all over the world, while Mrs. Obola did likewise with the two entitled chillunz.

    Clinton Crime Family stats should be coming out soon. A more deliberate and scheming pair of chiseling thieves you would find it difficult to know of on the planet.

  36. Nightraker says:

    I had the unfortunate experience of pleading “no contest” to a CCW violation before this state legalized a permit system nearly 15 years ago. Ended up spending 63 days on “work release” (sleep at the jail, out for 6 day times a week). The $%^&*( democratic governor vetoed CCW permits twice in the 30 months I managed to drag out my case. The veto failed being overridden by 1 vote once and 2 votes the other time. Lost my job too.

    Oh! Pistol was found in car’s console after illegal stop and search while driving in an ethnic neighborhood after 11PM. I did have the small satisfaction of being the oldest unresolved case in the courthouse at my conviction. 27 appearances, 2 lawyers and the same yoga pantsed prosecutor who would have had Fred Gwynne’s ire if she had only completed the ensemble with a bag over her head.

    So, now I have the permit, avoid government buildings like the plague and am functionally blind to “no weapons” signs anywhere else. Just like web ads, they’re invisible to me. 😉

  37. OFD says:

    Very sorry to hear that, Mr. Nightraker. Fucking scumbags. Hope you have all their names and ID info for later. That’s outrageous. NRA might have taken your case, too.

    In breaking nooz, the cops blew away another wannabe musloid bomber in Brussels:

    http://eaglerising.com/44908/breaking-brussels-central-station-bomber-gunned-down-by-soldiers/

    Good job, boys. Now string him up tied to pig and dog carcasses for a few weeks in the square. When it gets really bad, create a bonfire underneath of Korans. Live-stream it worldwide like they do with their murders.

  38. Nightraker says:

    “Very sorry to hear that, Mr. Nightraker. Fucking scumbags.”

    Thanks. That’s the most polite way to describe ’em _I_ thought. 🙂 Having the opportunity to visit the “justice” system on those many occasions and listen to other cases before mine came up brought home how corrupt and corrosive it is and what a horrible, horrible way to spend “working” time for the denizens of that place. A sausage factory at least produces an edible product.

    One other odd thing: There were clocks in all the usual places around the jail, but none of them agreed with each other or the actual time of day. WTF?

  39. nick flandrey says:

    Just a petty way to f with the convicts. Released for your 20 minutes of walk around, and you get there to find the clock used to send you back is 10 minutes fast?

    Like bar clocks being set ahead so closing time happens a bit early and the staff can get cleaned up and the patrons out on time?

    n

  40. OFD says:

    Yeah, they deliberately mess with the clocks; it’s no great trick to set them however, obviously.

    What pisses me off is that Mr. Nightraker had to go through all that shit over a bullshit charge involving 2A. I hope he has the names and ID intel on the main culprits or can get them whenever. These people need a reckoning.

    It’s called accountability, brethren, and your humble correspondent up here in the north country (just south of our fah northern correspondent in Alaska) is making a list and checking it twice. Local judges, the DA and ADAs, town, county and state gummint, and also the quasi-officialdom out there on various boards and committees and commissions. Like the local refuge “resettlement” office forex.

    For future reference. If we don’t do it, who will?

  41. Nightraker says:

    “Just a petty way to f with the convicts. ”

    Something psych like that. The free phone call is another gotcha. A computer verbally announces your call to the receiving number and demands a $12.50 fee (then!). I was released to the phone bank in the wee hours and had to have the phone number of my friends in my head. At that hour, the jail phone is talking to the voice mail announcement gaining little traction overall. 🙁

    I have seen advice for carriers to drop a few hundred with a bondsman and keep an attorney on a (small) retainer as a matter of course. It is probably good advice, but I have to admit not taking it.

    At the time, in this state, CCW was illegal so being ground up and spit out was par for the course. Now, the cops lied at the motion hearing regarding probable cause and searched the car while my back had barely been turned. When I heard them say “I found one” I was startled that they were in the car at all and confused for a bit as to what “one” was. (sigh)

  42. nick flandrey says:

    There are a couple of programs by state with national affiliates the do basically have a lawyer on call. One that is conversant with gun rights issues, and use of force.

    The one I use is called Texas Law Shield but there are others. Anyone who takes a class from Massod Ayuoob (sp?) gets a similar service.

    My ‘membership’ costs about $175/yr, IIRC. A bit more to add my wife. She’s got a card in her wallet to call if I can’t.

    nick

  43. Nightraker says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTs-ZKxS9SA

    Massad’s American Handgunner columns re: forensic analysis of gunfight tactics are more than velly interesting and available as PDF for a small fee.

    The NRA has just started a CCW liability insurance program, pushing the rival USCCA out of their national meeting and there is at least one other well thought of national plan whose name I disremember. I let a USCCA policy lapse when cash flow wasn’t awhile back. Oughta climb back on that wagon.

  44. OFD says:

    I haven’t got around to doing that (getting the NRA or USCCA insurance) yet but it’s on my list for the next couple of weeks.

    It’s been superseded by having to shell out more $ so Princess can do a harp school thing in Bah Hahbuh this next week. She got a huge discount on it and will be sleeping in her car, so I can’t kick about it too much. She also has plans for a big harp festival thing down in Nova Caesarea near the end of next month. Wife says she’s gotta spring for that one herself. We’ll see.

    Meanwhile my next-younger brother is taking gun classes at a range down in MA and planning to keep doing them; decent indoor range and a bunch of classes, including NRA stuff. And getting wise to food storage and alternative heat sources, with zero interest from wife or daughters or other siblings down there. Nothing bad will ever happen and they can keep on shopping and buying chit to their hearts’ contents forever.

  45. lynn says:

    So, now I have the permit, avoid government buildings like the plague and am functionally blind to “no weapons” signs anywhere else. Just like web ads, they’re invisible to me.

    So how did you get the CCW permit with having a concealed carry conviction on your record ? Please tell me that they expunged all records of CCW convictions.

    Here in The Great State of Texas, carrying in the vehicle (car, truck, boat) has been legal without a CCW, now LTC since we have open carry, for ten ??? fifteen ??? years.

  46. Nightraker says:

    “So how did you get the CCW permit with having a concealed carry conviction on your record ? Please tell me that they expunged all records of CCW convictions.”

    Even when backsides farted in frequencies only a dog could hear in the state of Wisconsin, a CCW conviction was a misdemeanor and therefore no bar to the permit. With the permit, you can even carry a firearm into a bar as long as demon rum doesn’t pass your lips. My own thought in that regard, since the permit is _very_ liberal as to just what a concealed weapon is, is to choose other than a firearm for Fish Fry Fridays. 🙂

    Just another of the crazy quilt infringements between various locales that will melt ear wax if thought about too long.

  47. OFD says:

    When we hear the Left accuse somebody of pretty much anything now, we know that it’s THEM who are actually doing it.

    In this example, the Clinton Crime Family sells uranium to the Russians and then they accuse tRump of suspicious collusion with the Russians.

    http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/comic/back-to-formula-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DayByDayCartoon+%28Day+by+Day+Cartoon+by+Chris+Muir%29

    I embezzle a few million from the Feds and then I accuse YOU of doing that.

    I spout a pile of egregious bigoted nonsense about somebody or something and then accuse you of it.

    It’s called “projection,” and the Left has been using this tactic for decades and very successfully.

  48. Nightraker says:

    My imperfect understanding of Texas “no weapons” signs is that they are rather more grumpier than here. OTOH, here, it’s a _concealed_ weapon, and the sign is more advisory only, other than govt facilities. (insert halo emoticon)

    As it’s getting to be warm weather even here, dressing to conceal without still standing out is a bit of a challenge. I have a very lightweight Scottevest for the phone and whatnot but would rather “grey man” up with something even less conspicuous. Have considered one of those fluorescent green crossing guard vests but that is probably heading in the wrong direction.

  49. OFD says:

    Depends on what is carried for CCW. If it’s really hot here, i.e., above 70, I might have an untucked tee shirt over the OWB 4:30 PM less-than-full-size semi-auto. But usually just an untucked lightweight shirt. There are also some pretty good pocket holsters out there nowadays and I’m experimenting with one now (an OrgGunIzer). (can’t have nothin’ else in that pocket, though.) Spare mag in the other pocket or the shirt pocket.

    I try to be the gray man as much as I can, but it’s difficult due to height and hairiness, and I apparently still have the cop walk and cop eyes on everything and everybody. They trained me real good 40 years ago, I guess. Groups of yoots cross the street to avoid me over in the “city.” And I’ve seen other such types eyeballing me from time to time, with eye contact.

  50. Nightraker says:

    Being more of the bean pole set, I stand out the other way here in the land of large and extra large. At least my EDC keeps me from blowing away. I’ve also gone with untucked, unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt over wife beater. OTOH, I’m probably being more self-sensitive than is warranted.

    Used to carry an Officer’s size, really like my Commander but could down shift to a SIG 938. All carried crossdraw, before the canoe turned over in the lake. Heh.

  51. OFD says:

    Oh my, cross-draw! I might do that with the single-action revolvers or carry them in a shoulder holster up here in the woodsy wilds.

    I used to be a bean pole, maybe way back in high skool and during my time in SEA. 75 pounds later….

    If I do the grad skool thing again, I’ll try to fade into the college prof look and fit in as best I can.

    Oh crap, I’ve been planning stuff here in the office and lost track of time, plus innernet wabbit holes…

    At 03:30, signing off…Pax vobiscum, fratres…semper paratus…tempus fugit…

  52. Greg Norton says:

    If I do the grad skool thing again, I’ll try to fade into the college prof look and fit in as best I can.

    My grad program was 95% Indian. I never fit in regardless of what I did.

    If you would consider a CS PhD, Texas State has a fairly unique situation running with the new doctoral degree this year. The state approved the program late so the application deadline was pushed back to next month.

    At least for the first year, academics are secondary to having a good product/dissertation idea presented in the application.

    https://cs.txstate.edu/news/detail/297/

    San Marcos isn’t terrible for temorary relo. It was rumored to be the fall back city for the Raiders if Las Vegas fell through.

  53. nick flandrey says:

    I can carry IWB at 4 o the clock with just an untucked polo or golf shirt. Get the right shirt that hangs freely. It can print, but now the we have open carry I only worry about printing in non-permissive environments.

    I usually wear a short sleeved collared shirt over a T anyway, so that makes a good cover garment. A ‘shoot me first’ vest would be pretty much my last choice.

    Most people are completely oblivious to printing, and I’ve heard stories from routine open carriers that most people don’t even notice that- although I’m betting they notice but are not interested in saying anything.

    Appendix carry is an option for some body types and is easy to cover.

    Find what works for you.

    n

  54. nick flandrey says:

    Oh, and WTF would anyone want a PhD in CS? This doesn’t seem to be the time for CS degrees let alone a PhD.

    n

  55. OFD says:

    No more CS or IT for me, other than farting around the home network here. Like your steak, I am well-done.

    This may all turn out to be nothing, anyway. I’ll know more when I’ve talked with a few people and done the paperwork. I’m not interested in dumping myself in yet another pod of fugly commie wallyhogs and ham planets with an ax to grind all the time. Ideally I could work mostly with combat vets, cops, and EMS people and do it part-time in this 30-mile AO. But I certainly fully recognize that “ordinary” peeps need this kind of help, too. Some of us vets were originally told to “Put some dirt on it, cupcake, and get the fuck back out there.” Sometimes that works, but more often not, and it breeds anger, depression, resentment, etc., and that guy’s or gal’s problems fester and redound upon their family, friends, job situations, etc. Ask me how I know this.

  56. DadCooks says:

    On Fox News this morning I heard out the side of my ear some Police Chief at a press conference say “if you are not afraid of a gun, get a gun, and if you need to shoot someone, shoot them a lot”.

  57. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Yeah, I saw that. Good advice.

  58. MrAtoz says:

    Nothing bad will ever happen and they can keep on shopping and buying chit to their hearts’ contents forever.<

    I know that feeling. During MrsAtoz’s training summit last week here in Vegas, one of the crew decided the class of 60 needed bottled water. So, they just took my supply of evergency bottled water from the garage. Grrr. Now I have to start getting a case now and then from Sam’s.

    No more CS or IT for me, other than farting around the home network here. Like your steak, I am well-done.

    I like mine medium rare with lots of butter on top.

  59. lynn says:

    Even when backsides farted in frequencies only a dog could hear in the state of Wisconsin, a CCW conviction was a misdemeanor and therefore no bar to the permit. With the permit, you can even carry a firearm into a bar as long as demon rum doesn’t pass your lips. My own thought in that regard, since the permit is _very_ liberal as to just what a concealed weapon is, is to choose other than a firearm for Fish Fry Fridays.

    The Great State of Texas has several rules about when you can and cannot carry a gun, concealed or open carry. First, there are the 30.06 (concealed) and / or 30.07 (open carry) signs that an establishment may put up to disallow guns in their place of business. These signs are highly regulated and specified by state law as to placement, font size, and sign size.
    https://www.texas3006.com/signs.php

    Secondly, you cannot carry in a court house. Third, you cannot carry in a bar where 51% of their revenue is from alcohol (they must have a 51% sign). Fourth, if you are carrying or if you have a gun in the vehicle, you really should tell the officer. They will know anyway from their computer. That is how you turn officer friendly into officer letsFindAnInfraction.

  60. lynn says:

    I know that feeling. During MrsAtoz’s training summit last week here in Vegas, one of the crew decided the class of 60 needed bottled water. So, they just took my supply of evergency bottled water from the garage. Grrr. Now I have to start getting a case now and then from Sam’s.

    I buy four 24 bottle cases of Ozarka from HEB every week. $3.50 to $4.00 each but I hate those 40 bottle cases at Sams and Costco. Too heavy for my old back and the women. I keep 120 cases in the garage at all times. Hot water now !

    I also keep 20 to 30 cases in the office building in the closet under the stairs. We always have a couple in the kitchen fridge and go through four cases a week there also (we don’t drink the well water since the Brazos River covered the water wells about a half mile away last year). I pay Ozarka to deliver and stack those cases which brings my cost up $6.00/case. But my back just cannot deal with moving many cases anymore.

    Be sure to expense that water as a business expense.

  61. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Wait’ll you get to be my age. Nowadays, I have trouble even with those six-packs of Costco gallon water jugs or the 40-packs of half-liter bottles. Just over 50 pounds, but I still have to be very careful picking them up.

  62. Harold says:

    Mississippi is technically “open carry” but a crazy judge several decades ago rulled that if any part of a weapon were hidden from sight (IE: in a holster for example) then it was a concealed carry. So effectively you need a concealed carry license to do anything but hold the gun in your hand. However, getting a carry license is easy. Have you lived in the state for 2 or more years? Never been convicted of a violent crime or a felony? Then coem on down to the Highway Patrol, drop $100 on the counter, give us your prints, and you are good to go.

  63. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Doesn’t a hand conceal the pistol just like a holster?

  64. Ray Thompson says:

    Nowadays, I have trouble even with those six-packs of Costco gallon water jugs

    I am at 66.5 and have no difficulty with cases of that amount of water. Can even carry them up stairs. I guess it goes back to my youth when I was handling 70-100 pound bales of hay and tossing them over my head for hours on end (there was a technique that involved momentum and hay hooks). Not uncommon to work 10 hours a day and do a thousand bales of hay. Also worked part time in a feed store where there were 100 pound sacks of grain that needed to be stacked and loaded. Not nearly the strength I had when I left high school, but still not bad for an old man.

  65. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    It’s not the weight, it’s that that amount of off-center weight might make me lose my balance.

  66. OFD says:

    For me it’s not usually the weight, either, but the awkwardness of the movement and balancing. I can do one-off lifting of heavy stuff but not more than once or twice in a morning or afternoon. And I may easily end up with more pain that night from it.

  67. lynn says:

    And I may easily end up with more pain that night from it.

    That is my problem. I can pick just about anything still but the next morning, ouch !

  68. DadCooks says:

    I moved a 105# box UPS left on my front porch yesterday (Wednesday 6-21-17), well rolled and slid is more like it. The UPS SOB blocked my front door with the box, I had to go out through the garage, move the box back to get the door open then shove it into the house. What was it you say? An adjustable bed frame. Going to take a few days of recovery until I can move enough to put it together.

  69. MrAtoz says:

    I routinely sling 30# boxes of books from pallet to pallet, pallet to truck, truck to dolly, lift them at the UPS store, etc. All that twisting, turning and lifting will one day cripple me.

  70. lynn says:

    Oh crap, I’ve been planning stuff here in the office and lost track of time, plus innernet wabbit holes…

    At 03:30, signing off…Pax vobiscum, fratres…semper paratus…tempus fugit…

    I am trying to stay away from the computer after I go home, eat supper, and go for my two mile walk in the mosquito ridden hot and extremely humid air that people call the Gulf Coast. If I get on the computer, oh no, it is suddenly 2 am, the wife is asleep, the dog is asleep, and oh no.

  71. SteveF says:

    It’s not the weight, it’s that that amount of off-center weight might make me lose my balance.

    Put a pillow on your head, a piece of plywood on the pillow, and the 6-pack of water on the plywood. Problem solved!

    I know that feeling. … they just took my supply of evergency bottled water from the garage. Grrr. Now I have to start getting a case now and then from Sam’s.

    I know that feeling. The only emergency supplies which aren’t raided whenever convenient are those in my office. It really annoys me. Eight years to go.

  72. OFD says:

    “The only emergency supplies which aren’t raided whenever convenient are those in my office. It really annoys me.”

    Annex adjoining rooms/space and expand your office. Problem solved!

  73. lynn says:

    I know that feeling. … they just took my supply of evergency bottled water from the garage. Grrr. Now I have to start getting a case now and then from Sam’s.

    I know that feeling. The only emergency supplies which aren’t raided whenever convenient are those in my office. It really annoys me. Eight years to go.

    If your supplies get raided that easily, just imagine how quickly they will go away when the rampaging hordes and USA soldiers start stealing your guns, food, and water. It might be time for some more creative storage ideas (hiding).

  74. Miles_Teg says:

    Nick wrote:

    “Appendix carry is an option for some body types and is easy to cover.”

    Underboob carry would work very well for Princess… 🙂

  75. Miles_Teg says:

    “I like mine medium rare with lots of butter on top.”

    I’m with MrAtoz!

  76. Miles_Teg says:

    Lynn wrote:

    “Fourth, if you are carrying or if you have a gun in the vehicle, you really should tell the officer.”

    Why? Is it any of their business?

  77. Dave Hardy says:

    “Underboob carry would work very well for Princess…”

    She could hide a Desert Eagle or one of them new-fangled AR pistol carbines.

    Except she thinks guns are sick. And anyone who’d keep one by their bedside is de facto sick. Of course I think Bernie Sanders is a commie fukstik and Cankles is a subhuman piece of shit like Obola and that musloids are scum and a virus to be eradicated. All billion of them. Gee whiz, maybe I am sick! I’ll have to report to the CommanderAtoz Rehabilitation Ranch out in Lost Wages, assuming the city hasn’t just melted down to bedrock by now.

  78. nick flandrey says:

    Why? Is it any of their business?”

    yes. in some jurisdictions if you don’t, you’re F’d. Like Michigan. Handing them your CHL is not considered “telling them” either.

    Been a while since I took the test but TX doesn’t require it, but it’s considered polite.

    It’s also smart, as they then know you are probably one of the good guys (passed the background check for the CHL) and often just warn and wave you on your way.

    In any case, you don’t want them ‘finding’ it and going on the defensive…

    n

  79. lynn says:

    “Fourth, if you are carrying or if you have a gun in the vehicle, you really should tell the officer.”

    Why? Is it any of their business?

    Because it is the law here in Texas that if you have an LTC, you must inform the officer of such. They will know anyway after they run your driver’s license.

    As to informing them if you are carrying a gun on your person or in the car, you really should. That way you get Officer Friendly. Otherwise you get Officer StickUpTheirButt.

  80. Dave Hardy says:

    I’ve been stopped a couple of times up here while CCW and they dint ask and I dint tell. It was for routine b.s. anyway, not likely to have me out of my vehicle. If I thought it woulda gone further, I woulda told them, just to keep everyone copacetic and not riddled like a Swiss cheese over nothing much.

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