Cool and damp but maybe no rain? That would let things dry out a bit. There was still standing water last night after a full day without rain. There were some breaks in the overcast too, ‘poke your eyes out’ bright sun, but they didn’t last. Jacket weather all day. More of the same for today, most likely.
Did my pickup. Did some auction bidding. Really, low balling, so I didn’t win much. Bid on a 200w solar panel, but lost out. Bid on another 100w panel and won. I think I’m up to 6 100w panels now, still in boxes. Moving that project forward is now officially moving up the “do it when I can” list. I’m dropping out of the bidding at 50c per watt.
Moving my water collection and filtration ‘sorta plan’ forward is on the list too.
Immediate list items are more concerned with stuff around the house here in Houston. I’ve been neglecting some things too long.
The start of the new year is a good time to measure progress, reset goals, re-calibrate expectations, etc.
The high level pass at that is– I’m making good progress on the BOL, stabilizing what’s there, making improvements where we could, and most importantly, working to integrate into the community.
I’ve got food for us for at least 6 months with nothing coming in, and probably a lot longer than that. I don’t have an actual inventory, so it’s hard to say for sure, but there is a lot of food stacked here, there, and elsewhere.
I added to medical supplies, along a “community clinic” mode, and will continue to do so when it makes sense. For example, I don’t need 4 cases of sutures, but we might in aggregate. Ditto with some other things. I might not need an autoclave, but it doubles as a pressure canner…or maybe the other way around… I need to replace batteries in some of my AEDs, and I’ll be looking for more modern ones too. Science lab stuff might be ‘targets of opportunity’ if they fall in my lap.
I got as clean a bill of health as it’s possible to get this year, with tests and procedures to look for a lot of things- with no issues found.
I’ve been increasing our alternate power choices, adding to solar, gas generators, and storage. I need to go through the stored fuel and get that up to date, but that is less pressing than some other things.
I can provide drinking water from storage, and from stored materials, but I need to consider LONG term solutions too. Seems ‘one step too far’ but like most preps, there are benefits at lesser points too.
I’m looking to stack more butchery and processing stuff. I’m always looking for a Biro meat saw… and other things like tables, cutting boards, steam table pans, sharpening systems, etc. Also smoking, dehydrating, salting, etc. stuff for preservation. I’ve got some parts, some random bits and pieces, but no unified and tested method or system from end to end.
I have a dozen levels of redundancy in my cooking stacks, but not a solar oven. Maybe that will be the ‘add’ this year. Or maybe it will be more along the ‘smoke house’ line…
A lot of what I have is stacked here. Moving it to the BOL is going to be a priority. I won’t leave this place bare, but I need to acknowledge that we are building out the BOL to be a BOL and it needs to be equipped with what I’ve stacked up here.
There is a distinct lack of needful things at the BOL. I don’t have secure storage there yet, and that REALLY needs to be addressed. A friend might help out short term, and for a few things, but a real solution needs to be put into place.
Shelter, water, food, medical, defense, infrastructure, and social considerations, I’m working them, and encourage you to do so too. Get out of big cities. Start building or strengthening meatspace relationships. Increase your resilience and resources. Help yourself so that you can help others. Learn new skills, test old ones. Help the next generation, especially young men. They do the bulk of civilization building, and they have the strength and energy that we, more ‘seasoned’ individuals don’t have anymore. We can get through whatever bad thing is coming. And on a historical timeline, we are overdue for the next big bad.
Stack. It’ll help.
nick
Time for a wee chat with your piggybank.
A solar oven is only going to work (1) outdoors, (2) close to mid-day, and (3) if the weather is sunny. That’s a lot of restrictions.
Assuming any sort of woods or forest in the area, I would think a wood-fired cooking option would be better in almost every way. Just as an example: If we really need to, we could cook on top of our wood stove, or wrap things in foil and set them on the coals.
Regarding “digital” clocks: you could always go artsy. My wife really likes these clocks, but they are “art” and hence crazy expensive. Table models start at around $600, the bigger wall models are several times that.
Anime or Manga?
The books are Manga.
My kids complain that the B&N Manga section is out of date compared to Kinokuniya, but the Japanese chain is committed to the cashless agenda. Plus, they still don’t have the locations like B&N.
Still, do you remember a time when American comics occupied as much floor space in a big box mainstream bookstore?
Most of us here have practical skills, don’t we? Why not make an “artsy” clock if that’s what you want? The internet has wiring diagrams and programs for Arduino- or RPi-powered clocks, mostly of the “light up these LED” type though there are some designs with moving parts or otherwise.
Repairman Jack makes a guest appearance in the latest “Joe Ledger” novel, Cave 13: A Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International Novel (Rogue Team International Series Book 3), to help out “Mr. Church”.
I wasn’t familiar with the Repairman Jack novels. Now, I MUST acquire them.
A Raspberry Pi clock could also function as a stratum 1 NTP source on your home network if you chose to go that route.
This gives me a scintilla of hope that some reasonable people are replacing critical PLT positions. He/She/It Gay was instilled in a million dollar job based on race, sex, and DEI. He/She/It used her Amish heritage to eff over anybody HSI didn’t like. Then HSI thought, “Hey as I’m getting back at WHITEY!, I might as well kill as many Jews as I can on the way.” A bridge too far was crossed and HSI couldn’t be defended anymore. HSI is an obvious academic fake. HSI is probably dumb as a stump.
Letting HSI keep a $900K!!! teaching job is a joke. The billionaire backers should pull their loot based on that, too.
No! I don’t want another project! Thanks anyway. Making a shelf and attaching it ten feet up a 5″ steel column is plenty for me. I already have a 14″ LaCrosse WWVB clock on the wall. I can almost read that from 50′.
An Arduino just to run a clock? I don’t think so. I would more likely use water.
How about a rolling metal ball clock?
https://www.idle-tyme.com/purchase.html
I have always wanted to build one of those after reading Nevil Shute’s “Trustee from the Toolroom” (a classic, recommended).
I would more likely use water
– that would be going back to roots!
@greg, manga I guess, but I didn’t see linear feet of the same title, so at least ¾ anime? They had two taller bookshelves with what looked like english graphic novels too, in the SF section.
54F and light overcast with some sun…
n
@JimB
Is the ceiling high enough for a Focault Pendulum?
That isn’t going to happen in the current cycle of backlash against ESG/DEI, but if the Dems don’t manage to throw the masses some kind of bone in terms of student loan relief, a lot of people are going to eventually look into Borrower Defense, the mechanism present in the Federal student loan program from the beginning to address the problem of educational institutions pocketing money and defrauding students out of real educations.
Mass application of Borrower Defense will devastate the reputations of a lot of Fancy Lad schools, up to and including Harvard. That’s when real change will take place in the administrations of those places.
@MrAtoZ
Repairman Jack’s first appearance was in The Tomb, which is the second book in F Paul Wilson’s The Adversary Cycle. Not essential to start there, and somewhat confusing without reading the first book in the series.
His first book appearance was in Legacies, which started his own series.
@Nick
Your family seem pretty crafty. I’ve always wanted to build a solar oven from scratch, and I’ve found several plans in books and online. I haven’t got a round tuit yet. Seems like it would be a great learning project for you all. Might even pique interest in the BOL community and gain some respect.
Portability is the kicker on those, but if it’s for stationary use, not so much of an issue.
There are 2 main styles. First, basically a box with reflective wings, that you point at the sun and rotate as necessary when the sun moves throughout the day. Great for braising and slow cooking, or so they say. Even some simple baking.
Second is a parabolic dish style. The mathematician in me really wants to build that. It’s more finicky about adjustments to track the sun, but you can (supposedly) cook on it like a stove burner. On a clear day. Near midday.
Much of the building (alledgedly) can be done with cardboard, plywood, and aluminum foil. At least for prototypes. Advanced models could use sheet metal.
There are warnings about storage of the dish models. Unattended and left uncovered, they can start fires.
I also have an interest in wood fired outdoor ovens built from earth. They don’t depend on the sun, but you need access to sufficient firewood.
@mrAtoz, I have a ‘collected’ Repairman Jack on my kindle that is the entire bunch of stories… I made it thru a few before stopping from lack of engagement.
@lpdbw , yep, mostly crafty… but it would be an experiment and with little practical gain. Probably why RBT never got around to trying it. (He mentioned several times that it was on his list.) There is always something else to do that has more immediate application.
The BOL is on former paper company timber plantation… and many of the surrounding areas are still actively growing timber, so there is a fair amount of tree available. At least for a while.
n
Don’t call it DEI. Call it IED. The corporations and institutions thought it was safe to go down that road but it’s started to blow up in their faces.
What would be the effective range – er, I mean the danger zone – of one of those? As far as the annoying neighbor’s house? Asking for a friend.
I believe this was covered in a MythBusters episode on Archimedes.
I have a friend that uses one she made regularly. It makes for a very good slow cooker – the chicken that she cooks in it is tremendously tender.
In a survival scenario where saving fuel is important, and where not drawing attention to yourself with open flames or a generator is important, it would probably be an excellent asset.
“His first stand-alone book appearance was in Legacies, which started his own series.”
Fixed it, kinda. It’s a bit more involved than that.
“The Keep” was published in 1981. “The Tomb” was published in 1984. The Adversary cycle ended with “Nightworld” in 1992. IIRC, each book had a different protagonist moving the “ancient evil” story forward, with RP reappearing at the end.
“Legacies” was published in 1998. The fans wanted more Repairman Jack. “The Tomb” was re-issued in 1998 with “updates”, and the cover art uses the same backlit figure theme as the first several books in the RP series, making the connection obvious to the casual bookstore browser. (A nice design that they abandoned later in favor of a bland kinda unifying look for all his books, which was poorly executed.) I’ve never tried to compare the two versions to see how much updating was done on RJ to make a one-off character suitable for a new series. For more confusion, “Nightworld” and Jack’s character were also “updated” in 2012.
After twelve books in Wilson did a trilogy of nominally teen fiction stories about Jack in his teen years, embroidering on the hints dropped in the books. There’s also a long novella published in book form “The Last Rakosh” that would be 10.5 in publishing order, but does not appear on most of the novel lists.
It’s FPW’s universe and he likes to play in it and color in the spaces. Just to make it more interesting, he did three prequels after book 15, which take place before the main sequence and feature more mundane and less supernatural adventures.
So there are about 25 books worth all told, including the novella and short stories.
I’d recommend starting with “Legacies” to get the clean RP experience without the confusion of The Adversary Cycle. I’d also recommend getting at least the first three, so you can keep reading while you order more books.
The science is settled: Masks don’t work, but Fedgov will direct the DENIERS CHORUS.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/01/04/why-do-they-refuse-to-do-randomized-controlled-trials-n602639
January 2025: EO: NIH and DCD are hearby closed. They are killing more people than they help.
Companion order: Arrest of Fauci for crimes against humanity. Bail set at $1 Billion. U.S. facilities full of illegals so Fauci goes to Haiti under new rent-a-hellhole agreement.
I thought I read that California ordered masks back on in healthcare facilities.
I know that one of the big hospital chains in WA State reinstated the mask mandate, but the order didn’t come from Governor Kirkland Brand.
Bought and paid for. No word if Costco had their receipt checked at the exit of the state election office in 2012.
Yep. A friends wife who works in healthcare, refused the umpteenth boost, and was being forced to wear a mask, unlike all her fellow workers. And now they all have to wear a mask as well.
Iowa High School shooter injures two students and an administrator on first day back from winter break before ‘turning the gun on himself’
early reports.
n
I watched a recent Futurama episode where in the year 3023 or something, Bill Nye “The Doosh Bag Guy” head-in-a-jar, declares COVID is finally beat. Then the sewer flu rises up.
LOL it never ends with the goobermint.
I had one of those when I was in middle school.
It was fun to watch, and I liked it, but it was noisy. Particularly the transition from 12:59 to 1:00.
Do you have something against Barstow? It would be closer.
Did you hear? A Colorado court is removing all Democrat politicians from the Epstein client list.
LOL
Story Disappears in 3, 2, 1 –> Iowa High School Mass Shooter Appears to Be LGBTQ/Trans Activist (Pics)
Did my pickup. Did some auction bidding. Really, low balling, so I didn’t win much. Bid on a 200w solar panel, but lost out. Bid on another 100w panel and won. I think I’m up to 6 100w panels now, still in boxes. Moving that project forward is now officially moving up the “do it when I can” list. I’m dropping out of the bidding at 50c per watt.
Are the 200 watt panels just double the size of the 100 watt panels ? Or are the 200 watt panels more efficient ?
I know almost nothing practical about solar power.
Don’t forget “Randy Andy”.
I just mentioned the prescience of Steven Moffat’s script for “A Scandal in Belgravia” for the opening of the second season of “Sherlock” … geesh — 12 years ago.
A Japanese publisher also produced a really cool Manga adaptation of the episode. I’m still waiting for the second half.
There is a distinct lack of needful things at the BOL. I don’t have secure storage there yet, and that REALLY needs to be addressed. A friend might help out short term, and for a few things, but a real solution needs to be put into place.
There is no such thing as secure storage. If the MZBs (mutant zombie bikers) show up, they will finish their raid by torching the place.
That said, a friend of mine had his father pass away about five years ago. They found a hidden floor safe in his father’s study that his mother had no idea was there or how to get into. They drilled the floor safe and found a very large quantity of gold one ounce coins. Hundreds.
Doh! I’ve been busy and missed the publication of the second half of the adaptation.
If you’ve been letting work or family get in the way of your geeking out, then you’ve just lost all geek cred.
There’s a Gordon Dickson novel, (in iron years?) set after the fall of civilization, where the protagonist watches an otherwise well protected survivalist homestead burn because they didn’t have a metal roof.
Used 250W panels seem to be going for about $60 in the Antelope Valley right now.
I need to research solar/battery charger controllers.
I agree, been 4WD’g around Barstow many times. Stayed there one night in the Holiday Inn and many tines in nearby camping spots.
@lynn, most panels are as efficient as current physics allow, less that 30%. So yes, they are essentially double in size.
It’s not quite as easy as that, as there are some efficiencies in combining solar cells into panels, but the 100w panels are about 2×3 and the 200w panels are about 2.5x 5ft…
n
@lynn, nothing is proof against a motivated person with time and tools, but anything is better than hiding it under the bed, or standing them in the corner of the master bedroom closet…
Especially if that something is steel and bolted to the floor.
n
Just paid my outstanding, past due “business personal property” tax. It’s a huge rip off, as it continues to tax you on stuff you paid taxes on, that gets depreciated in real life but goes UP in value to the tax assessor.
We’re a fairly low tax state, county, city… but they do have their hands in our pockets.
n
I didn’t appreciate the Christmas gift of the Lego replica Atari console. Maybe I’m getting old.
In my own defense, my biggest problem was that it didn’t play the games and the entertainment value was limited to the build.
There’s a Gordon Dickson novel, (in iron years?) set after the fall of civilization, where the protagonist watches an otherwise well protected survivalist homestead burn because they didn’t have a metal roof.
Huh, I reread that awesome book last year and don’t remember that. But I have slept since then.
https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Iron-Gordon-R-Dickson/dp/0312932146/
Read the awesome “Lights Out” by David Crawford. He thinks that MZBs will be burning all of the isolated households down after robbing them in a grid down event.
https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-David-Crawford/dp/0615427359?tag=ttgnet-20/
Just paid my outstanding, past due “business personal property” tax. It’s a huge rip off, as it continues to tax you on stuff you paid taxes on, that gets depreciated in real life but goes UP in value to the tax assessor.
We’re a fairly low tax state, county, city… but they do have their hands in our pockets.
n
Try owning a office building on 9 acres in Fort Bend County. My property taxes went from $15K to $19K and my property insurance went from $12K to $17K. I am thinking about putting the property up for sale.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/01/04/yet-another-trans-shooter-n602806
These kids are not getting the help they need.
“Do you have something against Barstow? It would be closer.”
Full of alien invaders from the earlier EO.
Indeed, when you celebrate madness and reward it, you get more of it.
n
“The Pulse: Will US companies hire fewer engineers due to Section 174?”
https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-pulse-will-us-companies-hire
“It’s rare that a tax change causes panic across the tech industry, but it’s happening in the US. If Section 174 tax changes stay, the US will be one of the least desirable countries to launch startups”
It is always a tough decision to expense or depreciate developer costs. Looks like the feddies just put their big thumb on the scale.
“He thinks that MZBs will be burning all of the isolated households down after robbing them in a grid down event.”
That’s why making napalm is not just a theoretical exercise and .50 caliber is a personal defense weapon.
“The joys of preparing for repairs”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-joys-of-preparing-for-repairs.html
“While that’s being done, I’m going to try to go through my library and toss over a thousand books. We cut down by two-thirds moving here nine years ago, but even so, they’ve expanded a bit, and it’s a lot of work to keep them all dusted and organized. As I get older, I’m no longer up to that; so it makes sense to thin the collection. Anything essential will be kept, of course, or replaced with an e-book edition.”
My precious books ! How could I throw away any of my 4,000+ books !
I did perform a culling many years ago. We got flooded in Dallas with one inch of water in the house and 12 inches in the garage. I had well over 2,000 books in a wardrobe moving box in the garage. The water wicked up from book to book, soaking the bottom three feet of the books. I threw out the soaking wet books when I discovered them the next day. Many Heinleins, Asimovs, Andersons, Harrisons, and other great authors got ruined.
xkcd: Range Safety
https://xkcd.com/2876/
I am fairly sure that I have never met a Range Danger Officer.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2876
Voters in many parts of Texas just approved property tax increases which will be masked by the “reform” package until the 2026 trim notices get mailed out.
I got a follow up email at work today regarding an issue I left unresolved when I went on vacation *two months ago* during the week which included the tax “reform” election.
Time flies.
Don’t worry, “Star Wars” geeks. Disney is broke.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/star-wars-directors-comment-about-men-sparks-calls-to-boycott/ar-AA1mqxKJ
“What’s going on with the polar vortex, and is an Arctic outbreak on the way for Texas?”
https://spacecityweather.com/whats-going-on-with-the-polar-vortex-and-is-an-arctic-outbreak-on-the-way-for-texas/
We are all going to die.
I assume you do not mean my name but something like “Fidelity”.
It’s “H-E-B Partner Services Center”. For all I know they may have it farmed out somewhere but they don’t say.
But, you know, it isn’t Trona.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trona,_San_Bernardino_County,_California
“’Good Guy With a Gun’ Escapes the Claws of a Soros-Funded Prosecutor”
https://redstate.com/streiff/2024/01/03/good-guy-with-a-gun-escapes-the-claws-of-a-soros-funded-prosecutor-n2168269
“A Houston, TX, grand jury has elected not to charge a man who shot and killed a career criminal who tried to hold up a Houston taqueria in January 2023.”
“On January 5, 2023, 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington entered El Ranchito taqueria in southwest Houston, brandishing what turned out to be a toy pistol and demanding the customers give him their money. As Washington went to leave the shop, one of the customers shot him nine times. If you are squeamish, don’t watch this video.”
That was a good shoot.
If they are available to the goblins, then the presence of easily portable weapons like mortars, RPGs, (and now drones with blocks of C4) means he is probably right.
Just back to the keyboard. Thanks for the suggestions. The rolling ball clock fails the read it from 50’ criterion. A Foucault pendulum? Seriously? It doesn’t have to be very long. In fact, a simple pendulum, as in an old fashioned school clock, would work fine, except again for the 50’ readability.
I did think of a sundial. Indoors. Using mirrors for sunlight. Wouldn’t work very well at night. I have played with sundials in the past, and they are interesting devices.
I guess the projector clock is so far the best option. I will try to get one that uses WWVB, and 120 VAC. Don’t need battery backup any more, as our power outages have gone from an average of ten per year to less than one. That makes battery backup more trouble than it is worth.
San Bernardino County is the largest county by land area in the US. I have some friends in the middle of the country who are surprised to learn that San Bernardino is 120 miles away and in the county of the same name, that borders our town. Bakersfield is also 120 miles away, and in Kern County, my county. It is number 20.
You need to think like Musk, or Trump: basketball sized balls. Or bigger!
Ooooh!
That shooting looks a lot like an execution at the end. I’m glad the guy got no billed.
I figured him for an illegal, carrying illegally, and that this wasn’t the first guy he shot and killed when I first watched the video last year.
He’s definitely not a ‘vigilante’ no matter how you stretch it.
n
If the thug survived, Houston is within driving distance of Benny Crump’s home base in Tallahassee, roughly seven hours if Benny doesn’t stop for gumbo.
The guy who used to be internet famous for drawing cartoons on the back of business cards has an interesting observation about air travel this week. He’s evolved into a sort of culture hacker or guru…
https://mailchi.mp/gapingvoid/opressive-culture-of-air-travel
n
And people wonder why I refuse to fly!
I hate the whole TSA concept and haven’t flown since 9-11.
It is example of punish the innocet.
Nothing to see here folks. It’s just that some pigs are more equal…
n
If the thug survived, Houston is within driving distance of Benny Crump’s home base in Tallahassee, roughly seven hours if Benny doesn’t stop for gumbo.
Who ?
That shooting looks a lot like an execution at the end. I’m glad the guy got no billed.
I figured him for an illegal, carrying illegally, and that this wasn’t the first guy he shot and killed when I first watched the video last year.
He’s definitely not a ‘vigilante’ no matter how you stretch it.
Yeah, that nineth ??? head shot did not look good. But, the shooter had just had the guy wave a gun in his face. Or, what he thought was a gun. And that made the shooter emotional and scared. He absolutely wanted to make sure that the attempted murderer did not get up and shoot him or anyone else in the diner.
I don’t buy this nonsense where an attacker becomes a victim after you have disabled them. A disabled attacker is still very dangerous, just ask anyone who has served in the military in combat or a peace officer. Or a fireman or an EMT. Or Divemedic.
I just canceled my subscription to the Fort Bend Herald over this article they ran today, “From the desk of… Fundamentalism and Donald Trump”
https://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/2023/12/29/from-the-desk-of-fundamentalism-and-donald-trump/
“That said, I do believe Trump when he says he never read “Mein Kampf.” Too long, too many big words. Trump never learned anything from a book. He stole his whole act from 1950s professional wrestlers at Sunnyside Gardens in Queens — specifically from Dr. Jerry Graham, who swaggered around boasting that “I have the body men fear and women adore.””
“The hairstyle, too — a bleach blond pompadour that taught a generation of wrestling fans how a “heel” behaved — that is, basically like a cartoon Nazi. Graham was a masterful showman who aroused thousands to frenzy with balsa wood chairs and fake blood capsules. He was as fat as Trump, too, although there was muscle under the lard.”
I have had it with MAGA haters calling us Nazis.
Wowzer! Nikki Haley Stepped
inOn It Again and Iowa Voters Won’t Like Ithttps://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/01/04/wowzer-nikki-haley-stepped-in-it-again-and-iowa-voters-wont-like-it-n602775
If Nikki had one it would look like a kielbasa left on the 405 during rush Friday afternoon.
She just kissed the vp dream good-bye. We don’t need someone so Clintonequely tone-deaf on the ticket or one step away from the big chair.
“Understanding the American Civil War. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/understanding-american-civil-war/5833777
“Paul Craig Roberts: As all historical documentation shows, slavery had little to do with the so-called Civil War. Let’s get this straight at the beginning. IT WAS NOT A CIVIL WAR. A civil war is when two sides fight over the control of the government. The South made no fight to take over the government. The South merely used its Constitutional right to secede from the US.”
Stolen from:
https://areaocho.com/tenth-president/
“I don’t buy this nonsense where an attacker becomes a victim after you have disabled them. A disabled attacker is still very dangerous, just ask anyone who has served in the military in combat or a peace officer. Or a fireman or an EMT. Or Divemedic.”
A person threatening murder with one gun can have two, or a knife, or an accomplice who is just about to walk through the door. Or some fellow Amish or GB’er that blindsides you from behind in a fit of racial unanimity.
Not a good look? It’s a much, much better look than being dead on the floor because you didn’t make absolutely effing sure.
A bunch of coyotes just ran past my office windows yipping like crazy. They are bold tonight.
The dog next door is going nuts.
Nimarata “Nikki” Haley was renamed by Aesop as
JIAD
Jeb! In A Dress
I hope it gains traction.
Lot of coyotes and howling up at the BOL last weekend. Never heard all that much before, but it was very striking.
n
re: that head shot
A sensible prosecutor would recognize 2 things.
By a strict reading of the law, that shot was unnecessary and probably illegal and would not meet the “reasonable person” doctrine for self defense. Any normal person, given hours to analyze the video, would come up with that answer.
But the shooter was no longer, at that point, a calm, reasonable person himself. He was, with justification, temporarily insane. Someone had just threatened him with deadly force. He had just committed the unnatural act of applying deadly force to another human being. He didn’t have hours to decide whether to shoot; he had seconds. Maybe milliseconds.
I can imagine the prosecutor arguing, in court, that the first eight shots were justified self defense, but the ninth shot was murder. I’m pretty sure a halfway decent defense attorney could mount a two-pronged defense and keep the jury from a guilty verdict.
As far as the backshooting goes, I have seen actual video of a person killed by a retreating hoodlum shooting over his shoulder, unaimed. I have no problem with backshooting in self defense.
>> Fry’s used to have a huge anime section. Too bad they’re gone.
That reminds me…I was at Albertson’s and Safeway (both owned by Kroger IIRC) the other day and noticed that both have stopped carrying what used to be a decent selection of gub magazines…now, nothing. Not sure about Fry’s, haven’t been their of late.
Will ask the Albertson’s manager about the policy change next time I see him manning a register (no self-checkout so he frequently fills in when it gets busy.)
Our B&N still has a big selection,
>> Companion order: Arrest of Fauci for crimes against humanity. Bail set at $1 Billion. U.S. facilities full of illegals so Fauci goes to Haiti under new rent-a-hellhole agreement.
I hear that they have some ‘rooms’ available at Gitmo, with senior discounts in the snake wing.
Just sayin…
>> I know almost nothing practical about solar power.
I mentioned (“Hi Alexa”) a few weeks back that I had heard a commercial on Fox (radio) about the Patriot brand of solar “generators” and started getting targeted ads from them. No idea as to their quality. Do recall someone here having a bad experience with the Jackery brand.
Would be nice to have something sufficient to just run the fridge, a bunch of LED lights and the PC/cable modem without worrying about flammable fuels.
>> There is no such thing as secure storage. If the MZBs (mutant zombie bikers) show up, they will finish their raid by torching the place.
Doesn’t hurt if your stack of “lead” is bigger than theirs.
>> xkcd: Range Safety
https://xkcd.com/2876/
This was in Boca Chica, right?
>> And people wonder why I refuse to fly!
The terrorists won on 9/11, more precisely when the TSA was put in charge of airport security, and continue to win every day the TSA remains in place.
Until something changes, vote with your wallet. Refuse to fly, and make sure the CEO of the airline you would have flown on know via snail mail. Instead, take the train, drive, use Zoom.
>> There is no such thing as secure storage. If the MZBs (mutant zombie bikers) show up, they will finish their raid by torching the place.
Doesn’t hurt if your stack of “lead” is bigger than theirs.
The problem is for a remote and isolated home in the woods, it may just be you and the wife. Against a dozen MZBs. There is going to be a lot more lead coming your way unless you have a crew served weapon with shielding. And even so then, they will probably sneak around the back of your remote house and come in through the back door.
Movies – Ferrari was excellent. Drama that had a bit of action. Not what I was expecting. Better. Thoughtfully done and I had to pay attention. Really liked it. Not a see it twice movie, but only because it was perfect once through.
Starship, Starlink and more: SpaceX poised for huge 2024
https://www.space.com/spacex-2024-starship-starlink-launches
“The company wants to launch nearly 150 missions this year.”
Wow, that is a heck of a goal !
“Starlink currently consists of about 5,230 operational spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. But SpaceX has permission to deploy a total of 12,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), and the company has applied for approval for another 30,000 on top of that.”
That is a LOT of satellites.
Coyotes? We’ve been seeing a fair number of “dog” tracks on walks lately – in places where there aren’t any human footprints. The small ones are foxes, which we occasionally see. The large ones? Most likely some wolves have moved into the area.
There’s a huge debate around the wolves. Lots of folk think they are part of nature and belong in the mountains. Among other things, they will keep the deer from overpopulating. On the other hand, the farmers here have a lot of sheep that they send up to the alpine pastures. Over the centuries, sheep have been bred to be so stupid that they will stand around bleating, while a wolf kills a dozen of them. So the problem for the farmers is that they can’t just put their animals on an alp and ignore them. They actually have to do something. One solution are dogs – you can train dogs to live with and protect the sheep. But then they have to visit and care for the dogs, seeing as they don’t eat grass.
As an aside: I don’t understand why farmers keep sheep. Few people eat mutton (though some do eat lamb). Natural wool is next to worthless. Best guess is that they can collect subsidies.
Honestly what the farmers ought to do is change to Eringer cattle, who are perfectly capable of defending themselves from wolves.