The Grey Man, update…

Book three, The Grey Man- Changes is off to the editor!

And here’s the cover that Tina has designed…

It fits with the story line, and once again I’m impressed with the quality and how she’s able to tie the cover into the story.

TGMChangesThanks once again Tina, I appreciate your great work!!!

 

Man with a gun…

But what if it’s a policeman?  No big deal, right?

One would ‘normally’ think so…

Unless one is in Scotland!

A police officer in Inverness has been photographed carrying a firearm despite assurances that sidearms would only be deployed under special circumstances.

The officer was carrying a handgun in the railway station in Inverness on Tuesday as he walked through the main concourse.

Police Scotland said the officer had breached new force policy.

Soooo… They are now disarming the police, except under ‘certain’ circumstances…

Full article HERE from the BBC.

How many lives will this ‘new force policy’ cost???

Last time I looked, criminals over there don’t obey the laws either. And guns are making their way into Britain and Scotland via the Chunnel and the ferries, and who knows what other small boats that cross the channel…

Moore’s Law…

Is FIFTY years old…

The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year. Certainly over the short term this rate can be expected to continue, if not to increase. Over the longer term, the rate of increase is a bit more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe it will not remain nearly constant for at least 10 years.
G. Moore, 1965

moores-law-graph-1965

Gordon Moore was the R&D lead for Fairchild Semiconductor before becoming a founder of a little company called NM which morphed into another little company called Intel with Robert Noyce. They were later joined by Andrew Grove. 667px-transistor_count_and_moores_law_-_2011.svg

Image: Wikipedia

  While Moore has been credited with the comments about increasing performance as part of Moore’s Law, it was actually David House, an Intel employee that looked at the increasing performance of transistors and said that integrated circuits would double in performance every 18 months.

The whole development of transistors, through MOS-Fet, CMOS, processors, and circuits. It reads like a spy novel more than a history of development with companies suing other companies, people moving between companies, ‘trade secrets’ moving, etc. It’s a real time sink for geeks if you start down that road…LOL

Aging out…

Japan is in trouble population wise…

The total has shrunk for the fourth year running, falling back to a level it was last at in 2000, with more than one in four people now aged 65 or older.

From the Guardian, HERE.

But it’s not just Japan. China is doing the same thing, although they aren’t publicizing it. One generation plus of ‘male’ children has cut their population growth to a negative number.

The last figure I saw was something in the neighborhood of 2.1 to 2.16 required to maintain a zero growth rate (which the environmentalists love)…

Problem is, Japan, the US and China are all aging more rapidly than the birth rate to replace us as workers. I’ve seen various reports that China ‘claims’ they won’t see negative growth until 2030, but others say it’s already happening. BUT at 1.3 BILLION give or take a few hundred million, how can one tell?

The Japanese situation is the US in micro, with us baby boomers moving into retirement/death now. There aren’t enough ‘kids’ behind us to maintain the work pool to pay for us (and giving away entitlements to illegals isn’t helping).

This is a Total Fertility Rate calculation by country, and while the USA shows a rate of 2-3 children per family, that is averaged over ALL ethnicities. When you actually drill down, caucasians/asians fall in the 0-1 category, blacks in the 3-4 category, hispanic and middle eastern in the 4-6 category.

Countriesbyfertilityrate.svg
“Countriesbyfertilityrate” by Supaman89 – Own work – updated per The World FactBook (CIA) – https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Probably the scarier part at least for America, is the change in basic values as illegals who don’t WANT to assimilate into America are changing the culture here by taking everything they can (entitlements, medical, etc.) and shipping the money they do make back to their home countries to bring more illegals here.

I don’t like the trends I’m seeing and I feel for my children and grandchildren. I don’t know what they are going to face in 20-30 years…

Edit- Ironically Bob has a post up HERE on a much more localized impact of aging…

A good week…

Sometimes, not often, the confluence of events allows a little down time on a trip.

This one has proven to be that one break a year type of trip…

Got a chance to attend a military reunion of current/former Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance personnel, and also got a chance to have dinner with Uncle Jay.

We commiserated over the ‘joys’ of travel to foreign destinations, those ‘little’ problems that come up on the road, and how little time one really has during work trips to actually do anything other than work.

Jay is a great storyteller, and has a ton of those little travel faux pas stories, and we also cussed the various customs, ITAR and other petty regulations (like having to have an EXACT number of items in and out, otherwise go to jail, do not pass go, etc.).

Jay really IS one of those ‘little’ guys (actually pretty damn big guy), who make things work behind the scenes, and never get the ‘credit’ (unless something goes wrong). He’s also the guy you want backing you up, anywhere-anytime.

And he educated me on carrying one and more guns on a motorcycle, something I really hadn’t thought about. It IS an interesting problem, and not an easy one to solve.

We got some good food at Whitey’s Fish Camp, a place I used to hit at least weekly, and I almost didn’t recognize the place, it’s expanded so much! But the food was good!!! I think we scared the hell out of the poor waitress as we both grabbed for the bill (and I lost, dammit).

And speaking of motorcycles, coming back to the hotel last night I hear a Harley. Stopping at the light I look over and see a chopped Fat Boy, the rider has on a real helmet, leathers, shorts?? Wha??? Andddd… Flip flops!

Really??? Shorts and flip flops? Sigh… But then it IS Florida…

And lunch was at Sonny’s.

IMG_2215

Now I know not everyone likes Sonny’s, but I’ve eaten at this one for 38 years… It’s not gourmet, but it’s filling and you know what you’re getting. And it’s not expensive either!!!

I’m back on another airplane heading home for the day, then out again… Sigh…

Another YGTBSM…

I’ve re-written this post about three times, trying to express my disgust without cussing…

Did you know the Bible, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence all promote sexism? And racism?

According to a course (required course mind you) being taught by DEOMI, under the auspices of the Department of Defense, they do!

Those three cherished texts all count as “historical influences that allow sexism to continue,” according to a presentation prepared by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, whose mission is to give a ”world-class human relations education.”

Screen-Shot-2015-04-07-at-10.45.54-AM

Make sure you take your BP meds before you go read the article by A.R. Goldenberg at the Daily Caller, HERE.

I can’t help but wonder who is the drafter of this program and what their background is… I can take a guess, as well as you probably can.

What really frosts me though, is that this crap is allowed to be spewed to the attendees as ‘gospel’… Or can I even say gospel?

The PC police and SJWs are alive, well and with administration top cover, ramming crap like this down our throats, while penalizing those who put courses together than could actually BENEFIT the warfighters…

But you can’t say radical islam, nor make any negative references to muslims, or even use DOCUMENTED actions… That’s ‘prejudicial’…

Gah… $%^&**&%%$$!!!

h/t AFCM

TBT…

Down in JAX for the MPRA Symposium, and this is a perfect fit…

PBY- WWII

IMG_2204

P-2V7 This one is painted as VP-5 crew nine for a reason…IMG_2203

This is the reason… 38 years, but they were returned to their families…IMG_2205

And yes there are STILL WWII temporary buildings in use… IMG_2207

How big is a Navy battle flag? BIG!!!IMG_2210

The dinner last night had 400 attendees, the oldest from the late 1940s. We had from E-5 to Vice-Admirals in attendance, spanning at least three generations. In one case, a Lieutenant was recognized as the PACFLT NFO of the year, the award was accepted by his daddy, a retired Rear Admiral, who is himself the son of a retired Vice Admiral… 🙂

This was a fitting backdrop for the dinner, and the lighting says it all… The P-3 on the right is fading out, and the P-8 on the left is coming into the fleet.IMG_2212It was great to see old friends, as one said, with the emphasis on OLD… We’re not 21 or even 31 anymore… sigh. But it was also fun to talk to the young sailors who are coming behind us. They got a chance tonight to rub shoulders with us old farts and maybe, just maybe, some of them will look back on this night as one that prompts them to stay the course and continue to serve.

 

I missed this one…

In all the hoopla surrounding the NRA AM, I missed this one…

April 10th in History… The date was 150 years ago. 1865…

8090301_orig

Lee’s General Order Number 9 was recorded by Rev. Edmund Jennings Lee, IV (b. 1877) for an LP entitled THE CONFEDERACY (Columbia Records, DL-220).
Text follows.

The Last Order of General Robert E. Lee, C. S. Army,
Commanding Army of Northern Virginia.

GENERAL ORDERS No. 9.

HDQRS. ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
April 10, 1865.

        After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to the result from no distrust of them. But, feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen.
By the terms of the agreement officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed; and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection.
With an increasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous considerations for myself, I bid you all an affectionate farewell.

R. E. LEE,
General

One of the most memorable general orders ever…

And Grant’s order was also rather interesting, in that he didn’t make them prisoners.

“Appomattox Court-House, Virginia April 9, 1865.
“GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.

“U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.

One day that changed the face of America forever, and two gentlemen who understood the true cost of war. The conducted themselves with honor and did not stoop to the lows that could have very easily have destroyed the country.

h/t Stretch

NRA AM wrap up…

TL;DR version- Fun was had by all. Good folks, good food (except for Friday night), and great conversations. Neat toys too! The LEOs liked us, the service people liked us, and the cleaning people liked us! Win-Win-Win!!!

From the earlier posts, Sunday afternoon Charter STILL had not received their crate with guns. It will be interesting to see if we hear anything about this later.

Sunday’s Tennessean paper had a dig at the NRA, via a SEX headline… Pedi pretty much fisked that one HERE. At the airport yesterday morning I was talking with a Baptist preacher who is a youth counsellor for the NRA about it, and he was STILL livid…

Lots of folks took lots of pictures, so I’m only putting up a few.

I was asked what the size difference is between the G42 and G43. The G43 is on the left. It’s ‘about’ 1/2 inch longer…

G43 42

In answer to the Colt catalog issue with the LE6920- OEM 1 and 2, The OEM 1 has a front sight post.IMG_2183

The OEM 2 does NOT have a front sight post and is low profile. Both are the same price.IMG_2182

This is the heat shield on Jesse Smith’s competition Colt AR… 🙂 IMG_2185

And FN is selling ‘collector copies’ of military arms.  Now it’s interesting to note they are all flat tops, unlike the originals. But they ARE built to MILSPEC except for the fun switch…

M-16M16

M-4 M4

M-249 (OBTW, $7000 for a semi-auto)…M249

And on a lighter note- pedalling for the beer… Makes one wonder how many times you could get drunk and work it off at the same time… And what happens if you ‘lose’ a couple enroute??? Saw quite a few of these, always with women on them, singing at the tops of their lungs… working for the beer

A one off at the Baer booth. Note the serial number. I asked Les if it was for sale, and he smiled and shook his head. He’d been sweating out the weather back home, as some pretty bad storms apparently missed some of his employees houses by a mile or less. But he said he’s busy, and every other manufacturer he’s talked to is too! Baer Boss

Colt Thompsons, 1921, 1927, 1928 versions. 🙂Colt Thompsons

A closer look at the bottom one and lo and behold it’s a NAVY marked 1928! Sigh…1928 Navy

And last but not least, I got my paws on the ‘new’ 1903 Colt pocket hammerless that Colt will do a limited run of this year… .32 Cal just like the original.03 Colt LS

Same takedown procedures, and it will be a limited run of 5000. The first 500 will be ‘blued’…03 Colt slide lock

These are still pre-production models, and when I pointed out the slide/frame rub, the project manager acknowledged they were working on the ‘fiddley bits’… 1903 Colt RSIt is really strange to handle one that is tight and ‘new’, in more ways than one. I’d kinda like to have one, but I’m betting most of them, even at $1200 price point, are going to end up in collections.

They will also do a run of 1908’s in .380 after the run of the 03’s are complete.

Again, thanks to the fine folks at the NRA media group for coordinating with us, allowing us access, and treating us well. It IS appreciated. It was also great to see the usual group of folks, and honestly I never did get a good count, but I’m guessing probably 30+ bloggers were there over the three days.

One final note- If you see something you want, BUY IT!!! Sigh… I ‘waited’ to get two items till Sunday, since I didn’t want to haul them around…

Yep, BOTH were sold out… (color me stoopid, again)…

Husar’s Laws, Part 14…

The last ones…

  • Teamwork is essential; it gives them someone else to shoot at.
  • We are not retreating, we are advancing in a different direction.
  • I’ve learned that it’s not good to talk about my troubles. 80% of the people who hear them don’t care ant the other 20% are glad you have them.
  • If you have a problem with me, please write it nicely on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope, fold it up and shove it up your ass.
  • I can eat a can of alphabet soup and shit a better argument than that.
  • Wine – how classy people get shitfaced.
  • Hangover – just God’s way of saying you kicked ass last night.
  • I hate people that say “He’s a nice person once you get to know him”. They might as well just say “He’s a dickhead, but you’ll get used to it.”
  • Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.
  • If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
  • I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
  • In filling forms where it says “in case of emergency, notify” I put doctor.
  • You don’t need a parachute to skydive, you only need one to skydive twice.
  • You’re never too old to learn something stupid.
  • Woman are like bacon; look good, smell good, taste good and slowly kill men.
  • It was a whole lot easier to get older than to get wiser.
  • It’s hard to make a comeback when you haven’t been anywhere.
  • The world only beats a path to your door when you’re in the bathroom.

Hope y’all enjoyed them,..