Survival Arts

TechTV's Catalog of Tomorrow

I have TechTV playing in the background while I'm working here, and just now saw an intruiguing ad for a book, TechTV's Catalog of Tomorrow. The images flashing by included some Foresight Institute graphics illustrating nanotechnological cell repair machines, apparently contributed by my friend Chris Peterson. The other thing that caught my eye was a dewar with an Alcor Life Extension Foundation logo: I'm a neurosuspension member of that cryonics organization myself.

This is another book I've not yet read, but find sufficiently interesting to point out to my readers. I'll review it when I lay my hands on a copy. In the meantime, the Amazon entry I point to here has 52 sample pages for perusal - lots of eye candy - with the index pages listed in full.

Leica 8+12x42 Duovid hunting binoculars

A friend of mine just today ordered a pair of Leica 8+12x42 Duovid hunting binoculars. Per the advertising blurb on the Leica website (English version, of course):

Leica heralds a new era in binoculars: The LEICA DUOVID 8 + 12 x 42 is the first highend binocular worldwide that features switchable magnification. That makes it an outstanding choice for use in hunting, because it provides brilliant images, both at great distances as well as in critical poor light situations.

In wide-open hunting grounds, observation must often be conducted over great distances. The12-power magnification is ideal for this purpose. The 8-power magnification, on the other hand, allows an excellent overview over the entire range - with an absolutely stable image, a large field of view and great depth of field. Outstanding ergonomics make vibration-free viewing possible even at high magnifications.

My friend has not received his binocs, so we don't yet have a review. These are pricey glasses, but I'm sure worth the cost. If anyone has had experience with these glasses, feel free to comment here. I've been a Steiner guy myself for the last couple of years, but can be convinced to switch.

Quote of the day

People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after.

Oliver Goldsmith

Toxophilus or the Schole or Partitions of Shooting, by Roger Ascham

I'd mentioned earlier that I'd seen "Conquest: Bow & Arrow" on the History Channel last night, but didn't mention that Peter Woodward had cited a work I've not yet read, "Toxophilus or the Schole or Partitions of Shooting", published original in 1545 by Roger Ascham, which Woodward described as the first European book on the practice of archery.

There are some interesting excerpts from Ascham's book quoted in the web-based survey of the art "Construction of the Medieval Arrow", e.g.:

The deep and long nock is good in war, for sure keeping in the string. It must be narrow enough to hold the string, not grip it too much, strong enough for the sudden blow of the string not to break the shaft, and smooth enough for it not to cut the string.

and:

In Crete and Italy they used to have their shafts of reed... But, because such shafts be neither easy for Englishmen to get, and, if they were gotten, scarce profitable for them to use, I will let them pass, and speak of shafts which Englishmen, at this day, most commonly approve and allow. . {which} may be of such diverse woods as: Brazil, Service-tree, Turkey wood, Alder, Fustic, Blackthorn, Sugar-chest, Beech, Hardbeam, Elder, Birch, Asp, Ash, Sallow, or Oak.

I've not yet acquired a copy for myself - anyone have one I can buy, or, better, have one to donate for review here? - but will eventually lay my hands on one.

Interestingly, Webster's dictionary of 1913 has "Ascham" listed as a noun.

Conquest: Bow & Arrow on History Channel, repeated 13 & 14 January 2003

I saw this last night on the History Channel, narrated by "Actor and fight master Peter Woodward":

One of man's earliest effective hunting weapons, we learn why the bow and arrow became so dominant in history. Our combat team is sent to the woods to make their own as we study the craft of the bowyer and fletcher. We learn about Egyptian bows and try to fire accurately from an Egyptian chariot, and experiment with North American Indian bows--composite bows of horn and wood. And reenactors, using rubber-tipped arrows, recreate what it was actually like to be subjected to a "cloud of arrows". TV PG

It was quite an entertaining show, with some interesting tidbits such as the ability of the English longbowman to deliver 2 arrows simultaneously... by delivering one in a parabolic arc on target - like a mortar round - and quickly following through with a directly aimed second shot with a correspondingly short time on target. Amazing stuff.

I hadn't appreciated how underappreciated the bowman was on the European medieval battlefield, akin to the despised Japanese rifleman I've mentioned in another post here. A well trained, strong bowman with good equipment - the best of the English longbowmen, for example - was a relative rarity on the European battlefield. Vastly more common was the ill-trained, unmotivated, barely fed, despised-by-the-regulars draftee bowman, who was given little or no support from infantry or mounted armor.

When knights were captured, they were often ransomed. When archers were captured, they were usually killed.

One lesson from the show: if you're an archer, use your only advantages - quick mobility and ability to project force - by drawing your encumbered enemy into (to him) disadvantageous terrain, which means get the armored knight into the woods... where you can pick him off from behind trees - for that matter, from high up in trees - and separate him from his mates.

The program will be repeated 13 & 14 January 2003.

Gary Moro sojutsu (spear) seminar 15 February 2003, Bay Area Buyu Center

Patrick McKee passes along a notice that Gary Moro, teacher of Yachigusu Ryu aikijiujutsu martial arts in San Francisco, will be teaching a sojutsu (spear) seminar at the Bay Area Buyu Center on the 15th of February 2003.

Gary's a good guy I've met a few times at Don Angier seminars in the Bay area, and while I'm a student of a different art (Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu), I will certainly try to attend his seminar. The arts of the Sengoku Jidai (the Japanese Warring States period) were all about combat; study them from the good teachers, where and if you can find them.

Quote of the day

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but who mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.

Daniel Webster

Quote of the day

Pro-gun citizens realize that they are fighting for more than just possession of chattel property, that they are fighting for a deeply ingrained principle of liberty that forms the bulwark of our Republic.

William Adkins

Quote of the day

Carrying a concealed weapon allows one, regardless of gender, age, or physical ability, to control his own immediate environment and thereby have options in various emergencies that unarmed persons do not enjoy. Carrying a gun is simply part of recognizing and accepting responsibility – responsibility for one’s own actions, one’s own safety, and the security of one’s own family. Indeed, with the level of lawlessness evident in today’s society, it may be the social duty of decent, intelligent people to arm themselves.

Tom Givens

Quote of the day

Here's a useful exercise: when watching a politician speak on TV, turn down the volume. Notice the gestures. Note their similarity to the gestures politicians everywhere in the world use - exhortation, indignation, and so on. Then turn up the volume. Listen to what the politician is saying. Here's a virtual guarantee: he (or, more rarely, she) is saying things that appeal to the group of voters most likely to get him into power or keep him there.

Robert Wright
The Moral Animal, pp258-259

"The Third Culture", essay by John Brockman

John Brockman's essay "The Third Culture" and lots of responses to it. This is apparently quite old but I only just now hit it.

I'd try to summarize it but I would find it hard to do so.

Eject! Eject! Eject!

Thanks to Samizdata's Brian Micklethwait for pointing out an excellent new blog by Bill Whittle, Eject! Eject! Eject!, in particular his excellent essay Freedom, which I highly recommend reading.

Quote of the day

Among God’s great gifts to humanity are fine weapons, beautiful women, great books, fast cars, and good music. In return for these wonders we owe to Him clear thought, good humor, courage, and kindness.

Jeff Cooper

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

4 weeks from now on the Showtime network will see the debut of libertarian comedy duo Penn & Teller's "Bullshit!":

On January 24 at 11:00 PM ET/PT SHOWTIME will present the controversial new series PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! Master showmen Penn & Teller promise an aggressive, irreverent exposé of taboo topics using the duo's trademark humor, knowledge of carnival tricks and con-artistry, as well as hidden cameras and blatant confrontation. Each of the 13 half-hour episodes includes interviews and undercover segments intertwined with elements of Penn & Teller's non-traditional comedy routines.

I'm really looking forward to this.

It's Isaac Newton's birthday

It's Isaac Newton's birthday! While others celebrate yet another bizarro religion, keep in mind the man who first produced a really successful mathematical model of physics. In the end, celestial mechanics will beat out celestial choirs for long term significance.

Quote of the day

…the majority of lawyers plying their trade, at almost any moment in time, are engaged either in the circumvention of the law, the exoneration of criminals, the deconstruction of the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, the distortion of objective reality, legal blackmail, the overthrow of discernible truth, the manipulation of the ignorant masses, and the defeat of justice.

Linda Bowles

Quote of the day

We are reduced to the alternative of choosing unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.

Continental Congress on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms in 1775

Quote of the day

As opportunities to learn about firearms dwindle, so do opportunities to learn the virtues inherent in responsible gun ownership. Far from protecting them from danger, keeping our children from learning about guns leaves them defenseless in situations where that knowledge could be life saving. The best lesson we can teach our children about guns is that they are powerful tools that can be used for good or bad. In defense against lethal aggression a gun is a piece of safety rescue equipment.

Timothy Wheeler, M.D.

Quote of the day

...it is even a bit misleading to call Standard English a "language" and these variations "dialects", as if there were some meaningful difference between them. The best definition comes from the linguist Max Weinreich: a language is a dialect with an army and a navy.

Steven Pinker
The Language Instinct

Quote of the day

No experience is so conductive to steady and accurate shooting as the knowledge of the impossibility to escape by speed.

Sir Samuel Baker

Quote of the day

Remember the government that has the power to give you all you want, also has the power to take all you have.

Col. David Crockett

Tom DeLay, "our" House leader

I find it interesting that we live in a country that will (rightfully) pillory Trent Lott for making stupid remarks, but fully ignores gems like this:

"our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud by teaching evolution as fact and by handing out condoms as if they were candy."

Those are Tom DeLay's own words, on his own web site.

Quote of the day

A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.

Sigmund Freud

Quote of the day

Democracy is a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.

H.L. Mencken

Nevada Pistol Academy moving to Front Sight main campus

Earlier this afternoon, I received a call from an acquaintance in Las Vegas, who told me that Nevada Pistol Academy was closing shop at the end of this month (31 December 2002). I was a bit shocked, because for me this would mean no more "guns at cost", which has been a great attraction of the shop at the south end of the sea of lights.

I called the shop a few minutes ago and spoke to manager Todd Anderson, a really nice guy I've met before, and he explained that I had half the story: yes, NPA is vacating its present rented facility at the end of the month, but no, they're not going out of business. They're simply moving shop to the Front Sight main facility in Nye County, about 40 miles north, and taking over the FS Pro Shop operations, which will mean a marked improvement in overall selection, opening hours (normal hours rather than only when classes are in session), and a competitive place to buy guns.

Importantly, too, they'll be transferring their FFL to the new facility, which means they'll not be surrendering their Form 4473 files to F Troop.

Lassen Community College Gunsmithing program

I'd meant to mention this after my attendance at the last Big Reno Gun Show. A friend of mine on a mailing list I run, exi-liberty, mentioned that he's considering studying the art of the gunsmith; at that gunshow, I picked up a catalog for Lassen Community College, home of the famed NRA-affiliated Gunsmithing program:

We are the only Two Year Degree program fully accredited west of the Rocky Mountains. Lassen Community College is fully approved for VA and Rehabilitation students. We offer a two year A.S. Degree program as well as many different certificates with the additional opportunity for students to take a third year post graduate program to receive a Journeyman Gunsmith certificate.

The program is located on the college's campus in Susanville, California, about an hour's drive from Reno, Nevada. It's worth noting for Nevada residents that the college has a "good neighbor" tuition program specifically to attract them across the border to campus.

The college's gunsmithing program is unmatched in quality and scope, and features courses specifically tailored for the working professional: you can take each course in one week, starting Monday and finishing Friday. Neat deal.

Quote of the day

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses, and farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them.

Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a free man, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.

George Washington

Whiteouts in Reno: everything in the air

Just saw on Fox News that the weather is still going nuts. I experienced literal hurricane-force winds on Highway 95 just south of there on Saturday, and feared the sands would strip the paint off my car. I was whacked by tumbleweeds like never before. Later that night, massive snowstorm in Carson City, flakes the size of Pringles chips.

I'd planned on snowboarding Mt. Rose yesterday, but skipped it for some work. Fox mentioned that a skier was lost off-trail, and I see they're closed for the day!

I feel somewhat vindicated in my "paranoia": even in good (initial) weather, and even in cities, I always carry food, water, winter gear, and chains.

In the Arena, by Geoff Metcalf

Thanks to Teri Seago for alerting me to the fact that Geoff Metcalf has written a new book, In the Arena, featuring interviews with "doers of deeds" he has interviewed in his radio career such as Col. David Hackworth, Ted Nugent, Dr. Khidri Hamza, T.J. Rodgers and a number of other interesting people.

Quote of the day

... democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.

James Madison

Quote of the day

The Puritan hates fox-hunting not because it brings pain to the fox, but because it brings pleasure to the hunter.

Lord McCauley

Another interesting site: Accurate Reloading

Accurate Reloading looks like a bunch of guys that love guns (located in some middle eastern country), big game hunting, wildcat cartridges and amateur gunsmithing.

There are some hilarious videos of people shooting various cartridges like the 577 Tyranasaur, 600 and 700 Nitro Express in very light rifles. How does 14,000 ft/lb of energy strike you? You know you have a big cartridge when you have to "build" it on a 50 BMG action! Now add a 12-13 pound total rifle weight and no muzzle break!

The site also has an amazing amount of great data on reloading and ballistics on
everything from 177 airgun pellets to the 700 NE as well as other tests of various
gun related stuff. Surprisingly professional and complete for a bunch of guys just hanging out.

Quote of the day

To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic.

Ted Nugent

Just finished Front Sight armorer's course for the Glock

I'm still on the road, but managing to find good internet access along the desert highways of Nevada. Today I attended and completed an exhaustive, superb, and highly unauthorized version of the Glock armorer's course which went well beyond the "official" Glock armorer's course. I'll be writing about this in detail by Monday, after I return.

Now to rest...

Quote of the day

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.
Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it ....
A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby.
No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.

American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Volume 16, Section 177

Another firearms commerce site: Auction Arms

Thanks to a friend who pointed me just now to Auction Arms, which bills itself "The Largest Firearms Auction Website on the Internet". I'm on the road, and on a sloooooow connection, so I'll check it out in depth in a few days. In the meanwhile, readers are encouraged to explore and comment here.

Quote of the day

I abhor violence. I dislike it so much that I will kill anyone who offers it to me.

Unknown

How ironic: smoking at the UN only!

I just heard a Fox News reporter comment on the irony of smoking being allowed at U.N. headquarters - "as soon as you walk in, everyone is smoking up a storm" - in the same New York City where fascist mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a ban on all public smoking, including in bars of all places!

On the road through Monday

I'll be on the road through Monday, so blogging here will be light.

Some amazing PCO SensiCam high-speed ballistic photos

Thanks to a friend of mine for passing this on to me: some great high-speed bullet photography from Beschussamt Mellrichstadt posted on Ammoman.

Quote of the day

As government regulations grow slowly, we become used to the harness. Habit is a powerful force, and we no longer feel as intensely as we once would have [the] constriction of our liberties that would have been utterly intolerable a mere half century ago.

Judge Robert Bork

Reason Magazine joins the blogosphere

Perry de Havilland reports that Reason magazine now has its own blog, "Hit & Run".

Quote of the day

Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.

Machiavelli

Sheer barbarism! Wine shipment limited in some states!

My first time shopping Wine.com, I'm asked with each selection if the U.S. state I previously indicated is indeed the state to which I'll be having the wine shipped. I finally went to the "Why is this important?" help link and read this:

Although we can ship wine to more than 80% of the U.S. population over age 21, a few states do not allow their residents to receive wine shipments. If you are choosing a gift for one of these states, your product choices will automatically be limited to our line of tasteful and practical wine accessories.

Brian Wilson, who broadcasts from the District of Columbia - one of the affected statelets - for the San Francisco libertarian/convervative KSFO AM 560 market, and who also loves wine, has I'm sure had choice words about this insanity.

Inova X5 Mini Spotlight: found the one I lost!

I thought I'd lost the one I carry in my back pocket, but I found my Inova X5 Mini Spotlight under my car's driver seat... I really do need to look down there routinely.

I love this thing! It uses the same lithium ion batteries I use in my Surefire 6P and M3 tactical lights, but those batteries last 10 times as long in this unit. This means I can (and do) reserve my 6P solely for its intended use, and the Inova as a utility light. I just now measured mine at 2cm wide by a shade under 12cm long. Drop it in your pocket and forget about it.

And like the ASP Key Defender I reviewed a few weeks ago, it's made of durable machined aircraft aluminum. A bit shorter and thicker than the ASP, the Inova could make a fine little handheld impact weapon.

eBay sucks worse than ever on firearms-related sales

See eBay's policy on "Firearms, Ammunition, Replicas, and Militaria". I was reminded of it when I went to post some related accessories up for auction. A reminder of why I prefer GunsAmerica and GunBroker.com.

Great thread on "The Way of the Gun"

Some months ago, I was recommending the modern Western flick The Way of the Gun as an example of some of the best tactical gun handling I've seen on the silver screen (a class which would also include Heat and Blackhawk Down). I just ran across a very interesting thread on the Front Sight Alumni site which makes for great reading.

Quote of the day

I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution ... or have failed their purpose ... or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should be attacked for neglecting my constituents' 'interests,' I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty, and in that cause I am doing the very best I can.

Barry Goldwater

The picture from the Bugei tameshigiri seminar

I'd mentioned a few days ago that someone on a dojo mailing list alerted us to the fact that I'm in a picture on page 2 of the new Bugei catalog. Here it is; I'm in the middle. James Williams to my far right; Big Tony is to my right.

You can't see it very well, but I'm holding James' personal Samurai Koshirae Katana, which he mentions in the latest paper catalog has over 4,000 cuts... last year's catalog says 3,000. I came to the tameshigiri seminar with a cheap sword, so he generously offered the use of his own, which was superb. I now own one of those, as well its matching tanto. Eventually, I'll save for the matching shoto.

Great introduction to the idea of libertarianism

Thanks to Dan Weiner on the smith2004-discuss list for the pointer to this beautifully crafted introduction to the basic precepts of libertarianism. Send it to your friends and acquaintances who don't get it yet.

Quote of the day

As long as gun owners argue for property rights, the tyrants will say it's dangerous property. If you say the guns are for self defense the tyrants will call for more police. The only way to keep your guns is make clear that the guns exist to resist tyrany and dare the tyrants to come get them.

Michael Wagner

Top of the hit parade: O. T. Nelson's "The Girl Who Owned a City"

For the 2nd month running (since I started this blog), my stats package indicates that of all the referrer links from Google and other search engines to content on this site, most readers seem to be looking for references to O. T. Nelson's book "The Girl Who Owned a City", which I reviewed here a few weeks ago.

This is not what I expected, but it's an interesting surprise nonetheless.

Things are really getting bad Down Under

David Carr reports that "the 'British Disease' appears to have spread to Australia" and urges Australian readers not to make the same mistakes that UK gunowners made: trying to legitimize ownership with the "legitimate sporting need" argument.

Quote of the day

If a nation or an individual values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony is that if it is comfort or money it values more, it will lose that too.

W. Somerset Maugham

The Thermopylae Group & The Self Defense Initiative in California

At the Big Reno Gun Show last weekend, I picked up a paper brochure entitled "A Proposal for Amending the California Constitution", from The Thermopylae Group in San Jose, California. The text of the Self-defense Initiative is composed of these 3 short paragraphs:

The Proposition

The inalienable right to defend life and liberty as set forth in Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution includes the fundamental right of each person to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family and home. This right shall not be infringed.

1. All State government action regulating the right of law-abiding persons to acquire and possess arms for the defense of self, family and home, shall be subject to strict scrutiny, in the same respect as the freedoms of speech and of the press. All county, city and local government action on this subject is preempted by state law and this Amendment.

2. This Amendment does not limit the State from regulating the acquisition and possession of arms by: felons, minors, the mentally incompetent, and any person subject to restraining orders based upon their own violent conduct.

The group plans to place the initiative on the ballot in 2004.

Molon Labe!

Tactical Radio Communications, installment 7

[PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT]

Penetration and blocking of radio waves

Radio waves are attenuated by almost all objects they pass through, e.g. air, people, trees, buildings and the ground. Dense objects such as earth or metals block radio waves very well. Only a few feet of either can make radio communications impossible. However, radio waves also bounce off objects, and this effect can be used to allow communications around corners and inside otherwise impenetrable objects such as steel buildings. Higher frequencies tend to bounce and penetrate more, thus UHF radios are the most suited for work inside buildings and cities. There is a practical limit to this however, and beyond 400-500 MHz the penetration of radio waves starts to fall off again.

Sensitivity

Good receiver sensitivity is an excellent way to make up for low transmit power. Increasing transmitter power takes more energy, and thus translates into shorter battery life on portable radios. Increasing receiver sensitivity usually does not require more power, so this is a desirable characteristic. Most modern radios have excellent sensitivity. Sensitivity is usually measured in microvolts, also abbreviated as uV. The lower the number, the better the sensitivity. A good radio will have a sensitivity of 0.2uV or lower. Up to 0.4uV is acceptable for UHF radios.

Quote of the day

Well, we know what motivates the hoplophobe. He simply envies the man who can cope where he, the hoplophobe, cannot. A skilled, armed man lives on a plane of security and contentment different from that of others. This is not egalitarian! The man who cannot cut it, envies, fears, and sometimes hates the man who can.

Jeff Cooper

Tactical Radio Communications, installment 6

[PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT]

Polarization

Radio waves have an orientation, usually vertical or horizontal. Note how external TV antennas have all their elements lined up in a flat fashion (horizontal polarization), while CB and two-way radio antennas point straight up (vertical polarization). Having the polarization different between antennas can cause significant signal loss, thus it is important to always mount antennas in the same direction (vertical for most two-way radio applications).

Antenna height

At higher frequencies (30MHz and above), the height an antenna is above the ground has a direct affect on how well it performs. High frequency radio waves are blocked by the ground and tend to travel about the same as one’s line of sight. This is the usually the main limitation on the distance one can communicate. The higher one is, the farther they can see, and the exact same principle applies to radio waves. A 1-watt portable may only work for 2-3 miles at ground level. If you put that radio on a 5,000-foot mountaintop, the range can be increased to 10-20 miles or further. A good rule of thumb is if your radio contact drops off, try moving to higher ground.

Gun Shows now banned in San Mateo County, California

Less than 48 hours ago, San Mateo County, California supervisors unanimously voted to ban gun shows on county property. This means the TS Gun Shows run at the Expo Center in Redwood City are history, unless the NRA successfully appeals in the 9th Circuit Court ("the most overturned court in the land").

Expect San Mateo County revenues - the ones they'll now lose on the rental of the Expo Center - to be made up by increased taxes on, oh, say, ammunition in the county's gun shops.

Quote of the day

lawful vs. legal
Lawful is what is right to do, in a moral or libertarian sense. Legal is what is permitted to do by government.

unlawful vs. illegal
Unlawful is morally wrong (malum in se). Illegal is artificially wrong (malum prohibitum) because the government says so.

Boston T. Party
Boston's Gun Bible

Bend over and be prepared to be Serviced!

No, this online form is not a joke:

The Commonwealth of Virginia does not require gun registration. Arlington County provides this service for its citizens in an effort to keep a record of the serial numbers of firearms. In case of theft or loss, we will have the information pertaining to individual firearms for reporting purposes. If you would like to register your gun but would prefer not to use this online form, you may call (703) 228-4252.

"Service"? What person in his right mind would allow himself to be serviced like that?

Geocaching: Global GPS Cache Hunting

My thanks to friend Steve Pegram for pointing me to the Geocaching website. It looks like great fun, and an excellent way to learn and hone GPS land navigation skills. I might jump into the game myself sometime soon...

Reed's Indoor Range, Santa Clara, California

I had the opportunity today to take 2 new shooters - prior to their attendance at a 4-day defensive handgun course at Front Sight this weekend - to teach them elementary gun safety & weapons handling at the excellent new Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara, California (I spend quite a bit of time in the People's Republic on business and for training).

It was the first time I'd shot there, and was very happy with the facilities, the well-stocked shop, and the excellent, knowledgeable people there. With their permission, I'd like sometime soon on another of my "take a new shooter to school" outings to take a few pics of their well-stocked shop and their smiling faces to put up on this site.

Tactical Radio Communications, installment 5

[PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT]

Gain

In radio terms, gain means multiplication. Gain is used with respect to amplifiers and antennas. Amplifiers obviously have signal gain, as that is their purpose. Antennas can also have gain. They accomplish this by focusing the energy supplied to them into a beam. Antenna gain works in both directions, transmit and receive. Gain is specified in dB units. dB units are a logarithmic measure, which means that the gain increases at an ever-faster rate for a constant change in numbers. Some simple rules to follow if you don’t understand what logarithmic means are as follows:

0dB = 0% change
1dB = 10% change
3dB = 70% change
6dB = 200% (or 2 times)
10dB = 300% (or 3 times)
20dB = 1000% (or 10 times)
40dB = 10,000% (or 100 times)

An antenna with 6dB gain will transmit 2 times the energy as a no-gain antenna. Thus a 5-watt radio connected to a 6-dB gain antenna will transmit a signal with the effective strength of 10 watts. Since antenna gain works in both directions, any received signals will also appear to be twice as strong.

Another South African in (the) space (business)

Here's another surprise, at least for me: Samizdata's Dale Amon reports on a new venture of PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, Space X (Space Exploration Technologies). Elon Musk has a good business track record, so I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Readers will recall another South African in space recently, space tourist Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Thawte (later sold to Verisign).

Quote of the day

Millions are fascinated by the plan to transform the whole world into a bureau, to make everybody a bureaucrat, and to wipe out any private initiative. The paradise of the future is visualized as an all-embracing bureaucratic apparatus... Streams of blood have been shed for the realization of this ideal.

Ludwig Edler von Mises
Bureaucracy, 1944

Tactical Radio Communications, installment 4

[PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT]

Power

Transmitter power output is the amount of energy that is sent to the antenna. Power is measured in Watts, just like electrical appliances. However the antenna can affect how much of this power actually gets sent into the air. Some antennas absorb or reflect large amounts of power (up to 90% in some cases) back to the transmitter. Such poorly performing antennas are usually seen at lower frequencies when size of the antenna is more important than efficiency.

More power translates into longer communications distance. As a rule of thumb, signal strength decreases as a square of the distance from the transmitter. What this means in practical terms, is that if you can talk for 1 mile with 1 watt of power, to stretch that to 2 miles you will need (2 squared) 4 watts. To talk 3 miles (3 times the distance) you will need 3 squared or 9 watts.

Most portable radios transmit 0.1 watts (or 100 milliwatts) on low power and 1 to 5 watts on high power. Mobile radios typically transmit from 10 to 100 watts. Base station radios or radios with external amplifiers can transmit up to 1000 watts or more.

Mea maxima culpa! How could I have forgotten Geeks With Guns?

In the course of writing an entry into a packing.org thread, I realized with a shock that of all the organizations to have been included in this site's blogroll, I'd forgotten one of the very best: Geeks With Guns! I'm correcting this now, and I very highly commend them to your attention.

"This ain't your father's 2nd Amendment website."

Egad! I made the Bugei catalog...

Last spring I attended a weekend-long tameshigiri seminar at the Dojo of the Four Winds in Encinitas, California, near San Diego, hosted by the excellent James Williams and "Big Tony" Alvarez. At the end of 2 solid days of cutting wara (and a few goza), we did group pictures, which I'd forgotten until now, over coffee, reading a dojo mailing list:

From: "Claude Whitmyer" Date: Tue Dec 3, 2002 10:25 am Subject: Russell "Grasscutter" Whitaker makes Bugei Catalog

Check it out!

On page 2 of the latest update to the Bugei mailorder catalog there is a group photo of a Tameshigiri workshop led by James Williams.

There's a big pile of cut pieces of either goza or wara--I mean a big pile--like the group had a real fun time cutting all those mats.

And right in the middle of the group, with a big smile and Bujinkan patch proudly displayed on his gi, stands Russell.

Hey Russell, are you still planning on arranging a tameshigiri seminar up here in the Bay Area?

claude

Looks like I need to order the paper catalog, since I can't find it on Bugei's website...

Quote of the day

They went north, into the teeth of the Ice Age, into direct competition with giant carnivores and stocky Neanderthals who had already adapted to life in the cold. They went north, into a world of challenge, where fruit, vegetables, and game were not available all year long and where efficient weapons, clothing, and housing were necessary. In abandoning Africa, they embraced a wider world that could be survived only through the development of technology. Thus was born Homo technologicus, man the inventor, amid fire and ice. Thus humanity transformed itself from an East African curiosity to the dominant species on this planet.

In a sense, the biblical tale of Genesis tells this story but has it backwards. It was not eating of the Tree of Knowledge that forced humankind to leave Paradise. Rather, it was the abandonment of Paradise that forced humanity to seek the forbidden fruit.

Robert Zubrin
Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization

The Heroic Swiss?

Anglosphere theorist and UPI columnist - and friend - James Bennett posted the following to a mailing list I run, exi-liberty. I'm running it here with his permission.

You can think of Switzerland in WW II as an armed neutral that was too costly for Hitler to invade. You can also think of them as a bombing-free munitions production facility for the Wehrmacht. Both descriptions are true and germane to the question of why Hitler didn't invade them. Had he won the war, he could easily have absorbed them afterwards. Probably gradually, by infiltrating Party thugs into Swiss cities near the border, fomenting insurrections, and moving in German "peacekeeping" troops, while holding rigged referenda annexing them to the Reich. Although he may have settled for having them become members of the "European Economic Community" his plans called for setting up. (See John Laughland's "The Tainted Source" for information on the latter.)

James C. Bennett

Why not the *Original* Bill of Rights?

This morning on that softy liberal Rush Limbaugh talk show, I heard a soundbite from that fixed facemask Nancy Pelosi, who remarked in passing on her continuing support of Saint Hillary's "Patients' Bill of Rights".

I can't help but notice, one more time, that these people wouldn't dream of advocating enforcement of the existing Bill of Rights, which is a bill of prohibitions against government action. They want nothing less than to bury the original meaning under their constant screeching about a bill of entitlements.

A must: AR15.com Ammunition FAQ

My thanks to firingline.com poster flinch_of_gt, who in a thread there entitled "Primary Home Defense Weapon System" recommended the AR15.com Ammunition FAQ, which is hosted on a logical domain apparently separate from AR15.com itself. It's laid out "toilet roll" style - somewhat like this blog, but without archiving - and is very long, but it's superbly fun and informative reading.

If you own anything in .223/5.56mm, you really should take in this site.

Rainmaking

Man has long dreamed of being able to make the deserts bloom by changing the weather, but some folks seem to have a neat and inexpensive way to do it: wind powered rotors out at sea that would spray out a fine mist of sea water, drastically raising the nearby evaporation rate.

Now if only someone will listen...

Another excerpt from Noel Perrin's "Giving Up the Gun"

I'd mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I would periodically excerpt choice pieces from Noel Perrin's Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879. So, here's another, from pp26-27 of the Shambhala edition:

Lord Hideyoshi, the regent of Japan at the time, took the first step toward the control of firearms. It was a very small step, and it was not taken simply to protect feudal lords from being shot at by peasants but to get all weapons out of the hands of civilians. What Lord Hideyoshi did was characteristically Japanese. He said nothing about arms control. Instead, he announced that he was going to build a statue of Buddha that would make all existing statues look like midgets. It would be of wood, braced and bolted with iron. And it would be so enormous (the figure was about twice the scale of the Statue of Liberty), that many tons of iron would be needed just for the braces and bolts.

See where this is going?

Still more was required to erect the accompanying temple, which was to cover a piece of ground something over an eighth of a mile square. All farmers, ji-samurai, and monks were invited to contribute their swords and guns to the cause. They were, in fact, required to. As a result, anyone visiting Kyoto in 1587 would have seen a curious scene of disarmament. He would have seen scores of blacksmiths busy hammering matchlocks into religious hardware. The Jesuit Annual Letter for that year reported rather bitterly that Lord Hideyoshi was 'planning to possess himself of all the iron in Japan,' and added, 'He is crafty and cunning beyond belief. Now he is depriving the people of their arms under pretext of devotion to Religion.'

I think this one stands by itself.

Quote of the day

...if you really know how to hit someone, you can end a fight in a hurry. Be prepared to wear someone else's blood; if you do it right, it happens.

Shmackey

New version of Gun Facts has been published

Thanks to Alan R. Weiss on the smith2000-discuss list for mentioning that the new edition (v3.2) of Gun Facts is out now. It's also available for download free as a PDF file.

Why doesn't someone get that man a technical advisor?

I couldn't resist going to see the new James Bond flick - who can? - and allowed myself the willing suspension of disbelief which is the usual waking state of most moviegoers anyway, and determined to enjoy the film.

I can say that I did enjoy myself, even forgetting temporarily Halle Berry's ridiculous Oscar antics. Bond films are fantasies, and should be enjoyed as such. However, I just could not pretend not to notice all the horrible gun handling and tactics of Brosnan and Berry. Bond's character slinks around with his Walther (an updated model, of course) in what some of my first pistol instructors called "the High Sabrina" ready position... remember that silhouette of the girls from the original Charlie's Angels TV series? Think about it.

Not only that - really, I'm not nitpicking here - he "teacups" his pistol with his support side hand. And at one point, he drops a magazine on the ground, "speed reload" style, without any thought to 1.) noise discipline and 2.) whether there were still rounds left in the thing. If he had time to do that, he would have done a tactical reload, and quietly pocketed the partial mag.

Ms. Berry's goofy gun handling was just too bad to break down by instance, so I'll just take this crack at her: at no point did she actually have the sights aligned with an eyeball, instead employing a weird, cock-armed grip.

Is it too much to ask directors nowadays that they hire the right technical consultants for these easily and cheaply remediable problems? Of course, not all directors are Michael Mann material.

Hey, I'd be happy to help out, for a little cash...

Recovered from training with Bill Atkins

I spent all of yesterday's daylight hours training under Bujinkan teacher Bill Atkins, one of America's finest, at a seminar given at the SF Buyu Center. I can't recommend Bill highly enough. I'm surprised there were fewer than the limit of 20 attendees. I suspect that Bill's next seminar will sell out: $60 for a day of training with him is a giveaway price.

Quote of the day

...freedom requires that very warrior ethic we seem to assume is the exclusive province of national military forces. To assume that someone else will protect your rights is sadly incorrect and we are seeing the evidence of it as our freedoms erode. There is only person you can depend upon to vouchsafe your freedom and that is you. Once you hire that job out to somebody else, you’re finished.

Michael Peirce