During our political discussion Steve said to me “why do you even care about politics?  Why even try to stop this stuff? There’s nothing you can do.  You should just live your life and go with the flow.”  I told him “that’s exactly why I care.  I just want to live my life.  I don’t want the government involved in every aspect of my life.  Who are they to tell me how to live my life?  Who are they to tell me what to do with my money? … I care because if everyone had this “give in” attitude we would already be living under tyranny.”

The thought of Steve’s “just give in because there’s nothing you can do about it” attitude has been swirling around in my head for a while now.  It’s shameful that any American’s feel this way.  It is infuriating that any man would prefer a life of uninterrupted subservience to government authority  over one of turmoil in defense of their own rights and that of their descendant’s.  Yet it seems that many American’s have this attitude.  Our founding fathers recognized this unfortunate trait that many human beings possess.  They recognized that people would often prefer to do nothing rather than stand in their own defense.

It reminds me of many things:

1. My attitude towards politics 20+ years ago.
2. The self-centered attitude of much of our society.
3. The lack of leaders within our society.

It is also reminiscent of a clip that I posted a while back, of Mike Rowe discussing the concept of “work” in America.  It’s a little long but worth the time.

My thought is this, you get out of life what you put into it.  In turn your actions influence others, either by example or by competition.  If you want to sit in the mobile home all day and watch Jerry Springer, then that’s the influence that you will bring to your children and to your social circle.  On the other hand, you can work to better yourself and your friends and family.  This will in turn have a ripple effect through society.  Like the expanding ripples in a still pond.

Is it hard to do?  Hell ya.

Is it worth it the effort and pain?  Somedays you question the path but, yeah it’s all worth it.

Can anything you do “make a difference”?  Everything that you do makes a difference in someone’s life everyday.  Some days the ripples are small, other days they are far reaching and very large.

It’s up to you.  Influencing your immediate environment.  Influencing politicians.  Sharing your visions on issues with your elected officials.  Being the “squeaky wheel”.  All these actions will have an impact.  It’s up to you but, don’t ever be complacent.

HOW GUN MAGAZINES WRITE ARTICLES

Instruction From The Editor To The Journalist:

Frangible Arms just bought a four page color ad in our next issue. They sent us their latest offering, the CQB MK-V Tactical Destroyer. I told Fred to take it out to the range to test. He’ll have the data for you tomorrow.

Feedback From Technician Fred:

The pistol is a crude copy of the World War II Japanese Nambu type 14 pistol, except it’s made from unfinished zinc castings. The grips are pressed cardboard. The barrel is unrifled pipe. There are file marks all over the gun, inside and out.

Only 10 rounds of 8mm ammunition were supplied. Based on previous experience with a genuine Nambu, I set up a target two feet down range. I managed to cram four rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. I taped the magazine in place, bolted the pistol into a machine rest, got behind a barricade, and pulled the trigger with 20 feet of 550 cord. I was unable to measure the trigger pull because my fish scale tops out at 32 pounds. On the third try, the pistol fired. From outline of the holes, I think the barrel, frame, magazine, trigger and recoil spring blew through the target. The remaining parts scattered over the landscape.

I sent the machine rest back to the factory to see if they can fix it, and we need to replace the shooting bench for the nice people who own the range. I’ll be off for the rest of the day. My ears are still ringing. I need a drink.

Article Produced By The Journalist:

The CQB MK-V Tactical Destroyer is arguably the deadliest pistol in the world. Based on a combat proven military design, but constructed almost entirely of space age alloy, it features a remarkable barrel design engineered to produce a cone of fire, a feature much valued by Special Forces world wide. The Destroyer shows clear evidence of extensive hand fitting. The weapon disassembles rapidly without tools. At a reasonable combat distance, I put five holes in the target faster than I would have thought possible. This is the pistol to have if you want to end a gunfight at all costs. The gun is a keeper, and I find myself unable to send it back.

From NASA….

The Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day.

JPL research scientist Richard Gross computed how Earth’s rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake. Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth’s axis. Gross calculates the quake should have moved Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet).

By comparison, Gross said the same model estimated the 2004 magnitude 9.1 Sumatran earthquake should have shortened the length of day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted Earth’s axis by 2.32 milliarcseconds (about 7 centimeters, or 2.76 inches).

Gross said that even though the Chilean earthquake is much smaller than the Sumatran quake, it is predicted to have changed the position of the figure axis by a bit more for two reasons. First, unlike the 2004 Sumatran earthquake, which was located near the equator, the 2010 Chilean earthquake was located in Earth’s mid-latitudes, which makes it more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis. Second, the fault responsible for the 2010 Chiliean earthquake dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does the fault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake. This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth’s mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis.

Gross said the Chile predictions will likely change as data on the quake are further refined.

Now we find some additional theories about solar activity and it’s impact on humankind.  Interesting stuff, it looks like the grid is at risk as well.  Check it here.

The M4 with it’s short barrel is not suited to that.

The M16A1 or A2 from my time you could easily reach out to 500M, accurately with Iron Sights.

Go back further to the M14, and reaching out effectively beyond 500M is achievable with the 7.62×51 NATO round.

But adversaries are cyclical as we are seeing between the two conflicts.  Our forces need to be able to operate effectively in both symmetric and asymmetrical environments.  I think we are going to see these arguments occur on a regular basis.  Every weapon system, and training approach is going to focus on doing something very well and by nature it will not do well on other areas.

An interesting read, go take a look Taking Back the Infantry Half-??Kilometer | Defense Tech.

There are some good discussions of the issues in question out there.  The best that I have found so far is here.

Go read it.  This issue is about so much more than “gun rights” and is one of those opportunities that the SCOTUS rarely has to address precedents that are widely recognized as “bad law”.  The complete impact of this decision will be interesting to see in the coming decades.

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