Explosions: More fun than a music video.

You know, I never realized it till now, but they're right. I don't think I'm a cool guy... I like watching explosions...

Balance

I had an interesting experience last night that has got me thinking.  We were sitting in the living room watching a movies when someone knocked on the door.  Thinking it was the neighbors, I jumped up and answered .  It was a nervous looking lady wearing a hoody pulled tight around her head.  She looked to be hooked on something that doesn't do nice things to a body.  She mumbled something about how she was walking up the street going to another street and she needed a match or a lighter for a cigarette.  I was kind of confused, said, "Okay!" and shut the door in her face.  I ran to my room to grab some matches, went back to the door, and handed her some matches.  I said, "They're strike anywhere!" and shut the door in her face again.  Afterwords, I felt kind of bad for her.  I mean, I don't know if she was some sort of drugged up serial killer or just a nervous lady down on her luck. Maybe she was just scouting to see if we had anything cool, or maybe she needed some food.  Should I have done something different?  How does a Christian balance compassion with personal safety? 

I am going to pray for wisdom, and I am going to keep a round chambered.

Books of 2010: Small is Beautiful

I finally finished a book that has been on my list for a year and on my desk for three months: “Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered,” by E.F. Schumacher, published in 1973.  In my sixth book of 2010 (I think--I’m starting to lose track), many good points were made, all to be ruined in by the last section. 

In the middle of the book, Schumacher talks about “metaphysical” issues, that is, morality and its foundation. He talks about the despair that modern man has fallen into because of a lack of “meaning.” He lists six ideas that have come from modern scientists and philosophers (evolution, survival of the fittest, the idea that higher art, etc. is nothing more than economics, Freudian psychology, relativism, and positivism), which he sums up as “morality is bunk.”  What is interesting is that all of these ideas were put forth by men who had a “mind well stocked with moral ideas” (had a good moral foundation), but after these ideas became mainstream “…all we got was bad metaphysics and appalling ethics.”  People replaced the good moral foundation of those men with the ideas of those men.  You may notice that this does not seem to have much to do with economics, and I agree.  However, this is some of the good stuff that made me think.

It was the last part of the book that ticked me off.  Schumacher tries to put forth socialism as a preferred method of organizing economics.  It went from good, thoughtful insights about modern society to a plug for socialism.  Threw me for a loop.  I disagree with nearly all of his justifications.  Mostly, he talks about how a free market turns into a tax loophole battle between the government and the wealthy that makes everyone else worse off.  He doesn’t seem to realize that that it isn’t just a free market that hurts the little people.  IT IS EVERY SOCIAL AND POLITCAL SYSTEM!  Though he mentions that he is a Christian in the book, he doesn’t seem to realize that this is a fallen world.  No system is going to work.  The only thing we can do is limit the amount of damage done by “the system.”  Socialism, which tries to regulate everything, is exactly opposite! 

Okay—sorry… off the soapbox.

So, in short, “Small is Beautiful” is an interesting read that covers such diverse topics as morality, economics, ecology and economy.  Some of the opinions in the book have been proven wrong by time, but some of them are still pressing issues.  Use your best judgment, and make wise choices.

And into the gun

This is my first foray into gun modification, if you want to call it that. Drop in parts, very simple.

Oh no. Where did they all come from? Will they all go back in? This is the most nerve wracking part--you pull out the pin and everything just falls out.

Oh good. It took all of my mad mechanical engineering skilz, but I got it done.

And back in the gun. Now I've got some fancy new parts in my little 10/22.  Hopefully it will still work the next time I shoot it...

Parts!

Can you guess what I got in the mail today?

 

Christian Music: the good and bad

This is why Christian music has a bad rap (WARNING: WATCHING THIS VIDEO COULD CAUSE SERIOUS LAUGHTER AND/OR TRAUMA.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED):



So terrible... as a Christian, I can say: good message, but...poor execution.  Poor lyrics, poor wardrobe, poor acting, poor musicianship, poor facial hair, poor dancing, poor audience.
__________________________________________
This is why there is hope:



As one reviewer put it: "'I'm living to shine on!' [the singer] proclaims. What that means in this context, I have no clue. But that was seriously awesome."

I think I just like the prog rock influence and the WWII vibe.

Anyway, I would just like to point out that you shouldn't write off something just because of one example.

Hardcore Colonel

I wasn't as happy about this picture after I discovered that "chickens" isn't a synonym of "vegetarian liberal hippies."  But I can make it mean whatever I want in my head.

And I'd like to add that I have never met a friendly chicken. I have met chickens with "personality," though.  I think they are too focused on eating to ever be called friendly... 

Oops.

Colorado just killed off the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director.  Sorry 'bout that.

iCrap

 

iHate Apple.

...and iAm glad iDon't own anything made by them.

Brady Campaign

The Brady Campaign for gun control rates all the states, and MT got a 4 out of 100.  The language they use just made me laugh, though--

Montana has weak gun laws that help feed the illegal gun market and allow the sale of guns without background checks.  In the 2009 state scorecards released for all 50 states by the Brady Campaign, Montana earns just four points out of a total of 100.  

“Since Montana does not require Brady criminal background checks on all firearm sales, including those at gun shows, gun traffickers don’t need to leave the state to funnel illegal guns to felons and gang members,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign.

This just proves how clueless they are.  Gun traffickers don't need to leave the state to funnel illegal guns to felons and gang member?  What the flip?  Gang members?  The mean streets of MT, yeah.  I told my room mate that, and we decided to start a gang, since there aren't any yet.  Here, look at the demographics.  Like, I think I know all three Mexicans who live in MT.  And they're all cool.

This is gonna be sweet.  I think we are going to go shoot some cans, if you want to join.  Really, we're planning on doing nothing but ticking off the Brady Bunch.

Explosions!

Another explosion! Just because.



In case you have never seen it, Top Gear is a British car show where they do all sorts of weird things, as well as review cars and such. It's very entertaining.

Books of 2010: Colonial Living

My epic quest to keep track of what I read continues... I'm up to 4 books.  Clearly, I have a dizzying intellect, but just wait till I get going!

I was reading a different book, which I haven't finished yet, but I had to take a break and read something more personable.  Thus, I give you the next book of 2010:

"Colonial Living," by Edwin Tunis

This book, first published in 1957, was very enjoyable.  As the back cover says, the book has "...lively text and detailed drawings...."  The lively text comes across in phrases such as "Spelling continued to be largely an original art, even among well-educated people," and the detailed drawings are all pen-and-ink drawings that show the people, devices, and buildings of the time.  While some of the history is dated (heh.), and it has a definite pro-America tilt that whitewashes some important details about the British, the slaves, and the natives, it was still quite good.  I always like to read history books that are "out of date" compared to the P.C.rap that you get from modern sources, and this one fits the bill admirably.

Highly Recommended.

Why won't it stop?

I had a very productive day today... if you count a runny nose.

Get it?  Mucus production? 

Nevermind.

But seriously, go and buy stock in "Kleenex."  I'm blowing through my supply.

Get it?  Blowing?

Nevermind.

Update for Friday:  I used 26 tissues, and three paper towels.  It was amazing.

Shut up, Algor

In my inbox, I had a nice little survey that my school wanted me to do:  a Greenhouse Emissions Inventory.  Presumably the folks in charge want to spend my tuition in ways I don't agree with.  I took the survey, all right.

 

The school name has been removed to protect the guilty.

The best part was, after I submitted it, the website said "Thank you for your cooperation."

No problem.  No problem at all.  You want to waste my time? I am happy to waste yours.

Do you know what's cool?

Norwegian techno music with old video game references. Yep.



B Hair, yo.

Valentine's Weekend

Well, as I mentioned earlier, there was a gun show this weekend. My friend bought his wife a nice little .380 auto pistol. And don't worry, she was super excited. No danger to the relationship, even if the gift wasn't your standard "romantic" valentines day stuff. When my other friend, who has been waffling over getting a gun, saw it, he decided to go for it and went and got a Sig .380 auto pistol (Just a note--the exact models will not be disclosed for privacy's sake).

Of course, we all had to go up to the hills and go shooting. I brought my 10/22 that I got for Christmas. I haven't shot it at all; this was its first 100 rounds or so. Amazing little gun, no recoil at all.

A grand time was had by all! Alas, we were standing around in ankle deep snow, so, too soon, we had to go back inside.

Hope you had a good weekend, too!

An Explosion Every Hundred Pages

Larry Correia just said in this post that you should have at least one explosion every hundred pages.  It made me ashamed;  I don't even have one.  So, here is an explosion:




Yeah, it's a little cheesy, but it made me laugh. And, you can't deny that it had an explosion in it.

Snowshoeing (is that how you spell it?)

I went snowshoeing today. The snow was really terrible.  It wasn't crusty at all, and very deep.  Every step was me lifting my leg, foot, socks, snow boots, snow shoes, and about 4 pounds of snow.  Good work out, though.  I guess I'll take that as a consolation prize.

Then there was also some sort of cross country skiing race going on--there was Spandex everywhere!  Apparently, really tight clothes are a prerequisite for skiing.   Yet another reason why I prefer snowshoes.

Here's a couple pictures:

This one is actually from a year or two ago, but it shows my snowshoes. They're pretty sweet.

It was a pretty bleak day most of the time.  The temperature wasn't cold, but the scenery was... gray.  Just a sidenote: if I ever post pictures of landscapes, there's a pretty good chance that it will be taken into the sun. It's not smart, or correct, but it's one of the things that make me who I am.

And this was just messing around with the settings on my camera.  I thought it looked kind of cool.

And last but not least:  Happy Valentine's Day (if you are into that sort of thing).  Or, if you are boycotting the Hallmark Holiday, that's cool too.

By the way, can you think of any other words that have three vowels in a row?

Ahhhh...

I just went to a gun show (bought some ammo, another magazine for my 10/22, and a book), the video store (bought the movie 300), and the grocery store (bought some pizza and beer). 

I feel so... so... American.  Life is good.

Gobama, or Undead Arising, or Zomboma

Sorry about the quality, this is from my Cell-o-phone

This sign was seen on a professor's door today. Is it just me, or do those hands look like they are reaching out from the grave?  So should it be "Guuuuhhhhhhhhbama?"

Kids will be Kids

Back home in Grand Junction, or as I like to call it, Happy Valley, the District Attorney and his wife went out of town for a vacation.  Their teenage sons decided to do the natural thing and throw a party.  Sounds like someone has been watching too many movies.  Well, of course, things got out of hand, noise was made, alcohol was consumed, neighbors were woken, and police were called.  Twenty-six teenagers received court summonses. 

My kids will be taking full responsibility for their actions, both in court and behind closed doors in the house.
--District Attorney Pete Hautzinger

This whole situation is pretty entertaining, if you ask me.  Ah well.  Kids will be kids, right?

A Few of My Favorite Things: Knives

I was looking around my room here and decided to take a picture of the knives I had within reach.  It turned out to be more than I was expecting. 

In addition to the old standard Swiss Army Knife and basic Leatherman, there are two Mora knives (one with a wooden handle and one plastic handle, that lives in my coat pocket), a cheapo generic knife that I got for Christmas a couple years ago, a "claw blade" Buck Knife that was the first knife I bought by myself for myself after escaping High School and the draconian pocket knife rules, a "bird and trout" knife without any crannies to collect gunk, a Cold Steel machete my brother gave me because he had one already, and my spring assist Kershaw Leek that I carry all the time.  Seems like a pretty good spread.

No, I don't know why my brother had two machetes.

In case you care, yes, I have read Mors Kochanski.  I admit I bought the book mostly because some tree-hugger reviewer on Amazon didn't like it 'cause it tells you to chop down a tree on every other page.

Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

No. No. No, no, no. NO. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.  Bad leaders! No!

Harry Reid is surely aware a U.S. clash with Iran, with him at the president’s side, could assure his re-election. Last week, Reid whistled through the Senate, by voice vote, a bill to put us on that escalator.
Senate bill 2799 would punish any company exporting gasoline to Iran. Though swimming in oil, Iran has a limited refining capacity and must import 40 percent of the gas to operate its cars and trucks and heat its homes.
And cutting off a country’s oil or gas is a proven path to war.

I get that this article is speculative, and written by Pat Buchanan, but it is so easy to see it happening.  We seem obsessed with wars in the middle east.  Maybe no one in Washington ever saw the Princess Bride; the famous classic blunder is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia."  Don't you think we've learned that in our recent experiences?  This is getting ridiculous. 

And where are we going to get the soldiers for another war?  You not gonna draft me, idiots.  You start that up again and I'm droppin' everything and comin' to DC.  I dare ya'.

To tell you the truth, I don't see Iran lasting much longer the way it is anyway.  They have ticked off their citizens a little too much.  Huh.  Kinda like the U.S....

Sunday Scripture

If you find a thief, you make him your buddy;
      adulterers are your friends of choice.
   Your mouth drools filth;
      lying is a serious art form with you.
   You stab your own brother in the back,
      rip off your little sister.
   I kept a quiet patience while you did these things;
      you thought I went along with your game.
   I'm calling you on the carpet, now,
      laying your wickedness out in plain sight.
--from Ps. 50

The Message can be a little weird with it's translations, but the psalms are very good.  The down the earth language really gets through; some of them have very hard words.  As I was reading through, this section of Psalm 50 struck me as being very applicable to current events.  It's kind of weird to think about, as these were all written somewhere around 3000 years ago. 

With that thought:

Ecclesiastes 1:9
What has been will be again,
       what has been done will be done again;
       there is nothing new under the sun.

Any suggestions for more links to things?  I bet with a little research you could fill this up.

IT'S ALIIIIIVE!

The Tea Party, that is.
News from the NY Times, of all places.
We'll just have to see where this leads.  For now they say that they are only going to support candidates already running, and not put forth any of their own.

Follow this closely, people.  It could be big.  As I said, we'll have to see where it leads.

A Declaration

And on lead guitar... BEN FRANKLIN!

This is the best thing I've seen on the internet all day long!

Found it at Big Hollywood.

Random Fact: Land Rover

I have no way to back this up, but I was told many years ago by a PBS program (I think) that the following commercial was the first one to show a car getting dirty.



Who knew?

Signs of the Times: We're Doomed

I would just like remind people that no where is it written that the United States is a "chosen land" that will live on to a glorious eternity.  People thought Rome was invincible--catch my drift?  With the current financial insanity in our land, I just don't see this going on much longer.  Forget the Zombie Uprising, or solar storms that wipe out the electrical grid (just two visions of the future I've heard about in the past week).  What is going to kill this country is the out of control spenders who are in control of our country.

Greed, and elected representatives who are toadies to special interests, are decimating the American economy. Consider President Obama’s budgets for 2010 and 2011. The combined red ink is $2.9 trillion. No one anywhere in the world has this kind of money to lend to Washington. How will these massive deficits, never before experienced on earth, be financed?

--Paul Craig Roberts

 My friends ask me why I am so pessimistic about the future.  Unless these are truly signs of the second coming of Christ, I just don't see it ending well.  I am pessimistic about the future because I've been trying to pay attention.  I hope you are too.

Today, lacking in motivation, I made motivational posters

 

  

 

So I was bored today, and the blogosphere seemed a little slow, so I decided to make some motivational posters.

Other possible subjects include 1911's, old Winchesters, black powder, etc, with captions along the lines of "HOPE in something less like a hot air balloon," "WHY CHANGE it if it ain't broken," and so on and so forth.  I just used .22 rounds because they were handy.

Any other ideas?

Firearm Freedom

Well, a post over at monster hunter nation (see sidebar) got me back to paying attention to the firearm freedom act.  This is a movement in the states that basically tells the Fedral Guvment to go... uh... yeah.  Check out http://firearmsfreedomact.com/ for more information.  However, at the aforementioned link, there is another link to an article entitled, "Feds claim authority to regulate in-state commerce."  Interesting read.  I also remember that Montana is the state that said during some gun rights flap a while back (was it Heller? I don't remember) that if D.C. declared that the second amendment wasn't an individual right, then the state charter was no longer in effect.

Ah well, nice to know that our political system is looking out for us.

And now for the News

The bald and bearded Ben Bernanke has been voted in for a second go as chairman of the Fed.  I will just leave it with an ambiguous "meh."

Also, somehow, the economy grew the fastest in 6 years while at the same time the GDP shrank in "the worst performance since 1946."

I don't know what those economists think, but to me, that's worrying.  What it tells me is that no one knows what the heck is going on.  Which is what I see in most areas of the economy, politics, and the news in general.  It's like the talking heads don't want us to worry, so they just nod and smile.  But you can see the confusion in their eyes.

And more:  Obama let loose his 3.8 trillion dollar budget while at the same time saying "We cannot continue to spend as if deficits do not matter."

Ayeyeye... I'm going to go back to something that I [don't] understand better... like thermodynamics.  At least it has equations I can look up.