Belt Sander Racing!!

Yeah, I know it's not a "real" sport, but then I've always told people "If it doesn't have wheels or wings, and at least ONE motor, I 'aint interested".
Lots more info here.

Arrrrgh....Brain Lock.......

Duh....
Ever have one of those times when you know what you want to say, and can't figure out how to say it?
Yep, that's me tonight. I volunteered to give a presentation on "Software Defined Radio" for my Amateur Radio club on the 18th, and although I have all my "Charts and Graphs" made up, I'm kinda stuck coming up with the verbage to go along with them. I know the subject very well, and I even gave my YF an off-the-cuff presentation on it the other night, but just can't seem to get those same words to flow out through the keyboard. I thought back about what I told her and generated an outline, but now I'm kicking myself I didn't have my little digital recorder running.
Oh, well....I still have 9 days to finish writing it, so maybe tomorrow I'll run my spiel past the dogs with the recorder running and transcribe it later....

Cabela's IK-227687 Gun Vise

Well, I finally had the time today to a) clean both of my Marlin rifles, and b) use the Cabela's Gun Vise I bought a few months ago.
I don't mind just plunking my pistols down on a bench top when I clean them, but cleaning a long gun can get unwieldy when it comes to pushing the patch and bush through the barrel, so it's better to support them some way.
Enter my Cabela's IK-227687 Gun Vise. The vise is made from some kind of plastic, has a padded clamp on one end, a movable support in the center, and V-type holder on the far end. It has lots of molded-in nooks and crannies to store small parts, and so far appears to be solvent-resistant. It normally goes for $49.99, but the night I bought it it was on sale, so I paid $39.95 for it.
Seeing as today was gorgeous outside (sorry, people back East!)I took all my stuff outside, and clamped my Marlin 336 in it to check the fit. It fits great, so then I took the rifle back out, and removed the lever, bolt, and ejector spring so I could get my cleaning rod down the bore. Yes, I pulled the scope off so it wouldn't get sprayed with Hoppe's N0. 9!
Since I didn't have a "30 cal" cleaning rod, I started to use my shotgun rod. OOOPS! It doesn't fit down the bore! The I remembered I bought a "30 cal" Hoppe's BoreSnake a couple of weeks ago, so I got that out. So much for using the gun vise on my 336! Now maybe I'm old fashioned, but I like to run a soaked patch down the bore, let it sit a while, then push a bronze brush down the bore, followed by another soaked patch. I repeat this until the patch comes out clean. Using the BoreSnake sure is fast, though, and until I get a proper sized rod, I guess it'll have to do. I soaked the first 6" inches or so with No.9, and pulled the snake through 5 or 6 times, then put the 336 together, wiped it down with a "Barricade" cloth, and put it back in the gun case. It will be interesting to see if the patch/brush combination reveals any crud left in the bore from using the snake.
Cleaning my Marlin 1894CB in 357 went fine using the "shotgun sized" rod while the rifle was clamped in the gun vise.
All in all, I think this thing is a worthwhile investment, especially considering I bought it on sale. It has numerous warnings to NOT use it for a shooting rest, but it comes in handy for resting the rifle in while cleaning it.

Gun Cleaning Day

Well, I managed to get all three of the pistols swabbed, scrubbed, cleaned, lubed, and did my general after-shooting check out.
Glad I did, because I found some little flecks of.....RUST.....on the case-hardened parts of the wife's revolver.
They cleaned right off with just a coarse shop towel and some oil, but it's the first time I've ever seen any signs of rust on any of my guns.
Disgusting stuff, rust, and I had it hammered into me years ago that signs of rust were signs of neglect.
Maybe they were "tears of neglect" from the poor gun because my wife hasn't gone to the range with me lately, and the S&W TRR8 is basically her gun.
The good news is that one of her friends dropped by last night, and she's very interested in going to the range with us.
Time to get out my "NRA Certified Basic Pistol Instructor" hat, and teach her all the things one needs to know before going to the range for the first time.
Sunday will be "Rifle Cleaning Day", and I'll take some pix when I'm using my new Cabela's gun vise, and do a mini-review of it.

Ahhhhh.....An Afternoon at the Range

Had a very relaxing three hours at the range today with my son. I haven't been there in about six months, and I was NOT up to my usual form! I wasn't all-over-the-place-off-the-paper bad, but not shooting at anywhere near what I'm capable of. We took my Sig P226 in 40S&W, and my Kimber Custom TLE-II 1911.
And we took a Cabela's "Dry Box" box full of ammo, a stack of "Official 25 Yd Slow Fire Pistol" targets, and a several packs of Shoot-N-C stick-on targets.
The thing that I found most interesting, was that for not having shot in so long, I was better with my Sig than my Kimber.
A LOT better!
I've always liked the way the Sig fits my hand, the way it's balanced, the grips, etc, and since I hadn't fired it in over a year, it's what I started off with. Target at 10 yards, full magazine, all in the black.
Then while my son was loading mags for his turn with the Sig, I transitioned to my Kimber.
Wow, out of 8 shots, only 4 were in the black, with the rest pretty close, but a real eye-opener for me!
OK, grab another mag, concentrate a bit more, relax, surprise trigger break, and I started to get them all in the black again. By the third or fourth magazine, I realized my grip wasn't correct, I was flinching a bit, and wasn't "feeling" how the trigger reset, all contributing to my poor (for me) performance.
My son was doing very well with the Sig, considering it was the first time he'd ever fired one. He picked up the Kimber and ran a mag through it, and was all over the place! He stayed on the target, but the recoil surprised him, and his second shot was typical 45 ACP, "Up And To The Left". After I coached him a bit about the proper grip and stance, he got into the rhythm, and was nailing the target 8-ring or better.
We had a great time just goofing off, honing our skills, talking with the staff at the range, and learning a few things.
He learned he really does prefer the Sig over a 1911, and is planning on buying one with his income tax refund.
I learned I have to get to the range at least once a month!
All in all, a great day.
Friday will be cleaning day here, and since I'm scheduling a whole day, I'll clean both pistols, my wife's 357 revolver, and both my Marlin rifles. I'll take some pictures using my "Cabela's Gun Vise, IK-227687" and write a short review about it.

Going to the Range Thursday

My son wants to buy his first pistol, and has his eye on a Sig P226. Since Dear Old Dad owns one, we're headed out to the range so he can see if he likes it.
I'd prefer he learn to use a 1911, and I have a brand-new Kimber Eclipse Custom II that I bought a couple of years ago with him in mind, but he's got his heart set on the Sig, I think.
Me? I'll be dragging along my trusty old Kimber Custom TLE II. Over 5,000 rounds through it, and I'll I've ever done is clean it, and put some Esmeralda grips on it when it was new. I recently replaced the recoil spring, and did a full "detail strip and clean", but otherwise that pistol is like the Energizer Bunny.

Knock-Out Video from Alvie Over at "The Cliffs Of Insanity"

You GOTTA go see this.
Alvie should get an award for this video.

College Student Explains Obama's Budget "Cuts"

This is pretty good, and explains in a very visual manner about the budget "cuts" Teh One wants to make.

YouTube's embedding code isn't working right now, so here's a link.
I'll check later and edit "As Required".

Budget Cuts

25 Years Ago Today.......

The American space program lost it's innocence.
I was working for Hughes Aircraft at the time, and one of my friends answered a phone call, said "WHAT?!?", and turned ash-white. His mother had been watching the launch on TV, and immediately called him with the news that Challenger, STS-51-L, had been lost. A few minutes later there was an announcement over the P.A. system saying that Challenger had blown up in flight, and we were asked for a moment of silence.
I watched the news coverage that night and couldn't believe my eyes. How had this happened? What caused the failure leading to the loss of vehicle and crew? Since I was working on Really Neat Stuff at the time, I knew there were mountains of paperwork for all the hardware involved that had to be checked, double-checked, cross-checked, and signed off by several people, and then checked again by the people in Quality Control before the equipment could be moved to the next step in processing. If all the steps were done properly, a "defective" unit had very little chance of moving beyond where it was, let alone getting out the door. We used to joke that the equipment we shipped was half worn out from the testing we did to it!
So what really went wrong with all this highly inspected and tested hardware? How did "bad" equipment get out the door? Simply put the equipment was fine, but it was being asked to operate well outside its design parameters. Even with evidence from previous flights that this was a Bad Thing to do, the Engineers who sounded the warnings were overruled, and the launch was allowed to proceed.
The "what" that caused the launch failure was determined quite quickly (too cold, O-rings lost flexibility, hot gases escaped, etc), but the "why" took longer. I think the most telling thing was when some high-level manager had told his Engineering team to "Take off you Engineer's hat, and put on your Manager's hat". I was floored when I heard this, as a good manager will listen to their staff, and back them up when required. This was obviously a case of management deciding what was "best" and ignoring the pleas of their staff to hold the launch until the weather warmed up. Previous flights where it was 10 degrees WARMER than current conditions had shown that the O-ring seals in the Solid Rocket Boosters had a *known* problem with low temperatures causing them not to seal properly. Thiokol's engineers, and Roger Boisjoly in particular, had documented this problem, and were repeatedly ignored, leading to a disasterous result.

Construction Sequence of the International Space Station

This is an amazing Flash animation sent to me by one of my satellite buddies. It shows the growth of the ISS from 1998 to present.

I can't post the animation here, so I'll direct you to the USA Today site that hosts it.

International Space Station Comes Together

New Lyrics for Old Rock Stars

A friend sent me this, and it really cracked me up, besides making me feel OLD....

Enjoy!