Bill Whittle Lets It ALL Hang Out!

You have to watch this.

As The Feral Irishman says...."This is gonna leave a mark"....

0bamaville

As expected, the lefty loonies are tearing this to shreds.
Guess they can't stand the truth....

H/T to USA_Admiral for finding it.

Make Mine FREEDOM

An oldie, but a goodie.
And more true today than when it was made.......

"California Tree of Liberty" Gone?

Hmmm.....just went to read his blog, and got a message it's been removed?

California Tree of Liberty

Anybody got a clue?

Just a Thought.....

Courtesy of Pink Floyd......

And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?


From 1975, no less.
Wonder if they had a "vision".....

O.B.I.T. ***Coming Soon To An "Agency" Near YOU!***

One of the more scary "Outer Limits" episodes was O.B.I.T.

From the opening intro by the Control Voice:

"In this room, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, security personnel at the Defense Department Cyprus Hill's Research Center keep constant watch on its scientists through O.B.I.T., a mysterious electronic device whose very existence was carefully kept from the public at large. And so it would have remained but for the facts you are about to witness…"

Looks like the NSA is building their own these days.

And be sure to read some of the comments. Looks like there's a bunch of "us" among the geeks who read WIRED.....

2nd Amendment Poll ***Please Read and Forward***

I don't often ask people to forward things, but I think this is important.
USA Today is running a poll on whether the 2nd Amendment affirms an INDIVIDUAL right to keep and bear arms.
So please go vote, and pass it on.
Thank you!

Does the 2nd Amendment affirm and INDIVIDUAL right to keep and bear arms?

"Hatcher's Notebook"....BUY IT!

Carteach0 has a review over on his blog about this book. After reading the review, and his recommendation, I ordered the book from Amazon. It got here a week or so ago, and I've been reading it in my "spare" time.
It's just fascinating.
Besides giving the history of machine guns, and semi-automatic rifles, it also has a lot of practical information, including the first explanation of "headspace", with drawings, that I actually understood.
And a lot of other interesting things, too, like "Experiments with Barrel Obstructions", "Gun Corrosion and Ammunition Developments", and more charts, tables, illustrations, and photographs than you can shake a stick or three at.
Truly and amazing work, and a definite "Must Have" if you're at all interested in the technical aspects of guns, ammo, and shooting.
I give it a "Five".

Project Day

Well, since it's raining, and supposed to keep up all day and tomorrow, I finally got started on the project I'm helping my radio buddy with.
I would have started last night, but I gave a presentation to my radio club on "The History of Coaxial Cables and Connectors". It was supposed to be about just connectors, but the more I got into it as I was writing it, the more I realized it was important to go into the details of the cable itself, and how it related to the various connectors used.
It was a rousing success, even though I didn't think it was up to my 'usual standards' of a presentation.
But then it was for my radio club, and not my job!
So far I've unsoldered the headers from an Arduino board and an LCD board, and cut a piece of perfboard to use for the "interface" to the Outside World.
Now I have to get out my Dremel and cut a slot in the plastic enclosure to pass the ribbon cable from the display to the Arduino, and drill a few holes for the "Select" push button, the contrast adjust pot, and the camera shutter release cable.
Then I'll just solder the parts together, snap the box together, program it, test it, and then hook it to my Nikon D200 to see if it works "As Advertised".
Pictures to follow.....

"First Responder" Class

GROAN.....I thought it was going to be my First Aid/CPR class, but it's not.
Since we store and use lots of Horrible, Nasty, Toxic stuff here, it's a HAZMAT First Responder class.

We have to be trained at the "FRO" level, so we're going over all the books and stuff about how to deal with spills and all the other things that go along with spilling Hazardous Material.

Believe me, if anybody spills any NTO or UDMH here, I'm heading UPWIND, and fast.

My head hurts.......

Busy, Busy!

Haven't posted much because I've been so flippin' BUSY lately.
Got really started on getting my TS-950SDX ready to sell, and since that will leave me without any 'Knob Twistin" radios, I decided to set my Hallicrafters Boat Anchor station up to "keep the bench warm".
The Hallicrafters station consists of an SX-117 receiver, an HT-44 transmitter, a PS-150 Power Supply/Speaker, and an Electro-Voice 664 "Buchanan Hammer" microphone.
I really have to get them on the work bench and go through them, but I brought them up slooooow on a variac, and they work OK for now, but with with gear made back in the mid 1960's, there's always things that could use a tweak or two.
Besides, the 950 is "in the hospital" right now, and I only have one "bed"!

And I started helping one of my friends bring an Arduino project from "kinda-sorta" works to "that's the way it SHOULD work", and that's taking me some time to get up to speed on. I've done some things with Basic Stamps, and PIC's, but the Arduino is new to me.

Today I spent all freakin' day at work doing on-line training, and tomorrow I'll spend all day doing my First Responder class.
Nest week I retake my Red Cross First Aid and CPR training again, and get my new cards. It's nice to have for those Really Bad Days At The Range, and I hope to God I never need it for that!