Housekeeping (*Revised)

I finally added Prizio's new internet presence, semiotheque to my links section. I know that he's had it up for quite a while, but I wanted to talk to him first.

Items I'm looking for:

1. Reccomendatios on a good RSS/Atom newsreader for Windows.

2. An "up" arrow button for Mozilla firebird. (Similar to that on the google toolbar, but for the navigation toolbar.)

3. Reccomendations on a good PCMCIA wireless card with RF listen and an external antenna jack. Preferably with high output power, and good recieve sensitivity.

4. 5-lever door locks as typically found in the UK (and any and all interesting locks you may know of.

5. A store in the Lansing area that carries Mobil 1 5W40 (rebadged Delvac 1).

6. A cheap variac (for this project).

7. Any information about how the Finns converted MG-42's to feed 7.62x54R.

8. Any information about the Austrialian Mcnamara sliding half-shaft locking differential.

9. Addtional information and articles about the J.D. Verhoeven and A.H. Pendray method of making wootz Damascus steel.

10. Any information about 6-volt alternators, specifically which 12 volt automotive models convert nicely. The more compact in diameter, the better. Weight is not a concern.

11. Information / experences with fast drying, flexible, UV setting glues.

12. Information / experences with very small scale induction hardening.

So, vending machines hate me today. The first machine spit out the incorrect product, namely a Minute Maid Lemonade instead of a Diet Coke. (Obviously, lemonade is about as far away as possible from the sugarless but caffeinated beverage I selected). The second machine ate two quarters without dispensing anything. I suppose that I'm merely working off bad vending machine karma for my part in using a forklift to shake MS&G's vending machine for failing to dispense products. Anyway, it makes me wish that I had carried out my plan to stock the Galloway pop machine with cheap beer.

I watched the new released, 35mm digital version of The Battle of Algiers (Battaglia di Algeri) last evening, and liked it. If nothing else, someone should buy Michael Moore a copy to help him understand what unbiased political documentaries look like.

Jack Daniel's Black Label changes formula to 80 proof from 86, makes no annoucement or price change. This really has no effect on my life, as I greatly prefer beer to whiskey, and tend to drink Bushmill's or Rye whiskey instead of Jack, but it still seems evil.

There are some nice conversations floating around the Hillsdale blogosphere right now: Sam is back with a vengence, and Dan Greene exposes the big Hillsdale hypocracy. Check it out.

As promised to Metzger, a link to one of Cheney's post Gulf War 1.0 speeches, the relevant material is about 3/4 down the page. It sort of ties in with this timeline of Bush speeches. (Caution, this particular page is pretty innocent, but rotten.com has some off color stuff). As a side note, the second link also contains my favorite Bill O'Reilly quote of all time: "if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."

Knob Creek

It was a a very fun short road trip, with everything running smoothly. Jim and Scott make excellent traveling companions. Lee provided comfortable, non-floor places to sleep, and cooked us several excellent meals. His parents were nice, and his sister managed to spend an entire day listening to us with no apparent ill effects, and her cow didn't hurt Scott.

Now, about the machine gun shoot. The night shooting is definitely fun to watch, between the large quantity of tracers, flamethrowers, exploding barrels of Napalm, and burning cars. I can't think of any other place that I've seen old cars and school buses ripped apart by 100+ belt fed machine guns. But, despite all of the fun pyrotechnics to watch, the gun show part of Knob Creek was even more interesting to me. The amount of parts, and consequentially potential projects was nearly overwhelming. It is the sort of place where I stumble around in a daze trying to simultaneously figure out if I could build a semi-auto MG-34 in 7.62x39mm that uses RPD belts, a Lewis gun in 7.62x54R, or a miniaturized Hotchkiss revolving cannon in .17 rimfire. In other words, I had a good time.

Law School Snippet:

I spent most of yesterday afternoon in a symposium on piracy. It wasn't all that interesting, and I had the unfortunate experence of hearing suggestions to conduct an ad campaign linking pirated handbags to terrorism. On the upside, I wore a business suit to it, which lead to a group of Mormon missonaries beleiving that I was also a missonary, but from a different group.

Fall Break:

I screwed up and deleted a long post I had written about fall break. It probably is just as well, as most of it would have been boring, so here's the soundbite version:

A. I changed the starter on my car. It took two days. It may not have been bad, even with funny noises and 210,000 miles. Changing it sucked. Autopart store minions are confused when you want to buy a rebuilt 1995 Camaro starter for an S-10. So, they sold me a late 1990's Corvette model instead, which wouldn't fit. After 4 hours of installing it, I discovered it wouldn't fit and drove the Chevelle back (a little faster than I should have) to get the S-10 starter that I was trying to avoid (much harder to install).


B. A zippo lighter magically appeared in my bathroom drawer at home. According to my dad, he just threw it in there on a whim. This does indicate that he maybe reading my blog.

C. My wine making project it moving along nicely.

D. I sent my AR in for anodize. Yes, I did this before, but it didn't get done.

E. I did a great deal of shooting. Greek 55grain 5.56x45mm will not function in a match barreled ar-15.

Legal tip of the day: even McCaulay Culkin should never consent to a search.

An interesting news day.

SpaceShipOne winning the ANSARI X-Prize is cool. Not just because I happen to like Burt Rutan, but because it helps illustrate a cheap and simple way to space.

Ken Blackwell confirms my long held belief that he's a jerk. Why do I say long held? Many years ago I attended Conservative Youth Indoctrination Camp, err, Boy's State . I had a good time at Boy's State, which was an experence combining elements from Lord of the Flies with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. (I coached the "govenor" of Buckeye Boy's State through the debates, in return for which I had virtually unlimited power to grant jobs and handout fake money grants, political favors, etc. In moves foreshadowing the future, I took and passed the fake Bar exam, and attempted to learn the minimal amount of Triumph of the Will-like marching and chanting.) Anyway...back to Ken Blackwell: I got to meet him when he visited Boy's State, and his answers to questions about the Ohio School funding problem were extremely evasive overall, and very condesending once the press entered the room. That is, even though he was in the Q/A time, as soon as the press entered, he lauched into a long lecture about how great Boy's State is, and what fine young men we were rather than answering the question.