I am TJIC

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Phil Kadath

Something’s up with the software and can’t post pics at this time, but this link should suffice.

Posted in Heroes, Comrades and Brothers | 1 Comment

SHOT Show 2011: Colt SP901 in .308/.223

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Alaska

I failed to see this rifle in person at SHOT, but here is the Colt press release. A .308 AR that shoots .223 just by swapping the upper! Click to embiggen.


– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted in SHOT Show | Leave a comment

The Soundboard: Squeaky Edition

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Alaska

The long-suffering Bonnie of Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease has opened a new chapter in her life, and chose these lyrics to start it. You go girl!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tangentially Related to the Budweiser Post….

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Alaska

This is not a SHOT Show item, but I’m sure it would have been a hit if it were.

I’m not a fan of the blended whisk(e)ys, myself, but when you’re down to drinking the canned stuff, who’s arguing?

Posted in By Ourselves, For Ourselves, Kewel! | 2 Comments

SHOT Show 2011: THANK YOU Budweiser!

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Alaska

Coming back from Bass Pro Shops’ Media Day at the Range, I was hard-pressed to find an open plug to charge my iPhone. Budweiser saved the day!

Also the press room is someplace I would have loved to have the chance to work in this year had I been able to stay longer. Really well-done. In the back you can barely see the large working-press area with computers and tables available for organizing, writing and publishing stories. And you can’t see very well at all the racks of cubbies for the well-organized press materials. A good number of the cool items I saw I learned about first from the press kits in the cubbies, so that was a very good idea and much better executed than last year’s open tables. Kudos to Bill Brassard and crew for a classy and well-done press room!

Posted in SHOT Show | Leave a comment

SHOT Show 2011: B is for Brains Patch bleg

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Alaska


Patch found by The Packing Rat who noticed it on the cute Maxpedition booth babe’s tag (my attention was on things other than the tag).

Anyway, she got it from some enterprising fellow carrying a batch of them in a pouch on his arm — NOT MilspecMonkey, although the quality is right up there with his.

So who makes these? I want one!
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted in SHOT Show | Leave a comment

SHOT Show 2011: Home from SHOT

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Alaska

Regretfully SHOT Show 2011 had to end early for me this year, but I am already planning to make up for it next year. I will have posts, pics and vids up later this afternoon with all the cool stuff I found during my all-too-brief stay.

In the meantime, here is Mono Lake (top) and Yosemite Valley (bottom photo). Half Dome and Liberty Cap are at far right next to the aircraft engine. Oh, and Virgin America rocks. Wouldn’t want to fly with any other domestic airline.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted in SHOT Show | 1 Comment

The Soundboard: More D&B

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Phil Kadath

Because I need it and you probably do too

To open, London Elektricity and their excellent track “The Strangest Secret in the World”

And now my personal favorite of the album Power Ballads, Hanging Rock

Enjoy!

Posted in Kewel! | 1 Comment

Really?

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Phil Kadath

Vox Day quotes an article on the topic of today’s college non-education experience

A new study provides disturbing answers to questions about how much students actually learn in college – for many, not much – and has inflamed a debate about the value of an American higher education.

The research of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years.

One problem is that students just aren’t asked to do much, according to findings in a new book, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.” Half of students did not take a single course requiring 20 pages of writing during their prior semester, and one-third did not take a single course requiring even 40 pages of reading per week.

That isn’t my experience. Did I accidentally make it into a college that is asking something more than another college I could have chosen?

My second quarter English class required multiple papers of 20+ pages. I aced that course, and I partly blame my having blogged here for seven years for that.

My previous and current Geography courses both require more than 40 pages of reading per week. Hell, the first week of the current quarter I was reading 90 pages to prepare for the first 10 page paper I had to write so that I could get the key to take the first online test the following Monday?

I understand that Geography isn’t exactly “hard science”, but great googly-moogly, this ain’t exactly a walk in the park either.

The Wife and I were having a discussion during the UK Tuition Hike riots. I had noticed that there were a lot of artsy types being whiny in the press but no science majors. I told her that they should make a deal with the protesters: You study math or science and you get the old rate. If you want to study something useless like Women’s Studies or Marketing, you had to pay the new rate.

She didn’t think that was fair because not everyone is “the math & science type”.

I then made a Golgafrincham Ark B reference and lost her.

Posted in Academia and Other Nonsense | 6 Comments

Hey there, Tubby

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Phil Kadath

No, I’m not talking to any of you.

I’m talking to our government.

Government’s Obesity Crisis – Emily Skarbek

RTWT

Posted in The Government is Not Your Friend | Leave a comment