Boomershoot Picture of the Day

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Alaska

From Boomershoot 1998 (!), photo courtesy of Joe Huffman. Click for bigger.

Posted in Boomershoot | 1 Comment

Seven-Day Food Kit

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Alaska

So I finished upgrading the Seven-Day Food Kit for our cars. I have one for each of our three vehicles. It’s a High Sierra wheeled duffel bag that also can be hoisted as a backpack in a pinch. Since it now weighs north of sixty pounds, I won’t be doing that too often — but it’s possible.

This kit supplements the other survival gear in our cars, which I’ll detail later.

One item I eliminated from the prior iteration of this kit was the bleach. I’d included a sealed container of liquid bleach and an eyedropper as a cheap and effective method for water-purification. However, I failed to realize that bleach fumes corrode things, like cans of food. After a year in our cars, I opened the kits to see bleached fabric and corroded cans (although the food inside is still fine). I’m thinking of buying some of the PolarPure treatment while it’s still available as a replacement. I left the eyedropper in the kit.
I took the opportunity to seriously upgrade the amount of food. This will now feed one active person in COMFORT for seven days, or a couple folks with some mild rationing.
There are five compartments, with contents as follows:
Right pocket
Eyedropper (to purify water with bleach)
(Formula: clear water: 3 drops per liter or quart; cloudy water: 5 drops)  
16 oz. rubbing alcohol
1 roll toilet paper
Cookware kit with small cup
1 set knife/fork/spoon, 1 set knife/fork
Fold-A-Stove w/12 cooking tabs; 24 extra cooking tabs
8 survival candles, matches, magnesium firestarter
Can opener

Left pocket
4 rolls toilet paper
1 roll Kirkland paper towels (80 sheets)

Center pocket
Del Monte variety pack: 12 4-oz tins mixed fruit; 12 of diced peaches
5 bowls Trader Joe’s Annie Chun’s brand Udon Soup
8 bowls Cup-A-Noodles Chicken flavor
16 packages Top Ramen noodles, Chicken flavor
3 tubes Pringles Light potato chips (the Ritz and saltines got stale; these are sealed and good for two years)
2 cans Progresso Soup (Traditional and Light Chicken Noodle)

Bottom mesh pocket
Blue bath towel, 2 white bar towels, 4 gallon Ziplock bags

Bottom pocket  
2 cans SPAM
12 cans Chicken of the Sea albacore tuna
12 cans Kirkland chicken
2 cans Progresso Soup (Light Beef and Traditional Minestrone)
6 cans Sunny Select Mini-ravioli
6 cans Sunny Select Ravioli
6 cans Sunny Select Spaghetti & Meatballs
8 cans S&W corn
5 cans S&W green peas
4 cans S&W green beans

I would have had 12 cans of Costco’s Kirkland roast beef instead of the ravioli and spaghetti, but Costco’s discontinued it. I found the ravioli and spaghetti cans on sale at Lucky (Sunny Select is their “house” brand) for $1 each. I tried the spaghetti today; it’s not quite so tasty as, say, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee brand, but it’s close enough and a lot cheaper.

Posted in By Ourselves, For Ourselves | 8 Comments

“Firing an Employee for Gun Possession…”

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Alaska

“… in Car Parked on Company-Controlled Parking Lot  is just fine, holds the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Plona v. UPS. … By the way, to anticipate the likely “of course no court would ever hold this as to other rights, such as free speech” arguments: In most states, nongovernmental employers are allowed to fire employees based on their speech, even speech that’s entirely outside employer property. (For a list of the states that take a contrary view, see this post chain; I had hoped to blog about more of the statutes than I noted there, but didn’t have a chance to.) There’s certainly no constitutional constraint on firing employees for their off-the-job speech — the Bill of Rights generally applies only to government entities, not private employers — and there’s no federal statutory constraint on it (except as to a few types of speech, such as union advocacy).”

–RKBA stalwart Eugene Volokh, with excellent analysis. Surprised? Read the whole thing.

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | Leave a comment

Didja Notice?

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Alaska

Remember all those State Department bureaucrats who cheered and swooned when Hillary took over, presumably because her ascension meant they’d be once again free to impose their petty one-worlder ideas on all aspects of US foreign policy?

Well, here’s example 1, buried in the fluff reporting about Obama’s “snub” of Gordon Brown on his recent visit:

The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: “There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”

Because, of course, that shared history as instigators and defenders of Liberty is meaningless in Obamaland.
In the days of W, that official’d be fired. Or at least exiled to our embassy in Ulaan Bator.

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons, The Left is Never Right | 2 Comments

Boomershoot Picture of the Day

Posted on March 7, 2009 by Alaska

A freakin’ awesome shot of the anvil launch from Boomershoot 2004:

Posted in Boomershoot | Leave a comment

Anecdotelian Tales

Posted on March 7, 2009 by Phil Kadath

I was on my way to work on either Monday or Tuesday night and saw something truly sad.

I saw a brand new Ford Freestyle, fresh off the lot, still having the dealer’s plastic plate inserts, driving downt he interstate with an Obama campaign sticker in the top middle of the rear window.

This person is such a drone that she (it was a she) kept an Obama sticker for an extra four months just so that she could put it on her new car and show the world what a faithful follower of the Obamessiah she is.

Again, sad.

On another note, my employer has taken delivery of approximately half of the 106 CNG powered collection trucks we will need to fulfill our Super-Muni contract that begins April 1st.

I must say that they are a bit creepy to be around. Imagine that part of your job is to get drivers on the road in the morning which can and usually involves being out in the truck yard taking care of something or other and that the yard contains over 100 diesel trucks all running at once.

Quite noisy.

Not so with the CNG trucks. I only have to raise my voice if I’m in the middle of the yard. If I’m near one of the edges I can talk at an indoor volume. They do begin to make noise once they’re in motion, but that is mostly non-engine drivetrain noise (transmission/driveshaft/axle) and hydraulic noise.

The next time you’re waiting at a light next to a semi-tractor or a dump truck, roll down the window on that side and listen. Then imagine only hearing a whirring noise that talk radio can blot out. See, creepy.

One of our Oakland facilities has a hybrid collection truck. 0-30mph is electric drive recharged during braking, with above 30mph running on either diesel or CNG. Word is we’ll get a few of those when the last of our diesels gives up the ghost. I was talking with the guy who certifies the drivers on fueling the CNG trucks (who is based out of Oakland) about it and told him about the large number of accidents that have taken place in Seattle with Prius Vs. Blind People and he was shocked, to say the least.

I explained how the blind cannot hear the hybrid cars coming so they step out into the crosswalk and that the Prius drivers cannot see the blind people because they drive around with their noses so high in the air they can’t people in the crosswalks.

Being a former Euro, he didn’t get the joke.
Awkward.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment

Boomershoot Picture of the Day

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Alaska

A twofer today (missed yesterday, sorry). Above, these folks are comfy on the Berm at Boomershoot 2008. Below, another look at a couple different approaches to canopies in the benched shooting positions: low & tight or high & breezy. Click to embiggen, as usual.


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This is getting annoying

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Let’s say you have rental properties within the Tacoma city limits.

While it may be in your rental’s best interest, you aren’t a nosey Nancy, and therefore don’t have any prohibitions as to whether or not your tenants consume tobacco products.

The City of Tacoma is listening to an idea that would make that decision for you

Members of the Tacoma City Council’s Neighborhoods and Housing Committee heard a report this week about a variety of ways the city could go about banning smoking in apartments and other multi-family housing units.

The report came from officials from the city’s Human Rights and Human Services Department.

The officials made no recommendations about whether to pursue any of them, and council members took no action at Monday’s meeting.

Mayor Bill Baarsma said the city would continue looking at the issue and revisit it in the near future.

…..
The report laid out options for ways the city could get involved that ranged from enacting a total ban on smoking in multifamily housing units to taking no action and allowing the market to decide whether to create smoke-free buildings.

Something tells me that the second option is not really an option, but was only put forth in an attempt to placate folks like you and me.

Since moving out of King County almost exactly three years ago, I’ve enjoyed life just a little bit more. The Tacoma News Tribune reads like “The New Individualist” when compared to the Seattle Times or the now defunct Post-Intelligencer.

I’m not actually inside the city limits. Like King County, I can hit said boundaries with a well thrown rock, and shit like this makes me want to do exactly that.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | Leave a comment

Two in the X-Ring

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Phil Kadath

The American Thinker site had two two center hits yesterday.

The first is everything you didn’t want to know about one of the most powerful men in America: Barney Frank. All I can say is that you need to be brave and read

Oh, and remove all throwable objects around your computer before clicking.

Want to know how a cold cheese sandwich is like socialized medicine?

Hit this link and Jeannie DeAngelis will tell you.

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons, The Left is Never Right | 1 Comment

I didn’t mean it as a warning

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Phil Kadath

But apparently, my post yesterday on the opportunity Washington citizens have to repeal an onerous piece of eco-socialist legislation should be re-read as just that: A Warning.

I’m hoping that you all remember the group calling themselves The Union of Concerned Scientists is pushing for a national “Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard” bill to be written into/over our current environmental laws. The “Union” is a group of media flacks, and as such doesn’t care if you’re an actual “scientists” in order to join their ranks. Which is most likely why they’re still pushing the whole “Earth is Warming!!1!one!” diatribe while I’m getting snowfalls in March.
So keep an eye on these guys and this bit of legislation to pop up.

Currently, the game plan seems to be about how much the requirement for electrical generation companies will “save” consumers money, completely denying that said companies will be passing the costs for new equipment and regulatory fees onto us.

Posted in The Global Warming Death Cult | Leave a comment