Settling In

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Phil Kadath

This is how I picture Tam’s tree

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(click to enlarge)

Except without the RPK clone

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Wave-Motion Drones

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Alaska

Cool!

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About that “Freedom to Travel” you had

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Phil Kadath

With “Had” being the key word in that phrase

ObamaCare Found To Restrict Where You Live And Travel

The American Thinker’s Stella Paul has exposed the virtually unnoticed fact that within the ObamaCare exchanges so many Americans are being forced into, “most plans only provide local medical coverage.”

Paul warns this will have “a profound impact on the real-estate market, particularly the second home sector, and on the travel business.” She interviewed one Connecticut retiree whose health required having a winter home in South Carolina. Her $450-per-month, $2,500 deductible, no co-pay Blue Cross policy that had worked well in both states was suddenly canceled.

The new policy she was offered under ObamaCare was twice as expensive, with a deductible costing $1,000 more, and no out-of-network coverage.

Having had a surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, out-of-network coverage was a must. And she found it. “It’s $900 a month,” she told Paul, “with a $7,000 deductible and a co-pay on everything. Basically, it’s catastrophic insurance, and I’ll be paying my South Carolina doctors out of pocket.”

A prominent New York insurance broker pointed out that most of the policies offered on the ObamaCare exchanges are not national networks, so “if you need routine medical services, they will not be covered when you leave your local area,” as they were before.

Travel health insurance, unfortunately, only covers emergencies. So, the broker told Paul, “a large portion of the population will have their insurance as a consideration for their mobility, which they never had before.”

Imagine having to take all this into account in making decisions about where in America you want to live.

Yeah, sure, you can still go where you like, but you had better talk to your insurance company before you take off for that skiing trip in Colorado.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | 2 Comments

Why the handshake was newsworthy

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Phil Kadath

Because the media couldn’t seem to get a clue as to why anyone would care about the President shaking hands with the dictator Raul Castro.

Castro Issues Stern Warning To Entrepreneurs

President Raul Castro issued a stern warning to entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of Cuba’s economic reform, telling parliament on Saturday that “those pressuring us to move faster are moving us toward failure.”

Castro has legalized small-scale, private businesses in nearly 200 fields since 2010, but has issued tighter regulations on businesses seen as going too far or competing excessively with state enterprises. In recent months, the government has banned the resale of imported hardware and clothing and cracked down on unlicensed private videogame and movie salons.

Castro threw his full weight behind such measures in an address to the biannual meeting of the communist legislature, saying “every step we take must be accompanied by the establishment of a sense of order.”

And newly minted political prisoners. Lots and lots of political prisoners.

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Of course it’ll never happen

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Phil Kadath

My cursory glance is telling me to like the idea.

Tim Draper Wants To Split California Into Pieces And Turn Silicon Valley Into Its Own State

But I will withhold my opinion on the overall idea until the RNS resident Californian weighs in on it

Posted in Color me confused | 2 Comments

Latino Santa

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Alaska

In Tulare today, the heart of California’s Central Valley, the armpit of the state with something like 60 percent of the state’s welfare caseload, this was the smile on the face of my nephew-in-law’s daughter on the lap of the neighborhood Santa.


Where there is no barrio because the whole town is a barrio, there is no Santa either as most homes are broken and without adult males. My wife’s father started a tradition more than forty years ago now in which a family member dresses as Santa and goes to what started as five houses and now is twenty, each with several dozen kids who each get personal attention from Santa, sit on his lap and tell him their dreams, and receive a bag of candy (often the only thing they receive during the holidays due to moms whose run-out-of-money-at-the-end-of-the-month habit really screws their kids at Christmas). If their English isn’t great this Santa still understands.

My nephew-in-law’s daughter doesn’t speak: it’s not physical but psychological trauma due to random mundane horrors of this life that many of her peers share. Still, this night she was happy for a time. My wife teared up.

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Pulling the Lever

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Phil Kadath

And the trigger.

Since it is Sunday, I made my way off to the Church of the Holy High Speed Projectile to test my first batch of reloads out of the reloading setup.

I got results! Since I hadn’t been out attempting to be repeatedly super accurate in a long time, I sucked and threw plenty of fliers. But I got results.

The .308 results: I loaded a 50 round batch of 155gr Sierra HPBT using once fired PPU/PRVI brass, Winchester Large Rifle primers and five different loads of IMR 4064 powder in .5 grain increments starting at 43 grains and shot them at 200 yards.

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(click to enlarge)

As you can see, this is only 25 rounds. There is a second target that is not as nice as this one and, for the sake of brevity, I’m not posting it. Anyway, the best result was at 44 grains. However, on the second target the 43.5 grain group was nicer than the 44.5 grain group, so I plan on making up another batch of 50, this time going from 43.6-43.8-44.0-44.2 and 44.4 and taking them out for testing later this week.

The .22-250 results: Again, I loaded a  50 round batch, this one of 55gr Sierra HPBT using once fired Remington brass, Winchester Large Rifle primers and five different loads of IMR 4064 powder in .5 grain increments starting at 34.5 grains and shot them at 200 yards.

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(click to enlarge)

Again, this is only 25 rounds, second target not shown for same reasons as above. And as you can see, 36.0 grains worked the best, so I will be making a second batch starting at 35.5-35.7-35.9-36.1 and 36.3. I’m not going all the way to 36.5 because we can see what happened there (worse on the second target).

You’ve probably noticed the offset impacts. This was a happy accident. I forgot my booklet of zeros and to bring any ammunition other than my reloads, so I had to shoot my last setting. For the .308, this wasn’t too much of a problem. The .22-250 was a little frightening as I couldn’t remember the drop from 100 to 400 yards. Apparently, it is four inches. Yes, I know I should reset at the end of my session. Call me lazy, I won’t be offended.

And for those that don’t know why you want an offset point of impact, the holes distract your aim and you will start to aim for them instead of the center of your target. Most Benchrest shooters aim two inches low, I prefer my POI’s to the side.

Anyway, wish me luck later this week. I’ll have more results next weekend. And maybe a surprise photo.

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | 2 Comments

Sunday Funnies

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Phil Kadath

Twice the topics. Twice the funny.

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Last Minute Kids’ Gift Guide

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Alaska


These books are awesome, and will be a delight for a broad age range, too. Read ’em to your toddler, and he will devour them on his own by grade school, and still be rereading them from time to time as a teen. Plus a chess bonus:
Continue reading →

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Sing for the Sunspots’ Return!

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Alaska

Lots of womyn’s solstice anti-global-cooling chant groups around Livermore and the Bay Area this weekend.

I’m just gonna leave that right there. (ducks)

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