tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73904642012-01-19T01:41:05.713-05:00Devil's Advocate, Evangelical ChristianJeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.comBlogger28331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-6978430548312760352011-06-20T21:30:00.003-04:002011-06-20T21:37:50.738-04:00

Christopher Hitchens' review of David Mamet's The Secret Knowledge on the Dismantling of American Culture had this to say:This is an extraordinarily irritating book, written by one of those people who smugly believe that, having lost their faith, they must ipso facto have found their reason.That's funny because the same could be said of Hitchen's own book of atheist evangelism God is Not

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-91879289217932972942011-06-19T21:48:00.003-04:002011-06-19T22:20:15.866-04:00

Stephen Camp died a few weeks ago at the age of 59 after a sudden brain aneurysm rupture. Camp was one of the foremost online authorities on the Browning Hipower and being fan of the gun, I had the pleasure of corresponding with him a few times about holsters and related gun accessories. He was a great, helpful, and humble guy. The gunblogosphere was much quieter about this than I expected.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-71628840543410994242011-06-19T21:28:00.004-04:002011-06-20T00:31:07.527-04:00

According to the New York Times, Clarence Thomas is breaking with judicial ethics guidelines by supporting Federal historical conservation efforts related to the Gullah/Geechee peoples of the coastal south. Thomas is himself a member of that group. Althouse and Instapundit mention that the proper response to a Supreme Court Judge with inappropriate behavior is impeachment not passive aggressive

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-66012437816549158512011-05-23T21:12:00.003-04:002011-05-23T22:08:34.185-04:00

So I haven't written anything here in a few months. There are many reasons for this. My wife is expecting our first child in two months. All of the meaningful parts of Blogger's backend is blocked at work. I can't even comment on Blogger blogs. I've also changed teams at work so that I'm actually working with military systems I like, which greatly restrains what I can actually post on

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-65312275366347510442011-01-21T15:00:00.000-05:002011-01-22T15:47:21.971-05:00

Cutting the cucumber in half lengthwise is pretty cool. Doing it to a soybean is amazing, especially when consider that is sword is wider than his target...

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-34106638761815453642010-12-29T11:24:00.003-05:002011-01-18T06:24:21.557-05:00

SayUncle is linking to an almost completely uninformed criticism of the 1911. I'm not going to direct link because it's honestly so poorly thought out it might be a gunblogosphere troll. I will quote his two major theses though:It’s a 100-year old design. It needs tools to disassemble. It has unreliable magazines. It is finicky about ammo. And, as a single-action pistol, it is unsafe for 95% of

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-62134694380283081522010-12-18T09:24:00.002-05:002010-12-18T10:01:48.008-05:00

The Anchoress notes that federal buildings must be warm for Michelle Obama to go in a sleeveless vintage Norman Norelli number without a hint of goosebumps. Unlike you know, every one else who has turned down their heat to fight rising energy prices and higher seasonal heating bills.I've been working for the government for over eight years now. At no time in my service has the HVAC ever worked

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-5065510194904873232010-12-13T17:45:00.003-05:002010-12-13T17:50:40.376-05:00

Rumor has it that Michael Steel is finally stepping down as RNC chair. Huzzah! Now Norm Coleman says he wants the job. Hey I have an idea. How about we pick an RNC chair who actually has a history of winning elections. Steele was a joke in his native Maryland, mostly because Black Republicans are blatantly Uncle Tommed in the state. Coleman lost to Al Franken in a close race. Isn't there a

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-10372702823384748072010-12-10T13:46:00.003-05:002011-06-02T06:27:18.044-04:00

I was practicing my draw in the basement with the airsoft 1911 when I noticed that the thumbsnap on my holster was tending to disengage the airsoft's manual safety. Not so good, but I've never noticed it happening with the real thing. A quick walk to the safe and... huh the darn electronic lock is dead.Pry off the access plate, find the key, open her up and well there's your problem. One of

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-31361937193320443522010-12-07T19:00:00.003-05:002010-12-09T07:23:22.220-05:00

The President is appearing on tomorrow's Mythbusters to commission Adam and Jamie to look into the myth of Archimedes mirror. For those not in the know, it's a device which was supposedly used to focus the power of the sun to set attacking Roman ships afire during the Siege of Syracuse.The Mythbusters have addressed this one at least twice in the past. So it's been done multiple times before,

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-66969048609841883472010-11-26T06:52:00.000-05:002010-11-26T06:52:57.119-05:00

Tamara and Sebastian have already posted this, but I wanted to wait until the Christmas season was actually here.Plus it's Handel's Messiah so it creates all sorts of wonderful tension between high artistes and the faithful. I'm surprised you didn't see a bunch of liberals sit down during that clip just to show the Christians what for.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-90973452640331307052010-11-25T09:29:00.004-05:002010-11-25T09:32:53.576-05:00

And in honor of the holiday, I give you Breda's wonderful idea of brining a turkey in an empty refrigerator vegetable bin. Like most things of the internet it is a wonderful idea that is several days too late to be of use to you. But file it away for Christmas.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-19212601795736181512010-11-18T07:21:00.003-05:002010-11-18T07:26:44.176-05:00

As I mentioned several years ago, the theory that underpins peak oil analysis is not especially sound. The output from a given deposit is bell-shaped. This is a sound empirical rule. You can aggregate all known deposits into a large bell shape. True enough. But this theory is only valid for known existing deposits. It doesn't take into account technology growth that allows for the

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-88457003510057834682010-11-08T19:38:00.004-05:002010-11-08T19:52:28.523-05:00

Amy and I share Jalopnik's disdain for the annoying kid in skinny jeans and a Christopher Atkins haircut that Toyota is using as their spokesman in at least one current advertisement. What is really sad is that while Toyota pisses all over the old Buicks in the commercial, they've basically become Buick.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-7644451297633598182010-11-08T18:54:00.001-05:002010-11-08T18:56:30.252-05:00

This revelation about deep-dish pizza and others at Snowflakes in Hell and Clayton Cramer.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-5899599238023341532010-10-30T14:07:00.002-04:002010-10-30T14:11:33.314-04:00

Clayton Cramer's post of excerpts from Andrew Jackson's fairwell address contain some amazing stuff. Among the topics he discusses are taxes, duties, the expanding role of federal government, and corrupt politicians or businessmen profit from these.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-56731453632424087682010-10-26T20:52:00.002-04:002010-10-26T21:12:58.286-04:00

Joanne Jacobs has a discussion about how much math is enough for students. She suggests that frankly, most people don't need everything they're taught even through high school. I think she mostly correct.When it comes to practical skills for the general populace, the skills list is something like addition/subtraction, division/multiplication, ratios/percentages, and exponents. Any sort of

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-8472859736431977252010-10-26T20:33:00.003-04:002010-10-26T20:41:16.892-04:00

Turns out Bruce Campbell is an ordained minister and will be performing a wedding along with a large renewal ceremony at ZombCon. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the minister part. If you were Bruce Campbell, wouldn't you want to be able to manufacture holy water on demand?

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-10554111237222641572010-10-25T20:14:00.003-04:002010-10-25T21:00:41.399-04:00

Alright, I do understand the interest in the bra holster. I am a guy. I like guns. I like boobs. I understand the attraction of combining the two for male gunnies. Even the female gunnies can use it to give purpose to all those worthless empire-waisted tops that make them look pregnant.But why I can understand why it received a lot of blogger buzz, I don't understand everything. How do you

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-79224864420325617892010-10-25T20:06:00.003-04:002010-10-25T20:14:19.517-04:00

When I was in middle school, we did a unit on Chaucer. We were given the original Middle English text and had to translate it into some semblance of the modern tongue. At one point my teacher read the Prologue to Canterbury Tales. It sounded cool but is barely intelligible.What surprises me about this clip of Shakespeare in the appropriate Elizabethan dialect was how intelligible it is. It's

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-25996045755913640682010-10-21T20:55:00.002-04:002010-10-21T21:01:47.465-04:00

Matthew Inman's instructions on petting the kitty is great. The part about belly rubs is especially true:

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-27981156477199232482010-09-14T20:24:00.002-04:002010-09-14T20:28:05.947-04:00

While I don't doubt that her book is completely daft, some of Leon Wolf's scathing review is also startlingly ill-researched. For instance:I defy Meghan McCain to identify a conservative candidate who acted or behaved in this way towards the party after a primary loss.Peg Luksik in the PA governor's race in 1994. Both Ridge and Single were total centrists and after losing to Ridge in the

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-803201664856112792010-09-11T15:52:00.004-04:002010-09-11T16:03:12.924-04:00

Nine years ago I retired to my hotel room to practice my presentation for the conference I was attending at Virginia Tech. It was on some variant of Resin Transfer Molding I think. I turned on the TV to take a break and found out the world had changed. I went downstairs and everyone was just standing in the lobby watching the news.Suffice it to say I didn't practice after that and my

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-44465054959572406722010-09-11T13:31:00.003-04:002010-09-11T13:55:24.759-04:00

I've been receiving multiple robocalls per day from the O'Donnell and Castle campaigns for the last week. We're really sick of them and they are not convincing anyone in my family to vote for a particular candidate. I'm already voting for Castle. O'Donnell doesn't have anything to recommend her other than conservatism. Conservatism won't win her the general election. On the other hand my

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-58349096252853162382010-09-10T17:17:00.004-04:002010-09-10T17:25:19.488-04:00

I thought this video of people swapping engines on a HMMWV was pretty cool the first time I saw it:Then I saw this video of 6 Canadian guys field stripping a '52 Jeep:Via Jalopnik.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-72004885020632713482010-08-28T17:15:00.003-04:002010-08-28T17:19:19.828-04:00

What gun for Zombie Golden Girls?

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-844234308301678452010-08-27T11:14:00.001-04:002010-08-27T11:15:14.386-04:00

The wife and I caught the end of the Miss Universe Pageant this year. Unfortunately we missed the swimsuit competition. Somehow I also missed the retiring Miss Universe, who hails from Venezuela, subtly snub Dictator Hugo Chavez as she gave up her crown. Good for her. And if you don't understand why, read more.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-28201482242417798282010-07-14T21:25:00.004-04:002010-07-15T15:36:01.762-04:00

Wonder Woman has new clothes. This is nothing new. Artists are always fooling around with her costume in little ways. Much like Batman, the devil is in the details. Her divided skirts turned into star-spangled spanks. Shoes became sandals which became boots. Then those lost their heels. Her bracelets enlarge and contract. The shape of various pieces of gold trim shifts. But the basic

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-50554673401816661222010-07-14T20:38:00.004-04:002010-07-14T22:00:23.788-04:00

Though we live in Newark, Amy and I go to church in Wilmington. For a while we've been thinking about joining a small group, but our problem was that my church's couples groups are all in Wilmington. After my commute to Aberdeen, we had no desire to trek up to Wilmington once a week. When a small group finally started up closer to home in January, we decided to give it a try. After seven

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-2157118602868274722010-06-04T16:44:00.003-04:002010-07-14T20:38:39.228-04:00

My brother bought one quite a while back and I've shot it a few times at the range. It's reliable, but I don't love it especially as a sporting arm. Oleg Volk did a photoshoot with one a while back. I can understand the folding stock and pistol grip. The 20 round drum must weight a ton, but ok. The dark earth refinish kind of looks nice, I guess.Honestly I can take or leave all of these

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-75254391938065347562010-06-02T18:58:00.000-04:002010-06-02T18:59:41.054-04:00

From a really old on of IMAO's random thoughts:Why do liberals need federal money for abortion? Can’t they just start a “Stop the Babies!” charity? “Right now there are babies waiting to be born and ruin people’s lives. We can stop that. With your help.” See, you can voluntarily spend you money on others. It’s called charity. I’m not sure who came up with it.That would be a really funny idea if I

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-47875951055517198422010-06-02T06:25:00.002-04:002010-06-02T06:30:58.298-04:00

I also seem to be the type or person that con-artists pick as a likely mark. But because Delaware is pretty small state, people tend to work the same areas over and over. Back when Amy was taking the train in a lot, I used to get hit up by the same well-dressed twentysomething at the Wilmington Train Station. He didn't remember me, but I sure remembered him. He doesn't take it too well when

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-14927137239493384432010-05-23T16:32:00.002-04:002010-05-23T16:35:52.012-04:00

Derange Gunman Opens Fire On Shooting Range. Or in other news someone involved in an open-carry shooting is revealed to have "additional artillery" of 6 guns and 1300 rounds of ammo in his home. Sadly the second story is not from the Onion.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-9329079109440298772010-05-22T10:43:00.003-04:002010-05-22T11:12:58.809-04:00

Jalopnik noticed a 1981 Ferrari GTSi for about $12k on eBay. Why so cheap? Well the body and interior are in good shape, but under the rear bonnet is... the 2.8 liter V6 and it's manual transmission from a Pontiac Fiero. It's like every kit car in reverse.Now the commenters over at Jalopnik are split. I'm in the little bit of awesome camp. The bodywork and interior are in great shape. The

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-29403334139992260162010-05-22T10:32:00.003-04:002010-05-22T10:43:23.401-04:00

Even though a coworker recently bought a FourTwo, I think I'd still rather have this chopped and welded, superdeformed VW Golf.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-31410013029930402142010-05-11T18:21:00.005-04:002010-05-17T19:29:14.603-04:00

Fifteen months ago I addressed a Rahm Emanuel clip from before the 2008 election that suggested using the no-fly terrorist watch list as a basis for denying gun ownership to a large number of individuals.  The issues with this proposal are: Gun ownership is a constitutionally enumerated and protected right which ought not be abridged without due process.  The no-fly list ain't due process.The

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-81173876840985495272010-04-08T06:52:00.002-04:002010-04-08T07:01:25.048-04:00

It seems that Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk, passed away a couple of days ago. I knew he had cancer, but I didn't realize his case was this severe. From diagnosis to his passing was only 4 months. Michael wasn't the only God Blogger fighting cancer. David Wayne, the Jollyblogger, has been fighting colon cancer for almost 18 months. He reflects on Michael from the point of view of

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-90216564356522905492010-03-31T21:59:00.002-04:002010-03-31T22:05:29.182-04:00

I must say that the advertising for this year's Census has been either inept (snapshot of America) or offensive (get your piece of the pie). But we still filled ours out and sent it in this week. Unless you're a reality show family, this decade's form is thankfully quite brief. It sticks to the standard name, sex, race statistics that have been present on the form since 1790.One question I was

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-23133983589998782662010-03-31T11:53:00.002-04:002010-03-31T22:06:12.145-04:00

Obama seems ready to allow drilling off of new portions of the US coastline. This is a good thing. Of course the specifics of the proposal seem to indicate that it will be saddled with extensive environmental roadblocks and require local state approvals. Which means that at this point it is all talk.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-47810056232301760262010-03-26T19:24:00.002-04:002010-03-26T19:39:54.282-04:00

I spent most of today running around doing errands. I spent a fair bit of it waiting for various things and people. This allowed me to sit and observe or as we say in my household "people watch."For instance while in Walmart I watched two African-American men arguing quite loudly about the relative merits of Obamacare. One was for it, citing the need for easier access to medical care for the

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-60545260541739104092010-03-26T19:21:00.003-04:002010-03-26T19:24:20.925-04:00

An economist wrote my wife's cookie from tonight's dinner:The value lies not within any particular thing, but in the desire placed on that thing.Or in other words, something is only worth what someone will pay for it. This is one of the foundational principles of free market economics.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-89508647658724492052010-03-10T18:40:00.000-05:002010-03-10T18:42:25.092-05:00

Comics jokes from IMAO that really tickled my funnybone this week:If Jim from the Office is going to play Captain America, then Dwight should be the Red Skull.Wolverine’s self-healing ability was evolved in response to Canada’s government run health care.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-73536122195285473022010-03-10T18:25:00.006-05:002010-03-10T18:40:43.353-05:00

Starting in 1947 and working into 1948, automotive engineer Norman Timbs built his dream car out of steel, aluminum, and spare parts. The result was the '48 Timbs special. It's a steel space frame with an aluminum body, independent front and rear suspensions, and no doors. The mid mounted Buick V8 pumps power to the rear wheels. It also has a full spare. I'd say that they don't make them

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-90615954102873198352010-03-06T11:19:00.003-05:002010-03-06T11:28:10.691-05:00

Let it not be said that bloggers can't do this too. Mainstream Baptist is heavily invested in the principle Separation of Church and State and lead a post with the title "Supreme Court Affirms 10 Commandments Decision" this week. The problem? They didn't. The Supreme Court denied cert. That's legalese for refusing to hear the case. The Supreme Court does this to the vast majority of cases

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-42565572492198500772010-03-06T11:11:00.004-05:002010-03-06T11:19:09.664-05:00

Cheaper Than Dirt's current e-postal match is zombie themed and emphasizes headshots. Looks like fun and I may print those targets out for my next trip to the range. Of course I have to question the idea of not shooting the humans. They're in the middle of zombie mob, they're almost certainly infected. HT: SayUncle

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-40242183337802018522010-03-03T08:17:00.003-05:002010-03-06T11:18:22.412-05:00

The four spikes at the end of the stegosaurus's tail are call a "thagomizer." This is not some sort of obscure technical term derived from latin or greek. It is a reference to a Far Side cartoon Gary Larson drew in 1982. Thanks to Irregular Webcomic for another cool piece of trivia.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-710172022155572242010-02-27T12:25:00.003-05:002010-02-27T13:32:52.149-05:00

Why didn't we get HillaryCare in 1994? According to Robert Reich, it was because Fed Chairman Greenspan let the administration know that he wouldn't go along with it. Fast forward 16 years and Bush appointee Ben Bernanke is saying the same thing to the Obama administration.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-55333310750968373122010-02-24T19:05:00.000-05:002010-02-24T19:06:26.662-05:00

My standard sidearm is a 9mm hipower made by FN. When I bought it FN was blowing them out through CDNN for $400. Since then the price for a hipower has skyrocketed to around $800. In retrospect I should have bought two. Since then several of the manufacturers of hipower clones, like Hungarian firm FEG, have also gone out of business. You can't get a cheap clone anymore either. The good news

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-29414377117649955312010-02-20T20:23:00.001-05:002010-02-20T20:23:36.505-05:00

As two recent photo sets from Oleg Volk demonstrate, the same goes for green laser sights.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-37632408458098044882010-02-18T10:17:00.001-05:002010-02-18T10:17:39.740-05:00

Pundits are speculating that he may be the next Democrat to announce their retirement because of his recent health issues. Lautenberg is 86 and recently injured himself in a fall after which physicians discovered a bleeding ulcer. I still doubt he'll retire, not because it would be a bad idea, but because he's already retired in 2000. When Lautenberg was tapped to take over for the disgraced

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-23014082259635228712010-02-17T18:54:00.002-05:002010-02-17T18:56:58.118-05:00

The ABC Family show The Middleman was cancelled after 12 episodes. The cast did a table read of the unfilmed 13th episode at San Diego ComicCon 2009. I finally got around to tracking down the YouTube footage of it. Quite excellent. There is also a comic book version of the episode as well, but I'm not sure if it is currently in print as Amazon isn't carrying it.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-38205935804018119012010-02-17T13:51:00.003-05:002010-02-17T18:57:11.488-05:00

Howard Tayler is playing a very twisted dice game. I may have to go looking for this the next time I'm near by Days of Knights or Between Books.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-3423271505603980742010-02-11T15:27:00.003-05:002010-02-14T18:11:44.741-05:00

I have an idea I'd like to try out. I current have large piles of snow in front of my house from the recent winter unpleasantness. Because of the surface area to mass ratio, these six foot tall piles are going to take forever to melt. I'd like to speed that up using smarts.My first thought was to sprinkle them liberally with rock salt. The problem is they're big enough that putting enough

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-51868725206205271712010-02-05T13:04:00.002-05:002010-02-05T16:45:19.803-05:00

So at what point do we fire the people in charge of predicting job loses and gains?

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-44321074237739820072010-01-19T14:46:00.001-05:002010-01-19T14:46:11.672-05:00

This just in... Teddy Kennedy has reportedly voted for Coakley to replace him in the Senate. Twice.I don't know whether Brown will win this one. Polling says it's close. Several people have pointed out that the margin of victory will unlikely surpass the margin for potential fraud. I think it is great that he's making a race of it though. I also have a wonderful feeling of schadenfreude that

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-62693779659436731822010-01-12T09:04:00.001-05:002010-01-12T09:04:43.106-05:00

The Volokh Conspiracy points out that the Supreme Court likes it's big words. (http://volokh.com/2010/01/11/orthogonal-ooh/) What perpendicular is to 2 dimensional space, orthogonal is to 3 or higher dimensional space.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-51956230290205509562010-01-08T09:47:00.001-05:002010-01-08T09:47:26.411-05:00

Some new poll of Republican insiders has Sarah Palin running dead last in a proposed 2012 primary field. Which is fine because after shorting her term as Governor of Alaska, I don't think she should run. But Mitt Romney leads the field. You know, the guy who promised Michigan voters whatever he wanted to hear in the 2008 primaries. The guy who passed a horrible failure of a healthcare reform

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-42347993738760712392010-01-05T08:47:00.001-05:002010-01-05T08:47:16.207-05:00

This Cthulhu ski mask (http://www.cthulhulives.org/store/store.lasso?1=product&2=33196) is an idea who's time has come. Be the first huge nerd to wear it on your local slopes.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-25495399490446096112009-12-03T09:24:00.001-05:002009-12-03T09:24:11.920-05:00

My understanding of rifle technique is pretty weak, but it largely breaks down to "whenever possible use your muscles as little as possible." This is because your skeleton doesn't expand or contract, but your muscles are always moving whether you like it or not. Therefore you want to support and aim the gun using rigid skeletal members, not by shoving it about using your muscles which are far

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-17085509315567416612009-11-30T09:21:00.001-05:002009-12-01T06:30:20.701-05:00

From the Timesonline via Instapundit: SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based. It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.The issue is not a long-term temperature increase over

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-84736009360302287652009-11-24T09:39:00.004-05:002009-11-24T09:46:45.976-05:00

Six months after putting General McChrystal in charge, the news this morning was that President Obama has finally made a decision about Afghanistan. No idea what that decision was as the White House will not divulge its actual content for another week. Is the man such a lightweight that merely having meetings and deciding something is national news?What's next? This just in, after intense

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-17823877225567296162009-11-14T17:07:00.004-05:002009-11-22T17:32:12.504-05:00

And a deductable later...

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-76468551353039988592009-11-12T11:14:00.002-05:002009-11-12T19:18:20.300-05:00

The 5.7x28mm round used by the Fort Hood shooter is no more powerful than a .22 rimfire magnum. It's crap. Why? The 40 grain 5.7 is blazing down range at 1750 fps from a pistol. The 40 grain rimfire mag is moving at more like 1200-1300 fps from the same barrel length. The 5.7 has 80% more muzzle energy than the .22 mag. That's a lot people. Now maybe they'll both through and through with

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-31844189114713754432009-11-03T09:57:00.001-05:002009-11-03T09:57:52.093-05:00

Ever since Blogrolling went down and then came back with crappy popups, I've been looking to rework my layout. I've been running this one for long enough on the test blog (and using the test blog for my regular blogsurfing) that it's time to put it on here. I don't love it, but I've decided it is a 90% solution. Unfortunately that means the demise of haloscan comments for the time being.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-51223918369076472152009-11-02T20:04:00.001-05:002009-11-02T20:04:43.673-05:00

I think a discussion of AR-15 gas system lengths deserves it's own post and this is it. The big issue here is barrel length and port pressure needed to cycle the gun. As the gas port move closer to the gun's chamber (and away from the muzzle), the port pressure goes up and the gun cycles harder. This is good in that it is more likely to cycle, but bad in that too hard will break things.Rifle

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-55380014055862357292009-11-02T09:27:00.002-05:002009-11-02T20:04:13.473-05:00

I heard an interesting rumor on the internet. (And with a source like the internet, you know it must be true.) Rumor has it that the US Coast Guard has started reissuing boarding cutlasses for some drug interdiction searches. Evidently a sailor making a standard drug search was attacked and forced to defend himself with a fire axe. You have to wonder what his sidearm was though.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-57285062043939439722009-10-29T11:37:00.002-04:002009-10-29T19:15:47.095-04:00

I own an AR-15. This is not uncommon. It uses the 9 inch midlength gas system. I prefer that length for a 16 inch barrel, unfortunately very few AR parts makers tool for it. Lots of them only do rifle and carbine length. If I wanted to free float my barrel, I could go to Rock River for a tube or YHM for rails or cut down a rifle length part or spend a lot of money. I even asked several

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-91913434590845227392009-10-22T13:59:00.001-04:002009-10-22T13:59:51.693-04:00

Looks the like the ammo rush is really over and the suppliers are starting to meet inventory in earnest. While shopping with Amy yesterday, I picked up 200 rounds of 55gr .223 at Dicks. Not only did they have it on the shelf, but it was on sale for $8/20 rounds. That should be my range needs for a few trips at least.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-30754082540381160692009-10-21T17:31:00.001-04:002009-10-21T17:31:52.466-04:00

Seasonal hostage situation resolved.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-13586138414513231192009-10-21T17:05:00.003-04:002009-10-21T17:30:26.042-04:00

Sebastion points out that covering your car in NRA bumperstickers isn't a good idea. Guns are one of the major targets of property crime. Criminals want them and so there will always be a black market for firearms. Criminals especially like to know where you store them, because they don't want to rob an armed man or woman, but they love to rob unoccupied houses or vehicles.When you put an NRA,

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-1612338092132113192009-10-14T16:22:00.001-04:002009-10-14T16:22:27.876-04:00

Note to self: While Jeph Jacques was kidding about the Society for Creative Rock Anachronism, there are actually steampunk bands like Abney Park and Vernian Process. The hard part is going to be finding out if their music is any good without spending money on it.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-63433430238265039152009-10-13T11:42:00.001-04:002009-10-13T11:42:42.648-04:00

Habitat for Humanity New Castle County has announced their 2009 fundraising Christmas tree ornament: Blue Ball Farm. You may now giggle like an adolescent. But not for too long.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-14264737640027433592009-10-11T10:26:00.006-04:002009-10-11T15:44:58.943-04:00

From this article criticizing the M4:"My weapon was overheating," McKaig said, according to Cubbison's report. "I had shot about 12 magazines by this point already and it had only been about a half hour or so into the fight. I couldn't charge my weapon and put another round in because it was too hot, so I got mad and threw my weapon down." 360 rounds in 30 minutes through your rifle and your gun

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-5563898867452554832009-10-10T14:14:00.003-04:002009-10-10T15:21:33.478-04:00

Amybear went to a bridal shower today so I was left to my own devices. I was planning on making a trip to Ommelanden, but just as I was getting dressed it started to rain. The doppler map of the area showed that it was going to last a while, so instead I made a survey of the local gun shops.The result? Miller's has a lightly used Sig P6 for under $400. It was a reasonable piece at a

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-37173339622316916732009-10-06T06:27:00.005-04:002009-10-07T07:25:22.221-04:00

I just finished reading the Twilight books. Pretty good in spots, but not without their faults. The most annoying thing is how emo Bella Swan is in books two and three. She's the first person narrator for 90% of the novels so you can't really get away from her either.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-19876307799241779332009-10-02T18:07:00.000-04:002009-10-02T18:08:35.290-04:00

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-61427218054457904372009-09-30T12:48:00.002-04:002009-09-30T21:55:38.465-04:00

He's a pedophile. Stop defending him. While he was taking naked pictures of a thirteen year-old model, he got her drunk with champagne and quaaludes, and then he raped her in every orifice. Around that time he also had a romantic relationship with fifteen year-old Nastassja Kinski. Polanski was in his forties during this time.Stop justifying it. The excellence of Chinatown or the Pianist or

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-59855914052282092192009-09-27T21:03:00.002-04:002009-09-27T21:09:51.516-04:00

Instapundit points out that the worst job market right now is the 18 to 24 year-old non-students.My question: does this have anything to do with the skyrocketing price of unskilled labor thanks to recent minimum wage hikes? Congress enacted a minimum wage increase that took it from $5.15 to $7.25 over the last 3 years. Meanwhile the job market has gone in the toilet. Who gets paid the minimum

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-1516690510931673392009-09-25T13:46:00.002-04:002009-09-25T13:51:42.065-04:00

So Michael Bloomberg's Mayor's Against Illegal Guns is an ideological front for the Brady Campaign? That's amazing, that's astounding, that's... well not really surprising at all. I wonder if the Joyce Foundation pays any of MAIG's bills for them. That would complete the anti-gun circle of life.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-21549960901174308522009-09-25T13:31:00.003-04:002009-09-25T17:24:36.049-04:00

The 42" Philips we picked up about 16 months ago died a couple of weeks back while we were visiting Amy's parents. It's going to cost us $700 to fix. Seven hundred minus... carry the one... ah right that equals time to buy a new TV.This time around we're going to go with a 40" Samsung, either the 40B530 or the 40B550. I'm leaning towards the 550 just because it has a few extras ports and

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-5564027389449528002009-09-23T14:10:00.001-04:002009-09-23T14:10:33.302-04:00

Today's Dangerous Book for Boys calendar trivia item: Lewis Carroll invented the portmanteau "chortle" for his poem Jackerwocky as a combination of chuckle and snort. He also coined the term "portmanteau" for words of this type in Through the Looking Glass.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-45344638653252508572009-09-17T14:34:00.002-04:002009-09-17T21:38:07.597-04:00

A long time ago I did a paper on teen pregnancy rates. One of the things I discovered was that in the 1950s teen pregnancy was huge. Just as huge as it was in the early '90s (which at the time was the most recent data). The rub? In the '50s those teen mothers were 19 and married instead of 16 and not.I'm betting similar phenomenon is happening in the latest study of teen pregnancy rates in

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-53884737424490502342009-09-17T08:57:00.001-04:002009-09-17T08:57:36.051-04:00

Citizen journalists have demonstrated that ACORN is widely corrupt. So what does ACORN do? Reform itself? Nope. Make blanket statements and then change their name so nobody knows that COI is really ACORN in a different hat.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-22953460127003316932009-09-15T18:21:00.001-04:002009-09-15T18:23:13.438-04:00

Important experimental work to prevent the zombie apocalypse:

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-23414327906394503002009-09-14T21:28:00.002-04:002009-09-14T21:32:24.412-04:00

The Russians have some sort of internet archive storing military memoirs from the Great Patriotic War. Some are even translated into English. Good stuff. The aforelinked tanker drove a US supplied Sherman throughout the war. He liked it a lot better than the British tanks and even the T-34, but hated the Tommyguns that were issued with them.Via Tam.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-52101565123783904462009-09-14T21:23:00.000-04:002009-09-14T21:26:57.959-04:00

The Senate has voted to defund ACORN by 83-7. Call your Senators and thank them, unless you live in VT or IL. Suggest they vote to defend a lot of federal bullshit spending.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-83885937984713635162009-09-10T08:45:00.002-04:002009-09-10T19:48:59.826-04:00

While it sounds relatively harmless, Mayors Against Illegal Guns is an anti-gun group founded by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Because it sounds like group against obvious bad thing, there is evidence that some of the current members don't really know or understand what agenda is being driven. Recent efforts by the blogosphere, pro-gun groups, and the NRA have been making them aware. Several

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-49680614271536394612009-09-07T15:14:00.002-04:002009-09-07T15:17:23.325-04:00

Amy is paging through a Betty Crocker Microwave Cookbook. One recipe suggests microwaving a pork shoulder in several stages that total over 40 minutes. Look, if you're cooking something in microwave for the better part of an hour, you picked the wrong appliance.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-4557464841138478852009-09-02T11:23:00.002-04:002009-09-03T06:36:26.578-04:00

For $30 and 0.745 shares of Disney per Marvel share. Speculation abounds about what effects this will have on the Marvel Universe. I'm guessing it really won't have much of an effect on the comics, but will probably change how Marvel Studios and Marvel's merchanising system will work.The real question is: now that Howard the Duck and Donald Duck are under the same corporate banner, are they

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-9956761848818002042009-08-31T21:01:00.003-04:002009-09-01T06:07:15.925-04:00

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again.Amen to that sentiment assessed by Rasmussen.I think there should be an official "vote the bums out" mechanism for Congress. One that doesn't involve pitchforks, torches, and rifles. It could go something like this: when invoked by popular vote, all sitting members

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-75660200206375962342009-08-26T09:26:00.002-04:002009-08-26T21:08:56.277-04:00

Ted Kennedy has died. Expect conflicting eulogies that portray him as the last in a line of true American aristocrats or as a foul-smelling drunkard. I'm not sure how Massachusetts intends to handle replacing him in the Senate, but we can expect another Democrat. Kennedy wanted his current wife to hold his seat. Unfortunately whomever his replacement is, they will probably be in good enough

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-80693454996068851032009-08-23T07:50:00.003-04:002009-08-23T08:23:54.184-04:00

It seems that the Whitehouse is Jewish community organizing for the high holy days this year. The marching orders have gone out and this year's sermons are to be on the moral urgency of adopting universal health care. Great.Amy and I go down to her parents' house for services during one of the holy days every year. When we can swing it, it's Rosh Hashanah instead of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-68015300236994832162009-08-04T21:33:00.001-04:002009-08-04T21:35:19.378-04:00

I like cowboy guns. I'd love to pick up a .45 colt single action revolver with a .45 acp conversion cylinder one of these days. I don't reload, so the .45 acp conversion is almost mandatory as .45 colt is cost prohibitive.Another option are these .22 lr chamber inserts for .45 colt revolvers (or similar ones for .45 acp). I had initially dismissed them because I couldn't understand how they

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-23776960333695186822009-08-01T10:40:00.002-04:002009-08-01T10:52:24.102-04:00

I finally finished fitting the arched mainspring housing for my 1911 yesterday. I did a cold reblue last night to clean up the shiny spots on the housing. Everything went back together smoothly this morning. Everything works, or as near as I can tell without taking it to the range. I'd rather not have learned how to detail strip the receiver of a 1911 the hard way though.I'd still like to

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-67447034139553388562009-07-31T12:16:00.004-04:002009-07-31T12:34:18.281-04:00

I had an interesting conversation with some coworkers while coming back from lunch a few days ago. We all noticed that while our parents are not technically illiterate, they don't necessarily grasp the latest technologies. Most of our parents had a lot of trouble with e-mail for instance. We wondered what technology we wouldn't be able to grasp when our as yet unborn children get to be our

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-88540612992397278392009-07-31T11:46:00.003-04:002009-07-31T12:13:53.294-04:00

French toast was created as a very tasty way to get rid of stale bread. I've mentioned that banana bread is the fruit equivalent. It is where the overripe bananas wind up at my house. We recently discovered that bananas for bread freeze very well too. They retain their flavor and while the ice crystals make bananas really mushy, that's an advantage when you're going to recycle them into

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-32187936934215460482009-07-27T11:44:00.002-04:002009-07-28T01:36:48.017-04:00

A coworker asked if me whether I liked blackberries. I replied no, thinking that she meant the ever-present smart-phone that the Army issues to middle management and up. One of the things that keeps me from working too hard here is the prospect of being issued my own cyberleash. Nope. Turns out she has bushes in her back yard. Her berries are quite yummy with a nice tart juiciness. My

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-81593748068247162222009-07-24T09:56:00.002-04:002009-07-24T20:06:45.332-04:00

Amy and I caught Pawn Stars last night on the History Channel. It's a reality show set at the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas. The post title says it all. Amy liked seeing people bringing in their antiques and I liked the interplay between the family members that kept the show interesting. I wouldn't mind catching it again.

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-13992812279409622622009-07-23T13:41:00.002-04:002009-07-23T19:51:05.898-04:00

My Eee 1005 arrived on Monday and I've been slowly whipping it into shape. On Monday I charged it and installed a real web browser. Tuesday took me to the Army website to download our anti-virus and security suite. On Wednesday, I installed my Army copy of MS Office and worked on getting my browser bookmarks sorted. I'll probably just apply all of Office&'s patches tonight and transfer more

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7390464.post-34241362463195205502009-07-21T15:50:00.003-04:002009-07-21T20:27:02.896-04:00

The New York Times has an article on the dearth of sun spots this year which also mentions the improbability of their relationship to the cool summer we're having:The idea that solar cycles are related to climate is hard to fit with the actual change in energy output from the sun. From solar maximum to solar minimum, the Sun's energy output drops a minuscule 0.1 percent.Most people reading this

Jeff the Baptisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.com0