Thanks Technology!

Hey. I'm a geek and yet I still get frustrated with less than thought out tech. Check this out.

This is a ETL Secure Logic wall safe. I installed it oh, about 6 years ago. It is basically a steel box attached to interior wall studs. I would not put the family jewels in here as the easiest way to defeat this thing is a battery powered circular saw to remove it from the wall studs. It IS a steel box that would drive your average crack head crazy though and is fantastically convenient.

It is powered by one of these. 

A battery (duh). So what do we keep it in it? Routine stuff. It's rather pedestrian too. 

Sadly though, while attempting to replace the battery one of the leads came off the motherboard. It was not soldered, wire tied, or any other known form of stress relief for a wire known to man or child. Simply pressed on a pin on the board. So now I have to remove this thing from the wall and see if I can can repair it. 

In the meantime, the company seems to have gone the way of many others. No customer service, no phone number, no Website. 

Sigh.... I guess that when it comes to the stuff that matters I stick to such (low) tech:

 

 




 

Abby....Somthing.....

So I'm at a loss as to what caused the PC here to take a really big dump on the floor yesterday. Either the NVIDIA video card or the 19" CRT monitor had a failure and took each other out, or the software video drivers got corrupted.

Sigh.... 

Run out and get a happy shiny new LCD monitor. Remove the video card and go back to the integrated video hardware. HELLO ACER! Your manual sucks and if I had to go to Google to figure out where THE POWER SWITCH is on the monitor? You are doing it wrong! 

Go find the Intel motherboard drivers for the video. Yes, Intel is getting out of the MB biz and I get that. I will say this though. I was able to get the drivers from the Intel site for a Model DG31PR board. They did try to take care of the customers. 

SO, Abby something indeed. This thing is a old desktop PC. Some are saying the desktop is over. We shall see, but I think corporate drones are not going to give up on them anytime soon. 

Sigh... .gov is .gov everywhere!

So here at stately manor we receive a document from the Tax assesor. Here it is in all of its glory:

First, you addresed the envelope to me and yet refer to me on this letter as "Customer"?!?!? No, I'm not a customer, just someone that must meet your convoluted demands for more paper work to maintain a lower tax rate on a 42 year old car! If I do not, you will run some random number generator and  decide what the car is worth and tax me on that amount.

Second, what the hell is a "Personal Property Sr. Specialist"? I would LOVE to see the job description for that! 

Third, I'm not a "Past Owner" or "New Owner". I'm a CURRENT owner! 

I do love the fact that the form I am supposed to fill out asks for the VIN number AND A COPY OF THE TITLE! Earth to .gov. The VIN is on the title! Second, I am to report the current odometer reading. Gee, you want the original odometer reading that is sitting on a shelf in the garage or the one I put in the car back in 1984? LOL! I proudly reported a mileage of 90K and some change. Throw another 200K on top of that and you might be getting close. 

Sheesh. 

  
 

Ya Gotta Do What You Gotta Do!

So a network bridge card went Tango Uniform Memorial Day weekend at work. That killed the communications between two operator workstations to a Programmable Logic Controller. Not just any controller, the one that runs our waste treatment process. So I deftly replace that card with a spare. Its brand spanking new! What could go wrong? Factory sealed. Since 1995.

I ran into the "Bathtub Failure Curve". Here it is:

The "New" card fell out. I ran into the Early "Infant Mortality" Failure. Card is now made of unobtanium.

I work at a chemical plant and the beaker people up front are really good at making oil and water stick together. This thing tries to undo the work they did before we discharge to the public sewer system. So now its like getting into a perfectly functional car but there is no dashboard and no ignition switch.

So, with little options left we went old school. 

Drag a PC out to it with the programming software on it. Direct connection to the processor and force or enter variables to run the thing. Some logic is in the operator workstations so its the equivalent of having a Lobotomy to a degree. It will run for a while without the higher logic but its running. That's the main thing. 

The Smithsonian called and wants the Reliance Electric AutoMax DCS when we are done with it though. So there is that, LOL!  I hate it though. This thing has been so reliable over the years. I doubt whatever I put in next will hold up 20 years.

And that is why Blogging has been light. I hope to get to the range and provide more shooty goodness posts soon. I think however I will be busy with ripping this stuff out soon! 

Old Habits

Die Hard.

There really is no reason to put a bookmark on a Kindle! Sigh....

Where is My Wookie Suit?

Quick quiz for ya.  Which one of these items are currently under a Consumer Product Safety Commission proposal to be banned?


 Exhibit A

216 magnets packaged and sold as "Buckyballs". They come in this attractive cube.  Once you touch them however you end up with "the clump".  It takes some effort to restore to the state you see above.  Fun stuff though!

Exhibit B

Bersa Thunder .380 pistol.


Answer? Exhibit A because "OMG someone think of the children!" 

Really? They say to keep out of the reach of children more times on the packaging than ANY firearm packaging I have ever seen. 

The proposed ban is up for comments at regulations.gov.  
I mean really. Whats next? 

Forks? I remember sticking one of those into Mr. electrical outlet back in the day and I seem to have suffered no ill effects (or not, I will leave that up to my humble readers to decide). 

I mean if you can't see the danger in a 3 year old eating high power magnets, I don't think you need to be breeding.  Just saying.  The CPSC did send a investigator to my house for a weed trimmer that threw an amazing amount of shrapnel at high speed and with some distance.  They banned that. I get than one but not this one. 

More info here.

    
 



 

Hey, NRA!

You are getting on my nerves.  Caller ID is showing that you are on average calling my landline (thankfully) about four times a day. I bit about 10 minutes ago and answered the phone.  With all of the infrastructure at your disposal could you at least get the pronunciation of my last name right?  Or at least know that I attended my Friends of the NRA Dinner last month, I'm a Certified Instructor, Life Member, anything?

Scare tactics really don't work on me much.  In fact the hyperbole does more to make me less likely to be whipping out the credit card.   

Keep it up and will divert more money to the Second Amendment Foundation.  At least I can open the mail at my leisure and not worry about the phone ringing off the hook. 

Just Sayin'

Hugs and Kisses, 

Not Mr. Eds. You figure it out.The last Mr. Ed I observed was a horse. Of course.

Ammo.....

Many have posted about a proposed online ammo ban. The most humorous came from my friend over at Murphys Law. The M-60 picture was icing on the cake.

I really don't have a dog in this fight yet, but I will voice my opinion on it to the Congresscritters.

I ordered some ammo online right before I posted this (clicky to embiggie). 

That's 4000 rounds of 9, 2000 rounds of 45 and 1000 rounds of 380. Should go well with this:

Some assembly is required however:

As always, Americans will adapt and overcome. The thing that galls me is the fact that no one stocks stuff below like this locally and it is the online vendors that can afford to stock it as it is not really popular to have on the shelf, pay property tax on, etc.

I don't shoot these things a lot, but I would like to shoot them if I want to (well except my only Glock in the corner)! Yes, I can reconfigure the press and make this stuff, but still. Going after online sales of ammo is yet another feel good, does nothing thing. The vendors have a copy of my drivers license, I have a FFL and my CCH permit as well as my instructor permit from my State DOJ.

 I am ashamed of the people supposedly representing us. Icing on the cake? The people at Montana Gold have engineered sturdy shipping boxes to fit in the flat rate flimsy USPS "It fits, it ships" boxes. Heh. I like that as they will hump 50+ pounds per box across the country for oh, 7 bucks.

Man calls 911 after he was shot trying to rob grocery store | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

Man calls 911 after he was shot trying to rob grocery store | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

HAHAHAHAHA! Breathe.........HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Stay safe at the range people!

I'm sure everyone has seen this making the rounds:

"A Bristol police officer was shot by his girlfriend at an indoor shooting range in Piney Flats on Monday, and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether the shooting was caused by “hot brass” falling down the woman’s shirt."  Story is here.

Ok, now for the rest of the story relayed to me by my operative in Johnson City TN. The news says he was shot by his girlfriend. This came as a surprise to the "girlfriends" husband I am told. I have not verified this yet, but it comes from a reliable source. 

Come on people! Be safe at the range ok? Think of the collateral damage too! 

And people wonder why I don't get involved with customers at the range! Duh! This is as good a reason as it gets! 
 

I'm Going Green!

I have finally yielded to the logic of going green. Last week I received these from the local power co-op:

CFL's! And they were free (well not really but we will let that slide for now).

They were actually delivered via USPS. I'm sorry, a meter reader runs through here every month, how about THEY deliver them? 

So here is what you do. Give these to your favorite tree hugging Gaea worshiper. It is your duty to tell them that they contain the heavy metal Mercury and if they break one they need to leave the house and call a HAZMAT team. And of course they cannot dispose of them in the trash, they must be taken to some secret location for proper disposal. While you are at it tell them they will not work in any traditional incandesant dimmer circuit. 

After they take them, save the box they came in. It comes in handy.

The box is perfect for holding your reloads before you case gauge them! 








I DO recycle! Tonight's activity? Recycling a metal!

9mm Brass in a ultrasonic cleaner. 

 
 

Cutting Edge Update!

So after spending another fruitless night with HP "Engineering" doing the same crap as the evening before I decided to put one more attempt at it on my own.  Yes it got geeky:

It seems that for what ever reason, my setup does not like using the wireless or USB connection to the HP thingy. Tried direct connect Ethernet:

Well that worked! Sorry to say that I wasted two full evenings of my life screwing with HP support. I knew better than that, but did so anyway! Stupid me! 

So for some therapy I fired this up:

I know I can fix anything here!

When dealing with the cutting edge of technology....

The blood on the floor is your own. Behold the "All in One" that lost its magic smoke. In its defense it is old and was worked hard:

"All in One" is code for not doing all tasks as well as a dedicated piece of equipment in my opinion, but desk space is limited. I really wanted an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) this go round. I need to store paperwork from CCH classes and scanning to PDF is the bomb! 

So I got one of the latest greatest thingies:

I don't know why it wants its own email address or to be connected to the Internet, but hey lets see what it does first OK?

Print? OK. Copy? OK. Fax? OK. Scan? NO! I have been through everything the HP tech support Web site offers for three days. To no avail. So last night I spent 3 hours of quality time with a HP support tech. He basically did everything I did via VNC remote control. I HATE that! I have been bumped up and "engineering" is supposed to call me back tomorrow evening. At the same time I had to scan for crap they might have dropped on my PC. Sigh......

Oh, at the same time my Directv DVR told me it REALLY wants to connect to the Interwebz. So it is not cool enough to receive 300 channels of crap FROM SPACE? OK. I got one of these:

First thing from DirecTv? I need an upgraded receiver. They will be here August 4th "between 12-4 PM".  Sigh again.....



I will post an AAR on class the past weekend as soon as I can figure out if I need to send this piece of felgercarb back to whence it came!

USTC Part II

So after figuring out that no, that is not a Caterpillar generator outside the window at night it is in fact my roomie, we head out for the next day. Again a safety briefing with nearest medical centers distance and average response times, we go at it again.

Speed vs accuracy drills, presentation from holster, first shot was timed for 1.5 seconds from holster. One second shot drills, .5 second and .25 drills followed. The instructor always demonstrated the course of fire first. He was simply put impressive. 

If you had a slide bite or other appendage bleeding the instructors had band aids. Both whipped out the most garish "Hello Kitty" bandages for you to wear as your badge of shame for the day. I did not ask for one but my left forefinger got split at the cuticle from reaching around and digging in the left rear pocket for magazines. I had plenty of less demeaning Band-Aids in the range bag.  

We play the ballistic version of basketball horse, where your partner calls the first shot and then you have two attempts to put a bullet in the same hole. NOW everyone is my friend after I was named "single stack". They all say I have the biggest target for them to aim for. I stick with my partner and we go at it. That was fun! 

Then the malfunction drills come. Double feed, click, no bang, etc. After a progression of administrative, tactical, and emergency reload drills we get to the drill I hated "the everything gone wrong" scenario. A double feed followed with a magazine with one round then another with a full load. 

We get to the "scan and assess" drills. You really need to do a full 360 assessment from the high ready and if you do not you will miss an instructor behind you with a forefinger to his head or two fingers to his chest signifying additional head or center mass shots are required on your target. 

Near the end of the day I have a malfunction. Pistol is not going to slidestop. Of course this is during the final string of reload drills. Instructor asks me why I am not going to slidestop. I tell him I do not know but it must be the slidestop lever or magazines. He asked what type of mags I have and I tell him Wolff.

I also spot a fellow classmate with a jug of disposable foam ear plugs and ask If I can get some for the coming night of wall rattling snoring. They graciously give me several. 

After going to dinner with the guys from the aforementioned Suburban in town I get to take a look.

Slidestop lever (on left) sheared off. At least the broken parts did not get up into the slide and grind around up there!  I had a complete spring kit and firing pin for the old girl on hand. I was not expecting a slidestop lever problem!

So, knowing the Proshop is closed on Sunday and I cannot get a replacement or rent a gun for the final day I wander down to the front desk and explain my problem to the young lady at the front desk. She gets on the radio and calls range control. They give her a phone number and in 5 minutes I am talking to a Blackwater USTC Armorer. He asks what range I am at in the morning and at what time. 

Tomorrow awaits, but really frustrated on the failure.    

Guess what happens if.....

You come home for lunch from work and replace a light bulb while simultaneously pressing the red key on this fob that is in your front pocket against the kitchen counter?

Why two of these show up in the driveway and the Gentlemen from them are REALLY interested in seeing your identification!

That's what I get for hitting the silent panic button on the alarm! Guess I will pay my 115 buck annual alarm monitoring fee again!

I have to chime in on this...

The NRA Annual Convention is in Pittsburgh this year. I'm not going. So just as here last year the local fish wrapper posts some articles portraying the attendees as neanderthals or worse. This guy however takes the cake.

How many sexist and shortsighted (and minded) comments can he make in a newspaper article? A LOT! Mr. Heyl, please come talk to my CCH students that are female and get a clue! Better yet TAKE the class before you sound off on something you know nothing about.

Several Women in my classes have decided after life altering events to take control of their continued well being for themselves and/or children and elderly family members. Some of the stories are truly heart wrenching and horrific and I will not replay their motivations or life stories here for public display. They do not tell them in class, they tell them to me afterward.

I do not care if they show up at the NRA Convention Sir. I can assure you though that they are not worried if the Firearm they carry "makes them look fat". Make no mistake though, they ARE carrying now!

This is why I teach concealed carry handgun classes. I am humbled by my efforts when faced with people that want to be responsible for their own safety for the first time.     

HA!

You have to love this headline: Earth Day festivities postponed due to mother earth doing its thing? Priceless!

Condition Opaque?

If there is a condition below "White" this is a text book example:

This is a STICK up!

From Virgina. The only thing this video needs is the soundtrack from Benny Hill to complete it!

Fire Version 2.0

So at work today was the annual ritual of fire extinguisher training. We used to set up cut down 55 gallon drums and put some straw and diesel fuel in that and light it up with a hand held propane torch. People would go at it with live extinguishers with both class A and B items involved in the fire. 

The City proudly announced this time that "Stimulus" money provided the new training tool "free". Well not really, I do have this thing on my pay stub that says Federal withholding, but no matter.

So how was it? Total crap. See above.

When the Assistant Fire Marshall tells you where to aim and sweep at the screen it sorta loses the point of training in my opinion. Lasers in the training extinguishers and a weak pressurized water stream. The only reason we were told where to aim was the fact the extinguisher had to be recharged with water and pressurized air from a Scott air pack. Less time figuring how an extinguisher works for the student and less recharging time for the instructor. It totally left me underwhelmed.