Found this tracking back some links to Gunboards (I think). This one's a little different in that the creator had a trashed Mosin, lots of plastic rifle accessories not in use, a fair bit of free time, and a burning desire to see how much of an ugly rifle he could create. I'd say he accomplished his objective. It's ugly.

Great Advertising.......

doesn't always precede a great film. The wife and I have a passion for horror films, and are always looking for the rare horror film with a decent budget, good acting, high production values, and an outstanding splatter factor. 30 Days of Night has all of that, but seemed rather slow after a promising start. It was worth the money and time, but I wouldn't feel I was losing out if I didn't see it again.

I believe there's a recently released DVD called "Black Sheep" about vicious, flesh-eating sheep that recently came out. Sound like my kind of film.

I'm A Bad Person

I've recently been subjected to a mandatory "cultural sensitivity" class. One of the highlights was a scale of "Diversity Appreciation" which caused a spike in my blood pressure. Spike one occurred when reading the highest rating: culturally enlightened. This was defined as being fluent in two languages, with deep respect and admiration for another culture. Spike two occurred on reading the lowest rating: culturally incompetent - not fluent in any other languages, suspicious of other cultures.

Man, that's subtle. I'd hate to be culturally incompetent, I mean, people might think I'm not nice or something.

Maybe that's why they gave us a paper to to fill in with our names and answers to the questions asked during the indoctrination presentation. Especially "Where do you fall on the scale?". It's amazing how hard it can be to read cursive after too much coffee. It looks a lot like a random scribble. Hell, I'm surrounded by doctors, it'll look normal in that environment.

I've been out in a couple of different cultures over the years. When I develop a deep respect and admiration for political repression, poverty, and corruption, I'll move. Until then, I'll stay a suspicious, nationalistic, gun-owning American.

Range Fire AAR

Last weekend's range fire was interesting for a few different reasons. First, it was one week after my optometrist told me I could now wear bifocals. Which would probably explain why the front sight was fuzzy pretty much the whole time I fired. Not good.

Secondly, I had a little time to kill, so I wandered over to what's apparently some kind of bone yard for old vehicles. Most of the following vehicles I've at least seen before, even if it was in a museum. But the only rocket launcher truck I've encountered before was a Chinese manufactured model at Camp Anaconda, parked in a unit motorpool destined for a display pad back in the States. And the tracked vehicles with soft covers I haven't seen anywhere else.

Last, an example of why commanders like to keep their troops busy: When you're waiting to have the barracks inspected for permission to leave the post, and you have a couple hours of down time, a platoons worth of bored young males and and a fully charged taser are a bad combination. And after a good twenty of them have voluntarily submitted to a demonstration, not be willing to do so will lower your standing in their eyes. So, I now know what a taser feels like. Twice.

If anyone would like to experience that sensation, but doesn't have access to the real thing, I'd suggest mounting a steak knife blade on a electric reciprocating saw set to high, and having it held firmly against the soft tissue of your choice. I managed to make it about two seconds, although two troops actually made it the full five seconds to the automatic shut off.

I hope like hell these guys don't get too bored during the Sinai deployment, or it could be a long, painful year.

I've Been Waiting A Long Time For This

My son had a varsity choir concert tonight, in conjunction with a number of other vocal groups from his high school. It's held at the local community college auditorium, which is very nice for a town our size. The fall concert is very well attended, with few seats available if you arrive close to the starting time.

Which should indicate to attendees that the event is important to those present, and demands a level of audience decorum higher than say, watching the local bar band playing out at the county fairgrounds. If your kids aren't old enough to walk on their own, don't bring them to a two hour choral concert where the rest of us can here them babbling and crying through all the performances. If you're a teenager there to watch your friends, and you don't want to stay through all the various groups, fine. But try leaving in between performances, not just after all the performers are ready to begin and focused on the conductor.

Which brings me to a behavior I admire: when the conductor stops what he's doing and watches the two shining examples of today's youth start to amble up the stairs. The ambling lasted about ten steps until people started laughing at them. Then they picked up the pace. Guess there's something about several hundred people staring at you and letting you know they think you're an idiot to get you moving.

Magical Thinking

Sadly, I personally know people who would completely miss the satire in that.

H/T to Free Market Fairy Tales.

Ugly Gun Sunday

Um......No. No No No No.