File under "U"

For "U R DOIN IT RONG!"

Listening to the magic talking man in my dashboard on the way home this morning, I caught a little tidbit that made me cringe for society, and forced me to start looking for verification when I got home.

Apparently, this particular idiot in question injured her shoulder last month while walking her German Shepherd. I'm sympathetic to that to a certain extent; I've injured both of my shoulders over the years and they tend to hurt like a sonofagun and take a while to heal, and unless you have actually torn something, there just isn't a whole lot modern medicine can do for you. (R.I.C.E. is the usual advice!)

Regardless, this lady had been through a month of suffering without seeing appropriate care - because she has no health insurance. (Obviously she doesn't have the numbers for AD or MedicMatthew handy.)

So, like any logical person would do, she decided to force the issue. By shooting herself in the injured shoulder. Seems she figured an ER doc would be able to fix the shoulder while patching up the bullet hole.

Now, first, see above, about painful and slow to heal. Now add in a fast-moving hunk of copper and lead through one of the more complex joint and muscle arrangements in the human body, and you've got a pretty good start on a permanent disability. (I was going to say "permanent handicap", but it's obvious she's already got one of those.)

The bit on the radio this morning said she did this bit of self-mutilation with a .25. Not particularly noted for its effectiveness at - well, much of anything* - this must have been a factory error, with a double charge of powder or something ... because it went through-and-through. And somehow managed to miss every major/vital structure along the way. I'm truly mystified at how it's possible to shoot yourself at point-blank range - in the shoulder - and not hit something important. All I can guess is that she flinched when she pulled the trigger and somehow grazed the deltoid or bicep or something. (I wonder if she wore proper eyes'n'ears?)

Regardless, the doc tossed in a few stitches and released her shortly thereafter (probably via a long talk with the on-duty psych doc). To add insult to self-inflicted injury, the DA is considering charges for discharging a firearm within city limits.

And, all that said, the money quote:
"Myers says she wouldn't do it again and now is searching for a specialist who will accept a payment plan she can afford."

Maybe - just maybe - you should have considered this option BEFORE SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE BLINKING ARM?? But don't worry, folks - she will be provided for soon, thanks to The Won. After he's done kicking some ass. After he decides what ass to kick. Eventually. Maybe.


* - when a thug is more scared of your hot coffee than your .25ACP, it's a good sign that a larger caliber might be in order.

Healthcare, ZerCool-style

Rapid-release Cupric Plumbum. Fast-acting!
Good for what ails you. Use only as directed.
Take 2 as necessary, repeat as needed.




Of course, sometimes things are not as they seem...



(as always, click:big)

Craigslist

I love Craigslist. It's great fun to watch the lowest common denominator try to combine that new-fangled intartubes with the writing of a classified ad. The print media still have one thing over Craigslist: editors. A little gnome with a red pen going through the submissions and crying quietly for society.

The "rants and raves" is always amusing - some very brave people out there, hiding behind an anonymous email address. A few flag wars now and then. Recent topics have included BH0 (a perennial favorite), facial hair, Haiti (pro and con), local mass transit, and so forth.

The real meat, however, lies in the "for sale/wanted" columns. I always skim through a few of those sections looking for good deals and have found a couple. I also look to them for a good chuckle. Today, however, brought a couple winners!

Wanted: Flat Screen TV - 26" or bigger, $75 or less ($TOWN)

Hi, We usually don't have TV, but we really love the winter olympics, so we're getting cable, and want to pick up a decent, functional, flat-screen HD (ideally) TV, which we will then use for DVD's afterward. Let us know, and please be specific about any and all flaws/defects/problems. Doesn't mean we won't be interested, but we really don't want to bring a unit home, turn it on, and discover what you probably knew all along. Just be honest. We might make a sale.

Now, as it happens, I was in the Maul last evening, and wandered through Target's electronics section to kill a few minutes. I stopped and looked at flat-screen TVs because they're shiny. Now, prices on TVs have dropped dramatically in the past four or five years. The 32" LCD I bought (on sale and with a coupon) for $500 two and a half years ago is now at $450 regular price. A 26" LCD will lighten your wallet to the tune of $300 right now. I'm sure you think $75 is a fair price for you, since you don't usually have TV, but I see no reason any normal person would part with one for about a quarter of the retail price for a new one. For further dreams of "something for not much" I suggest you send your request in writing to: Da Lightworker, 1600 Pennsylvania Av, Washington DC. And request your unicorn while you're at it.


help with bail - $1500 ($MISSPELLED TOWN)

i need help geting my wife out of jail i need 1500 cash i will pay it back when i get my taxes i will do it all in leagal doc please call me at $PHONE

Maybe I'm naive, but suggesting that someone wait for you to get your taxes back so you can repay a loan for bail money just seems like a bad idea. Even if you do sign a promissory note - also known as a "leagal doc". A suggestion: most towns, even itty-bitty ones, have at least a few businessmen of questionable moral fortitude known as "bail-bondsmen". I'd contact one of them and see what pieces of property you can put in hock to him for your wife's bail... Or take advantage of the situation and run like hell before she gets out.

"CARS"

I'm stuck at work this morning, working an overtime shift - this is actually an OK thing, since it will mean a bump to my Toy Acquisition Fund. Sunday mornings are often slow, and the calls for service tend to be legitimate, as nearly anyone involved in emergency services can verify. Sunday afternoons are anyone's guess, but can be calm depending on who's playing football and whether or not there's a race on. After the games and the race, the phones start ringing again. (Standard quiet times: Sunday mornings, Christmas morning, New Year's Day morning, Super Bowl game time, NASCAR races. Afternoons and other sporting events have no standards.)

In any case, I swung through Dunkin' on my way in for a bite (their bagel sandwiches are really quite good) and grabbed our local rag on the way out the door. Buried on page 11A (Business) was this AP slug: "Dealers yet to see cash for clunkers". It's over about eight column inches of text, which I skimmed.

Short form: dealers have taken in trades under the "cash for clunkers" program, officially known as the "Car Allowance Rebate System". Dealers then fill out paperwork and submit it to the government for the rebate - this is a standard process in the car business, which I was involved with a lifetime ago. A car is sold for X but has a rebate of Y on it; the rebate is applied to the bottom-line price and the difference (X-Y) is the price paid by the customer. At delivery/closing, the customer signs a rebate form assigning the rebate to the dealer. The rebate amount is fronted by the dealer until the manufacturer cuts a check back to the dealer...

Problem: dealers are expecting the US Government to write checks back to them in a timely manner. As anyone who has filed their income taxes knows, this is about as likely as birthers and truthers sitting down and having a friendly discussion about the next candidate for the US Presidency.

When you have excess taxes withheld from your paycheck, you are providing an interest-free loan to the US Government. Some of us choose to do that for various reasons, others do not - matter of personal preference. Either way, you still receive the majority of your paycheck.

Dealers, however, are running a business. They pay for their inventory up front. When a customer buys a car, they are not buying it from Ford - they are buying it from the Ford dealer franchisee. The profit margin on the car is what pays to keep the lights on, the A/C running, salaries for employees, etc. The manufacturers know this and cut rebate checks back to dealers quickly - usually on a weekly basis, if I recall correctly. Keeping the doors open is what sells cars, and stiffing the dealers for their money will not make for open doors.

With that out of the way, the article notes that the NHTSA - the agency overseeing the rebate program - has received approximately $1.5 billion (with a B) in rebate requests. They have not disclosed how much has been disbursed. There are, however, dealers who are claiming unpaid rebates in excess of $3 million (with an M). I realize, of course, that this amount is likely the exception rather than the rule, but large numbers aren't going to be unusual.

A bit of fast math: if every purchaser received the maximum $4500 rebate, that dealer has sold in excess of 650 cars since the program inception. Clearly, this is a large, multi-franchise dealership, and probably does a high volume to begin with... but $3 million is a hit that very few businesses can afford.

End result: dealers are starting to announce that they will not offer the "CARS" program. No doubt there will continue to be some who will, but if this becomes widespread, the government's plan to invigorate the auto market will have effectively failed.

Aside: We've all seen the YouTube video of mechanics pouring silica suspensions (read: sandy water) into the oil fill and running them at ridiculous speeds until the engine overheats and seizes. Doesn't this strike anyone as near-criminal? The video I saw looked like a fairly late-model Volvo sedan being run to failure. I'm a bit of a car geek, and while I don't like Volvos (personal preference), they are well-built and extremely safe cars. Now, this car which had been a perfectly acceptable family sedan is so much scrap metal - destined for the pick'n'pull and the engine block going to the junkyard.

Where do we strike the balance between supporting labor and the economy, and continuing use of the functional resources we have available?

Panem et circenses, indeed...

Currency currents

This article in WSJ (originally found from Uncle) is worth a close read. Short form: several large banks have decided to stop accepting California's state-issued IOUs.

Now, a brief lesson in currency. The US currency is the dollar. Various pieces of linen paper and chunks of metal represent multiples and fractions of that dollar. Each piece of paper or metal, however, is backed ONLY by the "full faith and credit" of the US Government. This is known as "fiat" currency. Beyond the intrinsic value of that piece of paper or metal, it is worthless. Once upon a time (yeah, this is a fairy tale) that slip of paper represented a piece of gold in a vault somewhere. In the 1930s, that ended...

Now, present day California has this to say:

State officials said they were disappointed by the banks' decision. Garin Casaleggio, a spokesman for Mr. Chiang, said: "We don't want anybody to suffer who can't redeem them when they need cash."

California's bond rating has already been reduced from A- to BBB. This is the lowest of the "investment" grade bonds, and one step above "junk" status. California is disappointed that banks aren't willing to assume the credit risk for a state whose financial rating is one step over "junk"?

Economics is a simple process, really: if you have revenues/income of "X", you have to spend LESS than "X" in order to remain solvent. Spending more than "X" is known as "credit" and involves someone else risking their own financial solvency on you. These banks have just been slapped hard by the federal government for taking risks beyond reason and "causing" a "collapse". Now California is whining that the banks won't extend them credit? I don't think so, Tim.

The interesting potential here - what happens when a large enough group of these folks gets together and files a class-action lawsuit for fraud? These IOUs are being issued for tax refunds and other state liabilities.

California is sliding down the spiral; my home state of New York probably isn't too far behind. I think it's time to adjust my tax withholdings to the minimum necessary to cover liability; I won't take an IOU.

I'm A Bad Man

CNN has one of their user-submitted "news" stories on the site right now.

Beached Pilot Whales Euthanized

It's got a few pictures of people trying to "return the whales to the water".

"About 35 whales that had stranded themselves on Kommetjie beach have been euthanized after efforts to rescue them failed.
[...]
As we were walking away, we heard the shots - a sound that will stay with me for a long time."


So ... what's an appropriate caliber for whales? (According to Wikipedia, adult males are up to 20ft and 3 tons.)

I'm thinking rifle caliber starting with .3 or higher...

Search term round-up

Aside from a brief Tamalanche early after installing Sitemeter, a normal day here has been ... slow. That's likely due to not updating daily. I do get a fairly regular stream of hits from google searches, though, and a la the Munchkin Wrangler, I'll post a few highlights.


small rifle primers

The little round thing in the back of a centerfire cartridge that's struck by the firing pin and ignites your gunpowder. There are at least eight different sizes - small and large rifle and pistol, and magnum/non-magnum variants of each. Small rifle primers are used, in particular, in .223Rem/5.56NATO, which is pretty rare these days. If you have primers, count yourself lucky. PowderValley claims they have backorders for 50,000,000 primers, and they're not the only ones.


kns hooded front sight match approved

I'd suggest checking the rules of the particular match you are entering, as NRA Highpower has different rules from Benchrest and Smallbore and so on.


a2 rear sight jpg 0-2

I don't have pictures of them, but try the Google image search. Or look at an AR - the flip-up rear aperture with the larger hole (0.200" diameter) is the 0-2, and is conveniently labeled as such. It's not a precision aperture, but is designed for limited visibility and moving targets. It also has a different zero from the small aperture.


wolf 223 stuck

A frequent issue, particularly with tight chambers. Older Wolf ammo, along with some of the various "Bear" ammo, is lacquer-coated. At higher rates of fire, the chamber gets hot enough to melt this lacquer and effectively glue a round in place. Clear your rifle, remove the bolt if possible, and CAREFULLY tap the round out with a brass rod from the muzzle end. Use acetone to clean your chamber and dissolve the lacquer, then a chamber brush and normal cleaning procedures... and then stop shooting crap ammo in a good rifle. Save the Wolf for the Mini14 and .223 AKs.


hooded cross hair front sight for 22 rifle

Swap your crap Ruger factory sights for a set of Tech-Sights, and the front sight tower accepts all standard AR front posts, including the KNS hooded crosshair.


walmart pistol primers

Walmart doesn't have store-branded gun anything. Not ammo, not primers, not nothing. Some Walmarts apparently do sell reloading components, but I've never seen it.


kns with rra 2 stage trigger

Well, KNS doesn't make lowers. If you mean KNS anti-rotational pins with a RRA trigger, it should work fine. The pins are standard diameter, as are the triggers. The pins just look fancy and mean you need one more tool in order to disassemble your rifle if something breaks.


5.56 a2 rifle insert notes lesson 6

I see you're in the UK. Naughty, naughty! I'm not sure where you're inserting that A2, or why you need notes, but apparently you've made it to lesson 6, and that takes some dedication. Keep practicing and you'll get there!


And that concludes the highlights of this set of search terms...