Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Updates to The Shooter's Bar

I have made some updates to The Shooter's Bar:

  • Updated the information for David McCleary of Michigan,
  • Added Michael Douglas King of Georgia, and
  • Added Daniel Stoner of Oklahoma.
The Shooter's Bar remains, as far as I know, the oldest and largest freely-available online list of pro-gun attorneys. I started it as a free public service in 1997 on FidoNet and shortly thereafter migrated it over to the Web. Attorneys who wish to be listed should send me an email with the following information:

  • Name
  • Firm
  • Address
  • Phone
  • Fax
  • Email address
  • Website URL
  • Bar admissions
  • Areas of practice
  • The RKBA organizations to which you belong
You do not need to be a firearms lawyer to be listed, you just need to be pro-individual RKBA.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Setting up a Backup Email Server

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to install a mail server at my main client's second office. This will serve as a backup MX to their primary mail server, in case the Internet connection drops at their main office, or the primary MX fails in some way.

For extra redundancy, the second office has a different ISP than the main office, so if their ISP suffers a system-wide outage, the second office shouldn't be affected.

I pretty much duplicated the primary MX's configuration, with the exception of setting the box up as a secondary MX, per the instructions on postfix.org.

For hardware I recycled the HP tc2120 server that I installed at the main office several years ago. It originally ran SuSE (v8, IIRC) plus CommuniGate Pro. (I like CGP, but it's very expensive and doesn't do anything for this client that open source software won't do.) This box was replaced with a Dell SC440 running CentOS 4.4, Postfix, Dovecot, Squirrelmail, and MailScanner last Fall. The reborn HP is running the same software. The only hardware upgrade was to bump the RAM from 256 to 768 by adding a 512 MB DIMM from Crucial.

Once the backup MX is in place I need to take a look see at the office's network infrastructure, so that I can recommend a file server and backup option for the site.

Fun stuff!

A BEST BUY in Chicagoland

Or, making gun grabbing schmucks look stupid.

Over on THR, "Templar223" recounts his tale of gathering up a pile of old, mostly non-functional firearms (including a starter pistol which could only shoot blanks), taking them to a gun "buy back" in Chicago, and getting a $100 pre-paid credit card for each gun.

In the end ...

So, Guns Save Life ended up netting $1700 worth of MasterCards from the event after those who split their donations with the club were “paid” in cards. The club has sold a dozen of its own cards to members for cash.



The last five of the cards are going to be spent at Darrell’s Custom Guns in Cayuga, IN for two CZ bolt-action .22s to be given away to two lucky kids participating in the NRA Youth Shooting Camp coming up over the first weekend in August.



All of the money (and then some) will be spent purchasing ammo for the kids to use during the camp or the rifles. The camp, located in Bloomington at Darnall’s, is the longest running NRA Youth Shooting Camp in the nation.



NRA Youth Shooting Camps teach young people gun safety and safe and responsible firearm use. Kids get a chance to shoot shotguns, rifles, handguns, black powder guns, archery and so much more as instructed by State and/or NRA Certified Instructors (like me) and/or Olympic-level shooting coaches.


The value of training new shooters far exceeds that of the junky, rusty, pot metal that got turned it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

My First eBay Autcion

I am selling a Crucial 1GB SODIMM RAM module on eBay. Please feel free to place a bid. :-)

It is still sealed in the factory antistatic bag, in the original Crucial shipping carton with the installation instructions. When I upgrade my MacBook Pro earlier this year, I ordered two modules when I should have ordered only one. My loss is your gain.

This is the first time I've put something on eBay, although I've bought several items there. I used GarageSale to create the auction page and list it. It's pretty intuitive. I bought it as part of a MacUpdate bundle last week. The main reason for my purchase of the bundle was the inclusion of Tech Tool Pro, which normally goes for $99. The whole bundle cost only $49.95.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

My Reintroduction to Scattergunning

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought a Stoeger Uplander 20 gauge side-by-side last week. I have always been much more of a rifle and handgun shooter, although I did some dove hunting with an H&R Topper 12, and a Pedersoli percussion 12 bore double many years ago. In the past 10 years I've probably fired less than 30 rounds through shotguns, mostly slugs through a Norinco 1897 trench gun which I subsequently traded off.

Anyway, today I went and did some trap shooting with my dad and brother. Aside from the Stoeger I also brought an H&R Topper 20 gauge. I bought this a year or two ago, mainly because it came with a .22 Hornet barrel. Today was the first time I fired it as a shotgun.

Before going to the range, I went over to Dick's Sporting Goods, where I bought the Stoeger, and picked up a couple boxes of Remington clay pidgeons, along with a box of Remington STS #9 shot target loads. I also had a 100 round value pack of Remington #8s.

We burned through all 125 rounds of 20 gauge ammo and both boxes of pidgeons. I did surprisingly well for someone who hasn't done any wingshooting in a decade or more. I figure I busted around half of the birds I shot at, even managing to bag a double or two.

The Stoeger weights a little over 7 lbs. and with the target loads was pleasant to shoot. I plan to shorten the stock a little to improve the fit, and add a recoil pad, because at some point I will try it with buckshot.

The H&R Topper weighs maybe 6 lbs. and kicked noticeably more, even with the thick factory recoil pad. I did pretty well with it but the Uplander is a lot more fun to shoot. The H&R would make a heck of a backpacking gun, though, since it's so light.

One thing caused some consternation, though. A number of the Remington bulk loads required two hits of the firing pin before going off. This occurred only with the Stoeger, never with the H&R, which really whacks the primer. I didn't experience this with any of the STS loads, only the bulk rounds, so I'm hoping it's the ammo. I plan to try some different ammo before thinking about sending the gun in for warranty service.

One of the reasons for getting the Uplander was as a potential home defense gun. I seem to shoot well with it but I'm reconsidering it for that role, as it has extractors, not ejectors. While I think that 2 rounds of 20 gauge buckshot should handle pretty much any HD situation, having to manually pull empties from the gun significantly slows a reload. I'm pretty sure that I don't want this in a defensive gun.

My brother brought his 870 along with a few boxes of Estate 12 gauge target loads. It was pretty obvious that he's spent more time with a scattergun than I have.

After we exhausted all our ammo we went and picked up enough unbusted clay birds (not just ours) to file 2+ boxes. So the next time we go trap shooting we don't even need to buy targets.

Today was fun. I plan to repeat the experience.

Hornet Follow Up

As it turns out, hornets are not covered by our contract with the exterminator. The call would've cost me about $100. To heck with that!

After getting home from the range and getting the guns inside (story for another thread) this afternoon, I ran out to Lowe's and bought two cans of Ortho Wasp and Hornet killer spray. The nasty foaming stuff.

At about 1700 hornet activity appeared to be low, so I hit the nest with a can. I was concerned that it wasn't getting fully saturated so I got out my pole saw and snipped the branch it was hanging from. As it dropped SPLAT! right into the puddle of Ortho that had dribbled off, I dropped the saw and ran like hell.

A few minutes later I snuck back into the yard, retrieved the spray, and emptied it onto the nest and a few hornets flitting around it.

A little while later I looked outside and saw a bunch of hornets hovering around where the nest used to be. Round two -- ON!

I emptied the second can onto the branches where I saw hornets resting or hovering around.

My backyard is now a chemical warfare zone.

Tomorrow I'll go check on the body count.

Unwanted neighbors

This morning I looked out the kitchen window and saw this:


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

It's a fracking hornet's nest almost as big as a soccer ball. It's too high for me to reach with an improvised flamethrower and because I live in a surburban subdivision, I can't blast it with a shotgun. So, since we have a contract with a pest control company, they'll get to deal with it.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Guns don't kill people, Phila. does

Running in the Philadelphia Inquirer, no less.

Commentary

Guns don't kill people, Phila. does

By John Lott and Maxim Lott
When Mayor Street spent 15 hours waiting in line for an iPhone recently, the city was not impressed by his love of new technology. Rather, Street had to answer to a passerby asking, "How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?"

Local politicians say they know the source of the problem: the lack of gun control. Gov. Rendell recently complained the state legislature "has been in the control of the NRA." Street blames the increasing murder rate on "the dangerous proliferation of guns on our city streets." Last Tuesday, two City Council members announced the novel legal tactic of suing the state government to let Philadelphia pass its own gun laws.

The desire "to do something" is understandable, but new gun laws aren't the answer.

In the five years from 2001 to 2006, Philadelphia's murder rate soared more than 36 percent while nationally, the murder rate increased only 2 percent. Indeed, only two other cities in the top 40 experienced a sharper rise in murder rates, according to FBI crime statistics.

Read the whole thing.



Monday, July 16, 2007

D.C. Will Appeal Parker

It's official: Washington, D.C. is appealing Parker to the Supreme Court ("SCOTUS"), the Court of Appeals case which ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, in the process striking down the thirty year old handgun ban in the capitol.

There is no guarantee that SCOTUS will grant certiorari, i.e., hear the appeal. However, the issue is ripe for SCOTUS to hear it, since there is a split among the circuits.

In my opinion, the chances for a decision favoring the individual-rights understanding are better now than they have been in decades.

Proposed OSHA Rule Yanked

Labor Department Announces It Will Revise Overreaching OSHA Explosives Rule

Monday, July 16, 2007


The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.


Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the NRA, and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for its public comment period at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and the outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed concern about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the drawing board.


Working with the NRA, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) planned to offer a floor amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill this Wednesday when the House considers this legislation. His amendment would have prohibited federal funds from being used to enforce this OSHA regulation.


Such an amendment is no longer necessary since Kristine A. Iverson, the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, sent Rep. Rehberg a letter, dated July 16, stating that it “was never the intention of OSHA to block the sale, transportation, or storage of small arms ammunition, and OSHA is taking prompt action to revise” this proposed rule to clarify the purpose of the regulation.


Also, working with the NRA, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) gathered signatures from 25 House colleagues for a letter, dated July 11, expressing concerns about this proposed OSHA rule. The letter calling the proposal “an undue burden on a single industry where facts do not support the need outlined by this proposed rule” and “not feasible, making it realistically impossible for companies to comply with its tenets.”


The OSHA proposal would have defined “explosives” to include “black powder, … small arms ammunition, small arms ammunition primers, [and] smokeless propellant,” and treated these items the same as the most volatile high explosives.


Under the proposed rule, a workplace that contained even a handful of small arms cartridges, for any reason, would have been considered a “facility containing explosives” and therefore subject to many impractical restrictions. For example, no one could carry “firearms, ammunition, or similar articles in facilities containing explosives … except as required for work duties.” Obviously, this rule would make it impossible to operate any kind of gun store, firing range, or gunsmith shop.


The public comment website for the proposed rule is no longer accessible. The Labor Department will publish a notice in the July 17 Federal Register announcing that a new rule proposal will soon be drafted for public comment. Needless to say, the NRA monitors proposed federal regulations to head off this kind of overreach, and will be alert for OSHA’s next draft.


{H/T to Braz1956 at THR.}

New Boomstick - Stoeger Uplander

I had the hankering for a scattergun so yesterday I got a Stoeger Uplander 20 gauge SxS with 3" chambers and 26" barrels. It has extractors, no ejectors, double triggers. It was made in Brazil. The stock is some plain jane hardwood stock, and needs to be chopped so it fits me better, and have a recoil pad added. The barrels have IC and IM (between M and F) choke tubes. It swings pretty nicely and takes down into the barrels, forearm, and butt/receiver with the press of a lever. It's a bit stiff but I expect it to loosen up.

Even with the 26" tubes it's not too long. I might make it my primary HD gun if it patterns buckshot OK.

I mostly shoot rifles and pistols, but I've had a few shotguns over the years, e.g., a Winchester Defender 20 bore, a couple H&R Toppers in 20 and 12, a Norinco "Winchester" 1897 trench gun, and a Pedersoli percussion double 12. I had to sell the Pedersoli while short of cash about 10 years ago and it's one gun I've missed. I like side by sides and shot the Pedersoli better than my other shotguns. The Stoeger reminds me a bit of the Pedersoli, except for loading from the other end.

Along with the gun I got a 100 round value pack of Remington #8s and a 20 gauge Hoppe's Bore Snake.

After leaving Dick's I got her home and cleaned up. It came coated with brown preservative which cleaned up easily with some Ballistol, patches, and the range rod I use with my .69 caliber M1717 French musket. Being a smoothbore, when I shoot it I'll probably just run the Bore Snake with some Ballistol through the barrels a couple of times, wipe down the exterior, and call it good.

I hope to get it out next weekend.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Triple Booting XP, Vista, and Ubuntu Linux

CPU3D.com has a nice illustrated guide to setting up a PC which gives you the choice of booting into Windows XP, Vista, or Ubuntu Linux. It's also worth looking at if you only want to dual boot any two of these OSes.

Check it out here.

{H/T PEN}

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Apple Purchases CUPS

Not drinking vessels, the Common UNIX Printing System. Notice here. CUPS will remain open source software.

Apple has been using CUPS as the printing engine in OS X for several years and has been widely adopted on Linux as a replacement for LPD. It's worked well on OS X in my experience. When I've used CUPS on Linux my experience hasn't been so good. Depending upon the printer, it either works or it doesn't, or it may work for awhile then not work, for no apparent reason. I'm hoping that Apple's purchase will improve CUPS's utility.

{H/T MacRumors}

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

New Hit Counter

It appears that I'm able to enter a title for my posts once again.

Anyway, this morning I decided to migrate from Sitemeter to Statcounter for my hit counter. I've been using it on a couple of other sites and like it better. I prefer the interface and the format in which statistics are presented when I login to the account. Basic accounts with either are free so if you have a website and need a hit counter, it's worthwhile to look at both of them and choose the one you like best.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Wolff Gunsprings is Good People


Via Arfcom, I'm going to copy this in toto, since it'll eventually go into the site's archives:


I ordered some mag springs to be sent to Iraq. The nephew of a high school classmate is very involved (as a captain) in training the Iraqi police. After an email exchange, he asked me if I could do something to help, so I got on the internet and ordered the pack of 10 springs (its a start) from Wolff. $47.99 plus shipping. Anyway, the VP of the company emailed me back and said thanks for helping out in Iraq. He has a son that recently returned from Iraq and ran into the same problems with his M9. The VP of Wolff reduced the cost of the magazines from retail to a LE account (like 25% off my credit card) and said they would ship today!!

Buy Wolff Springs I say.

Here is the email....

Dear Mr. XXXXX,

Thank you for your order. We will process the order and ship the Beretta mag springs out today via USPS priority mail. We set the account up as a law enforcement account which reduces the price of the mag springs from $47.99 to $31.99.

We have been supplying our extra power Beretta mag springs to our military in OIF since we entered Iraq and this is not an uncommon request. The standard Beretta mag spring begins to have problems as it encounters the fine sand and grit in the area. Our +10% extra power springs overcome that additional friction making the pistol functional. My son was also an MP (Air Force) and he too used our Beretta mag springs in his M9 during his four deployments to Iraq .

On a personal note, as the father of a son who has been deployed to Iraq , I commended and thank you for your efforts and support or our troops. Our guys are doing a terrific job under very difficult and extremely dangerous situations. They need all the support as well as prayers that we can offer.

Kind Regards,
John Andrews
VP
Wolff Gunsprings

web-orders@gunsprings.com


I've ordered from Wolff in the past and gotten great products and service.

(Something is wonky with Blogger. It's not letting me add a title to my posts. I've tried Firefox, Safari, and IE6 under XP. Gahhh.)

Edit: As of 7/11/07 Blogger fixed it.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Mini Vacation

Last week I took advantage of the fact that Wednesday was a company holiday by blowing off work on Thursday and Friday to get a long weekend. It was a nice, refreshing break.

It rained cats and dogs, but we still barbecued on the Fourth. I was able to get the food cooked during a lull in the rain.

Thursday the weather was mixded, some sun, some rain, so I took a trip up to Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop in Kempton, and then Cabela's in Hamburg. I managed to keep my credit cards in my wallet but I did pick up a new ramrod along with some tips at Dixon's for my M1717 French musket. At Cabela's I got a spare mag for my Savage 93GL, a hooded zip-up sweatshirt for the Fall, and one or two other items.

The weather finally cleared up on Friday, although the temps were in the low 90s. I hit the range along with my pseudonymous friends GeekWithA.45, Egregious Charles, and Argentium G. Tiger. Geek is supposed to post a range report so I'll just cover what I shot.

We went to the Geek's club where thankfully, the firing points are covered, so we didn't have to shoot in the sun.

We met at the Geek's house and took my Expedition down to the range. Between the four of us we had enough guns and gear to fill the cargo area up to just past the top of the rear bench seat. Geek took a picture but I don't have a copy yet, but it was pretty impressive looking.

Anyway, I finally got to shoot the aforementioned M1717 musket. I bought it last Fall at Dixon's. It was made in India and imported by Middlesex Village Trading Company.

I shot the musket at 25 yards using a load of 80 grains of FFg GOEX, a cast .662" ball, and a .015" thick cotton patch by Ox Yoke. I used Ox Yoke Wonder Lube (same thing as T/C Bore Butter) to lube the patches. The balls was pretty snug, so I'm going to try either a smaller ball or thinner patching.

I fired around 15 shots, getting no misifires or hangfires. The Indian-made lock sparks really well and the touch hole is placed exactly where it's supposed to be, just above the level of the pan. Ignition of the main charge is quick.

My group was about 6" at 25 yards offhand. That sounds horrible but considering that (a) the musket has no rear sight, only a bayonet mounting lug that doubles as a front sight, and (b) the trigger pull is close to 20 lbs., I'm not complaining. The group was centered a little to the left and below my point of aim. I need to get the trigger pull reduced considerably, which I'm sure will help my groups. I also need to do some load development, as the gun may group better with a different combination of powder charge, patch, or ball.

After finishing on the pistol range we headed to the 100 yard rifle range. I brought along my Colt AR-15A3 Tactical Carbine with its new IOR Valdada 3x32mm CQB scope. I'm happy with the combination.

Since I'd previously laser boresighted the scope at about 25 yards, I was already on the SR-1 target at 100, but about 6" high and 6" left. It was short work to get the scope zeroed. I ran 120 rounds of Federal American Eagle 55 grain FMJBT and 40 rounds of Wolf 55 grain JHP through the gun with zero malfunctions. I used two DSG Arms black Teflon-coated 30 rounders (made by D&H), 1 pre-ban Simmonds 20 round, and 1 pre-ban Adventurline 20 round mag.

I was pleased to see the gun run OK with the Wolf ammo. Compared to the American Eagle, it was quite a bit underloaded, impacting the target about 5" low at 100 yards. The last time I shot Wolf in the Colt was shortly after I got it in 2004, and I got several bolt-over-base failures to feed. It may have been due to the mag I used that day, or it may have been that the rifle needed to be broken in a bit. In any event, it looks like I'll be able to use cheap Wolf for practice now. Wolf .223 ammo is underloaded and the bullets don't fragment, so it would be low on my list of potential SHTF ammo, but it's fine for practice.

By the way, I don't buy into the "Wolf will break your extractor" thing. Even if it does, the difference in the cost of a case of Wolf and a case of American Eagle pays for many replacement extractors. I've seen worse brass cased ammo, e.g., Olympic.

After we finished shooting we retired to Geek's house where GeeketteWithA9 had marinated some steaks for us to BBQ when we got back.

The rest of the weekend wasn't as loud. {grin} Saturday we had a birthday party for Amanda, who turned three on Friday. Yesterday I grilled up some sirloins and salmon steaks to wrap up the weekend.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Independence Day

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Parallels Desktop with Mac OS 10.4.10

I upgraded my MacBook Pro to OS 10.4.10 the other day and discovered today that .10 breaks USB support in Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5. I was running PD Build 3188, apparently Build 3212 is also affected. I found this when I tried to use my Sprint Blackberry 8703e as an EVDO modem for wireless Internet access.

The symptom is an error message that appears when you connect a USB device, stating that the device is already in use by another application, to disconnect it and retry. Doing so does not get rid of the error.

Parallels has released a fix. You need to upgrade to Build 3124. To do so, either check for an update from within Parallels by going to the Help menu and using the update feature, or download the disk image HERE.

There is a thread on the Parallels discussion forums discussing the topic HERE.