Federal Govt. Recognizes the Second Amendment as an Individual Right

Amid all the hoopla regarding the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act (S.397), passed last week by Congress and signed this week by the President, largely overlooked are the Congressional findings included in the law:

(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:

(1) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

(2) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the rights of individuals, including those who are not members of a militia or engaged in military service or training, to keep and bear arms.

As pointed out at the Volokh Conspiracy, courts are not bound by Congressional findings when interpreting constitutional provisions, however, such findings may be influential in a particular case. This is a Good Thing, and hopefully gets us a bit closer to the time when courts routinely recognize the 2A's status as an individual right on par with free speech, etc.

In contrast with Louisiana ...

... at least one Floriday legislator thinks that citizens should not be disarmed due to the declaration of an emergency. Found in Arfcom's General Discussion forum:

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bill Johnson
October 25, 2005 (321) 984-4848


REPRESENTATIVE MITCH NEEDELMAN FILES LEGISLATION TO PRESERVE
CITIZENS' RIGHTS DURING EMERGENCIES

TALLAHASSEE - Representative Mitch Needelman (R-Melbourne) today announced the filing House Bill (HB) 285 to preserve the right of citizens to lawfully possess weapons during an officially declared state of emergency.

"Recent events in the New Orleans area during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrate that citizens' right to keep and bear arms are especially important during a state of emergency," said Representative Needelman, a retired State Law Enforcement Officer. "The very basis for the Second Amendment is to empower citizens with the right to self-protection-and when is self-protection more critical than in a time of disaster?"

HB 285 clarifies the authority of the governor during a declared emergency by asserting that "nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to authorize the seizure, taking, or confiscation of
firearms that are lawfully possessed."

The New York Times reported in early September that legally possessed firearms were being confiscated from law abiding citizens, quoting the superintendent of police that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons." A Louisiana state statute allows the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies.

"HB 285 will ensure that the unconstitutional stripping of citizens' rights does not occur during emergencies in Florida," said Representative Needelman. "We have an opportunity to reassert the right to bear arms and avoid the clear violation that occurred in Louisiana."

HB 285 has been filed for consideration in the 2006 Session of the Florida Legislature. The Legislature is slated to convene on March 7, 2006.

It would be nice to see something similar at the Federal level.

Brazilians reject gun ban!

By a margin of about 64 to 36%, Brazilians have rejected a civilian disarmament scheme. Obviously something needs to be done about their violent crime, but disarming victims isn't it.

Support for Brazilian gun ban weakening

Brazil is set to hold a referendum on whether or not to ban civilian sales of guns and ammunition. As with all other civilian disarmament schemes, the purported goal is to reduce violent crime. Reports I've read over the past couple of weeks indicated that the referendum was certain to pass.

But a funny thing happened when Brazilians were able to hear both sides of the debate:

Before the referendum, support for the ban was running as high as 80 percent. But in the weeks before the referendum, both sides were granted free time to present their cases on prime-time TV, and the pro-gun lobby began to grow.

In a survey released Wednesday by Toledo & Associates, 52 percent of those questioned said they would vote against the ban, while 34 percent would support it. The poll questioned 1,947 people in 11 Brazilian state capitals on Oct. 8-15, and had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

"Most of the media supported the ban, so before the television spots, nobody gave it much thought, but when the pro-gun lobby got equal time the opinion really shifted," said Jessica Galeria, who researches gun violence for the Viva Rio think tank. "They were smart, using images of Nelson Mandela, Tiananmen Square and the Berlin Wall to link owning a gun with freedom."

The media greatly influences public opinion. If the media presents only a certain point of view then it is easy to sway public opinion in a desired direction. But force the media to let the marketplace of ideas flourish, and the end result may be quite different.

A liberal-dominated media wont to present only its own editorial opinion as unbiased news has cursed the US for decades. Thankfully, the Internet has changed this for the better. Yes, the 'net is full of filth, but the low barriers to entry enable all viewpoints to be heard, even those that mainstream media dislikes.

This is a perfect example of why communications monopolies and censorship -- by the government or corporations -- are bad.

Gun day

The weather today was crummy -- rainy and chilly. With outdoor activities off the agenda, I found myself at Surplus City this afternoon.

I've been considering giving the FAL platform another try, and wound up getting a new Century R1A1 FAL. The parkerzing job looks nice, it was clean inside, and the barrel appears to be new after running a couple of patches through the bore. I'm not sure if the thing on the muzzle is a brake or a flash suppressor, but I think it's the latter. It's no-ban style, i.e., it has the recesses to allow bayonet mounting. The cocking handle is obviously a used part and shows some wear. The lower reciever is originally from a full-auto rifle, and the selector will rotate all the way forward to the auto position, although of course the rifle will only shoot semiauto. There's a grenade launcher site mounted over the gas port adjustment. It came with two magazines, so I'll need to pick up some more. Luckily, FAL mags are cheap. The furniture is US-made. The butt is pretty conventional for a FAL, while the plastic handguards are styled after the steel handguard on the STG-58 FAL variant. One thing I find annoying is that Century doesn't put a sling swivel on the butt, so until I do so there's no way to attach a sling to the rifle. In any event, I hope to get it to the range before Thanksgiving.

I wasn't the only one to pick up a new toy today. My brother Josh went to Seneca Arms in Green Lane, and found a beautiful Smith & Wesson Model 19-3 made in 1974. It's still in the original box, with all the papers, including the protective wax paper that the gun shipped wrapped in. It had the merest trace of a turn ring on the cylinder. The gun looks new, even though it's 31 years old. It was so nice that if I'd bought it, it would be a safe queen. He also bought a box of Federal .38 Special 158 grain Nyclad HPs, which I convinced him to not shoot, as they are discontinued and will be a collector's item.

Since the Model 19 is his and not mine, after dinner Josh, my dad and I hit the indoor range at the Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club. The Smith shoots. He shot a 6 round group that could be covered with a half-dollar. Josh also had his Springfield M1911, which he's still working out extractor issues with, and a Browning BuckMark.

Dad brought his S&W Model 625. This is a recent production gun with the built-in lock and the frame mounted firing pin. The action has slicked up a lot since he got it (it was atrocious at first), but it'll never get to the level of Josh's or my 625s, which are older models with lighter hammer springs.

I brought my Springfield M1911 Loaded and Browning High Power Practical. Ammo was Sellier & Bellot FMJ in both .45 ACP and 9mm. I've had good results with S&B, up until tonight. The High Power ran fine, but the Springfiled kept choking on the S&B. It's extremely reliable with Winchester White Box and Federal American Eagle, but I experienced several failures to eject with the S&B .45 tonight. Several times, extracted cases became jammed in the magazine's feed lips, with two different mags. At the end of the night I had a single .45 round, which I fired after loading it directly into the chamber without a mag in the gun. It ejected downward, through the magazine well, which was simply bizzare. S&B .45 from the same lot has run just fine in my Ruger P90 and IIRC, my Marlin Camp .45. I think I'm going to standardize on WWB or FAE .45 in the future, though.

Different views on S.397 Part 4

Finally, from The Firearms Coalition:

From The Firearms Coalition:

The House of Representatives today passed the Protection of Lawful
Commerce in Arms Act with amendments added by the Senate to require
trigger locks be sold with all guns sold by dealers (current law
requires trigger locks be sold only with new guns). The bill also
redefines armor-piercing ammunition in a manner that amounts to no
substantial change, and calls for a study by the Attorney General of
performance standards of body armor and ammunition. Such standards
already exist (that's where the vest classifications, Type II, Type IIA
and so on come from).

Some of our friends worked very hard against passage of the bill because
they considered the amendments cause for killing the bill. We disagree.
While we don't like the amendments, the bill is a net gain for gun owners.

This is a case where, as my late, lamented father Neal Knox used to say,
"the perfect is the enemy of the good." It is only the most recent
example the other side adapting while the pro-gun side has remained stuck.
The time has come to take a couple of pages from the
anti-rights crowd's playbook:

· Work for strategic incremental changes

It isn't hard to spot cases where the other side has grabbed small
victories. Amendments to the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act provide only one
example. But the important incremental changes are strategic such as
separating gun rights from other civil rights by banning gun
ownership for certain misdemeanors.

There are many opportunities for the pro-rights side to make incremental
changes going the other way. Some could be truly far-reaching.

One example is a clean-up of the "sporting purposes" language of the 1968
Gun Control Act. According current law, the only justification for
civilian ownership of a firearm is if it is "particularly suitable for
sporting purposes." Maybe it's time for Federal law to recognize the
legitimacy of armed self defense. It would certainly make an
interesting debate.

· In politics there is no fourth quarter

Once a bill is passed there is nothing to prevent going back for another
bite at the apple. The other side did it in 1986 when they attached a
machine gun ban to the McClure-Volkmer Gun Owner Protection Act, the first
time in American history that any firearm had been banned.

No rule says if we've passed one bill that we can't pass another, or that
we can't take back next session what we lost in this one.

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. The game, God willing, is
never over.

Of the different views presented, The Firearms Coalition's most closely match my own. I don't like the mandatory inclusion of trigger locks with all guns sold. In many cases, trigger locks are more dangerous to the gun owner than an unlocked gun. But, this bill as a whole is an incremental step in the right direction. We have slowly been winning back our rights on the national level. We can't expect to get them all back at once, and I regard the trigger lock thing as a temporary sop, something we can come back to next year and rid ourselves of.

Different views on S.397 Part 3

Next up, CCRKBA:

CCRKBA APPLAUDS HOUSE PASSAGE OF GUN INDUSTRY PROTECTION/TORT REFORM BILL

BELLEVUE, WA – Passage today by the House of Representatives of S. 397 was hailed by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) as an important tort reform accomplishment that will put an end to junk lawsuits against the firearms industry.

"This important legislation will stop the anti-gunners cold in their attempts to bankrupt firearms manufacturers, distributors and retailers," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. "It closes an important loophole through which extremist gun grabbers have been trying to use the courts to crush gun ownership in this country, when they could not get Congress or state legislatures to do their bidding."

"This common sense legislation," added CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, "is long overdue. It sends a clear signal to the anti-gun lobby that mainstream America has had enough of their attempts to have their political agenda forced on us all by the courts.

"In the past six years, since the first lawsuit was filed by the City of New Orleans," Waldron recalled, "tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the industry defending against these harassment legal actions. That's money that could have been spent on research and development, and safety education efforts."

Noting that none of the dozens of municipal lawsuits so far filed has ultimately prevailed, Gottlieb stated, "It was obvious from the outset that these lawsuits were designed more for generating headlines than helping crime victims. Yet agenda-driven politicians, supported by the anti-gun lobby, kept going to court, and the reason is now clear. They wanted to break American firearms manufacturers, not for the public benefit, but because they simply hate guns. They hate the people who make them, and especially the people who own them.

"For too many years," Gottlieb concluded, "the small, but very shrill gun control lobby has pushed legislation to take our gun rights, and used an all-too-cooperative media to distort the truth about gun owners and the Second Amendment. When that didn't work, they resorted to the courts and a handful of mercenary, politically-motivated attorneys, all in an attempt to destroy a fundamental civil right by financially devastating a perfectly legal industry. Their extremism has been dealt a serious blow, and in the process, an important step toward legal reform has been taken, and American gun owners should thank every member of Congress who voted for this measure."

Different views on S.397 Part 2

Here's the NRA-ILA's press release:

Historic Victory For NRA
U.S. House Of Representatives Passes
The "Protection Of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act"

(Fairfax, VA) - Today the United States House of Representatives passed the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" (S. 397) by a bipartisan vote of 283-144. The legislation now moves to President Bush's desk for his expected signature.

Commenting on the passage of this landmark legislation, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, "This is an historic victory for the NRA. Freedom, truth and justice prevailed, and today S. 397 is one step closer to becoming the law of the land. No other industry is forced to defend themselves when a violent criminal they do not know, have never met and cannot control, misuses a legal non-defective product. American firearms manufacturers will now receive the same fair treatment."

The "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" seeks to end predatory and baseless lawsuits initiated nationwide by the gun control lobby. These lawsuits sought to bankrupt a lawful, highly regulated industry by holding the manufacturers and retailers responsible for the unforeseeable acts of criminals. S. 397 passed the Senate in late July with a bipartisan vote of 65-31.

Joining LaPierre in commenting on this victory, NRA Chief Lobbyist Chris W. Cox added, "Our judicial system has been exploited for politics and Congress put a stop to that. Passage of the 'Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act' would not have been possible without the support of the 257 House co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle. We appreciate the tireless efforts of Rep. Cliff Stearns and Rep. Rick Boucher and the Republican members of House leadership who worked to move the bill in this chamber.

"We are a safer country today because Congress passed this critical legislation and acted to save American icons like Remington, Ruger, Winchester and Smith & Wesson from politically motivated lawsuits. Our men and women in uniform abroad and at home now will not have to rely on France, China or Germany to supply their firearms," Cox added.

During Senate debate earlier this year, the Pentagon stated its concern over the consequences if the American firearms industry was litigated into extinction. The Department of Defense stated that it "strongly supports" S. 397 citing, "that passage of S. 397 would help safeguard our national security by limiting unnecessary lawsuits against an industry that plays a critical role in meeting the procurement needs of our men and women in uniform."

"I would like to thank our members who played a pivotal role in making this bill a reality. Together, we have saved the American firearms industry and protected the sanctity of the Second Amendment," concluded LaPierre.

National Rifle Association of America
Institute for Legislative Action

Different views on S.397 Part 1

You may have heard the Congress has finally passed a law to protect firearms manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits. E.g., once bush signs the bill, people will no longer be able to sue gun makers in Federal court for damages caused by criminal misuse of their products. E.g., Joe gets murdered with a Ruger handgun, and Joe's wife sues Ruger for damages, even though the Ruger pistol was sold in accordance with all laws. This is akin to Joe's wife suing General Motors for wrongful death after he got run over by a drunk in a Chevy.

Passage of S.397 was not without discord amongst the ranks of gunnies. For example, GOA wanted the bill killed because it includes a section requiring that trigger locks be sold with all guns, and another section concerning armor piercing ammunition.

I'm going to post press releases from three pro-RKBA groups to show their varying takes on S.397's passage. First, from GOA:

While gun control passes in the House, GOA expresses a big THANK YOU
to all of its members and activists who waged a lone battle of
opposition
-- And you can be encouraged that your calls made a HUGE difference
in one area

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org


Thursday, October 20, 2005


"The anti-gun provisions in S. 397 would probably be stripped out in
the House if all the gun groups were working together with GOA." --
Rep. Ron Paul, Sept. 15, 2005

It's a shame really.

Rep. Ron Paul is totally correct. Working united, we could have
encouraged the House leadership to bring up a CLEAN bill.

H.R. 800, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, garnered
well over 250 cosponsors and would have passed the House easily if
the leadership had brought up this bill rather than its Senate
counterpart, S. 397.

Unfortunately, GOA was the ONLY national group that was not calling
for passage of the Senate bill, which contained new gun control. And
likewise, GOA was the ONLY national group that was pressing for
passage of the clean bill, H.R. 800.

The House today passed S. 397 and sent it to the President. Because
he has promised to sign this legislation, it is all the more tragic
that House and Senate leaders refused to send him a clean bill.


FIRST, HERE'S THE BAD NEWS...

As we have mentioned before, S. 397 imposes a mandatory "gun tax" by
forcing every gun buyer to purchase a trigger lock and takes us to
the verge of mandatory trigger lock usage.

The bill provides immunity (from lawsuits) for those who use trigger
locks, but there is no such immunity for gun owners who keep a
firearm available for self-defense WITHOUT a trigger lock.

The push towards trigger locks may very well follow the push for
mandatory seat belts and motorcycle helmets. And if our country ever
takes that next step -- and straps every gun owner with
California-style lock-up-your-safety legislation -- then we will need
to remember this day as the day that laid the foundation.

Mary Carpenter certainly will. She is the grandmother who has had to
live with the fact that two of her grandchildren were killed in 2000,
because no one in the house could get to the family weapons to
protect themselves against the pitchfork wielding thug.

People in the home had been trained with firearms and knew how to use
them. But the guns were locked up in compliance with California
state law. Gun owners can go to http://www.gunowners.com/psatext.htm
on the GOA website to view the public safety ad -- produced by Gun
Owners Foundation -- which features Mary Carpenter and her tragic
story.

Another amendment which passed as part of S. 397 would give impetus
to adopting a "penetration standard" for armor piercing bullets by
commissioning a Justice Department study of the issue. If a
"penetration standard" were adopted, a gun-adverse administration
could probably use it to ban virtually all ammunition.

The Senate passed its gun control-laden version as Congress was
getting ready to go out for their summer recess. At that time, Rep.
Marilyn Musgrave's office had promised to mobilize pro-gun members in
the House to oppose the Senate version, by asking them to join her in
approaching the leadership in favor of H.R. 800. A Musgrave-led
effort such as this would have made it much more likely that the
House bill would have been considered. Unfortunately, Rep. Musgrave
decided to do nothing, and the voices that were demanding S.397 --
gun locks and all -- carried the day.

You can see how your Representative voted by going to
http://www.clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/ on the House of Representative's
website.


NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS...

GOA is glad that Congress has passed legislation that is intended to
stop predatory law suits designed to destroy the gun industry. That
much is very good, and GOA supports that 100%. GOA hopes that the law accomplishes what its sponsors intended.

Also, GOA would be remiss if we failed to mention that there is at
least one "silver lining" in this entire ordeal. Don't forget that
your hard work KILLED the Feinstein semi-auto ban this past summer.

Remember several months ago when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wanted
to offer a renewal of the semi-auto ban to S. 397? Gun Owners of
America asked Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to use whatever means
possible to block her anti-gun amendments.

Well, that request fell upon deaf ears. So we asked you to lobby
him, since his office had been incorrectly asserting this strategy
couldn't be done. (Some in his staff were even claiming there was no
Senate rule allowing the majority party to block bad amendments.)

But after GOA members and activists like you applied the heat, Frist
took another look. He then used parliamentary rules to "fill the
amendment tree," which is exactly what we asked him to do. "Filling
the amendment tree" is a technical term which explains how the
majority party can offer amendments in such a way as to block the
minority party from offering other amendments.

Democrats were beside themselves. On the floor of the Senate, Harry
Reid (D-NV) complained about the strategy Frist had employed:

"I have nothing in my memory that [Sen. Frist] has ever done this
before; that is, immediately going to a bill and FILLING THE TREE SO
NO OTHER AMENDMENTS CAN BE OFFERED. [Emphasis added.] I have never,
ever known him to do this. It is so unusual. It is not in keeping
with how he has done business here during his tenure as majority
leader. While filling the tree is within the rules, it is done very
rarely. And again, I am surprised that Senator Frist did this."
(Congressional Record, July 27, 2005, pp. S9104-5)

You guys achieved this significant victory! You guys were
responsible for making the sure the Feinstein ban was never offered
on the floor of the Senate. You guys deserve the credit.

It was just so unfortunate that, after achieving this great victory,
Frist blinked. He could have blocked EVERY SINGLE anti-gun
amendment, but he allowed two to be offered, namely, the trigger lock
amendment and the armor-piercing study.

So take heart... your hard work did accomplish much. You convinced
Frist to block Feinstein's ban in the first place. And that was no
small undertaking.


WHY REMAINING "NO COMPROMISE" IS ALWAYS THE RIGHT THING TO DO

Some have faulted GOA for remaining "no compromise" throughout this
battle. They claim that by sticking to our guns, we were endangering
the chance to pass this legislation that might have the effect of
protecting gun makers.

First, please realize that this underestimates YOUR collective power.
This ignores the power of the grassroots. Remember, GOA was also
told that blocking the Feinstein ban couldn't be done through
parliamentary procedures. But together, we convinced the Senate
Majority Leader to think differently, and we accomplished a
tremendous feat together. Don't ever underestimate the strength of
the gun rights community working together as one!

Second, as a pragmatic matter, the desire to compromise ignores one
simple fact: we could have EASILY won this battle to pass a clean
bill! Consider:

* A filibuster-proof majority of Senators had cosponsored S. 397
BEFORE THE BILL HAD TRIGGER LOCKS in it.

* A super majority of Representatives had cosponsored H.R. 800 -- a
bill which contained NO TRIGGER LOCKS in it.

* The President had said he would sign a bill, even if it had NO
TRIGGER LOCKS in it.

Add to this the fact that the bills passed both houses of Congress by
HUGE majorities (65-31 in the Senate, and 283-144 in the House).

So why couldn't we insist on a bill that had no trigger locks? What
was the problem? Why couldn’t we stare down the anti-gunners and
just say, "We're going to pass a clean bill because you don't have
the votes to stop us."

Winston Churchill once said that, "If you will not fight for right
when you can easily win without blood shed, if you will not fight
when your victory is sure and not too costly, you may come to the
moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and
only a precarious chance of survival."

Early on, we had the upper hand. GOA was insisting on a clean bill.
Why do some think that was too much to ask?

The answer is quite simply this: the spirit of Neville Chamberlain
lives on, from one generation to the next. Some people just always
seem to have the desire to placate the other side, even when they've
got the muscle to get things done right.

Winston Churchill didn't buy it, and neither should we. Speaking to
the failings of appeasement, Churchill said, "An appeaser is one who
feeds a crocodile -- hoping it will eat him last."

Well, at GOA, we don't appease. We prefer to shoot the crocodile.

Again, thanks to all of you who worked so hard and stood with us.
Your efforts have not been in vain.

---------------------------------

HEARD ON C-SPAN TODAY:

"Actually, the organization that does a better job of [keeping me
informed] is Gun Owners of America. I'm on their mailing list, and
we know when something pops up and we're informed as to what's going
on so we can write our emails and make phone calls to our respective
representatives." -- C-SPAN caller from Pensacola, Florida (October
20, 2005)

We are always glad when we hear our members say they find our alerts
worthwhile. GOA is here to keep you informed. And so, if you've
never officially joined GOA, please consider becoming a member by
signing up at http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm or call
703-321-8585.

You can become a GOA member and help protect the Second Amendment
with a contribution of $20 a year -- or a mere 5 cents a day!

I'll follow up with posts from The Firearms Coalition, NRA-ILA, and CCRKBA.

Been awhile

I hadn't realized that it's been so long since my last post. Here's an update.

Saturday I hauled Gondor over to my parents' house and set it up for them. Aside from cleaning off all of Judith's files, I installed the hard drive from their old PC as D:\, thereby moving over their files. I setup D:\ as their data drive, leaving C:\ for Windows and their apps.

Other hardware I migrated over from their old PC included 2 Inland USB 2.0 PCI adapter cards, giving them 6 USB ports, and a 256 meg DIMM, bumping the box up to 768 megs of RAM total.

Since Gondor is built around commodity parts, e.g., standard ATX format mobo, 3.5" IDE disks, etc., it'll be easy for me to upgrade it when the time comes. But given my folks' needs, I suspect the old box will server them well for a few more years.

I tried to setup my old Linksys NAT router as a firewall for them, but something must've happened to it while it sat in my office for the past year or so. It didn't want to talk to the 3Com NIC in Gondor, so I trashed it. I have one more spare router to try, otherwise I'll have them pick up a new Netgear.

Saturday night Judith and I went out to the Lucky Dog Saloon in Whitemarsh for dinner, sans kids. My MIL volunteered to babysit and we took advantage. The ribs at the Lucky Dog are outstanding. I tried a pint of Arrogant Bastard Ale while we were waiting to be seated, but I found it too hoppy for my taste. The Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout I had with dinner, on the other hand, was outstanding.

Much of yesterday afternoon was wasted while I twiddle my thumbs, waiting for Pep Boys to install a new battery in my truck. Starting the Expedtion yesterday morning, it sounded like it was having a hard time turning over. Later, when I went to Pep Boys, it barely started. Apparently the battery was leaking around the negative terminal. So, for $79 I got a new Energizer with a 24 month free replacement warranty installed. The truck starts right up now.

This morning at work I tried yet another config on the SMC switches in my lab. I'm trying to get SMC's "private VLAN" feature working but as soon as I activate it, I lose IP connectivity to the box. I'm working with SMC on this but beginning to lose patience.

A lazy day

I'm having a lazy day today. We're getting the dregs of Tropical Storm Tammy so it's expected to rain all day, and I don't feel like doing anything especially productive.

Last night my MIL took the girls so that Judith and I could rearrange the computers. We decided to have her start using Bagend and move her computer desk into my office, which gives us a lot more room in our den. I felt this was feasible since most of my home computing is done on my iBook with my feet propped up in the living room, and she uses my old Compaq laptop from be a lot. Before agreeing to this, I made it clear that the amount of girly foo foo shit that she had on the desk when it was in the den was going to be severely limited after the move. I want to control the decor in one room of the house.

First, I created a separate user account for her on Bagend, then move her data and bookmarks over from Gondor.

After that, I cleaned out a lot of stuff from my office and moved my old, smaller computer desk and a book case out of the way. We then put her desk in, along with some of her stuff. The new desk has a hutch on either side, so we each have one. We're using her desk chair which is a major improvement over the old POS I was using.

My book case, which was custom built for my grandparents around 1950, got moved up to the dining room. Once I figure exactly where to put it I'll fill it up.

Since Bagend has both USB and parallel ports, I connected both my Samsung ML1710 laser printer and J.'s HP DeskJet 694C, in case we need to print something in color. I may do some rearranging so that I can connect my Epson flatbed scanner and leave it there, but may need to pick up a longer parallel cable.

I've been debating what to do with Gondor. I could use it as a test box. With a P3/733 and 512 MB of RAM it's still quite usable. But we're trying to get rid of some of the clutter, so I think I'll clean it up a bit and give it to my parents. They have a Compaq with a P3/667 and 384 MB RAM, so this'll be a noticeable improvement. I can scarf a 256 meg DIMM from their old PC and add it to Gondor, so XP will run even better for the light usage they task their PC with.

Sounds like a plan.

IPv6 Training

Today I was over in our Mt. Laurel, NJ office for the first of two day's worth of IPv6 training.

IPv4, what is currently used for the vast majority of IP networks, including the Internet, has a 32 bit address space. The latest projections are that with the increasing demand for IP addresses due to ever increasing Internet usage and stuff like 3G and 4G phones, the IPv4 space will be exhausted somewhere in the 2008 - 2011 time frame.

In contrast, IPv6 has a 128 bit address space, making it several orders of magnitude larger than IPv4. It also includes better built-in security and improvements in routing and automatic address configuration.

Sun Microsystems maintains some web pages with information to get you started on learning about IPv6.

A full weekend

We had a full weekend around here.

Yesterday morning I visited a client to clean up and secure one of his three PCs. I got one of them a couple of weeks ago and will probably go back to do the third in a couple of weeks.

After I got home from there, I hit Lowe's and picked up a shower curtain rod for the master bathroom, got that hung, and did a little touch up on the walls. There were a couple spots that needed to be patched after I painted and failed to remove the masking tape before the paint dried. (Duh.) I hit them with some drywall mud and now need to reprime and paint a few spots. But I got to break in the new shower. w00t!

Last night we had friends who we hadn't seen for a few years over for dinner. I barbecued boneless chicken breasts, and I have to say, I have that down pat. They were damn tasty.

This morning I visited another client who just moved and needed her home network rebuilt. While there I did the normal "fluff & buff," i.e., replaced an outdated install of Panda AV with AVG Free, installed Spybot Search & Destroy and AdAware, and an antispyware hosts file. This was on her desktop and laptop, so it took awhile.

New-Skin Antiseptic Liquid Bandage

I had the occasion to try out some New-Skin Antiseptic Liquid Bandage tonight, after I gashed the palm of my hand while taking out the trash.

This stuff is good for relatively small cuts, especially on areas where it would be inconvenient to have a regular band aid, e.g. the palm of your hand or a finger. I've used super glue before for this sort of cut but wanted to try out the New-Skin that I had in my home first aid kit. I also wanted the antiseptic properties of the New-Skin.

After washing my hands well with soap and water and drying them, I applied the New-Skin, using the brush attached to the inside of the cap. Initial impression: HOLY CRAP THAT STINGS! I'd be reluctant to put it on a child because for about 2 or 3 minutes after putting it on, the wound hurt worse than when I gashed it. I've never noticed this when putting superglue on a cut.

After a few minutes the pain subsided and the cut is now pretty much unnoticeable unless I turn my hand over and look at it. So, I can recommend New-Skin, but with the caveat that you probably don't want to use it on a small child.

Blogroll Update

If you check out my Blogroll over on the right, you'll see that I've deleted the link to Kim DuToit's blog and replaced it with a link to The Gun Guy, who has a remarkably similar style. ;)

I scored a Coleman lantern for free

Well, not really free. I've worked at $BIG_CORP for almost 5 years, so they sent me a catalog with a bunch of stuff in it and told me to pick a gift. I need another vase or clock around the house, but they had the Coleman NorthStar battery powered lantern, model # 5359, which I selected.

It's made mostly out of plastic and while not fragile, doesn't seem as robust as the metal gas burning Colemans. The clear part around the bulb is made from polycarbonate and protected with a steel cage.

It uses 8 D-cells and a 13W flourescent tube. It has Low and High settings for the tube, plus a nightlight. Coleman claims continuous run times of 8 hours on High, 20 hours on Low, and 100 hours for the night light.

I tried it out after dark and it's pretty bright, even on low. The nightlight is ok, I supposed that if my eyes were more night-adapted it would help me from tripping over something on the way to the latrine.

This will be handy in case of a power outage. It'll light up a room and I don't need to be concerned with adequate ventilation inside or flames from candles. I'll probably pick up some lithium batteries for their long shelf life and extended run time, and stick it on the shelf until needed.

After Katrina, Gunbattles ...

Amazing. Reuters put out a story showing civilian defensive gun use in a positive light. They even managed to not demonize AK-47s.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - After the storm came the carjackers and burglars. Then came the gun battles and the chemical explosions that shook the restored Victorians in New Orleans' Algiers Point neighborhood.

...

Citizens organized armed patrols and checked on the elderly. They slept on their porches with loaded shotguns and bolted awake when intruders stumbled on the aluminum cans they had scattered on the sidewalk.

...

A Texas woman who runs a Web site called Polimom.com served as a link between those who stayed and those who had left. With her help, they stockpiled an arsenal of shotguns, derringer pistols and an old AK-47.

They were put to use the next day.

"Some looters came up and pulled a gun on the wrong group of men," said Harris, who said he did not fire a gun himself and declined to say who else was involved in the battle.

...

Remainer of the story here. {sarcasm} So, "assault weapons" aren't just for criminals. Who woulda thunk it? {/sarcasm}

Home Again Today

I'm home again for the second day in a row. Tuesday night I started sneezing incessantly, which was followed up with major congestion combined with a nose running like a faucet. At first I thought I definitely caught the cold from Amanda but the other possibility is that Judith brought it home from school. As a fourth grade teacher, she's exposed to a plethora of germs. She rarely gets sick but sometimes brings the germs home to pass on to me. Joy.

Yesterday I was wiped out and congested, but still managed to work a half day from home.

Today I'm tired and feeling sinus pressure, even after taking pseudophedrine.

On the bright side, the living room and dining room are finally done, except for the floor which needs some cleanup. The rooms look great. The guys remodeling our master bathroom are doing an excellent job and just as importantly, working quickly. Most of the new tile is in the shower and they should be ready for me to put a coat of primer on the walls by Sunday or Monday (I'm painting the room myself to save a few hundred bucks). If it's ready for the primer by Sunday that'll be great, because I'll be able to get it on before any of the fixtures are installed, which will be a lot easier than if I have to mask and paint around them.

Dan's Taking Some Lumps

Fellow Daynoter Dan Seto writes of some problems he's running into using Xandros Linux as his desktop OS:

I have two problems to report in using Linux.

The first involved printing an Adobe Acrobat file. The file began as a WordPerfect file emailed to me from another worker. The file was then forwarded to another person who, I believe, inserted an image of their signature into the file, converted it into an Acrobat file and emailed that back to me.

...

The second problem is using my scanner. I have a Visioneer OneTouch 9120 USB scanner. However, there does not appear to be a Linux driver for this scanner. I checked out the SANE scanner site and found Visioneer is not supported. I checking other sites and it appears that it comes down to I am out of luck and should instead buy an Epson, almost any Epson. The moral of this story is check the SANE project site first before buying a scanner for Linux.

...

In reply I noted that for me, printing under Linux has consistently been a massive PITA for me. I've previously written here why I switched Bagend over to Windows XP Pro from SUSE 9.2 -- basically it was printing, but also the need to run apps to program my ham radio.

When it's finally time to replace Bagend, I'll be getting a Macintosh. Mac OS-X gives me the best of both worlds: BSD UNIX for when I need to do geeky stuff, plus an absolutely killer, easy to use GUI, in which everything I need to do just works. It costs more initially but pays for itself in lack of wasted time and aggravation.

My G-d, it's full of crap

My brother brought one of his friend's PCs over for me to look at. It's an HP Pavillion 515n running Windows XP Home, and the owner was experiencing intermittent video failure.

I connected it to my KVM and at first was able to get into Windows, but a few minutes later the screen went black. The box has a 2.3GHz Celeron but only 256 MB of RAM, so it was running very slowly anyway. No BSOD, just no video. I tried rebooting but had to try a few times before it gave me any video. I got into the BIOS, disabled Quickboot, and enabled the POST messages. Things looked OK while it was POSTing, so I rebooted into Safe Mode to see if there was anything obvious.

Aside from the usual out of date Norton Antivirus, I saw a ton of the crapware you usually find on consumer's PCs after they've been used for awhile: WildTangent games, a bunch of AOL toolbars and accessories, and a second AV program, plus Quicktime and RealPlayer set to launch when Windows started.

I cleaned up as much as possible while in Safe Mode, but couldn't remove everything, specifically the stuff that needed the Windows Installer, so rebooted into normal mode and removed them, including NAV 2003.

Next, I installed AVG Antivirus, Spybot Search & Destroy, and the hosts file from MVPS.ORG. The first thing to do was a full virus scan, which -- surprizingly -- came up clean. Spybot and Ad-Aware both turned up a bunch of crap, including a large number of tracking cookies, which I zapped.

Asdie from all that, the owner is an AOL user, and the amount of crap that AOL installs is simply amazing. I've long held the belief that the single easiest way to foul up a Windows box is to install AOL. Aside from the AOL client and network components, AOL 9 also loads a bunch of background services to speed loading the dialer. All this junk running in the background really taxes a system with minimal RAM, like this box.

After running Windows Disk Cleanup, I ran chkdsk, rebooted into Safe Mode, and started defragging the hard drive before I turned in.

When I got up at about 0500 to use the facilities and popped into my office. Defrag had run successful and things seemed good, so I shutdown the PC.

I'm at home today due to a head cold that Amanda was kind enough to share with me, so I wanted to do some further work on the box, and started having problems getting it to boot without crapping out. At first I had no video, then got some video but it shortly died. So, I tried booting with the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, which crashed on me twice. Next, I tried Memtest86 and the box started to spontaneously reboot after a couple of tests. So, I'm beginning to think that aside from the software conflicts the box definitely had, it also has a bad stick of RAM. I have another box which takes PC133 RAM and I think later I'll try out the HP's stick in it, to confirm if it is bad. If it is we'll see about getting new memory, otherwise the problem may be the motherboard or power supply, in which case I'm not going to recommend sinking any money into this old box.

A couple of new MFJ antennas

Last week I ordered a couple of new antennas from MFJ to extend the usefulness of my Yaesu VX-5RS. They arrived today, an MFJ-1730 Pocket Roll-Up J-Pole 2M, and an MFJ-1729 Power*Gain 2M/440MHz Magnet Mount Mobile. Since the mag mount antenna has a PL259 connector on the coax, I also got an 0.5M SO239-to-SMA adapter cable from Gigaparts. (PL-259 is male and connects to the female SO239 connector. My VX-5 has an SMA connector.)

The reason for getting an adapter cable rather than a PL259-to-BNC adapter, and then connecting that to my BNC-to-SMA adapter, is that doing so can unduly stress the SMA connector on the radio. Having the slack provided by a half meter of coax helps take the strain off the radio's connector. If anyone makes a direct PL259-to-SMA adapter I haven't run across it.

The first thing I did was take down the homebrew 2M J-Pole which I've been using, and hung up the MFJ-1730. It's made out of some BNC-terminated coaxial cable attached to 300 Ohm twin-lead. The solder joints and the part of the twinlead that is notched to make the reflector arm of the antenna are covered in heat shrink tubing. The top end of the twinlead has a small hole punched in it for hanging it up. I looped a cable tie through it so I have about a 2 - 3" loop for more flexibility in hanging it up.

Reception of various AM stations and the MARC 2M repeater with the MFJ-1730 J-Pole was only so-so, with a good amount of noise. There's a lot of metal fairly nearby in my office and the instruction sheet that came with the MFJ J-Pole warns that if it's too close to metal, even metal window frames, it can get detuned. I haven't transmitted with the MFJ-1730 yet. I'll wait until I can do so outside away from metal items.

The MFJ-1729 magnet mount mobile antenna gave me better results, even indoors. Magnet mount antennas need a ground plane for best operation. When stuck on top of a vehicle, the roof serves this role. If using such an antenna away from a vehicle, you can use something else, even a cookie sheet, for a ground plane. Since I was in my office I stuck it on top of my metal gun cabinet, which worked well.

Reception with the MFJ-1729 in my office was very good and although I didn't specifically request a signal report, when I checked into the Friday night MARC net, they seemed to be able to hear me well.

The same day I ordered the antenna stuff from Gigaparts and MFJ, I also ordered an external microphone and extra Lithium-Ion battery pack from Universal Radio. I still haven't received an email indicating they shipped. I'll bug them if I don't hear anything by close of business on Monday.

CrossOver Theme for Thunderbird

This afternoon I installed the CrossOver theme for Mozilla Thunderbird on my iBook. Wow! The look is so similar to Apple's Mail.app it's amazing the first time you open Tbird with the new theme installed. It gets two thumbs up.

In the Shooting Gallery

This morning I ran across an account of a civilian security contractor in Iraq.

by Jim Williamson
Roving Editor

The plains north of Baghdad are inhospitable, made less so with hulks of wrecked vehicles, squalid dwellings, and the random heaps of debris comprising the detritus of war. The heat assaults the senses, baking mind and soul, transmitting mirages as the only entertainment for the convoy of supply trucks headed for a police post near the Kurdish border, where the weather will be cooler and the land greener.

A signal halts the column, and a driver dismounts to tie down a loose tarpaulin before any of his precious cargo can escape. Some men aboard the trucks dismount to stretch weary muscles. Others lift bottles of water, ever conscious of the need to remain hydrated in this arid sunscape.

Suddenly, several men screech to a halt some 200 meters distant, taking cover behind a litter of abandoned 55-gallon oil drums. Their voices drift down on the wind, a guttural cacophony of angry Arabic, the syllables lost in the breeze and the distance. Words are soon replaced by the crash of gunshots as they open fire on the column.

The convoy returns fire as men scramble aboard their vehicles or take cover behind them. One defender is a 28-year-old Texan, a veteran of the 2003 war against Saddam Hussein. He notes that one attacker is bobbing behind three of the rusty drums, exposing himself only to shoot at the government convoy and its American guardians.

Especially interesting to gunnies like myself is the performance of 9mm Ball ammunition, primarily from a Browning High Power, but also a Beretta M-9:

Many disparage the 9mm’s stopping power, and knowing that only military “ball” ammunition was available, I asked if this had been a problem. Spook said that it hadn’t. He knows what some of the gun magazine chest-beaters claim in print, and admits that he hasn’t shot any blocks of ballistic gelatin. He has shot eight men with the nine, though, and all went down with center thorax hits. One or two shots sufficed, if well placed. Spook knows that others have complained about the nine, and wonders where they hit their opponents. He has talked with a couple of tank crewmen who shot Iraqis off their huge armored mounts, and they seemed satisfied, too. The Browning worked fine, and so did the Beretta M9 that he wore in 2003, provided that one used only genuine Beretta magazines. Cheap spare magazines from other manufacturers might fail.

You can read the rest of it here.

The NRA on the New Orleans Gun Grab

Disaster Can’t Destroy Gun Rights

Monday, September 12, 2005

National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre slammed New Orleans authorities Monday for seizing legal firearms from lawful residents.

"What we’ve seen in Louisiana - the breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of disaster - is exactly the kind of situation where the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens to protect themselves, " LaPierre said.

"When law enforcement isn’t available, Americans turn to the one right that protects all the others - the right to keep and bear arms," LaPierre said. "This attempt to repeal the Second Amendment should be condemned."

The New York Times reported last Thursday that no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to have guns, quoting the superintendent of police that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."

A Louisiana state statute allows the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies. "But regulate doesn’t mean confiscate," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist.

"Authorities are using that statute to do what the looters and criminals could not: disarm the law-abiding citizens of New Orleans trying to protect their homes and families," Cox said.

"The NRA will not stand idly by while guns are confiscated from law-abiding people who’re trying to defend themselves," he said.

"We’re exploring every legal option available to protect the rights of lawful people in New Orleans," Cox said, "and we’re taking steps to overturn such laws in every state where they exist."

"Local authorities in New Orleans are turning nature’s assault on human life into man’s assault on human rights," LaPierre said. "Four million NRA members intend to stop this unconstitutional power grab."

Source.

I hope this means that the NRA intends to sue the living shit out of those responsible.

Comeuppance

This farmer's neighbors are going to be kicking themselves next year the first time the wind blows the wrong way:

Complaints kill shooting range, pigs coming now

Sunday, September 11, 2005
By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On the first day of August, Tom Belsterling saw his skeet-shooting business blown right out of the sky.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined that day to hear his appeal of a May 2003 decision by the New Sewickley zoning hearing board. The board had ruled Belsterling's skeet range illegal, and the decision had been upheld at every level of county and state court.

On the first day of September, lacking the ability to make further appeals, Belsterling went for a lack of appeal instead: He bought some pigs.

If he can't fill the air with buckshot and clay, he'll fill it with an odor. And neighbors who had angered him with their blunt objections to the noise of shotguns cannot complain; pig farming is absolutely allowed under the township's zoning ordinance.

"It's an agricultural activity, so go to it, I guess," said Dennis Goehring, chairman of the New Sewickley supervisors.

{Smirk}

NOLA Confiscations Summed Up

Click here.

New Mosin-Nagant and Ruger P-90 Range Report

After the girls went down for their afternoon nap I drove over to Surplus City to see if he had anything neat in stock. I looked at a few interesting toys, including a mint-condition HK-94 carbine. It was sweet, but he was asking $2400. Since that's a bit out of my price range I just picked up another Mosin-Nagant.

The rifle I got today is an M1938 carbine made at the Soviet Ishevsk arsenal in 1941, and subsequently arsenal refurbished. The workmanship on the metal, while not outstanding, doesn't have the "gnawed out of steel by beavers" look typical of Mosin-Nagants made from 1942 - 44. As with most M1938s I've seen, it has an M-1944 stock, identifiable by the cutout for the '44's folding bayonet. The stock is laminated wood (a fancy term for plywood) finished with varnish. It's stamped with a square with a diagonal line through it, indicating the rifle was arsenal reworked. The bore is in excellent condition and I didn't see any obvious pitting underneath the bluing on any of the metal. As with every other M1938 I've seen, save one, the muzzle has been counterbored. The action is pretty smooth for a Mosin, although my M1891/30 and Finnish m/39 have better triggers. Not bad for $115 OTD.

The M1938 came without any accessories, so I need to find an appropriate sling. I already have plenty of Soviet 7.62x54R in clips, the M-N combo tool, and a mag pouch or two. Once equipped with a sling, the M1938 would make a dandy gun for bumming around with in the woods. It's light and handy, and points well. It's main drawback is the rather unergonomic safety, and it might be faster to get into action with the safety off and the bolt closed on an empty chamber.

While I couldn't shoot the Mosin tonight I was able to go to the Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club indoor range with my dad, and brought along my Ruger P-90. I picked this up back in June and up until tonight it had 116 rounds of Sellier & Bellot .45 ACP Ball through it without any issues. Earlier this week I received from Midway two more OEM magazines and a Bianchi 5L holster, so I really wanted to put some more rounds through it.

I brought along 3 boxes of .45 230 grain FMJ ammo. One box was Wolf while the others were Federal American Eagle. Incidentally, the Ruger manual specifically states that the gun is made to shoot any factory .45 ACP made with brass, aluminum, or steel cases.

I started off with the Wolf. It fed and ejected flawlessly, but two rounds failed to fire the first time the hammer dropped. Both rounds went off on the second strike. I've shot a fair amount of Wolf ammo previously in .45 ACP, .223, and 7.62x39 and this is the first time I've had any problems. I'll continue to buy it but for practice only, and may get the chance to practice immediate action drills. As with my Springfield M1911, the Wolf ammo shot as accurately as American-made ammo.

The American Eagle ammo was cleaner and less smoky than the Wolf. I had one instance of premature slide lock with it in one of the new mags. My mags are numbered. One time when running magazine #3 the slide locked back after the seventh round, leaving the 8th round sitting on top of the feed lips. I ran several magazine-fulls through the magazine after this malf and had no issues. I'm not sure if it's ammo or mag-related, or just a case of poop happens. With a single possibly gun-related malf in 216 rounds I am comfortable that the Ruger is a gun I can stake my life on.

After 150 rounds, 50 of which were rather dirty Wolf, the Ruger cleaned up in about 10 minutes using only Ballistol. As an experiment, I am using only Ballistol for lubrication and cleaning of the P-90 for the first 500 or so rounds. So far, so good. After about 500 rounds I'll clean the gun with Hoppe's No.9 to see if I can tell any difference in the results.

Dad shot his S&W Model 627 (".357 Mag - Eight Times") and Model 625. The latter, especially, is scary accurate, which mirrors my brother's an my experience with our 625s.

Letters to my politicritters

Today I sent the following letter to Bush, Specter, Santorum and Gerlach:

I am one of your consituents, a long-time registered Republican, and I vote in every election.

I have seen the news reports of policemen and National Guard soldiers disarming law abiding citizens of New Orleans. I AM DISGUSTED AND APPALLED. We have the government, which has failed in its most essential function -- protecting its citizens from thugs -- now disarming them after having left them on their own. This action sets a very dangerous precedent should it be allowed to stand.

The police officers and soldiers in question are violating the civil rights guaranteed to all Americans by the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. Moreover, they appear to be doing so selectively. Private civilian security contractors like those from Blackwater are being allowed to retain their weapons, while homeowners guarding what remains of their property are not. Even in Iraq, our policy has been to allow at least one Kalashnikov rifle per household. NEW ORLEANS IS IN AMERICA. THESE DISARMED PEOPLE ARE BEING THROWN TO THE WOLVES.

This civilian disarmament must stop IMMEDIATELY and those responsible need to be brought to justice. If the Republican-controlled legislature and executive branch can't do something to stop this civilian disarmament, the Republican party will have been shown to be no different from the Democrats, despite all the rhetoric about Republicans favoring individual responsibility vs. Democrat nanny statism.

I am following this situation closely and await your reply.

Feel free to plagiarize it for your own correspondence if you want.

New Orleans Gun Confiscations

The NOPD has begun door-to-door gun confiscations. (Link points to GeekWithA.45.) Let me get this straight:

1. The city government -- including the NOPD -- does next to nothing to prepare for a disaster of Biblical proportions,
2. Due to its incompetence, the NOPD allows thugs to take over the city during the disaster,
3. Thereby failing to perform the government's most essential function, and
4. Now that it has failed to protect its citizens, is disarming them so they are unable to defend themselves.

Not only is the NOLA government guilty of dereliction of duty, it is actively placing its citizens in harm's way. I wonder how many good guys are going to die as the result of this?

Gerber Recon LED Flashlight

REI held their Labor Day sale over the weekend and I wound up buying a Gerber Recon LED flashlight for around half off, about $15; regular price there is $29.95.

The Recon is an interesting little light. It runs off a single AA cell, but what makes it special is the rotating bezel which allows you to select white, blue, red, or green filters. White is for general use, blue for IDing fluids (i.e., blood), red for preserving night vision, and green for map reading. It weighs 2.6 oz. and has a clip for a pocket, or you can attach it to the brim of a cap. I wouldn't want to rely on the clip to secure it to my hat if I was doing anything strenuous, however. The base of the Recon has a hole big enough to put a piece of paracord through for use as a lanyard.

Even with the white lens, the Recon is not very bright. Compared with the single AA cell Gerber tasklight I picked up a couple months ago in a combo pack with one of their Multitools, the Recon is much less powerful. It is useful for small, closeup tasks, but I'd want more light if I was using it to walk around in the dark. In contrast, the task light I've had for awhile (no longer listed by Gerber but is very similar to this one, which is bright enough for navigating around in the dark. I attribute the difference in brightness to the task light's better reflector.

The task light supposedly has a burn time of 100 hours on one AA alkaline cell, while I can't find info on Gerber's page or in the packaging for run time.

One good feature is that the bezel has a flat on it which allows you to line up the red lens over the LED by feel before you turn it on, so you don't inadvertantly hose your night vision.

As with every other Gerber product I've handled or owned, the Recon's quality appears top-notch.

Although its utility is limited by low output, since it's so light the Recon could make a useful companion to a more powerful flashlight.

Ford recalls some pick ups and SUVs

I just found this via Yahoo:

Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday recalled 3.8 million pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles for a cruise control switch suspected of causing engine fires. It is the fifth largest auto industry recall in U.S. history.

Ford said the recall of 1994-2002 model-year vehicles includes the company's hot-selling F-150 pickup truck, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator and Ford Broncos. The company said it would start sending out recall notices to vehicle owners immediately.

Crap, my Expedition is a '97. Looks like it'll be spending some time in the shop.

Comment spam

Damn asshole spammers are starting to spam my comments. I just activated the image verification feature, which'll require you to type a word displayed as an image into a form to verify that a human rather than some spambot is trying to comment.

Sorry 'bout that. Blame the asshole spammers.

Ham radio operators in action down South

From the Wall Street Journal:

With Hurricane Katrina having knocked out nearly all the high-end emergency communications gear, 911 centers, cellphone towers and normal fixed phone lines in its path, ham-radio operators have begun to fill the information vacuum. "Right now, 99.9% of normal communications in the affected region is nonexistent," says David Gore, the man operating the ham radio in the Monroe shelter. "That's where we come in."

So far, so good.

In an age of high-tech, real-time gadgetry, it's the decidedly unsexy ham radio -- whose technology has changed little since World War II -- that is in high demand in ravaged New Orleans and environs. The Red Cross issued a request for about 500 amateur radio operators -- known as "hams" -- for the 260 shelters it is erecting in the area. The American Radio Relay League, a national association of ham-radio operators, has been deluged with requests to find people in the region. The U.S. Coast Guard is looking for hams to help with its relief efforts.

I guess these people haven't seen any newer radios, like my Yaesu VX-5RS. The technology has change a lot, and not just the radios themselves. Aside from them, you now have Internet-linked repeaters like Echolink, IRLP, and eQSO to merge ham radio and VOIP.

Still, technical mistakes aside, it's nice to see ham radio getting some good press.

Lessons learned from the New Orleans Bug Out

There's a good thread going on over at THR about lessons learned from the bug out situation down in New Orleans. I'll repost my contribution regarding emergency communications here:

I haven't seen emergency comms mentioned yet so here's my $0.02...

Charged cell phones along with car chargers, or your regular wall charger + a power inverter for the car. IF you are in an area where they work, a cell phone can let you call relatives/friends outside the danger area.

FRS/GMRS radios. FRS doesn't require a license, while GMRS does (although it's just a fee, no test required, and the license covers your immediate family). Good for short range commo, e.g., between vehicles in a bug out situation. GMRS gives you somewhat longer range, though both require line of sight. FRS/GMRS radios can be picked up cheap at any of the big box stores, from Home Depot to WalMart, to Radio Shack. If you keep an eye out you may be able to find them DIRT CHEAP. E.g., I got a pair of Midland FRS/GMRS last year from MidwayUSA for the whopping sum of $6 + S&H.

CB radio. No license required. These are still useful, although you do hear a lot of garbage, much of which is not suitable for sensitive ears. I have a portable in my truck with an external magnet-mount whip antenna. It's great for listening to truckers for real-time traffic reports and has kept me out of several jams. Also good for short-range commo. Most CBs are AM, but Single Side Band CBs will give you longer range, although you'll only be able to talk to other SSB CB users.

Ham (Amateur) radio. Here's where it gets good, IMO. I got my ticket last month. Although you need a license, the entry-level Technician class license isn't hard to get, and the info you learn while studying for the exam can be useful. You can get a good handheld (AKA "handie talkie" or "HT") for as little as $100 which will allow you to transmit and receive on the 2M FM band. These are good for commo up to several miles if you have line of sight. I can hit a 2M repeater ~10 miles away from inside my house with my Yaesu VX-5RS. Once I get my General ticket I'll be able to use the HF bands and transmit much longer distances without relying on a repeater.

Hams are currently in action down in the area affected by Katrina. Among other things, they've been able to direct rescue personnel to people stranded by floodwaters.

I don't want to encourage unlicensed use, but in an emergency FCC rules about unlicensed transmission go out the window. You're allowed to use any means of communication to secure aid to preserve human life or property against immediate threats. IMO, the most important part about getting one's ham license is getting familiar with proper operating procedures, which are critical when TSHTF.

Satellite phone is another option, although I have little knowledge of it.

A NOAA weather radio should be in your disaster kit, if one of your other radios doesn't also pick up these channels. In my case, my Midland CB already does, so I don't have a separate unit.

A portable AM/FM radio for listening to local news reports. If it picks up shortwave or the NOAA weather channels, it'll be more versatile. Some also allow you to listen to the audio portion of TV broadcasts. I'm currently shopping for a multi-band AM/FM/SW radio so if anyone has recommendations, I'm all ears.

Don't forget plenty of batteries, chargers, appropriate AC adapters, and a power inverter so you can plug them into the cigarrette lighter in your vehicle.

Free Opera Browser Registration

Opera is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their browser by making free registration codes available for a limited time. Opera is doing this from 12am August 30th to 12am August 31st PDT. Go here to get your free codes.

I'll still rely on Firefox as my main browser, but Opera is nice and I do like to use it sometimes.

I defiled Bagend today

Long-time readers may remember that the new PC I built for myself back last Fall is named Bagend. Heretofore, it's been running SUSE Linux Professional, first v9.0, but soon upgraded to v9.2. Since I picked up my iBook back in December, it's been mostly idle, though.

Today, I defiled it. I backed up all my data to DVD-R, wiped the drive, and installed Windows XP.

{Pauses to let the screams die down.}

I have need of a Windows box, and more importantly, need to be able to print to my Samsung ML-1710 printer over the LAN. I was able to get the printer working OK locally, but never got SUSE configured right to let me print from other local hosts. Printing in Linux still sucks, IMHO, and I don't have the time to dink with it.

The Windows install went pretty smoothly. I couldn't find the driver CDs for my Asus A7N8X-X mobo or Asus/ATI Radeon 9200SE video card. Bagend has a 3Com 3C-905TX NIC in it, so the fact that XP didn't see the onboard nVidia NIC wasn't fatal, nor was XP's inability to see the onboard Realtek AC-97 audio. I downloaded the drivers from Asus' website and got them both working. I'll yank the 3Com card for my parts bin eventually.

The box is running smoothly under Windows. It's pretty fast, with an AMD AlthonXP 2200+, 512 MB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard disk (35 GB for C: with the rest for D:).

So far, I've added a bunch of my regular Windows programs:

• AVG Free Antivirus
• Spybot Search & Destroy
• Lavasoft Ad-Aware PE
• CoreFTP
• Quicktime
• Firefox
• iTunes
• Cygwin
• Irfanview

I'll install OpenOffice.org, a PDF creation tool, and other stuff as time goes on. Since I don't anticipate burning a lot of discs, I'm probably going to use CDBurnerXP Pro for CD and DVD creation.

Excuse me, I need to go wash.

Renovations

We've been getting a lot of work done around the house this Summer. (Yay for real estate appreciation and home equity loans!)

A couple of weeks ago we had the water heater replaced. Water heaters last about 10 years around here due to the incredible amount of lime in the water. Our old one's ability to heat the water had seriously degraded, to the point where we only got lukewarm water from the tap. The other risk you run with an old heater is a flood. I experienced that once when living with my folks and don't want it here. The same day, our plumber also replaced several of the old shutoff valves in the house with new ball valves that make it a lot easier to cut off the water to a faucet.

Last week, we got a new gas fireplace to replace the old, unsafe POS that came with the house. It looks one hell of a lot nicer than the old one, and gives off a lot more heat. A part was missing from the fireplace, and we're still waiting for it. We also need to have an electrician run a 110v line to power the blowers, and I'll need to finish wooden base of our marble-topped hearth. I'm leaning towards boiled linseed oil or tung oil, since we like the natural wood color.

Yesterday and today we got new Certainteed windows all around. The house still had the original, circa 1958 windows. Aside from lacking insulating value, they leaked like sieves and we couldn't open all of them due to problems with the screens. We used a local contractor who's done a ton of work in my neighborhood, including the new gutters and soffets we got last year. What an improvement.

Our living and dining rooms are a construction zone. The original owner had installed a few huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors and decorative beams. The mirrors were both obnoxious and detrimental -- the idiot who installed them blocked air vents. The beams looked OK but the three against the front wall prevented us from installing the windowscreens in the living room (now a moot issue due to the new windows). We wanted them gone anyway, for a cleaner look. The guy doing the living and dining room wanted to wait to finish until the window guys were done, so the new paint doesn't get FUBARed, which is sensible. We're hoping he'll be finished by the end of next week.

The final project and which will probably add the most value to the house is getting our master bathroom completely gutted down to the studs, and everything from the plumbing on up replaced. We're looking at September for this to get done.

It's all costing an assload of money, but we think it'll be worth it. It's greatly improving the livibility of the house, while the windows and fireplace should help to pay for themselves in reduced utility bills. With the way real estate has been going we can't afford a new home in Montgomery County, and we're tied to the area. So, it makes more sense to fluff 'n' buff the old place. We'll be here a long time.

MFJ1720S Antenna

After reading some of the reviews on eHam.net, last week I picked up an MFJ1720S tri-band antenna for my Yaesu VX-5RS. I wanted something that offered better transmission and reception performance than the stock rubber duckie.

The MFJ1720S is 19" long, so it's quarter-wave for 2M and 6M (due to end loading, I guess), and 5/8 wave for 70cm. It can handle up to 10W transmit power; my VX-5RS will Tx at 5W max. It's pretty whippy and I may tie some orange or yellow plastic to the tip to help prevent anyone from poking out an eye.

I got to use the new antenna for the first time Sunday night, when I checked into the 2030 MARC net (I really need to send in my membership app for MARC) on 2M. I asked for a signal report, and net control told me that while there was some background noise, they were able to understand me just fine over the repeater. From my listening point, there was some background white noise, and of course it's easier to setup with this thing than my homebrewed J-Pole.

So far, it works good on 2M but I haven't been able to try it out while talking to anyone on 6M or 70cm.

.30 Carbine Defense Ammunition

The M1 Carbine is one of my favorite rifles. It is, in my opinion, and excellent choice as a defensive carbine for civilians due to its reliability (in USGI form, anyway), nearly nonexistent recoil, light weight, and excellent handling. .30 Carbine FMJ Ball is not a great choice for defense though, because it fails to take advantage of the round's ballistics and penetrates too much. (See for example, some of the testing done in the Box O' Truth.) But a good expanding load turns an M1 Carbine into the ballistic equivalent of a semiauto .357 Magnum rifle, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Yesterday at the Rally Point Shoot, I got the chance to speak with Mike Shovel, Sales Manager for Cor-Bon. I asked him if CB is working on defensive ammo for .30 Carbine. He informed me that they are.

The Cor-Bon .30 Carbine load is being developed around a Barnes X-Bullet (solid copper HP). I've seen the Internet rumors about a PowerBall .30 Carbine but apparently they're going with the Barnes. The final load will probably have a 100 grain bullet going about 1800 - 1900 FPS. What's proving difficult is getting it to feed reliably in the M1, which wasn't designed for anything but Ball. They currently have no estimated time-to-market, but are working on it.

Currently, the three most commonly available expanding loads for .30 Carbine are Remington's 110 grain jacketed soft point, Winchester's 110 grain jacketed hollow/soft point, and Federal's jacketed soft point. Of the three, the Remington performs the best in ballistic gelatin tests with Winchester placing second. The Federal JSPs apparently perform like FMJ Ball.

Jim Cirrillo, formerly of the NYPD's Stakeout Squad, has written in the past that the Winchester load performed very well in actual shootings. He's said that it puts the bad guys down about as fast as anything else.

So far the only soft points I've put through my Underwood M1 have been Magtech 110 grain JSPs. Unortunately, I had several failures to feed with it. The Magtech ammo was clean but seemed a bit underpowered, compared to the RA-52 Ball I subsequently shot.

When I had an Iver Johnson Carbine back in the 1980s, I did some handloading for it using Speer 100 grain half jacket "Plinker" bullets, doing about 1800 - 1900 FPS at the muzzle. They were reliable but less accurate than 110 grain loads, especially at 100 yards.

A correspondent has reported handloading Remington 110 grain JSPs to about 1900 FPS on top of WC820 powder (surplus H110). (I won't post specific powder charges, check a reloading manual and carefully work up to maximum loads!) He's noted that it's reliable, and of course with those number it should provide good terminal ballistics.

Perhaps less interesting, I also ran 50 rounds of Wolf .30 Carbine through my Underwood M1 yesterday. It functioned fine, although this is obviously a very limited test. I've generally had good results with Wolf in .223, 7.62x39, and .45 ACP, so I wanted to check out a potentially good practice load in .30 Carbine. I'll put another couple hundred rounds of Wolf through the M1 before I sink any money into a case, though. I did have one stovepipe with the gun later, but it was RA-52 Ball that came from a sealed can I bought from Ammonman a couple of years ago. Go figure.

The Rally Point Shoot August 20, 2005

Yesterday I went to The Rally Point Shoot held at Water & Wings in East Greenville, PA. Total turnout was about 50 people, including several new shooters. Kudos go out to the organizers, Jamie, Geoff, and all the other folks who helped out, for putting together a well-organized, safe event.

First, a couple shots of the 50 yard range:





A few of the neat guns seen (yes, the first one is an M-60 machinegun):









And finally, the group pic. The gent in the yellow shirt on the far left is Jamie, the primary organizer. I'm all the way on the right, kneeling in a boonie hat, and holding my Lithgow Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk.III*, compleat with bayonet.



Feinstein, Schumer, et al. can go FOAD.

Edit: Argh! So much for using Yahoo Photos for picture hosting. I uploaded them to building-tux.com so they should be visible for everyone now.

SUSE 9.3 Initial Impressions

I loaded SUSE 9.3 onto my test Dell D600 this morning. This is a dual-boot box, with Windows XP Pro on one partition, and SUSE on the other half of the drive, divided roughly in half between / and /home. Rather than doing an "upgrade," which based on prior experience takes a long time, I did a clean install.

As with previous SUSE installs, YaST handled things pretty easily, although I had to tweak the video settings a bit to get anything more than 640x480. Also, sound isn't working yet, although I had the same problem with 9.2 and never got around to fixing it.

One thing I noticed almost immediately is that 9.3 is more responsive than 9.2. KDE 3.4.0 Level b is noticeably snappier than previous versions that I've worked with. Also, the Adobe Acrobat browser plugin is much, much faster inside Firefox than I've seen on any other computer.

SUSE 9.3 isn't without its faults, however. I've noticed that changes to network settings made in YaST sometimes need a reboot, when they are something that should take effect after reloading the network config. E.g., changing IP or DNS settings. And, as mentioned above, sound isn't yet working and video while acceptable, isn't yet optimal.

That said, SUSE 9.3 is definitely worth a gander if you're in need of a desktop Linux distributions.

Back in the office

I'm back from my trip to NY.

Aside from general catch-up, this afternoon I grabbed all five ISOs for SUSE 9.3 from Opensuse.org. Historically, SUSE has been available for download only as an FTP install, or as a live CD/DVD. Novell recently changed that and appears to be moving to a Red Hat/Fedora Core development model for SUSE Professional. Although the first beta of SUSE 10 is up, I'm not interested in beta software now.

I plan to upgrade the SUSE 9.2 install on my test Dell D600 at work, which is a dual boot machine also running XP Pro. A coworked is planning to setup an XP desktop box in our lab as another dual boot machine. And Bagend, my neglected-of-late homebrewed Athlon box will get updated as well.

I'm hoping that SUSE 9.3 fixes two major bugs that I encountered with 9.2, to wit:

• On both the D600 and Bagend, I'm unable to run any of the Mozilla apps (Mozilla, Firebird, or Thunderbird) within KDE. They all segfault if launched in KDE, but work ok under Windowmaker or if I run a them from an X session exported to my iBook.
• On the D600, K3B consistently crashes if I try to burn an ISO image to CD (which is why I'm burning the SUSE 9.3 ISOs using Nero Burning ROM on Windows XP).

I'll follow up with my impressions of the new OS after I've taken it for a spin.

Finished with the VOD testing

It looks like I've completing testing the video on demand testing after finishing testing our third transport media yesterday. Now I need to finish my formal writeup and arrange for the gear to be shipped to another department for its testing.

I am glad to no longer have this hanging over my head, that's for sure.

Side note: I'm heading up to NY to visit a terminally ill relative so I won't be posting for a couple of days.

My first Ham contact

Last night I made my first ham contact. But first, a discussion about antennas.

As I previously posted, for my first radio I picked up a Yaesu VX-5RS handy talkie ("HT"). As with most other HTs, it came with a "rubber ducky" antenna. Rubber duckies are good for compactness but not much else. They don't work well if you don't have direct line of sight to the other party to your radio conversation.

One way to improve the situation is to use a J-Pole antenna. They can be constructed cheaply from 300 Ohm twin-lead TV antenna wire. So, over the weekend I picked up a 50 foot lenght of the stuff, along with a 10 foot RG58 coaxial cable terminated with BNC connectors on both ends.

The problem I ran into when making the J-Pole was that I kept breaking one wire or another when trying to strip off a length of it. After several tries and many cusswords, I decided to look around the house and see what other kind of wire I had that I could use. Then I remembered I had a bunch of Romex 3 conductor electrical wire, as used in AC house wiring. I had a scrap piece that was about the right length. Bingo!

The Romex conductors are solid copper, rather than the stranded conductors found in twin-lead. Also, they are a much heavier gauge. After I stripped off the outer sheath, I used the two insulated wires, setting aside the uninsulated wire used for a ground. I was then easily able to strip a couple of inches off the end of each wire. I bent about a quarter inch at each end and soldered them together after placing them in a vice.

Then I cut one BNC connector off the piece of coax, stripped it so a length of the center conductor was exposed, and twisted the braided shield into a wire. The center conductor got soldered to the white piece of Romex, while I soldered the braid to the black piece.

I cut the black piece to the same length as shown in the linked diagram, you don't need the piece above the cut. The white piece was cut to 54". To keep the two wires separated, I took some wood pegs I had on hand and used them as spacers, holding them in place with electrical tape. The soldered joints were also taped.

Finally, I made a loop with a plastic cable tie and taped it to the end of the J-Pole, so the whole thing can be hung up.

I'll admit, it looks like a Bubba job, but as I found out, it works pretty darn well.

I took my new antenna and the radio into the den and looked around for something to hang it on. Nothing, so I went back into my shop and got a 4 foot plastic level, which I jammed vertically in between the cushions on my sofa, and hung the J-Pole on it using a tie wrap. Bubba indeed!

Connecting the coax to my radio in lieu of the rubber ducky, I tuned to around 145 Mhz and started scanning. I quickly came upon the Wednesday night WB3JOE MARC net on 145.130 MHz. After RTFMing, I setup the Yaesu to connect to the repeater and join the net.

It should be noted that the repeater is located in Paoli, about 15 miles away from me in Plymouth Meeting. So, it seems to me that the antenna works pretty well considering (a) the distance I am from the repeater, (b) the fact that I was inside at ground level, and (c) the low power -- 5W -- I was transmitting. It should work even better outside with the antenna elevated more.

The net had participants from as far away as Lancaster, PA and Avalon, NJ, although I'm not sure if they were connecting via linked repeaters or directly. Net control was handled by Ian, KB3JAH. Everyone was very welcoming to this newbie and I'm looking forward to future nets.

Got my ham ticket today

Damn that was fast. I checked the FCC's ULS database online today and the "paperwork" (in quotes because it was submitted electronically) for my no-code Technician's license was processed. I now have my call letters and can start transmitting.

w00t!

Fun with ifconfig on Mac OS-X

One of the UNIX utilities I use all the time on OS-X is ifconfig, the command line program for configuring your computer's network interfaces. Since I often have a terminal window open, I find it faster to use ifconfig to find out my IP address than to open the System Preferences > Network utility. If you run ifconfig in a terminal without any arguments, you get output that looks like this:

Dave-Markowitzs-Computer:~ davemarkowitz$ ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049 mtu 16384
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
gif0: flags=8010 mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet 10.25.10.51 netmask 0xfffffc00 broadcast 10.25.11.255
ether 00:0d:93:70:ed:44
media: autoselect (100baseTX ) status: active
supported media: none autoselect 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX
en1: flags=8863 mtu 1500
ether 00:11:24:26:23:5f
media: autoselect () status: inactive
supported media: autoselect
fw0: flags=8863 mtu 2030
lladdr 00:0d:93:ff:fe:70:ed:44
media: autoselect status: inactive
supported media: autoselect

If you just want to find out your IP, pipe the output to grep, like so:

Dave-Markowitzs-Computer:~ davemarkowitz$ ifconfig | grep inet
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 10.25.10.51 netmask 0xfffffc00 broadcast 10.25.11.255

As you can see, it's a lot easier to sort out your IP address with grep.

Something I've been using a bit lately in the lab when testing equipment on one physical network which has two logical networks running on it, is to use IP aliasing. With IP aliasing you can use ifconfig to assign your network interface a second IP, simultaneous address.

For example, as you can see from the above example, my Ethernet port currently is assigned the IP address 10.25.10.51. If I need to also be on the 192.168.0.x network, I can add an address in that subnet, like so:

Dave-Markowitzs-Computer:~ davemarkowitz$ sudo ifconfig en0 alias 192.168.0.20 255.255.255.0
Password:
Dave-Markowitzs-Computer:~ davemarkowitz$ ifconfig | grep inet
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 10.25.10.51 netmask 0xfffffc00 broadcast 10.25.11.255
inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 255.255.255.0

Notice that you need to prefix the ifconfig command with sudo, because ifconfig needs to run with administrative privileges. When you get the password prompt, enter your user password, not the root password. (Sudo implementations on other OSes may differ. E.g., on SUSE Linux you'd need to enter the root password.)

Finally, to remove an incorrect or unneeded IP alias, do this:

Dave-Markowitzs-Computer:~ davemarkowitz$ sudo ifconfig en0 -alias 192.168.0.20

More information about how to use ifconfig can be found by reading its man page ("man ifconfig").

Incidentally, I've replaced Apple's default Terminal.app with iTerm. It's open source and more configurable than Terminal.app, and most important to me, offers tabbed console windows. I highly recommend it.