Tsunami relief

I haven't mentioned the tsunami that's taken so many lives (135,000 as of now according to CNN.com) What could I say?

However, there is something you can do. A monetary donation, no matter how small, to a relief organization like the Red Cross can help.

Amazon.com has made it easy for you to donate to the Red Cross using your Amazon account.

Give a little, if you can.

So much for doing it yourself to get it right

It turns out that I needed to call my plumber to complete the dryer install after all.

A few hours after running the second load of wash I smelled some gas. After getting Judith to confirm that I wasn't having olfactory hallucinations I shut off the supply via the cutoff. This morning I called my plumber, who luckily, was able to make it out today.

It turns out that the source of the leak was the old gascock itself. If it had been left alone it would've been fine but by using it, we caused a leak. So, he wound up replacing the gascock and also added another extension pipe to get the rigid gas line closer to the dryer. While he was here I also had him replace the water shutoff valves and the lines to the washer. We also shut off the supply of gas to the fireplace in our den, since it provides next to no heat and we haven't used it this winter. Since it is old enough to have a pilot light, that'll be a little less gas we have to pay for each month.

I'm happy to give my plumber an unsolicited plug, btw. His name is Lawrence Pizzico and he can be reached at 610-279-8111. He works out of Norristown in SE PA.

Changes

In contrast to the Sears experience, we had a good one with Sleepy's, a bed retailer. The deliverymen just left after having brought in and assembled a new bed for Alexandra. Tonight she'll be sleeping in a bed for the first time. It's going to be interesting to see her reaction.

When you want something done right...

... you often need to do it yourself.

Sears came back this morning to finish the dryer install. They couldn't do it because they didn't have a long enough gas line. This despite the fact that it was the same guys who delivered the thing. At this point I said "fuck it" and decided to do it myself.

So after Dumb and Dumber left I went to Lowe's and bought a two foot black iron gas pipe, a coupler to join it to my existing gas pipe, a can of pipe joint compund (I looked at several and bought one which mentioned use on gas lines), and a four foot flexible gas line, which I wound up not needing and will return.

After getting home I slathered all the threads with pipe joint compound and screwed everything together, using the section of flexible line Sears had left me. I turned the gas cutoff on this line back on and waited about 20 minutes. Not smelling any gas, I gave Judith the OK to put in a load of wash.

Tomorrow I'll call Sears customer service and give them an earful.

Monday update

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Being Jewish, Saturday was pretty much just another day for us, although we did induldge in what's become a tradition for a lot of Jewish folks on that day: have Chinese food for dinner. Around here, if you go to a Chinese place on Christmas it'll be packed with us Hebes. Since we have two small kids, we had takeout, which is a lot easier than sitting in the restaurant.

Yesterday after breakfast Judith and I took the girls up to the Plymouth Meeting Mall to look for Alexandra's first bed (didn't buy anything) and to kill some time before their naps. Alexandra really likes the water fountain. She also likes the merry go 'round, but apparently only if Mommy rides it with her. I took her on it and she flipped out. Luckily, nobody else was on the ride so they were able to stop it early. Oh well.

We got about an inch of snow last night and it's largely melted by now. All the snow I should be clearing with my new snow blower is getting dumped elsewhere.

Both Judith and I are on vacation this week, so after dropping the kids off at daycare we were able to enjoy a nice breakfast by ourselves at the local Cracker Barrel. Since everything they serve is pretty much a heart attack on a plate, we don't go very often.

At about 1100 our new Sears clothes dryer -- replacing the one which died a couple weeks ago -- was delivered. Unfortunately, they couldn't complete the hookup because they didn't have the correct male/female coupling for the gas line. They left it up to me to get the right coupling and call back to schedule completion of the job. I was able to find the right coupler at Lowe's and schedule an installer to come out but not before Wednesday. (I could probably do it myself now, but there are certain things I don't do around the house, preferring a professional to handle them. These include anything to do with A/C current, plumbing, or gas lines. IOW, stuff that can get me killed if I foul up.)

And you can bet Sears is going to hear from me about putting the onus on me for getting the right coupler.

Secure that wireless LAN

One of the prks of my job is that vendors send us equipment to play around with. They often send us several copies of the same unit, so we can take one home and use it on a daily basis to wring it out. Hence the new Netgear WG602 wireless access point I installed this morning. Setup was pretty straightforward, although you do need to connect to the box with an Ethernet cable to login and configure the wireless settings before you can connect wirelessly.

This brings me to the main point of this post: Secure that wireless LAN!

When my iBook booted up, it detected a wireless LAN belonging to one of my neighbors. It is wide open. I was not only able to get an IP and get onto the Internet, I was able to login to his wireless router because it still had the factory default settings.

Tips for securing a wireless network:

1. When setting it up, change the default administrative password.
2. After you have your clients associated with the access point, disable SSID broadcast.
3. Enable WPA or WEP encryption.
4. Enable MAC filtering, which limits what wireless cards can associate, using their hardware addresses.
5. Disable DHCP and manually configure the IP settings of your wireless clients.
   

A wireless network by its very nature won't be as secure as a wired Ethernet, but you can make things a lot more difficult for would-be interlopers.

Optics shuffle

I had a $50 gift certificate to Cabela's and a $30 coupon good on orders for $100 or more, so last week I ordered a Bushnell Trophy red dot sight, which arrived today. The regular price was about $110, but with the gift cert and the coupon I wound up paying only about $40 after shipping.

The Bushnell sight has four different reticles: a 3 MOA dot, a 10 MOA dot, crosshairs, and a 3 MOA dot surrounded by a 65 MOA circle. So far I'm liking that last option. It looks like it'll give me a relatively recise aiming point for smaller or more distant targets, while giving me something large for fast acquistion on close-in targets.

Aside from the sight itself, the Bushnell box contained a set of vertically split 30mm rings, a sun shade extension, a lens cleaning cloth, and a polarizing filter for the objective lens. I have the sun shade on, but not the polarizer.

I decided to mount the Bushnell on my ArmaLite AR-180B and move the PK-01V over to my Bulgarian SLR-101. Since the range was closed the one time I took it out to sight it in, it's not like I'm losing a good-to-go setup.

Hopefully I'll get both rifles out to the range during next week. I'm on vacation and with the exceptions of Monday and Wednesday, I don't have anything planned yet.

More pistol packin'

To continue the packin' heat theme of this week, I found a new site of interest via Geeks With Guns. Check out OpenCarry.org for information on which states allow open (i.e., not concealed) carry of a firearm.

10 Steps for Securing Your MS Windows PC

On an email list to which I subscribe we're having a disucssion about spyware. I contributed a post with ten things you can do to prevent your PC from getting infected with malicious software. Here's the meat of that post:

1. Run Windows Update regularly; if your version of Windows support automatic update checking, make sure it's enabled.
2. 2. Do not use Internet Explorer as your browser, unless you are viewing a site which requires it. Use Mozilla, Firefox, or Opera instead. I use Firefox. By not using IE, you'll prevent most spyware and web-borned viruses from getting onto your system.
3. Install the Google Toolbar for IE, because it includes an excellent pop-up blocker, for when you must use IE.
4. Run an antivirus program and keep it updated. I use and recommend the free personal version of AVG Antivirus.
5. Use a hosts file to prevent your PC from loading spyware sites.
6. If you are on broadband use a hardware firewall. Routers that sit between your PC and a cable modem or DSL connection can do a lot to protect your machine. I've had good luck with Netgear equipment.
7. Don't use Outlook Express for email. It's a virus trap. Use something else -- Mozilla Mail, Thunderbird, or Eudora.
8. Don't open unexpected file attachments which you receive in email.
9. Install and run Spybot Search & Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-Aware to clean up spyware. Spybot includes an "immunize" feature which can prevent known spyware from getting installed in the first place. Both can be downloaded from download.com.
10. If you are using a PC with Windows NT, 2000, or XP, your regular user account should not be a "computer administrator." Rather, setup a separate account as a "limited user." That way if malicious software does get onto your computer its impact will be minimized.
    

Top States in Absolute Numbers of CCW Permits

We've done percentages, now let's do actual numbers. The top 5 states for number of adults with licenses to carry a concealed firearm are:

1. Pennsylvania: 525,600
2. Florida: 332,400
3. Indiana: 302,000
4. Washington: 225,200
5. Tennessee: 160,000

Source.

Go PA!

If you think a 12 gauge pump isn't enough...

...check out this:



To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson, "When you absolutely, positively need to kill every MFer in the room, accept no substitute!"

Supposed Amazon.com/Million Moms Link

There's a rumour floating around that Amazon.com has somehow "joined" with the Milliom Mom March this holiday season and is supporting the MMM's goals. The origin of this appears to be an Amazon.com affiliate link on the MMM's home page (which I won't deign to link to).

The Amazon affiliate program is open to any person or organization that signs up for it and places the links to whatever they're selling on their web page. It's a big part of Amazon's business model. I can do it, pro-gun groups can do it, and so can anti-gun groups.

If Amazon was "joining" with MMM, then certainly there would be a press release to that effect on Amazon's site. There isn't one; I checked.

Examples of pro-RKBA sites who participate in the Amazon.com affiliate program:

http://www.lneilsmith.com/

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/

http://www.keepandbeararms.com/

So does this mean that Amazon is "joining" with pro-RKBA forces?

Unless someone can point me to something more concrete, I'm calling B.S. on this one.

Edit: Doh! I forgot I already posted about this. Oh well. I'll leave this up since I go into more detail in this post. I plead too much Knob Creek tonight.

Follow up on CCW %s

Here's a follow up post by Ken, breaking the figures down by "red" and "blue" states.

Here's a Red and Blue assessment of those numbers.

7.45% - Red - South Dakota
6.79% - Red - Indiana
6.76% - Blue - Pennsylvania
5.23% - Blue - Connecticut
x.xx% - Red - Georgia (guessed in)
x.xx% - Blue - New Hampshire (guessed in)
5.12% - Blue - Washington
4.34% - Red - Idaho
4.10% - Red - Utah
3.86% - Blue - Oregon
3.45% - Red - Tennessee
3.15% - Red - Alabama
2.72% - Red - Florida
2.71% - Red - Kentucky
2.67% - Red - Wyoming
2.41% - Blue - Maine
2.18% - Red - Arkansas
2.11% - Red - Virginia
1.94% - Red - West Virginia
1.76% - Red - Arizona
1.75% - Red - Oklahoma
1.70% - Red - Montana
1.70% - Blue - Michigan
1.62% - Red - Texas
1.39% - Red - South Carolina
1.34% - Red - North Dakota
1.00% - Red - North Carolina
0.86% - Red - Mississippi
0.62% - Red - Louisiana
0.58% - Red - Nevada
0.45% - Blue - Minnesota
0.36% - Red - Missouri
0.33% - Red - Ohio
0.20% - Red - Colorado
0.17% - Red - New Mexico

Now the REALLY interesting stuff.

Red States

Total licensees among the Shall Issue states:
1,870,368

Total population living in True Right To Carry states:
648,818 (0.22 percent)

Total population living in Shall Issue states:
141,766,564 (48.84 percent)

Total population living in May Issue states:
2,944,062 (1.01 percent)

Total population living in No Issue states:
4,462,798 (1.54 percent)

Blue States

Total licensees among the Shall Issue states:
1,208,878

Total population living in True Right To Carry states:
619,107 (0.21 percent)

Total population living in Shall Issue states:
43,272,643 (14.91 percent)

Total population living in May Issue states:
78,406,558 (27.01 percent)

Total population living in No Issue states:
18,125,843 (6.24 percent)

Ken Grubb
Bellevue, WA

Bogus Amazon.com/Million Moms Rumor

Earlier today I was forwarded an alert from the "US Sportsmen's Alliance" containing the statement that Amazon.com has "joined forces with the Million Mom March" for the holiday season. This didn't pass my smell test, so I checked both Amazon's and the Million Misguided Mommie's websites and found no reference to Amazon "joining" with the MMM. The Amazon link on the MMM site is an affiliate link.

Among other organizations which I've seen with an Amazon affiliate link is JPFO.

Spreading rumors like this one does our cause no good whatsoever.

Welcome InstaPundit Readers

w00t! I got Instalanched!

Welcome InstaPundit readers. I hope you poke around some more and come back.

Percentage of Adults With Carry Permits in "Shall Issue" States

I am reproducing in its entirety a post by Ken Grubb which appeared this morning on the PA-CCW mailing list. This ranks each of the "shall issue" CCW states by the percentage of adults who have a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

After crunching through the 2000 Census and 2003 Census estimates, the numbers in Chris Bird's Fourth Edition "The Concealed Handgun Manual", some official sources online which are a little more current, and filling in a few gaps from a 1998 CCRKBA report, the winners are:

Percent of Adults with a License to Carry in each Shall Issue State

7.45% South Dakota
6.79% Indiana
6.76% Pennsylvania
5.23% Connecticut
5.12% Washington
4.34% Idaho
4.10% Utah
3.86% Oregon
3.45% Tennessee
3.15% Alabama
2.72% Florida
2.71% Kentucky
2.67% Wyoming
2.41% Maine
2.18% Arkansas
2.11% Virginia
1.94% West Virginia
1.76% Arizona
1.75% Oklahoma
1.70% Montana
1.70% Michigan
1.62% Texas
1.39% South Carolina
1.34% North Dakota
1.00% North Carolina
0.86% Mississippi
0.62% Louisiana
0.58% Nevada
0.45% Minnesota
0.36% Missouri
0.33% Ohio
0.20% Colorado
0.17% New Mexico <-- Slight correction 12/22/04, per Ken Grubb

Honorable mentions go to Georgia and New Hampshire. These are "old wave" Shall Issue states--IOW, pre Florida. Because issuance is scattered among many local agencies, no one in either Georgia or New Hampshire is collecting statewide numbers on how many folks are packing. Seems reasonable to place 'em somewhere between the two statistical extremes among the other "old wave" states (South and North Dakota). However, if I were a bettin' man I'd put 'em near the top, and probably above Washington.

Total licensees among the Shall Issue states (excluding Georgia and New
Hampshire):
3,079,246

Total population living in True Right To Carry states (Alaska and Vermont):
1,267,925 (0.44 percent)

Total population living in Shall Issue states:
185,039,207 (63.75 percent)

Total population living in May Issue states:
81,350,620 (28.03 percent)

Total population living in No Issue states:
22,588,641 (7.78 percent)

Ken Grubb
Bellevue, WA

Edit: Welcome to new readers coming in via Instapundit (and thanks to Mike for suggesting I edit this post). If you liked this post, you may also find these older posts interesting:

• Happy Chanukah
• Five days to go ....

Also, I'd like to draw your attention to The Shooter's Bar(SM), my online list of pro-RKBA attorneys. I hope you enjoy your time here and stop back again.

Static IP Back Online

Whatever routing problem I experienced on Sunday appears to have worked itself out for now. Last night I reconfigured the SMC to use the static IP and got back online.

I ran some ping tests from my iBook and saw some packet loss and the occasional duplicate packet. The latter is an indication of hardware problems. When I re-ran the ping tests from Mail, which is on 10/100BaseT, I had no packet loss or dupes. I'm willing to bet a chocolate chip cookie that the cause of the packet loss and duplication is the craptacular Linksys Wireless-B router which I use as a WAP. (I'll keep it until is croaks, then get either an Apple AirPort or a Netgear 802.11g unit.)

10 more Gmail Invites

I got 10 more Gmail invites to give away. Previous batches of invites came in blocks of 6, perhaps the completely public debut of Gmail is in the wings. Anyhoo, if you want one, drop me a line at davemarkowitz at gmail.com.

Static IP Problems

Yesterday at about 1430 my Internet connection dumped. The modem appeared to be online -- the cable light was solid green -- but I couldn't get out. I rebooted my SMC gateway (which has the modem built-in) but this made no change.

My next step was to do a factory reset on the gateway, which changed the config from my static IP to looking for a public IP via DHCP. Once it rebooted and the changes took effect, I was able to pull a DHCP IP and get back online.

Another tester in my department experienced major packet loss on his SMC on Friday night/Sat. morning, but only when using his static IP config. When set to pull an IP via DHCP it worked fine.

Apparently, some kinks in our network still need to be hammered out.

Tonight I'll try reconfiguring my unit with the static IP config to see if I can get back online. Hopefully, whatever was causing the problem will have been resolved by then.

Valley Forge Gun Show

After the kids went down for their afternoon naps this afternoon, I snuck out to the Valley Forge Convention Center, where a fun, err, gun show was being held.

The last show I attended was a week or two after the Assault Weapons Ban sunset, and I noticed a lot more rifles with all the evil features (flash hiders, folding stocks, etc.) there today. Some vendors are still smoking dope when it comes to prices, though. For example, I saw a stainless Mini-14 GB with a $975 price tag, and another selling beat-to-hell Colt AR-15 20 round mags for $25.

I limited my purchases to some accessories:

• A pair of 1945-dated GI shoulder strap pads for my musette bag. I don't think they are repros even though they look new. They don't smell new, if you know what I mean. I wish I'd had these when I was using a musette bag as my book bag in grade school, because the unpadded straps are not too comfortable.
  
• A pair of GI M1965 trigger finger mitten shells. They should be nice and toasty this winter (I already have liners).
  
• A pair of GI 20-round M-16 mag pouches; they hold 3 each and I currently have 6 20 round M-16/AR-15 mags.
• Two NHTMG AR-15 mags dated 9/04, right after the sunset. NHTMG is the company which OEMs AR-15 mags for Colt. They were $16 each.
  
• Two boxes of American Eagle .45 ACP ball.

I was tempted by some $85 Mosins but kept my desire for more new/old rifles under control.