Suarez International (3 min.)
- TGIF: Time for another Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Links and comments on articles concerning bullet penetration in a house, triggers for boobytraps and improvised alarms, muzzle velocity of 9 mm from different barrel lengths, and more.
- "How To Properly Remove A Tick"--The Weekend Prepper. I don't know why, but we suddenly have problems with ticks in our backyard. I expect it is the wet winter and spring. I think most of them are being brought in by pets, so we will be getting some Frontline Plus, I think, to douse the pets.
- "Reprise: Is Muzzle Energy Really a Measure of Handgun Effectiveness?"--Ballistics By The Inch. The author cites from an FBI study on the topic:
Kinetic energy does not wound. Temporary cavity does not wound. The much discussed “shock” of bullet impact is a fable and “knock down” power is a myth. The critical element is penetration. The bullet must pass through the large, blood bearing organs and be of sufficient diameter to promote rapid bleeding. Penetration less than 12 inches is too little, and, in the words of two of the participants in the1987 Wound Ballistics Workshop, “too little penetration will get you killed.” Given desirable and reliable penetration, the only way to increase bullet effectiveness is to increase the severity of the wound by increasing the size of hole made by the bullet. Any bullet which will not penetrate through vital organs from less than optimal angles is not acceptable. Of those that will penetrate, the edge is always with the bigger bullet.
To me, kinetic energy at the muzzle (muzzle energy) or energy down range is a one of several tools for measuring the effectiveness of a particular round. Of course, velocity is important, not just for external ballistics, but also terminal ballistics; particularly when using an expanding bullet, it is important to have an idea whether your round will expand at a given velocity. For instance, 55 grain 5.56/.223 FMJ will perform well out to 100 to 150 yards because the velocity is still enough that the bullet will spectacularly yaw upon striking a soft target, but beyond those ranges, velocity typically has dropped enough that the wounding effect is much less.
In many ways, I believe that momentum is a better measure of potential penetration than muzzle energy. The kinetic energy equation gives far too much weight to velocity, whereas momentum seems to better express the balance of mass and velocity--i.e., how difficult it is to slow or stop the object. Generally speaking, whether high or low velocity, rounds with large momentum will penetrate deeper into a soft target than those with low momentum.
- "BREAKING: Bundeswehr Launches New Program, Rifle Tender to Replace H&K G36"--The Firearms Blog. What caught my attention is that the solicitation does not specify a caliber: an entry can be either 5.56 or 7.62.
- "Safe Life Defense Multi-Threat Body Armor Vest Review"--Armory Blog. The vest reviewed is a soft Kevlar vest with a III+ rating (i.e., good against all handgun rounds). Obviously, it won't stop rifle bullets, but it does have a pocket for adding a steel plate.
- Laws are only for the little people: "ATF: Southern California Officers May Be Violating Federal Gun Laws"--Bearing Arms. Apparently some LEOs have decided to run businesses as unlicensed gun dealers or acting as straw purchasers, taking advantage of their status as law enforcement. Unlike you or me, who would be facing many years in jail, the ATF has sent warning letters to the law enforcement departments and agencies in the area.
Other Stuff:
- "Ancient stone carvings confirm how comet struck Earth in 10,950BC, sparking the rise of civilisations"--The Telegraph. From the article: "The markings suggest that a swarm of comet fragments hit Earth at the exact same time that a mini-ice age [the Younger Dryas] struck, changing the entire course of human history." It is believed that the Younger Dryas pushed humans to develop agriculture and begin living in fixed villages.
- "Statists Always Turn To The Disarmament Of The Innocent And The Arming Of Their Allies"--The Captain's Journal. Herschel Smith discusses the history of governments disarming their citizens and how it opens the doors to genocide. He then goes on to discuss how this is working out in Venezuela and South Africa, and how it places the British at a grave disadvantage as third world aliens overrun their country.
- Diversity is our strength: "Illegal immigrants storm town hall in Paris suburb, 14 reported injured"--Rantburg. Illegal aliens in a Paris suburb apparently protested and rioted in support of rights for illegal aliens.
- "Department of Defense recognizes 'Humanism' as a belief after a rise in religiously unaffiliated members"--Daily Mail. Next, they will be recognizing Festivus as an actual holiday.
- "What Race Were the Greeks and Romans?"--The Unz Report. Contemporary writings of the Greeks and Romans often spoke of fair skin, blonde hair and blue or grey eyes. So, I'm guessing Nigerian.
- Another reason to lick toads and frogs: "South Indian frog oozes molecule that inexplicably decimates flu viruses"--Ars Technica. Problem is that scientists don't know how it works.
- Vampire myths don't seem so silly now: "Young human blood makes old mice smarter"--Nature. Yet more research showing the anti-aging effects of young blood. I would be shocked if there were not currently some wealthy and powerful people already getting transfusions from young people to offset their aging.
- "Laser Vision: Special Operations Command Prepares to Test Airborne Directed Energy Weapon"--National Defense Magazine. The key seems to be arrays of smaller solid-state lasers instead of a single large chemical laser.
- "School Computers Are Spying On Students"--Anonymous Conservative. The headline should be that school computers are still spying on students, as this is not a new problem. Computers provided to your student should have the camera and microphone taped over except when needed for an assignment, and use of the computer should be restricted to only school related work or projects--absolutely nothing personal, not even accessing private email accounts. AC comments on the impact down the road when a person's is frozen with a reputation from information recorded when just a small kid. Read the whole thing.
- It is time for Europe to wake up to the fact that its not that their governments can't protect them, but their governments won't protect them from terrorists: "Revealed: ISIS terrorist who shot dead cop in Paris attack was a known extremist arrested TWO MONTHS ago for threatening to kill police and served 15 years for trying to murder two officers"--Daily Mail.
- A bird in hand is worth two in the bush: "The uncomfortable truth about Tinder: Claire regrets not fighting for her marriage because she was tempted by the 'eligible' men - while Cath kept a diary of the liars, cheats and weirdos she met through the app"--Daily Mail. From the article:
Every day, Claire Morton thinks back to that moment in November when she could have saved her marriage.
Her husband of 24 years, the father of her three children, had come home from work and announced he didn’t love her any more and wanted to leave.
She sat and calmly listened to his footsteps upstairs in the bedroom as he packed his bag. She didn’t think to follow him up. Not once did she ask him to reconsider. To talk it through. To try to make it work.
‘Bye then,’ she said, as he walked out of the door and out of her life
Though shocked and hurt, Claire, a 53-year-old travel agent from Colchester, Essex, admits part of her was excited at the thought of being single again.
While she loved her husband, like most couples in long marriages, she felt they had become a little staid and set in their ways. Their sex life was hardly the firework display of their 20s, and sometimes she’d look over at this snoring, paunchy, greying man on the other side of the bed and wonder: ‘Is this it?’
The article indicates that she then went to Tinder to find her new exciting life. The results were disappointing and demoralizing:
To Claire, it sounded like a different world; a sweet shop filled with thrills and excitement, all available at her fingertips. Just the pick-me-up she needed.
Sadly, six months later, Claire would do anything to be back in the marital home, listening for the sound of her husband’s key in the door.
For she, like countless other middle-aged divorcees, has found the world of internet dating — of which Tinder leads the field — to be a tawdry, loveless, moral abyss.
In fact, she’d be the first to warn any married woman secretly thinking the grass might be greener on the other side to stay firmly where she is.
Her lack of alarm at her husband's leaving belies any statement that she loved him. The opposite of love is disinterest, and she obviously had no interest in her husband or their marriage.
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