September 5, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Max Talk 037: Buddy Pair Fire & Movement: Break Contact (Front)"--Max Velocity (9 min.)

• The country has been involved in a long, drawn out culture war for the last several decades--a war that conservatives have, for the most part, lost. The only bright spot has been fighting off, and even reversing, some of the attacks on the Second Amendment. This, even though the primary group defending Second Amendment rights--the NRA--has historically been very weak in its defense of the Second Amendment. Curiously, though, other groups seem to have no interest in studying this one area of success and applying its lessons.

       There are some factors that distinguish the fight for gun rights against other conservative movements:

(1)  It has a very simple strategy: "Not one inch more."

(2)  Enemies of the movement are named, mocked and vilified.

(3)  The goals of the enemies of the movement are clear and easily demonstrated, and provide strong motivation for members of the movement.

(4)  There is no interest in compromise with enemies of the movement. 

(5)  Betrayal brings swift justice, whether it be loss of votes, loss of money, and/or loss of reputation/ostracization. This means that elected officials, companies, or prominent members of the community must consider whether they will be punished for ill-considered actions.

Other conservative movements would do well to study the successes and failures of the movement to preserve the right to self-defense, and learn and act accordingly.

• "Getting Out of a Jam – Clearing Malfunctions in an AR-15"--Guns America Blog. Other than the author's pedantic dislike of the term "jam" or "jammed," the article does offer some good points on clearing a jam in an AR.
• "Gun Science: Home Defense Ammo Penetration Test -- We compared the effects of handgun, shotgun, and rifle ammo on construction materials used in most homes. What we found was surprising"--Range 365. Watch the embedded video. If you have seen or read the results of these tests before, you know what you will see: handgun bullets will just go right through everything, buckshot will penetrate through several layers of sheet rock wall, and the AR bullets will start to fragment and/or keyhole after the first few layers. My complaint, again, is that there is no fiberglass insulation between the layers.
• "How to Make Sure Your Shotgun Really Fits You"--The Truth About Guns.
• "Thermal And Night Vision Revealed"--American Rifleman. A nice overview of the topic, including explaining the different "generations" of traditional night vision technology, modern digital night vision technology, and thermal imaging. For instance:

       Today, digital night vision optics with improved sensors—most often a charged coupling device (CCD)—are designed to deliver flawless performance day or night without the need for a special lens cover. Sure, digital night vision scopes are, in fact, night vision scopes through and through; however, they process differently … digitally speaking. Digital night vision incorporates an electric signal. Remember, traditional night vision follows this process: Photons become electrons, which become exponentially more electrons before converting back into photons again to create an image on a green display. Digital night vision, on the other hand, works in the following manner: Light particles enter the objective lens and are converted to an electric signal in a high-tech CCD sensor. The electric signal is sent to a display, often a liquid-crystal display (LCD) or active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED). Digital night vision displays are often black and white; although several color filters also are available.

      Digital night vision performance has averaged between Gen 1+ to Gen 2+ generations without paying an arm and a leg for top-end imaging at either level. Current prices average $500 to $2,500—not bad for an optic you can use day or night.

• "Hiding From Aircraft and E and E"--LDS Gun Site. 

"Top Science News - August 2018"--Suspicious Observers

More failures to detect dark matter, but a lot more intersteller dust.

• "Ancient treatment may help fight 'superbugs'"--UPI. Poultices using clay--not just any clay, but a low iron "blue" clay--help fight infections by breaking down biofilms that bacteria produce to protect themselves.
• "A picture of the weakened signal."--Dalrock. He writes:

        The primary risk of the feminist strategy to delay marriage is that once a cohort of women finally reach their late twenties/early thirties and is ready to switch from Alpha F*cks to Beta Bucks, the cohort of Beta men they are counting on may not follow the script.  There are a number of ways this can happen.  One is that a percentage of the Betas could decide they’ve become accustomed to remaining unmarried, and decide to pass on the suddenly reformed party girls demanding that they “put a ring on it”.  But reformed party girls can be very persuasive, so they may be able to overcome this initial resistance.

        However there is another way this can play out that soon-to-be-reformed party girls should take more seriously.  The Betas they are counting on to focus on education and career during their teens and twenties (in order to be able to play the Beta Bucks role in their 30s) might elect to coast instead.  If this happens, persuasion won’t help.  The unprepared men can no more go back and focus their teens and 20s on education and career than the party girls can go back and focus their youth and fertility on a husband.

• How's that gun control working out for you? "Firearm Discharged up to Every Six Hours in Gun-Free London"--Breitbart. 
• "Levi Strauss CEO: Why Business Leaders Need to Take a Stand on Gun Violence"--Fortune. Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi Strauss, is committed at frittering away his shareholder's money for his personal virtue signaling. He writes:

        First, we have established the Safer Tomorrow Fund, which will direct more than $1 million in philanthropic grants from Levi Strauss & Co. over the next four years to fuel the work of nonprofits and youth activists who are working to end gun violence in America.

        Second, I’m proud to announce that Levi Strauss & Co. is partnering with Everytown for Gun Safety and executives including Michael Bloomberg to form Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety, a coalition of business leaders who believe, as we do, that business has a critical role to play in and a moral obligation to do something about the gun violence epidemic in this country. I encourage every CEO and business leader reading this to consider the impact we could make if we stood together alongside the broad coalition of concerned parents, youth, elders, veterans, and community and faith leaders who are committed to shaping a safer path forward.

       Third, we know that some of our employees have been personally affected by this issue and want to see change. Therefore, we are doubling our usual employee donation match to organizations aligned with our Safer Tomorrow Fund. In addition, we’re encouraging employees who are concerned about gun violence to get involved. Levi Strauss & Co. provides employees five hours a month (60 hours a year) in paid volunteer time and we recently expanded this to include political activism. We’re encouraging our employees to use their time to make an impact. 

At least the new "Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety" will make it easier to identify those businesses that hate normal Americans. Keep a list of names.

• "'Strange disappearance' of WikiLeaks consultant in Norway"--DW. From the article:

       The internet transparency entity WikiLeaks tweeted on Sunday about Arjen Kamphuis' "strange disappearance," saying he has been missing since August 20, when he left his hotel in the northern Norwegian town of Bodo.

       WikiLeaks said that Kamphuis, an associate of founder Julian Assange, had a ticket for a flight departing on August 22 from Trondheim, which is over 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of Bodo.

       "The train between the two takes (approximately) 10 hours," suggesting he disappeared either in Bodo, Trondheim or on the train, WikiLeaks said.

The police have started an investigation.

• "Researchers find way to spy on remote screens—through the webcam mic"--Ars Technica. Basically, they can figure out what is being displayed based on the hum given off by the equipment.
• "Explore the Guts of Computing With Arith-matic’s S1-AU Kit"--IEEE Spectrum.  "This handheld ALU has two internal registers to hold numbers for addition and subtraction. The result can also be fed back into a register to accumulate arithmetic results, and flags test for conditions such as a zero."
• "A Quorum of Strangers: On the isolation of Mormon men"--Pearls & Swine. The author notes a problem that I think many recognize, but few want to acknowledge:

       There is very little in LDS culture that fosters male friendship. Mormon men have no equivalent of going out for a beer, one of the few socially acceptable male reasons for getting together in American culture. Any free time outside work and church callings should be spent at home with family. Period. I remember an EQ president who berated the quorum for hunting or fishing or playing sports with friends. The time for high school buddies was over, he said. Now it was all about taking care of our wives and children.

        When women make time to be with their friends (as they should), it’s billed as a much deserved “Girl’s night out.” The male version is much less common. Because men are “out” all day at work; why should we need time away? 

The youth meet once per week on Wednesday evenings for activities and games. The Relief Society regularly schedules activities where the women can learn new skills or hobbies, have games or listen to presentations on particular topics. Activities for the men are irregular, if they happen at all, and for the most part seem to focus around bringing the kids or wife along: e.g., the annual fathers and sons outing, and the occasional quorum pot-luck. There used to be weekly sports meet-ups for basketball or softball (depending on the season), but even that seems to have declined precipitously.