October 11, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Why You Might Need an Underwear Gun"--Lucky Gunner Ammo (6 min.)

Second in a series on "mouse guns" discussing why you might want a small handgun even if you normally carry something larger.

• Ruger is dead to me (sarc.): "RECALL: Ruger American Pistol"--The Weapon Blog. Ruger reports that their American pistol in 9 mm (and only 9 mm), can experience excessive wear on the locking surfaces between the slide and the barrel, which can result in cracking. Although they indicate that this generally requires a high round count of 10,000 rounds or more, they are, nevertheless, offering to replace/repair the defective parts for anyone within certain serial number ranges.
• "Calibers for Beginners: The Amazing .300 Blackout"--The Truth About Guns. An overview of the cartridge, dispelling some myths and pointing out some of the advantages to the cartridge. The author also contends that "[t]he cartridge has, in my firsthand experience, an effective hunting range using supersonic bullets of about 200 yards with an ideal distance being about 50." 

• Related: ".300 AAC Blackout for Deer?"--American Hunter. The author notes that most of the bullets intended for hunting deer are supersonic loads using a bullet of around 125 grain. Because of drop and energy concerns, the author recommends that it only be used for taking game within 125 yards.

• "The 6mm/.24 Caliber 1,000 Ft-Lbs Hunting Minimum For Beginners"--The Truth About Guns. The foregoing is a rule-of-thumb generally accepted as the minimum for hunting large game in North America, and informs some of the restrictions on minimum cartridge size in several states. Not that you can't put down game with less, but this is considered the minimum for "ethical" and clean kills. Of course, it also assumes that the game will be taken inside of 200 or 250 yards. While there are those that are, shall we say, offended by these restrictions, these rules are made taking into consideration that there are hunters that won't educate themselves on the limitations of their chosen loads and only shoot within those limitations, or simply don't care. 

• Related: "The Greatest Whitetail Cartridge Ever Designed"--American Hunter. Although the author was tempted to award the honor to the 6.5-284 Norma and/or .270 Winchester, he concluded that the versatility offered by the .30-06 made it the most deserving.

•   "Using Ballistic Calculators in the Field"--Deft Systems. The author also suggests using a range card with the ballistic information, but with a cover (with a small slit) to cut down on reflection or shine from the paper (including instructions on making one). An excerpt:

Ballistic calculators have generally supplanted DOPE books as the primary source of information for shooters compensating for bullet drop. I would urge serious precision rifle shooters to continue to collect DOPE (Data On Previous Engagements) during select shooting exercises, such as when the shooter knows atmospherics and range, and the target is small. In this way, the shooter can verify how accurate his chosen ballistic calculator is, as well as the data he has entered into it.

And:

My preferred range card is luminescent tape with a sliding window. I hide the majority of it, so that the shooter only sees two corrections through the window. This means it’s not such a huge honking light at night, and there is less of a chance of the shooter reading the wrong data entry. The rifleman can always remove the shielding for day use. The “window” is just a small cutout on one of the pieces of paper which can move up and down.

• "Smoke Grenades – Any Utility?, by T. in Virginia"--Survival Blog. The biggest problem with an individual prepper using smoke grenades, identified by the author, is that the prepper will not be able to project a smoke grenade far enough or of sufficient size or quantity, to mask movement or position. In fact, the individual prepper is more likely to draw attention to his or her position or movement. The author suggests, however, that there might be a use inside a building where the smoke will be protected from dispersion and be concentrated enough to obscure an opponent's vision. But there is the fire hazard to consider. Frankly, given the limited benefits or usefulness to a prepper, I don't think they are worth the cost.
• "Sea Foam: All Purpose Fuel & Motor Treatment For The Prepared"--Modern Survival Blog. The author recommends the fuel stabilizers sold under the "Sea Foam" name. He also finds it useful to add a bit to fuel or motor oil to help keep the engine running clean and dissolve gunk or buildup.
• "AN EVOLUTION OF THOUGHT ON THE THREE GUN BATTERY…"--Civilian Gunfighter. Two main take aways from this article. First, and foremost, is the need to evaluate or reevaluate your tools or tactics based on increased knowledge and experience, or new products. That doesn't mean that you have to change, but that you are open to the possibility that there might be better tools or a better way to do things. I've been following various blogs for long enough that I have seen some considerable evolution in weapons and tactics over time. For instance, Gabe Suarez, when I first started reading his blog, was very much a proponent of the AK weapon system, particularly in 5.45x39. However, he apparently moved away from that system to other weapons, partly, I believe, because of the lack of good quality ammunition for practice. 

        In any event, the author of this article relates:

[I originally recommended] that new gun owners who were interested in self-defense should buy a pistol, an AR-15, and a firearm chambered for .22 long rifle, in that order. I also argued against the inclusion of the shotgun, due to its relatively narrow niche. This year, I changed my mind about that. As I write this, if I had to defend my home with any warning at all, I would retrieve a Remington 870P short barrel shotgun from the quick access safe in my bedroom closet. While the niche of the shotgun is indeed relatively narrow, within that niche, it is almost unequivocal. Within the confines of my home, it is now my first choice.

Read the whole thing.

"Tonya Tapper: 'The Expandable Baton' 1997 US Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FELTC)"--Jeff Quitney (11 min.)

• Encouraging social unrest: "Eric Holder rejects Michelle Obama's call for civility: 'When they go low, we kick 'em'"--Fox News. Holder later explained that when he said kick, he wasn't advocating anything illegal--wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
• They were certain Hillary would win: "Obama Had a Secret Plan in Case Trump Rejected 2016 Election Results"--Intelligencer. The article reports:

The Obama White House plan, according to interviews with Rhodes and Jen Psaki, Obama’s communications director, called for congressional Republicans, former presidents, and former Cabinet-level officials including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, to try and forestall a political crisis by validating the election result. In the event that Trump tried to dispute a Clinton victory, they would affirm the result as well as the conclusions reached by the U.S. intelligence community that Russian interference in the election sought to favor Trump, and not Clinton. 

(H/t Anonymous Conservative).

• A rather gruesome way to die: "79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have killed people by vaporising their blood and causing their heads to EXPLODE"--Daily Mail. From the article:

         Material that poured from the volcano was so hot that it vaporised people's blood, quickly turning it into steam.

        It also boiled people's brains, building up steam pressure in their heads until they exploded, according to a new analysis of remains found at Herculaneum - one of the closest cities to the 79 AD eruption.

I wonder if you could get the same result from a sufficiently powerful Maser. 

• "Armed Man Arrested in Remote Area of Malibu Creek State Park Amid Investigations Into Burglary Series, String of Shootings"--KTLA. From the article:

        The suspect [Anthony Rauda] was located after officials spotted fresh boot prints leading up to a steep ravine about one mile north of Mulholland Highway, west of Las Virgenes Road.

         "Detectives followed the boot prints approximately 50 yards," McDonnell said. "Shortly after that they heard movement amongst the brush, followed by observing a male adult wearing black clothing, walking quickly, who resembled the suspects in the burglaries."

• I think that several weeks ago I had linked to an article explaining the difficulty that China was experiencing with building powerful jet engines for their fighter aircraft. Well, this article explains how they are trying to overcome that deficiency: "Chinese spy is charged with trying to steal America's aviation secrets by recruiting GE Aviation staff"--Daily Mail. According to the article, the spy, "Xu allegedly ran a five-year operation trying to steal trade secrets from Ohio-based GE Aviation - one of the world's leading aircraft engine manufacturers - and other aviation companies, including US military suppliers." He was captured after he was lured to Belgium from China.
• False prophets: "Media Say ‘Time Is Running Out’ to Save Planet 30 Years After Previous Warning"--The Washington Examiner. They made the same claim in 1989, 1992, 1993, 2007 and 2017, in addition to this year. And that doesn't include the predictions of the impending end of snowfalls in winter.
• "It pays to be born rich: Children with wealthy parents are MORE likely to be successful than intellectually gifted kids born to low-income families"--Daily Mail. As I point out to my kids, if your talents and ability allow you to climb a certain number of rungs of the corporate or career ladder, it makes a big difference if you have to start at the lowest rung or half-way up, so try to graduate from the best school you can.
• "This new font could actually improve your memory"--New York Post. The font is called "Sans Forgetica" and, according to the researchers that developed it, because each letter slants backward and has bits cut out of them, it forces our brains to slow down and work harder to process the words in front of us, raising the likelihood that we will better remember what we are reading. You can download the font for free from here. Although the site requests personal information, it isn't necessary to start the download. It downloaded concurrent with popping up the window requesting the information.
• "Is ‘The Benedict Option’ Insufficiently Radical?"--Rod Dreher at The American Conservative.  Dreher addresses an argument raised by one reviewer of his book that, in post-Christian West, Christians may literally have to head for the hills in order to survive persecution. I actually had raised the issue in an earlier post on Dreher's book, entitled "Discrimination and the Benedict Option," where I observed:

The Benedict Option will not withstand a system of law that is empowered to destroy any association that is not approved by the State, and will actively seek to destroy those associations. Yes, I suppose that Christians could develop a system of "house churches," always trying to skirt below the radar, but this will of necessity be a system similar to the cells in a guerrilla organization, not a civilization within a civilization for which the Benedict Option seems to call. The efforts of churches to accommodate the demands of the government and society are ephemeral, because there will always be more demands. But no church is going to run the risk of saying "enough is enough," and face the consequential bankruptcy and other government sanctioned attempts to dissolve said church.

I also noted that the physical separation that protected Benedict will not suffice in a modern technological civilization:

Benedict was successful in large part because of the failing civil government, poor communication, difficulty in traveling, and lack of hostile surveillance that marked the dissolution of the Roman Empire. It is these same factors that allowed Christian communities to survive within the Islamic lands. But just as modern technology has allowed hostile Islamic governments and militant groups to destroy and drive out those surviving Christian communities over the past century, so too will churches in the West seeking survival under the Benedict Option be discovered and destroyed. 

The basic point that I want to make is that the Left will not leave Christians alone to live peaceably, even if as second class citizens. The Left will force Christians to conform to the Left's secular principles--that is, after all, the purpose of the various discrimination claims made against wedding cake bakers and photographers. With Trump's election, Christians in the United States got a bit of breathing room, but as soon as the Democrats retake Congress, I believe that there will be hell to pay.

• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "Scientists connect 3 actual human brains (then make them play Tetris)"--CNET. From the article:

        The team used "electroencephalograms" (EEGs) to record electric impulses from two human brains and "transcranial magnetic stimulation" (TMS) to deliver information to a third brain. The end result: an interface that allowed three human subjects to collaborate and solve Tetris problems using brain-to-brain communication.

        In the test, two "senders" were connected to EEG sensors and communicated to a third person, the "receiver" via a TMS helmet with the ability to send flashes directly to the brain.

       The two "senders" could see the game of Tetris being played, the "receiver" could not. The goal: send a message telling the receiver to either rotate or not rotate the Tetris piece, depending on how the game was going.

       In order to communicate, the senders had to stare at one of two LED lights. These two lights were flashing at different frequencies, meaning that different signals were sent from the brain depending on which light was being stared at. If the receiver received a flash from the TMS helmet, he had to rotate the block.

       Incredibly, five groups of three subjects were able to successfully perform the task 81 percent of the time.

(H/t Anonymous Conservative).