I can't be the only one

who finds this funny:

Doesn't it remind you of this?  Come on, be honest. :)

 

It's basically a strap that wraps around your forearm, effectively tying the AR pistol to your hand. ^_^ Read about it here.  Video here.

AR pistol aficionados will dig this new non-buttstock grip enhancement. The SIGTac SB15 Stabilizing Brace slips over an AR buffer tube. It combats muzzle rise by bracing the buffer tube against the top of the shooter’s forearm with a channel and strap arrangement.
At first glance, the SB15 looks a lot like a buttstock that would get you in trouble with the ATF. But, watching the video made a few things clear that keep it in the realm of the up-and-up. For one, there’s no real butt bad surface and it’s soft-ish. The flexible material doesn’t look like it will do anything to control recoil if shouldered. It also doesn’t really install, so much as slip on.

Microsoft IllumiRoom - Extended amazement!

I always thought those light projection displays on buildings were cool, but Microsoft has decided to bring them to your living room.  In a word, AMAZING!

Now if only they would take a better stance on privacy.

Microsoft Kinect ads can watch you while you watch them

Do you fast-forward to skip as many commercials as possible when watching TV via a DVR or On Demand? Microsoft hopes to change all that by offering Kinect-powered interactive commercials called NUads that will watch you as you watch the ads. And if you have Kinect, lucky you, it's coming to your living room before summer.

Conan, what is best in life?

I love this.  Let's hope we get to use it time and time again. :)  via Ordinance corner. 

The Minuteman

I did this one this morning.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts on the gold nosedive

Former Assistant of the US Treasury, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts agrees with my postulate about gold - the FED with Goldman at the forefront are artificially pushing gold down as hard as they can in order to shake out individual investors and presumably gather up what gold they can. 

This is an orchestration (the smash in gold). It’s been going on now from the beginning of April. Brokerage houses told their individual clients the word was out that hedge funds and institutional investors were going to be dumping gold and that they should get out in advance.

Then, a couple of days ago, Goldman Sachs announced there would be further departures from gold. So what they are trying to do is scare the individual investor out of bullion. Clearly there is something desperate going on…

Dr. Roberts goes on to say that most of the selling is really naked short selling - paper gold backed by nothing. 

…I know where the gold is coming from in the market, it’s just paper. It’s naked shorts, there is no gold there. If somebody wanted to take delivery on those contracts nobody would be able to provide it. I don’t know what the source of the (physical) gold is. Some people are saying that the actual stocks available for possession are rapidly declining.

Read the whole thing, it's interesting and has a link to an audio interview.

Weapons of war with a dash of magic government fairy dust!

From The Smallest Minority (blog), More bullet Hoses...

Now, tell me again that these "weapons of war" have "no place in civil society," that they're only good for "killing large numbers of people quickly, indiscriminately."

I whipped this up for you buddy.

I felt it was appropriate given the most excellent comment on your blog header:

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them. 
- Moshe Ben-David

They are doing amazing things with Legos

Lego terminators will be so much easier to fight than the ones made from titanium.

I can't wait to see them build a Lego Petman.

  

Had to add this one:

 

 

 

And this one, lol!

 



What if 1 billion Chinese people had SKS rifles?

Would the Chinese government be able to make people disappear?  Even though the Chinese courts just sentenced 10 people to prison for detaining dissidents in so called black jails, it's most likely just a PR move.  Seriously though, if the people in this picture were all carrying rifles, would they be more or less oppressed by the Chinese government?

We know what immigrants from these nations think.  They've told us time and time again.  Our founders told us as well:

Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. And it is not certain, that with this aid alone they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it.
- James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46.

I ask you, can a people who have never had to fight for their freedom succeed at keeping it?  I think that may be the most important question the world can ever answer. 

Topics of interest today

Topics of interest today:

Bowing to pressure from veterans, Hagel cancels the drone medal.

Two months after the military rolled out the Distinguished Warfare Medal for troops who don’t set foot on the battlefield, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has concluded it was a bad idea. [Duh. - Aaron] Some veterans and some lawmakers spoke out against the award, arguing that it was unfair to make the medal a higher honor than some issued for valor on the battlefield.

Trying to win re-election by attacking the law you helped write? Sounds like a politician.

A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Barack Obama's health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it's headed for a "train wreck" because of bumbling implementation.

"I just see a huge train wreck coming down," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told Obama's health care chief during a routine budget hearing that suddenly turned tense.

Baucus is the first top Democrat to publicly voice fears about the rollout of the new health care law, designed to bring coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans through a mix of government programs and tax credits for private insurance that start next year. Polls show the public remains confused by the complexity of the law, and even many uninsured people are skeptical that they will be helped.

This, sufficiently developed, could actually change the game.  I really thought this would be decades out, but it may only be a few years.

A new type of battery has been developed that, its creators say, could revolutionise the way we power consumer electronics and vehicles.

The University of Illinois team says its use of 3D-electrodes allows it to build "microbatteries" that are many times smaller than commercially available options, or the same size and many times more powerful.

It adds they can be recharged 1,000 times faster than competing tech.

However, safety issues still remain.

Fuggetaboudit.  There's no way I would buy a product whose manufacturer forbids me from lending it to someone or reselling it.  After buying a gadget, that's almost the first thing I do.  "Hey man, check this out!  I just got it!"  Fuck Google if they think they can control people like that.

Google is barring anyone deemed worthy of a pair of its $1,500 Google Glass computer eyewear from selling or even loaning out the highly coveted gadget.

The company’s terms of service on the limited-edition wearable computer specifically states, “you may not resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person. If you resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person without Google’s authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the device will be entitled to any refund, product support, or product warranty.”

Welcome to the New World, one in which companies are retaining control of their products even after consumers purchase them.

Mandating increases in demand always yields increases in price.  That's the way it is.  So what could possibly go wrong?  Who needs market forces or improved efficiency anyway?  We'll just sell another bond to the voters.

A bill that would require prisons, schools and other public institutions to give preference to California farm products handily cleared a committee Wednesday.

The Choose California Act, sponsored by Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), cleared the Assembly Agriculture Committee on a 7-0 vote.

The proposed law, AB 199, would mandate public institutions to buy California agriculture products if the price is within 5% of the lowest out-of-state competitor.

Come on, subscribe to my blog and stroke my ego!

  

I can admit it.  I like seeing that 100, 200, or 300 people have read my posts.  I like it more when you comment.  I like it best when you subscribe!

Before the housing collapse, Goldman Sachs was selling those mortgage backed securities and shorting them behind their client's backs.   Now Goldman Sachs telling people to dump their gold. 

Could this be another example of Goldman manipulating its clients?  If they massively short paper gold, and report their outlook is a 30% drop in the price of gold, they could scare off thousands of gold investors, swoop in and snatch up that physical gold at an artificially created low, and then reap the benefits later on when gold rises, or, if history repeats itself, when the US government devalues the dollar against gold by over 40%.

Starbucks 101

I'm this quickly in order to get my mind off of the events of this afternoon.

I think the Captain will agree with me on this, but what about you?  Don't you think these courses be mandatory for Liberal Arts majors? 

In Seattle, Starbucks workers take courses called Barista Basics and Barista 101. They can earn one and a half credits from City University of Seattle for each of the company's two barista classes, and three credits apiece for higher-level management courses.

Other colleges also recognize the Starbucks training for academic credit through the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service, an organization that reviews and puts its stamp of approval on workplace courses. It's up to colleges and universities whether to accept the credits, but Mary Beth Lakin, director of ACE's college and university partnerships, says 2,000 institutions did so last year.

It never fails - whenever I read one of those "meet the baristas" postboards at Starbucks or other coffee houses, they are always college educated artists.  Poor kids, 10s or 100s of thousands in debt and working at Starbucks.  Perhaps they should add more classes and offer this at a tradeschool instead of universities.  It would be cheaper anyway.

Aw hell, not again.

My prayers go out to those in Boston who have been injured and killed, and to their families as well. 

I know it will sound callous, but please remember that is the time you must be most on your guard against domestic would-be tyrants.  Don't let your fear and your grief be used by politicians to take away your freedoms. 

When the time comes...

What will you barter with?

Bullets?

Booze?

 

Cigs?

Gold and silver?

Even soap is a highly desirable commodity in times of shortage.  Lots of good stuff at SHTFplan.

Mental heath litmus test for gun ownership?

What worries me most about any restrictions tied to "mental health," is the very real possibility that such restrictions will include, or will be expanded to include, all of those people who have taken any psychopharmaceutical.  

It's my understanding that our troops are almost entirely medicated at this point.  Will they all have their rights stripped away as soon as they are discharged?

At a Pentagon that keeps statistics on just about everything, there is no central clearinghouse for this kind of data, and the Army hasn't consistently asked about prescription-drug use, which makes it difficult to track. Given the traditional stigma associated with soldiers seeking mental help, the survey, released in March, probably underestimates antidepressant use. But if the Army numbers reflect those of other services — the Army has by far the most troops deployed to the war zones — about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq were on such medications last fall. The Army estimates that authorized drug use splits roughly fifty-fifty between troops taking antidepressants — largely the class of drugs that includes Prozac and Zoloft — and those taking prescription sleeping pills like Ambien.

Also, close to 5 million kids have been diagnosed with ADHD, an absurd invented illness with symptoms such as "acts as if driven by a motor". Most of these kids have been put on ritalin or similar drugs.  Should they never have the right to protect themselves? 

Today, nearly 5% of American children between ages 6 and 17 — about 4.5 million children — have been diagnosed with ADHD, and two-thirds of those take medicine to control their symptoms. The drugs have helped define a generation of young adults widely known as "Generation Rx."

I think it's clear that we're headed towards a future where the government wants to label every single one of us as mentally ill in some form or another - and they are succeeding.  From the perspective of a long term strategy it's clear that this would eventually disarm the entire population.   

The bottom line is, if we grant them the power to dispose of our rights for any reason, they will simply manufacture that reason at some point.

 

If you don't know anything about the subject, why are you writing laws to govern it?

In case anyone thinks these are made up...

Biden - Just fire the shotgun through the door:

DeGette - the number of these high capacity magazines [will] decrease dramatically:

Feinstein - it's legal to hunt humans wtih 15 round, 30 round or 150 round magazines:

Corn subsidies are still bad

I was sent a link to this article today dicussing the chemical fertilizer runoff from corn and soy farms in the midwest.

The most serious ongoing water pollution problem in the Gulf of Mexico originates not from oil rigs, as many people believe, but rainstorms and fields of corn and soybeans a thousand miles away in the Midwest. 

It's a big problem - drinking water is becoming polluted and toxic. Unfortunately you won't hear many politicians talking about it.  Maybe farming is not as easy a target as big bad evil oil companies, and you can't very well get on camera threating to "kick someone's ass" over fertilizer.  Just one reason among many they should stop all of the subsidies.

 

A survivor of Cuban communism testifies against gun control - powerful!

Listen carefully - this is a man who knows what he is talking about.  Not because he read books.  Not because he sat under a tree contemplating the universe and the answers came to him.  He knows because he was there, he experienced the horror, the terror, the brutality of a government that has no one to stop it.  We must be the final stop.  We must be armed.  We must resist tyranny at all costs.

Earlier I posted a similar video featuring a passionate speech by a Chinese immigrant.  I am sure you will enjoy it also.

You can't beat the laws of economics

Anymore than you can the laws of physics.  Only with physics, it's easier, because we keep learning more and the laws change.  Economic law is well established.   Just like Solyndra, Fisker is going down the tubes.

The government-backed electric car company Fisker Automotive laid off about 160 workers Friday, or roughly 75 percent of the automaker's staff, as it has struggled to find financial backing that would allow it to continue building its high concept clean cars.

The layoff announcement came as the innovative start up faces a looming repayment on a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, and as reports have swirled that it could be preparing to file for bankruptcy. As with the failed solar firm Solyndra, the green car company was once an early pick by the Obama Administration to be part of America's clean energy future. The Obama Energy Department had approved Fisker for a government loan up to $529 million.

Stunned workers filed out of Fisker's Anaheim headquarters Friday morning with their belongings in boxes. One told ABC News that the employees had no advance notice the layoffs were coming, and they were told they would received no severance.

Among Fisker employees, the worker said, there was an overwhelming sense of sadness Friday that even after building a new, environmentally-focused line of gracefully-designed, high-end American cars, they had not been able to find financial success.

Following Henrik Fisker's exit a couple of weeks ago, it was pretty obvious something like this was in the works.  The government doesn't care though.  This quote here is particularly telling with regards to how government employees think.

"Despite Fisker's difficulties, our overall loan portfolio of more than 30 projects continues to perform very well, and more than 90 percent of the $10 billion loan loss reserve that Congress set aside for these programs remains intact," the department [of Energy spokesman] said.

With nearly $1 Billion in losses, we're doing well. hah.

Speechless: Arizona doesn't border Mexico

You are electing these people.  The Captain is vindicated once again as we find out that financially beleaguered Milwaukee is run by more unqualified liberal arts graduates, such as County Supervisor Peggy Romo West (the proud owner of a "Human Services" degree from a technical college), who doesn't know that Arizona and Mexico share a border. 

"If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this," West said. "But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border."

Mrs. Romo West testified in support of a boycott of Arizona claiming that it made no sense for Arizona to enact strict border control law when their state didn't share a border with Mexico, like Texas did.  Chalk one up for the 2004 Hispanic Woman of the Year.