kimmy

I don't know about this strange land called "Surrey", but here in Canada, we don't have a Second Amendment. Also, let me add: in the past 7 months or so I've spent about $1000 on firearms safety courses, license, storage cabinet, safe, rifles, and accessories. I certainly wouldn't have done that if I believed owning firearms was wrong. Also, most of my relatives on both sides of my family own and use firearms on a regular basis. Most of my relatives live in locations where "what do I do if there's a dangerous wild animal in the yard?" isn't a far-fetched hypothetical, it's a twice-weekly occurrence. My cousin's 14 year old daughter just inherited my grandfather's 30-30 and used it to scare off a lynx last month. She and her younger brother go shooting with their dad regularly and are completely familiar with safe handling of firearms. I too plan to someday also live in a location where I am more likely to find a lynx in my yard than a hobo, and when that day comes, having firearms handy will be part of that life. And having said all that, I still don't see any reason why someone should need automatic weapons, or concealed carry, or 30-round magazines. I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation to expect people to present a PAL when they purchase ammunition, or to have them keep their ammunition or powder secured. I think the kind of restrictions we have here in Canada are entirely reasonable. -k

...and my bore-sighting lasers arrived today! I ended up getting a couple of bore-sighting cartridges and an SKS sight-tool (plus a pursefull of stripper-clips) from an outfit I found on Amazon.com for super-cheap. The SVT-40 was set up perfectly already, and I didn't have to touch it. The SKS was wayyy off. Should be pretty close now. -k

Heyyy! I am a native of that area reserve! Hopefully this will entitle me to tax and hunting benefits. Must investigate further. -k

Continued here... -k

As a continuation of the other thread, which I think fits much better here than in the Science and Technology folder. I've given up on ever obtaining a Ruger 10/22, and I have ordered a Marlin Model 60 instead. I'm getting the stainless steel/grey laminate model, which is really attractive and should last. I have heard lots of good things about the Model 60. Also, I've obtained my second Soviet museum piece, and it's still not a Mosin-Nagant. It's an SVT-40 -- Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva 1940. (Samozarayadnaya = Self-loading; Vintovka = Rifle; Tokarev was the designer). Mine is a 1941 with a 1944 stock. The stock is interesting, as it's a deep reddish wood, like my SKS. Most pictures of the SVT-40 show a blonder wood, arctic birch. They switched to a heavier, darker colored wood later on as the arctic birch was susceptible to breaking. These darker stocks were not just heavier, but also thicker. They were made for the ATV-40 (a fully automatic variant of the SVT-40). Arsenals had surplus ATV-40 stocks, as the ATV-40 design was abandoned (it was discovered that the ATV-40 was very dangerous to everybody except the intended target.) It's a certainty that my rifle saw action during WWII; SVT-40s were issued as quickly as they could be built. It's likely that mine was issued, broken, and repaired at the arsenal with a new stock. Also interesting about my rifle: instead of a sling loop screwed to the side of the stock, it has a slot drilled all the way through, with brass inserts to protect the wood-- just like a Mosin-Nagant. I have not seen any pictures of SVT-40s with this style of stock. Other than that, it's pretty normal. Six-slot muzzle-break, bronze-colored bolt and bolt-carrier. Came with two-headed oil can, sling, magazine pouch, cleaning kit, and one magazine pinned to 5 rounds. The reasons I have read why the SVT-40 was less successful than expected are that it was overly complicated, difficult to maintain, and heavy. I can vouch for all of these. I received rifle with the trigger group loose in the box; it appears that whoever packed it couldn't figure out how to get it reinstalled. I had to fight with it for about an hour; it's one of the few times in my experience where "hit it with a hammer!" turned out to be the correct thing to do. (I had a rubber mallet, luckily enough.) The mechanism has more moving parts than the SKS, and it certainly looks like it took a lot more shop-time to build. And it's big, heavy, feels really solid, and would probably be a pain to carry around all day. It's a beast. And I love it. Something about it is so bad-ass-- probably the ventilated heat-shield for starters. I disassembled and cleaned and oiled everything, and the action works very nicely. I bought some precision-machined snap-caps for it, and they load and eject beautifully. I am pretty excited to see how it works with live ammo. -k

It's been long established that August doesn't need to see a movie to know that he hates it. He will watch it at some later date so that he knows *why* he hates it. -k

I guess the Ravens beating the Broncos was the only real surprise of the weekend. Before the game I really thought the Seahawks would pull off the upset; during the first half I was almost ready to drop-kick my TV through the wall. In the second half the team I expected to see finally showed up. Russell Wilson had almost 400 yards of passing today, and most of it in the second half. I thought we were seeing one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, instead I had to settle for an epic football game. What a difference those two first half trips to the red-zone with 0 points to show for it made. Imagine being in that stadium and experiencing the rollercoaster of emotion as the home team goes from a 20 point lead to trailing with 30 seconds to go to finally kicking the game winning field goal with just a few seconds left. What a game. As for the Patriots-Texans... meh. I think that everybody knew from the way the Texans finished the season that they weren't as good as their record. Tom Brady is without question going to be remembered among the all-time greats. At this point the only argument you can make him is that he ought to have won more Superbowls than he has. Today he passed Joe Montana to become the all-time leader in NFL playoff wins. -k

Wow, that was quite a performance. I have no idea who Colin Kaepernick is, but nearly 600 yards of total offense speaks pretty loudly. 183 yards of rushing is a single-game record for a QB, and the game generally looked like a track-meet whenever Kaepernick was on the field. I'm a little shocked that the Broncos are out, but the Ravens are always tough. Tomorrow's games should be exciting too. -k

Well, at least it outlasted the Bran Van 3000 Center. Pop stardom is a fleeting thing. Perhaps the Shania Twain Center could be rebranded as the Carly Rae Jepson Center for a few months. -k

While Proposal 6 would, as you say, have given the citizens a veto over international bridges and tunnels, it's clear what was going on. Mr Moroun spent $33 million out of his own pocket to boost Prop 6 and the thinking is obvious. "If I spend $33 million now to pass Prop 6, I can spend another $33 million later and get the bridge vetoed." The nature of the advertising employed-- personal attacks on the governor, flyers reading "More of your money for Detroit?" and similar things portraying the bridge project as a taxpayer gift to poor Detroit neighborhoods. So while the proposal may have been to "let the people decide", it's clear what was really being sold to the voters. -k

Theories about quantum mechanics and atomic structure were pretty useless too, up to the part where they gave scientists the ability to invent transistors and advanced semiconductors and electron microscopes and nuclear power. You and I may not be able to observe electrons jumping between band gaps, but we can certainly observe that our computers and our LED lights work. Today's research into the subatomic structure of matter and the nature of gravity and other topics may be so far removed from day to day life that they seem to be pure nonsense, but at some point in the future it may form the core of entirely new technologies, just as the "modern physics" movement of a century ago led to new fields of technology. I doubt anybody envisioned computers and LED lights when the Bohr model of the atom came out, and who knows what might eventually come from today's theoretical research. New materials? New energy sources? Space travel? A way to keep your beer cold while you're watching the game? We will have to wait and see. I'm sure it will be very exciting. -k

As I understand it, Mr Moroun (not Maroon as I'd spelled it earlier...) has spent a fortune on advertising trying to convince Michigan residents that the bridge will be a boondoggle. The people who voted for Prop 6 obviously didn't trust the politicians who said it wouldn't cost Michigan anything. Can you blame them? It appears they thought the "Yes to Prop 6" committee was a group of concerned citizens rather than a billionaire trying to protect his monopoly. I don't think it's evidence of stupidity per se, I think it's an example of how political advertising works. -k

Throwing away easily winnable races, like the Missouri and Indiana senate races, proves otherwise. Before the election, the claim was that "Claire McCaskill couldn't even get elected Dog Catcher" but now we have the footnote "...unless she was running against Todd Akin." Keep sending crazy-people to run for public office, and I'll make some popcorn and watch. Why do people do anything? Why do people follow sports teams? Why do people who have never been to the Middle East get all riled up about Middle East politics? Why do people go on polar bear swims? Why do you spend 15 hours a day patrolling a Canadian forum for references to America? Why do people watch reality TV shows? Why do the birds and the fish do what they do? Life is full of mysteries. Yes, it must be heartening for backwoods yokels to know that there are still places in America where they exist in sufficient numbers to elect a crazy-woman to Congress. Why? Are you a hoarder? -k

There was a funny segment on the January 9 episode of The Daily Show about Manny Maroon's efforts to stop the new bridge. The segment interviewed 3 Detroit residents-- a housewife, a Tea Partier, and Malik Shabbazz of the New Black Panthers. All are against the bridge. The Tea Party guy is convinced that the bridge is a "Trojan Horse" that will bring Chinese steel and "Chinamen" to Detroit; the housewife and Mr Shabbazz are convinced that despite the claims that the Canadians are paying for the bridge, Michigan will actually end up getting swindled. -k

I have heard of several of these movies! Zero Dark Thirty is the only one I have much interest in seeing. There appears to be a lot of controversy over Kathryn Bigelow's omission from the Best Director category, as she's already received a truckload of other awards and nominations for this film. There is speculation that the Academy Awards snubbed her because they did not wish to be part of controversy surrounding the film's discussion of whether "enhanced interrogation" may have yielded information that helped locate Bin Laden. I also notice that Jennifer Lawrence has another Best Actress nomination this year. I really like her in every film I have seen her in. -k

Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation. They're an English company (in the same sense that the Hudson's Bay Corporation was headquartered in England, not in Hudson's Bay) that was originally established to facilitate British merchants doing business in the far east. No, this leniency is not because regulators were afraid to offend China. It's because they were afraid to offend the banks. -k

There's a black helicopter outside his hotel room! Right there in the hall! GOSTHACKED! How can you watch this crap, Gost?! -k

I watched the first season this week (if a 6-episode miniseries qualifies as a "season", anyway.) I quite liked it. I found Gladys to be a little too pure of heart and well-spoken to be a believable character, and her parents were cookie-cutter rich-guy spit-on-the-poor villains, but aside from that I thought the characters were all quite interesting. -k

"1776 will commence again!!!!" "SUICIDE MASS MURDER PILLS!" "I'm sick of the same old script here, bud!" What a scholar. -k

I've known of Toronto's "Metric" for a long time, and they never impressed me much. It always seemed like a somewhat cheesy outfit based mostly around Emily Haines' short shorts, long legs, and overly-cutesy vocals. But I stumbled onto their most recent record, "Synthetica", and I really like it. It's electronic music with a growl, like Ladytron at their best. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvG77SeIpI -k

I can't stand the Studio disc of Ummagumma, but I love the Live disc. I think the finale is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I know of: It puts shivers up my spine every time. -k

The Republicans would be better positioned to fight progressive nutbars if they stopped picking regressive nutbars to represent them in elections. One can only wonder how many voters said to themselves "gee, I don't really want to vote for the Democrats, but there's no way I can support a bunch of imbeciles like the Republicans." Fiscal responsibility? That sounds like a good campaign strategy! There's still people out there gullible enough to believe that the Republicans stand for fiscal responsibility! But they had that "12th man" on the field for them this election and it didn't help them any. They had a "13th man" on the field, too-- the crappy economy/sluggish recovery. They still blew it. How could they lose an election where conditions were so favorable to unseating an incumbent? How could they lose? By going out and telling large swaths of the electorate that they don't matter. But as you mention, I'm just a spectator. I don't have a dog in the fight, except to the extent that American economics impact me. And as a spectator, I have to confess that the Paul Brouns and Todd Akins provide a lot more entertainment value than the Dick Lugars and Kay Bailey Hutchinsons. I'm sure that Democrats are also hoping the Republicans keep finding guys like Todd Akin to represent them. -k

My point remains that the Republicans seem intent on ignoring the changing demographics and their effect on elections. Despite the blah-blah we heard from some of them after the election about change, it's clear that some of them are intent on stuffing their fingers in their ears and shouting "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" -k

It's a problem because that base is no longer big enough to win elections on its own. The Republicans appear to have greatly overestimated how powerful their base really is. I think the examples of Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin prove what happens when the Republicans alienate everybody who isn't in their base. Not sure what point the references to Robert Byrd or John Kerry were supposed to make. -k

I think the Jets made people forget all about Tebow. I imagine he will end up somewhere else next year; I wonder if he will rebound. -k