Power Factor

I was asked recently, what is the power factor of the ammo we use in Cowboy Fast Draw.  I had to admit that I didn't know.  But, power factor is a well-used terminology in the shooting sports, and while there are several methods of calculating it, the most common is represented in this equation.

Power Factor = Bullet Weight X Velocity / 1000

As we all know, in IPSC, we have to have a minimum power factor of 170 to "make major" and a minimum power factor of 125 to compete.  Various charts abound, but this one comes up quickly on search engines.

I went out this morning early and with a standard wax bullet and weighed it on my well-used Hornady scale.  My particular wax bullet weighed in at 18 grains.  The velocity data was taken last summer in my backyard.  So, a quick-and-dirty power factor on my ammo would look like this:

Power Factor = 18 X 729 / 1000

Plugging the numbers into my calculator gives me this:

Power Factor = 13.122

Now, we know.

Yeah, This

Parents of the guy who walked into a closed Pizza Hut with a gun, intent on robbing the store, are wondering why an employee shot and killed him.

I can understand the grief of parents who lost a child, but they really should grieve in a more private manner.  This seems like an open-and-shut case.  No ambiguity here.  The guy walks into a closed restaurant with a gun, an employee defends himself, and that's pretty much the story.

Too bad, so sad.

Dumbass

Looking away from the election news, we come to this cautionary tale out of Gulfport, MS.

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi attorney is suing Popeyes after he says he choked when he had to eat a piece of fried chicken with his hands because a knife wasn't included in his drive-thru order.

A knife wasn't included in his drive-in order?  What's the problem?  We eat fried chicken with our hands, even on the Gulf coast.

 The lawsuit states that because Newton didn't receive a plastic knife, his only option was to hold the chicken breast with his hands and tear off pieces with his teeth, causing him to choke.
The lawsuit says Newton underwent emergency surgery to remove the piece of chicken from his throat.

That's called "biting off more than you can chew", and it's a common failing among dumbasses.  Another failing among dumbasses is to not carry a pocketknife.

The Mississippi Bar Association needs to revoke this idiot's law license.  If he's too stupid to eat chicken, then too stupid to keep his failure a secret, he's certainly too stupid to practice law.

Cahoots

When somebody is in cahoots (around here, anyway) that's not generally considered a good thing.  Something shady, something untoward.

Well, that's the headline this morning.  HILLARY, STATE DEPT. IN CAHOOTS?
Leak shows campaign coordinated with officials before email revelation

The Clinton Foundation investigation moves apace: Bret Baier: FBI Sources Believe Clinton Foundation Case Moving Towards "Likely an Indictment"

And, in the avalanche of new information since July  5th, the FBI never destroyed the laptop computers of Samuelson and Mills.  I understand that in the light of new information, investigators are combing them aggressively.  Their limited immunity is certainly "at risk".

So, with indictments likely, who might go down with the investigation?

Hillary Clinton
Bill Clinton
Chelsea Clinton
Huma Abedin
Anthony Weiner
Jake Sullivan
John Podesta
Cheryl Mills
Heather Samuelson
Loretta Lynch
Eric Holder
Barack Obama

That's my short list, and it may not be all-inclusive.  I include Chelsea simply because she is tied so tightly to the rarefied air of the Clinton Foundation, she may not be able to escape scrutiny. She may become a plea-bargaining chip around the poker table.

The bottom t three are more problematic.  We can certainly say that Barack Obama knew that Hillary was using an off-the books server and failed to properly supervise his appointee, putting American interests at risk.  They never indicted Nixon, but in the end, Nixon proved to be an honorable man.  He resigned rather than put the country through the constitutional crisis.

Of course, all this is very interesting, and coming during the last week of the election,.. what a ride.

Touristing

I spent the afternoon touring around the local area with my cousin George and his wife, Kay.  We were looking at sites for a possible convention (sorta).

We dropped by Momma's house so that George could visit with Momma.  I certainly enjoyed the visit, and I think that Momma enjoyed it as well.

The plotting continues apace.  I think that the title "Duel under the Oaks" sounds good; don't you?

Oh, Really?

From Joe, who I trust.  Joe links to another site.  Go read, it's amazing.

NYPD Blows Whistle on New Hillary Emails: Money Laundering, Sex Crimes with Children, Child Exploitation, Pay to Play, Perjury

I had wondered why the FBI was interested in the Weiner sexting case.  I thought that was odd.  Normally, that sort of thing is handled locally.  Now, I understand that NYPD is the lead agency and they cooperated with the Feebs on the secret-squirrel stuff.  Now, it makes sense to me how the FBI got involved.

Somebody is going to jail over that crap. It sounds like the NYPD is pissed.

Little Yard Signs

Those little yard signs, the political signs that are all over the US today?  We love them for several reasons.  First, they proclaim to the world our political proclivities.

Second, and more important to shooters, is that they make excellent target holders.  And, while I frown on taking someone's sign from their yard, by this time next week they'll likely be trash.  The election will be over and people will be discarding them.

I normally cover mine in white or brown paper, stick a target to them, and blaze away.  They are durable, weather-proof, and next week they'll be free for the asking.  As a matter of fact, I found six brand new ones in a dumpster yesterday.  They are now in the trunk of my car.

I'm just saying.

It's An Easy Choice

The president cautions us to make sure that we're not being sexist when we make our choice for his successor next week.  From HuffPo.

“I want every man out there who’s voting to kinda look inside yourself and ask yourself, if you’re having problems with this stuff, how much of it is that we’re just not used to it?” he said. “When a guy is ambitious and out in the public arena and working hard, well that’s okay. But when a woman suddenly does it, suddenly you’re all like, well, why’s she doing that?”

Obama went on to praise Clinton. “She is so much better qualified than the other guy,” he said, referring to GOP nominee Donald Trump. “She has conducted herself so much better in public life than the other guy.”

Uuuh, no, Mr. President, sexism has nothing to do with it.  Probably the biggest reason is that she or her close aides are the subject of five separate FBI investigations that will probably result in the indictment, arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of several of t hem.  Other than that, the fact that I don't like her policies at all.  And, added to the notion that her tenure as Secretary of State was marked by one failure after another.

I have no reason to believe that Hillary's presidency would be anything but one horrific constitutional crisis after another, her foreign policy would be a shambles, and her domestic policy would be mired in deceit.  She'd spend all her time in court and the hard work of governing would not get done.

The fact that she's a woman has nothing to do with it.  The fact that she's evil has everything to do with it.

It Never Happens

For something that never happens, this seems to be happening quite a lot.

By mid-October, Susan Halperin became concerned that she and her husband hadn’t received their absentee ballots in the mail.

So Lawrence Halperin called the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Office to find out what was going on. He was stunned to learn their ballots had already been cast. Someone had stolen the Halperins’ ballots, faked their signatures and voted. 

Vote fraud never happens.  Until it does.  A lot.

Palate Cleanser

In the midst of this election season, it's great to remember that there are greater things than the workaday worries that we have.  Sit back and listen to a great old gospel song sung by a great group.



If that doesn't inspire you, nothing will.

I'll Call Your Bluff

According to Hot Air, 35% of federal workers think that they may leave their job if Trump wins.

A new broom sweeps clean in Washington when it comes to cabinet heads and appointed officials, but what about all of the millions of federal workers on the government payroll? Their jobs are supposed to be apolitical and largely independent of which party controls the White House or the chambers of Congress. According to a new survey conducted by Government Executive, a significant number of these workers are signaling that they might “reconsider their career in government service” if Donald Trump moves in to the West Wing.

They're bluffing.  A career bureaucrat with a good salary, excellent benefits, stable job hours, golden retirement is not going to leave simply because Trump is in the White House.  Besides, civil servants are supposed to be apolitical, serving the best interests of the people regardless of who serves in the presidency.

So, I"ll call that bluff.  Y'all quit.  Just walk in to your boss' office and quit. Drag up, haul ass, go to the house.  I dare ya.

If Trump immediately reduced the size of government by 35%, just by showing up for work, that would be a feature.  Smaller government is a Republican standard.  That would be excellent.

Wut?

John Podesta's Best Friend At The DOJ Will Be In Charge Of The DOJ's Probe Into Huma Abedin Emails

Yeah, the guy who kept Podesta out of jail is heading up the DOJ side of the Clinton email probe.  You know, the one where 640K emals were found on the computer she shared with her pervert husband?  Yeah, that probe.

Can you say Conflict of Interest?  Can you say Culture of Corruption?  I knew you could.

Mad As A Hatter

You've all heard the old expression "Mad as a hatter", and might have wondered what that means.  Quite simply, the manufacturers of hats once used mercury in the manufacture and manipulation of felt hats.  Mercury is, of course, quite toxic and the repeated exposure to the metal caused the hat maker to become quite mad.

When you look at a good, felt hat, you will notice that it has a leather sweatband, and at the back of the hatband is a little ribbon bow.  Many have wondered why that bow is there, and the history of it is sketchy.  Some say that originally it was a sizing device.  Indeed, it may have been a sizing apparatus.  Others say that the little bow was simply a device where the hatter could feel inside the hat and know where the center of the back of the hat was, so that he might correctly place the crease.  Others say that the bow was for the wearer, so that the bow would go in the back, preventing the embarrassment of wearing the hat backwards.

The most intriguing story I've heard is that the little bow is a stylized representation of the skull- and-crossbones symbol for danger.  It reminds the hatter that his is a dangerous profession and pays tribute to those who went before in the making of hats.

And now you know as much about that little bow as I do.  If you've heard any other explanations, please shed some light in comments.

The Panic

Gun shows and buying frenzies.  Tam talks about the lack of panic at a recent gun show.

We've seen panics over the past years.  We've been through them, we know how they work.  She notices that nobody is buying much.

It's been a great decade for gun manufacturers, but as Jeff Cooper so famously remarked; "I have mine."  And, maybe that's the key to the conundrum.  The gun industry has changed a bit over the past decade.  It used to be that we'd go to a gun show to see new things, and get a good deal.  Nowadays good deals are everywhere.

I still cruise pawn shops and second-hand shops looking for a good deal, but if it's something I want new in box, I'm just as apt to order it online.  It arrives in a week, I go by the FFL to do the paperwork, and everyone is happy.

Heh!

Seen today on the Book of Face.

I wouldn't doubt it for a minute.

Piling On

Fox News is reporting that the very politicians who praised James Comey for his impartiality are now denigrating him for his Friday afternoon revelations that the FBI is re-opening the Hillary probe.

For Democrats singing his praises just months ago, FBI Director James Comey is no longer the paragon of impartiality.

The bureau boss is now the target of barbed Democratic attacks for his decision to notify lawmakers Friday that investigators were reviewing newly discovered emails related to the Hillary Clinton server case. And some of the same Democrats who over the summer defended Comey in the face of Republican pressure have emerged as his toughest critics.

That's one problem with this whole investigation, which I have entitled Comey's Disgrace.  He went public too early and too often.  In July, he announced that he wouldn't recommend prosecution, and now in late October, he had enough evidence to re-open the investigation.

No one with a lick of sense believes that the probe will be finished before next Tuesday, when the whole nation gets to weigh in on who might be the next president. It's a problem.

Some of us are old enough to remember the Watergate Scandal that drove Richard Nixon out of office.  You might recall that the scandal came to light in October of '72, Nixon was re-elected in November of '72, but wasn't forced to resign until August of '74.  The entirety of his second term was consumed by the investigation and the leaks that came out as the investigation progressed.

There is a cautionary tale there and Comey should learn from it.  The big thing to remember, though, is that this isn't Comey's fault.  This is Hillary's fault.  She chose to do the crime and cover it up.

The Hits Just Keep A-Coming

After the shoot this weekend, I looked at some news sites yesterday, and was amused at the revelations described by the various news outlets.  For those of you just catching up, it seems that the FBI, while investigating the pedophilic activities of long-time Democrat Anthony Weiner, stumbled across a batch of emails in an electronic folder belonging to his wife, Huma Abedin.  Huma, of course, is a close aide to career criminal Hillary Clinton.

Jim Comey, the embattled FBI Director, sent a letter to Congress.

The Democrats immediately went ape-shit crazy.

The FBI got a new warrant to look at the emails in that folder, rumored to be something in the neighborhood of 650,000 files.  Some of those are probabkly duplicates, but it is a staggering amount of emails that directely relate to the Clinton homebrew server and the Clinton Crime Family activities.

It seems that the immunity agreements that the various players got under the earlier investigation have now "gone south".  If law enforcement can make the case using new evidence that is  found in another location, all bets are off and everyone can go to prison.  650,000 emails is a lot to sift through, but the FBI has found a gold-mine of incriminating evidence.

David Burge summed it up best. "FBI finds 650k Hillary State Dept emails on PC of notorious dickpic pervert. Headlines: "Comey Embroiled in Controversy"

Regardless of what the Democrats say, we should remember that this whole brouhaha is Hillary's fault.  She did it, against the advice of everyone (and often in violation of the law).  This entire monkey-circus was solely for her convenience.  Somebody should have told her no.

Craftsmanship

My son is a metal-worker and his wife is a graphic artist.  They've blended their two crafts into one product that is reaaly cool.  They've done some limited commercial applications, for events, and we think that it's just cooler than all-get-out.

Those double-insulated steel tumblers that are all the rage these days.  The two of them have come up with a way to etch the tumbler, to personalize it.  Wife makes a stencil in negavite, hubby applies it to the tumbler, then blasts it in his sand-blast cabinet.  The result is a blasted finish on the cup that won't wear off.  We think it's really attractive and personalizes the cup.

Here's one that they did for Blue Eyed Belle.  That tumbler is a 30 oz RTIC, but they can do any of them.

I think that looks pretty darned great.  Don't you?

The Silsbee Shoot

Belle and I along with Akarate Zach, Cajun Greg and Squirrel traveled to Silsbee TX yesterday to shoot with the Big Thicket Bushwackers.  We had a great time visiting with dozens of gunfighters from all over the state.

I'm still editing pictures, but we have a few notable snaps.

Blue Eyed Belle, in steampunk attire, prepares to engage a small reactive target

We started the match with "fun" shoots, unlike the traditional, scored CFDA match.  It almost resembled a USPSA shoot, with multiple targets and different stages.

Pixie Quick engages a target.

This shoot was a Halloween celebration, and I'll have pictures of costumes later in the week, but some of the costumes were very inventive indeed.  When you combine Halloween, Steampunk, and Cowboy shooting, there is no telling what will show up on the line.

Plain Jane engages a balloon target.  Plain Jane is the reigning national champion of Cowboy Fast Draw

That little balloon target is a challenge.  It causes a whole different set of priorities, because if the balloon doesn't pop, you don't get a score.

Gentleman GGeorge showing his stuff.  If I'm not mistaken, he won this particular match.

All in all, a great shoot.  It was challenging, informative, a whole lot of fun.  As always the Big Thicket Bushwackers outdid themselves provideing hospitality to a bunch of traveling gunfighters.

One last picture.  Major D, and Blue Eyed Belle.  Ain't Belle's hat something?

Breaking! FBI To Look Into Clinton Emails

NBC News broke the story today, and Fox News is reporting that the FBI will continue to look into Clinton's emails.

The FBI language in the letter to Congress makes clear that new evidence has been discovered and thus will be reviewed — meaning FBI agents will read these emails. It is unusual for the FBI to tell Congress it is looking over newly discovered evidence in a criminal inquiry that was otherwise closed.

It looks as if the continuing Wikileaks revelations is doing the job that Comey didn't want to do. This may be a case of "too-little-too-late",   The election is only ten days away, and early voting has started damned near everywhere.

I'm sure that FBI Director Comey has been reading PawPaw's House and the thorough revulsion that an old cop has been outlining against him.  Maybe he decided to try and salvage the tatters of his reputation. He's too late, it's completely shredded. Comey is going to have egg on his face when he has to arrest the president-elect for multiple felonies.

The Assange revelations have shown that the Clinton mob is a corrupt organization, amenable to the RICO statutes.  If Comey is smart, he'll keep his yap shut until he puts his case together, but the first thing he needs to do is to pull the passports of all the principals in the investigation.  We don't want them trying to flee the country when the indictments come down.

**UPDATE** It seems that the FBI found some stuff when they searched electronic devices seized as part of the Anthony Weiner investigation.  You may recall that Anthony Weiner is the husband of Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary.  So, as part of the Weiner investigation, they found new stuff?

That's it, irony is officially dead in 2016.