Month: July 2002

It Ain’t Rocket Science Anymore: Thirty-three Years After Neil
Armstrong. Bill Walker at Laissez Faire Electronic Times –

It Ain’t Rocket Science Anymore: Thirty-three Years After Neil
Armstrong – NASA had a working nuclear-powered rocket back in
1965, but it was scrapped along with most of the rest of the US space
program. We have the technology to colonize at least the solar
system. If government would get out of the way, individuals would do
it. [smith2004] [End the War on Freedom]

There’s a comparison between NASA’s space program and Zheng He which I’d never considered before, but it really fits. Zheng was a Chinese admiral in the early fifteenth century who made several voyages of trade and exploration with fleets containing dozens of enormous sailing ships, far beyond anything Europeans were capable of at the time. After fifteen years, the Chinese government destroyed his fleets, made it a crime to build new ships, and turned its back on the rest of the world.

Arundel grand jury identifies real culprits in FBI shooting. Gregory Kane at SunSpot –

Arundel grand jury identifies real culprits in FBI shooting –
neglect to follow conflicting police orders, expect to be shot. Seems
to me that we get closer every day to a country where the only proper
response to seeing a man in uniform is to shoot to kill. Wish it
weren’t so. [smith2004]
bq.
We should be grateful to White and the grand jury for clarifying this
matter. Now we know that when we venture from the safety of our homes
onto our streets and highways, the folks charged with protecting us
may now kill us if we don’t raise our hands. The fact that they give
conflicting orders will be considered our fault, not theirs.
[End the War on Freedom]

It’s sad that the members of that grand jury have been successfully convinced that Feds are above the law.

Bush administration readies nationwide informant program [Politech]

I’m a bit dubious about this story. Not because I wouldn’t put it past the government, but because the article makes it clear the author has a huge axe to grind. It will be interesting to see what else is written.

Background – Taiwan – The US government has officially stated that China poses a grave military threat to Taiwan.

• BBC: US warns of danger to Taiwan

[nosi News]

bq. Correspondents say this is the first time such a report has questioned China’s commitment to a peaceful settlement with Taiwan and highlights the threat it poses to other neighbours.

I guess even the Pentagon can eventually grasp the obvious, if their nose is rubbed in it long enough. The People’s Republic of China has always been very open about their intention to eventually invade Taiwan.

Another addition to the “Gun-free Britain” page. It seems a UN study has arrived at the same result as the earlier Belgian study, that England and Wales have the worst crime (followed by Australia) of the “first world” countries.

OS X adoption rate draws fire from Microsoft, Corel [MacCentral]

bq. Wall Street Journal staff reporter Pui-Wing Tam quoted MacBU head Kevin Browne as saying that Apple hasn’t made “a concerted effort” to promote Mac OS X, despite opportunity and his company’s demonstrated willingness to support the platform. Browne also reassured Tam that Microsoft will deliver another Macintosh version of Office next year, but expressed long-term concern about Microsoft’s opportunities in the Mac market.

This is nonsense. Apple has made a very concerted effort to promote–or rather, force–adoption of OS X. The reasons adoption has been slow are that existing Mac users generally have to buy a new computer to use it, and that it just isn’t very good.

Citizens of America. Brian Puckett of

Citizens of America in the August 2002 issue of

Guns & Ammo (p. 10):
bq.
Trying Terminology

All gun publications should institute a firm editorial policy of using
the correct terms “normal,” “standard” or “full-capacity” for original
magazines, and the correct term “limited-capacity magazine” for those
unconstitutionally imposed under the Clinton Administration. Keep
focused on that reality, and we’ll see the illegal ban disappear when
the law “sunsets” in 2004.
[End the War on Freedom]

I just refer to the low capacity magazines as “defective,” myself. They may be deliberately defective, but they’re still defective.

Dubya should be very worried about this here story. Older affluent American voters who invested their retirement money in speculative stocks. “The Pringles have since lost about 75 percent of their investment. Far from taking any trips to Europe, they have done what they vowed never to do: mortgaged their house and gone back to work.” The Dems now have a killer issue for the 2002 election, barring fresh homeland terrorism.   [Scripting News]

The Pringles, and the other “older affluent American voters,” are responsible for their own losses. That’s the risk you take when you blow your money on something speculative. Of course, there are no doubt plenty of voters who will go along with an Democratic politicians who offer to help them avoid responsibility for their actions.

European Media and Anti-Israel Bias [aish.com]

A lengthy and informative look at how the European media (and to a lesser extent, the US media) is biased against Israel. Lots of rather disgusting quotes from various European news sources.

I finally got to fire my new “Steyr Scout” rifle last night. I first zeroed the scope using Federal 168 grain Gold Medal Match ammo–the same type the factory used to test fire the rifle. It’s a sort of ubiquitous cartridge with both target shooters and police snipers. The performance was excellent–my first three-round group was 1″ at 100 yards, fired from the bipod.

After zeroing it, I also fired some Hornady 168 grain “Light Magnum” ammo–this uses high-tech propellant and loading equipment to deliver .30-06 performance in a .308 cartridge. I found that at 100 yards, the point of impact was the same for the two rounds. I’ll need to memorize the difference in drops at longer ranges, though.

Recoil was significant–the rifle weighs less than seven pounds empty, so even the regular .308 rounds produce a good deal of recoil. The Light Magnum rounds are a good deal more energetic. After about 30 round of Federal and 10 round of Hornady, my shoulder is still sore. Still, it wasn’t enough to interfere with my shooting, and I think I could reasonably shoot hundreds of rounds at once (although I’d be pretty sore the next day).

The light weight of the Scout is the major reason I bought it–I’m not very strong, and I’ve found that heavier rifles such as my AR-15 don’t really work for me. I can’t aim if my arms are shaking from the strain! With the Scout, there’s no such problem. I had no trouble hitting a one foot steel disc at 100 yards, even when firing offhand. No way could I do that with an AR-15!