Traitor Galloway

The despicable bastard George Galloway, former Labour MP who told British troops to mutiny during the War in Iraq, is now running for Parliament for the 'Respect Party'. Frankly, I'm amazed that the son of a bitch isn't rotting in a prison cell- taking an oath of loyalty to the crown and then telling troops to disobey orders in time of war obviously isn't something to worry about any more apparently. Thank God that WW2 happened when it did- if we came up against a Hitler now, we'd be screwed because it seems that the free world doesn't place as much value on its freedom as the Greatest Generation did.

Anyway, Galloway is running for a seat in Parliament in Bethnal Green in London. This has become a largely Muslim area in recent years and the Labour MP currently holding the seat, Oona King, has been a supporter of the war. The media reported some weeks ago that this area would be a yardstick of Muslim opinion on the war on Iraq. Galloway, who also met with Saddam Hussein, has been quick to capitalise on his anti-war notoriety by picking the one place in the country he felt sure he could get elected. Actually, he doesn't have a clue- but I'm sure you could tell that already.

While Galloway was trying to smooze potential Muslim voters a group of 30 Muslim fundamentalists surrounded him and proceeded to let him know that voting was un-Islamic, that he was a false prophet, that they had already built a gallows for him and that any Muslim who did vote for him would face a sentence of death. The situation was so serious that Galloway later told reporters that the police saved his life.

In a related story, another group of Muslims interrupted a Muslim Council of Britain meeting and announced that Muslims should not vote in the election.

Religion of Peace strikes again.

Essential Read

Found at both LGF and Jihad Watch is this article by Laura Mansfield. It details her attendance at an Arabic language meeting at a mosque- though the Muslims present assumed she could not speak the language. Amongst the matters discussed were obstructing searches at an airport (proving in one simple step how Mineta's ridiculous aversion to profiling is a danger to the security of the citizens of the US), spooking passengers on an airline and praising terrorists fighting in Iraq. All this happened in a small town mosque in the United States. It makes for very unsettling reading.

This sort of fifth column activity certainly wouldn't have been tolerated during World War 2- and the War on Terror is no less important a fight for freedom. Given our current craze for political correctness though, I cannot possibly see how this sort of treasonous behaviour can be successfully combated.

Religion of Peace my ass.

Confederates vs the Federation

This sounds so much like an April Fool's story that I can't quite believe that it's actually true- but I really WANT to believe it, because it made me laugh.

A bunch of Trekkies battling it out with some Civil War re-enactors; a battle between AA battery toys and black powder rifles. Gee, I wonder who will win?

You couldn't make this stuff up.

Lights Out

I just finished reading the available parts of Lights Out by Halffast (chapters 1-69) and it's a cracking read. The story details the attempts by a small community to survive after an EMP takes out the USA. I've got to say, it's a real page turner and it's pretty action packed. The characters are very well delineated and it's a sharp paced read, switching between episodes of combat, the struggles of the hero Mark and the efforts his community makes to ensure their continued survival. In fact, I can't recommend it enough. A great piece of survival fiction.

The only downside is that it's a work in progress and by the time you get to chapter 69, you'll be screaming out for more- it's starting to get really exciting!

If you read it and want to comment, head along to THR and check out the thread dedicated to the work. All I can say is, great job Halffast- and write quick, I want to read some more!

Lance Armstrong Retires

News just in from CNN- Lance Armstrong has announced his retirement from professional cycling. This years Tour de France will be his last.

Lance is arguably the greatest cyclist of all time and his retirement, while not entirely unexpected, is sad news. The six-time winner (the only rider to ever win that many Tours) will try to get a seventh victory under his belt before he hangs up his shorts. I really hope that he can win this year's Tour de France and go out in a blaze of glory. His focused approach and high-tech training have raised the standard for cycling- his domination of the Tour has been absolutely stunning, he's at a whole different level from the other riders in the peloton.

Here's wishing him luck for a seventh victory.

Grenade Launchers

World Guns has another update to the site and the Grenade Launcher section is beginning to grow, with details on RPGs, the Russian GP-25 and GP-30, the Yank 203 and M79, and HK's M69 and M79.

This site is a real gem for information on military weapons and ammunition. Highly recommended.

More Nazi/Islamist Ties

I posted a while back on a hopeful Nazi wanting to join forces with Al Qaeda. According to Jihad Watch, an Islamic advocacy group in Florida invited a neo-Nazi to speak at one of their meetings. The man in question is the head of a group called Christians and Muslims for Peace. Somehow I don't think they are advocates of peace at all.

This is a particularly worrying trend and while the links between Nazis and Islamists might not seem to make much sense, remember that in World War 2 there were several units formed which comprised of Muslims and which served alongside Hitler's troops.

Amongst these Muslim units were the Free Arab Legion, volunteers from Turkestan in various units, and the Bosnian Muslim Handschar Division. It might seem astonishing that the Nazis with their mantra of racial purity would form these units but this quote from Feldgrau.com is quite telling-

"The reasons for the recruitment in particular of Croatian Muslims by the SS were many-fold. For one, Himmler was fascinated by the Islamic faith, and thought Muslims to be fearless soldiers. Himmler also subscribed to the propaganda theory that Croatians (and therefore the Croatian Muslims) were not, in fact, Slavic people, but actually of Aryan (Gothic) descent, and thereby acceptable to the racially "pure" SS. The fact that this ludicrous theory would not hold up to any kind of serious scrutiny was conveniently ignored. Finally, the Germans were hoping to rally the World's 350 million Muslims to their side, in a struggle against the British Empire. The creation of a Muslim, albeit European Muslim Division, was considered a stepping stone to this greater end."

Dreams of Nazi world domination probably fit in quite well with the goal of a worldwide Caliphate.

The Bavarian Approach

After months of surveillance, German police arrested seven Islamic extremists and raided 31 mosques, homes and offices. The arrests and raids are part of a crack-down on terrorist funding, but the one thing that really struck me was the statement from the Bavarian Interior Minister-

"We'll step up the pressure on Islamist extremists even more and use every possible provision of immigration law to deport as fast as possible those who threaten us or preach hatred."

Europe is often portrayed as being soft on Islamic terrorism but this statement is one that I cannot imagine a British or even American politician uttering right now. In Britain the Conservative Party has made immigration one of the main issues of its election campaign- when introducing the topic Michael Howard said time and again that immigration did not equal racism- but here in the UK that seems to be the way many people feel. After the infamous "rivers of blood" speech made by Enoch Powell back in the sixties, immigration and racism have become intertwined in British politics and to demand tighter border controls and curbs in immigration is somehow seen as being equivalent to racism.

Given the current world situation and the continued threat that Islamic terrorism and culture is to the West, it seems like Powell might have been right after all.

Angelina Jolie

Just a bit of a pleasant distraction.

Immigration Round Up

I've been laid low by my blasted back so nothing more than a quick round up today I'm afraid.

First up, the Minuteman Project seems to be a resounding success in Arizona, although it appears that the ACLU is not helping- according to reports they are actually actively aiding illegal immigrants evade capture.

Head's Bunker has a great article on this today (while you're there go see some absolutely superb photos of his BAG Day gun). If this weren't enough reason to detest the ACLU, have a look at where they stand on the issue of the Second Amendment and the Constitution as detailed by Smallest Minority. Or how about this quote from one of the founders of the ACLU- "Communism is the goal". Perhaps they should change their name to the Anti-American Union?

Next some good immigrant news to bring your blood down from the boil- a Russian immigrant to Israel has been awarded that country's second highest honour for his undercover role combating terrorism. With two dozen confirmed kills to his name, one of his fellow officer's described the agent, known only as Y, like this: "There is something wrong with his fear instinct. It does not exist." It must take some extreme courage to do the job he does.

With an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in the US, one wonders why an effort like this one to apprehend fugitives is not being carried out by the Immigration Service. Surely the question of national security is such that if the US Marshals can do this, illegals could also be cracked down on too? With a terrorist plot foiled in Britain- and an illegal immigrant involved there too- it would seem prudent to take all necessary precautions. It seems that the memory of 9/11 is fading fast for some policy makers. What will it take to make them realise that the security and safety of the citizens they represent is more important than political correctness and expedience?

When is a hate crime not a hate crime?

Remember this is not a "bias crime"- a group of some 30 black teenagers attacked four white girls and during the attack they call out "Martin Luther King" (bizarrely), "white cracker" and "black power". The girls were playing on a basketball court when the black teens told them to leave. An adult intervened and the teens left- only to return later with a gang in tow. They then proceeded to carry out the "non-hate" crime, leaving two of the girls hospitalized.

Can you imagine if the situation had been reversed and a gang of thirty male and female whites attacked four black girls, and uttered the equivalent epithets at them? Don't you think that would qualify as a 'hate crime'. In fact, wouldn't racism be one of the first things mentioned? The phrase double standard springs to mind.

Fonts

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to writing- I like my Word documents to have a nice looking title and finding a suitable font is not always easy. That's quite sad, isn't it?

Well, have a look at the selection at Font Face- both to buy and to download for free. There's a pretty good selection of well put together fonts. Enjoy.

California Moonbats At Work

In a sign that IQs and common sense have fled California, the city's police commissioner has given the chief of police clearance to do away with the standard police issue foot-long, 2lb flashlight- a Maglite I presume- because *gasp* they might be used to defend the policemen's lives.

It seems that one cop beat one suspected car thief with a flashlight and in a shining example of moonbattery all cops are now going to be issued lightweight, totally harmless flashlights. The Chief, Bratton, claims that taking away the issue sturdy flashlight is in the best interest of the department and the city. I can't quite see how taking away a torch from police officers who routinely carry sidearms, shotguns and batons is in the best interest of either the cops or the citizens whom it is their duty to serve and protect. I'm sure that a lot of officers would carry a torch while on duty knowing that they do not have to draw their weapon or baton, because if they are surprised the heavy flashlight can be used as a makeshift weapon to defend themselves. Perhaps if they have the plastic 7-inch model instead (insert rude joke of choice here), they will be more inclined to have their pistol drawn.

Surely it should be the job of the chief of police to ensure that the men and women serving under him have the absolute best equipment available to deal with any emergency- perhaps in California though, the job description has been altered to make life as pleasant as possible for criminals?

Raptors

When Jurassic Park was first released there was some controversy about the size of the Velociraptors in the movie- Spielberg had been unhappy with the true scale of these prehistoric monsters and had his SFX people make them much larger than they really were. Of course, it turns out that at around the same time a new breed of raptor was discovered, a species which was actually a little bigger than Spielberg's made-up raptors; these were Utahraptors.

The Velociraptor itself was fairly small, about two feet high and six feet long, weighing in anywhere between 30lbs and 200lbs depending on your internet source. It's spring-loaded, killing toe-claw was about five inches long. The Utahraptor on the other hand was a much bigger specimen- eight feet tall and twenty three feet long, it weighted roughly a ton. It's killing claw was ten inches long. It's fore-claws were also much better developed than its small relation and it most likely used these big sickle claws in its attacks too. Talk about dangerous game!

I've just begun reading an account by paleontologist Robert Bakker of the life of a Utahraptor, Raptor Red. I picked this up for next to nothing on Amazon ages ago and I wish I hadn't left it sitting gathering dust for so long because- three chapter in- it's a gripping read full of the sort of details about life in the Cretaceous that I've always longed to know. If you like the Jurassic Park movies or dinosaurs in general, then this work of fiction makes for an essential purchase, it's much better than working through a dry textbook. Bakker's a very entertaining writer and his real love of the subject matter comes through everything of his I've read.

As impressive as the thought of the Utahraptor is, it is surpassed by the aptly named Megaraptor. This is an even bigger beast- ten feet tall and twenty six feet long. Most impressive though is the powerful toe-claw, it measured 14 inches in length. To get an idea of the scale of this monstrous dinosaur have a look here to see how it compares to man. Pretty scary.

Flight of Fancy

This simply stunning piece of art is an image of the comic character Magma by the talented Joshua Middleton. The colouring of the piece is just incredible, making it one of those pictures you just want to stare at for a while.

New Cartridge

There's been an awful lot written lately about the need for a new cartridge to replace the puny 5.56mm currently issued to NATO forces. While this round does leave much to be desired those opining that a return to the big 7.62mm is required are missing one vital point: while it's all very to say that needing to take 2 or 3 hits to incapacitate a target negates the advantage of the small 5.56mm because a 7.62mm can do the job with just one shot, not every shot is aimed at an enemy combatant.

The basic tactic employed by the infantryman is fire and manoeuvre- firing towards the enemy to keep their heads down while your buddy advances. In this situation the superior stopping power of the 7.62mm is a rendered useless- and you need a lot of ammo to do this. I can remember the first time my troop practised this action and I was surprised by how quickly we burned through our ammo. Even taking your time and firing maybe three rounds each "hop" only allows you ten moves before you need to reload. And you may be advancing to one target to engage a large number of enemy before moving on to another target, not knowing when you can get a re-supply to replenish the ammo you can carry on your person. The more ammo you can carry the better.

The HK G11, with its small caseless round, offered the soldier the ability to carry an awful lot more ammo than normal- with one 50 round magazine loaded and two more carried on the weapon itself. However, I suspect that the terminal ballistics of this round were not superior to the 5.56mm. Given what's available today, the best option would seem to be a round similar in size and weight to the 5.56mm but with better stopping power. Once again, the 6.8mm SPC seems to fit the bill.

Monica Bellucci

My Other Half's blog now contains a good selection of (very funny) jokes and images- go see them here.

She has also added a great photo of Monica Bellucci for me. Am I a lucky guy or what?

Six Million Dollar Man

Well, not quite Steve Austin, but if DARPA gets their way, within four years- read that again, four years- we will soon have available a prosthetic arm that "will be controlled, feel, look and perform like the native limb". I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again, but we appear to be in a time of rapid technological advancement- spearheaded by the USA and in particular their military. The next decade is going to be a particularly interesting time to live through.

The development of highly advanced artificial limbs like this will be of particular benefit to those US servicemen injured in combat. As ACE detailed in a post some time ago, in Iraq the survival rate for those injured in combat is much higher than in any other conflict and one of the reasons for this is battlefield amputations. This extreme method has proven to be be highly successful in saving lives and it is fantastic to hear that DARPA is making this effort to aid these men. Of course it goes without saying that this development will also aid civilian amputees around the world.

Hat tip to LGF for the story.

Zombie Genocide

I bought myself a very rare thing recently- a made-in-Northern-Ireland zombie movie. Called Zombie Genocide, it dates from the early nineties and was put together by an outfit called Midnight Pictures. It is an exceedingly low budget affair and the technology involved at the time was such that they had no editing facilities- it was shot in scene order on camcorder.

The premise is simple- a group of guys are out camping for a week and when they return to town they discover it deserted- save for the walking dead. If you can get past the jarring nineties fashions and the obvious cheapness of it all, it's actually a fairly watchable movie; if you're into this sort of thing. If you aren't a BIG fan of zombie movies don't bother. I actually enjoyed it and I liked that they made the most of their limitations by constraining much of the action to one house and a few outdoor locations. As an example of what you can do with a few friends, a camera and some motivation, it's superb and if you ever felt like you wanted to make a cheap horror movie, then check this out to see how it's done. It would be really interesting to see what they could do with a remake of this film because I think the set-up was well conceived and though the acting and dialogue need sprucing up a little, with a bit more cash and the kind of technology available in on the modern home PC it could be a great little movie.

The Cost of Living

After checking out a "where's the best place to live in the US" thread on The High Road I feel thoroughly sick. If you live in the States you have no idea how lucky you are (although I suspect you do- well, hang on a moment, you'll feel even better about it in a second). I posted the other day about the price of fuel- $6 here, compared to $2 there- and now I'm looking at the price of housing. Damn, I shouldn't have done that.

If you want to see what the property is like in my neck of the woods go and have a look here. I've picked a couple of places to show you the range of what homes cost in the village I live in. The first is worth £68,500 (almost $130,000) and the second is £275,000 (just under $520,000). The first house is a former terraced council house; that is, it was built and then rented out by the government at low cost . Usually after living in one of these homes for a number of years the residents have the option to buy, at a much lower price than a normal home of the same size and type. Buying it and then selling it on is a great way to move up the property ladder- and houses at that price in this area are few and far between. The lowest priced detached house on that website for instance is more than £130,000- that's over $250,000.

Now, according to THR, I could even get 20-30 acres with a home in OK for about $150,000. I've had a quick browse around Realtor.com for prices in Texas and Oklahoma and....a home for $40,000? You won't find anything like that over here for that price. Unbelievable.

BTW, here's an interesting little survey to find out which area best suits you- Find Your Spot. Seems like I should be living in Alaska or Montana.

New Blog

Hat tip to Head for linking to this new blog- Parallax Adjustment. Shooter is a RKBA libertarian and though there are only a few posts up so far there are already two which are must reads- South Texas Work Day and I'll Take Fries With That. The former in particular is of interest given the focus on illegal immigration in America at the moment. It's pretty scary- how Republican and Democrat politicians can continue to ignore this problem any longer is beyond me.

Go check him out.

Shooting in Rafah

This morning I read this piece on LGF- comparing the contrasting versions of a shooting incident in Israel. According to the Palestinians, three teenagers innocently playing football were shot by the Israeli Army. According to the Israelis, the teens weren't playing football at all and prior to their run at them, all three were crawling in the dirt in a closed military zone. I know which version of events I tend towards.

Well, not so long ago I came across this on CNN. The bias is fairly evident- if you know the background of the story. The first paragraph mentions that the teenagers were playing football and despite the sub-heading on 'conflicting reports', the article doesn't do very much of anything to portray the Israeli version of events. It does mention that warning shots were fired but that's it- the article still gives the impression that these were innocent kids playing football.

Whatever happened to fair and unbiased reporting of the facts?

Flight of Fancy

Fairy tales aren't just for kids you know.

Great Story

It's the little news stories like this which can brighten up your day- a Marine recruiter tackles a purse snatcher and holds him until the cops arrive.

Outstanding.

Venezuela

I posted a while back about Venezuela buying 100,000 AKs. Well, it seems that small arms are not the only thing they are interested in. Thanks to LGF for this link about them now buying chemical and biological agents. Though I can't recall the source (probably LGF again) there was a story a while back about Venezuela farming out a contract for their ID cards to Cuba- agents of which are already working for the Venezuelan government.

While the WOT continues and wary eyes look to the growing threat of China, it would also seem prudent to watch Venezuela closely. Especially when their close ally is the communist dictatorship Cuba.

Cost of Driving

Way back in October I posted about the price of diesel here in the UK and in the States. The prices don't seem to have changed much. In the States there's talk of fuel rising in the summer to $2.35 per gallon. Rising to $2.35. Right now people in the UK are paying around $6 per gallon and though we moan and bitch about the price the government happily increases the tax on fuel every budget, usually citing "green" concerns. This is obviously a lot of crap because the cost doesn't stop anyone from driving and all they're really interested in is getting more cash flowing to the Treasury. It won't matter if Blair gets back into power in May, or if the Conservatives do, for both parties see fuel as a big earner and they won't want to kiss their cash-cow goodbye. Either way, the driver loses. It'd be interesting to see how the Conservatives would do if they made reducing the tax on fuel a prime part of their campaign.

IPSC

Cowboy Blob has a fantastic post on an IPSC contest which sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. The two scenarios under discussion are "Say Cheese" and "Get me a Doctor". I'll let the Cowboy describe the rest to you.

Writing Fever

No posts for a couple of days- as well as looking after a sick baby I've been doing a fair bit of writing. It started off innocently enough, going through some drafts and story ideas and the next thing I know I'm engrossed in a story I'd given up months ago. Strange the way things work.

Anyway, I'm cracking on with while the mood holds and I'm using this one to work out some ideas for another similar story at the same time. Bit of an experiment. I'm also considering posting some stuff here- I'll have to think about that one and see if I can get somewhere to put the files.

Silent Derringer

World Guns has another update and it makes for a good read, detailing as it does several Soviet-era silenced weapons. Of the bunch, the one that most took my fancy was the MSP, a weapon designed for up close and dirty work. With an over-under arrangement and barrels only 66mm long (about two and a half inches) this derringer-alike was intended for military and intelligence clandestine operations. Developed in 1972, this is definitely the sort of weapon you'd expect to find in a James Bond novel- for not only was it a small, easily concealed gun, it also fired silent ammunition. Yes, you read right- silent ammunition.

The MSP is chambered for Soviet SP-3 ammunition which operates on a very simple principle: the case holds the usual powder charge but it is contained by a piston. When the primer is struck and the powder ignited the expanding gases push the piston forward and this forces the bullet out of the case. The piston contains the gases however and, as it is these which cause most of the noise associated with a gunshot, the ammunition is virtually silent. It's an ingenious solution to the problem and requires no awkward suppressors attached to the barrel of the gun to contain the gases, allowing for a very compact and stealthy weapon.

Comics in your email

I'm not one for printed newspapers and one thing that I used to miss about this was not getting to see daily comic strips. Well there is an alternative in this new electronic age- sign up and get them emailed to you. For free.

One that I'm very glad I get is Calvin and Hobbes- yeah, it's no longer written and I have some of the strips in the book collections but it's such a great strip that you can read it again and again. I don't think there's ever been a strip that was so funny, heart-warming, touching and insightful as Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is just the coolest kid (apart from my own of course) and Hobbes' disdain for human foibles is spot on. Just wonderful.

Another option is to sign up with Comics.com. Every day you can get two strips emailed to you for free- more if you sign up for an account. My choice is for Tarzan and Liberty Meadows, authored by the excellent Frank Cho. The strip doesn't always give him the opportunity to display his artistic skills but every now and then you can see some wonderful artwork.

Minutemen

It looks like the Minuteman Project- the volunteer effort to stop illegal immigrants crossing America's southern border- is having its first successes. As they carried out a familiarisation exercise they spotted 18 illegals and promptly reported them to authorities who made arrests. They were also responsible for the apprehension of another illegal after he wandered onto the campus where they are staying.

The Project officially begins today and already they can rack up 19 arrests and their presence has caused the deployment of more government agents to the area. Looks like they are well on the way to achieving their aims.

The Way of K

My other half started a blog last year but she didn't keep at it- partly because I hog the PC. Well, last night she decided to start again and rather than do a commentary or anything like that, she is instead dedicating her blog to strange and funny pictures (with the odd celebrity thrown in for good measure) and jokes- you know the sort of thing that people send in emails all the time. Well, if you ever want to see what's going around, or you find yourself in need of something to send back, The Way of K is the place to go. Here's wishing her all the best, though as she's just posted a delightful picture of Marilyn Monroe I have no doubt that her stats will soon put mine in the shade.

Flight of Fancy

I loved the film Incredible Shrinking Man (written by the incredibly gifted Richard Matheson) when I was a kid and it gave me many a happy hour to imagine that I'd been shrunk down myself and had to survive the impenetrable jungle of my back garden. The bad news is that there's a remake on the way directed by one of the Wayans brothers. This does not bode well. The image here is by an artist known as Vincent Segrelles.

X-Men 2 Review

One site which I like to check into now and again is The Superficial- yeah, it's a celebrity gossip site but it's filled with such bile and loathing of some celebrities that I just can't get enough of it. If that's not enough it's also really funny. Anyway, I was checking it through and came across this capsule review of X-Men 2:

And 'X-Men 2' was even worse. Only Hollywood could be so comically out of touch with the American public that they would feature a movie where the US Military - special op’s no less - is butchered by Wolverine. Last I checked, politics aside, people here liked the military, or at least respected their sacrifice. Way to go there Hollywood. Maybe you could make a movie that says f**k you to sunshine and bunnies too.

Pretty perceptive. Oh, and if that's not enough for you he also has some hi-res images of Angelina Jolie like this one. Definitely a site to have in your bookmarks.

Update 17/10/05- Though the Superficial website continues it seems to be manned by a new cast of writers- none of whom are remotely funny or entertaining. It's most definitely gone downhill and has lost whatever entertainment value it once had.

Calorie Counter

Ever eat out at places like Subway, KFC or McDonalds (and a few others besides)? If so, go and have a quick look here at the Washington Post's calorie counter- simply select what you'd normally eat and a horrendously high figure will appear to tell you how many calories you're consuming.

Pretty scary. My only consolation is that when I grab a 12" meatball Sub I usually eat very little for the rest of the day. Looks like I'm going to have to cut down even on that.

Survival Fiction

I came across this thread at the High Road and decided to check out the work in question- it's a piece of survival fiction called Lights Out and it can be downloaded in pdf form here. I'm just about finished reading the first section (chapters 1-10) and it makes for a pretty good read. It's not the greatest piece of literature I've read but it is something of a page turner- I downloaded it yesterday and I'm something like 62 pages in so far, and I want to read more. Partly it's fascination with what's going to happen but it's also well enough written that it's easy to get into and to stay interested in.

I'd recommend giving it a go.

Real Mecha

Yeah, that's right- a real mecha. A company called Neogentronyx is actually building a working mecha. The details can be found at their website where I recommend you download the video of a guy explaining the concept and a little technical information (about halfway down the front page).

This is pretty cool and has some possible future military applications. Giant robots armed with MGs and RPGs have got to offer some sort of strategic advantage. If the US Army likes their shiny plastic rifles so much, I wonder how they'll feel about this?

Dr Who

As you may know Dr Who has recently been broadcast as a new series with Christopher Ecclestone playing the Doctor. I haven't seen the first episode yet- got it taped- but I have fairly high hopes for the series. The bad news is Ecclestone has just announced that he has quit the show for fears of being typecast- pity he didn't consider that before he took the job. I guess he thinks one series is enough to catapult him to bigger and better things. Shame he didn't show a bit of consideration for the show first.

Anyway, for all you geeks and nerds out there, here's a link to the TARDIS handbook. Pretty nerdy stuff but it's the sort of thing I can't help reading through.

Berger-gate

So Sandy Berger has admitted that he "inadvertently" took some classified documents from the National Archive. He also said that it was an honest mistake to remove handwritten notes by shoving them down his trousers.

Perhaps inadvertently should read "deliberately" and honest mistake should be "definitely stole". Can anyone really seriously believe for an instant that a former national security advisor didn't know that he was not permitted to remove these documents? Is that why he "accidentally on purpose" put them in a briefcase and down his trousers?

I find it hard to believe that a year is the maximum sentence for committing this crime- I'd have thought that in an effort to improve security there would be the deterrent of a much stiffer sentence.

I like the way too that the news article ends with a little jab at Bush- of course it's his fault that Berger is going to be charged with breaking the law.

Flight of Fancy

Squaring up against two prehistoric cave bears in this image by artist Miville-Deschenes, I hope this hero is packing some seriously hot loads!

Food for Thought

My back has been giving me a lot of problems lately and I'm back to taking Tramadol for the pain- which makes me feel really spacey. Blogging may be light to non-existent for the rest of the day, depending on how out of my face I get, so in the meantime here's something to have a think about-

Finally, the SHTF and you're forced to leave your home to seek refuge elsewhere. The nature of the crisis is a massive economic collapse followed by a total breakdown in law and order. You have a limited carrying capacity and so you're forced to chose what weapons to take with you. The limits are one rifle, one shotgun and one handgun. What do you take?

Choices left in the comments field are greatly appreciated.

Here's one last thing to think about- if the SHTF tomorrow, would you be at all prepared? Do you have a supply of food, water and a good first aid kit? What about your supply of ammo? Got any fuel to spare? Are you in decent enough physical shape to handle the rigours of the emergency?

.45 Colt Sabot.

A great outdoors gun would have to be a revolver-double or single-action, take your pick- chambered in .454 Casull. A Bowen Alpine Redhawk in this calibre is one of my 'dream guns'. The .454 Casull is a great hard-hitting cartridge and a revolver in this calibre can also handle the much respected .45 Long Colt. Those two cartridges could handle an awful lot of situations and take a good variety of game- the .454 Casull has taken game up to and including rhino and elephant.

For the taking of small game however, the .454 and .45 Colt are a bit big and I was thinking that it would make a great deal of sense to have a small calibre saboted round available. Perhaps in .22- with a very light load as obviously the .45 Colt case has plenty of room to push a tiny round like the .22 out at high velocity. This would enable one to take small game and birds that a big .45 bullet couldn't, thus increasing the usefulness of one gun in a survival/outdoor situation.

I did a quick search for just such a thing but I can't find anything around. I can vaguely recall hearing that a flechette round was once issued to the Air Force for their 1911s so that it could be used to take fish and the like. Is there anything like this- flechette or sabot- available today?

Hogzilla's Cousin

Seems like the giant grizzly bear pictures and story is doing the rounds on the internet again (much like the Hogzilla story). If you want to know the details go and have a look a Snopes page on the incident. The bear had a 29" skull and weighed in at 1200lbs.

While I was checking out that story I came across this one, which is much more interesting to me- Hogzilla's Florida cousin. This boar, taken with a single shot from .44 magnum, weighed in between 1100 and 1200 lbs and had a tusk over eight inches long. Now that's impressive.

Nazis and Al Qaeda

I don't know whether or not to file this one under mindbogglingly stupid or incredibly dangerous. It seems that the leader of neo-Nazi white supremacist group Aryan Nation is hoping to forge a link with Al Qaeda because, he claims, they share the same enemy- the Jews and the US government.

The leader, a damnable fool by the name of Kries, has this message for Al Qaeda- "The message is, the cells are out here and they are already in place. They might not be cells of Islamic people, but they are here and they are ready to fight."

Unbelievable. Surely at a time when American troops are engaged in combat in an ongoing War On Terrorism this would come under the heading of treason? Conspiracy to commit terrorism? Free speech is one thing, attempting to join with the enemy to commit terrorist acts is another.

Cobb MCR-100

An entrant into the SCAR contest, the Cobb MCR-100 looks to be a very good example of the AR family, the main advantage being that it can be chambered not only in the usual run of calibres-5.56mm, 9mm, .45ACP, 6.5 Grendel and .50 Beowulf- but it can also take 7.62x39mm (an M47?). That's a fairly versatile platform for any shooter.

Bits and pieces

Venezuela is buying 100,000 AKs from Russia.

Gun Zone's Rules of Gunfighting- always worth remembering.

The HK M4 is now apparently known as the HKM416. I missed that one- is this genuine or is has it been applied by fanboys? I can't find any info on HK's own website.

Smallest Minority details a story you couldn't make up. Scary.

The USMC begins final testing of the Osprey. Given the massive cost of this program in lost lives, let's hope something comes of it.

An image here of the Colt entry into the SCAR rifle contest (along with some of the other contenders). First I've seen of it.

Robot Medics

The Pentagon is funding research into a mobile "trauma pod", which could perform surgery on wounded soldiers on the battlefield. The idea is to provide even more frontline care to the injured via telepresence. The trauma pod would be wirelessly connected to a surgeon who would control the pod from the rear. The benefit is more access to first aid for the troops and increased protection for surgeons- losing a pod to enemy fire won't be anywhere near as costly as losing a skilled surgeon.

The most remarkable thing about the story is not that the US Army is considering the use of a "robot medic", it's that they caution that the technology won't be on the battlefield for ten more years. Ten years is a pretty short time for this kind of technology to be deployed in my opinion, especially when one considers that the initial research grant calls for the stitching together of two blood vessels. Telepresence surgery does happen now as the article reports but it needs a team of people to man the machine and the surgeon is not wirelessly connected. More information can be found via the links at DefenseTech (of course).

Once again America proves to be a powerhouse of ideas and innovation.

Energy Calculator

Handgun self-defence rounds are tricky to select, but the same also applies to hunting rounds. There are a wealth of calibres available and a range of bullets. Comparing them is not easy- bullet weight, calibre, velocity and muzzle energy all have an effect on performance- but so too does the bullet design. Expanding hollow points are not always the most effective option and hard cast lead bullets can offer devastating penetration and bone-breaking punch. There have been various attempts at coming up with a reliable way of comparing various rounds and one of the most long-standing is the Taylor Knock Out- bullet weight multiplied by velocity and bore diameter and divides the result by 7000 (no. of grains in 1lb). It's not the most scientific method and the TKO has plenty of critics, but when you're confronted by so many different calibres and cartridges, the TKO can offer a simple way of comparing those options.

If you're not into doing the calculations yourself you can go to Handloads.com and use their Energy Calculator- simply type in the details and it will calculate the TKO, momentum and energy of the load in question.

Hydra-Shok

ACE's post on the poor performance of the Corbon Pow'rball load (originating at Gun Zone) and the Box o' Truth tests has gotten me thinking a lot about the matter. To sum up, after penetrating cloth a .45 ACP Black Talon failed to expand, and the Powerball tends to fragment badly. For users of the .45ACP this is a pretty good round up of ammo available for the venerable 1911 et al. It would be very interesting to see these bullet types tested against one another in real world situations. The moral of the story seems to be that you can't always rely on your hollow point or whatever to do what it's supposed to do. In which case the best bet is to carry the biggest calibre you can to make the biggest hole possible.

At the moment I'd be interested to hear more about the Federal Expanding Full Metal Jacket round, a rival to Federal's own Hydra-Shok, which minimises the risk of the hollow point becoming plugged by material by the addition of a centre post.

It's certainly a confusing market for the gun-owner looking for a reliable self-defence round- and if the claims of bullet/ammunition manufacturers don't pan out then it's even more difficult to make the decision. There's a round up of ammunition performance in a number of calibres at this site and it, like a few others I've had a quick look at, rate the Federal Hydra-Shok as the most effective round to load. Seems like it wouldn't be a bad bet, although bear in mind that the usual advice is to load what your local law enforcement carries. And hope they are properly equipped.

Flight of Fancy

I have no idea where I found this image, had it saved to my PC for a long time. It's Flash Gordon and Dale Arden by an artist called Renaud. If the rest of his work is anything like this I'm sure I'd like it.

Update- Paul Renaud's website is here.

Nighthawk

Gary Reeder has a new custom gun out- the Nighthawk. Based on the Ruger Redhawk, it's a four inch barrelled carry gun- though for concealed carry you'd either need to be a pretty big guy or be wearing bulky clothing. The gun is completely de-horned to prevent snagging and is tuned for accuracy and a smooth double action. With rosewood gunfighter grips this would make a very nice packing gun out in the wilds. Available with a gold bead or ramp sight, it's also a damn fine looking weapon as you can see here and here. Personally I prefer the blued model. That is one exceptional looking weapon.

The Nighthawk is available in 357, 41, 44 or 45. The 357 can be re-chambered for the wildcat 356 GNR (a 41 Magnum case necked down to take a 357 bullet) and the 41 can be adapted for 41 GNR or 410 GNR. A guide to the Reeder wildcats can be found here.

The 410 GNR is basically a 454 necked down to take a 41 calibre bullet at high velocities- a 255 LBT bullet at 1900 fps, which is enough power to take a Cape Buffalo with one shot. Pair that up with the Nighthawk and you have a great compact carry gun with awesome power.

New Additions

Two new sites to add to my links list- two blogs by the same guy, though he has more than that! First up is Greenie Watch, an excellent site counteracting bad-science Green propaganda. Very useful when it comes to arguing about global warming...sorry...climate change. The second is perhaps of more interest to those who usually visit here- Gun Watch, a pro-gun blog. His PC Watch is also worth checking out but the ridiculousness of political correctness makes for painful, exasperating reading sometimes. A punchbag might be a handy accessory for reading that site.

Gun Watch brought up some interesting information- states that issue concealed carry permits have had their instances of multiple shootings (more than two victims) drop by 60% between 1977 and 1999! He also points out that guns were used defensively more than 2 millions times each year- compared to the 450,000 times that guns were used to commit crimes. Finally, states which have an "A" rating from the Brady Campaign have crimes rates 12.5% higher than shall issue states.

It's a shame the hoplophobes can't see past their irrational fears.

Flight of Fancy

Shanna the She-Devil by Frank Cho. Cho is the creator of the Liberty Meadows comic strip and his website- with an extensive gallery, including a lot of Burroughs images- can be found here.

If you study the image closely, you'll notice that Shanna's carrying a rifle, a Mauser to be exact.

Update: Just in case you want to see more of Shanna but didn't check out Cho's website for the link, the first issue art can be found here.

Tetravaal

I came across this video clip a week or so ago and I was expecting it to be all over the web by now- but it doesn't seem to be doing the rounds as much as I thought. Anyway, it's a short film which was entered into a film-making contest. That's about all I know of its origins. The clip is made up like an ad for humanoid robots serving as police in the third world- it was shot in S. Africa. It's very well done and the robot cops look very cool indeed. Whoever made it should be given a ton of cash to do a feature length version.

Tanker Garand

While I'm most certainly a convert to the appeal of the Tanker Enfield, I'm not so sure about this shorty version of another classic rifle- the Tanker Garand. Also known as the T26, this was originally a military conversion, rather than the idea of a gunsmith as is the case with the Enfield. When it comes to the Enfield Tankers, I'm all for it- but if I was to buy one I'd most certainly go for a 7.62 Russian conversion at the same time. If I wanted a .303, I'd stick with the full length No. 4 rifle. The Tanker Russian seems to be an eminently good idea- a short, handy light-recoiling rifle that's cheap to shoot. What's not to like about that?

The Tanker Garand is another kettle of fish altogether and I just can't seem to get behind the idea. It's not that I'm opposed to destroying a piece of history- you could "Tankerise" a brand new Garand from Springfield- and it's not that I can't see the benefit of a carbine sized Garand, it seems like a grand idea, but I'm just not sold on it- yet. Give me a day or two and I *might* be singing it's praises! For the time being though, I'd much rather have a Springfield SOCOM 16 rather than going to the trouble of getting a Garand modified so drastically. The advantage over the Garand is mainly in the detachable magazine- 20 is better than 8- but I'd be interested in seeing a head to head between the two to see how they shoot.

Jurassic Park Here We Come

Okay, so it might not lead to the creation of a real life Jurassic Park, but this is pretty exciting news anyway- scientists have found soft tissue dating from 70 million years ago preserved in the thigh bone of a T. Rex. What struck me most about this article is that the soft tissue was found by accident when the bone was broken- according to Horner there might be similarly preserved soft tissue in other dinosaur bones already in museums- but they prefer not to break the bones to look. Seems odd that there aren't some non-destructive techniques to check for this sort of thing. Could be that scientists are sitting on a wealth of information about dinosaurs and actual dinosaur DNA but they just haven't taken the time to look for it.

Mmm, maybe that Jurassic Park idea isn't looking so far fetched after all?

Russian Enfield aka Ogre Scout Rifle (again)

Been doing a little poking around various forums and haven't been able to find much more else about the Russian Enfield. Kevin of Smallest Minority made the very valid point in a comment here that he could just handload a light .303- giving manageable recoil like the 7.62 Russian but with a few hundred extra FPS. It's a good point and anyone not wanting to convert a No. 5 Enfield (the Jungle model) to fire commie ammo could do just that- with the ability to shoot the full power stuff if the need arose. Although the full strength ammo in a Jungle or Tanker model isn't going to be that gentle or quiet to shoot. It's certainly something to bear in mind when considering the conversion. Regardless of calibre I'm now very fond of the Tanker Enfield, whether it's a .303 or 7.62 Russian- that's a very handy looking weapon.

Personally, I don't think that there's a major drawback to switching one of these guns over to 7.62 from .303- the Russian round has enough power to take deer-sized game and it's also proven to be pretty effective against man-size targets too, certainly more so than the 5.56mm. Given the amount of ammo available for the calibre, from cheap surplus to designated hunting rounds, I'd say that there isn't a real advantage to keeping the weapon in .303. The 7.62 Russian has a pretty lousy reputation when it comes to accuracy but that seems to be more to do with cheaply made weapons and poor quality surplus ammo- Gun Mart magazine stated that they were getting 2-3" groups at 100 yards with the AIA M10. That's not too shabby. I'd be interested to see what a full sized No. 4 Enfield converted to 7.62mm Russian could do.

Flight of Fancy

It's been one of those days- right from my first sleep deprived moment awake, it's been one of those days. When it gets like that I like to go to my 'special place' to try and relax. For me, it's Edgar Rice Burroughs' realm of Pellucidar, a wonderfully imagined inner world of a hollow Earth. It's a wild, primitive place filled with the creatures of prehistory- giant cave bears, sabertooth tigers, dinosaurs and primitive man all mingle together in the ultimate wilderness. The first Burroughs' sdtory to take place in Pellucidar was At the Earth's Core, which is available to read here.
Today's image is painted by the legendary Jeff Jones, whose fantasy work is simpy startling. He's not so well known as Frank Frazetta but he's every bit his equal. Jones' galleries can be found here. Me, I'm off to lose myself in this painting of Pellucidar. See you later.

Spider Tractor

We may not be close to the days of giant mechas like those in Patlabor (or the Starship Troopers novel depending on your point of reference), but this looks like a step in the right direction- Defense Tech reports that a Finnish company is manufacturing a six legged lumber carrying machine. It's been designed to minimise damage to forest soils and is capable of stepping over obstacles. I haven't checked out the videos of the machine walking yet but it's on my to-do list.

All we need to do now is up-armour the beast and add in some chain guns, automatic grenade launchers and perhaps a giant robotic arm.

Hogzilla

I'd intended to post on this yesterday after the story showed up on FARK but it totally slipped my mind- but I couldn't let it lie. Seems that the picture which did the rounds on the internet last year of Hogzilla- a Georgia hog rumoured to measure 12 feet in length and weigh 1,000lbs with 9inch tusks- was not a trick of perspective or Photoshop; it's real.

Seems that National Geographic got interested in the story and they did a bit of sleuthing. Hogzilla was a real feral hog, shot and killed by a hunter last year (wonder what he was packing?). The measurements the hunter gave were, however, a little on the generous side. NG put Hogzilla at seven and a half feet long and weighing about 800lbs. According to this Snopes article when a hog is hung it can add up to five feet to the length, perhaps explaining the difference. The 1,000lbs figure was of course an estimate and I don't think anyone could blame these guys for guessing a hog that big to weight that much. NG also tested Hogzilla's DNA and it turns out he had wild boar somewhere in his ancestry. I wonder if there are any more examples of the Hogzilla clan out there?

Bulldog Enfield

I've written a fair bit lately about the 7.62mm Russian version of the Enfield rifle, the Ogre Scout. One of the models that caught my eye is the SIA Tanker model- a very fine looking rifle indeed, and certainly much more shootable than the .303 Jungle Carbine.

Well, I had a look around and came across this example of the Tanker or Bulldog Enfield. It's not a calibre conversion, merely a chopped rifle, but it's a rather nice example of what can be done with the Enfield. An item like this chambered for 7.62mm Russian would be very nice indeed. No doubt more will follow on the topic as I do more Googling.

Students killed for having picnic

One site that I visit every day is Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs- it's pretty much essential reading for me. Today's standout story is the attack on a group of students having a picnic in Basra by a man dressed in the garb of a Muslim cleric leading a group of Sadr's Mehdi Army. At least two were left dead by the attack. The attack was carried out because the Mehdis claimed that they had a duty to prevent the students from "dancing, sexy dress and corruption". They are evil bastards and it's a damn shame that they weren't all killed when they were fighting the American forces- yet more evidence, if we needed it, that appeasement does not work.

I wonder what the Moonbats would have to say about this? How many of them are students who like to hang out with the opposite sex and *gasp* listen to music? The Times adds this detail to the story- when the students at the university tried to organise protest demonstrations (ring any bells, Moonbats?) the Mehdi Army threatened to mortar bomb the campus. Perhaps some of the Moonbats would like to adjust their view of the world and appreciate the fact that they have the freedom to protest without having their universities bombed? Somehow I can't see it happening- I also can't envision any demonstrations being organised to support the Basra students.

LGF makes for pretty scary reading a lot of the time and there are some days when it just seems too depressing- kids are being killed because they wanted to have a f**king picnic? Bookmark it now. Go and read every day.

More Russian Enfields

MadOgre's scout rifle of choice- a bolt action 7.62mm Russian- has apparently been accepted by the Horde, with many- myself included- suggesting the Enfield rifle converted to fire the commie round. My own preference for this type of weapon in the previously posted on AIA M10-A2, an entirely brand new weapon rather than a conversion. Ogre's own suggestion was the Special Interest Arms Enfield K- a conversion of existing Enfields to the shorter 'jungle' configuration. This seems to be a very good choice and SIA offer a number of options including synthetic stocks and match grade barrels.

Of the SIA range the "Tanker" model- so named because of the impression that the cut down weapons were issued to tank crews (they never were)- caught my eye. It's an Enfield converted to 7.62 Russian with a barrel cut to 16" or 18" and with original sights and modified stock. It's a very handy looking item indeed and my interest in the Russian Enfield concept has been piqued even more by this example.

Moonbats a global phenomenon

It seems that the moonbats, those prime examples of cognitive dissonance, just won't go away. Preferring to stick their heads in the sand rather than face the reality of two totalitarian regimes being toppled and millions of people liberated, they continue to protest the war in Iraq- that would be the war which one could say ended some time ago when free elections took place for the first time in a generation. No, the moonbats would prefer to believe that there is such a thing as an "Iraqi resistance"- a terrorist movement made up of fighters from many different countries who have committed atrocity after atrocity against Allied troops, foreign citizens working in Iraq and, let's not forget, the Iraqi people themselves. Somehow the Moonbats would like to believe that these are freedom fighters- since Iraq has already held free elections and elected its own government, I'm not quite clear what freedoms they believe these terrorist thugs are fighting for. True to their nature, they are blithely ignoring current events and continuing to protest Bush's war- the fact that Bush has succeeded in Afghanistan and the "quagmire" of Iraq and has spread the seeds of freedom to the Middle East is, apparently, not taken into consideration.

The latest display of a rather serious case of Moonbattery can found right here in the UK in the "ten good reasons to vote Liberal Democrat". It's a bizarre list- of the problems facing the UK right now opposing Bush and Blair on the war in Iraq would seem to be curiously redundant. Perhaps they are opposed to liberating oppressed peoples and would prefer it if homicidal dictators were still in power?

The rest of the Lib Dems list doesn't make for any better reading. Strangely, while they confront the absolutely essential election issue of student tuition fees, they make no mention of immigration or the War on Terrorism (perhaps their stance on Iraq is their position in the WoT?)

Flight of Fancy

A female Indiana Jones as imagined by Adam Hughes. Many more examples of his superb artwork can be found at the Comic Art Community Adam Hughes Archive.

Interesting Website

Thanks to a link at Kim du Toit's site today, here's an interesting site called Box o' Truth- the page in question involves testing the effects of clothing on bullet expansion. The results are more than a little surprising with the .45 ACP Black Talon performing poorly, amongst others. Makes for a good read, particularly if you carry a concealed weapon. The moral of the tale is that heavy clothing can seriously inhibit hollow points from expanding.

Lever Guns

ACE posts today on the great idea of the new .460 S&W magnum in a lever gun. I've already posted (a few days back) on Wild West Guns' Model 04 in .500 S&W magnum- well, that lever gun is also available in .500 Linebaugh, .480 Ruger and .475 Linebaugh, and .454 Casull. Though it only mentions 500 and 454 on the WWG homepage, this site mentions the other calibre offerings. I'm sure it will not be long before the 04 is also available in .460 S&W magnum. In fact, WWG will probably be one of the first gunmakers to do so.

Other manufacturers seems to be pretty slow to jump on the big bore lever-gun bandwagon. Marlin offer the Model 1895RL in .480 Ruger/.475 Linebaugh, but other than that big-bore lever guns are sparse. Puma have the M92 in .480 Ruger and .454 Casull but that's about it as far as I can tell. It's a pretty odd situation considering the popularity of big-bore handguns- surely the market is calling out for companion lever guns to go with them?

Now that's what I call BIG bore

The muzzle of an A-10 Warthog gatling gun and the 30mm shell it fires.

AIA M10 Enfield

I've really got to get used to the idea that I can post pictures now. Here's today's gun of choice- the Australian M10A1 in 7.62mm Russian. This has an eighteen inch barrel. The A2 variant comes with a sixteen inch barrel.

AIA M10 "Russian" Enfield

I wrote a while back about the Australian International Arms M10-A1 rifle- a 'jungle' Enfield chambered for 7.62 Russian. This compact bolt action will not only fire the commie round, it'll take AK magazines. I thought of it instantly when MadOgre wrote about a scout rifle for the Horde. While the CZ he suggested is a great rifle, I think I'd have to go for the M10- mainly for the standard 10-round magazine capacity and the added bonus of taking 20 and 30-round AK magazines. The only adjustment this weapon would need for the scout rifle role I think, would be to mount the scope forward of the receiver.

The Gun Mart review (UK magazine) of this rifle pointed out that this is not a surplus adaption- it's a brand new gun, with the magazine well designed specifically for the AK magazines, and capable of fast magazine changes. The extractor has also been modified from the original screw type to a plunger type. Accuracy using quality ammo was only 2-3" at 100 yards but recoil was pleasant compared to the .303 Jungle carbine- when the semi-auto rifle ban was put in place in the UK jungle carbines became popular items for practical shooting contests. The reviewer states that the M10 shoots better than other straight pull rifles in the 7.62 Russian calibre.

Bourne Ultimatum

Word is that, not surprisingly, Matt Damon et al have signed for a third Bourne movie, the Bourne Ultimatum. I'm a big fan of the first two movies but I've got to admit that I've never read the books that they are based on- something I'll have to rectify soon. This article makes it clear that while the third film will have the same title as the book, the plot will be different- they're waiting for a script to be written and Damon says that if they can't make it as good as the first two movies, then they won't make it at all. That's an attitude which seems to be sadly lacking in Hollywood these days.

Been busy

Not many posts lately because I've been swamped just writing- I've discovered that my movie title writing exercise is horrendously addictive but rewarding- I've got a ton of new material out of it. The problem now is finding time to write the blasted stories!

Also, I've been been keeping at the Kettlebell (KB) training. As I've said before using the KB is great fun- it's also a lot easier to ad lib workouts- no weights to change, no swapping dumbbells for bars- just one bit of kit. My strength is building and my CV fitness is also much improved- I feel like I've got a lot more energy now than since I was about eighteen. Yeah, they're that good.

I've all but stopped the military press though, as my shoulders are getting strong enough without them. I prefer now to stick to the swing, clean and jerk and the snatch. A few sets of each is more than enough to get the heart thumping and to bring on a good sweat. It also takes very little time. I also stick on a set or two of squats at the end of the workout. I've binned the box squats in favour of a plain ass-to-ground squat with the kettebell held by the horns in front of me- adds a bit of resistance and also helps me to keep my balance. I've discovered that squats aren't really necessary with KB training as the exercises above are great for your legs- my hamstrings have NEVER been this powerful before- but I'm hoping to start doing pistols soon and this seems to be a pretty good way to get my legs prepared. A pistol, BTW, is a one legged squat that goes very deep. Also, the advantage of the KB squat is that you can get down really low- none of this thighs parallel to the ground nonsense (which is necessary with a bar across your shoulders). Again, my thighs are in better shape now than when I was doing leg extensions, legs presses, calf raises,leg curls and deadlifts- my thighs are showing good development all over. It sounds crazy that a fairly light weight like a KB should do all this but it does work.

I've also realised that I would have been a thousand times better prepared for the rigours of Marine training had I been using a KB. If you are in the service or want to join up, or know someone who is planning to, then get a KB. It's a real strength training tool and is much more effective than going to the gym to lift weights. Muscle mass might look good but military service calls for strength- and KBs deliver. The type of fitness they develop is also very suitable for military training- explosive power for all the sprinting and dashing around, endurance, raised energy levels to cope with the rigours of service life, and a strong back and hamstrings for yomping in full kit. All without the extra mass of gym muscle. I'm hooked.

Flight of Fancy

Savage Pellucidar by Frank Frazetta. Just because.

Department of the Bleeding Obvious

Stunning news just in! During the run-up to the US presidential election the press, according to a Columbia University watchdog, was three times more likely to be negative towards President Bush than to Kerry.

What a surprise. But what happened to the all-powerful right-wing media I hear moonbats complaining about all the time? Could it be that the media is actually biased towards the left-wing? I'm shocked.

Wild West Guns

Wild West Guns Model 04 .500 Smith and Wesson Magnum.

500 Smith and Wesson Magnum

The Smith and Wesson .500 Magnum might be the new big guy on the block, but I'm not overly taken by the Model 500 revolvers. The 10 and a half inch barrelled model seems over large for a handgun and the four inch model is more suited to a back-up gun, rather than a hunting handgun. And the eight inch model- well, it just doesn't seem right. When I think of a hunting handgun, a single action Ruger (with maybe a seven inch barrel) comes to mind. Perhaps that's just my Ruger bias showing but I'd always rate a Smith and Wesson second to a Ruger.

That's not to say that I'm not intrigued by the cartridge- I am. And what I'd like to shoot it in is this- the Wild West Guns Model 04. The sixteen inch barrel version is surely packable enough and it would seem preferable to me to hunt with a light and handy carbine than with a massive 10 and a half inch revolver. Maybe that's just me. I'm certainly not opposed to handgun hunting- I'd love to go after some hogs with a revolver- but when it comes to the .500 Magnum, I'd like to be packing the four inch Model 500 on my hip- and the Model 04 in my hands.

A bit of sad news

I just noticed this bit of news when I was on HK's site- they are no longer producing the G3 rifle, the HK33, the HK53 compact carbine or the HK23E and HK13E machine guns.

Of them all the G3 is perhaps the biggest loss. It's pretty telling that their current catalogue of military weapons is almost exclusively 5.56mm- 7.62mm only appears in their sniper rifles, the PSG1 and the MSG90A1, and in the HK21E. Odd considering that US Special Forces have just selected the FN SCAR in 7.62mm and there's widespread dissatisfaction with the 5.56mm . The SAS also uses the G3 family of weapons and at a time when you'd think that Special Forces from various nations would be seeing an increase in deployments, one of the world's biggest military arms manufacturers ceases production on weapons favoured by such units.

New Army Rifle

According to this Army Times article, the competition for a replacement weapon system is now open. No news on others weapons being put forward for the contest but I reckon that Heckler and Koch has the competition all but sown up with the XM8. It'll be interesting to see what else is put up against it.

And the bad news is that the Army is going to (predictably) stick with the 5.56mm round.

M1A Scout

My choice for a long arm in 1650's America- see Triple Barrelled Rifle post for details- the Springfield M1A Scout Rifle in mossy oak.

Kettlebell routine

Though I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to kettlebell training, I have devised a routine which seems to be working okay. The basic guidebook to KB training is The Russian Kettlebell Challenge- and while it's pretty much essential to learning the techniques involved it's fairly vague when it comes to actually putting the routines together. There is lots of advice on training but if you're anything like me when you start a new training regime you want some sample programs to help break you in.

When I began training I simply went through the entire list of main exercises, doing one or two sets of each. It was hard, but fun, work but as I progressed and my reps went up, it simply became too draining. So I've now come up with a new routine. Here's how it breaks down-

Warm-up with 2 handed swing x 3 sets for 20 reps

1.clean and jerk
2.snatch
3.military press
All the above for 20 reps each hand, x 3 sets

End with box squats for 20 reps x 5 sets

My intention is to carry out this routine as a 'hard training' day and to alternate it with 'easy' days (yeah, right)- on the easy days sets are down and I will swap out the three main exercises with under the leg passes, floor presses and cleans. The aim is to train like so- hard, easy, hard, rest, hard, easy, rest. That gives five days training a week with two days off. My strength and endurance are still not what they should be, but this routine should hopefully rectify that somewhat.

Triple Barrelled Rifle

A while back on Kim du Toit's site he had a game- pick some weapons to carry with you on an imaginary journey crossing America coast to coast around 1650. The rules were one long gun, one handgun and two knives. It's an interesting idea and it gave me more than a little fun thinking about what I'd take with me on such an epic journey.

However, for me the most striking thing about the article was one of the suggestions sent into Kim- "one of those WW2 African survival (Luftwaffe?) drillings (9.3x74mm under two 12 ga. barrels)". I'd never heard of such a thing and every now and then I'll do a spot of Googling for it, but nothing ever seems to come up. If you know more, please put me out of my misery and let me know! Was such a thing ever issued during WW2?

There are modern variants on this theme, and 9.3x74mm seems to be a fairly popular calibre for drillings and even double rifles, particularly among the European manufacturers. One make of these types of weapon stood out when I finally decided to abandon my search for the WW2 variety and that is Heym, creator of excellent bolt action and double rifles in big game calibres.

They make a variety of drillings- twin 12 ga. with single rifle beneath, double rifle with single 12 ga. beneath, and the unusual looking single 12 ga. with single large rifle beneath and small rifle to the side. They also offer the Vierling, the Model 37V four barrel gun. This has double 12 ga. barrels with a small calibre between and below, and a large calibre barrel below that. The large rifle barrel can be had in a number of calibres including 9.3x74mm and the excellent 7x57mm. It weighs in just over 9lbs which is reasonably hefty but it's a gun which offers an amazing amount of versatility. With the small barrel in .22 Hornet, the big rifle in 9.3x74mm and two 12 ga. you have a gun which could handle pretty much any survival situation. Of course, there's an awful lot more ammo to carry when you have a gun in three calibres instead or just one, but the Vierling seems adaptable to just about any place on Earth.

In Kim's scenario this might not be the best choice as there was an 800 round long gun limit (of course with such a gun you would not need to take a side-arm and thus could use the 1,000 round maximum for the various calibres) but the usefulness of such a weapon is very desirable. It's also easy to see why a 12 ga./9.3x74mm would be issued as a survival weapon in Africa- I'm sure the Vierling would fit the bill nicely too.

BTW, for Kim's scenario I originally opted for a Springfield M1A Scout Rifle, a Bowen Classic 'Alpine' Redhawk in .454 Casull (with a mix of this and .45 Colt ammo), a Cold Steel Bushman (as well as being used as a spear, it's a very strong and light knife- you don't even notice you're wearing it when it's strapped on and the blade can very easily be brought up to a razor's edge) and a Cold Steel Rifleman's Hawk.

Terminator not so threatening after all

Sarah Connor is safe- for the time being. Robotics engineers pitted robotic arms equipped with polymer based artificial muscles against a 17 year old girl, who describes herself as a wimp, in an arm wrestling contest. The wimp won against three different robot arms.

The bad news for Sarah Connor, however, is that the originator of the contest didn't believe it would be possible for it to actually take place for decades to come- when he suggested it in 1999! While we still don't have ray guns and flying cars, there are huge advances being made in some fields.

Here comes the future.

Another writing exercise

My last writing tip was to select some old movies for a re-write. Well, I've come up with another- grab a list of movies (go to imdb and do a search for an actor or director) and then try to come up with a plot based on only the movie title. This will only work if you don't have any idea what the film is about, all you have to work with is the title. It's a pretty neat way to get the creative juices flowing and, as well as being a way to while away the time when you can't write, it's also a great way to come up with some new stories.

At the moment I'm working through a list of movies by the likes of Roger Corman and Fred Olen Ray because low-budget trashy sci-fi and horror appeals to me. Movies with titles like "Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys" are also pretty fun to try and plot.

More remakes on the way

Though there must be literally thousands of eager writers scribbling away all over the world, creating new and original material, Hollywood is apparently unaware of them. Instead they continue to plunder their archives, remaking even more films. On the whole I cannot say that this is entirely a bad thing. I enjoyed the Dawn of the Dead remake, for example. In fact, I like it a lot. However, when I read about some of the things that are being remade my heart sank.

In particular I'm hugely disappointed with the news that the Night Stalker is being re-done. For those of you not familiar with it, the movie and TV show starred the superb Darren McGavin as Kolchak, a reporter who investigated the strange and unusual- vampires and the like. In a way, it was the X-Files of its day and McGavin even guested on that show. To hear of a remake is bad enough (they probably won't use the same stories so why not just create their own reporter investigating the weird?) but it gets much worse- to replace McGavin they've picked....Stuart Townsend. Obviously I am entirely underwhelmed by this news. Townsend will not be able to fill McGavin's shoes.

Next up is one that might- just might, mind you- have a little bit of potential, it's George Romero's The Crazies. This is one of my favourite Romero films and it involves an accidental release of a virus by the military on a small town. The virus turns those infected in to 'crazies' and a few townsfolk try to escape. It's a pretty grim tale, partly due to the low budget and partly due to the cold direction but it's been overshadowed- unfairly in my opinion- by his more famous zombie movies. Perhaps a remake might work, especially since Brad Anderson is directing. I haven't yet seen The Machinist but I do have Session 9 and it's a very neat horror movie. Very well put together, nicely paced and with a great creepy atmosphere.

Finally, one that I just don't understand- Nic Cage in The Wicker Man. This is a movie that has a certain cult status and got a lot of press a short time ago with its release on DVD- but even at that it is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Not by a long stretch. Basically, it involves a Scottish policeman- a devout Christian- travelling to a remote island to investigate a girl's disappearance. When he gets there he is shocked to discover that the islanders are pagans. I think this was very much one for its time and while I enjoy it, it seems to have become very dated- and with today's sensibilities I'm not sure that a remake will work at all. Add in the news that they are already tampering with the plot (it's going to be a matriarchal society now) and it doesn't look good.

Number Six

Picking five guns was fun, but five just isn't enough so I'm going to add to the list every so often. Here's number six:

A wheel-gun would be a desirable addition to the collection and this was a very tricky one to choose. Do I go for a double or single action? What calibre? Tricky indeed. I eventually narrowed it down to two options- a .357 magnum or a .45 Colt.

The former, in a Ruger GP-100, preferably in low glare stainless with a 4" barrel, would make for another great defence weapon. However, there's just something about the .45 Colt cartridge. Maybe its the fact that while it's an old time cartridge it can still be loaded hot, with Corbon ammo giving similar power to the .44 Magnum in an easier to handle form. However, as the .38 Special might be suitable for most needs, in many cases it would be better to buy a .357 magunm, giving more power if and when needed- and the same applies to .45 Colt. Why simply get a .45 Colt when a .454 Casull will handle the Colt, but also gives one the added ability to take even more powerful ammo? For example, the hot .45 Corbon load can put a 335 grain bullet out at 1050fps. The Corbon .454 Casull can put a 360 grain bullet out at 1500 fps! While it would be tempting to grab one of the new Ruger Alaskans, I'd much rather have a 5-shot Bowen Classic 'Alpine' Redhawk conversion. Now there's a very nice looking gun indeed.

There's also the Wild West Guns option to consider too of course- their Wolverine Super Redhawk with moonclip conversion lets you shoot .454, .45 Colt and even .45ACP (Yay! More ammo compatibility). But I prefer the Redhawk to the Super and the Bowen is just such a fine looking weapon. Add the moonclip option to that and you'd have a very nice set-up- enabling you to do everything from home defence to hunting. It's also a heck of a lot more versatile than a .357/.38 GP-100.

I did briefly consider the new Smith and Wesson 460 XVR in .460 S&W Magnum as this brute will also handle .454 and .45 Colt. The .460 puts a 200 grain bullet out at a whopping 2,330fps! That's a lot of gun and it seems to be a really flat-shooting cartridge but it's beyond pretty much any hunting situation I'd want to be in. The .454 Casull would be more than sufficient. And even though it's not officially on my list, the Bowen .454 would pair up very nicely indeed with the Puma Model 92, a handy little lever action in .454 Casull, which was reviewed by Paco Kelly of Gunblast here.

Safety Announcement

I'll keep it short and simple. This is NOT what guns are intended for.

Thank you for listening.

A 17-year-old McCandless girl was accidentally shot by her boyfriend Sunday while the two were engaged in "bedroom activities," police said.

"They were engaged in some bizarre activities in his bedroom," Barrett said. "The gun, we believe, accidentally discharged."

The girl, who, as a juvenile, was not identified by police, was wounded in the groin with a .45-caliber handgun and was taken to an undisclosed hospital.

By the way, ouch. That's got to hurt.