How a hippie takes a shower

You can't convince me that wasn't an intentional face shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayHKDgWfgfA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Bourbon trifecta

Apparently, it takes a lot to smoke brisket.

We'll be here all night.

About to smoke meat, soooo

Need to crack some cooking lube open.

Torture device has arrived

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Bus catches thief

Ouch.  Karma says SMACK!

Phone thief doesn't look both ways before escape attempt.

http://m.guardiannews.com/world/video/2013/may/18/phone-thief-runs-in-front-bus-video

Bear Attacks

There have been a few of them in the news lately.  There was this one in Canada and I'm not sure exactly what was going on with this guy.  Instead of getting a good defense ready, we're on the phone.  I dunno.  Oh, Canada - guns are taboo.

Not an attack, but That Guy sent me this story and the part that baffles me is that the lady decides to jump in her car and go looking for the bear.  I dunno.  To me, that's how attacks generally happen.  People pushing animals by trying to get too close.

This one from Wisconsin takes the cake, though.  A guy is attacked by a bear.  The wife goes and gets a shotgun.  Yay!  Good bear defense.  Then clubs the bear with it.  Huh?

Turns out she didn't know how to load it.  I guess Joe Biden is proved wrong again.  Probably because he doesn't know jack squat about shotguns in general.  Poor Joe. 

At one time I was guilty of taking my wife (or new people in general) to the range and just wanting to get them excited about shooting.  So, after the safety rules we started shooting.  I went to the range like I always do, mags all loaded to save time for shooting.  Then, I realized my mistake.  I wasn't teaching them to fish.

I started teaching mag loading and manipulation consistenly after that.  It's not the glamorous, fun part of shooting but it's just as important as trigger press.  I also realized that talking about and teaching firearm manipulation may have more exciting to the new people than I realized. 

If you have guns in the house, teaching momma how to load the shotgun may just save you.

Lots of bear activity lately.  I wonder if they make an ankle holster for a .500 S&W?

ALWAYS Fight

If necessary, to the death.

 

A man and wife fought an intruder to protect their home and young child.  They fought like they should fight.  Violently, without pause and with all means at their disposal.  The husband fought with the intruder while the wife retrieved a knife and stabbed the intruder to help her husband.  That takes a lot of mental strength.

 

A firearms instructor once told me to: "Fight, fight, continue to fight.  If you die, you make sure the attacker dies first so they will be your servant in Valhalla."  That is a smart plan.

 

Would they have been better off with a firearm?  Of course.  But that didn't stop them from fighting for all they were worth.

 

Lessons:  keep the door locked, even when you're home.  Be paranoid when opening your door to unknown people.

 

Oh yeah, and always fight.

P90X Day 1

(*&^ that sadistic &$(*@ son of *^%$#.

I swear, if I get my hands on that *^#$*...

I can't lift my arms.  I think that's a good thing.  One of my first thoughts was how many regrets I have for letting my fitness slide so much.  I remember doing push-ups until I was bored counting.  Now an 18 month old could count my push-ups for me.

I don't feel like I'm going to die anymore, so that's a positive thing.

It's about time I've buckled down.  I just think of how much this will improve my shooting and I can push through it.  That and a little Van Halen in the headphones doesn't hurt.

More thanks and happy mommy's day

This thanks goes out to Miss K.  Take a trip over to Miss Ks World.  I will warn you, it's what I call a time vampire.  You'll go to check it out a little and next thing you know you've been there for a long time.  She makes me laugh.

Also, happy mommy's day to Miss K and all those moms out there.  I hope it's incredible.

A thanks to new followers

A lot of thanks to Ronnie Jay and John Shirley for following my ramblings.  I appreciate it, though I've taken my sweet time to tell you so.  Links going in the sidebar.  Thanks again.

Just one warning:

Your "yikes" of the day

I've read that the guy was ok, which is good, especially since he pretty much folded in half.  Just a long walk back to the planned drop zone.

Skip to :25 or so and watch real close.  It's gonna be quick.

The best comment I read:

"Talk about premature evacuation"

Department of Defense yanks 3D printed gun specs

I'm not sure how this works or the legal ramifications of what they think they're doing, but I find this a highly interesting legal case.

Defense Distributed files are being removed from public access at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls.  Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information.

I'm not sure how they think it will work.

That and it's already been downloaded 100,000 times.  As we all know, it's real easy to put the genie back in the bottle once something hits the internet.

That cheeky Samsung S4

Mrs 45er and I were having fun playing with the S voice on her new phone.  Check out what it had for answers when asked questions about its competitor.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs HTC One

Ok, this post is going to be long and I know a lot of you will just glaze over, but it may benefit a few.  Some have shown interest in knowing about these phones from a disinterested third party that knows more about 1911s than smart-phones, so here it goes:

Let's get ready to rummmbllllle!

Well, as much as you can rumble when geeking on smart-phone tech.  I mentioned a little while back that I had received my HTC One and was diligently playing working on it to flesh out all of the pros and cons.  Mrs. 45er received her S4 a week later and has had it for the weekend.  I've been comparing the functions and workability of both phones as well as seeing how well they work together. That in addition to reading and watching different in-depth reviews that shed a lot of light on the pros and cons of each phone. 

First, a disclaimer (well, first I guess the FTC garbage about how I had to buy both of these phones and they are in no way a gimme, by any means). 

So, now my actual disclaimer:  I am biased against Samsung.  It's important to know this so that you'll understand that if I say anything positive, it is hard-earned (and somewhat begrudgingly done).  Mrs 45er and I have had 100% failure on all of our previous Samsung devices.  That would be a TV, Blu-Ray player and two smartphones.  I swore that my Samsung phone would be the last product I would get from them.  That is why I went with the HTC One.  Mrs 45er stuck it out and we read reviews and she decided to give them one last try.

First part, the hardware and case.

HTC One wins the looks and durability part.  The HTC has an aluminum body case and is a good looking phone.

HTC One, picture taken with Samsung S4

Samsung stuck with plastic.  The phone is light, but doesn't have a solid feel.  Detaching the back off of the phone is a scary endeavor that makes you wonder if you're going to break something.

Samsung S4, picture taken with HTC One

That said, the Samsung phone does have the ability to remove the battery and has a spot for an upgrade on the SD card.  Fine and dandy, except the base model S4 is shipping with a 16 GB card and (from recent reports), half of that memory is eaten up by "bloatware" or pre-installed carrier software, so it sure better be upgradeable.  The HTC One base model ships with 32 GB of space.  Everything I have see so far says it is not upgradeable.

Software:

I'm not going to get into specs, but the Samsung does have the newest version of the android OS.  The HTC, for some reason released their new phone with software that was a step behind.  I've not seen any demonstrable differences yet.

Speed:

Both phones are smoking fast.  I'm not going to get into Gigahertzes and thingses, my precious.  Just know that for a regular to heavy phone user, the speed is very good on both models and screen movement is smooth, even with games and videos.  Data speed is not fair to talk about too much, since it is all based on carrier and location.  Mostly it's not that great around here, but the phone still seems to do pretty well.  Both of them are VERY fast when connected to WiFi.  For the phones themselves, I'd say it is more fair to judge that way.  I had no problems at all playing videos or even watching TV on the phones and download time and buffering is minimal to non-existent.

Power usage:

Both phones seem to do pretty well.  Compared to our old phones, these are practically battery camels so it's hard to be objective when you're euphoric that you don't have to charge halfway through the day.  With regular usage (including internet and video), my HTC phone lasted the entire day.  It needed to be charged by the end of the day for sure, but lasted until the day was through.  There is a power saver function that I tend to leave on all of the time with no real disruption and that seems to make the phone last twice as long.

The S4 also does very well.  The battery is a bit bigger than the HTC, and while the display is a touch larger (making me think more battery drain) it also seems dimmer.  Mrs 45er has no issues making the phone last at least an entire day.

Display:

Speaking of the display, on both phones it is very impressive.  The Samsung has a bit larger area, but less pixel density than the HTC One.  The screen size makes the Samsung seem larger than in actually is.  The phones are comparable in size, though the S4 is a bit thinner.  The S4 probably wins by a smidge on screen, but it being a little dimmer might negate the win.

Samsung S4 on bottom, HTC One on top

For size comparison and thickness, here are the two together (Samsung on top of the HTC):

As you can see, though the Samsung seems larger when viewing the screen, they are actually really close tot he same size.

Features:

S4 does win in the feature category.  It has more flash-bang, gimmicky features than does the HTC (touchless gesture operation, face detection, eye movement detection).  Though not all work perfectly.  The phone also has more "fun" features to play with.  Both cameras work well and both have a main and front-facing camera.  The HTC does pretty well in low light and has a much wider angle on the front-facing lens.  The Samsung actually has voice activation for taking the picture, which is pretty darn neat.  It recognizes the words "cheese," "smile," and "shoot" the latter word might have interesting consequences if you aren't careful.  Most importantly, both cameras take very fast pictures and have great recovery time.  You can snap one picture after another instead of missing all those shots or telling your young kids to "hold still."  That's like telling the wind to stop blowing.

One interesting feature that Samsung has introduced is their "S Voice" which seems to be a direct competitor with Siri on the iPhone.  I was a little jealous of that feature until I found a great app called "Sherpa".  It's in beta version right now, but you can get it for android and the voice recognition is pretty accurate.  It hasn't really messed up on anything I've asked it so far.  Even if you don't have a new phone, this might be something to look at for an android OS.

NFC and Bluetooth:

So, basically NFC (Near Field Communication) is the cool new thing for file transfer.  You turn it on (or leave it on), pick a file and touch the backs of the phones and when they buzz, touch the file and it transfers.  Whiz-bangy, I know.  It's also pretty cool, especially when you have a sealed phone like the HTC One.  No pulling cards, connecting cords and transferring files.  It is reliant on a chip, so you do have to get the chips reeeaaal close for it to work.  How close?  The HTC One NFC chip is in the top of the phone, the S4 chip is in the bottom.  Straight up back-to-back doesn't work.  With the phones back-to-back, flipping one over or holding them top to bottom does.  That's how close.  You can also transfer files device to device using bluetooth for family phones where you feel more secure and that's much easier.  It can be done from across the room once they pair.

Sound:

Not normally a plus category with a phone, right?  How much is there to say about a screechy, tiny sounding little speaker that sounds like a cat fighting a peacock when you turn it all the way up?  Well, this is where the HTC shines.  While the Samsung S4 has "ok" sound, the HTC One has something they are calling "Boomsound."  There are two rows of speaker holes (with, I'm assuming, speakers behind them) across the top and bottom of the FRONT of the phone.  No muffled cat-screech when you sent the phone down.  The Boomsound in combination with the Beats Audio make this phone something on which you actually want to listen to music.

At the end of the day, I think either phone will make a new phone buyer very happy.  The HTC One was a bit less in cost than the S4 with carrier discounts and came with more on-board memory.  The memory upgrade on the S4 will cost another $50 or so to go to a class 10, 64 GB card if you're so inclined.  For the smartphone world, this is the Glock vs 1911, 9mm vs 45ACP conversation.  Both do their own job in their own way.  I don't see a clear, "OMG this is so much better" phone.  I'd be happy with either as long as it works.  That's me saying a lot about the Samsung.  The HTC One is your sleeker, steady-wins-the-race option and the S4 is your tactical tupperware whiz-bang option. 

I'm going to go back to playing working on my phone, now.

Oskar Blues Brewery; Gubna Imperial IPA

Boy, what can I say about this one?  If you like hops and IPAs, this beer is for you.  This one had everything good about IPA distilled down into a can.  Yes, you heard me.   A can.

For all of those that are starting off with "Ewww, beer in a can,"  you need to re-think what you know about beer.  Just like most people know now that corked wine is really about show and screw caps have a much smaller failure rate, we now know that with can liners beer flavor is not affected by being put into a can.  To the contrary, since cans do not let in light like even the darkest bottles, one of beer's primary enemies is thwarted.   Now, on to one of the better IPAs I've ever had:

Hop Nectar

I have to fall in love with a beer that has "DISESTABLISHMENTARIAN" printed right on the top of the can.

You can see that it poured a clear, darker amber color.  The head was light and very white with a fine foam. The aroma was pure hops, but not overly powerful and lightly sweet.

The first thing to hit you is hops when you take a sip.  Very powerful, but not at all bitter.  I'm not sure how they amped up the hops flavor and toned down the bitter that usually comes with that, but they did it and they did a good job of it.

As the beer warmed, the hops hit actually toned down and you could detect a bit of maltiness along with the great hops flavor.  The only bitter was just a bit on the back and sides of the tongue.  Not that bitter is a bad thing at all, but too much can just shut you down.  This was overall a fantastic beer.  However, I warn you that if you aren't an IPA drinker or familiar with strong hops, you may want to start a bit lighter than this one.

For those of you that are IPA nuts, run, don't walk to get this one.

Now, the price point is rather high.  It comes in a 4 pack of cans and it will run you around $14.00.  This isn't something you're going to be drinking a case of at the 4th of July party.  It's something you want to sit down with and really enjoy (and at 10.0% ABV, I recommend going light on them).  Speaking of that, I'm going to keep doing that.

The Pulleedgience

It took me a while to understand what Itty Bitty was emphatically trying to tell me.  There was a U.S. flag on TV and she was telling me she saw the Pulleedgience that we do.  Since I wasn't watching, it took me a while to orient.  So, after explaining it was the US flag and we SAY the pledge of allegience to it, I smiled inside knowing my youngest is learning the important things.

The curious case of the Wal Mart parking lot deer hunt

I didn't post on this back when I first heard about it because I forgot.  It also didn't have much on facts back then.  Well, it still doesn't but then there is this:

"Defense attorney Jason Huska argued the reckless endangerment charge was unwarranted because he contends Bianco couldn't have known any workers were in the trailers when he fired."

And you've made their point.  He couldn't have known which means he DIDN'T know which means he never should have pulled the trigger.  Case closed.  Bring in the rope and the stool.

Nevermind the fact that none of this scenario should have ever played out in the first place.  There are very few scenarios where piling out of your truck firing your handgun in a parking lot is acceptable.  Every one I can think of pretty much involve someone already shooting at you.

This is what makes the news.  All of you responsible gun owners didn't make the news again today.  Sorry.

CHL holder assists police, stops person from entering school

Over at That Guy's place.  Highly recommended read for an example of what stops bad people from entering a school.

AR-15 used for good - UNPOSSIBLE

Interesting story:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/01/iraq-war-vet-armed-with-rifle-thwarts-gas-station-break-in-police-say/?intcmp=HPBucket

Summary:  Someone working late night at a gas station who also happens to be an Iraq War Vet decides not to take it lying down from a couple of young thugs.  He kicks one, gets his AR and all-of-a-sudden they aren't so tough anymore.  No one is injured, but both are arrested after they scamper away.

Two amazing things about this story:

A. an AR-15 overcame it's inherent evil and was forced to be used to do something good.  I'm also surprised that the Iraq war veteran was able to figure out how to use it, even with extensive training.  After all, Joe Biden says it's so hard to figure out we should all have double-barrel shotguns and shoot through doors and off our balconies with them.

B. according to DHS veterans are potentially the enemy, but here one is doing a positive thing working hard and defending himself from criminals.

I know, go figure.