Spicy dirt, scion and slippers

We are not watching Quicksilver on the weekends, so it is our time to catch up on the things that are difficult to do when she is here.

Spicy Dirt

The numbers in the manuals are dependent on many factors. For one thing, the cut of the chamber, the amount of free-bore and taper of the lands-and-grooves of the throat can make a HUGE difference in velocities and pressures.

Even though those features are detailed with excruciating precision, the specifications are for MAXIMUM material (i.e. smallest chamber) which results in the highest pressures. Manufacturers can make the chamber somewhat larger than the specification. They can make the free-bore longer and the angle of the taper more gentle.

Manufacturers whose customers are most fixated on accuracy want the tighter chambers. Manufactures whose customers are fixated on robust operation even when the beast is fed...um...diverse feed want the more generous chambers.

That is a lot of words to explain why some barrels are "fast" and some are "slow". It also points to the utility of taking velocity measurements of the items you are manufacturing. If you get significantly higher velocities than the manual led you to expect, then some kind of interaction is happening and you are generating higher pressures than Mr Sammy allows.

To record today's findings:

4.0 grains of the spicy dirt of St Marks with a 147 grain, powder coated, cast, antique pewter bead measured 880fps of an expected 925.

4.8 grains of spicy dirt with one brand of 124 grain shiny-things measured 1035fps of an expected 1060fps.

5.1 grains of spicy dirt with a different brand of 124 grain shiny-things measured 1050fps of an expected 1120fps.

That is great news. That tells me that the pressures are within the design envelop and rapid disassembly of my toys is unlikely. If, on the other hand, the measured velocities of the 124 grain assemblies had exceeded 1200fps then that meant that I was exceeding +P pressures and all bets are off. 

I took some scion from this tree. There is a drainage ditch full of flowing water in the foreground. I am curious to see how this variety will do on a size controlling rootstock in a sunny location with a little bit of pruning and fertilizer.

Southern Belle has some pretty chickens.

 

I promised Quicksilver that I would make her some slippers.

She was not impressed. 

I made a trip to the Big-Box store to buy some spike-lights and an electrical timer, cat food (for chum) and sunflower seeds.

I went to the property and picked up a load of wood. It took me an hour-and-forty-minutes to load the truck. I may have had more than 1000 pounds in the back of the 1/2 ton pickup.

Possible carp fishing location

Lake Ovid is an artificial lake in Clinton County. This shallow arm should warm up quickly.

 

Random photo

 

Who says you need a helmet when you are arc welding?

Tradecraft

It is commonly accepted in espionage tradecraft that there is actionable information embedded in even the most mundane of "enemy" communications.

From the Youtube transcript of Susan Rice podcast with Preet Bharara

Note: I cut-and-paste directly from the auto-generated, Youtube transcript without attempting to make it more readable. I did that to avoid accusations that I "spun" Susan Rice's words. My comments are at the bottom of this post.

My apologies for how difficult it is to read.

7:30

support them. You know, I I wish we could muster that kind of energy with greater frequency. But but when it comes

7:37

to the elites, you know, the the the corporate interests, uh the law firms,

7:42

the universities, the media, I agree with you, Pit, it it it is not uh it's

7:48

not going to end well for them. For those that uh decided that it was, you know, that they would act in their

7:55

perceived very narrow self-interest, which I would underscore is very short-term self-interest.

8:00

um and you know take a knee to Trump. Um I think they're now starting to realize,

8:06

wait a minute, you know, this is not popular. Trump is not popular. What he is doing, uh whether on the economy and

8:14

affordability or on immigration now is not popular. Uh and that there is likely

8:20

to be a swing in the other direction. And they are going to be caught uh with

8:25

more than their pants down. they're going to be held accountable um by uh

8:31

those who come uh in opposition to Trump um and win at the ballot box. And I can

8:37

tell you PIT, you know, as I talk to leaders in in uh in Washington, leaders

8:43

in our party, leaders in the states, if these corporations think that the Democrats uh when they come back in

8:49

power uh are going to, you know, play by the old rules uh and um you know, and

8:57

and say, "Oh, never mind. we'll we'll forgive you for all the people you've fired, all the policies and and

9:03

principles you've violated, all you know, the laws you've skirted. I think they've got another thing coming

***

10:48

to that, there will be an accountability agenda. You know, companies already uh are are starting to hear they they

10:54

better preserve their documents. They better be ready for subpoenas. If they've done something wrong, they'll be

11:01

held accountable. And if they um haven't broken the law, good for them. If

11:06

they've done the right things, good for them. That also will be noted and and and remembered. But you you know, this

11:13

is not going to be uh a an instance of,

11:18

you know, for forgive and forget. Um the damage that these people are doing is is

11:23

too severe to uh the American people and to our national interest. on some of

11:29

these things that strikes me and I hear totally hear what you're saying with respect to some of the bending of the knee

11:35

people didn't break the law they just caved and and and people are allowed to make bad deals with so for example ABC

11:42

or CBS or other media outlets who settled for a lot of money even though they had very strong and meritorious um

11:50

defenses to a defamation claim probably not something you can do there

11:55

in terms of um legal violation and maybe can shine a light on it and have hearings to sort of expose some of those

12:03

outlets. Is there anything else you think can or should be done with respect to

12:09

the fourth estate um giving Trump a blank check to intimidate them?

12:14

Well, careful media media people are listening and watching. First of all, uh we we ought to lift up

12:20

those that that have not bent the knee and there are those. uh you know I think

12:26

the New York Times and the Atlantic uh even the Wall Street Journal um

12:32

deserve uh you know credit for for standing up um and uh and and among the

12:39

broadcast networks you know NBC has taken a different approach than than CBS um and so I think you know part of this

12:46

is consumers voting with their their feet and their dollars um but it's also

12:51

to examine uh what may lie behind the scenes. On the surface, it doesn't appear uh that one could argue that

12:58

there that laws were broken, but you know, some of the stuff that seems to be going on at CBS is dubious at best. Um,

***

Reasonable speculation

The Democratic party is freaked-out by the evidence that their near-total control of the media is slipping away. While Rice identified several industries that would be punished, Mass Media is the only industry where Rice mentioned specific corporations as future targets.

Rice threatened CBS and ABC with lawfare. Even though the language is passive-third person, she put them on notice that the next Democratic POTUS DOJ will comb through all of the laws on the books to find something to throw at them even though she admits 

"On the surface it doesn't appear that...laws were broken"

If this was a horror movie, the media would be the vain-but-feckless roommate who discovers that her roommate is an ax-murderer.

Stay tuned! Does vain-but-feckless move out? Does she turn state's evidence? Or does she stay in denial "Oh, he is really not that bad" and drift toward the bloody-and-now-inevitable conclusion?

It is true. NYC requires two forms of ID if you want to shovel snow

 

Source

Yes. If you want to shovel snow in Deep-Blue New York City, you need to have TWO forms of ID and to bring copies.

And yet rage-filled Progressives tell us it is "racist" to require ID to vote.

Maybe that squares with their silly idea that it is "racist" to work? 

Mamdani to Hochul "Unless you dance to the tune I am calling, I shall be forced to raise the property taxes in NYC"

 

His bit of theater reminded me of this clip from Blazing Saddles.

What kind of threat is "...I shall be forced to raise the property taxes"?

Whose political career will that torpedo? 

Weather, First Fish Fry, Spousal Privilege and WOKE judges

 

It looks like Tuesday will be a good day to drive across frozen mud to collect wood.

First Fish Fry of Lent

I went to the first fish fry hosted by our church.

Many customers showed up, especially considering that it is the first week of Lent as observed by the "western" church. Listening to the chatter, several of the attendees had called around to check the prices and menu and decided to drive all the way to Charlotte. 

Is this why LGBT pushed for "marriage"?

To the best of my knowledge, the courts in the US cannot "force" a spouse to testify against the accused. Nearly all other witnesses can be compelled via threat of "contempt of court" charges.

Maybe it is just me, but it seems like the headlines are filled with crimes where there is an accomplice and the "alleged" perps are over-represented by non-traditional married couples.

WOKE Judges

There were multiple causes of the Protestant Reformation. It was comparable to systemic organ failures due to sepsis.

One of the axis of failure (or one of the organs that ruptured) was the tension between "Predestination (the reformer's position)" versus "Free will" which was more the position of the Roman church. 

"Predestination" is based on the belief that God is all knowing. He knew us before he knit us together in our mother's womb. Since he "knows" what will happen in the future, then the future must be cast-in-stone and unchangeable. Therefore, even before we are born, God knows if we will go to heaven or go to hell. Ergo, our divine destinies are not under our control.

"Free will" is based on the idea that we have the choices on a minute-by-minute basis of whether we will follow God's commandments ("If you love me you will follow my commandments") or be selfish. On Judgement Day, we will be called to account for our choices and we will either be consigned to hell or go to heaven.

The argument still rages. Today it is seen in the criminal justice system where WOKE judges and prosecutors refuse to hold criminals accountable "because of their background". It is the secular version of sin, redemption and salvation. Their "logic" is that the violent person was doomed to be violent due to their gender, place of birth, poverty or the color of their skin and therefore they cannot be held responsible for "society's failings".

At this point, society's trajectory under the secular manifestation of "Predestination" is not very promising. 

News from Canada

Meta-analysis reveals that a significant portion of the violent crime in Canada is due to an extremely antisocial family from Sweden, the Gunpersons.

No tree work today

 

It rained last night.

No tree work today. 20mph sustained winds and 40mph gusts are predicted. 

Recommended by a reader (Michael)

The modern American Liberals' search for meaning 

All things are wearisome,
too wearisome for words.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing
nor has the ear enough of hearing.    Ecclesiastes 1:8

 

Grab bag, again

The last couple of days started with rain which cleared up around noon.

Yesterday, I got a call from the gentleman who does brush-hogging near the property. I went out there and we walked the area I wanted cleared.

He gave me a homework assignment. I am to clear out all of the brush over 3" in diameter. Between this, that and the other thing at the property, I spent three hours out there.

A hair rig using corn for bait

Today also started with rain. I made a light day of it. I fiddled around with assembling "hair rigs" with super-glue. The idea of a hair rig is to not bury the hook in the bait. That leaves the entire opening of the hook exposed to catch the lip of the sucker or carp or whatever fish inhales the corn. Carp fisherman use surprisingly small (to me) hooks when using hair rigs. Size six hooks are not uncommon.

#6 hooks are about perfect for crappie. The distance from the point of the hook to the shank is about 3/8" or 9mm.

Hair rigs are almost a necessity when catching sophisticated carp in Europe where they are a prized game-fish and each specimen is caught and released many times. Those fish get pretty smart.

The basic game plan is to wrap a ball of corn and biscuit mix around a rock and then freeze it. Later, chuck it into the water where you expect carp. The biscuit and corn and rock sink to the bottom and the ball of dough thaws thereby releasing "chum" into the water.

Toss your baited hook into the water near the chum and wait. Better yet, have two or three rods going with the chum/hooks far enough apart that they are unlikely to tangle if you hook a fish. Smart yet, put a worm on one line, corn on another and a doughball or cut bait on the third.

Cutting scion

I cut pear, plum, walnut, chestnut and hazel scion today. It is light-duty work.

Seeing what is really there

Quicksilver gave me an education the other day. We were going to be out-and-about and I wanted to be sure that she could find me if we became separated.

I decided to wear a bright, orange hat to make myself easier to find

So I stood in front of Quicksilver and asked her "What color is my hat?" to ensure that she had it firmly planted in her memory.

She immediately responded "Green".

"Stop joking around" I told her. "What color is my hat?"

"Green" came the answer again.

That was disconcerting. She KNOWS her colors.

It took a couple of minutes to sort out the issue.

This is what she saw from her perspective. Yes, it is green.

A similar thing happened on the way to our "event".

I was stopped at a light and she said "Go".

I told her "I can't. The light is red."

To which she said "No, the light is yellow."

And, by golly, she was right. More than 90% of the area of the light is yellow. It is more "yellow" than "red".

I have been trained by countless repetitions to completely ignore the color the fixture is painted.