Observations and reconnaissance from a liberty-loving realist in a world that despises facts as well as liberty.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Reconnaissance Missions
Joshua opens with the new Nation of Israel about to enter the "Promised Land" that is the land of Israel itself. Of course, this is just after the death of Moses. As it would make sense before any military invasion, Joshua sent spies into the land to determine exactly what it was they were up against.
I'll never forget Lefty's opening remark after we covered those basics:
"Spies. I think of Usagi when I think of a spy. A guy in camouflage, peering through a rifle scope, learning what he can and maybe taking out a bad guy if he gets the chance."
Of course, we all thought it was a funny statement.
But, the more I think about it, he was right. Maybe not the camo and scoped rifle part (though I might indeed be guilty of both at one point or another)... but the reconnaissance part to be sure.
"[Usagi] is the best field rep I have ever seen at obtaining market data and competitor intelligence."
- From a supervisor of mine on a prior annual review.
Actually, this has come up time and time again... but this instance was the most succinct.
It is my opinion that if you do it right, you can quite easily march into "enemy" territory and find out exactly what you want to find out. Sure, the actual wearing of camo is not always necessary (OK - almost never). But to be sure, one must camouflage oneself to the situation appropriately. The "enemy" cannot know that you play for the opposition.
In these days, finding out information on a person is also just too easy. Most people post it up for you to read on Facebook or Twitter (or both), or perhaps some other outlet. Google helps a lot.
Occasionally, I'll pick out one to perform in my regular everyday life. It's amazing what you can learn. Couple that with an intuition borne of necessity in an environment where getting the right read on a person is of the utmost importance, and what you get it proof positive that your suspicions were correct. Be mindful telling people that sort of thing, though. Folks don't like to hear that you have them pegged. People like to pretend that they are a "mystery," though few really ever are.
Keep the "sword" sharp, people! Practice your skills!
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Rifle Drill #1
"Trident" (also known as "Delta Drill")
Prepare:
Place an 8" circular target in the middle of "center mass" on a standard sized silhouette target at 18 yards.
Prepare three magazines - each with 5 rounds.
Course of fire:
Load first magazine
5 shots from a standing position
Transition to sitting
Load second magazine
5 shots from sitting position
Transition to prone
Load third magazine
5 shots from prone
30 seconds to shoot
Scoring:
You start with 50 points.
-5 points for each hit outside the 8" circle.
-1 point for each second over 30 seconds.
45-50 points: expert
38-44 points: sharpshooter
28-37 points: marksman
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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Disarmament I Can Support
I generally do not advocate we follow "what Europe is doing," as that's how we've gotten ourselves in trouble so much in the past. But this idea should catch on.
Favorite quote from the article:
"Policing is not defensive in nature, it is offensive. The Constitution never had a word to say about someone – let alone an agent of the State – having the right to be armed in the course of policing citizens “proactively” or offensively. The idea simply had no precedent for the Founding Fathers to conceive of such a model. All indications are that if they knew of such a concept, they would have opposed it for application on American streets."
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Monday, February 23, 2015
Pile On - M1A
Seems a lot of bloggers have been trashing the M14 / M1A build of late. I cannot disagree with any of the main points that have been listed here or there.
But I'll take it up a notch. Here are two statements that I'm sure will be met with skepticism:
- In our modern world, the .308 / 7.62 NATO round as a whole is an answer to a question that should never have been asked.
- There's nothing the .308 / 7.62 NATO can do that cannot be done better.
I can hear the objections now!
"Oh, the .308 is perfect, you can sweep rooms with a good semi auto and still hit targets out to 1000 yards."
Actually - you can... but that is a misleading statement. Typical commercial .308 loads will go trans-sonic somewhere between 800 - 1000 yards, when shot out of the 16" barrels that are so common. Not much different than good 75 and 77 - grain 5.56.
And the 5.56 is much better in the recoil and expense department.
Plus - are you really capable of making that shot?
If you can make the shot... then you know that a larger cartridge, like .300 Win Mag, .338 Lapua, etc., will be far better for such a shot.
So anything the .308 can do can be accomplished much better with a different round. It's time to retire this antiquated round. But, it won't be retired any time soon. Too many fanbois.
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Sunday, February 22, 2015
Blessing or Curse?
One of the curses of being Sigma is that you see the crap that society brings. You see the idiocy that reigns - particularly in certain groups.
You constantly find yourself thinking or saying "you have got to be kidding!"
After a while, some may find themselves accustomed to hearing the phrase, and it loses its impact. Not to say I can't find another phrase (must have at least "87" of them by now), but you get the point.
The flip side of the coin is a natural inclination toward positive thinking. As a very happy person, it pains me to see the stupidity and negativity brought on by society. Nay, ENCOURAGED by society!
Then people wonder why I (intentionally and in a calculated manner) have few close friends... and prefer to withdraw from society periodically.
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Friday, February 20, 2015
Good Ending
Breakfalls. They are important.
Like when its snowy, your driveway is iced over, and you go to check the mail...
And slip...
Then you are glad you did all that ukemi (breakfall practice).
Oh... And technical stand-up works well on slick surfaces, too.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Basic Rifle Combat
1 - Ready-up
2 - Double tap
3 - Hammer
4 - Shoot on the move
5 - Natural point of aim
1 - Ready-up
Bring the rifle up
Switch to semi and acquire your target
Fire a round
Go back to safe
Lower rifle
Repeat
* Dry fire is a good practice tool for this.
2 - Double tap
Easy transition.
Bring the rifle up,
Rifle off safe as it comes on target
fire
Re-acquire the sight picture and fire again.
Safe and lower the rifle.
NEVER FIRE THE SECOND SHOT BEFORE YOU GET A GOOD SIGHT PICTURE!
** Do not attempt until you are competent at the ready-up.
3 - Hammer
Same as a double tap, except you fire twice rapidly on a single target acquisition.
*** Do not attempt until you are competent at the double tap.
4 - Shoot on the move
- Move forward
- Move laterally (never cross your legs)
- Engage multiple targets
- Fire different round counts on each target
- Sometimes pause to shoot
- Sometimes shoot while moving
- Use cover / concealment
5 - Natural point of aim
**** plenty of this discussed in prior blog posts.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Piece By Piece
Evidently, the BATFE didn't do its research - there is already a true "armor-piercing" round for 5.56 mm: it has been designated as M995.
The whole sham proposal is based on intent: the BATFE claims that since such ammo *could* be fired form a pistol, it needs to be regulated.
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Monday, February 16, 2015
Sad News
My children now have no blood grandmother, though they still have a step-grandmother whom they love and who loves them just the same.
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Saturday, February 14, 2015
Talking Point
Libertarian moment -
When you hear someone say:
"If you aren't doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide."
What they really mean is:
"If I'm not doing anything wrong, then I don't need to have rights."
Friday, February 13, 2015
Better Late Than Never
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Thursday, February 12, 2015
Where Will This Go?
Here is a link to the ruling.
To my understanding, this does not strike down the law nationwide, only in the Federal District of North Texas. An appeal would potentially be heard by the 5th US Circuit Court. Such a ruling at that level might have national implications. Certainly if it reaches the Supreme Court, a decision would be nationwide.
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Tuesday, February 10, 2015
More Limits
Mississippi Rebel has a new post out about federal legislation designed to limit magazine capacity.
How about they introduce a bill installing term limits. Far more people are hurt / killed each year by career politicians.
Underwear Review
Monday, February 9, 2015
They Want To Ban It All
They want to ban magazines...
They want to ban ammo...
They want to issue "permits" so you can then exercise your rights (definition of permit = they take your rights, then sell the right back to you with extreme restrictions), but they then inexplicably delay and make impossible the permit process.
Now, these same rights-stealing politicians want to take more rights:
They want to ban body armor.
They want to ban night vision goggles.
FOLKS - if they want to ban something, you can damn-well guarantee that you need whatever it is that they wish to ban!
And they never want to ban an item across the board. They want their "police" or "military" to have the ability to use these tools, just not you, the citizen.
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Saturday, February 7, 2015
Quote Of The Day
"Rodent" said:
I was on Match.com long enough to discover that "curvy" means fat. "Average" also means fat. "Athletic" means strong and fat. "Weight in proportion to height" means tall and fat. "Few extra pounds" means morbidly obese.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Lose Weight With a Job Requiring Travel?
"You did paleo and lost a lot of weight, right? Would you care to share your meal plan with me and how you did it while traveling?"
Excellent question on several levels!
1. Yes, if you want to lose weight in a healthy manner geared for the long term, paleo is the only way to do it. Calorie restriction is not healthy and is not a long-term solution.
2. Yes! You can lose weight and eat paleo even while traveling. Restaurants actually make it "easy" if you know what you are shopping for!
3. Meal plan is easy: MEAT!
Caveats:
Grey area food - dairy: no milk; but heavy (whipping) cream, certain cheeses, and butter are OK in moderation if you can tolerate them.
Grey area food - fruit: if I am trying to lose weight, I would not eat anything sugary. Fruit would be out, with the exception of an occasional cheat day (less than two or three servings per month).
Cheat days: the more you have, the longer it will take to lose weight. Once per week is a maximum number of cheat days I'd allow myself if I wanted to lose weight. Keep cheat portions to a minimum. Keep it all on the same day.
MEAL PLAN:
Meat and green-leafy vegetables.
Preferably a fatty meat. And plenty of it!
Acceptable "substitutes" for true green-leafy vegetables:
Broccoli, green beans, asparagus, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, brussels sprouts, etc.
Acceptable substitute for meat: eggs.
It is extremely difficult to eat enough fatty meat and green-leafy vegetables to make your body fat.
MEAL PORTIONS and TIMING:
Eat until you are full.
Do not eat again until you are hungry. No... check that... until 3 hours after you are hungry.
Eat all calories in a given day within an 8-hour window. (This is a minimum "must")
Try to shrink that window to a 4-hour window. ("Warrior Diet")
FASTING
Fast intermittently - fast for 24-36 hours (ie - eat supper Thursday evening, then don't eat again until Saturday morning).
Do an intermittent fast once or twice a month. Not too much. Not too far apart, either.
WATER
Drink plenty of water.
WebMD suggests a minimum of 1/2 oz of water per day for every pound.
So a 200-pound person needs to drink at least 100 ounces of water every day.
"GOWAD" seems to work well for me. ("Gallon Of Water A Day")
SUPPLEMENTS
Research each supplement and consult your doctor before adding supplements. Do more research than consulting.
Salt (will be needed in moderation as I drink lots of water)
Magnesium. I take 1200 mg per day. Magnesium deficiency.
Vitamin D. I take 25,000 units per day.
Fish oil. I take 3000 mg per day.
Zinc. I take 150 mg per day.
TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS
If you must entertain a client, and there is a meal involved, and that meal does not fall within the 8-hour or 4-hour window, my suggestion is a greens salad with oil & vinegar as the dressing.
Of course, avoid breaded meats and such in restaurants.
Be careful on salad dressings - they often have hidden sugar. I'll ask for an order of broccoli to replace a salad.
Be careful of butters that have hidden sugars.
CAN IT BE DONE?
Yes. I did it ... just like I described here.
Starting weight / peak weight: 323
Weight at time of writing this: 212.
Starting pant size: 44 shirt size: XXL
Current pant: 36 current shirt: L
IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE / SUMMARY:
Meat & green-leafy vegetables.
All you want.
One (or maybe two) meal(s) a day.
Plenty of water.
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Deep Fried!
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you deep-fried a 50 BMG round?
Me neither.
But, in case you have:
Deep Frying a Live 50BMG AP Round: http://youtu.be/_VLgG-zLVII
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Starting a Fight
(Ask one of these questions)
Creation or evolution?
Predestination or free will?
9mm or .45ACP?
.223/5.56 or .308/7.62?
Ford or Chevy or Dodge?
Mossy Oak or Realtree?
ACU or BDU? (OK, maybe this one is almost a consensus)
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015
DOA?
It is being published that Governor Haslam's "Insure Tennessee" has been killed in the Senate. This is a good thing.
Liberty is still alive... even if on life support.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Illegal Spying
Mississippi Rebel has an article out detailing how the ATF wants to illegally spy on gun show attendees. Even though only 0.7% of guns obtained illegally are obtained at gun shows.
Monday, February 2, 2015
TN Legislation Early 2015
SB0070 - As introduced, clarifies that it is not an offense for a person to transport and properly store a firearm in a motor vehicle parked on school property.
This would be a good bill.
SB0206 - As introduced, creates a Second Amendment sales tax holiday for the first weekend of September of each year; exempts firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies.
This would be a good bill.
SB0207 - As introduced, allows a gun dealer to complete a firearms transaction with a handgun carry permit holder without requiring a criminal history record check, if the permit was issued or renewed within five years of the date of transaction.
This would be a good bill.
HB0139 - As introduced, creates a Class E felony of intentionally possessing a firearm that the person knows or reasonably should know is stolen.
This bill is not needed and should not get through the processes, much less voted upon.
SB0181 / HB0136 - As introduced, creates an exception to the offense of possession of a machine gun, short-barreled rifle or shotgun, or a firearm silencer that the person was in compliance with the National Firearms Act when possessing.
This would be a good bill.
SB0168 / HB0202 - As introduced, extends liability for civil damages to public and private employers who take an adverse employment action against an employee who lawfully transports and stores a firearm in a motor vehicle.
This would be a good bill.
SB0149 / HB0173 - As introduced, removes the provision making it illegal to possess a firearm on any property used by a school for the administration of any public or private educational institution.
This would be a good bill.
More Slime Balls
In our email correspondence, I just had to ask the reader about the conversation upon the unjust termination of his employment. The response was fascinating, to say the least. Some of the snippets:
Employee: Did you stop to think that all I have to do is make a phone call and these referral sources shut off?
Boss: But they are my lead sources.
Employee: Ah, but they are my business associates and friends. They have no loyalty to you, especially after your shenanigans.
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Employee: I learned several months ago that you were taking my leads. That's OK, but don't pretend like they didn't come in.
Boss: If you felt that you were being short changed, I would hope that we would have had a strong enough working relationship that you could come to me and have a discussion about it.
Employee: How exactly do you tell your boss "hey, you're a lying jerk con-artist" in such a way as to keep your job?
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