Dear to me!

I have become a man quite different than the man envisualized by my 20-something year old self. If you had told him, I'd enjoy a cigar and brandy, he'd have been mildly surprised.

If you would have told him I'd be politically active, he'd have been shocked.

If you told him, I am now the sort who calls people 'Dear' regardless of gender, he'd have gotten red in the face and screamed that No Way would he ever have become such a faggoty phony.

...and he'd have been quite proud of the disparate 'f-sounding words' he'd just merged.

It's easier to heal than to hurt nowadays.

It's easier to quietly remonstrate with politicians to do the right thing.

It's easier to be gentle than evil.

Of Course, If you mess with me in traffic, I'll have your ass!

ode to a fountain pen

I got a slew of tattoo inks from a friend who couldn't pay his debts any other way!

I also have a few fountain pens.

I have been meaning to pick up a jar of ink for same, but never managed to follow through.

Considering what I have accomplished in the past year, I am not going to let this lapse bring me down. I basically spent May and June of last year raving insane.

I am astonished that I didn't see the word calligraphy on the bottle a month ago!

I now have a full fountain pen.

I love it!

this guy is awesome!

http://laptopandarifle.wordpress.com

He just came off of 31 days alone in the wilderness.

Well his own cabin on his own property!

Now he's jetting off to Japan to help the relief effort.

Ryo, you are DAMN AWESOME!

I know man crush alert.

A Thought

Every highly social event I have been a leading part of, has gone down in flames.

Science Fiction Conventions!

Book Clubs.

Paintball Games. How can anyone mess up a paintball game?

If I am appointed to a position of authority over adults in a scouting group, it dies!

LIGHT BULB MOMENT!

I'm running off to join the Democrats, and the Brady Bunch!

Because one should use their dark powers for good!

radio coils

this seems to be a stumbling block to most radio builders. Before I realized there were coils everywhere begging to be used, I used to use the copper wire for winding coils, and spend bucks on coil forms.

copper wire comes in ton lots, old 25 and 50 pair phone wire from office building clean ups.

If you want to be posh, coil forms are 3/4ths pvc pipe in 8 foot lengths for 99 cents. seeing that a regular coil goes for $5 apiece, and is roughly 2 and 1/2 inches tall, this is a screaming bargain.

Changeable coil forms can be worked up with 12 gauge wire for the pins, and making a molding jig to use a cast poly resin. Maybe pictures to follow, no promises.

I've used everything for coil forms, spent Sharpies, spent Bic Lighters -they present an interesting challenge to wind mathematically- AAA, AA, and C Batteries, Pill bottles...

Right not I'm using some dramamine bottles to make interchangeable coils for a nice radio made from 9-pin mini tubes. I fix 16 gauge pins at 12-3-6-9 o'clock to the form and plug them into a home made 4 pin socket. I am totally retro.

I started with Transistors. moved to ICs. Integrated Circuits are Great. Electronic LEGO's. The thrill and challenge faded and I moved back to transistors, then vacuum tubes. Tube biasing is an interesting and challenging endeavor. I guess for sheer thrills adjusting an inductor/capacator tank circuit without the math, is the top thing.

(You are in a maze of twisty little coils that look all alike!)

Next week on "Why Electronics Technicians Drink!"

all I want to say about Atlas Shrugged

Is that Chris Muir writes a better review than Roger Ebert!

feeling a little tube-ular!

I went and grabbed a wire harness from an old Kenmore Washer!

The standard wire I use for ICs and and Transistors just wont do.

I have a spiral coil out of an artist's notebook.

It's not an oatmeal box, but I can get some great results.

If I feel like living dangerously, with the FCC, I could transmit with this coil.

I'm waiting for a novice license. Also I could use an Elmer!

I'm prepared to proceed without one but society at large would safer if I didn't.

(Would a Ham Radio Mentor, who's also an apolitical Hunter, be an Elmer Fudd?)

Dragon Leatherworks

In honor of Today being "Buy a Gun Day!"

I had a fit of "Me-Too-Ism", from all the Dragon Leatherworks blog entries 3 months back.

Being me, I had one made for the Smith and Wesson 457 .45 ACP.

It gave Dennis Badurina a bit of a pause, as he had to research exactly what the 457, 1076 family of pistols evolved from. The 4006 yielded him a 'blue gun' that he could use to mold the leather for fit. He says it's essentially a Glock styling. In rough strokes yes, in the real world I've almost had to use a hydraulic mini jaws to get my gun back from a Safariland Police Holster made for a Glock.

I am feeling gnarly from the current rain, or I'd be hanging from the trapeze, trying to test retention. I hope the angle is okay. The last person who tried to test retention against a snatch from a holster I was wearing, wont play with me any more. I did react a little roughly. Sort of like Randy Orton. Gotta love a guy that got thrown outa the Marines for fighting. That's like being thrown out of a porn for... Well y'know.

Here's the Fat Bastard in all my sartorial glory, with my new holster. That's a T-Shirt Hell T-Shirt by the way. Note to self: Wear gloves for the next workout.

Here's a close-up, Anyone know of a S&W 1076 for sale?

I don't know if I'm a Recoil Whore, or a Pain Slut!

Who's for Starbuck's! I'm buying!

Off the High Road!

A friend asked me to register and post on The High Road. She wanted to know what I wanted in the firearms world. Aside from the CZ 550 rifle in .505 Gibbs caliber, I have no desires.

I read a comic called Subnormality. The second to last box in this comic so resonated with me.

Maybe what you already have is sexier than what you're supposed to want.

Maybe I'll just take her out and plink tin cans.

Things I really miss.

Heathkit. This one hurts with a sharp pang. In the 60's, 70's, 80's, there was a company out there, with a very slick catalog, that could address anyones creative urges.

I know they were around since the 50's as far as the electronics go.

Wikipedia informs me that they have been around since 1912.

But they were pretty much a staple in my life.

I had dreams of building every single project in their catalog.

Building my own electronics, learning what the projects were that I didn't understand.

I ordered a tachometer, and a transistorized grid dip meter.

I had no understanding of what they were, or how they worked.

At 12 years old, I had little understanding of 95% of the projects functions.

I reasoned that building the kits would enhance my understanding of electronics.

Anyone else than HeathKit and I'd usually get a board, components, and instructions on how to put them together. Alignment and adjustment instructions were usually a bonus.

Heathkit invariably explained why and how it worked.

I got a 1982 ARRL book on becoming a Ham Radio Experimenter. The pictures of the HeathKit items were nostalgic and heartbreaking.

There was once something bright, shiny, and wonderful, out there...

And the modern world that we find ourselves in,

Just allowed it to slip away from us.

Update: Drew Allen Kaplan of DAK Industries fame, is still kicking! YAY!

Matt Tabbi of the Rolling Stone.

Posted on Joe Huffman's excellent Blog March 10th.

The Rolling Stone sure brings back memories.

I was forced into accepting a 3 year package subscription on order to have access to more relevant magazines.

After they cancelled advertising from T-Shirt Hell, I wrote them a hot under the collar letter and told them to cancel my subscription, and send me some REAL toilet paper.

Mr Tabbi, who fancies himself the literary successor to Hunter S Thompson,

(what drugs are YOU on Matt?)

Has posited that anti-gun people should send in their name to the ATF and get on their list.

I agree!

It worked out so well for Randy Weaver, and David Koresh after all...

I stand by my choice of Charmin over The Rolling Stone.