They found the radioactive capsule in Australia.
Feb 012023
Jan 312023
The Dem-dominated government of the state of Illinois passed an “assault weapon ban” that bans not only commonly owned firearms but also standard capacity magazines as part of their policy of decriminalizing violent crime while criminalizing the law abiding. But the law was so badly written – and badly conceived – that I wonder if the inevitable boomerang effect might end up with Illinois finally entering the twenty first century and ditching *all* of the unconstitutional tyrannical nonsense that has been on the books. Consider:
Appellate Court Affirms DeVore’s Equal Protection Argument, Assault Weapons Ban Temporary Restraining Order, Binds Courts Statewide
The ban on common rifles is clearly unconstitutional on second amendment right… but it’s *also* unconstitutional – state and federal – on “equal protection” issues. Because while it bans *some* people from owning, say, an AR-15, it exempts current and retired police, current military and security guards. The point is often raised that the same politicians who rail against average schmoes being able to defend their homes, persons and property with a semi-auto rifle often have armed guards packing semi and even full auto weapons.
One can hope that the court smackdown of the “assault weapon ban” will hit so hard that other existing gun laws in Illinois will be brought down. By over-reaching, the gun-grabbers might well have assured that all gun control laws across the US end up before the US Supreme Court. It would be spectacular if the NFA winds up going the way of the dodo, as it should. There are few enough arguments that support banning fully automatic weapons; there are none for bans on suppressors and short barreled rifles and shotguns.
Jan 302023
Interesting if true. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake as a direct result of an explosion would indicate a yield on the order of one megaton. more likely would be a sizable *bang* near a fault line, which would be stupid in its own right. The epicenter was apparently a number of kilometers below the ground, so it was almost certainly a perfectly natural quake… but hardly impossible that it was triggered by a sizable explosion.
The resulting earthquake in Iran from the detonation of whatever was struck underground registered 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale. pic.twitter.com/OzSm3EFH7I
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) January 29, 2023
Jan 292023
Have these people watched or read *no* science fiction???
I Edited Human DNA at Home With a DIY CRISPR Kit
Genetic engineering using CRISPR from the comfort of home might seem futuristic, but you can do it right now.
Oh fookin’ hurray.
Jan 282023
The hardware has been modified to “print” up to the full six feet in length (actually a little more, maybe 6’8″). I continue to crank out test prints, with about a 50/40/10 mix of “awesome”/”disappointing”/”dismal.” Now it seems the production part of the project is largely dialed in; it seems that *chemistry* is responsible for much of the trouble. There is a window in which the fluid can be properly used:
- When the two chemicals are first mixed, they produce a liquid that is mud-brown. When used right off, it doesn’t seem to stick to the paper very well, or doesn’t react adequately. In any event, the result is massively faded. Wholly unusable. It seems to take about 24 hours from mixing to reliable usability. After 24 hours, the fluid has turned from brown to dark-ish green. Seems to work great at about that point. After another day, it turns a *dark* green, then trends towards blue. As it goes, it becomes increasingly useless. So there is a 24-48 hour window, it seems. I can work with that, now that I got it more or less figgered.
While the hardware is set up for in excess of 6 feet, so far the biggest print I’ve done is 56 inches, a *spectacular* pair of isometric interior structure views of the B-2A. yeah, I’m a bit surprised that the original was declassified, but it was, so there it is (and it was sent to me by a Russian feller, so it’s out there). I’ve done 2 so far… one is as close to perfect as I can hope for; one is *slightly* flawed via faded bits.
When I left Utah, my cyanotyping hardware got trashed. But I had the foresight to roll up all the transparencies I had. And wow, I have a lot of them. And WOW are they dirty. Utah is great and all, but it *is* the desert and full of dust… it’s coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere. All of the transparencies will have to be washed and windexed. And I’ve washed, but not yet windexed, the first of the six-footers I plan on printing: a CAD diagram of my own, the SLS in 1/72 scale. A good businessman would have had this ready for the Artemis mission a little while ago but… shrug.
These test prints will probably go up on ebay to get some sense of the interest in them. I suspect an Etsy store would be the best next step. There are a *lot* of crappy digitally printed aerospace “blueprints” there… one of the very first ones to pop up is a digitally printed 12″x72″ Saturn V that almost certainly was derived from Space Drawing 4. I previously sold actual cyanotypes of this at the exact same size… for $50 compared to the digital print at $75. I feel rather like a chump. There are actual cyanotype prints available as well, but the one’s I’ve seen all look rather bland and low-effort. Bah.
Jan 282023
Urgent public health warning issued over lost radioactive capsule in Western Australia
The capsule fell off a truck somewhere along a 1,400 kilometer trip. What they’re hoping to find:
Any motorists who have travelled along the Great Northern Highway between Newman and Perth since January 10 should check their tyres, in case the capsule has become lodged in them.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
Jan 242023
Up first:
U.S. Poised to Provide Abrams Tanks to Ukraine
Of note here is that this will, theoretically, spur the Germans to send their Leopard 2 tanks. The Leopard 2’s would likely be more advanced than the M-1s; and while there are more M-1’s in the world, the Leopards are closer to Ukraine and there are a number of countries willing to send Leopards. This is of course not pure altruism; they’ll likely be sending the older tanks that were about to be mothballed or scrapped; and if not, these donations will leave tank-shaped holes that will need to be filled with the latest and greatest. “You don;t need new tanks, we’ve got enough at home” no longer works as an excuse if you don’t actually have enough at home.
Additionally: the Russians might finally, rather overdue, be getting their crap in gear. So if they are faced with modern western MBTs, they’ll almost certainly launch their best anti-tank weapons at them. And sad though it may be for Ukrainians to hear, I’d rather modern NATO tanks get battlefield tested now, with Ukrainian crews, than later with NATO crews, on NATO territory. Losing these tanks to Russian weapons now will allow western designers to produce counter systems for when we need to fight Russian forces in Poland or Finland or Estonia or Wales.
Also:
McCarthy formally blocks Schiff, Swalwell from Intel panel
Never forget: Swalwell was the one who banged a Chinese spy and threatened to nuke American cities. He should *really* be the center of FBI attention, not sitting on the House Intelligence Committee. As for Schiff, he tried and failed to tie Trump to Russian collusion. Lots of people tried that, including some who should have known better at the FBI. Speaking of which…
Retired FBI counterintel agent reportedly involved in Trump-Russia probe arrested for ties to Russian oligarch
Also also: In recent years the NRA has become pretty much worthless in the fight to maintain Constitutional rights, even as they remain one of the Democrats primary boogeymen in *their* never-ending quest to render the citizens of the US into helpless subjects. But they’re finally stepping up a bit:
NRA sues over Illinois ban on semiautomatic weapons
Jan 242023
So California, Gun Free State, has it’s second mass shooting in a handfull of days. And… it’s another old Asian guy.
7 Dead, 1 Injured in Half Moon Bay Mass Shooting; Suspect in Custody
Authorities identified the suspect as 67-year-old Half Moon Bay resident Chunli Zhao.
Also, (apparently) not an Evil Black Rifle:
A semi-automatic handgun was found in his car.
Jan 232023
So there was a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, Saturday, killing ten in a predominantly Asian-ethnic area. This *promptly* led to the usual incredibly predictable takes:
1) Booga booga white supremacy
2) Argle bargle we needs more gun control
Well… whoopsie:
Man found dead after police standoff in Torrance was the Monterey Park shooting suspect, sheriff says
The killer in question was one Huu Can Tran, a Chinese immigrant. Certainly an unusual form of white supremacist. He was also 72, which is unusual for mass murderers.
Additionally, the weapon used has been identified as a Cobray M-11… which is ALREADY ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. Yet this feller seemed to obtain one. For those unfamiliar, the M-11 is a brick of a gun. It’s a one-handed pistol fashioned somewhat after the MAC-series of submachine guns, famous for *really* high rates of fire in full auto… but the M-11 is *semi* auto. It’s unergonomic. It’s heavy. It’s inaccurate. It rusts easily. It’s big. And even though it’s heavy, the recoil is difficult to deal with given the mass of the innards flacking back and forth with each shot. Why would someone own one? Because it’s fun-ish and cool-ish. Is it a weapon good for mass murder? No more so than the weapons anti-gunners want to give to the people anti-gunners would have kicking in the doors of gun owners. It shoots the same 9mm round as any other boring-ass pistol, and it does so less accurately, less comfortably and less quickly than your standard 9mm Glock. Why is it illegal in California? Because California, that’s why.
Once again: we don;t need more gun control, we need crazy people control.
Jan 222023
Note that this was a “voluntary” search, not a “raid.” Which means there had been time and opportunity to dispose of things, and yet the FBI *still* found classified material.
FBI searches Biden’s Wilmington home and finds more classified materials
the DOJ “requested that the search not be made public in advance, in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate.”
if only other people had been afforded the same privilege.