Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Hold the Pig Steady - Part DUEX

So, it has been asked about what is inappropriate and to whom. Well, the short answer is me! No overt hate racism, rape, anti-cop, etc., is the road I will not let this go down.

There are some good entries and another on the way. Can't wait to see what else pops up.

So, go there and put in your entry. Even if it is not a complete song but just a few lines. Play off something someone else has already started and carry on with an idea or thread.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Monster Hunter International


Just to let y'all know, I am a huge fan of not only MHI but Larry's past writings on THR. MHI is definitely in the top tier of my book collection. To qualify that last statement, here is a picture of one of the five bookshelves in the library at casa de gungeek. Yes that is a Monster book of Monsters on the shelf above the MHI books. It's misbeHaven's!

So, if you haven't already, GO BUY THE BOOK! This is one story that will suck you in and not let go till you are through it. Then it will beckon you back when you least expect it. If you want an autographed copy, go to Larry's site and order one from him directly.

Hold the Pig Steady

In honor of Larry Correia and the published release of Monster Hunter International, with Larry's blessing, I am having a contest to write the words to "Hold the Pig Steady". Prizes to include, Eternal Glory and MHI Lore Fame. A group effort may work as people can feed off each others creative juices. So, run free in comments and let's have a good time with this. I have a band lined up to perform the song as well as composers for the music, just need words. Larry has final rights to approve the finished product so it needs to kick in the end.

ROCK ON!

EDIT TO UPDATE:
If you think the voices in your head are telling you to write something that might be inappropriate, send them to me directly. john at krtraining dot com and I will have a look. Anything in comments that IS inappropriate will get deleted.

UPDATED UPDATE:
see part DUEX for more on the inappropriate.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Evacuation Orders

Well, there is a chemical fire north of town and the evacuation orders keep expanding south. While they haven't reached us yet, the border is the north limit of the airport grounds and the designated shelter is on the primary route home. So, I'm bugging out early and taking alternate route that goes south first. Wheeeeeeee. misbeHaven is supposed to be driving to Austin this evening which means driving west on Hwy21. Which is where the fire is and the road is CLOSED. Not going tonight even by an alternate route.

UPDATE: The entire city of Bryan TX is under an evacuation order and the cloud is drifting south into College Station. 10 people in hospital so far and we shall see where things go. Fortunately we are far enough out of town that it should not be an issue for us here at Casa de Geek.

Called a friend earlier that works out by the chemical plant that is burning and lives in the evacuation zone. He's in Vegas at a conference!

The entire county is mobilized and the decision is to let it burn. They can't get people in to fight it because of the chemicals involved and the location so they are waiting it out and letting the plant burn. Have to wait and see how long this drags on. University may be closed tomorrow from the way they are talking on the TV at the moment.

Serious Dweeb Geek Humor

So, in searching for a Laser Surface Deflection Measurement Device at work, I came across this publication titled Rotation of Microscopic Propellers in Laser Tweezers. You gotta be a serious photonics or nano-machinery geek like I am to really enjoy it, but just the title was enough to set off my gigglebox.

Media Bias Rant

Last week, a liquor store owner was shot and killed during a supposed armed robbery. Big news this morning was that the local PD had found the van used in the getaway and were still searching for the gun taken from the store during the robbery(sic). No mention of the search for the sub human piece of trash who murdered a good man over a few bucks. The concern was to get that gun off the streets not get the crap sack who has no respect for others lives. What is wrong with peoples priorities? (Don't answer that)

Monday, July 27, 2009

Defensive PIstol Skills

Saturday was all range goodness. We did a Defensive Pistol Skills 2 class and tried not to cook any students. IT was a long hot morning but everyone made it through with just a couple taking time out to catch back up on hydration and rest. Shooting on the move and effective use of cover were big topics of the day among other things. Running stages at the end of class where students can put it all to use showed people need to practice more to get these skills ingrained. We dump a lot of different skills and drills on them and it is up to the student to carry on with practice so they can get the skills down.
A good day on the range!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Random Aircraft Sighting

Last night, a Coast Guard HU-25 Guardian was at the airport late and was still sitting here this morning. Then at lunch today, this EADS HC-144 Ocean Sentry showed up and disgorged work crews and equipment. The Guardian is inside one of the hangers behind where the Sentry is parked so it seems pretty obvious the Guardian had issues and they flew in a maintenance crew to deal with it. I really think these mini-hurcs are cute. I wonder if they grow when watered?

Monday, July 20, 2009

Defensive Long Gun

So, Saturday was Defensive Long Gun class. While many schools specialize classes to shotgun or carbine, we approach it from the attitude that the task at hand is the same regardless of what you are armed with so you need to deal with the situation as appropriate with your weapon platform. The drills are run with the various guns on the line so everyone has to solve the same problem and learn the same skills. It also allows everyone to see the various ways of dealing with the problem and the advantages and disadvantages of the various guns in various situations.

Hot it was. Students showed up mainly with AR's but there were a couple shotguns as well as pistol caliber carbine. Despite the heat everyone stuck it out. Good class. Scenarios went well too. One student made themselves so small behind the bed that the bad guy had to step way into the bedroom to get any kind of sight picture and by then he was shot to pieces. Bonus points to the student for getting that small and out of sight.

One lesson learned, even when it is dead calm out, when you put out a portable shade stand, anchor it down as if a hurricane is coming. A freak gust of wind / down burst strong enough to blow over steel targets and barricades yanked the stand up and carried it over the berm to the next shooting bay! All of this in clear sky with blinding sunshine.

Otherwise, it was off to home to recover and paint. More on that as it happens, just think Peach. Even with only a small portion of the kitchen painted it is already much lighter in there. Can't wait to finish and get the lights changed out.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Life Gets in the Way

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Remember that generator bearing failure? Well, things spiraled out of control from there. After getting the generator back and new main bearings installed we had to run double shifts to try and catch up. That meant taxing other systems harder than normal. Let's just say we found a few things that had weak spots in them. Finally we had two days this past week where nothing major went wrong. That was nice.
On the home front, there is always stuff to do here. Like closing in that cased opening between the kitchen and formal reloading room. Getting the house in some sort of presentable shape for a series of out of town visitors. Still trying to get stuff moved in from storage as we get various rooms finished remodeling. It just goes on and on. Need to get the new bed in the guest bedroom situated for the visitors.

Did I mention the promotion at work? Longer hours and more responsibilities, YEAH! And of course, I am now back to being exempt from having a life. I was exempt at one time and went back to hourly when we moved here. Now I'm back in an exempt position. Should be an interesting time.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Best Slasher Film EVER

One of my students sent this to me. When seconds count and the police are only minutes away... who needs 'em?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Random Aircraft Sightings

So, it has been a couple weeks. There are bad days and worse days then days like today. Anybody have a 10KW/250VDC/900RPM Excitation Generator for an 1000HP/900RPM Allis-Chalmers AC Synchro Motor?

Anyway, while tearing the tunnel roof off to lift the generator out, two F-18A+'s flew in along with two Apaches. The Apaches were here for lunch. We'll see how long the F-18s stay. Oh, and htere is a Robinson R44 in there between the Apaches. Kinda makes em feel small and insignificant.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Slow Blogging

Not that I've been very prolific lately, but, next week is the Subsonic Aerodynamic Testing Association annual Meeting / Conference. We're hosting this year.

Saturday we have a Basic Pistol class, then Sunday through Friday is the SATA conference and then Saturday I am teaching Reloading Basic and Beyond the Basics. The last two weeks has been nonstop, cleaning, painting, fixing, cleaning, organizing and otherwise preparing for the conference. As well as prepping for class and working around Casa De Geek. If something really strikes my fancy or pisses me off I will post. Otherwise, I think I'll be a bit busy.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I've seen FUNNY and this is FUNNY

So, the Mrs turned me to a blog post with a video at I aim to misbehave. Before you go over there I'll confess I do have the Bonnie Tyler CD that contains this song. However, I haven't laughed this hard in a long long time.

After reading back on his blog a bit, I had to add to the blogroll. Cop who already served in the armed forces and is a fan of Fire Fly, what's not to like?

Call a spade a spade already

So, the murderer outside the recruiting office in Arkansas had "political and religious motives"? What a crock of shit. The guy was under investigation already for travel to Yemen and studying Jihad while over there and traveling on a Somali passport. He was a recent convert to Islam. Why can't the press accurately title this "Muslim convert attacks recruiting office ". Why is it that the "religion of peace" can't be named as the cause of this guys "political and religious motives"?
This politically correct BS has got to stop.

A Muslim killed American Soldiers on American soil!

UPDATE:
So the later stories have identified the Muslim Terrorist as such. It took a while for them to get to that point though. Still, that fact that the FBI has been investigating this guy and his past travels and arrest shows he was a threat and should have been dealt with already.