Shooting

Well I bit the bullet and bought a membership to the local gun range. You can see my earlier post about them here. To bad these guys where not open and renting (I don't know they will do that.) Tulsa Firearms was the only place in town that had what I was looking for – rentals.

My girlfriend and I have been renting around for several reasons. One, she is going to get a gun soon and I want her to shoot several of the major calibers to get a feel for them. Secondly, we are going to get our Oklahoma CCW together, and she needs a little practice before the shooting part of the class. After about 3 weeks on the fourth week, she started to show improvement. After a few more sessions she will be as good as me, which is not saying much. The only good thing about Tulsa Firearms, is that the money spent on rentals can go down on a new gun. Kinda like layaway, but more fun. So far we have shot a Sig 239 in 9 mm, a full-size Springfield 1911, and a Ruger in 9mm.

I was not really impressed with the Sig. It was a little small for my hands. Though all of the controls where reachable and operable (none of the springs where too strong) for my girlfriend. I also did not feel real accurate with it either. Of course, it is a rental and probably has seen better days. Another downside is that the sig is a little more complicated than your you basic Glock, it being DA\SA.

1911 – the handgun used by the US army for nearly 70 years. It probably has killed more bad guys than any other handgun in the world. Needless to say I was looking forward to shooting it, as I have never had the pleasure. It did not disappoint. My girlfriend let out a yelp of glee on the first shot. The felt recoil was felt about the same or less than my Springfield XD in 40 caliber. I also seemed more accurate with it, though I was shooting low. I am going to get a 1911, just a matter of time. What do you know about high capacity 1911's?

The Ruger's controls where hard to get to. The trigger pull was really long and the gun only fired after the trigger was pulled all the way back. Also the slide to frame fit was a little loose. It was easy to operate though. Our example had hogue grips, which te girlfriend liked.

After shooting, the three major calibers my girlfriend settled on 9mm. It was really settled when I told here I was going to get a 45. She then seemed ok with being able to get her 9mm and shoot my 45 every once and awhile. The 9mm is a good choice for now. Low recoil, lots of choices, and lower price, means lots of practice without tiring and at a lower cost.

We probably had three or four more guns to shoot, i hope to update you on our progress and the gun we choose

cube

Landis and testosterone

The other day I was listening to Dr. Dean Edell (sounds like Dena Dell), who was advising a caller about testosterone patches. The doctor said, that testosterone varies widely and in the case of replacement therapy, you must monitor it carefully. It can go up or down for many reasons. When the story about Landis and his high testosterone came out that segment was the first thing that came to mind.

Of course Landis could have just held a gun.

cube

Hot as hell, dry as the dust bowl

Recently, the Tulsa area has seen dust bowl like conditions, literally. It stayed above 100 degrees for several days in a row. The Tulsa area is doing better than the western part of Oklahoma, with is about 6 to 8 inches of rain below average, whereas Tulsa is about 1 to 2 inches below normal.

fortunately, I am not a person who has to go to work in the heat. About the best thing you can do for heat like this, if you are out in it a lot, is to drink plenty of V-8 juice. It is high in potassium and sodium, but of which you are sweating out. Another disadvantage of the heat is that all the talk about it and the dust bowl scares old people, so stop it.

cube

The Answer to Peak Oil

I read much more of the book and found the problem answered within its very own pages. The US doesn't have much oil, and the world may some day run out, but we will be fine. Apparently, gasoline and diesel can be synthesized from coal by a process known as coal liquefication. We do have abundant reserves of coal. Oil shale can also be used to produce oil. While it is less effective and more costly than drilling for oil, our reserves are enormous. Most of the world's oil shale is contained in the US and Canada. Between these two sources, we should be able to run our country for decades after the rest of the world loses their oil. This will give us time to rebuild our infrastructure in ways that can be support by alternative energy sources.

WW3

There has been a lot of talk about WW3 and the fact that we are in it right now. I disagree. While the world is in a state of constant low grade conflict from several sources, but I do not think we are currently in World War 3. It is possible that the world could enter into another global war, though I doubt the path to that global war lies though the middle east.

In my mind for a war to be called a "World War", it must be truly global in reach and involve all or most of the major power players in the world. The first condition is fairly easy to satisfy in my mind. The second one is a little harder as the major superpowers have to feel that their very existence is at stake to participate in such a huge war. Gone are the days of taking overland and spreading your influence through beating your competitor on the battlefield. For the most part the major powers compete on the economic stage. Though there is a good bit of competition on the world political stage inside of the UN. This is not to say that another world war is not possible, it is just less likely.

So the real question is what possible events could involve Brazil, China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia, and the United States in a battle to the death? I think there are several main paths to world war three, some of which are listed below.

Possibility 1
Israel is attacked or attacks Syria, which pulls Iran into the regional conflict. If Iran was somehow able to convince Russia or China to join them, then there is a good chance World War 3 would be on. But what are the chances that Russia or China would actually risk that by supporting Iran, a county that while it does have oil, no one really likes anyways. I suspect that Russia and China would view this as an UN problem, not a problem to actually fight over. Russia has its own oil reserves and China is and has made deals with other middle east countries to buy oil, so it might view the loss of Iran's oil as unfortunate, but nothing to go to war over.

Possibility 2
North Korea is attacked or attacks South Korea or Japan. There is a good chance that China would then get directly involved. Unfortunately, the US is already directly involved and has been involved for the past 50 some odd years in that area. If North Korea is let off of it's short chain by China or just gets out of the fence, they could cause some tense situations (like Cuban missile tense). I view this as the shortest and most likely path to WW3. I think of China as the country that we are most likely to end up in a war with in the next 20 years. I also think that if North Korea acts with out China's help or without their permission nothing will come of it. What I am afraid of is China using, North Korea, to draw the US into a larger conflict.

possibility 4
If Hugo Chavez goes "Saddam Hussein" land hungry in south America, you could see another a world war or more than likely see a worldwide rescue like in 1991, in the Gulf War.


Random possibility 5
It is possible, though not probable, that any of the major powers could stage a random attack on one of the others. We have already seen that the US can take over a couple little countries and no one big is willing to fight about it. It would have to be on the scale of China attacking India, Japan, or Russia, for the big boys to get involved. China could probably take over a few smaller countries and no one would really try too hard, though there would be a lot of talk about getting ready for war.

I don't see a global war in the near future, but the seething low level global conflict sure ain't going away. There is also not an easy or clear way of ending the global conflict, with out giving in to the wants of those causing the problems. If I missed something in my global analysis, please chime in with treaties to back up you claims.

cube

Update: I was going to include the fact that Iran and North Korea could team up as one of the potential outcomes, but the fact that Iran was at the missile test for North Korea had not been confirmed. Well know it has.

What I have learned recently

Whenever salad dressing does not come out easily though the small plastic hole, don't squeeze harder.

High quality knives are really worth it. I recived a M21-02 CRKT bot my birthday this year.

Macanudos and mountain dew go really well together.

cube

The Beginning of...well who the hell knows?

This morning I heard Newt Gingrich announce the start of the Third World War. I used to dismiss Gingrich as a racist redneck and the rightwing nut bearing the name of the sixth most popular amphibian, but even some of his opponents have described him as politically brilliant. And why not the next world war? He has a point. Start a conflict based on culture, religion, and fundamental points of view in an area that contains the holiest of holies for three major religions and also the largest reserve of the planet's most important natural resource (which some claim is becoming increasingly scarce). Add to that scenario that three regional powers possess nuclear stockpiles (Israel, Pakistan, and the US) and nothing good can come about. To further confuse matters, hostilities are being carried out largely by non-state actors that refuse to negotiate. So what to do? Bombs away.

immigration reform

How did our immigration problem in America start? It started by not enforcing the laws that we have on the books. Adding more laws to those same books will not solve the problem. Our immigration problem was also worsens by our tremendous econmic success compared to our southern neighbor.

Link "Mexico's per-capita real GDP has grown at only 0.7 percent annually since the early 1980s."

The realtive riches that America has to offer are worth the risk. If you are caught, you will be no worse off than you were before. Heck you might have even put on a few pounds in jail, learned a bit of english, and gathered skills that you will need to evade the police next you cross over. Nothing short of shooting people as they cross the border and torturing them when they are caught will stop the tide. I don't support that.

The recent strategy that ICE is taking is one of intrest. It will also provide the most bang for the buck in the short term. They are going after the high value immigrants, the ones with outstanding warrants and who are wanted by the police for some reason or the other. While this is a necessary step to securing America, it will not solve the problem, though it will make america better.

We also cannot support anyone and everyone who wishes to come to american. For us to be healthy and problem free mexico will also need to be healthy and problem free. The only way we are going to do that is by a targeted and agressive exporting of American values to that country. I think that we are rich enough that we could bribe...errr...offer economic incentives in exchange for the lossening of certian restrictions that pervent Mexicans from becoming a great country theirselves. Such as privatizing certian industries, destorying certian unions, and cleaning up the police force.

I think it has about as good of a chance of working as the walls do.

cube

Internal Affairs

Well, i thought i would update you on the south beach diet and how it is going for me. In the past four months I have lost about 20 pounds. Most of that due to diet, not exercise. My biggest fear when i started the diet was that I would have to spend a large amount of time cooking. I don't mind cooking for myself and others, but I view cooking for just myself as a waste of time. Fortunatly I was able to find several meals that were filling and easy to make, for lunch and dinner. I am still cooking for breakfast, which I view as a reasonable tradeoff.

I actully stopped running because I self dignosed myself with medial shin splits. I kept running because I thought that I didn't have shin splints. After a little research i discovered that I needed to take 2 to 4 weeks off from running. I decided to stop running until the tenderness disappeared, well it has been almost two months and the tenderness is still not gone, though it is much better. I am hoping that the weight loss, the shin strengthing exercises i found, and the core exercises I am doing will pervent their return.

cube

New Wars

Israel continues its attacks against targets against Lebanon in retaliation for the kidnapping of Israeli troops and rocket attacks against Israeli cities. This has the potential to really escalate into a major conflict. Israel already has troops in parts of Palestine, and neither the Palestinians or Lebanese seem willing to contain the terrorists attacking Israel.