01March2024 – And Now for Something Light

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Today Camera Girl accused me of being obsessed with the depressing politics of our dystopic world. I readily agreed. And I discussed with her some of the things that cause me to obsess about current events; pediatric transgender surgery, millions of illegal aliens crowding our streets, officially sanctioned anti-white hatred, double digit percent increases in the cost of everything, an epidemic of violent crime in the cities. I think I depressed her.
But she has a point. As enchanting as they are, let’s take a break from Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell and Joy Reid for just a little bit. I think it’s good to distract ourselves sometimes with pleasant things. So, I was watching for the zillionth time the beginning of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Kubrick’s impressive cinematography, the apt use of the “Blue Danube Waltz”

and “Also sprach Zarathustra”

to convey emotion and provide mood to the scenes.
I don’t tend to watch the whole movie from start to finish. Frankly the ending doesn’t work for me. It’s overly long and frankly annoying. I do enjoy the battle between HAL and the astronauts, especially the scene where Dave removes HAL’s memory chips and renders him brain dead.

I think of it as the first shot in the long war that will be fought between man and AI machines. In that sense Dave Bowman is an heroic trailblazer pointing the way to what we will be faced with in the future. An echo of this can be heard in the Star Trek episode where Kirk must psyche the M5 computer into committing suicide.

I think about these various cinematic tropes to remind me that there was a time when humans and specifically Americans still believed that intelligence and being human were the two important traits that made our species unique and extremely interesting. There was a beauty and a joy to the way we embraced the future. There was immense optimism and confidence.
Now all those things have been systematically eliminated from our culture. Systematically and purposefully eliminated by an ideology that hates beauty and intelligence. Instead, it strives for power and control and doesn’t mind seeing humans reduced to depravity and destitution for the sake of meaningless goals like carbon zero or whatever senseless goal they are currently pursuing.
But I’m pretty sure that this ideology, in the long run, will be self-defeating. The utter stupidity of their ideas and the damage that their agenda will do to their ability to maintain a modern economy and standard of living seems to ensure that some time in the near future, those who shun their path will outstrip them in every meaningful way and relegate them to the proverbial “ash heap of history” where they will join North Korea and Cuba in worshipping their local demigods while huddling in the dark when the power is turned off for the night.
So, I’ll end with the most gung-ho, can-do attitude about human capability that I can think of from somewhat recent sf&f cinema.

Sure, it’s silly stuff but it’s in line with the optimistic vision of the American future, instead of the Greta Thunberg one.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 28FEB2024 – Gun Hobby Stuff (Updated 29/FEB)

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

 

A picture of pistol extremes. Guess which is more often concealed carried.

The large pistol allows barrels of various calibers to be easily swapped. I’ve got five barrels for this from .357 Mag pistol to 30-30 Winchester. There are 45-70 barrels available but not for me. Those recoil so hard that I’ve seen them rip out of the hands of the shooter and almost literally brain him.

DSC00063.jpg
DSC00063.jpg

Or here is a target rifle chambered in 6.5 Grendel. This rifle is optimized at up to 600 yards. I’ve got other bolt action rifles that work up past 1000 yards. I used to compete regularly.

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DSC00067.jpg

Or, for someone looking for a little more Omph, here’s a twin 40MM WWII era Borfors. By acclaim, the most effective anti-aircraft weapon of the entire war, all sides. The Germans, Brits and probably Italians also used it extensively. Examples are still in active duty in AC 130 gunships. Not bad for a 1930 design.

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DSC00509.jpg

On the other end of the spectrum, here my all-time favorite .22 pistol, and I’ve own or owned an number. This is the target version, has an adjustable trigger and NEVER fails to feed. I’ve had this one for at least 25 years. That’s a red dot sight.

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DSC00614.jpg

It is nice living in states that allow such hobbies as this.

WAR PIG

As an older sniper I preferred the 300 WinMag. I am also prejudiced in favor of the good, old, 45ACP, M1911A1. The .50 sniper rifles are ok but too darned heavy. As for a backup I preferred the Walther PPK in 380 ACP with an external thread suppressor. For up close, the KA BAR or Applegate-Fairbairn.

I know a guy who has a D20 Soviet 152mm howitzer. Still works but pricey to shoot.

 

TOM D (in reply to War Pig)

There are some newer rounds common today that are more accurate and much better ballistic coefficients than the old Win Mag, but a lot of them lack the punch. I like the 338 Lapua.

I was Marine, but with the Air Wing, not in the muck with you guys.

Here’s one of my .45’s, from S&W Custom. There are differences, principally the extractor.

SW 1911.jpg
SW 1911.jpg

 

 

 

What Do We Keep and What Let Go? – Part 3 – Gullibility

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The first two installments were about things we must keep.  Let’s look at something that has to go. One word for it might be idealism.  For lack of a better term, I’ll call it gullibility.  It’s the willingness to give those in charge the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their intentions.  The recent COVID debacle is a prime example.  The various health agencies and the drug companies probably in concert with the intelligence agencies and the media came up with a plan to shut the country down during an election year and then force us to take a dangerous experimental drug all while shutting down dissent in the media and social media.

And half of the country adopted the plan like sheep and the other half were hounded out of their careers and demonized by the government.  And the truth about the disease and the “cure” were hidden for many months while the whole country went through chaos and economic and emotional turmoil.  And after all that no one was held accountable and nothing was acknowledged about the disastrous decisions that were made.

We can no longer give the people in charge the benefit of the doubt.  If they screw up, we have to assume that they are either stupid or criminal.  And in either case they must be held accountable.  At the very least we need to fire them.  So that means if Trump comes back to the White House what we must demand is that he fires every single idiot responsible for the COVID debacle.  And he needs to set up a special prosecutor to punish these people.  And the prosecutor needs to be in a jurisdiction where there won’t be a bunch of blue city jurors and the prosecutor can’t be a regime toady.

And Trump himself owes us an apology for being a gullible fool himself.  In fact, if he wasn’t the only hope for straightening out the mess we’re in, I’d say we should prosecute him for letting Fauci torture us during his term in office.  But I’ll cut him some slack.  But at the very least everyone in the US government who had anything to do with funding the Wuhan lab needs to be fired and prosecuted.

And a special prosecutor should employ unbiased scientists to review the data on the COVID virus and the vaccines and decide whether the drug companies and the FDA are complicit in the deaths of the people who were injured and died from the use of the vaccines.  I have no doubt that some people need to go to prison.

As another example, the George Floyd riots were at least tolerated and possibly abetted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.  And several local and state governments, notably Minneapolis and Minnesota, allowed their citizens to be harassed and in some cases assaulted and killed while a mob stalked the country.  This also needs to be investigated and those responsible prosecuted.  At the very least, most of the upper echelons of the FBI and the Justice Department need to be cleared out.

After all, the FBI has been unrelenting and brutal in their persecution of the poor souls who dared to protest inside the Capitol building.  Harmless people have been imprisoned and some of them forced into suicide for a riot in which no one was armed and no one killed.  But the George Floyd riots burned down countless properties and even managed to murder a number of people.  And the FBI did nothing to stop it or punish those responsible.  Those in charge need to be fired and punished for unequal application of the law.

Finally, the horror show caused by the open border is a crime that must be investigated and punished.  If President Trump can be prosecuted for his part in January 6th, then undoubtedly Joe Biden can be punished for allowing our country to be invaded.  And the immigration laws must be changed to end the invasion.

In general, we need to hold our leaders and their agents accountable for their actions and inactions.  And to do this we have to give up our idealistic ideas about government.  We have to stop being so gullible and replace it with mental toughness.  The power these people have over our lives is immense.  It’s time we started holding them responsible for the immense damage they do.

Oh No! The Turtle is Done!

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Mitch McConnell has acquiesced to the reality that he has been dead for some unknown number of years and now should relinquish his spot on the sunning log in the swamp to some other awful swamp critter

And now the question remains can an even more reprehensible individual than the turtle be found to hold up his part of the Uni-Party deal.  I’m sure Raytheon and the rest of the truly awful people running the military industrial complex will strap one of Mitch’s lackeys to a Frankenstein table and zap him with a gazillion volts and turn him into the monster they need.  Someone with absolutely no concern for the welfare of the people living here and only a short program of responses to his masters’ calls.  Basically, “Send me the checks and I’ll release the votes.”

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 28FEB2024 – AI Thoughts

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war pig

AI will be used mostly for crime, pornography and politics.

In the hands of criminals and unfriendly or thug governments it will be used to steal to fund them. Such activities will become far more efficient with AI. N Korea is already making millions with counterfeiting other nations currencies. Counterfeiting currencies will be like robbing vending machines compared to what AI theft can do.

As for pornography, it may actually have a perverted good side. AI images will be so good that there will be no reason to use real children. Also no women need be trafficked for such films. However it can then become so over the top that people become desensitized and even more addicted. It begs the question; if it is an artificial image can it be considered child pornography? Right now Hentai is covered by the 1st Amendment, no matter how heinous. Just as the crucifix in a jar of urine was protected. Now, an author who writes the most perverted, degrading, violent and vomit-inducing stories of child abuse, rape, torture, etc. Is covered by the 1st Amendment. It is the written word. It is not real. It is fiction, amorphous. I am glad i am not a judge who has to decide those cases.

As for politics, we already have fraud. It can be used to fake voices and even make it look like Trump ripped the blouse off a woman and called her a shut. Or Biden with his hand up some little girl’s skirt. Then it has to be proven to be false. Let alone the violation of voting systems. Electronic voting should be abandoned. AI can make Big Brother look simplistic. Computer and internet companies know too much about us already.

AI has the potential to make us distrust virtually everything, and that is quite dangerous.

Guest Contributor – ArthurinCali – 28FEB2024 – AI: Promise versus Reality

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Many of us recall the excitement and possibilities that surrounded new technologies growing up, especially tech that involved artificial intelligence. Old Sci-Fi and even more current ideas as we approached the 21st century envisioned a world where AI not only enhanced daily life, but would be the paradigm shift that would lead to solving a lot of humanity’s vexing issues. For example, a childhood trip to Disney World in the early 90’s showcased what the future of AI could bring about. Epcot Center had entire attractions centered around how AI would one day catapult humanity into Space colonization, while others touted the medical advances that would be achieved. Science programs on TV and magazine publications were always highlighting how computer speeds continued to double every year or so, thus bringing us closer to being able to operate advanced AI systems. Obviously, this did not occur, and does not look likely for the near future if Google Gemini and others are our examples. Instead we get warped and distorted historical images, as well as AI chatbots who cannot tell the truth due to being crammed with so much progressive-leftist ideological bias.