Just A Reminder

 Monday is Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is not the day you thank me for my service.

 

Memorial Day is the day you thank them for theirs.

So This Happened

 

One down, one to go.

Quelle Surprise

 So as it turns out, the only thing Donald Trump has ever really been guilty of is Attempting to Govern While Republican.

Wake me up when someone (of substance) goes to FPMITA prison over it.

Dear Ms. Wolf,

First and foremost, thank you.

I appreciate the fact that you can be wrong. I appreciate that fact because I, myself, have occasionally been wrong as well. We all have. As the saying goes, "to err is human."

The rest of that statement is "to forgive, divine."

I make no claim to being divine. All to the contrary, I fully and freely admit to being a flawed human being. The only perfect man, so the story I was told goes, was killed for his trouble, and I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that I ain't that guy.

And neither is anyone else.

It shames me to say that there are many on "my" side who will take your words and crow over them, they will grind it into your face and they will beat you over the head with them. Such creatures should remember that they ain't that guy, either. We can all be wrong.

You and I have, and I am sure will continue, to disagree over many things as a result of our ways of thinking. That's perfectly fine, and we can disagree without being disagreeable. I think that we all want the same things, we only differ in how we propose to obtain those things. Critical thinking demands that we not only listen to the "other" side, but we pay attention to it and honestly evaluate what they are saying. This is, after all, why we have a free press to begin with.

It takes a lot of courage to admit to being wrong, even in private, but to do it as you have earns from me a large degree of respect. I can only hope that, in your place, I would also have the courage to admit to being wrong with as much candor and honesty as you have done in this instance.

I can also hope that others, on both sides, learn from your example. I am still pessimistic enough to doubt it will happen, but hope springs eternal. But I digress.

One of the tenants of my religion is forgiveness, but the first step in achieving absolution is to first and foremost admit to doing wrong. You have certainly done that in this case, and your effort certainly deserves a reply. I can't claim to speak for all conservatives or Republicans. I can only claim to speak for me. And on my behalf, I would like to say,

"Apology accepted."

A Bad Day At The Range

 is still a pretty good day.

It was a bit disappointing, however. I took the new-to-me AR upper and the lowers that I had built for it out to play, and the darn thing just would not feed from either of the lowers or from either of the magazines. If I bounced the darn thing on the polymer magazine the round would go in, but otherwise nada.

So I packed it up and took the Glock 36 to the pistol range next door and put 50 aluminum cased rounds through it. It had one FTE, not a stovepipe, where the ejector just slipped past the rim of the empty and didn't get it out. It came out with no issues, and that was the only problem with the aluminum cases.

Next, Range Partner had brought a couple hundred old reloads with him, so I helped him burn them up. I put 100 rounds through the 36 with only a few issues due more to light loads, I never had a squib but there were one or two that didn't go bang with enough authority to properly cycle the slide.

The verdict: since changing the barrel I haven't had a single problem with the gun that could not be attributed to ammo. Also, I managed to ring the steel consistently although I couldn't consistently hit the small swinging targets. So, I still suck at this game, but not as bad as once upon a time. Dry firing helps.

Once I got home I consulted the Internet regarding my AR issues and found that I have an M4 upper receiver mounted to an AR barrel. The difference is in the feed ramps. On the plain AR the feed ramps are integral only to the barrel extension (the rear-most part of the barrel that is fluted to mate with the bolt; so much to learn with the AR platforms); the regular AR has a flat front wall on its upper receiver with no ramps and the ramps on the barrel extension stop at the outside edge. 

On the M4, however, the feed ramps continue down into the front wall of the upper receiver and the barrel extension ramps are slightly deeper so it makes a smooth transition between the ramps in the upper receiver and ones in the barrel extension. The idea is that the M4 will feed better at faster cycle rates or with rounds bigger than the standard 5.56 which, mine being a 6.8, is. 

 The result of my setup is a ledge where the ends of the AR barrel extension ramps meet the ramps in the M4 upper, and that combination with my lowers and magazines tip the rounds downward just enough to catch that ledge. Funny thing is, the original setup (I bought just the upper, the guy I bought it from kept the lower to put a different upper on it) worked just fine.

 The cure is to either swap to an M4 barrel, or take a rotary tool or round file to the barrel extension ramps to match them to the receiver ramps. There is some debate as to whether it's a good idea to do this while the barrel is mated to the upper. I think this may be a job I'll leave to a gunsmith.

In other news, it looks like I may be picking up a .357, so I have that going for me. The last .357 I owned was a Taurus that I got from a "friend" over some money he owed me and then later found out that it had been lifted from his mother in law's truck, so I had to give it back. 

I am more certain of this one's ancestry, so that won't be an issue, but it is a lightweight S&W that is...let's say, somewhat uncomfortable...to shoot a lot due to the recoil inherent in a powerful cartridge and a light gun. I'll put some .38 through it for practice and keep the high power loads for business.

It's been too long since my last range day, but now that the weather is getting better I will work at improving that.

Ha

 I accidentally aced my Harmonics module quiz. Three of the questions were closely related, two were identical and one was based on the answer of the other two. I flat-out guessed at the two identical questions and answered the third based on that flat-out guess, and because the one was right so was the other.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Also, since I had all the homework done and turned in for the Thermodynamics module the instructor opened the quiz for that for me as well. I didn't ace it, but I only missed one of fifteen which is good for an A. I'll take it.

What that means is PHY-151 College Physics is effectively over except for the final project. My current grade is good enough that even if I zero out the final I will still pass, which means I just have a robotics class to complete for my AAS-MET degree. I'll be starting that class next month and I'll be done with it in May. In August I will register for a C programming class and a data communications class, then I'll have the AAS-EET degree as well.

And then I will be educated beyond my intelligence.

Well Why Not

 I went to go somewhere in the Jeep today, and when I turned the key the little blinky dash lights came on but the starter didn't. Apparently the linkage between the lock cylinder and the electrical switch, called the actuator, is prone to failure and mine did.

I went online to do some pricing and holy smokes. Amazon has what I need for about seventeen bucks shipped. Auto Zone had the same part for about 40. Advance wants 66 bucks for the same part.

It will be here Thursday. Until then I'll drive the Baja. I need to get my money's worth out of that transmission anyway. It's just a shame, the weather will be nice enough for the next couple of days that I could have rode topless, but I guess I can just open the sunroof instead.

Take Off The Mask

 You look like a fucking idiot.

And now we do the dance of joy!

I've Been a Good Boy

I've already mentioned my degrees will be finished by Christmas.

My Jeep will also be paid off by Christmas. Truthfully I could pay it off now.

Also, my credit card balance is drawing down pretty quickly, and by the time I start school again in September I should be down to paying the balance every month (I use it for reoccurring payments).

I think I deserve a reward.