Credit Card Signatures

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Took most of Yesterday off from the blog, as well as this morning, but now I’m in a blogging mood, and this being the doldrums of the weekend I thought I’d share a thought I had.

What’s the friggin’ point with taking my signature for a Credit Card Purchase? You sign your receipt and maybe the cashier doesn’t look at it at all, or if they do they sit there for a long time like some sort of FBI Criminologist looking at your receipt and then your card. Bonus point if they stick out their tongue while doing it.

A local prankster actually played this game, and detailed it Here and here

Obviously nobody seems to care about this little song-and-dance, so why even bother?

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Big Brass Ones

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Coworker sent me this video:

Pikes Peak 2010 – Jeff Zwart In Car from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

A bit long but worth the watch. A guy does a speed-run of Pike’s Peak in a Porsche GT3 Cup. My heart was in my THROAT for the dirt-road parts just watching him wrestle with the steering wheel while his uber-powerful car slid around like a hog-on-ice!

Also the acceleration that kart can do on inclines!!! WOW!

One question, from my research the GT3 Cup uses a naturally-aspirated flat-six, but in the AMAZING soundtrack of the video (Seriously, turn that shit up!) I hear a high-pitched whine from the motor. I would assume that was turbo-whine, but the Cup has none. Any idea what that delightful sound is?

And the driver? Balls-of-Steel!!!

**Update** Multiple sources have informed me that the whine is a square-cut gearbox. Cool thanks to all who let me know.

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So Much Hate

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Weerd Beard

So because I like watching an evil and miserable person consume herself with her own hatred and live a life of Misery I greatly enjoy reading Kay’s blog. Also seems she touched on a rather interesting and Ironic bit of blog-fodder.

The KKK and white supremacists have protected speech but the Black Panthers do not?

First up let’s point and laugh at a bigot who runs a hate-site is somehow giving a moral argument about the bill of rights, and somehow claiming different behavior AGAINST the New Black Panther Party. When in fact they are getting favorable treatment for their violent acts to turn whites away from voting Booths in the 2008 Elections:

I must say when the party that claims to be the “civil rights party” defends the actions of a Klansman and racist. (note in the Comments Vector’s statement that President Obama, our first black President, ordered flags be flown at half-staff for the dead Klansman).

Of course this Black President is pretty clearly a homophobe.

The Obama administration’s Justice Department was in the position of defending the Defense of Marriage Act even though Barack Obama had called during the 2008 presidential campaign for repealing it.

Of course Obama himself was a pretty active members of a Hate Group and like Byrd has done little to show he has left his past mistakes behind.

And meanwhile all of the above facts are getting minimal play in the news. Can’t we leave all this prejudice and hatred behind and judge our fellow man by the value of their actions? While groups like the Klan and Aryan Nation have waned in today’s social climate, and groups like the Westboro Baptist Church simply exist in small pockets in society. It appears that the vacuum created by the absence of one hate group leads to the expansion of new hate groups, and those who condemned the hate-groups of the past, will be the defenders of the new hate.

It deeply saddens me, and my spirits are only lifted slightly that I know that hundreds of like-minded people will read this post.

Spread the word, don’t let the hate hide behind liars!

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Relaxing Day

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Had a great ViciousCircle last night, and because I have to work this weekend, I decided to take today off and sleep in.

There might be a few posts later on, but for now I’m gonna be chillin’.

BTW Thanks to Tarb for joining in VC last night, it was fun to finally talk to you and talk about the horrible gun laws in Oz.

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OK this is going to be Cool!

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Weerd Beard

So I think its pretty much undisputed that Hi-Point pistols suck. What IS debatable is how we define “SUCK”. I mean we can all agree they’re cheaply made from low-quality products, they have poor fit-and-finish, they’re bulky and heavy, and their ergonomics and trigger-pull are lousy. That all being said, do they work, and can they hold up to serious use?

Seems that’s an oft contested point. Heck at the NRA convention Mike W. spent a decent amount of time at the Hi-Point booth. First I was just showing Mike what a friggin’ boat-anchor Hi-Point .45 is. But we stuck around just because the company reps were such characters. They openly admitted the guns were goofy and cheap, but what they pressed was they WORKED and WORKED WELL, and all for short-money.

Now if this is true that’s nothing to squawk at, but there are lots of respected voices out there that call that claim utter poppycock. The way of the Multigun tossed down the guantlet

Ok, so if you go to practically any gun forum on the internet, and people start talking about inexpensive or cheap guns, inevitably the Hi-Point fans come crawling out of the woodwork to advocate how the Hi-Point design is just as good as a Glock/SIG/CZ/M&P/other popular semi-auto pistol.

They will, at great length, talk about how the guns are accurate, durable, and just the bee’s knees for any application you’d care to use a handgun for….I will objectively test the Hi-Point C-9 under competitive settings….If, after shooting the Hi-Point at these six matches, I manage to place higher with the Hi-Point, I will compete at a state-level Steel Challenge match with this gun. If provided with Hi-Point branded apparel (hat, shirt, etc.) I will wear it during this match.

However, if the Hi-Point fails to live up to the reputation of its online adherents and I do not place as well as or better with the Hi-Point, or it fails mechanically to the point where I can no longer use it at matches, I reserve the right to bag on Hi-Point guns to my heart’s content from now until the day I die.

(I edited the quote down a good bit for brevity, read the whole post for details) But essentially he wants to take the pepsi-challenge with a hi-point 9mm and see if it can walk the walk it claims.

Now the REALLY cool part. A Hi-Point Distributor picked up said gantlet and is initiating the challenge.

Very VERY interesting, and I can’t WAIT to read the results!

Will I ever buy a Hi-Point? Not likely, but given that my main bag in the 2nd Amendment advocacy is equal rights for all, for there to be a cheap plastic-and-potmetal pistol on the market that can be had for short money AND run reasonably well, well that’s a good step for self defense for all!

Posted in Guns, product review | Leave a comment

Don’t Need a Gun! Police Will Protect You!

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Weerd Beard

For some odd reason I have concern about our Brothers where Great Briton Used to Be so I did a quick news search. Found Two Stories. Click on quote for full stories:

Accused murderer Raoul Moat is still giving police the chase five days after a string of vicious shootings, but investigators may be one step closer to locking up the runaway gunman.

Its not like the Island is THAT big, and its not like it isn’t an ISLAND! WTF??
Not the first time either:

The search for Raoul Moat has evoked memories of a previous manhunt in which a gunman managed to evade police for 18 days by going to ground in rural England. Barry Prudom, 37, persistently outwitted police in North Yorkshire after shooting dead two policemen and a civilian 28 years ago.

Prudom, 37, who also had a grudge against police, went on the run after killing Pc David Haigh, 29, by shooting him in the head as he was conducting car checks at a picnic site near Harrogate on June 17, 1982. Up to 1,000 officers were mobilised to search for Prudom, an outdoor and military enthusiast, but no trace was found of him until he turned up in Girton, Notts., five days later and killed civilian George Luckett before stealing his car.

The story goes on, but frankly its too depressing for me to keep quoting….

Advocates for civilian disarment speak glowingly about the protective umbrella of the Police, and of course if their bans actually work **Hint: they won’t** you will be much safer, as there will be less Gun Death!

Now I won’t disparage police. They do good work, and are a necessity for a healthy society of laws. But just like I don’t expect the fire department to rescue me, and save my property from fire, I don’t expect the police to ride in like the Calvary from some foolish Hollywood movie and save me from violent assault.

Nope, I have fire extinguishers throughout my house, and I have an escape plan, and alternate plan to get out of my home if its overtaken by fire. *FYI if I needed yet another escape route, don’t these things look cool?* I also keep defensive arms handy in case of violent attack. I also have plans in the event that I am attacked without a gun. I will never allow myself to be a victim.

Police are great, but don’t have them be your one-and-only plan. One must ALWAYS have backup plans!

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Morning LOL

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Via Borepatch

And yes, I know how to please my wife!

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Laws and Gun Laws

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Found This article thought an anti-rights turd who doesn’t need mention.

A local man, who police said was preparing for an alien invasion, was arrested on a warrant Thursday morning little more than a month after he paid cash for a .30-06 rifle that was advertised in a classified ad.

After the sale took place at 57-year-old Dane Eisenman’s Sherwood Drive home, the Danbury resident who sold the rifle to Eisenman called police because Eisenman had started talking about using the rifle to kill aliens, police said….After checking his background, police discovered that Eisenman is a convicted felon. As such, he is not allowed to own handguns or rifles.

Police issued a warrant for Eisenman’s arrest, and he turned himself in about 11:15 a.m. Thursday on a charge of criminal possession of a firearm.

OH NOS The “GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE!!!”. You’ll note in the story that the seller is not being charged, as he did everything legally. He certainly seemed concerned enough about this man’s background, why didn’t he run a background check? Easy, because HE CAN’T. All he got was the man’s driver’s license information, and he decided to call the cops who did the simple task.

You’ll also note the guy seems a bit off his rocker, but I’ll point to the number of people who were hurt in this incident.

“Yeah Weer’d, but what if the cops hadn’t been called?”

Well this is how dangerous this guy is:

Eisenman was released on a promise to appear July 9 in Bridgeport Superior Court.

Took the gun away and let him go. Seems smart to me…

Look if this guy is such a danger that he might go blasting “Aliens” with a deer gun, what’s to say he’s not going to try and squish them with his Buick? Or crack their skulls with a frying pan or a crow bar?

I’ll also note it doesn’t say WHAT his felony was. It could have been murder, it could have been hunting out-of-season. Despite the vast difference in those two crimes its all the same in the eyes of the law, and that needs to be changed. Also private sellers should have access to the NICS system. Frankly I think EVERYBODY should have access to the system, or at least all state driver’s licenses should come with a color code that simply will state if the person can pass a NICS or not. Not what they did, or when they did it, just their current status. Its not only valuable for private sellers of firearms, but for employment (Private and public) and for law enforcement, as a quick flash of an ID can save some times, also a follow-up with the real NICS can help sniff out fake IDs.

Also one last bit of foolishness. I’m guessing the .30-06 in question was your basic hunting rifle, likely a bolt-action. Now that’s hardly a toy, but its also not my first choice to slaughtering the alien hordes, and its not a gun that antis are going after very strong (Yet).

What if this guy had instead been selling machetes? Axes? Chainsaws? Crossbows? Modern Muzzle-loaders? His old Cadillac?

If this guy was such a menace to society with a .30-06, why would this have not been a news story if he’d bought the above? And why is it Ok if he’s wandering around free right now?

Gun laws are one thing, but laws in general need to be looked at very closely.

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Evening Funny

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Weerd Beard

OK that’s a cool and funny video. Then Billnye over at Alt/Org nethack chat room noted that it was a foot-fault.

Now that’s a double-dose of funny right there!

Yarrr!

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Odd Case

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Jay Links a very strange story here

A judge has ordered Men At Work to hand over royalties from the 1983 hit single Down Under after earlier ruling they had plagiarised a children’s song….Larrikin Music, which owns the copyright to Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, had sought 60% of royalties.

The company argued successfully that Down Under’s flute riff was stolen from Marion Sinclair’s original song.

Click on Quote to go to the site that has an embedded player. Ok, I kinda see where they get it, but since when does a very basic musical progression mean theft. This comedy routine comes to mind:

Hell Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” and Ah-Ha’s “Take On Me” start with the same Arpeggio, and frankly I always wait with baited breath when I hear one of the two common songs on to see which one I’m currently listening to. But its a damn arpeggio the damn things practically occur out of the Ether in Nature!

We’re not talking about the fairly obvious plagiarism that came with the “I want a New Drug”/”Ghostbusters Theme” lawsuit.

I wonder if the Aussies are going to go after my favorite musician because he borrowed the chorus to one of their famous songs and slapped it on one of his own.

(BTW kinda neat how context changes the meaning of the same lyrics from the origonal Also “Waltzing Mathilda” is considered the unofficial National Anthem of Australia…how cool is that to say that about a song which is essentially about sticking it to the Man. Then again, I guess the same could be said about OUR National Anthem.)

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