Category: Opinion

January 23, 2024 – Do You Have a Lightbulb From College?

January 23, 2024 /

As I dream about putting the next duct into the floor joist, I visualize in my head the steps and what obstacles are around. My basement is where everything that has a little bit of use goes to die. The lightbulbs in use are a hodgepodge collection of things that were changed out for aesthetics but still had function. One of those lightbulbs I purchased when I was in college. Specifically 1996-1997.

I lived in a townhouse my senior year. That was built in the 1970s and it had recessed lights in a lot of the building. Most college students swapped the proper floodlight bulb with a regular bulb when they burned out because they were five times cheaper (If they swapped bulbs at all!). I ended up purchasing the correct bulbs before I moved out and like a good preparedness person, I had a spare.

Since I have lived in that townhouse, I have never lived somewhere that had recessed lights requiring that particular style of bulb. This bulb moved from southern Oregon to two apartments in the Portland metro area to our first house in Salem, to South Carolina to where I live now. A couple of years ago, I realized that I was never going to have a proper application for that bulb and so it ended up in the basement. I probably should have donated it to Habitat For Humanity.

It is not like I will run out of mismatched bulbs any time soon. In fact, about fifteen years ago, the city (electric utility) changed all of our bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent. When they did that, they left all the bulbs they took out in a plastic bag and gave them back to me. As those CFLs burned out (one of the biggest scams ever), I replaced them with the bulbs that they took out.

I am on the last of those bulbs now. I am very skeptical of the lightbulb environmentalism. We took an inert technology albeit less efficient and replaced it with a high technology, high toxicity product. We saved 50 watts of energy times the number of bulbs and congratulated ourselves when we should have been looking at the social engineering of the problem in the first place. If you want to read about that type of discussion, this is a good start here.

I regret the loss of the incandescent bulb. There were certain applications that really benefited from the inefficiency. An old, rural trick was to plug in a lightbulb in the well house to prevent the pump and line from freezing. You cant do that with CFL or LED bulbs. The next best solution is a space heater. So instead of burning 100 Watts, we are now using 1000 Watts. So, I suppose if the farm house changes all of their lightbulbs to LED, the net difference even with the heater is still lower energy consumption.

But, what do we have to do to make these bulbs and what do you have to do to get rid of them? The old tungsten filament bulbs were simple and safe. When those were replaced with compact fluorescents, those bulbs contained mercury vapor. Once vaporized, these would eventually rain down into surface water and accumulate in aquaculture. Hence, we are advised by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to eat no more than two servings per week. Pregnant women are a no for any exposure. This is a problem caused entirely by our own industrialization and fluorescent light bulbs are a contributor.

There is one facility within a one hour window that accepts fluorescent bulbs. It is open every Tuesday from 12-4 and one Saturday per month. When you get there, enjoy your one hour wait to get to the facility. My point is the disposal effort is extremely impractical. Consequently, I throw them away. And I am a person that puts a lot of effort into recycling. I have a technojunk pile that goes for a specific recycling. I disassemble things to get to there component parts that are trash verses recyling. I reuse materials wherever possible. I even think about the lifecycle of things before I buy them.

LED technology isn’t much better but there are some real advantages to LEDs. The flashlight power and shock resistance is miles better than twenty years ago. I do not hold the same regard for home level bulbs. The materials to make the bulbs come from dubious partners. The components in the bulbs are of toxic makeup. The color of the cheaper bulbs are terrible. At least they don’t kill our environment when they break but they are still supposed to be recycled. Again, they need to go in the technojunk pile.

I can see that I got way off base from where I started. Whenever I see that bulb and think about it, I think about my life in summary. It is amazing to me how long I have had this consumable. As we think about our next phases in life, I have to believe that this is probably the last stop. I suspect that it will be left here when we go to our next house because that time is approaching.

End Your Programming Routine: While the story is cute and anecdotal to me, hopefully the greater lesson in the story is beware of the universal solution. Whether it is vaccines will cure a disease or a new kind of lightbulb will solve climate change. We always, always, always have to consider who is to gain from legislation and policy. The educated consumer/voter is less likely to fall for the false prophet scam. Some things may be problems that don’t need solving and then all of a sudden, new solutions create newer and worse problems.

January 17, 2024 – Like Father, Like Son

January 17, 2024 /

My dear, dear son. We are so much alike and yet it seems like there are chasms between us. Our interest and capabilities are similar, our experience and feelings are similar and yet for some reason one is haunted while the other is content in our beings. He made this cleaver below. I went to put the dishes away and it was in the knife drawer with the note Happy Birthday on it. He even presented in a way that I would. In secret, without any fanfare.

Last week was a difficult week for us. I was busy trying to keep the household together while he was doubting his place and role in it. My birthday was a week ago but it really came and went. I made a Korean inspired dinner so that I could taste my kim chi. I have to say that it wasn’t quite as soft as I wanted but in many ways it was better than I hoped. I definitely preferred this one to many that I have tasted before.

I was worried about the heating system and that everyone had their physical needs met before we were iced in for a couple of days while he was iced in already. Since we really didn’t do much on my birthday, my wife suggested that we have a small dinner on Friday, ahead of the weather. I was focused on the best choice and getting the word out while he was already planning how he could avoid it all together.

I am not there, but I think that I had a very similar high school experience. My best friends were older than I was. And so, my senior year was a solitary one. I ate lunch by myself. I was a little lonely, but only from the perspective that I didn’t understand why I jived with people that were no longer around more so than my peers. It is not so much of a mystery really but it is hard to convey in words. I think that my propensity to get along with older people has served me well. My first boss being a World War II vet liked me very much and invested in my first seven professional years.

I don’t know how better to describe high school but trite. My era had people wearing baseball caps twisted with the tags hanging down and overalls clipped on one side. Talk about stupid. They were emulating the videos they saw on M-TV. It is no wonder I started listening to country music at that point. But at a deeper level, I can certainly understand not identifying with those people.

When you are not quite your own person and not self sufficient it is hard to squeeze into the crack of figuring out who and how you want to be. Even out of college, I struggled to become my own person. My parents didn’t do it intentionally (I don’t think) but in my head I was under their thumb and so therefore my decisions were clouded with how they would judge my decisions.

Now, it seems silly, but at the time it was real. I can’t get a job in college because my parents are paying for it. I can’t let them know that I am going to a bar. I can’t take that class, it is not serious enough. I can’t skip this class to do something I need to do. And on it goes. I get my son and we discuss gaps such as that. I do my best to empower him, but I can only go so far, It is up to him to take what is given.

I used to seek permission on many things, even at work. One day, I realized that if it is not illegal, immoral, against policy or something like that it was time to stop. Nobody needs to enable me to go above and beyond or improve something. That was a liberating moment even to the point that I am challenging the status quo on the other things as well now. Why is this policy in place that doesn’t make sense or I don’t agree with that stance because of X, Y , Z data.

You have to be careful with that way of doing business but it is part of becoming your own person. I think once that happens, then you become confident in who you are. And when you become confident, you become happier. When you become happier, you realize the proper perspective of all those other things were not worth the worry. That is where we need to take this conversation.

End Your Programming Routine: Of course, none of us are perfect. I am not and neither is my son. He ground and honed that edge, which took a lot of time and looks pretty good. The handle is a little more crude and made with pine, probably the wrong material for longevity and durability. It is just like our lives. Some things are worked and refined while other parts are dubious or inappropriate. We just need to keep practicing those elements that need work. Find another material, method, use another design or shape until we find something that works for us. The only way to do that is to keep trying.

January 16, 2024 – Speak of the Devil…

January 16, 2024 /

The day after I put out my winter preparedness note, I heard the heater make a long buzzing sound. I said to myself, that doesn’t sound right. Then, about an hour later, my wife said “do you smell that?”. I said no but I went upstairs and then I could smell a waxy smell, electrical-ish. I did some testing and it seems like the heater wasn’t working.

You can see from the thermostat that I have the power turned off. But, of all the things to happen right before the temperature drops to below zero for several days, this is close to the worst. At least you can take solace in the electricity is still on, this allows for the use of space heaters.

Fortunately, I do have several space heaters electric, propane and kerosene. It probably makes sense to move to one fuel, I think that is propane. Electricity doesn’t work when the power is out and kerosene has too many fumes. The one down side of propane is that the tanks are bulky but at least it is relatively affordable.

When I first learned that things were not working like they should, I turned off the power. It wasn’t terribly cold outside but the temperature started to drop throughout the day. I was using appliances and doing laundry so that kept the temperature at 67 before turning in for the day. There was a visible temperature wall between the bedroom with the space heater running and the rest of the house.

By the time I woke up in the morning, the temperature had dropped to 57 degrees. Based on what I was expecting, the service technician was going to validate that they were going to have to order a new motor. The best case scenario was that they would get it on Monday, after we had a weekend never climbing above freezing. I wasn’t cold yet but I was getting prepared for it.

The diagnosis was true, it was the motor. Then the technician asked if I wanted to try a universal motor. It wasn’t the OEM motor but it was also in stock and half the price they quoted me for a factory replacement part. I said, “I don’t understand try. Does it not fit or something?” He said, it had more power inputs. I have to admit, I still don’t understand the downside, it is called universal for a reason. I said yes, and it worked.

Having a spare furnace or even replacement parts of that sort are not really practical. The truth is, when they did the winter service in December, they said that the motor was ‘tired’. But, who really knows what that means? I said that I wanted to see a quote before I committed to anything. I mean, who really wants to spend another unplanned grand in December.

My wife thinks that I should have done the maintenance when they quoted it. She even said to me why wait? I am not doubting the technicians experience nor opinion but really define ‘tired’ for me. Nobody, including him could predict that the motor would fail on this day. If so, I would have scheduled the replacement for the day of the failure.

Of course, having back-up heat in general is a really good idea. In this climate, I could get by all summer without cooling and a lot of the winter, it might be unpleasant but at least the plumbing wasn’t going to freeze. That was my biggest concern. All things considered, I think the lesson is don’t just consider one opinion when making decisions. But gather the data and cross check others to see if they make sense. If the part had cost $200, I probably would have scheduled the repair but the fact that we were getting near $1000 was a little more than I was willing to just jump.

End Your Programming Routine: Nobody wants to spend a quick $550. But, had I not insisted that they come out and look, I would have been waiting all weekend for the motor to come in and paid twice as much. So, despite the drawbacks, I am pleased that the issue is fixed. And with central heat in the house, I am reasonably comforted that there will be enough heat not to freeze the plumbing.

December 13, 2023 – Design With the End In Mind

December 13, 2023 /

It has been a long time since I have talked about project methodology. In fact, some of my earliest writings were about subjects like this. The problem as I see it is that this skill is very difficult to do because it is hard to see the endpoint. Too many service providers don’t do enough guiding the process with inexperienced clients. This leads to the ‘what do you want’ and ‘what can I get’ conversation.

I have never experienced this myself, but I hear that when people build a house and they start to see how the rooms are laid out, that is where the changes start. They start to see what could not be visualized in the design phase (the phase where changes are virtually free). I do have lots of experience in project execution when people see software and then the changes start happening. This is a different medium but the same psychology.

Breaking out the old DVD player to play Christmas movies that we own got me thinking that we actually own another DVD player and a VCR to boot. They are relegated to taking up space in a cabinet that I could use the space for other things and they definitely fit the definition of techno junk. I might as well plumb them in my office where all old technology goes to die. Where else am I going to watch nine seasons of Dukes of Hazzard?

I took the Keyboard Video Monitor (KVM) switch out that I had the X-box hooked up to thinking that I would plug it directly into a TV when I get one. But now that I finally have my table built and all of my stereo equipment installed, the video games and video equipment can all fit in that space which means I need to make some network cables. That was the point of the previous two paragraphs.

I have a switch in my office. It is just a cheap, ten port, unmanaged switch. So, no big deal to plug some extra cables in. But, had I really had my design figured out from the get go, I would have run network drops to the back wall when I built my office. From there I could have run everything to my main switch and had a cleaner and simpler installation. Simpler is always more robust and better design anyway.

Design is only one component in the project lifecycle. Many people do not understand what it actually means. They confuse design or how things are going to be done with requirements or what needs to be done. I am not going to spend much time in requirements except to use a simple example.

Requirement – my office must have wired internet. Design could be one drop and a switch or a drop for every device that is going to be plugged in and what wall with how many ports per location. For good design to be possible, how the space is to be used plus what is going in the space and how it will be laid out is critical. This is hard work to figure out all of these variables.

Going back to houses again, they suffer from poor design. One of the reasons we have square footage bloat is because houses suffer from poor design. I am not sure when this changed but look at houses from the 1920s with built in book shelves and china cabinets and linen drawers. These things make a huge difference in making small homes more livable. Homes without these amenities use free standing furniture to accomplish these goals and subsequently cut into the livable floorspace. It is my contention that if I could custom build a house, I could easily live with a much smaller space, if well designed.

One last anecdote. I have often said that software should be created by what data the reports need to display. Too often, when you start from requirements by the time you get to the end we are left with how to collect data points needed to generate report data. If we started with the data we needed, the requirements would handle themselves and the design would be bridging the gaps.

End Your Programming Routine: Even though I didn’t get thoroughly into it, learn the difference between requirements and design. Also, learn the different job aspects between who does what. If you knew those things, then you would know who is supposed to be doing what as well as hopefully making changes at the time when they are cheap. I am not going to go run new data lines into my office because it is too time consuming. But, had I known what I wanted when I did it, I sure would have done it.

November 30, 2023 – What I Have Learned About Adult Air Guns

November 30, 2023 /

Maybe you get tired of me talking about this, I don’t know. What I have to say is that I have been on an adventure over the last couple of years and have learned a whole lot of things. With Christmas time coming, it is a good time to think about the different options for that firearms enthusiast in your life. As an adult, I never thought that I would get into air guns. I thought that I had grown up and that air guns were for kids that couldn’t be trusted with real firearms. I have grown to appreciate the role that they can play in a shooters life.

First, I can shoot an air rifle at home every day. It takes me an hour to drive to my range, that is also an hour back home. Then there is the gathering up stuff and the put away plus the clean-up which takes another several hours. What I am saying is that going to the range is a significant investment in time.

Then there is the cost. Pellets range from $5 for 300 to $12 for 100 and all over in between. This is analogous to range versus premium ammunition. If I was shooting 22lr, it would be about $16 per 100 but I couldn’t do that at home and I would have cleanup as well. What I am saying is that consistent practice with air rifles is extremely approachable compared to firearms.

Let us not forget that air guns are not firearms by the definition of the law. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a new air rifle. I walked up to the shelf, picked up the box and went straight to the cash register. Store policy required purchasers to be 21 but the cashier didn’t even make me show my ID. There is no hours long waiting for background checks and hoping that somebody didn’t make some critical clerical error denying me my 2nd amendment rights. There is no fee for me wanting to exercise my rights and get my ‘mother may I’ approved.

As far as I know, there has never been a run on pellets or implements. Air guns don’t seem to be popular amongst the firearms crowd, probably because they thought like I did. One hundred dollars can literally buy months worth of shooting. But running to the store to reload is not a gamble and stores that have gone woke still carry pellets like the Kroger stores, variety stores and even Walmart. Have I convinced you yet?

What is there to know? I am still looking for that genie in the bottle but I am going to share some tips now. I have experience with three brands and that is Daisy, Crosman and Gamo. There are other brands out there that are popular but these three seem to be the most prevalent around these parts. I have experience with four variations of delivery. That would be the single pump, multi-pump, break action spring pump and the break action gas pump.

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t like variable pumps. For a first air gun or a rarely used, it would be OK. The pumping gets old, quick. Pumping 12 times takes a lot of effort and time. Fine for one shot but ten is a real pain in the butt. Their primary advantages are that they are the quietest, cheapest and they can shoot BBs and pellets.

I am not even sure if you can buy the single pump rifles new other than the Red Ryder. My first one was a Daisy 840. I didn’t realize that this was an advantage until I had a multi-pump. The primary disadvantage is they are very limited in power, but they have all of the advantages of the multi-pump.

My recommendation if you were only going to own one air gun, own a break barrel. They are faster to load and more powerful. But beware, this comes at a price. They cost significantly more and can be loud enough to require hearing protection. I fired my newest rifle twice inside and it cause my ears to ring the rest of the day. It also has recoil, which I was surprised when it happened.

I should also mention that all of my experience is with the 0.177 caliber. I have stuck with this particular caliber because of caliber commonality amongst all of my rifles for one. The other reason is that the larger calibers start to have enough energy to rival real firearms making them impractical (and unsafe) to shoot at home. The other common caliber is 0.22. If you were doing to do a lot of small game hunting or daily pest elimination, the 22 is a better choice than 177.

Picking an air rifle larger than 0.25″ makes the easy to obtain pellet more like a unicorn. Your best bet is buy them online because I have never seen them in local stores. Then again, you are probably not going to find a rifle in stores of larger caliber either.

Looking at the two break barrels that I own, one is a Crosman and the other is a Gamo. To date, I think that the advantage of the build goes to Crosman. All parts are metal and they are an American company. Everything except the powerplant on the Gamo is plastic. I feel like someday, there is gong to be a tab break off or something rendering this pretty expensive item useless. Time will tell.

As far as I have recorded, I have not been able to get the published velocity on any rifle pellet combination. What I can say is that the faster the advertised velocity a rifle can achieve, the louder it will be. Since air guns are not firearms, they are not governed by the same laws. Therefore, many have integrated silencers which do not seem to have any impact on the noise that the powerplant generates. I think that they actually make more noise than my 22lr rifles which seems bizarre to me. I can fire those all day and not feel the effect of noise but the break barrel rifles hurt my ears.

The pump rifles can vary in construction. I have several that actually have tubes rather than rifled barrels. This definitely impacts the accuracy with pellets. I have proven that the number of pumps effects accuracy of BBs in rifled barrels but it seems to have no effect with pellets. This is because there is very little velocity change between between six and 12 pumps, only about 10%. So, consider the purpose of what you are going to do.

End Your Programming Routine: My newest rifle is a super magnum. It has a magazine to fire up to 10 shots at an advertised velocity of 1600 fps. It definitely pushes pellets faster than my spring powered rifle but I am not really happy with how loud it is. I wanted a silenced version because I thought my first rifle was too loud. This is why I am looking for that genie in the bottle. I have a recommendation at this point, but I don’t have any personal experience with it so I will withhold any further information. Email me and I will let you know which one I would choose.

November 22, 2023 – Let Us Give Thanks

November 22, 2023 /

I will not have much to say tomorrow. In fact, it is only a post wishing you Happy Thanksgiving. I don’t think that it is right to not acknowledge the things that happened over the last year. Part of humility needs say thanks to the good things in life. I want to do that today.

  1. Adults that mentor and volunteer their time. I have so many examples of this year. It is humbling that others would take interest in my kids and provide a leg up. Mr. Moore the middle school teacher who stepped in as the adult for this year’s Chess In the Park. Mr. Mosier who worked with my son to achieve his Life Scout rank (currently the highest in the troop) so that he would be in good position to obtain Eagle rank when he gets back from Taiwan next year. The many Rotarians to make exchange possible for my kids this year. Ms. Graham that donated airfare funds to allow my son’s FBLA trip to Atlanta this year. The list goes on to teachers and counselors and doctors.
  2. It has been quite a year on the career front. My former co-workers were so kind when I announced that I was leaving my job in August. I got emails and thanks and even job offers. It is nice to know that integrity and honesty is valued and recognized even if I had to leave to hear it. I have really tried hard to deliver my opinion more tactfully even when I thought that things were going in the wrong direction. Truth is not always welcome, how it is delivered matters. I hope that I am making strides to improve that.
  3. Parenting has been really hard on my marital relationship. I do mean really hard. Other that our agreement on the expected outcome, nothing is smooth or easy. We don’t agree on our approaches and I certainly don’t agree that I should have to defend my actions when I have the best intent. That never give up attitude is a double edged sword and my wife doesn’t give up on us either. I am thankful that she keeps fighting for us because I don’t know that I would.
  4. I am thankful that people cared enough for us to help pull off my re-proposal. My niece Jasmine was the mastermind and to be honest, without her it probably wouldn’t have happened. She coordinated with my nephew on how to spring the event and worked with a designer on making the moment special. A romantic deficient could have never pulled off such a special moment alone.
  5. I was listening to a podcast recently that was titled “Learn to Love Where you Live”. Talk about first world problems… With all the chaos in Gaza and so many other parts of the world, how can it possibly matter whether we have a local Starbucks? For all of the things I wish were different, I am thankful for relative stability and prosperity compared to what it could be.
  6. I don’t want to sound cliche but I am thankful for redemption and salvation. It takes the pressure off of guilt. As long as I continue to do my part in trying and asking for forgiveness, life should take care of itself. There is nothing more to worry about when eternity is handled.

That completes my list for the year but I have one more thing to say. As I write this, my maternal grandmother is dying. I don’t really feel much about it to be honest. It is a complicated situation. Not so much for me but for her.

My grandparents divorced in the late 1960s. The kids were nearly grown. My uncle graduated, my mom and sister were in high school and the youngest was in grade school. My grandfather was a devout Catholic and it took 40 years before he forgave himself for the divorce, it crushed him. But, my grandmother was a lesbian.

Because of the era, it drove her into seclusion and isolation. We have always had a cordial and pleasant relationship but it has always been at arms length. I suspect that she has carried shame and regret her whole life. In this modern era, her and her partner haven’t married. As far as I remember they have ‘separate’ bedrooms and I don’t even want to go any farther.

My grandmother worked for the school district at least long enough to get a retirement. Her partner worked for the US Forest Service. They have been retired almost as long as I can remember. Certainly, I was living as a ward of my parents when they moved three hours away. That made routine visits extremely infrequent. I think that they lived at the Oregon Coast for twenty years before moving closer. By that point, we (the kids) had moved on in life. We have a grandmother that we rarely see and don’t know.

My grandfather wanted to know us. This is why he paid us to spend time with him ‘working’. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything because it had such an influence, it made me who I am. My grandmother I suspect struggled with her own regret and demons. She has stories, no doubt about it. I know from my mom that there is some mystery and intrigue. She is a Gamble a generation removed from Proctor & Gamble but I don’t know the schism.

This relates to being thankful because I am thankful that people can be more accepted for who they are. Her partner was never married and has always been exceptionally nice. I wish that my grandmother had embraced who she was and who she is. She might have led herself astray trying to be ‘normal’, but that isn’t a reason to never have a relationship. Honestly, I hope this is peace.

End Your Programming Routine: Thankfulness is a habit that I should practice more frequently. The antithesis of thankfulness is pride. Pride sparks fear which prevents us from being more open. Fear keeps us from developing and fostering relationships and puts us at distance from people that we care about. I see that and identify with it, don’t be me. I am who I am; I am also a product of biology and experience. Let us learn from this and strive to do better.

November 9, 2023 – The Role of ‘Less Than Lethal’

November 9, 2023 /

I have finished my analysis of the Crossman 760. If you recall, this is my son’s BB gun that is multi-pump. Since you already know that I hate pumping, then you know that I don’t have a ton of interest in this platform. That being said, I got curious in the difference between this rifle and my Crossman Legacy when shooting BBs.

I am going to skip a lot of the technical information about this test and the results. But I will give you the bottom line. My initial hypothesis was that it took a certain velocity to stabilize BBs and therefore be more accurate. Unfortunately, even at the maximum number of pumps on the 760, the BB did not reach the same velocity as the most accurate number of pumps on the Legacy.

It does appear to me that there is one target slightly more accurate that the others. In this case it is the four pumps target. That correlates to an average velocity of 391 fps and energy of 0.7 ft/lbs. That is a far cry of difference from the Legacy that was most accurate at 608 fps and energy of 4.3 ft/lbs.

There are however many factors that impact the analysis of the results. The first is that I couldn’t validate my hypothesis in the first place. The max velocity of the 760 was 514 fps versus the most accurate level of pumping on the Legacy was 608 fps. Second and possibly more vital was that I have a scope on the Legacy and only have the open sights on the 760. It is entirely possible that the inaccuracy was due to the sight picture. I was hoping that I would be good enough the way things were to get comparable results. I have to say that is a variable that should be considered.

This post is more focused on what to do with this information. Since I have already announced that I hate to pump and the number of pumps for follow-up is what drove me to purchase another rifle the Optimus, is there any place for the Crossman 760 at home or homestead? The answer is yes.

First of all, never have a BB gun fight with something that is really going to hurt you. If you can’t tell, that was very strong sarcasm, don’t ever do that. But, thinking along those lines, maybe you want to discourage uninvited visitors. When we were kids, we used to shoot deer with our Daisy 840s that hopped into the garden and wrecked havoc on beans and everything else. I also know from hearsay that pellet rifle can kill a deer.

Other animals may be either pets or fall under the furbearing game regulations. Killing animals just might be a crime, not to mention many municipalities prohibit discharge of air rifles and bows. That being said, I think that a stinging BB is a perfectly acceptable deterrent in the right circumstances. Even though that cat pooping in your yard drives you crazy, just wait until you have to face them when you have shot and killed beloved ‘Fluffy’.

This is a very contentions subject in rural America. As we have a right to property, if someone’s pet is causing or potentially causing harm particularly to livestock, then we have a right to defend our property. Lethal force is permitted in those cases. All that is a subject for another day. My point is that you might want to have less than lethal options to avoid unwanted drama, legalities and other situations that may be uncomfortable at the least.

I do not know the exact energy that it takes to kill animals so it should be said that using a BB gun may also be risky if you are looking at non-lethal deterrents. I shot a lot of birds as a youth with my Daisy 840 which I calculate around 0.6 ft/lbs. That same rifle had no penetration on deer and racoons. Possibly better options include pepper spray works well for dogs or something like Airsoft that shoots a larger projectile at lower velocity.

End Your Programming Routine: Adding a scope ($12) to my son’s BB gun is certainly a strong possibility. I have half a notion to move the scope that is on my Legacy over to my son’s 760 and upgrading my own rifle. It is really a terrible piece of kit but it just may be slightly better than open sights, I don’t know. For now, I am going with four pumps is the optimum accuracy with that rifle. That makes my new hypothesis something like pump rifles are most accurate at pumping slightly less than half the total of pump capacity.

October 31, 2023 – Reigning Horror King

October 31, 2023 /

Before there was binge watching TV shows, there was binge reading of authors. I guess that was always something that I have done. My earliest reading accomplishment was finishing the Hardy Boys series. In middle school, the author Dean Koontz came into fashion.

At one point, I had read every book that he had published. That count was fifty some odd books. When you read these serial authors, I find that the books are pretty easy, quick reads. Another author I have read a lot is James Patterson. An average is 300 – 400 pages and these are things that can be read in hours. I could often finish a book in an out and back plane ride (hence why I read so many).

I wouldn’t say that the books are formulaic exactly, it is just that the story line is simple. There isn’t a lot of thinking that is required to follow along. Reading those kind of stories is pleasurable but it starts to lose it zeal if that is all you ever do. Then you start to look around for what can last longer, has more pages or is more complicated. This leads to other authors.

Authors like Koontz and Patterson I would say write in the thriller genre. Thrillers involve action like murder and then all of a sudden murder kind of borders on horror. So what is the difference? In a lot of ways, not much. I would say the primary difference involves supernatural or urban legend aspects aside from just a lot of crime (and blood).

In my opinion, the king (sic) of horror today is Steven King. King’s career started in horror that lead into a more diverse body of work. I started to read King as a supplement to the quick reads of Koontz. One of the first books that I read was “It” and I did so because it was over 1000 pages.

The first published work from King was Carrie. But the 1970s and 1980s was a solid string of novels that really hit the bestsellers list: “Salem’s Lot, Pet Cemetery, Cujo, The Dead Zone, Christine” and probably his biggest hit “The Shining”. He also wrote and directed his own movie called “Maximum Overdrive” featuring a soundtrack exclusively from AC/DC, now that is cool.

I realize that King has ventured out of the horror genre exclusively and into his seventies now, his work is evolving. Yes, he is still putting out fiction but the burning drive has quelled somewhat. That being said, he is still active and has created a number persistent pop culture classics. I think that you would be hard pressed to meet someone older than 30 that doesn’t know “The Shining”.

I think that King has mastered creepy. Most of what he does is not gore like slasher films. This makes his movies a good choice to watch as a family for Halloween. We watched the movie “Misery” a couple months back and this is another good choice. There have been so many books adapted to movies, including non-horror movies like “Stand By Me” and “Shawshank Redemption”. For his classy and proliferation of content as well as versatility I have nominated him Today’s Horror King.

End Your Programming Routine: My favorite book from Steven King is actually “The Stand”. If you haven’t read it, this is a dystopian story more along the lines of “The Walking Dead”. Admittedly while that book makes my recommended reading list, horror is not really my favorite genre and by proxy, I do not really relish most of King’s work. I simply respect the quality and the uniqueness.

October 25, 2023 – I Used to Be a Watch Guy

October 25, 2023 /

I think that I was about 6 years old when I got my first watch. I am pretty sure it was inexpensive and you had to wind it every couple of days. Like many things a grade schooler possesed, it was not treated that well and was often dead. I wore it until the band broke and then it ended up in my junk box for many years.

Believe it or not, this was before digital watches were popular. When I was in fourth grade, the calculator watch came out. Oh man, that was the coolest ticket for a Christmas present, but good luck at $50. A few of the predictable people got one, then there was the concern about cheating on math test. My brother and I knew that we were never going to get one of those, so we coveted the Iron Man Casio watch. Never got one of those either.

The calculator watch fad was short-lived and then the Swatch watch was now in vogue in 6th grade. I did have one of those. Once again, the battery died or the band broke, I am not sure which. They were all plastic and really didn’t hold up well to pre-teen boy’s life.

I am not sure that I remember every watch I have ever owned, but I certainly have my adult ones. One of them (not pictured) my wife bought for me in 1994, I put a new battery in the watch and added a new band and gave to my son a few years ago. That one seems to be lost to time. But other than that, below is my current selection. Each one of them, a certain state of disrepair.

From the left, that is a 1992 vintage, department store “Guess” brand watch. It had a dead battery and a broken band. I think that it has always been a black band, because the other one I gave to my son had a brown band. I alternated between the two in college. I have to say, I like the look of a leather band, but I am sure that I am on my fourth or fifth band on that watch and I stopped wearing it (both black and brown) when I got the second watch.

The second from the left is also a “Guess’ watch that I got in 1998ish. It had a metal band in an attempt to combat the six month, leather swap. That watch got some abuse. It was covered in polymer multiple times and you can see that crystal is even damaged at about one o’clock. I stopped wearing it when I got the third watch in about 2001. Also, a pin was raided from it to keep the third watch going at some point. Recently, I added the web band to get it up and going again. This is going to be my work watch.

The third watch is a Bulova. It was expensive. It is made of Titanium so it is light and smooth. I wore that watch until February 2019 when it stopped working. I sent it in through the jeweler and they said that the gears have worn to the point that it is not keeping time. They can be replaced at a cost of $200. Of course, I got that news the week after I left my job and I did not think it was prudent to spend money on such a luxury item. To this day, it sits broken.

The last watch got lots of use in 2015-2017. It is a Garmin GPS watch that tracks where you have been. I used it mostly for timing when I was training for my half-marathon. I actually wore it as a watch some too, But, two things were wrong, when the GPS is active, it eats the battery and by the end of my half marathon, it would die and the second was the silicone band started disintegrating.

There I was jobless and watchless. That was when I started just using my phone. I really didn’t have anywhere to be so why not? A few weeks ago, several things started to come together. My wife was doing Christmas shopping (and she is dying to buy me a smart watch so I am less likely to miss calls and text messages) as well as me cleaning up old phones and tablets and junk. She said “you used to wear watches” and in my zest to purge junk, I wondered if any of these watches were viable still or can I get rid of them, win either way.

I bought some batteries to see if the first two had the same fate as my Bulova. So far, so good. Then I put my Garmin on the charger. Sure enough it has been going for three weeks on that first charge. It used to be, I would buy my replacement bands at the department store that the watch came from (that doesn’t exist anymore). Now, with the world of Amazon, a whole world of generic or off-brand bands are available, including even the Garmin.

I am going to be a watchman again. Albeit they are inexpensive or outdated watches, I like the idea of looking at my wrist again instead of digging out my phone. My work day consists of rolling out of bed and having a clock constantly in front of me but it is so much more convenient when I am travelling or not working to look at a watch rather than a phone. I also think that watches dress up or down situations as well.

End Your Programming Routine: Maybe ‘The Art of Manliness’ is rubbing off on me too much with style topics? But, it seems to make sense to me to either use the items or get rid of them. Hanging on to non-functional is the opposite of logical. Now that I am not leaving the house everyday, I really have less use for a watch but I am looking forward to putting these things into service again.

September 28, 2023 – They Did It… Gun Shows Are Dead in Oregon

September 28, 2023 /

The gun range that I belong to hosts two gun shows a year. By many’s account, this is the best show in the state. I really have nothing to do with it so I cannot claim any credit but it does make me feel good that my peeps know how to do it.

So, why has this been the case? It is really about what is not there as much as what is. I’ve of course been to other shows too. There is the snack man, the Beenie Baby collectors, the Pakistani knife dealer etc. Those have been largely missing from this show.

Today, we had all of those and more. Something new to me, there were at least five custom knife makers there. Don’t get me wrong, they did beautiful work and the prices reflected it at $150-300. I respect that a lot and I am sure the craftsmanship is worth the price, but this is a gun show. I have never seen more than one at this show in the past. The reason to go to gun shows in the past were to 1) find deals 2) see and handle things because of vast selection 3) buy guns. I will address these individually.

There are no deals to be had. This really is nothing new since the proliferation of the internet. Anything can be researched at anytime of the day and everyone knows what the price is. What I actually see is instead of a gun show discount, there is more like a gun show premium. I find things to be significantly more expensive at the show then day to day. Think about it, I pay an entry fee and then I pay a higher price than market.

Speaking of selection, I would estimate that this show only had a third of the tables as firearms dealers. I have never seen this, I would estimate that the last show was 2/3 dealers. It seems like there was table after table of junk. When I say junk, I mean that it looked the tables were full of parts that were removed from personal firearms.

I have plenty of firearms so I don’t really need any old gun. In fact, I should probably focus on upgrading rather than adding. But, because of that I am looking for some niche items like a Savage 99 in 300 Savage from the 1950s. If I do end up buying one, I want it to be in original configuration. I want the steel butt plate and the rear sight intact. It is not a rare firearm but the options are extremely limited when there are half the normal number of dealers. Add to that the gun show premium and I am not really interested in the ones I saw.

Last and certainly not least to buy guns. Since the passage of Measure 114, everyone is holding their breath for the results of litigation (which is happening while I type). Background check results are not less than three days. Under federal law, if you are not approved or denied after 72 hours, the dealer can release the firearm to you. That means that you are not walking away from a gun show with a firearm. If you are lucky, the dealer you are purchasing from is reasonably local. In three days (best case scenario) you can drive to the dealer you paid for your firearm and pick it up.

What has happened? To me, I think that all of the uncertainly around what will happen with Measure 114 has driven dealers out. The buying frenzy that resulted consumed inventory, low margin or small dealers folded. Others decided not to release firearms after the 72 hour hold. When the red flag laws were implemented a couple of years ago, private sales disappeared and now dealers have given in.

They won; we should not kid ourselves anyway. To think that law abiding and freedom loving people are going to withstand a barrage against our rights over generations is a fools errand. The ocean wears down rock, it seems improbable and incomprehensible but it happens. Consequently, I say that the gun show is dead. Yes, it is still physically there, but it has terminal cancer and it is only a matter of time before it is gone completely

End Your Programming Routine: Do you know who I don’t meet? I don’t meet the person that says ‘I am not a gun owner, never will be but I understand and support your right to do so’. I am more likely to meet ‘I am a gun owner and I believe that only these guns should be permitted’. They tend to side with the anti-gunners because they are not going to ban their guns (yet). To be honest, the only reason I went in the first place is that I get in for free and I was already in town for trap. When it is time for the spring show, I am not planning on going unless all the factors align again like this one.