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September 22, 2023 – We, Records 21-25

September 22, 2023 /

We are still advancing and yet still in the dark. The bizarre train just keeps rolling along. We have fish face and electro-whipped prisoners. Then we have Unification Day celebration for universal approval of the Benefactor who is apparently the leader of the United State. The story is definitely going in the science fiction direction.

The first thing that caught my eye was in Record 22. This was just after the outburst from D-503 when he thought that I-330 had been captured and he was going to try and break free to save her. The doctor intervened in the situation saying that D-503 was not well and D-503 swears his allegiance to the Well Doer. There is talk about how Unification Day has some comparisons to Easter. This quote follows.

“In the ancient days the Christians understood this feeling; they are our only (though very imperfect) direct forerunners. The greatness of the ‘Church of the United Flock’ was known to them. They knew that resignation is virtue, and pride – a vice; that ‘We’ is from God and ‘I’ is from the devil.”

I think what is interesting about this is that D-503 is using this passage as justification for his behavior within the collective. When the juxtaposition is a collection of individuals acting on their own behalf. Because of that, it appears that actions of the citizens of the United State are benevolent and moral when in fact, it seems the opposite in the context of Christian thought.

What I found more relevant was the idea that elections were predetermined. There was even a comment about how in the past, indeterminate elections caused chaos. Bingo, one of the core tenants of modern political dysfunction has just been identified. Or should I say, modern philosophy.

How does capitalism flourish in modern China or Vietnam? It is all about stability, not the form of government. Stability allows foreign investment into these countries which in turn makes some rich. Those begin their own endeavors and they make more people rich. This is not something that is seen in South Sudan or Syria because no matter what the rules are, stability is far greater than how you identify your politics.

It is my argument that those that have figured out this premise are the ones that prosper the most from it. Turn the camera back to my own country and we have relative stability. This is why the truly rich and powerful don’t care which political party is running the country. The most damaging event that could possibly happen would be destabilization. Believe it or not, this is the politician game too. Don’t forget that when one person get rich, others get opportunity as well.

We have truly become a nation that values stability over freedom. Just this week, I saw the California governor arguing that citizens have a right to safety. I see safety as a proxy for for stability because it is all about limiting freedom to do so. Of course, his reference was ‘gun safety’ which certainly is taking aim at freedom. But, it could be speed limits or curfews or any other scheme that is for our own good.

Of course, our version of stability is a little messier than the United State. The ultimate case would be a society without descent which is what we have in the book. Or do we? Things are starting to show some cracks. More on that next week.

End Your Programming Routine: I’ll admit, I am getting a little lost in some of the weirdness. I am having to read things multiple times to get it. That being said, Zamyatin was exiled to France for a reason. He was dangerous to the Bolsheviks because he saw through some of their thin ploys on happiness and prosperity.

September 21, 2023 – Heavy For Caliber

September 21, 2023 /

You know that I am a scientist and that I like to do things just for the heck of it. An experiment if you like. Well, this is an experiment. I found some .177 pellets online that I purchased a few years ago. They are 16.4 grains in weight which would be double the normal weight of run-of-the mill air rifle pellet. For reference, that would be in the 5-9 grain range.

In my quest to find the best pest elimination combination i.e. energy, I thought that I would give these things a try. Because of the weight of these pellets, they are not able to achieve the velocity of the lighter pellets and therefore, they make less energy than the other pellets I have tested. But what about accuracy?

I was reluctant to shoot these because the label said for PCP (Pneumatically Charged Pellet) rifles only. These are rifles that are filled with SCUBA tanks or air compressors like Lewis and Clark used (did you know that?). PCP rifles are becoming a thing because they are not considered firearms and are made all the way up to 50 caliber making them suitable for hunting large game.

When I put these pellets in my break barrel Crossman, they stuck out about 1/16″ of an inch of the chamber. A normal lead pellet would compress to be forced all the way into the chamber. This was my hesitation to trying them in the first place. But I closed the barrel anyway and gave it a shot (literally). It worked. OK, now I am going to zero the scope. And here is where the problem was manifested.

The picture above shows 10 and 50 shots with no scope changes at ten yards; the rifle is on a rest. My rifle cannot shoot these pellets with any degree of precision. The reason is that these pellets are heavy for caliber and why I think they were marked PCP rifle only. I will explain the phenomenom.

Heavy for caliber means that the projectile does not match the rifling groves in the barrel. In this case, the rate of twist is not significant enough to stabilize the projectile in flight and therefore accuracy suffers. For instance a .223 Remington typically shoots a 50-60 grain bullet in a barrel that is 1:9 or sometimes 1:8. The translation of those ratios are one full revolution in 9 (or 8) inches of barrel. The faster the rate of twist, the better heavier bullets will be accurate and fly true.

This is all fine until you look at the 22-250 which uses the same bullet as the .223 Remington. Those rifles come out in the 1:8 to 1:14 rates of twist with the typical being either 1:10 or 1:12. The primary difference between the two cartridges is velocity with the 22-250 being 33-50% faster. The same rate of twist equation doesn’t apply equally between these two calibers. Here is a link to an article that goes more in depth on the subject.

Generally speaking, the heavier the bullet, the faster rate of twist you want in your rifle. Like all compromises, the better you are on the heavy end of the scale, the more likely you are going to struggle on the light end of the scale. Somewhere out there, there is an optimum ammunition and barrel combination. This one is not it for me.

Now, contrast that to this target. This is 10, 10.5gr pellets at the same distance on the same rest as the picture above. I would estimate this to be about a one inch group. I fired these cold for the first time.

End Your Programming Routine: As I say all the time, know your equipment. Now that I know, I am going to burn up these heavy pellets to get to more productive practice. The truth will be that I won’t get much out of the rest of those pellets, maybe I will work on trigger and breathing discipline. I almost thought of trying to buy another PCP rifle for this fact. But then I also need a way to charge it and the rifles are pretty expensive, in a lot of cases more than a real rifle. So, maybe sometime in the future. For now, I am going to keep going to see if I can find the inflection point.

September 20, 2023 – Better… For Who?

September 20, 2023 /

This year, my wife has been pushing for attending more sporting events. She has often said that ‘if I had girls, they would be in travelling sports.’ Fortunately for me, we have boys, which ironically are not really into sports at all. I say that because my wife and I are both fans, I just like it to be on in the background rather than spending my time at the events.

As we are nearing the end of September, eventually the good weather is going to run out. That wasn’t so last weekend as we went to the OSU Beaver’s football game with a sunny high of 82 degrees. I haven’t been to a lot of games, but there has been at least two with torrential downpours. I have to say that even winning both of those games, it was pretty miserable. That being said, we already have tickets to the Friday night game against Utah.

We are novices at this. I have been around long enough to know that season tickets are a commitment. Not only are you paying face value for the tickets but also the university wants a $5000 donation. That is pretty much a no go for us. Not only are we taxpayers but it isn’t even our alma mater. So, we are buying tickets on the open market. The university has affiliated with a company called SeatGeek. This is where I become a boomer.

Remember when you had cash and you bought a ticket? The price didn’t really change and you got what was available. I will say that the best part of today’s world is that you can filter by the number of seats that you want, see what options are available and pay anytime of the day. But, that is where the good parts end.

Despite the last game having the cheapest possible ticket prices at $15/each, the best possible weather for football in Oregon, a team worth watching and a projected lopsided victory, the stadium was still about half full by my estimation. It is true that school is not in session until the next home game, but the student section was nearly full. It wasn’t the lack of students that didn’t fill the stadium, I have to believe that it is the complications on how to do it playing a factor.

To be fully transparent, our tickets were not $15 but $30. The next game against Utah in the very same seats are now $70. They say that they are $70 but that is actually before the 50% handling fee which you find out about at check-out. I know that it is peeing into the wind, but SeatGeek is just another account that you have to create login credentials and manage. Such is life.

Once you pay for the tickets, they have to be moved to Google Wallet to be presented at the stadium. In my case as a Apple user, I have to download another app. That is to say that fortunately, I already have a Gmail account. But, searching through the Apple app store, there is no such thing as Google Wallet. It turns out that it is actually named Google Pay.

Before I could send them to my Google account, I had to login on my own computer. It seems like everyone else at this house has done this type of thing before but me. That was fine, but each ticket that you wanted to send to a wallet defaulted to the first user so I sent one ticket to my son in Taiwan first. Fortunately, I was also able to revoke it from the screen and select myself as a user. To verify, even finding them in Google Pay is buried under the menu structure. It is no wonder that people don’t want to mess with this stuff.

End Your Programming Routine: In the old days of general admissions, you might end up with the only seats behind the structural pole (ask me how I know). But it was cash, ticket, entry. This system markets to us that it is better because we can choose our seats any time of day. This also gives them the ability to price games by the market demand and because a third party is involved, the prices become higher because of handling and their margins. Then, you have to deal with the technological hassle. I will struggle through it, but you can’t convince me it is better.

September 19, 2023 – A Banner Year For Apples

September 19, 2023 /

Everywhere I go, I see apple trees and apples. A lot of them I have seen for the first time. It is amazing how many are along the road, presumably because someone through a core out the window. Unfortunately for me, my tree has a cluster of five apples on it. I had a good year last year, by all accounts, I don’t know what my problem is.

Fortunately for me, I have sources to other apples. My dad gave me a crate of them. I decided that this year, I needed to make some apple sauce since last year I turned it all into cider. So, that is what I set out to do.

Ideally, I would do this work in an evening. That way I have my weekends for things that require larger blocks of time. To me, even a late night canning is better than a whole afternoon or morning on Saturday. But, I couldn’t quite work out the timing of getting dinner completed and having enough time to can. I remind you that I start work early so I go to bed early. I would have stayed up late to complete, but starting late is really a no go.

The most important thing is getting everything gathered up unless you want to spend all day doing it. The first thing I do when I start is getting the canner going because it takes a lot of time to get the water to boil. So, I start the canner then I start doing everything else.

These are pretty natural apples, so I spend prep time cutting around worms, rot and scab. The apple parts are scalded for several minutes and then I put them through the juicer (as it is called). The juicer separates the flesh of the apple from the skin of the apple. Had I not spent a bunch of time trimming out the bad parts, it would also remove the seeds and other undesirable parts.

I add a little sugar and sometimes water depending on the consistency of the sauce. Then I start filling the jars. Once I have enough jars to fill the canner and the water is boiling, I just boil the jars for 20 minutes and done. If everything is in sync, then you should have the next batch to add to the canner when the first one is done.

My yield was 12 quarts. One jar broke, so I actually got 11 quarts. A bit on that, I am not very careful with my jars. The training says to temper your jars by first putting them in the dishwasher. What this does is heat up the glass so that when it cools, the crystal structure is in alignment, and therefore stronger. If I do that, then I am adding more time to the process plus it is really hard to find an empty dishwasher. So, this would mean washing what is in there, then my canning jars before I use them. I just chance the breakage instead. The good news is that my break was just a split in the jar, so we will just eat that one.

End Your Programming Routine: My canning waxes and wanes. I think 12 quarts is plenty for this year. The primary consumer of applesauce is my son in Taiwan this year. I think that when he moves on, I would probably can pints, not quarts in the future. But, you do you. If I happen to any more apples, it will go into cider.

September 18, 2023 – Bugging Out

September 18, 2023 /

This is the last of the mini-series on preparedness. As I have stated before, there are literally thousands of different podcast episodes about this topic. So, I am encouraging you to do more thinking and research as there is no way I can cover such a topic extensively.

September 15, 2023 – We, Records 16-20

September 15, 2023 /

This is now the halfway point of the book. The plot is still as foggy and uncertain as ever. I don’t know where this is really going except trouble for D-503. We will get to the summary and analysis soon enough. Like all science fiction, this one is getting a little abstract for me. I will say that it is a good thing that have a science and math background. At least I can understand a little bit about what is going on.

For instance, there is a lot to do about the square root of negative one. This concept seems to bother D-503 quite significantly. In mathematics, the result of that expression is i or an imaginary number. Imaginary numbers are not real or possible. Maybe Zamyatin wasn’t as educated in math as he likes to let on through his writing because there is a mathematical proof to support this. If D-503 were really a mathematician, then he would know of such proof to accept the results.

It seems like both D-503 and O-90 are losing there minds. Upon a visit to the doctor, it is stated that D-503 is developing a soul and O-90 is not able to cope with his drifting away from her and into the arms of I-330. As a result, O-90 wants to leave him but first have an illegal conception and likely death.

As for the rest of the plot in this section, I find it a lot like Alice in Wonderland on LSD. There are dreams about sinking ships, trips into the closet tunnels, doctors with scissor lips and so on and so forth. It’s hard to tell if the translation is getting caught up in idioms or this is really some kind of psychedelic trip.

There is something that happens in passing that I think is kind of significant at least from the standpoint of mindset in the 1920s versus the mindset of today. There is a mention that 12 people were behind the thrusters of the Integral and were incinerated while testing the booster. Everyone pretty much went about their day as if nothing happened.

Maybe, just maybe this event is painting the picture of the society in We. These are nameless drones that work for the cause of the United State. There is no (legal) love, or procreation and very shallow relationships underlined by the mistrust of possible ill doings. In theory, there is no one to really miss you if you get incinerated. With the belief of not having a soul and no emotional connection, such an event has no consequence.

I do however think that the reason this short passage stands out is that there has been a shift in philosophy now versus when this was written. I think that the level of acceptable risk has gone way down over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating for increasing risk but somehow life was grittier and more real. People took chances and made mistakes that had ultimate consequences.

After some quick research, it looks like the numbers per 100,000 have declined five-fold. Combined with the advancements in trauma medicine, we have a much lower tolerance and expectation that we will see this sort of thing. The shock of such a sight has come at a new generation of people.

End Your Programming Routine: In a lot of ways, being safer is a much better way to live. I can’t help to think that the tough, fatalist attitude was a better way to go. I guess when you are mission oriented, then it certainly is. Meanwhile, enjoy the acid trip of the story. We’ll see where this ultimately goes.

September 14, 2023 – Never Expected That

September 14, 2023 /

In all the excitement, I guess I forgot to take some pictures. Nevertheless, it is the words that are most important. Recently, I went to the rifle range to see how I liked my new trigger. It has been almost a year since I installed it and the day after installation burning desire has dissipated but still I wanted to know how I liked it. Plus, it is time to get ready for hunting season.

Maybe it is a luxury or maybe I am just not practicing enough but I have been shooting the same lot of ammunition since I bought the rifle. That is thirty rounds since 2012. There are a lot of variables at play but removing one by having consistent ammunition is one controllable one.

Last year I think I took five shots to verify zero and that was it. Then I cleaned things up and put the rifle away. Not only did I want to try out my new trigger but I also wanted to see how much variability a different brand of ammo had on my group. What would happen if I had to borrow some ammo in the field?

First shot, not on paper. Huh, this was the same ammo that zeroed perfectly last year. And the problem is, if not on paper, then where is it? I tried aiming at the edge of the paper and low and behold, I was 12 inches to the left. I checked my scope to see if it was loose and it wasn’t. Everything seemed to be in order. Twelve clicks on the scope and I was shooting one inch groups again.

The nearest I can figure is that banging pins out to change the trigger changed some sort of alignment with the rifle. I did a little research into the subject and saw other people reporting similar issues. It also seemed like most internet warriors kind of poo-pooed the idea that this should matter (just like I thought). That being said, I saw other comments that such things like new slings might change the barrel harmonics enough to make a difference.

After I got things back to where they should be, I tried the new brand of ammunition. and my zero pretty much stayed true at 100 yards. I know that at farther distances there will be some difference because I measured the velocity at about 200 fps between the two brands. But, unfortunately, my range only goes out to 200 yards. That is as far as I can realistically check.

I didn’t hang a target at 200 yards but there are 6 inch steel plates at that distance. That seems realistic enough to me for hunting purposes. I hit six out of six and I called it good. I was pretty happy about how things ended. I don’t think that there is going to be a shot beyond fifty yards anyway considering how flat things are and how many trees there are.

End Your Programming Routine: So, the lesson is always check your rifle before hunting season. The next lesson is always check your rifle after you change something. It really doesn’t matter why things had changed, just that they have. A firearm that doesn’t hit where you are aiming does no good at all. In fact, it might even be downright dangerous.

September 13, 2023 – Once I Start, I Can’t Stop

September 13, 2023 /

This must be how addicts feel. Once I start doing a puzzle, I can’t stop doing it. I will literally skip eating, sleeping or anything else to keep looking for pieces. I have to physically force myself to stop. Sometimes even then, I don’t stop. Just one more piece turns into another hour.

Puzzles are something that we occasionally do (fortunately). It is usually a long weekend/holiday activity. In our climate, it is also a beach activity. I guess what I appreciate about them is that it is a family activity. Since I despise most TV and movies, I am not interested in sitting around for hours for little gain. So, it is also an activity that we can be in close proximity.

There must be some sort of connection in the brain between puzzles and programming. When I used to do that, I would get the same sort of feeling. I would start writing a routine and I couldn’t stop. Just one more time would turn into hours and pretty soon it was two in the morning.

I have to believe that it must be good for the brain. I know that my grandfather used to do a lot of puzzles. He was also a big reader and not much of a TV watcher. So, maybe it is in the genes. I was curious, so I did some quick research and here are some links.

https://fortune.com/well/2022/10/02/mental-health-benefits-puzzles/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-workout/200904/puzzles-and-the-brain

It also turns out that this kind of research can be a real rabbit hole. I started watching videos on how to do puzzles quickly. Back on topic! I observe that there are two kind of methodologies. I observe my wife doing a lot of brute force. I some cases, that may be all you can do when everything is the same color or you are just starting. I actually look at both the color and the shape. This allows me to automatically rule out certain sides of even pieces.

I have been accused of finishing the puzzle without my partner. For that reason, I try to focus on the most difficult aspects of the puzzle. I will do the sky or the water because it slows me down. Granted, it is not the most fun part of the activity but I feel like I can really dig into the lessor appreciated aspect.

One thing that I am getting more and more familiar with is that lighting makes a huge difference. I find that when it is daylight, I can see so much better than under artificial light. A lot of that is aging and over the last couple of years I have noticed a significant decline in my eyesight. Fortunately, it is not bad yet but I do have to strain a lot more than I used to. This isn’t great news for that rainy Saturday night.

I wouldn’t call it a tradition, but it is becoming something we routinely do during Christmas vacation. It makes a good family gift and we spend time working together. If your kids are ho-hum about it, the subject can be something that they are interested in to kind of get them going. At least, this is what we do.

End Your Programming Routine: It would seem like this is a good activity to keep doing considering what experts are saying. I am not really much into word games or soduku but maybe I should be as an aging person. It seems like puzzles along with games provide good stimulus to combat some of the worse effects of aging.

September 12, 2023 – Salt, Pepper and Garlic

September 12, 2023 /

There are all kinds of ideas about beef, particularly steak. I think about herb butter or Montreal seasoning to barbeque rubs. One theory that I subscribe to is Samin Nosrat’s ‘salt early, earlier is better’. But, the one tried and true recipe I use is salt, pepper and granulated garlic.

It’s freezer prep time. Last weekend, my neighbors gave me eight pounds of bear meat. They are planning to need room soon. I have been moving this beef head around for almost two years, that is way too long. There was a small amount of freezer burn that I trimmed off. The truth is, that in a month or two, I will probably have another head to store. So, I decided to make this over labor day weekend.

If I had a choice, I probably would skip the head altogether. But, it is our duty as parents and people to carry out cultural traditions and this is one that my wife enjoys. I begrudgingly pick-up the head, clean it and store it until such time that I cook it and we eat tacos. My preference by far and away is the tongue over the cheeks, but I can deal with it once every couple of years.

I was watching some videos recently to see if there were other preparations that I might like better. When I was talking about some of the things I learned, my wife forcefully said no. “Only salt, pepper and garlic that is the way that my grandparents did it.” So, that is what I did. I just rub the outside and pretend that you can get close enough to such a large volume of meat.

This is probably my fifth or six one that I have done. It is hard to remember everything when you only do it once every couple of years. That being said, I have made a lot of different mistakes over the years. The first one is make sure the head is clean. I spend a lot of up front time trying to get the grass out of the mouth and throat. I only made that mistake once.

The second one is there is a lot of mass there. Make sure there is plenty of defrost time. This year, I took it out of the freezer on Wednesday and cooked it on Saturday, but there was still ice along the bottom. Hence, cooking took much longer and still there were parts that were not as done as they should be.

Since the whole head contains a lot of gristle, the preferred method is low and slow. It is hard to do that in eight hours when it is still frozen. Also, most preparations include a braising component. I modified it by chunking up the meat and adding water to the skillet after it was 80% cooked. An hour of extra cooking did a lot to homogenize things but kind of ruins the romanticism of unwrapping the cooked head.

I wish that I had thought of taking pictures of the final product. Something about waiting three extra hours to eat and having people waiting on me made me to forget to do what I wanted. The tacos are simple, corn tortillas, onion, cilantro and the salsa of your choice. Don’t forget to taste the meat for salt before serving.

End Your Programming Routine: As I said, this is my go to preparation for beef. It is pretty much the only thing I do for steak. You can save all the Cajun seasoning, seasoning salt and all that stuff for chicken. Keep it simple for the best results.

September 11, 2023 – Bugging In

September 11, 2023 /

I am continuing this week on another segment on preparation. This week we are talking about the more PC term ‘shelter in place’. In many ways, this is the preferred methodology to whether a storm, until it isn’t. More on that next week.