I am making the case that ambiguity was essential for our survival as a species. I also speak to the role that it has played in my life and specifically my career. I talk about my worries for the human race by removing our exposure to ambiguity and the need to develop logical skills as a result.
Tag: lessons learned
August 8, 2022 – Self Analysis 2019
Originally, I wrote this show outline in May 2019. This was about a month after I had left my job and there has been a lot of water under the bridge since that time. When I first started, I was writing topics ahead in preparation to build a podcast. I didn’t really ever get around to it. As I have started podcasting weekly, I have those old outlines in the queue for weeks when I need a quick win.
At that point, I was thinking that this endeavor was going to be called ‘Polymath Daily’. My focus was going to be a classically oriented approach where I was going to integrate freedom, history, business and leadership, and other things like I am currently doing. I do talk about things like this occasionally but the original idea required too much daily research.
End Your Programming Routine: The reason I chose this one to do today is that I think it goes along with my current string of deeper and more personal podcasts. There is definitely some self analysis that needs to happen as a result of all my personal events recently. I will take my own advice and give it some time. Right now, it is too raw.
January 6, 2022 – ‘Taticool’ Thursday
I got out to the range last weekend for my months delayed trip. I was so exited to go, I muffed some items and kind of wasted the trip as well as the ammunition, which was already skinny to begin with. Let me explain.
I talked about my red dot sight I bought over a year ago. I wanted to sight it in with my new barrel and then compare how the sight functions with different loads and barrels. My going in premise is that loads and barrels will make a big difference and I wanted to see when setup for hunting how that might effect would be with a shorter barrel installed.
Sabot slugs (for rifled barrels) have always been expensive. With purchasing limits in place as well as extremely limited availability, I was able to buy some at $4/round. Fortunately, it is still hunting season in states where shotguns are required or I probably wouldn’t be able to get any at all. I figured (or hoped) with the sight bore sighted, that I could do the job with 15 rounds. That turned out not to be the case in my ill-fated trip.
The first thing I did wrong was make assumptions that were not true. A classic scope typically uses something like 1 adjustment unit on the dial makes a 1/4″ change at 100 yards. I didn’t read the manual before leaving for the range and it turns out with this sight, 1 click was a one inch adjustment. So, I was over adjusting four times the amount that I was supposed to each time. Needless to say, my first shots were all over the place.
Since I bore sighted in the basement, I was going to try and redo it at the range to try and correct my wild inaccuracies. Of course, I left my laser at home so I ended up holding the firearm on target and looking over it at the target while I squeezed the trigger to visually see where the slug was hitting on the berm and then making a guess from there.
I did get it on paper but then (I didn’t know) I over adjusted and was off again. Finally, with three shots left I was going to see how they group and not do any more adjusting. I shot two and then the sight stopped working. My speculation was that it was too cold as it was right at freezing or the batteries were dead.
By the time we got home, the sight was working again. It was something to with the temperature, I think but I am not 100% sure. I read the manual and I didn’t see any operating temperature restrictions. Even so, I wouldn’t expect 33 degrees to be under the limit. There are definitely some lessons here.
First of all, most of the time, this shotgun is going to have the 18 1/2″ barrel on it. If you listen to the talking heads in the industry, a defensive shotgun is recommended to have a sight that is useful in low light. That could be a red dot or it could be a glow in the dark or big loop. The theory being that at close range, shotgun patterns should be aimed and not pointed like in bird hunting.
My concern is really around the operating temperature. It is rarely consistently this cold including hunting season, however I have proved there is something going on here. I also don’t have a dialed in sight yet, so this thing is still nearly useless. Yeah I can use the ‘Kentucky Windage’ by holding it where I think it should be, but even that I am not confident yet.
End Your Programming Routine: This was a perfect, know your equipment moment. It is where the saying “Beware the man with one gun” comes from. The person that has one firearm uses it consistently in all situations. Had I done this test in the summer I probably would have never seen the problem. In fact, I prefer to use the indoor range in the winter because I can turn on the heat. I only was at the rifle range because I postponed for three months.
It is also quite possible that had I not been dicking around with the adjustments and guessing why I wasn’t hitting paper that I would not have seen the problem either. So the lesson is know your equipment. Know it when you are setting up, know its operational limits and possible faults. My plan is to work on this test again this month.
November 30, 2021 – Lessons From the Road, Part 2
Let me just say that, I am bushed. The drive home wasn’t as smooth as originally anticipated. Day 1 we drove from Houston to Blythe, California, that is 1200 miles. The plan was to drive from Blythe to home at a little under 1000 miles. After Day 1, it should have been easier – nope.
Sunday, we were only able to get 200 miles in 10 hours. I kept watching the arrival time get later and later. We got to the point that our arrival time exceeded my start time for the work day. The freeway traffic was showing red from LA all the way to Sacramento and we were running on 5 hours of sleep. We decided to bag it for the night.
It still took us nearly 14 hours to get home yesterday. By that, I will be getting to my finer analysis of the trip below.
- I was worried about the weather, I never considered the traffic in the drive. I5 was a parking lot all day Sunday and I never had any idea this would be the case. I think about traffic during the weekdays but not weekends.
- The original plan for the trip did not included driving my mother in law back (with all of her stuff). We barely had room to move and when we stopped, we had to move stuff to move people to move stuff to get in and out.
- Our overall planning for the time in Texas was weak. I expected to work two days, which I did. That being said, the rest of the family did nothing on Monday. We spent all day Wednesday driving to San Antonio (200mi one way) and back even though we past it both ways on I10. I think that we could have done a better job of planning the trip so that we could have done more sightseeing while we were there.
- It was extremely difficult to keep 11 people on track with only stopping for fuel and minimizing the down time. I selfishly wanted to get home as early as possible because I wanted as much time as possible before work the next day. No one else had the same urgency that I did.
- I think a daily cap of twelve hours is probably a good limit. That is still a long time in the car but it leaves a little more room for not keeping a blistering schedule. There wasn’t a ton of sites that I would have liked to taken a little more time but having some proper rest in between days would have been beneficial.
- Overall, the kids did a good job for the most part, the adults not so much. There were several incidents of inappropriate behavior for no good reason. For that reason, I will never do a multiple family unit in one vehicle again. Between the difference in urgency and the plain ridiculousness, I will not do it. It is not to say that I wont travel together, just not in the same vehicle. That way, I have the freedom to go ahead if I want to.
I will probably post one more time about the trip and a different subject matter this week. I plan to talk about my assessment of the states we crossed and how they compared with Oregon. There are definitely some differences.
End Your Programming Routine: I am not trying to be negative, I am saying that I would do things differently if I could. Overall, this was definitely an experience for the memories. And, I am not saying all memories are good. The focus was on providing an experience for the kids and providing one more family get together as its current dynamic. I think that was accomplished. I am pretty sure the kids felt like this was an adventure despite what my opinion was exactly and that is the best I could hope for.
September 2, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday
As I talked about last week, I had two lessons. This is the second one from my recent experiences. It also might be a little juvenile, but I have found myself in this position in the past as well so let’s get into it.
I haven’t written about it much, maybe not at all. I am a member of the Brotherhood of the Protective Order of the Elks (or Elks). The biggest reason that I wanted to do so was to get involved in the local trap range. The Elks sponsor the local high school trap team by providing the facility to shoot. My son is part of the high school trap team.
Our local state representative is also an Elk in our local lodge. He hosts an annual campaign fundraiser at the trap range and the trap team helps operate the event. I wanted to help out but I had to work that Saturday so I dropped my son off while I went back home. When I went to pick him up, I found him with his shotgun in pieces.
When I asked my son what was going on, he said that his shotgun was not functioning. He took it apart at the gun club and parts were all piled on the ground. People were trying to put the furniture away and clean up to close down the facility and event. I was finally able to persuade him that we should do this at home and not on the ground.
On the ride home, I was trying to figure out what was the problem and why he was so disparate. I got that the shotgun wasn’t cycling so he cleaned it and then it wasn’t firing. He told me that a pin in the trigger group occasionally works it’s way out causing the trigger not to work. He was trying to get the trigger group out at the club to determine if he had already lost the pin when he was cleaning it.
As it turns out, he did lose the pin somewhere on the grounds of the trap club. We probably ought to take a swing at looking for it again just in case but I don’t know where to look and he has been working at night since this happened. Fortunately, Brownells stocks the pin and it is $4 to replace.
I have been guilty of being frustrated and taking apart a firearm in the past. One time I lost a spring to pistol because it wasn’t firing properly and I took it apart in the woods. I have since learned to stop and do things in an appropriate time and place. Sometimes, part are not so readily available as this time.
End Your Programming Routine: In contrast to the story above, sometimes field repairs have to be done. It is a matter of weighing the risk vs the reward of the situation. I would highly encourage that evaluation is done before something irreplaceable goes flying off into the unknown. I even worry about stuff being torn down too long in a controlled environment; stuff gets moved or piled on top of. Another good practice is put the parts in a small box or something to keep them together. I am expecting the pin early next week.
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