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Grain still hitting the market
IN SPITE of logistical issues as a result of the east coast floods, exporters are reporting they are still getting grain onto boats to meet export demand.
Rosemary Richards, executive director of the Australian Grain Exporters Association (AGEA) said that in spite of some difficulties getting the grain from upcountry sites to port, the shipping stem was still strong for grain exports.
"The shipping program is strong, there's still a lot of grain moving out, there's over half a million tonnes booked for February," she said.
Ms Richards said it was a matter of exporters finding the easiest port to move the grain from.
"We've seen some issues, like limited rail access into Geelong and the closure of Fisherman Island for some time in Queensland, but exporters are working around these difficulties."
GrainCorp said in its latest harvest report that it expects there to only be minor crop losses from stored grain, while early reports after the Victorian floods indicate most grain is deliverable, albeit downgraded to feed quality.
However, in the overall scheme of the Australian crop, the tonnages in question are relatively minor.
"It is unclear in Victoria what area has been abandoned and how bad the downgrading has been, but on a macro level, most of the crop is already off," Ms Richards said.
She also said there were issues with farmers who could not meet contract requirements because of access issues to either unharvested paddocks or on-farm storage, but said she expected exporters and farmers to work through this together.
Robert Green, Cargill Australia chief executive, said in the December floods in NSW, his company had worked with farmers who had come to them with genuine difficulties in getting accessing the grain and given them an extra month for delivery.
Ms Richards said the plus for both exporters and farmers with late contracts was that there was enough grain that could be accessed for exporters to meet their international customers' needs, easing the pressure to get grain out of flood impacted areas immediately.
However, she the damage to the rail infrastructure could be felt for months, especially in parts of Queensland, where she said it is expected to be over three months before grain rail tracks are operational again.
Mark Thiele, managing director Elders Toepfer Grain (ETG) said that in spite of a challenging harvest, most exporters were coping reasonable well.
"It's a regional thing, in some areas there is more of an impact than others, but overall, I'd say the exporters have managed to keep the shipping program ticking along reasonably well, given the challenges."
Bus driver caught texting and driving stood down
A Gong Shuttle driver has been stood down after beingfilmed texting and driving.
The 21-second video, filmed on Tuesday afternoon, shows the buswestbound onBourke Street, waiting at the traffic lightsto turn right towards Stuart Park
While the driver waits, hescrollsthrough his phone withhis arms resting on the wheel.
The bus moves forward twice, and both times the driver keeps using his phone, steeringwith his arms.
Thevideo was filmed by a passenger and posted to Facebook.
The passenger said she caught the shuttle to work in Wollongong regularly but this was the first time she had seen a driver using their phone.
She said the bus was full and she had to stand until Cliff Road, when she found a seat at the front of the bus with a view of the driver.
"Inoticed he picked up his phone and he was usingthat when he was stopped at the traffic lights," the passenger said.
"You can see in the video when he started to go he was still using his phone and looking up at the road and looking down at his phone."
She filmed him using the phone before asking him to stop, to which she said he told her to "stress less".
But he did stop using the phone from that point until the passenger left the bus at Fairy Meadow.
The passenger described seeing the bus driver using his phone as "scary".
"It just takes one second. There could have been a passengerwalkingacross the roadand he wouldn't have taken notice of that."
The Gong Shuttle is operated by Premier Illawarra withNSW government funding.
It is understood the driver has been stood down pending further investigation.
"We have ensured Premier Illawarra are aware of their responsibilities and they are taking the necessary steps to discipline the driver in question," a Transport for NSW spokesman said.
"Premier Illawarra have also advised us that the incident has been reported to the relevant authorities.
"Premier Illawarra will remind all their drivers not to use their mobile phone for any purpose while on the job and always follow the road rules."
Illawarra Mercury
Handling sheep and cattle in the dry
Industry and Investment NSW livestock officer Greg Meaker and Agriculture and Food Department development officer Fiona Jones discuss the Stcokplan program.SHEEP and cattle producers have the opportunity to improve farm viability and responsiveness during the dry season through a workshop offered by the Agriculture and Food Department.
The workshops using the business program Stockplan are funded by the department and the Rural Business Development Corporation.
Agriculture and Food Department research officer Jeisane Accioly said the workshops would be of assistance to farmers in both reactive or proactive situations.
"These workshops take a whole-of-business approach to managing climate risks, minimising long-term impact and improving recovery," she said.
The workshop provides hands-on experience with a software program designed to explore options for livestock such as feed, sell or agist; feed requirements and cost; stock structure and cash flow effects when trading livestock; and designing a stock containment facility.
"It doesn't matter if farmers need to cull animals or are at the point of rebuilding their herd, they can just enter any decision and it calculates up to five or 10 years down the track," Ms Accioly said.
The workshops have been run successfully in NSW and South Australia.
Industry and Investment NSW livestock officer Greg Meaker was recently in WA to support the delivery of the Stockplan program and said producers who attended the course were more confident in their approach to drought management.
Ms Accioly said the Stockplan program was flexible and the WA workshops would be individually tailored to local conditions.
"Basically we can't run the same course at say, Lake Grace, Moora, Geraldton and Esperance," she said.
Ms Accioly said the program took into consideration individual social characteristics.
"If it is early in the season and people have to decide if they're going to feed or sell or agist, and someone has a part-time job and doesn't have time to feed animals, you have to take that into consideration as well," she said.
More information and an expression of interest form is available by calling DAFWA's Bunbury office on 9780 6100.
Rann concerned for Millicent jobs
PREMIER Mike Rann has expressed his deep concern at today's decision by Kimberly-Clark Australia (KCA) to scale back production at its Millicent and Tantanoola plants.
"This workforce reduction at such a large regional employer is obviously a real blow, not only for the workers but for the Millicent and wider South-East community.
KCA informed the State Government that nothing could have been done by the Federal or State Government to prevent this decision by its US parent company, as it was part of the Kimberly-Clark's global restructuring to ensure long-term viability. The Millicent Mill will continue to employ around 370 people.
The State Government has reached an agreement with Commonwealth Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, to establish a new $17m Innovation Investment Fund targeting the affected South East region.
Mr Rann says the focus of the fund will be on manufacturing and related services with the State and Commonwealth Government's working closely with Kimberly-Clark, unions and the wider community to provide support for the workers.
"Displaced workers will also be supported through Centrelink and Job Services Australia," Mr Rann says.
"I have been assured by Kimberly-Clark that they will also give workers their full entitlements as well as provide access to outplacement and counselling services."
"While we are doing all we can to help, I want to encourage employers in the South East who are thinking of expanding to give KCA workers a go."
"This Government, in conjunction with the Federal Government, has a track record in providing assistance for workers affected by production shutdowns."
In the case of the closure of the Bridgestone plant, some 78 per cent of workers seeking support were placed as at December 2010.
"Under the job strategy, the State Government is committed to creating 100,000 by 2016 and we will be making every effort to ensure the workers affected by these cuts can return to the workforce as soon as possible," Mr Rann says.
Live export industry commits to Indonesian improvements
AUSTRALIA'S livestock export industry will deliver further animal welfare improvements in its biggest cattle export market, Indonesia, following the release of an independent study commissioned by the industry's Live Trade Animal Welfare Partnership with the Australian Government.
The Independent study into animal welfare conditions for cattle in Indonesia from point of arrival from Australia to slaughter was conducted by a panel led by Professor Emeritus in Veterinary Science at Melbourne University, Prof Ivan Caple, and assessed 17 Indonesian facilities to rate the effectiveness of the industry's animal welfare programs.
The review found the welfare of Australian cattle in Indonesia was generally good and provided recommendations for further animal welfare improvements in Indonesia. Industry has already implemented or has scheduled these improvements for action including:
improving point of slaughter training materials and further extending animal handler competency through training programs and ongoing review and support structuring journey management guidelines to ensure long-haul transport provides sufficient rest-time for livestock. delivering further feedlot management programs to expand the technical support provided to Indonesian feedlotters. LiveCorp CEO Cameron Hall said the livestock export industry is committed to making ongoing improvements in Indonesia and fully supports all of the recommendations made by the expert panel.
"We're pleased the study has recognised the good animal welfare standards in Indonesia for Australian cattle," he said.
"Many of the areas requiring further improvement are best addressed by extending or modifying programs currently being delivered by Meat & Livestock Australia and LiveCorp, with the support of the Indonesian and Australian Governments," said Mr Hall.
"The industry has long recognised the importance of improving the welfare of Australian cattle in Indonesia, particularly at the point of processing, and this is reflected clearly in our action plan and our annual investment of over $1 million into animal welfare in Indonesia.
"Indonesia is Australia's largest and most important live cattle export market and is the major market outlet for cattle producers across northern Australia. Ensuring ongoing improvements in animal welfare is critical to the long term sustainability of the trade, and continued improvement in animal welfare in Indonesia is the livestock export industry's highest priority," Mr Hall concluded.
Other panel members included Prof. Neville Gregory, University of London; Dr Penelope McGowan, beef cattle veterinarian and member of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA); and Dr Paul Cusack, a nutrition and feedlot expert.
Stud warms up for Big Country Sale
Brian Kirkwood with Somerview Kakadu, Somerview Bentley, Somerview Hamish and Somerview Rebel, which will be offered at Big Country next month.BRIAN and Glenda Kirkwood of Somerview Red Brahman Stud have been consistent supporters of the Big Country Sale at Charters Towers and are currently making the final preparations to their draft of 11 bulls in readiness for the sale on February 7.
The Somerview draft has been catalogued from lot 10 to 16 and lot 49 to 52, and features five polled bulls. Eight of the bulls have been sired by Palm-vale Brooklyn which has been a leading sire in the Somerview Stud program since he was purchased at the Rockhampton Brahman Week sales in 2007.
"Brooklyn has been invaluable in our operation," Mr Kirkwood said. "A polled bull, he has a wonderful nature and is hard to fault in type."
Three of the bulls have been sired by Kandoona Vantage, another great polled sire at Somerview.
The draft will kick off with lot 10, Somerview Bentley, a bull Mr Kirkwood is confident will attract the attention of discerning buyers.
"Bentley is a really impressive red sire of good, even colour with excellent length and muscling pattern," he said. "He stands on the same good bone exhibited by his sire, Palmvale Brooklyn, making him a bull that would be hard to dismiss."
Mr Kirkwood is also looking forward to offering lot 14, Somerview Commodore.
"Commodore shows ideal natural muscling, heavy bone, depth of body and smoothness of finish," he said.
For more information, please contact Brian or Glenda Kirkwood on (07) 4788 5525.
"He is an attractive Red bull and features a masculine, broad head."
"Upon semen testing our bulls recently we were thrilled to discover the outstanding semen counts exhibited by the bulls."
New Muresk courses kick into gear
CY O'Connor Institute's managing director John Scott.
AGRICULTURAL students will be able to study vocational and short courses offered by CY O'Connor Institute (CYOC) at its new Centre for Agribusiness and Farm Technology (CAFT) at the Muresk campus near Northam for the first time this year.
The courses on offer are the first step in the move towards Muresk becoming a multi-use facility offering agricultural higher education qualifications, TAFE qualifications, short-term industry training and farm-based research, following a recommendation in the Cowan report to Education Minister Liz Constable last year.
CYOC managing director John Scott said they would be relocating their agribusiness courses to Muresk which would give them the opportunity to expand the courses offered in future.
Vocational qualifications would encompass all agriculture-related programs within the institute and a broad range of short courses would be delivered on a commercial basis according to market demand.
"The strength of this year's programs is that they are grounded in real farm skills," CAFT director Peter McGlew said.
Mr Scott said the agricultural industry wanted graduates to be farm ready, which was an important factor influencing their approach to agribusiness training.
"There are more than 6000 graduate jobs vacancies in Australian agribusiness with starting salaries over $60,000, so there is an enormous shortfall in the capacity of Australian universities to produce people qualified in agribusiness," he said.
Mr Scott said the move to Muresk would allow CYOC to fully develop pathways from the schooling sector into both vocational and higher education training.
Mr McGlew said he was keen to explore pathways for students from the metropolitan area to find work in rural areas.
"Having a facility like Muresk allows us to give them a range of hands-on skills to make them farm-ready to get work," he said.
CYOC is also developing an Associate Degree in Agribusiness and expects it to be accredited this calendar year ready for 2012.
"The first year of the associate degree is a higher education Diploma of Agribusiness which provides an exit point for first year students into employment, then rolls into the Associate degree in the second year," Mr Scott said.
Because the degree has not been accredited yet, CYOC is offering a Certificate III and Certificate IV program this year which Mr Scott hopes to repackage into a Year 13 program in future to allow students to progress directly to university upon completion.
Mr Scott said the model for delivery of higher education was a residentially-based course to preserve the benefits of a practical farm-based environment.
"These are the lessons we've learnt from the past when Muresk was a very strong institution," he said.
To make sure CYOC is positioned well as a tertiary education provider, Mr Scott said he had commissioned a consultancy to write a tertiary education plan.
He is in the process of establishing a steering committee and hoped to attract high calibre people for this task.
After signing a MOU between Murdoch University and CYOC last October, Mr Scott said he had last week started discussing pathways from their proposed Associate Degree of Agribusiness into Murdoch's Animal Science and Environmental Science bachelor degrees.
He expected to complete the same exercise with Curtin University with their Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce degrees.
Mr Scott said the courses would have strong international appeal.
"We would expect to receive international students, particularly from the Middle East market, because Muresk has a history of supporting people from such places," he said.
Mr Scott said recent work experience in the Middle East market had showed him that the Middle East culture viewed Australian training very favourably.
Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls has invited CYOC to submit its funding requirements for next year's programs, specifically the higher education programs, which Mr Scott anticipated being available in March.
A Muresk Advisory Committee chaired by a former director of the Muresk Institute, Dr Ian Fairnie, has also been established to oversee the development of the higher education program in agribusiness.
Dr Fairnie is also the president of the Muresk Old Collegian's Association.
Courses this year start on February 7 with 16 people already having expressed interest in enrolments.
School's out for good for teacher Don
MOTIVATING CAREER: Bordertown High School agriculture teacher Don Walter says educating students about where their food comes from has been a highly rewarding career. He has spent his entire 37 years in the workforce teaching at the school.THE look of enlightenment on the faces of students when they grasp a new concept has kept Bordertown High School teacher Don Walter motivated at the front of the classroom and out in the ag plots for the past 37 years.
And through his influence, the upper South East school's agriculture curriculum has broadened from just a few chooks, sheep and cows to include olives, apples and wine grapes, vegetable production, rearing meat birds and replacement pullets, pigs and growing out turkeys.
Many of the thousands of students he has taught have forged successful careers in farming or agribusiness, but equally as important he says all of his former students have a greater understanding of how their food is produced and the role of farmers in a rapidly expanding global population.
"People have got to be fed somehow and the community needs to know what is happening on the land," he said.
"If they need assistance at least there is some empathy for farmers, but if people have no background they will not be as willing to help."
Don was born and raised on a mixed cropping and dairy farm at Melrose and Monteith before graduating from Roseworthy College and completing a year at Teacher's College in Adelaide.
He admits he never dreamed of spending his entire career at the same school but the strong support of the local community, particularly stud sheep and cattle breeders, has seen many projects he wanted to complete come to fruition.
A number of stud breeders have continually donated steers for the Royal Adelaide Show led steer competition which the school has been involved with since 1982, and the school has received strong support in the 25 years it has entered the annual Mundulla Hogget Competition.
"We could never do what we have done without that much parental support, not only in ag but other areas of the school as well," he said.
Bordertown High School comprises a three hectare farm, with numerous livestock paddocks, shiraz grape vines, a small olive grove, and vegetable plots for the Year 9 students to grow vegetables to sell to their family and friends, gaining small business experience.
For the past 15 years the school has also leased 80 hectares from the Tatiara District Council on the edge of the town where they run 100 Merino ewes, 40 first-cross ewes and undertake a small amount of cropping.
Don believes students have largely remained the same over the years, although fewer now come from a farming background.
Technological advances have altered teaching methods and textbooks have largely been replaced by the internet as learning resources, and students are now able to receive more industry focused practical training by completing the Certificate III in Ag through TAFE while at school.
Don – who has been involved in the Ag Teachers Association of SA for the past couple of decades – says the shortage of ag teachers is not new, but of even greater importance now with a number of his fellow teachers also nearing retirement.
He says more university graduates need to be encouraged to enter the profession, but passion and enthusiasm for agriculture are the grounding needed for being a good educator.
"You have to love the topic and if you love the topic it is infectious to the students and you become a good teacher."
Don says it is highly rewarding watching students starting with bare ground and ending up with a full crop of vegetables, or increasing their confidence working with livestock.
"One of the times I really enjoy is early spring, when we have had lesson after lesson inside but I can finally take the students out to check the sheep or show them something."
Among the highlights of his career are the numerous champion and reserve champion carcase awards from the led steer competitions at Adelaide and Mount Gambier, and wins by the school's led goat teams with wethers in 2002 and 2004.
Don is also thrilled over the years two former Year 12 students have received full marks for agriculture.
Being a 'frustrated farmer', Don says his teaching career, along with owning a 4ha hobby farm, have substituted well for a life on the land.
"We have been there for 15 years and it is treated as another school paddock – we put ewes and lambs there to keep the weeds down," he said.
Don has just commenced long service leave until the middle of next year after which he intends to retire and start the next chapter of his life, but with his wife Sue the assistant principal, he will still have a close involvement with Bordertown High School.
*Full story in Stock Journal, January 27 issue, 2011.
Muchea sizzles for Gascoyne flood cause
p Cooking the sizzling sausages on Monday morning at the Muchea Livestock Centre was WAMIA compliance officer John Donaldson (left), with Bindoon producers Olive Young and Colin Glover.IF you walked into the Muchea Livestock Centre on Monday morning you would have smelt a nice aroma floating around the yards.
And it wasn't the usual cattle aroma, but the smell of a sausage sizzle held on the auctioneers' verandah to raise money for flood affected victims in the Gascoyne region.
Hosted by the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority (WAMIA), the barbecue cranked up before the commencement of the cattle sale and buyers, sellers and agents from around WA lined up with their gold coin donations.
The sausages for the event were kindly donated by Kevin and Wendy Armstrong, The Beef Shop, Maddington.
With producers giving generously, the morning was a success and in total $900 was raised from the big cook up.
But the fundraising didn't stop there with all livestock agencies also offering a helping hand.
Primaries donated $200, as did Leeds Agencies, while WAMIA chief executive Renata Paliskis put forward the earnings from the sale of a Murray Grey-Gelbvieh cross steer.
The steer weighed 266kg and was purchased by LSS at 250c/kg or $665.
Another vendor in the Primaries offering, Sandy Bagshaw, Bridgetown, donated all the proceeds from the sale of a Brahman cross cow to the flood victims.
The 346kg cow was purchased by an interstate buyer at 126c/kg or $436.
Elders and FarmWorks donated their commission from the sale of a pen of steers each, while Landmark directly donated to the Gascoyne Catchment Group.
Take a breather
TOP-UP SELECTION: Saffin Ker Bowen & Wilson agent Jim Oliver, Warrnambool, Victoria, and Margaret Patterson, Drysdale, Ballangeich, Vic, were looking to top-up heifer numbers at the Mount Gambier store cattle sale on Friday, after buying heifers at the Naracoorte sales held on the same day. "FROM chocolates to boiled lollies" was how one vendor described this week's lamb sale at Dublin.
After the exhilarating highs of last week, where lambs rocketed into the stratosphere with one pen making $202, this week was understandably pedestrian with prices coming back into the more realistic region with the top price only a lowly $178.
Perception is a marvellous thing and a mystical price like $200 has raised producers" expectations beyond any reasonable level.
Feeder buyers lifted prices on store crossbred lambs to heights on Tuesday that left most reasonably-conservative onlookers gasping for breath.
Most part-time feeders would look at a $40 to $50 a head margin on a crossbred lamb as a comfortable way to make a few dollars.
The work and cost involved in shearing, drenching and feeding is not inconsiderable and the selling cost at the other end is another burden that is often forgotten when budgeting.
So to purchase crossbred lambs for a reasonable $90 to $100 and resell them for $140-$150 is good business.
When people start paying $115-$125 in the hope of returning $160-$170, the gambling really begins.
Anyone who has fed lambs will know that there is always a percentage of lambs that will not fatten at the required rate, despite all of the pampering you can provide.
Then one will die, or the flies will get a few, and broken skins will hurt your returns.
The whole exercise is fraught with pitfalls and many astute sheepmen have not made the returns that market forces so richly promised.
Then, of course there is that thing called supply-and-demand. At the moment, demand is going along, seemingly unimpeded, by the strength of the $A and the ongoing price rises, but if a major processor throws-in the towel then things could change rapidly.
Last year we saw Victorian-based processor Castricum Bros do just that, and suspend operations.
The industry cannot afford that to happen to any more of the processor sector, or the ramifications will be disastrous for those with dear lambs and a big investment in ewes at record high prices.
Noone should be too disappointed with the lamb prices this week.
It is only January and there are many months before numbers are likely to escalate.
Heavyweight lambs at $150-$170 should not be too difficult for anybody to stomach for a while.
Store cattle are attracting the same sort of attention as store lambs, with demand going through the roof.
There appears to be a different agenda for buyers of cattle, with weaner sales recording unprecedented returns for breeders.
I, for one, cannot see how steers at $800-$1000, plus freight, can be a profitable investment.
I hate talking-down the market but there seems to be a premise that export cattle prices will lift.
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Carbon38, Frankie's Bikinis, and Emi Jay: The sale you can't miss!
To celebrate the arrival of spring and warm weather, we're holding one of our biggest sales! Not one amazing brand, but THREE will be up for grabs at 315 S Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood, 90048 Los Angeles starting tomorrow! This sale is the perfect way to begin getting ready for the summer. You will be able to shop for your bikinis, accessories, and activewear at an affordable price! Emi Jay, Carbon38, and Frankie's Bikinis will all be making an appearance. This is not a sale you want to miss.
Carbon38 is famous for their luxury, fashionable activewear. Their pieces are edgy, bold, and feel amazing! Perfect for any activities you'll find yourself doing. They're great for the gym, yoga, hiking, or just lounging around looking fabulous.
Emi Jay creates some of our favorite hair accessories. Their pieces are so cute and range from scrunchies, to clips, and headbands! They're great for sprucing up your hairstyles and giving it that extra stylish touch. We all know that being well accessorized can really elevate your outfits and looks overall.
Frankie's Bikini is another brand that will be available. Created by a Malibu native, this bikini brand is one of our absolute favorites. They're made with lavish fabric in stylish and unique designs that hug all body types perfectly. These bikinis feel and look amazing.
If you don't already, you will love what these brands have to offer. We're so excited to be able bring them for you at this sale. It will be held from March 27th to March 31st from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM at 315 S Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood, 90048 Los Angeles. Don't forget to register to get exclusive access. We can't wait to see you there!


text:
Q: ElasticSearch object filter not working I try to create mappings and indexes by using Jest.
After I inserted some data, I tried to filter the query and It didn't work.
I have an object mapping like this:
http://localhost:9200/contacts?pretty=true
"contacts" : {
  ...
     "mappings" : {
        "contact" : {
            "properties" : {
              ...
              "user" : {
                 "properties" : {
                   "id" : {
                   "type" : "long"
                  },
                  "uuid" : {
                    "type" : "string"
                  }
               }
            }
        }
 }

Data:
{
  "_index" : "contacts",
  "_type" : "contact",
  "_id" : "131530ff-d125-47c1-8fae-f48f2def9037",
  "_version" : 1,
  "found" : true,
  "_source":{"id":"131530ff-d125-47c1-8fae-f48f2def9037","shared":false,"favourite":false,"user":{"id":1,"uuid":"AB353469"}}
}

My query:
http://localhost:9200/contacts/_search
{
  "query":{
     "filtered":{
         ...
         "filter":{
            "term" : {
            "user.uuid" : "AB353469" }
          }
     }
  }
}

Response:
{
  "took": 14,
  "timed_out": false,
  "_shards": {
    "total": 5,
    "successful": 5,
    "failed": 0
  },
  "hits": {
     "total": 0,
     "max_score": null,
     "hits": []
  }
}

Could you please tell me why It didn't work?
Thank you very much!
P.S:
- Elasticsearch version: 1.7.2

A: Change initiatorUuid mapping from
              "initiatorUuid" : {
                "type" : "string"
              }

to
              "initiatorUuid" : {
                "type" : "string",
                "index": "not_analyzed"
              }

re-create the index, re-index the documents and try again.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


An insider's look at how reality and computer-generated fantasy blend together in Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, and the surprising platform choice that makes it happen.
star wars, the apocryphal tale of a galaxy long ago and far, far away, tends to attract tech types like me. this attraction happens despite the fact that the movie breaks most of the scientific laws applying to the physical world and that it doesn't depict an "advanced age." instead, its world is a universe completely separate from our own.
i've realized, however, that even from the very first time i saw star wars in 1977, i was more intrigued by how director george lucas and his team of filmmakers created that fantastic environment on the big screen than by the science fiction depicted. i pored over books and watched short tv specials about the making of the first film, marveling at how they built the first death star and how little model x-wing fighters were filmed against a blue screen. the special-effects crew built so many models. they even built a portion of the full-size millennium falcon for filming. a few years ago, i visited the brooklyn museum, which was hosting a special traveling exhibit of some of these early props and models. i was in heaven.
so much time has passed between the release of the original star wars film (later rereleased as star wars: a new hope) and the recent trilogy (launched 22 years later) that some of the people who enjoyed the film as youngsters have actually grown up to work on the newer films. the special-effects crews of the 1970s built tangible, albeit sometimes scaled-down, effects; this current generation has put down the hammers, nails, glue, muslin, silicon, latex, and even blue screens (it's all green now) in favor of a comfortable chair in front of a glowing computer display.
one such latter-day special-effects whiz, steve sullivan, now director of research and development at industrial light and magic (ilm), first saw star wars when he was 10 years old. when we chatted recently about his journey from fan to movie-technology whiz, sullivan told me that he thought star wars "was awesome" when he first saw it, but he was not obsessed, and didn't consider it "his lifelong mission" to work in special effects.
even so, as a kid growing up in kansas city, missouri, sullivan did catch the tech bug, and can trace his computing roots all the way back to a trs-80 color computer. like other young geeks in that era, he followed up with an apple ii and then the lovable commodore 64. sullivan never graduated to a commodore 128, but was in close contact with these machines when he worked in a computer store. suffice it to say that he has always had the tech bug that, in a roundabout way, led him to ilm and star wars.
sullivan retained his tech jones through his years at the university of missouri, where he majored in electrical and computer engineering. he then studied robotics and computer vision at the university of illinois, where he earned a ph.d. in electrical and computer engineering. even then, however, sullivan told me, "i had no idea i'd be in this kind of work, until i graduated."


Several years ago I purchased one of your sharpshooter keychains. It is still just as strong today as it was when I purchased it. I've watched your videos and seen you smash cement blocks, pallets, coconuts, etc. Yesterday, I went out in the back yard with my sharpshooter keychain. I had a 23 oz Arizona tea can filled with water. I took my keychain and struck it hard. I could hardly believe! It literally cut the can in half. I held the top half in one hand and the bottom half in the other! Wow! I have 8 keys on it, a cheap aluminum bottle opener and a small $9 keychain tool that looks like a small butterfly knife. But after I saw it for myself cutting an aluminum can in half, I thought, "Even my gun wouldn't do that!" I'm impressed. A little later on, I may purchase another one too, like a super sharpshooter. Thanks.


The price of bitcoin has continued its gradual decline since last week's spike, falling a further 2.5% over the last 24 hours.
Most other major cryptocurrencies have followed bitcoin's lead, with litecoin, dogecoin, peercoin and namecoin all falling by a similar margin since yesterday.
Only darkcoin saw any positive movement among the top altcoins, rising 2% to take its market capitalisation up towards $12 million.
Claims by the FBI, Europol and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that 410 dark websites were taken down in a major operation have been put in doubt.
A study by a team led by dark web enthusiast Nik Cubrilovic found that operation Onymous only resulted in the closure of 276 services from over 9,000 dark websites. 153 of these sites taken down were either clones or malicious.
"In a number of cases the FBI has seized the clone or scam version of a site while leaving up the real site," Cubrilovic wrote in the study. "In May of 2014 a bot known as the 'Onion Cloner' was discovered and became known to Tor hidden service operators.
"Of the 133 clone sites that the FBI seized, a large number of them were clone sites produced by the Onion Cloner that were mistaken for the real copy."
Coinbase, the world's number one bitcoin wallet provider, is launching a micropayments feature that will allow web users to tip other users with bitcoin.
The tip button released by the company can be embedded into any web page to enable" one-click tips".
In a recent talk with IBTimes UK, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that he imagined future uses of bitcoin and its technology to include machine-to-machine payments.
"I could foresee micro payments sent between two cars on a freeway," Armstrong said, "whereby one car sends a car a payment to let it pass in the fast lane so they can get to work quicker."


Presented here are images and conversation about the bird hunting experience.
The hope is to connect with folks who share the passion of chasing fast birds with good friends, fine shotguns and game bird dogs. I hope you enjoy the site.
Time is flying and that picture above is getting dated. Sweet Rio has been gone for 7 years now. So here is an updated picture with good boy Tex . . .
Other than that, God continues to smile down on us; we are doing the same old thing and loving every minute of it!
Great site! It's in my bookmarks!
Well done! You are a talented photographer and scribe and a great member of any hunting party.
Great site…really like the image of Rio in the masthead. Looking forward to future posts!
We're neighbors! I'm in Colorado City a little NWof you. Have Shinnery Flats Ranch 7 miles N of Colorado City. Would like to connect some time and share our interest.
Thanks, Bob. That would be great, I will e-mail you.
Isn't it interesting how some avocations, or vocations, just grab us. Whether it be upland birds, fly fishing, photography or just plain reading, what is important is that it is important for the person doing it. I am also an avid bird hunter and it is becoming an obsession with me and that is alright as long as we don't let that obsession affect the other important aspects of our lives. So here's to good dogs, English doubles, bourbon in a tin cup and the sweet smell of an autumn morning.
Your website is sooooo great! We are loving life out here in Durango. We of course miss everyone. Perhaps soon (mid-may) we might be travelling out to Nebraska which would land us in Denver en route. Perhaps we could be obnoxious and straight out ask to stay with you guys a night? Hugs Dude!
Thanks Kristyn! I am glad you enjoy it. Also glad you are liking Durango, I hear it is beautiful. May is tough for us to have guests. We have family in town for my son's graduation and we are on a trip as well. Tell Chuck hello and you guys take care.
Yay for Harrison!!!!! That's exciting. I think Nancy told me you guys are out of town the day we are driving back and how crazy May is for you….:( Also, glad to hear your dad is putting up the good fight. I think of him and you often and have put him in our prayer circle at church. Hope you don't mind. Anywho, enjoy that adorable Tex!
I greatly appreciate your payers for my father! Thank you!
I left a question about a Sweet Sixteen on a different blog. It doesn't look like you are able to check that blog, just wondered if you could help me out with my shot gun. I addressed you as Nick, and soon realized I had made a mistake. Thank you for any help you can give me.
I have answered your question on the Sweet Sixteen post. Sorry for the delay in responding and thank you for visiting the Birdhunter!
Love the site. I am just starting to get into bird hunting. Just bought my first, and long awaited, O/U and I have two 8-month old Boykin Spaniels I am attempting to train. Just about all we have here in VA are farm birds but it is still great to get out there and watch the dogs work.
Thanks, I am glad you like the site! You have some terrific experiences ahead. Those Boykin's sure look like neat little dogs.
I just found your website and think its absolutely great. Cant wait to read about hunting scaled quail. Ive hunted those littler buggars in the Cimarron National Grasslands and was thinking about venturing into SE Colorado…would love some insight and / or info if I can make it this fall. You ever feel like coming into Kansas don't hesitate to reach out. Do you have an Instagram account to go along with your blog? I couldn't find one…most of the other upland blogs have one, just curious. @huntbirdz -INSTAGRAM. again great page and posts.
Thanks very much! I am figuring this Colorado grassland hunting too. I do not have an Instagram site. All the pictures worth looking at are in this blog. Thanks for visiting!
Thanks Mike, I am glad you like the site. I am also sorry for the loss of your dog. That is always a tough thing to go through. Thanks for the suggestion on the dog supply post. I will do that. I also want to do one on a great hunting vest I have found and a terrific pair of boots. That kind of stuff will keep me busy after the season is over. Thank again!


text:
« Fromer Skins LB Arrington in Stable Condition After Motorcycle Crash
Skins In Talks With WR McCardell »
Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen Not Afraid to Speak His Mind
June 19th, 2007 Stephen Rhodes Posted in Features
Concussions? Sonny Jurgensen chews on his cigar and keeps laughing. "They didn't have concussions in my day," Jurgensen said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. "You were dinged. You went to the sidelines, and the doctor would hold up three fingers and say, 'How many fingers do you see?' You always said 'three' because that's how many he'd always hold up." Without fail, the doctor sent the players back onto the field after answering the question correctly. "Do you know how many times I had my lights put out?" Jurgensen says. "It's just a different game. A completely different game."
And boy, did he love playing that game. For 18 seasons from 1957-74 with the Eagles and Redskins, Jurgensen became known as one of the purest passers in NFL history. He made five Pro Bowls, completed 2,433 passes for 32,224 yards and threw for 255 touchdowns. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and has seen the many changes to the game first-hand as both a TV and radio commentator. Jurgensen obviously isn't one to sugarcoat how he feels. "It was a privilege to be able to play professional football," he says. "I played 18 years and did something I enjoyed doing. It isn't that way anymore. It's an entitlement now. Guys come in the league, they get more money showing up for camp than I made in 18 years."
Back in Jurgensen's era, players weren't allowed to go in motion. Defensive backs were allowed to hit receivers at the line of scrimmage, and offensive linemen weren't allowed to block with their arms extended. If only those rules existed when he played . . . So what does Jurgensen like least about the "new" NFL? He believes it has become way too much of a coach's game. He can't stand that coaches call the plays for quarterbacks. When Jurgensen played, he made all the calls. "To give an example, it's third-and-10," Jurgensen says. "I need to make a play. What play am I going to call? I am going to call a play that I have confidence in. What is the coach calling? Is he calling something he likes? "This is the crucial part of the game and this guy up in the booth having a hot dog and a Coke is calling the play instead of me? I don't like that."
As you would well imagine, Jurgensen has plenty of opinions about drug use, too. There was not prevalent use of steroids when he played, but there was plenty of speed and players took it. "The guys would congregate in this locker in the back," Jurgensen says. "I knew what they were doing. I'd see a guy walking to the water fountain with his hand cupped, and I'd go over and hit his hand and they'd come out on the floor. I'd go, 'Have a good game!' " Sports medicine has changed, too. Jurgensen remembers getting injections in his aching knee to deaden the pain so he could keep playing. He has had 18 operations, has bad knees and shoulders. But he still can shoot a few rounds of golf whenever he wants.
Unfortunately, many retired players of his era can't, and are trying to get the NFL Players Association to help them financially. Mike Ditka and several others have been outspoken on the topic. Jurgensen believes the NFL owes the older players who sacrificed their bodies playing in a different era of the game, when nobody could retire off the money they earned in the league. He wants to talk to Redskins owner Dan Snyder about an idea he has: What if individual teams set aside money to help out their retired athletes? That would at least be a start. "They should figure out a way to increase our benefits," Jurgensen says. "The pensions are too small. "They should figure out a way to take care of the players that are suffering dementia. Take care of them first."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tar Baby (Vintage International)
Available Formats Paperback (6/8/2004)Hardcover (3/12/1981)Digital - Audio (Libro.FM)
A ravishingly beautiful and emotionally incendiary reinvention of the love story by the legendary Nobel Prize winner
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to God Help the Child (2015). She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 2019.
Praise for Tar Baby (Vintage International)
"Deeply perceptive. . . . Return[s] risk and mischief to the contemporary American novel." —John Irving, The New York Times Book Review
"Toni Morrison has made herself into the D. H. Lawrence of the black psyche, transforming individuals into forces, idiosyncrasy into inevitability." —New York
"Arresting images, fierce intelligence, poetic language . . . One becomes entranced by Toni Morrison's story." —The Washington Post
"Wrenchingly good. A terrific book." —The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Hypnotic, stunningly alive." —The San Diego Union-Tribune
"That rare commodity, a truly public novel. . . . Morrison's genius lies in her uncanny ability to immerse you totally in the world she creates." —Newsweek
"Powerful. . . . A stunning performance. . . . Morrison is one of the most exciting living American writers." —Kansas City Star
"It takes one to the sheer edge of human relationships." —Vogue
"Wise, beautiful, astonishing, absolutely breathtaking." —St. Louis Globe-Democrat
"Reminds us again that Toni Morrison is one of the finest writers in America today." —Louisville Courier-Journal
"Tar Baby is stupendous. Morrison is a writer of amazing skill." —Roanoke Times & World
"Its scope is grand and the interplay complex. But Morrison has the control of a skilled choreographer, with a careful eye pinned on pacing, suspense, grace, and frenzy. . . . She has an awesome lyric flair." —The Charlotte Observer
Klara and the Sun: A novel (Vintage International)
Lolita (Vintage International)
Nabokov, Vladimir
The Year of Magical Thinking (Vintage International)
Didion, Joan
Beloved (Vintage International)
Giovanni's Room (Vintage International)
Never Let Me Go (Vintage International)
The Stranger (Vintage International)
Camus, Albert
The Road (Vintage International)
Kafka on the Shore (Vintage International)
Norwegian Wood (Vintage International)
The Myth of Sisyphus (Vintage International)
In Cold Blood (Vintage International)
Capote, Truman
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West (Vintage International)
Song of Solomon (Vintage International)
Invisible Man (Vintage International)
The Remains of the Day (Vintage International)
Sula (Vintage International)
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International)
1Q84 (Vintage International)
A Safe Girl to Love
Casey Plett
A new edition of the acclaimed debut story collection by two-time Lambda Literary Award winner Casey Plett. ...
Demon Copperhead: A Novel
A NEW YORK TIMES "TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2022" An Oprah's Book Club Selection • An Instant New York Times Bestseller • An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller • A #1 Washington Post Bestseller ...
Tom Rachman
From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Imperfectionists, the story of a chameleonic writer, and the indelible characters in her orbit, in a novel about love, the power of art, and what we leave behind ...
Dykette: A Novel
Jenny Fran Davis
Named one of the Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2023 by VogueNamed a Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of 2023 by Buzzfeed, Electric Lit, and Them ...
Corinne: A Novel
Rebecca Morrow
"I was riveted...A modern-day Romeo & Juliet."—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways You want to walk away from the things that are bad for you and never look back. ...
Brotherless Night: A Novel
V. V. Ganeshananthan
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE • A courageous young Sri Lankan woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor in this "heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by civil war" (Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half) ...
I Walk Between the Raindrops: Stories
An electric collection of new short stories from the inimitable, bestselling writer of Talk to Me and Outside Looking In ...
A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel
The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers, soon to be a Showtime/Paramount series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov ...
Elsewhere: Stories
Yan Ge
From multi-award-winning author Yan Ge, a shimmering, genre-bending English-language debut that announces the next phase in a major literary career. ...
The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Winner of the 2016 Edgar Award for Best First Novel Winner of the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction ...
The Dream Builders
Oindrila Mukherjee
A Good Morning America and PureWow Best Book of January A Goodreads Buzziest Book of the New Year A January Indie Next Pick & Debutiful Most Anticipated Book of 2023 ...
The Whole Animal
Corinna Chong
A refreshingly original debut collection of short stories that grapple with the self-alienation and self-discovery that make us human. ...
Crook Manifesto: A Novel
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory. ...
Five Little Indians: A Novel
Michelle Good
WINNER: Canada Reads 2022 WINNER: Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction WINNER: Amazon First Novel Award WINNER: Kobo Emerging Author Prize Finalist: Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist: Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Prize ...
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?: A Novel
Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
"Yinka is a lovable and relatable disaster—which is to say, she isn't actually a disaster at all...I adore her."—Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers ...
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare's life ... here is a novel ... so gorgeously written that it transports you." —The Boston Globe ...
Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER by: Chicago Tribune * The View * Southern Living * USA Today ...
The Little Stranger (Movie Tie-In)
Soon to be a major motion picture--releasing August 31 in the US--the nationally bestselling and chillingly rendered ghost story--"several sleepless nights are guaranteed" (Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly). ...
Oh William!: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they've come from—and what they've left behind. ...
Written more than 70 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... ...
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. ...
Sense and Sensibility (Signature Classics)
Marianne Dashwood can't understand her sister. How could the attractive, witty, and charming Elinor fall for the quiet, self-effacing, and rather dull Edward Ferrars? ...
That Dangerous Energy
Aya de León
Two-time International Latino Book Award-winning author Aya de León brings her unique blend of commercial fiction, timely social commentary, and sexy, page-turning storytelling in a novel of climate change in which the personal and the political collide for one woman torn between her own ...


Whats a blind persons favorite liquor?
When the X-Factor comes to Birmingham, the phrase "Who'll steal the crown this year?" has a totally different meaning.
I went to a fancy dress party last night and I saw this guy who'd dressed as a Helium balloon.
He was stuck to the ceiling, I thought "He's let himself go."
Really sad about my dalmatian dying, oh well, at least the house is spotless now.
Wheelchair Basketball is the best.
The first rule of blood group club is B positive.
I should have been sad when the batteries in my flashlight died, but I was delighted.
I was turned down flat today , when trying to get my book published.
I'll bet if was a famous author, it would have been a different story.
So I was out in town the other day dressed as a pepper, when I was approached by a promotions lady giving away free bubbly chocolate "have an aero?" she asked, "no! Scotch Bonnet" I replied.
When I was in the army, we were taught to shoot first and ask questions later. Mind you we never got many answers.
Liverpool Primark will have to employ extra security and store detectives this week.
It'll be wall to wall chavant garde at the crem.
So many people are dead against them.
You can now buy software that spams underage girls.
Since I have been writing all my sickipedia jokes on toilet paper none of them have got buried.
Must be on a roll.
I bought my friend a candle extinguisher for his birthday. He was delighted.
I set fire to the wife last night. This morning she was still fuming.
What do you get when you cross a cow with an arab?
I started stealing from the calender factory after being informed my job was at threat.
I've been taking one day at a time since then.
Despite being mute myself, it really frustrates me when I see other mutes trying to communicate with each other.
I used to have a job making furniture out of plants.
I'll tell you, it was no bed of roses.


Elizabeth was ready to give up before meeting, Eva, Our Disaster Case Manager, who guided her through a mess of paperwork and provided extensive emotional support. Elizabeth had been displaced for several years before Eva helped her acquire additional funding vital to rebuilding her home. Elizabeth was so impressed with Eva's commitment that she wrote a letter expressing her gratitude for Eva's "compassion in understanding the emotions of a Sandy victim is experiencing." Now, Elizabeth no longer has to worry about repairing her home and can focus on rebuilding her life.
John, a 90-year-old WWII veteran, had been living in a house seriously damaged by Sandy for a year and a half before receiving assistance. It wasn't until some friends realized the poor quality of his living condition that he finally got help from OCLTRG. Through some hard work, we were able to provide him with a safe, sanitary and secure living situation. Then, shortly before the third anniversary of Sandy, we were able to welcome him home! While there, several people instrumental in helping John joined us in forming a large circle around his newly raised American flag. As we came together to bless John's home, the flag billowed softly in the breeze; reminding us of John's service and legacy!
Since conception, OCLTRG has provided funding to 748 households with senior citizens!


text:
Social Distancing Leads To Blood Shortage
By Jeff Brady
Published March 17, 2020 at 3:56 PM EDT
Workers use a tape measure mark spaces six feet apart for people to wait in line safely as they convert the outdoor plaza in front of Zaytinya, one of Chef José Andres' restaurants in Washington, D.C. Efforts to contain the coronavirus are affecting blood donor drives and supplies.
Public health officials encourage "social distancing" now but they also worry it is leading to a shortage of donated blood.
The American Red Cross, which supplies about 40% of the nation's blood, says donor drives across the country have been cancelled "at an alarming rate" and the organization now faces a "severe blood shortage."
"In really good times we may have five days of inventory available for our hospital clients and now we're running at a day or day-and-a-half in some cases," says Chris Hrouda, president of Biomedical Services for the Red Cross.
As of Tuesday, the Red Cross says about 2,700 blood drives had been canceled because of concerns about people gathering at workplaces, college campuses and schools — all places where drives typically take place. The organization estimates that's resulted in 86,000 fewer blood donations because 80% of the blood it collects comes from drives held at these locations.
At the University City Science Center in Philadelphia a blood drive scheduled for Wednesday was canceled when the center shut down and staff began working remotely.
"We're disappointed to have had to cancel the blood drive but given the CDC, state and city guidelines for social distancing compounded by the fact that we aren't set up to provide this service in an area that is properly portioned off, we made the tough decision to cancel tomorrow's drive," says Tracy Brala, vice president of Ecosystem Development.
The center urged donors to contact the Red Cross to find another place to donate blood. The organization does have its own locations that remain open but they can't expand their operations quickly enough to fill the gaps.
Hrouda says the Red Cross currently is shipping out more blood than it's bringing in, so it's begun shipping less than hospitals order.
"As of this week we've started shorting all our hospital customers to 75% of what they've requested and we'll evaluate pretty quickly if we need to take that down to 50%," says Hrouda.
That has health officials raising the alarm and calling for donors.
"To ensure an adequate blood supply we need people to come out and donate blood," says Dr. Peter Marks, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. The FDA regulates blood centers.
Marks says he's aware some people might be concerned about donating blood in the age of COVID-19.
"Blood donation centers are a very safe place to be. People take precautions to make sure those centers are spotless clean and that people who are sick don't enter them," Marks says.
The Red Cross says it has put new measures in place, including checking the temperature of staff and donors before they enter a drive location. Hand sanitizer is provided and used throughout the donation process. Beds are spaced in accordance with social distancing guidelines. And even more attention is given to disinfecting surfaces and equipment.
Hrouda says type O-negative blood is nearly always in short supply because it can be used in transfusions for any blood type. But right now he says there's a shortage of all blood types.
Jeff Brady
Jeff Brady is a National Desk Correspondent based in Philadelphia, where he covers energy issues and climate change. Brady helped establish NPR's environment and energy collaborative which brings together NPR and Member station reporters from across the country to cover the big stories involving the natural world.


text:
9-1-1- is a notification service,
not a crime stopping service.
Boss, life is trouble; only death is not! To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble!
(from Zorba the Greek)
Just a couple of quotes I like.
And I need to work on that second one
Labels: General Stuff, Self-Defenders
Assuming it actually happened as the weenies say,
the obvious question comes up: What caliber for drone?
Romney campaign says "I am your friend!"
Nothing else, really, just that.
You believe him?
Labels: Lying Politicians
I poke something with a fruit logo
and enough computing power to run the entire 1960's NASA program with an index finger.
"Do you have a smart phone that's been sitting in the corner and eating paint chips?"
Go. Now.
"Why are so many anti-gun types so violent?" is the usual question;
a corollary could be "Why are they such slimeballs?"
Ultimak Garand mount, second test
A while back I mentioned getting a Ultimak mount for my M1; first tryout here. It being a fine day for the range*, today it got a tryout on the 50 and 100-yard ranges. Total of 48 rounds of cast-bullet loads at 50(accuracy test) and 32 rounds of Korean PS ball split between 50 and 100.
I like this mount. Didn't shift, move, squiggle, nothing, just sat there solidly in place, the way it's supposed to. It's an overcast, cool day, and the mount got a touch warm; I can see how firing a bunch on a hot day could get it hot, but unless you're actually touching it with your forward hand, shouldn't be any big deal. And that aluminum cools down fast.
I'd have to say 'Recommend'. Solid, nice-looking. And having an optic takes some of the guesswork out of testing loads. I do need to find some lower rings, I'd like a better cheek weld on the stock, but if you had a scope with a large bell you'd need a bit higher rings; you could always make/buy a cheekrest if need be. Or if you're not worried about a original stock or something, put a wood one on top of the comb like that used on the #4 Enfield snipers.
Speaking of loads, I had three variations of cast-bullet loads and none of them will set the world on fire. Great for the indoor range, but not good for 100 yards or beyond.
Also took something I hadn't fired in a long time, my muzzleloader. It's a Lyman Plains Rifle, .54 caliber; I'd forgotten the fun of working with it. And with some of the stuff available now, cleaning up after is a lot less mess.
Noticed a guy with a S&W 15-22 and a red-dot sight and asked about it: it's this one from Primary Arms. He said he's had it about four months with zero problems.
I shall now get stuff out of the truck before it rains, and get ready: my goddaughter has the same birthday, and I'm going to her party tonight.
*Defined as "I'm not at work, it's not raining, and the clouds prevent glare"
A civil rights victory in Canada
as Insty put it:
OTTAWA — The Harper government's controversial bill to end the long-gun registry has passed the House of Commons, marking the end of a long political battle over one of the most controversial law enforcement measures in recent memory.
The bill passed easily, by a margin of 159 to 130, as the Conservatives used their majority in the House secure passage of the bill, which now goes to the Senate where the Conservatives also have a majority.
With the usual suspects whining and calling names, etc.
And here, the kind of fargin' idiot we have in Congress:
Birth control "is not a male issue, it's a female issue. I've never met a man that had the need for birth control."
I will leave the dissection of that flat stupid statement to you.
Obama likes high gas prices? What was your first clue?
And Chu should be in line for a special dose of tar and feathers.
Yes, I double-checked the calendar: this actually IS the 'another year' day
There are museums and such in NYEffingCity I'd love to see; but not while this kind of crap is still going on. A: you can't carry, B: I just don't want to put money in the pockets of that government.
Bigoted and cowardly fools running schools; they'd never have allowed some Christian song, if a Jewish cantor had wanted to sing I very much doubt they'd have allowed him; but a song praising Allah? No problem!
And now, I think I shall mark the day with a trip to the range.
Labels: 'Higher' Education, Energy, Gun Bigots, Idiot Socialist Backstabbing Politicians, PC idiocy
I have to note an interesting thing:
Had to go by Wally World for something(couldn't find it elsewhere) and in the pharmacy area found packages of Quikclot.
This discovery will shortly be followed by a DHS warning that people buying this may be militia/terrorist suspects. Except if they pay with cash, then they ARE suspects.
Power tools and gun cleaning is a combination that tends to freak people out(with good reason), but one way you can use them:
my K-22 has some of the problem Tam has mentioned: combine match chambers with lots of .22 ammo, and you get sticky ejection and loading. Had some stubborn spots in a couple of chambers, so got a brush that would be snug in the chamber, chucked it into the power driver, added a little solvent and- spinning it SLOWLY- worked it into the chamber, then back & forth a few times. Next chamber, repeat. Let it sit a few minutes and wiped them out: not a trace of fouling left.
Did the same thing on the .32 Hand Ejector; saves a lot of back & forth scrubbing.
So, CNN ran another piece about the Administration's proposal for a single internet identity for everybody, to circumvent all those pesky passwords and logins you have to remember right now.
This may be the stupidest idea to come out of Washington since the creation of the TSA.
And at least equally ripe for abuse.
By the way, the dollar stores around here carry a 'LA'a Totally Awesome' Cleaner/Degreaser', dilute as needed and so forth. I tried it straight on where chain lube had fouled the chain guards on the bike; this stuff works pretty damn well. Masked the chain with plastic, sprayed, hardly had to brush it dissolved the stuff so well, then rinsed right off.
And now, I shall do some of the cleaning I've been putting off.
Labels: General Stuff, Gunny Stuff, Screwed by government
Another year older,
but at least no more in debt than I was before.
Added: I can't even keep days straight, I'm one ahead. Damn
This doesn't sound like a 'serious mistake' to me;
it sounds like premeditated misconduct.
And yeah, he damn well should be personally liable for this
Labels: Prosecutorial misconduct
Among the reasons I dislike politics and often despise
politicians: unless you know the guy personally, you can't tell if they're actually working toward something, or gaming with other politicians. Case in point:
On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.
In a Jan. 31 letter, Issa had threatened Holder with such a move if he failed to provide all the subpoenaed documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal by Feb. 9. That deadline has come and gone, and Holder's Department of Justice still hasn't provided most of those documents. Issa's subpoena dates back to Oct. 12, 2011.
On Tuesday in a seven-page letter, Issa revealed that Deputy Attorney General James Cole begged Congress to extend the Feb. 9 deadline. Issa wrote that the request was "ironic" and "ignores the reality that the Department has unreasonably delayed producing these documents to the Committee."
"On its face, the requested extension demonstrates a lack of good faith," Issa wrote to Holder.(Really? What was the tip-off?) "With one exception, the Department has only produced documents responsive to the subpoena on the eve of congressional hearings in which senior Department officials testified. The Department appears to be more concerned with protecting its image through spin control than actually cooperating with Congress."
Few days ago I was yelling about this story that Issa had given them the extension; now we get this. Problems: the subpoena was issued last October; the deadline was(supposedly) last Thursday; and they're 'taking a major step' by sending another letter now? Why wasn't the contempt proceeding started the day after the deadline? Interference from Boehner? The FBI playing games like it did under Hoover? We don't know.
I really don't like jumping on top of people and yelling over things like this when I don't know- CAN'T know- if they're actually bending over, but if you don't yell at them when it appears so, you'll never yell at all. Which I think greatly increases the chances of a lot of them bending and making deals.
I hate this crap because
You really can't know who to trust(if anyone),
We're seeing a contempt for the law and for life from the people supposedly in charge of protecting them.
We've been seeing politicians actively trying to protect the bad guys in government from being held responsible for what they did, and it's purely for political reasons: "Screw the law, screw who's dead, we need to protect these people because if they fall it damages my party, and damages the gun-control stuff I like." If you had any remaining respect for these clowns, that kills it.
And you have that dread that, once again, the people responsible for this will not suffer any real punishment; that they'll walk away from it.
I've been using that line from Jaws more and more: it's enough to piss off the Good Humor man.
Labels: Gunwalker, Politics
Good God, what the hell is WRONG with these people?
A veteran Orange County sheriff's deputy feared for the safety of two young girls sitting in a parked car when he shot and killed a Marine sergeant in a dark parking lot near San Clemente High School, authorities said Friday.
Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was shot early Tuesday as he started to get into the SUV where his two daughters -- 9 and 14 -- were sitting, authorities said. Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the department, said the deputy was fearful that Loggins -- who he said appeared to be acting irrationally -- was about to drive off with the girls.
There'd better be a damned good something beyond "I didn't like the way he was acting." Especially with this:
A former commanding officer said Loggins routinely went to the school with his daughters during the early-morning hours to walk the track and read the Bible.
Amormino said Loggins was not armed and that it doesn't appear the incident was alcohol- or drug-related.
Added: Loggins wife is pregnant.
Feral's right:
this is funny:
Speaking of 'hypocritical progressive dirtbags', Anita Dunn
has reared back into the public eye:
After attacking hedge funds and their managers during her tenure in the Obama administration, Anita Dunn is now working as a public relations consultant to improve the industry's image, according to a secret proposal obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Dunn, formerly the interim White House communications director for the Obama administration and currently a managing director at the Democratic consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker (SKDK), is being promoted by the public relations firm McLean/Clark LLC as a director of "paid media" for a pro-hedge-fund campaign. The project is described by promotional material as a "comprehensive public affairs operation" to "raise awareness about the positive role hedge funds play in the American economy" and to "eliminate the need for politicians to take aim at hedge funds."
An industry outsider who was pitched on Dunn's proposal told the Washington Free Beacon that he was surprised to see the former Obama official involved in the effort. "First we see Dunn attack us on television," he said, "and then she tells us to hire her to head off the exact attacks that she herself is hurling at us. The entire thing begins to stink like a protection racket."
You expect integrity from someone who considers one of the worst mass-murderers of the last century to be one of her favorite philosophers?
Ah, the dancing-in-the-blood 'faith community', the NGVAC
Tam notes their boycott of Starbucks is Epic-Level Failtm; and points to one of their "SEE WHAT ALMOST HAPPENED?!?" talking points:
This past December, a 17-year-old dropped her purse in a Cheyenne (Wyoming) Starbucks and the gun inside went off, the bullet missing a customer's head by twelve inches. Will it take a death to convince Starbucks to ban guns?
Let's see... a minor who can't legally buy OR carry a handgun... this is their "See why you should ban them!" point? Really?
And you get slapped once again with their version of reality: it's only 'gun violence' victims that truly count. Bunch of- well, I was going to say 'effing weasels', but I have nothing against weasels; how about 'nanny-state gun-bigot fools'?
As my part in the Starbucks buycott,
I find that they serve a mug of very good Earl Grey.
Bite me, CSGV
Jeff Rosen's a fine example of what a 'journalist' is nowadays:
slant and lie to push a political viewpoint, and screw truth.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical warfare in order to ease its entrance into Homs, said Awad Al-Razak, an officer who defected from the Syrian armed forces.
Al-Razak, who served in the chemical warfare department of the Syrian military, told the Al-Arabiya network that the government used nerve gas under the supervision of Russian and Iranian scientists, and intends to do so again in other parts of the country.
Gee, I wonder where he might have obtained some of that stuff...
'Course, if the Iranians and Russians are involved, they may have given them the stuff; but I do have to wonder if some of it is, ah, 'previously obtained'.
As the threat of invasion loomed and the terror of Nazi bombs continued, Yale University sent a letter to both Oxford and Cambridge universities, offering children of their fellows and dons evacuation refuge in the U.S.
Calling itself the Yale Faculty Committee for Receiving Oxford and Cambridge University Children, 125 Oxford children and 35 mothers took up the offer, boarding the SS Antonia from Liverpool to New Haven, Connecticut on 8 July 1940.
Dr John Fulton of Yale Medical School was a driving force behind the rescue and said the committee 'hoped to save some of the children of intellectuals before the storm breaks.'
So we have either 'Let's try to save some children of proper type', or 'Screw the general populace, us university types have to stick together.'
Back to leftist media 'journalists', Daily Caller has a whole string of reports on what has come out about Media Matters coordinating with the Obama administration, trying to destroy Fox News and so forth. And it includes
Brock, the head of the liberal nonprofit Media Matters for America, had told friends and co-workers that he feared he was in imminent danger from right-wing assassins and needed a security team to keep him safe.
The threat he faced while smoking on his roof? "Snipers," a former co-worker recalled.
"He had more security than a Third World dictator," one employee said, explaining that Brock's bodyguards would rarely leave his side, even accompanying him to his home in an affluent Washington neighborhood each night where they "stood post" to protect him. "What movement leader has a detail?" asked someone who saw it.
Well, that would include, under that old saw 'people tend to think other people think the same way', movement leaders trying to destroy other people probably think their targets might act the way the 'movement leader' does.
But Eric Holder knew NOTHING about it. Right....
Labels: Corrupt Journalists, Gunwalker, Mid-East uprisings, Progressive dirtbags
Next time someone I know starts whining about Faux News
and bitching about 'fairness', I'm going to send them some links about Media Matters & Co.
Reminds me of all the bitching about 'nasty conservatives/Republicans and their hate speech, we need more civil discourse!', right up until someone called for Walker to be killed. Or attacked one of the Palin kids; THAT was 'free speech', etc.
Labels: Liberal 'thought', Progressive dirtbags, Speech- Threats To
An experiment Updated
Couple of days ago was over at James' place reading this post on the Walther PP, PPK and the .32acp cartridge. One of the commenters left this link on loads for the .32acp to make it better for small game(light carry pistol when hiking/hunting) and self-defense. Which got me to thinking...
I've got a Lee mold to cast 93-grain roundnose bullets for my .32 Hand Ejector; they work quite well(they come out closer to 95 with the mongrel lead I use). The Lee mold for a .32 semi-wadcutter has a fairly narrow nose; the Saeco and RCBS molds for that style have a much wider nose, but I don't really want to lay out that much to try the idea out. So, came the experiment:
Take a drill press vise, and some lubed bullets. Hold the vise vertically, place a bullet on the lower jaw, turn the screw down until it just touches, and from there crank it down. A little experimentation showed that a half-turn just flattened the nose a touch, 1.5 turns squished the bullet too much, and one turn gave a nice, wide flat nose without expanding the body too much.
Take those bullets to the Lee sizer
Lee makes these in a lot of diameters: the sizing die screws into the press, the ram fits into the shellholder slot, and the tub goes on top to catch the bullets; place the bullet on the ram and stroke the lever, you get a nicely sized bullet. It'll also seat gas checks. This one is .311", I use it for .303 cast bullets, and since .311" is also the nominal diameter of the .32 bore, I ran these bullets through. They'd been upset enough that the mouth of the die actually shaved a tiny bit off the sides. After they were all sized they were dosed with Lee Liquid Alox and left overnight. Here's an original on the left, reformed on the right
The tiny ring the die shaved off is TINY; the as-cast and lubed bullets run between 94.5 and 94.8 grains, the reformed 94.3 to 94.7 by my little electronic scale. I know they'll work in the .32S&W; I'm going to load some in .32acp and try them in friends' Pocket Hammerless for function, and when the weather allows try them from both on water jugs for penetration.
I've been thinking: if you wanted to reform bullets like this while eliminating the sizing die step, you could take a steel slug, bore a hole and polish it to .311 or .312 with a nice finish, and turn a ram for a proper fit. Drop in a bullet, set it on the vise jaw, drop the ram in and form. It would come out the proper diameter, needing only a second dose of lube*.
Or, yeah, you could find suitable cast bullets somewhere and buy them. I'll see how these work before taking such a drastic step.
*Lee specifies to lube bullets before pressing them through the die, otherwise you will get lead fouling on the walls that you'll have to clean out. I also took the precaution of treating my die with Microlon, and so far no fouling problems at all.
Windy in comments was right; just to try them out I loaded two bullets into cases and tried them in that .32; the slide will barely go into battery as the ogive engages the rifling enough to nicely engrave the bullet. And not knowing what that might do to pressure, not to mention others possibly not letting it get quite there, more thought is called for. First thing that comes to mind would be the die and punch idea above, but turn the end of the punch so it gives the nose a semi-wadcutter shape with that wide, flat nose. If I can get a problem with my little lathe figured out, I'm going to have to try that.
On the other hand, I loaded twelve into .32 S&W Long cases and tried them in the Hand Ejector: worked perfectly, and cut nice, clean holes in the target.
A couple of inches of snow, but temps high enough
that the roads are just slushy here. So I'm perusing the 'net, and finding things like this:
There are two possible conflicts on the table in Washington. One is with Iran and the other with Syria. The Iran conflict is the one that Washington doesn't want. Its most likely trigger at this stage is an Israeli assault on Iran's nuclear program. Like most of the wars centering around Israel, this one is existential and of no interest to the philosopher kings in D.C. who wage wars with the grand purpose of making the world a better place.
Washington does not particularly care whether Iran gets nukes or doesn't get nukes. It cares about History. With a capital "H." Libya got bombed because it was on the wrong side of history. Syria is about to get bombed because it's on the wrong side of history. There are people in the administration like Samantha Power who would like to bomb Israel for being on the wrong side of history, but they don't think that even J Street and Peter Beinart could spin that as a pro-Israel move.
Washington needs the Syrian war to happen, and it needs to keep a conflict with Iran from happening. The great diplomatic problem of Israel has always been that its leader insist on viewing conflicts in practical terms. Israel does not fight wars to make the world safe for democracy, it fights wars because there's someone shooting missiles as it. This is an unacceptable reason for a war in a postmodern world where wars are fought to preserve the international order, protect civilization, make the world safe for democracy and prove that human rights violations will be punished by the duly constituted body of international jurisprudence.
Which does indeed sound like what's been coming out of Sodom-on-the-Potomac.
Thanks to Rodger I read this: a man honest enough to look at both sides of a situation, and stubborn enough to not back off from telling the story. And getting mugged by former friends for daring to do so.
And with that, screw the news; that's about all the Hopey-Changey!!! I can take this morning.
Labels: PC idiocy, Progressive Morons
When the police run out of tear gas,
I think you can count that as a severe situation.
So grossly-oversized fake boobs are good for something besides back trouble!
Whitney Houston died. Way she looked last time I saw pictures, I'm surprised she made it this long. Gorgeous woman, beautiful voice...
One of the things that used to annoy me about some of Spider Robinsons' stories was that he liked to hit on the idea 'what kind of world have we created, that so many creative people have to drug themselves to get through it?'; my reply was "What the hell is wrong with so many creative people that they screw themselves up with drugs?" Houston's a good example: what the hell happened to her that she did this to herself?
I'm going to have to learn some of these: being able to call someone 'a baboon's asshole' in Mandarin might come in handy.
So if Congress can't steal your retirement account now, they want to steal what they can if you die and leave what's left to your kids. Have I mentioned how I'm on the edge of actually hating these thieving bastards?
Purple squirrels?
That's it from me. Cold outside all day, and the snow's just starting to reach the ground here. I spent the day inside, loaded some ammo, did a bit of cooking and cleaning. I think I shall now clean myself up and retire to a bit of rum and a video I borrowed from the library.
Labels: Critters, General Idiocy, General Stuff, Weather
Anyone want to bet that one of their hearts' desires
is banning all private ownership of arms? After all, armed peasants might not do what their UN masters order.
Its members see Rio as the springboard for consolidation of an expanding U.N. agenda for years ahead, driven by still more U.N.-sponsored global summits that would, as one participant put it, "ensure that the U.N. connected with the roots of the current level of global discontent."
Citing a CEB high-level committee report entitled Moving towards a fairer, greener, and more sustainable globalization, a top CEB staffer, Elliot Harris, told the gathering that the issue was not to reverse globalization, "but rather to harness it to generate better outcomes."
Anyone else get the feeling we need to work on becoming as close to Operatives as possible?
Labels: UN
...I'm sure that Ron Paul is a very fine fellow,
for a politician. If held on my knees with an RPG to my head and forced to cast a vote, I'd vote for Ron Paul without hesitation.
If that sounds like I'm saying I'd prefer to be infested with mosquitoes than with ringworm, you caught me.
Definitely snork-worthy material
Chris has lost his mother
After a long illness, the time came.
Borrowing from GFZ,
I am gonna coin a term here: Legis Magicae. And it will be defined at that supposedly magical legislation that will force criminals to do the right thing or stops them from doing the wrong thing. It is a legal incantation approved by the Harry Potters of a legislative body and once signed by the Sorcerer in Chief of the State, it creates a magical force field on each criminal controlling his actions.
More from the same article:
Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, said the bill could result in dangerous situations for police officers, who regularly enter homes without permission.
So in Minnesota, search warrants and Probable Cause are ignored in a regular basis? Is the Constitution known in the State or is it something vague & vapid?
Dayton said when lawmakers were debating the bill last year, he was "concerned because law enforcement in Minnesota was mostly opposed to it, felt that it gave citizens more freedoms and rights than they had."
Mother of Mary! Is it really that bad up there?
Labels: Gun Bigots, Self-Defenders
I rarely go to 'liberal'/progressive sites,
and things like this is why:
Just to be clear, I'm proceeding from the position that much of organized evangelical Christianity in the U.S. is closely linked to traditional sensibilities of white supremacy. In other words, Mormon > Negro.
And everyone there agrees. Them Christians are all racists and bigots and stupid and Romney being Mormon means the most of them hate him, on and on ad effing nauseum. NOTHING matters but if he's 'Christian and white' enough...
Oh, and the Democrat party is pretty much without flaw except for not going left far and fast enough
Labels: Progressive Morons
Californicated: if you own a politically-incorrect firearm,
that of itself is a crime of 'moral turpitude'. And all those AR clones and SKS and Garand rifles used for target shooting and hunting? Well, they aren't actually used for those things, the judge says so!("Don't believe your lying eyes, believe what the court tells you.")
Here's our current "What to expect tonight and tomorrow" weather map:
Snow and sleet, big deal(except for the idiots who think anti-lock brakes or 4WD/AWD means they can drive like normal); just keep the glazing away from me, please.
Alphecca has some thoughts on investments. Including
In an aside, I've always been a late-night radio listener and for — how many years? 30-years or more? — I've heard the ads and advice for buying gold. Of course, never having any money, I never did. When I think of all those years where gold sold for $35 dollars an ounce and I shrugged my shoulders . . .
I know the feeling. Tempered by the knowledge that when gold was at those prices I could have beggared myself and bought some, but that didn't seem like a good idea. When it was $80/ounce I'd have had to stop eating and/or stop feeding the kids if I wanted to buy some(it is a nice dream, to send back the knowledge "Hey, if you can hide away enough to buy an ounce or two a year, in twenty years and more it'll be worth a FORTUNE!"). For that matter, if I'd had any idea at the time, when I was 19 or 20 I'd have raided the store south of Lawton every month or two and made another selection from the big rack of greasy old Mausers of various origins that sold for $35-40 bucks. Left them in the grease and just stored them away...
The BBC now stands accused of covering up the allegations, which were detailed in The Oldie magazine, because senior executives did not want the corporation's reputation to be tarnished.
A BBC News source said: "The extreme nature of the claims about Savile meant that the Newsnight report was going to seriously compromise the lavish BBC tributes scheduled to run later the same month.
"And second, the allegations directly involved the BBC, in that the woman who gave the interview said that she and others were abused by Savile on BBC premises."
Well, I'd guess a combination of "We know what's best for your children" combined with "If the farmers and ranchers' kids can't work, they'll have to hire someone! and we'll make sure they're union employees!!"
Can you imagine the local sheriff being told "Here's a warrant for Farmer Jones and Rancher Smith; they're letting their kids do illegal labor, so go arrest them."? Or does the plan consider an enforcement arm so they can send their own SWAT teams out to arrest people?
Interpol: anyone who trusts these clowns, especially after this, is a fool.
Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities.
Want. Badly.
I would flat love to see the current mayor of Chicago put under oath and asked about Gunwalker(and questioned by people with the balls to not back off). Take a look at what he wants his subjects to be slapped with:
Illinois handgun owners would be required to register their weapons with the state — and pay a $65-per-gun registration fee — under a mayoral plan proposed Thursday to arm police with the information they need to solve crimes and reduce illegal firearm transfers.
His proposal would require all handgun owners to obtain a certificate of registration from the State Police for every handgun they own — at a cost of $65-per-weapon — and to renew that registration every five years.
They would be required to provide: their name, address and telephone number; the manufacturer of the gun, its model type and serial number; and the date and source of the purchase.
Whenever a handgun is sold, the seller would be required to report the sale to the State Police "no less than 48 hours prior to delivery." Handgun buyers would have 20 days to file for a new certificate of registration. Anyone caught carrying or possessing an unregistered handgun would face a Class 2 felony.
It's all for the public good, of course; and of COURSE, in Illinois, none of the many millions of dollars extorted from the citizens(the honest ones) would POSSIBLY be misused, or disappeared into pockets...
So one big reason The Lightworker needs to trash religious freedom is to save us from global warmening...
On The Lightworkers' current "You churches will do what you're told, your conscience means nothing to me or The Government I Decree:
One of the more memorable occasions of my finding out what a uncaring bastard I am was when I informed some people that they could get an abortion if they wanted "but stop demanding that I pay for it." I could have strolled into a church on Sunday and pissed on the altar and had a less hateful reaction.
That was when it truly struck me that, for a lot of these people, abortion and contraception and such aren't actually 'available' to women unless the women using them don't have to pay for them. And, simply by disagreeing with that, I was classed as a misogynist, christianist, fascist who wanted womyn to DIE!!! etc. rinse repeat.
So: Obama says "You will provide this, or else." A bunch of religious people say "Screw you, start throwing us in jail, we won't do it." So he 'compromises' with "Ok, so YOU won't have to provide it, you'll just be forced to pay the insurance company to provide it, so all is well." Which is such utter bullshit that I can't believe he can throw that out without first painting his face like the Joker.
So, we'll see which churchmen actually believe what they preach, and have the balls to stand by it, and which are the kind who gave that Kennedy annulment of his first marriage- kids and all- so he could have a full church wedding with the second("Well, belief is all nice and good, but you can't expect us to cause a problem for that family! And nobody will take this seriously, and they're friends of mine, so...").
Daughter informed me yesterday that there's a Starbucks in the nearby Barnes & Noble bookstore; and it carries various munchies and tea as well as coffee; this is going to make the Buycott even better.
Teacher's unions; just so concerned for the kids...
Labels: Gun Bigots, Idiot Socialist Backstabbing Politicians, Media Malpractice, Screwed by government, Union Dirtbags, Weather
I can say this about George Lucas without feeling Updated
a bit of pain: the man is a friggin' moron. And a lecturing little nanny.
As I recall he's also a contributor to various gun bigot groups; reading this, you can see the tie-ins.
So Han was drawing his gun and expecting that Greedo would miss, then he'd pull the trigger? Even law enforcement shoots when they get the chance if a gun is being waved in their face, and I'm pretty sure that Solo is about as far from a cop as you can get without giving him a Thompson in a violin case.
Labels: Hollywood weenies
"Why are so many anti-gun types so violent?" is th...
This doesn't sound like a 'serious mistake' to me;...
Among the reasons I dislike politics and often des...
Good God, what the hell is WRONG with these people...
Speaking of 'hypocritical progressive dirtbags', A...
Ah, the dancing-in-the-blood 'faith community', th...
Jeff Rosen's a fine example of what a 'journalist'...
Next time someone I know starts whining about Faux...
Anyone want to bet that one of their hearts' desir...
Californicated: if you own a politically-incorrect...
I can say this about George Lucas without feeling ...


Auto layout: Interface builder or code?
Discussion in 'iOS Programming' started by grandM, Feb 4, 2017.
I was wondering why I see this many tutorials popping up about doing auto layout in code. Isn't it better to lay it all out in Interface Builder?
Dunno. It's kind of painful doing it in code. Kind of painful doing it in IB too. I certainly prefer IB when possible though.
Not necessarily 'better', just easier. Not everyone uses IB and sometimes it may be unavoidable even with IB. I found that I had to rely on code for a project that was still targeting Mountain Lion, where the constraints had to be added/removed/changed manually to provide dynamic resizing behaviour. Stack views, grid views and enabling/disabling of contraints via outlets makes things a lot easier though.
Autolyout is clunky at the best of times.
Doing it in code require a ton of code. Like a-lot!
Doing it in IB is much quicker. But it can hide nasties at the same time. Often very difficult to troubleshoot when it goes wrong - or when working with someone else's file.
There are always cases where you can only create the layout, or parts thereof, in code as well.
If the tutorial is about coding, having to jump out and explain using Interface Builder to someone who hasn't used it before is a big wordy distraction. It's also easier for a first-time Xcode user to make hard-to-debug mistakes pointing-and-clicking in IB, than by cutting and pasting a few paragraphs of source code. Even if the UI layout is trivial or simple.
The usefulness of IB and Auto-layout really only kicks in with more complicated layouts that one wants to run on multiple iOS device types, which is not typical for a tutorial focused on a simpler task.
A constraint-based layout engine can also incur serious problems (lags, etc.) with certain types of layouts, so even some major apps at the tops of the App Store charts are moving away from IB auto-layout. A couple companies have open-sourced their alternative layout engines that are much simpler and more deterministic than Apple's constraint solver.
Reading this I'm getting the impression there is no consensus?
Yup. There are big companies with high rank apps using and not using IB with auto-layout. Same with experienced indie developers. Same with online tutorials. Choose your poison.
These are all tools in a toolbox. A hammer isn't the best tool for every job.
There are cases when AutoLayout is great, there are other cases when good old springs and struts are just what you need. Use whatever works best for the job.
Personally, I prefer doing it in code. With the Autolayout Constraints syntax in iOS 9+, it relatively easy and understandable.
1. The storyboard/interface builder is excellent for creating quick and straightforward screens for a quick demo, but when the project gets larger with multiple people working on the project, then you run into problems with version control conflicts and constraints get quite messy on more complicated views.
2. The screen size on laptops is too small for storyboards. On larger projects, even with a 27" iMac, it becomes unwieldy.
3. Your hands spend more time on the keyboard, and you can jump around a project quickly using Cmd+Shift+O. Searching in a large storyboard is not easy.
4. As it is all text, refactoring is a lot easier (when Xcode gets proper refactoring for Swift). Also, conflicts are easier to manage.
5. Cell identifiers and storyboard ID strings are the cause for a lot of crashes and can be difficult to debug.
6. Refactoring IBOutlet's and IBAction's can cause problems and crashes if the links are broken. The selector in Swift has been improved, so it will not compile if the method is invalid.
If you are going to take the code approach then I highly recommend using MVC from the very start, otherwise the controller gets massive, or consider an MVVM approach.
There are cases where programmatically adding auto layout constraints is unavoidable. But if there is any possibility whatsoever of avoiding programmatic auto layout, such as IB, or child sacrifice, I will do that instead.