Guns, Cars, and Tech

Author: oddball

  • Traumatic Injuries Course Review

    As I mentioned earlier, WizardPC and I decided to check out a 4 hour traumatic injury course hosted by the local chapter of the Zombie Squad.  Turns out that it was done by Paul Gomez of Gomez Training International.  Man talks fast and manages to shove a lot of information in a small amount of time.  I’m not someone that writes an obscene amount of notes, and I used about 4 pages in my notebook.  Wizard didn’t bring anything to write on, but I noticed he was frantically punching notes into his cell phone.

    Most of the class was centered around what you should pack in a blow out bag and why.  There wasn’t a whole lot of discussion about how to use the items, but most of the items are fairly easy to use and you’ve probably been taught how to use them in basic first aid classes.  The one that I think most people didn’t know about, was also the one that made people the the most squeamish.  Namely a needle that’s at least 14gauge and 3.25″ long used to ventilate the chest in case of air in the chest where air shouldn’t be (think of the movie Three Kings).

    The best part of the class was when he essentially did a show and tell of various equipment.  He showed what he thought worked and what didn’t.  This included a couple products that were complete wastes of money in his mind (SWAT-T tourniquets was one big example), and some that were great cheap items that weren’t really designed for that use (fly paper actually works pretty well for sucking chest wounds).  He mentioned a couple all inclusive kits on the market that were good, or good starters, which is probably the way I’ll go.  I know Wizard said he’d buy two or three of them from the guy right then and there, if he sold them (he doesn’t sell any kits, but pointed us to a couple good places to look).  I’ll probably do a better write up of one of the kits when I get one in.

    Overall, I think the guy did a great job and I’d recommend taking advantage of his knowledge if he ever comes through your neck of the woods or you’re in his.

  • Owner of Sabre Sets Himself Up For Insanity Plea

    That’s the only logical explanation I have for his behavior described in the Tennessean today.  Now that his 4 buddies have turned state’s evidence on him, Guy Savage is now trying to claim that the US legal system has no authority over him.  Not only that, but he’s trying to get the DOJ to pay him $250 million to make up for the lose of his business and the stress that all of this has put him through.  Of course, the Tennessean, being a left wing paper, is equating his antics with the “sovereign citizen” stuff.  I think this guy is just desperately trying to weasel out of going to jail.

    I was upset about this when it first broke over a year ago.  I was really hoping to one day to buy a firearm from a company based in the city I live in.  Looks like I’m going to have to save my pennies and settle for the city next to me and get a Barrett.

    Oh, it looks like SayUncle beat me on the story.

  • Moar dakka!

    Courtesy of Weer’d Beard, I present moar dakka:

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI-y7kgpFU4&w=560&h=315]

  • Training!

    I’ve been told that if you’re into shooting guns, sooner or later, you will have an accidental discharge.  Hopefully, this will cause no damage beyond your pride, but there is a chance that you or your buddy might have an extra hole that’s letting all that red stuff come out.  There’s also the bit where if you ever get into exchanging fire with a bad guy, you might catch one or two shots.  Ok, so what do you do in that case?  Well, obviously call for EMS since they will have a heck of a lot more training than most of us, but they, like all emergency services, tend to be at least a few minutes away.

    WizardPC and I intend to learn what to do in those few minutes this Saturday.

    The local chapter of the Zombie Squad is hosting a class on dealing with traumatic injuries Saturday afternoon at the local REI store.  Zombie Squad is a bunch of folks that are into disaster preparedness and… well… watching zombie movies.  They also team up with the Red Cross and similar organizations a lot for blood drives, helping folks deal with localized disasters (fires, tornados, etc), and training for emergency situations. While I’ve yet to meet the local folks, I’ve met folks from the founding chapter in St. Louis a few times and they seem like great folks and I plan on joining their ranks.

  • You read it here first

    I predict that there will be another spike in gun sales and ammo come November. Oh, and price hikes. Can’t forget the price hikes.

  • Range Trips as a Form of Meditation

    Jim Downey over a Guns.com has a good post on “recoil therapy.”  He’s obviously more of a handgun guy, and I’m more of a rifle guy when I need some zen time, but to each their own.  I have used pistols for recoil therapy sessions, but that’s largely because the rifle lanes of the closest outdoor range are pretty popular and tend to fill up quickly.

    One thing he didn’t talk about in selection for the proper medication is what action your delivery system uses.  While I’ll be right there with you guys grabbing my semi-auto rifles when the zombies come, they’re honestly not my first choice for this kind of shooting.  It’s like the difference between driving a manual transmission and an automatic.  Sure the automatic transmission is the more convenient and probably more practical way to go, but it also is that much more of a separation between you and the machine.

    There’s something about cycling my lever actions that makes me happy inside.  It might be the images of the Wild West that they conjure up.  Also, It can offer faster fire rates than a bolt, but I’m still part of every step in the process.

    Then there’s my bolt actions.  Every step is deliberate.  Pull the bolt back, push forward to load the round, place finger on trigger, aim, squeeze, assess, repeat.  I can choose .22 for when I want to really concentrate on my breathing, or I can ramp it up to my Ishipore Enfield when I need some .308 to pound the stress away.

    I find myself doing similar on the pistol range.  I have some great examples of modern semi-automatic pistols, but I seem to keep going to my .22 SAA clone for meditative sessions.  The action forces me to slow down, take my time, and be in the moment.

    Oh, and for these exercises, I prefer tube, cylinder, or non-detachable magazines over detachable magazines.  Don’t know why, but loading a detachable magazine always seems like a chore, while loading directly into the firearm is part of the process.

  • I… just… wow…

    So, apparently Murfreesboro cops can’t tell the difference between an older black man and a younger asian guy.  Apparently the fine, upstanding asian 28 year old ran a stop sign in a stolen vehicle, nearly rammed a squad car and hid in the neighborhood.  In the meantime, a 58 year old black man by the name of Sushak is returning from a shopping trip at the local WalMart.

    Somehow, this was an offense that required being tackled by 4 or 5 officers and beaten badly enough that one eye was swollen shut and he is now wearing a full leg brace.  Of course, the officers initially claimed Sushak was resisting, but witnesses have reported the opposite.

    Apparently other officers found the actual suspect a block over.  When Sushak saw the guy, he asked the cops how they could mistake him for someone 30 years younger and who wasn’t black.  The officer’s response?  “Sorry, you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

    I… have no words…

  • Two in the same three days?

    So there were two local cops that made the news for behaving badly in the past couple days.  Namely DUI and possessing firearms while under the influence.  This is usually where you expect to hear that they were sent home with pay to think about what they’d done.

    Not this time.

    Both have been decommissioned.

    Both are “under investigation.”

    Both are out on bail (which I read as there are criminal charges).

    While I’m never happy to see folks endangering the general public, it is sadly refreshing to see a department doing similar to their own as they would to you and me.

  • The perfect flash drive for Linux

    Due to some of the comments on the last post about my disaster thumb drive, I figure this would be relevant to your interests.  I present to you what I think is the perfect thumb drive to use as a Linux install/run from flash drive:

    4GB penguin drive

    And yes, that is what I’m currently using at home for installs or if I need to work on a machine that won’t boot to its native OS.

  • Thumb drives for disaster preparedness

    Tam and Uncle both mentioned someone raising the idea of including electronics in you bug out kit.  Me being me, I figured I’d throw in my two cents.  Especially since, while I wasn’t one of those hit by the little bit of rain here in Nashville last year, I did have to quickly evacuate in the middle of the night a few years ago due to an apartment fire that took out my entire building.  I was fortunate enough to escape with my wallet, car keys, and money, but that was largely because they were still in the pants next to my bed.  A few of the other folks weren’t as lucky and had a bit harder time dealing with the rescue workers (and I’m assuming everyone else) when they were asked for identification.

    I would highly encourage everyone to carry a USB thumb drive with scans of important documents on it.  I will say that you don’t have to buy a high capacity one or one that’s been “ruggedized.”  I’ve been carrying a 1GB Sandisk MicroCruiser that I bought back when that was the high capacity size.  It’s been riding on my key chain ever since and has taken a pretty good beating because of it.  I check it periodically to make sure it still works, and so far, so good.

    Here’s what I have on mine and would recommend having on yours: a folder encrypted using TrueCrypt that contains scans of my birth certificate, SS card, driver’s license, and other important documents or information (some include a text file with bank account info, etc), a portable copy of TrueCrypt  to access the folder, and portable copies of OpenOffice and Foxit (PDF viewer) from portableapps.com.  As long as I have access to a computer running Windows with an open USB drive, I’m good to go.

    Oh, and notice I said “have on me,” not “ready to go” or “in my bug out bag.”  I learned in the fire, that I only had time to grab a couple things (including pants and shoes) before I had to get out due to smoke.  I failed to find my cellphone because my girlfriend moved it a foot from where I had put it when I went to bed.