Category: Uncategorized

Hold on… It’s already the 3rd?  How did that happen?

Well, I’m sitting here in Atlanta for Dragoncon, so I’ll make this brief.  As you probably remember from previous years, September is prostrate cancer awareness month, and I will be once again participating in Kilted to Kick Cancer!

Last year, we raised $13,000 to the Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation.  Hopefully, we can beat that this year.

And to start the month of with something festive, here’s a kilt that I may or may not be allowed to wear again that I wore to a luau at Hypericon.

Don’t you love how you have to spend the first part of the argument with a left winger arguing that yes, Obama and the Democratic party as a whole wish to ban guns.

I had a rather lengthy Facebook thread where that was the argument.

Looks like someone decided that shooting folks at the movie theater is cool thing to do, and did so down the road from me.

This is still a “developing story.”  At this time, we’ve got cops surrounding the place, and there’s reports that the SWAT team is responding.

Here’s what we do know:

The shot(s) happened around 1:15.

The mall and ice rink next to it have also been lock down.

I can confirm that the theater has no nifty little “no guns” stickers on the doors that protect us all.

This happened in a neighborhood called Hickory Hollow… which is well known for gang activity and many stores have left because of the crime rate (the mall died once because of it, and reopened with a completely different name in hopes of avoiding the stigma of being in Hickory Hollow).

I do, indeed, live damned close (it’s the next freeway exit) to this shopping area, and actually used to live in easy walking distance to this theater.  There’s a very damned good reason why I will go out of my way to go somewhere else.

Based on what little we know, I’m thinking that this guy wasn’t looking to rack up the body count.  Middle of the day at a theater isn’t usually a “target rich” environment.  Given the nature of the area, I’m going to guess that this will turn out to be thug on thug violence.  Obviously I’ll be watching this one closely.

*update* Local news is reporting that the shooter is dead (probably shot by the cops).  The only other injuries that are being reported are 3 people that got pepper spray in the face and one person that had a cut on his arm (sounds like it was minor) from a hatchet that the shooter was also using.

*update 2 [wizardpc]*…Aaaaand the locals are now reporting he had an airsoft pistol and no real firearms.

Well, that’s at least the second person to ask me if there’s going to be a Bidet Shoot 3 this year, so… I guess I should try to figure something out.

Of course, it won’t be this month, since next weekend is the only weekend in June I’m not already doing something, and I’m not going to have time to plan anything anyways due to being a director of Hypericon (in… uh… two weeks?!).  Anyways, the folks that attended last year talked about wanting to maybe move it to the fall to try to avoid heatstroke.

Maybe September?

Also, the location for the first two shoots is great, but I would like something a bit closer to me.  Anyone know of a range that wouldn’t mind us taking over one Saturday in the Nashville area?

If you’re the kind of person interested in scifi conventions, I’m the gaming director of a convention called Hypericon on the weekend of June 19-21 in Nashville.  It’s currently only $30 for weekend, which includes access to a con suite with great food for the weekend.

If you’re interested, and wish to get a hotel room, I’d hurry though.  The room block closes on the 28th (next week), and the room rates will go up.

As an added bonus, you’ll get a chance to heckle me as I pretend to be a gun expert!  I’m going to do a panel covering some of the real guns that have shown up in scifi shows (think the broom handled Mauser that Lucas used for Han’s blaster, or the Beretta Cx4 that was used as the marine battle riffle in the Battlestar Galactica reboot).  By the way, does anyone remember the name of the show that used Nerf guns as props?

Should be a good time, and if enough gun folks show up, I might be persuaded to run off to the range at some point.

The good folks over at the Firearm Blog have noticed that 5.11 have brought back their Tactical Duty Kilts.  I thought they had decided to give up these limited runs after not making a new announcement for April Fools.  I’m curious if they got a bunch of email asking about.

I bought a couple of these when they first came out with them.  If you missed it, and are interested, I wrote a comparison between them and my Utilikilts here.  At the time, I thought that I got my money’s worth at $60, and even wasn’t against them at $70.  This time around, they’re $80 a pop.

I’m thinking I’d tell people to pass on them at $80.  As I said in the review, there’s not many pleats in the 5.11 kilts.  This means that there’s not a whole lot of material to cover things that should be covered.  It’s fine when walking normally, but you have to pay attention when sitting, and it can be a noticeable issue when running, climbing, etc.  At the $60 mark, there wasn’t really anything like it out there at that price point.  At the $80 mark, there is.  If I was going to drop $80 on a new tactical/utility kilt, I’d probably go with UTKilt’s “Wild Outdoor/Wilderness” or “Ultimate Utility” kilts.  I don’t own one, but I’ve seen them both on the rack and on people, and they have more material and look at lot less like a “pencil skirt for guys” than the 5.11 kilts.  Heck, if you’re ok with not having the front slash pockets (think “normal” front pockets on pants), you can get utility kilts for that price point or less from several places (or traditional tartan kilts, for that matter).

edit: forgot to mention that TFB stated that they saw 5.11 kilts going on ebay for $260+ during one of the times that they weren’t in production.  Are you freaking kidding me?  I could buy a Utilikilt or Alt.Kilt for that money!  Wait… who wants to buy mine?  Only $250 a pop!

The guns in parks bill is finally signed!

Of course, I was hoping for it to be signed and in effect before NRAAM, so we could have a cook out, but that didn’t happen.

Also, I love how my wonderful mayor has stated that he will “work with the Metro legal department to better understand how the law could be enforced.”  Umm… it’s quite simple.  See that guy in a park with a gun on his hip?  Is there a school event happening in spitting distance? no? Then leave him alone!  Oh, there is one going on?  Tell him he’s got to leave and why, and, assuming he follows your orders, that’s it.

I may double check the language to make sure that this thing instantly goes into effect (which is the original language), and go visit a park this weekend.

Edit: I have been asked for a link to the actual bill, which can be found here.

It’s official!  I’ve made it as a gun blogger!  I went to NRAAM and was given a wheelbarrow full of cash!  I mean, I’ve been told that we bloggers are just paid off stooges for the gun industry.

I even have a picture!

Thanks to Longhorn Jeff (who’s blog seems to be abandoned, but it was him) for the gift.  It sits proudly on my desk.  The wheelbarrow, not Chewbacca.  He sits in the Milenium Falcon next Han.