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On Being In The Eagles Nest

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Via No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money I just discovered Eagle Scouts: Merit Beyond the Badge.

A more detailed video presentation can be seen here.

Scout’s had a very large role in my life growing up.  I spent the majority of my summers away from home at summer camp, JLT, National Jamborees, backpacking, and  just about anything else under the sun.

I earned my Eagle and I still feel it worth more than anything else I have accomplished.  I share this nest with a lot of very important people and some reflect well upon the honor, others not so much.

My parents both encouraged me in scouts wanting me to succeed.  My dad’s comment as to why he supported the program reminds me even now of the significance of the program.  His comment was, “I want you to grow up to have character, not be a character.”  I would like to think it accomplished his goal.  Especially since I have been described as being a literal Eagle Scout in the fact that I will do the right thing merely because it’s right, even if it’s to my detriment.

Stepehen Ambrose in his book D-Day noted that the war in Europe could easily be seen as the Hitler Youth vs The Boy Scouts.  The facts found from this survey have been known for a very long time.  Powell’s reason for Scouting was to help mold boys into men physically, mentally, and socially.  The survey merely proves that the program accomplishes Powell’s original goals.

I proudly climbed the hill to Eagle and received a wonderful surprise after completing that journey.  That journey played a significant factor in who and what I am today.

I am an Eagle Scout from the class of 2001.  I am a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow.

Those of us who have made the climb know what it means, why it’s significant, and the results of this study come as no surprise for those of us here.  We live to set ourselves apart from the rest of the pack, for those who may not understand, I give you 100 Scouts.

 Of any one hundred boys who become Scouts, it must be confessed that thirty will drop out in their first year. Perhaps this may be regarded as a failure, but in later life all of these will remember that they had been Scouts and will speak well of the program.

Of the one hundred, only rarely will one ever appear before a juvenile court judge. Twelve of the one hundred will be from families that belong to no church. Through Scouting, these twelve and their families will be brought into contact with a church and will continue to be active all their lives. Six of the one hundred will enter the clergy of his chosen faith.

Each of the one hundred will learn something from Scouting. Almost all will develop hobbies that will add interest throughout the rest of their lives. Approximately one-half will serve in the military and in varying degrees profit from their Scout training. At least one will use it to save another person’s life and many will credit it with saving their own.

Four of the one hundred will reach Eagle rank, and at least one will later say that he valued his Eagle above his college degree. Many will find their future vocation through merit badge work and Scouting contacts. Seventeen of the one hundred boys will later become Scout leaders and will give leadership to thousands of additional boys.

Only one in four boys in America will become Scouts, but it is interesting to know that of the leaders of this nation in business, religion and politics, three out of four were Scouts.

This story will never end. Like the “Golden Pebble” of service dropped into the human sea, it will continue to radiate in ever-widening circles, influencing the characters of men down through unending time.

I’ve bolded the parts that tie to myself personally.

While I haven’t actually done the Oath in 10 years, I can still rattle it off, knowing full well its meaning.  The same can be said for the Scout Law.  Yeah, that’s how deeply it ingrained itself into my soul.  I expect to be able to recite either until the day I die.

On my honor, I will do my best:
To do my duty to god and my country;
To obey the scout law and help others at all time;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

A Scout is:

  • Trustworthy
  • Loyal
  • Helpful
  • Friendly
  • Courteous
  • Kind
  • Obident
  • Cheerful
  • Thirfty
  • Brave
  • Clean
  • Reverent

What I do find interesting, I have run into a decent number of Eagle Scouts within the gun community and I keep finding more.  This however is by no means surprising.

Earworm Wednesday–06/19/2012

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Admit it, you like it.  How man rockers do you see playing the cello?  How many do you see do it and still look like total bad asses?

Apocalyptica – I Don’t Care

Busy Day, pardon the light posting

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In a long business meeting today and tomorrow.  Currently I feel the urge to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.

Fun thing is to see the main players involved in the discussion, count all the extra engineers in the room, figure in hourly engineering wages, this is one expensive meeting.

So enjoy this picture and read some of the folks in the blog roll on the right.

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I had been meaning to post this before.  That shirt is just awesome!

Warming the Subcockels of my Heart

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Via Uncle I found this post on ARfcom.

But why would I post this under accountabiliabuddible?  This text is why:

Just got back from talking to the detectives. They wanted to record my
side of the story as a witness. They asked me if I had heard them say
they were Sheriff’s, I said yes they did 2 or 3 times. They asked if I
heard them say stop resisting, I said yes I heard them 2 or 3 times.
They asked if I thought they were being too rough, I said not at all.
They asked what I had said when the girl said “he’s not resisting” and I
answered saying “I told her he is resisting twice.” They also asked if I
thought he was resisting, and I said definitely, he would have been in
custody in 2 seconds if he wasn’t.

They thanked me for being such an awesome witness and being on their
side, otherwise that girl could testify saying that he was not
resisting and hurt their case. One of them ended up with a sprained or
broken finger. They said it probably won’t go to court, but if it does
they will likely have me testify.

That’s the thing about people recording interactions with the police.  I have no horse in the race.  While I do run the criminal count, I would be as pleased as punch if the day came and I couldn’t get new material for it.  I am more than happy to hold officers accountable, not just for their bad actions but their good ones as well.

The video in this case both corroborated the officers statement, as well as the witness statement.  It was good for the officers, not bad.  The only officers who would fear video like that are one’s breaking the rules on a regular basis.  The bad part about breaking the rules is when the time comes you do need to do something for real, you’re liable to shoot yourself in the foot because you’re “trying to protect yourself.”

I applaud the officers for their professional conduct.  It made this case clear and concise and helped prevent false claims from putting them in the count which I wouldn’t have liked.

Can you say “Winning”

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Via FarmDad in the GBC chat room:

A new gun range is in the works for Lewisville, that hopes to offer the community a family-friendly experience and kids’ birthday parties on the shooting range.

But according to those elites in the Brady  Campaign and CSGV that has to be impossible.  For you see according to them interest in the shooting sports is at an all time low.  As we all know, this is them obviously in the first stage of grief.

Given we know they suffer from “Peterson Syndrome”*, I am wondering if their condition will relegate them permanently to the first stage of grief.  Given they disassociate from reality anyway, they can continue to live in denial without ever changing.

Think about it, what would actually cause Joan** to admit that she is on the loosing side of this proposition?  There is nothing that I can currently fathom that would induce her or her compatriots with a dose of reality to the point where they move on to stage two.  Their view of reality is so skewed and tainted they can rationalize away reality.  What is there left to move them forward?

All the while, we’re winning with instances like the above.  What’s the goal of the gun range I hear you ask?

The Eagle Gun Range hopes to offer a new experience for families seeking to educate their children about proper, safe gun use.

See, we on this side say educate and train.  The other side says ignore them and be an ostrich.  Kids on our side of the fence though know how to behave when they find a firearm.  On their side of the fence, little bobby shoots baby Randy and they scream for more gun control.  Never mind the following:

  • Prohibition of Alcohol Failed
  • Prohibition of Drugs has Failed
  • Prohibition on Murder doesn’t stop it
  • Prohibition on Rape doesn’t stop it

All those prohibitions do is affect the law abiding.  The only thing a prohibition on gun control accomplishes is the prevention of the law abiding citizen being armed to the best of their ability for their own defense.

*Peterson Syndrome seems tied to Cognitive Distortion.  I also found an article about reality distortion which seems to match as well.

Hallucinations and delusions, the phenomena that lie at the heart of psychosis, are perhaps the most enigmatic of all mental  symptoms. Both entail a mismatch between a compelling representation of reality produced by the individual’s own mind and the representation supported by objective evidence.

**I am linking her purely for Farm Dad’s enjoyment.

<+FarmDad> japate’s asshole should swallow her head when she sees that lol

Confetti, Non-Dairy Creamer, Charcoal, Steel, and Explosives

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Joe, Ry, and I headed out to the Boomershoot site today to do some testing with Chalk Dispenser V3.0.  We had previously tested the chalk dispenser and it did quite well.  The main problems we found weren’t with the design, but with the material being dispensed.  This time we were going to try glitter, Mylar confetti.  At the last second we also added non-dairy creamer and match light charcoal.

In hindsight reviewing the pictures we should have taken a couple from up on the hill because up close it just doesn’t look the same.  From the previous testing though it looked as though we had bruised the hillside. 

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As we got into the middle of the colored area, we noticed more evidence of the chalk problem we saw previously.  It had obviously clumped into small balls.

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First we tested small charges of 50 grams.  While it did work, they were difficult to load requiring special preparation. 

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That is 50 grams of the most fun intoxicant this side of the Rio Grande.  It is so little that it’s hard to place it in such a way to fill the hole to complete a visible target, but it still packs a punch.

Joe forgot the glitter, however we did have the confetti to try as well as the newly added charcoal. First up was the non diary creamer.  We had already done the one 50 gram test when this picture was taken.

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The results were lacking in significant difference, it looked the same as without the creamer.

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Second up was the confetti.

 

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We packed it in there.  The results though were less than pleasing.  Do you see the confetti, we didn’t as it happened.

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Next was the charcoal after that dismal failure.  We were actually hoping to get the charcoal dust to ignite, however these results were still fantastic.

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It wasn’t good just once though.  It was repeatable!

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And I caught the brass in the air on both of those pictures, how awesome is that!  We attempted another test that I didn’t get pictures of since I was shooting.  I some how got the Boomerite to start burning, with the charcoal above it.  I let Ry finish it off since it was his gun and I was frustrated to say the least.  Still no fireball though.  We wanted to get this thing to toss a fireball, how could we get it to toss a fireball.  We then started going through Joe’s truck looking for things that could be used.  We found a spray can of window deicer.  We put that on 100 grams of Boomerite with and we pulled the Boomerite through to make sure we would hit the Boomerite first, not the can.  We also had attached road flares to help with ignition.

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Still no luck.  However we later had a discussion about the road flares and wondering what causes them to be extinguished.  The assumption was that the concussion would result in removing the heat and liquid material preventing the flare from continuing the burn.  It’s only the gases that burn, the burning melts the solid, which will then turn to gas, and burn.  We though maybe the concussion blew off the liquid and gasses killing the flare.  Both this picture and the following one would beg to differ though.

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This brought an abrupt end to our testing.  We had done something very stupid without realizing it.  We placed a piece of metal between us and the explosive.  The pressures from the explosive split the welds along the top.

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So what is a guy to do when you still have Boomerite left, and no target to test it in?

The answer is quite simple, put 4 pounds in the non dairy creamer bottle, put the target on top and launch it in the air.

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The target can be repaired, but I would say it looks no where near like when we got it.  Joe already has video of the stuff that really matters.  I’ll work on editing the video tonight and tomorrow and see if I got anything worth while.  For now, enjoy the story board and pictures.

Update:Video is here.

Time for a new M1?

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I saw on the blog roll last night from Lyle over at Joe’s place that there is finally an M1 Garand UltiMAK rail.  I was ready to start jumping up and down for joy and then the reality set in.  I love my M1, I love it so much I do NOT want to change it.  It was manufactured January of 1944 and the stocks appear to be original. 

The thing is I do shoot that M1, I pull it out for CMP, and I do enjoy having a rifle around with iron sights to practice with.  I would definitely shoot the M1 more if I put a rail on there, I just can’t bring myself to alter a piece of history.  I guess it’s time to add another to the collection.

Awesome Pic of the Day

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Picture of the ISS as it passes in front of the sun during a partial eclipse. Good job Mr. Legault!

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