That’s a good idea

Joe has a great post he wrote today with a great rough outline for a letter.  Write your congress critters.  Don’t be silent.

Because Waiting for Help isn’t an Option

This morning while reading through a couple blogs I came across a story repeated by two of them.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. – A Williamson County woman fought off an intruder with a vacuum cleaner. She was desperate for help, waiting for almost 35 minutes for law enforcement to arrive.
The single mom described that 35 minutes like the scene of a horror movie as she watched a man walk from windows to doors doing anything to break in to her home.

Ma’am, why were you depending on the police for the protection of yourself, your daughter, and your property?

I applaud her ability to improvise however in this case I believe the woman was more lucky than anything else.  Many are astonished at the fact that it took 35 minutes to respond.  This attacker had 35 minutes that he could have done as he pleased with the occupants of this house.  However this is by no means surprising, especially considered even in a violent incident where the police had an ongoing history of an aggressive stalker, it took over 7 minutes

Thankfully in her case she ventilated the individual. 

For the sake of your children, ma’am I beg of you to arm yourself, you owe it to your children.  You are the help. You are the rescue. You are the extraction team.

On Physics and Math

Complex Conjugate

I don’t know why, but as I read it I also thought of this. My dad always said school is all just practice, it’s not real until you’re at 20,000 feet and you hear, “Lightning 126, turn heading 165, bogey inbound.” Followed shortly there after by, “Bogey has turned bandit you’re cleared to engage.” Though I must say, last weekends physics experiment was pretty real. How many times did you actually get to see the projectile motion and then figure it out?

News Flash Berkeley

You’re Broke!  So why are you going to do something like this!?

The City Council is poised to vote tonight to set aside $20,000 annually for city workers’ gender-reassignment surgery.

Your debt keeps increasing, yet you keep spending money that isn’t yours.

By the beginning of 2010, the City had a projected $16 million deficit for Fiscal Year 2011. We expected to cut about 50 vacant positions and lay off about 30 people.

If you want to close your deficit, stop wasting money that isn’t yours.  I don’t know of any private companies doing this, so why are you?  There is a reason medical insurance companies do not cover it.  This is an elective surgery, that doesn’t even pertain to fixing a disability.  Why are you robbing from someone else’s pocket at gun point to pay for someone else’s elective operation?

This is NOT a slam against those who want the elective surgery.  I just don’t think it is the job of insurance companies, private business, or public government to subsidize it.

Quote of the Day–Michael Bane

Boomershoot is… the sound of freedom.” –Michael Bane Shooting Gallery

[Joe calls his event the magic kingdom for rifle shooters.  Michael at the end of the Boomershoot episode of the shooting gallery rephrased it to the above.  They’re both right.  The event is like no other in the world.  Every year some new idea comes up that keeps it oh so magical.  I heard Ry’s new idea but you’ll all find out about that later.  As for being the sound of freedom, where else can you do something like this?  Many wouldn’t mind if it was illegal, some have even referred to participants as being sick for it.  As far as I’m concerned they’re puritans. The worst thing I know of that’s happened was squeaky’s nose, though my sun burn last year was monumentally stupid and hurt like hell. –B]

More on Confetti, Charcoal, Creamer, Steel, and Boomerite

I just finished wrapping up the video from the testing.

I got an email from Ry last night and it appears from that last experiment of the day something quite interesting happened.

If you notice in this picture the steel is quite flat and straight still.

DSC_5212

After the launch, the corners are pushed further out and away from the main plate.  The center where the hole is has been pushed more towards the middle. 

DSC_5264

Here’s Ry’s take on what’s happening.

One thing I noticed in the last picture I took: the armor plate didn’t get any closer at the corners; it may have pulled further back. We saw this on the other one (the prime article); the center is almost touching, and the edges are curled up. I think the steel becomes like a thermoset plastic, flowing in the first moments of the explosion and freezing microseconds later.

That’s impressive!