Sometimes Even Canadians Get It Right About The USA

This was sent to me in an email. It was supposedly penned by a Canadian:

TOP-10 ONLY IN AMERICA OBSERVATIONS

 

"1) Only in America , could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 a plate campaign fund-raising event.
2) Only in America , could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General, and roughly 18% of the federal workforce is black while only 12% of the population is black.
3) Only in America , could they have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the Ways and Means Committee, BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.
4) Only in America , can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.
5) Only in America, would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege while we discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just 'magically' become American citizens.
6) Only in America , could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country's Constitution be thought of as "extremists."
7) Only in America , could you need to present a driver's license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.
8) Only in America , could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).
9) Only in America , could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a Trillion dollars more than it has per year - for total spending of $7-Million PER MINUTE, and complain that it doesn't have nearly enough money.
10) Only in America , could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their "fair share" by people who don't pay any income taxes at all."

 

Whoever wrote that up sure nailed it correctly. A hat tip to Pat JS for that one.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I Keep Forgetting To Buy Some Scope Rings...

...to set my Hawke Varmint SF atop my Marlin XS7 in .308. Maybe having a muddled middle aged memory is a good thing sometimes, it just may have saved me a few bucks this time round. I finally remembered, earlier today, that I still needed those rings and that got me to thinking that maybe there were some laying around somewhere. Funny how that thought struck me when I was obeying she who must be obeyed and was cleaning up the basement a bit. When doing that task, I spied a couple of old attache cases in which I now keep gun accessories and whatnot, took a look inside of each, and scored in the second one. There were two sets of rings in it. Medium height rings may do the trick but they look pretty low to me. I'll give them a try as soon as I have the time to put them on the scope and attach them to the rail on the rifle. I work tomorrow and Sunday but may find the time after work.

I think that Brendan has been itching to fire the Marlin XS-7. That would be a good thing because it means a range trip for the two of us. Something we have not done together since, I think, August when we went to the NE Bloggershoot in a superseKrit location in NH, or was it MA or maybe Maine. I hope they fit and we get a day off together soon.

I have no training in how to mount a scope or to attach the rings to it then to the gun. I just do it by putting the scope rings onto the rail on the rifle first. Then I put the scope into the rings and tighten everything pretty darned snug, so the rings looked evenly tight on both sides to my eye and make sure the crosshairs look level when I am doing it. I can always loosen the rings a bit and level the scope later too if need be. Whatever way I do it, right or wrong, it has worked well so far.

All the best,
Glenn B

Just Some Pics From My Hunting Trip...

...from two weeks ago. No deer to be seen but some deer sign to be sure. Note that the frosty morn seen in the video was my third day there. I was not about to walk around, all noisy like that, like that on day one. Maybe I should have since the two times I saw deer was when I was being noisy, just like an eager young buck.

Well anyway, without further delay here are the photos and video.



The Road There

I Creamed A Ruffed Grouse And Left It There.
It Flew Right Into My Car As I Was Going 50mph.

 

I Took A Look From Another View.






Yes It was Cold
Frozen Deer Berries

RUB A DUB DUB

 

 

Scrape



Our Trail Marker From 2 Years Back.
Looks LikeThe Beaver Took
It Down from Both Ends.

 

Forgotten Hunter's
Backrest of Yesteryear!
 





Noisy Little Tree In The
Breeze In Foreground.

It Warmed Up Some
When The Sun Came Out



Just A Fern And Some Sunlight



What I Left Behind.

The Road Home!

 

All in all, it was a swell trip even if I did not bag a deer.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Won On Powerball...

...or should say got some money back since it was only $4.00 for having just the Powerball number. I did not start to write this though to tell you merely about my $4 win; I am wring this to show you just another example of how we are sliding closer and closer toward socialism in this country with its redistribution of wealth. The example I am about to show is one that may seem inconsequential right now but it is another example of redistribution of wealth and of government bumbling.
 
The below chart shows the distribution of the Powerball prizes as awarded in NY State. The first number, on the first line, shows how many winners there were in NY for the first prize in NY (there were no first prize winners in NY), then the second line shows the number of winners of the second prize, how many numbers had to have been selected on your ticket to win that prize and the amount of the prize, it goes on likewise from therefor each prize down to the ninth. The only difference is that some lines show you were also required to have the Powerball number to win that particular prize. Take a look:
 
 
 

0	First	5 of 5 + Power Ball	$0.00
4	Second	5 of 5	$1,000,000.00

54	Third	4 of 5 + Power Ball	$10,000.00
1801	Fourth	4 of 5	$100.00
2612	Fifth	3 of 5 + Power Ball	$100.00
92157	Sixth	3 of 5	$7.00
42998	Seventh	2 of 5 + Power Ball	$7.00
264922	Eighth	1 of 5 + Power Ball	$4.00
497933	Ninth	Power Ball Only	$4.00

Do you see anything, in how the prizes were awarded that seems not just right? I don't know about you but I was always under the impression that having one regular number plus the Powerball number was less likely than selecting merely the Powerball number alone. That means the odds of getting those two numbers were slimmer than getting solely the Powerball number. Yet, by some stretch of munificence, the state of NY has decided that, regardless of the odds, anyone with only the power ball number should receive the same amount in prize winnings as someone with both the Powerball and a single regular number. That goes likewise for prizes 6 & 7 and also for prizes 4 & 5. So, NY State, in its all knowing wisdom about how to dole out money to the undeserving has decided not only to do so with my and your taxes but also, to some small extent, with lottery winnings, at least for Powerball.  

Here is they show the odds of winning and note, as I said above, even though some prizes are much less likely to be won than others, the amounts won for those particular wins are the same. The columns are: how many numbers required for that prize level, prize amount, prize amount with some sort of multiplier (you pay extra to try to win that), and finally the odds:

5 + Powerball	Grand Prize	Not Applicable	1 in: 175,223,510
5	$1,000,000	$2,000,000	1 in: 5,153,633
4 + Powerball	$10,000	$40,000	1 in: 648,976
4	$100	$200	1 in: 19,088
3 + Powerball	$100	$200	1 in: 12,245
3	$7	$14	1 in: 360
2 + Powerball	$7	$14	1 in: 706
1 + Powerball	$4	$12	1 in: 111
Powerball	$4	$12	1 in: 55

I am certain that those who win for having 4 plus the Powerball would have pretty good odds of winning a lawsuit claiming that they should get the same amount as those who selected 5 numbers because 3 plus the Powerball is awarded the same amoiut as 4 numbers and two plus the Powerbal is treagted the same as 3 numers regrdless of the ofdds being different for each. Anyway, my bet would be that within a year or two at most, you will see that the prize distribution for lottery games, in places like NY, have come even closer to being more even for all the winners under the grand and second prizes. After all, we have got to be unfair to those who did something less likely than others would do (like pick winning numbers or holding down a good job with good pay). 

All the best,
Glenn B

So Tonight, I Wasted Some Money On Power Ball

What else, other than wasting money, is not new in my life. I stopped by the supermarket to pick up a bag of Hazel Nuts (an afterthought), some Power Ball tickets (main mission) and a few other lottery tickets too. While I was filling out the Power Ball numbers, the lady behind the counter asks some guy if he bought any. He said "I'm not wasting my money". She said likewise back at him and he then repeated himself, in an exaggerated and drawn out manner, this time his voice directed toward me from the sound of it. All I could think was: 'Fine arsehat, you spend your money how you want, but if you say it again and get any louder and closer to my ear, I am going to give you a face full of Ballseye'.

As it turned out, I completed filling in my numbers, paid for my tickets, checked to make sure they were the right selections and started to leave when suddenly I realized I had an extra Power Ball ticket for which I did not ask nor pay. I let the lady behind the counter know about it and she looked puzzled but only for a moment and then she told me that you get one free play if you buy $10 worth of tickets (5 tickets). She could have just grabbed it from me and said sorry about that and maybe would have had the winning ticket in her pocket. It was nice to see she was honest right back at me. I am pretty sure that many people would have just thought they had gotten away with an extra ticket for which they had not paid, that is, if they, like me, did not know about the free game.

I would be more than satisfied to hit the second prize but have to admit that the first prize of $500 million dollars would be one heck of a wonderful thing. I figure that the prize would be doled out in the amount of about $225 to $250 after taxes in a lump sum. What to do with that much money. I think I would secure the family coffers first, buy some land (because only volcanoes and God make more of it and I have not seen God making an lately), have fun with a lot of it, and give a very large amount of money to a charity or three of our choosing. Then again, maybe we would buy a small country somewhere and call it Ballseyevania wherein the right to keep and bear arms (including possess, buy, manufacture, shoot, defend yourself with, overthrow a tyranny with) would be sacred over all others.

Now back to reality. I wish any of you who bought a ticket or more all the best of luck just as I hope you wish me the same. Money may not buy happiness but it sure goes a long way toward allowing you to enjoy things that might make you happy. Of course, it can also be a pain in the arse but oh what a joyous pain to have so much of it as to be uncertain how to spend it. If nothing else, it could certainly make life interesting.

All the best,
Glenn B

Getting My Money Out of the Federal Government

I have decided, with my wife's concurrence, to withdraw all of our savings from my Thrift Savings Account with the federal government. Fiscal cliff being imminent or not, the chances are that the tax rates will soon rise and we do not want to be taxed at a higher rate in the future. Now granted, we may be taxed at a much higher rate, by withdrawing it all at once this year, than by withdrawing it over a few to several years if tax rates do not increase markedly, but that is where trust in government - or lack of that trust - comes into play. I no longer trust my money will remain 100% secure if I keep it in the hands of the government. I do not mean that my money will disappear because the government might steal it; my concern along those lines is that the government may wind up going belly up, unable to pay its financial obligations and then my money may disappear. Perhaps the same effect as it being stolen, just much more likely than someone actually stealing it.

I felt that way before I retired last year but was not sound enough, with the cancer treatments, to sit down, really give it the required thought, and decide to do it or not. Yet, I was pretty sure that is what I would wind up doing before this year was over. Today, I found out that it takes 2 to 3 weeks from the day I send my forms into them until I get the money in my hand. I still have enough time to get it this year. If taxes go up, then I will have known I did the right thing. If they do not go up, then I will wonder if I will have done the right thing but regardless, we will have whatever we have after taxes.

We do not have a heck o a lot of money in the TSP, so a big tax bite is going to reduce it significantly. With the TSP withdrawal added to my pension, my part-time job salary and Linda's two part-time job salaries - I think the tax bit will be substantial. Let me just say, my TSP balance is in the tens of thousands, not in the hundreds of thousands, of dollars that most others have contributed to said plan. I paid off my house early and thus we had little to put into the TSP over the several years that I contributed. I should have contributed sooner, just never saw the need. I see now that my whole roof, not just the shingles but the roof structure, may need to be replaced and it is sounding more and more like the insurance company will be paying less than I had expected.

Oh well, another one of those days with having to make: 'Decisions, Decisions, Decisions'! I have decided that either tomorrow or Friday, I'll be sending in the withdrawal form.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Scolding From Pravda To American Commie & Socialist Wanna Be's (aka: Hippies and Other Ultra Liberals)

I am still amazed that President Obama was reelected. I will wonder, for years, just how stupid the American voter can be to have voted him into office once again. Sure, the U.S. economy will get better but certainly not because Obama built anything to make it better, and definitely not because he rolled up his sleeves to look tough to the sissies who would buy that as being tough, and most assuredly not because of additional government control that he has implemented and absolutely not because of additional debt into which he placed us as a nation. It will get better because all wounds heal with time and our economy will also heal because businesses will make it so and the government will have little to do with that - just look at Ford for an idea of how it will work.

Obama will have had little to do with our economy healing although he will claim all the credit, just wait and see. What he will have had a lot to do with will be the next major economic disaster in the USA whenever it comes. That is because we will be paying off the money we earned (he certainly did nothing to earn the money he plans to bilk from us to support his nonstop government spending of our money), as a country, for decades if not for the whole next century. That means the debt is no so much ours as it is that of our children, their children and their grandchildren. Anyone with half of a bran should have been able to see that had they just read up on a little economic history. Guys who spend like did George W. Bush (let's not forget his ultra liberal government spending policy) and Barack H. Obama, are out and out failures at economics and it is our economy that is failing because of them.
 
It's not just me nor even all of the other millions of Americans who opposed Obama who think like that but people overseas in countries that are doing fairly well economically think like that too. Certainly, yo must realize I do not mean the Greeks, The Irish, The English, the French, the Spanish, the Italians or any of those in the Balkan nations because their economies suck. The people I mean are those of another world power, those in a place that for years had its economy ruined by communist and socialist principles. I am speaking of folks in Mother Russia herself! My bet would be that most of he hippies and moonbats in this country would not believe that anyone in Russia would think like that but in a moment I will quote an entire article (apparently okay by what I read at the bottom of source page as long as I supply the hyperlink) so you can read it yourself. The link is to an article appearing in Pravda (used to be the official media outlet of the U.S.S.R and is still in business in Moscow) makes me long for the days of Reaganomics.
 
Click on the link, read the article, pay close attention to what the current president Vladimir Putin is doing and what he plans to do to spur on the Russian economy and tell me - are you missing Ronald W. Reagan right about now. I sure miss him.

Obama's Soviet Mistake

19.11.2012

By Xavier Lerma

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

 

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

 

Putin said regarding the military,

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"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

 

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it. He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia. Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

 

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:

 

"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

 

The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

 

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

 

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

 

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."

 

President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

 

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

 

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

 

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

 

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie! You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean:

 

"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.

No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell

And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...

Satan laughing with delight the day the music died

He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...

This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die

 

So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?

Xavier Lerma

Contact Xavier Lerma at xlermanov@swissmail.org

His popular articles can be seen at http://xlerma.wordpress.com/

Hyperlink to Pravda is mandatory if you republish this article.

 

Source:

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/19-11-2012/122849-obama_soviet_mistake-0/

 

That was some read, wasn't it. Hard to believe that piece came out of a Russian paper. Well, it should be hard to believe if you lived through the Cold War and know how it used to be in the USSR (Russia).

 

I have got to agree with the author, Obama and his lackeys have missed the boat. The communist/socialist experiment has failed with regard to how the economies of those countries went. Even the still communist Red China has seen the light when it comes to its economy. There are more capitalist and free market policies carried out in China than ever before and because of it, they are on the rise as a world power. They do not borrow money to spend on their economy, they lend money for foolish world leaders like Obama to spend. They realize that less government interference in the economy is the way to go, less government spending on social programs can only help a nation to prosper and get and keep its people gainfully employed and that they should not spend with reckless abandon. They know it, just as the Russians know it, just as we continually seem to be unable to grasp that concept unless we are more conservative in our outlook.The liberals, they have it arse backwards and for some reason they love it.

 

Hat tip to Peter Q for making me aware of that one. Too bad Pete does not blog.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Shotgun Gauges Explained - From A Woman's Perspective

I don't visit YouTube all that often. Enough to watch videos now and then and enough to find some fun videos to embed here on the blog and, of course, whenever I upload one of my own videos to it. When I do visit to view videos it is mostly videos that someone else has sent me in an email or to view gun videos I seek out. Almost every time I visit YouTube to to search for a gun video, I come up with results that include videos of Heather Lacroix having shooting fun.

Today was no exception, I typed Winchester Model 37 into my browser and came up with a link list including a link to a YouTube video about that model. Among the other videos, linked to on the page on which that video showed up,  was the one I have embedded here. It shows her shooting .410, 20, 12 and 10 gauge shotguns. All I can say  is that it sure looks and sounds as if she is having lots of fun regardless of the sore shoulder she suffers.



While the men will enjoy looking at Heather, the women, at least the married ones, should enjoy her commentary on the uses for each gauge shotgun (note the .410 designation is actually a bore size and not a gauge size as in other shotguns).

All the best,
Glenn B

Whoops - I Missed National Ammo Day...

...and all I can think is "So What". In fact, I missed out on buying g any ammunition during all of National Ammo Week; it was extended to a week so that anyone not being able to make a purchase on the actual day would have a chance to join in). National Ammo Day has a purpose: to show support for out right to keep and bear arms and to support ammunition manufacturers, distributors and dealers (in addition to just maybe expanding your ammo cache or getting you to go out and shoot).

National Ammo Day is called a buycot. Supporters of the second Amendment are urged to go out and make an ammunition purchase of at least 100 rounds (per person) from local gun shops, sporting good stores and the like. Note the importance of the word 'local' in that previous sentence. This day was intended, I believe, to show support for local, smaller sized, dealers - the mom & pop gun store. If I remember right, it was initiated, by Kim Du Toit, in the spirit of helping out the mom and pop type dealers as opposed to supporting places like Walmart (many of which sell firearms and ammunition). I rarely shop Walmart for ammunition but do shop there for it sometimes (not my local Walmart as they do not stock guns & ammo). Walmart has extremely competitive ammo prices but usually has a very limited variety of any given caliber of it.  I would actually prefer to support my local gun stores and the people who work i them and run them but there is a problem that makes doing so unfeasible for me.

Many if not all of the gun shops I have visited in my area, in my opinion, are pretty much thieves disguised as legitimate businesses. In them, I have seen ammo with a selling price of from 1 1/2 to 3 times the price (and maybe even higher) than I would pay elsewhere, a limited stock of different brands in like calibers, a shortage or total lack of ammo in calibers which I need, long waits for special order ammo, an uppity attitude expressed by most of the shop workers (this seems to be a common gun store employee's affliction) and almost never do they sell bulk ammo. So, the places I usually shop are: from home and the convenience of my laptop by shopping online, at large sporting goods stores or at gun shows.

I realize that smaller shops often have a higher overhead to profit ratio and have to sell at higher prices to stay in business. I would not mind paying a bit of a premium, say maybe 10% higher than where I normally shop, to a local dealer but I do not pity any businessman enough by the balderdash that he has to pay for stock, rent, salaries, insurance premiums, electricity, taxes and therefore has to charge exorbitant prices to stay afloat, all the while complaining how tough it is to make a dime.
When a twenty round box of Remington brand, CoreLokt, 200 grain, soft point ammo goes for right around $25 online, at Walmart or at a gun show, then why would anyone (in their right mind) pay a local dealer $35 to $55 for that same box of ammo?

Really now, why would you consider buying from a small local shop with prices being that much higher? For me it is no brainer especially in light of how much ammo I buy annually, I look for the best bargains I can find. Now my idea of the best bargain is not all about price - as I said above I would pay a higher price at local gun shops considering all things. My idea of a good bargain includes very competitive pricing, shipping costs, reliability of the dealer to have what I want or to be able to get it, ease of the purchase process, the courtesy of the salespeople and excellent customer service. I find that the best deals therefor are those I find online with certain online ammo dealers. Prices available online usually either cannot or will not be matched by small local dealers.

Yes, that includes with shipping. Now, if you are at all familiar with online ammo purchases then you realize that shipping can add a lot to the price of a single box of rounds. For example, as I write this article, that box of .35 Remington I described above, is available from CheaperThanDirt for exactly $25.11 but shipping adds another $12.68 bringing the total to $37.79. It looks as if my local mom and pop gun stores, at least the one selling it for about $35 a box, may even have a somewhat better price but let's not forget local sales tax of .0865%. That would make their lowest price a total of $38.03. Wow, they actually come in with a slightly better price than the big online dealer, at least the one local dealer who has it at that price. Maybe you are wondering why I usually still do not buy from the local gun store.

You see, each box of that ammo that I buy from the local guy, goes for the same price. When I buy 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 boxes of that ammo, I can just times that price buy however many boxes I buy from a local dealer. The same thing sort of happens at Cheaper than Dirt, they too charge buy multiples of how many individual boxes I buy. Yet, there is a difference, a big one in terms of overall price. The shipping, from CheaperThanDirt and many other online dealers is for a complete order and not based upon whatever was the multiple of boxes you decided to purchase. Yes it can go up, as you order more, but it is usually based upon the whole order price and based on from which warehouse they are shipping (they have a number of warehouses). So, while shipping costs $12.68 for that lone box of ammo, it costs he exact same amount if I decide to buy 3 boxes or 5 boxes of it. That means, if I buy three boxes of the Remington CoreLokt, in .35 Remington caliber, at a local gun store, it is going to cost me  $114.08 in total. The same purchase fro an online dealer like Cheaper than Dirt will cost, in total, $88.01. I think the wait of from a few days, to a week, to receive the ammo from Cheaper Than Dir is well worth the wait. After all, I will have saved $26.07 on that purchase from the local to the online dealer. That is more than enough to get another box of the same ammo, from CheaperThanDirt, with .96 cents left over (because the shipping for even 4 boxes remains at $12.68).

That kind of price difference, combined with a wide variety of available ammo, a pretty good attitude on the part of CTD's customer service department and reliable shipping from them assures that CheaperThanDirt will get much more f my business than a local dealer. Now, if by some chance, I was only going to buy a single box of ammo, or if I needed a box of ammo right away, I might buy it at a small mom and pop gun shop. The thing is, when it comes to me buying ammunition, I rarely buy just a single box of it and I tend to plan ahead with ammo purchases and thus do not usually need it very quickly. Besides that, I cannot stand the stuff they tell me at a gun store if I mention how high the price seems: gasoline prices are up and thus shipping ammo has gone up and was added to the price, they cannot come down at all on price if I buy multiple boxes of ammo (yet they add a premium for shipping onto each and every box even though they are not charged a flat rate shipping per box), how tough it is to make a profit while the store owner is driving a $50,000 plus automobile.

I have made sure, in past years, to buy ammo almost every time National Ammo Day (or week) came around. I forgot about it this year and to tell the truth, considering where I live and the ammo prices at my local dealers, it was not all that bad of a thing to have missed buying 100 rounds or more on that day. I have nothing against the concept of helping out small business owners, I am all for it if they are honest, courteous, hard working and offer reasonable prices. It is just that, I cannot see supporting local price gouging opportunists. I guess my search,  for a mom and pop gun shop within 5 miles of home and that has reasonable prices, will have to continue. There has got to be one out there.

As far as National Ammo Day goes, I will probably participate again next year to support the concept if not so much as to support local crooks gun and ammo dealers.

All the best,
Glenn B

What Next - Now That The Browning Citori Lightning Has Sold?

As I said before in a recent blog post, the Browning sold. What I can say now is that every penny of the cash, I got for it, has already been spent. I used some on hunting stuff and my hunting trip but more on gasoline for the car, food shopping, candles, batteries, daily expenses and some ammo too. The selling price made up, with a small amount left over, for the money I spent on the Browning in the first place. Well, maybe not if I consider gas and tolls and motel charge for my trip to the auction house where I bought it, maybe I broke even, just about. So, a new gun is not going to see a penny of that money being spent on itself.

Now that the Browning is out of the way, I am thinking of selling something else. I do not know which one yet but am guessing it either will be the High Standard Duramatic M101 pistol or one of my single shot shotguns. I have two of those and certainly do not need more than one. These decisions having to be made are rattling me almost as much a hunter trying to rattle up a nice buck.

All the best,
Glenn B

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving and that your day is filled with family, fine food, and excellent spirits. Don't forget to give thanks for what you have.

I have plenty for which to be thankful, today and every day: My family, friends, my readers, my job, good health (much better than last year anyway), a home that was not ravaged too badly by the storm (as of yesterday, over $11,000 worth of damage, just to the roof and gutters, that we know about so far, and some other minor damage to our property but far better than losing our house or our lives) and that I have off until Tuesday so will probably get in some hunting tomorrow or Saturday! There is a good dinner cooking in the oven, my chores are done for the day and I am finally eating breakfast - 2 slices of pepperoni pizza reheated in the microwave (the turkey is in the oven) and I am enjoying a very early bier. Life is good when you can enjoy living it - for that I am very thankful.

I am also thankful for that which I do not have - cancer. It has been over one year now, as of November 9, 2011, since treatments stopped.

All the best,
Glenn B

Request For Long Term Use Reviews of Gun, Hunting & Survival Gear

If your into shooting, hunting, survival/prepping, you realize there is a lot of gear out there that goes with your interests. You also probably know that just about every Tom, Dick and Harry of the outdoor sporting magazine media or of the Blogosphere is out there ready to write up a review of this that or the other thing.

The typical review that one finds today is one by which the reviewer gives the manufacturer's specifications of the item in question and then goes on to perform a 'field test' and usually concludes with the reviewers findings and opinion about the item being reviewed. The idea of the field test is that it will allow you to get an idea of how well or how poorly the items functions for its intended use. Other reviews give just the specifications and or the author's opinion of the thing under review. Both of those types of reviews are, in essence, comfort food for the mind of the consumer. They give you a sort burst interest in the item much as sugary foods give you a short burst of energy, then they placate you into a sense of being at ease either as to your consideration of buying that item (with a good review) or the same sense of ease in turning it down (one with a bad review) just as those comforting sugary foods lull you into eased and restful state after the initial high. What reviews hardly ever do is give you the lowdown on how well an item has stood up after years of intended use and beyond. I say "and beyond" because many pieces of gear used for activities like shooting, survival, hunting and so on often are used for purposes other than initially intended by the manufacturer.

There are good reasons that almost all reviews are done on a short term basis rather than after years of use of an item. First of all, trying to do reviews of many items over the long term would be cost prohibitive for any commercial, like an outdoor magazine, that does reviews. They would need to hire someone for the long terms to do the reviews and almost nothing else. The short term review can be done and over with in a day or two and the reviewer can then easily move onto other aspects of his job. In addition, people want to buy items that are in stock now and those are the things about which they want reviewers information now. Doing a review of an item over the course of a few years of use or even after a single year of use of it means that the item being reviewed will very likely have been replaced by another model or version of the model being tested. Even if not replaced and if the same item is produced for years, the raw materials used may be of different quality, manufacturing techniques may change, quality control may use new standards and so forth. Thus the review would be outdated by the time it had been published. So it would seem that long term reviews might be a waste of time - not so much in that the item was used over the long haul but that anyone bothered to take the effort to review and report on it.

Yet, there is a good use for reviews over the long term. Those types of reviews allow one to know the reliability of an item over time and after intended and possibly unitended use (at least unintended by the things manufacturer). By knowing how well a product or products have held up over time, from any given manufacturer or of any given design, one can make a prediction as to ho well other products made by the same manufacturer of similar design will hold up in the future. Note I said predict, I did not say know with certainty, there are just too many variables to be able to know in advance, by way of review of a manufacturers previously made product, how well the same or similar newly manufactured item will fare. But you certainly will be able to gauge, with a higher degree of knowledge, how well a product could be expected to perform based upon reviews of the same or similar items previously made by the same company. A perfect example of using long term reviews can be seen in Consumer Reports when they rate automobiles. In their annual automobile issue, for models with enough history, they show how well a car has stood the test of time based on owners' reviews and they give their predicted reliability for the current model.

What these long term reviews do, other than letting you know about the specific product, is that they give you a idea of the reputation of the manufacturer. Are they known for making junk or do they have a reputation of manufacturing high quality, long lasting products. While predictions you make, based on long term reviews, may not always figure it correctly - those types of reviews are an added tool in trying to determine if you are headed in the right direction with the purchase you are planning to make.

I wish we had more of them available so that I could make those predictions when adding to my collection of gun, self-defense, hunting and survival gear. I am willing to bet that others could use that same information. So,I am planning on doing some long term reviews of gear that I used, and often put to tough use, over the years. The thing is that my resources have been limited and I have not used, and thus will be unable to review, a high quantity of various items along those lines. My reviews therefore will be limited to those few things with which I have personal experience. Bearing that in mid, I am going to do something I have not done on this blog before. No, I am not going to put up a tip jar icon to ask for donations so I can buy more gear to test although I do admit having more gear to test would be nice. Neither am I gong to solicit gear donations from various manufacturers. What I am going t do is this: Ask you, my readers, for your reviews of gear that you have used over the years (if it lasted that long) or your reviews of items that should have lasted years and failed. I will even accept reviews of items of a more ephemeral nature, such as those meant only for one time use, but then would hope you could offer a review of repeated use of the same product as having been bought new again and thus used again over a few to several years (say for instance - reviews of the same brand, model and caliber of ammunition).

If you would like to submit a long term gear review (one in which you have used the reviewed product for at least one year), you must be 18 years old or older to submit one to me and your submission of a review is your legally binding acknowledgement that you are 18 years old or older. If you submit a review, you grant me permission and license me to use that review on this blog (www.Ballseyesboomers.blogpot.com) in any manner I see fit (in other words I may edit it or merely use excerpts from it but never with the intent of changing its meaning) and for as long or as briefly as I want. If I publish your review on my blog, you also give me permission to link to the review in any fashion I choose, such as by supplying links to the review in things like online gun forums. You have to supply me with your complete name with the review, and by doing so grant me permission to publish your name with the review, so that I can credit you with authorship, with your submission. I will not use your review for commercial purposes or profit. For any reviews submitted to me and published on this blog, I will attribute authorship to the person who submitted it as author of it; your submission of a review is your claim to authorship. Therefor, all reviews must be original material with proper citations and references and must not contain any copyright or trademark violation(s). I will not knowingly accept plagiarized articles or those that contain copyright or trademark infringements. You agree, by way of a review submission, to hold me harmless and indemnify me, relative to any claims made against me that are in any way related to your review (directly or indirectly) and to information found within or implied from your review. You agree, by way of your submission of a review to me, that I may at my discretion remove any review, submitted by you, against which a claim is made that: the review violates a copyright or a trademark or has libeled a product manufacturer. I will not accept any blatantly libelous material. Also note, I may or may not publish said reviews on this blog at my discretion. I will not knowingly publish spam or any commercial reviews. Note that I offer absolutely no compensation for any reviews you submit. Also note that the copyright, for your review, other than as mentioned above, will remain with you. Unlike others, I will not magically claim to own the copyright(s) on something someone else has written. Reviews must be related to firearms, firearms accessories and related gear, hunting gear, hiking/camping gear, survival gear (which literally could cover items from Spam (the food item) to All Terrain Vehicles and beyond). Your submission of a review to me is your acknowledgement of these terms and your agreement with them.

The review should contain, at the minimum: the product name, make and model, (and caliber if a firearm); the manufacturer's name; the manufacturers specs; and the review itself with info about how well the product performed and held up during the time you have used it, a description or example of how when and where you used it. You can also include your opinion as to its reliability (make sure to label it as you opinion) and make your recommendation for or against it. Any additional pertinent information you care to include is also welcome.

If you have something to submit, and agree to all of the above terms, visit my profile, click on my email link and send me the review in MS Word format.

All the best,
Glenn B

Better Luck Sunday Than Saturday But Still Not Bringing Home The Venison

Just a synopsis of my hunt Sunday and on Monday. Sat on my stand near a lot of rubs and an active scrape. Did not see bubkis. At about 0930, I decided to still hunt. At about 10 or maybe 1015, I was walking under some big pine trees, kind of in the shadows, and I happened to step on a branch and oh heck was the cracking noise loud. Of well, I figured a goof is a goof and just took another step or two before stopping to wait a bit. I had been pretty quiet up until then, except for using the doe bleat or buck grunt, every now and again. I figure the occasional cracking twig noise or whatever  does not matter all hat much as long as you are walking a few steps and pausing for several seconds to a half minute or so before proceeding a few to several steps mores in repetition sort of as a deer does. The calling now and then while doing so works. I have spotted an awful lot of does that way, in fact I have walked up on does many more than once doing that with the doe bleat call. Once I had two big does and a fawn walk right up to within about 10 to 15 feet of me as I had been walking a trail through the woods of my uncle's once upon a time farm. I digress, back to Sunday.

Well, within a couple of seconds of me breaking that branch, a buck, head down, went running by me at about 50 yards off. He was between me and the road and the road was only about 100 yards from me As he ran by, I also noticed another hunter whom I thought was stationary. I figured he must have seen me but got behind a tree just in case he decided to start blasting. I did not even consider shooting. Under other circumstances I might have tried a running deer shot but the road was too darned close and that other hunter was also in that direction. Yeah, the deer had passed him but the road was still just too close and cars passed every now and again.  After a half a minute, with no shots from the other guy, I took a peek around the tree after waving an orange vest a bit. I could not see him. I looked around from the other side of the tree. He was not there. When I thought about it, it sure had looked as if I had seen his back - he had - by my guess - been leaving the woods. Maybe he is what spooked the buck, not me stepping on that branch. That thought gave me a moment's pause and I thought about what to do. I scanned the area, saw no sign of the buck, knelt down and waited about 10 minutes. Then I grunted with the buck grunt call. I did it two or three times and waited. Sure enough, that buck came back into view now headed in the opposite direction than the one he had run before. In other words, he was now headed in the same direction I had been traveling. That made me think too. There was a good chance he had been coming to check me out, thinking I was another deer, when the other hunter spooked him. That guy had been in open hardwoods, I was under the shadows of the pines and it was really hard to see into them from where the deer had been standing (I checked a bit later).

Well, he came into and out of view for the next 15 minutes, as he slowly made his way in the direction I had been traveling (north), then he started to make an arch to his right (east) to get downwind of me. I had my scope lined up on him three times. Twice all I could get the cross hairs on was his rump. Then I had it on his neck but it was through so much brush that I decided not to hoot and wait for a better shot since as he had been walking he had remained broadside to me. Well, after a few more minutes, during which I grunted once (man did that peak his curiosity) he looked right at me, did not see me, and kept trying to get an eyeball on me. Kneeling down had been the right thing to do. doing the right thing did not matter much. He just kept going and disappeared to the north. I waited a half hour during which I called and rattled. I did not see hide nor hair of him again. Maybe he scented me, maybe a doe walked by. Maybe he thought I was to big to tangle with - buck-wise. Whatever, he was gone and I am still deerless.

After waiting that 30 minutes, I followed up on the direction he went. About 100 yards north of where I last saw him there was a big steaming pile of deer pellets and an active scrape. About 4 deer trails ran through the area of the scrape so, I st down there for an hour and a half hoping, if not to see that same buck, then to see another or some does. Dd not happen. I moved on and did some more still hunting and wound up back at my stand from early in the morning. I spent my last hour on that stand.

Monday was another day. It also was another nice day, at least later in the morning once it warmed up a bit. Warm is not always good for a deer hunt but it was not bad as far as I was concerned. I got out to hunt at about 1000 instead of 0530 like on the first two days. That was okay too. I saw one deer at around 1430, about midway up the hill in a fairly clear area - lots of brush and some small trees and only a few bigger ones in that spot. When I took off my pack, to grab a seat on a downfall, with another dead tree as my seat back, a deer, probably a young buck, took off in high gear and waving its tail at me from 30 yards away. That is pretty much all I got to see of it. Oh well.

I am going out to hunt again and will give it another shot this weekend. This time it will be much closer to home - maybe 100 miles away instead of 190 miles. The area to which I will go this time is one for which I have a doe permit which increases the chances of me putting some venison on the table or so I am hoping.

All the best,
Glenn B

Fuck The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International ...

... that is involved in the Twinkies (Hostess) debacle. Even the mighty Teamsters Union agreed to terms with Hostess but this, in my opinion, piss ant union of bakers and the like decided that what was good enough for the leading union in the nation was not good enough for them. If we lose Twinkies because of these assholes, anything baked by union members, of that union, will taste like shit from now on. See:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/19/hostess-union-hopes-buyer-will-put-employees-back-to-work/?test=latestnews

Lucky for me, I got a fix of Twinkies just about 2 weeks ago. Should last me a bit before I go berserk, on a zombie killing spree, due to lack of them. Hopefully all this mess will be resolved before then although it would be just my luck that lack of Twinkies is what will somehow trigger the zombie apocalypse.

All the best,
Glenn B

Jagex Ltd. and RuneScape Annoyance

I keep getting annoying emails from someone claiming to be in the legal department of Jagex Ltd. on the part of RuneScape, a free online game of some sort. Either a phishing scam (which I strongly suspect) or a legitimate email that is accusing me of wrongdoing (which I strongly doubt):

"Dear Player,

We have collected convincing evidence that you tried to trade your RuneScape account or sell your virtual items outside of the game environment.

Such real-world trading is destroying the economy of RuneScape and is in violation with our policies. Therefore any player that continues to engage in the illegal activity has no place in our community.

All of your accounts are now on our watch-list and will be automatically monitored for real-world trading. Regardless of who you are or how long you've been with us, if you continue to real-world trade we will have no hesitation in: (1) permanently banning your account from our community in order to protect the game, and (2) naming you as a defendant in Jagex Limited vs you, which is a lawsuit based on antitrust law violations that is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Civ. Action No. SANC-V13-00342-CGH).

If you decide to ignore this email and instead continue Real-World Trading, we (Jagex Ltd) reserve our rights to pursue statutory damages against you for between $200 to $2,500 per act of past, present, and/or future real-world trading in accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1307(c)(3).

In addition, we have temporarily changed your RuneScape account's status.

Please fill in the following security form to monitor your account's status or to appeal the infractions you have received: (Link removed to protect the innocent.)

Please note: Due to recent technical problems with our automated detection systems, some accounts have been unfairly punished. Most of the void infractions should have been removed. Please visit the appeal section to appeal any unjustified infractions received due to system errors.

Sincerely,
Mod Mark.

© 2012 Jagex Ltd. Jagex® and RuneScape® are registered trademarks of Jagex Ltd in the United Kingdom and trademarks used in other countries of the world.
View our Privacy Policy, Terms And Conditions: (Link removed to protect the innocent.)
St. John's Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB5 1WS, England."

I don't even remember ever hearing of the game before receiving those emails although I may have signed up before and don't recall. If I did sign up, the game must have sucked, otherwise I would still be playing it, but it really does not ring a bell in my memory cells. Took care of the problem, added the sender of those annoying emails to my blocked list.

Anyone else ever get any of them?

All the best,
Glenn B