Friday, November 30, 2012

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
54Third4 of 5 + Power Ball$10,000.00
1801Fourth4 of 5 $100.00
2612Fifth3 of 5 + Power Ball$100.00
92157Sixth3 of 5 $7.00
42998Seventh2 of 5 + Power Ball$7.00
264922Eighth1 of 5 + Power Ball$4.00
497933NinthPower 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