A funny thing about terminology is that, even when applied to such things as critical as firearms and their use, people often think terms mean different things, at least to one degree or another. A good example of such would be the term 'retention' when applied to holsters.
What this term means when applied to a holster, in essence, is the ability of the person wearing a holster, and the inherent ability of the holster itself, to retain the handgun within the holster. Some people do not get that and think that it is solely the holster's ability to retain the pistol. That is a big mistake, one that could cost you your life.
I was recently looking for a new holster, still am, for my Remington 1911 pistol and for my Beretta 92FS pistols. The manufacturer of one holster contacted me, explaining he understood I had concerns about retention relative to his company's holsters, holsters designed so that they did not use anything but friction to retain the handguns for which they were suited. He assured me that his company's holsters had excellent pistol retention properties and that friction would keep the pistol in the holsters. He missed my targeted concern by about mile, at least.
While I do want a holster that will keep my pistol inside of it with a good amount of friction, I also want an additional method by which my pistol is retained other than by friction alone. This is very important failsafe to me and it should be important to you too. The reason I do not want friction being the only method to retain my pistol in the holster is that I have run into too many situations where friction alone does not do the job. I have seen pistols fly out of friction only holsters as the person wearing that type of holster was running or jumping. I have seen and have had happen to me, pistols being basically ripped out of a holster by something that overcame the force of the friction such as a branch, in heavy brush, catching the grip and yanking the pistol out as the shooter walked on unaware that his gun was about to be yanked out of his holster. I have seen pistols being easily taken away, right out of the holster, from a person wearing a friction only holster, by a person who was assailing the person wearing the holster.
Friction only holsters make it easier for the things I just described to take place. Yeah, they look cool. You can draw your handgun a bit quicker because there are no other retention devices you have to deal with other than the friction caused by the holster itself, so they may be great for certain types of competition and target shooting. The thing is, when it comes to the kind of competition you may face when someone is assaulting you in hand to hand combat, you do not want to have a holster from which the bad guy can easily take away your pistol from you nor do you want a holster from which a pistol can inadvertently fall out or from which it can be easily removed by an outside force such as that of a branch hooking onto it.
So what is the fix for this? It is the addition of at least one or more retention devices to the holster. They can range from a fairly simple design, requiring one step to operate to a fairly complex design that requires multiple steps to operate. The good thing about the added retention device(s) is that having one or more does require at least that one additional step before the gun will come out of the holster. It makes it more difficult for a bad guy or an inadvertent set of circumstances, to remove your pistol from your holster. The bad thing can be that, with certain holsters, it can take so many steps that it takes the holster wearer too long to get the gun out of the holster when needed. So what to do?
What you want to do is to get yourself a holster that strikes a balance between your security and the your ability to draw quickly and that does not endanger you while at the same time keeping the bad guys at a disadvantage if it comes down to them trying to take your gun away. Holsters are often classified by retention level and the levels are usually given as: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and up (usually seen with Roman numerals but let's face it folks, the Romans of old are gone and so too should be there archaic numbering system). There often is some confusion with the retention level numbering system and what each number signifies. The confusion is caused by different people assigning different numbers to the varying levels of retention. It is not very confusing though and all you need to do is ask which system is being used to immediately get a grasp of what each number signifies for any particular holster.
For instance, some people call a friction only holster a Level 1 retention holster. Others would say there is no retention device, thus the holster does not have a retention level number and those folks would start Level 1 with a holster requiring manipulation of a retention/release device in order to be able to draw the handgun. A holster like that would be a thumb break holster with which you have to manipulate the thumb-break (usually a snap) to be able to draw the pistol. For the remainder of this article, I will use the following retention level designations:
Level 1: Friction only. all you need to do is draw the weapon.
Level 2: Manipulation of a retention/release device is required to either secure or draw the weapon (note, activation of the device to secure the gun can be either passive or active for any of the following levels but remember you must actively release it to draw the gun). Again, an example of this would be a simple thumb-break holster.
Level 3: Manipulation of a primary retention/release device is required to draw the weapon, but it will remain secure in the holster unless a secondary retention/release device is also activated after the first has be activated. An example of this type of a holster would be one requiring operation of a thumb-release and then operation of a button on the side of the holster with your index or middle finger. Another example is a type with a hood wherein a hood slides over the hammer and you first have to push the hood down (first manipulation), then while holding it down you must push it forward (second operation) to be able to draw.
Level 4: To achieve a higher level, such as Level 4, just continue adding a retention/release device per level as you go up.
You probably can imagine that the higher the retention level, the more difficult it would be for a bad guy (or a fall or snag) to take your weapon out of your holster, thus the more secure it would be at a higher level. You probably also have realized that it will take you longer to draw as more retention levels are added because it will require more actions on your part to release the mechanisms. It would also be much more difficult, maybe even nearly impossible, to draw from high retention level holsters with your off side hand in the event your usual drawing hand has become disabled.
I prefer a single operation beyond just the draw to remove my weapon from the holster. Therefore I tend to use thumb-snap holsters. Through years of experience when others have tried to take away my side are, either in training or in real life situations, I always have been able to retain it. While this includes many, many times in training, it also includes at least 3 times when real honest to goodness dirtbags tried to relieve me of my handgun, at least two times when they had the sole intention of shooting me with it. Had they been more familiar with holster and gun take-aways they may have gotten it but they did not. Then again, the other officers who tried to take it away during training never were able to do it either and they had been trained in gun take-aways and were familiar with the type of holster I was wearing.
So, why couldn't any of them successfully take my gun away from me? The safety or retention/release device, even though only a Level 2 device, one requiring only a simple and single manipulation to release it, was enough to allow me the time to take defensive pistol retention actions. I will not explain them in this already long piece, just suffice it to say that having a thumb-snap gave me the split second I needed to hold onto my pistol and foil the take-away attempts. Once I was in the defensive mode, you can bet I fought to hold onto it and to get the advantage in the situation, and I fought with everything I had in me. I have a scar on my left bicep, to this day since about 1982, from where an illegal alien bit me. After realizing he was not getting my gun away from me easily, he resorted to other measures, that bite, to attempt to hurt me to make me give up my defensive hold on my revolver. Let me just say, he was unsuccessful beyond that bite and he lost the battle although I was scarred for life by what doctors at the time called a superficial bite mark (oh fuck those bleeding heart liberal illegal alien lovers).
If I was going to go above a Level 2 retention device, I would opt for a Level 3 at most. I would not go any higher than that because I believe that wearing a holster above Level 3 retention is asking for trouble. Even a holster at Level 3 can sometimes be difficult for the wearer to operate properly above it, I think can cause a nightmare. Depending on the actual retention/release types (I do not mean the level but the actual type of releases such as thumb-snap, lever, push button, twist, hood, and so on) it is at a Level 3 or above (and remember, I mean by the levels as I described them previously) that it would very likely become difficult, dependent on the type of retention device, for you to draw with your off hand should your usual drawing hand become incapable of drawing your weapon. With a Level 3, it would probably be fairly easy to open the hooded type retention device with your off hand, but trying to release the retention devices when it has both a thumb-snap type and a push-button type release might be much more difficult. Beyond Level 3, well, maybe somebody could do it proficiently with the off hand but the skills required to operate a holster of a higher Level than 3, regardless of retention device type, often involve at least one release and sometimes 2 that need(s) you to use fine motor skills to operate it properly. Fine motor skills, even in your usual drawing hand, may be impaired simply by the stressfulness of the given situation so it even may be difficult to draw from a Level 4 holster even with your strong hand.
Fine motor skills, as opposed to gross motor skills, are much more difficult to perform while under extreme stress. Gross motor skills come to you much more naturally under such stress. Believe me when I tell you, when you realize your life is being threatened and you need to get it right to live, you will be under extreme stress. As opposed to some Level 3 and almost all higher level retention holsters, many retention Level 2 holsters only require a gross motor skill to release the retention device (some do require a fine motor skill though, be aware of that). For example, most thumb-snap holsters do not actually require your thumb to precisely land on the snap to operate them, in fact many do not even require your thumb to be involved at all, but will open if you operate the device with the heel or even the blade of your drawing hand. The heel or blade of the hand hitting the release, as opposed to your thumb hitting a cherry spot, to open the release is a gross motor skill as compared to a fine motor skill. Those holsters allow you to draw almost as quickly as a Level 1 holster but do afford some additional retention properties.
Before closing, let me finish up by saying there are other considerations in choosing the best holster retention level for you. Whether or not you carry openly or concealed can make a difference in the choice you make. An openly carried holster, while not necessarily a target for a bad guy, certainly does allow others to see your holster and to see just what type of retention device, if any above mere friction, that it uses. I would never recommend open carry in an unconcealed Level 1 retention holster (friction only). If you choose to carry openly, or if you are a la enforcement officer who must carry openly while in uniform, I strongly recommend a Level 2 retention holster at the minimum but strongly would recommend that you consider a Level 3 retention holster, one that you have determined you can operate proficiently with either hand. Carrying concealed can be a bit different. Others can not usually predetermine what type of holster you are wearing. So, should you get in a hand to hand confrontation and someone tries to take away your concealed handgun, there could be less of a chance they will have figured out beforehand how to overcome the retention device. Thus, you may decide, that if you carry concealed, you might want to opt for the minimal retention level that affords something more than merely a friction hold or in other words, a Level 2 retention holster. The decision is up to you if you are getting a holster for personal use and may or may not be up to you if you are a LEO. If you are the one who decides what level of retention you can use, and what type of retention device you can have on your holster, I would advise you to make the selection with care by educating yourself about available holsters, their retention levels and the types of retention devices with which they are equipped.
Ultimately, you probably are the one who has to decide on what level of retention you want in a personal holster and maybe the one to decide the same in a duty holster. The best way to do so is to try a number of various holsters with different retention levels and with different types of retention devices. Then make up your mind after having educated yourself as to their different properties and how easily you can operate them and how efficiently you can defend your pistol in them from a take-away attempt. If you are a law enforcement officer, or in the military, you may or may not have a choice. If you do have a choice, you should also make a similar educated decision. In either case and regardless of in what type of holster you ultimately decide to carry your handgun, or in what type you are mandated to carry it, you should practice pistol retention techniques (learn them from a professional firearms instructor if at all possible) while wearing it and while having someone trying to do a gun take-away from you (also learn those techniques from a professional firearms instructor and make certain not to go overboard and hurt one another). Use of a "red or blue gun" (plastic or hard rubber non-firing practice gun, often totally red or blue in color) is highly recommended for such practice. Making an educated choice as to retention level and retention device type can go a long way toward selecting the right holster for you. Getting the right retention level holster for you, along with the right type of retention device(s) for you, can go a long way to assuring your pistol is secure while at the same time allowing for you to have a quick and efficient draw if needed.
All the best,
Glenn B
Even the doctors cannot stand for it!
A hat tip to Jack C. for that one.
All the best,
Glenn B
Firearms safety is one of my priorities when guns are around. Let's face it, if not handled properly, they can wind up hurting you or someone else unintentionally. So, when you are handling them at the range, while hunting, while cleaning them at home or whenever and where ever, you should know how to handle them safely and how to keep yourself from harm even if just an observer.
The video you are about to watch shows a young lady firing a 1911, or so they call it in the video title, at the range. She is handling it pretty safely for the most part. I only say for the most part because she keeps it pointed downrange but she does violate a couple of safety issues - ones that could get her hurt. Watch the video and see if you can tell what I mean. I will leave my observations in the comments section of this post as to what I saw that she is doing wrong. Hopefully she will learn to correct those mistakes before she is injured due to one or more of them.
Me being the stickler that I can be for range safety, I must also point out, that the range officer or the observer, behind the young lady is also possibly in violation of what should be a couple of strict range safety rules. I cannot speak for the particular range where this video was made but I know that each and every range, where I have been to shoot, has had a certain safety requirement that the guy in the video is breaking. The guy giving range commands is also apparently breaking from what should be strict range safety rules.
If you want to stay safe, while shooting at a range, the rules I will mention in the comments section, should be followed.
All the best,
Glenn B
DISCO SUCKED, still does.
As for the Bee Gees, they were, in my opinion, among the most obnoxiously arrogant bums I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. I dealt with them during their stay at a hotel in NY. That was, as best I can recall in the late summer or early fall of 1979, when I was working as a house dick in a high end hotel in Manhattan. (I actually remember the year and time of year because that is where I was working when I was called for my career starting job in the Border Patrol.) As I remember, I thought that they were extremely rude, crude, completely arrogant scumbags who showed so much disrespect for their fans who had assembled there as for it to be a mystery to me as to why they were so popular. Frank Zappa, whom I recall also stayed at the same hotel, is in my memory as an absolute gentleman. Go figure, the stage persona of each seemingly did not match the reality with either the Bee Gees or Zappa.
Of course, mine was a brief set of encounters with each but that was more than enough for me with regard to the Bee Gees.
All the best,
Glenn B
Some fairly interesting firearms history can be found in this slide show about 5 guns that truly made, if not changed, history.
See it here: http://www.mandatory.com/2012/05/13/5-guns-that-changed-history/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058&#photo=1
Make sure to click on "more" on each page to be able to read everything they have on each of the guns.
All the best,
Glenn B
...or lack of it, is finally sinking through my thick skull. Apparently, after 32 years plus, of an impeccable federal law enforcement career, I am not even qualified for jobs such as: a maintenance laborer, cleaner, front door security guard at a department store. I applied for those somewhat menial jobs, jobs I would have been willing to accept nonetheless, with high hopes. Lest you think that maybe they considered me overqualified, I also applied for other jobs from the bottom of the heap up to the apex of upper management. Some of the better jobs for which I have applied are District Manager of Investigations for a large department store chain and a few Director of Security positions for a few private firms. Some of the mid-level jobs for which I have applied were: security manager for a college dormitory authority, several investigator positions, of all types, with state and local agencies and with private companies, executive chauffeur, anti-money laundering business analyst and on and on. All were without even one indication that anyone was seriously interested in my qualifications. Thus, I must conclude that, my qualifications mean squat and thus I am not qualified for any of the jobs for which I have applied (about 63 jobs since early March). That is rather frustrating after, as I said, an impeccable career in federal law enforcement. A career mind you, in which I truly always remembered I was a servant of the people and it was not the other way around and one in which I did my best to protect our nation and our citizenry often at considerable risk to myself. Yes, frustrating indeed.
Still though, I am continuing my job search. Today, I searched through about two thousand job listings on three job sites. I was able to pull out 3 jobs for which I would have thought that I was qualified and I applied for them. I also searched a few websites of companies I thought might be hiring and applied directly to one of them for a job they were offering. That was for the job of House Dick (security agent is what they call it nowadays) at an upscale hotel. Who knows - maybe I'll get it; I used to work there in that same job, right before I went into my federal career. If not, then I will keep on looking and will keep on banging out applications and sending out my résumé (which is now down to 3 pages). It may be disheartening to keep getting turned down but I will not give up that easily. I need a job so I can pay my taxes to help pay back all the money the government has wasted on those who just will not work. Besides that, I can use something to supplement my retirement annuity but even more so, I just want to work. Maybe that makes me some kind of a weirdo but that is it in a nutshell, I want to work - it is an ethical thing.
Anyone out there have a job for me in the greater NYC area?
All the best,
Glenn B
...sometimes, like today. I am still working on getting in a new front lawn. I was on my hands and knees for about 2 1/2 hours today, with a little garden hand shovel, digging up and pulling out roots. I only got about 1/2 of it done in that time. In a few minutes, I am going back out and will continue pulling out roots.
I don't think this is hurting any of the trees whose roots are being mauled by me. Last time I did this, it did not harm any of them despite the roots getting torn out; although, I think I heard a few subtle screams as I did it (can screams be subtle -sure they can if they are coming from trees). I may have heard one or two of those subtle screams today and some other moans and groans too. I am pretty sure the Evergreen let out a moan and a groan. The Linden Tree had maybe a scream or two escape it and the Japanese Maple was pretty quiet, they endure pain well.
My knees and back are aching a bit, so no more crawling around on my hands and knees with that tiny shovel, to loosen the soil and roots. I am going to use the pitchfork instead. Of course, I will have to get down on my knees to pull out the roots once I get em loosened up a bit with the pitchfork but it will be easier and go faster with the pitchfork - just maybe not as good a job. Whatever, it will be good enough for me and hopefully for the new grass. I hope to get it seeded this evening, otherwise during the week. We will see.
Just in case anyone was wondering, I went to Home Depot yesterday to rent a roto-tiller. Even the smallest one they had would not fit in the trunk of my Corolla. Thus, I have been doing it by hand. If I had rented one of them, the job would have been completed and the lawn seeded, all within an hour. Oh well, I need the exercise.
All the best,
GB
...I just wish I could remember whom by name. It was the owner of one of the holster companies whose names were recommended to me, when I asked for suggestion for a new holster in one of my posts recently. He got in touch with me via an email saying he would give me a holster to tryout and just asked that I blog about the product pro or con. I am pretty sure it was the owner of Dragon Leatherworks.
While I certainly appreciated the offer, I would not have taken the holster for a review. I don't do reviews on request and do not accept samples from anyone with an eye toward a review. When I review something, it is something that either I paid for, was issued (that is now in the past sine I m retired) or that was given to me as a gift. That is just a principle of mine but that is not why I did not get back to him. I forgot to get back to him and when I finally thought of it today, I realized I inadvertently must have deleted his email. No offense was meant, not snubbing anyone - just did it absent minded not purposefully. Sorry about that.
All the best,
Glenn B
...are the three continents from which my blog receives the least traffic. Every now and then I get someone in South America to take a look, used to have a regular down that way but whomever it was seems to have given up on me. As far as Africa goes, every now and again but even less so than South America, I get someone in Africa to take a look. Those folks are usually located in some Islamic nations in northern Africa, like Egypt. I do not think I have ever gotten anyone in Antarctica to view my blog. I do not even know if SiteMeter, whose free service I use to check my blog's stats, registers hits from Antarctica.
Oh well, just a useless set of facts on in which continents my blog is viewed the least. Maybe I should write up some posts on big game hunting in Africa, or about the pyramids in Egypt, or the Inca temples in Peru, or about Argentine beef, or about how friggin cold it can get in Antarctica, or on Penguins to get their attention (the people, not the penguins) in those places. I will admit, my blog is meant for anyone to read, but without a doubt I write for an American audience. That is meant as in the America the country, not either of the Americas the continents.
It is nice though, to see that I do garner quite a bit of interest, on a regular basis, in other places such as in Asia (for instance folks Japan, S. Korea, India are all among the regulars), Australia (a few different locations in the country and continent of the same name), Europe (England, France, Germany, among my regulars there) and the other countries in North America (a few people in Canada are regulars, one I think of in Nunavut Province on Hudson's Bay, I forget the name of the town) outside of the USA. It also would be nice if folks in South America, Africa and Antarctica also had that much of an interest but such is life, I suppose my stuff just does not appeal to them.
All the best,
Glenn B
Nice video, of a pretty gal, taking apart and putting back together a TEC-9. Too bad there are no audio instructions to explain each step as she goes along. Of course, some of the guys who see this will not give a hoot about whether or not there were audio instructions!
Being the critical type that am I, allow me to point something out. In general, if you are going to field strip and reassemble a weapon for cleaning, or other purposes such as making a video, it probably is best done with the bullets removed from the magazine, and left nowhere near the firearm, to avoid an unintentional discharge. Note, somewhere in there, someone placed an empty magazine on the table because the one she puts into the gun at the end of the video appears to be unloaded; although, when she started to assemble it, the live mag was still on the table. I also recommend removing the magazine from the weapon with your finger off of the trigger, and outside the trigger guard, if possible.
All the best,
Glenn B
I am into guns and shooting, more so pistols and shotguns than rifles. I shoot rifles a lot too but am certainly not into all of the nomenclature and other technical stuff about them. I have a lot to learn and my guess is that many others out there also have a lot to learn. I learned something new today, I learned exactly for what the abbreviation MIL stands for in MIL-DOT when referring to an optical rifle scope. Do you know what it means?
I don't think it was ever any big secret but I can tell you that an awful lot of people have gotten it wrong when telling me the meaning of Mil in Mil-Dot. Those folks have included other average shooters like me, long range marksman, high-power shooters, military types, SWAT type members, firearms instructors, gun dealers, and people I have met at ranges who had a Mil-Dot scope on their rifle. If you, like me, and the folks I just mentioned, thought it was an abbreviation for 'military', then you ought to visit the page at this link and enjoy a short but meaningful read about two terms: Minute of Angle and Mil. You might learn something new, I did. In fact, I learned two things, the meaning of Mil - and that while I knew what Minute of Angle meant, I probably could never explain it properly without notes in front of me.
All the best,
Glenn B
I read some news over at a fellow blogger's site today, it was news about Monsters. Art, from Home Place - Art's Stuff, got some bad news, he is facing a monster, one that is inside of him. He has prostate cancer. On the good side, his docs say they found it early.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, last year when I was diagnosed with cancer, it took me awhile to let my secret out to the world, heck - even to my family. I did not want to bring up bad news right before and for a couple of weeks after my daughter's getting engaged (her fiance had us all in on his plan), nor while my aunt was dying from cancer, nor shortly after my brother-in-law's wife had passed on from it. I waited and kept the monster called cancer in the dark from others and also kept another monster inside, the monster called hopeless fear. It was a scary time for me. After I told my wife and family about it, I let some friends know, then let work know, then let the world know on my blog. The response I got, from family, friends and coworkers was to be expected - very supportive, in fact more than I had thought would be coming from them came my way with lots more love than I would have imagined especially from family. The response I got from people out there in the blogosphere was very unexpected. People all over the world were pulling and praying for me, lighting candles for me, sending me emails wishing me well, and so on. It was very humbling but also was very uplifting and very welcome support from people who for the most part are total strangers to me. Without it though, I do not know if I would have been able to keep up the fight, I do not know if family and friends and coworkers and docs and nurses and techs and treatments would have been enough, it was that tough and you guys helped pull me through.
So again, why am I telling you about Art's condition here on my blog? I am hopeful that some of you, my few but dear readers, will go to his blog and do for him what you did for me: Help him kick cancer's ass!
All the best,
Glenn B
Yep, you read it correctly. Seemingly ultra leftist, Whoopi Goldberg is, apparently in her own words, a member of the NRA. Since she and the others, on the May 9, 2012 edition of The View, were talking about guns and gun control with John Stossel, I have to imagine she meant the National Rifle Association and not some other organization that uses the initials NRA.
Gosh, it makes me want to reconsider having a life membership with them because I doubt very much that she has had a sudden change of heart from what have appeared to have been, and have appeared that way over many years, her ultra leftist attitude. Have I somehow read her wrong for all those years or did she join the NRA for something like shock value or just as a lark or maybe to be able to fall back on them for support should she ever be charged in a crime involving a gun that she keeps, in the closet (figuratively not literally) for self defense? I am simply flabbergasted. I hope to find out more about her NRA membership and about her views of the 2nd Amendment and the overall right to keep and bear arms.
Watch the video and pay attention to the audio, you can hear her say it herself:
Oh, I have to ask that you please do not start to think that I am a fan of The View. I may have watched 5 minutes of it, 10 at most, over the whole time it has been on television. I saw the news in a firearms forum and decided I had to share it with my readers. The thought of having a video showing Joy Behar, here on my blog, makes me want to puke! I would be willing to bet she is not an NRA member but a contributor to the Brady Campaign or similar organizations but her making me want to vomit has only a little to do with that; in general, I find her, her politics, her attitude and her mannerisms totally repulsive.
As for Whoopi being in the NRA - who woulda thunk it!!!!!!!!
All the best,
Glenn B
This is a great prediction, well a warning at least, originally from 1965 but this may well be a revised version. It makes one heck of a lot of sense today if only becase it fits America so well right now:
I did not always agree with Paul Harvey but he certainly hit it right on the head sometimes! If nothing else, he certainly was an eloquent speaker with unusual intonation and a great voice.
All the best,
Glenn B
I added Emily Gets Her Gun to my list of linked blogs under the header: TAKE A SHOT WITH THESE SHOOTIST BLOGGERS, Not At Them (over on the right in the blue zone. In the event the link does not work, go to this address to view it:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/.
It is a regular part of the Washington Times online edition. Looks to be a good gun blog.
All the best,
Glenn B
When you think of arthritis, and that is probably not much unless you, someone close to you or one of your pets is burdened with it in one form or another, you likely do not wonder how long it has been around. The truth be told, or what seems likely to be the truth, is that arthritis has been afflicting creatures on earth since long before most, if not all, of our current mountain ranges were even hills.
It has been reported that scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of a pliosaur, a sea roaming, predatory beast, of huge proportions, that evidently had an arthritis like disease in its jaws. They say it suffered from it for years, long enough to put its jaws out of alignment so that the teeth (and some of its teeth were up to 8 inches long in a jaw about 10 feet long) of the upper jaw left marks in the lower jawbone. Ouch is all I can think. I have osteoarthritis and bursitis, have had disc surgery due to a completely extruded disc, and have suffered with Lyme disease twice. I know the terrible pain such maladies can cause even when the diseases are not severe. I cannot imagine living for years with excruciating arthritis pain, as they surmise this great beast must have done, that is until its jaw broke. They think it broke due to erosion of the jaw joint, misalignment and other arthritis caused damage - and never healed again thus maybe leading to its death by way of starvation.
Interesting article, worth a read. See it here: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/16/ancient-loch-ness-monster-suffered-arthritis/
All the best,
Glenn B
...now is not the time to stop gun-blogging. Now is the time to continue doing it with a passion while at the same time doing it civilly and with respect toward others who may have differing views on issues like gun control. I am not trying to say that you should show compassion and understanding to people such as those in The Brady Campaign. Rather, what I mean is that you write plenty of positive gun blog posts now, that are supportive of gun rights in a fair and respectable manner I (as in not like raving and ranting in a tirade of invectives), so as to draw more folks to our cause than you scare away from it. You can still call it as you see it and we need you to do just that. We need to get the fence sitters over on our side of the fence and the way to do it is with posts that show respect for them while remembering that maybe they voted for the current guy in office but are on the fence about whether or not they should do it again. This is an election year and we need all the help we can get to overthrow our current tyrannical dictatorship vote in a new administration, a more gun-rights friendly one, and get rid of the sitting one.
I have noticed that some pro-gun bloggers seem to be getting out of blogging or have simply not been all that productive lately as relative to posts that support our right to keep and bear arms and our right to be able to defend ourselves with them. I do not know the reason(s), there could be many of them. I am hopeful that those bloggers have not given up their guns and I am pretty sure they have not. I think though that they have given up, or slowed down, on gun-blogging.
Come on folks, get back into it - we need to have you stick to your blog-guns, to see you consistent on the draw, to see your gun-blogs blazing away, to see your words accurately and reliably shooting down the opposition with no harm to bystanders and maybe even protecting them and their rights, to know you have our backs at this crucial time in what surely will become an historic election year either way that it turns out. Your blogs don't specifically have to be about gun-rights or gun-politics, heck you can just write about how much fun it is to shoot, about people defending themselves or their families with firearms, about your gun collection and why you collect, about how you hunt with firearms, about your target shooting experiences, about being a woman shooter I (as in a woman who shoots and not as in someone who shoots women), about gun shows, about gunsmithing, about training and tactics, about ammo, about teaching youngsters to shoot, or about how grandpa taught you to shoot and to respect our right to keep and bear arms. Yes, of course, you can and maybe even should also write about our right to keep and bear arms and our right to defend ouselves, our families and innocents with them.
Gun-blogging can do us a lot of good but we need you to get it out of the holster for the world to see it. Otherwise, you will just be shooting blanks and the next thing you might wake up to find are jack-booted thugs government agents or police breaking into your home to take away even your water-pistols.
All the best,
Glenn B
...and has been around for a long time, long before the so called '4 rules of firearms safety'. The importance of this rule is that the all the others often go completely disregarded once booze and/or drugs are mixed with gunpowder. I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that booze, drugs or both were involved in this shooting:
http://main.aol.com/2012/05/15/shawn-mossow-shoots-friend-at-request_n_1518270.html
Simply amazing how friggin stupid booze and drugs can make people, then again, some people need no help at all in that regard.
All the best,
Glenn B
Let me tell you folks, if this story is true, as it is written right now, then someone in the Wayne County (near or part of Detroit, MI - I think) government needs to have his or her head examined and maybe deserves a good demotion or firing too. You see, a Wayne County groundskeeper was fired for possessing a gun on county property. He found the gun while doing his job and turned it over to the police. The reason the county says he was fired was reported on like this:
"According to a Wayne County spokeswoman and the rules, employees aren't allowed to possess a weapon on work property."
See: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/15/detroit-groundskeeper-fired-after-finding-loaded-gun-handing-it-to-cops/.
There are many reasons it is called the Loony Left, this but one of them but this one shows the left at its looniest.
All the best,
Glenn B
Skip the opening advertisement and go directly to the video (which is an ad itself but a great one, maybe the best I have ever seen).
Enjoy this one, it is likely to bring a tear or two to your eyes and/or give you a certain feeling of wonderment in both your mind and your gut. Too bad most people are not really as thoughtfully intelligent as was the lady portrayed in this video, we could change the world if such was the case.
For example, think of the wonderful worldwide effect that changing one word could have if we changed just one word in the campaign slogan: "Vote Obama" to the word "Fuck...". Can you guess which word I would change?
I may have posted on this one before, if I did, well I know I did not give it the same political slant as this time. Anyway, the video is worth watching again, no matter your politics.
A hat tip to Patrick J. S. for the video link.
All the best,
Glenn B
This is beyond arrogance, this is totally incredible, that is until you think of President Obama's nature. Our current president, Barack Hussein Obama, has taken the liberty of, or allowed the, inputting his name into the official White House biographies of all our other presidents, with the exception of Gerald Ford, reportedly all the way back to Calvin Coolidge. See:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/05/15/obama-drops-his-name-into-presidential-biographies/
He then reportedly claims credit for what he seemingly would have us believe are ongoing policies, that other presidents started, by trying to equate his current policies with those of presidents past. For example, with regard to President Ronald Reagan, Obama is claiming credit for keeping alive President Reagan's turning of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day into a national holiday because Obama says he participates in services on that day. In addition, Obama says that Ronald Reagan called for a fairer tax and Obama is doing the same with the Buffet Rule. Nothing could be further from Ronald Reagan's idea of a fairer tax than the Buffet Rule as far as I am concerned; then again, no president could be further from Ronald Reagan than is Obama. See President Reagan's White House biography here, and look down to near the end under the header: Did You Know. Then try to remember that it was supposed to be an official white House biography of Ronald Reagan (which is always what it was up until recently) and not a campaign advertisement for Obama!
This simply goes to show that the man takes credit for everything he can that others created or stood for because he has little to offer himself. He is little more than a political hack and he ought to be ashamed of himself. My bet is that, he is beyond being able to feel shame because he thinks so highly of himself as to so unabashedly take credit for the ideas of others. He evidently has a problematic and rather a big and very disturbed and perverse ego or so I would think.
A hat tip to Peter Q for this one.
All the best,
Glenn B
I took a little fishing trip yesterday. Sadly, my uncle who was here from Florida, decided not to come along for the fun.
I went over to Point Lookout, NY with every intention of going out on the Super hawk, for the first time ever but they did not sail. Instead, I had to switch over to the Captain Al at the adjacent mooring. The Super hawk had a total of 2 fares aboard, me and another guy and the Captain Al had about 30 or 40 paying fares. Goes to show you that building a good reputation for yourself goes a long way to assure loyal customers. I usually go out on the Captain Al but wanted to try what I believed was a faster boat, the Captain Al had a terrible reputation as a slow boat, a really slow boat, but a great reputation otherwise. Much to my surprise, i found out they had gotten a new engine installed, last year, and I must admit the Captain Al is now fast, if not a speed demon among local party boats.
As usual, the Captain Al's captain got us to productive fishing grounds. Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock, we were hauling in Sea bass one after the other, most very good sized too. The sad thing was that this year, NYS DEC changed the regulations and the open season on them is not until mid June. Throughout the day, I caught at least 14 of them. I also caught one blackfish, also not in season, two dogfish (both thrown back), a skate or two and a conger eel. In addition, I caught 17 Ling, I threw two of them back because they were too small for me although there is no size limit on them. Ling are very tasty - some of the finest tasting fish the oceans have to offer, in my opinion. At first I was not getting nearly as many as others, when they had ten ling, I had two. Seems my rod was too stiff, a complaint I have not heard much lately at my age! A big hat tip to fisherman John who was next to me at the rail. After he told me that his thought on why I was not catching as many was my rod's stiffness, I decided to ask the crew to set me up with a boat pole that was lighter action than my own. I started to catch immediately and surpassed some others who had had more than me before the switch. I had one other keeper fish, a 5-6 pound bluefish. I had a ling on the hook and the bluefish took the second hook on the way up. The sudden change in action from the almost nothing slight tug of the ling, to the zig-zagging run of the blue was pretty exciting.
I cooked all the ling shortly after I got home last night. They were delicious and we have leftovers. As for the bluefish, if the rain lets up some later today, it is going on the BBQ for tonight's meal.
I have to say that the mates aboard the Captain Al, yesterday, were exceptional. They were 100% attentive to the fares and did not fish themselves. They were there to help, such as to refill you bait cup or with a gaff hook or net if you needed it, even when you did not call them over. That is truly attentive. They work mostly, if not completely, for tips and they acted accordingly. The captain was also very good, he did not spare the diesel fuel but moved from spot to spot to assure a good long day of reeling em in. I am going to estimate that the average catch of keeper fish was about 20 fish per fare. Some probably had up to 30 keepers. If you include the sea bass that had to be thrown back, double those figures. Besides the ling, sea bass, bluefish (mine was the only one), blackfish, dogfish, conger eel and skates that I caught, others also caught the same as well as a lone codfish (the pool winner and I think my blue was bigger but blues are not allowed int he pool), some winter flounder, and some porgies (scup). I think, in all, I had about 37 fish. It was a great day and the only disappointments were that my son (he had school) and my uncle were not along to enjoy it with me. My son's absence being the bigger disappointment by far.
All the best,
Glenn B
As you will soon be able to see, I got a little creative in a review of TheSurvivalistBlog.net, one of the blogs to which I link and that I read on a pretty regular basis. Since they are holding a contest and offering some nice prizes for the best review they receive, I figured I would try my best at doing a realistic review of the site, while being creative, and making it fun to read. So I wrote it up from a post-apocalyptic perspective:
Journal Entry - June 24, 2013, Day 408
I've just been thinking of how we made it this long, remembering that first day, a month after the first one went off. Staying put down in our basement bunker for a month wasn't easy. Then coming up out of the rubble, of what I had once thought of as my beautiful home, and seeing the almost total devastation was really tough. Those terrorist bastards must have set off nukes. The world had come to an end as far as I could see - it was TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we knew it).
What was to follow was tougher than that first day back above ground. The skies remained gray and somber for months, the air heavy and acrid with the scents of decay and lingering smoke. The survivors, what few we encountered, were ill prepared and in need. We helped whom we could with what we thought we could spare, even took in a few neighbors. Then the real bastards showed up, worse than the ones who set of the bombs. These were our fellow Americans, the ones trying to take, by force, what little we had for ourselves and our neighbors who needed our help. Dealing with the marauders to protect my family, our few surviving neighbors and our supplies was the toughest thing I have ever faced in my life. So how did we make it through this far?
We owed a lot to something I had taken for granted before this all came down. A blog called TheSurvivalistBlog.net. All the information needed to survive right there on every page. How to stock up on food and water, what emergency supplies to keep on hand, how to grow a garden and what seeds would be best, how to reinforce a basement or build a bunker, info on guns and ammo, tactics to protect us from marauders, whether to bug out or hunker down, and on and on. It was all brought to us by one blogger and his loyal readers whom he allowed to enter guest posts on the site. The amount of knowledge they shared was tremendous. Heck, the site even had links to retailers who sold most of the survival supplies we have in stock. So, not only did they let us know how to do it but also where to stock up on equipment and supplies.
Without the know-how that I gained, from TheSurvivalistBlog.net, we would have gone the way of most of our community and most of them went the way of the dinosaurs - extinct. My wife, daughter, son and I (and a few of our neighbors whom we helped)owe our lives to the fact that we knew how to survive and were well prepared to do so. We owe that all to TheSurvivalistBlog.net, the most complete how-to survival guide I have ever seen.
Well, that's my review, based on what I think would be our experience after TEOTWAWKI. I hope you liked it and hope it has you heading over to check out TheSurvivalistBlog.net.
All the best,
Glenn B
Wow, I wish I had most of them!
All the best,
GB
... yes that goes for all you mother f lovers too. Hope your day is as nice as I am hoping mine turns out to be. Going to take my uncle (my mom's brother) to go see my mom around 1PM or thereabouts.
All the best,
Glenn B
