I took the combat shotgun to Front Sight (TW: website still crap) for their intro two-day defensive shotgun class. It was very much in the mold of their intro two-day handgun class. Drills on the basics – slinging and unslinging a shotgun (three ways), loading and unloading (learned a neat trick for unloading the magazine – you can press down on the shell catch/release thingy that holds shells in the tube to release them without rack-rack-racking), clearing malfunctions, etc.
And of course, shooting. The ammo shortage was very much in evidence. Front Sight is a big buyer of ammo, and I assume they are well connected. They had barely enough 12 gauge ammo for the class, even at a reduced shot count of around 150 rounds for two days. Their best guess is that the shortage will start to ease in maybe 6 months, but will persist at some level for a couple of years.
The class members were an interesting lot. 23 of us (around 10 stayed for the four day class). Six women, all of them older (and mostly rocking 12 gauges – respect!). Only a handful under the age of, say, 40. A wide mix of weapons – there was a competition shotgun, some bird guns, bead sight and all, and some tricked out for defense. Mostly 12 gauge, but a few 20 gauges as well.
The instructor was a Marine, which was immediately obvious as soon as I laid eyes on him. There’s just a way Marines carry themselves. I loved his range commands – he had that Parris Island cadence (which I can’t reproduce in print). He ran a shotgun in the Middle East – he was pretty vague on when and where. Its his preferred weapon, although since he has three kids at home he doesn’t keep it ready for home defense – too many pellets, hard to know where every kid is.
My shotgun (a Beretta 1301, now known as “The Last Argument of Dean”) had a couple of issues. Its brand new, but the problems traced back to something I did, not to lack of break-in. My build is pretty similar to this, although I have a different sight mount and sidesaddle shell holder, and have a Trijicon RMR sight on it. The replacement bolt handle (not a fan of the plastic one that came on the gun) didn’t quite fit right and caused a couple of jams on heavy ammo (buckshot and slugs). All fixed and running slick as a whistle now, but I got to visit their armorer, who was entertaining.
Everyone who came in while I was there got the same world-weary look, and the same “This is running really dry. Do you ever oil it?” He said shotguns (and ARs, a couple of which came in while I was there) are “wet platforms” that should be heavily and frequently oiled (apparently Eugene Stoner said an AR should throw a fine mist in the air the first couple of times its fired after a proper oiling). He also recommended oiling shotguns and ARs twice a day when shooting on the dry, dusty Front Sight ranges. There were uncomplimentary things said about quality control on guns and ammo while the industry is running flat out, and very uncomplimentary things said about Chinese-made parts. And, of course, it turns out he was born in my hospital in Tucson.
So, the shooting. Mostly birdshot, as we drilled loading, unloading, mounting the weapon, etc. The instructor was pretty laissez-faire on trigger technique (“it’s a shotgun, not a sniper rifle”). We patterned with 00 buckshot and zeroed with slugs. Except for the patterning and zeroing, we used steel targets, and accuracy was not much of a concern. Patterning with 00 buckshot was done so we would have an idea what the spread was for “Rule 4” purposes – knowing what’s in your line fire, which is a little different with a shotgun, since its line of fire is a cone, not a, well, line. The Last Argument patterned pretty wide – at 15 yards, it was around 16 inches, which is about as wide as you want to go to stick every pellet in your target. I will be interested to compare with my Flight Control ammo, which should pattern tighter.
No simulator rooms for the two-day class (I think they do that with the four-day class), but we did a cover-and-concealment drill that was fun – 00 buckshot at 20 yards, port loading every shot (meaning, individually loading each shell into the ejection port) , from standing, kneeling, and prone. “Ringing” a steel target with buckshot is its own reward. Protip: your instinct is to snug right up against cover, but you don’t want to stick your barrel out past your cover unless you are willing to fight somebody for it. The red-dot sight I have on The Last Argument really proved itself during this drill – so fast on target, every time.
I was not as exhausted at the end of the second day as I was with the handgun class – I could have tackled the full four-day shotgun class, where I was not up for two more days of handgun training. I chalk it up to familiarity with the range and its doctrine.
I’m planning to go back for the four-day class this fall.
Cocktail Update:
Really, a mocktail update. I’m cutting back on my intake, mainly by foregoing my nightcap on school nights. It was getting rather . . . large (I actually measured a few of my pours, and, yikes, that’s a lot of straight booze), and it was having the usual effects on my sleep (not good) and my weight (also not good, for a fat old man). So, I’m subbing in a couple of things:
Campari and Soda: I like bitter (hah!), but a little too much Campari is way too much. I’ve settled on 1/3 oz of Campari or so and 12 ozs of club soda from the soda siphon.
Hoptea: This is a carbonated tea and hop concoction. Because I have this before bed, I’ve gone with their caffeine-free versions. The taste is mild, and they do a good job of pairing some of your more citrusy hops with tea. It doesn’t come off as a faux-beer, in spite of the hops. Refreshing, and like the Campari and soda, it scratches the itch.
Sounds like a blast, but my shoulder hurts thinking about 150 rounds through my 870!
(“it’s a shotgun, not a sniper rifle”)
The was an actual LOL.
Thanks for the write-up!
although since he has three kids at home he doesn’t keep it ready for home defense – too many pellets, hard to know where every kid is.
That’s a good point that I hadn’t really considered. I had just assumed that the kids would be in bed if/when shit went down.
I was thinking about the dogs, too. They aren’t always in our room at night.
You remind me of Sarge “Where’s my shotgun?” from Red vs Blue, which is a good thing. I’m chuckling at the thought.
So, what’s the consensus on the side saddle holster?
If I need that much ammo I’m figuring I’m royally screwed. My thinking is I’d prefer the reduced mass without it and it’s load.
I have 6 in the tube. If I need more, I’m fucked.
8*
For a home defense gun, what’s in the tube should take care of almost any reasonable threat.
But, I’m not always at home.
I use an elastic loop sidesaddle that attaches to the gun with industrial Velcro. So I can preload a couple of sidesaddle cards with shells, and slap them on/rip them off as needed.
Four in the tube. Five more on the stock.
If that’s not enough, retreat to the bedroom with the gun and ammo safes.
Very cool, RCDean. I love shotguns.
I run my Benellis pretty much dry, though.
I’ve been really enjoying my VR-80. I’ve got 5, 9, and 19 shell mags for it. I figure 20 Federal LE shells are enough to handle any situation I could plausibly face but prefer the 9 rd mag.
Get one (unless, of course, you have a mag fed shotgun). Can’t have too much ammo on you, and shotguns are hungry and should be fed as often as possible (theoretically, after every shot).
If I need more, I’m fucked.
Exactly why you should have more in the sidesaddle.
Mine is the Mesa Tactical, which combines the sidesaddle with the sight mount. The grip on the shells is firm enough you can put them in “upside down” – with the primer end down. Makes reloading a much shorter motion.
I use mine for holding special purpose shells (slugs), while keeping the magazine full of #4 birdshot (overpenetration of interior walls being a major concern).
My standard load-out is six 00 in the tube, four 00 primer down in the sidesaddle, and two slugs primer up in the front two slots of the sidesaddle. The slugs are always in the same spot, and I can’t accidentally load one since thye have to come out of the sidesaddle from the top, not the bottom.
One of the drills was “select slug”, where you load a slug in the middle of shooting regular shells so you can put one downrange whenever you need.
I have #4 in mine as well. Seems like a good compromise between the overpenetration/overkill concerns of 00 and slugs versus the lack of put down power of smaller birdshot.
I keep trap loads in mine. I don’t have a shot longer than 8 yards anywhere in my home.
Hopefully steel shot. Wouldn’t want to harm any waterfowl.
(Wow did I hate I hate it when they prohibited lead. Steel shot is noticeably less effective,)
There’s a non-zero chance* I could have an outdoor, err, engagement. I thought about using a lighter shot, but decided to stick with the classic for self-defense (I do like that 00 is marketed for “medium sized game”).
*Of course, the likelihood that I will ever pull a trigger in anger is just barely non-zero. I have gamed out how I will approach multiple threats (say, a carload) that pulls into my driveway. Some of the shots could push 30 yards. And, if I’m shooting into the car, I’m going to want penetration. When Mrs. Dean is more comfortable with her guns, we’ll make plans for a fireteam, crossfire, etc.
I use #3 or #4 buckshot (20 gauge).
Paul Harrel has a video on overpenetration and various shot shells. #3 buck will go through one standard interior wall (two sheets of drywall) but will not pass through a second exterior wall (one sheet of drywall, the insulation, and the exterior sheathing).
So you do need to be aware of what is beyond the wall behind your target, but your pellets won’t leave the house and endanger anyone else.
My thinking is I’d prefer the reduced mass without it and it’s load.
It sets pretty much at the center of balance. We shot with and without it loaded with shells, and I didn’t really notice any change in the way the gun handled.
I need to find something like this near me.
Cool.
That reads more like “this design needs improvement.”
Pretty much all machinery requires proper lubrication. That’s not a design flaw.
The ‘fine mist’ thing is hyperbole, though (and common hyperbole among the uniformed services.) ARs don’t need to be lubricated heavily, they need to be lubricated correctly.
Requiring too much lubrication is the flaw.
See above.
I regularly run my ARs for 1000+ rounds between PMs, on 6 drops of the right oil in the right places.
You can douse the thing in oil and it’ll work fine, but it’s not necessary and it makes a mess.
And the shotguns?
Same kind of deal, keeping in mind that a lot of shotguns are designed as sporting guns, and aren’t really built for a high round count.
I personally run my Benellis pretty dry.
The proper amount of lube for the moving parts on an AR is that you should be able to leave a fingerprint. Non-moving parts are visible but with no residue.
That sounds like a set up line for Jesse, or anyone else with 55 gallon drums of lube.
Although if you have ever used one of those, “dunk tank” solvent cleaning stations, you will have to use an absurd amount of oil to get some back in the metal after the solvent they use in those things strips it off.
Well, that’s because you’ve gone and ruined the surface of the parts. Short of rust issues, what might require going to that extreme?
Crew served weapons that have been in the field for two weeks and had 5K+ rounds put through them. I used it with my rifle thinking it was an easy button.
I was tragically incorrect.
Vulcan barrels. All 6 can be dropped into the dip tank and wiped off with a rag. As an added bonus, several years of doing that has defatted my fingers to the point where they crack open and bleed every Winter.
defatted my fingers
NBC gloves.
I’m guessing you only made that mistake once.
How did I know that “proper lubrication” would be a “discussion” item with this crew?
When the armorer asked me what I oiled it with, for an instant I was tempted to reply “Astroglide”, but I just met him, so . . . .
“Thirty-minute Epoxy”
When you buy it by the drum…
FP-10 is my go to.
For me, I guess buying magazine fed 870s was no bueno. Still haven’t aired out either of them. 🙁
Not shooting them? No bueno.
Having them? Tres bien.
I was curious whether we would see any mag-fed shotguns. I was really hoping to see a Tavor shotgun, but no luck.
I’d like a TS-12.
Of course, I’d like a lot of guns out there.
What I really need to do is go through all the deferred maintenance on my collectible guns and shoot them more.
I think I’d like a TS-12, but I’d really like to handle one (and, ideally, shoot one) before I bought it. Its just so different in every way from shotguns that I am used to.
I like my Tavor x95. Yes, I know that is a rifle, but I like what IWI did and how they put it together. I suspect based on that, I’d like their other bullpups.
Sorry to go OT, but my company just gave us a pre-meeting on their plan for “personas” (full remote, mostly remote, mostly office, full office). They gave us precious little information about the actual plan and status on the personas and spent a lot of time talking about what they’re doing with the offices (even though they said the workforce would be 90% hybrid). Part of it was showing everyone the new office space, which actually preceded COVID. All I can say is, “Cripes, what a shite show that’s going to be.”. It’s full-on hipster open office with couches and tables all over the place with a few toys (Pac Man, pool table, etc.) to supposedly amuse the people working there. The only thing I could think when they were showing it is “Who the hell works like this?”. I’ve got a dozen things on my plate at any given moment. I really don’t have time or inclination to spend my time sitting around a lounge. And if I did, I’d probably rather spend it with you lunatics.
We went through a department move and office reset to a mostly open office roughly 18 months prior to the plague.
It sucks, but you will get used to it. And all the hipster shit and places for conversations don’t get touched in our office.
Well, I’m really hoping I get some sort of hybrid or all-remote arrangement. As a practical notion, I have no intention of going back to New York. If I have to schlep a few hours to Charlotte and rent a hotel for a couple of days a week, it’ll still suck. But, at least that’s doable. I just don’t get exactly how they think that arrangement is anything but a productivity drain.
For us the plan is to be hybrid 3 days a week.
Given our business and culture I understand why they don’t want to go 100% remote.
Two days would be better better, but it beats the 5 days prior to the plague.
In my office (i turned in my key fob/badge today), the lounge mostly went unused. But, it had large windows and a nice view, so I would, in pre-covid days, after I had got in in the morning, set up laptop, check email, etc, go to it for about 15 minutes with just my notebook and plan out my day. It was a nice, pleasant location away from people and computers to think about what I needed to do and look over notes from previous day, and so on.
I have missed it the last year (even on days I went into office, I would work from home before my commute, so already had planning done), it might be the only thing I miss from the job. Also, I ended my tenure undefeated at ping pong. I won my one and only match the week before covid.
Ditto. We had meetings (as a site leadership team) trying to figure out how to use the unused lounge spaces.
Turns out, sitting on a couch to have a meeting only works when everybody is in the same office. And frankly, it doesn’t even work when you all are in the same office.
The open office concept also creates this domino effect. The people who should be in offices aren’t, so they spend all day camping in focus rooms or small conference rooms. Then, the people who would otherwise take calls in small conference rooms either hog the larger conference rooms or have their calls out in the desk area, forcing other people into the larger conference rooms. Then everybody bitches about the lack of conference rooms. All the while, the couches and cubbies and whatever else sits unused because they’re all useless.
Yup. Precisely.
That would drive me batshit insane. I MUST have blocs of hours to get anything done. One mid-afternoon doctor’s appointment could wreck my entire day. When I did work in CorpMurka, my availability meant the only things I could get done were the menial tasks (e.g., ordering office supplies) somebody dropped on my to-do list.
I did work for one small law office where I had the entire basement to myself, without cubbies or walls, but that meant I was fair game for anybody to chat or whatever. Worse, I, the admin, was expected to account for every 15-minute block of time in my day (billable). Worse worse, my lawyer (head dog) could not type out his own emails. He dictated them to me over my shoulder, then edited it over my shoulder (“…take this out, put this in, no wait…”), then told me I could only count that for 15 minutes even if it took 45 mins to an hour (frequently, as in, daily). Then he’d question me about why it took me 45 mins to an hour for an email, but wouldn’t let me answer, tell me to put it back to 15 mins and yelled at me for not accounting for every minute of my day. Filling out that damned time sheet took at least an hour out of my day in tiny chunks. Death by 1,000 cuts. I planned to quit the day I found out he’d had 17 admins in 2 years before I got there. Worst worst worst–we got paid once a month.
Wow. I totally must have needed to vent that for some reason.
I do not do well in CorpMurka. I do best in tiny little dysfunctional places that need me, yell at me but I can yell back, and basically where I’m the normal one and I run the place.
Ditto. Absolutely ditto.
I’m glad I’m not strictly billable.
But I know the feeling of management mandating an activity (usually involving them) that takes up too much time, then complaining because so many hours were coded for that activity.
After that many admins, he sounds completely oblivious to the fact that he’s the problem.
He had had one admin for decades who retired, which led to the string of admins. I think he was the type to think that “There’s somebody out there for me!”, because he’d had one for so long, but he also caused other problems outside the realm of his admins that he seemed oblivious to or just didn’t care. I do not know how to massage the egos of men like that.
One client took him to court because he wasn’t actually getting anything done. It went all the way to the MO Supreme Court that found he had “massively overlawyered” and ordered to pay damages to the client he never paid.
Everywhere in the legal world I went and said his name, I got knowing “Ohhhhh”s and pitying looks.
We’ve talked about this before on here, but lawyers abusing admins is near the top of my pet peeve list. It’s a not insignificant reason why I went in-house instead of working for the law firm I had been working at for 3 years during law school.
It’s a scathing indictment (IMO) of the firm when the admins are tearfully giving me hugs on my last day saying “please reconsider, you’re one of the nice ones”.
lawyers abusing admins is near the top of my pet peeve list.
Sounds analogous to people that mistreat waitstaff.
Worst worst worst–we got paid once a month.
That is a feature, not a bug.
I don’t know whom it benefits except the payroll person. The higher your paycheck, the higher a percentage of taxes are withdrawn. So if I get paid $750 twice a month, I get X% taxes taken out.
If I get paid $1500 once a month, I get X+10% taken out, leaving me with a smaller monthly net.
Everything at that place was set up to get done in the least efficient, most costly manner possible. He did EVERYTHING the hard way.
That sounds like someone was doing the witholding wrong.
Since your taxes are supposed to be on an annual basis, the difference in witholding for weekly biweekly or monthly should be zero.
Ok, random payroll rant. I’ve been at this company for almost 5 years. I’ve never had two consecutive paychecks be for the same net amount. It’s usually swinging by $50 one way or another, but I’ve had multi-hundred dollar swings with no apparent cause except that they’re fucking with the withholdings and the benefits costs. At the end of the year it all equals out, but there’s a buffer I have to build into the monthly budget because of the fluctuation.
It wouldn’t surprise me, either ignorantly or deliberately.
That’s some serious bullshit trash, have you brought that up to anyone?
That happens to my husband every payday.
What’s worse is now one of their fuckups is going to cost us money. He is WFH and has been since the panicdemic got rolling. His position got transferred to a team based in another state.
Payroll took out state and county taxes FOR THAT STATE even though he is WFH. He got that sorted out with payroll, but they’re not going to adjust what was already taken, so now we have to pony up $30 for an extra state with TurboTax (no, I’m not going to do it by hand).
My payroll is consistent every two weeks (within a penny or two) unless there was a bonus or a raise that finally went through. I generally learn about the bonuses from the deposit notifications instead of from my manager.
In a somewhat related note, it looks like Ohio may be upsetting some of the blue city centers by allowing WFH workers to get a refund from cities they haven’t worked in for the past year. Since I’m a contractor, it doesn’t help me,
Filling out that damned time sheet took at least an hour out of my day in tiny chunks
Yup. I hate the practice of cutting billables to make the price line up. Hell, the billable hour is a stupid way to mete out legal services in the first place. We’re mostly fixed fee in my department, and even then the billable hour mentality seeps into our outside counsel. If I could, I’d hire X number of attorneys from our OC firms to be 100% ours for an entire year. We provide the workload, we pay Y dollars for the entire year.
The problem with fixed fee is that while I might be able
to predict my direct time, there’s no way I can predict
how difficult the client is going to be. Nor in a litigation
case can I predict how difficult the other side will be.
It’s disturbing how often “something that should have
been brought to my attention yesterday” comes up.
The transactional work we do is more amenable to fixed fee than I imagine litigation to be, but you make a good point about unexpected costs and efforts.
We try to anticipate such situations and address them early, but we rely on the firms, to some extent, to cry uncle when we’re dumping too much on them without altering the price accordingly.
“we got paid once a month”
I can’t speak to everywhere, but I’m not aware of anywhere
where that’s legal. You generally have to get paid at least
twice a month.
Major League Baseball pays monthly. They are big enough that if it was illegal, they would have been a target.
The IRS publishes a monthly tax table, so they expect it to get used (they also publish a yearly and we joked about doing that at the company I used to be a partner in — one check on Jan 1 for the entire year).
After a brief search, it looks like I was wrong. Which is fine,
but now I want to know what it was that I was mis-remembering.
I, the admin, was expected to account for every 15-minute block of time in my day (billable).
My law firms never try that more than once.
“I pay you more than twice what I get paid per hour. That extra money is to cover your overhead. Like, for example, your admin. We’ve deducted those amounts from our payment.” If I’m in a prickish mood, I ask them to resubmit the bill.
Haven’t you read your Douglas Adams?
The resubmitted bill has the misc sundry line item at 3x the amount you deducted.
have their calls out in the desk area,
This is a peeve of mine about open offices.
Free market competition eventually sorts out the nonsense from the makesense…as long as government Top. Men. don’t intervene.
For certain types of employees in certain types of businesses, that office will improve productivity.
For other types of employees in other types of businesses, it’s a productivty sink.
The problem is when your company has management that can’t tell whether their business is a fit for the workflow when the fad comes around.
Honestly, though, I can’t see how it’s at all productive. Sure, maybe toys make sense if you’ve got people regularly pulling all-nighters. But, pre-COVID, at least, I remember the place being a damned ghost town at 7PM. I doubt that’s going to change. And pulling up an (already uncomfortable) laptop to sit around talking with people isn’t a productivity boost.
Like you said, maybe it works for some people. I just can’t imagine being that guy.
Typically, it helps with creative processes. I don’t know what business you’re in.
We had a couple ping pong tables, a piano, and some arcade games in the former cafeteria when I worked at Cisco. It was a place for the young single people to hang out on weekday evenings and for the Chinese to let off some steam by beating the shit out of ping pong balls before heading home.
There were people who occasionally met up midday to do something, and a few people who would go there to relax for 30 minutes after being stuck in the lab all day, but the equipment mostly went unused during business hours.
The entire purpose of those lounges is to appeal to recent college grads on interview tours. “We have fun here!”
Anyone who has been working for at least 3 years sees those lounges and thinks “These assholes expect me to work 50 hours and pay me for 40.”
I almost applied for a job at a local IT place that had on-site childcare, tennis courts, restaurants, etc.
But someone who worked there told me that they just use that as an excuse to keep you at work for every waking hour. “What do you need to go home for? We give you everything you need right here!”
Fuck that. I’m not currently one of the lucky few who get genuine enjoyment and fulfillment out of their jobs, nor does my job present any kind of opportunities for advancement or incentives for extra work completed – I want to do 40 hours and go the fuck home.
And even people who love their jobs probably want to spend at least some time just relaxing on the couch away from work.
See the “Open Office” model. There are probably some good applications for it, but it was godawful for jobs that required some degree of intense concentration.
The thing I find strange is the need to have clever themed names for every meeting space that give you no info on where the room is.
You mean “Montana” doesn’t tell you exactly where it is?
To me, that’s often an implementation issue. If somebody sends me a meeting invite for “Montana”, IT and building services should have the Outlook room entity set up as “Building C 3-East-126 Montana Conference Room (Capacity: 7)”
Ours was the “8th Floor Meeting Room”. There were five buildings in the area with eight or more floors.
Or worse – the “1st Floor Meeting Room”…
At least in our second admin building, the themed names were in alphabetical order
Do you work in my office as well as also being me?
Hehe.
Of course I do
But of course you work for the evil department, as you are wont to do, being the evil twin.
*building laid out like Salt Lake*
Meeting room 14 East 13 South.
Exactly. Give it a fancy name if you must, but it should have a parsable address that is tied to it.
I once worked for a company that had a large complex with many buildings.
They had a map laid out as a grid: 1-25 in one axis; A-Z in the other; Each grid was subdivided into a small grid: 1-5; a-e.
Meeting rooms had grid locations — typical would be 18P1C. This would get you to within about 20 feet of the conference room door anywhere on the campus.
That’s probably the only thing I miss about working there.
One of our meeting rooms is called the “Inspiration Room”. I’ve never felt particularly inspired when I walk in there.
That would be acceptable if they had an on-site gym labeled the Perspiration Room.
And a meditation area called the Respiration Room
We’re supposed to start going back next week, but I found out last Wednesday that for our 4 person team, they’ve allocated one office for the manager that he shares with a ton of equipment for the project he’s working on, and one other office for the other three of us. After talking with my manager, I think we’re going to spend a lot of time WFH, which I won’t complain about.
When I visited the IBM fab, you could tell that a very stodgy, conformist culture had decided that they needed to be “fresh and hip.”
Every break room was identically furnished with beanbag chairs and a comically oversized “Connect Four” board.
I never saw anyone in them during the entire week I was there.
In the early ’90s when Gertsner took over it became OK to no longer wear the dark suit, white shirt uniform.
The office in Memphis was buzzing with gossip the first time the office manager wore a white shirt with faint pinstripes. The old timers were aghast.
I dislike that stuff. I’ve worked in startups and the culture isn’t lax as a “feel good” thing, it’s because they are cash poor, and the teams are much more tight nit.
It’s a form of corporate cargo culting
I interviewed in ’99 at a local startup that was all the rage in the area. The parking lot was overflowing with cars. The entire interview was them showing off their game rooms, lounge areas and subsidized lunches.
This was a company that was trying to emulate the Silicon Valley startups during the dotcom boom.
When I asked them exactly what I’d be doing and how the company was going to generate revenues, I’d get a blank look and they’d start prattling on about the amenities again.
I don’t think they even made it to the dotcom bust before they ran out of money and sold out to (Target?) someone who wanted some of their patents.
When I asked them exactly what I’d be doing and how the company was going to generate revenues, I’d get a blank look and they’d start prattling on about the amenities again.
I once interviewed at a satellite office for a large, well-known Silicon Valley company. They had all the toys throughout the office, and the staff occasionally took breaks to have Nerf gun fights.
I asked everyone that interviewed me about how what they did contributed to the company’s profit. Only one person out of ten, all software guys, could answer that question.
At one of my old jobs we had a pool table (and a lot of other silly stuff). No one ever used it.
Then another office was flooded and those workers had to spend 3 months working in our location while their offices were fixed. One of those other guys fancied himself the second coming of Minnesoda Fats and would play constantly.
That would be only a minor annoyance except that he was missing deadlines on a project I was running. Not by a lot, but everything was a day or two late. Fairly strong words with him and his boss about how I couldn’t figure out how he was missing deadlines when I could see him playing so many games of pool went nowhere.
Finally I bought one of those trick cue balls that were off center and replaced the real one with it. The bastard actually went to HR and formally complained. HR sent out a company wide email saying how terrible it was to not have the pool table and whoever it was should replace the cue ball. The great thing about it was that Mr Fats had missed deadlines on other projects so the pool of suspects was large enough that nothing could be pinned on anyone.
The other silver lining to the story was that the complaint was the beginning of the end for Fats. Turns out he wasn’t as smart and irreplaceable as he (and his manager) thought he was. When push came to shove his manager threw him under the bus to save his own job.
It’s full-on hipster open office with couches and tables all over the place with a few toys (Pac Man, pool table, etc.) to supposedly amuse the people working there.
Barf.
Speaking of ARs and shotguns.
Why did they make the barrel so short?
Resonance? Don’t know exactly. I think it was more a matter of, “I wonder if we can do that?”, rather than, “What is the best way to do that?”
Probably a proof of concept, “This is the 12ga. barrel blank we had lying around,” deal.
I wonder how they keep the plastic shells from melting in the chamber?
Probably blowback-operated, maybe a thick barrel.
The spread on that thing is going to be ridiculously wide. More of a belt-fed claymore mine type of deal.
NTTAWWT.
Area Denial.
Could the video be any worse? You can barely see the damn gun for most of it.
I approve of this trolling:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57333270
Dr. Mad Mask is going to learn the hard way — never write anything in an email that you don’t want to read on the front page of the NY Times.
Or use coded language for it kind Herself did
The latest meme I have seen is Herself passing a note to Mad Mask in a classroom. The note says “delete everything” or something like that.
The meme blew the real opportunity ”wipe it with a cloth”.
I’ve seen that meme.
Fauci isn’t Herself, so I think Fauci will not end the same way.
His only saving grace will be that the Dems won the WH and his retirement will be a somber moment, lauded by the media and articles upon articles on the Right Wing Witchhunt against him. May he know or not, he was the perfect pawn as part of their fortifying scheme.
Seriously he probably had only an idea that his government emails are archived. Well some of them. Some end up getting destroyed along with the raid backups.
I would love for some IT or stats guy to do their masters thesis on the probability that a hard drive will fail when government agent is under scrutiny, vs the known failure rates of those systems.
I have never had data loss from drive failures on any SAN array I’ve supported.
Yes, there have been drive failures, especially when they decided to use compressed file systems to fit 15TB of databases on a 10TB NetApp array, but we didn’t lose the data. (The NetApp had been purchased for call recording and not as a database backend, so it wasn’t built for it when the other array went away…)
When he was writing those emails, I don’t think he had any idea of how high he was going to ride the Rona Rocket. He thought he was just some faceless bureaucrat who would never be worth looking into.
The name of the game back then was to keep his name from becoming famous as the guy who paid the CCP to create the Rona virus. No time to cover his tracks then.
Has there been an explanation for the heavily redacted portions? I can’t imagine what in there would be damning to the United States….
RC, based on your reviews, I should trek out West to take classes at Front Sight.
Your shotgun looks good.
Hops is a folk remedy for insomnia.
Everyone should go to gun school. It’s way better than therapy, and usually cheaper.
Not sure how far you have to travel, but you might see if there is something closer. Its the kind of thing that your first trip is, well, only your first trip. Being able to go back periodically for more advanced classes or just as a refresher is a good thing. Mrs. Dean and I are planning another trip this fall, and likely at least two or three next year – four day handgun, four day shotgun, she wants to do the four day rifle class, I might do their precision rifle class, etc.
I’m on the East coast.
Sig Academy is close to me, though I heard that they were Covid Crazy and strictly enforced masks. There is an indoor range closer to me which offers classes though I have heard nothing about what they are like.
Most of the really good trainers are mobile – you provide the range and the students, and they come to you.
What kind of training are you looking for? Handgun, rifle, shotgun, blades, OC? Are you more into interpersonal fighting skills, or do you just want to shoot better? We can probably find a class to recommend…
Guns. Any kind.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/03/supreme-court-cybercrime-law-491764
Supreme Court narrows scope of sweeping cybercrime law
The Supreme Court has sharply curtailed the scope of the nation’s main cybercrime law, limiting a tool that civil liberties advocates say federal prosecutors have abused by seeking prison time for minor computer misdeeds.
The 6-3 decision handed down Thursday means federal prosecutors can no longer use the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to charge people who misused databases they are otherwise entitled to access. The ruling comes six months after justices expressed concern that the government’s sweeping interpretation of the law could place people in jeopardy for activities as mundane as checking social media on their work computers, with Justice Neil Gorsuch saying prosecutors’ view risked “making a federal criminal of us all.”
I think that is the goal of prosecutors, can’t make money if there are no criminals.
I like how these are written as if that is the only law that latches down persons from misusing systems that they have access to.
You know, if you held that the Federal govt did not have a general police power, you’d have a constitutional basis to destroy a lot of over-reaching law. cough COMMERCE cough
I guess I agree that they don’t have the authority to alter statutes. They
do have the authority to refuse to enforce them though. Even if you
agree that they have the authority to strike down laws, I don’t think
that’s the same as the authority to alter them.
Now that I think about it, I’d be happy if things were struck down at
the bill level. It would put some dis-incentive into bundling un-related
riders on things.
Thanks for the update, RC – that sounds a fantastic experience.
On the cocktail front – when I really want to take it easy I’ll break out Campari’s little brother, Aperol – just 22 proof (to Campari’s 48 proof) but still delightful with soda.
I use so little, diluted in so much club soda, that my ruling is that it doesn’t violate my “no nightcaps on school nights” rule.
I hadn’t heard of Aperol. Quick jump to Wiki for this gem:
Nothing important in this that I am linking other than Bannon is slowly morphing into a Meatloaf/Cash mashup
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/06/war-room-breaking-news-georgia-gop-leaders-including-vernon-jones-tour-az-audit-next-week-video/
Oops…
US troops accidentally storm olive oil factory in Bulgaria
TW:CNN
Why did we invade Bulgaria?
Failure to update some old Cold War era maps/plans?
Because it was there?
Proper excuse to poop yourself and say you did.
Any of our Glibs here know if such drills use live ammunition?
Since it’s CNN there is naturally no mention.
Today’s US Army. To their credit, they DID ask the workers their preferred pronouns.
Ready on the right, ready on the left, the line is ready. Shooters, you may commence firing when your tarrrrrrrget appears.
Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease fire, cease fire. Unload, show clear!
Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease fire, cease fire. Unload, show clear!
My father says this is ALWAYS followed by GOD DAMMIT, I SAID CEASE FIRE.
Heard that a few times at basic.
Firers… Watch… Your lane!
Do you have to do anything with that Beretta to adjust between loads?
My Brother had a Beretta 20 years ago that was a Bennelli M3 knock-off.
Auto-gun with pump action. It worked like a dream when firing heavy loads, but would never cycle properly with skeet and light bird shot.
Sometimes the light loads would half-cycle and you’d get the ejected shells hanging up.
A Beretta M3P? https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/Beretta_M3P
That’s a rare gun, right there. Only a handful ever made it into the ‘States.
The modern Beretta semis have self-adjusting gas systems, and will run pretty much anything that you can stuff in the tube.
His had a fixed stock, pistol grip, and a tube magazine. Looks like they called in an M3 “dual action” as well.
Cycled fine on 00, slugs, and birdshot. All 2 3/4″ shells. I don’t even know if its adjustable for different loads; I didn’t notice anything in the manual, but I wasn’t looking for it, either.
The issues I had were with the aftermarket stuff I had on it (which were easily resolved).
Not that you need it, but guntubers telling you how great your purchase was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI9wCsFKW9E
Exactly how I wound up with one. The only M4s I could find a year ago were on auction sites and going for over $2K. I got the Benelli off the wall at my local for list price (@ $800?).
I got the
BenelliBerettaI would pass up two free Benelli M4s to pay retail for a Beretta 1301. The Beretta is a much better gun.
I liked the concept of the inertia cycling on the M4, rather than the gas operated 1301. But apparently the gas operated gizmo is pretty much self-cleaning. The instructions are adamant – don’t oil it, don’t hit it with solvent (unless, I think, its really bad) – just take the piston out, wipe it (yes, with a cloth, a dry one), and put it back in without reversing it, ya idiot.
Fieldstripping the Beretta is dead easy – after the second time, I didn’t even need the video. The only fiddly bit is the bolt handle.
I’ll say it again: I got my M4 at an auction for a good chunk below what used ones are selling for on GunBroker. I see nothing wrong with my M4, though I have still have not shot it. It’s in the backlog of stuff I need to get to.
I’d be sorely tempted, still, if I saw one for a good price. The fact that it runs like the Beretta would be a plus.
But the Next Gun is going to be something in 5.56. Probably. And not for awhile, now that I’ve done the math on what I’ve already spent this year. I’m currently shifting ammo into real ammo cans*, and I have more than I thought. Late night drunk-shopping for ammo will do that.
*I got six of the smaller .308 cans, and I’ll probably need at least six more.
I’ve got a good stockpile of ammunition, but if I see some GP-11 (7.5 mm Swiss, the Swiss surplus) or good quality .303 British surplus (FN, Greek HXP, South African, MEN) on GunBroker for a good price, I’m going for it. The sources of those bits of surplus ammo has dried up. Secondary market only.
Yes, I know the Swiss are still making GP-11, but that production is for domestic use only. So the source of GP-11 is effectively dry.
Well, apparently my five year old nephew is a now a niece.
Condolences.
*blinks* I got nuthin
Yeah, me neither.
I blame Blues Clues.
WTF??!?!!?
It was the COVID vaccine reprogramming they’s DNA, right?
Don’t tell OMWC.
This might make a good Christmas gift.
That’s one of those products that I would never have come up with because I couldn’t possibly imagine there was a market for it.
Nuh-uh. Halfsack got one of those and DIED!
One? They come in pairs, you know.
He only needed one. He was Halfsack, not Nosack.
Huh. That’s the vet practice I used when I had dogs, and will again if/when a rescue comes through. Schultz is apparently moderately famous in dog breeding circles as a solid reliable vet. Nice guy the one time I interacted with him.
Sorry, man.
I know that I would be hard pressed to hold my tongue in that scenario.
One of my friends has a high-school-aged daughter the recently announced she was a lesbian. I guess she has recently changed her mind, because she is now using a boy’s name.
At least she is an age where she understands the concepts of male and female and sexuality.
There is no fucking way, that a 5 year old should be making choices (or parents should be making choices) about what gender he/she/it is.
Sadly, in this case, it’s basic human nature to want to be part of a group or something. Media and just about every company is hyping it up and promoting it so why wouldn’t I want to become Tonia
Even a 5-year old can see they will have more ‘friends’ and be part of the in-group in the kindergarten and won’t be singled out in class if they go this route.
They’ll be celebrated and get a party and some cake. Why wouldn’t they want to do it? They don’t understand the ramifications at all.
The adults are the ones to blame. They should know better, and if they do know better, they should have enough of a spine to do what’s right.
That’s pretty much what I think. Part of parenting is helping a child figure out what’s true and what isn’t, and correcting them when they’re wrong not encouraging it.
Right. I wasn’t trying to blame the child in this case, just more their nature of wanting to be part of a group. The parents or parental figures or whoever it may be are to blame for entertaining the idea at such a young age. Ultimately, it is them that want to be part of the party and the kid is the ticket to it.
Thank you all. I feel sorry most of all for my nephew. He’s had a shit sandwich of modern life (unmarried parents, semi separated households, leftist indoctrination, veganism, etc) but seemed to handling it fairly well as kids do when they don’t know any better. And my brother, despite being a vegan lefty, was a practical reality type that didn’t buy into the bullshit and snarked at it just as much as I did. This latest development tells me there’s no island away from this complete insanity.
Sorry to hear this. I guess the mother is to blame.
I’ve had a suspicion for a long time that she was motivated to have a child out of ticking biological clock rather than the specifics of a relationship.
Following xer Aunt GLs example?
The Bee, like us, will be the savior of America
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2021/06/03/we-cannot-stand-idly-by-babylon-bee-ceo-seth-dillon-announces-legal-action-against-nyt-for-defamatory-article/
I think it’s time for me to formally $ub$cribe to the Bee.
Haven’t finished reading it yet, but Vanity Fair of all things, has so far written that the Department of State actively quashed an investigation into the Lab Leak theory, and that the US paid WIV to do gain of function research.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins
With Mean Tweets (r) out of the way, it is once again okay to do some form of journalism.
Facebook gets another. Health Freedom NH’s facebook group is gone.
I would like to say they would go the way of MySpace, but their tentacles are more invasive than most Japanese porn.
An attempt to ban use of vaccine passports in NH failed. The attempt was through an amendment to SB 155, a bill codifying some of Sununu’s emergency orders.
Reopen NH originally opposed SB 155, then an amendment in the State Senate removed a bunch of provisions in the bill. The Reopen NH supported the bill as the remaining provisions are largely removing bits of state regulation that should go away.
When the bill entered the State House, there were attempts to amend the bill to ban vaccine passports. I think this attempt was to completely ban their use (public and private sector), though I think there was an attempt to ban just government use of vaccine passports. Sorry, there are lots of bills and amendments to keep track of. A group of Republicans that have not only never supported Reopen NH but were also Covid Cultists led the killing of the amendment to SB 155.
I’m confused. How am I supposed to feel about it?