Docwagon

I'm way behind on my run schedule, because my mayor believes it is an unrealistic expectation to clear "side" streets of snow and ice. As such, my street is two goals and a zamboni away from being the city's new hockey arena. This makes it hazardous to walk to the mailbox on the other side of the street, let alone run. So, I decided to do something about it. The product is called "Due North All Purpose Traction Aids, and I bought them from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000UQVB2/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I strapped them over my 5.11 winter duty boots: The bottom: Then I proceeded to run 1.95 miles in them. I was as sure footed as a mountain goat. They stuck to ice that was mirror smooth with a light pool of moisture on top (the slickest of slick ice), they stuck fine to rutted ice, they stuck fine on uneven and lumpy ice. When I crossed a main road that was dry, they weren't slippery feeling like walking on athletic cleats. You could hear the spikes click, though. They seem to be durable and of high quality. The rubber is thick and tough, and the spikes are tungsten-carbide per the packaging. It comes with two spare spikes in case you lose one. Getting them on takes a little work, as the rubber is thick and once its on, it doesn't want to move, so make sure you get the toe on straight before strapping on the heel. They stay on the boots just fine on or off your feet. When not on your boots, they are easy to roll up into a ball slightly smaller than my fist. It'd be easy to store a pair or two in a BUG, glove box, wherever, and then any shoe can instantly be high traction on ice. I have since ran a total of 9 miles on ice, loose snow, hard packed snow, and ice with no problems at all.

LOL at 2:37.

Lego movie. I liked it. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!!!

Massive front butt, an Oompa-Loompa, and grieving rabbits? Nah, that's so weird its gotta be real.

1) Billy, your 15 minutes were up about 15 years ago. 2) Much like Baywatch, best enjoyed with the sound off while laying upside down on the couch.

Some of my favorite lyrics of any country song EVAH!!

Drifter pretty well covered it. There's a big difference between 'without any money' and 'with some money'. That's why I said you have to find the floor, the bare minimum amount of income you need to live how you want to live, and then explore the options that will meet that need. I would also add, think of your future. Not many folks want to work until they die. If you can live on $20k but make $35k, that's a lot of money you can put back to retire. I plan to retire at 52, thanks both to a pension and to living below my income level.

It's an amazing tool, isn't it? Niche markets and knowledges are at your fingertips in ways they would never have been twenty years ago.

My friends's response on the media:

Well, that's a tough question. I found it very controllable. It was back on target before I had reset the trigger and was ready to fire again. If it had better sights, I could probably have dumped the mag pretty quickly. However I'm me, not you or your wife, and differences in hand size, grip technique, wrist strength, etc. may change that. Also keep in mind that I shot the duty size 4.5" barrel. There is a compact 3.8" barrel and a competition 5.5" barrel as well, and each will be a bit different. *As a general rule* I find .45 APC to be a very easy to control caliber. The recoil is more of a slow push than a quick snap. However a 9mm *is* easier to tame and is more forgiving of an improper hold. Improper holds happen to everyone, even people who know better, under stress we don't always do what we know we should. As a prime example, I haven't been practicing as much lately because its SO FUCKING COLD. I had to qualify Wednesday, and I didn't shoot like I wanted to. I realized why. I was gripping to hard with my strong hand instead of gripping lightly with it and hard with my support hand and stringing shots left. Today I went to the indoor range to work on fundamentals to beat it back into my head and muscle memory.

While I know I've sidetracked this thread a bit, I did go ahead and e-mail my friend. I copied the posts about the media, stripped out any detail that would indicate which side I took so as not to influence his decision, and asked for his opinion. I'll let you know the results of what a "media insider" thinks. Unless he disagrees with me. Then I'll say he never e-mailed me back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFvtHm-yf8

I rented an Springfield XD(M) .45 today at a local indoor range. I compared it back to back with my Sig P220 and while I won't be trading out of my Sig any time soon the XD was impressive. If I were in the market for a polymer double stack pistol, I'd give it serious consideration. I'm going to do a write up on it soon but I don't have the time right at the moment. Highlights: 1) Smooth trigger for a striker fired gun. 2) 13+1 round capacity 3) Unobtrusive grip safety 4) Feels comfortable in my hand Needs improvement; 1) Sights aren't the clearest 2) Trigger reset could be a shorter and a bit more positive

No, but illegal workers can undercut you in a heartbeat. Ask carpenters. Its tough to compete with someone paying no taxes, living 6 deep in one apartment, and not having to worry about a living wage in your local economy. Ask the roofers and carpenters about it. IT salaries were undercut by both outsourcing and insourcing via J-1 visas bringing Indians into the country. But, I digress. I mostly agree with the video, but I would add one caveat. There's a floor of income that you need to support the lifestyle you want. If you surf all day because you love to surf, but it pays so little that you can't afford to have your own place to live, marry your sweetheart and have children, you're missing out on happiness from one aspect of your life because you are so focused on the other. To support the lifestyle I personally want requires about $50k a year. I can take any job I want that pays at least that. Knowing your floor, and keeping your commitments (mortgage, car notes, etc.) within that floor gives you choices and mobility. My wife is a pharmacist. She could bring in an additional $110k/ yr for our household pretty handily...but she's a stay at home mom now. Why? Because we both enjoy that more than we'd enjoy an extra $110k/yr. We enjoy being able to travel and take day trips easily without worrying about another work schedule, we enjoy having someone around to take care of our son all the time without worrying about a day care, etc. Years ago while she was working, she wanted to buy an expensive house that would have required us to both work to pay the mortgage. I refused. She was really mad at me for quite awhile...until she wanted to quit her job. Then she was pretty happy about my insistence we live like we only had $50k a year coming in regardless of our actual income. Now, as most of you know I'm a police officer, currently a detective. I've tried being a soldier, a contractor, an EMT, an IT professional, and as side jobs I've been a carpenter, car salesman, fast food worker, farm hand, etc. I liked being an EMT, but the pay wouldn't support the lifestyle I wanted. I liked being a contractor, and it would easily support the lifestyle I wanted, but the travel got tiresome. IT, pay was good, hated the job. Being a police officer is the perfect balance. I like the job, I can settle into one area, and it supports the lifestyle I want. In short, its a balancing act. Yes, you need to enjoy your work...but you also need to make enough money to enjoy your life outside of work.

Well, let me put it to you like this. In 1989 my middle school had a school shooting. A literally cracked out idiot drove up in the bus turn around, fired a deer rifle at the kids outside until the rifle was empty, and then drove off. I was on the playground and was one of the kids he was shooting at. He was apprehended by police later in the day. No one was hit or hurt. Did you ever hear that story before today? Not unless you read the Courier-Journal, which ran a small article in the local section. Broadcast news, even local, never touched it. Do you think if the same thing occurred to day it might made the media? Look, in 1980 the media wasn't what it is today. There was no Twitter, no Facebook, etc. to spread these local only stories while they are still fresh and interesting. The media actually learns about a lot of these stories from social media these days, which wasn't an option in the '80s. The AP certainly didn't send a reporter to or transmit every single story of local interest only over the wire. News was more valued than it is now, because there was limited space to broadcast it. There were only so many minutes in a news program or pages in a paper. The Internet and constant broadcast news channels have cheapened that, the space is now basically infinite. I will say I'm not a media expert. I do know someone who is, though. A buddy of mine in his 60s has worked for Kentucky News Network for decades. KNN doesn't broadcast news on their own, they are a clearinghouse. They get stories off the wire (and now the Internet) and feed them to local radio channels for their DJ's to read on air and for their short news broadcasts. I'll ask him what he thinks about this debate.

News tended to stay more local in those days. You didn't have 24 hour news channels who needed to fill their air time so they showed stuff from all over the country to everyone all over the country. It loses context, because all news is reported like its local news. Take the 'knock out game' coverage. Every news cast made it sound like it was an imminent danger to YOU THE VIEWER, regardless of the fact it happened six states away and your state never had a single confirmed instance of it. The media is also much more savvy about what people will watch, and its all about ratings. "If it bleeds, it leads" is too simplistic now. They know what will generate maximum outrage, which generates maximum exposure.

Ah, got it.

Ok, thanks. Are you sure on #4? I thought Quickdraw Handle worked on all ADS times.

1) Will a dual band scope on an LMG see through your own smoke? MMS? Target finder? 2) Does scavenger refill smoke? 3) Does the MMS see through any material? I feel like I'm not seeing through thicker walls. 4) On an LMG, if running Dexterity, does quick draw handle add any appreciable speed to ADS? 5) Why isn't my iron sights challenge working when I've used lots of AR's with iron sights? 6) Can sentry guns see through smoke, friendly or enemy? 7) Will dual wield with the Executioner pistols give you speed loaders as well, like the Pythons in BO?

Do tell...

I know, I was just breaking it down Barney style so the Marines could understand...

So you're considering a shotgun for home defense? That's generally considered a solid choice, but there are some myths and misunderstandings out there. Let's walk you through the pro's and con's, and then we'll do some general tips. Pro 1) Cost. A quality shotgun is cheaper than a handgun of similar quality. Why? Because shotguns are dead simple to produce, they have few moving parts, the barrel isn't rifled (except slug guns, we'll get to that later), and they generally have looser tolerances because of that "have few moving parts" thing. This is also why semi-auto shotguns tend to be much more expensive. They need more moving parts, closer tolerances, etc. 2) Effect on target. A 20g shotgun or larger is devastating. It makes a large ragged hole. 3) Ease of aiming. Any long gun is easier to aim than a handgun because of the concept of "sight radius". Basically the longer barrel makes it easier to line up the sights, and a little deviation from having it centered creates less deviation between point of aim and point of impact. Most shotguns only have a bead sight on the front. Put your cheek where its supposed to be, put the bead on the target, pull trigger. 4) Ease of maintenance. Any idiot can oil a shotgun, and they are very simple to maintain. 5) Ease of use. Shotguns at close range are fairly easy to get proficient with. Con 1) Sucks to practice with. Remember how I said the shotgun is devastating? Physics says that also means it sucks on the shooter's end. Shotguns are high recoil. Its not something you are going to want to put 50 rounds down range in one practice session with. You can mitigate it a bit with recoil reducing stocks, reduced recoil loads, and a padded shirt...but it still sucks. 2) One handed operation sucks. A pump shotgun is slow to run one handed, impossible if you don't practice and know how. If your home invasion plan requires you to move around the house, this is a concern. Ideally you will be holing up and ambushing the intruder, but if you've got kids you need to get to and the layout of your house dictates opening doors, this is a concern. 3) Ease of use. Yeah, I know, its in the pro section as being easy to become proficient with. It is. The shotgun is easy to gain a base proficiency with, but difficult to master. Reloading sucks. Controlling recoil for faster followup shots sucks. Ok, now that you have a base understanding, let's clear up some misunderstandings. 1) Shotguns are "point and shoot". No. The shot is only slightly larger than the end of the barrel at 5-10 yards. It doesn't spread that quickly. 2) Birdshot is good for self defense. No. Fuck no. Shot sucks for penetration. Shot is round, which means shot has a terrible sectional density, which means it won't penetrate as deeply as a bullet of the same weight. Buck shot relies on having a butt ton of power behind it. Bird shot is simply too light, so even with a butt ton of power behind it, it loses inertia very quickly. Birdshot will rapidly slow and lose penetration and it is unlikely to get to anything vital. Bird shot is for birds and small game. Buckshot is for people. 3) Shotguns are safer in the house because they won't penetrate walls. No. Drywall ain't stopping buck shot. Know your background. Which shotgun should I buy? Stick with a pump if you are a beginner. Semi-autos are pricey and can be very finicky on what type of ammo they run. The last thing you need in a self defense shooting is a stuck shell that won't extract and your gun is down. The market leaders are the Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500. I like the Mossberg because the safety is up on to where its easy to see and can be ran with either hand. I carry the 870 because that's what my department mandates. Differences in quality are minor. Smooth bore only. SMOOTH BORE ONLY!! No rifled barrels. Rifled barrels are for slugs. Running shot through a rifled barrel will result in a doughnut shaped impact, because imparting spin on the shot shell imparts centrifugal force which makes the shot spread out too much and in odd patterns. There are slugs you can safely run through smooth barrels. There are no shot shells you can run through rifled barrels. Sights? Personal preference. Traditional bead, two beads, rifle sights, ghost rings, they all have their place and all have pro's and con's. If anyone is real interested, I can walk through them. For short range use, a bead set up is fine and will likely be the fastest to acquire. You bought your shotgun, now what? Take it to the range. The first thing you need to do is pattern it with different kind of shells. This will show you how much it spreads at various distances, and also what types of shells it likes. Now run some drills. As you work on your speed, learn the feel of your gun. Pump actions can be "short stroked", where you didn't move the pump far enough forward to cycle it correctly. Try to stress yourself and make sure you don't short stroke under pressure. What type of ammo should I use? Depending on how it patterns and how recoil sensitive you are, 00 buck or #1 buck are the preferred rounds. #4 buck is the absolute smallest you should go. Understand that #4 buck =/= #4 bird. 000 buck is available, and gives you bigger shot in exchange for less pellets per shell. I haven't tried 000 myself, I think 00 is the sweet spot. How should I store it? SHOTGUNS ARE NOT DROP SAFE! Modern handguns are designed so that if you drop them, they won't go off (when everything works like it should). Shotguns have free floating firing pins and can discharge when dropped. Keep this in mind when storing. *I* store mine in a wall safe near my bed with the tube full, the action mostly closed, and the chamber empty. If it tumbles out of the safe, its not going to go off. The action isn't locked, so there's no button to push before I can work the pump to chamber the first round. This can be done quietly by going slow. What accessories do I need? I highly recommend a light. You need to identify your target and using a flashlight and a shotgun is impractical. A forestock light makes this a much simpler proposition. A side saddle for more ammunition is optional. Questions?