Archive for the ‘Safety’ Category

Important safety tip (#26 in a series)

Friday, August 11th, 2023

I don’t want to seem snarky here, though I am going to snark a little bit on a certain media outlet and not the people who died. This is a tragedy, and I think there’s an important lesson here.

Three people and a dog died in Elgin on Wednesday.

The reports say that they were hunting hogs. One of their dogs escaped and fell into a cistern, and one of the hunters went after it. He passed out, and two people went in after him. The fourth one stayed out and called 911.

“Because of the gas in the hole, we think – and we’re speculating here, we’ll let the autopsy bear this out. But we’re speculating that the gas overcame them and they were not able to maintain any kind of buoyancy on top of the water, and therefore, they sank underneath the water,” Cook said.

One major media outlet claims they died from “high levels of hydrogen — a toxic gas“. While it is true that hydrogen is toxic, in the sense that if you just breathe hydrogen instead of air YOU WILL DIE, more literate outlets are reporting it was actually an accumulation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

H2S is nasty.

The key point here, though, is: your safety is the priority. If someone goes into a confined space and passes out, I know the desire to help is hard to resist. But: don’t do it, unless you are a trained responder with self-contained breathing equipment. Otherwise, you’re just giving the first responders two victims to rescue instead of one.

Obit watch: July 11, 2023.

Tuesday, July 11th, 2023

Andrea Evans, soap star. IMDB.

Evans came to fame by playing Tina — People magazine nicknamed her “Daytime’s Diva of Dirt” — on One Life to Live from 1979-81 and from 1985-90. However, she had to abruptly quit the soap after a stalker accosted her in the lobby of the show’s Manhattan studio in 1987 and later sent her death threats, some of them written in blood.

Mikala Jones, surfer.

Jones had been staying at the Awera Resort with his family, when around 9:15 a.m., he likely impaled his left groin on his surfboard fin, suffering a 4-inch-long gash, according to the surfing website Surfline, citing official reports.
While the exact circumstances of Jones’ death remained unclear, those close to Jones wrote on social media that he died after slashing his femoral artery, leading to massive blood loss.

Remember: Stop The Bleed isn’t just for shootings.

Lawrence emailed obits for Manny Coto, producer, and Betta St. John, actress.

I don’t think this quite qualifies for the “Burning In Hell Watch”, but it does belong at the bottom: James W. Lewis, who was suspected, but never actually charged, in the Chicago Tylenol poisonings.

Mr. Lewis spent more than four decades under scrutiny in connection with the notorious unsolved poisonings, in which someone laced Extra-Strength Tylenol with deadly potassium cyanide, killing seven people in the Chicago area in September and October 1982.
Mr. Lewis was never charged in the murders, and he denied any involvement in them. But in October 1982, he sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of MacNeil Consumer Products, the manufacturer of Tylenol, saying he would “stop the killing” if he were paid $1 million. He was convicted of extortion in 1983 and spent 12 years in federal prison.

Many small bloodsucking insects.

Monday, June 5th, 2023

I usually don’t like to cover politics here, even Texas politics, because it tends to drive me up a tree.

In this case, I haven’t seen anyone else pick up on this, and it’s an interesting story.

The Texas Legislature has eliminated annual safety inspections for cars, starting in 2025.

The Libertarian side of me thinks this is swell: as far as it was concerned, the annual inspection didn’t do much of anything except put money in the pockets of certified state inspection stations for “adjusting your headlights” and “replacing your wiper blades”.

“This will make the roads more dangerous. I’m sure you guys have thought about that. I could also talk about the small businesses that will be put out of business and many people will have to be fired and lose their job,” owner of San Antonio-based Official Inspection Station Charissa Barnes said. “If this bill passes, then it would destroy our inspection industry, right in the middle of us bringing on emissions testing.”

The less Libertarian side of me is skeptical for a few reasons. While I think most people are motivated not to drive with bad tires and brakes, and those kind of things can be picked up when you take your car in for an oil change anyway, there probably are some folks who got some warning out of the annual inspection process. Then again, the people who did drive with bad brakes and bad tires probably would be driving even if they didn’t have an inspection or registration, and these days the odds of getting caught seem to be slim.

If safety is really a concern, the insurance companies can start requiring a “voluntary” inspection: you get a discount if you get your car inspected yearly at an approved facility. Or even better, no inspection, no insurance. Worst case, you go through the assigned risk pool.

Secondly, this doesn’t eliminate the state inspection fee: the state is still going to make you pay $7.50 (or $16.75 if it is a new car) as part of the annual registration.

Also, if your car is registered in one of the areas that requires emissions testing (that includes Travis, Williamson, and Harris counties, among others: full list in the article) you still have to get your car emissions tested before you can register it. (There’s an exception for cars that are 25 or more years old: I managed to get out of emissions testing for a few years before my old Honda blew a head gasket.)

I thought most states still required at least a safety inspection, but I was wrong, according to Wikipedia: “Fifteen states have a periodic (annual or biennial) safety inspection program, while Maryland requires a safety inspection and Alabama requires a VIN inspection on sale or transfer of vehicles which were previously registered in another state.

Interestingly, Louisiana requires a safety inspection, and “New Orleans requires a “brake tag”. In addition to the state requirements, if the vehicle is registered in New Orleans, the brakes must be tested annually with a short stop test.

Must be fun to get your car inspected in the Big Easy.

Happy BAG Day!

Friday, April 14th, 2023

Technically, National Buy a Gun Day is tomorrow, not today. Even better, tomorrow is a Saturday, so your gun shopping should be unobstructed.

However, I anticipate it being a busy weekend: Mike the Musicologist and I are planning to go to Kerrville tomorrow for the gun show, followed by Lawrence’s and my annual birthday dinner. So I’m posting today instead, because I don’t think I’ll have time otherwise.

Do I have my eye on anything in particular? Not really this year: I’m still waiting for my special order gun to show up, and I actually have two guns on layaway at my local gun shop, so I’m not much in the market right now. But gun shows are targets of opportunity, and you never know what might show up…

And some random gun crankery for you from The Firearm Blog:

Henry Repeating Arms, who is pretty famous for making modern lever-action rifles, is branching out. Now they’ve gotten into the revolver market. Doesn’t turn my crank, but if you own a Henry lever gun, you might like one of these as a companion side piece.

And Hi-Point’s introduced a new carbine…in .30 Super Carry. This seems weird, and not just because it is Hi-Point. .30 Super Carry, as I understand it, was designed more as a pistol cartridge, I’d be interested in seeing what it does out of a carbine, but not really interested enough to buy one.

(This is not me sneering at Hi-Point. I don’t find their guns attractive, but they are reasonably priced and work. The guys at Tex-Guns always used to say they’d sold “hundreds” of Hi-Points, and only had one or two come back needing work.)

And, yes, I know I owe everyone another gun/gun book post or two. I’m trying to work on it, but the weather and scheduling has not been cooperative. Soon…

Edited to add: If you aren’t busy on Sunday, though, and live in Austin, there’s a free “Stop the Bleed” course being offered. Details at the link.

Important safety tip (#25 in a series)

Friday, April 15th, 2022

I admit: I am not a NRA certified firearms instructor. Perhaps I should consult Karl of KR Training (official firearms trainer of WCD) before posting this.

Then again, this just seems like common sense to me.

When you’re teaching classes, a little humor is good. It keeps the students alert.

But you might want to avoid the racial jokes. Doesn’t matter if you are a minority, doesn’t matter if you’re an equal opportunity roaster, somebody’s going to run with this and try to make you (and people of the gun in general) look bad.

Again, nothing wrong with jokes: I’m just saying, steer clear of the racial ones. Probably ought to stay clear of sexist ones, too.

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#81 and #82 in a series)

Thursday, March 3rd, 2022

I’m running a little bit behind due to Ash Wednesday. My apologies.

Number one on the hit parade: Michael Madigan, the former Speaker of the Illinois House, indicted on 22 counts of racketeering.

The 22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury comes after a yearslong federal investigation and alleges Madigan participated in an array of bribery and extortion schemes from 2011 to 2019 aimed at using the power of his office for personal gain.
The long-awaited charges punctuate a stunning downfall for Madigan, the longest serving leader of any legislative chamber in the nation who held an ironclad grip on the state legislature as well as the Democratic party and its political spoils. He was dethroned as speaker in early 2021 as the investigation swirled around him, and soon after resigned the House seat he’d held since 1971.

Also charged in the indictment was Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, a former state legislator and lobbyist who is facing separate charges alleging he orchestrated an alleged bribery scheme by Commonwealth Edison.
That same alleged scheme forms the backbone of the indictment returned Wednesday, outlining a plan by the utility giant to pay thousands of dollars to lobbyists favored by Madigan in order to win his influence over legislation the company wanted passed in Springfield.

There’s also some stuff involving a land deal in Chinatown, Jake.

At a news conference Wednesday at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, U.S. Attorney John Lausch said the indictment was yet another sign of the state’s seemingly intractable issue of public corruption.

I haven’t laughed this hard since the hogs et my kid brother.

The indictment was the culmination of a long-running federal probe of Madigan that broke wide open in summer 2020, when prosecutors identified him as “Public Official A” in bribery charges against ComEd.
Four people, including McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former lobbyist John Hooker, and Jay Doherty, a consultant and longtime leader of the City Club of Chicago, were charged that November with bribery conspiracy and are awaiting trial. A fifth, former ComEd Vice President Fidel Marquez, has pleaded guilty to his role and is cooperating with investigators.

Someone asked me yesterday if it counts as a flaming hyena if the politician is out of office. My answer in this case is:

1. Yes, because the alleged conduct took place while he was in office.
II. I have the distinct impression that Madigan, while out of office, probably still wields a lot of power behind the scenes.
C. I’m not going to pass up a chance to kick an Illinois politician.

Number two is a bit more local story, but it has received national attention.

Van Taylor, who represents the 3rd Congressional District (in the Plano area) got 49% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary, and was in a runoff.

At least, until yesterday, when he dropped out.

Why? Well, he was married and having an affair. He paid the woman $5,000 to not say anything but the story came out anyway.

The affair part isn’t so bad, I guess. Consenting adults, between him and his wife, etc. I don’t know where the $5K came from, or if there’s a crime involved with that.

The bizarre part is who he was having the affair with: a woman who became somewhat famous as “ISIS Bride”.

From another source:

[Tania] Joya was born in London and is a UK citizen. In 2003, at 19 years old, she met John Thomas Georgelas, an American-born convert to Islam, jihadist, and supporter of the Islamic State. In September 2013, she moved to Syria and “hated” living there for how they treated women, she told Breitbart News.
“They will kill you or enslave you,” she said of ISIS. “They [Muslim fundamentalists] have medieval ideas,” she added.
Joya later informed American authorities on Georgelas, and afterward worked on counter-terrorism for three years “so we could drone him,” she said of Georgelas.

So I gather she wasn’t married, and got a divorce the old-fashioned way: by informing on her husband, so US drones could turn him into something that looked like tomato paste.

Taylor has until March 16 to remove his name from the runoff ballot, which he plans to do, according to a spokesperson. After he does that, [Keith] Self is automatically the Republican nominee for the district. There is a Democratic nominee for the seat, Sandeep Srivastava, but he faces long odds after the district was redrawn last year to favor Republicans.

I rather liked this Twitter thread:

I think that qualifies as an important safety tip for all of us dudes: have at least one friend who you can trust to tell you “banging an ISIS chick isn’t a good idea, especially if you’re already married”.

Edited to add: Battleswarm has their own take on this, which you should really go read as well.

Important safety tip (#24 in a series)

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022

Trigger warning for dog people, but: nature red in tooth and claw.

.380 is not a sufficient caliber for moose.

Also:

She said no musher would ever travel with a rifle or a large caliber gun, instead preferring to scare off animals with a flare gun. And with all the jostling of the sled, the larger guns could easily go off.

I’m sorry, but if your guns are going off because of the sled jostling, you’re doing it wrong, and should go find a qualified gunsmith.

Followup.

Thursday, January 27th, 2022

A few weeks ago, I wrote up an after-action report on John Hearne’s classes at KR Training.

Michael Bane was also in Mr. Hearne’s class, and recorded an interview with him. That interview is now posted on his web site, for your information and edification.

The whole thing is a little over 20 minutes, but not all of that is Mr. Hearne, so you can probably fit this in to a coffee break.

Hattip: KR Training on the book of face.

Personal note: Mr. Hearne and I have corresponded a bit by email since I wrote that after action report, and our correspondence just confirms my original opinion: he’s a swell guy, who went out of his way to answer my questions. Again, if you have the chance, take his courses.

Important safety tip (#23 in a series)

Sunday, January 23rd, 2022

This is something I did not know, but a person close to WCD mentioned it to me. The Texas Comptroller’s office confirms it.

Gun safes in Texas are exempt from sales tax.

Actually, it isn’t just gun safes:

The sale, storage, use and other consumption of firearm safety equipment is tax free. This includes, but is not limited to, a gun lock box, gun safe, barrel lock, trigger lock, firearm safety training manual or electronic publication, or other item designed to ensure safe handling or storage of a firearm.

So if I ever buy one of those Hornady lock boxes for my car…tax free, baby!

(Seriously, I was going back and forth on one of those for a while, so I could stash my gun in my car while I was at the office. Then the Chinese Rabies hit. Now I have no idea when I’m going back to the office, so buying one seems pointless.)

Important safety tip (#22 in a series)

Wednesday, January 19th, 2022

Lawrence brought up an important safety tip the other night, based on two documentaries the Saturday Movie Group has watched. (“Barry Lyndon” and “Gone With the Wind”.)

Don’t buy a horse for your child.

It never ends well.

(Did you know IMDB has a “riding accident” keyword?)

Quick followup.

Wednesday, July 21st, 2021

The Drive has an article on that spectacular jumping car I posted the other day.

Their coverage adds quite a bit, including a diagram of what appears to have happened and a link to (low quality) security cam video from another angle.

And, yes, the comments are full of Dukes of Hazard references…

More things I did not know…

Wednesday, July 21st, 2021

In an emergency, a potato chip bag and duct tape can be used as a chest seal. I don’t recommend this unless you have advanced EMT training, and I’m not sure which flavor of chips works best.

$10,000 face value in pennies weighs approximately three tons.

I think that entire article is interesting: it goes into more detail than you ever wanted to know about US pennies (and to a lesser extent, Canadian ones), as well as the economics of same. The only issue is that the events the author describes took place between 2008 and 2009, so it is a little dated.

Pennybullion.com is still in business, and will sell you $100 (face value) worth of copper pennies for $169.95 (plus $10.95 shipping and handling). They are not currently purchasing pennies, just in case you were thinking about getting into the copper penny business.

And you can still buy a Ryedale Sorter, but they go for about $500 now instead of $250.