Because this sits at the extremely rare intersection of gun geekery and SF geekery:
GUN OF THE DAY – Edgar Rice Burrough's Pistol. Our GOTD is a Japanese Type 94 semi-automatic pistol that was manufactured in August of 1944. During WWII, Burroughs volunteered as a war correspondent and provided regular commentary from the war in the Pacific. pic.twitter.com/xz1U98FlTB
— NRA Museums (@NRA_museums) June 17, 2019
I really don’t have anything to say about the 75th anniversary of D-Day that I haven’t already said.
Borepatch has a couple of good posts up. Also worth noting: “D-Day + 75: Arms of the Airborne“. (Edited to add: Also, Lawrence.)
(When I win the $520 million in the MegaMillions drawing this coming Friday, I think the second full-auto gun I’m going to buy (after the Thompson) will be a vintage BAR. Or a Colt Monitor.)
I’ve avoided discussing the recent NRA issues because, frankly, I don’t trust anybody to cover them fairly and objectively. If you want to read a take on what’s going on, though, Lawrence put up a post last week on his blog: if you’re not a regular reader there, you might want to check it out.
Also brought up by Lawrence, though this was just a quick hit in the Linkswarm: the New Orleans Times-Picayune was bought out by The Advocate, and the entire Times Picayune staff was laid off. The NYT has a considerably more detailed story on what happened and why, if you care about New Orleans newspaper wars. Personally, I pretty much relied on nola.com for anything involving the city, so I’ll be interested in seeing what changes.
(Also, good to know that there are still places where you can get Baked Alaska.)
My birthday was a week ago last Saturday (April 20th).
You know what this means, right?
Right. I’ve been buying books.
I ordered some things off of my Amazon wish list, since there were several items available used in the right combination of price and condition. Right now, I’m reading Tuchman’s Practicing History: Selected Essays: since that’s a collection of shorter work, I’m also planning to start Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War and alternate the two for variety.
(And, yes, I kind of want to see the Netflix series based on Five Came Back. Between that and “The Highwaymen”, I’m really tempted to get a Netflix trial, even though I refuse to pay for television.)
(Other things that were in the Amazon batch: The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics, which won an Edgar a few years back. The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life. The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage, for your obligatory Catholic content (CathCon?). More seriously, I like a lot of O’Connor, I know Rod Dreher is a big Walker Percy fan and I’d like to understand why, and I’m kind of interested in Merton. (Though, going back to Mr. Dreher again, I’m not sure now that I want to read Merton.) And The Infernal Library: On Dictators, the Books They Wrote, and Other Catastrophes of Literacy.)
Mike the Musicologist came up Friday night and we spent the weekend running around. We had a very good joint birthday dinner (Lawrence‘s is a few days before mine) at Lonesome Dove.
After dinner, we went back to Lawrence‘s and watched the 1943 “Stormy Weather“. “Stormy Weather” sort of presents itself as a loose “biography” of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (renamed “Bill Williamson” for the film). In truth, the biographical elements are an extremely thin skeleton…upon which is hung a whole bunch of fantastic musical performances by Robinson, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, the Nicholas Brothers, and others.
(I love this entry from Wikipedia about the Nicholas Brothers: “Gregory Hines declared that if their biography were ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer generated because no one now could emulate them.“)
Unfortunately, our plans for Sunday fell through (they caught the kangaroo) but we were able to spend the afternoon talking about kitchen remodeling with some friends of ours. Yes, this is the exciting life of a 54-year-old.
I took Monday off (another perk of being a full-time Cisco employee: you get a free day off on or around your birthday) and went running errands with Mom. This involved stopping at both the Round Rock and central Half-Price Books locations. And HPB sent me a 15% off your total purchase coupon for my birthday. And it just so happened that they had a whole bunch of interesting gun books…
I did make it down to Cabela’s yesterday, but I didn’t see anything that really called out to me and said “Take me home!”
They did have a bunch of S&W Model 59s in one of the display cases – I want to say at least ten out on the floor, and I don’t know if they had more in back. It looked like they’d been knocked around some, so I’m thinking these were trade-ins or surplus from somewhere. But I didn’t have a chance to ask, or look closely at any of them, as the counter people were busy. The price isn’t too awful – $350 – and it is a Smith I don’t have, but I just don’t know if I need another hi-cap 9mm right now.
They also had a surprising number of Winchester Model 70s out on the rack (as opposed to in the gun library) but nothing pre-64 (of course) and none of them were in calibers that I found desirable: mostly .30-06 and .243, with one each in .300 Win Mag and .308. Also a bunch of Savage rifles, but, again, nothing in a caliber or configuration that really attracted me.
So I’m declaring a push on my own personal Buy a Gun Day. But I’m also declaring this an open thread for anyone who wants to brag about their acquisitions.
P.S. Since I’m making the rules for this thread: yes, layaways do count. Also, if you need some inspiration, you-know-who is still selling M&P Shields for $250.
Again. Monday, April 15th. Of course, a lot of the good smaller gun shops are closed on Monday, so (as always) I don’t have a problem if you want to start early, or extend your BAG shopping into next week.
What am I getting this year? There’s nothing that I’m really excited about or that turns my crank. I’m tempted to pick up one of the Palmetto State Armory M&P Shields (which are still on sale) but I don’t really feel like I need one.
Earlier today, I got an email from CDNN, who are selling the “Steyr Scout RFR”. I assume “RFR” means “RimFire Rifle”, as these are available in .22 Magnum, .22 LR, and .17 HMR. I didn’t even know these existed before now.
The idea of a rimfire “scout rifle” (Cooper would call it a “pseduo-Scout”) is kind of appealing, and I’ve been thinking about something in .17 HMR. The price isn’t bad, but I haven’t quite finished getting my Savage Scout set up the way I want it yet. (I’ve got the scope, I’ve got the rings, I just need to find a gunsmith I can trust to mount and boresight it.) So I’m not sure I want to put more money into another scout that will need a scope. Plus, for .17 HMR, I’m actually thinking more along the lines of the Ruger Precision Rifle than a scout.
And I’ve actually checked off all the items I had on last year’s list. Well, mostly: I have the sling and the scope, and the Dragon Leatherworks holster is on order (expected delivery at the end of May.)
If I have time over the weekend, I might run down to Cabela’s to see if there are any targets of opportunity, but I’m not counting on it. Unless I see something that really excites me, I’m probably going to be putting BAG Day money into getting more of my collection set up the way I want it.
But don’t let me stop you, and feel free to share photos of your BAG Day finds here if you want to.
You may very well have seen this elsewhere, but: the folks at BulkMunitions sent me a nice personal email and suggested the two of you who read my blog might be interested in their giveaway.
They’re offering a .50 caliber ammo can with foam inserts for two pistols and a 25 pack of dessicant.
I’m not going to be entering, because I don’t think it’s fair to my loyal readers. Also, I haven’t had any dealings with BulkMunitions, so this is not an endorsement: as I said, they sent me a nice email, personalized so it didn’t come across as spam, so I’m willing to give them some space here.
Contest ends April 13th, two days before Buy a Gun Day. So if you win the contest, you have a built-in excuse to go buy something to keep in your ammo can.
Or is it hoplobibilophilia? What do you call it when you have a fondness for gun books?
Whatever it is, I have the fever. And the only cure is…more cowbell, er, buying more books. Now it’s your turn to suffer for my -phila.
Seriously, I’ve picked up a couple of books lately that I want to endorse and document Lawrence style. (Please do not confuse “Lawrence style” with “Gangnam style“.) Half-Price Books has been having another coupon sale, but the first two books here I actually ordered new from the publishers.
I feel a moral obligation to say something about the New Zealand massacre.
Problem is, I don’t have anything to say right now that won’t make me feel like I’m waving the bloody shirt around. (The NYT coverage has some interesting points that I may come back to in a day or two.)
So this is perhaps worth spreading around.
One of my twins was born with multiple heart and esophageal defects. Had open-heart surgery at 47 hours old, weighing only 4.5 lbs. When the surgeon described the procedure, it sounded impossible. But the surgery went well. He has more to go, but we let our guard down.
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) March 5, 2019
Great and good friend of the blog Karl Rehn (official trainer to WCD) has a new book out, co-written with John Daub.
Strategies and Standards for Defensive Handgun Training is available in paperback and Kindle form. Quoting Amazon’s summary:
I haven’t read (or ordered) this book yet. But as you know, Bob, I’ve known Karl for a while and taken classes from him, so I don’t have any qualms endorsing this. I plan to order my copy soon, and will report back once I’ve read it.
Besides, if you can’t pimp your friend’s products, whose products can you pimp?
Yesterday was a busy day for the NYT: the obit writers were apparently playing catch-up. One of these I knew about, but was waiting for a reliable source on, while the others I had not heard about.
William E. Butterworth III, noted and bestselling author.
If the name doesn’t ring a bell with you, that’s because he wrote mostly under pseudonyms. His best known pen name was W.E.B. Griffin.
(Also: awesome photo, NYT.)
Ken Nordine, poet and “word jazz” guy.
I used to fall asleep with the radio on and wake up to it in the morning. As I recall, early on Sunday mornings, in that twilight zone when I was half-awake and half-asleep, our local public radio station aired re-runs of “Word Jazz”.
I had not heard of Ethel Ennis, but this is an interesting story: Playboy jazz poll winner for best female singer,
And then she mostly walked away from it all and became Baltimore’s unofficial “First Lady of Jazz”.
“They had it all planned out for me,” she told The Washington Post in 1979, referring to the music executives in charge of her career. “I’d ask, ‘When do I sing?’ and they’d say, ‘Shut up and have a drink. You should sit like this and look like that and play the game of bed partners.’ You really had to do things that go against your grain for gain. I wouldn’t.”
She added: “I want to do it my way. I have no regrets.”
Finally, David Horowitz, newscaster and consumer reporter. I remember watching the syndicated version of “Fight Back!” on one of the Houston TV stations (though I don’t recall which one) back when I was young…
Remember, folks: when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have frozen pork chops.
(Hattip for the submission: Mike the Musicologist. We also would have accepted his suggested title: “Roald Dahl, call your office, please.” even though that’s not quite technically accurate. Hattip for the title.)
Also by way of Mike:
Boston cop on leave after service weapon allegedly stolen by strippers
Strippers. Always the strippers.
Note that the arrest report values the Glock at $5,000. Should we be calling the unnamed police officer “The Man With the Golden Gun” from now on?
I’m not going to do a full Lawrence here, but I want to mention a couple of interesting things I’ve found at Half-Price Books recently:
Not much to say about this one: anybody who knows me well, or even regularly reads this blog, understands why I had to pick this one up.
Spoiler: that “bizarre menace” is…LSD.
I actually already have, and have read, The Ravens, and rather liked it. (Christoper Robbins also wrote Air America, which the Robert Downey Jr./Mel Gibson movie was based on.) But prices on this seem to be all over the place, and I thought it might be worth taking a flyer on for $7.99…
…and then I took a look at the title page:
If you can’t read it, this appears to have been signed to somebody named “Chris” by multiple former Ravens. I think this is kind of nifty, and will probably hang onto this copy. (I might flip the other one.) I don’t think the “Chris” in question is the author, as he died in London in 2012, and his bio doesn’t say anything about military service. I suspect there’s a sad story behind this ending up at HPB that I don’t really want to think about, but I hope wherever “Chris” is, he knows that someone values his book.
Also, just to drive one or two of my friends crazy: I picked up some more Jack O’Connor. The two volume Hunting on Three Continents, which I found for $14.99 (minus 20% because it was after Christmas), and the Jim Casada edited The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor. which I probably overpaid for. But both are in mint shape. I actually do not remember if I already have Lost Classics, but if I find it in one of the boxes I’ll flip it. I know I didn’t have Three Continents previously: that was a real find.
Probably the next thing I’m going to curl up with, though, is Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour which was a Christmas gift from my beloved and indulgent sister.
I don’t mean to seem lazy, but I can’t put it much better than Reason‘s “Hit and Run” did:
Chicago Alderman and Notorious Nanny-Stater Ed Burke Charged in Federal Corruption Scheme
I know: a corrupt Chicago alderman? Who’d thunk it? From the Tribune:
A federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday charged Burke with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison on conviction.
The complaint also alleged Burke asked one of the company’s executives in December 2017 to attend an upcoming political fundraiser for “another politician.” Sources identified the politician as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for Chicago mayor.
I missed this story, but there was an FBI raid on Burke’s office a few weeks ago:
This is amusing: I can’t tell if Burke was a member of Crooked Mayors Against Self-Defense (or if he was even eligable, being an alderman) but he was a big time gun grabber:
Of course, innocent until proven guilty, yadda yadda, but: they caught him on the wire. I’m looking forward to Alderman Burke going to prison for a long, long time.
Rosenda Monteros, prominent Mexican actress.
She was perhaps most famous in the US as Petra, Chico’s romantic interest in the 1960 version of “The Magnificent Seven”.
Interesting side note from the obit:
“The Magnificent Seven” was shot in Mexico, where a government censor kept a close eye on the production to make sure that Mexicans were depicted positively. Mr. Sturges told The New York Times in 1960 that the censor was “an autocrat” who operated “on the theory that anything debatable should be stricken out.”
Mr. Sturges took note of one major change to the script: Instead of setting out to hire American fighters from the start, the farmers at first tried to buy guns for themselves.