Month: January 2017

Loading and reloading your AR-15 is a simple and reliable process if you follow these steps. The tip in this video can make a huge difference between a working gun, and one you have to fix.

Dearly departed AR-15 guru Pat Rogers had a special patch he would give out to students who failed to properly seat their AR-15 mags and commenced to shooting, only to watch that loaded but not locked magazine hit the dirt.

Learn to do this folks. It matters.

The post When You Load or Reload Your AR-15, Do This! appeared first on Bearing Arms.

via Bearing Arms
When You Load or Reload Your AR-15, Do This!

Celebrity gossip site TMZ is reporting the former UFC champion fighter Ronda Rousey and her boyfriend, fellow UFC fighter, #10-ranked heavyweight Travis Browne, were spotted in a Las Vegas gun store over the weekend taking a concealed carry class.

Ronda Rousey has come out of hiding with a bang — surfacing at a Las Vegas gun store where she applied for a concealed carry permit … TMZ Sports has learned.

The UFC superstar and her boyfriend, Travis Browne, hit up The Range 702 gun store on Sunday where our gun enthusiast witnesses at the store say Ronda took a special course required to get a concealed carry permit.

Once Ronda applies for the permit, it usually takes around 90 days before she’ll get her card in the mail.

We’re told Ronda did some shooting at the range — which is also required for the test — using a blue Glock 43 9mm pistol.

It’s not uncommon for athletes—even professional fighters near the top of their game—to obtain firearms and concealed carry permits. Having great hand-to-hand skills is a clear asset in a fight, but professional fighters are wise enough to understand that the kind of fighting that occurs with referees and judges in a ring is completely different than what we see during robberies and home invasions, where no tactics or weapons or off limits. A wiry criminal with a gun and a plan is going to beat an unarmed heavyweight fighter almost every time.

Other professional athletes have firearms at their homes for self defense, for hunting, or merely because they like collecting them.

As people in the public eye, they are acutely aware that some people can become obsessed with celebrities and professional athletes. There have been countless incidents of people stalking celebrities both major and minor, and there have unfortunately been a number of home invasions and murders of celebrities by obsessed fans, such as the murder of The Voice contestant Christina Grimmie in June of 2016 during an autograph session.

I’m glad that Ms. Rousey and Mr. Browne have wisely come to the conclusion that their considerable mixed martial arts talents don’t make them immune to the threat of crime, and that they’re exercising their right to bear arms for self defense.

I’m not so sure about the Glock 43 though.

Blue, Ronda?

The post Former UFC Champ Rousey Spotted Bearing Instead of Breaking Arms appeared first on Bearing Arms.

via Bearing Arms
Former UFC Champ Rousey Spotted Bearing Instead of Breaking Arms

via TechCrunch
Idea Drop helps organisations generate and capture new ideas

Astronaut.io is a website with a bizarre function: It scrapes YouTube, finds videos posted in the last week that have zero or close to zero views and undescriptive filenames like "DSC-1234," then shows you a stream of snippets from these videos.

It sounds dull. But it’s completely fascinating.

That’s because Astronaut’s picks are essentially the complete opposite of a Casey Neistat video. Neistat lenses extraordinary footage of curated events and painstakingly edits it into a narrative, garnering millions of views for his artful storytelling. But the unseen videos Astronaut presents are simply random, unedited human activities from all around the world that someone deemed worthy of recording and posting, yet has made no attempt to promote.

The result is an unfiltered and honest look at what human beings do, all day, every day. If an anthropologist clicked onto this website they might never click away.

Some things that I’ve witnessed in a single viewing:

A bunch of high school girls doing a synchronized dance in snow. A tractor idling in a barren field. Men on a beach preparing a hovercraft for launch. A women’s volleyball game. Asian co-workers in an office singing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday woman while clapping. A remote-controlled fighter jet. Someone unboxing a collection of basketball cards. A baby laughing. People dancing at an outdoor festival in what appears to be Africa. Someone failing at a slam dunk in slow motion. A cooking tutorial. A speech at a funeral. A comedy play in Russia. High school students in Vietnam singing karaoke. A tour of a house where all of the surfaces appear to be concrete. A protest march conducted in Arabic. Puppies on carpet.

To be fair, the videos we see do not accurately represent all of humanity, but just the folks that have access to recording technology and a means of uploading footage to the internet. But the global nature of the footage I’ve seen is truly impressive and does not appear dominated by any one region. And I can’t stop watching it.

Try it here.

(Credit where credit is due: The website is the brainchild of data wonks Andrew Wong and James Thompson.)

Via Kottke

via Core77
We’ve Stumbled Across the Most Fascinating Site on the Internet

In case a movie featuring the Lego versions of Batman and company wasn’t already pushing the envelope for absurdity, we now have a “behind the scenes” video where the Lego figures explain why they made the movie. The fourth wall isn’t so much broken as it is twisted into a Möbius strip.

It’s not just the words that make this video funny—it’s the attention to detail. It’s Batman being credited as “Bruce Wayne’s roommate.” Or Alfred chasing bats around the Batcave in the background of Batman’s interview. Or Harley’s eating habits while the Joker talks. There are layers to this video.

The Lego Batman Movie comes out February 10.

via Gizmodo
Lego Batman Explains Why He Got His Own Movie: It’s Because He’s Awesome

If you were asked to point to the trench that housed the first Death Star’s exhaust port, where would you point? If you pointed at the big obvious seam running along the Death Star’s equator, I am sorry, but you are wrong. But don’t feel too bad—it turns out even the people at Industrial Light & Magic thought that was the answer.

Yesterday, visual effects artist Todd Vaziri posted a story on his blog, FXRants, which he’s been holding in for a year.

Here’s Vaziri remembering how he discovered where the trench that Luke and his fellow X-Wing pilots traversed in A New Hope really was:

Nearly everybody points at the equatorial trench of the Death Star. I asked dozens of die-hard fans, including many co-workers at Industrial Light & Magic, and nearly every single person pointed to the equatorial trench. If you asked me, I would also have said the equatorial trench.

In fact, this came up during ILM “Rogue One” dailies one day. Computer Graphics Supervisor Vick Schutz and Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll were chatting about the details of our computer graphics version of the Death Star, and Knoll casually remarked that the trench run in “Star Wars” is a longitudinal line on the Death Star (meaning, a north-south trench).

Most of us in the room were dumbfounded. “What did he say?”

As Vaziri himself then goes on to explain, in detail, it makes perfect sense that we’d all assume the big, equatorial line in the middle is where the exhaust port would be, even though it’s clearly much larger than the trench in the trench run and has a bunch of lights that don’t appear there. But that’s where the Death Star’s hangar bays are located, where TIE Fighters launch from, and where the Millennium Falcon was tractor beamed into (which is actually another sign that should make it clear it’s not the trench, as the two look nothing alike).

Instead, as Vaziri points out, the trench runs perpendicular to the equator, which everyone would know if we’d all just paid attention to General Jan Dodonna’s briefing to the Rebel pilots where it is clearly shown:

(Man, no one ever pays attention in meetings. Not even in Star Wars.)

Go read all of Vaziri’s post, if for no other reason than his excellent discourse on why so many of us assumed the wrong thing for so long. And if this is news to you, as it was for so many others, take heart and know that you were in very good company.

[h/t Matt Galvin]

via Gizmodo
You’ve Been Wrong About Where the Death Star Trench Was for Your Entire Life

Note: This article was originally posted on NRA Blog: http://bit.ly/2jOFDVX

USA -(Ammoland.com)- For many, airguns were a rite of passage to the world of firearms.

From hunting, recreational shooting and even competition, airguns have evolved in the shooting sports and the industry is expanding on the demand.

We’ve compiled a list of airguns displayed at this year’s SHOT Show that are bound to be added to your wish list this year.

Crosman Marauder Field & Target Edition Air Rifle

The beloved PCP air rifle is back with its newest addition to the Marauder line. The Marauder Field & Target edition features an adjustable, quick-change regulator allowing users to simply turn a dial to choose between target and field settings. The barrel is produced through a proprietary precision reaming process with barrel twist rates which optimize each pellet caliber with 3,000 psi. This particular model was presented at SHOT Show 2017 and will be released this spring.

The GAMO URBAN PCP .22 Cal Multishot Air Rifle

The Gamo URBAN PCP is a quiet, short, lightweight PCP. 22 caliber with a 10-pellet removable magazine. It features a synthetic stock, 10-shot repeater with bolt-action, and a high-precision, hammer-forged barrel. Accompanied with Whisper Fusion dual integrated sound suppression technology, this extremely quiet pneumatic gun is perfect for hunting.

Umarex Gauntlet Rifle

The Gauntlet is truly in a class of its own. With 70 incredibly consistent shots at 1,000 FPS in .177 caliber, or 60 shots at 900 FPS in .22 caliber, this PCP punches powerful and accurate shots from one fill of its high capacity 13-cu. in. regulated tank. At 8.5 pounds, the Gauntlet is a comfortable air rifle which balances well in the hand and is perfect for hunting, field target competition, or plinking.

 

John Wayne ‘Lil Duke BB Rifle

John Wayne was an iconic Hollywood actor who captivated the Silver Screen. Air Venturi presents the officially licensed John Wayne ‘Lil’ Duke .177 caliber lever-action BB rifle, aimed for beginning and young shooters. The rifle is compatible for a scope, making it one of the only lever-action BB repeaters to do so, and is featured with a stained wood stock etched with the signature from the legend himself on the action of the gun. Its large loop cocking mechanism makes for one of the easiest guns to cock and lock, and has a 550 shot capacity launching BBs downrange at speeds up to 350 FPS.

HatsanUSA Semi-Auto BullMaster Air Rifle

HatsanUSA presented the first-ever semi-automatic air rifle at SHOT Show. Named the BullMaster, this new semi-auto PCP air rifle with a bullpup design is available in .177 and .22 calibers. Featuring a detachable rotary magazine with a 14-shot capacity for the .177 and 12-shot capacity for the .22., the barrel is fully shrouded, precision-rifled and choked, and also comes with three magazines.

SIG Sauer ASP Pistol Airguns

Sig’s popular centerfire pistols are replicated as airguns in their ASP line. From its metal slide to steel-rifled barrel, this air pistol comes with some additional performance advantages – low audible profile, practice space versatility and inexpensive ammunition. The ASP pistol line is ideal for shooters to train for a quick, accurate response and is new to this year’s line.

Beeman SAG Deluxe “Co2” .177 Rifle

Anschutz 9015 Competition Air Rifle

There’s nothing wrong with a classic, and this SAG Deluxe exudes all the classic elements. The QB Series of the CO2 rifles is perfect for plinking or to modify into the ultimate pellet slinger. Featuring a hardwood stock with blued finish, the single-shot, bolt-action SAG runs on two 12–gram CO2 cartridges with a maximum muzzle velocity of 550 FPS.

Anschutz 9015

The new 9015 barreled action was developed off the 9003 Premium air rifle and is said to replace all former air rifle barreled actions in the future. Its enhanced air pressure control includes a new patented 5065 4K trigger with ball bearings and adaptable trigger blade. The 9015 is also user-friendly with its adjustable butt plate, cheek piece, and pistol grip features.

This post Airguns, Airguns, And More Airguns appeared first on AmmoLand.com Shooting Sports News .

via AmmoLand.com Shooting Sports News
Airguns, Airguns, And More Airguns

Decades ago rural farmers used railroad cross ties for fence corner post.  Farmers knew the best treated wood did not come from the farm supply store, it came from the railroad.  That is because the railroad used an industrial grade treatment process.

While pulling up an old fence line, I noticed just about all of the small two inch fence post had rotted.  On the other hand, the cross tie corner post that had a datenail of 1924 in it was still solid.  Datenails were used by rail roads to note the year that a cross tie was put under the tracks.

Used cross ties are sold in various hardware stores all over the nation.  However, today there is a better option for a corner post than a cross tie, and that is culled telephone poles (aka utility pole).

Industrial Grade Treatment

Fence post sold by hardware stores are pressure treated.  This means the board is put into a chamber, coated with Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) solution and then pressurized to force the CCA into the wood.  This is a basic consumer grade treatment.

Telephone poles are put into a vacuum chamber.  When exposed to a vacuum, moisture is pulled out of the wood.  Either CCA, creosote, or both, are injected into the chamber and the vacuum reduced.  The wood then soaks up the CCA and/or creosote.  Pressure is then applied to further force the solution into the wood.

Some companies produce poles with just the CCA treatment without the creosote.  These are easier to handle the creosote treated poles.

Culled Telephone Poles

During the treatment process, a pole may warp, or while being moved around the storage yard, the pole may become damaged.  Treatment facilities use large forklifts to move the poles.  The forks may chip a piece of wood off the pole, or a pole may fall off the forklift and become damaged.

Since the poles are damaged, the power companies reject them.  Rather than letting the poles sit in a yard, they are sold to the public at a discounted price.

Sometimes the telephone pole manufacturers will cut the poles to length and will load them in your trailer.

When I buy poles for corner post, I have them cut eight feet long.  When the poles are set, I put 3 feet in the ground.

Handling Creosote Post

Allowing creosote to touch your skin can result in a first or second degree chemical burn.

• Long sleeve work shirt.  I use a shirt that is kept separate from everyday clothing.
• Leather work gloves.
• Safety glasses.
• Work pants.
• Leather steel toed work boots.

Creosote treated poles will be heavier than regular timber.  You may want to use machinery such as a tractor, or get someone to help.

If you want to save yourself the hassle of dealing with creosote, get poles that are just CCA treated.

Fence Post That Last A Lifetime

Chances are the telephone poles you use for fence post will last a lifetime.  I have several railroad cross ties on the fence here at the farm that date from the 1940s to 1924.

The treatment process used in utility poles is far superior to anything found on a consumer grade product line.  The creosote treatment is designed to last decades buried in the ground.

The post Telephone Poles For Fence Post appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

via All Outdoor
Telephone Poles For Fence Post

The CIA has millions of declassified records stashed away in Maryland — something it claimed was accessible to the public. Actual access, however, resembles something out of Terry Gilliam’s "Brazil," rather than what any reasonable person would call "accessible."

This so-called "publicly accessible" database — known as CREST — has been the target of MuckRock contributor Mike Best, who kickstarted an effort to liberate records from the vault through the use of manual labor. The records can be accessed by computer, but only certain computers, and only if you know exactly where to find them.

This is the CIA’s "publicly available" records system front-end.

And here’s how you locate it.

Accessing the information isn’t easy. Researchers have to go to the back of the 3rd floor library at the National Archives building in Maryland, which is unfortunately unstaffed for half the day. Tucked away in the library are the only computers that can access the millions of pages of declassified records. If researchers ask the the main "Information" desk, they’re answered with confused stares and incorrect directions. Researchers trying to look up on the National Archive’s website where to access the computers, won’t find it on the page about doing research at that location or on the page for electronic records at that location. That information is tucked away on the page for online databases – despite not being online.

Best’s crowdfunding effort sought to free these documents from their four-computer cage. But the only way to do so was to visit in person, print out pages, and rescan them. All of this would be done under multiple forms of surveillance at the National Archive.

To expedite the process, MuckRock turned to litigation. Three years after commencing its FOIA lawsuit against the CIA, MuckRock has emerged victorious. The CIA has released the contents of the CREST vault online at its site, something it repeatedly claimed would take dozens of years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete.

The story behind the CIA’s forced transparency is amazing. The claims made by the CIA during its opacity efforts are simply astounding. MuckRock has published a long, detailed recounting of its FOIA battle against the agency at its site and I wholeheartedly encourage you to click through and read it. But here are some of the highlights.

First off, everything in the database is in an unsearchable format by choice. The CIA only uses TIFF files, claiming that these are more resistant to alteration. But when faced with litigation, the CIA reversed course on the supposed hardiness of TIFF files.

The declaration… says that CIA cannot release these TIFF files in electronic form because they can be so easily altered by the mere act of a CIA FOIA analyst looking at them, and that the security measures they must take to remove this accidental metadata for an electronic release (involving editing each file separately by hand) would take 28 years and 1,200 CDs.

And there’s where the hilarity begins. These are the DOJ’s claims as to the difficulty of releasing the database it just released well ahead of its 28-year estimate. Not only is the process supposedly far too onerous to even begin to consider undertaking, but the DOJ claims the documents it just made available to the public at the CIA’s website are not of public interest — this despite being (technically) available to for public viewing at the National Archive for several years now.

In another filing, the CIA admits the 1,200 CDs that would take 28 years to compile have actually already been compiled — and there are actually 1,450 CDs of records, but it will only consider releasing the quoted 1,200 if forced to. Unless the CIA is still porting these documents over to the CREST system at the National Archive, its claim of "28 years" looks even more ridiculous. From one of MuckRock’s filings:

"Moreover, when [CIA] estimates that it would take 28 years just to create copies of the CREST database, it begs the question of how CIA loaded CREST in the first place. The system has only been operational since 2000.”

Then it claimed it would need $108,000 and six months to make copies of the CDs it already had in hand. And it doubled down on its contradictory claims about TIFF files, stating they were so easy to alter because they were so difficult to alter.

This lead to one of the best rebuttals (and lead-offs) in FOIA history:

I file a sur-reply drawing on my extensive experience as a person with a working brain, closing with the following thought:

“Last, CIA claims that ‘the act of a CIA employee opening a document on his or her terminal may cause metadata to embed itself on the image header.’ This is a frivolous statement for two reasons. First, files on PCs are not altered unless they are saved after the alteration. Simply opening a file and then closing it without changing it does not embed metadata on the file. Second, if this were a valid concern, it would apply to every file processed by the CIA FOIA office, not just CREST files. Since it clearly does not (which would paralyze the FOIA office), then the Court should view this claim very skeptically.”

Kel McClanahan — the author of the post and MuckRock’s legal rep for this case — digs into the DOJ/CIA’s repeated assertions about the "burdensomeness" of complying with this FOIA request. By the time he’s done, everyone and everything is covered with government bullshit.

In 2000, using cutting edge 2000 technology, CIA populates CREST over a matter of months. For the next 15 years they insist that the only way to protect this system is to videotape people who want to access it. In 2015 they say that, using cutting edge 2015 technology, it will take them 28 years to make CD copies of CREST. Then they say that they already MADE CD copies of CREST in a matter of months if not weeks, meaning that it will only take 6 years to copy THOSE copies.

But they can copy those records to the web in 4 years. Less than a year later, they say that because of the huge public interest in CREST over the last several years (that they expressly disavowed less than 6 months before, did you remember?) they will have all of CREST online within a year because nobody needs to be videotaped any more. Then, less than 2 months later, they put all of CREST online.

The CIA and DOJ insist this stonewalling had nothing to do with the CIA’s online release of CREST files. Apparently, it did all of this out of the goodness of its heart, forfeiting a shot at $100,000+ in FOIA fees and chance to do next to nothing for the next 30 years. It’s obvious the effort to move these records online increased once it became apparent the government was going to come out on the losing end of these FOIA lawsuits (Jason Smathers was suing the CIA over the same database). Rather than be on the hook for legal fees, the CIA preempted any judicial judgment by releasing them to the public (the same public it said had "no interest" in these files) in bulk before final rulings could be made.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

via Techdirt
Database CIA Claimed Too Difficult To Compile For FOIA Requesters Released In Full On CIA Website

The first look at Guy Ritchie’s upcoming take on the Arthurian legend gave us a look at how he’s modernizing the story of the man who wielded Excalibur. A fresh trailer for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is all about the running, punching, and jumping that’ll be in the flick.

Charlie Hunnam plays an Arthur who grew up on the streets after his evil uncle Vortigern (Jude Law) seized the throne. The two men come into conflict after Arthur pulls the famous magic sword from the stone and we can see some of the craziness that ensues in the clip above. The movie hits theaters on May 12.

via Gizmodo
New Teaser for Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Focuses on Over-the-Top Action