“Every video that goes by, the resale value of this place goes down.” The Slow Mo Guys did their best Man at Arms impression and tried to slice through lines of plastic water bottles with a katana. It’s not as easy – or safe – as you might think it is.
Great Interview With Gun Owner Who Stopped Texas Church Mass-Murderer ~ VIDEO
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- A heart-wrenching interview with the hero, Stephen Willeford, who brought down the murderer who attacked a Texas church…
This is an exclusive interview, done by Steven Crowder ( Louder With Crowder ) with Stephen Willeford, the hero who ended the killing spree in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Stephen recounts the actions that lead him to confronting Devin Patrick Kelley outside First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
From the courage he showed, to the horrible feelings after having to kill a fellow human being, to being hounded by the press so bad that he doesn’t want to leave his house, not even to attend funerals, this interview covers it all.
Thanks to Virginia Citizens Defense League member Todd V. Banks for the link:
About Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL):
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
For more information, visit: www.vcdl.org.
This post Great Interview With Gun Owner Who Stopped Texas Church Mass-Murderer ~ VIDEO appeared first on AmmoLand.com Shooting Sports News .
via AmmoLand.com Shooting Sports News
Great Interview With Gun Owner Who Stopped Texas Church Mass-Murderer ~ VIDEO
How very low-calorie diets reverse diabetes
New research clarifies the mechanisms by which caloric restriction rapidly reverses type 2 diabetes.
If researchers confirm the findings in people, they could provide potential new drug targets for treating this common chronic disease, the researchers say.
One in three Americans will develop type 2 diabetes by 2050, according to recent projections by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Reports indicate that the disease goes into remission in many patients who undergo bariatric weight-loss surgery, which significantly restricts caloric intake prior to clinically significant weight loss.
The Yale University researchers investigated the effects of a very low calorie diet (VLCD), consisting of one-quarter the normal intake, on a rodent model of type 2 diabetes. Using a novel stable (naturally occurring) isotope approach, which they developed, the researchers tracked and calculated a number of metabolic processes that contribute to the increased glucose production by the liver.
The method, known as PINTA, allowed the investigators to perform a comprehensive set of analyses of key metabolic fluxes within the liver that might contribute to insulin resistance and increased rates of glucose production by the liver—two key processes that cause increased blood-sugar concentrations in diabetes.
Using this approach the researchers pinpointed three major mechanisms responsible for the VLCD’s dramatic effect of rapidly lowering blood glucose concentrations in the diabetic animals.
In the liver, the VLCD lowers glucose production by:
- decreasing the conversion of lactate and amino acids into glucose;
- decreasing the rate of liver glycogen conversion to glucose;
- and decreasing fat content, which in turn improves the liver’s response to insulin.
These positive effects of the VLCD were observed in just three days.
Skin transplants could treat diabetes and obesity
“Using this approach to comprehensively interrogate liver carbohydrate and fat metabolism, we showed that it is a combination of three mechanisms that is responsible for the rapid reversal of hyperglycemia following a very low calorie diet,” says senior author Gerald I. Shulman, professor of medicine and cellular and molecular physiology at Yale and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The next step for the researchers will be to confirm whether they can replicate the findings in type 2 diabetic patients undergoing either bariatric surgery or consuming very low calorie diets. His team has already begun applying the PINTA methodology in humans.
“These results, if confirmed in humans, will provide us with novel drug targets to more effectively treat patients with type 2 diabetes,” Shulman says.
Grants from the United States Public Health Service supported this research.
Lots of red meat and poultry linked to diabetes risk
The researchers report their findings in the journal Cell Metabolism.
Source: Yale University
The post How very low-calorie diets reverse diabetes appeared first on Futurity.
The Best Kids Headphones
The human ear and brain can’t accurately assess the volume of sound; if they could, there might be no need for volume-limiting headphones. So in order to test how loud the kids headphones could play, we did a set of formal objective sound measurements using audio-testing equipment.
Immediately we found a problem: Almost all these headphones can produce dangerously high volume if you use them with certain gear. And not just specialized gear—a relatively high-powered headphone amplifier, such as the ones built into many AV receivers, or the stand-alone amps popular among enthusiasts (and for most traditional lab measurements), could drive most any headphones well above 85 dB.
This problem happens because most of these headphones don’t really limit volume but merely reduce it. Passive headphones (that is, non-powered headphones, the kind you’re probably most familiar with) reduce volume using resistors, an inexpensive electrical component that reduces electrical flow. The technique is similar to splicing a narrow piece of water pipe onto the end of a fatter pipe, which reduces the amount of water coming through the pipe. However, you can get the overall flow of water back up to the original level by increasing the pressure going through the pipe. In the case of headphones, you apply the extra “pressure” by turning up the volume on the source device. Sure, the headphones are reducing the volume as if you had the dial on 5 instead of 8, but if you turn the volume to 11 it’ll still sound like it’s on 8.
Active headphones (in other words, internally powered ones) such as the Puro BT2200 can employ a digital limiter that stops the sound from playing any higher than a certain volume level. But few of the headphones we tested for this guide have internal amplifiers or digital processors, so they’re not precise. In our tests, a few of the passive models produced little, if any, reduction or limiting of volume.
Of course, a child will almost certainly use a phone, tablet, or portable music player for most or all of their listening, so the fact that most of these headphones will play much louder with a headphone amp is largely irrelevant in day-to-day use. However, we did need to settle on an appropriate source for the audio signals we would be using in our tests. Jason Wehner, an engineering consultant who has been involved in the design of volume-limiting headphones, made the sensible suggestion of using an iPhone as our source device, because iPhones are the loudest source most people will encounter—the iPhone’s internal amplifiers are more powerful than those found in most Android phones. We ended up using an iPod touch (sixth-generation model), which was able to play slightly louder (+0.38 dB) than our iPhone 6s and substantially louder (+4.4 dB) than our Samsung Galaxy S6. The iPod touch is popular as a “starter screen” for young children, so it seemed an appropriate choice here. We haven’t, however, exhaustively tested the output of all possible sources—video game consoles and home theater receivers, for example—so we’re unclear on how these headphones would perform with them. In any case, such devices would likely be used by older kids with gaming headsets, which don’t make any volume-limiting claims and are somewhat outside the scope of this guide (though parents and caregivers should be aware).
The hearing experts we consulted suggested using pink noise, a common test signal with an equal amount of energy per octave that more or less mimics the content of music. To the ear, pink noise sounds a lot like the white noise you’d hear between stations with an old analog-tuner FM radio, but less hissy sounding. We used pink noise with A-weighting, which basically removes frequencies below about 500 Hz (about an octave above middle C on a piano). According to Brian Fligor, chair of the WHO’s Make Listening Safe initiative and one of the experts we interviewed and consulted, low frequencies have a negligible effect on hearing loss.
As we’ve already discussed, the general consensus among experts is that an environmental noise level of 85 dBA (the “A” standing for A-weighting) is considered reasonably safe for an hour of listening. (For the technically inclined, the pink noise we used for these tests has an average level of -10 dBFS, or decibels relative to full scale, which is what audio manufacturers often use to measure the maximum volume of their devices.)
Although pink noise loosely simulates the content of music, it’s still just a simulation, one that serves to make measurements easier and more repeatable. We wanted to add a more real-world evaluation of how loud these headphones could get. To do that, we played a recent Top 40 hit, “Cold Water” by Major Lazer, through all the headphones and measured the A-weighted Leq (equivalent continuous sound level). Leq is a commonly used gauge of sound exposure over time; to oversimplify a bit, it’s sort of like the average volume.
We used the first chorus (from 0:45 to 1:06), which is one of the louder parts of “Cold Water” and roughly analogous to loud dance music. This was something of a worst-case test, because our Leq measurement of the entire tune was typically -1.3 dB lower, although we could have listened at an even louder level for this test because the second chorus typically measured +1.5 dB louder than the first. We also ran test measurements using another tune, ZZ Top’s “Chartreuse.” This track is a very loud recording that’s heavily dynamically compressed, which means the average sound level is pretty close to the maximum sound level possible, resulting in a track that to the ear sounds louder overall. The results were similar to what we measured from the first chorus of “Cold Water.”
For all of these measurements, we attached the headphones to a G.R.A.S. 43AG ear/cheek simulator. At the suggestions of the hearing experts we consulted, we used what’s referred to as a “diffuse-field calibration curve.” We did so because hearing researchers originally determined the theoretically safer environmental sound levels (the 85 dBA amount) using a sound pressure level meter held in free air without much around it. Sound that reaches the eardrum—and sound that reaches the measurement microphone built into the G.R.A.S. 43AG—is altered by the earlobe and ear canal (or in the case of the 43AG, by the simulated rubber earlobe and metal ear canal). So to make sure our measurements were comparable to that 85 dBA free-air measurement, we had to create a method to electronically reverse the way the 43AG’s simulated earlobe and ear canal change the sound. The correction curve (think of this as similar to an EQ adjustment) we created was the “diffuse-field calibration curve.” We created this curve by playing pink noise through a speaker, measuring that noise with an Audiomatica MIC-01 measurement microphone and CLIO 10 FW analyzer, and then comparing that measurement with one taken using the G.R.A.S. 43AG in the same location. Thus, using this correction curve, the levels we measured through the ear/cheek simulator would be directly comparable with environmental-noise measurements.
We calibrated the 43AG’s level using a Reed SC-05 calibrator. For the A-weighted pink noise and Leq measurements, we connected the 43AG to an M-Audio Mobile Pre USB interface and a laptop computer running Room EQ Wizard, a free but powerful audio-measurement application. (By the way, we employed roughly $8,000 worth of test gear in this effort.)
Note that headphone measurements have some inherent inconsistency. Small differences in the fit of the headphone on the ear/cheek simulator can affect the result, just as moving a headphone around slightly on your ear changes the sound. We did everything possible to ensure a good fit of each pair of headphones on the simulator, including using light pressure from the 43AG’s clamping mechanism to help seat the headphones on the simulated rubber earlobe, and listening to the signal coming from the 43AG’s internal microphone to confirm that the sound from each model being tested was coming through properly. Still, we needed to allow for possible measurement inaccuracy, so we decided to make 88 dBA our pass/fail point on the pink noise tests. Any set of headphones that doesn’t exceed that level with pink noise can be considered reasonably safe, along the guidelines explained in this review. Any set of headphones that exceeds this threshold by a few decibels isn’t necessarily dangerous but is less safe than models that pass the test.
As Brian Fligor pointed out to us, “Most all earphones [headphones] could be used in an unsafe manner. If the max sound level is so low that it can’t get over the background noise of an airplane or minivan on a highway, then it’s not going to sound very good. To make music sound good, the max level does need to have some headroom. This is where a combination of safer level limits along with earphones that block out competing background noise is probably the safest combination.”
To find out which kids headphone models performed well in this regard, we ran the same type of isolation measurements we use to test noise-cancelling headphones: We played pink noise through two speakers and a subwoofer at a level of 75 dB, placed each headphone model on the G.R.A.S. 43AG ear/cheek simulator, and then performed analysis using TrueRTA software to learn how much sound was leaking around or through the headphone into the 43AG’s microphone (and, by extension, into the wearer’s ears).
Unfortunately, only four of the headphones we tested provided notably effective isolation, blocking out a significant amount of sound in the audio spectrum (50 Hz to 2 kHz) that’s typically loudest in the backseat of a car, where we expect kids headphones might get a lot of use. And these pairs weren’t among the best performers in volume limiting, nor were they among our child test panel’s favorites. This group included the Direct Sound YourTones, which reduced sounds in this region by -8.1 dB, and the Fuhu Nabi Headphones, which reduced the same sounds by -4.8 dB. (Note that both of those pairs are large over-ear models.) The two in-ear models we tested did an even better job of blocking outside sounds. The Etymotic ETY-Kids3 reduced environmental noise by -22.0 dB in the test spectrum, and the Puro IEM200 reduced it by -14.4 dB. Note that these results are relevant only for situations where most of the noise is fairly low-frequency, such as in a car or an airplane cabin. Many of these headphones will do a better job of blocking common household noise such as the roar of a vacuum cleaner.
via Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World
The Best Kids Headphones
The News Media And The AR-15
Journalist, as a species, aren’t gun people. This was clear the moment USA Today decided to illustrate the possible accessories for the AR-15 and included the chainsaw bayonet, for crying out loud, if at no other point before. However, an Ohio television station decided to go even further in showing us just how little they know about guns.
In this clip, they decided to show us just how deadly the AR-15 is by showing a watermelon being shot. There’s just one problem. Can you find it?
If you said, “But that’s a shotgun,” you win!
That’s right, it’s a shotgun shooting that watermelon. You can tell because of the lack of a chainsaw bayonet or a “shoulder thing that goes up.”
Oh…and that’s it’s obviously a freaking shotgun.
I get that most people aren’t as into guns as I am or as most of our readers here are, but the shotgun is fairly common. Even Hollywood tends to get some aspects of the shotgun right, especially the pump-action needing to be…you know…pumped. That’s precisely what happens in this video. The weapon is pumped, then fired.
And the mainstream media wonders why the term “fake news” gets so much play. This. This is why.
There’s no way this is an honest mistake by an otherwise intelligent individual. I can’t even chalk this one up to laziness. I just don’t see how this is a case of simply not checking up on some facts and getting something wrong. This is either a case of weapons-grade stupid, or it’s a case of the media believing that you have a case of weapons-grade stupid and won’t notice the difference.
There’s nothing in this clip that tells us either way, but what we can tell is that it presents a false image of the AR-15, assuming viewers actually don’t pick up the difference.
However, here’s a real AR-15 shooting a watermelon.
Notice the difference?
It’s also important to note that shooting a watermelon isn’t like shooting an kind of animal, be it human or game critter. Flesh of any kind reacts very differently to being shot than fruit does.
Because of that difference, shooting a slab of meat, even with a shotgun, won’t seemingly vaporize the target. It won’t do much of anything as far as the camera can tell at first glance, truth be told, and that’s the problem.
Shooters like pumping rounds into watermelons because of their fragile nature. They react violently when shot, thus looking really cool and making everyone shooting feel really tingly all over.
They’re not representative of how effective one gun is over another, one round over another, or anything else. It just looks kind of awesome on video.
But most people don’t know that. They think this is a true representation of the awesome power of the firearm when it’s not.
Was that what the reporter was trying to convey? Honestly, with that much dumb in a clip only a few seconds long, it’s hard to tell. What I do know is that this clip is ample evidence as to why no one should take the news media at face value on anything, ever.
The Rules that Rule Japan
Japan has tons of rules and practices. But like other communities, some of them don’t make sense, and some of them are ignored. Life Where I’m From made this lighthearted guide about modern Japan’s rules. We can’t wait for the hit anime about the mighty safety cone.
Gravitrack marble machines by Solarbotics
Gravitrack is a fantastic new build-it-yourself desktop-scale marble machine kit from our friends at SolarBotics, and available now at our store.
Gravitrack is available in two versions: A no-soldering battery-powered version (shown above), or a soldering-required solar version. We also still carry the original SolarBotics Marble Machines, in battery and solar flavors.
via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
Gravitrack marble machines by Solarbotics
Classic American Muscle Car Design: What Was the Best Year for the Pontiac GTO?
The Pontiac GTO, like the Chevrolet Chevelle, was a classic American muscle car that debuted in 1964. Initially the GTO was merely a performance package for Pontiac’s Tempest, but became an actual separate model in 1966.
The GTO’s design was tweaked every single year of the decade it was in existence. To see how it’s evolved, we’ll rely on the excellent and consistent photography of RK Motors Charlotte, which also records 360 turntable video of the models they restore:
1964
360 Turntable:
1965
360 Turntable:
1966
360 Turntable:
1967
360 Turntable:
1968
360 Turntable:
1969
360 Turntable:
1970
360 Turntable:
1971
(No turntable video available.)
1972
360 Turntable:
And then, folks, it all came crashing down.
1973
1974
Which year was your favorite, and why?
via Core77
Classic American Muscle Car Design: What Was the Best Year for the Pontiac GTO?
Sunday Topic: Are You Carrying in Church, More?
Sunday Topic: Are You Carrying in Church, More?
In the wake of the recent spate of church shootings, especially last weekend’s shooting in Sutherland Springs, TX, are you carrying in church more than you were previously? Has this changed your church’s approach to security, at all?
Have you started carrying in church, more?
I personally have been carrying in church ever since I got my CHL, and I know that where I attend we have quite a few concealed carriers in an informal network. We are starting to formalize all of this quite a bit more in the wake of last weekend’s shooting, though.
If you’re a member of a church that has a security team, sound off in the comments and let us know what’s working for you and what isn’t.
And if you’re getting more serious about your Sunday carry, let us hear from you what you’re doing now that you weren’t previously.
via All Outdoor
Sunday Topic: Are You Carrying in Church, More?
This Chatbot Wastes Scammers’ Time, And It’s Glorious
At some point, we’ve all been contacted by a Nigerian prince, long-lost uncle, or some guy that just can’t manage to get a bank account with the promise that if we just make one small wire transfer we’ll have millions in our account by morning.
Admittedly, I’ve responded to a few for fun just to see where the conversation can go. As The Verge reports, now one security firm has created a chatbot that allows you to respond to all those annoying scam messages and waste their time like they did yours by sending the email in the first place.
Video: ReScam
To use it, you just have to forward the first offending message to me@rescam.org. When you do, a proxy email address will start replying to the scammer’s emails for you. And the responses look pretty real.
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Rescam has a few listed on their site. For instance, this was the chatbot’s first response to a request for a wire transfer.
It’s easy to use, and says just enough to keep the conversation going without letting on that you’re actually using a bot to do the talking.
via Lifehacker
This Chatbot Wastes Scammers’ Time, And It’s Glorious