You’ll Look Forward to Cutting the Lawn When You Turn Your Riding Mower Into a Tank
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A house with a sprawling lawn might be the aspiration of anyone stuck in a tiny apartment, but there’s a downside to that dream: your lawn doesn’t cut itself. To make the weekly chore more bearable, Jason Hibbs of Bourbon Moth Woodworking turned his riding mower into a miniature tank that mows down everything in its path—not just grass.
Hibbs’ tank wouldn’t survive a minute on the battlefield, after all his expertise is with lumber, not armor plating. But even with reduced visibility given the driver hides inside while peering out a small window (the turret has an opening lid if you’re willing to stand while driving) a riding mower suddenly becomes something you’ll want to drive, even if it’s just in criss-cross patterns across your lawn.
The tank isn’t to scale, so Hibbs can probably expect a critique or two from anyone who’s watched a History Channel World War II documentary, but in addition to authentic looking treads that actually roll, he’s gone the extra mile to incorporate a working potato cannon into the barrel. It doesn’t help much with the mowing, but it’s a good way to keep the neighbors off your lawn after you’re done meticulously manicuring your green space.
A frequent UX fantasy I have: I want occasional-use products to disappear when I don’t need them. Ladders evoke this feeling often; we’ve got three on the property that we use regularly, and all three are a PITA to store and transport.
So after seeing this cleverly-designed Murphy Ladder, I covet it:
Tabler Icons: A Set of Over 500 free MIT-licensed SVG Icons
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Tabler Icons is a set of over 550 free MIT-licensed high-quality SVG icons for you to use in your web projects. You can add Tabler Icons to your project via an NPM module, or paste the SVG code directly in HTML:
Using the stroke-width CSS property, you can get different icon variants based on the stroke width you need:
Learn More
To learn more about this package, get full installation instructions, and view the source code on GitHub at tabler/tabler-icons. Also, check out Tabler UI Kit, a premium open-source dashboard template based on Bootstrap.
Best Ammo Brands for Plinking, Accuracy, & Self-Defense
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Is your favorite brand of ammo out of stock and you’re wondering what to buy instead?
A collection of 6.5 Creedmoor we use for testing
Let’s talk about the best ammo brands out there for hunters, target shooters, and those looking to defend themselves
With times being what they are, many of us are thinking about stocking up on ammo.
If you’re looking for another brand because your preferred flavor isn’t available, or you just want an idea of which brands suck and which ones don’t, here’s an overview of the best ammo brands around.
Those who bought ammo BEFORE it all sold out
Just because something isn’t on this list doesn’t mean it isn’t good ammo, it may just mean it’s a little overpriced, hard to get a hold of, or ya know… maybe it sucks. Still, there’s plenty of good ammo out there.
But the best is right here.
You heard us–the BEST.
Ed. note: This isn’t in order of best to worst–just the order we felt like typing it in. We know you like Hornady best, but please be gentle in the comments. We have feelings, too. <3
And yes…almost everything is sold out but stock is slowly trickling in…
Best Ammo Brands
1. Federal Premium
Federal Premium Ammunition has been around in one form or another since the 1920s, and they’ve become one of the premier ammunition manufacturers during that time.
Federal Logo
They’re so prolific, you’re almost guaranteed to find Federal ammo on the shelf just about anywhere ammo is sold (assuming the panic buyers haven’t snapped it all up).
Federal American Eagle Ammo
No matter what type of ammo you’re looking for, they’re sure to have some options available, from cheap birdshot and plinking-grade .22LR all the way up to more expensive match-grade centerfire rifle ammo for you PRS folks out there that don’t reload your own.
SW22 with Federal .22LR
Gold Medal Match is a good option if you’re looking to hit something really, really far away.
They also have several of their own calibers floating around, such as the .224 Valkyrie that was all the rage a few years ago, and some other more esoteric things like the.327 Federal Magnum.
No, that’s not a typo. It really is a thing that exists and its for… stuff.
.327 Federal Magnum compared to other .32 calibers
Ostensibly, it’s another stab at .357 magnum power with a smaller cartridge, which allows for a full six shots in a revolver where .357 magnum would leave you with just 5.
Should you rush out and buy one? Maybe not, but it is pretty cool, and I bet none of your buddies have one. And don’t worry, Federal and other manufacturers make plenty of defensive and target loads for it.
Federal American Eagle 5.7x28mm
Finally, their American Eagle line (the red box on every ammo shelf) is a great budget option that can really run with some of the more expensive stuff, particularly their 9mm and .45 ACP.
Cascade Cartridges, Inc has been around since 1951, when the company was founded by Richard Speer (brother of Vernon Speer from… Speer, which we’ll cover next) and Arvid Nelson.
Cascade Cartridge Inc Logo
If you haven’t heard of CCI, or at least seen it on store shelves, you’ve probably never bought any ammo at all. They are probably the biggest name in rimfire ammo, and with good reason.
Richard Speer
Their Stinger and Standard Velocity .22LR are two of the most popular rounds on the planet, and you can find them for sale just about everywhere.
CCI/Speer Bulk Ammo is a popular pick for plinking!
Their Mini-Mag .22LR is also one of the best of the best, and is an industry-standard. For this reason, they’re mostly associated with rimfire ammo, including .22LR, .22WMR, and .17HMR. As far as the latter goes, their V-Max stuff is top-notch.
They don’t just make awesome rimfire ammo though. Far from it in fact. CCI actually makes one of our most-beloved handgun practice ammo lines, Blazer Brass.
Our favorite practice ammo
This is some of the best budget-friendly centerfire ammo on the market, and you best believe we’ve shot many, many thousands of rounds of it. For cheap plinking ammo that could do as competition ammo in a pinch, it’s not bad.
Speeris owned by the same parent company as CCI (and just about every other shooting sports and outdoors company on the market) and as I mentioned was founded by Vernon Speer, brother of Richard Speer, the founder of CCI.
Speer Logo
The idea, at least as I was told, was that CCI would make cartridges and primers and Speer would make bullets. Today, Speer does make a lot of bullets, and they’re very popular with reloaders, but they also make some really excellent high-end defensive ammo.
Vernon Speer (left) and Jack O’Connor
They’re actually one of the premier manufacturers of defensive ammo in general, and many major police departments and government agencies trust Speer hollowpoints above all else.
Speer 230 gr Gold Dot
Speer is so beloved by LEO shooters that they actually have a line of ammo called “Lawman” that’s designed specifically for duty use.
Speer Lawman 357 sig
They also make the ever-popular Gold Dot line that is one of the industry standards for carry ammo (I happen to have them loaded up right now in fact).
Speer Gold Dot 45 ACP 185gr
Oh, and just like CCI, they make all their stuff right here in the USA. Lewiston, Idaho to be specific.
4. Sellier & Bellot
Sellier & Bellot, or “S&B” as you’ll see it a lot, is a Czech manufacturer that has been making ammunition since the days of percussion caps.
Sellier & Bellot Ammo Logo
They’re actually one of the oldest continuously-functioning companies in the entire world. They made a lot of the percussion caps for the French infantry following the death of Napoleon.
In other words, while the name may be unfamiliar to those outside Europe, Sellier & Bellot is a company worth being aware of.
Their huge catalog also includes things 6.5×55 and 303 British, so if you have an older European gun, particularly a milsurp of some kind, there’s a good chance they make ammo for it.
S&B 303 British
Really, there’s a good chance they’ve been making ammo for it since the beginning!
5. Prvi Partizan
Prvi Partizan is another European manufacturer worth knowing. They are another company with a long history, going back to 1928. They’re a Serbian company that primarily made ammunition for the Serbian Army and national police units.
Prvi Partizan Logo
Today, Prvi Partizan ammo is available all over the world, including your local sporting goods store.
They are actually the third largest ammo supplier to the US believe it or not, so you should have no trouble finding their products.
And if you happen to have, say, a rifle you picked up at a gun show that’s chambered in something ridiculous like 7.65x53mm Argentine, there’s a good chance Prvi Partizan makes rounds for it.
Prvi Partizan 7.65×33 Argentine
They’re actually one of the only manufacturers that actually makes 8mm Lebel anymore, so if you have one of those historic guns and you actually want to shoot the damn thing, Prvi Partizan is a great place to start looking.
PPU 8×50 Lebel
Of course, they also make some more standard offerings as well, and they’re all rock solid.
Seriously–they make everything.
Prvi Partizan is one of the easier-to-find budget plinking options around us, and I bet you can get your hands on some as well. It’s definitely military-grade stuff and it’s a long way from match quality, but it does go bang every time.
6. Wolf
Oh Wolf.
If you know anything about ammo, you know that Wolf, like Tula below, is not necessarily a byword for quality. They produce primarily steel-cased rounds for military firearms.
Wolf Logo
If you’re looking for 9mm, 5.56, or 7.62 and you aren’t going to be defending life and liberty with them, Wolf isn’t so bad.
Yes, it’s low-quality ammo. No, it’s not going to stand up against the more expensive offerings, even Prvi Partisan’s budget stuff. But it’s also cheaper. Much cheaper, in some cases.
@ Tula and Wolf
And let me be clear, the stuff is not dangerous. Well, to the shooter, assuming they’re following proper firearms safety.
They mostly make FMJ ammo so not the best options for hunting or self-defense, but there’s something to be said for the “buy it cheap and stack it deep” mentality, particularly if you’re looking for training ammo.
If you shoot like this at the range, you’re gonna want Wolf ammo.
And that’s why Wolf (and Tula) are on this list of “Best” manufacturers. When you want to rip through 200 rounds at the range with your buddies without having to hide the credit card bill, look no further.
There’s a certain gleeful joy in turning money into noise, and we’d be the first to admit that sometimes you have to pew pew just for the sake of pew pew.
Wolf .223 steel case
So with that in mind, remember that just because something isn’t the top of the line, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. In the case of Wolf, if you’re looking for ammo that goes bang and won’t break the bank, look no further.
7. TulAmmo
Unless, of course, you’d rather pick up some TulAmmo. TulAmmo is made by Tula, a Russian arms company about three hours drive South of Moskow.
TulAmmo Logo
You Mosin Nagant fans probably recognize the name and yes, this is the company that made several bajillion Mosins for the Russian army. This company helped beat the Nazis.
100 Nazi Scalps, courtesy of Tula!
Today, their ammo is widely known as one of the better cheap and cheerful options when it comes to plinking rounds.
Until about a decade ago they actually made all of Wolf’s ammo, so they’re very similar but I’ve always had better luck with TulAmmo. Your mileage may very.
Tulammo
That said, both are good, both specialize in polymer-coated, steel-cased ammo in military calibers, neither are going to win any accuracy awards, and neither will cause you to spend very much money when you want to go shoot something.
Overall, don’t tear yourself up choosing between the two. Go with the cheaper option, that’s what you’re here for right?
8. Hornady
Hornadyis a name you’re probably already aware of, but we’re going to talk about them anyway just in case because holy crap they make good stuff.
Hornady Logo
Seriously, Hornady is far and away the best major manufacturer of premium ammo. There might be better stuff out there in some cases, but for sheer consistency and availability, Hornady takes the gold medal here.
If you’re looking for off-the-shelf ammo that can compete with hand loaded stuff, this is the place to start your search.
Hornady ELD Match 140gr 6.5 Creedmoor
Their ELD-M line of centerfire rifle ammo is particularly good and is a favorite around the office for testing long-range setups, especially in 6.5 CM, .308 Win, and other rifle cartridges in that class. They developed 6.5CM so it makes sense they’d do well with it.
(Insert Obligatory Creedmoor Meme)
Beyond that, Hornady makes some of the finest defensive munitions ever devised by man, with their Critical Defense and Critical Duty lines both being extremely popular with concealed carriers and police officers respectively.
Hornady Critical Defense 9mm, post-firing
9. Winchester
Winchesteris a legend in the gun world, and their ammo is a big part of that reputation. “Winchester white box” is the gold standard for a middle-of-the-road ammo offering almost anywhere you go.
Winchester Logo
They began making ammo back in 1873 and were one of the first companies to really bring together ammo and firearms manufacturing. They’re responsible for helping make firearms such an institution in America, particularly after the first World War.
Winchester White Box 7.62x39mm
Winchester makes their products in Alton, Illinois, and that includes their rifle, pistol, and shotgun offerings.
Besides their standard “white box” offerings that come in every common caliber you can imagine, plus several 12-gauge flavors as well, they have defensive ammo in their Silvertip line and they leaned into the law-enforcement market with the Active Duty line.
Winchester Active Duty 115gr 9mm
Rest assured, whatever ammo you need, you can find it in a Winchester box, and you can rest easy knowing you’re buying quality.
10. PMC
PMC ammunition is made by Poongsan Corporation (no I didn’t make that name up) in South Korea. They specialize in everything from small arms ammunition all the way up to artillery shells. In other words, if it goes boom, they know about it.
PMC Ammo Logo
The company has only been around since the late 60’s, but in that short time they’ve become one of the most prevalent manufacturers in the world.
Every piece of ammo they make is manufactured to the standard of South Korean and NATO allied militaries, so you know it’s good stuff. Not great, mind you, but no military ammo is going to win you accuracy medals.
Yee-up!
This is good, honest, hard-working, and dependable ammo. Very working class stuff here, and that’s why we love it.
They offer mostly centerfire rifle and pistol ammo, with an emphasis on military style FMJs. Not a lot of hunting options, but for ratting away for the apocalypse, or just general target practice, PMC is good stuff.
I’m going to end this list with one of my personal favorite ammo brands, Fiocchi.
Fiocchi Logo
Fiocchi is an Italian company that was founded in 1876 by Giulio Fiocchi, and the company is still in Fiocchi family hands, making it one of the oldest family businesses still operating. They are based out of Lecco, Italy and their products make their way around the world.
Fiocchi is a huge manufacturer, and they produce a genuinely staggering amount of ammo for all kinds of centerfire and rimfire firearms, but their big thing has always been shotgun shells.
Fiocchi Rubber Buckshot for less-lethal measures
Of course, it’s a lot easier to get a hunting shotgun in most European countries, so people tend to gravitate towards those over pistols and rifles, but still.
The company also makes handgun and rifle ammo, and like Prvi Partizan and others they make some interesting niche cartridges like the historic .455 Webley and .303 British.
Oh, and to make things even better, even though it’s an Italian company, over 3/4ths of the ammo sold under the Fiocchi name in the US is manufactured by American workers in Missouri.
There are a number of great ammo brands out there, and hopefully, now you have a better idea of the ones that best suit your individual needs. No matter your intended purpose or budget, there’s a huge variety of manufacturers making great ammo you can use.
Empty trays? Time to buy more!
There’s really never been a better time to be buying factory ammo because we, as shooters, have a broader selection of quality ammo than ever before.
I hope if you were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of ammo manufacturers, or just wanted to know what was worth picking up at the store to try, maybe now you’ll have a better idea the next time you’re staring at the wall of cartridge boxes wondering what to spend your hard-earned dollar on.
G20 and plenty of ammo
What’s your favorite ammo brand? Do you have another go-to option that we didn’t include on this list? Want more links of in-stock ammo and the places to get them…check out Best Places to Buy Ammo Online!
Declining Eyesight Can Be Improved By Looking At Red Light, Pilot Study Says
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swell shares the findings from a small pilot study that suggests a few minutes of looking into a deep red light could have a dramatic effect on preventing eyesight decline as we age. CNN reports: Researchers recruited 12 men and 12 women, whose ages ranged from 28 to 72. Each participant was given a small handheld flashlight that emitted a red light with a wavelength of 670 nanometers. That wavelength is toward the long end of the visible spectrum, and just short of an infrared wavelength, which tends to be invisible to the human eye.
They spent three minutes each day looking into the light over a period of two weeks.
The lights work on both cones and rods in the eye. Cones are photo receptor cells that detect color and work best in well-lit situations. Rods, which are much more plentiful, are retina cells that specialize in helping us see in dim light, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Researchers measured the cone function in subjects’ eyes by having them identify colored letters with low contrast. And they measured their eyes’ rod sensitivity by asking them to detect light signals in the dark. There was a 14% improvement in the ability to see colors, or cone color contrast sensitivity, for the entire two dozen participants. Improvement, however, was most significant in study participants over age 40. For those ages, cone color contrast sensitivity rose by 20% over the course of the study. That age bracket also saw significant increases in rod threshold, which corresponds to the ability to see in low light. Study participants under 40 also experienced some improvement, but didn’t see the same jump as older subjects. Younger eyes haven’t declined as much as older eyes.
Everyone should be using a password manager. It’s the most important thing you can do—alongside two-factor authentication—to keep your online data safe. We’ve evaluated dozens of paid and free password managers and tested four, and we think 1Password offers the best combination of features, compatibility, security, and ease of use. You don’t have to pay for a good password manager, but if you can, 1Password is worth the $36 per year.
technology
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Yorvi Arias: Setup ora2pg for Oracle to Postgres Migration
https://postgr.es/p/4P8
An important part of performing a migration from Oracle to PostgreSQL is selecting the right tool for helping with the conversion between systems. When people ask me how they can get the migration process started, I like to recommend a powerful open source utility called "ora2pg".
As the name suggests, ora2pg is a tool that migrates Oracle (or MySQL) databases to PostgreSQL by generating compatible SQL files As the documentation states, ora2pg “connects your Oracle database, scans it automatically and extracts its structure or data, it then generates SQL scripts that you can load into your PostgreSQL database.”
The new MySQL Shell or mysqlsh has provisions for loading user plugins in Python or JavaScript that are loaded when the shell starts up. I am just taking my initial steps into this area and wanted to share with you how easy it is to create a plug-in to produce a report.
The ability to write and run your own scripts for information that you want on a regular basis is very useful. The idea behind this was a discussion with a community member who had issues with a locked account that unknowingly locked and knowing when passwords where changed. This is a typical bit of work for a DBA that would be better automated and saved as a script for future uses.
The Query
The query collects several vital facets of information for dealing with passwords and accounts.
SELECT concat(User, ‘@’,Host) as User,
password_expired as Expired,
password_last_changed as Changed,
password_lifetime as Lifetime,
account_locked as Locked,
User_attributes FROM mysql.user
Nothing too exotic as far as a query goes.
The Code
Most of the Python code deals with registering the registering the passwordData function that houses the query as report named userList. The query itself is in purple below and the registration ‘boilerplate is in green. The shell.register_report is what ties the new function to the extension called userList.
# Define a passwordData function that generates a MySQL Shell report
def passwordData(session):
query = "SELECT concat(User, ‘@’,Host) as User, password_expired as Expired, password_last_changed as Changed, password_lifetime as Lifetime, account_locked as Locked, User_attributes FROM mysql.user"
result = session.sql(query).execute();
report = []
if (result.has_data()):
report = [result.get_column_names()]
for row in result.fetch_all():
report.append(list(row))
return {"report": report}
# Register the userList function as a MySQL Shell report
shell.register_report("userList", "list", passwordData, {"brief":"Lists the user password status on the target server."})
# Check if global object ‘ext’ has already been registered
if ‘ext’ in globals():
global_obj = ext
else:
# Otherwise register new global object named ‘ext’
global_obj = shell.create_extension_object()
shell.register_global("ext", global_obj,
{"brief":"MySQL Shell extension plugins."})
# Add the ‘userList’ extension object as a member of the ‘ext’ global object
try:
plugin_obj = global_obj.process
except IndexError:
The Report
The output is pretty much as expected and could use some careful tailoring. It would be nice to add information on how many days until a password expires and parsing the User_attributes field for key/values in a pretty fashion. But in a few minutes work I had a quick little utility that will save me time in the future.
I recommended grabbing LeFred’s Github repo and reading through his code. You can create your own directory under your ~/.mysqlsh/plugins/ext/ directory and using the above code saved as init.py as an exercise.
I would love to see what similar scripts or reports others are creating so please share!
All opinions expressed in this blog are those of Dave Stokes who is actually amazed to find anyone else agreeing with him
The Best iPhone SE (2nd Gen) Cases, iPhone 7 Cases, and iPhone 8 Cases
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Even if you’re not splurging on the most cutting-edge iPhone model, we still think your phone should be in a case. Whether you own a brand-new iPhone SE (2nd generation) or an older iPhone 7 or 8, a case can extend your phone’s life by preventing scratches, dents, and dings, and some cases can even prevent a bent phone or a broken screen. Adding a case also personalizes your iPhone, and some models add useful features such as card holders, waterproof protection, or even extra power.
technology
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