Knysna Heads. We’re off to purchase a substantial quantity of the fine produce of the Mitchell’s Brewing Company. Oh, and maybe some food.
* Apologies to Tamara.
wrm
Mystery object
Long story short, my Father in Law ended up with Marconi Instruments Ltd No 1 Mark II* signal generator and a dozen boxes of assorted parts. I’d guess it was an Elmer‘s Junkbox.
Can’t find any information on this on the web. Marked IN 2631 and SI 7545, my best guess is that it might be a solid-state rectifier intended to replace a vacuum tube.
So if Google brings you here and you know more… that’s what the comments are for.
Edit: It’s a ONE N 2631.
Some pigs are more equal
My favourite top cop, former head of Interpol, ex struggle hero and one of the architects of our Firearms Control Act, Jackie Selebi launched an appeal against his 15 year sentence. The appeal succeeded in keeping him out of jail for sixteen months, but now that his appeal ultimately failed, he needs Plan B.
A variation on a tactic which proved very successful for Schabir Shaik — make sure you are too ill for jail, know the right people, and beat up journalists who catch you playing golf, Selebi, who was perfectly fine on Friday, has suddenly been ill for a long time.
Time will tell if this little piggy’s status as “only one” is enough to keep him out of jail.
Cowboys & Aliens
It’s a beautifully made film, with a bunch of good actors, lots of leverguns, good CGI, everything… except a decent plot.
A great idea which could have been implemented a LOT better.
Ah well.
The times, they are a-changin’
Consider the significance of the following sentence, from a review of a book.
I got the book in trade paperback, which cost more but I’m glad I did it because I want this little book on my shelf.
Just think about that for a while.
30 Years
Thirty years ago Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was released. I bought my copy soon after that — unfortunately the invoice is not dated. (incidentally, R65 was a lot of money back in 1981).
I played the living bits out of this game. Eventually beat it, too. In the process I figured out, all on my own, how the characters were stored on disk and of course, how to cheat. How? Well, edit a byte on the disk, check what changed, make notes. After all, there’s only about 200 bytes per character, and each byte has 256 possible values… this can’t take long, can it? (Hint: yes, it does…)
After Proving Grounds it was Knight of Diamonds and Legacy of Llylgamyn after which… life happened. I went to varsity, didn’t quite yet discover girls, but… pretty much stopped spending endless hours on computer games.
Yet I’m still a retrogeek, and I follow various retro websites.
Wizardry is now available on iOS. And it’s thirty years better.
If there’s a reason for me to get an iDevice, this is it.
What she said
Legalize hemp. I’m nae so fussed about the smoking of it but we’re eventually gonna need a lot of rope. — Roberta X, about the taxes to support government-run advertising campaigns.
Delicious irony
[…]
Not surprisingly, Occupy Wall Street has become a magnet for thieves and con-men. As one organizer complains, “Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment.”
Then there are the bums. Originally, from what I can tell, street people were actively recruited by the Occupiers as a way of adding to their somewhat anemic numbers. But the naïve young hippies who make up the bulk of the movement are quickly discovering what the rest of us, with the benefit of actual life experience, already know about “the homeless.”
Over at Occupy Boston, a protester complains, “It’s turning into us against them. They come in here and they’re looking at it as a way of getting a free meal and a place to crash, which is totally fine, but they don’t bring anything to the table at all.” Another report concludes with a similar sentiment.
“We have compassion toward everyone. However, we have certain rules and guidelines,” said Lauren Digioia, 26, a member of the sanitation committee. “If you’re going to come here and get our food, bedding and clothing, have books and medical supplies for no charge, they need to give back,” Digioia said. “There’s a lot of takers here and they feel entitled.”
These kids had better watch out. If they start thinking that like this, pretty soon they might find themselves at a Tea Party rally.
[…]
Yet you have to sympathize with the cooks who have been besieged by moochers. Behind the hypocrisy, there are real lessons to be learned: lessons about the relationship between productive people and freeloaders. About the need for police to protect decent people from criminals. About how con-men and power-lusters always take over utopian schemes for their own benefit. About the taxing power and unaccountability of central authorities.
7mm International Rimmed
The 7mm International Rimmed is a wildcat cartridge developed by Elgin Gates in the seventies. Nothing strange about it, take a 30-30 case, neck it down to 7mm, and there you are. You don’t need to trim the brass or anything.
Before (bottom) and after fireforming.
Compare this to the 7-30 Waters, developed by Ken Waters (also in the seventies) specifically for levergun use. It’s also a 30-30 case necked down to 7mm, but in this case the neck is much shorter, giving more case capacity and of course more velocity.
30-30, necked to 7mm, and fireformed. (Image source: levergunscommunity.com)
I’ve been shooting the 7mm TC/U in my 14″ Thompson Contender for a few years. Nothing wrong with the cartridge, shoots great, adequate power and everything… but the 7mm TC/U headspaces on the shoulder, and that means that if you don’t get your resize operation just right, you either can’t close the gun, or your brass stretches and the case head separates after a few shots. I carry a tap in my shooting box, this has saved the day for me and for at least one other shooter caught with half a case stuck in the chamber. A TC ideally needs a rimmed case.
So I had the choice of 7-30 Waters or the much less popular 7mm IntR, and I chose the latter because, as I said, the 7mm TC/U already has enough power for what I need to do, I don’t need power, I just need a rim on the case.
7TC/U : 25.5gr S335 : 145 grain cast RCBS-145-SIL : 2000fps : my 7mm TC/U silhouette load, accurate.
7mm IntR : 29gr S335 : 160gr jacketed : 1900fps : accurate, 3 shot velocity spread = 6 fps, SD = 3.
7-30 Waters : Factory load : 120gr Nostler : 2400 fps from 14″ TC barrel.
I think 7mm International Rimmed is the best 7mm TC silhouette shooting option, now to do some further load development.
Enough to make you cry
I found this forgotten picture on my cellphone. Took it in Los Angeles in June.
This is 1.75 liters of Jim, normal selling price $23, special price unfortunately not in the frame (you do need to be some type of cardholder member for the special price).
$23 is R180 to R200, depending on what the exchange rate is doing. For that, I can get 750ml of Jim locally.
*sigh*