My name is
David Robins:
Christian, lead developer (resume), writer, photographer, runner,
libertarian (voluntaryist),
and student.
This is also my son David Geoffrey Robins' site.
Progress on the shooting frame
Technical, Guns ·Friday July 31, 2009 @ 19:17 EDT (link)
Target holder
One frame
One of the reasons that it's nicer shooting at an indoor range is that there's no need for a cease-fire to change targets: the lanes have targets on rails, with electronics to bring the targets in and send them out. Outdoors, it's necessary to solicit and get a consensus among all shooters present for a cease-fire, and it seems like an imposition on those that are shooting slower, or have more targets and thus don't need to change them so often.
A little while ago I had an idea to build a portable "shooting frame": a frame I can bring to outdoor ranges such as the Sultan pit or SVRC and set up so that I can change targets without a cease-fire. (In case there are readers that aren't shooters: don't even think about crossing the firing line when the range is "hot"—when other people are shooting. Even if they're not shooting near your targets, ricochets and accidents happen, and it's not worth risking your life over. Everyone else would stop shooting anyway.)
Taking a cue from a target-holder made of ABS pipe, I built two frames (7' tall and 20" wide, with a crossbar in the middle and "feet" for stability) of black 1½" ABS pipe (about 50' in all, costing about $30, plus six elbows and four tees for each, about another $30). ABS pipe fits together much better than expected. I was going to drive to Home Depot to get it, but I stopped in at our local True Value, and not only did they have it but they cut it for me (no charge); compare Home Depot, who only offered to sell me a hacksaw. I strung a line (3/8" nylon pulley rope) across the tops of the frames, and tied a few more guy lines from the middle rung to the base, and added some weight on the back (books here, rocks or sand inside the back pipe outdoors) to help stabilize the structure and keep the rope taut. Slip knots are tied in the guy and top ropes for easy tightening.
A pulley is attached to the rope at the top, then via a #10-32 bolt a thin piece of sheet metal (about ¾" wide and 5" high) going down, then a crosspiece about 11" wide (for these metal pieces I'm using "strap ties" from Home Depot, $1.15 each, I need two, plus spares in case any get shot; they have screw holes about every 1½"; earlier I was using a carpet bar, but that cost more than twice as much, and had no holes, so I returned it… I returned quite a few things during this project, as I came up with better ideas and the project evolved). From the crosspiece hang (bolted) two more straight pieces (could also be strap ties, but I'm using a couple of PCI slot covers that I had lying around. They work well because of the right angle bend at the bottom: I glued the tops of two binder clips to the hanging slot covers, and to that the target paper is attached.
Thread or twine is looped around the top pipes of each frame and used to move the target, on its pulley, back and forth. Originally I'd planned to move the overhead rope itself (and fix the target to the rope) but this way is much less disruptive (disturbing the frame too much slackens the rope, which causes the target frame to sag).
As you can see from the photos above, ropes go down the middle where the shooter would stand (and behind the target at the far frame), but that will be changed to tie the overhead rope only to the top of both frames and then use guy ropes at each side to not block the shooter. Besides that, I'm considering replacing some of the target frame metal with wood (perhaps balsa or whatever I can get from a model shop), to lighten it and reduce sag, although that's not really a problem now, but it might be worse when I change the guy ropes around, or in the "field". I also need to get some twine (instead of thread) to use to move the target frame, since thread is very difficult to see.
Books finished: The Shadow Rising, New Deal or Raw Deal?.DVDs finished: Friends: The Complete Seventh Season, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Anacondas: Trail of Blood
News ·Sunday July 26, 2009 @ 22:21 EDT (link)
Take with liberal quantities of alcohol. It's a terrible movie (at least we recorded it off TV and didn't pay anything for it). Why did John Rhys-Davies get involved with such a bomb?
Party at Tim and Katt's
News ·Saturday July 25, 2009 @ 16:34 EDT (link)
Left about 1710, got there about 1745, which seemed to be fine (they have an interesting doorbell, it looks like a red bubble).
Good food, good talk, lot of fun playing Rockband (first time). Tim cooked on the barbecue (hamburgers and steak later on), and also created an interesting watermelon and vodka concoction.
Got home about midnight; Honey drove.
DVDs finished: Anaconda / Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid.
Hanging out at the Red Light Speakeasy in Tacoma
News ·Thursday July 23, 2009 @ 23:35 EDT (link)
Tonight Honey and I accepted a broadcast invitation from AW on Facebook to attend a welcome party for some French visitors at his periodic "Red Light Speakeasy" at his place in Tacoma. We've never met face to face but he works at Microsoft and we've communicated via the CLAMS list for a while. They are going to be hosting a French girl, and their family were all there: her brother is going on to work in Minnesota for the summer; the parents will be driving on to Chicago shortly.
We didn't know what to expect: but everyone was very friendly; we were introduced to the group. There were perhaps 20 people there: various friends and neighbors. They barbecued chicken and had some cold platters and desserts (we brought an apple pie, which Honey did not make from scratch).
The invitation said "drinks begin at 4:00pm" but AW told me nobody arrives then; and we faced far more traffic than anticipated (I-5S to Tacoma at 5-6pm; we should have known better): leaving Microsoft at 1645 got us there about 1830 (going back took about half the time). When we stepped in we met AW's wife BW and Carly. I did converse with some of the French people in French, primarily Mrs. FF, who is a language teacher. I understood most things—but she was speaking slowly for our benefit—and was able to make myself understood without resorting to Franglais too often.
Their place has a great deck; it makes the house looks much bigger on the inside than the outside, as it were; with the deck, fences, and surrounding trees it appears very spacious.
We'd taken Honey's car from Microsoft, so we picked mine up in the garage: we left their place at about 2145 after saying our goodbyes and talking to AW on the porch for a bit; we got here about 2230, much better than going over (and that's all the way to Duvall). All in all a good time and I'm glad we accepted their kind invitation.
Socialized healthcare protest #2
News, Political ·Thursday July 23, 2009 @ 21:13 EDT (link)
Parking FAIL: a silver Mercedes E430, license WA 639 VQJ, pulled about two feet into the opposite parking space in the Microsoft building 36 garage.
This one was on somewhat short notice, held 1700-1800 today outside GroupHealth's Bellevue offices at NE 8th Street and 116th Avenue NE. We took the side of the road opposite the "gimmes" (thieves, handout-seekers, call them what you will, they want hard-working people to work to support them and give them "free" stuff, which sounds like seizure and slavery all rolled into one, but I digress). I had no meetings scheduled, so I headed over for a while, parking at the side of an out of the way strip mall without any tow-away threats posted, behind a camper, next to a row of empty spaces (in short, not infringing on any business parking).
First a wide shot to show both sides of the street, with GroupHealth and the gimmes on the left; then some costumed nurses and the rest of our side (Liberty Belle was one of the nurses, I believe):
Some of our signs (I held the "No National Healthcare" sign for a while):
It was good to meet Don, also from Microsoft (red shirt, holding up the "No National Healthcare" sign that I held for a while); I introduced him to CLAMS, the Conservatives and Libertarians at Microsoft discussion list; I expect to see his introduction there shortly. It was good to also see Alan and Allison from Dan's 7000 Year Leap book club, and meet Bruce, Deba and Jeff, and all the other freedom-loving patriots that took time away from jobs and family to show up.
Observe the gimmes' last lonely sign left when they fled the field around 1800; presumably they'd only been paid to shill for an hour—with their professionally printed signs—whereas while we had hand-made signs, those I talked to on the "anti-theft" liberty side all had jobs, but several said they'd planned to outlast the enemy, and we did. If only we had the votes: it's always easy to get people to vote for someone that promises to take other people's money and give it to them, so I fear that while our cause is just, I lack Mandorallen's faith that "We must needs prevail." Time will tell whether the American people love liberty and independence, or robbery and oppression.
Books finished: The Forgotten Man.
House appraisal back: all is well
News ·Monday July 20, 2009 @ 01:31 EDT (link)
The appraisal for the house finally came back just where we needed it. Chip Dusseau, our agent, talked with us Saturday and we decided to do all the items requested in the inspection (the list wasn't bad). His guy, JHB Construction, seemed pretty reasonable, so we're having him do the deck items requested, plus we need to get the furnace done, and we even elected to go ahead and get the requested chimney cleaning of our gas fireplace, just so we could check the box to continue and not give them any excuse to cancel the deal. I'm not sure if they would anyway: I'm sure Chip wants this sale to be over so he can get his commission and be done with it, but I understand the logic. Anyway, they still have the "neighborhood review" clause if they want out.
Second Amendment Day #3
News, Photography, Guns ·Sunday July 19, 2009 @ 19:45 EDT (link)
Today from noon to around 1600 about 25 of the Microsoft gun group, together with a few other shooters present, met at the Sultan pit to throw some rounds downrange. This was the third such arranged group event (1 2) and as before was a success, in that much fun was had, much ammo expended, many targets destroyed, and nobody hurt. Safety is no accident, and we have KA to thank for being the RSO again, as well as each individual that was there for taking responsibility for their own safety and that their firearms were used responsibly, and helping others as needed.
First, setting up: AL assembled his 2x4 target (which had been laid flat in his truck), decorating it with apples, bowling pins, and an Osama bin Laden target—one of those would later be used for the final "all out assault". KH's wooden target, a pallet supported by some 2x4s, also stood up well (far better than my boxes, even weighted down).
The main difference people noticed is that there was a lot less garbage around—we brought trash bags as before, but there was far less to collect. This is partly due to DNR taking closer interest in the property, and one local shooter, Larry, who, with the blessing (and insurance) of the DNR, has taken partial responsibility for the area. For our part, we made sure to clean up our brass, shells, and targets.
This time we aimed for 20-minute ceasefires: probably too long for some and not enough for others, but nobody complained. Again a decent variety of weapons: pistols, shotguns, and rifles in various calibers.
Videos of the final "all-out assault" on the bin Laden target: JC's and DM's. SI also took video, but it was only posted to an internal share; there was one taken at the last event too. JC also had one of shooting potatoes. (JC's links updated after some controversy over him including the Gun Club @ Microsoft logo in the videos; he took those down and replaced them with videos without the logo. Didn't matter to me, but it wasn't technically a GC@MS event, and the videos with the logos could have been abused by haters.)
There are also more photos.
I was at the Monroe WAC gun show the day before, and picked up some .308, which I didn't end up using; I did get to fire Paul's FN P40, Andy's Remington 870 shotgun (I want one… has a bit of a kick though, left some nice bruises), and a Mac 90. What a great weekend!
DVDs finished: M*A*S*H: Season Eight.
Honey's back
News, Work ·Friday July 17, 2009 @ 17:20 EDT (link)
I picked up Honey from the airport Wednesday, after workaholics (which management is spinning as "wonderful Wednesdays" now—I don't see why they bother, it's the same thing as before). The WA-520 exit near Microsoft (at 40th) was closed, so I had to detour to 148th; then I had to wait for 25 minutes on I-405S—construction or an accident, I never found out, and the government's I-405 construction information radio said nothing about it.
Today was Office "Friday fest"—food and drink on the soccer field. I got a Mac & Jack and some kettle corn and left early, stopping at the grocery store to pick up a few things for "Second Amendment Day" Sunday. Hopefully the weather continues to be nice—it's scorching today.
Books finished: The Federalist Papers, The Federalist Papers, A Foreign Policy of Freedom.DVDs finished: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 4.
An afternoon of firearms
News, Guns ·Saturday July 11, 2009 @ 19:54 EDT (link)
I decided to pick up some ammo for the upcoming MS Gun "Second Amendment Day" next week at the Sultan pit; I headed down to Issaquah and stopped at Big-5 first. I wandered around looking for ammo before realizing it was behind the counter (which is common to large retailers; gun stores just keep it on the shelves). I got some 12 ga. shells there and then crossed the I-90 to West Coast Armory, much loved and highly recommended by Microsoft shooters. I'd stopped in before, but this time I picked the brain of employee Ken Lin about shotguns, rifles, and scopes. He cheerfully explained what I asked and let me try several scopes and handle various firearms. After I try out some firearms and scopes with live fire on 2A Day I hope I can give them some business. The Remington 700 sniper rifle I looked at was beautiful, and they had some very nice scopes too, if pricey (generally, not over other prices I'd seen). I picked up some more ammo for 2A Day in hopes of trying out guns (.40, .45, and 7.62). I wanted to get some rifle ammo, but wasn't sure what would be best to get. Hopefully for trials I can buy a couple rounds at the pit, even if I have to overpay a little.
On the way home I stopped in to SVRC to shoot my Glock 34 for a while. I tried out the used bowling pins some of us at Microsoft had bought in a group buy ($0.83/pin); they're decent targets.
I mowed the lawn when I got home, but it hadn't grown much due to the weather. Tomorrow I need to go around and edge and pull a few weeds.
Inspection Monday
News ·Saturday July 11, 2009 @ 00:37 EDT (link)
Home inspection for the current offer will be this Monday at noon.
I've opened some windows and the door to the top deck, and will be doing some trimming of the lawn tomorrow or Sunday, although with the heat it hasn't been growing as fast as usual (either that or it knows I have a gas-powered mower now and aren't [ain't?] afraid to use it). This trimming will also include edging and doing whatever I can to traumatize the bamboo, and picking up some of the leaves and pulling the worst of the weeds (and possibly spraying what's left of my evil weed killing chemicals from my backpack sprayer).
I made a "junk run" to Safeway to pick up some chips and candy (all I've had in three weeks… I've mostly been good).
Books finished: The Federalist-Anti-Federalist Debate Over States' Rights.
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