Sunday, January 29, 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

O.K......I Voted today in Florida!

That pretty well stakes me out as voting GOP.....Like anyone knowing me had a problem identifying that.

I did the unthinkable.....I voted for Gingrich!

Nahny-Nahny-Boo-Boo......The Florida vote is already tilted a bit to Romney, the "Heir-Apparent" to the GOP crown via earlier polls. He will have gained many votes among the early-voters....That may change a lot in the final real vote.

Interesting to watch this as it develops.

Duke

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

UPDATE on Captain!

Watching TV news, reading blogs today.....News of the Italian ship captain is growing worse by the minute.....There is a recording of the local dock master extolling the captain to return to his ship from his position on a small boat nearby. While the capt. says he is not refusing to return to the ship, but he won't go back anyway.

With the recording and testimony by many travelers that the crew was ill-trained/ignorant of their jobs, or just did not care! Horrible. Every person familiar with protocol knows the entire situation points to major problems for the entire vessel line....though much of this is directly laid at the feet of the captain.

Sad, and now the body count is rising....topping 10 with more than 20 missing.

Duke

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Captain??? How Did This Happen?

O.K., I am not a sea captain....BUT I have achieved Coxswain status with the U.S, Coast Guard Auxiliary (Vessel Commander).....I understand the facts of vessels moving in water.

HOW did a Captain of a HUGE cruise vessel manage to go aground???? The Italian sinking because of going aground hard enough to rupture the hull is amazing to me.

ANY vessel of this size has a set of equipment which should make it aware of any place where they may be located....INSTANTLY! They should know position within a few feet, depth of water, etc.

Someone Fxxxxx up in a really BIG WAY!

This should never happen in this day and age.

Duke

Friday, January 13, 2012

S & W, Glock, & Springfield XD9

Instapundit posted on the change from the long-popular S & W .38 cal pistol to Glocks.

I stumbled onto the gun I feel goes a step further than Glock....The Springfield XD9, a 9mm pistol, also holding 16 shells + 1 in the chamber, and with a 4 inch barrel. However the Springfield solves one of the so-called Glock shortcomings....no safety. On the Glock there is a smaller 2nd trigger located atop the primary.
Springfield XD9 - Mine is in black not olive
On the Springfield, there is also a second safety feature....a small trigger-like blade on the rear of the stock. The gun will not fire unless both the second trigger and the rear blade are depressed.

The weapon also features some other neat items; a small tab atop the barrel which slightly sticks up if there is a shell in the chamber, as well as a small round hole in the back of the slide from which a small wire extends when the gun is cocked...the two together allow you with a glance or a feel if the gun is cocked and if a shell is in the chamber.
Springfield XD9 w/case
The weapon also came with the case, two clips, a plastic belt holster, twin clip holster, a locking cable for shipping and a cleaning brush. The package was less than $500 from Bud's Guns.

Duke

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Reflections: Return to 2009......


From our 2009 trip of 10,000 miles....here we are in the Badlands in SD. What a beautiful place. We were fortunate that we were there early in the year when there was minimal traffic. The colors were much more vivid than the camera seemed to capture.

Duke