While You're Waiting for the Next Essay...

You can read up on Cowboy Blob's range report for our trip out to the Tucson Rifle Club on Saturday.

And if you've ever wondered what I look like, here I am with his brand-new Yugo SKS:

Neat little rifle. (Notice the excellent trigger discipline and range etiquette, Mr. Cheney.)

500,000!.

Visitor number 500,000:

Thanks to all of you for visiting!

STILL Working on that Essay.

I never imagined it would take this long. Dammit.

UPDATE: It's at about 6,000 words, and I'm not done yet.

Dammit.

Milepost.

If traffic remains what it has been for the last week or so, The Smallest Minority will record its 500,000^th visitor sometime Monday morning.

Hell, I'm impressed!

More Gun... Pr0n?

This one doesn't appear to be a Photoshop:

There's got to be $7k+ worth of accessories on that AR, if that's what's really under all that stuff.

It must weigh 25 pounds. Just the thing for Tactical Tommy!

Hey! Where's the über-tactical single-point sling? Or ANY sling for that matter?

Hat tip to Roger for this one.

Just to Prove I'm Really Me...

I'm going shooting this Saturday with fellow Tucson gun-blogger, Cowboy Blob. It should go better than last time, since the temperature is only supposed to be in the eighties, rather than 111.4º.

We'll be at the Tucson Rifle Club range office at 8:00 AM Saturday. Come join us!

Think You're Anonymous? Think Again.

There are nearly 500 responses in this thread, mourning the sudden demise of a well-liked, much-respected member of the board, Calvert1.

This news hit hard for many members, and many of us said goodbye and paid tribute to this man.

There's only one problem, folks, and it's become an open secret in the past few days. The problem is, folks, that Calvert1 did not die.

Calvert1 did not succumb to pancreatic cancer. Calvert1 is not a veteran of current or past military conflicts. Calvert1 is not, nor has he ever been, employed by or contracted by Blackwater.

The last Sandbox he was in was likely in Kindergarten.

Read it all at the SigForum.

Blogger's Going Down Again Tonight.
"I can't complain, but..."

Per their blurb:

Sorry for the short notice. Blogger.com will be down tonight, Thursday, February 9th, from 7:30–8:30PM PST. Blog*Spot will be unaffected.

We’re upgrading a database, which gives us more room to grow and will fix some transient comment problems that some of you have had recently.

I guess that means you can read but I can't post. Don't hold your breath on the reading part.

Still working on that essay. Probably Saturday.

Gun Pr0n: Daddy LIKE!.

This is a Lee-Enfield No. 1 MkIII HT sniper variant of the old British WWI workhorse:

Now, I'm not normally a fan of the No. 1. I generally much prefer the No. 4 and No. 5 for their aesthetics.

But that's just GORGEOUS. According to what I have seen, only about 1,500 of these ever got made, mostly with pre-1920's actions. They were all made at Australia's Lithgow armory.

I wonder what one of those beauties goes for these days? (H/T to commenter Marlon for the pointer.)

Still Working on that New Essay.

Lots of research into stuff I haven't really looked into before.

Fascinating stuff. (Well, to me anyway.)

It'll be a while.

Another Goblin Bites the Dust.

Presented without commentary. (Commentary may be forthcoming later):

ELDERLY WOMAN SHOOTS AND KILLS INTRUDER

For the second time in two months, an intruder breaks into the home of an elderly East St. Louis woman. The first time, she was beaten and robbed. This time, however, the woman was ready. 87-year-old Jacksie King fired three times and shot the intruder dead. The woman worked for a living up until she retired as a doctor's office receptionist just four years ago. She was a crime victim in December and her daughter got her a gun to protect herself. Around 2:00am, she fired three rounds from the revolver, walked into the kitchen and waited for her daughter to get there. Her daughter Pamela said, "When I got here she was in the kitchen and the gun was on the kitchen table, and I asked her way the gun was there, and she said, 'We had guests'." The break-in was similar to the one in December. The intruder cut the phone line, removed bars from a side porch window and tried to crash through the front door of the modest home in the 2100 block of Gaty. 49-year-old Larry Tillman was killed in the incident. He had a long criminal history of residential burglaries and lived just six blocks from Jacksie's home. Jacksie's daughter is protecting her from the glare of the spotlight, but she's obviously proud of the way her mother conducted herself. "People work all their lives for what little they have, and it's not fair for anyone to try to take that away from them." The Illinois state police investigated the shooting. They say they will not seek any charges against the gun-toting grandmother. During the last break-in, she ended up in Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Records show Tillman also had numerous armed robbery and drug charges.

Best Gunnie Posts of 2005.

I just sent a list of my nominations to Countertop.

Anarchangel: Superiority Complex

Ravenwood's Universe: Wooing the Gun Grabbers

Random Nuclear Strikes: Dumb Hippies

South Park Pundit: Freaks and Geeks

Words: Bang

Thus Spracht ME: Visit from overseas

These are all posts that I found interesting or compelling enough to write my own posts on, or at least urge my readers to not miss. (They're in chronological order, not ranked by how good I thought they were.)

Don't forget to send your nominations to Countertop. His address is Countertop AT gmail DOT com. (You know how that works.)

And vote for Best Master Gunnie while you're at it.

Working on a New One.

"(A)nother several thousand word essay, which he’s famous for and are usually worth the read." - SayUncle

Just thought you'd like to know.

(USUALLY?)

I am OUTRAGED!

As an orthodox Pastafarian, I'm incensed! (Via Cowboy Blob)

Off with his meatballs!

UPDATE, 2/8: The Infidels continue their blasphemy!

Quote of the Week: Beggin' for a Fatwa!.

From Acidman:

It doesn't take much to enrage a Muslim. You'd be enraged, too, if you had to wipe your ass on your finger all the time. (Especially if you used that same finger to pick your nose.)

He's got a lot more to say along those lines. RTWT.

Gee, Ya THINK?.
Or: "I Can't Complain, but Sometimes I Still Do"

Blogsnot's been down since about 4:00 this afternoon. I'm amazed I can post this.

Assuming I can.

Countertop Chronicles has Opened Round Two of the Gunnies

While I neither expect nor desire to be elected "Best Master Gunnie," he is also looking for nominations for "Best Post of 2005."

Ahem.

Not to toot my own horn (while I toot my own horn...) but last January I did a post I'm pretty proud of that is all about gunnie stuff: Why Ballistic Fingerprinting Doesn't (and Won't) Work.

Yes, it's incredibly long, but it's packed fully of crunchy goodness. Can I self-nominate? (I'm normally not an attention-whore. Really. I swear.)

Quick Quote:.

Many people don't realize that for every 100 vehicles GM sells in the U.S., we support 23 American jobs - twice as many as our foreign competitors. - Gary Cowger, GM Group VP, Global Manufacturing and Labor

Which would help explain why GM is hemorrhaging money. Sheesh.

Quote of the Day:.

From today's Bleat:

First of all, I’d like to note that I am standing up while I write this. It’s peculiar, but I’ve gotten into the habit of writing standing up when I’m at the kitchen table. (In case you have visions of me with Reed Richards arms, the table is actually an island, set up rather high.) I mention this for no reason, except that I know people speak differently when they stand up, and perhaps standing while writing makes a difference as well. Adds a Prussian tone, perhaps. I don’t think Prussians even sat down to move their bowels. They just walked into the bathroom, closed the door, gripped the hilt of their sword and shouting SCHNELL! Or not.

Who thinks stuff like this?

Yes, That's it Exactly!.

Kim du Toit explains why he (and I do it too) "Brit-bashes." Excerpt:

I could fill these pages with news of similar atrocities happening anywhere in the world—the British Disease is by no means confined to Britain, as witnessed by car-burning being the recreational favorite of French teenagers—but, if I may be frank, I don’t give a rat's ass what happens to France, to the French, or to any other country in the world for that matter.

But I care, deeply, about what's happening in Britain nowadays, and if it seems any other way to my Brit Friends and Readers, then I humbly beg your forgiveness.

RTWT