Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

Category: Fun

  • It’s WHAT day already? The Horoscope for the week of September 9th

    Not like Suthern though, obviously. To afford that kind of woodland up here would require a couple of order of magnitude more scratch than I have.
    Trees. I has them.

    I seemed to have lost a few days.  I’m assuming that sweating out my own body weight twice daily by moving house in 95 degree weather with humidity imported from the Gulf Coast then crashing on the floor because you can’t make the effort to unpack the bed and waking up at dawn because of your glorious new 5′ x 5’9″ windows that don’t have blinds yet and repeating the day over again might have something to do with that.  On the other hand, when the dew point gets over 85, it does provide a really nice demonstration of the efficacy of modern multi-paned windows as the condensation only was on the outside of the outer pane.

    Digital cameras seem to have trouble with blue. The actual color is darker.
    The floor upon which I slept. On the wall to the left, I’ve put a 3’x 4′ mirror to make it even more sunlighty
    It's a maple.
    Mirror is on that space on the left. Also, Tree.

    But seriously though, fuck this weather.  I expected this bullshit when I lived in Houston but I thought the exorbitant real estate prices were supposed to be offset by having better weather.

    You may wonder why I wasn’t prepared for this weather, what with my ability to read the stars and all.  The answer is simple: celestial objects have no bearing on the weather.  If you don’t believe me, just ask the IPCC.  The rest of my predictions from last week’s reading came true, with the exception of the pest control thing.

    For this week, there are some interesting things, generally positive.  There is a really complicated construction based around the Earth-Venus-Jupiter alignment that has solidified from last week.  This backbone is a really good thing, but we have two oppositional axes forming against it.  The first is Mercury in opposition through Venus.  So we’ve got disruptive events having to do with your love life.  If your SO is suddenly increasing the amount and variety of the snu-snu they’re giving you, it’s because they’re compensating for having taken on a side-piece.  Sorry about that.  Or enjoy it while it lasts.  You do you.  The other oppositional axis is drawn between the new moon and Mars.  This is the kind of thing that results in Dear John letters and/or your newborn resembling a serviceman who was NOT out on deployment at the same time you were.

    The sun is in Virgo.  This has splashover results for the rest of us in focus and resistance to peer pressure.  But for us non-virgins, that effect is negated this week as we have two change-lights (Mercury and the Moon) conjoined in that sign.  If Virgo is your birth sign however, you will have particular success in overcoming disruptions.

    I really need to learn how to take care of Maple trees.
    The sun is also in my east-facing breakfast nook. Also, another maple.

    Venus remains in Virgo for another week, so if you are benefiting/suffering from guilt-induced turbosex, your relationship will hold together, at least for this week.

    I have such fond memories of kitchen counters, I"ll need to break these in.
    Home cookin’

    We (still) have the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Capricorn.  Wars destroy resources.  In other news, water is wet.  And Jupiter is still in Scorpio, but because of that Venus alignment, we should expect the beneficent aspects of that sign: good sex, particularly good sex in the context of formal/official relationships (due to the rulership/governmental aspect of Jupiter).

    All glibs are welcome to stay at my new home!  Just fill out the visitation application (including the non-refundable application fee) and once we’ve run the credit check and settled on the damage insurance and liability waivers, I’ll see about scheduling your visit.

  • Knifemaking with Leap

    The knife is likely humanity’s second or third oldest tool, with the pointy stick probably being developed from the not-pointy-stick prototype.  I’ve always been in love with knives.  Every one has its own feel.  Its own personality.  Its own special purpose.  Some of them almost leap out of your hand, ready to do their job.  Some are big and burly without being clumsy.   Some of them will slice a warm tomato paper thin, if you treat them right.  Youtube must have known about my love, and it knew I like to watch productive people make stuff on Youtube, because it kept suggesting I watch this video.  And it was right.  I wanted to learn how to make knives.

    Long story short, its really hard to do it from scratch without expensive equipment.  Its possible, but hard and tedious.  However, there are a few short cuts you can take to jump right in with minimal equipment.  Err, and minimal skill.  Like what I have.

    Mora is a maker of some really great, low-cost knives.  And they’ll sell you just the blade.  In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps I took to put my own custom handle on this 6 inch blade.  The end result is a large bushcraft knife suitable for all manor of outdoor misadventure.  Mora make a simple, bullet proof item.  Carbon steel, nothing fancy there.  A scandi blade is really basic, but that’s where the magic is.  Most blades have a primary bevel then a secondary bevel where its sharpened.  The scandi blade just has a single bevel, like a razor.  This is particularly well suited to digging under the grain of wood or other fibers.  At the cost of a bit more difficulty sharpening, this means the scandi is particularly well suited to camp tasks like preparing kindling, slicing rope, etc.

    The first step in this project is to lay out your plan.  Instead of going for a traditional scandinavian handle, as you’d expect on a scandinavian style blade like a puukko, I went for a more shaped handle.  I much, much prefer more options for bracing my fingers on forward strokes or when poking, and this design provides that.  Also, I tend to hold my knives in a saber grip.  That’s the nice thing about DIY.  You can D whatever the F U want.

    I traced the blade on paper, and then sketched out the outline of the handle I want.  The front finger groove comes a little close to the tang, so that’s something I had to keep an eye on.

    Then I laid out a few bits of material that I want to use for the handle.  I had a bit of cheap red oak from the hardware store, some green leather bits, and a block of leopardwood I grabbed on a lark when I got some exotic hardwood one time.  At this point, I also have a spacer made of black micarta scrap, but this didn’t make it into the final design since I fucked this piece up made a thoughtful decision to not include this material.  The goal here is purely design.  I’m looking for a nice balance of colors, contrasting textures, etc.  Most rules for aesthetic designs are domain independent.  That means that rules for putting together a proper suit and tie apply here as well.  High frequency next to low frequency next to no frequency next to high frequency.  Pick two colors, and add in one highlight.  Avoid symmetry and follow the rule of three or the golden ratio.

    Now that we have the general design down, its time to actually get to work.  If not done already, make sure all your stock is square and flat.  Like, really flat.  And if you aren’t sure you can pull that off… use leather spacers.  Making a knife is more like fitting jewelry than it is like carpentry.  You need everything to fit perfectly and you need to fret every detail.  Because this shit is HARD.  The bolster, that’s the part of the handle that interfaces with the knife, the bolster needs to fit the tang like a glove.  I find the center of the block, drill a row of holes smaller than the diameter of the tang, and then use needle files to connect them.  This should make a slot that is dead-on square and normal in the center of the bolster.  If you take your time, it will be perfectly square.  Just put on an audiobook and zen out, and you’ll have it perfect in no time.  Like this.

    FUCK!  Ok, not great, but not a disaster.  Anyway, the knife blade isn’t perfectly square on all surfaces, so you’ll need to fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file until your eyes are ready to fall out of your head.  Eventually, you’ll get it to seat correctly.

    Perfectly, within some margin of error.  If you look close, well, you’ll see its seated pretty well, but not perfect.  Like I said, this is jewelry, not carpentry.  I said its an easy job to pick up.  Mastering it will take a lifetime.  For my skill level, I’m looking to get a good enough seat that the finish will fill that gap.  More on that later.  Note the blue painters tape around the blade.  That’s to prevent premature hematological baptism.

    Once the bolster is fit, the rest of the handle is easy.  Using a drill bit just slightly wider than the tang, dill a hole straight and through the center of the rest of the wood blocks.  I also used a table saw to split the bolster since I ruined my spacer decided not to use the micarta spacer.  If you do this, this cut is super, super critical and you really, really need to make sure it is square and straight.  Also, mark your piece before you cut it so that you can assemble it later with proper grain orientation.

    At this point, all the material is in shape and ready for glue up.  Up till this point, its been a fidgety project but you can go nice and slow.  Well, that ends here.  Its now a fidgety project that is also gloopy and you will also be on a the clock.  So spend ten minutes dry fitting your knife so that you could assemble it blindfold, because once you mix your epoxy, shit gets real.  This is also your last chance to change the design.  Here I am out in the sunlight making sure I still like the way it looks under natural light.

    Epoxy is a hell of a material.  Its going to fill all the space in the handle and hold this knife together.  A modern epoxy, properly mixed and applied, will be harder than the wood and last longer than I will.  The task here is to fill the bolster with epoxy, slide it on, cover the spacer with epoxy, slide it on, cover the next spacer, slide it on, cover the next spacer, slide it on, fill up the last handle, slide it on, and then clamp it all together.  And make sure you use enough to fill all gaps.  But not so much it squeezes out the top of the bolster.  And don’t epoxy your knife to your clamps.  And don’t get epoxy in your hair.  And don’t tighten your clamp so much it all explodes like you just lost at Perfection.  And don’t use five minute epoxy because you will need more than 5 minutes.  Because I’ve done all that before and each one of those things sucks.

    But if, if you do it all correctly, you will be rewarded with a very stinky garage as you let this cure under a little bit of compression for at least twenty four hours.  PS make sure you orient it so that the squeeze out goes on the handle, not the blade.  Because if it cures on the blade, there’s no fixing that.  You are stuck with an ugly knife forever.

    But the next day, after your garage airs out and doesn’t smell like an old tire is fermenting in Satan’s asshole, you get to see if you’ve fucked up all your hard work.  Lets take a look.

    Success!  That squeeze out is not problem.  It’s all coming off.  What matters is the handle is one solid, rock hard piece.  No wiggle.  No wobble.  Now you just need to turn that big, blocky knob into a smooth, sleek handle like you drew on the paper.  I used a band saw to get it roughly square, then I use a belt sander to rough out the shape.  A rasp works really well here, too.  Then, once you have the shape, just sand.  And sand.  And sand.  And sand.  You really want to take it to the finest grit your wood can stand, and then maybe one more.  Oak and leopardwood are both fairly hard, so I took this to 2,000 grit.  You’ll need to get automotive sandpaper for this, but if you skimp here your knife won’t ever feel as good as it should.

    The last step is to apply a finish.  In theory, any wood finish is possible here, but poly or lacquer are not good finishes.  Superglue is actually pretty great, but I’m partial to a paste made of mineral oil and beeswax.  Its food safe, and you can oil the blade with the same oily rag as you use for the handle.  Its not as permanent as some other finishes, so it will need touched up every year or so.  But meh, if I didn’t want to put a little work into my tools, I wouldn’t be making them myself.  Also, wax is a good enough gap filler to fill the tiny gap around the base of the blade.

    This is my first time using leopardwood, and I really like the way it turned out. I also really like the way the shape turned out.  Its made to fit my hand, and I kept checking it as I roughed out the shape.  Its asymmetrical and maybe it looks a little sloppy if you look from the top down, but it fits my hand like it was made for it.  Because it was.  My thumb fits on the top of the bolster just right, and I have good purchase with my pointer and pinky.

    But most of all, every time I pick up this knife, I’m going to remember the work that I put into it.  It was my mind and my hands that brought this humble tool into the world.  It has visual and utility elements of a scandi knife, but it also has a few other particulars that I really like.  I didn’t mine the ore or smelt it.  I didn’t forge and grind the blade.  I didn’t even generate one unique feature on this knife – I copied the best from a couple different place.  But I made that knife.  And I’ll know it in my bones every time I pick it up.

  • D-Day, 1944 pt. 4 – Modeling

    Catch up on all the Omaha Beach Diorama posts
     

    Things change when you build a diorama, and now that I’m on my second one, I have learned that they ain’t the same. Scale aside, this one has pieces embedded. I usually would show you a bunch of tanks and guns on my table, ready to display. This time I have to place men as part of the piece, as it were, then place all my dynamic guys after, with the pieces set (the pieces are all the boats, tanks and things on the table).

    I learned that D-Day occurred at low tide, so a nice bit of rip rap seemed to fit the bill.

     

    And I wanted a mixed sand look, so we take 10 parts sand color to 1 part black cinder and it comes out like this:

    A little more against the wall and we are done with the beach sand element of the project.

     

    Defenses: Trying to finalize the primary defenses is easy enough, some barbed wire and the dragon’s teeth, some boat preventers and we are looking good so far, but there are a few details yet to come in that regard.

     

    Army Men: I’m reaching saturation on the board. Have 221 men to paint, and with all the effects it’s going to get busy.

    They need 7 colors, and we paint the base, then bas relief the rest of them. In 1/35 I could paint masses of one color, for example, all the boots on one sprue tree, all the Kbars on another, and guns on a third, all in one pass. At 1/72 scale I get about 3 to 6 parts done before my eyes bug out, so it kinda sucks for production, but we carry on.

    These are the guys I need to finish now, everyone else can wait.

    Someone asked about tools. I have my main tools and supplies packed for the AZ move, so everything had to be bought from scratch on this project, and it looks like this:

    I am using acrylics as much as possible, and Hobby Lobby has a great selection, very cheap. All the scenery elements like the clump foliage used in the ‘splosions, the water, sand, etc. are Woodland Scenics. Dollar Tree supplies my white glue, toothpicks, foam board, rip rap, stir sticks and painters blue tape. I’ll show you how I do some cool things in a future post.

    Part 4 Gallery

    P.S. I’m cutting this episode short because a lot of things are happening, and I don’t want to get confused. Cheers!

     

  • What Are We Reading – August 2018

    Riven

     

    mexican sharpshooter

    I decided to pick up a book from one of those “Intellectual Dark Web”…people.  Since pretty much everyone here is familiar with Jordan Peterson I picked something different.  Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker is what I picked, and ordered here.  I finished it while traveling home last weekend from Kansas City.  What interested me was his interview on Joe Rogan (leave me alone) where he came across as a soft-spoken, somewhat bumbling professor type which more or less is his persona.  The podcast left me thinking he was a left-wing professor that happens to stick his head out of his bubble every now and then and honestly reports what he sees.  He does have a lot of good musings over individual rights, free markets, and authoritarian governments.  His overall message is to look at the history, look at the data and be smart about how you form your opinions because where many fall short is their opinions are not backed up by objective fact.  Where he will probably fall short around here are his arguments against libertarianism, a good rundown of his arguments in his book are located at this link here.  One thing that I kept noticing is while he recognizes where the rights for the individual have led to positive impacts, he still advocates for actions on certain issues that some here will find antithetical to his message.

    Otherwise, his premises are explained clearly, cited thoroughly, and he shows them visually (there are 75 graphs and 40 pages of notes).  If there is any interest I can do a more thorough review.

    Brett L

    As part of our hate-reads, SF dared Jesse and I to read Happy Doomsday. This is the worst professionally written book I have ever read. Seriously. There is nothing good about it. Two too many of the characters survive the apocalypse. Do not read it. No, no. Don’t get curious about how bad it can be. DO NOT READ IT. SF did make it up to me by passing on to me Hardwired by Walter John Williams. This is 80s Mirrorshade Cyberpunk at its most fun. Aside from an irrational hatred of Texans common to many border-staters, it is great. Cyborgs jacked directly into hovercrafts, street samurai with cybernetic snakes implanted in their throats, a monomaniacal corporate titan who thinks he’s plugged into the heart of the silicon. I loved it. I also read Nathan Lowell’s latest two books in the Solar Clipper series. Suicide Run and Home Run. I really like the original story line. You just have to believe me when I say that he makes working the mess deck on merchant marine in space seem interesting. It gets more interesting from there, but somehow getting the coffee out on time seems like a worthy challenge.

    jesse.in.mb

    Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Not gonna lie, I was grabbed by the name and the first third of the story felt interminably slow. The main character was a wee bit too SJW and the person we assume is her antagonist a little too self-satisfied and traditional. There were erotic short stories embedded throughout, which I suppose I should’ve expected, but was a little scandalized by. Once the story starts rolling it’s engaging and endearing and you’re satisfied with the ending even if it’s a bit fairy-tale perfect.

    The World of Null-A by A. E. van Vogt. I had to keep reminding myself that this was classic sci-fi…and that the copy I purchased on Amazon still managed to be a shittily transcribed/scanned version. It was a jaunty read and the [scifi jargon] + [household item] formula was charming in an old-timey way.

    All New Square Foot Gardening (2nd Edition) by Mel Batholomew. One of these days I’ll get my ass in gear and at least grow tomatoes again. This book is pure garden-project pornography. One disappointment is that the book seems better suited for people who have a winter, and while they make occasional mention of plants that’ll grow in more temperate climates, instructions about harvesting after the first light frost but before the first hard frost are…unhelpful in climate zone 10b.

    Happy Doomsday: A Novel by David Sosnowski. Someone’s mother (not mine, obviously) always used to say “if you can’t say anything nice about a book, don’t say anything at all.” I did not prefer the characters in this book, which made it difficult to finish. I blame SugarFree’s enthusiasm for “this will be so bad it’s good” which he then abandoned in favor of “it’s so bad I refuse to continue” leaving Brett and me to struggle through. SP wisely chose a different Kindle First Reads book and mocked Brett and me for our “suicide pact.” I notice Brett has recommended that you not read it, but he’s just being a little theatrical, I’ll point out that it’ll continue being free to Prime members until the end of the month.

    While engaging in some Happy Doomsday avoidance I listened to the first (and second) novel in the Whiskey Business series, which SP is also listening to. It’s a fun light mystery with a built-in explainer for making and drinking whiskey. I also listened to Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection, which could’ve been written by one of you. I don’t know that it’d hit everyone’s funnybones the way it hit mine, but I would recommend it if you’re looking for a very light superhero caper in a world where superheroes are privatized and an uplifted lady-rhinoceros with an assault rifle discusses her masturbatory habits during a mandatory sexual harassment training.

    JW

    Chelsea Clinton – She Persisted

    SP

    I have nothing interesting to report as my reading time has been taken up by a pharmacology textbook. Not exactly a bedtime page-turner.

    Oh, I am also listening to this book’s Audible version this week while working out, cleaning, and folding laundry. (It’s a full life.) The story itself is OK, but the female narrator sometimes loses me between the heavily-Scots-and-English-accented male characters, making me have to hit the 10-second rewind button, which annoys me when I am wearing nitrile gloves.

    SugarFree

    Great Googly-Moogly, Happy Apocalypse was terrible. I made it 15% in and had to stop. Just bad. Bad, bad, bad. I could only read about 500 words at a time before I had to put it down. In-between the pain, I read James Tiptree Jr.‘s Her Smoke Rose Up Forever story collection. Tiptree is the most celebrated act of literary transvestitism in science fiction, being the nom de plume for Alice Sheldon. It was a fairly open secret that Tiptree was a woman, and I have a hard time believing that anyone of any sophistication who read more than a couple of stories by her couldn’t have figured it out.

    Still not able to shake trying to read Crappy Apocalypse, I turned to intellectual comfort food and re-read the first Uplift Trilogy, by David Brin. Despite Brin’s turn to loathsome politics,* my dozenth pass through his universe of plucky humans, adorable neo-Dolphins, and courageous artificially-evolved Chimpanzees is like a meaty, starchy, filling plate of Thanksgiving food. (The 2nd Trilogy sort of disappears up its own ass in striving for cosmic apotheosis, and I can’t recommend it.)

    *Brin has deleted his call for “climate justice” tribunals, so I’ve linked to an H&R thread where I posted some of his deranged screed. Brin used to write for Reason, by the way, before the madness settled in.

    Old Man With Candy

    There were two authors from my childhood who set me on my life-path to become a scientist. One was Roy Chapman Andrews (truly one of the most interesting humans to ever walk the Earth). The other was Arthur C. Clarke. When I was about 8 years old, my father handed me a copy of Profiles of the Future, which totally captivated me. It was an overview of common futuristic tropes of the sort that would fascinate an 8 year old science geek (invisibility, giants and Lilliputians, alien intelligence, matter replication, interstellar exploration) with some technical analysis of what was possible and what was sheer fantasy, and why. I read and re-read it so many times that it eventually fell apart. So I was determined to give this to my son as well, and found out that there was an updated edition from about 2000. I bought it for him and… well… let’s just say he’s more of a YouTube guy than a reader. It languished on our bookshelves for some years until I picked it up and dusted it off last week, then put it in the Room of Honor. Re-reading it, I can see why it grabbed my attention. Much of it hasn’t aged well, but much of it is frighteningly prescient. And of course, it’s Clarke, which means superbly clear and absorbing writing. I had the chance to meet Clarke once (as a college student) and was not disappointed, other than him avoiding the question about what the Ramans looked like. I cannot be the only one who has told him that he was the one who made them choose a career in science, but he acted as if I had said something special. What a great person.

  • The Steps – Reloading, Part 5

    Read the series

     

    This article is for informational purposes only. Suthenboy is not a credentialed expert. Do not attempt any of these activities without first consulting an expert or a manual published by accredited experts or manufacturers.

     

    Get ready to start loading!

    Sizing

    In a standard die set the first die is the sizing die. When firing a brass case expands and seals off the gun’s chamber like a gasket. It bounces back after the pressure drops but not all the way back to original size so the first thing to be done is to size it back to specifications. With a straight wall case carbide die this is fairly simple. Screw the die into the press until it touches the shell holder with the press in the up position then back it off about half of a turn. Make sure the pin of the center punch extends past the opening of the die but the stem of the punch does not. Place the case in the shell holder and pull the press handle a full stroke. If you meet solid resistance before the stroke is complete stop and back the die off a little bit. The die will size the case to specs and the center punch in the die will decap (remove the spent primer) the case. Run all of your cases through the die.

    With shouldered cases you must first lightly lubricate them. I use a lubed Q-tip to swab the inside of the case neck. I put a drop or so in the palm of my hand then line 6 to 8 cases in the palm of one hand. I put my hands together and rub them back and forth in a hand-warming style motion until the lube is evenly distributed on all of the cases. This method goes pretty fast. Make sure the lube is light or the excess lube will create a ripple like surface on the brass, ruining it. A trace amount is all that is needed.

    Some rifle die sets will have two sizing dies, one for sizing the neck and the other for sizing the body, making sizing a two-step process. I prefer the one step dies but I am not a benchrest shooter.

    After sizing the cases must be cleaned. As I mentioned the brass case expands during firing and becomes a brass gasket to seal off the chamber. To do this it must expand and grip the walls of the chamber. If there is lube on the case you would have the same effect as if you oiled your brakes. The bolt of the gun cannot hold the pressure. It is not designed to. It is the brass case gripping the walls of the chamber that holds the pressure. If the brass ruptures or cannot grip you may find tens of thousands of pounds of pressure escaping in your direction. This can ruin your day. Clean your cases well.

    Priming

    Various formulations (lead styphnate, antimony sulfide, barium nitrate plus secret ingredients depending on the manufacturer) are used for priming material but the first thing to know about all of them is that they are extremely sensitive to decomposition. The primary explosive in primers must be sensitive enough to ignite upon being struck by the gun’s firing pin. This means these formulations are much less stable than the secondary incindiary material – the gunpowder. You should never touch primers with your fingers. Even trace amounts of oils, water or salt from your fingers can cause the priming material to become inert. Touch a primer and you end up with a dud round or worse, delayed ignition. I keep tweezers on hand at all times to manipulate loose primers. Also, that instability means you should never subject primers to shock or heat. If you have one go off you will be surprised how much bang one of those tiny caps have.

    *Priming material is a very powerful explosive. Historically primers were assembled in small, one person sheds surrounded by sandbags. Only women were hired to do this tedious job because women can sit comfortably and focus for long periods of time much easier than narrow hipped men can. Thankfully today they are manufactured in unmanned facilities by remote control.

    Make certain that you have the proper primer for your load. Small differences in primer operation make big differences in how the gunpowder burns. Never use magnum primers for standard loads. There are:

    Small pistol
    Small pistol magnum
    Large pistol
    Large pistol magnum
    Small rifle
    Small rifle magnum
    Large rifle
    Large rifle magnum
    Various specialized formulations such as military primers

    Again, always make sure your primer matches the load you are making.

    Priming tools, either hand squeezed or lever operated, use a small plunger to press the primer into the case’s primer pocket. In both cases very little practice is needed to get the feel of properly seating a primer. I used to sit in front of the television with 500 or 1000 batches of brass and do the operation almost entirely by feel while watching TV. Make sure the mouth of the case is facing away from you, other people, pets and especially from your store of other primers or gunpowder. Press the primer in and then after each one run your finger over the primer to make sure it is properly seated. It should feel just slightly below the base of the case. If it is not in far enough it will cause revolver’s cylinders to jam as the primer will rub against the frame and in rare cases could be set off in semi-autos by being struck by the slide upon feeding. You don’t want to have one go off before it is fully chambered. Make sure they are fully seated.

    Another safety tip: If you try to fire a round and you only get a click DO NOT IMMEDIATELY OPEN THE GUN AND REMOVE THE DUD ROUND. Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and wait for half a minute or so. It is possible to have a hang fire, that is delayed ignition. Don’t be this guy:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za2ezCNvBeU

    Trimming and Flaring

    Cases can stretch with repeated use but with pistol cases I have never found them to stretch excessively. They work harden before that happens. With longer rifle cases the stretching can be greater and affect accuracy. Use your micrometer to check for stretching and either discard or trim cases back to specifications. I have never felt a great need to do this except for some rifle cases. Case trimmers are relatively cheap and easy to use but you can get by without one.

    It is worth the investment to buy a universal flaring die but most die sets have a flaring function. You want to flare the case the least amount possible as it will work harden the mouth of the case and after a few uses the mouth can split upon firing.

    Put a case in the shell holder and pull your press handle all the way down with no die in it. Now screw the die in and keep screwing until you feel very slight resistance. Turn the die in ¼ to ½ more turn but not so much that it starts moving the press handle. Take the case out and try to put a bullet in the mouth of the case with your fingers. If the base of the bullet clears the mouth of the case you are good. Lock the die in place with the lock ring and run all of your cases through that die. If not then screw the die in ¼ turns and put the case back in the die. Continue doing this until the base of the bullet fits into the mouth without catching on the edge of it. This allows you to seat bullets without crushing the edges of the case mouth.

    Charging the cases

    Obviously charging the case with gunpowder is the most critical step in the process. Great care must be taken.

    I am going to hit the high points here and I will write an article later on just gunpowder. It is a subject with a lot of information and I don’t want anyone lapsing into a coma while trying to slog through it.

    Gunpowder does not explode. It burns. Under confinement it burns rapidly. If you pour a little powder out on a safe surface and ignite it will make a sputtering flame for a few seconds. Under pressure or in confinement it burns much more rapidly. Ideally we want the powder to finish burning just as the bullet leaves the muzzle. We don’t want it to finish burning before the bullet leaves the muzzle because that means pressure is dropping and the bullet slowing before it leaves the gun. If it doesn’t finish burning until after the bullet leaves we end up with a lot of muzzle flash and wasted powder.

    Powders come in three types: ball, tube and flake. The powder burns on the surface so by changing the surface area/volume the rate of burn can be controlled. Obviously the ball powders are the slowest burners as a sphere has the lowest surface area/volume possible. Their burning rate is adjusted by changing the sizes of the spheres. Next are the tube powders. These grains are tiny tubes and these offer the greatest variability. They have different outside diameters, inside diameters and lengths. The fastest powders, used in shotguns and pistols, are the flake powders. These are tiny little sheets that have the greatest surface area/volume.

    Each of these offers different advantages. Ball powders can be measured very accurately because there is little variability in the number of balls that can fit in your measure. Tube powders measure reasonably well but as I have mentioned before the mechanics of your powder dispenser may chop some of the tubes changing the burning rate of some of the grains. This variability is small enough that the normal shooter wont notice but long range bench rest shooters generally use methods of measure that don’t damage the grains such as powder tricklers that measure powder by weight instead of volume. Flake powders are the most difficult to measure accurately but since they are used in pistol and shotgun (short range) this doesn’t present much of a problem.

    If you are measuring powder with a dipper… pour about a half of a pound of powder into a glass bowl that does not have corners inside. When scooping the powder with the dipper you want to start at one side of the bowl and make a sweeping motion from one side of the bowl along the inside surface all the way to the other side keeping contact with the bowl the whole time. Try to scoop using the same motion and speed each time. Set your scale for the desired amount of powder and then measure about five consecutive scoops and see how consistent the amounts are and how close they are to your desired amount. If a scoop comes up heaping with powder put it back in the bowl. Don’t try to adjust a scoop by leveling powder off of the top or adding to it. Consistent motion equals consistent measure. If you let the amount of the powder in the bowl get too low it will start scooping differently so keep the amount of powder in the bowl consistent.

    With powder dispensers put about half of a pound of powder in the hopper. Set the can of powder with the lid on it near the powder dispenser. Make sure it is the only can of powder on the table. Do not move that can until you are finished dispensing and you have poured the hopper back into the can.

    I say again: SET THE CAN OF POWDER NEAR THE DISPENSER, MAKE SURE IT IS THE ONLY CAN ON THE TABLE AND DO NOT PUT THAT CAN AWAY UNTIL ALL OF THE EXTRA POWDER IS BACK IN THE CAN. This way if you take a break or leave powder in the hopper for next time you will always know exactly what powder is in the hopper. If you fail to do this never try to remember or guess which powder is in the hopper. You will have to dispose of it. I know someone who did this. He guessed it was Unique powder, it turned out to be Bullseye, a much faster powder. He blew his gun up and escaped injury by the skin of his teeth.

    Set your scale for the desired amount. Set your dispenser over the amount you are aiming for. Dispense one charge and weight it. Adjust your dispenser down and weight again. Keep doing this until you hit the target load. Firmly set the charger adjustment with the lock ring or set screw. Now dispense about five charges and weigh each one. If it consistently hits within one to two tenths of a grain of the target load you are ready to go.

    Charge each case and set them in the loading block as you go.

    When you are finished all of the cases in the loading block will be standing close together and upright. As with the dipper method try to keep your hopper filled consistently. Don’t run it dry or near the end it will measure differently.

    STAND UP AND LOOK DIRECTLY DOWN INTO THE MOUTHS OF ALL OF THE CASES. USE A FLASHLIGHT AND SHINE IT DOWN SO THAT YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE ALL OF THE POWDER IN THE CASES. If one of the cases didn’t charge, got double charged or has more than the slightest variation in charge it will jump right out at you. You will see it easily. Pour that charge back into the hopper and recharge it.

    Now randomly choose three to five charges from one end of the loading block to the other and weigh them. Pour the weighed charges back into the hopper and recharge the cases. Check again with the flashlight.

    You are now ready to start seating bullets.

    *A revolver round that does not get charged is very dangerous. The power of the primer is enough to push the bullet partway down the barrel. If you are firing rapidly it is possible that you may fire another round while that bullet is lodged in the barrel. This will result in a catastrophic failure of your gun and likely serious injury or death for you. In a semi-auto of course the gun wont feed and you will know something is seriously wrong.

    Use the flashlight method when charging. Make safety your religion.

    Seating Bullets

    While your cases are still in the loading block use your fingers to press a bullet base down firmly and as straight as you can into each case. Because the cases are flared this should be an easy and quick operation. The bullets should stick enough that they don’t wobble around and fall out when you handle the cases. Be careful not to jostle things around or powder could splash from one case to another – firm flat surface and press straight down. Any jostling or spilled powder and you must dump them all out and start the charging process over.

    The seating die will both seat the bullet and crimp the case around it. Adjusting both of its functions can be a difficult puzzle so I will give you the key.

    1. Put one of the cases with a bullet in the mouth into the press with no die and pull the handle all the way down.
    2. On the top of the die unscrew the seating adjustment most of the way out.
    3. Screw the die in the press until it goes down most of the way over the case but you still feel no resistance.
    4. On the top of the die screw the seating adjustment down until you feel it contact the bullet.
    5. Pull the press handle up a bit and then screw the seating adjustment down 4 or 5 turns.
    6. Pull the press handle down all the way. You will feel it begin to press the bullet into the case.
    7. Raise the press handle again and see how far you pressed the bullet in.
    8. Repeat this process several times and use your micrometer if you need to to measure the loaded round until it is at proper seating depth. If your bullet has a cannelure or a crimp groove this is easy to do by eye. The bullet should be seated to the proper depth but you can still see the case mouth flared around the bullet.
    9. Unscrew the seating adjustment most of the way out then pull the press handle all the way down.
    10. Screw the die down until you feel resistance. That resistance is the crimping ring inside the die contacting the case.
    11. Move the press handle up a bit and screw the die in ¼ to ½ turn and then press the case back into it. Then examine the case. Continue this until you observer a firm crimp around the bullet but not enough to crush it.
    12. You are now at proper crimping depth but the seating adjustment is not contacting the bullet. Lock the die in place using it’s lock ring.
    13. With the cartridge still in the die screw the seating adjustment down until you feel it contact the bullet. Make sure it is screwed down firmly and then using it’s lock ring lock it in place.

    Your die is now properly adjusted and you can go to town. Run all of the cases through the die examining each as it comes out. Congratulations! you have just loaded a batch of safe, reliable ammunition at a small fraction of the cost of off of the shelf centerfire ammunition.

    *Gunpowder burn rate is strongly affected by amount of confinement. If you seat the bullets too deeply it will cause the powder to burn more quickly, raising pressure. Get yourself one of these: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/685703/rcbs-powr-pull-impact-bullet-puller-kit

    Occasionally while adjusting your seating die you may over-seat one and need to remove it. That little gem will take it back out for you without damaging the bullet.

    *When you are loading if you become tired, stop. You must be attentive and focused throughout the process. Don’t push it. This is not an emergency and the stuff wont run away. It will be there when you are rested and ready to load again.

    Next up: components

    If you are still awake, jump into the comments.

    Bonus: Hatcher’s Notebook is hands down the best technical book on ballistics ever written. It is in the public domain and you can download it as a free .pdf from Glibs, or acquire it in other formats here.

  • I Fucking Love Astrology: The Horoscope for the Week of August 26

    Pretty good week, just like the stars said.  Lots of work to do, lots of work got done.  Except some mirrors I ordered on the 11th which broke during shipment on the 13th, re-ordered on the 15th… still aren’t here.  Today they gave me some UPS tracking numbers which don’t actually correspond to anything.

    Anyway, what’s up? (Get it?)

    Bupkis.

    MERCURY RETROGRADE is over.  No alignments.

    But… things are starting to shift back to more harmonious conditions.  In addition to Mercury having gone station direct, Mars has done so as well.  The early part of a transition is especially auspicious so with Mars being in Capricorn, those of you who are competitive will not only win, but win money in your competitions.  If you’ve been putting off a haircut, this is now a good time to get one.  I’ll probably get one on Sunday.  Venus in Libra brings success in juggling both your primary partner and your side piece(s).  Leo gets good news, the weather will be hot.  Good yields from gardening (Capricorn has that Mars transition mentioned before, but it’s conjoined with Saturn (retrograde) so “bounty unending.”  Low probability of stings when you’re working in the garden, thanks to Jupiter controlling Scorpio.

    There is a major water-influence going on with the Moon in Aquarius.  Expect something big happening with the ocean.  Good surfing?  Floods?  Hard to say.

    Remember: quiet stars mean happy people.

    Apropos of absolutely nothing, unless you want to talk about those covers which are better than the original, and maybe get OMWC to tell the story about how he once had a Four-way with the Andrews Sisters:

     

     

  • Choosing A Load – Reloading, Part 4

    Read the series

    This article is for informational purposes only. Suthenboy is not a credentialed expert. Do not attempt any of these activities without first consulting an expert or a manual published by accredited experts or manufacturers.

    Before beginning your reloading operation you need to choose a load. A lot of factors go into this choice. What do you intend to do with this load? Are you hunting and if you are what kind of game? Are you target shooting or plinking? How much recoil can you tolerate? Are these self-defense loads?

    First I would like to discuss self-defense loads because it is the most important to consider. There are a lot of bullets out there that are advertised as having near magical qualities. Forget them. It is all marketing and if you fall for it and ever have to use them in earnest you can land yourself in hot water. You may have to defend yourself against serious felony charges and it is a certainty that the prosecutors are going to say that you chose bullets that have multiple projectiles or super claws or extra expanding hollow points because you were itching to smoke someone. I repeat, it is a certainty. You want to have the most generic, least scary looking ammo possible. Rest assured that this ammo is just as effective as kewpie doll bullets. A simple hard cast, lead bullet with a flat nose designed for shooting paper targets is more than adequate. Don’t load them up too hot – pick a mid-range load. In a .357 Magnum or a .38 Special a 158 grain semi-wadcutter travelling from 800 to 1000 feet per second will do what you need it to do very effectively and no one can accuse you of being a vigilante wannabe. In 45ACP a 230 grain round nose at 800 fps is just as effective as Golden Swords or Blue Talons at 1000 fps.

    Another good tip: Don’t use ball powders, use flake powders for defense loads. Ball powders burn slower and hotter and tend to create large, blinding fireballs at night, especially in short barreled guns. Flake powders can be tuned to create no or nearly no flash at all. If you have to defend yourself at night you don’t want to be blinded on the first shot.

    With that unpleasantness behind us we can move on to more interesting discussion: hunting. Do you intend to harvest deer? In heavy brush or at long distance over open ground? Deer don’t require high energy bullets but heavy brush is easier to defeat with heavy bullets . This would usually be at short range so any heavy, flat nosed, hard bullet would be a good choice even if it has a flat base. Long ranges are easier to cover with boat tail bullets and the heavier the bullet the more velocity it will retain at range. Hogs are considerably tougher than deer and I recommend as much energy as you can get your hands on. Heavy, fast bullets are preferred but don’t go crazy and make something that is going to hit you as hard as it hits the hogs…keep recoil in mind. For larger animals you want deep penetration which means harder bullets that don’t expand rapidly and dump all of their energy before they hit the vitals.

    For plinking light loads and light bullets are fun because they don’t wear you out with recoil and blast. Go light. You can shoot them all day.

    Always choose loads from reputable publications. All of the manufacturers publish them and they can be found in reloading sections of stores or online. Never try to cook up a load from scratch on your own and never, ever mix powders or use powders or bullets not recommended by the loading manual. Powder manufacturers test their powders in special guns designed to measure pressures safely and you can easily find published starting and maximum loads so there is no point in taking chances. Always stay inside those parameters and work up towards the maximum loads with great caution. My favorite source for loads is www.loaddata.com. I have subscribed to them for years. They are not expensive and I have never had a load that didn’t perform as advertised.

    When making your chosen load make only one and test it. You don’t want to have to dissemble a large number of loads that are unsafe. Watch for signs of pressure as you test each change in the load. Then work up one half grain at a time until you reach your target load.

    Signs of pressure

    1. Flattened primers. The exposed part of the primer has a beveled edge. When the pressure gets high enough to start flattening that bevel out you are getting into the danger zone.
    2. Split cases or bulged cases. This should be self explanatory. In an a semi-automatic if the load is too hot it can move the slide or bolt back before all of the pressure is released resulting in a bulge, usually on one side of the case near the base. You are way into the danger zone. Split cases could be the result of work hardened brass that you need to replace or it could be a load that is hot enough to expand the brass too quickly. Splitting on the side of the case is more of a danger sign than a split mouth. The split mouth is more likely work hardened brass that has been loaded too many times. Replace it.
    3. Soot around the outside of the case. If you find an excess of soot around the outside of the mouth or down the side of the case your pressure is too low. The case is not expanding enough to seal the chamber.

    Interesting historical note and excellent tip

    Always make sure the case is at least half filled with powder. Once upon a time you could buy very light loads intended for small game in large, powerful calibers. You are out deer hunting and see a cottontail rabbit or a squirrel? Simply pop one of these load in and bag it. They were made with round balls instead of cylindrical bullets and used very light powder loads. Occasionally one of those loads would blow a gun to pieces and injure people. How could a light load do that? It took a lot of experimentation and quality checks before they figured out what was going on. You can no longer buy them but there are people out there unaware of why it happens and are wildcatting their own loads. Never do this. What happens is called SEE or Secondary Explosion Effect. It is how Primacord works. When you lay the rifle down on your target there is a small chance that the light powder load can string itself out in the lower part of the case. If the primer ignites the powder string at both ends it will burn from both ends towards the center. When those two pressure waves meet they can be additive and create enormous pressure, enough to blow the gun apart. It is difficult to duplicate but it can happen so don’t take the chance.

    One more tip: The rifling in gun barrels comes in different speeds of twist. It is designated with two numbers such as 1:9. This means one rotation of the bullet in 9 inches. The longer a bullet is the faster it has to rotate to stabilize. If it does not stabilize it will begin to tumble. This completely destroys accuracy and the effectivness of the bullet. You may find loads for your caliber using bullets that your particular gun is not designed to shoot. They are safe if you find them in a manufacturers publication but they are useless. If you find keyhole shaped or oval shaped holes in your target or cant find any holes at all you have chosen a bullet that is too long in relation to its diameter for your gun. Choose a lighter/shorter bullet.

    Next time we will go through the steps for reloading from spent brass to loaded ammunition.

  • Working Your Wood with McGinty

    One of my good friends is having a baby (essentially a zero sperm count is not the same as a zero sperm count) and I asked if I could build something for the new baby. This is the same one I asked about a scotch recommendation for, and thanks to all that replied. Ended up with Macallan 18 year. Anyway, they asked for a changing table so I did some research into a design and came up with a 3 drawer dresser topped with a tray that holds a changing mat and sections for diapers, wipes, ointments, and anything else they may need to grab.

    Off to the lumber dealer I went for some slabs of poplar:


    Lumber from a lumber yard typically isn’t in your standard 2×4 or 1×8 format. It’s sold in board feet, where 1 board foot is 12 inches by 12 inches for a 1 inch thick board. The thickness (or thicc-ness if you prefer) is measured in quarters, so a 1 inch thick board is 4 quarters, 2 inches is 8 quarters, and so on. So now you have to do some math (math is hard!) and figure out how much board-feet you need. The boards pictured are sanded and trimmed so that they are 13/16ths thick and about 10 to 11 inches wide. Knowing this I figured I would need about 50 board feet.

    The lingo would be “I need 50 board feet of 4 quarter poplar in 8 foot lengths.” Basically a dime bag.

    Step one is to cut up the boards into widths I needed for the frame. Then a few passes through the planer to get it to 3/4ths of an inch. I check with a caliper and can get it close, and I think I planed the boards to 0.745 inches. I didn’t want to use screws so I cut a bunch of tenons and figured out where I needed a corresponding mortise. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have a problem with screws, and love a good screw as much as the next guy. Something like a 4 inch cabinet screw for example will really hold. But I thought mortise, tenons, and glue would hold it just fine. Here is the frame and one of the side panels:


    Then I added the other panel and frames and glued everything together:


    The sides are recessed panels, and the spaces for the 3 drawers are 8 inches tall – enough for a good 7 inches of drawer depth.

    The top was made with 5 to 6 inch wide boards with tongue and groove joinery, because every groove deserves a nice fitting tongue. It shouldn’t be too tight or too loose, it should just slide right in. Here it is being glued with the frame in progress:

    The top for the changing mat was the most difficult to figure out since it was all dadoes, rabbets, and glue:


    Everything needed to be precise and when I dry fit the pieces it went together great:


    But something happened when I put the clamps on it and when the glue dried it ended up with little bit of a warp to it. Not enough to make me want to redo it, but it’s close.

    The next step was to make some trim for the base that coordinated with the panel sides. I made a jig that would allow me to make repeatable cut outs with a router, and I used a ½ inch dado bit set to a ⅛ inch depth. Basically just the tip. They came out really well and only needed a little bit of sanding and some squaring of the corners with a chisel:


    The next step was to make the drawers taking into account the thickness of the drawer slides. I used a bunch of 3/4 inch plywood scraps I had lying around and used a type of locking rabbet joint to hold everything together:

    Somewhere through the course of time ¾ inch plywood stopped becoming ¾ inch plywood and became 0.7 inches thick. This ended up making the drawer box a smidge short. Basically, I cut the depth of the groove at ⅜ inch when I should have made sure the remainder of the groove was ⅜ inch and the groove depth was more like 0.32 inches in depth. What sucked is that the process of cutting the rabbetts was one of those “1 hour of setup, 5 minutes of cutting” jobs with the table saw. Rookie mistake and I used some flat washers to shim the drawer slides out a bit.

    Since the plywood edge would show I glued a thin strip of wood on it so it would look nice. They make these long rolls of thin veneer strips with glue on one side that you just iron on. I used a chisel to cut the ends at 45 degree angles so it looks like the box was made with mitered corners:


    A note on chisel sharpening – sharpen your chisel as often as you can. If you can get someone else to sharpen your chisel that’s fine too. Maybe on days when you’re home with nothing to do, whip it out and give it a good sharpening. It only takes a few minutes and you’ll be really glad you did when you’re finished. Don’t rush the job either, just nice, slow strokes.

    After some sanding and trimming of pieces that were a little too proud (proud is woodwork-ese for “sticks out too much”) it was time to spray the first of two coats of primer. I use a shellac base primer that you can spray right out of the can – no thinning needed. I also use a cheap Harbor Freight HVLP sprayer for everything. The 1.4mm tip leaves a smooth finish and it only costs  $15. I have used siphon feed and pressure feed guns but I felt the finish wasn’t as good. If the Harbor Freight gun ever craps out I will just buy a new one, but I clean mine in between uses and it’s worked great for a few years now. The first coat will often lift the grain and create a rough feel to the surface so I give it a little rubbing with some 200 grit sandpaper. Just a little rubbing as you don’t want to take off what you just put on. Just enough to leave a smooth surface. Here is the final result:

    The frame and drawers are a cream color and the blue color is hopefully a cheese eating surrender monkey, I mean French Country tone. I’m not good with colors, but this is pretty close to what I envisioned the final product to look like. Time to go work some more of my wood.

     

     

     

  • D-Day, 1944 pt. 3 – Prepping for Water

    Catch up on all the Omaha Beach Diorama posts 

     

    We know the story, it’s D-Day, and white men will die, but what’s going on right here, right now, with this Company? I needed a way to get the Allies past the initial obstacles, and it needed to be legit, so why not a few large craters?

    Due to the tide, it’s already wearing away. At least 40% of the men are expected to make it to the wall. We shall see.

    Water: My undercoat turned out smashing IMO, it blends well from Midnite Blue to Light Grey, with a neat little surf line, ending in a dry sand beach head, check it out.

     

    There are still many details to come before I can pour the water such as…

    Army Men: Tedious is a polite way of putting it. Painting little boots and faces is hard on the eyes, but it must be done, so I do my best and carry on.

     

      Remember, at least 40% of the men I paint, I will kill, burn, drown, dismember, and otherwise mentally fuck up, before I can pour water.

    It’s good to have a selection of different types of troops, even if they aren’t “D-Day” troops, for example, I have some U.S. mountain troops that have some horses, the Germans used horses a lot so they get them. The U.S. guys leading them with bridles will end up in the water hanging on to ropes from the Higgins boats. Repurpose anything you want/can is my motto.

     

    The pieces (meaning all the machines, not the men) themselves are all cut into the board to sink them below the water undercoat and must be completely sealed before pouring the acrylic water, every nook and cranny has to be filled with tiny bits of foam and then layered with Elmers Glue. After that they must be sealed with water effects to create a nice blend with the water when it comes in.

    Water ‘Splosions: I have yet to do one, but the idea is quite simple, some clear silicone caulking on some sprue, drug out with a toothpick, but I’m going to try for some small arms fire bullets in the water stuff as well. We shall see….

    Effects: I have a few…this is just the beginning of my madness.

    Boom!

     

    This is going to be good!

     

    Gotta have Dragon’s Teeth 

     

    Where there’s smoke, there’s smoke

     

    For all you water guys, it will be a month before my first pour, be patient. I plan on at least 4-5 pours, each 1/8 of an inch at a time, to 1/2 inch depth total , but the results will be smashing, I tell’s ya!

    Until the next installment, here’s the latest album. Put on some WAR music and play it as a slideshow!

     

  • I Fucking Love Astrology: The Horoscope for the Week of August 19

    MERCURY RETROGRADE continues

    Stargazing can be depressing, since it seems like there are so many bad omens.  There actually ARE a lot of bad omens, and the most interesting things (comets, novae, etc) are the worst omens.  There are two reasons for this:

    The first is that Astrology, like all real sciences, is based on empirical observation.  The celestial influences were mapped to significant events and once a correlation was established, these correlations were codified and promulgated.  The issue is that the historical eras in which this painstaking scientific research occurred sucked camel balls.  All sorts of bad shit was going on, between plagues, famines, invasions, tyrants, pubic lice, forcible conversions, slave raids, indigestion, hyena attacks and poor kitchen hygiene coupled with no toilet paper, there were many more bad events to match up than good ones.  The charts indicate this.  There is only one planet that is unambiguous in its beneficence (Venus) and even it goes retrograde every now and then.

    The second is that “interesting” things are breaks in a pattern.  But with the stars, that pattern is perfection so any breaks are Bad Things.  If auto racing were as perfect as the stars, the best driver would have won the pole position, and the race would proceed flawlessly with no changes in the race order.  Nobody would watch this.  The biggest, brightest, most noticeable deviations in astrology (a new star appearing where there wasn’t one before) are the multi-car collisions sending flaming shrapnel into the spectator seating.

    So yeah, lots of bad news to be seen in the night sky.

    So what’s the bad news for this week?  Not a lot really, at least in comparison to last week.  That massive double-alignment of despair has broken up, with a piddly little BARCO double hinging on Mars retrograde (Sol-Luna-Mars (retrograde) and Mars (retrograde)-MERCURY RETROGRADE-Terra) which gives very weak influences in the following ways:

    1.  A conflict will end.
    2. There will be bad news regarding a war
    3. A general will have his ass handed to him (possibly literally — this is the same construction that heralded Qaddafi’s death-by-bayonet-sodomy)

    As for the celestial houses:

    Leo still has to deal with MERCURY RETROGRADE, but at least the moon has skedaddled.  If you have a cat, expect more kitty zips and general destruction from the little furball.  Haircuts are still risky, but I’ll be getting one because my hair has gotten really annoying when I have to put on a cleanroom suit.  This is also backed up by the moon moving into Sagittarius; “Nocturnal hunters awaken.”

    If you are a Capricorn, do NOT get into any fights.  Mars has backed ass-first into your sign so that Saturn (retrograde) which has been hanging out pretty clearly points to “violence leads to loss.”  Yeah, I said that wasn’t going to happen.  Either I need better charts, or I need to read them better.

    Jupiter in Scorpio:  minding your own business leads to good things.  The stars give really good advice.  SCIENCE!

    Finally, Venus in Libra.  If you can keep your center, good things follow.

    This whole week is pretty pro-Glib.  Enjoy.