Thou shall sweep away all that oppose you!!

Only in the ME could you find 3 groups of priests from basically the same religion get into a broom fight over cleaning a church! Seems 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests had a turf war on who gets to clean which part of the Church of Nativity they get to clean. Although it seems their religious zeal is a double edge sword as the state of repair of the church is quite bad, as seen in this wiki quote:


The present state of the church is worrying. Many roof timbers are rotting, and have not been replaced since the 19th century. The rainwater that seeps into the building not only accelerates the rotting of the wood and damages the structural integrity of the building, but also damages the 12th-century wall mosaics and paintings. The influx of water also means that there is an ever-present chance of an electrical fire. If another earthquake were to occur on the scale of the one of 1834, the result would most likely be catastrophic. ... It is hoped that the listing will encourage its preservation, including getting the three custodians of the church - the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Orthodox Church, and the Franciscan order - to work together, which has not happened for hundreds of years. The Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority would also have to work together to protect it.[2][3]


In 2010, the Palestinian Authority announced that a multi-million dollar restoration program was imminent.[4][5]


It's pretty sad when the Israelis and Palestinians have to tell you to get along......

Top Gear - The North Pole Expedition

Two middle aged men, deeply unfit, mostly drunk. Show off an inconvenient truth.

Courtesy of SDA

Santa Baby By Eartha Kitt

A very Merry Christmas to you and all of your family. Now I understand why my parents where so tired Christmas morning....

I await the massed protests

So the Muslim world protests loudly about cartoons allegedly showing the Prophet (the fact that no one knows what the Prophet looks like is not important), they protest at the slightest hint of insult by the West. So I await their massed protest where the Taliban kill people by bombing a mosque, seems a holy place is not so holy when you need to kill someone.

 A suicide bomber killed six Afghans, including a district police chief, in an attack at a mosque in the eastern province of Kunar, a known haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosive-packed vest as worshippers were leaving the mosque in the district of Ghaziabad.

"The attacker detonated his explosives in the mosque, killing the district police chief, an intelligence officer, two police and two civilians," Kunar's governor told AFP.

The attack is the second suicide bombing at a mosque in Afghanistan this week. On Dec. 6, a suicide bomber killed 54 Afghans at a mosque in Kabul. The Afghans were Shia who were celebrating Ashura. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Almi, a Pakistan-based terror group allied with the Taliban and al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban have carried out numerous attacks at mosques in the past, including the assassination of Kunduz's governor in the province of Takhar on Oct. 8, 2010, and more recently, a suicide bombing that killed seven people, including a local police commander, in an attack at a mosque in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Nov. 6.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/12/suicide_bomber_kills_62.php#ixzz1hIDjDWwg

Signs and foreign body language (Philippines example)

I fully agree with this fellow, body language is far more important than many realize. A few examples I picked up in Malaysia is pointing, which is done by pointing a loose fist toward the object with the thumb on top in the direction of the object, but not protruding past the knuckle. If towards a person, it's more of a general direction rather than right at the person. When passing between people, you bend forward slightly when walking with  your right arm extended out and your left arm behind your back. Hands should flat with forward hand's thumb on top.
Another example is greetings, you gently touch the hand of the person you are greeting (if of the same sex) and then place that hand on your chest over your heart. Normally done to the elders first, the people clearly younger than you will show their deference/respect by bringing their head to your hand and then touching their chest.
If you are a fairly tall person, just remember your height may create a tension and might be felt like intimidation if you are to close.

All I Want For Christmas - HMS OCEAN

This is what happens when you leave sailors with to much time on their hands!

Merry Xmas to the crew of HMS Ocean and a hope that you are home for Christmas.

"Dream Lines - Part II" Wingsuit Proximity Flying by Jokke Sommer

Pretty cool, but one unplanned updraft or a unexpected encounter with an eagle could lead to making quite the mark on the cliff wall. Under no circumstances show yourself doing this to your insurance agent!

Nando's: Last dictator standing

Hah! I guess Assad won't be able to make it either.

Swanson Bay, the town that vanished

While reviewing a project I came across the story of Swanson bay, a ghost town on the west coast of British Columbia. In 1901 the BC government passed an Act that allowed companies a interest in the land if the set up a mill. The Canadian Pacific Sulphite Pulp Co. Ltd. took up the challenge in 1906 and 1909 began to produce lumber. The town was serviced by the CPR and Union Steamship vessels. By 1919 the town had a population of 500 people producing 100,000 board feet a day , sulphite pulp and shingles.

In 1923 an earthquake hit Japan, their biggest customer (history repeats itself!) Sometime after 1925 the mill was closed and the town began to lose it's population. Soon the only persons there was a watchman. At some point around the 40's the town was completely abandoned. this is not an uncommon story on the coast, many towns were completely dependent on one company and mill/mine, when it would shut down the town would die. the mortal remain of the town exists but shrouded in the dense bush. If you have taken a cruise ship up the inside passage than you have passed the bones of this ghost town.

I have gleamed this information and pictures from 2 websites, please visits them, for more of the story and some excellent pictures.
  

Patty Griffin - Mil Besos

My wife and I were dancing the Rumba to this at a dance party tonite, a great song to dance to, the Latin's just do love songs better than us Anglos!

Flints and Flintlocks

To be honest I have not gotten into flint locks, the oldest rifle I have is a 1860 Nepalese Snider that replaced the percussion caps rifles which had in turn replaced flintlocks. This website gives a good description of fitting a flint to a flintlock. If it was not for amateurs like this gentleman much of this detailed knowledge would lost. Link courtesy of another interesting website, the  http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/

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Yasmin Levi - Me Voy

Yasmin Levi is an Israeli singer song writer who does Judaeo-Spanish music. both my wife and I enjoy here music.

Aspiring brain surgeons

Would have posted this earlier if I hadn't mislaid the cable for my camera and couldn't download the photo's. Here are my two daughters quite enthusiastically digging out the "brains" of a pumpkin in preparation for Halloween. Was a good Halloween, much candy was obtained, which we ration out till the candy stash is refilled by Christmas stuff and Easter.

Remembrance

Many of us have our own reasons to remember Nov 11th. Most Canadians have a parent, Uncle or other relative that died in WWI, II and Korea. Now a new generation knows all to well what the term "sacrifice" really means and have to remember the recent loss of a son, daughter, father, uncle or other in Afghanistan. A thank you to the survivors of those who fell in our recent conflicts and to those that may reluctantly join their ranks.

Now a memorial thought to 2 different soldiers, from two different generation, linked by a common thread. Both survived, one just and the other almost unscathed.

Smokey Smith

   

Ernest Alvia 'Smokey' Smith, was born in New Westminster, B.C. in 1914 and educated in elementary and technical schools there. He left his work with a contracting firm to enlist in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in March 1940, joining the regiment overseas a few months later. He was a private when he won the Victoria Cross at the Savio River in Italy on Oct. 21-22, 1944.

The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were the spearhead of the attack across the river, which torrential rain had caused to rise six feet in five hours, making it impossible to get tanks and anti-tank guns across to support the rifle companies.

The right forward company was suddenly counter-attacked by three Panzer tanks, supported by self-propelled guns and some 30 infantry. Private Smith led his PIAT(projector, infantry, anti-tank) group of two men across an open field and left one man on the weapon. Crossing the road, Private Smith obtained another PIAT. An enemy tank attacked and wounded the man on the first PIAT. Smith fired his own and put the tank out of action. German infantry jumped from the tank and attacked him but Smith drove them back with his tommy gun. Obtaining more tommy magazines which had been abandoned in a ditch, Private Smith steadfastly held his position, and later gave aid to his wounded comrade.


"No further immediate attack developed and as a result, the battalion was able to consolidate the bridgehead position so vital to the success of the whole operation, which led to the eventual capture of San Giorgio Di Cesena and a further advance to the Ronco River," reads the citation in part.


'Smokey' Smith left the army for a short time after the war, but rejoined and served until August 1964, when he was released with the rank of sergeant. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/feature/smokysmith

I was fortunate enough to meet Smokey a couple of times while visiting the Seaforth mess, He was a soldiers soldier. He certainly was not perfect, apparently he had to be "arrested" and escorted to London by two Military Policemen to ensure he showed up sober in front of the Queen! He was remembered as a bit gruff, but kind to the common soldier. He certainly was not the "perfect hero" but he was heroic when it counted and for that he will be honoured for many generations to come.

Captain Charles Trevor Greene

Greene deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 as a Civilian-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) officer, volunteering from his home unit of the Seaforth Highlanders.

On March 6, 2006, his platoon, composed of members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, 1st Battalion, Alpha Company, visited the village of Shinkay in the Shinkay District, to talk with the village elders about access to clean water and other basic needs under Canada's area of responsibility. After the soldiers removed their helmets, a common practice and show of respect, Abdul Kareem (or Abdullah Karim), a sixteen-year old boy, almost split Greene's brain in half by hitting him with an axe. Kareem tried to hit again but was instantly shot and killed by other members of the platoon. The platoon then came under heavy fire while waiting for a US Army medical evacuation helicopter.Greene received care on the helicopter, and medic Gary Adams was able to unblock his airway. Greene was transported to the then Canadian-led hospital at Kandahar Air Field where he was stabilized.

He was later evacuated to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany from which he was transferred to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest US Army medical facility outside the continental United States.There, he underwent further surgery to allow his brain to swell without causing further damages. 

Shortly after being stabilized, Trevor Greene was transferred from Landstuhl to the Vancouver General Hospital, where doctors initially thought he would never come out of his coma.Greene underwent two bilateral cranioplasties, with the second one successfully repairing his skull. He was also subject to physiotherapy sessions, which were lacking results at first. Greene was then released from the hospital and was transferred to a private-care rehabilitation center in Langley, BC. On April 30, Trevor Greene started speech therapy sessions.^[16]

In July 2007, Greene was admitted to the Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury in Ponoka, Alberta, for long-term care and rehabilitation. At that stage, he had made slow but significant progress, and was able to open and close his hands, among other things.

In December 2007, Canadian Forces engineers installed a lift at Lepore's residence in Alberta, which allowed Trevor to come home for Christmas and on week-ends.Around the same time, they also received a wheelchair accessible van from the then-new Military Casualty Support Foundation.

In September 2008, Greene moved to Nanaimo, BC, with his wife and daughter, after spending 14 months at the Alberta facility. As of 2010, Trevor Greene is now able to stand, but still cannot walk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Greene

I never had the pleasure of meeting Capt Greene, he is a different kind of hero than Smokey, Greene like the other Canadians that volunteered to go to Afghanistan had a pretty good idea of the risks they would be taking, but they went anyways. I can't speak for his time there before he was hit by an axe, but his heroism started then, the slow painful climb back to self sufficiency requires a different kind of courage, His struggle reminds us of all those who did not come back whole and must suffer the disability and the accompanying demon war leaves on the soul.

These are just two examples of what we will be remembering tomorrow, go, mourn, remember and then celebrate those who will not return, those that have returned, those that still suffer and finally those that still face the risks in a combat zone far away.  

Hypocrisy

This article really captures some of what truly bugs me about the critics of Israel and Muslims in general.when I speak to Muslims and they go on about how bad Israel is, I tell them; "The most dangerous thing to a Muslim is another Muslim".
According to Mssrs. Heinsohn and Pipes, the grisly inventory finds the total number of deaths in conflicts all over the world since 1950 numbering around 85 million. Of that, the Muslim Arab deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict were at 46,000 including 11,000 during Israel’s war of independence. That makes 0.05 percent of all deaths in all conflicts, or 0.4 percent of all Arab deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict.


In another calculation ignoring “small” massacres like the one that goes on in Syria and other deaths during the Arab Spring, only Saddam’s Iraq, Jordan, the elder al-Assad’s Syria, Iran-Iraq war, the bin Laden campaign in Iraq, the Iranian Islamic revolution and the Turkish-Kurdish conflict caused 1.65 million Muslim deaths by Muslims compared to less than 50,000 deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1950, including fatalities during and after Operation Cast Lead which came after the Heinsohn-Pipes study. For those who don’t have a calculator ready at their desks, allow me to tell: 50,000 is three percent of 1.65 million.

Read the rest here:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=why-golda-meir-was-right-2011-08-23

You twits the data is the registry!!

Sheesh what part of killing the Long Gun Registry (LGR) does the NDP not get? Bill C-19 will stop the collection of registry data for non-restricted and cause the LGR data collected to be destroyed. The data is the LGR, so keeping the data is in essence keeping the LGR. Getting rid of the LGR is not just politics for the CPC and it's supporters, but it is righting a moral wrong. The LGR and bill C-68 (Firearm Act) are seen as a form of punishment for law abiding citizens and does little to fight the real issues of violent crime.
So to have the NDP and it's members pretend that they didn't realize the Conservatives would destroy the data is almost comical and they would have to be stunningly stupid to not have foreseen such an event and I don't think Nathan Cullen is stupid. In which case his sudden "bout of conscious" in regards to possible voting against C-19 is pure political manouvering likely connected to his bid for the leadership of the NDP.
Bill C-19 is now in committee, which is controlled by the Conservatives, which means they can bring forward witnesses the last committee run by the liberals blocked from testifying. This means much of the hidden truth about the LGR failure will be recorded for future historians to ponder.

Simon's Cat in 'Double Trouble'

This is why we are not getting another cat till after Zeus is gone.

Heli-logging in British Columbia with Rick Mercer

Very odd, thought I had posted this sometime ago. Anyways, I have been up in the area they filmed this and have had conversations with some of the people in the film. Heli-logging is quite the way to do things. It minimizes the impacts on the environment but can be quite expensive. For it to be profitable you must have the right trees in the right place and a very efficient crew. I have been told that a 2-3 minute turnaround time is the best to make it profitable, which means from the time from pick-up to drop to pick-up should be within 3 minutes. The helicopter in this clip is a Chinook, but the company Helifor also flies a Boeing Vertol 107, which the sharp eyed amongst you will recognize as the same type as the old Labrador SAR helicopters we used to have. I think the company bought the air frames off of the RCAF.

Going, going.......

Well talk about striking while the iron is hot, the Tories are already on to the 2nd reading of C-19, the bill to end the long gun registry, they have adopted a motion giving only 3 days to debate it. I am not sure what is to debate, the Tories want it gone and the data destroyed. I am in favour of this for several reasons. the 1st being the purpose of the gun registry has always been eventual confiscation, the authors of the registry have admitted this themselves and every instance in history shows these registries eventually leads to that conclusion. 2nd not having a registration paper for a firearm is a CRIMINAL offense, not a civil offense. So a law abiding gun owner could easily run afoul of the law and get a record. 3rd. It has been a complete and utter waste of money, only about 1/3rd of the legal guns in Canada were ever registered, none of the illegals guns ever where and much of the information in the registry was wrong and inaccurate. The gun registry was supposed to cost $200 million, instead somewhere near 2 billion was spent on it.

The purpose of destroying the current data is to ensure another government does not circumvent the wishes of the legal gun owners by creating another registry using the remains of this as a foundation. It also protects the privacy of gun owners and prevent the illegal use of the data by anti-gun organizations and organized crime.

Even with the passing of C-19 there will still be a long gun and handgun registry. The requirement to have handguns, restricted rifles, shotguns and prohibited firearms registered remains. personally in my view all rimfire firearms should be made non-restricted as well, not to mention other stuff.

We gun owners have waited a long time for this, but for us this is only the beginning. we won't be satisfied till there is a complete re-write of the Firearms Act and relevant sections of the Criminal Code. the current version is useless and criminalizes the law abiding gun owner. About the only thing we want to keep from the current Act is concept of training for new shooters and hunters. (funny enough about the only part of the Act that Firearm groups had input on and the only part that seems to have any positive effect). Looking forward to toasting the end of the registry with a nice bonfire of registry certificates.

The real reason the anti's fear the demise of the gun registry is not some mythical "Blood in the streets" scenario (They would actually welcome that, as they love to dance on graves) but the slow but sure realization by the general public that they have been fed a lie for the last 2 decades, a very expensive lie at that. Once the public see that the world has not come to an end they realize that most of the anti's arguments are just as hollow and the anti's will lose what creditably and funding they currently enjoy.

Hank C. Burnette - "The Heebie Jeebie Blues" (blues)

Some old style blues, good song to drink a beer to, enjoy.

He's Dead, deal with it.

Gaddafi is confirmed dead, now the western "chattering class" is demanding an inquiry in how he died. Sheesh it was a civil war with people who have fought long and hard, there was 40 years of pent up anger at this nutbar.what exactly do you expect?
Libya faces to many challenges to count, a divided population, diverse political & religious groups. what little government they have is stepping down. I can't say I blame the NTC, better to be remembered as a hero of the revolution than the people who failed in making a proper transition to a stable government.

The west needs to offer aid (with a set timeline) and political advice. Telling the Libyans that the aid runs out at X time means they need to get their house in order quickly, so we don't have a long drawn out bickering session like Iraq that paralysed their government for months.

Some of the strength that the Libyans have is a high literacy rate,  a fairly intact oil system and civil infrastructure. what they need is to call back the bureaucrats to get things running and then weed out the hardcore and forgive the low ranking regime supporters who don't have blood on their hands.

The cons facing them are many well armed and experienced armed groups, some of them with fundamental Islamic religious views who will not be keen to allow a secular state to form. Also the various tribes will be jostling for positions. Not so much an issue in the cites, but they will play a big role in the rural areas.

What happens next set the stage for the next generation of Libyans, they have the opportunity to succeed or fail utterly like the Iranian revolution. the West has won a fair bit of goodwill on the street with our support of the rebels, while we want to support a secular government there, we have to avoid meddling to much with their internal politics. what comes next is not likely to be clean and pretty, the next 6 months bears watching. I really hope they can achieve a better place, but I have my fears.

Oops

Under dim lights in a grand hall of the great Folger Shakespeare Library lies the “Wicked Bible,” called so because it omits one distinctly important word from the Seventh Commandment. It is a word with the power to prevent sin.

“Thou shalt commit adultery,” the Wicked Bible commands.

Read the rest at TYWKIWDBI

Gun walking, Obama vs Bush

Operation "Fast and furious" is quickly becoming Obama's "Watergate". In a desperate attempt to conduct damage control, the Whitehouse dragged up some dirt from the Bush era. this dirt is "Operation Wide Receiver" which was a plan to track firearms sold legally but falling in cartel hands. The plan involved guns  fitted with a RFID chips and tracking aircraft were equipped to pick up the signals. The plan was ok, but failed on the details, the RFID chips were not properly installed and the battery life was to short. The bad guys also found out the schedule for the aircraft and were able to to cross the border when the aircraft had to refuel. the intent of the operation was to roll up the network and retrieve the guns before they could disappear. The intent was good, but the execution was sloppy. Some more information can be found in this article by The outdoor wire. Approx 450 guns slipped into Mexico, at which point the operation was shut down.
In contrast "Operation Fast and Furious" ran at least 2000 weapons to the cartels, with no ability or intent to track them, when strawman could not come up with the money, agents gave them taxdollars to buy guns, dealers were ordered to sell the guns illegally to the strawman. the guns quickly disappeared only to resurface in Mexico and the US in crime scenes. It seems around 3 people in the US and possible 200 people in Mexico have been killed by these guns. There are rumours that up to 9 other operations like Fast & Furious have been conducted under Obama's watch, if each of those were similar in size and scope it could mean that Obama's administration has purposely given the cartels close to 20,000 firearms, using taxpayers money.
Meanwhile Obama's people are not being terribly honest when questioned. Seems even supporters of the Obama administration are worried and upset about this.

Keen observers will note I have linked several times to Pajama's Media. This is true mainly as they have done a significant job of tracking this scandal, while the MSM were busy examining their fingernails and hoping to avoid having to bring it up.

Father daughter moment

Took my daughter shooting at the range this Saturday, she really did well! She was responsible and safe. She also hit the target 9 out of 10 times, very impressive for the 2nd time shooting. She was using a modified Ruger 10/22 with a short stock. After watching her shoot I have to make her a special rest, all of the ones there are to high. Also need to shorten the length of pull on the stock and smooth out the trigger so it's easier for her.

It's important when you are teaching kids to shoot, that you set them up for success, don't start them on a large calibre rifle with a target a 100 metres away! From the picture below you can see I set up a series of targets at 25 metres, making it easier for her to hit the target. In the beginning the focus needs to be on safety and learning how to hold the gun. Next time I will work a bit on trigger pull and breathing. Kids can only take in so much at a time, keep your learning plan for them simple and achievable. My daughter had a great time and didn't want to stop. I could see though that her attention was beginning to wander and her arms getting tired. After shooting I took her to Tim Horton's for a donut, which she also enjoyed of course! It was a great father- daughter day and daddy is very proud of his baby girl. Another lady at the range came up to me and said: "Watching you with her, reminds me of my dad teaching me to shoot. Lots of great memories"

13 can be a lucky number!

The 13th C-130J is delivered to the RCAF, this is the last one for this year, the final 4 arrive in 2012, for a total of 17. Photo courtesy of "Defense Watch"

Just remember the Liberals and NDP say "sole sourcing" is bad because you will end up with stuff like C-130J, Leopard 2's, C-17's and Chinook helicopters. All of which will make the Canadian military more effective and therefore we may be called upon to do more as the US scales back.

To be fair to the critics I think the F-35 is a plane to far and we should take a hard look at what we need in a fighter. My concern is that we are buying far to few airframe and throwing all our eggs in one untried basket. I would be far more comfortable with a mixed fleet of 80 or so fighter aircraft made up of Super Hornets and perhaps the F-35.

Afghanistan, Helmet Cam

Some serious and little not so serious footage from Afghanistan. There is some soldier language, so mind the volume around kids and the office.

Unintended results

Somehow I don't think this was the intent of the architect.

Saffron or opium?

I have been following this for awhile, saffron is a viable alternative because it competes with the profit margin of opium, it's also labour intensive and does not require a large robust transportation system. According to one source I know, most of the top quality Saffron comes from Spain, the rest is a blend of different crops. I certainly hope this works out for the Afghans.

Farmers’ fields outside the western Afghanistan city of Herat are about to blossom into a purple form of gold.
Once rife with poppy, the lucrative spring crop used to produce heroin, these plots are now seeded with saffron flowers. They yield the burnt orange granules that trade as the most expensive spice in the world. At its highest quality, saffron sells for between $2,000 and $4,000 per kilogram in global markets, enticing farmers to switch their allegiance from opium, which sells as little as a tenth as much.

read the rest at "Globe and mail"

Coming out of the gun closet part III

Not your average collection...

Ways to buy a gun

In part 2, I talked about buying a gun from the store, which is a great way to see how a gun fits you. The other way is to go to the range and ask people to let you hold their guns (If done politely chances are that many will let you shoot it as well). It’s important to realize that any gun you buy fits you. It doe not matter how good the reviews are, or which police/army/big game guide uses which gun, what really matters is how it fits your hand and body shape. Almost every modern handgun and long gun are excellent guns and you are really choosing on fit and details like “ambi-safety”, decockers, left hand/right hand, etc.

 How not to buy a gun

• When purchasing your first gun, avoid anything with the word magnum, Casull or Lapu in it, these guns are expensive to feed and requires good technique to hit the target repeatable.
• Not everything a gun store clerk tells you is true! Chances are that the gun he is telling you will never be available again, will be on the shelves next month.
•  Don’t be talked into buying a particular gun, because someone claimed that anything less is placing your life and your family in danger.
• Do not buy a gun based on what you saw in a movie and please don’t base your firearms handling on them either!!

Suggestions for a first gun
It really depends on your budget which gun(s) to buy first. If you have lots of money then your options are much wider than what I am suggesting. Keep in mind the gun is just the beginning of the shooting hobby, you will need carrying case, trigger locks, gun cabinet/safe, lots and lots of ammunition, gun club membership, possibly optics, safety glasses, ear protection and of course a cleaning kit. Ammunition is by far the most expensive ongoing cost of shooting which why serious shooters reload their own (covered in a later post).

My Dlask 10/22

.22cal rimfire

Your first gun should be a .22cal, this will allow you to practice and learn at very reasonable costs and they are just plain fun. For a rifle I recommend the Ruger 10/22. This rifle is very common, has a huge amount of aftermarket parts and modifications. For a pistol it gets a bit harder. There are several routes to go. First is the dedicated .22cal target pistol like the Buckmark. These are accurate and reliable, but all of this type of firearm are finicky to take apart.

The other option is a centrefire pistol with a .22calconversion kit. You can get aftermarket kits for the Glock and CZ line. Sig offers their classic .22 models which is a fullsize frame fitted with a .22cal slide and magazine. You buy the 9mm/.40cal slide and mags later.

If you love the 1911 model, there are dedicated guns made by GSG that are in .22cal.

Sig 226 with conversion kit on and 9mm slide below it

Centrefire choices

 If your first gun must be a centrefire I recommend rifles in .223Remington or 7.62x39. The Warsaw Pact guns like the SKS are the cheapest centrefire to shoot and lots of fun. Just keep in mind that most 7.62x39 ammo is corrosive and you must clean the gun as soon as you get back!

Norinco SKS with Tapco stock

Rifles in .223 offer very good accuracy with little recoil for a reasonable cost. You can get this calibre in either a bolt action or semi-auto, keep in mind most of the semi-autos in this calibre are restricted and can only be used at the range.

Norinco CAR

For a centrefire pistol I recommend 9mm to start, my preference is the SW M&P, but the Glock 17, CZ models, Ruger SR-9 and the Sig 226 are all fine choices. In fact you really can’t go wrong on any modern pistol. I like the 1911 models as well, very accurate guns, but most are in .45acp which is not cheap to shoot. Also being single action they require excellent muzzle control and trigger finger discipline.

SW M&P with weapons light and Blackhawk Serpa holster

Where to buy?

 So you have figured out what you want and how much to spend (your spouse may have different ideas here!) but none of the local stores have what you want! Relax there is another couple of ways which I will explain;

Exchange Forums

Many popular gun forums such as Canadiangunnutz, Canadiangunslingers and HuntingBC have exchange forums where you can buy and sell guns, gun parts and shooting/hunting related stuff. While the forum cannot guarantee that everyone is perfectly honest and will not refund you any lost money, what they have done is to create a “Trader rating”. This means that buyers and sellers can rate people on the transaction and this will give you an indication on how much to trust someone. As you buy and sell on the forum you too will get a trader rating.

Retail outlets websites

Most successful gun stores operate websites that allow you to buy guns and gun stuff online. This is a great way to comparison shop and to get the best price. Keep in mind shipping costs and taxes when calculating the final price. Here are few; Reliable, Epps, Candaammo, Questar, Marstar

US gun online stores

When you surf the web you will find great deals in the US, however many items including parts for AR-15 type rifles, scopes, and other certain parts are barred from export under the ITAR rules. Basically if it’s used by a modern military it’s likely to be blocked from export. Parts for rimfires and hunting rifles are likely cleared for export, however keep in mind shipping, duty and taxes payable upon crossing the border.

Ebay

While Ebay does sell some gun parts, Ebay is anti-firearm and won’t allow the selling of guns. When you do order from the US Ebay keep in mind many sellers won’t ship across the border. It is a good place to get odd bits like grips, holsters and such. Paypal is very anti-firearm and will give you grief if they find out the item is gun related.

Craigslist

 While an excellent place to sell baby clothes and such, I would very much discourage you from selling gun stuff on Craigslist. There are too many non-nice people that cruise there. If you must sell there, do not let people come to your door, offer to meet them somewhere public, this can be awkward with a firearm and hence one of the reasons I don’t support it for firearm related stuff.

Gun shows

I find gun shows a great place to buy gun related stuff, but find the guns often overpriced, do your homework before shopping at a gun show.

The CFC and buying guns online

There some legal steps to go through to buy a gun online. Once you contact the seller and make the agreement to buy, you must give the seller your name, address and PAL number. The seller will contact the CFC and initiate the transfer. The CFC will give the seller a transfer number and then contact you. You then call the CFC to confirm the transfer giving them the number.

 Update
There is no requirement to call the CFC for a Non-restricted firearm, you can call the CFC to confirm the PAL number of the buyer, but people report the CFC asking for more information than required. It is your responsibility to ensure that the buyer has a PAL. Easy to do person to person, but harder online. some ask for a scan. be careful here as when someone gets a scan of your PAL, they can use that to buy guns as well. If you do send a scan, perhaps watermark it with a date saying from then to then.

Mailing a gun

Guns can be mailed in Canada using the most secure mail available which requires a signature at the door. The CFC gets around the Firearms Act by claiming the gun is not really a gun when in the mail system (sigh), but it’s not in our interest to rock the boat here, but shows you how bad the Firearms Act is written.

In Part IV of the series I will deal with joining a gun club, cleaning a gun among other things.

Part I

PartII

Missing Malaysian food already!

To be more accurate I am missing Indian Malaysian food, most Malay dishes contain "Stinky fish" a small dried anchovy which my wife loves but I will take a pass on. My love is reserved for the Naan's, roti's and dosai dishes along with Tandoori chicken. Throughout Malaysia you will find a type of restaurant that caters to the Indian style, these places are half indoor and half outdoor, inside are several stalls each dealing with one type of food and one for beverages. The one pictured below was nearby and quickly became my favorite. You will be greeted with a smile and a "Hey Boss!" The guys that work here are likely half illegals and some landed immigrants, mostly from southern India and Bangladesh. These guys work hard for little money, they will not accept tips. This restaurant is located in Precinct 15 of Putra Jaya.

Here is the Dosai cook at work, dosai are somewhat crisp on the outside with a soft centre, a little like a crepe.

The end result, served with curry and a coconut paste. In the centre of the table is the Tandoori chicken, sheesh I am getting hungry just posting this!!

The meal above was 4 naan, 2 dosai, 2 roti and 2 Tandoori chickens. along with 2 Iced nescafes and 2 iced milo's the cost came to 28RM or about $9.00 Canadian!! compared to Canada, it would not take long to pay for your plane ticket just by eating out.

I should mention that I have seen the name of the bread spelt 3 ways; "Dosa, Dosai and Tosai" I am not sure which is right or perhaps they are all right, just different spelling for the same thing.

For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you Malaysia

Anyone crazy enough to drive in Malaysia will quickly notice that the highways have a significant number of toll booths on them. While the costs per booth are not high, it's not uncommon to go through 6 or 7 on one drive, some seem to be no more than 4km apart. It's quite annoying and quite the make work project for a large number of ethnic Malays. Some tolls are based on distance, you get a toll ticket at the entrance to a highway and they calculate how much you owe when you get off.
The money is supposed to go to new highways and to maintain the existing ones, however this being Malaysia, one is never really certain where which pot of money goes where.  A well known Malaysian cartoonist drew a great cartoon showing the government throwing up an inflatable toll booth, to the dismay of approaching drivers.

Finally got the computer working!!!!

Yea, seems that IE8 does not work well here in Malaysia, but Google Chrome does. The internet here is all based on the Cellular network and is not exactly fast by our cable standards. Seems also the new blogger interface works better here than the old one. Very strange.

Very happy consuming large amounts of Tandori chicken and Dosai's. Sigh I wished they served beer here....

hmm can't enter text into the text box, very odd, not sure if it's the borrowed computer or the Internet here?

Happy Hari raya!!! in Malaysia, computer not working right

Thank you Bill

Well I am sure Bill Vander zalm is pretty happy tonite with the results of the HST vote. While the results of the vote are important, what is even more important is the exercise in democracy that we just conducted.
Think about it, despite regulations to make it as difficult as possible, the group opposing the HST manged to get enough valid signatures on a petition to force a referendum onto the government and then got enough votes to win the referendum. It's a pretty remarkable feat.
 Needless to say it was the organization behind Bill that won both the petition and the referendum, but he was the spokesman and was able to harness peoples anger about  how the tax was implemented. Bill reminded people that the authority to govern rest with the citizen, the government governs on our sufferance, this referendum is a message that we are not pleased.
Note to Bill this referendum was about the tax, don't be thinking this will allow you to come back. Sit back and enjoy the victory and stay in political retirement. Attempting to run again will likely not go well.

Murder at the Grand

An exceptional good piece by R. G. Harvie at the "Searching for Liberty Blog" regarding the recent murder of Jonathon Bacon and the pointlessness of laws that we have such as the gun registry.


In the middle of the summer holiday in Tourist Mecca Kelowna, B.C., at the Delta Grand Hotel, armed men in hoods jump out of an S.U.V. and start spraying bullets out of assault weapons at what appears to be rival gang members, reportedly killing one of them.




I was in Kelowna last summer.



Stayed at the Delta Grand, in fact. Very, very busy place.




So - it was with some sadness and shock that I read this morning that less than a year after my last visit, there are armed gang members shooting assault weapons at other gang members in the middle of the resort.


Just a few thoughts today:


a) How did this happen in the face of the National Gun Registry?


Doesn't the registry prevent people from shooting guns at other people? That's what Michael Ignatieff said as he paraded the shooting victims of KimV** Gill before the press (ignoring the fact that KimV**'s weapon was actually registered when he started shooting up Dawson College).



I'm assuming that these gangsters, when they stepped out of their SUV to commit murder were aware that we have a national gun registry. I'm assuming they realized, as they squeezed the trigger to shoot another human being, that there are strict penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm.


Definitely read the rest here

Pointless post it notes

Daily Vowel Movements is a great little site for a good laugh, enjoy some of these "pointless post it notes"

People are good

Got stuck along the Sea to sky highway yesterday for close to 3 hrs (with an 8 year old boy!) due to a serious motorcycle accident. What impressed me was the way people dealt with the situation. A couple with a trailer, flashed up their stove and cooked up hotdogs and juice for everyone around them, another couple let all the ladies use the bathroom in their camper and everyone just got along. Not to mention the people at the scene giving first aid to the injured.

About the only animosity I saw was for motorcyclists who pushed past people to get to the front of the line. The Highway is a magnet for motorcyclist and while most are careful, thee is a significant number of young guys on "crotch rockets" who use the highway as their playground. Ripping around traffic, popping wheelies and excessive speeding. Apparently the police used a helicopter last weekend and busted one guy for doing 260km and they impounded 6 motorcycles in 2 hrs. If you know someone who likes to speed on motorcycle, then I suggest you send them this link, warning it's very graphic!

Pride in what exactly?

So the Vancouver gay pride parade has concluded for another year, to be honest I don't attend, but looking at the pictures online and media reports I have to ask myself; Is this really what you want to be proud of? for the most part it appears to be a whole lot of barely dressed people at the best having fun, at the worst making fools of themselves. In fact I ask how much of the crowd is really laughing at you? I certainly feel educated, but not in the message I suspect you wanted.

Now the fact that the parade can be held and supported by the city and sponsors speaks more of the citizens of Vancouver than the gay community (Not to take away from the organizers who must have worked their butts off, well hopefully not literally). Also one can't help but to think of the outrage if there was a "Hetero-sexual pride parade", Hypocrisy is the name of the game in a progressive society after all isn't it?

Before you work yourself in a lather (or leather) I not anti-gay or attempting to gay-bash, I have known many gay people and count a couple as close friends. I take pride in their real accomplishments and respect their work ethic, humanity and other positive traits. the fact that they are attracted to the same sex is more or less immaterial to me, actually I don't really give a damm!!

If you are gay and you want people to respect you and want to be proud of who you are, then do you really want this to represent you? Because I tell you, that is what most people think when they hear "Gay Pride Parade"


So if you disagree with the above, feel free to show me where I am incorrect and pictures showing some of the more positive role models represented in the parade would be useful, here is one of the few I found.

Hama redux

Photo via Reuters

Like a chip off the old block, Bashir al-Assad is following in his fathers footsteps, brutally suppressing dissent throughout Syria and in the town of Hama. To be fair the death toll under Assad throughout Syria appears to be around 2-3,000, with a significant amount injured, arrested and some "disappeared". This seems to pall in comparison to his fathers approach to dealing with Hama, where between 10,000-40,000 people died over a few weeks. Seems all that western education has paid off, maybe Assad son will be able to make his point with only a few hundred dead, now that would be considered progress in that part of the world.
About the only silver lining in all this is it gives me more ammunition to beat "history unaware" progressives who seem to think all evils flow from Israel alone. Prior to the current uprising, few had ever heard of Hama or the atrocities committed there and why should they. Authoritarian regimes are always suppressing somebody and makes for boring print. Plus the dictators don't give a damn anyways. Far better to beat on Israeli's who actually care about their international reputation.
Meanwhile I await the first flotilla to Damascus to help the poor people there to throw off the shackles of the oppressor. (I don't plan on holding my breath)

Peggy Lee - Why don't you do right

Found this song on a video game I am playing "Fallout, New Vegas". The song has a great feel to it, the singer is Peggy lee. Enjoy