I have been wondering why I never show up as having new posts on the Anti-PC League blogroll.  So I have been playing around with the blog a little and have now figured it out.  There are two problems.

Number 1:  Although this blog can be accessed identically to the human user at both blogonomicon.eponym.com and blogonomicon.eponym.com/blog/, the RSS feed is in the /blog/ subdirectory and that is the full url that must be submitted to Blogrolling for it to be able to find the feed and know when you've posted a new article.

Number 2:  Eponym's RSS feed is formed from a CSS script (I think that's what it is, I'm no expert on these things) already written for you in one of the drag & drop components that you can arrange into your sidebars.  Although it looks just like a regular hyperlink to a human reader, Blogrolling is not able to decipher the script and know where the feed is.  Replace the CSS script with just a plain old-fashioned hyperlink for your RSS feed and Blogrolling will understand.

Now I'm going to have to notify the Anti-PC League folks that my url needs to be changed again.  Unfortunately I didn't give them the url including the /blog/ subdirectory because at the time I didn't realize is made any difference.

I said before that I am not an expert in these matters, and I've probably used some horribly non-technical language to describe what's happening, so if you don't like it, feel free to write your own post.

Technorati Tags: Blogrolling, Eponym, RSS, Anti-PC League

...you notice any odd seemingly redundant links (that say "test link") here and there, it is because I'm trying to figure out why Blogrolling can't tell when I have new posts.

I own an inappropriate amount of ammunition.

Based on a cursory inventory of my meager stock, if all guns are averaged into all ammunition, I barely posses 50 rounds per gun.

This is shameful.  I am ashamed.

My own personal opinion is that I should possess at minimum 500 rounds per firearm.

I must devote some of my future gun budget to rectifying this woefully inappropriate inventory of ammunition.

I had intended to get one last post or two in before the scheduled downtime tonight, but it looks like eponym decided to start it an hour earlier than they said, so this one is being typed up offline for later posting.  It is still early and I have a full pipe, and am in the mood to write.

The March parties are finally over.  Something odd happened in my family, and there are a disproportionate number of us who were born in March.  Maybe that says more about the month of June than it does March.  Hmmm...

Anyhow, with my son's party today were are finally finished, although some parties were scheduled ahead of the actual birthdays for the sake of convenience.  Had another talk with my dad today during the party, and it looks like an upcoming family range day is in the works.

Dad and a family friend--who, to be honest, I would be proud to say I'm related to, but I'm not--have been working on improvements on the friend's home range, located in a hay field on his 200+ acres not far from here.  This is a range that was primarily meant for rifle shooting, with a heavy metal backstop that deflects bullets downward (although there are two holes drilled completely through it from another friend-of-a-friend's .300 Winchester Magnum where the bullets struck the thinner metal near the edge) and is mounted on a small trailer that can be moved forward or backward with a pickup or tractor. Most improvements went to rebuilding the shooting bench, which has now been redesigned to accomodate right- or left-handed shooters.  Dad and said friend, plus another friend of the friend, are planning on doing some rifle shooting "before the weather gets too hot."  It may be too late for that, I said.  I have been recommending the building of a simple roof of some kind over the bench for shade during the summer, and it may be in the works, but only at some future date.  I told Dad to be sure and let me know when they were going to do this, and to be sure and do it on a Saturday (all these guys are retired) so I could pack up the kids and bring some pistols along.  The kids each have their own set of earmuffs, and are enthusiastic shell-catchers.

Besides needing to sight in his Remington Model 700 in 7mm Magnum, Dad has expressed interest in seeing me shoot the muzzle loader, a Hawken replica in .50 caliber.  I think I am about out of black powder and am down to my emergency backup supply of Pyrodex (powder, not pellets), so a trip to the shop is upcoming.  I get black powder at a small gun shop in a strip mall on Loop 410 near the intersection with...Babcock, I think.  On the inside of the loop.  The store is easy to spot, with a large sign over the door that states simply:  GUNS.  It's a good place to get all kinds of muzzle loading accessories.  I also want to get one of those polymer ramrods and some better quality jags that won't lose the patch when I'm cleaning the barrel afterwards.

Some years ago, my dad purchased--very inexpensively--from the widow of a deceased in-law a beautiful and relatively uncommon Ruger old model Single Six with a ten inch barrel.  I tried to purchase one of these ten-inchers several years ago, but none were to be found, and after a few months settled on one of the more common six inch models.  He also got the magnum cylinder with it, and told me that we wanted to try that out because he had never shot the .22 magnum in it.  I have done so in mine, just for fun, and still have the original box of magnum ammo that I bought when I first got the gun--having only shot about three cylinders worth of shells out of it.  Shooting the .22 magnum in a Single Six is more of a curiosity than anything of practical value.  There is a little more recoil, of course, but if you have become used to shooting .357 magnum in a snubbie it's still nothing to speak of.  And the .22 magnum ammo is too expensive to use for general plinking if you can shoot .22LR in the same gun.

On the other hand, I have never fired his 7mm Magnum, and plan on doing so next time I get the chance.  There's a funny story about this Remington and its scope.  Back in the 70's, there was sort of a fad that swept through our area, of people buying these guns.  My dad found a good deal on a used one from someone who decided he no longer wanted it, and at the time it had a standard 4x scope on it.  Not long after getting the gun, Dad decided to put a Bushnell 3-9x variable scope on it.  After it was mounted, we took it outside to sight it in, and discovered that it was already zeroed at 100 yards.  No adjustments were ever necessary.  Now many years later, we are guessing that the mount or perhaps a ring has loosened a tiny bit, which is why it is being checked out and will soon have to go back to the range for some more sighting-in shooting.

Dad also recently got some new eyeglasses, and has discovered that with his new glasses, he can once more hit a target using open sights.  This is a very big deal for him.  I have seen him make some unbelievable shots, but he was very happy that he was able to nail a squirrel in the head from about 25 yards with his old .22 and open sights a few days ago.  That's something he hadn't been able to do for a long time, until he recently got his new eyeglasses.

Dad accompanied me to the gun show last Saturday.  I told him I was planning on buying a semi-auto .22 pistol, and he said he was looking for the same thing, but the model he wanted is no longer manufactured and is hard to find.  He wants one of those Stoeger Lugers in .22.  I saw one on gunbroker or auction arms or one of those places not long ago for $375, but actually seeing one in a store or at the show is going to be a rare occurence.  I tried to talk him into buying a Ruger, but he came away empty-handed.  I have no doubt that he is going to have loads of fun with my new Walther P22.

He also mentioned perhaps sighting in the old Savage Model 99 in .243 with some 80 grain ammo, since it is currently sighted for the heavier 100-grain ammo for use on deer.  His wife's place in Atascosa County has a bigger coyote problem than we do in this area and he plans on using the .243 for varmint control.  His talking about a coyote gun put me mind of the Yugo SKS that is on my short list of guns to buy this year, so I showed him a picture of one from the recent AIM Surplus brochure.

On a slightly different subject, my daughter, who is in first grade, recently came home with a homework assignment that she design a family flag, with several pictures on it to represent interests of the entire family.  So when it came to a picture to represent myself, she said I needed to draw a picture of a gun for her flag.  I am not a visual artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I did my best to sketch a Springfield XD (much easier to draw than a revolver).  I included the accessory rail, and even drew in the loaded chamber indicator and cocking indicator to show that it was loaded and cocked.  I know that in some parts of the country, this would raise all kinds of alarms with her teacher.  There was no such problem here.  Sometimes it pays to have kids going to a small school in a small town in Texas.

In England a schoolboy was told to remove a stab-proof vest:

A schoolboy wore a stab-proof vest beneath his uniform after being threatened.

The boy, 16, is believed to have worn it on his journey to and from the Lammas School in Leyton, east London.

A police officer was made aware of a pupil wearing "what was believed to be a stab-proof vest", said a spokesman for Scotland Yard.

He added that in consultation with the school "the officer told the pupil to remove the vest".

Police became aware of the vest through the local Safer Schools officer - part of a programme running in 34 local education authorities, with high levels of truancy and crime.

They have become increasingly concerned about the number of people arming themselves with knives - nearly 80 people were killed in knife attacks in London last year.

They have also been running several campaigns in an attempt to alert youngsters to the dangers of carrying knives.

Heaven forfend that anyone should take even strictly defensive measures to protect themselves in a country gone mad with police domination.  God help you, England.

tnx to Gun Culture

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