Read this by Dan Simmons.  No point in me saying anything about it, just read it.  Here's a taste.

I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said.

“The Century War,” said the Time Traveler.

I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .”

“I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he stood, refilled his Scotch glass, and sat again. He said, “It was important to me to come back to this time early on in the struggle. Even if only to remind myself of how unspeakably blind you all were.”

Thanks to Atlas Blogged for the tip.

A rare day of solitude today.  I spent some barbecue time keeping an eye on the smoker's temperature and dipping into the Gun Digest from 1985.


This is the oldest Gun Digest I have.  Why a 1985?  I don't remember anything specific from the time, but I can say that 1985 was the year I turned 21, and I probably just went out and bought myself a Wish Book.  Evidence for the wish book theory is found in the small penciled "x" marks next to several of the guns that must have appealed to me at the time.  About the only one of these that still strikes my fancy is the AMT Hardballer Longslide.

The 1985 edition had cover art of cutaway views of three Rugers:  a red label 12-gauge shotgun, the Mark II pistol, and the Redhawk revolver.  There are also some articles in it that are still interesting, or perhaps interesting in retrospect.  This was in the days before polymer guns; no Glocks in this book--no Ruger P-series, for that matter.  It was before the concealed carry wave had swept the country, and small handguns of more potent calibers are also noticeably rare, although not completely absent.  Most small, concealable guns in this edition are of .380 ACP or less.  The only indication of the future of handguns back then was Detonics.  They had a Mark VII Auto Pistol available in .45 ACP, .451 Detonics Magnum, 9mm or .38 Super that was a compact M1911 with an overall length of 6 3/4".  They also had listed a Pocket 9 double-action only 9mm with an OAL of 5.7".  All other small pistols in this book were of lesser calibers.

One article that I found especially interesting was "THIRTY MILLION HANDGUNS:  Over a dozen autoloading and revovling pistol designs have sold over 1,000,000 copies each."  Although not published until 1985, the article was actually written in 1982 (according to the editor's note).  Handguns in this list were:
Colt M1911:  more than 3 million
Colt Detective Special:  more than 1 1/2 million
Colt Python & Trooper:  more than 1 million (combined)
Ruger Standard Auto:  1.1 million
Ruger Single Six:  1.5 million
Ruger Blackhawk:  more than 1.3 million
Smith & Wesson 38 M&P:  more than 6 million
S&W .357 magnum revolvers (all models):  more than 1 million
S&W J-Frame revolvers (all):  more than 2 million
Harrington & Richardson .22 revolvers (all models):  more than 6 million
H&R .32 (that's .32 S&W Long!):  more than 3 million
H&R .38 S&W (not Special, that's just the .38 S&W):  more than 1 million

In another article titled "HANDGUNS TODAY:  Sixguns and others" I noticed that North American Arms did not always restrict themselves to the mini-revolvers and pocket autos for which they are known today.  In 1985 they were making a large-frame revolver with either a 7 1/2" or 10 1/2" barrel that fired the .450 Magnum Express.  They also made a .454 Casull model, and they produced ammunition for both of these calibers.

There's a brief article about Kleinguenther Firearms.  Many years ago--in fact, about the time I must have bought this book--I worked in a feed mill just across Highway 46 from the Kleinguenther place on the outskirts of Seguin, Texas.  Only a small building where a few people did custom work, I could often hear them test-firing their creations at the range behind their building.

Prices?  Someone must be curious about prices back then.  Several of the manufacturers listed in this book no longer exist, and many of those who do no longer produce the models listed here, but here are some of the more common models for comparison.  The Desert Eagle in .357 magnum went for $699.  No other calibers listed.  The Ruger Mark II (blued) went for $168.  Imported semi-auto Uzis could be had for $550.

As for revolvers, the infamous Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special went for $200 blued, but you could get it in stainless with neoprene grips for an extra $64.  The Ruger Redhawk started at $381 and the Speed Six started at $221.50.  And the famous S&W Model 29 started at $409.

I'm pretty sure I have a couple of other old gun books around here that I'll have to pore over during my next barbecue session.  As for the barbecue itself, today was something of an experiment in that I tried using only pecan wood for the first time.  The smoke, while it was burning, had an odd incense-like hint similar to sandalwood.  It did a fine job of smoking the roast and turned out to have a milder, though still delicious, flavor than my usual mix of  mesquite and hickory.  It also seemed easier to maintain a lower temperature than the mesquite.  Once I got the initial bed of coals built up, keeping it right around the 250-degree range was effortless.  I usually have to constantly tweak the baffles to keep the temperature just right.  Five hours at 250 degrees and the roast was well smoked and well done all the way through.

I consider this kind of post off topic, even for me, but since this particular issue seems to have been buried in the muck of recent events, I thought someone should bring it up.  This article is from  July 27, 2004:

Of course, something else has also changed in two years. The final report of the 9/11 Commission investigation proves that McKinney's 2002 assessment of that terrible day — and thus the war — is dead wrong. There were no numerous warnings, only little signs and portents, mostly kept away from law-enforcement officials barred from intelligence sharing. The Bush administration could not possibly have warned anyone to get out of the way of an attack it didn't see coming. The administration had nothing to hide.

But McKinney did. She accepted large and frequent political donations from Islamist donors and organizations. They kept her campaign awash in cash. She was their best friend on Capitol Hill.

McKinney ended up losing the Democratic primary in 2002 to Denise Majette. Majette rode to victory largely on the negative publicity that flowed McKinney's way both when the "Bush KNEW" accusation made national news and when her anti-Semitic and pro-Islamist beliefs were exposed. She supports Yasser Arafat's intifada. She was the only American to refuse to walk out on the 2001 Durban Conference on Racism, a United Nations confab that swiftly descended into an abyss of anti-American and anti-Semitic rancor. She has often taken to the floor of the House to defend her friends in radical Islamic circles — when she isn't busy attacking American policies. She has taken donations from a handful of "charities" the U.S. government has shut down for allegedly funneling cash to terrorists. And her father blamed his own August 2002 political defeat on Jews, who he claimed had "bought everybody." He even helpfully spelled it out — "J-E-W-S" — just in case anyone got confused.

[...]

But no matter. Radical Islam will get its voice back in the halls of power. America, prepare to be simultaneously entertained and disgusted as the most virulent and anti-American and anti-Semitic elected politician in the nation rejoins the Democrat fold. Two years ago, the Democrats may have been a bit embarrassed to have such a noxious presence on their side of the aisle, but much has changed in two years. Who knows — she just might get a standing ovation and a slap on the back from McAuliffe himself at the next caucus meeting.

This woman is an enemy of the United States.  Have no doubt about it.

Another letter writer states:

Bringing weapons into the picture fails to eliminate the attackers. That is why knowledge is the greatest weapon against violence. Abuse encompasses domestic violence, date rape and murder to name a few.

Or, in other words:  knowledge, or awareness, that there are people out there who are evil and twisted enough to perpetuate these crimes eliminates the attackers.

Whereas, a simple mechanical tool that allows one to defend oneself against attackers does not.

I submit that neither method will eliminate such criminals en masse.  However, the latter method will do so when used on an individual basis.

And as for the mention of children:  no, of course small children can't use guns to protect themselves.  But then the original letter-writer was talking about the "Take Back the Night" movement, which is about violence against women, not children.  Just Google it.

Previous:  Awareness of violence stops violence

For the first time this year, there's no work for us, so I'm home today (this happened three times last year).  After I get my son on the school bus I'll be barbecuing again.  I think I'll also practice dry-firing the SP-101.  Today I'll be barbecuing a roast, a sausage purchased from the local meat market, and some hot dogs.  Most people don't barbecue roast, but it's one of my favorites.  I do it quite often.  Far more often than brisket.

I hope the new header isn't too pretentious.  It's only about 30k, so it shouldn't be too large even for those such as myself who are still on dial-up.

I have been trying to change the text color to be more black and less gray, because I'm thinking it would be easier on the eyes, but I can't figure out where the code is to the change the text color.  I found the right code to change the link colors easily, but I don't know where it is for the basic text.

Since I'm paying for this blog I do have email tech support now, but that seems like far too simple of a problem to bother them about.

The review of the Walther P22 continues to draw lots of hits from searches--so far this month it is the most popular article.  I'm getting a noticeable number of visitors from eastern European countries who are looking for info on the P22.  It's nice to be able to help.

Lately a couple of different readers have translated this site into German and Italian.  I even had one visitor from Baghdad!

Nothing too important about this article--except that the word "gat" was used.  Does anyone really say that anymore?  I thought that was sort of a 1920's-30's thing.

No, the really incredible thing about this article is that the gun used for illustration is the rare, eminently collectible and extremely valuable mirror-image Beretta Tomcat.  At least one of which apparently now exists.