Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

April 2009

An Unusual Bromeliad Flower

These are in my Mom’s garden. This bromeliad currently has clusters of these unusual multi-colored flowers hanging from stalks. I don’t know the proper or nickname for this variety, but it sure is pretty. Click image to enlarge.

bromeliad

According to Wikipedia:

Bromeliads are one of the more recent plant groups to have emerged, presumed to have evolved at the close of the Cretaceous, over 65 million years ago. Fossilized bromeliads have been dated back to roughly 30 million years ago. The greatest number of primitive species reside in the Andean highlands of South America suggesting a beginning there. The west African species Pitcairnia feliciana is the only bromeliad not endemic to the Americas, and is thought to have reached Africa via long-distance dispersal approximately 12 million years ago.

09 Apr 2009 by Home & Garden

When Logic Fails

The London Times
London Times

. . . it’s usually due to faulty logic.

This is from James Taranto who writes for the Wall Street Journal’s “Best of the Web Today:”

Blighty’s Butterfield

Chris Ayres of London’s Times is puzzled by what seems to him a paradox:

If anything, the recent shootings have inspired more Americans to buy guns, recession or no recession. In fact, all over the country they are stocking up on as many pistols, rifles, and shotguns as possible before the Obama Administration bans or taxes them.

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the FBI carried out more than 4.2 million background checks on behalf of gundealers from November to January (a check is required with every sale), up 31 per cent on the same period in the previous year.

Interestingly, however, violent crime rates have at the same time been falling in Los Angeles, New York and other big American cities. The experts are at loss as to explain why this should be happening.

Hmm, could it be because the prospect of armed victims acts as a deterrent? This doesn’t occur to Ayres, but he does offer a theory of his own:

People are buying so many guns that the criminals are simply running out of bullets. Or as one firing instructor explained to the Columbus Dispatch newspaper: “The ammo is being snapped up as soon as it comes in. People are in a frenzy. It’s kind of like that run on Elmo dolls.”

We think our explanation is more likely–but if Ayres’s is true too, so much the better.

Taranto, who does not typically write about guns, gets it. Chris Ayres, writing in the London Times, needs a clue.

UPDATE: Nicki takes Ayres to the woodshed.

08 Apr 2009 by Second Amendment

Springtime Butterfly

butterflyI was at Mom’s today enjoying a nice spring day outside in her yard. She has a lantana bush that attracts bees and butterflies. Eventually, a butterfly came and browsed Mom’s bush for nectar. It fluttered off for a few moments and came back for more.

I took a lot of pictures while the butterfly visited the flowers. This (IMHO) is the best of the lot. Click the image to enlarge.

I just LOVE springtime!

And my Warthog.

07 Apr 2009 by Critters Environment Home & Garden

The Girl Guns

These are three of Damsel’s handguns, which she calls ‘the girls’ – the fourth ‘girl gun,’ which was on her hip at the time she took this photo, is her S&W 442 .38 special. On the left is the S&W 908s 9mm, above is the Warthog .45ACP and below is the S&W 686 .357 revolver. All of them are about to be cleaned up, so some of the ‘range residue’ is still visible. You better believe she makes ’em sparkle when she’s done, though.

the girl guns

06 Apr 2009 by Firearms Shooting

Range Report

We had an excellent day today at the range. It’s late, so I won’t post all of the details, but it was fun. At the end of the shooting, however, there is always the teardown, inspection and cleanup. This is my end of the workbench showing my Glocks and the Remington 870 12 gauge all disassembled and ready for the cleanup drill. The muzzle end of Damsel’s 20 gauge 870 is also visible along with tools, cleaner and wipers. Click image for a closer look.

cleanup

05 Apr 2009 by Firearms Shooting

Gun Ban Not Working in Binghamton

troopersPrayers go out for the victims and their families and friends in today’s horrible attack in Binghamton, NY.

Sensible gun owners now anticipate anti-gun organizations and anti-gunners in the media and government to jump on the spilled blood as leverage to eliminate dangerous guns. If there were only a few legitimate CCW permits issued to building occupants, this crime may have been over before a dozen victims were killed.

John Lott posted this sensible analysis on FoxNews.com:

Time after time multiple-victim public shootings occur in “gun free zones” — public places where citizens are not legally able to carry guns. The horrible attack today in Binghamton, New York is no different. Every multiple-victim public shooting that I have studied, where more than three people have been killed, has taken place where guns are banned.

You would think that it would be an important part of the news stories for a simple reason: Gun-free zones are a magnet for these attacks. Extensive discussions of these attacks can be found here and here. We want to keep people safe, but the problem is that it is the law-abiding good citizens, not the criminals, who obey these laws. We end up disarming the potential victims and not the criminals. Rather than making places safe for victims, we unintentionally make them safe for the criminal.

At some point, you would think the media would notice that something is going on here, that these murderers aren’t just picking their targets at random. And this pattern isn’t really too surprising. Most people understand that guns deter criminals. . . . .

03 Apr 2009 by Degenerates Law and Order Second Amendment

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