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Daily Digest: Technology Edition

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Evotech Assassin muzzle device courtesy evotechcorp.comThe CQB ASSASSIN is a hybrid muzzle device designed to effectively reduce muzzle rise, felt recoil, and redistribute the flash signature. But wait, there’s more! “CQB stands for “close quarters battle”, the spiked feature was designed specifically for the protection of military and law enforcement operators in a close quarters battle situation where less than lethal force may need to be applied to an enemy combatant. Extreme caution must be exercised when handling and installing this device as it is intended to cause bodily harm.” Am I the only one that gets a little squirmy thinking about that? In what situation can you imagine that “stabbing someone with your pointy muzzle device” is going to be your best or only option? . . .

M16 xray courtesy dailymail.co.ukAn artist in the UK named Nick Veasey decided he’d x-ray several different “famous” guns (mostly from the silver screen), in an effort to “deglamourise” them and show they’re just killing machines. From where I’m sitting, the photos had less than the desired effect, as mechanical things and how they work are fascinating to me. So, we have these, an M16 above and an M60 below (click to embiggen), and another dozen or so over at The Daily Mail.

M60 xray photo courtesy dailymail

A Florida man was arrested and charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer and improper exhibition of a firearm after attempting to use a badge and gun to obtain a discount at Dunkin’ Donuts. Twice. While the gun was carried with a legal permit, the badge belonged to the man’s deceased father, who was a cop in New Jersey. After the first incident, donut shop management notified police, and the erstwhile officer was arrested when he came back the next day for seconds. The Daily Mail has video, but sadly no sound, and says that “Fox News reported local police officers say they are not entitled to discounts and don’t ask for them.” [h/t: SA]

MAIG has lost another member this week as Oro Valley, Arizona mayor Satish Hiremath resigned under what the Arizona Daily Star calls “pressure” from a gun rights group. His email statement to the Star read, in part, “I am aware of the efforts of members of Arizona’s criminal justice community and our state Legislature, and I support their direction. It is apparent that MAIG differs from the focus of our state leaders, which is consistent with my views. Therefore, I am forwarding my resignation to the Mayors Against Illegal Guns along with my recommendation that the group focus its efforts on what I believe was the original premise to deal with ‘illegal guns.'”

The motorized mule is back again in a short video that describes some more of its capabilities, including “leader-follow” mode and autonomous “go-to waypoint” mode. This thing still fascinates me.

0 thoughts on “Daily Digest: Technology Edition”

    • They are cool. But it looks like they are loaded, isn’t that against the law in the UK? Did he have an encounter with local law enforcement for having these guns.

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  1. George, while it may be tempting to dip your stick in crazy, it is never worth it. Now, I’m not saying that he isn’t at fault here, we don’t have enough facts. But we do know that this woman has previously filed false charges against him. Furthermore, George is being smart(er) this time, and promptly STFU about the whole matter. As far as I have read, the only statement that he has given is that he didn’t do it. While this whole event will have to unfold in court, I am passing some preliminary judgement:

    1. George should have gotten the hell away from this woman a long time ago.
    2. He also needs to keep the hell off the radar. Stop making the news for a few years, until you have a book written or something.
    3. One night ruined the rest of his life. Whatever you think about his innocence/guilt, keep in mind that your decisions can have extremely long term effects. Don’t become a Zimmerman.

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  2. I open carry an FNH FNX-45 (big gun…) every day that I do not have to work (CC only on those days). Having done so for only 10 months or so this far, I have yet to have 1 negative/conflict-creating comment or confrontation. The “worst” comment was from a small woman cracking a joke about me “so cool” because I had a gun.

    A place of business was robbed at gun-point about 300 yards from mine on a night I was working. At that exact moment, 3 gentlemen were in my establishment with firearms, 2 open carrying. I guarantee, had my location been that armed thug’s first choice, he quickly would have chosen another target, and no one at my place of work would have had a weapon pointed at them as happened across the street that night.

    For the record… handgun in a holster is how I carry. People notice with regularity, but it is discreet enough that it doesn’t unsettle like a long gun might.

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  3. I don’t see the point in the muzzle devise with spikes, the points aren’t long enough to cause anything more than superficial damage.

    It’s deep enough to cause bleeding, but not deep enough to cause vital damage that will incapacitate.

    So, now some random (possible drug addict) person is bleeding all over the place, or possibly all over you, during a fight.

    Call you say blood born pathogens?

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    • It looks more like a boring bit for woodworking. If you twist it enough while applying pressure it could bore a large lethal hole.

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  4. Extreme caution must be exercised when handling and installing this device as it is intended to cause bodily harm.”

    That says all you need to know about this thing.

    That copy is mall ninja dog whistling at its best.

    “Dude! This thing is so wicked dangerous that I might hurt myself installing it? It must be mine!”

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  5. “church, personal responsibility and the requirement and reward for honest work.” I’ve never needed church or religion to tell me not to be a POS. The other three are spot on though.

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  6. Nick Veasey may be a wizard with x-ray photography — I’ll give him that — but aside from his visual talent, he seems to be a blithering idiot. It’s a condition that afflicts a lot of people who call themselves artists.

    I can see how that muzzle brake could come in handy if you’re out of ammo with an enemy within arm’s reach. It may not be lethal, but you could put enough hurt on someone to make them reconsider their most recent decisions, and maybe give yourself enough space to reload. But I can also see what kind of gift a gizmo like that (with a name like that) would be to a bloody-minded prosecutor. No thanks.

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  7. The mechanical mule is a cool idea, but I wonder if they are conflating autonomous navigation with legged propulsion. Maybe its “brain” could be mounted in a much simpler wheeled or tracked chassis. Are they testing its cross-country mobility vs. non-legged robots with the same intelligence? Or have they just fallen in love with legged robots after watching the Transformer movies once too often?

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    • I think the advantage in this method is speed and ability to recover. A wheeled or even tracked vehicle might be faster than the mule’s legs over flat and/or relatively open ground, but when it comes to obstacles, I think this method would be faster. Also, factor in the gyroscopic ability of this method to “recover” from upsets, like if it slips or falls, whereas once a tracked or wheeled vehicle starts to slip or tumble, you basically have to wait until it comes to rest before you upright it and try again. Like a person climbing, it’s possible that if this thing’s “foot” slipped and slid down a foot or so, it could just reorient and continue climbing, just like you would if your foot slipped.

      I’d be really interested to see a test where they managed to induce a full-on rollover, to see if it could recover. Let’s say it did slip completely and tumbled to the bottom of a hill and ended up on its side. Could it recover on its own and restart the climb, or would it require outside intervention to right it? You’ll notice it does have a largely round, barrel-like shape, so I think they may have that in mind, but I haven’t yet seen a video that shows that ability.

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        • Except donkeys and mules are generally only good for about 20% of their body weight (some say max 30%). That means your payload is determined by the size of the animal, and since even the biggest donkeys and mules top out around 1000#, the max is 250-300#. I don’t know a lot about pack animals, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to weigh them down with 250# every single day. They say this thing goes to 400#, and it does it day in, day out, without fatigue.

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        • If you don’t mind the smell of a Donkey, you might be interested in Camels or Dromedaries. they can pack quite a bit more. The only downside is they smell really, really bad and bite.

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        • When I see things like that, or the wagon trains and stuff in the old westerns, I wonder, do they carry along hundreds of gallons of water, or do they depend on finding water just lying around somewhere along the way?

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          • Your route was determined by the distance your pack animals could travel in a day, and where water could be found.

  8. If you are middle-aged, overweight, with high blood pressure, high triglycerides, etc., I’d suggest that first, you read up on metabolic syndrome, then get yourself an oral glucose tolerance test, then put yourself on a strict low-carb, moderate protein, high fat diet – made up primarily of natural foods.

    Don’t get me wrong, there’s no reason at all that you should avoid carbs, if you’re healthy, but if you’re showing the symptoms of metabolic sydrome, if you post-prandial blood sugar and insulin numbers are out of control, then you’re significantly insulin resistant. These symptoms are caused by hyperinulinemia – and you really need to give yourself an extended period of time with moderated levels so that your metabolism can heal. I went through this, and it took almost a year before my OGTT numbers were back to healthy levels.

    As for exercise, it’s next to impossible, as long as your insulin levels are elevated. Insulin drives energy into fat storage and locks it in. You feel like you have no energy because you don’t. At the cellulr level, you’re starving. Flogging yourself around the track isn’t going to change that.

    And going low-carb will make things worse. For the first week or two until your system ramps up the hormones for the fat-burning metabolism you haven’t used in years, and then you’ll have more energy than you know what to do with. Exercise won’t just become possible, it will become easy and fun.

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  9. I always cringe a little at the phrase “military and law enforcement” as a marketing ploy… I haven’t been around that long, but aside from butt stocks, rail covers, and maybe a BUIS, as far as private mods, Ive never seen anyone on active duty (legitimately without their first sergeant saying something) remove their A2 flash hider to install something else (other than the SOF guys with the surefire and KAC hiders for their cans and limited thread on for conventional guys) military and law enforcement operate in such different capacities, lumping them together only serves the purpose of more police militarization. I wish “law enforcement” would die from the vernacular and be replaced with “peace officer” and “policing” I know its just word smithing, but anything seems like it would help in not turning Barney Fife into Commando Joe…

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  10. Makes one wonder exactly how and where ole George met this new “girlfriend” and if she might
    be a shill…..a plant by the anti gun wackos to get in close to George and when the time is right
    scream and shout and make a lot of BS claims.

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  11. FWIW, Remington was showcasing the TrackingPoint PGF with the XAct Trigger at AUSA last month alongside all the new Remington Defense Products on display. Literally front and center.

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  12. Education in America goes from very little to almost nothing in understanding the real world , had one 20 year old saw my Marine hat and he said how was it in the Civil War, I kid you not, history is no longer in our schools, a people with out a past , have no future, and TV news is truth , no thinking allowed……..that will be a big problem for gun owners!!!!!!!!

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  13. TO Matt in FL:
    I have a suggestion for a rule: When you use a new (to noobs like me) acronym, please define it, m’kay?
    Usually I can JFG it, but I get:
    HDLS: hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with spheroids
    HDLS: High-density lipoproteins

    HSLD: High-Speed Low-Drag
    HSLD: Home School Legal Defense
    HSLD: Homeland Security Leadership Development (degree)
    HSLD: Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats

    I’m guessing High-Speed Low-Drag, but I see nothing above that has either of those characteristics.

    Maybe I took too much HLSD as a youth. Or not enough. 😉

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  14. “CQB stands for “close quarters battle”, the spiked feature was designed specifically for the protection of military and law enforcement operators in a close quarters battle situation where less than lethal force may need to be applied to an enemy combatant.”

    Why do they exclude “civilian” use? I know I’m nitpicking, but don’t phrases like this simply add fuel to gun opponents by specifically separating “military”, “law enforcement” and “civilian”?

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  15. This is too rich. Can you say projection? Also, I don’t really remember and correct me if I’m wrong but, isn’t a gun a phalic symbol, but it’s people that ARE afraid of guns that feel inadequate? So literally the opposite of what they always say? This dick joke shit is cute actually. Keep it coming and eventually you’ll work your way up to “my dad can beat up your dad.”

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  16. Robert, sometimes destiny calls in strange, whiny voices. Still, will you accept the call?
    This guy sounds like an excellent debate candidate.

    Ring, ring, bitches.

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  17. “The United States passed its first gun control laws prior to the Civil War, criminalizing possession of firearms by blacks. Be honest, what’s your opinion on THAT one?”

    Could he be more politically obtuse? It was the Democrats who formed the KKK and pushed for laws to disarm blacks. While the NRA taught freemen how to use guns to defend themselves against racists. So is it no surprise that the politically progressive cities with the most blacks (eg. Chicago, DC, LA,) have the strictest gun laws? Gun control is racist. And he wants more gun control. But in his mind the 2A people who want blacks to be able to have guns are racist.

    “90% of all murders are committed by people with four or more adult felonies. Which is exactly why we’re trying to keep those people from getting guns.”

    Putting aside it is already illegal for felons to own guns, and has been for a very long time. It should be obvious from that the indicator for murder isn’t gun ownership, it’s a history of violent crime.

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  18. “Note the use of the word “feel” in that sentence”

    The supporters of the police-nanny state concept and/or Statism (and most politicians too of other ideologies) do not want voting citizens “thinking”; they want people “feeling” with their emotional reactions to leading close ended questions. Interesting that the spellchecker does not recognize the word ‘Statism’.

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  19. 1. I maintain situational awareness by not listening to music while I run and thereby give myself more time to either avoid a threat or respond to it.
    2. I carry a Glock 26 loaded with premium +p rounds in a Blackhawk holster that I place inside the main rear compartment of a Salomon Advanced Skin 12 Pack. I won’t win any quick draw contests by carrying it in that configuration. However, I live in a low crime area that is relatively rural and I am more concerned about rabid four-legged creatures than the two-legged variety. Carrying it that way also keeps the weapon behind the pack’s water bladder and away from my sweat.
    3. I have used many varieties of load bearing equipment in 25+ years in the Army & USAR and the Salomon pack is the best small sized LBE I’ve ever used. It’s not cheap (about $220), but it’s the only equipment of it’s type I’ve used that doesn’t bounce or chafe even with a full load of water, the Glock, a spare magazine, a Cold Steel Voyager knife, cell phone, a small bottle of Gatorade, packets of gu, etc. spread around its several compartments.

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  20. I actually ate my lunch in the presence of Ms. Penrose today inside a classroom she had just finished using for a lecture. She was hanging around talking to students who had questions about their course work.

    Little did she know that she was sharing a room with someone willing to give his life to preserve her constitutionally memorialized right to say such things. I just wish she would stop attacking my constitutionally memorialized rights that give me the ability to protect her right to say what she said.

    As I sat there, I wondered what she would say if I proposed that we apply her own formula to her First Amendment rights, or her Fourth, or Fifth, or Sixth Amendment rights, which I am sure she holds in high regard. Surely such a proposal would have invited her contention that to do so would surely be the harbinger of tyranny. In the end, I decided not to engage her in discussion since I already know I cannot move a stone by simply speaking to it. But I wondered to myself how such people attain such offices as hers without the capacity or discipline to logically extrapolate the eventual outcomes of their proposed policies.

    The security guard assigned to her looked none too pleased as he waited for her out in the hallway. However, it painted the perfect picture of her own hypicracy to se her advocating for the weakening our rights to self-defense while being followed around by a guard to defend her. I guess she thinks that we can all afford carry a cop or guard around with us everywhere we go and that, therefore, the second amendment must be obsolete. Rather, her actions belie her actual commitment to her own purported beliefs and, rather than taking responsibility for her own personal safety (or lack thereof) she saddles someone else with that responsibility (in this case the tax and tuition payers).

    Meanwhile, the rest of us in the real world are constantly confronted with the fact that when seconds count, help is minutes away, and, if we want to survive a life-threatening, we have to be able and prepared to take responsibility of our own safety.

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  21. And just like the guns free school act, the result will be you can’t have fast food anywhere, because those little snot monsters need to be everywhere.

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