It seems like there are a lot of WWI aviation documentaries on the ‘Tube. This is one aspect of the war that I have found fascinating for a long time: wooden planes and iron men.
Unfortunately, pretty much all of them I’ve found so far are long. Like, multiple parts with each part about 90 minutes long. If you’ve got the time and inclination, you might look for “4 Years of Thunder” or “Flying Coffins“. I have not watched these myself yet.
Here’s one I found, “Cavalry Of The Clouds” that is a little on the long side, but not quite as long.
Bonus #1: From “The Great War” channel, a special, “Sharpshooters and Snipers in World War 1”.
Bonus #2: I’m pulling this somewhat out of context, as it is part of the “Over There” series from the NRAPubs channel, but I think it stands alone: the story of Alvin C. York, Medal of Honor recipient.
(See also. Affiliate link, but it delights me down to the bottom of my shriveled little coal black heart that a lot of this stuff is coming back in Kindle editions.)
Travel Thursday. Science Sunday. Is it time to make Self Indulgent Friday a thing?
Savage Arms has a YouTube channel, “SavageAccuracy”, with various playlists. One of those playlists is “Gunsite Academy with Cory Trapp“, in which Mr. Trapp gives tips on long range shooting.
For example: “Three Elements of Making a Long Range Shot”.
Another: “Ranging Without a Rangefinder”.
And a third: “Calculating Wind Value”.
Bonus: I’ve mentioned Ryan Cleckner before. Here’s a video with Mr. Cleckner and John Lovell about “Essential Gear for Long Range Shooting”.
Bonus video #1: shifting gears a little bit, “”Curiosity Killed a Cat”, a 1944 military training film about how when you’re in the field, you shouldn’t play with the crystals unexploded ordnance or things that might be booby-trapped.
Bonus #2: “Angel In Overalls”, another vintage WWII propaganda film. This one celebrates the P-38 Lightning.
Bonus, slightly longer, video, which you would not see on television today. Or any time after about 1965, I’d guess.
A 1950s episode of “Bold Journey” featuring the editor of True magazine, Douglas Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy goes to Africa…to hunt rhino.
This is within a few years of Ruark’s Horn of the Hunter: that was published in 1953, so I think (but can’t confirm) that Ruark’s safari was 1951 or 1952. According to the YouTube notes, this aired in the third season of “Bold Journey” which ran from 1956-1959.
Bonus #2: as a hattip to ASM826, I thought I’d post this one: “YOJIMBO & A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS – How The Western Was Changed Forever”.
A while back, I summarized a DEFCON presentation on gun safe insecurity. I thought it might be fun today to post some demos, by way of the LockPickingLawyer channel on the ‘Tube.
First up, the “SnapSafe’s TrekLite TSA Gun Lockbox”, a case designed for airline transport of firearms. To summarize the video, this case is so bad that, if it worked as designed, it would actually be illegal to use. But because the design is so awful, it probably actually is technically legal. Still not secure, but technically legal.
Next up, the “Vaultek LifePod Gun Safe”, a waterproof gun safe endorsed by a prominent gun guy. You may remember Vaultek from almost three years ago, when it turned out their Bluetooth enabled product wasn’t secure. Turns out that the LifePod has a problem as well: the type of problem that you can exploit with a fork.
“Don’t read the comments.” But in fairness, Vaultek did respond in the comments and state that they are offering a fix for this problem.
You know what irony is, though? Irony is like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. Okay, that’s not really ironic, that’s just stupid. But it sets up this: the Stack-On RFID Gun Safe.
But what if you don’t have a fork? Or a spoon? What if you just have a broken milk carton an orange juice bottle?
Another area of crafts that I’m interested in is good quality woodworking. This is another place where I feel like it would take years of constant practice to be able to turn out something attractive and useful. But at the same time, there’s a whole lot of woodworking books out there: you can probably find plans and ideas for anything you want to build. And if you start out following the plans religiously, and only when you get good, start improvising, well maybe the ROI isn’t so bad after all.
I’m fascinated when I sit down, turn on PBS, and find something like “The New Yankee Workshop” on. For me, this is something like Bob Ross is for other people. (Except I don’t get stoned while watching it.)
It also seems like you can do some nice stuff with some basic hand tools. And a router. And maybe a table saw. And perhaps a lathe. And maybe…
(As a side note, that’s one of the reasons why I’m excited about TJIC’s book: because he’s going to talk about the tools he finds useful. And having seen pictures of some of his woodwork, I think this is a good starting point.)
One thing I keep thinking I’d like to build (when I get good enough) is a shooter’s box (or “range box”). Every now and again, I see nice ones at the gun shows, but they’re not for sale. I have a used (and slightly battered) range box made mostly out of plastic in with the gun stuff, and it is nice enough. But it gets back to the idea of using something you built yourself and that’s adjusted to your own needs, not something mass produced you bought from a store. Plus the wood ones just look better.
If you’re not familiar with the shooter’s box, well, that’s today’s theme.
This guy built a box for camera gear, but it is the same general principle:
I’ve done a lot of plane stuff the past couple of days, so I wanted to break with that theme and do something different.
I haven’t run across any good car stuff yet. There are a lot of train videos coming up: many of them seem to be POV videos of guys hopping freight trains, and they all have the problem of being long.
Likewise, there are a lot of police video channels on the ‘Tube. It seems that various people have figured out that getting hold of body cam footage under local public records laws and posting it on YouTube is a good way to get views. Unfortunately, while I enjoy watching stupid people get theirs (especially stupid cop impersonators who are dumb enough to wear body cameras while impersonating a police officer) many of those also have the disadvantage of being long, long, long.
Here’s one that is about coffee break sized, though, that I’m putting up because it isn’t just Florida Man (“Florida Man, Florida Man…”) but also Florida Lunatic.
Bonus video: I’m being self-indulgent with this one, obviously. But when was the last time I was self-indulgent?
(That was a rhetorical question. Don’t answer that.)
Legendary shooter Jerry Miculek shows off his K-frame .22 revolvers, talks about his friendship with the equally legendary Roy Jinks, and takes some shots at 240 yards with an 85-year old K-22.
(By the way, you can still get Smith and Wesson history letters, but the current price is $100. It’s $90 if you belong to either the Smith and Wesson Historical Foundation or the Smith and Wesson Collector’s Association, or $75 if you belong to both organizations.)
From time to time, more so recently, I find myself thinking about trying to make some of my own holsters. I did some leatherwork in school “shop” classes (for values of “leatherwork” that include “putting together a purchased kit from Tandy”). And you can still get severalbooks on making holsters through Amazon.
Part of it is the appeal of carrying and using something that you made yourself, that’s customized to your needs and wants. I wouldn’t plan on going into competition with anyone: I’d be doing these as projects for myself. I figure it’d take me five to ten years (depending on how many holsters I made) to get to the point where I’d be happy with someone else using something I made, and probably another five to ten years after that before I became comfortable asking for money.
And it doesn’t seem like leatherwork takes a lot of space. Except maybe when you start purchasing machinery for stitching.
All I need to do is find the time. As the late John D. MacDonald once said, “A man will think a lot of stupid things when he can’t sleep at night.”
From Adams Leatherworks (a good Texas company), making a pancake holster with thumb break for a Commander sized 1911. Interestingly, they also sell patterns. I love the origin story on their “about” page: these sound like interesting people who maybe deserve some of my money the next time I want a custom holster.
Bonus video #1: “Making a Leather Cowboy Action Fast Draw Holster and Belt”. This guy actually sort of vaguely reminds me of one of my cow-orkers. (Not because he makes holsters: the two just bear a general resemblance.)
Bonus video #2: from Agar France, making a 1880’s Mexican Loop holster.