ReconRat

Yes, the Soviet Union disbanded into separate states. All are well and doing fine... (Although they sometimes fight each other over terrorism or other stuff.)

Which begs the question. If the entire country wants to secede from itself, what happens? Do we get to vote on a new government? Or start over? Or somehow divide it up? The petition venue is new, and there isn't really a recourse by law or legislation. Or will it be ignored. A lot more valid signatures are required to put a legal vote on a ballot. (Which is actually funny... we the people choose to ignore ourselves...)

Ok, it wasn't the easiest thing to find in gov websites... The number of petitions has doubled over the weekend. All petitions expired without the necessary amount of signatures, except for the following states: Texas has 120,111 signatures. Louisiana has 37,534 signatures. Florida has 35,402 signatures. Georgia has 32,531 signatures. Alabama has 30,643 signatures. North Carolina has 30,873 signatures. Tennessee has 31,568 signatures. South Carolina has 25,139 signatures. Petitions to the White House https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions All 50 States currently found to have petitions: Vermont (new Thursday) Connecticut (new Wednesday) Maryland (new Wednesday) Washington (new Wednesday) Hawaii (new Wednesday) Massachusetts (new Wednesday) Washington (new Wednesday) Iowa (new Wednesday) Maine (new Wednesday) New Mexico (new Tuesday) Minnesota (new Tuesday) New Hampshire (new Tuesday) Illinois (new Tuesday) (two petitions) Idaho (new Tuesday) Rhode Island (new Tuesday) Virginia (new Tuesday) (three petitions) Wisconsin (new Tuesday) South Dakota (new Tuesday) West Virginia (new Tuesday) Nebraska (new Tuesday) Alaska (new Tuesday) (two petitions) Kansas (new Tuesday) (two petitions) Utah (new Tuesday) (two petitions) Wyoming (new Tuesday) California (new Tuesday) (three petitions) Ohio (new Monday night) (three petitions) Delaware (new Monday night) Nevada (new Monday night) Pennsylvania (new Monday night) (two petitions) Arizona Oklahoma (two petitions) Arkansas South Carolina (two petitions) Georgia (three petitions) Missouri (two petitions) Tennessee Michigan New York (two petitions) Colorado Oregon New Jersey North Dakota Montana Indiana Mississippi Kentucky Florida North Carolina Alabama Texas Louisiana

I'm hearing around $9999 for the CB1100. Throwing the VFR1200F out. Guess there's some changes. http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/motorcycles/2013models/2013-Honda-VFR1200F1-small.jpg

ok, so it's not a Honda. Just bumped into this looking at the EICMA website. (70th International Motorcycle Show - Milan Italy) Pure Sex in Red - It's changed a bit from the 2011 and 2012. The tank/cover looks better in red, it was silver. Ducati 1199 Panigale S http://www.eicma.it/common/editor/upimages/AANewsdal%20salone/Ducati1199PanigaleSEicma.jpg To make it more appealing... still sexy when naked: http://s1.aecdn.com/images/news/gallery/medium/new-colors-for-ducati-1199-panigale-photo-gallery-medium_7.png

New Honda USA models for 2013- Honda USA Cycle World first look articles Not a complete list, but I thought these four new models were interesting. CB1100 Red only so far, ABS model/option not released yet http://www.cycleworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2013-Honda-CB1100_006.jpg CBR500R - also black or red (red has ABS option) http://www.cycleworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2013-Honda-CBR500R-White-Blue-Red.jpg CB500F - also in black (black has ABS option) http://www.cycleworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2013-Honda-CB500F-Pearl-White.jpg CB500X adventure bike (black only - ABS optional) http://www.cycleworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2013-Honda-CB500X-Matte-Black-Metallic.jpg

So what's the deal with shooting at that drone near Iran. I'd think that would have been a regular deal, observing along the coast. At 4am in the morning. I'm guessing that Iran was doing something that day that they didn't want people to see. So they chased the drone away. Probably moving stuff around related to Syria. Iraq has been allowing Iran to sneak stuff through Iraq and over into Syria. The drone was up near the Iran-Iraq border, over the gulf. And that Iranian helicopter drone over Israel? Iran is arguing that it wasn't brought down intact for examination. The rumor is that Israel brought it down with a cable tangled in it's helicopter blades. From another aircraft. Not the explosion shown that would have completely destroyed it. What I want to know, is that if it had video and flight up-link capability, wouldn't the Iranians have seen that and know if it came down intact? Or were the signals jammed at the time?

True Cooter. I'm messing with people again. The autopilot is there because it's so hard for humans to fly. And the biggest part of that, is the height above the ground to the cockpit. It's hard to visualize where the runway is when landing. Similar to a Boeing 747 which has an auto landing capability, that's always used. It's true that the Russians went overboard and gave it the capability to fly itself. But it still needs somebody to start engines and push the go button. The way it was described when the capability was first discovered (the Russians kept secrets back then), was that it was capable of memorizing any flight that it made from runway to runway, and could repeat it by itself.

Yes. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just one guy submitting all the petitions. And yes, Texas is a Republic. From what I remember, Texas reserved the right to be an independent nation when they joined the union, if they should so decide in the future. (Mostly a myth.) edit: The Republic of Texas first formed when it broke away from Mexico, but the USA wasn't interested yet. Vermont and Hawaii were also Republics before joining the Union.

Now for the truly weird in drones. This is a drone. It's fully capable of autonomous take off, flight, and landing. Without pilots on board. The autopilot and navigation computer on an Antov An-225 Mriya is so extreme, it can start and complete a mission on it's own. Normally flown with crew on board since, well, it's expensive...

Add Georgia and Missouri to the list. I'm surprised to see New York and New Jersey on the list.

Relax, I'm just messing with Isaac's Papa. Currently civilian and military aircraft are being tested in autonomous mode (unmanned) with a pilot on board to observe. Which is reasonable, since the end result is a plan to fly both commercial and military with passengers or cargo but no pilots. Which would be yet another type of manned drone. Not sure I want to fly on an "unmanned 727". Drone with a pilot in it: Centaur drone Gyrodyne QH-50 K-MAX pilotless freight helicopter modified unmanned Jetstream aircraft

I had one motorcycle that would turn/steer by just leaning (no hands). I don't think all front geometry will that. And I mean gentle turns, not sharp corners. Haven't tried it lately. Don't know why I'd want to.

This could be the start of it: An open source notification code. http://code.google.com/p/droid-notify/ Something like using the individual machine as the sending contact. And announcing if a particular flavor is there. The code would have to be duplicated for each machine/flavor/or both. Or subroutines to shorten code. A website (or the app) that collects the user (and vendor) input for flavors would be necessary. Sending would be the easy part. Collecting the data would be the harder part. Not me, I really haven't gotten into Droid/Apple coding yet. edit: it would be nice if the user could use the app to call up a particular machine and browse the inventory. Unless the machines are rather smart and web interfaced, reporting the availability of inventory isn't possible.

The freeway through Jacksonville is difficult even in a car or truck. A crazy layout with a lot of turns, dips and rises with entrances and exits that force a sudden merge or lane change in traffic. It's tricky and a convoy would have to break up while going through in order to survive traffic. I was forced over enough times that I was hesitant to drive next to a vehicle in the other lane. I wanted to be able to move quickly over. Either direction, since I seem to remember some traffic merging from the left as well. But I did try to stick to the left lane through Jacksonville. There were a lot of surprises on that road, and needed to react quickly. People that live in Florida learn to fear I-95 in order to survive. There are lots of massive multiple vehicle accidents along that one stretch of freeway.

A tribute ride for a member who died in an auto accident. About 150 on a freeway near Jacksonville. 15 crashed, maybe 6 injured. Apparently merging auto traffic coming onto the freeway tangled with the group. That freeway through Jacksonville is nuts. http://www.news4jax.com/news/Witness-15-motorcycles-crash-on-I-95/-/475880/17356602/-/rh339v/-/index.html

oh hey look.... batshit crazy

Looks like all the 16 inch barrel production went over to this. Leaving only the Marlin out there with a short barrel lever action. I think lever action rifles are not selling. Hence the attempt to find the tactical market. 30-30 used to be the only choice, back in the depression era of 1920-1930. Pre WW2. Low cost, Do anything. Cheap ammo (back then). There's still a lot of them around. Good for about 200 yards for hunting. So confused. Why a nostalgic deer cartridge in a neo-zombie dress-up? edit: haha, they probably have a metric ton of parts and would like to get rid of them.

The Savage is basic, without a lot of opportunities to modify or improve the rifle. But people say it performs well. I think the Savage is very interesting. On the other hand, some of the Winchesters were said to be suffering from problems in production a few years ago. The Winchester is the Remington design, and they were getting a bad reputation. Buyers were favoring the older production instead of the newer. I don't know if production shifted off shore or what. People are fickle, and it just might be an out of control trend in the market place. I didn't follow the story close enough to have details. For slightly more cash, a basic Weatherby will probably have no complaints. And a lot of people like the Ruger also, but you need to see one first to decide. Thirty years ago, I was right where you are now. Wanting a rifle that would be hunting/target/tactical. I wanted the Weatherby and should have bought one anyway, but it cost more. I settled for the Winchester (Remington). If Savage had it's current reputation back then, it would have been on the short list to consider. edit: And I went with .308 over the 30-06 for a bunch of reasons, most of which people have given.

I've seen a few with low prices, even after the collector craziness hit. I was looking for an Eddystone also. One shop that saw me looking at one on the used rack, raised the price from around 300 to over 1000 before I could return and buy it! What I heard is that the changes to Canadian firearms laws caused most of them to be bought up and shipped to Canada for sale. Where the Enfield was always highly regarded in the first place. Prior to the changes, it wasn't too hard to find decent prices. Now it's impossible.

Ok ok, I know. I should stop posting things from work. I don't think things through very well when I do that. A new Savage is probably cheaper than a used Enfield. And yes, .303, not many were rechambered or manufactured in 30-06.

I've seen those around town. Really sharp looking. Congrats.

lol, stop it. Of course an Enfield can be put down. But it's still an example of a low cost bolt 30-06 to learn with. And lots of rifles won't match it. Too darn hard to find a decent one any more.

^ what Flounder said. I did not know about the 175 grain. I'll remember that. I've been out of reloading for a while. A good bolt action rifle should do well at 1000 yards. Although a 5" group is impressive. Pretty much a .5moa. The rifle can do it, it's everything else that alters the results. True about cheap scopes. Rarely does a cheap one work well. I'm going to have to ease up on mil dot resistance. Every one likes them. Even if they are basically tactical scopes. I suppose I'll have to eventually get one and see what it's all about. When they first hit the market back in the 80s, they weren't too exciting. I guess that's changed.