MisCon

We are at MisCon, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror fan convention in Missoula, MT. The guest artist is Myles Pinkney who gave a great presentation of his work over the last 20 years. I was surprised that it was his first invited talk at a Con. What! How is that possible? He puts incredible detail in his pictures, which end up on posters, calendars, plates, and even circuit boards.

Check out his gallery linked above.

I have the "Demon Refuge" strong Belgian Golden Ale here that I made specially for the Con. Instead of blowing it out in one big registered party, we're showing it off in the more intimate room-party format. That way, it lasts at least two nights (via having it in two kegs not both active). To keep the party in the unregistered, private category, you keep the door mostly closed. Door too far open... bam you're an unregistered outlaw room party. Door discipline is critical people!

Oh, and the beer is a success. It's smooth, light-tasting for its strength, and sneaky strong. Those Belgian brewers are the bomb genius.

Update: I bought this one... Babylon.

OK, Say you're swimming...

...and suddenly you hear a splash behind you.

Woah, that's a big pussy cat.

Aww, eating with its little paws.

Hmm, where's Fifi?

Note: photos from Pravda (yep, that old Soviet rag), which seems to have morphed into a tabloid of somekind.

Multi-Gun Fun

Yep, shotgun, pistol, and rifle all together in one stage---pictures from the USPSA site.

I got to do this yesterday at our yearly multigun match. Six stages with all three guns and one pistol-only classifier. Wow, what a work out. Took about 8 hours of shooting with a short break for a LATE lunch for about 9 hours total on the range.

Anyway, if there are weak points in your equipment or technique, you are going to find them in multigun. I did OK, but was sore Monday morning.

I played it safe (it was my first multigun match) and ended up right in the middle with 14 above me and 14 below me. Since my goal was not to get thrown out, I smashed through that.

It's taken about a year to collect what I needed to shoot multigun---just cause it took me that long to decide what to get that fit my budget. The gun cart of doom was converted to an extra-fine long-gun hauler for the occasion.

I'm going to keep with local multigun matches and side matches for the rest of the year and maybe do Area 1 multigun next year.

BBQ Season

Costco steak burgers on the charcoal grill...
Brass suspended in air...

See ya out at the range.

Mom's Day the 13th

So, if I was an EOD type who disposed of explosives for my job, I would stage a picture like this. It's all in the timing. Then I would send it to my mom for Mother's Day. You know, maybe say something like

Mom! You light up my Life.

This picture is from a "Women at War" series. There's a couple of things to note: She's not wearing ear protection or safety glasses and she's looking through a game gun sight. This is what the Open class guns in the game we play look like. These guns are big, fast, accurate, and picky picky picky. A war-fighting pistol it is not.

She might be on the pistol team though. Just because it's an artificially staged shot doesn't mean she doesn't know how to use that thing. Maybe it's like those college football pictures where the guy isn't wearing pads or a helmet. The Army sponsors a team and one of the members shoots at big tournaments in the NW. I would count that as a cool military job. It better pay well to buy one of those guns.

Her mom better not see her shooting without PPE (personal protective equipment)!

P.S. Check out the video of Travis above---he really does reload that fast!

in just spring

Not all of Iraq is desert and blowing dust. Some of it affords a stroll through spring wildflowers.

To mark the anniversary of V.E. day, how about a reminder of how we used to view irregular war-fighting tactics and mistreatment of prisoners.

Why parody is dead:
Zimbabwe will be the Head of the UN Committee on Sustainable Development.

Even the Trotskyites at the BBC are concerned. However, I'm confident that Zimbabwe will be just as effective as any other at the UN, that great leveler of talent.

HK on Target

This was a wild one where we had to run to 6 boxes in a zig-zag and engage all five targets from each box. Princess showed good form, but I was S...L...O...W... On the other hand I could have slipped on the damp grass...we don't have grass in the desert.

Thanks to he guys in Mica for the great shoot and the great pics.

Got the windshield changed today

We got the windshield changed on our Suburban Assault Vehicle today. Wasn't this bad though.

U.S. Army Pvt. Brice Hinton looks through bullet holes left in his humvee after his convoy was caught in a complex ambush in Mosul, Iraq, April 30, 2007. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Vanessa Valentine)

Reads

A couple of good reads from VDH's site.

First up, a Professor of English gets a questionnaire. Makes good reading for May Day.

And VDH gives 10 things to do about Iran. After discussing how they are playing us, of course.

I've seen suggestions that we turn May Day from an event where boomers in gray ponytails and braids showcase their partial knowledge of communist theory to a new Memorial Day for the 100 million plus victims of that theory in the 20th century. If nothing else, it would bring some balance to the conversation.

I was thinking of using a link to pictures of gray ponytails and braids, but thought better of it at the last minute...