Creating the first of a short series of customer/prospect self-service tools to help with their #2A #firearms journey. Trying to build self-help, decision support and motivational tools https://survey.sabinevalleyarms.com/ltc-self-check
Welcome to #nostr and good luck in your quest.
Darwin Awards nominee...
Guy's got at least 2" of mechanical offset so shooting soda cans at 4yds you're gonna be aiming at the air and hoping you hit the can. Without a target which can be measured you have no idea of just how much the mechanical offset is affecting point of impact so you can't learn anything. This guy is basically just turning dollars into noise.
In moto there's a thing called "goon riding" - where a guy who has talent, knowledge and skills intentionally rides like some dufus. Usually for making some funny video or something. Maybe this is goon shooting, because the way it's being done has no value other than comic relief.
#gunstr #SCSA
This weekend I will RSO my first Tier 2 Steel Challenge Shooting Association match. It is the first Tier 2 match at our local shooting range. I believe over 200 competitors signed up. It should be a good match and I'm looking forward to the experience.
Replacing a busted disposal unit and worn out faucet in the kitchen this afternoon. There needs to be more thought put into the ease and efficiency of repairs on residential plumbing... It's mechanically simple but physically complex to get access. Not sure how you make that easier. 
#privacy #surveillance
This is an interesting, if limited, read - a short historic recap. It does not propose any solutions or even look at the problem in a compelling way. The author just assumes that policy (aka government) is where any potential solution lies. That's not the lesson history teaches. History teaches that government "solutions" always break something else.
A solution is much more likely to emerge from efforts by the People to build counter-systems which enable self-custody of data, identity, commerce and communication.
Oh, wait... #Bitcoin, Lightning, #eCash, #nostr. Yeah, that's the ticket...
#Bluesky #whitepaper
I read the Bluesky white paper. Pretty heavy on the corporate paternalism. At one point they even state (paraphrasing) their users are too dumb to manage keys - like the Delta class in Huxley's Brave New World. Really seems like a group of self-anointed do-gooders out to save the "digital town square" and make the poor, dumb users feel "safe" - which is how we got into this mess in the first place.
The paper's tone is that of an analyst-authored corporate white paper; the architecture one designed by any VC-funded, Sillycon Valley BigTech spinoff with millions to spend. Reading it invokes images (for me) of a group of corporate tech wonks trying to clean the turd out of the centralized social media punchbowl without giving up too much control.
They formed a committee, had some meetings, defined the market requirements, bounded the problem, developed the permissable use cases, wrote the business plan, got some money, built a platform. It's "open source," but all the potential #innovation has been architected out. It reads like Twitter v1.5 - a great pitch for VCs, not so much for innovators.
Bluesky feels like a problem/solution set created by people whose vision of "what can be is heavily burdened by what has been" - which is just weird because I'm pretty sure they're all dedicated Harris-Walz supporters. I can almost visualize their early Zoom meetings sitting around talking about how they have to "save Democracy!" and free the world from "hate speech," misinformation and Donald Trump.
Disclaimer: I have never used Bluesky. Opinions based solely on reading their white paper, Wikipedia page and a few blog posts.
#gunstr
"Firearm proficiency is not a one-time achievement; it requires ongoing practice to maintain and improve. The skill sets required to be an effective and responsible shooter—gun handling, marksmanship, situational awareness, and decision-making under pressure—are highly perishable. Much like athletes or musicians, shooters who do not engage in regular practice will see their skills diminish over time."
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/trained-vs-untrained/
None of the bad things which are happening in America (and elsewhere) today will stop regardless of the U.S. election outcome. The very best result is that some of them will get delayed for 2 to 4 years. If we do get a reprieve, we'd better use it well to advance #Bitcoin, #nostr, #meshtastic and #freedomTech while we can. Because the forces of tyranny never sleep.
I installed #Citrine earlier today. Seems to work fine with #Amethyst, not so much with #Coracle. Can't find a way to add it. I infer from searching that it may be related to security certificate issues.
There is noticeable battery drain though. I estimate that keeping it on in the background is reducing my battery life to 8 hrs or less. I will have to work on that.
Bitcoin.Review Nostr rising ep.01 was really good. Super nerdy - way over my head nerdy - at the beginning and sometimes in the middle but still valuable listening for me. I've watched (as a non-coder) the evolution of tech for more than two decades. I think #nostr has a strong chance to succeed where all the federated/peer-to-peer stuff more-or-less failed. Tech, tools, usability have all evolved to the point where cheap, dumb servers paired with smart, innovative clients make sense. There may well be a wave of user empowerment coming, "...the likes of which even God has never seen..."
I really liked this closing comment from nostr:nprofile1qqsr9cvzwc652r4m83d86ykplrnm9dg5gwdvzzn8ameanlvut35wy3gpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduq3qamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwa5kuegpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqcu9929 -
"This is it. This is the thing we're going to use to take down BigTech and these centralized institutions. It's the largest scale experiment that's ever been done. The amount of support, the amount of people working on it, devs in the space who are building clients, building solutions. I've never seen so much energy in a protocol before. Bitcoin was cool but this is insane, the amount of energy in this space."
If you have little, or no, experience shooting handguns go take a basic pistol course from an instructor who can provide a handgun for the class so you can learn fundamentals. If you don't have a good grasp of fundamentals you can't make good decisions about what does and doesn't fit regarding any specific handgun.
When you have a decent grounding in what matters, go to a range and try multiple guns. Be prepared to spend some money. Not a ton, but some. Shoot a magazine or two through each gun. Shoot slowly, purposefully, observantly. You can shoot a couple of 2- or 3-shot, rapid-fire strings if you want but do not waste time/money turning dollars into noise doing mag dumps. Pay attention to the following:
- Does your finger fall naturally and correctly on the trigger when the gun is properly positioned in your hand? Do you have too much or two little finger on the trigger? Will you be able to execute a smooth, straight-back press if the trigger, or will your hand/finger position cause you to move the gun when firing?
- Notice where the gun aims with your natural grip. Does it point naturally toward the target or is it off to the right or left? Can you make small adjustments to your grip to correct this, or does it require significant change?
- Take a solid firing grip with the dominant hand, just like you will when firing. Hold the gun so the magazine will fall straight to the ground. Press the magazine release (by whatever means you want or normally use). D9es the magazine drop freely, of does the palm of your hand interfere and prevent the magazine from falling?
- Take a solid firing grip with the dominant hand. Look at the grip panel space allowed for you non-dominant hand. Is there plenty of surface area for your non-dominant palm to gain purchase? Place your non-dominant hand into the two-handed grip. Can you get the palm solidly on the grip panel?
- Consider what you want to do with the pistol. Remember the following compromises everyone makes;
- less mass = higher felt recoil
- shorter barrel/sight radius = greater difficulty staying on target
If you intend to practice regularly, you will want something which is not unduly painful to shoot and which does not wear you out after 25 rds.
There are no right or wrong answers for the above, just what works for you. But if you take the time to do these things you will avoid what most people do - spending $400-$600 on a gun they don't really like very much.
#gunstr
What is a #nostr contact list, how is a nostr contact list used, and what clients support nostr contact lists? Thanks. #askNostr
Apparently #bookkeepers have a high rate of instability. For the fourth time, I'm now looking for a new bookkeeper because the current one just disappeared. - stopped answering phone calls, turned off voice mail, no response to email, office locked every time I go by. Haven't been able to contact them in over a month.
Once I had a bookkeeper literally leave the country without notice. Disappeared with all of my paperwork for four months without a word. A few years later had the audacity to ask me for a recommendation online. Uh, no.
This behavior is the opposite of what I think of when I think of accountants/actuaries/bookkeepers. My mom was a bookkeeper, and the most stable, reliable person I ever knew. But I have seen this pattern a *lot* over the past 20 years - enough to know it's not a rare aberration.
A few years ago #Patreon booted a handful of people to whom I had subscribed. I deleted my account at that point and have refused to create another.
Today I am forced to choose between my desire to never financially support censorship platforms and my desire to support content creators who choose that platform
So far I'm sticking with the former. I just don't support Patreon, even though I understand there are few, or no, good options for most people.
I am looking forward to the day #nostr fixes this.
A pretty quick read, a historical summary, and useful reminder of how/why #nostr.
"Creators are only famous at the permission of the platforms they're in. As soon as they say something that they shouldn't, boom, they're out."