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Well, the trolley system is done but waiting to be mounted. Once done, we move on to installing the window, finishing with insulating the lower part of the hut and other “stuff”.

I am treating this hut as an off grid experiment. To me this means a 2 or 4 battery bank at 24 volts and a 200W PV panel to keep it charged. Inverters and such to match, but with most of the hut infrastructure, lights and such, running off DC power.

This took me back to my love of machining. In particular, I want to be able to recharge the battery bank when the PV can’t keep up. Think snowstorm or such. Or just too much draw for the PV to keep up with.

A quick bit of research says that I can drive a low cost EV motor, think electric bike, from a mechanical source to produce the required voltages for charging.

So what is the mechanical device? A steam engine, of course!

So a discussion with Grok, and she finds the Elmer #33 horizontal engine. I’ve already built a couple of Elmer engines, so this is something I think I can do.

I’ve become a better machinist since those engines, and I have a few more tools to make it possible.

I asked Grok to find me a steam engine plan that would produce 300 watts. The Elmer #33 was her answer.

Power Calculations – Original Elmer’s #33

(½ in bore × 1 in stroke, double-acting slide-valve engine)

So, Grok told me this engine would easily produce 300 watts when choosing the engine, when we get down to the math, she says 37 W with reported values of 25-35 W. This is not nearly enough.

Over the course of the last week, I’ve had X.com Grok, Android Grok, and grok.com all work the problem with me. And they all give different power answers. And they all have gotten equations wrong.

In one case, grok.com reported a design with match claiming 3400 W at the crankshaft, but she reported it as 340 W, which didn’t match the math she had shown me. She had auto corrected to real world numbers that were at odds with the theoretical values she calculated.

When called on it, she claimed it was just a typo, that she had “slipped a decimal.”

The Question(s)

1. How are you currently using AI, if you do?
2. Which AI(s) do you currently use?
3. How are you keeping your AI honest?

I write my articles the night before they post. They are supposed to post at 0630 Eastern time. I got started late on Saturday night. When I went to schedule the article, I set the wrong date. What you read on Monday was supposed to post on Sunday.

My error.

This does mean I get to work more on my feral children article.

This week, Trump signed an EO removing the CAFE standards from vehicles. These are the standards that were requiring smaller cars with smaller engines in an attempt to get more than 50 MPG across the entire fleet of vehicles offered.

My first experience with this was when the TransAm I ordered while at University was delayed because I couldn’t have the fancy seats and the lower range gearing package because the gas mileage would be too low with the heavier seats.

Are there any vehicles that you would like to see imported or made in the USA that were prohibited under the former CAFE standards?

Are we living in a bubble?

It is impossible to live in a bubble of conservative ideas and views. The left agenda is everywhere.

If you watch the news, even “conservative” Fox News, you’ll hear sops thrown to the left. If you watch network TV or streaming video, you’ll be exposed to the left’s viewpoint. It is impossible to avoid.

You can see this in bias reports on the net. How many extreme left-wing news outlets are there? They are nearly impossible to find, but extreme right? Those are listed for sites that are not. When the scale is -5 to 5 and there are no 5s listed, there is something wrong.

I know that I can argue from a leftist’s perspective. I’ve been exposed to it so often that it is just part of the social zeitgeist.

You don’t need to be exposed to more of that left-wing babble; I’m positive you can do it yourself. You’re not stupid. You have access to that zeitgeist the same as I.

What I’m not willing to expose myself to is what the left is saying in their spaces. I am unable to understand how they can have the opinions they do. I can see what they are doing, I can analyze it, and I can even duplicate it. I don’t understand them.

Ally has been providing me with a glimpse into their world for years. I still don’t understand them because frequently it makes no sense to me. “How can they believe something so obviously false?” “Don’t they know that it will fail and bad things will happen?” “Why don’t they see the consequences of their actions?”

You can duplicate it, but can you understand it?

So I would ask Ally to explain. Boy, my skull is thick. She will spend hours explaining something to me, and I just don’t get it. Then it will turn out to be some simple message or phrase that had a different meaning to her than to me.

The example we use between us is our abortion arguments. In particular, the phrase “late-term abortion”.

For me, this invokes the images of babies that could survive out of the womb being ripped apart, murdered, for the sake of the woman’s wishes.

Because Ally spent so much time in Canada in her youth, she had a different definition. The definition instilled in her from that culture, one that implied a much earlier date. This led to many arguments until we reached an understanding.

It is important to note that Ally’s impression of the laws does not match my research into those laws but in no way invalidates her feelings about what the law was.

I had to open my ears and listen. And that is difficult.

When I asked Ally to start writing for GunFreeZone.net and later the Vine, I told her that she was writing articles “From Behind Enemy Lines.”

What this meant to me was that I wanted her to tell me what she was hearing on her liberal feeds, what she heard in person from the liberals she interacted with, and what she was feeling as a thinking yet left leaning person.

I missed.

There was something more critical than just reporting the facts on the ground. She was reporting how those facts were influencing the left.

The Felon!

I’ll take a subject that is not controversial for her and me. Trump has 34 felony counts.

This is true. I don’t know anybody on our side of the line that gives a damn about it because it was a kangaroo court where the verdict was predetermined and the facts and laws modified to get that result.

State law was changed and manipulated to charge Trump. This is unconstitutional.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. — U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3 [PDF], No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. — U.S. Const. art. I, § 10, cl. 1
[PDF]

What New York State did was to change the law to extend the statute of limitations and then proceed to turn a misdemeanor into a felony. Moreover, each count was for Trump’s signature. Sign a check, make a notation in his checkbook register, and that’s two counts. Paying the bill over multiple months, each month, two more counts.

So it doesn’t mean anything to us. It was a crime invented to charge Trump so that he could be stopped from becoming President a second time.

But how does a leftist view this? They don’t care. They hear, they believe, and they know he is a criminal. More importantly, they know that no criminal should ever be allowed to be the President.

He is called “the felon” by many on the left because this is part of their belief system. And if you don’t see it the way they do, then you are deranged.

Ally is here to provide that link, that grounding, that glimpse into their delusions.

FAFO?

When I first read Trump’s posts regarding the traitorous six, I heard him accuse them of a crime and provide the maximum penalty for that crime.

I heard it as a reaction to those despicable, vile, disgusting worms that were inciting rebellion in the ranks.

He never said, he never implied, and he doesn’t even say he wants them executed. He stated the maximum penalty.

It doesn’t matter how true everything I just wrote is. It doesn’t matter what his actual intentions were or what he actually does.

To the left, the only thing that matters is what they hear. And they heard him threaten to execute those six putrid tapeworms.

That is what Ally heard. Reality doesn’t matter. That is what was heard; that is what they react to.

If you don’t know and understand that reaction, then you can’t interact with those that do.

What they hear is what they remember

A principal once accused me of threatening her with physical violence over the phrase “jump down your throat”. It was never a physical threat; the phrase has always meant verbal arguments, often loud arguments. She heard a threat. She reacted as if it was a threat. It doesn’t matter the reality.

I learned this lesson the hard way many years ago. I was talking to a girl and had set up a date with her. When I arrived at the bar to pick her up for our date, she was hanging out with some friends of ours telling a story. I listened, participated, and waited for her to get done. When she got done, I asked if she was ready to go. She said no; she had decided she didn’t want to go. I told her I was disappointed in her. In her making a promise and then changing her mind at the last minute.

That simple statement, “disappointed in her”, was devastating for her. She had been abused by her mother, and one of the mental abuses her mother would heap on her was about how disappointing she was.

It didn’t matter how gentle I thought the wording was; all that mattered in our communications was what she heard.

Listen to what she says

So when Ally writes something from behind enemy lines, she is showing us what the left is saying but, more importantly, what they feel and believe.

I’m glad for her additions to The Vine of Liberty.

We are having Friendsgiving this evening. It is a small gathering of around 16 people. It could be as high as 20 but still on the small size.

Many of you, I’m sure, had Thanksgiving on Thursday.

What was the most uncomfortable subject you dealt with? Did you have to deal with NPCs spouting the talking point of the day or did you escape that part of hell that the Left has turned Thanksgiving into?

The Supreme Court receives between 7,000 and 8,000 petitions for writ of certiorari each term on the regular docket. This includes both civil and criminal cases covering many aspects of the legal landscape. Under 2,000 of these are paid petitions, and the rest are forma pauperis. In addition, there are a few hundred on the emergency docket.

At The Vine of Liberty, we focus on Second Amendment Rights and other cases that affect our liberty. So while Loper is an esoteric case about fishing regulations, it is the case that made Chevron bad law. Chevron was the case that allowed agencies to self-declare as experts, and what an agency expert said was the “correct” answer.

There are around 20 Second Amendment related cases seeking certiorari and two that have already been granted certiorari. One deals with the vampire rule out of Hawaii, and the other is a challenge to §922(g)3, user of illegal substances. Possession.

There are cases dealing with NFA restrictions, cases dealing with sensitive places, magazine bans, weapons bans, and a host of other subjects.

What we want from a Second Amendment case is something that moves Second Amendment protection forward. While Heller was a major win for the Second Amendment, McDonald barely moved the needle. Bruen was major, Rahimi was not.

Heller and Bruen were major because they changed the legal landscape for everybody. We need another case like that, and we need a course correction for the inferior rogue courts.

The Question

What type of case do you think the Supreme Court should take up? Why that particular topic? How will it advance Second Amendment jurisprudence?

What project(s) have you started and found to be bigger than you expected?

The wife decided it was time to paint the hallway. This required emptying the hallway. Which was a task she expected.

She then needed to remove the popcorn covering on the walls, which was much larger than she expected. Even though I bought a power wall sander for her.

The result was no more popcorn/textured walls. But there were dings, scrapes, and other damage on the walls. We could have just painted over and it would have been ok.

I decided we needed to apply a skim coat. Which meant I had to learn that what I wanted to do was a skim coat. Then I had to learn how to do it. Then try and fail. Then try again and fail differently. Something about having just the right amount of water in the plaster.

I have 3/4s of one wall completely ready for the primer. The the rest of that wall and 2.5 other walls are ready to be sanded, and I still need to apply the skim coat on about 60 sq ft of wall.

Damn that is a skill I do not have.

So there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world today. I can’t fix most of it. I can’t even make a dent. I can’t repair what Dems have done, or Mamdani in NYC or any of it. It’s beyond my small grasp. That’s true of every single one of us. As a single human being, there really isn’t much we can do.

Except that there really is. The edict to help others is not just Christian, but runs through most faiths in the world. That desperation to help someone runs deep in the human psyche, to the point where some of us feel horrible if we can’t help others. There are limits, of course. But the fundamental idea of helping someone find food, shelter, a job, a working vehicle, or a quiet night without a screaming infant… these are within our grasp.

@obsessedwmc #itstime it’s time!!! throughout the years #mariahcarey #christmas ♬ original sound – queen mariah

So at this time of year, just as Mariah Carey comes out of her icy slumber, I make the same offer. If you need help, please let me know. I don’t have tons of cash, and I don’t have a big house anymore to stash people in. But if you are hurting bad enough, I have a couch. I have food. I will make sure you don’t starve. If you are feeling down, page me or call me. I will talk to you. I will listen. And for all that’s holy… please know, I would rather spend hours listening to you cry about your life, than thirty minutes at your funeral, so if you are feeling suicidal or dangerously depressed, please please please reach out.

I’m an interfaith minister, among the other zillion things I do. I’m not a psychologist or a shrink, but I know how to listen. I can give advice, if asked, but I usually just listen.

I don’t ask for anything in return. If you find yourself in a place, sometime in the future, where you have the ability to give back… Well, you pay it forward. Go help the next person who needs it. M’kay? I don’t have much… but I have enough. My fridge is full, and so is my freezer (so full that we’re not buying meat for a while because I desperately need space in there in case we get a deer this year). My pantry is bursting with canned goods, which aren’t our favorite, but which will see us through if we can’t afford fresh. I have everything I need to bake bread and treats for the holidays and the holy days. In all that, I’m rich.

Let’s Try Socialism!

In a city of 7 million people, only 1 million people showed up to vote. They decided an openly socialist was the right choice for them.

Some are planning to leave. Others are rushing to the city to take part in the “free” stuff. Businesses are looking at horrible tax rates.

The mayor elect has already turned on the “rich”.

You can vote yourself in, you need to shoot yourself out. I hope they learn.

Steel Challenge

I have a new goal, to put 18 rounds in a ten-inch round at 60 ft. This is the size of the small targets for Steal Challenge Shooting.

Either I’ve lost much of my skill or it is just getting use to a new firearm. I will get better.

We The People Holsters

The holster system I purchased doesn’t come with a backer pad. It is still incredibly comfortable. I’ve not figured out my magazine holster yet. It either feels much to wide or it sits to low. I’ll work it out.

I’ve ordered my second for the Sig P365-XMacro. I expect to be using this as my primary firearm for Steel Challenge.

If you are looking, give them a try.

Trauma Kit

One of the questions on the SOP for the range is “Where are the trauma kits located?” The answer is just inside the clubhouse, inside the rimfire covered firing line and maybe one other place. I don’t recall.

I told the gentleman running the test, “There is no place to list: Back of driver’s seat of truck, right side of range back, and ankle.”

Well, I picked up an ankle kit. It is elementary, TQ, Combat Bandage and two pairs of gloves. My only issue is that there is no place for z-fold gauze. I’m working with that issue.

First Aid Training

I’m looking into getting formal first aid training for the family. It turns out that the local hospitals and a few other place offer low cost to free first aid training.

We’ll do something at the start of the new year. I want to practice applying a TQ, applying a combat bandage, and packing wounds. Those three things should cover most major bleeding issues. Above that, I would like to learn how to apply a chest seal properly.

I’ve started to watch some more serious trauma response instructional videos. There is a reason that chest seals come in pairs, you have to seal the exit hole as well as the entry hole.

SCOTUS

More cases in the Second Amendment space are being conferenced at the Supreme Court. Here’s hoping they take up at least one more good Second Amendment case this term.

Reloading

I had slowed down my reloading when I had reached some of my goals. It is time to go into higher production. 3.67Kg is about 1000 deprimed 9mm cases. I need to be reloading around 1000 per month to keep up with my range schedule.

It takes only a few moments to send 51 rounds down range with my Sig as compared to my 1911s.

Luckily primers are in stock and coming down in price. I have a few pounds of powder. I’m going to need more bullets.

The nice thing is that getting brass to reload is much easier now. 10 minutes of picking gathered nearly 500 9mm cases, some 10mm, one .40 S&W, one 5.56, 2 .22LR, and 10 .45ACP. And this was with a focus on 9mm. Oh, 1 .38 special.

Question of the Week

How close do you keep your trauma kit? Do you carry one on your person or is it in your bag, or vehicle/house?

I have just started with constantly on my person. Each of my LBV has a trauma or trauma plus IFAK, Each of my carry bags has an IFAK, that would be briefcase, break down rifle case, range bag, and GOODE bag.

Range Day

Last week I made it to the range in time for the orientation class. The “Range” is large enough to take about 45 minutes to get the orientation tour. It was about 20 minutes of filling out forms. It was another 2.5 hours waiting for people to take the range safety and operating procedure test.

You need to score 90% on the SOP test to get your membership. I was unhappy because I got 2 wrong and scored a 95%. I passed on the first attempt. Nobody else passed on the first attempt. There was a membership person overseeing the test taking and answering questions.

The two questions I got wrong were about the 50/100/200 yard rifle range. The range is split between the 200 and the 50/100 targets. I consider them to be two separate ranges. But, there is only a single firing line. I messed it up because I was thinking of them as separate. 2.5% off.

The other was just as stupid.

I almost walked out. The gentleman taking the SOP when I first got there was not doing well. He was failed and was denied membership.

As I told the orientation officer, if they had passed him, I would have taken my money and walked back out.

How nice is this range? Let’s start with “The Range is closed, but here’s a bay for you to shoot in”. The 600 yard rifle range extends over most of the full range. When the 600 yard range is in use, all the other ranges are closed. But they open up the bay just outside the gate for people to use while waiting for the rest of the range to open.

The 600 yard range is scheduled for Thursdays, 0800-1200.

Next come the two trap ranges. The lower one has all the stuff for shotgun people. The upper range has a pavilion. The clay launcher is fully automated. You yell “pull” and the machine does it. No humans except for loading more clays. $5 for 25 clays.

Next is the 50/100 and 200 yard ranges. Then the rimfire bay, both rifle and pistol, .22 and .17 rimfire.

Next are the pistol bays; the first is for paper targets. Don’t draw from behind the bench; use the open slot or off to the side. Place your targets where you want. Then there is the steel bay. Pistol calibers only, no magnums. So I can’t shoot my .357 Mag rifle or pistol in that bay. .45ACP and 9mm all day long. Finally, is the “carbine bay”. Carbine is defined as “yes”. This is for people that want to do two gun practice.

There are more bays that are only open during competitions.

Finally, there is a 25 yard indoor range. As a member, I can use the indoor range 24 hours a day except when it is reserved for a group.

If things don’t break, I’ll be there today.

Food Budget

We eat well. We eat darn well. With the children gone off to university, we eat even better.

My wife grew up with “Love is food, food is love.” While the children were living at home, she constantly purchased crap food for them. I’d guess that 25 to 35 percent of our food budget went to crap food. Today, we buy almost no crap food. Our budget has gone down slightly.

At the high end, we spend about $8.30 per person per day. When we are running short on cash, I reduce that to $5 per person per day.

Here’s the thing: I’ve been using that $5 per person per day for the last 40 years. It has always included nice food.

There are people who have never used a budget. Much less used a budget for food. My wife was like that. For years every meal required a trip to the grocery store. And every week we tossed the dead food, because she doesn’t like leftovers. I eat them for lunch.

We now use a budgeting grocery shopping list. Everything we want for the week goes on the list. We have a chat channel just for groceries. If you think you are going to need it next week, you say it and it gets added to the list.

We don’t buy it if it isn’t on the list.

If you need help budgeting for food, please reach out to us if you want help. If you are hungry, please reach out to us if you want help.

I have sent care packages to people around the world.

Surprised Shooting

Firearm skills are a perishable skill. I finally had a chance to put rounds on paper out of my .357 wheel gun. It actually shot much better than I thought it would. Well, it always shoots well. I, on the other hand, can easily fail.

I’m looking forward to finding out what some of these WWII rifles I’ve collected can really do at range.

Head, Swivel, Keep

Stay strapped. Stay out of stupid places. Stay away from stupid people. Nothing good happens after midnight; don’t be out and about at stupid times.

The next couple of weeks will be touchy. Be careful.

IPKVM

I’ve used Keyboard, Video, and Mouse devices in data centers in the past. They are great when you have many servers that you need to work with but don’t want to have multiple monitors and I/O devices for.

In one data center, we had a KVM with ports on the front for video out and keyboard connection. The monitor, a big-ass CRT, was on a cart. You rolled the cart to the rack with your server, plugged the CRT into power, and connected things up. You then had console access to 8 or more servers.

The price of a four-port KVM is down around $35. I have them in all the data closets. This made life much easier.

What I really wanted, though, was a KVM over IP. With this type of gizmo, you can access the console of a remote server over the network.

The cost of a four-port KVM starts at around $400. An 8-port runs around $650. For that, I’d build out another server.

Enter the iGL.net Comet and, shortly, their upgraded version. Plug a USB C into the side for power. Connect HDMI and USB to the computer. Plug in the Ethernet.

A few minutes later you have web access to the console of that computer. $89 for the gizmo. I have them plugged into the regular KVM.

Now I can select the computer I want on the KVM, go back to my desk, and do all the console work I need to do remotely.

The only issue I have is that if I have it in full screen mode and do any editing, the first time I press ESC, it reduces the size of the window.

vim uses the ESC key to leave insert mode. emacs uses the ESC key as a lead character for META control sequences.

If you have a need for remote access to a console, give it a try.

Oh, I had a friend who required support. I had him pick up one of these IPKVMs. I was able to reboot his computer remotely, configure BIOS, and bring his Linux back to life from 1500 miles away.

The hardest part was getting him to use the correct USB cables. I was attempting to use the power only cable(s) instead of power + data cables.

Question of the Week

What was your favorite range and why?