Milling a TNACo 80% Receiver

Just in case, here are some instructions, along with a 2-part video series on how to do it [1, 2].

Expedient Homemade Firearms

Now that Paladin Press is defunct, I'm finding books they used to publish that are now out of print.  I have to wonder how one gets started in the publishing business...and if one could license some of Paladin Press's old texts.

One of the publications was by Philip Luty, Expedient Homemade Firearms.  It sounds like a practical text to have in addition to the more modern version by Cody Wilson.  Unfortunately, a well-used copy is over $100 on Amazon.  Unfortunately, Mr. Luty passed away in 2011, so unless his estate has someone looking to sell the rights to the book, it will likely remain out of print.

Ethash-Based Alts

I must've posted something like this on Facebook, because I don't see it here.

WhatToMine shows that often Ethash-based altcoins like Expanse (EXP), Ubiq (UBQ), and Musicoin (MUSIC) are at times more profitable than ETH.  Trezor supports EXP and UBQ via MyEtherWallet.  Musicoin apparently can be supported via MEW.  There aren't any such instructions for Metaverse, which for a while last week was the alt on top.  There are a few options, but the lack of easy support makes it a hassle.

The reason I started looking into this is because 1060 cards were still north of $300, but 1050s (non-Ti) were around $150.  The Ethash hashrate of 1050s is shown to be around 13.9 MH/s, whereas 1060s are 22.5 (somewhat optimistically); the power usage is 53W for the former and 70W for the latter.  So the thought was to build a rig of 1050s.  At least before the Antminer E3 came out.

I should've snagged one while it was $800, because I knew I'd be able to use it.  The real problem was that I didn't know where I'd put it...I'm out of space and circuits as it is.  Chance favors the prepared, and I was unprepared when Bitmain opened it up to 5 per person--and of course after Vitalik Buterin's announcement that they weren't going to fight ASICs (until PoS, that is), Bitmain jacked up the price to $1800.

The thing is, a build of 1060s would cost more than an E3 at that price, but the power usage would be 2/3, and it could mine other alts as well.  There's utility in GPUs still, but it's costly and troublesome to maintain.

Bonus: In MEW's FAQs is a link to a place with free SSL certs, which could be useful.  There's gotta be a catch, though.

Children and the State

In my social media travails I've run into the following quote, attributed to Adolf Hitler:

It [the State] must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. . . .  And conversely it must be considered reprehensible: to withhold healthy children from the nation. Here the state must act as the guardian of a millennial future in the face of which the wishes and the selfishness of the individual must appear as nothing and submit.

I was trying to find if this was in fact what was said, since the current progressives in the U.S. seem to be spouting the same line.  It appears to be from Mein Kampf, and Project Gutenberg in Australia has one translation:

It must proclaim the truth that the child is the most valuable possession a people can have. It must see to it that only those who are healthy shall beget children; that there is only one infamy, namely, for parents that are ill or show hereditary defects to bring children into the world and that in such cases it is a high honour to refrain from doing so. But, on the other hand, it must be considered as reprehensible conduct to refrain from giving healthy children to the nation. In this matter the State must assert itself as the trustee of a millennial future, in face of which the egotistic desires of the individual count for nothing and will have to give way before the ruling of the State.

Pretty sick stuff, to lay claim to others' children.

It's odd that the main Project Gutenberg doesn't have the text of Mein Kampf.  Afraid people will read it and be disgusted with the modern-day progs?

What to do if you find a machinegun in the attic

An SOT on Arfcom documented this, and it's informative.

Maybe my second career should be law, specifically firearms law....

Desert Eagle

I've always wanted a Desert Eagle in .50AE.  That Magnum Research is based out of MN is one more reason.  American Rifleman has an interesting FAQ.  A thread on SilencerTalk has a link to a video of a guy shooting a suppressed "Deagle".  Apparently one has to cut down one of the 10" barrels, and even then the gas system spits out much of the pressure.

Estrogen

Ray posted a link to an article on "xenoestrogens," which motivated me to ditch my Soylent subscription.  An article specifically on soy that Jim forwarded wasn't enough, but this did it.

Tears in Heaven

Lately I've been trying to introduce Kid#1 to songs and movies that I think were formative for me.  Today I had her listen to some Prince, the MTV live clip.  She'd mentioned a kid at school named Boston, who had said something goofy; it made me think of "More Than a Feeling", so I played that for her too.

For some reason, Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" popped into my head, and I went to look up the history on Clapton's young son who died.  There in the references was the sordid history of Clapton's relationship with the wife he had that child with.  And I thought my marital relations were screwed up!