Seven Steps

I've heard repeated mention of the "seven step" method to sales.  At length, I finally looked it up, but there appear to be varying definitions.  From one in particular that's most straightforward, the steps are:

1. Greeting
2. Establishing a relationship with the customer
3. Qualifying their needs
4. Presentation, demonstration, and information
5. Transforming interest to desire
6. Overcoming objections
7. Closing the sale

Now I know I'm a lousy salesman, but those steps could be useful for "selling" other things like Appleseed.

Shooting Jackets

Fred's is now out of the XL shooting jackets, and apparently the manufacturer has gone belly-up.  A search turned up a few other choices, such as Creedmore Sports and Champion's Choice.  CMP also sells one, but it's blue.  Military Logistics has cloth jackets for reasonably cheap; the details are scarce and the country of origin isn't indicated.

OTs-38 Silent Revolver

I thought the Nagant M1895 revolver was the only one capable of using a sound suppressor.  Apparently there's also the OTs-38, which has an integral suppressor.  It fires through the bottom cylinder, like the Mateba and Rhino.  The cartridge is 7.62x42, and appears (from the photo) similar in shape to the 7.62x38R cartridge except longer and without a rim.  I'd love to get my hands on one of these guns!

PPPoE

When putting an integrated DSL modem into bridge mode (RFC 1483), one loses the capability to access the web configuration of the modem, because the router doesn't pass LAN packets out onto its WAN port.  The usual option is to take down the Net connection by unplugging the modem from the router's WAN port and plugging it into a LAN port.  Apparently there are a few other options, but none of them are really satisfactory in that they either cause additional latency (through use of a switch between the modem and the router) or route instability (via wacky topology).  If using a Linux-based router, there appears to be a way to force the system to pass the reserved address out on the WAN port:

#!/bin/sh

#IP Address of the modem, must be a different network from your local LAN.
#If you use 192.168.x.x for LAN then use 10.0.0.x for modem, etc (basically, pick a free IANA reserved range)
#Obviously you need to configure the actual DSL modem to use the address you select in MODEM_IP.
MODEM_IP="10.0.0.1"

#IP address that will be bound to vlan1, usually safe to just increment MODEM_IP by 1.
VLAN_IP="10.0.0.2"

#Setup network interface and firewall rules.
ifconfig vlan1 $VLAN_IP netmask 255.255.255.0
iptables -A forwarding_rule -d $MODEM_IP -j ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -d $MODEM_IP -j MASQUERADE

Saiga Conversion

It's possible to modify a Saiga rifle to an AK-47esque pistol-grip configuration.  Apparently a different modification is necessary to make the rifle compatible with standard AK-47 magazines.

Thoughts on Building a Vault

This turned up in my framing search, which I thought was amusing.  Arfcom has the most out-there posts.

Framing Code

I've been looking for guidelines on framing of a 6' rough opening.  A couple contractors I've talked with seem to think it's ok to widen a 5' 10" rough opening by either removing one trimmer/jack stud 2x4 on either side, and replacing it with a 1x4 board.  According to the International Residential Code (IRC 2009), for a ground snow load of 50 psf, which is specified by Minnesota State Building Code, regardless of the building width, at least two jack studs are required for each end.

The free online IRC isn't searchable, so the code finder from This Old House is useful.

This is problematic.  Perhaps I should consult a structural engineer regarding the engineering margin.

Tree Headstones

While looking for more information on Occupy Wall Street's origins, I ended up at AdBusters' site.  There was an issue with a cover of a guy shoving two guns through the side of his face and out his mouth, so I clicked on it, and there was an article entitled "The Holy Shit", so of course I had to see what that was about.  The article itself is an idealistic piece, but the interesting tidbit was the concept of a tree headstone.  That is, when you die, you're buried in a biodegradable coffin a couple feet below the surface with a tree planted over the coffin.  The tree would then grow from the decomposition of the body and so a bit of the essence of the deceased would continue to exist.

I didn't particularly like the idea of being cremated or being preserved, so this might be how I'll ask to go.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs died today.  I liked his company's products, and although I didn't care for his politics, his philosophy, as quoted in the press, is something that I can appreciate.  On television:

When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth.

On work:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

On death:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Eastern White Pine

So my silver maple decided to break in a strong wind, and I'm considering replacing it with an Eastern White Pine.  Apparently the needles have more vitamin C than lemons?!  Anyway, prices for larger-than-seedling trees on one site are $140 for an 8 ft, or $220 for a 10 ft.  Not too bad.  I have a feeling that the expense will be in removing the old tree and stump and planting the new tree.

5.56 Propellants

While searching for information on WC867 and WC872, an article came up regarding a Vietnam-era controversy regarding propellants for the 5.56x45mm cartridge in the U.S. military.  Sounds like a sordid mess, but it's good history to know.

Ammunition Manufacturing Business

In case anyone's thinking about starting an ammunition manufacturing business, I found a useful bit of info on THR regarding the requirements:

You will need
to comply with local zoning for a firearms and manufacturing business
Type 06 FFL $30 for 3 years
ITAR registration* for $2250 per year

*ITAR is the International Trade in Arms Regulations and is the US State Department's jurisdiction (ie the ATF can't and doesn't enforce it directly). Basically in a nutshell everything firearms related including ammunition and components is a "defensive article" and the manufacturers must be register and pay that stupid fee. I have found an exception and will share it, but will not hold anyone's hand during the process or offer any additional advice beyond what's posted here.

If you are a manufacturer of "whatever" and intend on solely selling it to
Domestic civilains
Domestic dealers or distributors or wholesalers
Domestic civilian law enforcement agencies (ie cops)

you can submit a Commodity Jurisdiction Request to the US State Department requesting determination of whether your products are "defensive articles" having a military application. This must be a letter from scratch (no form letter is provided or "out there") detailing what you make, whom you sell to, and whom the end user is. You will need to submit drawings, blueprints, techinical documents, etc. If they determine you are not manufacturing for any military or paramilitary force, they will not make you pay ITAR.

That's it for the licensing BS.

Now the business aspect.

Marketing is fun and a PITA all at the same time. Buy the book "Guerrilla Marketing" and read it cover to cover. Not the gospel but gives a different perspective than "buy a magazine ad and wait for the phone to ring" mentality of marketing. The book explains it all but here's my perspective:

Marketing isn't about getting a sale. It's about setting up a client relationship. The last thing you want is a customer. A customer comes in, buys some ****, and leaves. That's not good. You want a client. You want long term, loyal, repeat business. Marketing is showing them your product/service, informing them of the value, and showing how you will be there to support them after the sale.

OK, now insurance. If you think you can form a fancy corporation and be protected you are dead wrong and I just saved you millions of dollars. GET LIABILITY INSURANCE!!! It's a couple thousand dollars a year (as in less than $200 per month) for a basic $1 million policy. If $2,000 a year is too much, STOP. You are not cut out for this business. Operating without liability insurance is simply retarded for any business. That's settled. Get insured or go flip burgers.

Equipment. Have to go blue here. Dillon is your brand. Learn it, love it, live it. For the type of loading you are doing, you will need volume but not primer pocket swaging. Get at least one Dillon 650 press with case feeder for each press. Get one set up for small primer and large primer. Then change out the other stuff for caliber changes. This will give you 800-1000 rounds per hour production. That's a good start. If you can't load at least 500,000 rounds annually, it will be a hard living, even as a part time retirement income source.

Then there's the FET or Federal Excise Tax (I don't care if it helps wildlife crap, it's retarded and a burden to my business and you end up paying the tax anyway because me and every other manufacturer rolls it into the cost of the ammunition). Tax is 11% on the sale price of ammunition you load. Exceptions are
Local (non-federal) law enforcement agencies
Department of Defense including the Coast Guard
Reloading customer brass

Hit up www.ttb.gov for more info. Basically if you buy brass, load it, and sell it as ammo, FET is due. If you sell to law enforcement other than federal or DOD, no tax due. If you reload customer brass and you ship it as ammo (no substituting your brass for their brass or replacing worn brass with your brass to make even count), no tax due. Tax on ammunition is 11%.

That's about it. The rest is on your own just like I learned the hard way. Give 'em hell!

The excise tax kind of impacts profit, and the ITAR registration and insurance definitely eliminates anyone thinking of a small-time operation.

Berkey Filter Problems

Apparently the Big Berkey black filters had manufacturing problems from the end of 2010 to mid-2011, as noted on APN and SB.  That sucks for people who thought they'd buy the Berkey system and put it away for SHTF: right when they need it, it might be unusable!

I'm glad I tried mine, which I got in April before the price hike, because one of the filters busted.  However, I have the additional problem that I have several units that I gave to family members for put-away purposes, so I need to go through the hassle of having them check.  Or perhaps I should just supply a tube of silicone caulk, although somehow I doubt that's food safe....

Cases for .50s

I saw an ad in VHP magazine for SKB's new .50-cal case, model ATA 50, so I had to look up the price.  Ouch.  $450 is a lot of money for a large piece of plastic.  Pelican's large case, model 1770, is similarly priced.  For that much, the Americase Aluma-Trans aluminum-shell case, model AT-50CalW, seems like a better buy.

PBF

The Perry Bible Fellowship has to be the most disturbing webcomic I've yet to come across.  Given that statement, it's probably a good thing that it isn't posted regularly.

Brass Case Weight

The approximate weights of fired cartridge brass, from a post on THR:

• 9mm, 59.46gr/ea, 117.7cases/#, 8.5#/1000
• 38spl, 68.06gr/ea, 102.8cases/#, 9.7#/1000
• 40s&w, 70.1gr/ea, 99.9cases/#, 10#/1000
• .357mag, 78.3gr/ea, 89.4cases/#, 11.2#/1000
• .45acp, 89.58gr/ea, 78.1cases/#, 12.8#/1000
• .223, 95.28gr/ea , 73.5cases/#, 13.6#/1000
• .44mag, 114.38gr/ea, 61.2cases/#, 16.3#/1000
• 50bmg, 865.26gr/ea, 8.1cases/#, 123.5#/1000

All weights are uncleaned fired cases with the primer remaining.

Obama's Halo

A while back, I saw seen an index photo of a bunch of press shots of Obama with a halo.  I haven't been able to find the same picture recently, but I did find a page showing a bunch of the original images.  No media bias, none whatsoever.

Have they forgotten that Obama said himself that he'd be a one-term president if he didn't turn the economy around in three years?  We'll see, eh?

Practice Rifle Grenades

Searching for some practice rifle grenades for an M4 (even though they usually have the M203 launcher), I found a forum post on Arfcom that linked to a set on Numrich.  Unfortunately they're out of stock at the moment, but it'd definitely be neat to play with, given enough room to shoot them (a few hundred yards, at least).

The description from the poster:

Current military issue. Used by the IDF for training purposes on M16 and Galil .223 rifles. Fully-inert 14" grenades are patterned after the IMI BT/AT-44 dual-purpose rifle grenade. New set is packaged in the original wooden crate, dated 1-98, includes 6 grenade assemblies and the following repair parts: 40 plastic fins, 32 body tubes, 12 outer sleeves, 30 spacer rings, 24 locking nuts, 2 nut wrenches, 1 key wrench, 20 M16 ladder sights and 30 Galil ladder sights in 35/60/85 meter graduations (197 pieces total). Weight, 27 lbs.

Copycat KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce

Might be worth trying:

Secret Recipe #1 for KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce:

This copycat recipe is supposed to be a close version of the original Masterpiece BBQ sauce.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 3 Tbls. molasses
• 3 Tbls. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium high heat, bring all ingredients to a boil. Be sure to stir constantly.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook for about 45-60 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.

Secret recipe #2: Copycat recipe for KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce:

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I like that it has Agave Nectar which I use all the time now in place of sugar.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 3 teaspoons molasses
• 3 teaspoons turbinado sugar
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 tablespoon paprika
• 1/8 tablespoon garlic powder

Made Right Here

Another link from VftP, "Made Right Here". Hmm, he's got the right idea....

Top 100 SF/Fantasy Titles?

Found on VftP, a list of the top 100 SF/fantasy books, apparently from an NPR poll. Ought to be able to glean some new items for my reading list....

Beam Deflection

Needing to reinforce the structure of my garage attic to support increased load, I'm trying to figure out what kind of member it needs to be and how big to support the relatively long span with minimal deflection. Since the span needs to be about 20 feet, I'm thinking it has to be a box beam, since that would allow for the use of shorter lumber in its construction.

Wikipedia has an entry for deflection so that this can be calculated, but I need to figure out the modulus of elasticity (E) and the area moment of inertia (I). I'd better do some more studying.

For regular joists, I found a calculator for maximum span as well.

The Secret History of Guns

Great article in The Atlantic on the history of firearms regulation in the United States.  Interesting how the 1968 Gun Control Act was fomented by the racist desire to prevent black people from possessing weapons as much as it was in reaction to the assassinations of MLK and JFK.

This bit is inspiring:

In February of 1967, Oakland police officers stopped a car carrying Newton, Seale, and several other Panthers with rifles and handguns. When one officer asked to see one of the guns, Newton refused. “I don’t have to give you anything but my identification, name, and address,” he insisted. This, too, he had learned in law school.

“Who in the hell do you think you are?” an officer responded.

“Who in the hell do you think you are?,” Newton replied indignantly. He told the officer that he and his friends had a legal right to have their firearms.

Newton got out of the car, still holding his rifle.

“What are you going to do with that gun?” asked one of the stunned policemen.

“What are you going to do with your gun?,” Newton replied.

By this time, the scene had drawn a crowd of onlookers. An officer told the bystanders to move on, but Newton shouted at them to stay. California law, he yelled, gave civilians a right to observe a police officer making an arrest, so long as they didn’t interfere. Newton played it up for the crowd. In a loud voice, he told the police officers, “If you try to shoot at me or if you try to take this gun, I’m going to shoot back at you, swine.” Although normally a black man with Newton’s attitude would quickly find himself handcuffed in the back of a police car, enough people had gathered on the street to discourage the officers from doing anything rash. Because they hadn’t committed any crime, the Panthers were allowed to go on their way.

The people who’d witnessed the scene were dumbstruck. Not even Bobby Seale could believe it. Right then, he said, he knew that Newton was the “baddest motherfucker in the world.” Newton’s message was clear: “The gun is where it’s at and about and in.” After the February incident, the Panthers began a regular practice of policing the police. Thanks to an army of new recruits inspired to join up when they heard about Newton’s bravado, groups of armed Panthers would drive around following police cars. When the police stopped a black person, the Panthers would stand off to the side and shout out legal advice.

However, Newton's entry in Wikipedia describes him as being a self-professed criminal. Still, I have a lot more respect for The Black Panthers now!

"An Interracial Fix for Black Marriage"

WSJ featured an article—by a black man, one Ralph Richard Banks—on the difficulties black women face in finding a spouse, and proposed that rather than looking within their race exclusively to consider marrying outside their race to broaden the base of eligible males in the near-term, but to ease the difficulties of finding in-race mates in the long-term.

From the article:

If many black women remain unmarried because they think they have too few options, some black men stay single because they think they have so many. The same numbers imbalance that makes life difficult for black women may be a source of power for black men. Why cash in, they reason, when it is so easy to continue to play?

...which perhaps describes the situation of a guy I know.

Others prefer black men because they don't think a relationship with a non-black man would work. They worry about rejection by a would-be spouse's family or the awkwardness of having to explain oneself to a non-black partner.

As one 31-year-old schoolteacher in D.C. told me, "It's easy to date a black man because he knows about my hair. He knows I don't wash it every day. He knows I'm going to put the scarf on [to keep it in place at night]." Discussions about hair may seem trivial, but for many black women, just the thought of having the "hair talk" makes them tired. It's emblematic of so much else they'd have to teach.

Interracial relationships aren't easy, since the downside is certain things you can't take for granted. But the plus side is that you can avoid the miscommunications that result from taking for granted things that weren't safe to assume.

By opening themselves to relationships with men of other races, black women would also lessen the power disparity that depresses the African-American marriage rate. As more black women expanded their options, black women as a group would have more leverage with black men. Even black women who remained unwilling to love across the color line would benefit from other black women's willingness to do so.

Interesting thesis, one that I as a "minority", if not a vested one, think valid.

Find Me a Dream

Perhaps it's just coincidence, but in the short story Find Me a Dream in Kurt Vonnegut's short story anthology Bagombo Snuff Box, one of the main characters is the widow of a famous trumpet player.  The implication was that he's a real figure, but is never named.

While browsing Betty Grable's entry on Wikipedia, I noticed that she was married to a trumpeter, and that the scant other details fit, that they had two daughters and that alcohol and infidelity plagued their marriage.  Of course Harry James lived, yet it's interesting to think that perhaps Vonnegut intended the widow character to be Betty Grable.

One of those weird things that results from reading Wikipedia late at night.

Helen Gurley Brown

Somehow as I was reading an WSJ article, at the bottom a link to a 2009 article from The Atlantic on Helen Gurley Brown popped up.  The headline intrigued me, but more importantly, WTF, how did they know I'm a pervert? ;-)  I've no time to read it at the moment; however, an article on the pre-eminent post-Steinheim feminist ought to be interesting.  Know thy enemy.  Or could she be considered friendly?

Survival Food

From the ever-useful Sipsey St. is a link to a manual on how to make survival foods such as hardtack and pemmican.  There's also a link to a page describing the blend of rice, kidney beans, barley, lentils, split green peas, and chickpeas that has all the nutrition a person needs, thus making a cheap year's supply of food.

Regrets

A page that's been sitting in my reader for a while: The top 5 regrets people have on their deathbed.  Makes one think....

"Serf's Up!"

A link to the online novel "When Autumn Leaves Fall" that FreedomV sent me.

Caloric Requirements

To figure out how much food one needs for emergency preparedness purposes, energy needs calculators can be useful.  Two I found online: About.com and BCM.

Edit [2013.11.26]: The BCM calculators moved; links for children and adults.