Jump to content
Please support this forum by joining the SH Patreon ×
Sturgeon's House

Donward

Forum Nobility
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8,867

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    110

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Donward

  1. Donward
    This struck my fancy, not only for the archaeology angle but also for the Alaska bit. But here is information about possible trade links between East Asia and natives in Alaska with scientist unearthing bronze artifacts from an ancient 1000 year old house someplace called Cape Espenberg which is on the West Coast of Alaska near Kotzebue (which is in the rough neighborhood of Nome). http://www.livescience.com/50506-artifacts-reveal-pre-columbus-trade.html From the article. "The Rising Whale discoveries include two bronze artifacts, one of which may have originally been used as a buckle or fastener. It has a piece of leather on it thatradiocarbondates to around A.D. 600 (more tests will take place in the future). The other bronze artifact may have been used as a whistle. Bronze-working had not been developed at this time in Alaska, so archaeologists think the artifacts would have been manufactured in China, Korea or Yakutia, and made their way to Alaska through trade routes. Also inside that house, researchers found the remains of obsidian artifacts, which have a chemical signature that indicates the obsidian is from the Anadyr River valley in Russia."
  2. Donward
    I think it is the Mauler M.B.T. driven by Heavy Metal.
  3. Donward
    Onions. Peppers. Potatoes. All well and good. But it seems the oldest side dish just might be mushrooms. http://www.mpg.de/9173780/mushrooms-food-source-stone-age (I can't stand mushrooms)
  4. Donward
    I use onion rings and milkshakes as a way to gauge "good" hamburger joints.
  5. Donward
    Honestly, if I am a 1920s-1930s lawman during the Roaring Twenties of Prohibition bootleggers and the days of the highway bank robber, I can think of few rifles that I would rather have than a Remington Model 8. Obviously the weapons that were ubiquitous were shotguns (pump or double barrel) or lever action Winchester or Marlin rifles. But the advantages of the Model 8 are self evident. And when you could buy a new Model T in 1925 for $260, price is indeed a major issue.
  6. Donward
    Not always. Open Carry guys like to carry their handguns in plain view for political and tactical reasons. I guess they think they are preventing crime toting one around while gaining a fraction of a second advantage in drawing their weapon if they end up on the wrong side of the law of averages. Usually they're your "full-size carry" pieces either in 1911 or a double stack 9mm or .40 cal. And I have nothing against the Open Carry of handguns, provided they are doing so responsibly and are prepared to deal with the occasional law enforcement interaction in a calm and polite manner. As you know, I prefer concealment and feel I have an advantage going about my daily life having a handgun that is concealed. Mainly because I have better things to do than interact with Officer Friendly because some barrista panicked over seeing me lawfully carry a handgun. And I'd rather not attract the attention of tough guys or criminal types who'd love nothing more to accost someone wearing a gun when I have to walk down the streets of some of the seedier parts of Seattle.
  7. Donward
    Wow. I didn't know the Remington Model 8 could generate that sort of antipathy. What did they think he should have used instead? A Tommy gun? Don't tell them that Texas Ranger Frank Hamer used one to blow Clyde Barrow's brains out in 1934 or that 45 ACP was routinely found to be deficient in terms of penetrating power, particularly in regards to puncturing the sheet metal in cars built during the period. Which - as we all know - is why the .38 Super and .357 Magnum rounds were developed. Obviously dated compared to modern weapons, the Model 8 that I've handled and owned by a family member seems balanced and fairly ergonomic. I haven't had a chance to fire one, apparently the recoil is horrendous, but the 35 Remington is a more than capable hunting round at modest ranges. The obvious advantage in pistols is that you can have one on you always and that they can be concealed so folks don't know you are armed. And - repeating what everyone here has said - if you're having to rely on a pistol in an extended firefight, with multiple tactical reloads, it means you have either found yourself in a very bad neighborhood or have made a series of unfortunate lifestyle choices in your soon to be ended life.
  8. Donward
    Eh. Peppers are OK if you want your food to taste just like peppers. Onions on the other hand can add flavor that works in conjunction with other ingredients.
  9. Donward
    In my quest to resurrect all of the good old Sturgeon's House posts, apparently there is a company that sells Chicken Harnesses so people can walk Henny Penny. http://www.valhoma.com/ I guess it looks something like this when in use...
  10. Donward
    My wife's Terry Pratchett collection was an important dowry item.
  11. Donward
    Derp. I was wondering why everything said 4 months old and folks seemed hot to trot about the AR... Derp. Derp. Derp. Derp. Yeah. I wasn't able to get in on the AK-47 goodness. Mostly because I don't strongly identify with the Kalashnikov. Yeah. It's a great design, robust and ubiquitous in any theater of modern warfare. The AK-74 is pretty much all anyone could ask for in a weapon that you want to arm LOTS of guys with. And in the 1970s and 1980s it was the COOL gun to arm bad guys with in any movie since everyone knew how much better it was than the M16. As I've mentioned before, a couple wars in the Middle East, an influx of variable quality AKs into the American civilian market and the ARevolution has taken the shine off the AK and it no longer has the sex appeal it once possessed. But there isn't anything inherently wrong with it as a weapon.
  12. Donward
    It says the comments section has been closed down. But mebbe that's just my Discus browser.
  13. Donward
    Oh my God. That article was still going. I... I feel I must go back there and look what destruction has been wrought.
  14. Donward
    That is wonderfully gauche so Yankee. Modern advertising techniques are a lot older than most people suspect. Hell, the first Department stores were also created around the same period of time in the 19th Century. Good thing we didn't have the ubiquitous Viagra commercials which are the only things keeping the American Heroes Channal afloat back during Reconstruction or else The South Will Rise Again would have taken on a whole other meaning. (Yeah, I know that joke is probably as old as Reconstruction too).
  15. Donward
    A recent article positing that the Greenland Norse weren't so clueless as history has made them out to be. http://sciencenordic.com/greenland-vikings-outlived-climate-change-centuries Honestly, I don't see anything in that article which really changes what we know happened in Greenland. We know a climatic event caused the Vikings to shift from an agrarian society based on herding to fishing and hunting. This also caused an abandonment of the smaller farms and a stratification of society with haves and have-nots and an elimination of the middle class yoeman farmer. They ceased to have the ability to build and own their own trading vessels putting them at the mercy of profit-minded outside traders. And eventually the Skraelings came. The individuals interviewed seem to have built a strawman that everyone believes once the Little Ice Age took place that the Norse died off at once when we know that they clung to life and civilization bitterly and tenaciously for another couple centuries.
  16. Donward
    The medium of web comics and grapefruit has crossed again. http://www.qwantz.com/index.php Sadly T-Rex doesn't weigh in on the heretics who peel and masticate their grapefruit.
  17. Donward
    No. Billy Mays is God of Infomercials! Heretic!
  18. Donward
    It's mainly old ships and old airplanes here in Washington state with old artillery parked in front of the usual places. Fort Lewis has an interesting collection of old armor at its museum which is visible from I-5 and if you don't mind being in the same zipcode where Brock works.
  19. Donward
    So in short, a lot of times soldiers don't know what's good for them. Shocking, when you take into account most of them are teenagers or in their early 20s.
  20. Donward
    This morning I helped shape the minds of three young men. They were discussing video games and the subject of how awesome such-and-such WW2-themed first person shooter was with the Garand. Not only did I have the chance to teach them the correct pronunciation of Garand but I also dispelled the *ping* myth by walking them through a combat scenario. And another small victory is won.
  21. Donward
    Here is legendary Afrikaaner leader Andries Pretorius leading his men at the Battle of Blood River in 1840 using modern trapdoor VoorField carbines and Trekmaker revolvers. That battle is celebrated today as "The Day of Reconciliation".
  22. Donward
    I hope so too. Although my dream would be a reliable Remington Model 53 in .45 ACP, if only to upset the apple cart of the 1911 mafia.
  23. Donward
    Native Americans. Truly the original hipsters.
  24. Donward
    If one must post RUSH songs, it had better be about trees or their Opus about being a middle school boy who reads a lot of fantasy fiction. U2 benefited from having a lead singer who was the third most talented celebrity by the name of Bono, lagging behind former San Francisco 49er and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Steve Bono and rock and roll pioneer, songwriter, Scooby Doo guest celebrity, Congressman, skiing enthusiast and victim of Illuminati assassins Sonny Bono. Never forget!
  25. Donward
    It's professional if - at times - optimistic stuff. The Tellermines seemed to be a favorite of the Krauts at the early stages of the Eastern Front. I find it interesting that they advocate using captured enemy automatic weapons which seems a rather blatant admission of the inadequate nature of German weaponry, particularly small arms. "incendiary bottles and Tellermines, TNT, automatic weapons (our own or captured), submachine guns, Very pistols, hand grenades, smoke bottles, and camouflage material, as well as hatchets, crowbars, etc." The bit with "Very pistols" which I'm guessing to be flare guns is also innovative. Also they are advocating using and redistributing any large number of captured Soviet Molotov cocktails with the self-igniting fuse which seem superior to the German variants. Which, if the plan is "Alright lads, make sure you capture enough enemy kit because it is better than ours", I'm not sure how enthusiastic that would make me feel as a grunt shivering in the mud and snow in some miserable huddle of huts in a town I can't pronounce.
×
×
  • Create New...