https://royalknights.us/

It is decidedly Christian in its makeup, and is partly an answer to many other
orders of Knighthood that I have researched, over the last decade or so, and found wanting, with respect to Orthodox Christian doctrines.

The latest example of why I’ve started my own group:

Templar spirituality

The lingo fads are interesting… and if I’m honest, are mostly annoying to me…

For a while, whilst in IT meetings,  I would find myself wondering how much time would go by before someone mentioned

the dreaded ‘low hanging fruit’

A few years ago, I began to notice what I termed a ‘fad’.. and that as that folk seemed to start sentences with “So,”

Not sure how long that has been a thing, but it is alive and well today, for sure.

Now, on to today’s pet peeve fad, though this one certainly spans multiple industries.

It is the repetitive and copious use of the word “Right“

Example sentence:

“Ok, so I want to address one of the most prolific viruses, right, that’s out there today. Over time, right, we’ve noticed

a trend toward the social-engineering genres of user-baiting which invites these viruses in”

#justmakeitstop

A short clip

• • • 14 ft LOA
    • 5.5 ft Beam

Sailboat

The below pics were taken in an effort to identify the maker of the boat.
So far, no one knows!

Sailboat Set2

Not much wind, but some good practice nonetheless..

Of

It’s hard to believe that I have since then, taken a first lesson sailing!

On Fathers day yesterday, Levi & I went for 2 hours sailing with a fabulous instructor, on a lovely 21 ft sailboat.

Now, in addition to geedunk, scuppers, and pink-bellies, I can point to shrouds, clews, and forestays!

It was a blast, really. I’ll likely go again for a 2nd lesson.

As most of you know, I was in the United States Navy for 6 years.

And although I know what geedunk, scuppers, and pink-bellies are, I could not hop in a 12 ft sailboat and sail it.

I’ve never verbalised an official “bucket list”, but of late(past year ish), I’ve fancied myself sailing…really sailing.

To that end, I’m keeping my eyes out for a day sailer that might make that dream come true. Contrary to what I had assumed, the financial layout for a sailboat is very much within my realm of possibility. A decent day sailer of the 12-22ft variety can be had for between $500 and $3000 +\- depending.

I actually went and looked at my first boat the other day, and although she needed some work(which I was unwilling to take on), I was able to help with the rigging of it, which proved to be valuable experience in itself.

So, more to come on this, and I truly hope anxiety doesn’t get the better of me, and prevent my following through on this…

#stopthemadness
#downwithstraphangars

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Don’t get me wrong, those who know me , know that I’m all for a good flick with swords, battles, etc

But I guess what bothers me is no-one really mentions this part of it:

Isn’t it interesting how loudly so many scream about the objectification of, and abuse of women…until it’s entertaining

I don’t know if these thoughts will resonate with anyone out there in interwebs-land, but I just felt like jotting this down, in the event someone stumbles upon it, and tosses me a “oh man, me too!”

The brain is an amazing thing, it really is. Here’s just a short list of things we know about the brain.

Here’s a little bit about my brain, and how it tends to work.

Something that has been a part of my makeup for some time now, is a desire to do…many things.
What do I mean? I mean there seems to be a sort of semi-constant running list of things I’d like to do: “things”  being endeavors,  pursuits, hobbies, vocations…etc
While that in itself doesn’t sound particularly remarkable, it can have the effect, as in my case, of rendering the individual unable to properly focus his or her attention on any one “thing”, and pursue that thing to it’s fullest.

A partial list that comes to mind(not in any particular order) for me of things I’ve personally either started, done partially, done for a short time, thought about doing, spent significant time researching, really thought about doing, or dreamed of doing would be:

• salt water fishing
• a comedy audio-blog featuring Maine-based characters
• a motorcycle repair business
• rural church planting
• attend seminary/online biblical training
• be a ship captain
• Christian counseling
• designing stomp pedals for guitar
• join/form a band(Celtic, blues…)
• starting an IT consultancy
• purchase Canadian maritime real-estate
• becoming a landlord
• owning a recording studio
• building celtic harps
• making Irish whistles
• making Uilleann pipes
• making Highland pipes
• becoming a security guard
• becoming a Maine game warden
• joining in the building of/running of an airsoft field
• learning Irish
• learning Scottish gaelic
• working in some govt covert/security capacity
• becoming involved in local politics
• restoring a 1984 Corvette
• become a state-side sales liaison/import master to a well known Italian armorer
• join the SCA
• have a business selling wooden shields
• form a regional Uilleann piping club
• join a Scottish Pipe band
• learn Uilleann pipes
• learn Highland pipes
• have a business repairing band/ethnic instruments
• make a bodhran
• learn the bodhran
• move to Massachusetts to join a Christian Theater company
• start a local musical theater, featuring Christian oriented/family-friendly shows
• join the Civil Air Patrol
• have a firearms business
• own a large house/property in the country  and have a program for urban children to spend a weekend there
• own a large house/property in the country  and adopt more kids/foster parent
• write a book
• lead worship at church
• move to Montana
• move to California
• move to Canada
• move to Colorado
• move to Ireland
• move to downeast Maine
• get an anchor tattoo
• market/sell a friends artwork
• seek a Knighthood
• make swords
• make chain-mail
• have a piano-tuning side-business
• grow my hair out(e.g. ponytail length)
• work from home
• paint using oils/acrylics
• draw in pencil
• do calligraphy
• attend Highland games
• hunt deer
• learn to sail
• buy a boat
• make smoking pipes
• lead a mens ministry
• own a small farm
• make wine
• make beer

ok, that’s enough for now…you get the point: lots of ideas percolating…some worthy of my time and within reach, others …not so much

But here’s the thing, and I credit my astute wife for coming up with this ‘diagnosis’ of sorts:
“By choosing a thing, that means I can’t choose another!”

So then, what often happens is, an idea, a desire, a passion to do something never goes anywhere, or not far because by choosing that thing, I would be doing so to the exclusion of another! And the result can very easily be a spinning of my wheels, not able to get out of my own way, trying to figure out what to do: perhaps not moving in any one area with solid purpose or passion.

I will say this about things like hobbies however, and again I credit my astute wife for putting some framework around this idea/reality:  once we realized that this seemed to be the way my brain works, instead of being discouraged and feeling aimless about not settling into/finishing any one thing, we would just proceed with the assumption that I’ll pursue a number of things, and will likely bounce around from thing to thing. This way of thinking really has helped both of us. I feel less hopeless that I’ll figure out what I’m supposed to be doing, or ever finishing something , and she doesn’t have to lose her sanity trying to play catch-up with my pursuits!

Case in point: I have started constructing an Uilleann pipe chanter. It’s been started, but hasn’t seen much action in the past several weeks, while I focus on other life things.

Another: I have a decent amount of time invested in making medieval-style wooden shields. I even sold a couple. But I haven’t done much with them for some months.

Another: I have equipment that allows me to multi-track record, and produce a record. I did complete a(somewhat bizarre & eclectic) project CD in 2010(Songs to code by), but haven’t seriously worked at the craft since, in any depth of focus.(though I do have a very cool idea for a concept album)

I have a set of artist pencils, paints, charcoals that have sat for who knows how long…

I haven’t seriously practiced my uilleann pipes for literally years

But with any or all of these, I know that I’ll at some point, end up picking these things back up for a time, setting them aside for other pursuits, and so it goes on and on.

One only has so much time… and I would rather not spend it any more foolishly than I have already, so I have to constantly consider what to do…or not do.

One last note before I close out.

I was seeing a counselor(PHD) a few short years back, and among some other things we discussed, was my seemingly never-ending wandering of the mind, and an almost inability to stay focused on things, not to mention struggles to focus at work(IT). A fellow blogged once that he felt like his brain was “always trying to tune in dozens of radio stations at once“. Boy, did that resonate with me when I first read that!

Anyway, the counselor took me through a multi-week ‘diagnostic instrument’ whereby he probed with questions, proposed hypotheticals, delved into life experiences etc. In the end, he told me that I had scored “very high on the adult ADD spectrum”. (there are elements of ADHD as well,though not the hyper kind of thing most people associate with ADHD)

I felt a sense of relief, in hearing that I at least had something that we could name, or at least partially ‘blame’ for how I am. That’s not to say there’s no hope for movement/improvement in this area: especially where we know that the brain CAN continue to learn even as we grow older. BTW, there are of course a myriad of things that might go into just why a person might display these traits/patterns of thinking etc, but that’s for another post someday…

Well, there you have it. There is so much more I could type on these ideas..but I’ll save it for a rainy day..meanwhile, I think I’ll take up Japanese book binding!

Peace,

Here are some interesting numbers:

 
You will find more infographics at Statista

The word regret, usually never passes my lips in normal conversation.

I just don’t think much about regretting things: I may lament mistakes I’ve made, things I wish I’d have done differently perhaps…but  out and out regret? nah

well, maybe except this one comes real close…

It all began years ago, when my wife introduced me to the band IONA.
The Irish one, from…Ireland(because there are two out there) and actually, a youtube video of (Ireland’s)IONA pops up several pix in the video, and one is (mistakenly) of the American pan-celtic band IONA.

Well anyway, fast forward to many years later(approx April of 2012): I’m becoming an ever-growing rabid fan of Celtic music, and Celtic fusion in particular, with IONA  foremost among them all..
I caught wind via Facebook, that they were going to tour the states(a fairly rare event), and not only that, but they were soliciting their fan base here to look into potential venues to play at. :O
I knew of a few places that might suit, so I began looking into it, and found myself making contact with their stateside band manager gal, and before I knew it, I’m looking over their sound requirements etc

Ok, all of this sounds great right?
I mean, this would be like, one of those dream comes true scenarios, so to speak.

Enter…anxiety

I found myself becoming anxious about the whole thing.
And before I knew what was happening, I scuttled the entire idea.

I could have met the band, probably hung out with them…these amazing, talented, and Christ-centered musicians…

I could have been sippin a Guinness with Dave Bainbridge!
who knows.. we’ll never know…(they don’t tour anymore)

So what happened exactly?
What made me bail on what could have been a really, really cool adventure, where I meet a world-class group of fellow musicians/believers??

I don’t know…but I know it’s not the first, or last time this anxiety has kept me from doing things.

And it’s maddening.

I look forward to one day, not having this thing like a ball & chain around my anxious neck

I couldn’t browse many websites with , while Covenant Eyes was running…

After much knashing of teeth and going all sailor-lingo, here’s the fix from the kind folks at CE:

1. From the desktop, search for Manage User Certificates.
2. The Certificate Manager should come up, under Certificates – Current User, expand Trusted Root Certification Authorities and then click on the Certificates folder.
3. In the panel to the right, right click on the CovenantEyesProxy Certificate and select All Tasks >> Export.
4. You will be taken into the Certificate Export Wizard. Click the Next button at the bottom.
5. Select DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER) and click the Next button at the bottom.
6. At the File to Export screen, tell them to click the Browse… button, select Desktop, and type in CovenantEyesProxy in the File name field.
7. The file path will be inserted into the wizard with a .cer extension. Click on Next.
8. The message saying the wizard is complete should come up. Click the Finish button and you should get a message stating the export was a success.
9. Go to your browser, open settings, advanced settings, and then HTTPS/SSL under managed certificates.
10. In this window click on the Import… button.
11. Navigate to the CovenantEyesProxy certificate on the desktop. Select it and click the Open button.
12. Check the box for Trust this CA to identify web sites and click the OK button.

I’ve read two reports of people who have been taken in(financially) by the claims of the website.

http://www.imperialteutonicorder.com/index.html

It’s sad to see this happening.

Granted, it’s far from a perfect specimen…but still it’s an original RG550 and
they’re very much sought after, though admittedly can vary widely on the value fetched.

I got an e-mail out of the blue from a fellow who alerted me to the fact that some other
guy had put up a scathing Craigslist post berating me for thinking I could sell my guitar
with a neck repair having been done on it(at some point in it’s past)…

The guy had never seen the guitar, nor talked to me directly.

Why do people do this?

oy vey

Apparently, he received romantic letters from several women and a few men around the world admiring his attributes — reportedly he was rebuked by his commander only because his sock-tops were not level.

The rule against wearing anything under the kilt was once so strict that until World War II inspections of Black Watch troops included having them step on a mirror. For officers, violating the rule cost the offender a bottle of port. Now the under-the-kilt dress is optional, but options don’t come easily to men who believe in tradition most highland kilted soldiers go regimental.

World War II inspections of Black Watch troops included having them step on a mirror. For officers, violating the rule cost the offender a bottle of port. Now the under-the-kilt dress is optional, but options don’t come easily to men who believe in tradition most highland kilted soldiers go regimental.

Problem:

“Cannot find one or more components. Please reinstall the application.”

Microsoft Visual Studio Shell (Isolated)

Fix:  Deleted> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\[14.0_Config]

Go figure…

This is one of my favorite videos.

The original youtube version has been removed,  my recollection of the comments are that  they contained some folk who knew more about this man singing.

If anyone has information about him, I’d love to know more.

thanks,

Rich

What’s up with the Information Technology (IT) department in most companies?

Even though they provide a valuable service, they often face challenges in getting the appropriate recognition and respect for their efforts and contributions, in the past or in the present.

To understand this better – and to do something about it – it helps to focus on 3 significant factors that underpin this lack of respect and acknowledgement. They are:

The Historical Genesis of IT
IT’s Understanding of What their Role Really Is
The Evolution of the Knowledge Worker

1. Historical Genesis

IT intimidates a lot of employees.

Workers rely on computers and technology. They are often helpless when something goes wrong and, because it is a new and changing technology, they don’t really know how to fix things themselves.

This can be intimidating.

Prior to IT, there were always two departments that intimidated most people inside a company: Legal and Finance.

The main reason that people are intimidated by these two departments is because whenever someone interacts with either one, it’s rarely good news.

That’s because the interaction usually involves being told that something is “wrong” – that something has made the company legally vulnerable or that something financial has been missed or was not done accurately or correctly enough.

And, because the “wrong” is usually framed with language, expertise, and rules that are specific to each of the two departments, it has the effect of making those who don’t have the necessary qualifications, skills, or formal dictionary of terms feel like outsiders – because they don’t always understand what is being said or presented.

To many, this can be intimidating.

Now, it is never the intent of either Legal or Finance to be inappropriate. They are just trying to do their jobs at the highest level of professionalism.

And, the same holds true for the third department now added to this list, the “new” arena of Information Technology (IT), which also has a specialized language, skill set, and book of “rules”.

As a result, when most people have to deal with any of these 3 departments, they are not comfortable – either before, during, or after the interactions. In fact, if they are honest with themselves, a lot of people will say they dread it.

Along with the jargon and position power, the other not so subtle factor in all three departments is sometimes the size of the egos involved.

Egos play a big role in undermining the feeling of support, trust and equality from the “internal customers” who are served by these 3 departments.

It is not uncommon that when people have interacted with any of these 3 departments, they come away with the aftertaste of patronization, superciliousness, superiority and judgment.

Once again it is not the intent of anyone in these departments to make people feel this way. But it happens a lot.

2. IT’s Understanding of What Their Role Really Is

The second factor exacerbating the IT department’s challenge in getting respect and recognition is a lack of clarity about their actual role with both the employees and internal constituents they serve.

That’s because IT is only ever a service function. Nothing more.

Unfortunately, service functions within organizations rarely get the same amount of respect, attention or status as the functions which provide something that a customer or client actually pays money for – such as a product and/or service.

This makes it even harder on IT professionals.

That’s because they are recruited based on their technical skills, education and experience. They aren’t recruited specifically for the “people skills” that are so critical in all functions, especially “service”. These skills are taken for granted.

The first training any IT person gets when they join a company is even more technical training. Then, within their departments, they are rewarded, acknowledged, promoted and bonused by their managers, based on “technical” results.

Unfortunately, this “technical” focus is only 50% of their job.

The other 50% is the people skills – interacting with others, building relationships and maintaining them.

And, this is where both the employer and the employed IT professionals often fall short.

That’s because, most of the time, the company assumes that IT personnel have well developed, conscious “people skills”, simply because they are people.

The disconnect between this assumption and what really happens can lead to misunderstanding and misinterpreted intent.

That’s because the biggest ongoing challenge that IT professionals face (and need to come to terms with) is the fact that the internal customers they serve within the company don’t really care about their technical skills at all.

They only care about what those IT skills can do for them. They don’t care about the jargon or the years of experience necessary to get them.

They only care about whether their problem is solved and about how they feel after interacting with the IT person who is solving it.

And, this is not always easy for large egos to deal with, especially if they have spent years honing their technical skills.

Unfortunately, most IT professionals, with rare exceptions, are historically not that good at the people skills/communication part of their jobs.

And, it’s one of the reasons they are labeled with the derogatory term “nerd”, often used to describe them in business society.

3. Evolution of The Knowledge Worker

The last major factor adding to the IT professional’s challenge is the evolution of the knowledge worker.

Management guru, Peter Drucker, coined the term over 50 years ago, to describe the shift from factory worker (where the “knowledge” was in the machines) to a world where “knowledge” is in the head of the worker.

Knowledge workers are the most mobile workers in the history of our overall business culture. They are paid for their knowledge.

This means that it doesn’t really matter where the knowledge worker actually lives as long as they have access to the Internet or a phone so they can be of service and get paid for their expertise. This is especially important in the world of IT.

Many companies are outsourcing their IT needs to countries where knowledge workers have the same or better technical skills than local workers while costing a fraction of local professional fees and salaries.

This means that IT “technical” services and skills are more available than ever.

The consequence is that the promise of always having a guaranteed job is diminishing daily if you’re an IT professional.

However, these outsourced IT jobs (most often outsourced by IT professionals) also face the same “blind spot” about “people skills” because they are also focused on “technical” expertise, often at the expense of people skills, which can again lead to a great deal of frustration and misinterpreted intent with customers when dealing with these outsourced resources.

That’s why “people skills” are becoming more important than ever for IT technical people.

It’s why the enlightened few – who head up IT departments and understand the historic and ongoing evolution of the Information Technology arena – focus on how to train their teams to unfailingly serve their defined “internal customers/clients” and meet their ongoing needs.

They do this by making sure that their services are transparent and easy to understand (no egos).

They do this by using simple language with no buzzwords, technical jargon, or acronyms.

And, they strive to have the “internal customer/client” walk away from every interaction feeling that they have been listened to, heard, understood, served, cared for, valued, supported and, above all, treated as important and as an equal.

To achieve this ongoing success, these “enlightened” IT professionals provide specific and regular “people skills” training to their teams which is given the same importance, support, encouragement and value as the IT person’s technical skills.

In the IT departments of some companies, the necessary people skills are given even more importance than technical skills.

That’s because the “enlightened few” have figured out that for IT to be successful and to get the respect and recognition it so rightfully deserves, it’s essential to recognize that it’s really all about “people skills”.

Philippe Denichaud & John Parikhal May 2, 2016

However, (and I know this is blasphemy)…when configuring CISCO ASA, why couldn’t they like,  put more of an emphasis on utilizing the

nice friendly GUI?

I mean, geez it’s 2016…

fun fun

came back sick

notfun notfun

performance counter registry check…

So, the googles produced this little gem:

“setup.exe /ACTION=install /SKIPRULES=PerfMonCounterNotCorruptedCheck“

just sweet…

“Many Christians do not understand the difference between a calling and paid employment. A calling is what God created you to do. It is what will make a permanent difference in the world. Paid employment is what you do to support yourself and your family.”

http://www.kingwatch.co.nz/Christian_Political_Economy/calling_and_employment.htm

Winbatch has been my friend through many dangers…

This just helped me.

After partition extend file system displays wrong disk size in Windows

The case: A teacher of 30 years was ordered to “remove a small Christmas tree from her classroom.”
The defense against this heinous crime of religious offense, given by Bangor School Superintendent Betsy Webb, is enough to make one wish to chew one’s arm off, but here’s the point I want to make.

It’s a good thing we Christians behave like the good little dogs we are, because… well, see what you think below.

Consider for a moment the following:
Clearly, some folks are/were offended by this Christmas tree.
I also assume that he/she/they take said offense because of the relationship to and association with the tree to the
Christian holiday of Christmas.

Ok, so we have an association of a symbol(tree) to Christianity.

And may I remind the reader that nowhere in Christian doctrine, does one find a ‘Christmas Tree’.

Now, what if Christians(only in screwel school of course) took offense to say, the wearing of the Muslim hijab, because seeing this article of clothing is a stark reminder of a religion that contains doctrines offensive to the average Christian?

Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Yeah, I thought so too.

Moreover, in this instance the Christian would seem to have the stronger case for offense, because the tree has no place in Christian doctrine, where the hijab is a bonifide mark of a follower of Islam.(unless I’m mistaken)

But here’s the thing: this teacher DOES have to remove her tree, that has been a tradition for so many years..

Has it escaped your notice that these  things largely tend to come down upon Christians?

Ah well, I guess we take it in stride and consider it a badge of honor to be so singled out..

“Access for less secure apps has been turned on”
phew

Pakistan (83K), Iraq (83K), Bangladesh (75K), Iran (73K), Egypt (45K), Somalia (31K), Uzbekistan (24K), Turkey (22K), Morocco (22K), Jordan (20K), Albania (20K), Lebanon (16K), Yemen (16K), Indonesia (15K), Syria (14K), Sudan (13K), Afghanistan (11K), Sierra Leone (10K), Guinea (8K), Senegal (7K), Saudi Arabia (7K), Algeria (7K), Kazakhstan (7K), Kuwait (5K), Gambia (5K), United Arab Emirates (4K), Azerbaijan (4K), Mali (3K), Burkina Faso (3K), Kyrgyzstan (3K), Kosovo (3K), Mauritania (2K), Tunisia (2K), Tajikistan (2K), Libya (2K), Turkmenistan (1K), Qatar (1K), Chad (1K)

Source:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2577134

Excellent…right on time

…if you will not fight for the right when you can eas­ily win with­out blood­shed; if you will not fight when your vic­tory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a pre­car­i­ous chance of sur­vival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of vic­tory, because it is bet­ter to per­ish than to live as slaves.

Winston Churchill

http://www.wmur.com/politics/gop-candidate-cruz-acts-out-princess-bride-scene/36415882

This rules..

It may…it may not. I’d like to see a measure of restraint when making such bold claims.

IMHO

An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power
printable page
Submitted by cbaus on Fri, 07/08/2011 – 15:00. Education
By Greg Ellifritz

I’ve been interested in firearm stopping power for a very long time. I remember reading Handguns magazine back in the late 1980s when Evan Marshall was writing articles about his stopping power studies. When Marshall’s first book came out in 1992, I ordered it immediately, despite the fact that I was a college student and really couldn’t afford its $39 price tag. Over the years I bought all of the rest of Marshall’s books as well as anything else I could find on the subject. I even have a first edition of Gunshot Injuries by Louis Lagarde published in 1915.

Are any of these better than another?Every source I read has different recommendations. Some say Marshall’s data is genius. Some say it is statistically impossible. Some like big heavy bullets. Some like lighter, faster bullets. There isn’t any consensus. The more I read, the more confused I get.

One thing I remember reading that made a lot of sense to me was an article by Massad Ayoob. He came out with his own stopping power data around the time Marshall published Handgun Stopping Power. In the article, Ayoob took his critics to task. He suggested that if people didn’t believe his data, they should collect their own and do their own analysis. That made sense to me. So that’s just what I did. I always had a slight problem with the methodology of Marshall and Sanow’s work. For consistency purposes, they ONLY included hits to the torso and ONLY included cases where the person was hit with just a single round. Multiple hits screwed up their data, so they excluded them. This lead to an unrealistically high stopping power percentage, because it factored out many of the cases where a person didn’t stop! I wanted to look at hits anywhere on the body and get a realistic idea of actual stopping power, no matter how many hits it took to get it. So I started collecting data.

Over a 10-year period, I kept track of stopping power results from every shooting I could find. I talked to the participants of gunfights, read police reports, attended autopsies, and scoured the newspapers, magazines, and Internet for any reliable accounts of what happened to the human body when it was shot.

I documented all of the data I could; tracking caliber, type of bullet (if known), where the bullet hit and whether or not the person was incapacitated. I also tracked fatalities, noting which bullets were more likely to kill and which were not. It was an exhaustive project, but I’m glad I did it and I’m happy to report the results of my study here.

Before I get to the details, I must give a warning. I don’t have any dog in this fight! I don’t sell ammo. I’m not being paid by any firearm or ammunition manufacturer. I carry a lot of different pistols for self defense. Within the last 2 weeks, I’ve carried a .22 magnum, a .380 auto, a .38 spl revolver, 3 different 9mm autos and a .45 auto. I don’t have an axe to grind. If you are happy with your 9mm, I’m happy for you. If you think that everyone should be carrying a .45 (because they don’t make a .46), I’m cool with that too. I’m just reporting the data. If you don’t like it, take Mr. Ayoob.s advice…do a study of your own.

A few notes on terminology…

Since it was my study, I got to determine the variables and their definitions. Here’s what I looked at:

– Number of people shot

– Number of rounds that hit

– On average, how many rounds did it take for the person to stop his violent action or be incapacitated? For this number, I included hits anywhere on the body. To be considered an immediate incapacitation, I used criteria similar to Marshall’s. If the attacker was striking or shooting the victim, the round needed to immediately stop the attack without another blow being thrown or shot being fired. If the person shot was in the act of running (either towards or away from the shooter), he must have fallen to the ground within five feet.

I also excluded all cases of accidental shootings or suicides. Every shot in this study took place during a military battle or an altercation with a criminal.

– What percentage of shooting incidents resulted in fatalities. For this, I included only hits to the head or torso.

– What percentage of people were not incapacitated no matter how many rounds hit them

– Accuracy. What percentage of hits was in the head or torso. I tracked this to check if variations could affect stopping power. For example, if one caliber had a huge percentage of shootings resulting in arm hits, we may expect that the stopping power of that round wouldn’t look as good as a caliber where the majority of rounds hit the head.

– One shot stop percentage – number of incapacitations divided by the number of hits the person took. Like Marshall’s number, I only included hits to the torso or head in this number.

– Percentage of people who were immediately stopped with one hit to the head or torso

Here are the results.

.25ACP
# of people shot – 68
# of hits – 150
% of hits that were fatal – 25%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 2.2
% of people who were not incapacitated – 35%
One-shot-stop % – 30%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 62%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 49%

.22 (short, long and long rifle)
# of people shot – 154
# of hits – 213
% of hits that were fatal – 34%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.38
% of people who were not incapacitated – 31%
One-shot-stop % – 31%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 76%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 60%

.32 (both .32 Long and .32 ACP)
# of people shot – 25
# of hits – 38
% of hits that were fatal – 21%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.52
% of people who were not incapacitated – 40%
One-shot-stop % – 40%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 78%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 72%

.380 ACP
# of people shot – 85
# of hits – 150
% of hits that were fatal – 29%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.76
% of people who were not incapacitated – 16%
One-shot-stop % – 44%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 76%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 62%

.38 Special
# of people shot – 199
# of hits – 373
% of hits that were fatal – 29%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.87
% of people who were not incapacitated – 17%
One-shot-stop % – 39%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 76%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 55%

9mm Luger
# of people shot – 456
# of hits – 1121
% of hits that were fatal – 24%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 2.45
% of people who were not incapacitated – 13%
One-shot-stop % – 34%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 74%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 47%

.357 (both magnum and Sig)
# of people shot – 105
# of hits – 179
% of hits that were fatal – 34%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.7
% of people who were not incapacitated – 9%
One-shot-stop % – 44%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 81%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 61%

.40 S&W
# of people shot – 188
# of hits – 443
% of hits that were fatal – 25%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 2.36
% of people who were not incapacitated – 13%
One-shot-stop % – 45%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 76%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 52%

.45 ACP
# of people shot – 209
# of hits – 436
% of hits that were fatal – 29%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 2.08
% of people who were not incapacitated – 14%
One-shot-stop % – 39%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 85%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 51%

.44 Magnum
# of people shot – 24
# of hits – 41
% of hits that were fatal – 26%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.71
% of people who were not incapacitated – 13%
One-shot-stop % – 59%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 88%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 53%

Rifle (all Centerfire)

# of people shot – 126
# of hits – 176
% of hits that were fatal – 68%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.4
% of people who were not incapacitated – 9%
One-shot-stop % – 58%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 81%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 80%

Shotgun (All, but 90% of results were 12 gauge)
# of people shot – 146
# of hits – 178
% of hits that were fatal – 65%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation – 1.22
% of people who were not incapacitated – 12%
One-shot-stop % – 58%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) – 84%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) – 86%

Discussion

I really would have liked to break it down by individual bullet type, but I didn’t have enough data points to reach a level of statistical significance. Getting accurate data on nearly 1800 shootings was hard work. I couldn’t imagine breaking it down farther than what I did here. I also believe the data for the .25, .32 and .44 magnum should be viewed with suspicion. I simply don’t have enough data (in comparison to the other calibers) to draw an accurate comparison. I reported the data I have, but I really don’t believe that a .32 ACP incapacitates people at a higher rate than the .45 ACP!

One other thing to look at is the 9mm data. A huge number (over half) of 9mm shootings involved ball ammo. I think that skewed the results of the study in a negative manner. One can reasonable expect that FMJ ammo will not stop as well as a state of the art expanding bullet. I personally believe that the 9mm is a better stopper than the numbers here indicate, but you can make that decision for yourself based on the data presented.

Some interesting findings:

I think the most interesting statistic is the percentage of people who stopped with one shot to the torso or head. There wasn’t much variation between calibers. Between the most common defensive calibers (.38, 9mm, .40, and .45) there was a spread of only eight percentage points. No matter what gun you are shooting, you can only expect a little more than half of the people you shoot to be immediately incapacitated by your first hit.

The average number of rounds until incapacitation was also remarkably similar between calibers. All the common defensive calibers required around 2 rounds on average to incapacitate. Something else to look at here is the question of how fast can the rounds be fired out of each gun. The .38 SPL probably has the slowest rate of fire (long double action revolver trigger pulls and stout recoil in small revolvers) and the fewest rounds fired to get an incapacitation (1.87). Conversely the 9mm can probably be fired fastest of the common calibers and it had the most rounds fired to get an incapacitation (2.45). The .40 (2.36) and the .45 (2.08) split the difference. It is my personal belief that there really isn’t much difference between each of these calibers. It is only the fact that some guns can be fired faster than others that causes the perceived difference in stopping power. If a person takes an average of 5 seconds to stop after being hit, the defender who shoots a lighter recoiling gun can get more hits in that time period. It could be that fewer rounds would have stopped the attacker (given enough time) but the ability to fire more quickly resulted in more hits being put onto the attacker. It may not have anything to do with the stopping power of the round.

Another data piece that leads me to believe that the majority of commonly carried defensive rounds are similar in stopping power is the fact that all four have very similar failure rates. If you look at the percentage of shootings that did not result in incapacitation, the numbers are almost identical. The .38, 9mm, .40, and .45 all had failure rates of between 13% and 17%.

Some people will look at this data and say “He’s telling us all to carry .22s”. That’s not true. Although this study showed that the percentages of people stopped with one shot are similar between almost all handgun cartridges, there’s more to the story. Take a look at two numbers: the percentage of people who did not stop (no matter how many rounds were fired into them) and the one-shot-stop percentage. The lower caliber rounds (.22, .25, .32) had a failure rate that was roughly double that of the higher caliber rounds. The one-shot-stop percentage (where I considered all hits, anywhere on the body) trended generally higher as the round gets more powerful. This tells us a couple of things…

In a certain (fairly high) percentage of shootings, people stop their aggressive actions after being hit with one round regardless of caliber or shot placement. These people are likely NOT physically incapacitated by the bullet. They just don’t want to be shot anymore and give up! Call it a psychological stop if you will. Any bullet or caliber combination will likely yield similar results in those cases. And fortunately for us, there are a lot of these “psychological stops” occurring. The problem we have is when we don’t get a psychological stop. If our attacker fights through the pain and continues to victimize us, we might want a round that causes the most damage possible. In essence, we are relying on a “physical stop” rather than a “psychological” one. In order to physically force someone to stop their violent actions we need to either hit him in the Central Nervous System (brain or upper spine) or cause enough bleeding that he becomes unconscious. The more powerful rounds look to be better at doing this.

One other factor to consider is that the majority of these shootings did NOT involve shooting through intermediate barriers, cover or heavy clothing. If you anticipate having to do this in your life (i.e. you are a police officer and may have to shoot someone in a car), again, I would lean towards the larger or more powerful rounds.

What I believe that my numbers show is that in the majority of shootings, the person shot merely gives up without being truly incapacitated by the bullet. In such an event, almost any bullet will perform admirably. If you want to be prepared to deal with someone who won’t give up so easily, or you want to be able to have good performance even after shooting through an intermediate barrier, I would skip carrying the “mouse gun” .22s, .25s and .32s.

Now compare the numbers of the handgun calibers with the numbers generated by the rifles and shotguns. For me there really isn’t a stopping power debate. All handguns suck! If you want to stop someone, use a rifle or shotgun!

What matters even more than caliber is shot placement. Across all calibers, if you break down the incapacitations based on where the bullet hit you will see some useful information.

Head shots = 75% immediate incapacitation
Torso shots = 41% immediate incapacitation
Extremity shots (arms and legs) = 14% immediate incapacitation.

No matter which caliber you use, you have to hit something important in order to stop someone!

Conclusion

This study took me a long time and a lot of effort to complete. Despite the work it took, I’m glad I did it. The results I got from the study lead me to believe that there really isn’t that much difference between most defensive handgun rounds and calibers. None is a death ray, but most work adequately…even the lowly .22s. I’ve stopped worrying about trying to find the “ultimate” bullet. There isn’t one. And I’ve stopped feeling the need to strap on my .45 every time I leave the house out of fear that my 9mm doesn’t have enough “stopping power.” Folks, carry what you want. Caliber really isn’t all that important.

Take a look at the data. I hope it helps you decide what weapon to carry. No matter which gun you choose, pick one that is reliable and train with it until you can get fast accurate hits. Nothing beyond that really matters!

Greg Ellifritz is the full time firearms and defensive tactics training officer for a central Ohio police department. He holds instructor or master instructor certifications in more than 75 different weapon systems, defensive tactics programs and police specialty areas. Greg has a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management and is an instructor for both the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy and the Tactical Defense Institute. He can be reached at Greg1095@yahoo.com

also..

and…

here’s an example of the tone of this author..

“As I said in the beginning, I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a SQL Server DBA and if you’re looking for any harsh words aimed at Microsoft’s database, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

What is it? Well, it’s maddening! You’re typing away on an e-mail, a document , etc and all of a sudden, with no warning, reason  etc, the mouse cursor jumps to ‘some’ place in your document/e-mail, and continues on it’s merry(but maddening) way.

And it’s one thing to notice it while you’re typing: quite another when you suck at typing, and hunt & peck like me, and therefore, don’t notice until you’re several lines into it, because you;re looking at the keyboard…..

Well anywhoo, I just put a change in place that seems to be working nicely, and I’m REALLY hoping  it’s permanent.

It’s the ‘TrackStick’ according to Dell (on a Latitude) see item#26

What I did:

I ran C:\Program Files\DellTPad\DellTPad.exe then finagled things, until it let me disable the thing.

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

dunno about you, but this stuff makes me fiercely jealous for the Irish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q3qerOdvVU

22 ish years as an IT professional is ….

PAINFUL

Day one of my: Pimp Your Mat Challenge!

Morning=Lemon water

Daytime: more water…

Evening: stretch with Drill Sgt Tandy

I attempted to do this stretch with my feet together, seated….well, let’s just say Spring 7 I both got a chuckle…

Wow… onward & upward!

http://www.pimpyourmat.com/index.php

…Ida said you’re nutso…
yet here I go!

http://www.howtofeellikeasuperhero.com/

http://www.pimpyourmat.com/

:O

The PYM Superhero Challenge begins Monday April 13, 2015

Finally resolved by installing: Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

boy, have I missed this functionality!

I have registered a blazon with the U.S. Heraldic Registry as follows:

I came across a fairly disturbing facebook post recently regarding a man who exposed himself to a 6 year old girl(only a few towns away from us). What’s more, the father of the girl was merely feet away, working in the yard when this man(twice) exposed himself, and even apparently even touched the girl(not in private areas).
Nothing happened beyond the the aforementioned, but understandably, the parents are pretty much ready to see this guy buried 6 feet under. (utilizing a .45 actually)

The follow up posts are replete with folk offering all manner of help, man-hunting & what not.

Again, all understandable, and justified emotion/reactions.

Not soon after reading this, I had an interesting thought fly through my little head.

I thought, ya know these folk have a right to be upset, and to be concerned for the well being & innocence of this precious little girl…

but…

I wonder, do we know what things these same innocent, and wide-eyed precious children are introduced to in school in the name of ‘comprehensive sexual health, and education”? and at what age?

Consider this:

Jul 18, 2007 1:13pm

ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is “age-appropriate,” is “the right thing to do.”

Ok, how old are kids in Kindergarten…right, exactly…

I don’t know about you, but sex ed in kindergarten?

I understand a live perv isn’t the same as nicely-spoken sex-educators, but I choose to make the point anyway.

There seems to be some overarching push on the part of those in various towers, for the raping of young innocence nowadays, and it’s maddening.

 Point#2 along similar lines…

Something I’ve pondered a little, and it’s perplexing to me, and I’m going to just sum it up in one concise question.

Generally speaking, I’m going to assume for a moment that, most parents wouldn’t send their pre/teen age daughters out in public in a bra and underwear.

The question is this: if that is unacceptable, why does it become acceptable at a beach?

And all this comes from an average worldly guy, who grew up a-religious, public schooled the whole way through.

Maybe I’m now part of that marginal crowd affectionately knows as ‘old-fashioned’, and if that be the case, I’m in good company.

So be it.

The question of “gay Christianity” is not a minor issue, as it affects our views of the authority of Scripture, the meaning of marriage and sexuality, and the importance of gender distinctions, not to mention having massive implications for the society at large.

The Church continues to struggle with this issue.
Many will pay a price for siding with scripture, and I think this fellow hits on some very
solid truths.

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/in-the-line-of-fire/43874-let-the-separation-come

For my part, if I had to sum up the party platform in a word that
provides meaning to me, it would be: CONSERVATISM

And I do still believe that under our current system of governance,
that the party which embraces conservatism, offers the best chance
for the preservation of liberty, and all of what we as a nation under God,
have cherished for so long.

Just what does it mean to be a Republican?

Well, here’s WIKI’s entry

clearly, if writing were ‘my thing’, I would post more often that like, once every 3 months or whatever..

The Facebooks eats up all my creativity…I blame that thing

Anywhoo, well nothing to say except hi

oh, and I hope I land a job soon.

;/

peace,

R

Interestingly, written on a website that calls itself: sciencebasedmedicine.org

It’s funny, because I’ve seen not a few Physicians in complete support for essential oils, and doTerra in particular, who go deep into the healing properties of oils, etc

Now, I’ll say right from the outset, doTerra decided to build their company using the MLM(gasp) model. Yup, an MLM…it has always struck a  really negative chord with me, ever since the AMWAY days, when someone first approached me to tell me of a “great way to earn some extra money” but they couldn’t really explain what it was they were offering until we were back in the apt, and they had me cornered! Then I managed to wring the “A” word outta them.

Anywhoo, I’ve always said I could NEVER sell, or peddle anything I wasn’t completely convinced was the genuine thing. I have used doTerra oils, and have seen many families use these oils to GREAT benefit. It just plain works. Oils are not a new thing.

MLM’s are.

For better or worse for the company, they have chosen MLM as their vehicle for spreading the word: and it seems to be working.

In this article, there are many ridiculous claims I’m not even going to repeat, but the best part is, they closed the comments, but not before a woman wrote in to simply tell this:

The bleepin stuff works for us!(see comment below)
Well, ok, she didn’t say that, but what better means of refuting false testimony, but with true life experience?\

Go ahead and read it, it’s great.

Oh, and if you feel the need to dig into it, Spring is always happy to enlighten!

Peace,

Rich

ps. the comments regarding doTerra being somewhat vague , and referencing an FDA statement are not a surprise to me.
Why? Because oils are NOT regulated by the FDA.
Do you know what happens when medicine becomes regulated by the FDA?
I do not need to say more

Rrite says:

April 18, 2013 at 3:05 pm

Well, I am an open-minded person, so I like to try new things – as long as their legal! I purchased one of the intro kits from doTerra – the Family Physician’s kit. I tried the following oils and personally saw the following results on me:

1) Melaluca – rubbed on throat where glands were swollen and sore – soreness went away within minutes, no sore throat developed.
2) Eycalyptus – rubbed on chest when I felt a chesty type of cough coming on – feeling went away that day.
3) Uncontrolled coughing – dabbed a little peppermint oil on my tongue – swished it around because I was in the car and didn’t have any water, cough immediately stopped and did not return until hours later – did the peppermint drop right away again – cough went away – next day, no cough at all.

And, going back to the second day of what I figured was going to be a horrible cold/sinus infection – I put two drops of peppermint, two drops of lemon and two drops of melaluca in a veggie cap and took three times a day for three days – plus I drank a drop of melaluca in my water during the day for five days. All cold symptoms were gone within 6 days, and I never developed anything more than a runny nose and sneezing. No sore throat, no cough, headaches, and best of all, no sinus infection! Three others in my office developed the sinus infection!

Sleeping through the night. I usually have insomnia – and I will admit, there have been a couple nights the blend didn’t work, but 99.9 percent of the time when I rub doTerra’s Serenity blend on my feet, I fall asleep within a short time and sleep soundly through the night. (Despite my husband’s snoring!)

My husband breaks out with a rash on his legs – this last time, I put Lavender on him, the rash went away, and no itching.

Right now, I’m using Oregano on a mole – it is rather large, noncancerous, but in a bad location, so it makes me uncomfortable – I have been applying Oregano on it daily – I’ll let you know when (if) it falls off.

I believe that doctor’s are still necessary, but why rush to a doctor if you can cure yourself? The oils aren’t going to hurt you, and the ones that are used most commonly really aren’t that expensive, especially when I think how much I usually spend on cold remedies, that really don’t remedy anything!

It’s good to be skeptical, but don’t poopoo doTerra because it is a MLM – that’s just the price of business – plus, I love that they have soo much info and training on how to use the oils – if you bought this from the healthfood store – you wouldn’t know half of what to do with the oils.

So, go blow a few bucks – buy an oil that might help you!

Saw this recently, and it makes me so sad for the little precious children who

get shoved in <fill in name of care-provider> rather than have a mommy at home.

“It’s so hard to leave <my child>while I go off to work”

How unbelievably sad.

Dear parent, Do you ever stop to just think for  a moment, WHERE that hardness comes from?

And when you’re old do you think you’ll be glad you chose to work rather than raise your own kids?

Sorry for the bluntness folks, I’m a wicked traditionalist, who would love nothing more than to have moms WANT to stay home and raise their children.

The world just ain’t what it used to be.

Each morning, and on the ride home I’ve been posting random ‘commute commentaries’

Everything from candy to cars to Jesus

This am’s gem(a little bit longer than normal)

December 2, 2012

The Psychopathology of the Liberal Mind

By Damon Isherwood

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2012/12/the_psychopathology_of_the_liberal_mind.html at May 31, 2013 – 10:44:00 PM CDT

‘Exit’ is not a member of ‘System.Web.HttpApplicationState’

What the @#$ were they thinking??!!

Put my new chair together yesterday..
Laptop is up and running nicely..dual screen setup w/dock Win7Pro x64
V.S. 2012 happily purring…
Crytstal XI…
Installed Nagios today on a new Ubuntu installation.
We’ll see how it performs,whether or not it’ll suffice to run on a workstation.
A/D/Exchange/Sharepoint are running well for now…
Network diagram is lookin good(thx Mike)
VPN working from home

Much to do!
Cheers!

I will be IT Manager for Modern Pest Services.

I’m excited for what’s in store, and look forward to meeting a whole new batch of folks,

developing new friendships, and learning learning learning!

ps. thanks Tommy

So, I tend to post a few motivating, and honoring vids for your enjoyment.

Slainte!!

sigh..

‘(2) PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY EDUCATION PROGRAMS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term ‘personal
responsibility education program’ means a program that
is designed to educate adolescents on—
‘‘(i) both abstinence and contraception for the
prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted

(the author is speaking about the 50’s)

I have no idea what his worldview is, but I’m guessing it isn’t rooted in a God-centric model.

Idiot

“There is a propaganda war going on now with regard to the term “Palestine.” At one time it might have been argued that Palestine was an innocuous designation of the Middle Eastern area, that is generally thought of as the Holy Land. During the last few decades, however, the term Palestine has been adopted by Arabs living in Israel in the area west of the Jordan River. It is specifically employed to avoid the use of the name Israel, and must be considered an anti-Israel term. In all Arab maps published in Jordan, Egypt, etc., the area west of the Jordan River is called Palestine, without any reference to Israel. Palestine is the term now used by those who want to deny the legitimate existence of Israel as a genuine nation among the family of nations.”

http://www.levitt.com/essays/palestine.html

seriously?

**disclaimer contains  language etc

See, this is the kind of rubbish that typically, the left can only produce, and get away with.

They’ve got nothing.

Nothing.

NOTHING