I miss you Pop.

The years really do not lessen the loss.

--WP

Deep Throat did it for Revenge

From the Washington Post:

"Woodward said Felt helped The Post at a time of tense relations between the White House and much of the FBI hierarchy. He said the Watergate break-in came shortly after the death of legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Felt's mentor, and that Felt and other bureau officials wanted to see an FBI veteran promoted to succeed Hoover.

Felt himself had hopes that he would be the next FBI director, but Nixon instead appointed an administration insider, assistant attorney general L. Patrick Gray, to the post."

No matter what anyone else says about "Patriotism", just remember the two paragraphs above- Felt wanted revenge and got it, what a weasley fucking piece of shit...

--WP

UltraMag 50

We could not make it to the range today to test out the UltraMag 50, and I could not even take the following images, but my friend did use my camera. If you click on the link underneath each image, your load times may take a bit as the images, and quality vary:



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The range report will follow just as soon as I can tag along with him...

--WP

EDITED

For those that have been asking about the scope, it is a Leupold Mark 4 LR/T Mark 4 4.5-14x50mm LR/T M1.

SECOND EDIT
See this post for a bit more.

Decoration Day

Today it is called Memorial Day.

Never forget why they died.

I think we are going to try my friends new toy out. If we do, pictures will be posted.

--WP

One of my latest projects- a MS MCE 2005 box.

I recently had a client request that I build him a Microsoft MCE 2005 system. I had never built one before, so it was a first. His specifications were that it had to be small, lots of RAM, lots of storage, wireless keyboard and mouse and use a TV card that would allow him to add another later on.

Here are the specifications of said system:

1. Shuttle SN45G
2. ATI AIW 9800Pro
3. AMD Athlon XP3200+
4. Crucial 1GB RAM (x2) = 2GB of RAM
5. Maxtor 300GB 16MB Cache HD x2 = 600GB of storage (He chose these- I would have chosen Western Digital)
6. Logitech DiNovo Wireless Bluetooth Kyeboard and Mouse

I was worried about heat in this SFF (Small Form Factor) system, but he wanted this small box.

I installed components and software and ran it for about three weeks just to get the feel of it and the bugs out- and will deliver it this Tuesday. Heat was not too great a concern after all.

Now, I do not like to sell anything without having a duplicate or at least a system that has the same OS on it, and Mrs. P. liked it the first time I put it up. So what did I have to do but build one for us.

I did not want to drop the cash into hardware that is not needed, so I figured I would adapt a system I had sitting about. I thought about it and in the interim one of my suppliers had the MS MCE OEM version $30.00 less than I had paid for the first copy and he dropped the price for the remote by $12.00 to match another dealer so I had grabbed his deal. Now for the hardware.

I had a case, MB, another XP3200+ and one 160GB SATA HD that I could use, grab a DVD burner from another system, but would still need memory, another HD and a video card to do this with. After adding up what it would cost me, I did not really want to spend the cash, so I thought some more.

Last February, Dell had a special on the SC420 entry level server. I found out about this when perusing HardOCP and a link to the forums section- Hot Deals. It was selling online for $229.00 with a Celeron, 256MB of RAM, and a 40GB HD. There was only one minor problem- I hate Dell.

My expierence with them has not been good and I think they sell junk that is non-standard and very limiting to the client. Further, they have convinced too many that it is better to junk a viable system as oppossed to upgrading it. I vehemently disagree with this most of the time. However, I had another client who had been pestering me about buying one and checking it out since last July. Well, I looked at the options, $10.00 more to go to 80GB, and another $100.00 to go to a real processor- a 2.8GHz Pentium IV. I thought it over fairly quickly- it was a one-day sale, and plunked down the card and bought it with the upgrades and the "free keyboard and mouse". At worst, I could part it out and at least make my money back if I did not like it.

When it arrived, I was not disappointed as my expectations were low, and this box meet them. I had upgraded the memory in March to 1GB, and since it arrived, I have had three flavors of Linux on it and two different MS Server OS's on it- but I just could not put it into my network on a permanent basis.

Well getting back to the project story, I was sitting around last week when it hit me- use the damnable Dell box! I ripped it open and checked it out and then went here and there to read what others had done to it.

Paydirt! Others had used it exactly for what I wanted it to use it for. I selected the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X600Pro but the PCIe slot on the motherboard would be a problem so I read the threads ALL the way through and decided I could mod the slot just as easily- and I did. I need to explain here what I mean by modding the slot. The slot is actually a PCIe 16X slot, but Dell added two plastic dams into the slot that prevent anyone from using anything other than a PCIe 8X Video card. However, there is one minor problem- nobody makes one. Dell added these two plastic dams to the slot because they lost there ass over the SC400 as many people just dropped a fast video card into the box and used it as a gaming system. To prevent this happening again, Dell made sure you would lose any warranty you had by forcing the end user into modding the slot if he wanted anything more than the onbaord 8MB video.

I wanted more.

One man saved me a hunk of change by pointing out that he had bought the same card at Newegg from the refurb section and paid $98.00 which was $87.00 less than new. The project was on as of last Saturday and I started work on it Friday afternoon and finished it, while I worked on a few other systems this weeked.

Before:





Here are the images of the slot moddification and actual markings that it is a PCIe x16 slot:



I used a torn business card and an old stick of RAM for a brace and guard when dremeling out the dam the memory braces:



The Video Card and how it fits perfectly in the slot:





BIOS and Boot Screen Shot of Suse 9.3:





Besides a dremel, I used this tool the NRA gave me to clean things up a bit:



The final specifications on this system are Pentium IV 2.8GHz w/ 1MB cache, 1GB of DDR2 533MHz RAM, 1 Maxtor 80GB SATA (Boot and Apps Partition) and one 160GB WDC SATA HD (For Recorded TV), ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X600Pro w/ 256MB of RAM, Lite-On 1673S 16X DVDRW, 48x CD-ROM, Adaptec 3-Port Firewire PCI Card, Creative Labs SB Live! 5.1 Digital, MS Keyboard and Mouse, and MS Windows XP MCE 2005.

As I type this, Mrs. P. is using the new system right now, and I am much more at ease as I do not like putting out a system that I do not have duplicated or at least the same OS running on a box.

I would suggest that if anyone is now deciding to build a MCE 2005 system, Google it and visit the great forums and blogs available- like the The Green Button.

Oh- Mrs. P. is watching right now, and it is time for a drink...

--WP

EDITED MARCH 10th, 2006

This is one of my most visited pages, and I thank you for the traffic, and ask that if you have found this post and the embedded links of benefit- then post a comment, otherwise, I am not updating it anymore.

--WP

WP

Well, it is official

The Paranoid Girls in order of age:

1. Eldest PG: Age Eleven (11½) - 5'7"
2. Middle PG: Age Nine (9½) - 4'10¼"
3. Youngest PG: Age Four (4¾) - 3'8½"

--WP

This Memorial Day Weekend

While you are contemplating the reasons why this national holiday was created, just remember:



The image was stolen from here, as I did not want to hotlink it.

--WP

"Let's roll nigger! Let's roll!"

This (3.3MB MPG) was found at this thread in The Gun Zone forum at the American Backyard.

It is obvious, these boys never heard of the three S'...

--WP

One very cool site.

N. FLAYDERMAN & CO., INC.

--WP

Been so busy that I have not looked at my tracking stats.

For a very long time, so what do I see, but a link from a pretty little girl called Darlin' Joy.

Her blog, as she states in her masthead, is: "My recovery from the little adventure in the great country of guerilla warfare, drug trafficking, civil unrest, kidnapping, and coffee...otherwise known as Colombia".

--WP

Rat on Your Neighbor or be a Felon

A blog worth noting and linking too is Stop HR 1528.

From the first post:

Below is a particularly nasty excerpt from:
HR 1528; To amend the Controlled Substances Act to protect vulnerable persons from drug trafficking, and for other purposes.

'FAILURE TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM DRUG TRAFFICKING ACTIVITIES `SEC. 425. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person who witnesses or learns of a violation of sections 416(b)(2), 417, 418, 419, 420, 424, or 426 to fail to report the offense to law enforcement officials within 24 hours of witnessing or learning of the violation and thereafter provide full assistance in the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of the person violating paragraph (a). `(b) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be sentenced to not less than two years or more than 10 years. If the person who witnesses or learns of the violation is the parent or guardian, or otherwise responsible for the care or supervision of the person under the age of 18 or the incompetent person, such person shall be sentenced to not less than three years or more than 20 years.'

Go to the source and read the rest of the offal.

Here is the bastard who proposed this "Rat on Your Neighbor or be a Felon" bill and more can be found in the newsgroups.

So Commissar Sensenbrenner just exactly how do you plan on enforcing it? Or is it just another way you plan on wiping your ass with the Constitution and Bill of Rights?

--WP

A couple of incidents relevant to the work I have been doing.

Much of the past two weeks has been clean-up and prevention for my clients, along with a new server for one, and here are two articles. One from GW's IT expert, and another about a hospital- hit very hard.

The rise of the 'bot': how your PC could be hijacked by terrorists and criminals
Computers hacked into and used for extortion, money laundering and 'nation state attacks'? The danger is real, George Bush's IT expert tells Clayton Hirst

15 May 2005

The PC in your home could be part of a complex international terrorist network. Without you realising it, your computer could be helping to launder millions of pounds, attacking companies' websites or cracking confidential government codes.

This is not the stuff of science fiction or a conspiracy theory from a paranoid mind, but a warning from one of the world's most-respected experts on computer crime. Dr Peter Tippett is chief technology officer at Cybertrust, a US computer security company, and a senior adviser on the issue to President George Bush. His warning is stark: criminals and terrorists are hijacking home PCs over the internet, creating "bot" computers to carry out illegal activities.

And,

Computer hacking strikes hospital

HEALTH CARE: Medical center lost line of credit, but now starting to profit again after months in the red

BY GINA CZARK
gczark@nwitimes.com
219.933.3234

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, May 14, 2005 12:50 AM CDT

A computer hacker erased Illiana Surgery and Medical Center's entire computer system -- all medical records, software and every piece of data -- leading to rumors of the medical center's impending demise as bills went unpaid.

With expenses on the rise from the new hospital and claims not being received because of the computer hacking in December, Illiana's bank, National City, got nervous, Illiana President and CEO Dr. Vijay Gupta said. Almost immediately, the bank withdrew a $6 million loan and told Illiana it had to be repaid immediately, he said.

Here, is the Google search on Peter Tippett and several on Cybertrust, are found, but you need to dig a bit deeper to get a real history.

The advice is always the same though, lock your doors with a good firewall, anti-virus, anti-trojan and worm tools. If you do not know how to do these things, then find someone who does, listen, and implement the suggestions. Other helpful solutions are alternative browsers and operating systems (but both have problems too).

These provide no guarantees, but if you keep things up to date, you can be sure that you have done a good job protecting you and your family.

Now, if we could just hunt them down and put a bullet in several of them...

--WP

It has been a busy two weeks.

And the next two will be more of the same.

Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Spyware, Spam, constant problems between the "Keyboards and Chairs", new systems, old systems, POS systems that the new clients have, clients with client problems (and on-site trips to solve them), and of course family.

Well, no use spouting a sob story- everyone has them, and what I need is to make time to throw some lead down range. Within the next two weeks I will be doing just that as a good friend is waiting to for this to arrive this week.

I am already salivating at his offer to to try it out with him...

--WP

Billboard Causes Panic: Los Angeles Population Plummets 14% in Three Days

Billboard Causes Panic: Los Angeles Population Plummets 14% in Three Days

by Mac Johnson
Posted May 12, 2005

Los Angeles -- A controversial billboard campaign in Los Angeles continued to make headlines this week as anger rapidly turned to confusion and hysteria.

The billboard, advertising a Spanish Language television station, originally made news by enraging many Americans with its aggressive Mexican Nationalist message --declaring that Los Angeles was no longer part of the United States, but was instead a Mexican city once again.

Below the banner message in which "Los Angeles, CA" had been crossed out and changed in blaring red type to read "Los Angeles, MEXICO," the billboard pronounced in Spanish "Your City. Your Team."

Now Gringo anger is the least of the problems caused by the Billboard, as the apparently quite believable reconquista it announces sends shockwaves through the city's residents, Anglo and Latino alike. In a scene reminiscent of war-torn Europe 60 years ago, the roads leading north out of Los Angeles are choked with thousands of Mexican refugees stoically carrying their meager possessions with them.

Further:

Anti-American liberal whites in Los Angeles briefly poured into the streets to celebrate L.A.'s "liberation" from United States "hegemony", but they were quickly dispersed with massive force from the Federale LAPD. Commented one smiling officer as he repeatedly swung his baton onto a crying trustafarian, "Where's your First Amendment NOW, pinko?" The officer then asked us to pay a $100 cash fee for a "reporting license." "After this, I'm gonna start me a drug gang!" he told a grinning friend standing nearby, on the thin neck of a "Peace Activist".

Fortunately, I was not drinking anything when I first read this...

--WP

"As this students appearance demonstrates..."

I received this video (1.2MB WMV) in from a man, who runs one of the Gun Shows in Texas, and I had seen it before, and the one thing it demonstrates for me is that the kid could not walk, let alone keep his pants up if he tried...

--WP

In the US Congress there is one- Ron Paul.

Is there now one in the US Senate?

Robert D. Novak:
Senate colleagues dislike Dr. Tom Coburn?s Rx
By ROBERT D. NOVAK

DR. TOM COBURN, a U.S. senator from Oklahoma for less than four months, last week was up to old tricks he started playing in the House a decade ago. He was making colleagues? lives miserable by exposing wasteful, unnecessary spending that is supposed to stay hidden. The Senate establishment, like its House counterpart, has retaliated by bringing ethics charges against the obstetrician-senator for going home to Muskogee, Okla., to deliver babies.

I am not really sure yet, but it would be a start...

--WP

Gun Rights at Minuteman Project

For Immediate Release
May 1, 2005
Full contact info at end
1-800-707-4020
alan@gunlaws.com

EYEWITNESS MINUTEMAN ACCOUNT
EYEWITNESS MINUTEMAN ACCOUNT
EYEWITNESS MINUTEMAN ACCOUNT

by Alan Korwin, Author
Gun Laws of America

OVERVIEW

I went to the Arizona - Mexico border, with my close friend Brad Beebe, to witness for myself what was going on with the Minuteman Project (MMP). Gun rights were under a microscope, I had to look with my own eyes.

Nearly everything I had heard in the news was flat wrong. These were the most decent, friendly, dedicated, concerned bunch of people I have met. And Mexico must be far worse than the news media paints it, with 5,000 people A DAY trying to escape from there -- that's worse than the communist countries experienced.

The fresh volunteers who drifted in as we arrived that morning were from Minnesota, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, California and we were the only two from Arizona, which concerned Brad. Two women volunteers at the briefings were overheard saying, "What a great group of guys... every day, another great group."

I half expected to find a bunch of gun-toting bubbas milling around, hoping to hunt down Mexicans (the news-media perspective). Instead, I found a highly organized, quasi-military sense of command, control and communication, because the men best suited to run such a large-scale "neighborhood watch" were all ex-military, and there they were using those skills. They were able to haul out their old military training, set up a chain of command, assign people to positions on the line, and make the whole thing work. What's the next step below completely green recruits? Civilian volunteers, and that's all they had to work with. They made it work. There was no racism evident anywhere. I had no trouble getting involved.

So far (4/26/05), 847 Minutemen have volunteered, and 330 captures have been made by the Border Patrol (BP) due to MMP reports, according to an MMP supervisor.

A BP captain informed us they had caught a total of 268,000 "illegals" (the word people use down there) from Oct. 2004 thru April 25, 2005 (that's roughly 1,300 per day; their fiscal year starts in Oct.) About 20,000 of these were OTMs, the BP captain's term for "other than Mexicans," and he wouldn't reveal how many were from terrorist watchlist nations. (Full details of our meeting with him at the end of this report).

WHAT IT IS

The Minuteman Project is essentially an exercise of constitutional rights under the First Amendment. We were using the guaranteed rights of speech and assembly, that's all. Have you seen that in any media reports? People were gathering on land where they had a right to be, and communicating. In some countries you could be shot or jailed for such impertinence. We were exercising rights we have a right to exercise.

A few simple principles applied.

1. A 100% no-contact policy.

You were to have no direct contact with any illegals spotted. Don't offer them food or water, don't converse, avoid them. If they come toward you move away. Some illegals had attempted contact, and then made claims of assault to discredit the MMP efforts. Don't even wave. These immigrants understand that if a BP agent makes a downward waving motion, they are to sit down right where they are and wait to be picked up. If you waved, you had to put your hand down afterwards, and the illegals might take that as a command to sit. If they sat, then you had detained them, with negative legal impacts on the project and yourself. Avoid all contact. If they approach or even attack, get in your vehicle and leave. Leave your goods behind if necessary. It was this approach that has kept the MMP squeaky clean and above reproach (despite media hysteria otherwise).

2. Observe and report.

Note how many illegals you observed, how many men, women, children. Are any in apparent need of medical help, we don't want people to suffer. What are they wearing, are they carrying babies, or anything else, especially backpacks which would be indicative of drug smuggling. Which way are they headed. Then call BP by cell phone -- everyone was given the emergency response phone numbers -- and your job is done. We were to assist the BP, not to be the BP. We were not freelance police, we were observers. We were not protecting a spot. After BP arrives, leave promptly so they needn't include you in their report, which undesirably increases their workload.

3. Be respectful.

Joining up with this team, it became each person's responsibility to project a good clean image. This was a joy. It was a point of pride. It made Brad and I walk tall. And it was easy, because everywhere we went, people gushed with thanks and congratulations on the good work we were doing. They were delighted that the project had been created, and that the flood if illegals, at least for the time being, had stopped. More than one person said they were getting better sleep because the dogs weren't barking all night long. A few started out in whispers, then gradually, enthusiastically, revealed stories of their own contact with the illegals, for as long as they had a Minuteman's ear. (A few short samples at the end of this report.)

4. Avoid the news media and the ACLU.

The dirty tricks that had been tried were blood curdling. The news media could, and many did, take anything you might say and twist it for sensationalism, and to make the MMP look bad. You've read the news reports these people generated, how closely does that match the eyewitness report I'm giving you here? The solution the organizers applied was to avoid giving them unwitting support. Both the media and ACLU "observers" had tried to instigate trouble by dressing as illegals, emerging from the woods, and attempting to provoke hostilities. The ACLU have made fools of themselves, have been disrespectful, set fires, baited us, under the "leadership" of a young individual named Ray Ybarra, with support from their leadership locally and nationally.

5. On the line, all guns stay holstered.

Don't show it off, examine it, clean it, fix it, load it, lube it, take it out for any reason, except to save your life, if that becomes immediately necessary. In the unlikely event that you are shot at from across the border, do not return fire, duck, and leave. No exceptions, zero tolerance, and no long guns on the line. This is Arizona, and wearing a gun (literally, "bearing arms") is perfectly legal (as it ought to be in all states). The news media has showed an unethical, totally anti-rights bias on this point, using ridicule, derision and a hoplophobic sense of distress that cries out for medical attention. What better place to exercise this right than in a notoriously bad neighborhood, with illegal hordes and criminals streaming in. Since you were supposed to avoid all contact and depart if approached, all guns stayed holstered. More than half of the people I saw were armed, a comforting sight all things considered, and more than half of those carried revolvers. Our t!
rainer made it clear that we were being watched very closely -- the whole world was watching -- and the last thing we needed was to give these people, and the media's bigots, any excuse at all to malign the good work we had set out to do.

6. Do not step over the border into Mexico.

If you do, and are caught, you can be arrested and spend two years in a Mexican prison. They don't have a revolving door immigration policy like we do. The rules were clear, with no wiggle room.

WHAT IT ISN'T

It isn't racism, the KKK, skinheads, Nazis, bullies, bubbas, yahoos or most anything else the news media, and especially hyperventilating editorial writers, have claimed. Most especially it is not vigilantism. Vigilantes take the law into their own hands. As observers, that was not remotely our role. Vigilantes are by definition bad. Being vigilant, on the other hand, is something the Dept. of Homeland Security has asked all Americans to be, and it's smart. We were complying. That felt good. Surprisingly good.

Despite media reports, the MMP isn't hated by the Border Patrol. It's just the opposite -- the BP union publicly stated that they welcomed the support, and that the MMP was effective, courteous and doing good (U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544, their statement is at the end of this report; the union says it is the ACLU people that have been causing trouble). The official BP position is that they have no position, and do not support the effort. Privately, tacitly, it was obvious we were not hated, even though our presence complicated some of BP's tasks -- just look at all that news media they have had to deal with and navigate around. And the lack of illegals has left some of the agents, well, bored.

Rather than make this email too long, I'll get the rest of the report posted on my website by tomorrow. Look for a blue Minuteman Project button at gunlaws.com, to read about:

MINUTEMAN ORIENTATION

WORKING THE LINE

WHY THERE'S A PROBLEM

WHERE IT'S HEADED

Notes from our half-hour meeting with BP Capt. Jose Garza

Some anecdotes

Statements from U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544 website
(the largest Border Patrol union local in the country):
http://www.local2544.org

"We want to make it clear -- because we've had a lot of questions about this -- we have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this sector about the Minutemen."

"Every report we've received indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents; they're courteous. Many of them are retired firefighters, cops and other professionals, and they're not causing us any problems whatsoever."

"Reports of [Minutemen] causing 'ground sensors' to go off are exagerated because most of those are being set off by the ACLU sneaking around trying to find the Minutemen doing something wrong."

Contact:
Alan Korwin
BLOOMFIELD PRESS
"We publish the gun laws."
4718 E. Cactus #440
Phoenix, AZ 85032
602-996-4020 Phone
602-494-0679 FAX
1-800-707-4020 Orders
Gun Laws of America
alan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for a free catalog.

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran