the things worth believing in

…doesn’t necessarily mean he knows what he’s talking about.

I’m very open minded and can be easy to convince that I could be mistaken given good evidence, but this guy leaves me thinking…. Uhhhh…what? Anybody know who this guy is? Or what unit he is teaching here? Am I way off base?

Image by Oberazzi via Flickr

A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter’s accusation, he simply replied “Is that so?”

When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. “Is that so?” Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.

For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With profuse apologies they explained what had happened. “Is that so?” Hakuin said as he handed them the child.

Take a look at this video. It’s some footage of the Chiappa Rhino .357 revolver. If you take a close look, the barrel is at 6 o’clock on the cylinder instead of at 12. That means that the recoil is directed almost straight into the arm instead of cranking upwards on the wrist. Muzzle whip is reduced and follow-up shots faster to acquire. Very interesting. I wonder how well the concept will take on?

An interesting vid that shows how the firing mechanism in this bad boy works:

What makes this video interesting is that it shows just how much of a precision instrument a revolver really is. While the set-up here is unique, most revolvers have more going on behind those grips than many realize.

The common lore regarding revolvers focuses on how reliable they are..they dont jam, all you have to do is point and pull the trigger, etc. etc. All of that is true, but that is not due to simplicity of design. Revolvers have many precise parameters they have to meet to function. Cylinders need precise clearances, they need to rotate to exact positions, springs and levers need to join trigger to hammer to cylinder, etc. A wheel-gun’s reliability isn’t necessarily due to the KISS principle.

They dont make them like this very often anymore.
Read about the life of James Stewart.

An actor who gave it all up to serve his country and actually fought as a combat pilot. No cushy rear area job for this guy. He enlisted as a private and retired from service as a general. Married only one woman and actually kept the “till death do we part” vow too. How many bona-fide movie stars can match that?

Jimmy Stewart insisted that he was just one of the boys, no more important than any other serviceman. He refused to talk to reporters about his war experiences or appear in any kind of publicity event that capitalized on his service. He also refused to act in movies that depicted combat, leading him to turn down lucrative roles in big movies like Midway and The Longest Day. He explained, “They’re just hardly ever the way it really is.”

…

Jimmy Stewart died at his home of a pulmonary blood clot at the age of eighty nine on July 2, 1997. His funeral service was held at The Presbyterian Church which was the family church in Beverly Hills. The Stewart family sat in the same pew for forty years. Here he was married and where his wife’s funeral was held a few years prior to his own.  He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

I was thinking of titling this one “He who runs away, lives to fight another day”.

When searching a structure (this isn’t a military operation), don’t get into the mental rut of “NO RETREAT”. There is no hurry here, no need to be kicking doors, making dynamic entries and doing John Wu style rolls into rooms. Take your time and slice the pie. Clear what you can from a safe location.

Make your entry and immediately clear any area you couldn’t see from the outside.

Consolidate your position and begin to deal with any areas that require checking.

If you see someone, don’t allow the adrenalin to override your good sense. A small room is not the best place to deal with a possibly armed opponent. Especially if it’s possible that there could be a second guy behind that object.

If you don’t have to immediately use deadly force, SOMETIMES (nothing is set in stone here) it may be best to back out of the room to a secure area and call the bad guy out to you.