It has occurred to our masters that one coin of the realm still carries intrinsic value, the nickel, of course.
A five-cent piece is still worth almost five cents. At 75 per cent copper and the rest nickel, it is a slug of highly-desirable metal which is worth something all by itself, no matter what Janet Yellen decrees next month when she takes over from Ben as the official decree-er of value.
Can't have that. Mommiedotguv is trying to figure out a way to debase it without irritating the nickelodeon industry too much.
Some preppers have been tucking away nickels for years, just as other skeptics squirrel away the pre-1982 pennies (the poor man's Krugerrand) from their pocket change. Any bets on who gets the last laugh?
Jan 22, 2014
Care to be my neighbor?
Pretty nice digs just up the lake. For 15 million bucks you can move right in, and I'll do my damndest to make you feel welcome.
It's called "Peace Harbor," a little twee, but you can change it after your check clears.
The seller is Tom Bedell who wasfortunate smart enough to be born to former Congressman Berkeley Bedell who, prior to serving his nation in Washington, pulled off a classic American Horatio Alger act. Berk started tying flies in his bedroom, and years later owned one of the largest fishing tackle companies in the world.
You'll be an easy half-hour paddle from me for those long afternoons when you're bored with your 16 bedrooms, nine baths, and full-size Irish pub (in the basement, I think). You can beach your canoe near my rear door step and give me a hand with the firewood.
It's called "Peace Harbor," a little twee, but you can change it after your check clears.
The seller is Tom Bedell who was
You'll be an easy half-hour paddle from me for those long afternoons when you're bored with your 16 bedrooms, nine baths, and full-size Irish pub (in the basement, I think). You can beach your canoe near my rear door step and give me a hand with the firewood.
Jan 20, 2014
Negroes and guns.
Rational gun people routinely argue that gun control mania is often a tool for -- and result of -- racial bigotry. Lately we're getting more help from academia.
From a review of Nicholas Johnson's Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms:
“Race has always been part of the unspoken motive for gun control in the United States. Johnson provides the best, most thorough history of the topic, telling the story mainly from the perspective and voices of blacks themselves. Shattering the myth of black passivity in the face of violent racism, the book is full of inspiring stories of genuine American heroes—some of them famous and many who were not—who used their Second Amendment rights to defend the civil rights of their people. Never shying away from the hardest questions, Johnson addresses the moral and practical complexities of armed self-defense, past and present. A major contribution to cultural studies and to the history of race in America.”
—David B. Kopel, research director, Independence Institute, Denver, Colorado
From a review of Nicholas Johnson's Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms:
“Race has always been part of the unspoken motive for gun control in the United States. Johnson provides the best, most thorough history of the topic, telling the story mainly from the perspective and voices of blacks themselves. Shattering the myth of black passivity in the face of violent racism, the book is full of inspiring stories of genuine American heroes—some of them famous and many who were not—who used their Second Amendment rights to defend the civil rights of their people. Never shying away from the hardest questions, Johnson addresses the moral and practical complexities of armed self-defense, past and present. A major contribution to cultural studies and to the history of race in America.”
—David B. Kopel, research director, Independence Institute, Denver, Colorado
Miss Mossberg of 1948...
(...or so)
Hardly anyone sets out to collect Mossberg .22 rifles. Among firearms aesthetes it's declasse, like acquiring a hoard of museum quality Vegomatics.
I think that's a shame, though I concede that Winchester, Remington, and Browning made prettier rifles for the 1930-1950s mid-price market, good shooters, light and with finer "feel" and more graceful lines than the slightly cheaper Mossies.
O.F. Mossberg and Sons hardly ever played the anorexria game. Steel was cheap, and what are a few more ounces in a tool designed to contain explosions and deliver energy precisely and consistently? So some of them could look a bit clunky, like the 144ls or the 151.
I have a near-ugly 151* on the rack, seldom cleaned and never treated to spa day. It sometimes goes afield when the population of dirt clods gets out of hand. It kills them quickly and reliably, hardly ever bitching about the kind of ammunition it is fed.
Trading off the 144 ls was one of my all-time great errors. In the 70s I was mildly interested in four-position, 50-foot bullseye shooting, and it yielded nothing to Winchester 52 shooters (although I often did).
The other one I love is the fake Tommy Gun. I've mentioned I picked up a nice one recently to replace another I gave to a nephew. She's been my companion on the two marginally decent plinking days of this evil January.
Mossberg 152. Not for sale. Or trade. Or gifting.
I may even waste time rooting around in old gun magazine for paper copies of contemporary ads.
This one is from late in the 1948-57 production period. The flipper became plastic about 1954.
Even in those calmer days you had to cut ad writers some slack. While the 152 was about the size and heft of the M1 Carbine, the forearm made it a Thompson to its target demographic -- imaginative 12-year-kids.
Minor geekery: The same flip-down marketing ploy was used on the bolt-action Model 142. The 152 came with a "peep" sight, the 152 K with opens. The scoped option never sold well. Most retail prices were a few pennies under $30. Factory magazines held seven rounds, and they are now hard to find. Triple K aftermarkets hold 10 and cost $42 with shipping. Mine required tinkering with a file to even seat, then a little more to feed -- which is still does only about two-thirds of the time. After that dreary drill I ran across an OEM.
---
*The 151 and some others reflect a period in O.F.'s history when it had a serious love affair with Mannlicher stocks and Monte Carlo cheek pieces. If you like retro-Kraut look, fine. If not you wonder, "what the hell? It's a ,22."
Hardly anyone sets out to collect Mossberg .22 rifles. Among firearms aesthetes it's declasse, like acquiring a hoard of museum quality Vegomatics.
I think that's a shame, though I concede that Winchester, Remington, and Browning made prettier rifles for the 1930-1950s mid-price market, good shooters, light and with finer "feel" and more graceful lines than the slightly cheaper Mossies.
O.F. Mossberg and Sons hardly ever played the anorexria game. Steel was cheap, and what are a few more ounces in a tool designed to contain explosions and deliver energy precisely and consistently? So some of them could look a bit clunky, like the 144ls or the 151.
I have a near-ugly 151* on the rack, seldom cleaned and never treated to spa day. It sometimes goes afield when the population of dirt clods gets out of hand. It kills them quickly and reliably, hardly ever bitching about the kind of ammunition it is fed.
Trading off the 144 ls was one of my all-time great errors. In the 70s I was mildly interested in four-position, 50-foot bullseye shooting, and it yielded nothing to Winchester 52 shooters (although I often did).
The other one I love is the fake Tommy Gun. I've mentioned I picked up a nice one recently to replace another I gave to a nephew. She's been my companion on the two marginally decent plinking days of this evil January.
Mossberg 152. Not for sale. Or trade. Or gifting.
I may even waste time rooting around in old gun magazine for paper copies of contemporary ads.
This one is from late in the 1948-57 production period. The flipper became plastic about 1954.
Even in those calmer days you had to cut ad writers some slack. While the 152 was about the size and heft of the M1 Carbine, the forearm made it a Thompson to its target demographic -- imaginative 12-year-kids.
Minor geekery: The same flip-down marketing ploy was used on the bolt-action Model 142. The 152 came with a "peep" sight, the 152 K with opens. The scoped option never sold well. Most retail prices were a few pennies under $30. Factory magazines held seven rounds, and they are now hard to find. Triple K aftermarkets hold 10 and cost $42 with shipping. Mine required tinkering with a file to even seat, then a little more to feed -- which is still does only about two-thirds of the time. After that dreary drill I ran across an OEM.
---
*The 151 and some others reflect a period in O.F.'s history when it had a serious love affair with Mannlicher stocks and Monte Carlo cheek pieces. If you like retro-Kraut look, fine. If not you wonder, "what the hell? It's a ,22."
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