The Road is, in essence, about two mentally challenged humanoids looking for the fastest way to die on the road. Normal human watching this would feel their intelligence being drained as the movies goes along.
There are a few good points. The depiction of the end of the world looks quite real. For example, resorting to cannibalism, when food gets really scarce, is very accurate. History has showed us that many times.
However, the bad points overwhelm the good ones.
What's the point of walking down the road? Walking down the main road may be faster to reach their imagined destination but it's also faster to encounter cannibals who apparently have both guns and cars. A little geophysics would teach them that if the cloud has blocked sun, it’s not necessarily warmer down south. This point may be debatable, but the next point is not. No sane person, except for when they are from Hollywood, would go on a trip with nothing to defend themselves or no food to sustain the trip while with cannibals roaming around. That's suicidal.
The portrait of the two main characters is NOT correct unless they are mentally challenged because anybody, even he or she has no idea how to survive, after the first few weeks or so on the road and if not dead, would pick up really quickly. Things like how to make weapons (No bullets? Human ingenuity should have helped them to develop other weapons such as bows and spears), how not to travel without enough food or protection, how to avoid the main road, how to be quiet and invisible, and how NOT to idiotically abandon the underground bunker full of food and supplies.
However, it is conceivable that they have already exhausted their local resource. It's a die-die situation if they don't go on this trip. Even so, it should have been planed way ahead of time BEFORE they had exhausted their local resource so that they could use some of the local resource (food, water and weapons) to support their expedition. Human is a kind of animal that knows how to plan, learn, and MAKE TOOLS.
The proper way to do this is NOT to take a long trip but many short ones, frog leaping forward. For example, he goes from location B to C, then leave the kid to guard the supplies while he goes back to B to move the rest of supplies to C. The key is that one must always make sure he has adequate supplies to his livelihood. When guarding the supplies, don't stay with the supplies! Hide them, then hide himself somewhere else but close enough so that he can watch the supplies from a distance.
Those, who don’t know how to plan or learn, don't survive any longer than a few weeks to a few months. One starving day would have taught them very quickly even if they are a little slow at the beginning.
Only in Hollywood human can live off SPAM. Feeding on SPAM only helps in the interim, a few weeks maybe. Without vitamins and other nutrition etc, the body would rot. This happened in Louis and Clark Expedition.
Finally, the two pushing a shopping cart is really laughable. Its wheels would fall off after a mile on the bumpy road.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, July 10, 2009
Why Pump Action Shotgun Is Not The Best Self-Defense Weapon?
Because I am stupid...
I personally don't like to use pump-action shotgun as my self-defense weapon for the following reasons:
1. It's slow to shoot.
No matter how much you practice, it is slow to shoot because you have to work the pump. In our bird hunting trips, friends with pump-action shotguns often have trouble delivering follow-up shots because they have to work the pump. Those of us, who carry semis, have no such headache.
2. You have to work the pump.
a. When you rake the pump slide and your shotgun generates this chung ching sound. I know this sounds cool in the movies, but the reality is much harsher than what you want to believe. When some bad guy hears this sound, he would do one of the three things: run if he still has any common sense, wait until you fire at him if he's so stoned out or fire at the sound if he is desperate and has a gun. When I in a gun fight, I like all the possible odds to be at my favor. I DO NOT want to give him the chance to know my position by the stupid chung ching.
b. Cool, you load your shotgun beforehand and only flip off the safety to ready your weapon. Great move! Now, after the first shot and the threat is still there, what do you must do? Right, work the pump again instead of instantaneous follow-up shots!
c. For untrained users, (how many of us are really well trained?) working the pump action often moves the gun away from the intended target. Very often the operator tends to under-pump it which either jams the gun or loses a chance to fire.
d. working the pump is a two hand operation.
3. low ammo capacity. Hardly can any form of shotgun take more than 10 rounds except for the A12 with 50rd magazine - how heavy is that? After 10 rounds, if the fight still not over, it's probably the time to bail, but life is not that simple. If you have loved ones to protect, running is not an option. Don't even think about killing swarming zombies with a shotgun. That's stupid not because there's no zombie, but because it's a stupid weapon choice tactically.
4. lack of precision. A shotgun loaded with 00 Buckshot will spread roughly 1 inch per yard. A typical room distance is somewhere 15-30 feet, 10 yard max. At 10 yard or even 5, if the bad guy is holding your wife/daughter hostage, how can you deliver the killing shot at his 10 inch head protruded slightly from your woman's head?
5. heavy recoil. Most women would flinch under the kick of a 12ga shotgun - you can hardly expect them to use it properly without enough training. Pump action produces more kick than semi.
6. impossible to reload. Go try to load it and you will see. Almost everybody can reload an magazine fed AR15 under 1 second. How fast can you reload your shotgun?
7. No, it's not point and shoot. For those of you who think you can just point the shotgun and shoot, well, you can but you will also likely miss the target. Shotguns just like rifles, they need to be operated properly: two hands to hold the gun and shoulder the weapon properly, then AIM and shoot!
My favorite self-defense weapon is my ninja sword, no, actually it is my AR15 just like most law enforcement officers. I can easily attach 2 magazines with 30 rounds each. It has recoil so low that a petty woman can shoot with ease. Precision is no problem as i can hit a 3 inch target at 100 yards; within room distance, i can do that in a fraction of a second.
However, if I shoot some intruder with an AR15, some newspaper would have produced news like "Homeowner mows down local drunk with assault rifle!!!" On the contrary, if I shoot the same intruder with a good old American shotgun, I would probably get a pat on the back and an "attaboy!"
My current setup is a Mossberg 930 semi-automatic shotgun loaded with 8 00 Buckshots in combination with two pistols. After all 8 shots, I do plan to run while using the pistols to cover my retreat.
I personally don't like to use pump-action shotgun as my self-defense weapon for the following reasons:
1. It's slow to shoot.
No matter how much you practice, it is slow to shoot because you have to work the pump. In our bird hunting trips, friends with pump-action shotguns often have trouble delivering follow-up shots because they have to work the pump. Those of us, who carry semis, have no such headache.
2. You have to work the pump.
a. When you rake the pump slide and your shotgun generates this chung ching sound. I know this sounds cool in the movies, but the reality is much harsher than what you want to believe. When some bad guy hears this sound, he would do one of the three things: run if he still has any common sense, wait until you fire at him if he's so stoned out or fire at the sound if he is desperate and has a gun. When I in a gun fight, I like all the possible odds to be at my favor. I DO NOT want to give him the chance to know my position by the stupid chung ching.
b. Cool, you load your shotgun beforehand and only flip off the safety to ready your weapon. Great move! Now, after the first shot and the threat is still there, what do you must do? Right, work the pump again instead of instantaneous follow-up shots!
c. For untrained users, (how many of us are really well trained?) working the pump action often moves the gun away from the intended target. Very often the operator tends to under-pump it which either jams the gun or loses a chance to fire.
d. working the pump is a two hand operation.
3. low ammo capacity. Hardly can any form of shotgun take more than 10 rounds except for the A12 with 50rd magazine - how heavy is that? After 10 rounds, if the fight still not over, it's probably the time to bail, but life is not that simple. If you have loved ones to protect, running is not an option. Don't even think about killing swarming zombies with a shotgun. That's stupid not because there's no zombie, but because it's a stupid weapon choice tactically.
4. lack of precision. A shotgun loaded with 00 Buckshot will spread roughly 1 inch per yard. A typical room distance is somewhere 15-30 feet, 10 yard max. At 10 yard or even 5, if the bad guy is holding your wife/daughter hostage, how can you deliver the killing shot at his 10 inch head protruded slightly from your woman's head?
5. heavy recoil. Most women would flinch under the kick of a 12ga shotgun - you can hardly expect them to use it properly without enough training. Pump action produces more kick than semi.
6. impossible to reload. Go try to load it and you will see. Almost everybody can reload an magazine fed AR15 under 1 second. How fast can you reload your shotgun?
7. No, it's not point and shoot. For those of you who think you can just point the shotgun and shoot, well, you can but you will also likely miss the target. Shotguns just like rifles, they need to be operated properly: two hands to hold the gun and shoulder the weapon properly, then AIM and shoot!
My favorite self-defense weapon is my ninja sword, no, actually it is my AR15 just like most law enforcement officers. I can easily attach 2 magazines with 30 rounds each. It has recoil so low that a petty woman can shoot with ease. Precision is no problem as i can hit a 3 inch target at 100 yards; within room distance, i can do that in a fraction of a second.
However, if I shoot some intruder with an AR15, some newspaper would have produced news like "Homeowner mows down local drunk with assault rifle!!!" On the contrary, if I shoot the same intruder with a good old American shotgun, I would probably get a pat on the back and an "attaboy!"
My current setup is a Mossberg 930 semi-automatic shotgun loaded with 8 00 Buckshots in combination with two pistols. After all 8 shots, I do plan to run while using the pistols to cover my retreat.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
My Kimber Story
I used to be a die-hard 1911 lover. Loved the style, loved the design and loved how it felt in my hands.
My first gun ever was a brand new Colt 1991A1 Commander Stainless and I loved it, well mostly because I did not know better. The gun was a jammo-maniac, but I thought that was normal from some old/obsolete reading I did. My enthusiasm died quickly because I spent so much time doing malfunction drills at range.
Much later in life, I bought a Beretta 92FS out of many considerations, one of which was that i wanted to try a different platform. I had so much fun shooting that pistol! Yes, it's big and bulky, but I was shocked by its out-of-box accuracy AND there's not a single failure. In fact, it has never failed even once ever!
What a joy!!!
The Beretta 92FS showed me how a fine firearm should perform. Since then, I acquired many other handguns but none of them was 1911 style, and none of them ever malfunctioned.
Fast forward to 2005 when Hurricane Rita was looming around Texas coast. It was the first time I loaded all my guns at home getting ready for evacuation. To my horror, I had no concealed handgun license (CHL), and Texas laws back then prohibited car-carry. As a law-abiding citizen, I had to lock all my guns in their cases and put them in my trunk. It was truly a fun time driving in 100+ degree weather at 1 mile per hour traffic jam with people's temper getting even hotter. Needless to say, I promptly joined CHL class after that and now wanted a carry weapon.
I did a lot of research on what to carry. I was not so keen on carrying a loaded gun without any external safety - my own personal preference/comfort level. I was also a slim built person who weighed 170 lbs; therefore size of the gun was my main consideration.
I finally narrowed them down to:
Beretta 92FS - too thick
HK USP - I boycott HK, another story, and they are too thick
Kimber Ultra CDP II
The Kimber Ultra CDP II was a fab and was a sleazy looking pistol, designed specifically for concealed carry with its slim size and melt design (no edges.)
I was very leery about getting a 1911 style pistol. I spent quite a bit of time reading and researching this particular gun, and the general consensus seemed to be:
1. don't expect it to be problem free out-of-box
2. run through 500 rounds of full metal jacket bullets to break in before it becomes reliable
3. may need to be sent back to the manufacturer a few times
4. some did report that theirs worked since day one
Unfortunately, mine didn't.
The gun was pretty, and there was a lot of attention to details!!! Before I took on a range trip, I hand-cycled about 500 times using full metal jacket ammo - wouldn't do this again because I actually used live ammo. Bad idea on safety!
My first trip was a disaster. The gun kept on jamming!!! Mostly stovepipe. After about 50 shots, I quit shooting, called Kimber the next day and sent them some pictures too. Kimber service was great and they told me to send the gun back. Because I couldn't take time off work to wait for Kimber's free UPS pick-up, they promised to give me 2 Tac-mags to cover my shipping cost.
My second trip was not so great either. Upon advice from some forum member, I bought a few "premium" magazines to see if they worked better. Well, not really. After a few tries, I found that Kimber magazines worked the best because they really tilted the bullets up to feed into the barrel and their springs were stronger. I made a few more trips to the range, and somehow, the Kimber started to spitting ejected brass back to me. One time it hit my head so hard that I started to bleed profusely. After that, I started to fire a shot and dodge the brass right after. This quickly tripled the fun at the range: practicing clearing malfunctions, dodging brass and wondering if next round would fire or not!
(Note the feed ramp became shiny due to the bullets hitting on it. Actually, the bullets shaved metal off the feed ramp. To me this is a design problem. The feed ramp should have proper curvature but it didn't.)
Again, I called Kimber and again it went and came back.
After the second trip back to the factory, it started to behave much better. I now stuck to Kimber Tac-mags exclusively and malfunctions became very little. It still had occasional FTF and failure to chamber a round, meaning the slide returned but there's no round inside the chamber even though the mag was full. By then, I had put more than 1000 rounds of FMJ through it but hadn't really shot enough Hollow Points.
I just came back from another range trip (Jan 2009). This time I fired about 100 rd of lead round nose handloads with my Kimber. I had 1 failure due to the slide stopper was pushed slightly up for some reason - I didn't think that was my thumbs hitting it but it's very likely a cause.
I must say that I knew what I might get into when I bought the gun and the experience was not pleasant. For a $1000 gun, it should have worked right out of the box but it did not. For the amount of money and effort (original purchase, break-in ammo cost, trips back to the factory, and taking time off work to wait for UPS pickup&delivery), it was totally not worth it. On the other hand, Kimber does stand behind their products and I must give them credit for that!!!
Yes, I still carry and shoot my Kimber Ultra CDP II.
Update on August 2, 2009
I just came back from a pistol training class where we fired about 100 rounds in various conditions and scenarios. There were 11 people in the class with HK USP, Beretta 92F, Glock, S&W etc.; almost everybody's gun, including the instructor's, malfunctioned in one way or another except for my Kimber.
I guess it finally starts to run well from now on.
Monday, July 7, 2008
the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
I guess i am too stupid to understand why there's any argument.
Besides the self-defense part of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the single most important issue as most of us have conveniently ignored is ..., right, the right to keep and bear arms ensures the political power resides in the hands of firearm owners, in this case, the people, nor the politicians, nor the governors, nor the president, but the people.
As the most famous, successful and greatest "communist," Chairman Mao, eloquently and literally said:" Only gun barrels produce political power." Go figure why after he took over the whole China, he immediately banned all firearms except for his military, and since then the communist party has had full control of the military. Nobody understand the importance of guns better than Chairman Mao.
Well, nobody except for the founding fathers of the United State. The United States is a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. The political power must always remain with its people. The only way for that to be true and stay true is to ensure that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Those great men had an ideal to build an ideal country, but sadly the followers, us, are far from being so wise.
You want to call yourself American? Go get a gun, and better yet, get an AR15 with EOTech.
Besides the self-defense part of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the single most important issue as most of us have conveniently ignored is ..., right, the right to keep and bear arms ensures the political power resides in the hands of firearm owners, in this case, the people, nor the politicians, nor the governors, nor the president, but the people.
As the most famous, successful and greatest "communist," Chairman Mao, eloquently and literally said:" Only gun barrels produce political power." Go figure why after he took over the whole China, he immediately banned all firearms except for his military, and since then the communist party has had full control of the military. Nobody understand the importance of guns better than Chairman Mao.
Well, nobody except for the founding fathers of the United State. The United States is a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. The political power must always remain with its people. The only way for that to be true and stay true is to ensure that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Those great men had an ideal to build an ideal country, but sadly the followers, us, are far from being so wise.
You want to call yourself American? Go get a gun, and better yet, get an AR15 with EOTech.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Is HK416 the greatest since humanity?
A simple answer. Hell no!
HK is great in advertising and promotion. Every little thing, they can gold-plate it so well that everybody think only HK products are worth buying. No matter what they do, many would think logical mind should always prevail; however, the world is filled with emotionally charged people where reasons and logic rarely exist.
Sticking a piston into an AR15 does not make it instantly superior. Firstly, piston design is even older than the AR15's direct impingement design. Countless manufacturers have produced pistons for AR including Colt - the army rejected such design change many times, but when HK finally did it and called it HK416, it's suddenly the greatest in the world? Anybody claims so is very dishonest to say the least. Why?
1.The 416 has NOT seen any major battle - compared to M16's 40 years combats in countless wars (note the plural)
2. The 416 has NOT not been properly tested by any major military/LE agency compared to M16/AR15 which is widely tested and accepted by many major armies in the world (note the plural)
3. The 416 has NOT been produced in any meaningful number to generate much statistics on reliability and usability - compared to M16/AR15 which is made into the millions (note the plural).
A weapon is just like everything else in the world. Adding any new feature, there's always a possibility that it causes more failures. It takes time and money to work out the bugs. When one compares HK 416 with M16 (AR15), there's no comparison - one must not make such comparison. Not because HK 416 is so much better, but it's mostly because there's hardly anything that can be used to compare.
HK is great in advertising and promotion. Every little thing, they can gold-plate it so well that everybody think only HK products are worth buying. No matter what they do, many would think logical mind should always prevail; however, the world is filled with emotionally charged people where reasons and logic rarely exist.
Sticking a piston into an AR15 does not make it instantly superior. Firstly, piston design is even older than the AR15's direct impingement design. Countless manufacturers have produced pistons for AR including Colt - the army rejected such design change many times, but when HK finally did it and called it HK416, it's suddenly the greatest in the world? Anybody claims so is very dishonest to say the least. Why?
1.The 416 has NOT seen any major battle - compared to M16's 40 years combats in countless wars (note the plural)
2. The 416 has NOT not been properly tested by any major military/LE agency compared to M16/AR15 which is widely tested and accepted by many major armies in the world (note the plural)
3. The 416 has NOT been produced in any meaningful number to generate much statistics on reliability and usability - compared to M16/AR15 which is made into the millions (note the plural).
A weapon is just like everything else in the world. Adding any new feature, there's always a possibility that it causes more failures. It takes time and money to work out the bugs. When one compares HK 416 with M16 (AR15), there's no comparison - one must not make such comparison. Not because HK 416 is so much better, but it's mostly because there's hardly anything that can be used to compare.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Chick Little - The economic crisis?
The incoming economic crisis? I am not going to cry as Chick Little.
Now, here's what I believe, in the next 2-3 years - I am not psychic, nor can I predict the future, so it's just my stupid opinion, and the rest you can read from the Internet:
1. I believe the sky is NOT falling, nor will the world come to an end.
2. I believe there will NOT be mass chaos in the United States, but increase in crime rate, probably
3. I believe the economic crisis has just began and there's more lying ahead of us.
4. I believe the US dollar will be significantly devaluated to probably 50-75% of what is worth now.
5. I believe the housing market will continue to drop till a medium average single family house is about $160K compared to the current $218K.
6. I believe gold will go over $1500/oz and stay there for a period of more than 1 year.
7. I believe stock market will fall and stay low in the next 1-2 years
8. I believe we will all pull out of this mess in about 5 years.
9. I believe most of us will be poorer after this mess and many will get their saving wiped out and must work for more years before retiring.
10. I believe Brittney Spears is getting too fat and ugly for my taste.
I actually hope I am wrong because I want to live in a peaceful time; on the other hand, i look forward to it as economy downturn is also a great opportunity for those who are prepared.
Now, here's what I believe, in the next 2-3 years - I am not psychic, nor can I predict the future, so it's just my stupid opinion, and the rest you can read from the Internet:
1. I believe the sky is NOT falling, nor will the world come to an end.
2. I believe there will NOT be mass chaos in the United States, but increase in crime rate, probably
3. I believe the economic crisis has just began and there's more lying ahead of us.
4. I believe the US dollar will be significantly devaluated to probably 50-75% of what is worth now.
5. I believe the housing market will continue to drop till a medium average single family house is about $160K compared to the current $218K.
6. I believe gold will go over $1500/oz and stay there for a period of more than 1 year.
7. I believe stock market will fall and stay low in the next 1-2 years
8. I believe we will all pull out of this mess in about 5 years.
9. I believe most of us will be poorer after this mess and many will get their saving wiped out and must work for more years before retiring.
10. I believe Brittney Spears is getting too fat and ugly for my taste.
I actually hope I am wrong because I want to live in a peaceful time; on the other hand, i look forward to it as economy downturn is also a great opportunity for those who are prepared.
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