Odds and Ends on the Night of a Sudden Jihadi Attack

New York City this time, on a bike path in the yuppie heart of the city.  No ARs, no bump stocks, no guns at all - just enough BB guns to ensure "suicide by cop" and go collect his 72 virgins.  Except this is NYPD we're talking about here, and we're lucky they gut shot him and didn't just kill nine other people on the bike path. 

H/T to The Abode of McThag for the "why didn't I think of this" post of the day:

If only it were mandatory to register any vehicle which will be used on a public roadway.

If only it were mandatory to obtain a license to operate such a vehicle before driving it on a public roadway.

Probably keep them from being used for criminal activity.

That's it!  Mandatory registration of all pickup trucks, so that they're not allowed on the roads without registration.  We'll make them carry a state-issued, metal plate to prove they're registered!  Mandatory licensing and training of anyone who would own, or rent a pickup truck.  We'll make the drivers pass a state-given test and make them carry it as photo ID to ensure they're licensed to use that truck. 

In other words, all of the gun control arguments in two sentences.  If he had put a brick on the accelerator to speed his rental truck we'd have the bump stock argument, too. 

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Blog administrivia.  I made some unannounced changes a few days ago and have been in a slightly different direction for the last couple of weeks.  First, I added a note about comments, hoping people would see this:

Comments are always welcome, with the same provisos as everyone: keep it civil, and no spam. All comments to posts over 14 days are moderated, but only spam is deleted on sight.

Everyone handles comments differently.  Some of us reply to each and every comment and strive for conversation; others (and I'm one) tend to not answer unless it's a specific question or seems to be directed at me.  I'm not likely to answer things that seem to be for everyone.  I'll be the first to admit that's not like a law of physics that can't be violated.  Sometimes it can be hard to tell.

That said, comments are always welcome, contrasting opinions are always fine, and the only comments I ever delete are those that are obvious SPAM.   I'm talking to you, "Packers and Movers of Bangalore"!

The other change is in the blog description, which I bet nobody reads. I changed it back closer to what it used to read.

The focus of this blog is on doing things, from radio to home machine shops and making all kinds of things, along with comments from a retired radio engineer running from tech or science news to economics; from firearms to the world at large.

I intend to do more of the "how to" and "what is" (i.e., explanatory) kind of posts.  These take a bit more research and time, but are more helpful to people than the typical "X happened in politics today".  Not to mention more interesting.  This will include more posts like the one on Voyager, looked at the from radio designer's link budget view.  I will also keep posting news that I find cool or interesting from either the engineering trade magazines or the big shows.  And, of course, I intend to be more than just a gun-friendly blog, and anything interesting or new to me from the shooting world will be posted, too. 

That said, Blogger says that around 1500 unique visits happen per day, and I have to assume readers are coming by for something.  If there are things you'd like to see addressed, drop me an email - the address is in the right bar under "Contact Me": SiGraybeard at gmail dot com . 

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That said, let me give a peek into my next little shop project.  They're called soft jaws for the lathe. The hexagonal pieces in this view from that website.

What are soft jaws?  The jaws on the lathe chucks and machinist's vises are hardened steel that can and will mar the metal you're working on.  You end up having to machine away the damage from machining the part.  These soft jaws will be made from a bar of aluminum hex stock, which won't mar steel as badly as steel jaws can.  When I built my little steam motor the other day, the two shafts were held in the lathe jaws for threading, and the shaft of the one that was critical, the 1/4" diameter main shaft, was boogered up by the lathe. Nasty marks that I had to file down, which made the fit even worse.  Soft jaws should prevent that.

It falls into the category of an old story I read when I was first getting into machining:

Watcha makin?
Tools.
What for?
To fix my other tools.
Why?
So I can make more tools.

Tools for making tools for making tools.  Sometimes.