Blog

A Thought On Immigration & Illegal Aliens

Posted on: 2010-04-28 10:16:37

"Rep. Debbie Riddle":http://debbieriddle.org/ of Tomball is going to "introduce immigration-check legislation in Texas":http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100428/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_texas that is similar to Arizona's newly passed law requiring law enforcement to question people about their immigration status. Even "people in Ohio are thinking about implementing it":http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100427/NEWS01/4280359/.

Aside: Yahoo! News, of course, would have you believe that these bills are "anti-immigration." However, their editors forgot the "illegal" part of the phrase (anti-illegal immigration, for the curious). Should be expected from them, but it's frustrating nonetheless. After all, if you put the phrase out there like it should, be, their whining seems a little silly.

First off, while I am in favor of this for several reasons, it seems that it could be possible for some harassment of legal immigrants (or even citizens) to occur under this law. It can be hard to tell what exactly who is and isn't an illegal alien just by looking at them. Most legal aliens, though, know that illegal immigration hurts them just as much as it does this. So they might very well be willing to put up with this. Which leads me to my thought...

Why not just require English from everyone? Why not make that the litmus test of being American. Speak english. For purposes of stopping illegal immigration, it would probably be very effective. If you want to work in this country, learn English. Indians, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabs... they all come here to go to college and they know English. Would it really be that bad?

Dear Liberals

Posted on: 2010-03-23 00:12:20

bq. "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." -Proverbs 16:18

Delivered to my inbox this morning from "David Plouffe, Democrats.org":mailto:democraticparty@democrats.org was a message entitled "Will you add your name?" You might be asking yourself why a registered republican subscribe to such political rubbish? Simple. To keep my enemies closer. Sometimes it is funny, other times, like today, it's downright disturbing.

For some reason, the Democrats like to lie to themselves. They think that this "century-long fight" has finally been won. We haven't been fighting towards communism for 100 years. We've been fighting to stave it off for as long as we can. And for some reason, these people think that this is some sort of "win." Heck, they didn't even get the public option! And the "liberal feminists are furious":http://www.now.org/press/03-10/03-21b.html!

I'm curious what would lead them to believe that the vote yesterday "...[proves] once again that Americans, standing together, can change the course of a nation." Do these people realize that the people standing together were "totally opposed to the healthcare bill?":http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000941-503544.html I mean, you'd have to have mental problems to think that the Jack and Jill hometown democrat had anything to do with the passage last night. Are these liberals on drugs? (I mean, "this guy":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q-VGZiEbrs has to be.) Are they completely oblivious to all of the "underhanded dealings":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703775504575136133814210008.html?mod=rss_opinion_main that went into making this happen? The Democrats who "changed their vote to Aye":http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/17/health.care/index.html didn't change their vote because ma-and-pa were calling their offices telling them to vote for it. They changed their votes because "Obama was threatening to withdraw his support of them":http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7450237/Barack-Obama-threatens-to-withdraw-support-from-wavering-Democrats.html... among other things.

So, now that these weak-minded sheep can feel all warm and fuzzy inside for feeling like they had a hand in the biggest bribery of our generation they get a special prize for eating the whole cracker-jack box!

They have a chance to <a href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hccosign?source=20100322_dp_dnc">"co-sign" the health care "reform" bill with President Obama.

(please excuse my language) You must be shitting me.

First off, you aren't co-signing anything. Only the president is signing this steaming pile of a bill. Secondly, how stupid do you have to be to put your name in a permanent archive "so that generations to come will have a record of those who stood together in this moment." Are you kidding me? This bill has the potential to "bankrupt the country":http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/03/22/daily6.html and you want to put your name on it? Why? Do you want the rest of us angry, dissenters to know who to hang for treason first? Why would you want to do that?

I'm going to have to go with pride. It's so crystal clear. People want to feel like they've made a difference. They want to feel like they own a piece of this. The democratic party is using parlor tricks against it's own members. They feed them lie after lie, but continue to make them feel like they had some part in it, when in reality they are getting the same thing they despised from Bush but in a different package. Obama has consistently lied to them, and they love him. He is their God, no doubt about it. And since you can mix liberalism and Christianity, we're pretty much left with secular humanists who think they are more enlightened than everyone else.

For people who claim to want to "progress" us keep running around in circles. Apparently progress means getting rid of humans! Apparently saving the planet means "having less children":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574328823712388930.html. I mean, heck, liberals don't have a problem killing children because they may be an inconvenience. They can also say it'll help the planet! So, let's save the planet for our children's sake... but let's have less children... We've got to save them something, at the point, they'll have nothing but debt (if the country hasn't gone bankrupt by then.) Our debt increases, but if we have less children there will be less people to spread the debt around. That makes total sense! If you're a liberal...

Yes, the pride comes before the fall. And this fall, we are done playing games. You can expect a fight like you've never seen before. All that you have worked for will pass away, one way or another. We are tired of your hypocrisy, lies, pride, political correctness and blatant destruction of our freedoms and our country. You may have won the healthcare battle, but the sleep giant has awoken and piece by piece as this bumbling monstrosity of a bill comes into effect it will serve as the fuel we need to defeat you and your anti-capitalist, anti-family, anti-life, anti-american agenda.

Remembering Kole

Posted on: 2010-03-19 10:27:56

Back in October 2008, my wife started working at Texas Motorsports in Killeen. I met most of her co-workers at the Christmas party that December. That was the first time I met Kole:

!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/kole.jpg!

Floyd, Erin's husband, was deployed in Iraq for most of 2009. As a result, Erin & my wife, Sarah, got to spend a lot of time together. And usually where Erin came, Kole came as well.

Kole died in an accident March 7th, 2010. The details don't matter, but most it is believed he died in his sleep.

Floyd and Erin managed to, above everything in this world, love Kole more than you could possibly imagine. From the countless photos on Facebook, to the toys scattered all over the floor you didn't have to ask if they loved their child, it was apparent from the very moment you saw them.

Kole will be sorely missed not only by his mother and father, but by anyone and everyone who knew him.

Sarah and I made this video for them and we'd like to share it to remember him by:
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0tF7Zez819s&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0tF7Zez819s&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385">

Ultrasonic Cleaning of Brass Rocks!

Posted on: 2010-03-16 19:40:11

After reading "Jason Baney's article on ultrasonic brass cleaning":http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html, it's hard not to try it out. Cabela's cheapest "brass tumbler kit":http://www.cabelas.com/p-0012554212869a.shtml costs $63. I was able to find <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Foffer-listing%2FB001DKDAVW%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Ddp%5Folp%5Fnew%26qid%3D1268540550%26sr%3D8-1-catcorr%26condition%3Dnew&tag=nickvaha-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">an inexpensive ultrasonic jewelry cleaner<img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=nickvaha-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> on Amazon for under $30.

I'll be honest, it's not the best little thing. It only runs for 3 minutes at a time (so you have to keep pressing the button) but luckily I don't need it to run that long and since I'm mainly doing 9mm and .380 at the moment, I can fit a lot more brass in a much smaller container.

In his article, Baney cleaned 8x fired brass cases. I'm pretty sure mine are only 1x or 2x fired. After about 9 minutes in the first cycle, the first batch was done. I skipped the tap and distilled water cycles, too, opting instead to just rinse them under the tap. The results are below:

h3. Before

!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/brass_dirty.jpg!

h3. After

!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/brass_cleaned.jpg! !/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/brass_cleaned_2.jpg!

Needless to say, my results were exactly in line with his! Many, many thanks to Mr. Baney for his wonderful article and the time it took him to research and test it all.

Now to scour eBay for a larger (or at least time-programmable) ultrasonic cleaner!

Update: I wanted to add that after cleaning a few more rounds that the results are not always as amazing as the ones I took pictures of. The first batch was small (~38 rounds) and with larger batches not all of the brass looks this pretty after 9 minutes of the vinegar bath and 6 minutes of the baking-soda + water bath. The outsides still look very clean, but the insides are still little dirty around the flash hole. However, it's not dirty enough to warrant cleaning them again.

Finally: Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 Upgrade of our Production Intranet

Posted on: 2010-03-15 16:46:32

Since getting to RVOS, a lot of my focus has been on improving things. Improving the network (new APs, redundant switches), infrastructure downtime (40+ hours a week to <2hrs a week), improving applications (bugfixes on custom apps), and in general, the way business is done.

Our intranet went live in Q3 of 2007, when "Drupal 6 was still -beta1":http://drupal.org/node/175832. Right after we went live, I tried to upgrade and failed miserably. Ultimately, the idea got pushed to the back burner over and over for several years until roughly 2 weeks ago.

I figured this would be somewhat easy since most of the modules now have 6.x counterparts. This assumption probably would have been true if I was updating a simple Drupal site. However, Views, Panels, and all of our custom modules have been throwing me for a loop.

Here's just a snapshot of what I've found so far:

Upgraded Panels that had views had to be rebuilt after *cough* manually converting the Views. This doesn't bother me so much, but it's still painful on over 40 custom views.
All of my blocks were automatically disabled after the upgrade.
The groups part of \"LDAP integration module\":http://drupal.org/project/ldap_integration doesn't upgrade properly. The names of the columns in 5.x start with ldap_groups_ but in 6.x they start with ldapgroups_. I'd work on a patch, but I'm just not sure how to actually 'rename' a column with the whole \"Schema API\":http://api.drupal.org/api/group/schemaapi/6 in Drupal 6.
LDAP integration also breaks customizations. To do custom mapping of OUs to Roles, you had to edit a config file in the 5.x version. In 6.x, it's a configuration parameter in the admin area. That's actually great, but pretty much ruins any chance of automating it besides writing a custom module to stick that value in there (which I'm doing.)
Errors, errors everywhere. Most of them appeared to be benign, but seeing several hundred errors flood out of an update script can be very unnerving.
Running the update script felt like Windows Update. Had to re-run it five or six times before it finally got everything. Probably due to the above.

Anyhoo, now that I've vented, let the progress commence again!

Intricacies of the Lee Press

Posted on: 2010-03-12 11:08:12

Got my "Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Anniversary Kit":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productnumber=423081 this week.

Here is a comixed version of my experience:

!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/comixed_reloading.jpg!

h2. What really happened...

h3. I didn't read the directions

My buddy uses the Hornady "Handbook of Cartridge Reloading":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productnumber=438424 and their "kit":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=749997 to do his reloading. A lot of my experience and workflow was based off of my experience with his gear. This doesn't exactly apply to the Lee kit.

Read all of the instructions. Twice. This will solve most of your problems and save you some time.

h3. Handgun reloaders are second-class citizens with this kit

The aforementioned kit comes with "everything" you need to reload... minus the dies. In practice, however, it doesn't seem that statement applies to 9mm, .380, and any other round that has an extremely short case:

The \"chamfer & deburring tool\":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=389104 doesn't work for handgun rounds. Perhaps it would work for .38 special since the shell is quite a bit longer. The problem is that you can't hold onto the round, it goes all the way into the tool. Go get an \"RCBS Chamfer & Deburring tool\":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=143728. It works *much* better.
The \"powder funnel\":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=974498 is also not very friendly to the smaller cases[1]. If you put the case on the table (or in a loading block) and put the funnel over the case and pour the powder, the powder gets all over the place. Not very usable at all. This one is a bit easier to resolve. Simply cut about about 3/8 in. of the bottom of the funnel off, sand it off with 300 and then 600 grit sandpaper... and it should work much better.

h3. I didn't take my time

An "Impact Bullet Puller":http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=215517 is awesome. It's the reloading "undo" tool. In my rush to get some ammo loaded, I forgot to calibrate the scale. As a result, those rounds are probably a grain or two too hot. A couple extra grains in a rifle round might not hurt if you are loading starting loads. But an extra grain even at a starting load for a handgun could damage your gun... or your hand.

Trying to get the powder measure to the right setting for a 4.6 grain load took probably 5 or 6 minutes. Measure, weight, dump, repeat. You can't rush this folks. It's no wonder my friend bought himself an electronic scale.

fn1. You can sort of get around this by using the powder-through-sizing die, but that adds an extra step to an already tedious process.

h2. Praise for the Lee Kit

Let's talk about the good stuff. In fact, now that it's all set up the way it needs to be, it feels much faster than the other kit.

h3. Perfect Powder Measure

The powder measure does seem to be very accurate. I went from measuring every load to every 5 (and as the trust grows) every 10 to 20 rounds. It can take a while to get it calibrated (resorting to trial and error), but once it's set... well... it's set.

h3. Safety Prime

The dual-action de-prime/full length size/re-prime on a single stroke is very nice. On my buddy's Hornady kit, this is a two step process... de-prime on the press then prime by hand. The press also has a funnel for spent primers where they go through a tube to a trash can (or they collect in the tube.)

Also, the "shake to upright the primers" on the safety prime really works. Very quick and easy, that thing.

h3. Overall construction

No problems with the dies. The kit feels very solid. The wooden handle is very nice. Doesn't feel cheap. Some of the plastic components do feel a little cheap, but they nonetheless perform well.

Anyway. These are my thoughts on it now. Let's see where we are in... oh... 2 or 3 months.

Final result (click for fun):

"!/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/finished_rounds.jpg!":/sites/nickvahalik.com/files/comixed_finale.jpg

How To Stop Your Shoei Helmet's Whistling Problem

Posted on: 2010-03-03 07:59:49

I finally replaced a ZAMP helmet that I had received when purchasing my old bike with a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XNP9WG?ie=UTF8&tag=nickvaha-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002XNP9WG">Shoei RF 1100 Firestrike<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=nickvaha-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002XNP9WG" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />.

This is a great helmet. The only problem was that it whistled at 60+ mph. Turns out that all you have to do is make a couple of adjustments to make it stop.

Push against these clips on both sides to remove the face shield.
Loosen (do not remove!) these screws. About a half-turn is all you need.
Push the whole shield assembly towards the back of the helmet.
Hold the assembly and tighten the screws in step 2.

That's it! The shield should be held against the gasket properly and there should be no more whistling.

One More Reason to Support MidwayUSA

Posted on: 2010-03-02 09:07:32

"Midway USA":http://midwayusa.com/ is a business out of Columbia, MO that has "just about everything for Shooting, Reloading, Gunsmithing, and Hunting." At 2nd Annual TSRA Foundation Banquet, they "donated $100,000 for TSRA youth shooting programs":http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3962944.

That is awesome. They've never been a disappointment to me either, and it is great to see someone who gives back to the communities that support them!

Support "Midway USA":http://midwayusa.com/!

Questions About Abortion

Posted on: 2010-02-15 23:32:40

These questions are for people who consider themselves pro-abortion (aka "pro-choice") and affiliate themselves with a Christian denomination.

I have seen the following reasons why a pregnant mother should consider an abortion:

Danger to the mother

Danger to the fetus

Lack of financial responsibility money

Unwillingness or inability to properly care for child

That's it's not a baby

True freedom of the mother

Abusive partner's control

Unplanned or unwanted pregnancies (rape or incest)

So... where exactly does God's providence and sovereignty fit in? As Christians we can all agree that God is sovereign, right? A quick search notes about 300 places in the bible where He is called Sovereign Lord.

If we are His created, and he is Sovereign over creation, then He is sovereign, that is, having a royal dominion and power over us... determining His affairs in our daily lives... over us. If He is over us, and "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9) then surely He knows things we don't know. He has plans for us that we cannot even fathom.

We are created in His image. He is the potter, we are the clay. We could not be made without Him. So, too, could our children, who are also made in His image, not be made without Him? They have to in order to be made in His image, do they not? If He was not a part of them and didn't bestow His image onto them, they would not be made in His image, would they?

So if we are His and they are His and the Lord is sovereign over us then surely he is also sovereign over them: mother and child alike. And since God came before all, and formed us from the dirt, on the first try, surely that means that he knew us before we had taken form. We as a race were conceived in His mind first, before being created. So, too, are not all children conceived in His mind before they were created? God didn't create man, mess up, and start over again! He got it right the first time. He had a plan.

So if God has a plan for that child, whom He knew before conception, then how on earth can abortion be justified? How can you be certain that this child isn't meant for something great? If the mother or child is in danger: do you not trust God to protect those lives? I mean, if the child is in danger, what is the big deal if it's "just a fetus" to let the mother try to carry to term? Do you not trust that the Lord is sovereign over the whole situation? The same goes for non-Christians: are you saying that the Lord can't be sovereign over all for them? Is the Old testament's chronicle of Sarah's giving birth to Isaac not proof enough that God is not only capable of controlling a woman's reproductive system, but will, for His glory, not only control it but will protect the mother and child for his purposes?

Is it "just a fetus?" The bible makes it pretty clear that all of creation was known before it came into being, and not just in Genesis. The world was created once and only once, because He knew it before it was made and it was Good! Jesus was preached about for hundreds of years before his coming. Prophesy is exactly that -- telling the future before it happens. You cannot say that God is incapable of knowing each and every child before they are born. That would be too limiting to an all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-loving God who created everything we know!

In the same way, over all of the perceived problems that a potential mother or family might have, is it not... showing a distrust of God to want to take matters into your own hands? Is it not claiming to the Lord, "I am in control, not you! I do not trust that you will provide for me and my child." If that's not it, then what is it?

Consider this: Your wife consents to an abortion because of a problem endangering her life if she continues to carry the child to term. She has the abortion, but then her life is taken from her in a car-wreck. What was gained? Is not her life not her own, but God's own life to do with as He wills? The same as my life, your life, and all of the other lives on this home-away-from-home? If he can take a life, surely he can save a life.

I'm really curious about this. I can't stop thinking about it. What in scripture leads people to believe that abortion (in any form) is okay?

Getting a java.io.CharConversionException with pdftk while using MAMP?

Posted on: 2010-02-05 10:08:10

Man, talk about a frustrating problem! I kept getting this errors while calling pdftk (from the mac installer, which the version as of this writing is 1.12):

Unhandled Java Exception: java.io.CharConversionException <>

Anyway, after much hair pulling, the answer was found! Before calling "shell_exec":http://php.net/shell_exec (or whatever function you use to call pdftk) you need to unset the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

<code lang="php"># unset this so pdftk will work! putenv('DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH');

put the output in a variable

$pdf_data = shell_exec('/usr/local/bin/pdftk '. $file_name .' fill_form '. $fdf_fn. ' output - flatten');