August 2005 Archives
Now here's an intersting link. Youth propoganda book from WWII Japan. Yikes.
As weekend chores were completed on Saturday and we had no real plans for Sunday,Mrs. Oilman and I decided to get up early and head to the range. Talk started Friday night of bringing every firearm in the Mad Oilman household and firing them all, but time constraints and practicality prevented this.
On this trip Mad Oilman had a mission. Having purchased a Bushmaster DCM AR15 5 weeks earlier, and not having shot it (I know, it's very painful to me) it was time to take the newest addition to the family to the range.
The reason for this delay was partially due to time constraints, but also by the nature of this particular firearm. As it is a match grade barrel, there is a specific procedure proscribed by the manufacturer to break it in. And this would take some time. Extended time at the range in the August heat is not really all that fun. But then a new rifle is.
Waking up early on Sunday as planned, I made breakfast and prepared everything to go to the range. On the road, we made it in no time as Sunday mornings tend to be quiet on the highways in Houston.
At the range, the fun begins. The break in procedure is very specific. No more than 20 rounds and then a thorough cleaning, decoppering and polishing of the bore. Repeat until a minimum 120 rounds have been fired.
Now this may seem a pain in the butt. But reading various forums this is nothing. Many suggest cleaning every round for the first ten, every two rounds for twenty, etc. There are so many formulas it's unbelievable (and bordering on superstitious in my opinion).
I split the middle and fired 10 rounds before cleaning. To start I used the Federal Sierra GameKing BTHP. A nice accurate round for initial break in. Now for cleaning. Following manufacturer's recommendations, I used Shooter's Choice to start and then Shooters Choice Copper Remover. This took some time. The brilliant blue streaks from the copper remover were something to see.
Next set of 10, same procedure. I'm getting better in the process of cleaning this gun. It's not taking as long. Surprisingly, the copper remover did not create the extreme blue streak from the first cleaning. More of a turquoise.
Premium rounds expended, now it's to the cheap stuff. Olympic NATO surplus 5.56 mm. 20 rounds this time. This is stout .223 ammo. And fairly dirty. But with my cleaning procedure down it was no big deal. Firing 20 rounds and cleaning the barrel to spotlessness was now down to around 30 minutes.
This process continued for three hours. 120 rounds fired, rifle cleaned and a hell of a lot of fun had (the firing part, not the cleaning part).
The interesting thing is that the break in procedure seems to work. The last cleaning was very easy, almost too easy. I used the copper scrubber twice to make sure I wasn't missing something. Patches came out clean.
So does barrel break in matter? Seems like it does. Especially from the cleaning side. Put a little effort in early, and you'll be rewarded with much less effort in the future. Of course this story is ongoing so Ill report on cleaning as the rounds accumulate.
Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy
Living deep inside the oil economy and studying it on a daily/weekly/monthly basis for the past 10 years, I looked forward to reading this book. Matt Simmons is a well-respected investment banker deeply involved in the energy throughout his career. I've read his pronouncements for years in my industry trade journals.
The premise and description of the book led to more anticipation. Unfortunately this book fails to deliver. Co written by a retired magazine editor, this mismatch of information is an exercise in endless repetition. Every major Saudi oilfield is named at least 100 times (don't make me count). And the endless superlatives used to describe these fields gets old fast. Padding. Nothing but padding.
The first chapter gives an absurdly concise history of Saudi Arabia. Disney could not have written a more patronizing introduction. Skip the first chapter and read Oil God & Gold. Oil God & Gold has something this book lacks. A good writer with a compelling story.
This is not meant to denigrate Mr. Simmon's premise. It is sound and it needs to be heard. Unfortunately, this 400 page book could easily have been condensed into a 100-150 page intensive analysis. But it is written in a series of chapters and sections that endlessly repeat the same information over and over. Make your point and move on. Please.
Overall a disappointment. I agree partially with Mr. Simmon's premise but only partially. He had 400 pages to make a point but wasted it. This has been one of my more difficult reads of the year, not by its content, but by the sheer effort of will required to read the entire damn thing. Pass on this one.
Your correspondent bought this highly hyped book, intrigued by the review or two he had read. The premise was intriguing. An interesting look at various topics from an economic perspective. Unfortunately this book utterly fails.
First, it is padded beyond belief. Blank pages abound. The font is huge. And this is a short book. Bad sign.
Reading the book, I realize very quickly that this was written by a journalist. It is basically a 150 page magazine article with about 20-30 pages of real content. And a good chunk of it has nothing to with economics at all. Maybe some sort of populist sociology, but economics, no.
The distinct lack of rigor in this text and the constant hyping of the coauthor left a bad taste in my mouth. This book can be read in an hour or two. You will learn more about economics unclogging a plugged toilet than you will from this self aggrandizing fluff piece.
For a wonderful and detailed look at economics, try Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy
Pronto Cucinino
1401 Montrose
Review in 5 words or less? Turd. Italian TV dinner.
Full review.
An offshoot of the fine Nino's, Vincents and Grappino di Nino complex off West Dallas and promising quality food in a quick environment, I was intrigued. On a lazy night, Mrs. Oilman and I jump into the petromuncher and drove the four blocks to this new establishment.
Order entry, payment, service, blah, blah, blah. Let's get to the food. That is the most important thing, isn't it?
Fried buffalo mozzarella appetizer. With marinara. I could eat thirty of these things. The incredibly clean taste of the buffalo mozzarella with it's lightly fried shell is just something else. But then fried cheese. How can you mess that up? Especially with good cheese. And this was.
Now for the downfall. I ordered the parmesan crusted chicken breast with a side of spinach sautéed with garlic.
The chicken is a low budget knockoff of Veal Vincent, the parmesan crusted veal at Nino's. Funny thing about this one, though. It was not fresh. It was obviously reheated. I'm starting to feel some doubt about this place now. Precooked and reheated entree's? That's just not right, especially from such a famous food family.
The side dish was worse. Supposedly it was spinach sautéed with garlic. My ass. That was boiled and pressed spinach tossed with precooked garlic. There was no hint of olive oil on the spinach at all. The garlic, given the size of the slices, was limp and cold. This Italian knows how to sauté a damn spinach and garlic together and knows what it is supposed to taste like. I could have bought a can of Popeye's for a fraction of the price and been equally satisfied. Utterly pathetic.
For the thing they actually cooked on premises (fried cheese) this is a pretty good place. For anything else that has any chance at all of being precooked, forget it. And forget this turd of a restaurant.
Well, your humble correspondent has grown his staff from 3 to 10 in a bit under 2 years. And although that is pretty damn proactive and a huge investment in resources on the part of the Company, we still cannot keep up with demand. Thus the lack of posting.
But it has been damn interesting seeing this industry through this current up cycle. The lack of materials and concurrent increase in prices is both frightening and fascinating to be a part of.
As I am deeply involved with manufacturing, I get to see firsthand the consequences of ridiculous regulation by our wonderful government.
For example, Castings and Forgings.
If you are a manufacturer working in metal, basic services are critical to manufacturing. A diversified domestic foundry and forge base is necessary for a healthy market. That existed only two sweet years ago. But then the EPA got involved. They decided that a forge or a foundry that produced above a certain tonnage of output a year was a major emitter and would now be required to install some pretty onerous emissions controls. The regulation allowed for a two year(?) compliance window.
Well guess what happened. None (to my knowledge) of the forges and foundries required by law to install emissions equipment by the drop dead date did (I'm sure the really large facilities had the economies of scale to do this but I do not know. Make me do detailed research and I will). They shut their doors instead.
Let's see. We are in a huge demand market for castings and forgings. And because of a regulatory agency which did not grasp the economic consequences, our domestic metals industry has taken a severe blow. Foundries and forges closing on a daily basis across the country.
Well guess what that does now? We get to travel the world to find what we need, establish quality assurance to make sure what we are purchasing is within tolerance and ship it in raw form across the planet. Yeah, that will bring prices of our products down.
And so the dominos fall. I work for a domestic manufacturer that employs thousands. Let's see. No metal available domestically (or available so far out in time due to demand on the exempt smaller facilities). Shipping costs crushing our margins, making us uncompetitive in the world marketplace (that free trade thing)? Goodbye manufacturing jobs. It has not happened yet. But I see the writing on the wall.
You know it's been a while since you've posted when you realize you don't remember how to post. Jeez.
