Fun with telemarketers
One concept that bears examining is the idea of the OODA Loop. Simply put, when attempting to make strategic decisions you have to go through four phases of thought:
- Observe — You examine the situation around you. For example, you note that the driver in the car in front of you has slammed on their brakes and is rapidly loosing speed.
- Orient — You “understand” the situation you are observing. For example, you note that at your present rate of speed, you will slam into the car in front of you with a sickening crunch.
- Decide — You choose a path of action. You decide to hit the brakes.
- Act — You act on your decision. You hit the brakes, stopping in time, and thus avoiding an accident.
What is interesting about the OODA loop is that it can be interrupted. If it is, the reactor must then begin the loop again. For example, if the car in front of me suddenly lays off the brakes and instead hits the gas, I have to start over at “observe”. One of the important parts of having a plan in the event of Bad Things happening is that it gets you through the “Orient” phase as quickly as possible. Instead of standing there asking yourself “What’s happening?”, you can tell yourself “Do this…” and move on.
Which brings us to the telemarketer. There is an expected order of operations in a telemarketing call. The telemarketer calls you. You listen as long as you need to to confirm that it is a telemarketer. You then politely (or if you are Stingray less than politely) tell the telemarketer to pound sand. (I’d have gone with “Fuck off” but this is a family blog.) Then you hang up.
But think of the fun if you get inside their OODA loop! One of Mrs. Newbie’s favorite tricks:
*Ring, Ring*
Mrs. Newbie: “Hello?”
Telemarketer: “Hello, Mrs. Newbie. I am calling from the RNC…”
Mrs. Newbie: “Oh, I’m sorry. My husband doesn’t let me spend money without his permission.”
Telemarketer: “????”
Great fun!
Tonight, I was basking in the glow of my pot roast, when lo and behold we got a call from a local telemarketer. I’d had a half bottle of wine, and decided to get inside their OODA loop.
*Ring, Ring*
(Newbie Shooter notes that is a call from a number that has been calling a lot. It’s a telemarketer.)
Newbie Shooter: “5372?” (In the voice of the guy from Thunderball.)
Telemarketer: “Um…hello?”
Newbie Shooter: “5372. Confirm launch sequence 5372.”
Telemarketer: “Um…hello?”
Newbie Shooter: “Launch sequence ‘hello’ confirmed. Code 5372. Get to a place of safety immediately!”*CLICK*
Maybe it is the Pino Grigio, but I laughed and laughed….
Good Advice
From JayG…
* Your kids must know the Four Rules as soon as possible
* They must also know the Eddie Eagle program’s “What to do if you find a gun”
* All unattended firearms should be stored under lock and key.
* Most importantly of all, kids should know that guns are not toys, that they are tools that can cause injury or worse if misused, and must be treated with respect.
I’ve made it a point to make sure that my little one knew this stuff from the time she was very small. Eddie Eagle at three, the four rules at five.
I’d only add one thing. I’ve tried to take the mystery out of firearms. My daughter and I have a deal. She can see the guns any time she wants, as long as I am with her. She just has to ask.
NRA Annual Meeting, Day 2
What a day! Got to meet Breda, Jay G, Alan, Weer’d Beard, and Countertop. Ran into Joe and SayUncle again.
The floor was pretty cool. I’ve got pics and things, but I’m flying to Moscow (Russia, not Idaho) tomorrow, and I’ve got lots to do before I rest. But a few quick impressions:
- Got to handle the new LCRs. The small .38 has a really small grip. Not sure why we need that…I’ve never found the grip on the LCR to be a problem. The .357 is a little bigger than the .38. The grip is really comfortable.
- Got to handle the S&W Bodyguards. The .380 is about as big as the LCP, but feels heavier. The sights were not bad…not as good as those on the Kahr, but much better than the LCP. The laser was not as goofy as I thought at first glance. The .38 seems to be an answer in search of a problem. The cylinder latch is confusing and hard to manage. It’s light, and the grip is really small. Trigger felt much lighter than either the LCR or the other J-frame guns.
- S&W also has a new M&P in the line…in flat dark earth, with sights that feature both fiber optics AND tritium, in both .40 and 9mm.
NC bill to allow carry in restaurants
From the Barrel of a Gun alerted me to NC Senate Bill 235, which would allow concealed handgun permit holders to carry in restaurants that serve alcohol.
I’ve already written my senator, and called the office. You do likewise, please.
The benefits of socialized medicine
Joe has a great look at the effects of socialized medicine in Australia.
We have two choices here, folks, when demand exceeds supply…price rationed health care, or bureaucrat rationed health care. Wait until going to the doctor is like going to the DMV.
A look at Obama’s agenda
I was chatting with a friend recently (Hi Liz!) and talk turned to…ahem…current affairs. I mentioned that our president was exactly friendly to gun rights. She asked me what BHO’s plan was for guns and gun rights.
So here you go, Liz…from the White House website:
Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.
Let’s break that down, piece by piece. The Tiahrt Amendment was introduced to attempt to ensure gun trace information is restricted to law enforcement. It does NOT prevent law enforcement from tracing firearms. It prevents the results of that data from being shared with inappropriate third parties. And it prevents snooping by political hacks.
From the ATF’s 2007 trace report for North Carolina:
(1) Firearm traces are designed to assist law enforcement authorities in conducting investigations by tracking
the sale and possession of specific firearms. Law enforcement agencies may request firearms traces for any
reason, and those reasons are not necessarily reported to the Federal Government. Not all firearms used in
crime are traced and not all firearms traced are used in crime.
(2) Firearms selected for tracing are not chosen for purposes ofdetermining which types, makes or models of
firearms are used for illicit purposes. The firearms selected do not constitute a random sample and should not
be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or any subset of that
universe. Firearms are normally traced to the first retail seller, and sources reported for firearms traced do not
necessarily represent the sources or methods by which firearms in general are acquired for use in crime.
In other words…you can’t draw any conclusions from the raw data. But that is exactly the kind of conculsion that has been attempted in the past. Smith and Wesson, for example has been a target of this kind of harassment under the Clinton administration. “Smith and Wesson handguns are x% of traced guns. Thus, Smith and Wesson are the ‘guns of choice’ of criminals. We need to shut them down.” S&W was sued by Andrew Cuomo, then head of HUD. S&W was forced to settle out of court, and the resulting uproar in the gun community almost bankrupted the company. It did force its eventual sale. This kind of nonsense is dangerous to liberty. It’s an attempt to use civil lawsuits to force what cannot be accomplished politically.
And that’s why Tiahrt is important.
In my next post, I’ll take a look at the “Gun Show Loophole.”
Putting blame where it belongs
So, yeah. Turns out I was to blame on trashing my theme.
You would think someone who makes their living working with computers would know that they will do EXACTLY what you tell them to do.
Adding a link…
I’m adding a link to the Carolina Shooters Forum in the “Gun Culture” section…I’ve been lurking over there for a bit. It’s a great resource for local shooters.
Slow blogging
Slow blogging ahead. End of semester papers due. Oh, and my real job needs attention. And my kid is sick.
Back soon.
Why I love surplus rifles
I recently acquired a 98k Mauser. I had been leery of buying surplus guns for a long time…afraid that I would end up with an expensive piece of junk. But I decided that the time was ripe to pick one up. If nothing else, I figured I would have an action that I could use for something more tricked out.
What I ended up with was a Russian capture 98k. For those who don’t know what that means, let me ‘splain. At the end of the war, the Soviets captured a whole mess of German rifles. Russians being Russians, they packed them away in cosmoline, waiting for the time that might be needed to arm peasants. Then, at some point in their history, the Soviets signed a disarmament treaty with the US. The treaty specified a certain number of arms needed to be rendered unfit for military service. The Soviets, a pratcial people, promptly disposed of the front sight hoods, cleaning rods, and action locking screws for these rifles, and declared them de-milled. Everyone left happy. The Russians later sold off them off for surplus.
When I got the gun home, I cleaned off the crusted cosmoline and wiped down the stock with Murphy’s oil soap. I looked up the manufacturing codes. It’s not a rare rifle. The bolt serial number doesn’t match the reciever. There is ugly Soviet electric pencil serial numbers scratched on the top of the bolt, where it was force matched at whatever Soviet arsenal it was refinished. My original intent was to strip it down to the action, and have it be a project gun that I could build up and practice my gunsmithing “skills.”
But the more I held it, and worked the action, and thought about the history behind the gun, I decided I just couldn’t do it. My wife is a history teacher…and this gun was a piece of living history. Did some poor German hold it while shivering on the Eastern front after being sent to his death by that madman in Berlin? Or did it sit in some arms room until being captured and maimed by the Russians and dragged back behind the Iron Curtain? And isn’t that maiming part of history, too, and a monument to silly, feel good treaties?
Firearms are history distilled into an object that you can touch and hold and smell. You can look at the rough workmanship on a ’43 Nagant and really see the effects of the war on a country rushing to produce enough arms to defend itself. Or pick up the weight of a Garand and imagine, in your minds eye, what a trooper ready to hit the ramp on D-Day must have felt.
So, my 98k will go into the safe, unmolested, until some day in the future, when I tell my daughter stories of what her great-grandfather did during the war, at Normandy and beyond. And how her British great-grandmother had two houses bombed out from under her. And let her hold my my guns and touch and feel and smell a part of history.
Do your part!
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