Quote of the Day – Wish I’d Said That Edition

MiddleAgedKen left this zinger of an Education QotD as a comment to the P.J. O’Rourke QotD from a few days back:

To be minimally fair, a good high-school education is still essential, and college is (if you’re lucky) where you go to get one.

I’ve said it before somewhere, if not in here, that a high-school diploma used to mean you were ready for the workforce. Now it’s a BA. A high-school diploma just means you were bodily present long enough that they had to give you a piece of paper to make you go away.

THIS is a DEAL

Midway is selling refurbished Daisy Powerline 880 air rifles for $19.99.  That’s a steal.  I got one of these for Christmas when I was about 13, I think, and I wore that thing out.  It took a while.  I shot pellets out of it almost exclusively.  The squirrels in the back yard hated me.

Read the reviews – apparently Daisy’s QC has slipped, but since these are refurb’d, hopefully they’re all in good working order.

Still, for $20, (plus freight) seems like a decent risk.  YMMV

Well, Dammit – One Fewer Arizona Gunbloggers Named Kevin

Exurban Kevin of the blog Misfires and Light Strikes has been based out of the Phoenix area for quite a while now, blogging away there and at Exurban League.  Today he announced that he will stop blogging…

…for himself, and take it up as a profession!  And this will also require him to pack up the family and move to Missouri.

Fair winds and following seas, Kevin.  We’ll miss you at the next Central Arizona Blogshoot.

The Freedom To Fail

Bill Whittle’s latest, My Friend Failure:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlLbFZxrzrc?rel=0]
Which reminded me of a previous Quote of the Day from Craig Ferguson’s autobiographical American on Purpose:

One of the greatest moments in American sports history was provided by Bobby Thomson, the “Staten Island Scot.” Born in my hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1923, he hit the shot heard round the world that won the Giants the National League pennant in 1951. Had Bobby stayed in Glasgow he would never have played baseball, he would never have faced the fearsome Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca in that championship game, and he would never have learned that if you can hit the ball three times out of ten you’ll make it to the Hall of Fame.

Today I watch my son at Little League games, his freckled Scottish face squinting in the California sunshine, the bat held high on his shoulder, waiting for the moment, and I rejoice that he loves this most American game. He will know from an early age that failure is not disgrace. It’s just a pitch that you missed, and you’d better get ready for the next one. The next one might be the shot heard round the world. My son and I are Americans, we prepare for glory by failing until we don’t.

Damned straight.

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Update

OK, the dates are now officially set, the contract with the hotel is signed.  Gun Blogger Rendezvous 2014 is officially scheduled for September 4, 5, 6 & 7.

What goes on at a Rendezvous?  Well, lots of shootin’ –

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJiXYKdAlNw?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW2Dno36OWo?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvm7oFct97Y?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq7xBerIQQE?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHGTHgRRTdk?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHzNNcdpIQk?rel=0]
That’s on Friday.  On Saturday, we generally do this:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYEenS0dcHE?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Iz7vqMruc?rel=0]
Now we’re using Mr. Completely’s International Steel rules.

On Sunday we’ve done Cowboy Fast Draw:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1MMHW72DNc?rel=0]
Cowboy Action (which I don’t have any footage of), and last year, this:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88UiUwxFpfA?rel=0]
Which was pretty fun!  Easily the largest caliber I’ve ever personally fired.

Then, there’s food:

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Yes, we’re that animated.

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That’s breakfast.  We’re not fully awake yet.

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There’s a lot more eatin’, but I don’t have any pictures of it.  I’m sure you can understand why.

That last shot is our Saturday pizza feast and raffle.  Raffle?  Oh yes:

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And that’s just SOME of the stuff that’s been given away or won over the last eight Rendezvous.  Bring an extra suitcase for the stuff going home with you.  Here’s a list of some of our previous sponsors:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPUxmaCZOYM?rel=0]
This year the Rendezvous will be raising funds for Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA). Last year’s fundraising effort netted about $4,500 for Project Valour-IT.  I’d like to see us do better this year.

On top of that, we take a trip on Thursday to the local Cabela’s or (hopefully this year) Scheel’s (I’m working on that) for a tour and to stock up on whatever shooting accessories we might need, and then every evening we have a hospitality room (the one where we have the pizza feast on Saturday) to sit around, drink adult beverages and shoot the breeze, which is why so many of us look bleary in the breakfast photo, and you’ll see inexplicable things like this:

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So, hopefully soon we’ll have the 2014 Rendezvous Registration form all set up, and we’ll post the hotel reservation information.  Start making your plans now.  September is not that far away!