On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 19:53:00 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> The USA makes a big deal of wanting to close its borders to illegal
> migrants coming in, but when it comes to stopping illegal guns getting
> out, suddenly they’re not so keen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal

The Democrats are perfectly happy letting illegals in and firearms out.

On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:21:17 +0100, D wrote:

> Wouldn't those countries mostly just buy AK-47:s from russia?

Probably not. I'll say 'AK style' rifles rather than AK-47. The AK-47 was
superceded by the AKM in '59. It was still 7.62x39 but was simpler to
manufacture. The receiver is stamped from a flat sheet of steel or maybe
hammered into shape in the home workshop. China's Type 56 and N Korea's
Type 58 and Type 68 follow derive from that as well as a lot of other
countries designs, licensed or unlicensed.

That was followed by the AK-74 in 1974, strange to say. That's 5.45×39
rather than 7.62x39. That followed the US philosophy in Vietnam. If they
can't hit anything anyway a lighter cartridge means they can carry more
ammo to burn. The typical bullet is 53 grains rather than 123. Again, that
was/is manufactured in a lot of countries.

Next up is the AK-100 series from '94. I guess AK-94 didn't sound right.
You can get that in either chambering. Next was the AK-200 series, a
little cheaper tham the AK-100 design to build. India bought a raft of
them and the factory in Urrar Pradesh is licensed to build 600000 more.

And then, the AK-12 from 2012 when they went back to the tried and true
year numbering system. The AK-15 and AK-19 are minor upgrades. I believe
the current Russian menu for exports has AK-100, AK-200, and AK-12s.

So anybody buying new in the box AK pattern rifles may be buying from
Russia or from many other countries that are manufacturing variants on the
models. Even Romania is in the game with the WASR-10 semi-auto variant
for the US market.

On 1 Nov 2024 07:04:02 +1000, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

> Well you could argue that the USA paid Germans to put them on the moon.

Basically no Wernher von Braun, no NASA. I don't mean only the technical
aspects. The US was interested in the Redstone missile as a short range
nuclear missile to attack Russia. Von Braun wrote magazine articles, gave
lectures, produced books, and even got Disney involved to make a couple of
movies promoting space trave. Nobody was interested until 1957 when they
were staring up at Sputnik and shitting themselves.

On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:42:31 GMT, Scott Lurndal wrote:

> In the poorest countries, it is the phone that matters, not the 'smart'
> part. Landline service is spotty at best.

The poorest of the poor. Huawei is developing their own HarmonyOS and a
catlog of apps. After US sanctions SMIC survived nicely and is making the
chips for the new phone. It's not bleeding edge tech but it gets the job
done. I can forseee a lot of Huawei phones in the back alleys of Sudan
etc.

In a FAFO moment your new Skydio drone will only come with one battery.

https://dronexl.co/2024/10/30/us-drone-maker-skydio-supply-chain-crisis-
chinese-sanctions/

On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 22:57:35 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

> Yes, I recently saw a video of someone on the street in India rebuilding
> a starter motor. Primitive but effective. Meanwhile,
> others in the background were overhauling heavy equipment.
> You do what you gotta do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_Solo_to_the_Top_of_the_World

First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down to
the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack. Back in the '90s I have a 400cc Yamaha Seca
I put a lot of miles on both on pavement and on goat tracks so that's
bull.

The guy doesn't get too far on his journey when he realizes his luggage
racks aren't going to make it so he stops at a blacksmith's shop in some
little village. The smith fires up the forge, probably with cow dung,
sorts through his scrap collection, and hammers together a rack system
that lasts for the rest of the trip.

I've hit the same thing in Mexico. They don't understand the 'proper' way
things should be done so they weld together whatever they can get their
hands on and make it work. It ain't pretty but it does the job.

The US used to be the same. I need a pickup and all I've got is this rusty
old Buick. Where's the fire wrench, Jake?

On 1 Nov 2024 00:02:50 GMT, rbowman wrote:

> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 19:53:00 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> The USA makes a big deal of wanting to close its borders to illegal
>> migrants coming in, but when it comes to stopping illegal guns getting
>> out, suddenly they’re not so keen.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal
>
> The Democrats are perfectly happy letting illegals in and firearms out.

This has been going on for decades, exactly the same under different
administrations.

On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 19:50:38 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 09:43:57 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> "What's the name of this (picking up a cross head screwdriver) in Zulu"
>> "We don't have a name for it".
>
> I suppose “AK-47” is not a term that needs translating. ;)

When a Brit get's too prideful about Zulus mention thr Battle of
Isandlwana.

On 1 Nov 2024 01:35:10 GMT, rbowman wrote:

> First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down to
> the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack.

That’s the USA for you: they love to build huge, gutless engines. They
should take lessons from the Italians: 100bhp/litre is typical for their
engines.

On 10/31/24 2:20 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 01:35:23 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>
>> On 10/30/24 10:21 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 30 Oct 2024 01:55:35 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>>>
>>>> SQL and flat-file DBs are kind of the all-gobbling monsters.
>>>>
>>>> But MV is still the better, saner, way to organize many kinds of
>>>> data.
>>>
>>> The trouble with unnormalized fields is: how do you do updates? You have
>>> to delete all the values and insert them all again.
>>
>> Updates CAN be annoying.
>
> Easy way to remove the annoyance: normalize your field values.

But the 'easy' way removes some of your flexibility
and reasoning ability in the process.

I'd rather do MV, even if updates are a little odd,
than be forced into flat-field fascism.

On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 23:57:11 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:

> On 10/31/24 2:20 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 01:35:23 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>>
>>> On 10/30/24 10:21 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, 30 Oct 2024 01:55:35 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> SQL and flat-file DBs are kind of the all-gobbling monsters.
>>>>>
>>>>> But MV is still the better, saner, way to organize many kinds of
>>>>> data.
>>>>
>>>> The trouble with unnormalized fields is: how do you do updates? You
>>>> have to delete all the values and insert them all again.
>>>
>>> Updates CAN be annoying.
>>
>> Easy way to remove the annoyance: normalize your field values.
>
> But the 'easy' way removes some of your flexibility and reasoning
> ability in the process.

No it doesn’t. Prove me wrong.

On Fri, 1 Nov 2024 02:15:53 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> On 1 Nov 2024 01:35:10 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>
>> First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down
>> to the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack.
>
> That’s the USA for you: they love to build huge, gutless engines. They
> should take lessons from the Italians: 100bhp/litre is typical for their
> engines.

Says someone from a little island somewhere off the coast of Australia
where the entire motorcycle industry consists of 10 bikes build about 30
years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten_V1000

https://soundrider.com/archive/bikes/2003_buell_lightning_xb9s.aspx

92 bhp out of 948 cc is close, considering it was based on the pushrod v-
twin in my Sportster whose design goes back to the '50s. It doesn't even
have the desmodromic valve train that requires keeping a Ducati mechanic
on speed dial.

On 1 Nov 2024 04:35:08 GMT, rbowman wrote:

> Says someone from a little island ...

You have no idea, do you?

<https://x.com/HelenClarkNZ/status/1157885933321981952?s=20>

On 11/1/24 12:14 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 23:57:11 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>
>> On 10/31/24 2:20 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 01:35:23 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 10/30/24 10:21 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, 30 Oct 2024 01:55:35 -0400, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> SQL and flat-file DBs are kind of the all-gobbling monsters.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But MV is still the better, saner, way to organize many kinds of
>>>>>> data.
>>>>>
>>>>> The trouble with unnormalized fields is: how do you do updates? You
>>>>> have to delete all the values and insert them all again.
>>>>
>>>> Updates CAN be annoying.
>>>
>>> Easy way to remove the annoyance: normalize your field values.
>>
>> But the 'easy' way removes some of your flexibility and reasoning
>> ability in the process.
>
> No it doesn’t. Prove me wrong.

This can't be "proven" per-se ... it's a matter of
how you "feel" about how data should be represented
to best effect/clarity. Call it 'religion' if you want ...

Hey, which is "better", French or English ? Totally
depends ....

Having used flat and MV, SQL and Non, my 'spiritual bent'
is for MV ... 'PICK-ish'.

In CPU-microseconds, the sheer volume of records produced
using flat systems -vs- the slight xtra effort needed to
update MV records ... pretty much even - though I'm not
entirely sure any benchmarks exist. On mag disks, the
volume thing might be more of a drag, but with e-disks
maybe not as much.

On Thu, 1 Nov 2024, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

> In comp.os.linux.misc The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> On 31/10/2024 18:17, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>> On 2024-10-31, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>> If you reject 'white mans' knowledge on racist grounds, well bye bye hi
>>>> tech.
>>>>
>>>> And I suspect that is what will happen. If the chinese dont take over,
>>>> the barbarians will. And will be welcomed by those who have been taught
>>>> to hate their own culture and fear science.
>>>
>>> It's odd, though, how these barbarians, however anti-tech they may be,
>>> manage to hold on to enough technology to create weapons.
>>>
>> Or are they simply paying someone else?
>> Only the Iranians have any technological nous.
>> Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco, Algeria..,Somalia...
>>
>> Not exactly putting men on the moon are they?
>
> Well you could argue that the USA paid Germans to put them on the
> moon.

Apart from the fact that the US had rocket research going on in parallel,
Germany and the US are very much part of the same cultural hemisphere, so
I don't think that is a good counter argument.

Relying on Mr. von Braun no doubt accelerated the research.

> Videos on YouTube of how they make things in some of those
> countries are facinatingly backwards in terms of tech, though often
> clever in their own way.
>
> Smartphones seem to be universal though. Somehow the one piece of
> tech I choose to live without is the only luxury that people in the
> poorest countries appear to always seek out.
>
>

On Fri, 1 Nov 2024, rbowman wrote:

> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:21:17 +0100, D wrote:
>
>> Wouldn't those countries mostly just buy AK-47:s from russia?
>
> Probably not. I'll say 'AK style' rifles rather than AK-47. The AK-47 was
> superceded by the AKM in '59. It was still 7.62x39 but was simpler to
> manufacture. The receiver is stamped from a flat sheet of steel or maybe
> hammered into shape in the home workshop. China's Type 56 and N Korea's
> Type 58 and Type 68 follow derive from that as well as a lot of other
> countries designs, licensed or unlicensed.
>
> That was followed by the AK-74 in 1974, strange to say. That's 5.45×39
> rather than 7.62x39. That followed the US philosophy in Vietnam. If they
> can't hit anything anyway a lighter cartridge means they can carry more
> ammo to burn. The typical bullet is 53 grains rather than 123. Again, that
> was/is manufactured in a lot of countries.
>
> Next up is the AK-100 series from '94. I guess AK-94 didn't sound right.
> You can get that in either chambering. Next was the AK-200 series, a
> little cheaper tham the AK-100 design to build. India bought a raft of
> them and the factory in Urrar Pradesh is licensed to build 600000 more.
>
> And then, the AK-12 from 2012 when they went back to the tried and true
> year numbering system. The AK-15 and AK-19 are minor upgrades. I believe
> the current Russian menu for exports has AK-100, AK-200, and AK-12s.
>
> So anybody buying new in the box AK pattern rifles may be buying from
> Russia or from many other countries that are manufacturing variants on the
> models. Even Romania is in the game with the WASR-10 semi-auto variant
> for the US market.
>

Very interesting! Thank you very much for sharing!

On 31/10/2024 20:21, D wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> On 31/10/2024 18:17, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>> On 2024-10-31, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you reject 'white mans' knowledge on racist grounds, well bye bye hi
>>>> tech.
>>>>
>>>> And I suspect that is what will happen. If the chinese dont take over,
>>>> the barbarians will. And will be welcomed by those who have been taught
>>>> to hate their own culture and fear science.
>>>
>>> It's odd, though, how these barbarians, however anti-tech they may be,
>>> manage to hold on to enough technology to create weapons.
>>>
>> Or are they simply paying someone else?
>> Only the Iranians have any technological nous.
>> Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco,
>> Algeria..,Somalia...
>>
>> Not exactly putting men on the moon are they?
>
> Wouldn't those countries mostly just buy AK-47:s from russia?

I have it on good authority that they indeed do, but their ability to
actually score a hit depends on the will of Allah. They just point it in
the general direction of the alleged enemy and loose off

Besides what are they going to give back in exchange?

--
Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the
gospel of envy.

Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

Winston Churchill

On 01/11/2024 01:40, rbowman wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 19:50:38 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 09:43:57 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>
>>> "What's the name of this (picking up a cross head screwdriver) in Zulu"
>>> "We don't have a name for it".
>>
>> I suppose “AK-47” is not a term that needs translating. ;)
>
> When a Brit get's too prideful about Zulus mention thr Battle of
> Isandlwana.

No pride involved. Zulus are pretty damn good people as far as I am
concerned.
Intelligent and courageous.

No one ever sold Zulus into slavery...

--
In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act.

- George Orwell

rbowman <bowman@montana.com> writes:
>On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 22:57:35 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> Yes, I recently saw a video of someone on the street in India rebuilding
>> a starter motor. Primitive but effective. Meanwhile,
>> others in the background were overhauling heavy equipment.
>> You do what you gotta do.
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_Solo_to_the_Top_of_the_World
>
>First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down to
>the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack. Back in the '90s I have a 400cc Yamaha Seca
>I put a lot of miles on both on pavement and on goat tracks so that's
>bull.

A Honda 50 should be good enough for anyone :-).

On 2024-11-01, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:

> rbowman <bowman@montana.com> writes:
>
>> On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 22:57:35 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, I recently saw a video of someone on the street in India
>>> rebuilding a starter motor. Primitive but effective. Meanwhile,
>>> others in the background were overhauling heavy equipment.
>>> You do what you gotta do.
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_Solo_to_the_Top_of_the_World
>>
>> First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down to
>> the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack. Back in the '90s I have a 400cc Yamaha Seca
>> I put a lot of miles on both on pavement and on goat tracks so that's
>> bull.
>
> A Honda 50 should be good enough for anyone :-).

I had a Yamaha 80. I rode it half of everywhere, then
put 50 cents' worth of gas in it and rode the other half.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

In article <vg1dko$2unm0$1@dont-email.me>,
Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>On 1 Nov 2024 01:35:10 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>
>> First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down to
>> the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack.
>
>That’s the USA for you: they love to build huge, gutless engines. They
>should take lessons from the Italians: 100bhp/litre is typical for their
>engines.

....which is why they break all the time. Fix It Again, Tony! :-P

--
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

In article <vg0n6s$2qq89$8@dont-email.me>,
Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>The USA makes a big deal of wanting to close its borders to illegal
>migrants coming in, but when it comes to stopping illegal guns getting
>out, suddenly they’re not so keen.

You can thank your heroes Barack Obama and Eric Holder for that:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/fast-furious-obama-first-scandal/

--
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

On Fri, 1 Nov 2024 10:36:54 +0100, D wrote:

> Apart from the fact that the US had rocket research going on in
> parallel,
> Germany and the US are very much part of the same cultural hemisphere,
> so I don't think that is a good counter argument.
>
> Relying on Mr. von Braun no doubt accelerated the research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Robert_H._Goddard#Lack_of_vision_in_the_United_States

Goddard was dismissed as a crank; real physicists didn't get their hands
dirty. He had to scramble for funding and to attract any interest.
Meanwhile Germany was pounding Britain with V-2s.

On Fri, 1 Nov 2024 10:05:36 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> I have it on good authority that they indeed do, but their ability to
> actually score a hit depends on the will of Allah. They just point it in
> the general direction of the alleged enemy and loose off

iirc when the US stuck its nose into Iraq and Afghanistan goat herders
with elderly Mosin-Nagants led the US to re-evaluate it's love for the
relatively short range M-14 derivatives. Allah must have been smiling on
them.

You may be confusing them with US blacks armed with Glocks.

On Fri, 1 Nov 2024 04:41:03 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> On 1 Nov 2024 04:35:08 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>
>> Says someone from a little island ...
>
> You have no idea, do you?
>
> <https://x.com/HelenClarkNZ/status/1157885933321981952?s=20>

FFS, Montana is 147,040 sq mi, NZ is 103,483 sq mi. There's not much in
eastern Montana but prairie dogs, so we could drop your island out there.

That's 1 state out of 50 and it's only the 4th largest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area

The Aussies have a good idea of the size of the US; Europeans and Kiwis
don't.

On Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:58:27 GMT, Scott Lurndal wrote:

> rbowman <bowman@montana.com> writes:
>>On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 22:57:35 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, I recently saw a video of someone on the street in India
>>> rebuilding a starter motor. Primitive but effective. Meanwhile,
>>> others in the background were overhauling heavy equipment.
>>> You do what you gotta do.
>>
>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_Solo_to_the_Top_of_the_World
>>
>>First off, in the US a 350cc bike is considered marginal to ride down to
>>the Stop'n'Rob for a sixpack. Back in the '90s I have a 400cc Yamaha
>>Seca I put a lot of miles on both on pavement and on goat tracks so
>>that's bull.
>
> A Honda 50 should be good enough for anyone :-).

https://powersports.honda.com/motorcycle/trail/crf50f/crf50f

I wouldn't mind having one of those to putter around on, I've got a Suzuki
DR650 but at 350 lbs it's not the easiest thing to pick up. otoh, it is
happy at 85 - 90 mph so I don't get run over.

The 125cc Super Cub might be semi-feasible around town but there's about a
200' high bump between me and town. At least there's a wide shoulder I
could ride on as it ascended the mountain.