Attending a wake for a friend - not a close friend, but the kind of person who has been in and out of your life in positive ways many times over the years. Lots of people from my own past, good memories, good stories.

This is very unfortunate. Michael Bazzle does, IMO, great work and puts out great products. I have purchased many of them. It is a shame that we, as a culture, seem to have lost respect for the hard work people do in creating products for sale. The end result of an "everything should be free" attitude is that we lose access to valuable, specialized information which people are simply unwilling to provide for free. People should be able to choose whether the product of their efforts is free or not. We should respect that choice. This is not the same as saying we should accept abusive surveillance and advertising from giant corporations which take the work of creators for free and then pay the creators pennies on the dollar for ad revenue. The former is a direct relationship with the creator. The latter is an abusive, parasitic intermediation scam. #privacy

Major Books Update – IntelTechniques Blog

#amber is very cool. I like it.

I made small progress today. I installed Amber and used it to sign into #0xChat and #Amethyst. I haven't figured out how to *use* #0xChat yet, but that's a different task.

All the tools of Liberty can as easily be applied for evil. But if we give up the tools of Liberty on the promise that evil will be prevented, all we will truly prevent is Liberty. For evil never gives up its tools, never gives up its numbers, or its advantage. Only the gullible give up the tools used to protect Liberty because someone says they are used for evil.

The Dark Nexus Between Harm Groups and ‘The Com’ – Krebs on Security

Today, prior to class, I shot my 3" Springfield Hellcat with factory iron sights at an NRA B8 center target from 25 yards. I fired a single 5-rd string from a standing position, no timer. I scored an X-ring, a 10-ring and an 8-ring (at 3 o'clock), then I dropped two shots about 6" low at 6 o'clock. This was "cold," meaning I did not do any warmup and I had not been to the range for a week. I just drew the gun and fired the string at a comfortable pace (maybe 3-4 seconds/shot.) It is tough to keep a 3" barrel on target at distance. The slightest movement during the trigger press makes a significant change in trajectory. Even 3/4" of additional barrel length make a noticeable difference in my accuracy at that distance. I really admire people who can shoot the small guns at distance. Few things test your technique more than stretching out your shooting distance with a short-barreled handgun. #gunstr

Today we ran our monthly Texas License to Carry Shooting Proficiency class. This is the Texas Dept of Public Safety course of fire required for LTC applicants. One applicant brought a Ruger SR22 4.5" - a nice double action, small-caliber semi-auto. I have an older 3.5" model I like and which I use for practice from time to time. Unfortunately, the student's gun was quite dirty, and the ammo was inexpensive Federal white box .22lr purchased at a big box store. The gun suffered failure-to-feed and failure-to-extract from the outset. We did not get through 10 rounds of the class. The gun malfunctioned repeatedly and, ultimately, got a case stuck in the chamber bad enough that it could not be removed without tools. The lesson is that, to function reliably, rimfire pistols must be kept clean and properly lubricated. In addition, the ammunition must be of high quality and must be "high velocity." Lower-powered ammo does not provide enough force to reliably cycle the action. A dirty, poorly lubricated gun requires more force to cycle than a clean, well-oiled gun. The combination makes for trouble. So clean and lubricate your gun before you take it to a class. Purchase good quality ammunition. If you have questions about either, contact your instructer before class. Fortunately, the student was able to complete the course when another student (the two were complete strangers) offered up their own gun and ammunition and we ran the class in relays so they could swap out. This worked out great, as the student was very safe and an excellent shot - scored 98% on the course. It has been our experience over the years that "gun people" are good people. Getting to meet them, and helping to create new ones, is the best part of our job. #gunstr #goodpeople

#GM #nostr. What a great working weekend we had here. Taking Monday morning off with some cowboy coffee.

I have to solve this zap problem. It appears there is no such thing as a wallet which will run on a NoGSF/NoGooglePlay #GrapheneOS phone. What are my options for connecting an off-phone wallet or getting around the #RequiresGSF problem to send zaps on #nostr? I anticipate some people with #readingcomprehension problems will reply with "just use appXYZ," broadcasting they're #clueless because appXYZ requires GSF/GooglePlay, which means it won't run either. Looking forward to it. #askNostr

ReplyGuy is the NSA showing #nostr who's boss.

Remember when some new social network (like Ryze. Anyone remember that?) Would pop up every single week, and you would get invites from all the people you were friends with on all the other social networks?

GM, #nostr. The best deal on coffee in Texas is #CommunityCoffee at #DrugEmporium. 12oz for $4.99. Good coffee. Great price.

I run into this a lot. It is a barrier for me in using/connecting wallets (and other BTC/LN stuff) because I choose not to run GPS. I know there are valid reasons many #android devs use it, but it is still a barrier for me. _Maybe_ #muun will actually work without it. I haven't gotten that far. Yet. I am open to recommendations for wallets known to work without it. #asknostr This is my first attempt at including an image in a note with #amethyst.

Gm, #nostr. My current practice is to block and hide commenters: - who ignore (or don't care about) the context of the original post - who appear to have not even read the original post - who subtract value from any potential conversation which might arise from the original post While quote-posting commenters and others who: - add a relevant idea which had not occurred to me - point out a legitimate flaw in, or alternative to, my reasoning - disagree with me is a way that adds value to any potential conversation which might arise from the og post. I have never had this approach work for very long on the centralized SMs. It rapidly devolves into something which is boring and uninspiring. Let's see if #nostr is different.