Good Morning! 63F @ 5:00AM. Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 91F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Red flag warning remains in effect until 5 PM PDT Sunday for wind and low humidity.
Congrats on the closing, Ed. Maybe one good thing about moving is the chance to organize the way things are stored as they are unpacked. But it can also be very frustrating trying to find that one thing you need RIGHT NOW, and it's in a box somewhere...
ullinghair:
Wow, RS, that's a lot of trench for one day! Must not've been many rocks or roots to deal with?
A few statistics, Eric:
According to the CDC, for 2013 there were
51 homicides per 1000,000 people in the US, 35 of them by firearm.
The FBI compiles Uniform Crime Statistics, and for
2014 there were 2443 homicides involving firearms. The Census Bureau reports that on
December 31, 2014, there were 320,282,544 people in the country. That gives us 7.63 homicides committed with a firearm per million people.
Compared to less than 1/million as found by Eric for Great Britain, 7.63 is substantially greater. But the contrast between the CDC and FBI figures points out that the old Mark Twain adage "There are lies, **** lies, and then there are statistics" may be at play here, too. Over the years there have been repeated accusations that the CDC a) has no business reporting homicide statistics, as homicide has nothing to do with disease, and b) has been encouraged to adulterate the firearms related numbers so that politicians can use them to promote gun control legislation.
For all homicides, there were 8/million people in Great Britain for 2015, and in the US for 2014 the number was 12.48/million. I couldn't find yearly figures for the US, but in GB between 2003 and 2015, the rate ranged between 9 and 18 homicides per million people, perhaps an indicator that the US figures aren't all that different from those found in England. Eric's figures also show that the murder rate has been falling since 2003, a trend also reflected in
US data.
But it is clear that we here in the US prefer to use a gun to do our killing, by an almost two to one margin. What is not clear is if the overall homicide rate has anything to do with firearms use, as the homicide rate in Great Britain actually went up after they started their firearm confiscation program.
As to the Midsomer reference made by Eric, does that perhaps have something to do with Shakespeare? I'm not a student of the bard... :laughing:
Great news on the tests, Ron. Best wishes for a similar outcome on the surgery!
The weather's been mild here the past few days, with highs in the mid 80s and nice breezes. As a result I've been making good progress on the van, and was able to fit the pop top roof to the front pillars yesterday. Would have gotten the rear ones fit, too, but there was trouble removing the rear hatch. The four flat socket head screws were firmly stuck, and in spite of liberal doses of Kroil, enough heat to blister paint, and stripping out all the Allen hexes, only one let go. It took a drill and Easy Out to get the other three. Several drills, actually, as the material was quite hard and dulled the bits quickly. But I believe I have finished drilling spot welds, with something like four hundred done between the two vehicles. If I never have to drill another one, it'll be too soon!
Removing the roof from the keeper van left several cuts in the supporting structure that needed to be repair welded, and some of them were through parts that had been brazed together at the factory. Welding through braze metal makes a brittle mess, but I'd been able to secure come copper silicon bronze braze wire for the MIG welder and decided yesterday was the time to try it out. It only took ten minutes to swap the wire over and switch the gas from argon CO2 to straight argon, and to cut a few kerfs in an old piece of sheet metal to practice on. Much to my surprise it didn't take long to find a setting that worked pretty well, though it's clear that I'm still a much better grindor than I am a weldor (or brazor):
BTW, the new camera arrived yesterday as well, and it's a lot easier to use. The brighter screen can be seen clearly even in direct sunlight, and it automatically switches into macro mode when needed. Truly a point and shoot, and should work out fine as long as I don't drop it :shocked:
Hope you all have a productive and enjoyable weekend!
