Reminder Of Earlier Predictions

Of course, this is about the Coming Ice Age Of 1970.

Then there’s this one, more trenchantly stated:

Five hundred years ago, no one was driving, flying, using plastic bags or gas stoves. Electric vehicles were not a thing yet. The only vehicle was a horse, possibly pulling a carriage. There was even less CO2 activity 5000 years ago or 5 million years ago. Yet the climate was changing back then. How does science explain that? Or are they making things up now?

I’ll take that last one for $400, Alex.

Fucking charlatans.

Unicorn Gun

I was browsing hither and yon on Teh Intarwebz, and happened upon these lovely creatures (sample below)

…when a random thought occurred to me:  does anyone make a pump shotgun with an exposed hammer anymore?

To be sure, there are some examples of the “coach gun” type with exposed hammer(s), e.g. the Rossi side-by-side:

…but I don’t think they make them anymore.  CZ does, of course:


…and very pretty the “Hammer Classic” is, too:

But at the moment I’m looking for a pump-action shotgun, not a side-by-side.  At the moment, anyway.  (When it comes time to get one of these, that CZ is a goner, even if it’s only available in 12ga.)

Here’s the thing.  I like exposed hammers on a shotgun.  I like to see when the gun is ready to go boom, and there’s no better indicator than a cocked hammer.  And in practiced hands, a manual cocking action isn’t that much slower than a semi-auto one, especially when you take the nannyish auto-safety feature into account.

But while the handgun world is replete with guns with hammers standing proud, shotguns seem to have “evolved” completely into the concealed hammer genre.

And they’re all sleek and stuff, but that’s not what I’m looking for.

And who the hell can afford to pay over three grand for an old 1897 Winchester trench gun anymore? (Norinco used to make knock-off copies of the Win 97, but they’re off the table because ugh Chinese government company.)

Incidentally, the top pic is of an affordable 1897, but it’s chambered for 16ga — not in itself a problem, unless you can’t afford / don’t want yet another caliber in Ye Olde Ammoe Locquer.

What I’m looking for, in other words, is a pump-action hammer-exposed shotgun.  In 20ga. [thud]

Anyone have any ideas?

Not The Optimal Choice

Today, I want to address the topic of:

Knife Sets

First, the dirty little secret:  not one of the brands which offer their cutlery in “sets” / blocks are very good, in that a “set” of knives tries to do everything well, and only partially succeeds.  Price is not an indicator of quality because inevitably, one (or more) of the components is not fit for function.

I have one of these, purchased before I knew better.

My summary:

  • the bread knife is terrible — it hacks the bread because the serration points are too sharp — and now I use a budget bread knife bought at the supermarket instead.  (The included paring knife is New Wife’s favorite kitchen implement:  we have two.)
  • the carving knives are quite good, but lose their edge rather quickly when you’re cutting things like cooked meat (ahem), so now I grudgingly use an electric carving knife for that purpose, and use the block’s carving knives only for cutting and trimming raw meat and veg.
  • the scissors are total shit — they fell apart (literally) after about six months.  I replaced them with a Kitchen-Aid pair (note the price), and they’re coming up for their sixth year of (ab)use, without complaint.
  • the block’s steak knives are also crappy:  they tear the meat rather than cut it.

Takeaway:  the Son&Heir worked in the kitchen at both Chili’s and Pappadeaux, and took note of what the pro chefs used there.  So when he finally moved into his own place (after sharing with buddies for years), he bought one sinfully-expensive carving knife — I mean, chef-quality — and uses two cheap paring knives (both Zyliss, see above), one serrated, one flat-edge.  He claims that those three take care of about 99% of his kitchen cutting needs.  (“What about the  remaining 1%?”  Dunno, he didn’t tell me;  knowing him, probably his Al Mar folder.)

The only reason to have a knife block at all is so that the knives’ edges aren’t damageded by clanging against each other in the drawer.

Frankly, if I were starting again, I’d get one of those wall-mounted magnetic numbers, and use it to store my own sinfully-expensive carving knife, a couple-three Zyliss utility knives and the Kitchen-Aid scissors.

For steak knives, I’d go with Victorinox because, duh Victorinox (see also:  Schmidt-Rubin rifles #Swiss quality).

Speaking of steak knives, I once had a set of Laguiolet knives, (bought in Paris and modeled, it’s said, on the Pyrenean shepherd’s knife), and they’re awful.

The blades are excellent, but the handles are too thin and they turn in the hand rather disconcertingly.  I think I gave them to Goodwill or something.

Frankly, I’d rather get a set of steak knives separately (as opposed to included with the cutlery set) and just store them in the box they come in, like this one:

Finally, I have a small cleaver for when I lose patience and just need to hack something apart (e.g. pork knuckle), and I have this one, which has a touch-up sharpener built into the sheath:

Five years of serious (ab)use, and counting…

I don’t have a butcher knife and don’t know much about them, but the Bearded Butcher guys use Victorinox, so there ya go.

Feel free, of course, to add your thoughts on this topic in Comments.

We Suck!

…at hospitals anyway, according to some organization:

Researchers at the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London examined data on 38 developed countries.

The experts focused on four key patient safety indicators for their rankings: maternal mortality, treatable mortality, adverse effects of medical treatment and neonatal disorders.

For those who are too lazy to follow the link, here’s the table:

Yeah, I know:  our hospitals are ranked lower because we take on more hopeless cases than most other countries will accept.  (Whenever you read about some Third-World mope who needs to have the extra toes growing out of his neck removed, it’s always off to the U.S. and not to Sweden, because they just won’t take the case.)

I also note with some skepticism the high rank of the Netherlands, which is the absolute last place where I’d go to hospital because of the Dutchies’ fondness for involuntary euthanasia.

Finally, not being of a medical bent myself, I have no idea whether the criteria of “maternal mortality, treatable mortality, adverse effects of medical treatment and neonatal disorders” are the best pointers towards judgement of hospital quality;  I’ll leave that to my Sawbones Readers to comment on.