Job Wanted

I’m going to apply for the job of Kamala Harris’s speechwriter.

I mean, how difficult can it be?  You take a random word generator, extract enough words to make a 5-minute speech, and take out a few of the egregious non-sequiturs (or not — who would notice?), then type it into the teleprompter.

Three minutes; job done.  Repeat as necessary.  Earn big bucks.

And how much worse could the outcome possibly be?  Nobody takes any notice of what the incompetent bitch says anyway.

True, going on the past rotations, the job would only last about four months, tops, but in the meantime, a hundred grand or more would nestle in Ye Olde Treasure Chestte.

Where do I apply?

Missed It By THIS Much

Apparently, yesterday was International Orgasm Day or something equally stupid.

Needless to say, I missed it, just as I’ve missed so many of its namesakes.

Nowadays, of course, I’m more likely to have a Supreme Moment by looking at pictures of things like this: 

…or this:

…rather than this:

In truth, though, what would really get the old juices running would be… ummmm… how can I put this delicately, or in a manner which wouldn’t cause the fuzz to show up at my door…

A deep pit full of dead Socialists?

Something like that.

A Tale Of Two Scopes

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Meopta riflescopes — the guys who make the Zeiss Conquest line — but I recently had a little cognitive dissonance when looking at options.

Typically, I’m looking for long-range “Boomershoot” target scopes, with fairly high magnification (~18x – 25x).  This time, a Reader asked me to look at a different use for him — shorter-range hunting, if you will, where the magnification needs to be more modest (~10x – 15x), with the only specs being variable focus, an illuminated reticle and a 30mm tube.  Small fields, deep woods, you get the idea.

So I got to this model, and it ticked all the boxes:

Meopta Optika6 2.5-15×44 Illuminated SFP 4C$650

Follow the link if you want the detailed specs.

I was just about to save the page for future reference, when I saw this option:

Meopta MeoSport R 3-15x50mm Illuminated SFP 4C – $450

Once again, the details are at the link.

All of which makes me wonder.  Meopta bills its Meosport line as “entry-level”, and the model above compares very well indeed to its more expensive cousin at the top.  In fact, the Sport looks a little better than the Optika:  a 50mm bell vs. 44mm, and so on.

All of which makes me suspicious.  A fifty-dollar difference in price would be one thing, but a $200 spread?  Long experience in marketing and manufacturing taught me that every price reduction for two identical items comes at the cost of quality, in some way, shape or form.  (The Iron Triangle is:  materials / features + quality + price = an equilibrium constant.  Reduce price, and you have to reduce one or both of the other two.)  But as far as I can tell, the features are more or less identical, and Meopta’s quality has been superb.

For the life of me, however, I can’t fathom the difference between the two scopes.  My penny-pinching nature says “Take the MeoSport”, but experience says, “Buy once, cry once”.

Can anyone shed any light on this issue?


Update:  From Reader Will B comes an email:

The price delta is in the glass coatings.  The more expensive scope has more/better coatings.
I also noticed you mentioned a 30mm tube.  You probably think this lets in more light, that is incorrect.
These scopes are made to the European style where they can hunt at night.  Hence the larger objective.  I have not looked through one of these but I would bet that Meopta is using lens coatings that allow the blue light to remain;  this is because in Europe they can hunt at night.  All Austrian/European scopes emphasize blue light waves.  US scopes use yellow light (think Leupold) as it is pretty good at twilight or dusk.
The reason for a 30mm tube is because Europeans do not generally have the kind of flat shooting rifles we generally use in the US.  The European rounds have a greater arc to them.   So the 30 mm tube allows for more mechanical up and down in the elevation adjustment.    That is the sole purpose of a 30mm tube.
You will not likely need that arc accommodation in a shot under 200 yards unless of course you have a slow shooting round, so usually in the US there is no need for a 30mm tube.
I bought a Conquest years ago.  The mechanicals were excellent, the glass was a single coated lens and it sucked.  I gave it away.
I have a Swarovski and a Schmidt & Bender and a few high-end Leupolds.  You can get great glass for under a thousand dollars.  I am not rich, just patient and have saved to get what I use.  Once you use a truly good scope you are ruined forever.
I will say this:  once you have used a scope that preserves blue light you will never want to use anything else.  They are very bright in daylight and are excellent at lower light levels.

I never knew the light-spectrum differences between Euro scopes and Murkin ones, and this is probably why I tend to prefer the Euro glass.  Thankee for the info.

Noobs

Oy.  When you’re going to try to assassinate someone for the first time, perhaps you shouldn’t ask Google for help:

Nicholas Roske searched on Google for the “quietest semi auto rifle” and the “most effective place to stab someone” before he arrived outside Kavanaugh’s home in June.

I don’t know much about stabbing (okay, I do, but not as much as I know about semi-auto rifles), but “quietest semi auto rifle” ?  How about, NONE, you fucking moron.

Okay, a little .22 semi like a Ruger or Marlin wouldn’t be as loud as, say, an AR-15 or even a Remington 7400;  but if we’re talking serious man-killer chamberings, I think I’m safe in saying that they’re all pretty fucking loud.

In a way, though, I’m glad the little prick was so stupid.  Had he been a serious shooter, Kavanaugh might have been in trouble.

Even better, though, was this:

The 26-year-old also said in an online chat forum he was going to “remove some people from the supreme court” to “stop roe v wade from being overturned.”
“I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come,” Roske said, “and I am shooting for 3.”  [sic]

Uh huh.


By the way, isn’t that Rem 7400 a cutie?  And it’s in the manly .30-06 Springfield, which I doubt that our Gen Z wannabe-killer would be able to handle anyway.

August Fundraiser

As threatened a couple of weeks ago, August marks the month wherein I call for financial support from you, O My Loyal Readers, so that I may keep this motley collection of foul-tempered rants, occasional essays, reviews of books and movies, gratuitous pictures of beautiful guns, cars and women, and in general all the things that give pleasure to men (and on occasion, to my long-suffering Lady Readers as well).  Also, so that I can actually try to  survive Bidenflation and the resulting economic collapse without having to resort to the old-fashioned ways of keeping New Wife and myself alive.

After getting input from everyone, I decided not to go with a begging site e.g. GoFundMe, but rather just setting up sundry means of donations via VenMo and Zelle, as well as the usual PayPal and Patreon methods (the latter for those who would prefer to set up a monthly donation, for cash flow purposes).  Of course, those who wish may also go the paper route via the Sooper-Seekrit mailing address.  Details of all the above are as follows:

Venmo details:  @Kim-DuToit-2
Zelle:  [email protected]
PayPal:  [email protected]
Patreon:  kimdutoit

…and of course, the Sooper-Seekrit mailing address for those of the Paper Persuasion:

6009 W. Parker Rd
Ste 149-141
Plano TX 75093

Venmo and Zelle are two new streams for me, and I have tested them so they should work.

And as a reminder / nag, this annoying graphic will appear inside the top post twice a week or so:

However, to assuage the annoyance, there will also be a pic of this nature right underneath it:

Or:

Or:

…etc.  You get my drift.

Finally:  at the end of August, the Top 3 (plus ties) donations will be entered into a Secret Drawing for one of my treasured iron-sighted rifles — which, lest we forget, I can no longer shoot because Old Busted Eyes.  The rifles will be legal in all 50 states, so no worries there.

Thank you all for your support.

News Roundup

(no sponsor this week, so I’ll just invent one:)

I wish.  Anyway, let’s fire away [sic] :


a.k.a. Why Kim Left South Africa.


ummmm feeling a little conflicted here, Boss.


wait, you ate street food in Bangladesh? LOLZ

And speaking of inedible food:


excellent news because on the whole, Hershey makes the world’s worst-tasting chocolate.

From the Dept. of Unwelcome Settlers:


welcome to our world, compadres.  Every single thing you don’t like about them, we don’t like either. 
(Signed)  Texas, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Idaho, Colorado and a couple others.


and then the screws locked down the women’s block.  I report, you decide.


no.  Nice try.  But if we’re going to go down that road, first let’s ban you fuckers from using private jets:  fly commercial.  And sell off your exotic car collections, while you’re there.


in the “Custer Killed By Indians” Breaking News department.


leading to the inevitable:  “YOU HAD ONE JOB!”


“Husband Kills Himself In Delivery Room.”

And in INSIGNIFICA:

 


and to nobody’s surprise, the last survivor is:

Finally:


I dunno, man;  seems kind of a waste to meAnd isn’t she Colombian?

And that’s all the news that’s fit to be taxed.