Thursday, October 17, 2002

One thing you can always count on: nothing ever stays the same forever.

I'm sure that someone said those words, or words to that effect, better before now. The departure of Lou Pinella, the guiding force behind Mariners baseball in Seattle, is now a fact, not a rumor. The Seattle Times does a fine job of conveying some of what Lou has meant to this city. It is arguable that the Seattle Mariners would have moved to some other city had Lou and the "refuse to lose" team of 1995 not energized the city as never before. The 116 game season in 2001, division and wild card championships, and 300 wins in the past 3 years are hallmarks of a team and manager who strove for excellence year in and year out.

Mariners fans everywhere will miss Lou terribly. Those who appreciate his achievements while he was here shouldn't selfishly seek to deny him the chance to be closer to his family, especially to his parents and grandchildren. The fact that it is so hard to let him go without such thoughts is a testiment to what he has meant to us all.

Godspeed, Lou, and thanks for the memories.
I don't currently own a gun, but I respect the rights of those who choose to do so. As many have pointed out, criminals will be ingenious in their efforts to defeat "fingerprinting" of weapons.

In fact, if the criminal doesn't wish to steal a gun, deface the rifling, exchange the barrel, etc., they have other options.

Lead poisoning is a concern for police and military shooters--as well as range operators. So-called "frangible ammo" was developed in part to provide lead-free ammunition with the additional benefit that the bullets virtually destroy themselves on impact, reducing the risk of injury from richochet. The unintended consequence is that a smart sniper with the means to obtain frangible ammo can fire, say, a .223 cartridge at 4,000 fps (most standard loads shoot at 2,000-2,500 fps) with almost no concern for recovery of the spent shell--it would be reduced to little more than tiny copper/tin fragments.

Here's a link with some additional information on frangible ammunition.

I'm not trying to educate the bad guys or frighten the rest of us. Like most bloggers, I think that the issues need to be thought through carefully before jumping head first into solution space.