Gun Blog Variety Podcast #25

Episode 25 is up!

• Adam, suffering from lack of sleep, still keeps up his end of the hosting duties. Sean remains unaffected. 
• Erin Palette, deep within her Blanket Fort of Prepitude, talks about the difficult decision of with whom to share your preps.
• Nicki Kenyon is on assignment and will return next week.
• Miguel Gonzalez gives us some pointers on ammunition reloading.
• Barron B. discusses why security should be built into computer design, not tacked on at the end.
• And Weer'd shows us the depths that the anti-gunners will sink to in order to take away our civil rights.

Thanks for downloading, listening, and subscribing. And don't forget to tell a friend!

SHTFriday: My Last Bug-Out Bag Post

Well, my last post in this series, I mean. I'm not specifically excluding any possibility of talking about BOBs in the future.

I do hope everyone enjoyed this series. At this point I think I've photographed nearly all of my personal preps (and that's a key word, personal -- I'm not going to show you any of the preps we have as a family, or what people other than myself have, to preserve Operational Security) and so hopefully I won't have to do any more of these long, image-heavy series in the future.

I hope.

Anyway, do go to Blue Collar Prepping and read today's article.

Hipster Batgirl hurts me. Deeply.

(if you thought Female Thor bothered me, just wait..)

Gail Simone is one of my favorite comics writers. She's always found a way to work in interesting, complex characters (some of whom just happen to be female) into interesting and complex stories without ever being preachy about any beliefs she might hold in the real world. She's done some fantastic work on Deadpool (very hard to write for Deadpool without straying into lolsorandom territory) and fleshed out the Birds of Prey title, giving a lot of extra life and backstory to one of my personal favorite comics characters, Barbara Gordon. When the New 52 event happened in DC and all the books relaunched, Batgirl was relaunched as well, with Gail Simone at the head.

Not pictured: Stilettos, spandex

I was in a bit of an outrage at the time, as since Alan Moore's “The Killing Joke” ended with Barbara being shot in the spine by Joker resulted in Barbara's growth from Batgirl to Oracle, tech support and girl genius for the Justice League. She was the one the heroes turned to when they couldn't figure something out or couldn't get the job done on their own. She even proved herself still physically capable, sparring regularly with Nightwing and Black Canary, and defending herself from Prometheus when her clocktower base was compromised. The news that Barbara would be back on her feet and resuming her role as Batgirl, I was less than pleased. Like throwing things less than pleased. Gail Simone's writing was my one ray of hope and it just so turned out that not only was the series not bad, but was actually pretty damn good.

Simone took Barbara through hell and back, introducing new villains and teaming her up with some familiar faces, dragging her into the Death of the Family with the gruesome new Joker and squaring her off against (and finally redeeming) one of the Talons of the Court of Owls before bringing her face to face with her disturbed brother, James Gordon Jr.

And then Cameron Stewart and Brendan Fletcher took over. The last few panels of Simone's final issue have Barbara deciding that she's got to 'get away from it all' and resume in Fletcher and Stewart's first issue with her moving to a trendy, hipster borough of Gotham called Burnside (think Williamsburg) and returning to college(despite having already earned several degrees). Leaving, bafflingly, the storyline with Batgirl wanted for murder and being a fugitive of the police unresolved, her brother still at large, and unresolved issues with both her father and her boyfriend.

What follows is an unprecedented tonal shift which left me with such a case of whiplash that I genuinely thought I'd picked up the wrong comic. This feels like an alternate universe or Young Adult title, and not at all like the issues that logically follow on from Simone's run. The art is simplistic and flat, not unlike a middling web-comic. The characterization is completely out of place. Barbara is overly awkward. Black Canary shows up and is so glum and grumbling that the artist might as well have just drawn a permanent storm cloud over her head. Simone's trans character(who is a good character on her own without straying near tokenism), Barbara's roomie Alysia is left behind. And in every goddamn panel is somebody wearing skinny jeans or horn-rimmed glasses. The complaints people have about this book being too hipster? Totally valid. There's Starbucks mocha half-caf skinny soy vegan latte and ironic disinterest dripping from the pages. There's hashtags and tinder references every other page. I think I know where they got their photo references from.

And the costume..

I'm fine with the costume. Honestly, in another context, it would be fine. A Young Adult version of Batgirl would be fine in this costume. But Barbara Gordon, in the last three years since regaining her complete physicality, has faced some serious threats, and a single layer of leather is not sufficient for someone who regularly punches out of her weight class. And it's almost like the author knows it, and is embarrassed, as in one of the first few issues of the new team, Barbara's nearly taken out by a cosplayer on a motorcycle with a sword when the costume gives way with one slash. And I've seen people say “Oh at least it's not spandex and stilettos.” **Batgirl did not wear spandex and stilettos**. Read the book. Read. The. Book. Batgirl had proper boots with armored knee covers. Teflon armor with impact resistant plates. Shock plates in her cowl. All those little lines on her New 52 costume? Those aren't sewing seams. Those are armor plates. Batgirl had some serious gear that took a budget to maintain, so don't tell me “oh the van caught fire so I have to make a new costume out of thrift store finds.” Fuck right off with that. Barbara Gordon is damned resourceful and smart, and fully capable of restocking her arsenal with or without Wayne funding.

Better yet, we know Misfit's in the New 52. Give that costume to her. It'll fit. Or have Stephanie Brown move into Burnside and have her be Batgirl of Burnside in that costume. It fits either of those two characters far better than Barbara Gordon, who is a professional crime-fighting vigilante. 

Most damning of all, Gail Simone gave us a very mature, very adult Barbara Gordon. One who faced hardships, betrayal, and devestation and still managed to pick herself up and keep going. Cameron Stewart's batgirl is two giggles and a hair toss from being just another god damn manic pixie dream girl, and that just does not sit right with me.

Oh, Salem, surely you're just overreacting..

I'm tickled that a cross-dressing villain (think Warhol with a Batgirl fixation) garnered him accusations of Transphobia from the SJW crowd after tweeting this. If that's what you think of Barbara Gordon, sir, you don't deserve to clean her highly-functional armored boots.  

Wednesday Writing, Thursday Publishing

This is something I put together Wednesday night, and then promptly spent the next 24 hours wondering if it was worth publishing or not. (This post actually went up late Thursday night.)

I finally decided that I would put this up on Patreon as Patron-only content. However, here is a free taste:

I love you,  she says, putting the pistol on the table between us. But we can't go on like this.

I stare at the gun in front of me. It's a revolver, all blued steel and walnut, the bluing starting to patina from age and the checkering on the grip scratched and worn from use. The barrel isn't pointing at either of us, it's pointing to the left; my left, her right, the handle such that I could easily grab it.

She's left-handed, so she could easily grab it, too.

I look up at her, confused. Her mouth is quirked in a half smile, half wry pout. I don't understand, I ask, my voice rising higher than I intended.

We can't go on like this. One of us has to end it.

I look down at the gun again. The hammer is cocked all the way back. I look up again, and my mouth does a fish impersonation, opening and closing silently, before I find my voice again. Why?

Want to find out what happens next? Become a patron! All it takes is as little as a dollar a month!

Traveller Tuesday: Red Zone

A handout from my most recent Traveller game, when the PCs jumped into the interdicted system of Grant to refuel. Upon exiting jump, this message immediately played on the ship's comm system on endless repeat.

ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT

This system is interdicted by Imperial Law and enforced by the Imperial Navy.

At no time are you to approach the mainworld or scan the mainworld. Non-compliance will be met with extreme sanction.

All vessels within 100 planetary diameters of the mainworld must broadcast their credentials and leave at once, or be boarded and inspected. Non-compliance will be met with extreme sanction.

All unauthorized vessels within 10 planetary diameters of the mainworld may be shot down without warning.

If you require assistance, shut down all engines and transmit SIGNAL GK across all spectra. Be advised that falsely reporting SIGNAL GK is a crime and may result in fines, seizure of ship and/or cargo, and up to 10 years in prison.

All ships that wish to refuel are instructed to follow navigational beacons to gas giants. Staying longer than is necessary to refuel will result in boarding and inspection. Non-compliance will be met with extreme sanction.

ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT

This system is interdicted by Imperial Law and enforced by the Imperial Navy...

A text-to-speech conversion of the above message may be found here, if you wish to play it aloud for your game.

In my universe, messages such as these are played using synthesized voices just on the other side of the uncanny valley;  human enough to be recognizable, but artificial enough to remove any doubt that there might be someone behind the message capable of empathy.

An artificial voice also makes it easier to tailor messages as necessary (replace mainworld with forbidden location of choice, replace Imperial Navy with Scout Service, etc) with just a few button presses.

Naturally, any system interdicted by the Scout Service will have fewer "Comply or we will use you for target practice" threats, but you get the idea.

A similar message for Amber Zones, transmitted by navigational beacons, could be used to inform travellers of the nature and duration of the hazard. As this message would be made by the Traveller's Aid Society, the tone would be quite different... perhaps a pleasant female voice rather than the harsh male used for Red Zones.

Sunday, Pony Sunday: Superbowl Ponies

So I came home tonight after my annual "Let's go watch a movie while everyone else is watching football" celebration to find that someone had posted "Well, we finally made it" to my Lederhosen wall, along with this video. If you don't feel like sitting through all of it, just fast-forward to the 35 second mark.


Super Bowl 2015 MLP Commercial by GradeAStuff
Yep, that's right: My Little Pony got a two-second segment during a freaking Superbowl commercial!

I'm actually a bit surprised they're ALL Colts fans.
Applejack strikes me as a Broncos kinda gal. 

What's more, that isn't a clip from the show.  It was specifically commissioned by the NFL for this commercial!  We have made it, indeed!

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #24

http://tinyurl.com/nmwoenx

Adam and Sean bring you another amazing episode of The Gun Blog Variety Cast!

• I remind you that putting all your prepping business on the internet is a bad strategic plan.
• Obama goes to Saudi to King Abdullah's funeral. Nicki Kenyon gives us her thoughts on whether that was a good idea or not.
• Miguel Gonzalez reminds us that just because it wears a police uniform doesn't necessarily mean it's an actual cop.
• Download sites are serving up a big helping of crapware and this just irritates Barron B. to no end.
• And Weer'd notes the PSH in the gun hater crowd when they found out that Kalashnikov was opening an AK pattern rifle factory in Pennsylvania.
• And as a special bonus, Barron makes a book recommendation. 

All this plus a your regular favorite segments like Felons Behaving Badly, Strange Laws, and Fun With Headlines. Sean updates you on his progress in The Quest for Sharpshooter, and we finish with an especially ranty Stuff that Grinds My Gears.

Thanks for downloading, listening, and subscribing. And don't forget to recommend us to a friend!


Listen to the podcast here.
Show notes may be found here