Random Thursday: The Wednesday Edition
Category: Random Thursday...
Posted Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 06:28 AM [GMT-6]

Thursday falls on a Wednesday as the Gazette will be taking a break tomorrow, as is its custom, to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001.

• If we still needed evidence that conservation alone won't free us from the tyranny of oil imports, OPEC's surprise decision last night to cut production by over half a million barrels per day despite prices around $100 per barrel, should highlight the importance of drilling for our own supplies.


• The saving grace is that some of the OPEC producers are incorrigible cheats and will not adhere to lower production quotas, mitigating to some extent the impact of the publicized cuts.


• I haven't commented on Lance Armstrong's decision to return to competitive cycling, other than on Jeff's post on the subject, but this entry on the LiveStrong blog affirms my initial reaction that Armstrong is seeking to enhance his reach as an advocate for cancer research, and not merely to fatten his trophy case. Well, that and the fact that he really enjoys kicking butt on the bike. Could an 8th Tour de France win be in the works? I wouldn't bet against him.


• MLB and I went to the shooting range last Sunday afternoon, at the prodding of a friend, and I tried out two new pieces of equipment. One was a set of electronic noise-canceling hearing protectors, similar to these (the second pair on the linked page). I was skeptical, but after experiencing how well the built-in microphones picked up desirable sounds like conversation, and filtered the harmful sounds of the gun, I'm sold. The muffs are also an order of magnitude more comfortable than the regular passive kind, as they don't have to hug your head so tightly to seal your ears. I put these just a notch below my electronic self-darkening welder's hood in terms of usefulness.


• The other item I tried out was our friend's new Glock Model 34, a 9mm semi-auto with a 6" barrel. This is a fine handgun, highly regarded, smooth and accurate. And, for me, totally worthless. The gun jammed after every round, which is basically unheard of for a Glock. The problem was that the magazine release button (shown circled in yellow in the photo below) protrudes from the frame so far that my hand was inadvertently – but consistently – pressing it with each shot. That released the magazine just far enough to prevent a new round from chambering. It's not really the gun's fault; it was just set up wrong for a left-handed shooter. The release button clears a rightie's hand. And it's supposedly not a huge deal to switch the button to the other side, but if you're left-handed and considering this gun, it's something to keep in mind.

• Couple of quick book reviews. Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories and poems, Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (2007) is inconsistent in quality, but undoubtedly a must-have for the serious Gaiman fan. He pays homage to sci-fi short story masters Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and (my favorite) Robert Sheckley, and at times his work approaches the best of theirs. I just wish he'd eliminate the explicit sexual perversions that inhabit more than a few of his story lines.
  
  While looking for a vacation book, I ran across Transgressions (2005) on the bargain rack at the Barnes & Noble at College Station. It's a collection of novellas by some well-known authors (including Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, and Stephen King), and it was a surprisingly enjoyable affair. Novellas are an interesting medium (genre?): long enough to allow more character and plot development than a short story, but short enough to keep the attention-span-challenged engaged. Whether or not you're a mystery fan (which is where most of the stories fall), I think you'll be entertained by these offerings, especially if you can find it for $6.98!