Thank God for our new Department of War and SecWar Pete Hegseth.
No men pretending to be women. No women pretending to be men.
No homosexuals. No women in combat.
No lowered standards to allow women into combat units.
During our Revolutionary War against the British, it was 10%, now days it's 1%.
We veterans are the one percenters.
*************************************************************************
CWP, 15 March MMXXVI Anno Domini
Greetings Sheepdogs,
“Newspapers … serve as chimneys to carry off noxious vapors and smoke.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1802)
Please share this with your friends in the Knoxville, TN area.
"Awareness and Response to Active Shooter Threats"
by Defend Systems
Park West Church
7635 Middlebrook Pike
Knoxville, TN 37909
Tuesday, Apr 14, 2026 from 6 pm to 8 pm
Free event presented by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in
partnership with Defend Systems.
Send me an email if you would like the latest "Defensive Pistol" course
outline in a PDF file.
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Our friends in Antalya, Turkey are using it to great effect.
"Don't have a gun? Buy one.
Don't know How to use it? Learn.
Don't believe in guns? Get ready to hide behind someone who does."
-- Charlie Daniels
Table of Contents:
Software --
Prevention
Mindset
Situational Awareness
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
Intervention
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
Postvention
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
Education
Legal
Instruction
Hardware --
Gear
Intelligence --
Signals Intelligence
Cryptology
This and That --
"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
-- Thomas Jefferson
*************************************************************************
At 5' 11" with those heels . . .
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Prevention ***** ***** *****
Things you can do to avoid the lethal force incident.
“To those who have fought for it,
freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know.”
― P. McCree Thornton
Table of sections:
Mindset
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Mindset and Attitude --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct way to think.
“How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.”
-- John Farnam
---
Combat, the self-defense incident, the criminal violence that you can't
talk your way out of, is not like sparring in the Dojo. It's not like anything
we could safely simulate in training. Striking to do injury is entirely
different from working with a training partner at full speed full force,
as Ralph Mroz puts it. Sorry, but that's just reality.
So we do the best we can in training with the understanding that combat
is different. It is unlikely that you have ever shit or piss on yourself or
vomited or shaken uncontrollably or laughed hysterically during an USPSA
match. So don't delude yourself into thinking that you have placed yourself
under stress. Under the debilitating stress of combat your muscles will tense.
If you survive, you'll be sore for days afterwards, even if there was no injury.
That's how tense your muscles will be under the stress of combat. (No, it's
not like the soreness after running a marathon. You may get cramps and have
to stretch in ways you had never stretch before to get those muscles that you
didn't know existed.)
Your self-defense instructor should be teaching you how to avoid the
lethal force encounter. That is self-defense.
So we do the best we can in training. Hopefully the training and practice
will allow us to avoid panic, avoid freezing. It might not. But we do the
best we can.
If you don't get your perceived optimal outcome, don't beat yourself up.
Don't feel ashamed. We often cannot control what happens to us. We often
cannot control how we react. Sometimes different parts of our brain takes
over and we are just along for the ride. [I have heard people say, you can't
control what happens to you, but you can always control how you react to
it. Unfortunately, under life threatening stress, that is not always true.
Ya, training can mitigate, but as Sara Ahrens tells us, in the several lethal force
incidents that she was involved in while a police officer, she had different and
unpredictable reactions to the stress. Maybe you think you're tougher than
she was. Maybe, but probably not. That is reality.]
I have seen persons running their mouths at full speed, even though they
were trained to keep their mouths shut. Sometimes you lose control of
yourself. Take deep breaths. Believe that God is with you.
I have seen a person beat another into a bloody pulp and continue long
after the other was dead. He just couldn't stop himself. Stop! Look around.
Assess the situation, the environment. There may be other threats. You don't
want to get hit from behind while beating a corpse.
---
"In reality, we are training for an unknown event, against unknown threats,
by developing as many known skills as possible."
-- Jeff Gonzales
---
"Controlling Your Fear" by Steve Tarani
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"Philosophically speaking, fear is an emotion, the same as being happy or sad.
Separating yourself from your emotions is something that many professionals
have learned throughout their respective careers. Although everyone experiences
fear during their lifetime, some people find it easier to emotionally detach from
an event than others. Realizing that you allow yourself to experience fear will
allow you to detach from your emotions, specifically separating yourself from
the fear emotion."
[Concerning inoculation]
"One of the best ways to practice experiencing fear is to visualize a dreaded
situation that literally makes your palms sweat."
“Your character is what you do when no one is looking.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
Excerpt from "Range Training Journal" by Tom Givens --
Basically, once your students are issued a permit to carry a gun or a law
enforcement commission, they have been given the power of life and death over
everyone with whom they come in contact from that point on. They will be
able to pick people out on the street and make them die on the spot. No appeal,
no recourse, no way to fix it if they are wrong. Think about that. The President
of the United States can't do that, the Queen of England can't do that, the Pope
can't do that, but your students will be able to. With that kind of power goes
accountability, and responsibility. Your students will be held accountable for
what happens with their firearm regardless of the circumstances, regardless of
their intentions, and regardless of what anyone else did or didn't do.
-- Tom Givens
“You need to have the capacity for danger. You need to be ‘dangerous’.
Yet, you need to learn how to not use it except when necessary.
And, that is not the same thing as being harmless.
There's nothing virtuous about harmlessness.
Harmless just means you’re ineffectual and useless.”
-- Jordan Peterson
Get it?
“The Man in the Arena”
by Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), 26th President of the United States
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who
does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat.”
"I hear this from women all the time . . . let's talk about it"
by She Equips Herself
"I could never shoot someone."
"I'm not carrying a gun to harm. I'm carrying a gun to protect."
---
"I do not carry a pistol so that I may impose my will on others.
I carry a pistol so that others may not impose their will on me."
-- Tom Givens
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
"What Do You Need? Some Thoughts on Mindset and EDC . . . " by John
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
• You NEED to carry a gun that is reliable, that you can shoot accurately,
and that is carried in such a manner that you can access it quickly while
under physical and emotional duress.
• You NEED to have a modicum of physical fitness in accordance with
your age and medical conditions. Some disabilities are not negotiable,
but most can be improved with diet and exercise.
• You NEED to cultivate the appropriate mindset, and this encompasses
not only the wherewithal to fight back when offered violence, but also
the situational awareness to preemptively avoid violent encounters.
• You NEED some basic first aid knowledge, if only to control
life-threatening bleeding from injuries incurred in a fight for your life.
• Finally, I think you NEED to have some good self-defense training
classes beyond that required to obtain your concealed carry permit.
The information covered in a required concealed carry class is invaluable,
but often has very little to do with actually fighting with a firearm.
"Your gunfights will always be anomalies.
So are those of all the instructors you venerate.
It’s useful to keep those facts in mind."
-- Greg Ellifritz
Claude Werner says,
The Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation
has made available, as a free PDF download, Jeff Cooper’s short book,
"Principles of Personal Defense"
The download link is at the bottom of the page.
You now have no excuse for not reading it. It is a short book and
well worth an hour or so of your time.
Many thanks to Greg Moats for the heads-up.
---
This appears to be a scan of a first edition, first printing, 1989 A.D.
So it has some imperfections due to the scanning process.
If you want a cleaner copy, Amazon.com sells a Kindle version.
for $10.
This version has the forward by Louis Awerbuck, January 2006.
If you care about such.
‷If you look at someone bigger, faster, and stronger and immediately think,
‶I'm at a disadvantage″, I have news for you: you are.
But that's only because you just put yourself there for no reason.
The truth is that anyone can do debilitating violence to anyone else.
Your size, your speed, your strength, your gender -- all the factors that
untrained people think make the difference when it comes to violence --
all matter far less than your mindset and your intent.‴
-- Tim Larkin
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and
evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -- Jeff Cooper
"Your life is as good as your mindset." -- Nicola Cavanis
"Safe gun handling and knowing how to operate the gun competently is one thing.
How to fight with the gun is a whole other plane of knowledge."
-- Tiger McKee
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist.
Children already know that dragons exist.
Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
-- G.K. Chesterton
‟If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it.
The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury.
Therefore what he must fear is his victim.
It is high time for society to stop worrying about the criminal,
and to let the criminal start worrying about society.
And by "society" I mean you.”
-- Col. Jeff Cooper, "Principles of Personal Defense"
"Be so focused on watering your grass that
you don't have time to check if someone else's is greener."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Before all else, be armed." -- Nicolo Machiavelli
‟Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice.”
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, U.S. Navy
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
--Benjamin Franklin
"The line between everyday life and sudden violence is thinner than most realize."
-- Tim Larkin
"Superior judgment trumps superior skills." -- Dan Millican
"Never believe anything you read or hear.
To figure out what’s best for you,
experiment until you have no doubt."
-- Brian Enos
*************************************************************************
"I'm not AI. Look at my hands."
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Situational Awareness --------------------------------
How to avoid being taken by surprise.
"Many people don't realize that your awareness skills
are more important than your marksmanship skills.
Well, you can't shoot something you don't know is there,
or don't know it needs to be shot!" -- Tom Givens
This is why you must be aware of what is going on around you.
Judges are intentionally releasing these violent criminals into your area.
"2 Dead at Florida Walgreens" by Aex Raskin
Excerpt:
"St. Johns County [Florida] Sheriff Rob Hardwick said Barrios has a
long criminal history that included 27 arrests."
" 'His criminal history is embarrassing,' Hardwick said.
'It makes me sick to my stomach.' "
"Jeff Cooper's Color Code exists to help you get your head
around the need to kill someone in the immediate future."
-- John Hearne
---
Jeff Cooper's Color Code of Mental Awareness
UNAWARE - of what's going on around you. (White)
AWARE - of who is around you and what they are doing. (Yellow)
ALERT - to a POTENTIAL threat and taking action to avoid the threat. (Orange)
ALARM - by a REAL threat and taking action to escape the threat,
which might include shooting to PREVENT the attack. (Red)
COMBAT - front sight, press. Shooting to STOP the attack. (Black)
---
The colors are meaningless, requiring a level of indirection.
So you should use meaningful words instead. So the student doesn't
have to decode the meaning of the color. Using insider jargon is WRONG!
---
"Jargon Does not Equal Expertise"
-- Rick Billington
"An officer may be forgiven for losing a battle,
but never for being taken by surprise."
-- Jeff Cooper
Zugzwang is a thing. But with situational awareness, you can avoid it.
*************************************************************************
She's not AI, look at those ears.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Safety --------------------------------
How to prevent the bad thing from happening in the first place.
How to avoid shooting yourself, friendlies, and innocent bystanders.
How to prevent unauthorized persons from using your guns.
"It’s Started!" by John Farnam
“A sage traveling all day is never far from supplies in his cart,
however spectacular the view.”
-- Lao Tzu, from the "Tao Te Ching"
Jeff Cooper′s Rules of Gun Safety
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED.
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING
THAT YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY.
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER
UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET.
---
RULE V: Maintain control of your gun. -- Stephen P. Wenger
“Knowledge is ‘provisional’ :
Measurement is not explanation.
Data is not wisdom.
Calculation is not truth”
-- Richard Feynman
"Sudden Terror!" by John Farnam
Apologists for Joseph Stalin's liberal use of terror and engineered famine
to promote socialism complacently argued,
“You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.”
To which George Orwell acidly replied:
“So, where's the omelet?”
"You brought a gun to the fight. That doesn’t mean it’s YOUR gun.
The gun belongs to whomever can keep it. Think about that before
intervening in other folks’ problems. When is the last time you practiced
your in-hand weapon retention skills?"
-- Greg Ellifritz
---
When was the last time you practiced your in-holster weapon retention skills?
Have you taken a class to learn such techniques?
-- Jon Low
---
". . . if the assailant has a gun, it may actually be the easiest
gun for you to access, if you know how to take it from him."
-- Stephen P. Wenger
"IS THE 1911 UNSAFE?" by Gabe Suarez
Rebuttal to an article by Massad Ayoob. A difference of opinion.
John Farnam's rules to keep you out of trouble:
Don’t go to stupid places.
Don’t associate with stupid people.
Don’t do stupid things.
Have a “normal” appearance.
Be in bed by 10:00 PM (your own bed).
Don’t fail the attitude test.
“Show me a ‘good victim,’ and I’ll show you a victim!”
-- Anon
“Attractive” Victims!
by John Farnam
“Self-pity is spiritual suicide.”
-- Anthon St Maarten
"It's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble."
-- Claude Werner
Excerpt from "Range Training Journal" by Tom Givens --
Be aware that pistol bullets can travel as much as one mile. That creates a huge
downrange danger zone. We must constantly be aware of the background behind
our target.
-- Tom Givens
"Safety is something that happens between your ears,
not something you hold in your hands."
-- Jeff Cooper
Roblox is dangerous for children.
"You are not responsible for negative reactions to your boundaries."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Gut feelings are guardian angels."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
Toes out, heels in.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Training --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct tasks to practice.
"Never believe anything you read or hear.
To figure out what’s best for you,
experiment until you have no doubt."
-- Brian Enos
"Shooting the Wrong Person
The impact of inhibitory control"
by Pete Blair
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
". . . you can’t assume that getting faster makes someone more likely to shoot
the wrong person, or that working on restraint slows them down."
Primary source,
Biggs, A. T., & Pettijohn, K. A. (2022).
"The role of inhibitory control in shoot/don’t-shoot decisions."
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(3), 536–549.
"Without discrimination,
you're going to shoot the wrong person really fast."
-- Paul Howe
The master instructors are retiring and dying. Take a class while you can.
You need training because:
You don't know what you don't know.
Much of what you know is false.
It's good to the have the answers before the criminal tests you.
-- Claude Werner (paraphrased)
Excerpt from "Range Training Journal" by Tom Givens --
Don't let anyone tell you that at typical handgun fight distances you don't
have time to aim. That is nonsense. What you don't have time to do is miss.
Misses deplete your ammo, but far more importantly, they eat up your time.
Time is your most precious commodity in a fight. It runs right through your
fingers like water, and once it is gone you can't get it back! Anything you do
that wastes time must be eliminated. The biggest waste of time is missing!
* For precision, focus on the top edge of the front sight. *
Ansatz is a thing. And the better your training, the better your guesses / estimates.
"Tension Destroys Your Shooting Performance. Here's How to Manage It."
by Steve Tarani
Excerpt:
". . . comfort under duress improves efficiency and control. It's simply
discipline. Loose shoulders. Neutral neck. Relaxed facial muscles. Build
and sustain a durable grip. The gun should track because of structure and
timing, not because you are strangling it into submission. When the upper
body remains stable and the grip remains unchanged, transitions become
fluid, recoil becomes predictable, and your trigger press stays clean."
"Visualization plays a role here as well. Mentally rehearsing the process
in the theater of your mind reduces novelty and lowers anticipatory anxiety.
The nervous system cannot reliably discern imagined reps from physical reps;
both prime the neuromuscular pathway."
"Focus on what you see, not what you fear."
"Those motivated by a desire to improve their
gunfighting skills as opposed to a quest for trophies,
must be willing to bleed ego on the match results
to avoid shedding blood in combat."
-- Andy Stanford
"You need lots of ammo to get really good?" by Ben Stoeger
"You can get really good by dry practicing. The live ammo is in large part
psychological."
"Dry practice is better for some things. Like transitions: no recoil.
I'm not stuffing mags. I'm not pasting targets. It's just more time efficient."
"I do dry fire on the range." [I agree. Dry fire interspersed with live
fire is very effective. -- Jon Low]
"Diminishing returns beyond 20,000 rounds per year."
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"Optimization fatigue: why you feel worse as you get better"
by Orion Taraban
Titrate means to ascertain the quantity of a given constituent by adding a
liquid reagent of known strength and measuring the volume necessary to
convert the constituent to another form. [I don't think this is correct word
usage. -- Jon Low]
ROI is return on investment.
Eudemonic means pertaining or conducive to happiness.
Hedonic means of, characterizing, or pertaining to pleasure. Yes, there is a difference.
"If you’re not measuring your training,
what you’re doing is called playing."
-- Chris Sajnog
"In order to measure, we must be able to quantify."
-- Aaron Cowan
"Five Lessons from a Long-Range Handgun Course" by Jeff Gonzales
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
When you zero a pistol, the bullet is moving up (as opposed to a rifle where
the bullet is moving down). So beyond your zero range, the point of impact is
above your point of aim, until apogee (for a 45 ACP with muzzle velocity of 830
feet per second that is about 50 yards). The second zero, where the bullet is
moving down across the line of sight, is at about 100 yards for a 45 ACP using
the standard military powder charge.
Plug your data into a ballistic calculator to see the elevation adjustment that
you need to make at any given range.
"When you're training to protect yourself and others, speed always comes last.
In the more than twenty-five years I've been training people in self-protection,
I've never heard from someone who used self-protection tools in the field and
felt like they suffered from a lack of speed at the moment of truth. In fact, I
usually hear the opposite: it's much more common to suffer from a lack of
accuracy or force."
-- Tim Larkin
"In reality, we are training for an unknown event, against unknown threats,
by developing as many known skills as possible."
-- Jeff Gonzales
"Having a gun is important.
But knowing WHEN to use it is even more important."
-- Greg Ellifritz
"There are three different areas, or disciplines,
in which the armed person must train.
These are mindset, gun handling, and marksmanship.
Each is equally important, and you must be at least
competent in all three areas."
-- Tom Givens
"A mistake that makes you humble is better
than an achievement that makes you arrogant."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Shoot sooner, not faster."
-- Matt Little
“The secret of success is this.
Train like it means everything when it means nothing –
so you can fight like it means nothing when it means everything.”
-- Lofty Wiseman
"Most deadly force encounters occur spontaneously, without warning and
at extremely close ranges. Realistically, you may not have the time or the
space to effectively draw, no matter how fast your draw stroke."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
“The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns,
we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise,
they will win and decent people will loose.”
-- James Earl Jones
"Proper training ingrains the proper responses.
Repetition is the mother of all skill. With skill comes confidence.
With confidence comes the ability to think under pressure and make
sound tactical decisions."
-- Tom Givens
“You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol
than you are a musician because you own a guitar.”
from "Principles of Personal Defense" by Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC,
(1920 – 2006 A.D.)
Simple is faster. Simple is more reliable. So, simple is better.
Care enough to continue your training.
*************************************************************************
Tamping down the turf.
I've spectated in Mokuleia, Hawaii and Palo Alto, California. Going to have to check out
Wellington, Florida one of these days.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Psychology --------------------------------
"Be stronger than your strongest excuse."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“Training deals not with an object,
but with the human spirit and human emotions.”
--Bruce Lee
"Train and practice so that you can stay in your rational mind,
and force your enemy into his emotional mind. The emotional
mind makes bad judgments which will allow you to win."
-- John Hearne
*************************************************************************
Central Tennessee Dressage
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Conferences --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required for growth.
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword;
because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force
superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense,
raised in the United States."
-- Noah Webster
2026 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits
April 17, 2026 - April 19, 2026
George R Brown Convention Center
1001 Avenida De Las Americas
Houston, TX 77010, US
To make reservations,
Security Operations Summit 2026, $150.00
July 23-25, 2026 A.D.
With hands-on pre-event options on Wednesday, July 22nd!
Southeast Christian Church
920 Blankenbaker Parkway
Louisville, KY 40243
Bullets & Bibles 2026 (The registration fee is a tax deductible charitable donation).
Friday, August 21, 2026 – Sunday, August 23, 2026
Hosted at Living Water Ranch, north of Manhattan, KS.
Food and lodging included in registration price.
The Guardian Conference, $800
September 18th - 20th, 2026 in Oklahoma City, OK.
Gun Rights Policy Conference, Second Amendment Foundation, $25
September 25–27, 2026
in Dallas at the Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport hotel.
Click on the link to book a hotel room for $159.00 per night.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Classes --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required to avoid teaching
obsolete material, and to ensure you are teaching best practices.
Please share this with your friends in the Knoxville, TN area.
"Awareness and Response to Active Shooter Threats"
by Defend Systems
Park West Church
7635 Middlebrook Pike
Knoxville, TN 37909
Tuesday, Apr 14, 2026 from 6 pm to 8 pm
Free event presented by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in
partnership with Defend Systems.
Protective Pistolcraft Instructor, 5 Days, $ 1350
Mon, Nov 2, 2026 – Fri, Nov 6, 2026, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CST
Last Resort Firearms Training, 4220 Gravel Pit Road, White Hall, AR, USA
This is the 3-day Firearms Instructor Development Course and
the 2-day Advanced Firearms Instructor Course given in 5 days.
Taught by Tom Givens, Tiffany Johnson, Aqil Qadir, and John Hearne.
No prerequisites. Includes a night shoot and much more.
Tom is retiring at the end of 2026.
Excellent training and education at
Project Appleseed
I have taken their pistol and rifle classes. I highly recommend.
Agile Training and Consulting
Tactical Mash-up/Tactical Pistol skills with Tactical Anatomy
Sat, May 23, 2026, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CDT
2220 Wilson Hill Road, Lewisburg, TN, USA
Gunsite Academy
Lee Weems
Massad Ayoob Group
West Coast Armory North
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Map of Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Dustin Salomon
KR Training
KR Training newsletter
Kari Grayson
Citizens Safety Academy
"No Fail Pistol"
Nov 07, 2026, 8:00 AM CST – Nov 08, 2026, 6:00 PM CST
2220 Wilson Hill Rd, 2220 Wilson Hill Rd, Lewisburg, TN 37091, USA
Aqil Qadir recommends:
Carry Trainer, Mickey Schuch
Paladin Training, Inc.
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Defensive Training International, John Farnam
Rangemaster, Tom Givens
Trident Concepts, Jeff Gonzales
Apache Solutions, Tim Kelly
Harris Combative Strategies, Randy Harris
Mead Hall Range & Tactics, Bill Armstrong
2026 Schedule (Including Prelim)
Shivworks - Craig Douglas - ECQC 10-12Apr26
Presscheck No Fail Pistol 17-18Apr26
Presscheck Precision Performance 19Apr26
Lone Star Medics – Caleb Causey – Medicine X 2-3May2026
On Demand Performance -Pistol-training.com – Simon Golob 15-16May26
Civilian Tactics - -Pistol-training.com – Simon Golob 15-16May26
Fisher Critical Carbine May 30-31 2026
Citizens Safety Academy - Aqil Qadir and Tiffany Johnson -
CSA Gateway Instructor Course 6-7 Jun 2026
Tactical Anatomy Systems - Dr James Williams - Shooting with XRay Vision Instructor 13-14Jun26
Immediate Action Combatives - Cecil Burch - 19-21Jun26 Grappling in a Weapons Based Environment
Lone Star Medics – Caleb Causey – TacMedEDC 18July2026
Lone Star Medics – Caleb Causey – Contingent Medic 26-27Sept2026
Full Spectrum Shotgun – Cox/Willis/Roth –3-4Oct26
Sentinel Concepts – Steve Fisher Critical Handgun Oct 24 2026
Sentinel Concepts – Steve Fisher Critical Shotgun Oct 25 2026
Cougar Mountain Solutions – Erick Gelhaus- 6,7, and 8November26 (Prelim)
Low Light Carbine 1 day course
Low Light Handgun 1 day course
Judgmental Handgun 1 day course
Presscheck/Two Pillars - Pressburg/Hearne - 13-15Nov26
-- Bill Armstrong
MeadHall Range
405-823-2433
Two Pillars Training, John Hearne
Mike Seeklander
Claude Werner, The Tactical Professor
Tatiana Whitlock - Training in Context
NRA Instructors and their classes.
‟Training is NOT an event, but a process.
Training is the preparation FOR practice.”
-- Claude Werner
*************************************************************************
Now there's a happy smile.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Practice --------------------------------
How to get proficient at that task.
Practice increases your sensitivity, your kinesthetic awareness. This allows
you to know that you are doing something wrong. Once you become aware of
errors, you can correct them (often automatically). Before you are sensitive
enough to detect errors, you don’t notice them. So, you don’t believe that you
are committing the error.
“Willingness is a state of mind. Readiness is a statement of fact!”
-- Lt. Gen. David M Shoup, USMC Commandant 1960-1963
"Are you practicing wrong at the range? Let's fix it!"
by Stav, She Equips Herself
---
The one thing all world class athletes have in common is that they keep a highly
detailed journal. This gives them the data to allow them to apply the scientific
method to force improvement in performance. Of course, they must have coaching,
training, and practice to implement this thought process. [And it is a thought
process, not a training regimen.]
---
Last week, when I was at the Tennessee State Indoor Archery Championships,
I overheard a gentleman tell a college coach from Kentucky that he was striving
to be a better coach and to get more students and to form a club to bring to such
tournaments as the one we were presently attending. He said that he had attended
local training to get his level 2 coach's certification. I suggested that he attend the
level 3 coaches course at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO.
He said that would be too expensive, he could only afford local training. [People
do what they want to do and neglect to do what they don't want to do. They will
of course make excuses rather than say that they don't want to do something.
That's why it is so important to observe a persons actions and ignore their words.]
I told him that the tuition was cheap, they would let him stay in the dorms (no
hotel expense), they would feed him in the athlete's cafeteria (no food expense),
and they would have a van transport him to and from the airport.
If he wrote them a letter explaining his inability to afford the tuition and his
intention to form a club to take to tournaments, they might waive the tuition.
I know they've done it in the past. So for the cost of round trip air fare and three
days, he could get the training and certification, level 3 archery coach. He didn't
seem too excited. I thought I had opened a door for him. As Nicola says,
"Remember, growing may feel like breaking at first."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"You have to be lucky to win. And the more you practice, the luckier you get."
-- Col. Lones Wigger
Strive to bring everything under conscious control. Know exactly where every
part of your body is, and where every piece of equipment is. This is referred to as
kinesthetic awareness. Because if you are not under control, you are doing
something different every time (without noticing that it is different).
Consistency is accuracy. We strive for accuracy because every missed shot is
destroying property and injuring or killing innocent bystanders.
With training and practice, eventually everything will be under unconscious
control. You will become unconsciously competent.
Why practice?
“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment
when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and
offered the chance to do a very special thing,
unique to them and fitted to their talents.
What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or
unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”
-- Winston Churchill
"If you want to actually test yourself, you do it cold on demand,
or as close to that as possible." -- William G.
"Cold On Demand, or Cold in the Morgue – Shooter’s Choice"
by: William G.
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"Be careful what you practice.
Because you will do in combat whatever you have practiced,
no matter how ridiculous."
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
"Top 5 Pistol Reload Drills to Master Slide-Lock Reloads"
by Tatiana Whitlock
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
‶Practice is the small deposits you make over time,
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal.″
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
"Why are the little things called little things?
They are everything."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"People rust faster than equipment."
-- John Hearne
"Remember, the day you plant the seed is not the day you earn the fruit."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Your speed [in mastering the art and science of your discipline] doesn't matter.
Forward is forward."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
2026 USA Archery Tennessee State Indoor Championship
That's me earning a Silver Medal.
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intervention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to deal with the incident that you failed to avoid.
Table of sections:
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Strategy --------------------------------
Deciding on the end state and how to achieve it.
"You win gunfights by not getting shot."
-- John Holschen
Matt Graham’s shoot house rules --
1. NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU.
2. EVERYTHING IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
3. SAVE WHO NEEDS TO BE SAVED.
4. KILL WHO NEEDS TO BE KILLED.
5. ALWAYS BE WORKING.
"Never let fear decide your fate."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"TERMINATING TERRORISTS | The Head-Shot Triad"
by Bob Pilgrim
Excerpt:
"Maybe it’s time to reconsider your motivation and your small limited-capacity
firearm and instead opt for a full-sized service pistol and dress to conceal it."
“How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.”
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Tactics --------------------------------
Maneuver and fire in support of your strategy.
Sometimes fire and close combat.
"Real fights are short." -- Bruce Lee
"Streetcraft: Fortuitous Outcomes Reinforce Poor Tactics"
by Suarez Tactics
Excerpt:
"YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF YOUR TRAINING AND PROGRAMMING"
"Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics" - Gary Rovarino LASD/SEB
"DO NOT GRAPPLE ON THE STREET IF YOU CAN HELP IT."
---
Notice how long it took the second officer to come to the aid of the first
officer. Not a person that I would want to go into combat with.
The only thing of importance on any fitness report was,
"Would you go into combat with this Marine?"
"You often don't know where the bad guy is who is shooting at you."
-- Phillip Groff
"When My Car is My Castle" by Steve Moses
“People shoot you because they see you.
They see you because you let them.
Don’t let them see you.”
-- Clint Smith
AVOIDING "BLUE ON BLUE" WHILE INTERDICTING AN ACTIVE SHOOTER /
DON'T GET SHOT BY THE POLICE
by Suarez Tactics
"Not even God's forgiveness is free."
What does your image say about you?
Don't stand around with a pistol in your hand.
Carry a black gun. (Because that's what the cops carry.)
Don't point your gun at police.
Don't pick up the bad guy's rifle.
Comply with police orders.
No guns in your hands!
Use software, not hardware to prevail.
“Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics.”
-- Chuck Haggard
"Night Time Car Alarm" by Greg Ellifritz
“When you’re in the dark, stay in the dark;
when you’re in the light, light up the dark.”
-- Stephen P. Wenger
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Techniques --------------------------------
Ways to execute a given task in support of your tactics,
especially when disabled or under stress.
"I can always do nothing more consistently than I can do something."
-- Ben Stoeger
"Malfunctions! You Are Going To Have Them"
by Clint Smith
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
---
I believe Tap, Rack, Bang is wrong. The shooting should never be part of an automatic
programmed response. The shooting should always be a separate intellectual decision.
We are in combat (with a lot of innocent bystanders wandering around), not a game with
with soft dirt berms to catch our bullets and no one down range.
The NRA and others teach Tap, Rack, Assess. Which I believe to be correct. Yes, this
takes more time. But as Paul Howe says,
"Without discrimination, you're going to shoot the wrong person really fast."
-- Paul Howe
---
Modern semi-auto pistols cannot "double feed". It's physically / mechanically
impossible for the slide coming forward to feed two cartridges at once. So using the
term "double feed" is wrong. The correct terminology would be "failure to eject",
as in failure to eject the case in the chamber.
---
Excerpt:
"Personally I make no attempt to lock the slide to the rear, as it is not required
to have the magazine come free of the mag well. Simply use leverage between
the thumb and index finger of the support hand, strip the magazine, tuck it behind
the firing hand little finger, unload and then reload the same magazine back into
the pistol."
---
The reason some instructors teach to lock the slide to the rear is because some
pistols will not release the magazine unless the slide is locked to the rear to relieve
pressure on the cartridge that is half way out of the magazine. We should learn
and practice techniques that always work with all pistols. Because you never know
what will be in your hand during combat. Combat is a very strange and surprising
thing.
Putting the same magazine back into the pistol is wrong, because the magazine
may have caused the malfunction in the first place. Better to drop that magazine
and to grab a full magazine from your pouch on your belt. As a matter of fact,
you always carry an extra magazine because you have trained and practiced enough
to know.
Clint Smith gives a logical argument against what I have just said. As always,
it is up to you, the critical thinker, to decide what to do.
"Whatever you leave alone is perfect." -- Brian Enos
"Gun Disarms: It’s Not Over Just Because You Said Its Over"
by Matthew Schafer
Hat tip to Docent.
These statistics should inform you beliefs. Because your actions are controled by what
you believe. So it really important to believe true things.
"Grip first, then press."
-- Mike Seeklander
Close quarters technique.
"Use only that which works,
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
"Why pointing your thumbs aint it" by Ben Stoeger
Look at a small spot first, then move.
Push yourself to the limits of your competency envelope. That's a good place
for you to be training.
Get the tension out of the shoulders and strive for precision.
"The foundations of your grip are established
before you even draw the pistol from the holster."
-- Tanner Denton
"Moving & Shooting Fundamentals with a Professional Instructor"
by Aaron Rivera
Be ready to break the shot by your second step.
The more you complicate it, the worse your shots are going to be.
Notice the teaching technique.
---
"In my strategy the footwork does not change.
I always walk as I usually do in the street."
(Use natural movements.)
-- Miyamoto Musashi
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"The secret is applying extreme force with the pinkies and
working your way up the rest of the digits."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
"Never believe anything you read or hear.
To figure out what’s best for you,
experiment until you have no doubt."
-- Brian Enos
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!"
-- Bruce Lee
"Pepper Spray window of opportunity" by Claude Werner
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"At contact range, spray into the assailant's nostril. Because spraying into his eye,
may tear his eyeball."
If you're trying not to hurt the bad guy, your priorities are messed up.
If you think you can exert such fine control in a violent high stress situation,
I think you're delusional. This advice is like shooting to wound, bad advice.
". . . only shoot as fast as you can assess, and . . . assess after each shot,
both of which we should be training to do all the time anyway."
-- Ralph Mroz, "Street Focused Handgun Training"
“What’s the number one reason for reloading?
Missing the target!”
-- Claude Werner
*************************************************************************
Working out at Henderson Barre & Pilates in Hendersonville, TN
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Postvention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to treat your wounds or the wounds of your loved ones.
Suggestions on how to avoid prosecution, conviction, and prison time.
Suggestions on how to avoid the civil law suit and judgment.
Table of Sections:
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
*************************************************************************
Zlata Vishnevskaia
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Aftermath --------------------------------
You must be alive to have these problems: criminal and civil liability.
“Your understanding and consent are not required
for someone to take your life, kill your loved ones,
and destroy all you hold dear.”
-- William Aprill
"Lesson 5: Expert Review" by Shawn Vincent
If you exercise your 1st Amendment right to free speech by posting stupid shit on
social media, it will be used against you to convict you at trial.
In the right hand column of this web page, click on "Never Talk To The Police"
or use the address,
"Cop Gets 20 Years:
The Verdict in the Sonya Massey Shooting"
by Active Self Protection Extra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQHoziwGkhw The "excited utterances" of the deputy sheriff caused his conviction on the 2nd degree
murder charge.
Anything you say can and will be used against you.
If you don't want to end up in prison for the rest of your life, KEEP YOUR MOUTH
SHUT!
---
Someone throwing a pot of boiling water at you is a deadly force attack. It will
cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns which might kill you. So the shooting was technically
justified at the time of the shooting.
The problem is that the totality of the circumstances must taken into account.
The law enforcement officers should not have been there in the first place. They
should have left earlier. You can't hang around to instigate and escalate and then
claim self-defense.
In the right hand column, click on the link labeled "Self Defense Insurance".
Or, the link is,
Read this before you buy insurance. You need to make an informed decision.
The various policies are drastically different.
"You need to read the fine print." -- Massad Ayoob
Not legal advice, but . . .
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him,
but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Medical --------------------------------
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
"Tourniquets Can’t Fix Everything. Why You MUST Learn Wound Packing"
by Brian McLaughlin
https://www.mountainmanmedical.com/tourniquets-cant-fix-everything-why-you-must-learn-wound-packing/
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"A SILENT KILLER | Mitigating Exposure Risks from Lead at Shooting Ranges"
by Eugene Nielsen
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Sherman House
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Course - NAEMT Certified, $495.00
Tracey Mendenhall | VP of Operations
(Life Saving Ninja)
DEFEND SYSTEMS
(615) 480-7758
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Survival --------------------------------
"If you stay fit, you do not have to get fit.
If you stay trained, you do not have to get trained.
If you stay prepared, you do not have to get prepared."
-- Robert Margulies
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
‟We don’t decide what is necessary to survive a
lethal force encounter initiated by someone else.
That person decides what’s necessary for us to survive.”
– William Aprill
"Survival is not based solely on technique.
Survivability may hinge on the use of the correct technique
appropriate to the environment you are fighting in.
Oh, and yes, marksmanship is always valuable."
-- Clint Smith
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
--Benjamin Franklin
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Education ***** ***** *****
Table of contents:
Legal
Instruction
Gear
*************************************************************************
"You will never get smarter or broaden your horizons
if you're unwilling to learn from others and read."
-- Becca Martin
“We’re all in the same boat, and we’re all seasick!”
-- G.K. Chesterton
"Israel Update" by John Farnam
How nice that Iranian missiles cannot reach us in CONUS (continental United
States). But the terrorists that Biden let into the U.S. can. Take precautions.
"Defensive Use of Firearms" by Stephen P. Wenger
Get on his emailing list for his newsletter,
Greg Ellifritz's reading list,
American Rifleman and American Hunter are now online free of charge.
Practical Eschatology
2nd Amendment News & Articles
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Blog posts,
Rangemaster Newsletter, Tom Givens
Active Self Protection, John Correia
"My Gun Culture" by Tom McHale
Quips, John Farnam
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
"Weekend Knowledge Dump- March 6, 2026"
Check out the Austin, TX shooting videos.
The Tactical Professor, Claude Werner
American Handgunner Magazine
Tactical Science
International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors
Alien Gear blog
Shooting Classes Blog
"Cogito, ergo armatum sum." (I think, therefore armed am I.)
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Legal --------------------------------
“Never trust an ‘easy answer,’ because easy answers make you stop
asking questions. The most dangerous kind of ‘being wrong’ is not simple
ignorance. It is ‘confident ignorance’, ‘arrogant ignorance,’ the kind
where you stop asking, because you think you ‘already know.’ The settled,
comfortable confidence, that smug ‘… and it’s only common sense,’ will
inevitably lead you straight off a cliff!”
-- Richard Feynman
---
"Peace in Our Time?" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
"Under cross-examination, I’ve been asked by naive attorneys
(who have never participated in anything more violent than genteel
arguments within a university faculty lounge) ,
“Yes, but was the gun actually pointed directly at the defendant?”
I reply, “When you wait until the gun is pointed directly at you,
you’ve waited too long! You’ve left yourself no options. You’ve
painted yourself into a corner. You’ve self-deceitfully put yourself
in a position where successful self-defense is impossible.” "
---
“When you will not fight when you can easily win, without bloodshed,
and when you still will not fight when victory is sure and not too costly,
you may well come to the moment when you will have no choice but to
fight with the odds against you, and you have only a small chance of survival.
There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no
hope of victory, simply because it is better to perish as warriors than to
live as slaves.”
-- Winston Churchill
Gun Law Database
"The Un-United States: How CCW Laws Vary"
by Richard A. Mann
“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore,
be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not
to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean
everything or nothing at pleasure.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1823)
"BREAKING: Glocks Redefined As Machine Guns"
by Guns & Gadgets 2nd Amendment News
Metaphysical gun control. Banned based on what it might become.
Yes, as a matter of the voters of Connecticut elected this governor and these legislators.
“Is there no virtue among us? If there is not, we are without hope!
No form of government, existing nor theoretical, will keep us from harm.
To think that any government, in any form, will insure liberty and happiness
for a dishonorable population represents the height of self-deception.”
-- James Madison, 1788
"What’s Your Self-Defense IQ?" by Terry Pittman
Excerpt:
"3. Proportionality: The force you use must not be greater than the force
you are defending against."
[There is no way for you to read the mind of the assailant. So there is no way
for you to predict how much force the assailant will apply or what the duration
of that force will be. So a better statement would be, "to apply sufficient force
to stop the attack. And that such force was applied until the attack stopped."
If the attacker is injured or dies, that was completely incidental to your purpose
of stopping the attack. All you wanted to do was to stop the attack. The
attacker forced you to use such force by attacking you. -- Jon Low]
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
-- Second Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America
"Can You Talk Your Way Out of Criminal Charges?" by Fleenor Law Firm, PLLC
No, you can't. So the instructors who teach you to talk to the responding officers
are WRONG! The U.S. Supreme Court says that your rights do not automagically
apply. You must clearly invoke them. "I invoke my right to remain silent."
"I invoke my right to counsel." And then shut up! Because if you start talking,
you have waived your rights. Which means you must invoke them again.
"Firearms are second only to the constitution in importance,
they are the people's liberty's teeth." -- George Washington
Sometimes the good guys win.
United States Court of Appels for the Eighth Circuit
No. 24-2458
United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Brad Wendt
Defendant - Appellant
The U.S. Attorney prosecutes a local police chief for machinegun violations
and gets a conviction in U.S. District Court. The U.S. Circuit Court overturns
the conviction.
If you elect anti-gun Presidents, they will appoint anti-gun U.S. Attorneys,
who in turn will prosecute pro-gun police. Huge expense. Career killing.
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other."
-- John Adams, October 11, 1798
What is "controlling the hockey puck"? Decades ago, TFA (Tennessee
Firearms Association) was told by a Democrat House Committee chair,
who was supportive of 2nd Amendment legislation, to be wary of drawing
the conclusion that the sponsorship or co-sponsorship of legislation was
the same as supporting the legislation. That Democrat committee chair
explained that it was a common strategy and practice in the Legislature
that if you wanted to make sure certain issues were not enacted that you
would file the legislation yourself and then simply not move it forward -
this is "controlling the hockey puck." That way you could claim
(perhaps in a re-election bid) to be a sponsor or supporter of certain
issues but that the legislation simply did not have the votes to pass.
Thus, sometimes sponsorship is for propaganda purposes and not an
indication of zealous constitutional support.
"For over 20 years, legal shops across the military services have grown bloated—
THAT ENDS NOW" by Department of War
New Mexico legal system releasing violent criminals without bail. If you
live in a Democrat jurisdiction, expect violent criminals on the street.
"Las Cruces Officers Confronted By Hardened Gang Member Out on Bond"
by Active Self Protection
Actually, the violent criminal gang banger was released without posting
any money for bond.
If you don't practice dropping whatever is in your hand, you won't.
That's reality.
You MUST aim. Otherwise, you're going to hit innocent bystanders, friendlies,
and destroy property. (9 shots, 9 misses. No! 9 unintended hits.)
Never cluster with your buddies. You become a prime handgrenade target.
(Criminals used handgrenades in Hawaii. I remember the incident.)
Concerning red dot sights -- turn off any auto adjust brightness, turn brightness
up so you can see it in daylight, test before leaving your house.
Holster before climbing the fence.
Final shot that ended the incident was taken at 125 yards.
"What Gun Owners Get WRONG About Self-Defense | Active Self Protection Extra"
by Active Self Protection Extra
In case you don't know how to spell the words that John is using,
"Malum in se" is a Latin term for acts that are inherently wrong or evil,
regardless of laws. "Mala prohibita" are acts or omissions that are not inherently
wrongful but become crimes by statute.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Instruction --------------------------------
"Remember,
the students who require the extra effort
are the ones who need us the most!"
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
----- Instructors -----
Be careful what you teach.
Because your students will do in combat
whatever you have trained them to do,
no matter how ridiculous.
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
Everyone is different. You may well have a student who is autistic or mentally
retarded or suffers from short attention span. So, you must be able to revert as far
as necessary to meet the student where he is.
Earlier this evening I was at the Donnelson Library playing chess. A young man
came in to play. I watched him play with another gentleman. The young man had
difficulty remembering how the pieces moved. But everyone was simply correcting
his moves and encouraging him to continue playing. They were not doing him a
favor.
So, when I asked him to play with me, I cleared the board and placed a single
piece on the board, and we went over how each piece moves. Whether the piece
has limited range (King, Pawn, and Knight) or was limited by the edges of the board
and other pieces on the board (Queen, Bishop, Rook). Then we went over special
moves, King side castle, Queen side castle. We did not cover enpassant because
he got distracted by videos on his fathers phone.
His parents brought him to the library to learn to play chess. One of the librarians
had given him a pamphlet to read describing the how the pieces moved and the
general rules of how to play chess. But, his parents did not encourage him to play
chess. Quite the contrary, they were into watching videos on their phone.
Instructors often have to contend with distractions. Teaching is not easy.
Teaching well is very difficult. Because you must adjust your teaching to your
student. Which cannot be done in a class of 25 students. And it is rare to find
a parent willing to pay for private lessons. My parents never put me in private
lessons for matrial arts, so I was shocked that my daughter and son-in-law had
placed my grandson (age 6) in private Kung Fu lessons.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
"You must teach skill sustainment as part of training."
-- John Hearne
The final exam for my Defensive Pistol course is an IDPA match or a USPSA match,
shot in a tactically correct manner, not racing to win the game. The final exam is not
the match shot as part of the course. We will provide the student with equipment for
the final exam, so he will not be using equipment that he is familiar with.
We may require a right-handed person to shoot the match left-handed to simulate
an injury that has caused this situation. We may place a piece of translucent tape on
the lens of his shooting glasses to simulate an eye injury. We may place a weight
strap around his left ankle to simulate a leg injury. We may place a mitten on the
support-side hand to simulate the absence of that hand. [We have never placed a
boxing glove on a firing-side hand, because drawing with support-side hand only
makes the range safety officers very nervous.] We may require the student to
remain strapped into a wheelchair during the match.
Of course, if the student is old, disabled, etc. we will adjust accordingly.
I am no hypocrite. I would never ask a student to do anything that I had not done.
[You think this is tough? Take a class from Richard Nance.]
---
"Those motivated by a desire to improve their gunfighting skills as opposed
to a quest for trophies, must be willing to bleed ego on the match results to avoid
shedding blood in combat." -- Andy Stanford
"Hey, Staff, what do you mean by shooting a match in a tactically correct manner?"
When we shoot the match, we will go very slowly to ensure we positively
identify every shoot-target and every no-shoot-target. We will not be racing to win
the game. It is common for the Safety Officer to inform the shooter that he failed
to engage several targets, because he just ran past them without seeing them.
Moving faster than you can see. Moving faster than you can think.
We will stay back away from corners, windows, and doors, because we
understand that there is someone hiding behind the corner who will grab our pistol.
We will shoot at the first part of the enemy that comes into view, because we
can do so without exposing our bodies. We can always get the A-zone hit later as
we come around the corner. We understand that whoever gets the first hit will
usually win the gunfight.
We will not muzzle no-shoot-targets. We will not sweep across no-shoot
targets when transitioning from one shoot-target to another shoot-target. Because
unlike the other competitors, we are not playing a game. We are training for
combat. Shooting the no-shoot target is shooting faster than you can think. You
won't get penalized unless you shoot the no-shoot target, but you have violated our
safety rule. Never point your pistol at anything you are not willing to destroy.
(And in the real world, you would have committed aggravated assault with a
firearm, because there was no justification for pointing your pistol at the innocent
bystander. Ten-year sentencing enhancement for the firearm.)
Stay back away from walls. Bullets will ricochet along the wall, not away
from the wall.
Do not do "walk throughs". Do not choreograph the scenario. Shoot the
targets as they come into view. Do not count rounds. Do not plan your reloads.
Shoot until empty, then reload. Planning a scenario is a training scar. Combat is
surprising.
Remember, we are training for civilian concealed carry for self-defense. We
are not playing the game.
"You don't have to memorize formulae.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
"Instructor Tips | Managing Students On and Off the Range"
by Daniel Reedy
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
A Marine Corps unit returned to base after an exercise in the California deserts.
It was a couple of days before they realized that they had left two Marines in the
desert. When they went back to search for them, they found them dead from dehydration.
Be responsible.
[The Lt. and GySgt. were court martialed. But that doesn't bring anyone back
to life.]
"Your curriculum needs to be recent, relevant, and realistic."
-- Austin Killmer
"The limited time you spend with students may be the only training they ever receive!"
-- John Farnam
“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
-- Robert John Meehan
“The student’s purpose is to expand their body of knowledge and social network.
The instructor’s purpose is to help the student achieve the student’s goals.”
-- Amy Schwartz
"A false path will always be tensely, angrily, violently defended
by those it has deceived, because those who are so easily deceived
are ever too arrogant to repent.”
-- Instructional axiom
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
“Qui docet, discet.” (Who teaches, learns.)
-- American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
“He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
-- Richard Henry Dana
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
----- Students -----
"It's better to be wrong than to be vague."
-- Freeman Dyson
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it."
-- Henry Ford
“Train, Practice, Compete
are the key elements in the development of humans.”
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
"Keep in mind that this is some seriously next level material.
It is totally normal that the first time you see this stuff, you find
it confusing. You find it difficult to understand. So, confusion
should not discourage you. It does not represent any intellectual
failing on your part. Rather, keep in mind that it represents an
opportunity to get even smarter."
– Tim Roughgarden, Professor of Computer Science and other
stuff at Stanford University
"Try.
Try again.
Try once more.
Try differently.
Try again tomorrow.
Try and ask for help.
Try find someone who's done it.
Try to fix the problem.
Keep trying until you succeed."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“It may seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first.”
-- Miyamota Mushashi
*************************************************************************
----- Andragogy (as opposed to pedagogy) -----
"Growth is uncomfortable because you've never been there before."
-- Nicola Cavanis
‟An instructor should not expect any learning to
take place the first time new information is presented.”
-- ‶Building Shooters″ by Dustin Salomon
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Gear --------------------------------
And the safe storage thereof.
"Your Winter Carry Setup Is a Lie (And How to Fix It Before Spring)"
by Tom McHale
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"If you carry a gun and you haven’t practiced drawing and shooting with the gloves
you actually wear in winter, you’ve got a gap in your training that could get you hurt."
"Dry fire in full winter gear is the cheapest, most effective thing you can do to
close the gap between your summer proficiency and your winter reality."
“Your car is not a holster.”
-- Pat Rogers
Rangemaster recommends this dummy ammo.
https://stactionpro.com/
"VIDEO: 9mm Ammo Quest Roundup" by Docent
I have used and tested the Federal Punch. I have found it to be reliable.
Much less expensive than the winners of this competition.
"There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
Every practice session is an inspection. If something doesn't work correctly, note it.
Don't ignore it. Fix it.
Every cleaning is an inspection. If it doesn't look right, fix it. Don't ignore it.
If the ammo is not feeding correctly, your first attempt to fix should be to replace
the magazine spring. (So keep a lot of spares on hand.) If that doesn't fix the problem
then you might need to replace the magazine follower.
Or, you might need to bend the lips of the magazine to get the cartridge to sit in
the correct position for chambering. Probably want to have a competent gunsmith
do this for you.
Ya, replacing the magazine is an option, but they are expensive.
Aidan was working on a Glock clone with all kinds of after market parts. The pistol
was not ejecting the brass consistently. So he replaced the ejector. I hadn't realized
that they slide in and out easily. You have to punch a pin out to get the trigger group
out, but then the ejector is easily replaced.
The extractor claw is also easily replace. As is the spring that controls the tension
on the extractor claw.
You might be thinking, "So what if all the brass doesn't eject to the same place?
The pistol goes BANG! when I press the trigger. It's all good." NO!, it's not all good.
Inconsistent behavior is indicative of something being WRONG with the pistol.
Don't ignore it. Fix it!
Because Murphy's Law says, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, at the
worst possible time." The only way to defeat Murphy's Law is to eliminate anything
that can go wrong. So fix it. Don't ignore it. FIX IT!
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
Iron sights that come with the pistol from the factory are designed for the pristine
conditions of your well lighted indoor range. In low light conditions, there won't be
enough light on either side of the front sight to get proper sight alignment. The
solution is to machine out the rear sight by 2 hundredths of an inch (1 hundredth on
each side) if the pistol has a 5 inch barrel. On a pistol with a 4 inch barrel, I would
recommend widening the rear sight notch by 1 hundredth of an inch (50 thousandths
of an inch on each side of the inside of the rear notch sight).
"What Is the Best Suppressor for 45 ACP?" by Brent Spicer
Hat tip to Docent.
The purpose of a high capacity magazine is NOT to let you shoot more;
it is to let you reload less.
-- Tom Givens
"Should Your Gun Have a Magazine Disconnect Safety?"
by Massad Ayoob - Facts and Firearms
---
In my opinion, you must be able to fire the pistol if attacked while reloading.
So Magazine Disconnect Safeties are WRONG!
"Choosing the Right Weapon Light for Handguns: A Complete Guide"
by Michael Coker and Charles Coker
"Mounting Your Red Dot Sight: The Screws Matter" by Paul Markel
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
I know Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and others are advertising the
Byrna pepper ball guns,
But everyone that I have corresponded with including Keith Graves of Christian
Warrior, says they don't work.
Byrna's advertisements claim that police departments use them. But, I can't
find any police department that uses them in my area.
My testing indicates that the balls do not burst when they hit a person at 7 to 10
yards. You can test it yourself. Byrna advertisements that pop up on YouTube.com
videos say that you can shoot the gun anywhere they are sold to test them. So,
you need not take my word for it.
I got cut by the metal clip that holds my holster on my belt. It may have never
happened to you. That's how Murphy's Law works. "Anything that can go wrong
will go wrong, at the worst possible time." That means that they will work fine
during practice at the range. But get into a high stress situation where you are
presenting from an awkward cramped position, and guarantee they will slice your
hand your hand open; maybe across an artery on the inside of your wrist.
How do you defeat Murphy's Law? Eliminate anything that can go wrong.
Replace the metal clips with leather belt loops sewn onto your holster. Then the
problem will never occur. WIN!
Ammo sources:
Unlimited Ammo
Target Sports USA
GunMag Warehouse
SGAmmo
True Shot Ammo
The Mag Shack
If you know of any others, let me know.
*************************************************************************
Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intelligence ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source. There is always some conspiracy theorists who has said
what you want to say. Quote him. Everyone will understand.
"[Retired Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF)] Agent Explains
How Hezbollah Sleeper Cells Work in The U.S."
Identity not disclosed "because the FBI can be vengeful".
They explain why the FBI is systemically incompetent. No field experience
before being assigned to an investigator / detective role. You cannot rely on
incompetent people. They'll get you killed.
The intelligence community is like this too. I knew a guy
who graduated from grad school and immediately went into a federal
government intel job. He spent his entire career in an air conditioned
office in the D.C. area. Never stepped foot on enemy soil. All he knew
was what others fed him through classified channels. He never spoke to
any primary sources face to face. He never bothered to learn a foreign
language. [I studied Arabic before I deployed to Saudi for Operation
Iraqi Freedom. I took Arabic classes while I was in country. Sometimes
getting the inflection correct is a matter of life and death.] He just read
reports that had been filtered through other case officers.
Stop and think about that.
"Hezbollah is deeply embedded in the United States." "They are
controlled by Iran." Now that we are at war with Iran . . .
"Hezbollah is self-funding in the United States, not only that, they
send money back to Iran." So, Iran is not sending money to Hezbollah
in the U.S. Get it?
Cigarettes.
Attacking churches while wearing body cameras and broadcasting live is
a primary recruiting tactic to show what they are doing for Jihad.
The U.S. police departments are infiltrated by gang members and
terrorists, many of whom are illegal aliens; even though it's illegal for
an illegal alien to possess a gun. Such is the result of "defund the police",
lowering standards to fill the ranks and allow more women in, and the
woke DEI ideology.
"Every time we got a new Captain, I would brief him on the traitors
in our organization." Stop and think about that. You think the captain
fired or transferred any of those traitors out of the unit? That's a rhetorical
question.
All cops see the same anomalies out on the street. The so-so cop will
explain them away. The good cop will report it and investigate it.
So just as in the Global War on Terrorism, the trick is to identify the
enemy and interdict in the enemy's home before the attack, otherwise
the interdiction will be in the church.
Soldier Systems Commentary --
Many believe the greatest threat to Western security is an internal one.
There are millions of military aged immigrant males who bear no loyalty
to the nations who have taken them in.
The argument goes that, if LSCO occurs, and worse yet, on multiple fronts,
how can the Western powers ship their armies off to fight the CRINK while
the homelands are occupied by young, fit men, who may follow any number
of ideologies. Some countries already experienced issues in one form or another
from various immigrant populations.
The West can draft them into service as this article suggests, but what are
the second and third order effects of such a move? Will they be reliable?
Will they undermine discipline? Or worse yet, will those nations suffer
blue-on-blue insider attacks?
What if they are left to their own devices in the homeland? With the cats away,
will the mice play? At the very least their mere presence on the home front will
be used by enemies to undermine moral. At the worst, elements may organize as
a fifth column and conduct insurgent activities against their new homes.
Manpower, particularly trained and disciplined manpower will be the West’s
edge against foes who just throw bodies against their enemies.
Western societies must be honest with themselves about this issue and must
confront it now. Hope is never a course of action and there are all too many
hoping that this will work itself out.
www.cnas.org/publications/commentary/migration-can-provide-the-manpower-for-european-defense
"The DHS Deep State" by Gary Bauer
Excerpt:
“A few DHS staff had installed spying software on the phones and computers
of myself and other political hires,” Kristi Noem has revealed.
Giving billions of U.S. tax payer dollars to our enemies is an act of treason.
Let us never forget.
"Why illegal immigrant crime data is fake" by Elephants in Rooms - Ken LaCorte
"Here's the depressing reality:
In their quest to transform America, the Left transformed our vital intelligence agencies
into weapons aimed at us. And the rot runs deep."
—Gary Bauer
"The single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of single failure,
is that 97% of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan. If that island were blockaded,
that capacity were destroyed, it would be an economic apocalypse."
—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
An optimistic prediction on Iran.
"The Mother of All Iran Predictions" by Farzad
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
From Soldier Systems --
Everyone is talking about Operation Epic Fury. The Institute for the
Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the
American Enterprise Institute are publishing two updates daily to provide
analysis on the war with Iran. The morning update will focus on US and
Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran and the Axis of Resistance’s response to
the strikes. The evening update will be more comprehensive, covering
events over the past 24-hour period and refining items discussed in the
morning update.
---
"Something CATASTROPHIC Just Happened in Iran.. Russians Are TRAPPED"
by Business Basics
---
"US submarine sinks enemy vessel for the first time since WWII"
by LARA KORTE
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
---
Thousands of Iraqi Kurds launch ground offensive against Iran.
---
"Ex-CIA: What You Aren’t Being Told About Iran | Mike Baker"
by The Rubin Report
---
"Something CATASTROPHIC Just Happened in Iran.. Russians Are TRAPPED"
by Business Basics
---
"Iran Hit Azerbaijan — Then Azeri Military Crossed the Line Nobody Expected"
by Business Basics
---
"Iran War Phase 2: Ground Invasion Begins" by Cappy Army
Cappy gives a lot of numbers.
--
"Israel Just Did Something so OUT OF THIS WORLD…
Iran’s Entire Leadership EVAPORATED"
by Business Basics
---
"Israel Debuts "Iron Beam" 100kW Laser Weapon During Iran War"
by Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Is 100kW's sufficient to destroy the missile?
If you make the laser pulse very short, the energy can be very large.
---
"Gen Keane: This is SIGNIFICANT" by Fox News
---
"Why the US Navy Still Won't Escort a Single Tanker Through Hormuz"
by Navy Decoded
This is significant.
This is significant.
"4 New SECRET Censorship Methods Introduced in ‘Operation Jigsaw’ by Google"
by Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov
This should scare the shit out of you.
"Thoughts on Traveling to Mexico" by Greg Ellifritz
ACLED
S2 Underground
"US Special Forces Launch Raid on Cartels in Ecuador" by Cappy Army
"China and Taiwan just 'Inverted' for the First Time in 3 Decades"
by Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov
The retarding effect of communism.
Analysis of Islam.
An explanation of alcohol in humans.
"Ukraine Damages Five Russian Warships in Massive Strike on Novorossiysk Naval Base"
by Ivan Khomenko
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
"Why Ukraine is Suddenly Pushing Forward" by Cappy Army
War is economics.
If the enemy's counter-weapon costs ten time our weapon, we win.
KC-135 crash in Iraq.
"Who Are the Kurds?" by Ben Shapiro
Institute for the Study of war
The Dispatch
Strategy Page
"The Merge"
Breaking Defense
Intrigue
1440
29155
Global Recaps
Timber Sycamore
Ground News
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
Rachel Cook
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Signals Intelligence,
Ground Electronic Warfare,
Cyber Security,
(sometimes Air Electronic Warfare too) ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
"A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined,
but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain
a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them,
which would include their own government."
--George Washington
This is why Mode 4 radars are so important. Identify Friend or Foe.
Got to keep up with the crypto periods.
---
"Kuwait F-18 Shooting Down U.S. F-15E’s Is Worse Than You Think"
by Max Afterburner
Ya, we remember the U.S. Air Force shooting down the U.S. Army helicopter.
That's why the pilots must ensure the proper cypto keys in their Mode 4 radar systems.
U.S. Air Force visual identification? Let me tell you about that. When I was in
artillery forward observer school at Schofield Barracks, the U.S. Army instructors
told us that if we ever had to call in an air strike, call U.S. Marine Corps pilots.
Because Marines will make a low inverted pass to positively identify the target
before striking it. While the U.S. Air Force will drop their bombs from high altitude
to avoid getting shot down. In the Air Force, losing your aircraft is a career killer.
Misidentified a U.S. UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter as a Russian Hind helicopter? Not likely.
Pilots are required to have perfect vision.
"Iran Just Triggered A Cryptic Shortwave Message!" by Ringway Manchester
7.910 kHz, USB is Upper Side Band, Farsi language, 1 March 2026 A.D. at 18:11 UTC.
What do you notice about that date time group?
---
---
"How Hackers Hide Messages Inside Images & Text Files" by Cyb3rMaddy
The public libraries are full of such DVD's. Easy to rip and burn a DVD.
Easy to print DVD labels or laser engrave the DVD.
"the most advanced hack i've ever seen" by Low Level
Low Level is offering a free 2 week trial of Flare,
Sort of reminds me of the math joke --
The math professor walks into the lecture hall, all the students are seated,
and he finds a pail of water on the desk on the stage. So the professor asks
one of the students to take the pail of water out to the hallway so the janitor
can take it away.
At the start of the next class, the professor finds a pail of water on the floor of
the stage, and asks another student to take the pail of water out to the hallway.
The student picks up the pail of water and places it on the desk on the stage.
Linux is the kernel. GNU / Linux is the operating system.
"Linux Just Crossed a Line Windows Can’t Follow 🚀
The Future of Operating Systems Explained"
by Linux Tech AI
Cyber attack on Mobile Device Managers. by Marcus Hutchins
"Man Accidentally Hacks an Army of 7,000 Robot Vacuums"
by Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov
Cited article,
"Man accidentally gains control of 7,000 robot vacuums
Sammy Azdoufal just wanted to steer his DJI Romo with a gaming controller."
by Mack DeGeurin
Breaking Defense has a weekly newsletter, "Networks & Digital Warfare" at
Crypto-Gram by Bruce Schneier
2600
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
Ira Asllani
purple bougainvillea
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Cryptology ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
Cryptosystems are considered "arms" by federal law, ITAR,
International Traffic in Arms Regulations. That means cryptosystems are
protected by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Never let the
government infringe on your right to keep and bear cryptosystems, to
include home made cryptosystems, to include sharing cryptosystems with
others.
"Four-manifolds with boundary and fundamental group Z" by Lisa Piccirillo
International Center for Theoretical Physics, Mathematics
Knots in 4-dimensional manifolds. (Is she saying that some knots in 3-dimensional
space do not untangle when lifted into 4-dimesional space?)
Requiring torsion, as opposed to torsion free groups.
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe,
and preserve order in the world as well as property.
Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of their use."
-- Thomas Paine
"The most beautiful formula not enough people understand" by 3Blue1Brown
Do you see how this relates to what Piccirillo said above?
The hyper-volume of a hyper-cube of side 1 unit is 1 hyper-unit for all dimensions.
So anything smaller than that hyper-cube, such as an inscribed hyper-sphere, will have
hyper-volume approaching 0 hyper-units as the dimension approaches infinity.
And anything bigger than the hyper-cube, will have volume approaching infinity
hyper-units as the dimension approaches infinity.
You've extended the table to 1-dimension, right? Did you get what Grant Sanderson got?
You extended the table to 0-dimensions, right? Did you get what Grant got?
Do you understand his joke about us, cryptographers, at 49:50 / 1:00:23 ?
55:17 / 1:00:23. No, the hyper-cubes are constant hyper-volume, always 1,
the hyper-spheres are getting smaller.
Grant recommends the companies listed at
If you don't want to work for government bureaucrats or corporate types.
Even in the private sector, the bureaucracy in big defense contractors can
be stifling. (I worked for Lockheed Martin for many years. I needed the
money to support the ex and my kids. I had a TS SCI so they gave me a
lot of money.)
But the small venture capital startups were always better.
"You don't have to memorize theorems.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
There is a company called 0xPARC (I think it's an allusion to Xerox PARC)
who published this paper,
"Programmable Cryptography: Four Easy Pieces"
by Evan Chen, Brian Gu, Brian Lawrence, Elaine Shi, and Yan X Zhang
In it they talk about fully homomorphic encryption (FHE). The claim is --
"Imagine you have some private text that you want to translate into another language.
While many services today will do this, even for free, we can also imagine that you care
about security a lot and you really don’t want the translating service to know anything
about your text at all.
In fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), one person encrypts some data x, and then
a second person can perform arbitrary operations on the encrypted data x without being
able to read x. With this technology, you have a solution to your problem!
You simply encrypt your text Enc(x) and send it to your FHE machine translation
server. The server will faithfully translate it into another language and give you Enc(y),
where y is the translation of x. You can then decrypt and obtain y, knowing that the
server cannot extract anything meaningful from Enc(x) without your secret key."
---
Stop and think about this. You know how difficult it is to translate from any language
to another language. Now a machine is going to do the translation without seeing the
text to translate. I don't think that is even theoretically possible. Do you?
---
They talk about Oblivious RAM (ORAM). From the description in the paper,
this would appear to create a gross inefficiency in read-write access to the RAM,
but also eventually to disk. Wouldn't encrypting solve the problem in the first
place? Or, do they assume you're encrypting cells of the database, but leaving the
cells in their original place in the database? Which would hardly be a meaningful
"encryption" of the database.
---
They talk about garbled gates --
"A garbled gate is like a traditional gate (like AND, OR, NAND, NOR), except
its functionality is hidden."
So, you're going to design circuits using gates, but you don't know what the gate does?
---
In §2.2.1 they talk about taking discrete logarithms in finite fields. But finding
discrete logs is a hard problem. They use the terminology "taking roots", but they
are effectively claiming that they can find logarithms in finite fields in a tractable
amount of time. I don't think that's true. If it were, Diffie-Hellman would be broken.
Check out "Remark 3.7:". I don't think the authors talked to each other.
---
I don't think the authors have had too much cryptology education.
This is what happens when academics read the open source and
start writing things without any formal cryptologic training.
"Computer science has nothing to do with computers or science."
-- Donald Knuth
From "The Colossal Book of Mathematics" by Martin Gardner
ISBN 0-393-02023-1
ISBN 978-0-393-02023-6
QA95.G245
---
From Henery Ernest Dudeney - (I paraphrase.) A circular necklace contains n beads.
Each bead is either black or white. How many different necklaces can be made with
n beads? As n goes from zero to ∞, the number of necklaces goes,
0, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, 18, 30, . . .
Is there a formula with n as input and the number of necklaces as output?
Is there one formula for n odd and one formula for even n?
Easy, right? It's just combinatorics.
This is the same as the information theory problem -
What is the number of different binary code words of a given length, ruling out as
identical all those words that have the same cyclic order of digits, taking them
either left to right, or right to left?
Do you see the advantage of casting the problem in a real world setting, as
opposed to an information theoretic setting? This is the beauty of open source.
Any given problem is easy for someone. You have a much better chance of
finding that someone if you have 20,000 persons looking at the problem, as in
your open source community; as oppose to the 5 or so persons in you proprietary
company. Cast the problem as beads on a necklace and you will have lots of
interested and curious researches. Cast it as an information theoretic problem
and you'd be luck to have a few nerds looking at the problem.
Solution -
⏀(n) is the totient of n, the number of positive integers less than n that are relatively
prime to n. (How would you write this function in your favorite programming
language?)
The divisors of n are d₁, d₂, d₃, d₄, . . .
c is the number of different colors of beads or the number of different digits in a word.
(So the formulae work for more than just binary.)
× means multiplication.
^ means exponentiation.
For n odd, the number of necklaces or code words is
[ ⏀(d₁) × c^(n / d₁) + ⏀(d₂) × c^(n / d₂) + ⏀(d₃) × c^(n / d₃) + . . .
+ n × c^(n+1 / 2) ] / 2n.
For n even, the number of necklaces or code words is
[ ⏀(d₁) × c^(n / d₁) + ⏀(d₂) × c^(n / d₂) + ⏀(d₃) × c^(n / d₃) + . . .
+ n/2 × (1+c) × c^(n / 2)] / 2n.
---
A circle rotates around a central point. A sphere rotates around a central line.
A 4-sphere rotates around a central plane. In general, the axis of a rotating n-sphere
is a space of n-2 dimensions.
The 4-sphere is capable, however, of a peculiar double rotation that has no
analogue in 2 or 3 dimensional space: it can spin simultaneously around two
fixed planes that are perpendicular to each other.
[What does this allow you to do with 3-d knots in 4-d space? -- Jon Low]
"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?
We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.
We must believe that we are gifted for something,
and that this thing must be attained."
-- Marie Curie
Some will go into cryptography because they think that it is easier to write
secure crypto systems than it is to break secure crypto systems. But that is false.
It is actually very difficult to write a secure crypto system. Home brewed is
usually crap. Designs from those without formal training are almost always crap.
Those with true grit will go into cryptanalysis, because it requires a certain
type of ingenuity and intellect. Don't make the mistake of thinking that it is
genetic talent. No, it is a learned skill.
Hollywood is all propaganda and exciting stories (drama). You'll code
an algorithm that will give you pleasure, and only you, because no one else will
understand it. A significant breakthrough none the less.
My mother told me that there is only drama in stories because someone
did something stupid (often intentionally to cause the drama). If everyone
were to act intelligently, life would be very smooth and drama free.
Cryptanalysts are drama free persons. Just like you. Or, what you are
striving to be. Be one of us. You'll prosper in the long run.
Governments or corporations or organizations won't pay much for secure
communication. Because they can buy it off the shelf, cheap. And if they
want real security, they won't pay you for it, because they don't trust you.
They would rather trust their own people; no matter how incompetent. I was
designing a Mode 4 radar for the Royal Saudi Air Force. But the RSAF
took the project away from me and gave it to a Saudi. In the Saudi universities,
half the curriculum is Koranic study. In the electronic engineering curriculum,
there are no differential equations. You think I must be joking. I'm not.
But governments, corporations, and organizations will pay through the
nose for decrypted texts. You don't need to sell the cryptanalysis, just the
product. Sometimes not even the plain text. The traffic analysis may be of
great value. The meta data may be of great value or the analysis thereof.
Our enemy Snowden made that clear to everyone. Well, anyone who was
paying attention. There are a lot of people in this world, and almost all of
them don't pay attention. So you are in high demand.
My friend Greg Ellifritz, a retired cop, does not recommend government
law enforcement as a career to anyone. I would not recommend working
for any government at any level. I have worked in the private sector in large
corporations (Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, General Dynamics) and small
venture capital start ups (only one in fifty survives to IPO). Work for the
small companies or start your own company. Working for government or
large companies is like beating your head against a wall. The silver lining
is that it feels so good to leave. You can get used to the pain and high salary.
But it rots your soul. Probably also rots your brain. Atrophy.
"All that we don't know is astonishing.
Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing."
-- Philip Roth
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
-- Donald Knuth
"Top 6 Tools to Turn Code into Beautiful Diagrams" by ByteByteGo (Alex Xu)
"Never memorize anything. Rather, study it until it becomes obvious."
-- Norman Christ
The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)
"Handbook of Applied Cryptography"
by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone
"Computer Security and the Internet:
Tools and Jewels from Malware to Bitcoin", Second Edition
by Paul C. van Oorschot
ISBN: 978-3-030-83410-4 (hardcopy), 978-3-030-83411-1 (eBook)
"An Introduction to Error Correcting Codes with Applications"
by Scott A. Vanstone , Paul C. Oorschot
Research and Publications (P. Van Oorschot)
Alfred J. Menezes
Scott A. Vanstone
*************************************************************************
Cameron Cartwright
Arizona State University - Tempe
*************************************************************************
*************************** This and That ***********************************
"We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution
was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists."
-- Patrick Henry
Let AI review your medical bills.
"A very useful cost-saver that works for everyone" by Pete
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Cited source,
"$163K in fake medical bill charges; AI uncovers it for you
Medical Billing Advocates of America estimates 3 out of 4 medical bills contain errors"
by Kim Komando
"The Definitive Video on Disc Aerodynamics - Smarter Every Day 313"
by SmarterEveryDay
---
He's a little sloppy with his terminology.
The center of mass is an L1 norm, the average of the mass distribution.
The volume integral of the density over the object. Independent of motion.
The center of gravity depends on the gravitational field. The volume
integral of the weight per unit volume over the object. For small objects,
like aircraft, near the surface of the Earth, we can simplify the gravitational
field to be uniform linear (where the center of mass coincides with the
center of gravity). But, of course, the Earth's gravitational field is
non-uniform radial, not uniform linear. We are assuming no motion or at
least non-relativistic motion.
The center of pressure is the surface integral of the pressure vector field
over the surface of the body. So this depends on the movement of the object
through the fluid.
Moment of (rotational) inertia is an L2 norm. Which is dependent on
your axis of rotation. But we always assume the axis of rotation will be
the symmetry axis through the center of mass, because that is the only
stable axis of rotation for an oblate object.
---
The comparison of the disc, which is oblate, to the tank penetrator
projectile, which is prolate, isn't correct. Because the disc spinning
around its axis of symmetry is stable, whereas the tank penetrator spinning
around its axis of symmetry is not stable. That's why the tank penetrator
has fins. It is fired out of a smooth bore barrel. It does not spin. It is
fin stabilized. The tank penetrator never spins and never flexes.
When he mentions arrows (as in bow and arrow, archery) having
fletching, it is not the same as the tank penetrator having fins. Arrows
come off the bow with archers paradox ( wobble and flexing [as a long
thin rod, not fixed at either end, would flex in free space, two nodes] )
and no spin. The arrow fletching, mounted at an angle on the arrow,
has high drag when the arrow has no spin, thus stabilizing the arrow,
and then low drag when the arrow starts spinning (allowing the fletching
to move through the air with small cross-section).
---
Precession does not require a force. For instance, the Earth's spin axis precesses
(The North Pole presently points to Hokulea (Polaris, the North Star) and in 22,000
years will point toward Vega.) without a force being applied to the Earth. The Earth
is in a stable elliptical orbit, so it is in free fall, so it does not feel any force. All of
the real and fictitious forces have canceled out. So there is no force causing the
Earth's precession.
Destin conflates precession with nutation.
Peter Heuer has a nice paper that better explains the details.
Peter Heuer's home page,
The purpose of war is not to die for your country.
The purpose of war is to ensure that the other guy dies for his country.
—George S. Patton
"What They (Probably) Don't Teach You About Rainbows At School" by Veritasium
The diagram of the electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields at 4:17 / 27:10 is wrong.
The diagram shows the E field and B field in phase. They should be out of phase
by 90 degrees or π/2 radians. Because the cosine and sine are out of phase by that
amount.
My daughter told me that they (the E and B fields) are 90 degrees out of phase
because they are perpendicular to each other in the diagram. She confused the
phase, which is measured along the direction of propagation, with the polarization,
which is measured perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
Many people have this incorrect notion because many textbooks have the diagram
given in this video, which is wrong.
I have had publishers write to me saying that they had checked with the authors
of the textbooks and that the authors (physics professors who should know better)
confirmed that the erroneous diagrams were correct. It's a scary world we live in.
This is why planes crash and bridges collapse and we shoot down friendly jet fighters.
People, with decision making authority, believe things that are false. A very scary
world.
"A false path will always be tensely, angrily, violently defended
by those it has deceived, because those who are so easily deceived
are ever too arrogant to repent.”
-- Instructional axiom
"I hate it when I'm trying to eat a salad and
it falls in the trash and I have to eat a taco instead."
-- Nicola Cavanis
My female friend brought me a Reuben and a Ceasar salad from her restaurant,
The Lost Paddy Irish Pub, this evening. So I had a salad. It was good.
Didn't need to drop it in the trash.
"Joe Rogan Experience #2275 - Magnus Carlsen" by Joe Rogan
stockfishchess.org
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always
possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Richard Henry Lee
*************************************************************************
Sun Devils!
*************************************************************************
************* Psychology **************************************
"A useful eight: my ideal woman" by Orion Taraban
Excerpt:
"No man should work for the privilege of paying a woman's bills."
"[Women] be of use, and guys will keep you around."
"Cheap sex: it's not all bad" by Orion Taraban
Excerpt:
"A lifetime commitment of protection and provision is an insanely high price
for sex."
"The value of a [high value] man's commitment significantly exceeds the
value of a woman's sexual access."
---
Perhaps, but children more than balance the equation. If she is willing
to bear your children. If she actually bears YOUR children.
I worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (for children) in the
TN Family Court system. I've seen a lot of paternity tests. They don't
always tell you what you expected to hear. That's why many men don't
ask for them; it doesn't matter. I'm taking care of the child. I'm raising
the child. So the child is mine. I don't care who the sperm donor is.
May have been an affair, a rapist, the women's father, . . .
There are a lot of reasons not to know.
Email from Orion Taraban, Psy.D. -- Wednesday, March 11th, 2026
"When the music stops."
With respect to the sexual marketplace, a good deal of who ends up with whom
comes down to timing. In this way, we can consider marriage and dating to be
one big game of musical chairs. People are going round and around – considering
one seat after another – until the music stops. And when this happens, they reach
for an available chair and try to sit themselves down as quickly as possible.
What does this mean? People tend to get married not to the people who love
them the most, not to the people who want them the most, not to the people who
are the best fit for them. Rather, people tend to get married to the people who
are at hand when the music stops. They look for a “good enough” chair and sit
down.
So when does the music stop in the dating market? Unlike musical chairs,
this signal is neither objective nor synchronized. The music stops for people
in the sexual marketplace when they get tired of dating. For some people that
happens at 21; for others, at 61. However, that is the subjective signal that it's
time to sit down. When people don't want to date anymore, they suddenly
find themselves ready to commit. And that's the most important timing factor
when it comes to marriage.
This week's behavioral experiment:
Procrastination can be more tiring than the action being postponed.
Do the thing you've been avoiding.
Warmly,
Orion
"All I want...: the problem with dating today" by Orion Taraban
************* End of Psychology section*********************************
Lexi Ashton
*************************************************************************
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
-- Mary Flannery O'Connor
A story that my friend told me --
Kid Rock and John Rich are in a bar. The DJ makes a snide comment about
John Rich (who is conservative pro-gun and a hero of mine). Kid Rock asks
John Rich if he knows the DJ. John Rich says no. So Kid Rock walks up on
stage, punches the DJ (knocking him down to the ground), walks back, gulps
down his drink, and walks out.
When the cops show up, they arrest John Rich because the DJ claims that
John Rich sent Kid Rock to punch him (the DJ). But this is false. John Rich
didn't know what Kid Rock was going to do.
My friend is working the booking desk that night and she tells me that she
processed John Rich and released him within 45 minutes. Her Lt. was a little
upset that she hadn't called him to tell him that a celebrity had been brought in.
But she didn't know John Rich from Adam. Though she did understand that
John Rich was a VIP, so she put him in a separate area, so no one would bother
him.
Several hours later, about 04:00, the cops find Kid Rock and bring him in.
She processes him and his people bail him out immediately.
Sure is nice to be rich and famous.
“You can’t truly call yourself ‘peaceful’ unless you are capable of great violence.
If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Important distinction.”
-- Stef Starkgaryen
"Hey Staff, what's with the photos of the girls in this newsletter?"
It's like cheerleaders at ball games. It causes dopamine, thereby
improving learning.
Just like the pictures in Playboy magazine. The magazine is a
flaming liberal propaganda journal. So, by itself, very few would ever
read it. But with the pictures, it's a great success.
Remember when the conservatives in congress were trying so
hard to prevent Playboy from being converted to audio recordings
for the library for the blind? The Democrats made political points during
the controversy, because the common man thinks Playboy is all about
the pictures. The joke was that nobody reads Playboy, they just look
at the pictures. But that's a bad joke. Remember Carter did his
"I have lusted in my heart" interview in Playboy. One could argue
that that helped him win the Presidency.
But I said I wouldn't do politics in this newsletter anymore.
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Email: Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Radio: KI4SDN
Nala Knight
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