Friday, December 11, 2015

Quackery



Ars Technica link: Like science, but stupider: The XSTAT30.

It’s a wonder product that can almost instantaneously stop bleeding from gunshot wounds. It does not heal the wound, but it plugs it temporarily to avoid significant blood loss until the wound is treated. The device looks like a syringe full of tablet-sized sponges that expand after injection to the wound. Within 20 seconds, the expanded sponge then fills the cut, preventing blood loss and giving the patient a higher chance of survival. Each sponge last for up to four hours and absorbs up to a pint of blood. . . XSTAT 30 is manufactured by RevMedX, Inc., in Wilsonville, Oregon.

If the article got it right (which is far from certain given general and specialist media obtuseness) it's a wagonload of bullshit.
If it isn't cleared for use in "certain" parts of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis, WTF good is it? Jack and shit.
You're making a device that will be applied by 110-hr wondermedics with basic EMT certs, or at best by 6-month paramedics, and you're going to have them play "Do we or won't we?" games with the exact parts of the anatomy where tourniquets don't work?
Which have unhelpfully been blown open by bullets??
Total hype, hokum, and horseshit.

If you shoot that thing into a head wound, and it swells with blood collected, you've produced an unreduceable hematoma in the cranial vault. Stroke, and/or pushing the brains down through the spinal foramen (the hole at the bottom of the cranium where the brainstem lives and connects to the spinal column). The only more effective way to kill someone would be to pull their brains out with a crowbar and then stomp on it.

You can't put it into the chest, because it could tamponade the heart or major vessels, and they then have an unsolvable heart attack, or a hemothorax that a needle thoracotomy won't fix.

Ditto for the neck, where it could choke off blood flow to the brain, or block airways.

Put in inside the digestive tract, and you have a bowel obstruction that won't resolve. Ditto if it ends up in the bladder.

That eliminates 85% of the human body where it can't be used.


So when you eliminate the head, neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis ("certain parts"?? I repeat, total horseshit) you're left with the arms and legs: IOW the exact places where the CAT and SOF-T tourniquets are expressly designed to shine, and have done for near 15 years. At one-third the list price!

And on an anatomical note, the sponges (92 of them) are designed to absorb "up to a pint of blood" each. So what they've designed is a device to exsanguinate the entire body at the speed of blood loss, since you only have 10-14 pints of blood in your entire body.

So as the blood flows out the holes and into the sponges, it is removed from circulation permanently, to form a cluster of clotted sponges full of blood, and your veins and arteries are sopped entirely dry. Rapid and profound shock, coma, and death result, in short and irreversible order.
Fucking genius, that. If you're a mortician looking for a handy way to prep the body for burial.

On the spectrum from Shineola to shit, this appears to be a truckload of the latter. An utter abortion, without legs.

Absolute best case: You might could use it on groin and armpit wounds.
If the bladder/lung isn't punctured. I suppose you'd need your handy field ultrasound machine to make that call. Which no one has, because it doesn't exist.
And if the wound's so bad you can tell they are punctured without your nonexistent field ultrasound machine, you can't use it. QED

So still worthless bullshit in search of a purpose. And government and institutional dollars.
While it clogs your kit with something of dubious, if not even non-existent, utility.
That thing's a CAT or Israeli bandage you didn't bring, both of which actually work.
And priced at the DoD friendly $100@.
Comedy gold.
"Mr. Shoddy: Dewey, Cheatham, & Howe are calling about patent infringement..."

Maybe in the new gender-bender military, it could find use as a field marital aid, and ad hoc birth control device.
"Introducing the SpermStopper 2000!"

That analysis is based purely on the article, but I can't imagine where you'd usefully shove it with the restrictions stated in the article, or how they expect field medics to utilize it under such recockulous restrictions under actual conditions. (I could suggest a place for the manufacturer to shove it, which you can probably guess that without further hints, but they'd have to pull their heads out first.)

If I hear or see more about it, and the maker has a better-than-the-Underpants-Gnome explanation of its function, utility, and restrictions that makes more any sense, I'll revise that opinion.
Comments are open.

Elucidation and explanation is welcome.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

8 USC 1182f

"Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."
As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up."
(Scroll down to Subsection f).

I am no Trump fan: as a supposed Republican conservative, he's a three-dollar bill.

But with the Open Borders/Chamber of Commerce GOP jacktards who sold the party out for 40 years missing the obvious, Trump has hit this issue out of the park, resonating with every working American, let alone those who don't want to be blown away at the mall, and the party pols are handing him the nomination, and probably the election.

And asswipes like former Veep Dick Cheney coming out and stating that Trump, by asserting a prerogative (unlike those attempted or done by the current gay Muslim racist Enabler In Chief) that is specifically and constitutionally LEGAL, is doing something "un-American", are throwing gasoline on the discussion. And beclowning themselves.

When you're up to your wedding tackle in thorns, the shortest way out is to quietly back away.
So maybe crack a friggin' book Cheney. And STFU. Dick.




(And nota bene the same wave of the hand could have been applied to all those coming here from Ebola-afflicted countries since last summer, without even breaking a constitutional sweat.)

Monday, December 7, 2015

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Just The Facts, Jim

So apparently, James Wesley, Rawles over at survivalblog decided to issue the following howler today:
The tragic events yesterday in California’s Inland Empire deserve attention. I’ll just stick to the facts:
    The primary shooter, Sayeed Rizwan Farook, age 28, was American-born to parents who were from Karachi, Pakistan, and was described as “a very devout Muslim”.
    He recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.
    According to The Daily Mail, “Farook graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a degree in environmental health in 2009.”
    The second shooter killed in the shootout was Farook’s wife Tashfeen Malik, a pharmacist, age 27, born in Pakistan but more recently a resident of Saudi Arabia, who had married Farook two years ago.
    The long guns used in the attack are banned in California, both by name and by description. Farook most certainly did not just walk into a California gun shop or a gun show and buy them. ALL long guns less than 50 years old are banned from private party sales in California. To legally possess a banned semi-auto rifle in California, it would have had to have been registered to Farook on or before December 31, 1999. But he was 13 years old in 1999, so that is impossible.
    The attack clearly took considerable planning and logistical preparation. It is highly unlikely that the “three crudely made bombs packed with black powder and rigged to a remote-controlled toy car” were assembled just before the attack. It also indicates that there might have been a wider conspiracy.
    To call this event simply “workplace violence” would be absurd. People do not drive home, methodically don multiple magazine pouches and gather up guns and pipe bombs, in a simple fit of rage.
    They dropped off their six month old baby daughter with a grandmother, before the attack. That is another sign that this was a premeditated attack.
These facts speak for themselves.
Calling for additional “gun control ” laws in the wake of this attack is ludicrous. California’s existing gun and explosives laws were clearly flouted so passing any more laws would be useless. We have the right to arm ourselves in defense against similar terror attacks! – JWR

Mr. Rawles, I have been a fan of your blog for some years, but you shouldn't write or opine on things of which you have no or grossly inaccurate knowledge.
Which, in this case, would be just about every "fact" regarding firearms contained in that post.

1) The long guns used in the attack are not "banned in California", neither by name nor description.
(In fact, one of them, the S&W MP-15, has only existed for a couple of years, and like most of the M-4geries sold, enjoys great sales here in CA. Duh. The other was a DPMS. Both are legally sold here.) I have owned identical models to both of them, and recently at that. And in fact, they're selling with spectacular success daily, and have done so for nearly ten-plus years, to the eternal consternation of DiFi and her toadies in Sacramento.

2) Farook, or anyone else lacking a criminal or mental health prohibition could, indeed, walk into any CA gun shop, and walk out with such weapons 10 days later, and probably he did precisely that. Just like any thousands of others have in droves, esp. since 2008.

3) Long guns less than 50 years old are not banned from private party transfers in California. They are not allowed to be transferred without federal paperwork and a waiting period, except to blood heirs, but that's another thing entirely from being verboten out of hand. Rawles is at best terribly unclear on what he meant to say, or at worst dreadfully mistaken on that entire point.

4) To legally possess the rifles in question, they merely need only possess the simple expedient of a "bullet button", a device which makes the use of a tool (as opposed to just your booger hook) necessary to change magazines. They are sold here, so equipped from the manufacturer, by the dozens every day, from San Diego to the OR border. And there is also quite a cottage industry in shipping lowers from all manner of places to stops en route (including in ID, Jimmy) where they install the CA-compliant devices for you before sending one's toys in to the Golden State. (And eliminating the need for those horrible contortionist stocks that go up, around, and over to not be "protuding pistol grips". Suffering cats, what abortions those are.)
This is basic firearms biz 101 stuff hereabouts.

The likelihood, without examining the weapons, nor having a detailed account of events, is that they may have used banned high-cap magazines (>10 rounds), and/or may have removed the installed CA-compliant "bullet buttons" from his weapon(s), and replaced them with the standard issue version, or screwed a workaround onto the mag release. They may even have acquired the weapons illegally, but there is no basis for concluding that they must have committed any such violations of law in order to obtain them. Assertions to the contrary absent documentation are entirely speculative, and fairly ridiculous.

As any of these actions would be felonies, having created the exact "assault weapon" CA imagined it was banning, the conclusions regarding the prep and time involved, and the futility of additional laws to stop such incidents are entirely valid. That the first actual felony (regarding the firearms, not the conspiracy nor the manufacturing of IEDs) was opening fire with them in the first place is why the entire encyclopedia of gun laws is asinine in the extreme. When the presenting symptom is death by bullet, a law is a poor excuse for a solution, and more than a tad late to the party.

But Farook-plus-one may, in fact, have performed no such felonious actions, and simply the pair of them opened fire, and changed legal 10-round magazines a total of as little as one - or none! - time(s) apiece, and nonetheless created the exact carnage recorded in a couple of dozen seconds. That's the takeaway point on how stupid laws regarding Gun Free Zones, magazine capacity, assault weapons, and waiting periods truly are in the real world.

At any rate, while gratuitously bashing the Califrutopian firearms laws is great fun (trust me, I live here, and I do it daily myself), if someone can't get the basic and actual facts straight on the first go, best to wait and do some simple research. Google is your friend.
I'm sure it looks easy to do color commentary on this from way up there in ID, but ignorance is no excuse on this. Doubly so for a former Californian who ought to know better, and who makes his living dealing out advice and consultation.

The truth here in CA about the gun restrictions we put up with, and the actual incident, is scary enough, without misinformation being passed by people who should know better, and from voices from whom we expect better due diligence than what we get from WaPo and the NYSlimes.

Party foul, first class, Jimmy.
"Grade: D   Needs Improvement".
And next time you "just stick to the facts", maybe perhaps just stick to the facts.

Local Shenanigans: Allahu FUBAR

                                                   Now they're good Muslims.
 
The "Before" things unfolded post:
WTFever.

This was a Christmas Party for the Dept. of Public Health, at a developmentally disabled group facility.

So, I doubt this was about someone mad at retards.
Likelihoods, in descending order:

1) Allahu akbar. Nota bene it was a Christmas party.
2) Someone mad at someone at the SB DPH. These aren't the child protective services guys, they are the county inspectors, health, environmental, etc.
Somebody got their business closed because of health citations, and decided to whack the other 10-12 bystanders as cover.
3) Someone else with an axe to grind against San Berdoo officialdom.
4) Magic brownies.

Some fucktard Limey paper and other BS early squawks were reporting they were white men, in ski masks, armed with AK-47s.
WTF.
If they were wearing ski masks, unless they were otherwise butt-naked, you have no effing clue what race or skin color they were.

And this will be a combined Gun Free Zone/assault weapon/high-cap magazine/waiting period law fail.
Califrutopia fucktard politicians for the Grand Slam Of Fail!
Hint for the Demotards: Criminals don't obey laws.

And just as I was coming in and logging on, the SBSD whacked two of the m*****f*****s, one on the street, and one in an SUV, and word is they have a possible third cornered in the area, within 2 mi. of the original incident.

Apparently they had no exit strategy, and just hung around nearby.
Which tips the odds for Door #1 above way up.

We'll see, but kudos to the constabulary in San Bernardino for marksmanship far in excess of standards (word is the SUV was ventilated, in a Bonnie & Clyde sort of way). Notably, unlike the asshats from Boston PD, they did it without setting the Bill of Rights on fire and locking down half the county; and unlike the asshats from the LAPD, they apparently didn't shoot up two wrong vehicles and twenty-seven nearby houses in the melee either. It's a Christmas miracle.

Oh, and if this turns out to be two Not So Smart Bombs from The Religion Of Peace(tm), I predict open season on mosques hereabouts every Friday until the problem with that particular identity group fades apace with their dwindling demographic. Inshallah.
At any rate, it will cut down any fervor for "Syrian" refugees to be relocated here to about the same level as enthusiasm for Japanese gardeners in CA as of January 1942.
 
 
The "After" Post:
So the shooter was Sayeed Farouk Imawannajihad, and the other shooter was his towelhead main squeeze/fiancée/fellow-douchecanoe, Tashfeen Malouk Imawannajihad.
Farouk Imawannajihad was an employee of the agency holding the party, who went there, returned with his bitch, this time both armed with Californicated M-4geries (one by DPMS, and one M&P-15, if you're keeping track at home), two semi auto pistols (Llama, and S&W; thanks for asking), body armor, black clothes and ski masks, and, oh yeah, three previously prepared IEDs left salted at the scene, and later disarmed by authorities before they could go off.

MSNBC and President Barack Hussein FuckYourselfSidewaysWithARustyChainsaw Obomber are puzzled and perplexed at what possible motive could be the culprit here. :roll:


This is Aesop's Total Lack Of Surprise that the Imawannajihads were victims of Sudden Jihadi Syndrome, and decided to go out by trying to take out 30+ people celebrating an office Christmas party. Part of the 90% of Islam that gives the other 10% a bad rep. (Anyone inclined to bitch about that summary can give a holler when they have a Reformation, and renounce jihad by sending us the heads of those who preach it, proactively.)
We stopped playing Crusades vs. Jihad in the late 1500s.
Apparently, the other side would like to revisit that agreement, and thinks the lemon is worth the squeeze. Best rethink that.
The last group of fucktard suicidal religious zealots who kept messing with our way of life now have shadows of some of their people permanently etched into the concrete of their streets. We know how to deal with this sort of thing; there's an app for it. And we won't have a gay racist Muslim in the White House forever to give the other side cover.

And on a smaller scale, when random members of The Religion Of Peace(tm) start showing up with their throats accidentally cut, wearing hog's heads like Halloween masks, and with their tiny dicks inserted in their rigor mortised jaws, rest assured I will give out candy to my friends, and have an ironclad alibi.
Hear me, God.