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bierman

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About bierman

  • Birthday 11/01/1968

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  • Website URL
    http://www.lonestarshootingacademy.com

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    DFW, TX
  • Interests
    Shooting, cooking, reading
  • Real Name
    Keith Bilbrey

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Finally read the FAQs

Finally read the FAQs (3/11)

  1. Ok, going to bring this one back to life. ******Possible Spoilers Below***** Saw Ender's Game earlier today and wanted to share my thoughts on it. My biggest fear was Hollywood was going to take the name and make something totally unrecognizable out of the story, like they did with Starship Troopers. I have to say, that was not the case in my opinion. They stayed true to the overall story from the book, but they were obviously constrained by the medium of film. Yes, there is a boat load of CGI in this movie, but I did not feel like I was watching Transformers or Battleship. The effects moved the story along and I did not find myself distracted by them. Quite a bit of the movie dialog came straight out of the book, which I always appreciate. They did a fair job of trying to show how the adults tested Ender by setting him up to be hated by the other kids at Battle School, but they did not spend much time on it. As noted in several preceding posts, much of the book takes place in Ender's head and that just does not translate well to film, but I believe they did a passable job portraying the stress and anguish Ender experienced. They also compressed some things quite a bit (the Mind Game and Battle School), but I don't think they really had much choice there unless they wanted to make a 6-8 hour movie. This one is right at 2 hours. I was a bit disappointed that Bean did not play a larger role in the movie, as they made the relationship between Ender and Petra much more significant than it was in the books. Yes, the actors portraying the kids are much older than the kids were in the book, but I am not going to find fault there. It is a tough proposition to find 7,8 and 9 year old actors who could pull off these roles. Not a perfect translation of the book to film, but overall I found it to be entertaining and I did not leave the theater wanting to curse the makers of the film for trashing one of my all time favorite SF stories. My daughter, who finished the book a few days ago, felt much the same way. If you are a fan of the story, go see the movie (we did it at an afternoon matinee so we wouldn't be out the price of full admission if we were disappointed) and I think you will be pleased with the way they handled it.
  2. Link below to local news story. Synopsis: Shooter at this indoor range fired a tracer, which ignited the berm material. 4 alarm fire and the place is now a total loss. http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/dallas/Three-alarm-fire-engulfs-Dallas-gun-range-192889931.html I never shot there, but it still sucks for them and their customers.
  3. Same thing for me. I've only had it for a short while, but I am really liking it. It seems to help with a more consistent grip for me.
  4. The stick was just propping up one side of the rack. I shot the plate closest to the stick first and it appeared the stick was knocked away by splatter. I really don't know what actually happened as I was not looking at the stick, my eyes had already moved to the next plate when the whole gizmo began to spin.
  5. Wild would be a good word for it, although at the time "wild" was not the word that came to mind.
  6. Threads like this make me feel so very...un-skilled.
  7. I wasn't going to stop unless I was told to stop.
  8. Encountered my first Polish Plate rack at a recent local match. Stage designer set it up where you had two options to shoot it. If you wanted to shoot it up close (7-8 yards) you had to hit a clamshell activator, attached to a stick on the left end of the rack, that would start it spinning before you shot. Other option was to shoot it from a bit farther away (12-15 yards), but it would be stationary. I was shooting Revo and the stage layout made the stationary option much more favorable as I would be able to engage 3 paper targets, reload and take the six plates on the rack before moving to the next position. Easy as pie. I shoot the 3 paper, make my reload and hit the first plate and the whole rack begins to spin. I locked up for a second or so, thinking "Hey, it ain't supposed to do that". Apparently the splatter from the 230 gr bullet hit the stick that was propping up that end of the plate rack. Needless to say, once I remembered I needed to keep shooting, I ran through two moonclips to finish the plate rack and completely wrecked the rest of my stage plan. I guess the lesson I took from this is always be ready for the unexpected, especially with moving/spinning/falling range equipment. Have a plan, but be prepared for that plan to change.
  9. bierman

    Cancer

    Stay strong, stay positive and never pass up an opportunity to let your loved ones know how you feel. Prayers inbound.
  10. bierman

    Cancer

    Lost my Aunt Denise Wednesday after a four year battle with breast cancer. Doctors took her off of chemo last week as it was no longer working and doing more harm than good. They told her 1 to 3 months. She lasted less than a week. She was my Mom's baby sister and would have been 55 next month. She was a funny, loving person who was a hoot to be around. My heart breaks for my Uncle Mike, who has been with my Aunt since they were 16, my cousins Kerri, Michael and Matthew who watched their mother go through this for the last 4 years and for my Mom and her two other sisters. They were all very close and I know this has wrecked their world. I know they have all been clinging to the hope that she would recover and life return to normal, despite the odds against her. She was a fighter who never gave up and kept her sense of humor throughout. I will miss her. RIP Denise Louise Watson.
  11. Apparently I am loading a little too hot. 4.2 grains of Clays with a 230 gr Bayou Bullet. Have not chronoed the load, so I have no idea what the PF was, but it was stiff. Next batch I will try 3.9 grains.
  12. I've been shooting USPSA, off and on, since 2005. Almost all of it has been in Production, shooting Minor pf ammo. Shot my second match in Revolver using Major pf ammo yesterday. Had a ton of fun, did not do as well has hoped, but both my hands feel like someone whacked all my knuckles with a sledgehammer today. Never experienced that with the Production rig. Major pf 45 acp out of a wheelgun is a whole different animal. Gonna require a period of adjustment, I think.
  13. I have washed several thumb drives and SD cards. The thumb drives usually come out ok. SD cards seem to come apart more easily. My daughter dropped her Nintendo DS into the Brazos River once. It spent about 5 minutes submerged before we were able to retrieve it. Took it as far apart as we could and cleaned/dried everything we could see, but no love. It did not survive. To paraphrase Mythbuster Adam Savage "Once you release the mysterious blue smoke, electronic devices tend not to work anymore."
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