Out with a bang

Guess what? Now with a 3-D printer (and a nail), you can make yourself a working firearm!

I'll keep this brief. I love the technology behind this; it fascinates me that we can literally create just about anything we can draw in a CAD program. It opens up fantastically interesting horizons for manufacturing.

I also realize that given this kind of technology, someone was going to do this eventually.

But there's no utility--and plenty of what seem to me to be PAINFULLY obvious drawbacks--to not just creating a plastic gun, but disseminating the plans widely. Maybe it makes me a pathetic sheep, and I'll be first thrown on the truck to the government New World Order summer camps, but handing out plastic guns is not needed to prevent tyranny.

And the thing is, it's plastic. PLASTIC. Yes, that crazy material that doesn't show up on metal detectors. Congratulations, assassins: now you can not only sneak your firearm into a controlled space, but also melt down the evidence when you're done.

On the bright side, thriller writers now have another toy to play with as they create crime scenes.

*Dork note: I am mildly annoyed that they called this thing the Liberator, but kept showing clips of B-17s in their video. Those are Flying Fortresses. The B-24 was the Liberator.

More DIY

I know I have probably bragged about this stuff too much. And I already have a (literally) big head.

But I can't help but feel pretty good about fixing the rattle in our car's door. I did this by taking the door paneling off--something I never would have considered doing, say, a year ago. But what can I say. I watched a Filipino speaker-installation guy do it, so what was stopping me? Besides, of course, a fear that I would unplug something important or not be able to put the door back together or simply, you know, burst into flames or something.

Happily, neither of those scenarios emerged. I saw that the power-window motor had a loose bolt in the doorframe. I tightened it. I replaced all the door paneling. I high-fived myself.

And that is the story of how I did something useful on my day off. All by myself.

My kingdom for a _______

You move to a foreign country, and you leave a lot of objects behind. Furniture is an obvious one. Vehicles. Liquor supplies. And so on. Some stuff you can replace; some stuff you tell yourself it's not worth replacing, because who wants to tote--for example--a six-foot ladder back to the United States? Not this guy.

That's why this guy needs a ladder, badly. See, the building watchman/super is on vacation. It's not totally clear when he'll be back. This week, we think. In the meantime, all the handyman accouterments that I'm used to getting from him are, well, not gettable. When you're assembling a home, that's tough.

For instance, I need to change the light socket in one of these lanterns we just bought and hung. But I can't do it without a ladder--we have 11-foot ceilings. There is a mirror that needs to be hung in the pink office. But it's not gonna get done without a power drill. (or a hand drill--thanks, IT Support of the Blog Wes.) I need to spackle, but it's not happening without a putty knife. Well, that's a bad example. I bought a putty knife.

A Home Depot would make a killing here, if for no other reason than even the biggest hardware store in town has a more types of barbecue grills than it does sizes of nail... and I'm not exaggerating.

Anyway, ladders, drills, screws, hooks, anchors, spackle--turns out that's called polyfilla in this part of the world--all are needed in the Budget building. Meanwhile, our neighborhood is crowded with enough furniture stores to outfit 100 Budget buildings. I guess in a pinch, I could just stack gaudy chairs on top of each other....