He’s now a dictator.

It’s okay, though, because his power to rule by decree is only effective for 18 months. Unless, of course, his first decree is to extend that power indefinitely…

Because when you murder someone at 11 years old and get out of jail upon turning 21, the best way to show your remorse is by strutting out of court in a full-blown pimp suit. Check out those shoes!

Full story here.

While my Confessions of a Gun Snob, Part II awaits the finishing touches (I only have to outline, write, edit, and post it), I decided to go ahead today and hit one of my personal pet peeves with the modern gun biz: markings.

Far-fetched as it may seem today, there once was a time when gunmakers were not severely brain-damaged in designing and applying logos, model names, serial numbers, and other typographical details. In fact, they were pretty damn good at it. The classic Winchester script was (and still is) instantly identifiable yet unobtrusive. Smith & Wesson’s shield logo speaks of understated pride. Perhaps best of all is the Colt logo with the swoopy C and, of course, the Rampant Colt. They’re all classic designs that looked good decades ago and still look good today.

Contrast that with, say, Kimber. Say what you will about their guns, their logo sucks. Not that it’s necessarily a bad design, it’s just totally inappropriate for a gun company. It looks like a tattoo you’d see on the small of a woman’s back, not something that belongs on the side of a 1911. And as with the tramp stamp, the deeply carved slide marking will only get tackier and more dated with each passing year.

Still, a Kimber looks tasteful next to these masterworks from STI. WHAT’S WRONG GUYS, COULDN’T FIND A BIGGER FONT?

And how about this elegant little number by S&W? See, they put that stylized atom on there so you know you didn’t get ripped off; the gun you just bought is made of genuine MATTER.

Finally, if you’re serializing your guns with those awful laser dot-matrix numbers, just give up and go home; you’re in the wrong line of work. Those things look like shit and make refinishing a pain in the ass and possible felony to boot. We had real, stamped serial numbers for a long, long time and there’s no reason why we can’t still have them today.

New to the blogroll: Alphecca and Publicola. Cool guys with weird names.

I’m bad at updating the blogroll; probably 75% of my daily reads aren’t on there yet. The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.

EDIT: Also added The Munchkin Wrangler and Hog On Ice.

My dad sent me a big package of these things from Mexico. Imagine a thin layer of caramel sandwiched between two giant communion wafers and you have a pretty good idea of what they’re like. Except the caramel part is really some kind of candy made from goat milk. And the communion wafer part has all the rich flavor of, well, a communion wafer.

Still, they’re not bad. Not THAT bad.

Several SHOT Show reports made mention of the new Century Galils, which certainly do look cool. What I want to know, though, is why no one’s been making any noise about these semi-auto MG-42s!

Hot damn, I want! Can’t afford to buy it, can’t afford to feed it, don’t have any real need for it, but I WANT it.

So the good news is some semi MG-42s and Galils are coming onto the market. The (possibly) bad news is that Century is building them. Now, Century does a decent enough job of importing and distributing milsurps, even if they’re a bit, ahem, generous in their condition grading at times. But their manufacturing track record is spotty at best. I really, really hope they step up to the plate and put out a quality product here. And if they trash these parts kits in the process of assembling them onto out-of-spec tinfoil-and-duct-tape receivers, may the Gun Gods smite them in the ass. Preferably with SPP’s barbed buttplug.

“… but seeing a butt plug with a treble hook and a T-handle attached was just too much for my mind to grasp.”

Dude doesn’t know how to party, I guess.

Trip is postponed for a few days, due to an unexpected family issue. Looks like I’ll probably head down on Sunday instead.

I find myself in the unfortunate position of possibly having to revoke Weekend Hotness status from Rosario Dawson, on the grounds that she’s a man: