April 19th (Patriot’s Day) is a significant date. It is coincidentally the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord (the opening of America’s war of secession from Britain, in 1775), the German assault on the Warsaw Ghetto (1943) , the FBI/ATF assault on the Branch Davidian church at Waco (1993), and the tragic misdirected Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing (1995).
Jim: Regarding your statement: :”Even E10 (10% ethanol) blended gasoline is highly hygroscopic and can absorb 50 times more water than traditional non-blended gasoline.” E10 is much more sensitive to the water/alcohol solution separating from the gasoline than E85 is. E10 undergoes separation at around 0.5% water. E85 can absorb about 20% water before separation occurs. – PNG JWR Replies: That is not entirely correct. An explanatory note from the L.U.S.T. Line Report (on Leaking Underground Storage Tanks): “Ethanol will mix with gasoline, but it does so reluctantly. Although gasoline is nonpolar, it can only hold up to 0.2 percent …
James: Regarding the HK “416” [gas piston operated M16]s. I found a video about them. Do you think that [semi-auto only variants of] these rifles–or at least upper receivers–will be available to civilians any time soon? Also, do you know if they make a .308 [AR-10] version of the gas [piston] operated .223 you linked to? Thanks, – S.F. JWR Replies: As background, I should first explain that standard AR-15s, M16s, M4s and AR-10s use gas tube impingement rather than a gas piston to operate their actions. This blows powder fouling back into the action. Heckler und Koch of Germany …
Hawaiian K. sent us this: More on honeybee CCD, from Der Spiegel. Are genetically modified crops to blame? And Brian H. sent a link to this article from England that was featured in The Drudge Report, which suggests that cellular phone transmissions might be to blame. o o o From RBS: Sagging Housing Industry hits largest homebuilders o o o Also from RBS, shades of 1929: The NASD issues a rare warning to investors on excessive stock and bond purchases made on margin o o o Reader Jim H. mentioned that Sam’s Club membership warehouse stores are …
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled; Here once the embattled farmers stood; And fired the shot heard round the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson