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ABC's of Reloading
Offers a thorough, easy-to-understand resource for learning how to efficiently reload handgun, rifle and shotgun cartridges. Original.
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
7 people want to read
About the author
C. Rodney James
8 books2 followers I was born to an academic family in Columbus, Ohio. Nothing important happened until age 15. I was into explosives. One June afternoon, I assembled a pipe bomb. I'd done this before but failed to clean the threads of spilled explosive. The last good grip I had on anything was on the pipe cap as I gave it a final twist. A yard-wide ball of orange fire, my right hand was gone the left shredded.
Three weeks in hospital then home recovery. I was fitted with a back harness connected to a set of prosthetic arms each fitted with a two-piece "split-hook." The crudity of this arrangement was stunning. I’ve tried various mechanical hands. They can do about 15% of the hook functions.
This was lesson 1. In becoming an upper-extremity amputee.
Lesson 2. Came with my return to school. Every kid was at a window for a look. I got lots of attention. Walking a neighborhood street as a car passed a kid within yelled "meat hook!" out the window. I realized I had become a sort of spokesperson for "my kind." I prepared a speech -- how things worked and took audience questions. My peers seemed to think I should aim for a career dealing with the disabled. This seemed odd as I'd never had any interest in such work and was damned if I was going to let my life and identity be determined by a disability.
My senior teachers stated: We do not believe Rodney to be collage material. My father taught economics at The Ohio State University (47 years). That's where I was headed. It was an unspoken understanding I was to become an academic. Both parents had been on the debate team, were friends with the Prof who coached the team. I was in his class. We got along fine. That's why I tried out for the O.S.U. fencing team. I'd fenced in Junior- high and I was damned if...
Considering the lengths it took to convince the NCAA it was safe for me and my potential opponents to compete in this sport I was almost certainly the first double-hand amputee to do so. I designed a grip that fit a Dorrance hook. Photos of everything were submitted, even motion-picture footage of myself fencing Coach Kaplan. I finished 5th in the Big Ten (in epee), was awarded a Varsity "O". The best thing I took away was competing on an equal footing with "normal" people.
I Love shooting and pretty guns. I made a gun holder of leather and seat-belt Nylon. To use a camera I found a rubber "pistol grip" which screws into the tripod hole. I had a gun-stock unit made to use a motion- picture camera.
I wanted to make films, but O.S.U. didn't provide enough training. After a few student films and work on a university film, I exchanged my dream for becoming a film scholar in hope there might be opportunities with a university film unit combined with teaching. I finished a Ph.D. in mass-media studies with a dissertation on the work of THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD of CANADA.
I moved to Montreal to continue research. I was hired to teach film/TV courses at Concordia U. I liked teaching, loved Montreal (except for the winters) and got married. Three years later the bottom dropped out of higher education, shrinking it by one third. I joined tens of thousands of other untenured Ph.D.'s.
Following 590 applications to schools on both sides of the border, I landed a job back in Columbus at The National Center on Educational Media and Materials for the Handicapped - a government sub-contractor. I had a Ph.D. in media and I was handicapped. My title was: Media Specialist. My function was as a stock boy, trotting out prototype educational materials for review by special educators. I was called a "crypto-anarchist" by the director, possibly because when (terrible) morning coffee was served for meetings I would say "No thanks, it keeps me awake."
Three weeks in hospital then home recovery. I was fitted with a back harness connected to a set of prosthetic arms each fitted with a two-piece "split-hook." The crudity of this arrangement was stunning. I’ve tried various mechanical hands. They can do about 15% of the hook functions.
This was lesson 1. In becoming an upper-extremity amputee.
Lesson 2. Came with my return to school. Every kid was at a window for a look. I got lots of attention. Walking a neighborhood street as a car passed a kid within yelled "meat hook!" out the window. I realized I had become a sort of spokesperson for "my kind." I prepared a speech -- how things worked and took audience questions. My peers seemed to think I should aim for a career dealing with the disabled. This seemed odd as I'd never had any interest in such work and was damned if I was going to let my life and identity be determined by a disability.
My senior teachers stated: We do not believe Rodney to be collage material. My father taught economics at The Ohio State University (47 years). That's where I was headed. It was an unspoken understanding I was to become an academic. Both parents had been on the debate team, were friends with the Prof who coached the team. I was in his class. We got along fine. That's why I tried out for the O.S.U. fencing team. I'd fenced in Junior- high and I was damned if...
Considering the lengths it took to convince the NCAA it was safe for me and my potential opponents to compete in this sport I was almost certainly the first double-hand amputee to do so. I designed a grip that fit a Dorrance hook. Photos of everything were submitted, even motion-picture footage of myself fencing Coach Kaplan. I finished 5th in the Big Ten (in epee), was awarded a Varsity "O". The best thing I took away was competing on an equal footing with "normal" people.
I Love shooting and pretty guns. I made a gun holder of leather and seat-belt Nylon. To use a camera I found a rubber "pistol grip" which screws into the tripod hole. I had a gun-stock unit made to use a motion- picture camera.
I wanted to make films, but O.S.U. didn't provide enough training. After a few student films and work on a university film, I exchanged my dream for becoming a film scholar in hope there might be opportunities with a university film unit combined with teaching. I finished a Ph.D. in mass-media studies with a dissertation on the work of THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD of CANADA.
I moved to Montreal to continue research. I was hired to teach film/TV courses at Concordia U. I liked teaching, loved Montreal (except for the winters) and got married. Three years later the bottom dropped out of higher education, shrinking it by one third. I joined tens of thousands of other untenured Ph.D.'s.
Following 590 applications to schools on both sides of the border, I landed a job back in Columbus at The National Center on Educational Media and Materials for the Handicapped - a government sub-contractor. I had a Ph.D. in media and I was handicapped. My title was: Media Specialist. My function was as a stock boy, trotting out prototype educational materials for review by special educators. I was called a "crypto-anarchist" by the director, possibly because when (terrible) morning coffee was served for meetings I would say "No thanks, it keeps me awake."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 31, 2015
Important book to ready. I learned alot. However, this book is definitely dated. Also, this was a ninth edition and there were still typos and format errors. Yikes!
Displaying 1 of 1 review