Commentary

Here is what some people are saying.

420'd at the Switch

It's really hard to accept how we got in this situation wherein a Chicago community organizer and ACORN defense counsel is now our commander-in-chief. One who has ignored his national security team, two years ago to arm the Free Syrian Army (before they were infiltrated by Islamists), did not bother reading his daily presidential briefings over the last 13 months warning of the exponential growth and threat of ISIS/ISIL, and ignored the warnings discussed in congressional hearings on this matter last February. And now he continues to ignore the Pentagon and it is the fault of our national intelligence. -David E. Peña

Workplace Violence 

Why isn't President Obama heading down to Oklahoma with (Attorney General Holder) and comforting the folks that were attacked in their own workplace while they watched a 54 year old woman beheaded with a butcher knife? Wasn't that an act of terrorism? -C. Michael Croston

Obama - A War President?

Not if we don't call it a war...

Yes, the commander-in-chief, and leader of the free world can be a party boy when he wants to be.

Joan Rivers' last Statement on the matter - before she died

Joan Rivers, when approached by a undisclosed street reporter on Tuesday, was asked whether she thought a gay or female president would occur first in America, and Gossip Cop caught the whole exchange on video. 

“We already have it with Obama, so let’s just calm down,” she answered. 

“You know Michelle is a tranny,” Rivers continued. 

“I’m sorry, she’s a what?” the surprised reporter asked. 

“A transgender. We all know,” Rivers explained. 

It is not known whether Rivers was joking or not, or who she meant by the “we,” in “we all know.” Joan was cut down in the prime of life shortly thereafter for outing both the president and the first person. There was no opportunity for her to amplify her comments before the Grim Reaper came to call. The White House had no comment. (link)

My Favorite Scooters

As some of you know, I'm out and about, causing trouble (strokin', pokin, and pervokin'). I don't have much in the way of inspirational thought for any of you today, beyond sharing my favorite scooters. The only eternal truth here is that the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys...that and there are no hearses with luggage racks, so you should drive it like you stole it. I currently am between motorcycles. I hope to remedy that situation before long.

V-MAX

Second Generation Machine/Second Generation motor

Yamaha V-Max

They've been around since 1985, forever, it seems, but the venerable V-Max simply rocks the planet with raw power in a touring machine. I'm poised to purchase another one as a Christmas present to myself, saving my shekels. (No, I won't kill myself on it, I promise)

Having driven these machines, I know that you can pop a wheelie at 70 mph. They do the quarter mile stock at 132 mph. If you beef them up, they'll do a quarter mile at 150 mph. No, it's not a Lockheed-Martin F-22, but the Raptors don't fly that low.

The V-Max has a few problems besides being scary fast. The center of gravity is relatively high, which means that it doesn't take low speed turns the way traditional touring bikes (such as the Harley D) do. The Second Generation V-Max bikes handle torque from the drive shaft better than the first generation, or so I'm told. It's relatively easy to dump the 600 lbs. machine at slow speed if you are not on your game because it doesn't turn like Grandpa's Harley. In that it's much like a Honda CBX (below). I 'nearly' dumped my CBX several times until I figured out that they just handle differently - which prepared me for the times I took the old, venerable V-Max out.

V4 power plant with 1679cc (102cui) of pure, unadulterated asphalt terror mated to a 5-speed transmission with a multi-plate slipper clutch and surgically-precise shaft final drive can take on the most brutal sport cars out there. Am I too old to drive a muscle bike -- uh, no.

First Generation Machine/First Generation motor

DIAVEL

Ducati Diavel 

With 162 HP, the Diavel has less raw power than the V-Max but it's also about 2/3 the weight. Street performance is very close. The price is the same as the V-Max and -- sigh, I like them both.

The Diavel is chain driven, which puts the power on the rear wheel harder than the shaft-drive V-Max. That's the up-side. The down-side is that having driven chain-driven monsters such as the Honda CBX, I know that the chain will take a beating and you'll stretch them and go through them if you push the machine at all. And why would you buy a Ducati unless you intended to push it now and then?

The Ducati has a "down power" setting that retunes the bike for 100 HP, referred to as the "Harley Davidson setting". For those who don't want to put a rocket ship on the freeway.

CBX

1982 Honda CBX

The Honda CBX didn't have any of the engineering subtlety of the V-Max or the ultra modern Diavel. It's a six-cylinder road monster. And while the uninitiated may think that the V-Max is faster -- the Gen 2 is, but not by much. There were times when I told my young daughters to hang on and they didn't and almost slid off the back seat (learning that hold on means hold on).  I think that the kids liked the CBX almost as much as I did.

The chain-drive CBX was Honda's answer to the muscle bike and they haven't done anything like this since they stopped making them in 1982. (Production run 1978-82) I mentioned above that they didn't handle well at slower speeds unless you were very accustomed to them - high center of gravity. I think that and the fact that people took them out and drove them like the old Honda 750's and crashed them in large numbers made Honda de-tune their successors. 

With all deference to women, it's a very heavy man's bike and you have to ride it with all the due care that  you would with a rocket.  Off the show room, they'd turn the quarter mile at 115 mph. As with the V-Max, you could pop a wheelie on the road doing 60 mph without really trying. 

Keeping the 6 cylinder engine in perfect tune was not as difficult as you'd think. It's a Honda. Keeping it in chains -- well, they stretched and wore out.

I found the bike to be an excellent day-tripper.

Post Script

Lest any of you are inclined to criticize me for my carbon footprint, know that (1) your criticism will fall on deaf ears; (2) The US Government has determined that Americans don't know how to ride bicycles correctly (read more here) as a matter of public policy. So even if I rode a bicycle instead of a motorcycle, I'd likely ride incorrectly, according to the National Science Foundation.

Energy-Harvesting Propulsion

I'm on walk-about for a while, blogging from the road. Which means that my mind wanders as I contemplate different gizmos. This one is very interesting because it "defies physics" -- but nothing defies physics, which means that the learned have had to redefine what they THOUGHT physics is. In times of rapid changes, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

In my present role, I interact with a number of PhD types. Some are ok. However, they are a challenging lot with a ready answer to anything new: IMPOSSIBLE (because "I" didn't come up with it). 

Moving on to the point of this blog post: Can you build an EM Thrust Drive for a spacecraft that needs no propellant? The learned say, "no", but Roger Shawyer said, "yes".

When Roger Shawyer first unveiled his EmDrive thruster back around 2003, the scientific community laughed at him. They said it was impossible, that it was based on a flawed concept, and couldn’t work because it goes against the laws of conservation of momentum. But somehow, despite all of the reasons it shouldn’t work, it does.

Scientists at NASA just confirmed it.

Shawyer’s engine provides thrust by “bouncing microwaves around in a closed chamber.” That’s it. There’s no need for a propellant of any kind like rocket fuel. When filled with resonating microwaves, the conical chamber of the thruster experiences a net thrust toward the wide end. These microwaves can be generated using electricity, which can be provided by solar energy. In theory, this means that the thruster can work forever, or at least until its hardware fails. 

Initially, the idea was met with criticism because it flies in the face of Newtonian physics, which dictate that no closed system can have this kind of net thrust. Shawyer, however, says that net thrust occurs because the microwaves have a group velocity that’s greater in one direction when Einstein’s relativity comes into play. But can it really? 

Apparently, yes. The idea was first confirmed by a group of Chinese scientists back in 2009. They built their own version of Shawyer’s thruster and were able to produce 720 milinewtons of force — but even then, nobody really believed it.

 The report reads: Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma.

With further refinement, microwave thrusters could drastically cut the cost of satellites and space stations, and potentially even make it possible to travel to distant planets, like Mars, in weeks rather than months or years.

Ashima scientists should soon be able to make one of these:

Searching for a Metaphor

You find a bit of nature to build a cabin on, you construct it with your bare hands, making a domicile for yourself and those you love and big horn sheep come along and eat the roof.

There is a metaphor here.

Mystery Airplane

This is your Sunday Sermonette. Lest you think that I'm reaching, my philosophy has always been, the higher the altitude, the closer to God.

Identify the mystery airplane, should you wish to hazard a guess.

Hints:

• It is a military aircraft
• The pilot, standing to my right, is an old friend from SDVT-1* days when I was young, he was younger still, and I was his boss. Now he's the boss and I'm a relic. Circle of Life (more sermonette)
• Yes it is an Army aircraft, he took an Army commission and left the Navy.
• This aircraft has flown on many low intensity conflict missions as well as higher intensity missions (Iraq and Afghanistan)
• To "win" (and you don't win anything except the distinction of identifying the aircraft), you need the designating military number (i.e. P-51) and the name (i.e.) Mustang. No, it's not a P-51 Mustang. That was only an example.

* SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, DDS Platoon. 

Stock photo of Mystery Airplane

Yes, I spent some time horsing around with the airplane. Flying around and being cool. The aircrew was in civilian clothing and so was I. 

We discussed the relative merits of flying this airplane and locking out of a Dry Dock Shelter in a MK-8 SDV. We think that the DDS lock out is cooler than flying, though they both incorporate some of the same skills. The sermonette and Mystery Airplane contest is over. Let's get back to the US Navy (world's finest Navy).

Locking out on a Dry Dock Shelter with a MK-8 SEAL Delivery Vehicle (photos below)

A dry dock shelter (DDS) sits on the back of a nuclear submarine and carries
a MK-8 SEAL Delivery Vehicle.

Photos from USS Cavalla (no longer in commission - much like your blogger)

The Clown Show

Last week at the United Nations, President Obama said, “We have reaffirmed again and again that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Islam teaches peace. Muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice. And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them. There is only us, because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country,” Obama said. “So we reject any suggestion of a clash of civilizations.”

It's interesting to note that the "religion of peace" is at war with everyone -- including fellow Muslims who don't see the Qur-an quite the same way that they do. Dear Leader is dysfunctional at so many levels that taken together with Michelle Obama (who may or may not be female depending on what you read), Joe (Slow Joe) Biden, Nancy (Nasty) Pelosi and the ever entertaining Harry Reid -- it's a circus.

At least at the circus, when the ringmaster tells you that in the center ring, there is a bearded lady juggling, there usually is. In this circus you get a lot of this:

• The Benghazi Massacre was the result of a hateful video.
• If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
• The IRS does not target people based on their voting record.
• Operation Fast and Furious was not designed to put American firearms in the hands of drug cartels so that they could use them on American soil, justifying more gun control.
• Muslims can't commit hate crimes (because Islam is the religion of peace). It's only workplace violence or Quranic justice.
• and so forth...

It's a clown circus. Really, that's what people think of us. And why not? Can you look at the people who are manning the ship of state and come to any other conclusion?

When I was a kid, I went to the circus and saw the ringmaster prodding sad animals. I found it most depressing. That's how I find Washington DC these days.

The Leader of the Free World 'butching up' and doing a work-out. (h/t Daily Timewaster) Barack was on tour somewhere in Poland - I think - and a fellow hotel guest took this video. I'm sure that ISIL, Putin, and the rest of the world felt that he'd have been better served with those little pink weights. You can't make this stuff up. Dave Chapelle or the Daily Show couldn't do a skit this ridiculous. 

The Equalizer (Movie Review)

The story has been around - forever, and predates Western culture. It's re-born all of the time in films and in television series' but in this case they got it right.

Denzel Washington is brilliant (as usual) in this film and I give it a very high rating. It's not a short film, but the balance of action, suspense and plot development (the beat) is as perfect as I have seen it in a feature film. The Russian mafia tattoos are well done and accurate as is much of the plot development, which makes the whole thing so much more interesting.

Rating:  MUST SEE  9 out of a possible 10. The only reason it gets a 9 is because the plot line is so well worn - but worn or not, they really pulled off a great movie.

_________________

For we wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. --Ephesians 6:12

Meanwhile -- In China

The Mainstream Media in the US can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Whether it's an armed robber, killed by law enforcement or it's American forces bombing empty buildings at night to spare the lives of Muslims -- only one thing. 

Have you heard about the 21 September riots in Western China? Likely not, which is why you check this blog from time to time (I hope).  Western China is populated to a great extent by Uighurs, many of whom practice Falun Gong. Most of those who don't practice the religion of Falun Gong (outlawed in China), are members of the Religion of Peace - they're Muslims.

Today, Chinese media reported a significant upward revision to the number of casualties in the 21 September riots and explosions in Luntai County in western China. State media reported 40 "rioters", six civilians and four policemen killed. The bombs injured 54 people. Police captured two rioters.

Earlier in the week, state news services reported only two people killed. The significance of the numbers is that they expose a more serious breach of local security than authorities were willing to admit at first. Chinese security officials do not seem to appreciate that the bombers are a manifestation of what appears to be a large and durable living system that protects and supports Uighur militants and is viscerally hostile to the Han Chinese. The Chinese security agencies know about the hostility, to be sure, but they do not seem to approach it as the output of a robust living system. They prefer arrests and cracking the heads of minorities, whom they judge to be inferior.

China's supreme court distributed new wide-ranging guidelines for prosecuting terrorism cases. Xinhua reported that making and displaying banners and other materials of "religious extremism" is criminalized. It also criminalized insults, such as calling a person a "religious traitor" or a "heretic."

Western China has been a powder keg for quite some time now. Most of the police officers who are murdered in China each year are posted in that region. Now, the locals are even more restless.

SPEAKING OF RELIGION - BREAKING NEWS

Woman beheaded in Oklahoma; Update: Assailant reportedly tried to convert co-workers to Islam; Update: FBI investigating, victims identified; Update: Suspect identified as 30-year-old Alton Nolen; Update: Police praise company CEO who shot Nolen

That's the religion of peace, at it again. Convert or be beheaded. Apparently the woman/victim didn't want to become a Muslim and Alton Nolen's second wife. Based on the Quran and Sharia, he had every right to behead her (she's an infidel - no rights under Quranic Law).

Eric Holder's Political Horizon

It's not a secret that controversial US Attorney General Eric Holder is stepping down from his government post. Taking a clue from Presidential hopeful, former First Lady Hillary R. Clinton, he plans to join with New York politician and former Congressman Anthony Weiner in a run for the White House.

When asked if he felt that he could fill Vice President Joe Biden's shoes, Holder replied, "My wingtips are the same size as his." We at Virtual Mirage take that to mean that he's going to try to do as good of a job as Anthony Weiner's vice president as Joe Biden did for Barack Obama. It's a tall order, but Holder would seem to be the man for the job.

Huma and Anthony Weiner
(the first couple?)

Presidential hopeful, Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Weiner (Yes, that's her name. You can't make this stuff up.) has decided to jump from Hillary Clinton's personal staff to take her place at her husband's side. This has prompted insiders to question whether Mrs. Clinton's run for the presidency is serious or whether she is simply a shill for the Weiner/Holder ticket.

Weiner/Holder will make Climate Disruption (no longer global warming, global cooling or climate change) their priority in a world made safe by the previous administration, which included Eric Holder.

Pundits and Washington insiders agree that adding the former Attorney General (a negro) to Anthony Weiner's ticket is pure genius. If they win, Eric Holder will be the first black vice president in American history. Many feel that it's the race card and breaking the glass ceiling that will lure many including younger voters to stick with the Democratic Party - a proven winner.

When people ask you who you favor for the highest office in the land, tell them you're all in for Weiner - Holder. Who else can honestly promise to carry on everything that Barack has done for you? Who else is worthy of the American Presidency after Obama set his two-term record?

Diamondback

What's wrong with this picture? Ok, technically nothing is wrong with it. It's a photo of my Ford Raptor XLT. But is it complete? Not quite.**

The bed of the truck is exposed, and that means that unless I'm hauling a motorcycle, there is no reason to have it in that condition because I can't load the back of the rig with "stuff" and keep it secure. "Stuff" loosely defined is everything from flashlights, sleeping bags and tools to recovery gear.

I settled on the Diamondback as the solution best suiting my needs. I've had it for over a month now and still love it, so I decided to give the company a plug.

The deck is "hard" with four cleats that can be used to tie-down. This particular model is rated to hold  400 lbs. on top of the deck. There is a utility to being able to open either side selectively to load "stuff" i.e. cargo. 

I configured the front hatch to open to a bay inside (stainless steel) that organizes bits and pieces of snatch straps, 550 cord, socket sets, wrenches, canteens, MRE's, spare ammunition, etc. Med kit is in the truck under the rear seat.

The back hatch is utilized for bulk cargo. You can just see the 'bed extenders' folded up against the bulkheads on the side of the truck bed. They fold out to form a barrier around the extended tail gate so that I can put the motorcycle back there and keep the whole thing in the truck bed and secure.

The Diamondback comes off in about 10 minutes with minimal labor. Because it's in two segments, it stores easily in the garage and is not too heavy.

** There are a number of minor modifications that will be added to the trick truck but today I'm just focusing on the latest one.

Historical Views

The entire Serbian Air Force - 1914 and a hundred years later in 2014
Some things never change

Germans complain about shoddy Russian bridge construction - 1941

Walmart Scooters & More

There may come a day when I'm so obese that I'll need a scooter to get around Walmart. However, for the fully ambulatory, it's a pain in the neck. Not that I spend a lot of time in Walmart, but the carts keep me there a lot longer than I want to be on any given visit because they populate every aisle.

I fly on United Airlines and many of the flight attendants seem that they shop at Walmart because when they wedge themselves down the center aisle of the airplane, the fit is as tight as it is on a Walmart aisle. And no, I'm not just taking a shot at the women. The Men-of-Walmart are every bit as big and are also aisle hogs.

Just when you find an aisle clear of those motorized fat people go-carts, you have to reach over a sleeping Walmart employee to pick something that you want off of the shelf.

Walmart - an American legend.

Southwest Asia Airlines Stewardesses, 1962

Flight Attendants, 2014

LSP Challenge!

LSP Challenge

Lone Star Parson issued a challenge to me - Fantasy mission against ISIL. I have twelve operators and no rules of engagement restrictions

GOAL:   Degrade ISIL forces in the field.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: LL's Option

FIELD FORCE: 12 Operators

I'm presuming LSP will not want me to use force multipliers (troops who train troops) in this fantasy mission to screw up ISIL's ability to carry the war to whomever in their quest to take over the Middle East. But I'll bend the rules a bit, because that's what I do.

I'd go to the best restaurants in Syria and recruit the best cooks in Damascus. I would create "mobile kitchens" and would set up twelve of them. Each field catering unit would include half a dozen catering trucks and trailers. (roach coach style) The food would be Halal and delicious, funded by the USGOV. One of my ringers would go with each unit and I'd spread them around the ISIL field army from Mosul to Baghdad to Eastern Syria. I'd have them cook lamb and delights that one would never expect to eat anywhere, much less a combat environment. 

If anyone asked where the field catering units came from, the answer would be a wealthy Muslim benefactor who wants to see ISIL behead a lot more people, rape more women and burn more towns.

You will note that whoever is commanding in these regions would gravitate to these mobile kitchens because that's how it works. The women serving the food would be selected for their nubile characteristics. The women would be operators who would collect intelligence from the great and near great in ISIL, because no matter how 'devout' those soldiers are, they are susceptible to the honey pot.

After a month of infiltration, when every high level rag head in ISIL was eating my food, I'd poison the bastards. That would decapitate the entire army. I'd use the intel gathered to focus airpower where it would do the most good.

Then I'd go home. Because the war would be over. Cost: some chow, pay for cooks and hooker/intel women, rat poison and a few used catering trucks. Far less than the cost of one F-16. 

Why not do it?  Because war is a racket, my friends. It's not about killing rag heads, though that is a bonus. It's about SPENDING MONEY and gaining power. Nobody is going to kill all of the Mahdi's army with a few roach coaches, quality short order cooks and hookers when they can run a protracted campaign that costs billions a day... That's not how war works.

ISIL in Context

Islam requires that there be a strong man in charge of a country who tells everyone what to do, and when they don't do it, they are killed (quickly). What happens when you remove that dictator?

ISIS/ISIL happens

Pretenders to the throne immediately appear and begin slaughtering those from other tribes (or who ascribe to other versions of Islam). They do this because they are savages who simply follow the pattern that has been laid down for many thousands of years. They are simply trying to replace that element that has been removed. 

In Iran, the Shah fell and was replaced by a man every bit as repressive, ruthless and brutal. Pick a country (except Israel) in the Middle East and explain to me where this is not the case. This is Political Islam. 

While the rest of the world went through a renaissance, an age of enlightenment, an industrial revolution, etc., what was happening in the Middle East? That's right - nothing. They lived in squalid slums and tents and tended livestock. Some strong men raided European shipping (the Barbary Pirates) providing the grist for the first war that America undertook - yes against Muslims. 

The rest of the world moved on and Islamic nations continued to live in a world where women were chattel and then came oil. If it hadn't been for oil, they would still be tending their goats while European nations ruled them, trying to explain their odd notions of fair play and democracy to people who didn't care.

ISIL is the inevitable manifestation of the absence of a strong man who can crush (or deploy mustard gas or whatever) the opposition. Inside every Muslim in the Levant, there is not a European or an American screaming to get out. Bombing them won't make a difference. As I suggested to fellow bolder, LSP, the other day, "The savages will tear each other apart until strong men emerge (like Assad the Elder and Saddam Hussein) and return the place to an orderly hell hole, the way it was before we invaded."

And once the oil has been pumped from under the sand they will go back to herding goats, tuning in to Radio Mecca so that they know when to pray, and living in squalid slums or in tents. There will be a strong man in charge who will kill anyone who wants to take his power, until he's toppled by his metaphorical clone, or poisoned in the Byzantine fashion by a son or brother, who will fill his shoes.

Barack Obama (narcissistic intellectual light-weight), who fashions himself a Muslim, doesn't get this. There are people at CIA who understand it clearly because they study this, but they have long since been muzzled. 

The crowd of panders who surround Obama don't get it because they think that voter polls are tea leaves to be read and acted on. The Mandarin Class in DC has been replaced by post-pubescent children who think that they are thinking when they are casting chicken bones or runes in search of an answer. Which is why we're in this mess in the first place.

On Line Dating Profile

shamelessly stolen from Evi L. Bloggerlady

Beware on-line blind dates -- you could end up with somebody like him.

Equipping for Walk-Abouts

This is your Sunday Sermonette.

There's nothing like a walk though the woods on a Sunday morning (works any morning) to bring clarity. However when on walk about, what should you haul along with you besides a snack and a canteen?

The advent of the fully rifled shotgun barrel (making it a rifle, not a gun), creates new opportunities for shooters. I ordered my Benelli (Part #81070) fully rifled barrel for my Nova H2O Pump action gun and it took about a year to arrive.

Now I'm shooting Hornady SST rounds through it. They are not rifled slugs. They are  300 gr. fifty-caliber bullets (in a sabot) that fire through a rifled shotgun barrel. The sharp bullet point increases the ballistic coefficient of the round allowing it to fly faster, farther and on a flatter trajectory.

On impact, the Flex Tip initiates expansion at all velocities.

The Hornady SST Shotgun round delivers true 200 meter accuracy with sub-2" groups at 100 meters. The 12 GA 300 gr flex tip bullet delivers a crushing 1793 ft/lbs of energy at 100 meters.

So what do you call your old shotgun? It's not a gun (for fighting not for fun), and it can't fire shot effectively through a rifled barrel. A Shrifle? or a Rotgun? I don't know. My Benelli's name is Odin  when fitted with a rifled barrel. So I'm not struggling over a name. Just Odin.

(Odin runs the corpse haul in Valhalla - where you go if you die bravely. You'll know if you died bravely because Valkyrie will take you there. If you don't die bravely, you'll end up hanging with Obama, Pelosi, Satan and Liberace through all time. If that doesn't impel you to bravery, nothing will.) 

But ---- Odin looks just like a shotgun until you see the lands and grooves in the barrel. 

I have no idea how the Canadians feel about this. They allow Americans to bring shotguns north (to deal with marauding bears and such). I guess that they'd be ok with this sort of outfit as well. But you never can tell with those guys.

Imagine that. A shotgun firing a .50 round that is accurate on a bear/deer/man target at 200 meters. When compared to the S&W 460 Magnum handgun...the performance is close. The SST sabot/ bullet is 100 grains heavier than the 200 gr. .460 bullet but it's traveling much slower. Both punch roughly a 1/2 inch hole in the paper...or whatever. Both are designed to be game-ending.

Most people are more comfortable with the look of a shotgun - because they can associate it with dove hunting and what-not, than they would be with a Barrett or McMillan .50 BMG. And in fairness, the cartridges are nothing alike. But they're still distant cousins in this configuration. 

I prefer the Benelli H2O/Remington 870 Marine simply because of the utility of a stainless steel gun in maritime environments (which extends to littoral swamps or wetlands). Both are designed as slug guns and will take high brass loads in stride. Both are well engineered. Both are excellent for walk-about.

Benelli H20 (Odin)

Remington 870 Marine Magnum (Just a shotgun)

Do you really need a rifled shotgun barrel? Of course you do...

My daughter, Emile, preparing for walk-about, holding her .22 rifle, keeping her finger out of the trigger guard, as instructed. Would it be better if she had a shotgun with a rifled barrel? Maybe, but she's not getting mine.