tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44167401766708679022024-02-19T06:46:13.579-08:00The One-Eyed KingSquinting with my head tilted sideways, trying to see the point.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-10632895891568061552014-01-19T10:49:00.002-08:002014-01-19T10:49:41.377-08:00A Better Pistol Trap?While perusing the aisles of my local Gander Mountain I spotted an interesting product from Uncle Mike's; the <a href="http://www.unclemikes.com/holsters/reflex-holsters/reflex-holsters" target="_blank">Reflex Tactical IRT belt holster</a>. I've usually considered Uncle Mike's lines of holsters to be what new gun owners buy until they learn better. That is, their products are cheaper than most and you generally get what you pay for.<br />
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Active retention holsters use some sort of mechanical device to hold the pistol inside the holster. This prevents the pistol from being dislodged accidentally and can also prevent someone else from drawing the pistol, depending upon the design of the holster. Retention is both the upside and the downside. The same device that keeps the pistol from falling out can also prevent the user from drawing it quickly. It's generally been a tradeoff between safety and speed until designers began incorporating retention devices that were deactivated by the same motions used to draw the pistol.<br />
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I personally own and have used two other holster designs with active retention; the <a href="http://www.safariland.com/DutyGear/product.aspx?pid=6378" target="_blank">Safariland ALS</a><br />
and the <a href="http://www.reactgear.com/BlackHawk-SERPA-CQC-Holster-w-Carbon-Fiber-Finish-p/4100-p.htm" target="_blank">Blackhawk! SERPA</a>. Both designs permit the deactivation of the retention feature while the user is drawing the pistol. The goal is to provide the benefits of retention while reducing or eliminating extra motions. The ALS achieves through a button high on the interior side of the holster; as the user grips the pistol, the user's thumb depresses the button and deactivates the retention device. The SERPA employs a button release over the trigger-guard of the pistol, the user's index finger pushes the button as part of the act of drawing the pistol. <br />
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Both designs are fairly intuitive and with sufficient practice become automatic and extremely fast. One valid criticism of the SERPA design is that it requires to user to flex the trigger finger as part of the draw. This makes it possible for the finger to unintentionally slip inside the guard and depress the trigger, resulting in a negligent discharge of the handgun while it is still being drawn. I have read of two incidents resulting in serious injuries to the user. One is <a href="http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/11/foghorn/serpa-holsters-should-be-discontinued/" target="_blank">here</a>. As a result, I have retired my SERPA from use. I am unaware of any safety issues with the ALS design. The only valid criticisms I have heard of it are that the retention release uses a spring that could potentially fail, resulting in the handgun coming out of the holster unintentionally.<br />
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The Uncle Mike's Reflex IRT uses a third method. The holster is constructed of two pieces of polymer but it feels much stiffer than the riveted soft plastic used by other manufacturers. The pistol requires a deliberate shove to holster and there is an audible clicking sound when the pistol is seated. To draw the pistol the user flexes their wrist, pulling the grip towards the body, and pulls straight upward. This causes a small polymer shelf to flex. The slide of the handgun rotates clockwise, clearing the other shelf on the opposite side that locks the holster in place. It's quick and easy.<br />
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The upsides to the holster? The holster comes with both a belt attachment and a paddle attachment. I'm personally not a big fan of paddle holsters and using one on a holster that requires a strong tug seems like an easy way for the entire holster to be drawn along with the pistol. But your mileage may vary and it is there if you want it. The belt attachment accepts a 1.75" belt, which makes me happy. In many cases I have had to order 1.75" belt loops because the standard loops were 1.5". There are no springs or levers to break under use. The only moving part is the small shelf inside the holster that flexes slightly. It's not expensive. I paid $35 for mine. An ALS costs just a few dollars more.<br />
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The downsides? The belt holster attachment is molded for 1.75" belts and there is no way to modify it. Using a narrower belt will result in a holster that shifts around while worn. You will need a 1.75" belt to wear the holster on the belt. The draw stroke requires an unusual action; pulling the gun towards the body is not difficult but it is new. Regular practice (a couple thousand draws to create the muscle memory) <i>will </i>be required if the holster is intended to be used under stress. This is not the holster for someone who does not carry the same way, every time. The holster is thick, just like the ALS, and it does not ride tucked in close to the body like an inside-the-waistband holster. It's not uncomfortable, but if you tend to walk close to doorjambs you can expect an occasional thump.<br />
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I like the Uncle Mike's IRT holster. It is not demonstrably superior to the ALS but neither is it inferior. It rides a little higher on the belt than the ALS. It's another option in a field where choices are good.<br />
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Uncle Mike's makes a holster that is as good as one made by Safariland. There, I said it. But the nylon holsters are still junk.<br />
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<br />TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-41197036146816026702013-08-28T17:55:00.000-07:002013-08-28T17:55:07.599-07:00How to Conduct a Regime Change on the Cheap
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Dear President-for-Now Assad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> we have a saying that we
use to solve problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We call it, “Follow
the money.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would like to extend to
you this generous offer.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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You have forty-eight hours to join your numbered bank accounts
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bern</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Switzerland</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are still located within the borders
of the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place> upon the expiration of this
deadline, you will be placed upon The List.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The List is special; very few people have seen it and the names tend to
change abruptly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other famous names that
have graced The List include Anwar al-Awlaki and Osama bin Laden.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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The presence of your name on The List is intended to be
temporary, but you cannot be sure exactly how temporary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Middle Eastern dictators have a well-deserved
reputation for lavish lifestyles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
encourage you to live every day as if it may be your last, because that will be
a very real possibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enjoy the sun
on your face as you fruitlessly scan the skies for the drone that is hunting
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want you to appreciate that the
last thing to go through your mind will be a jet of molten copper from a
Hellfire missile.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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Alternatively, the <st1:place w:st="on">Alps</st1:place> are
always lovely.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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Sincerely, </div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States of America</st1:place></st1:country-region></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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p.s:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the people of
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria;</st1:place></st1:country-region>
try not to stand within one hundred yards of your beloved leader. </div>
TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-19290860144482200132013-06-08T16:43:00.000-07:002013-06-08T16:43:13.153-07:00Meditations on MetadataI'm sure the NSA is looking back to the days when it was a secretive, little-known intelligence agency able to hide behind the shadow of the CIA. I read "The Puzzle Palace" a long time ago and any Tom Clancy fan knows what "No Such Agency" does. It uses spy satellites and stuff to gather electronic intelligence on foreigners to keep America safe.<br />
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Or so we thought.</div>
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Reports of improper Justice Department collection of phone records were bad enough. Then came the revelation that the NSA has collected over 100 million phone records from one carrier. It only seems logical that other carriers have also provided hundreds of millions of records. Today it comes out that the NSA is also collecting data from internet service providers, social media sites, search engines, and even credit card companies. Proponents of the programs assure us that the NSA is not actually listening to all of these phone calls and the data is only being sifted for national security purposes.</div>
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I'm fairly certain that nobody at Fort Meade is reading my Facebook posts. Nor do they care that I used my credit card to buy lunch yesterday. Unless my data becomes linked somehow to a threat predictor I can be confident that my anonymity remains intact simply due to the sheer volume of data being stored.</div>
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It doesn't matter. What is being done today with my information is not the problem. The problem is how that information may be used in the future. The film "Minority Report" contains a scene where the protagonist walks into a store in a shopping mall. Scanners in the store identify him, query his sales history, and an electronic voice asks him how he is enjoying the jeans he purchased recently. We are almost there. </div>
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Years ago I worked a temp job for a firm that administered customer loyalty programs for grocery stores. I was amazed at what simply using a barcoded keychain fob to obtain a discount on groceries allowed the stores and the marketing company to learn about people. Today social media apps like Facebook will post your physical location for all of your friends (and possibly all of Facebook; have you checked your privacy settings?) to see in realtime. But these activities are voluntary. People can decide for themselves whether to allow this data to be collected or made public.</div>
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The NSA activities cross that line. Will we, nil we, the data and the metadata are being collected. Metadata? That's information about the data; time, location, duration, etc. Metadata can be very revealing, too. The fact that you made a call to an individual at a particular time while driving past a particular cellular tower can reveal contextual clues about your activities even if the exact contents of the call are not recorded. Just ask a divorce attorney.</div>
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Monitoring social media gives the agency information about how we choose to electronically assemble and associate. If location data is also collected you have yet another tool to monitor the locations and traveling history of people without their knowledge. Monitoring online activity is even more intrusive. Did you use your iPhone to check your bank account balance? Buy an e-book? The NSA probably knows.</div>
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How would you like to receive an annual bill from the IRS for sales tax on every online purchase you made last year? If your credit card and debit card activity is being collected, there is no reason why that cannot happen. Did your electronic purchases exceed a certain percentage of your declared income? The IRS has just been handed responsibility for monitoring the state of your health insurance. Your lifestyle and economic choices can't be far behind.</div>
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During the 2012 presidential debates some wondered whether Harry Reid had obtained copies of Mitt Romney's tax returns, based upon statements Mr. Reid made. Less than one year later that possibility seems more likely given revelations that IRS employees were selectively auditing tax documents filed by conservative groups and in at least one case, gave confidential donor information to a rival group. How would you like to be audited by the IRS because some civil servant doesn't like your political donations?</div>
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Gun rights groups have been called paranoid for resisting laws to establish a federal database of gun owners. This is why. If you want examples, look no further than Nazi Germany, Great Britain, and Australia.<br />
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Allow the state to collect this data and eventually the data will be used. The War on a Noun will be invoked. Police chiefs will solemnly swear that this data-mining is essential in bringing the noun-committers to justice. We are reassured that these tools will NEVER be used against normal, law-abiding folks, only THEM, the noun-committers. A few years later and reports will begin to circulate of abuses by law enforcement. Congressional hearings will be heard. Law enforcement officials will solemnly swear that the abuses were isolated events and that these tools are critically necessary in fighting the noun-ists, which have somehow continued to grow despite these temporary and modest infringements on individual privacy. The furor will subside.<br />
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A few months later a politician will attempt to capitalize on a criminal act by calling for further government data collection or monitoring. It will once again be called a "modest" infringement necessary for keeping Americans protected from themselves.</div>
TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-70826629902749805352012-09-29T18:03:00.001-07:002012-09-29T18:03:41.477-07:00A Few Latin TermsNo, I'm not channeling John Malkovich, I'm responding to an article in the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444358804578016291138331904.html?mod=WSJ_hp_EditorsPicks" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a> attempting to get inside the Libertarian mind. Now, I personally believe that the concept of a Libertarian Party is nearly as ungovernable as a herd of cats. One <a href="http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogger</a> I follow has humorously compared a roomful of Capital L Libertarians as similar to an Asperger's Syndrome convention, not without some merit. I've read Ayn Rand and Freidrich Hayek and of the two, I'd much rather hang out with Freidrich. But it would be hard to imagine a more fractious and hard to manage group, except perhaps for an anarchists' convention, which is another oxymoron on its face. I see libertarianism as more of a personal philosophy than a political platform.<br />
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The aforementioned WSJ article describes the results of a self-selected group of self-identified libertarians given an online quiz on ethical problem solving. Compared to self-identified liberals and conservatives, libertarians are more detached in the decision-making process, less likely to use purely emotional responses to arrive at an answer. Great, so I'm a Vulcan. Well, yeah, pretty much.<br />
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I won't attempt to speak for other libertarians, which in many ways is the essence of libertarianism. But I will discuss my own ethical and moral compass and how I view laws and society.<br />
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I view society as a group of individuals, so any law that unduly restricts individual liberty in the name of society automatically fails as a logical proposition. I am a classical liberal, which bears no resemblance to the modern definition which is inherently statist. To be fair, modern conservatism also has some ugly statist features, although I think the modern liberal statist wins the competition based upon the sheer scope of their goals.<br />
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A classical liberal views society as a group of individuals that agree upon a set of laws that provides for a common defense against unjustified attacks both upon the societal and individual levels, provides a means for the enforcement of contracts (civil courts), and maximizes economic freedom within the previous constraints. <br />
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The last several centuries of human history demonstrates to me that societies work best when people are working for individual goals and rewards. Collectivism fails every time it is forced upon people who don't want to live in a collectivist society. Freidrich Hayek equated modern statism with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-Serfdom-Fiftieth-Anniversary/dp/0226320618" target="_blank">serfdom</a>, and with good reason. The lives of a medieval serf and a twentieth-century Soviet peasant had a great many similarities.<br />
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So, I recognize that any society needs laws. The devil is in the details. Here come the Latin terms! A law can regulate behavior that is either <em>malum in se</em> or <em>malum prohibitum</em>. A law that regulates <em>malum in se</em> behavior is restricting activity that is immoral in and of itself, such as murder, rape or theft. Sure we can find examples of individuals that do not regard those behaviors as perfectly acceptable but you will be hard pressed to find a society that did not regulate those behaviors and existed for more than a few years.<br />
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Behavior that is <em>malum prohibitum</em> is illegal because a statute says it is. Not stopping at a four-way stop sign when you are the only driver there is an example of something that is illegal only because our legal system says it is. Illegal narcotics are another modern example. I will scrutinize <em>malum prohibitum</em> laws much more closely than I will <em>malum in se</em> laws. Why?<br />
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Because <em>malum prohibitum</em> laws usually involve one person deciding that the conduct of another person is unacceptable, even when that conduct causes no tangible negative effects on the person deciding. I don't care if it is a campus speech code or a crying Baby Jesus, neither is acceptable to a classical liberal.<br />
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Unless a person's actions cause unjustifiable direct harm to others, their conduct should not be criminally sanctioned. Period. Dot. Any law restricting behavior must demonstrate why that behavior meets this test. Mental discomfort is not sufficient grounds. My rights cannot be limited because somebody else doesn't like how I exercise them. Laws are permission for the state to use force against individual members of that society. Once we start legislating based upon personal opinions and biases we end up with the ugly mess we have now. It's time as society for all of us to put our adult pants on and let others live their lives as they see fit, while they reciprocate the same courtesy to us.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-20400042433159060242012-06-28T20:51:00.000-07:002012-06-28T20:51:39.785-07:00Prometheus Unwound<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
SPOILER ALERT! –If you haven’t seen the film and are hoping to maintain some pretense of suspense, stop reading now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or not.</div>
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I wanted to like this film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even saw it twice just to make sure I hadn’t missed some critical element in the script that tied it all together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turns out I didn’t miss anything.</div>
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The film opens with some Aryan ET dissolving himself into goo, presumably on Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The implication I took away was that he was the progenitor of DNA-based life on the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sucks to be you, prions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That assumption means that the Earth has been their little science fair project for the last couple of billion years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Towards the end they were even holding block parties with Paleolithic humans, leaving invitations to come by and visit the next time we’re in the neighborhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I guess the grant money ran out.</div>
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We’re introduced to Drs. Charlie Holloway and Elizabeth Shaw excavating a Pleistocene cave site on the <place w:st="on">Isle of Skye</place> late in the twenty-first century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least Lisbeth is excavating it, Charlie is nowhere around the actual site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find out the reason for that later on.</div>
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Now we switch to the scientific exploration vessel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prometheus</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ship’s crew is seventeen people including at least one android that is a big Peter O’Toole fan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The android, David, is spending his spare time learning how to swear in over six million languages, including Bocce.</div>
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We meet Meredith Vickers, played to perfection by Charlize Theron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An autocratic corporate type from the ninth circle of Hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By far the iciest personality on the ship, ironically she is also the first to awaken from the two-year cryo-sleep.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ship has a captain, who is at best third in command.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actual command is fuzzy, but seems to rotate between Lisbeth, Charlie, and Vickers, who has the vehicle title to the ship.</div>
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An all-staff meeting ensues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point I begin to suspect that Meredith Vickers hired this crew in a cantina at the Mos Eisley spaceport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Visigoth geologist who earlier brushed off <place w:st="on">Millburn</place> the Jeff Goldblum-esque biologist now teams up with him to form a comedy act that will last for the next day or so.</div>
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Weyland, The Old Man of the Company pops up in a hologram and explains that Lisbeth and the man-child are following a star map of ice-age cave art that led them to this planet, believed to be the homeworld of the Engineers who created all humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pass the sweet potatoes and keep an eye out for Pak Protectors.</div>
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The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prometheus</i> descends into the clouds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Screw lidar and radar mapping from orbit!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re going to just fly around randomly and pray that whatever orbital defenses the Engineers may have left behind don’t shoot them down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man-child spots straight lines, which he solemnly informs the rest of the crew Mother Nature never uses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a road, leading to a huge dome!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Surely now we’ll take the time to survey the site properly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope, we’re gonna land a multi-megaton, VTOL starship right on the front lawn!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now we begin to understand why the man-child is kept away from archaeological sites.</div>
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Frifield the Visigoth geologist has a couple of neat survey drones that transmit all kinds of mapping data, but not video, because he doesn’t want to exceed the data limit on his phone plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since there’s clearly no point in waiting for the drones to do their work without any risk to life or limb the team trudges on.</div>
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The man-child notices that all of the carbon dioxide has been somehow filtered from the atmosphere inside the dome and removes his helmet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point I’m wishing the rest of the team will just sever his Achilles tendons for the good of the scientific community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since he hasn’t keeled over in seconds the others decide to ignore the helmet laws too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe they can all play cards during the month-long quarantine their idiotic decisions earned them.</div>
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David finds some slime on the wall and is so impressed that he doesn’t say a word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He starts pushing on random hieroglyphics and manages to activate the EVP web-cam system built into the structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are treated to a grainy hologram of big alien space jockeys like the one in the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Alien</i> film running down the corridor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One trips and is decapitated by a door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They find the headless cadaver lying in front of the door.</div>
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At this point Frifield’s necrophobia kicks into gear and he panics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He manages to affect <place w:st="on">Millburn</place> the biologist and they both transform from presumably the best scientists Vickers could get for this once-in-a-lifetime expedition into Shaggy and Scooby-Doo.</div>
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David the android arbitrarily decides to open a sealed door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shaggy and Scooby run away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lisbeth makes a pro forma protest but the man-child is totally cool with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody bothers to put their helmets back on since the air in a sealed chamber is sure to be good after two thousand years, right? </div>
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Now things get interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David begins poking the alien goo, Lisbeth bags the Engineer head for her mantle back home and the man-child mopes that nobody was there to tell him, “Klatoo varada nikto”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Uh oh, big sandstorm coming!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe if they had bothered to survey from orbit that might have been noticed before now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody back to the ship!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Except for Scooby and Shaggy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re lost in the dome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never mind that Shaggy was the one controlling the drones that were mapping the structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pair is stumbling around finding Engineer cadavers all over the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The captain tries to convince them to go investigate an intermittent life form reading that one of the drones is registering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he fails to offer them a Scooby snack so they take off in the other direction.</div>
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The Captain and Vickers flirt a little bit and then the captain abandons the bridge watch to go get laid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the flirting we learn that the voyage has been “half a billion miles” in length.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That works out to forty-four light minutes which puts this moon near Jupiter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knew?</div>
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While the captain is getting busy Shaggy and Scooby return to the chamber they were too terrified to enter before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it’s full of melting goo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True to form, Shaggy figures out how to smoke a joint in his helmet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that university was good for something after all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scooby spots an alien life form that looks distressingly like a giant penis until it changes to look like a cobra.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scooby decides to pet it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gets what he deserves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Shaggy gets his turn with the alien worms.</div>
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Back onboard ship David decides to see what happens if he exposes one of the human crew to the black goo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He doesn’t want to endanger the mission so he picks the most expendable person aboard; Charlie.</div>
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In the medlab the three ladies on the crew are investigating the severed head that Lisbeth brought back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outside is sterile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank the gods because we wouldn’t want to break quarantine would we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They figure out that the skull is really a helmet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When David takes the helmet off we discover that the elephantine space jockeys are really more of the Aryan Nation ET’s we saw in the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Now Lisbeth goes all Mary Shelley and decides to stick an electrode into the ET’s two thousand-year-old brain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They turn up the juice and the skull makes likes a Jiffy-Pop bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good thing the helmet was sterile.</div>
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Lisbeth discovers that the Jiffy Dude’s DNA is identical to hers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Separated at birth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Charlie gets all depressed that he won’t meet his maker after all (wait for it!) and gets drunk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At last some behavior consistent with a background in archaeology!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David slips him the sea monkey goo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charlie and Lisbeth get all philosophical even though Fifield was the only one getting stoned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We learn that Lisbeth is sterile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, just like the helmet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My foreshadowing sense is tingling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lisbeth had better grab a condom…too late!</div>
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The next morning Charlie discovers that there are alien worms living inside his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he decides not to tell Lisbeth because she’s still pissed about that Chlamydia thing last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s the worst that can happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Back to the dome!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They find Shaggy and Scooby dead on the slimy floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A penis monster jumps out of Scooby’s esophagus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charlie is really having a bad time with the whole “alien worms in my brain” thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back to the ship!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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“Charlie’s sick, please let us in!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin” says Vickers the Ice Queen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She decides to resolve the whole leadership issue by burning Charlie alive in his environmental suit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who wants lobster?</div>
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Lisbeth wakes up on the same slab that the head of Jiffy Dude once inhabited under the tender care of David the android.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad news; her boyfriend’s dead and there’s gonna be trouble, hey-na, hey-na.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good news; she’s three months pregnant!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad news; it’s hardly what David would call a “standard pregnancy”.</div>
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Lisbeth heads for the robotic Doc In a Box that Vickers just happened to keep in the lifeboat she uses as a cabin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She requests an emergency C-section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Robodoc tells her that it is only programmed to cut open men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that point we learn that Old Man Weyland was a Republican and Vickers isn’t as smart as we assumed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless this is like that film “The Crying Game”.</div>
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Lisbeth finally gets the right combination to get that operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What follows is completely, unnecessary, gratuitous, unadulterated nastiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Robodoc delivers a bouncing baby Cthulhu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lisbeth gets all stapled up and leaves it in the lifeboat, which is kind of like a hospital I suppose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Lisbeth wanders from Vicker’s quarters into the super-secret part of the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s Old Man Weyland!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s alive, mostly, and here on the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wants ET to give him more life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I seem to recall this theme from another Ridley Scott film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure this time it will turn out better.</div>
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David tells everyone that he has found an iced Aryan in the dome and the guy is waking up!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s go see him!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the wonderful things he does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David will ask for a heart, Weyland will ask for a factory rebuild and Lisbeth will ask for some better pain meds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Oh yeah, Weyland had a daughter and she grew up into Vickers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d leave Earth, too.</div>
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Weyland straps on a powered exoskeleton for his lower body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To walk, you perverts!</div>
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They wake up Mighty Whitey the Aryan ET and he is pissed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think David told him how much the bounty hunter wanted for the Wookiee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whitey rips off David’s head and beats Weyland to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lisbeth runs away.</div>
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That’s no dome, it’s a spaceship!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whitey plays “The Final Countdown” on his iPod and sets course for Earth. </div>
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Ships crash together, Vickers gets squashed by Auntie Em’s house and Lisbeth returns to the lifeboat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Baby Cthulhu’s awake, and he’s hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a good thing that Junior likes white meat, because Mighty Whitey shows up to use harsh language on Lisbeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Junior wants a hug, Junior gets a hug. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Like all androids in the film franchise, David can get along perfectly well as a severed head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trick, Dr. Shaw, is not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">minding</i> that it hurts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He convinces Lisbeth to take him along so they can explore the galaxy in the spare alien starship that just happens to be left behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wants to go find the Engineers, because if she tries hard enough, she knows she can change them!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The film made no sense! The allegation is that the goo was some sort of biological weapon that was supposed to be used to exterminate all life on Earth. But it could just as easily been an alien form of beer yeast that they were getting ready to distribute from the microbrewery onboard the ship. We'll never know because Ridley didn't bother to explain.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-62972205156466142202012-04-12T19:08:00.000-07:002012-04-12T19:08:00.738-07:00Murder in the Second DegreeThat's the charge that Special Prosecutor Angela Corey delivered against George Zimmerman for his role in the death of Trayvon Martin. This after exculpatory evidence of his injuries was presented. It's a clear-cut case of self-defense, right? How can Ms. Corey press charges? Surely this is a political witch hunt!<br />
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Maybe, maybe not. In many cases the difference between a justifiable homicide and murder is the intent of the killer. And George Zimmerman's actions on the night of February 26th are murky enough that his intent could be taken either way. Don't believe me? Here's another version that fits the events as disclosed just as well as Mr. Zimmerman's account:<br />
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George Zimmerman is patrolling his neighborhood. There have been burglaries and he is frustrated by the lack of progress in solving them. He sees a young man walking in the rain. George is a good neighbor. He likes kids and even volunteers his time helping them. He knows most of the kids in the neighborhood.<br />
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But he doesn't recognize this young man. It's late, wet, and George can think of no good reason for a stranger to be walking through his neighborhood. George dials 911 to report the sighting. He articulates his suspicions. "They always get away", he complains to the dispatcher. He appears to suspect that the young man he is following is one of the burglars plaguing the gated community. Is this racial profiling? If so, then Jesse Jackson himself had admitted to the offense in the past.<br />
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By this time young Trayvon has noticed that he is being followed. What's wrong with the driver? Is he a gang member, or possibly a serial killer? Following people on foot in a car late at night is not normal behavior. It's suspicious. Trayvon is now profiling George Zimmerman based upon the normal rules of society that say that following strangers is not a good thing. Trayvon is talking to a friend on his cell phone. He should have called 911. Trayvon does the sensible thing and tries to get away. On foot, he is able to move out of George Zimmerman's sight.<br />
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George continues to actively search for the young man, even after the dispatcher advises him that, "we don't need you to do that." In short, he is hunting Trayvon at this point. When asked for an address he stops the car and gets out so he can better read the signs.<br />
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The confrontation occurs. Whether George sees Trayvon or Trayvon charges George, the outcome is a struggle that leaves George Zimmerman battered and bloody. George fires a single shot, mortally wounding Trayvon.<br />
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Zimmerman's injuries appear to be consistent with having his head repeatedly pounded against concrete. His life is in danger; just ask Natasha Richardson or Billy Mays. Blunt force trauma to the skull can and does kill people.<br />
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We lack some key details. What was the distance between the two men when Zimmerman fired the shot? Was Trayvon standing up at the time? These are key questions. Let's say the Trayvon has decided that he has beaten the stranger sufficiently to now make his escape. As he is backing away, the man pulls a gun. According to the affadavit Trayvon's mother has identified the screams for help heard on the 911 call from one of the witnesses as coming from Trayvon.<br />
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This completely changes the nature of the encounter. Trayvon has disengaged, he is no longer the attacker. If George Zimmerman, his head swimming from concussive trauma and adrenaline pulls the trigger, he is no longer acting in self-defense. If done accidentally, this is now manslaughter. If done deliberately, this is murder. What matters is the <em>intent</em>.<br />
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What can we surmise about George Zimmerman's mental state that night? We know that he was frustrated and angry. We know that he made the conscious decision to hunt for Trayvon, even leaving the safety of his truck to do so. We know that he was armed. We know that he was severely beaten.<br />
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Is it unreasonable to believe that George Zimmerman may have pulled the trigger in anger after the confrontation was over? The investigating detective appeared to believe so. He recommended that manslaughter charges be filed but was overruled by the Chief of Police.<br />
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I'm not surprised at the charges. George Zimmerman's actions that night can be interpreted in at least two different lights depending upon the assumptions made by people deliberating the evidence. George Zimmerman may have acted in an adrenaline-blurred rush of terror. The investigators have the advantage of hindsight and no immediate possibility of death. There are no winners in most self-defense shootings. There are only survivors.<br />
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Let's spend a moment examining the possible motivations of Angela Corey. Vociferous members of the electorate are agitating for justice as they see it. There have been demonstrations and random acts of violence done in Trayvon's name. Alleged "leaders" of the civil rights movement are making vague threats of dire consequences if Zimmerman is not elected. Even the U.S. Justice Department is taking a look. It's enough to give any elected official the sweats.<br />
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Ms. Corey's thoughts are known only to her. But I would like to point out that the "Stand Your Ground" statutes came about because enough legislators believed that prosecutorial decisions were being made for political purposes. Think about that before you demand the laws be changed.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-4733170335580783912012-03-26T07:32:00.000-07:002012-03-26T07:32:06.631-07:00The Hunger Games: Dystopia or History?We saw "The Hunger Games" Friday night. My girls really liked it. I appreciated the film but the setting provoked a visceral reaction from me. I had to sit still and try to wait out the adrenaline spike that the scenes in Capitol evoked.<br />
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I thought the director did a great job of giving us a thumbnail sketch of the society of Panem. I haven't read the novels so I don't have a great deal of context. Prior to seeing the film I did read several reviews and comment threads where people argued whether the film's anti-tyranny message was aimed at Republicans or Democrats. I can take a stab at answering that.<br />
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The people in District 12 live an existence straight out of the late nineteenth century rural America. The men go to work in dangerous coal mines while the women try to feed the family on rations barely above starvation-level. Hunting is apparently illegal so unsurprisingly a brisk black market trade exists in small game. From a passing comment I learned that additional rations are available to young people if they are willing to enter their name additional times for the annual Reaping.<br />
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The inhabitants may not leave the confines of their District upon pain of electrocution from the border fences or capture and death from the security forces. Technology is deliberately kept at pre-electronics levels with the exception of media controlled by the state.<br />
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Meanwhile, the citizens of the Capitol live a sybaritic lifestyle with all of the wealth and advanced technology available to an advanced society. Consumption is conspicuous and flamboyant personal fashion is the norm for the elite. The working stiffs in Capitol have to make do with white jumpsuits and hair in colors that nature intended.<br />
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Sounds like something right out of the Roaring Twenties, right? Rockefeller Republicans living large while the proletariat huddles in the dark, starving. The parallels are there, but what is missing is the iron fist of the state carefully tending to the status quo. For that, you have to have to go to the other side of the globe.<br />
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The world of Panem bears a striking similarity to the former Soviet Union. Travel controls, deliberate starvation of the peasantry, the unavailability of modern luxuries to all but the social elite, it's all there. Even The Reaping is a shadowy reflection of universal conscription into a military that places absolutely no value on the lives or health of the conscripts.<br />
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The games themselves are reality TV mixed with spectacle that would have been immediately familiar to Emperor Trajan. Bread and circuses have been with humans for thousands of years and reflect a darker aspect of our natures that enjoys seeing arterial blood on the sand. But what I saw in "The Hunger Games" seemed to go deeper than that. I saw a segment of a society so jaded by their sybaritic lifestyle that nothing short of child murder could elicit a genuine emotional reaction. Perfectly coiffed plastic faces that respond like trained seals to the clumsy emotional manipulation of a master of ceremonies. People going through the motions of human behavior that can't actually feel anything because nothing is truly real anymore.<br />
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One of the things that bothers me about so-called "reality TV" is the artless creation of artificial "drama" which inevitably manifests as interpersonal conflict. Whether it is cliques ostracizing the goat, screaming matches over who used the last of the dish soap, or media-whoring executives barking "You're fired!" the result is the same. The audience experiencing a frission of glee at "real people" fighting for their entertainment.<br />
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I am impressed that Suzanne Collins was able to take the complex themes above and integrate them into teen fiction aimed specifically at young women. I took my daughters to see the film, despite the awful content of children murdering children, because I thought the meta-themes of individual human decency and the importance of resisting peer pressure to give in to our darker natures. Empathy is what makes us human, and that transcends monkey politics. TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-84435360959541685072012-03-22T18:27:00.000-07:002012-03-22T18:27:20.467-07:00Self Defense and the Law<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">One night back in 2000 I was awoken in the middle of the night by a scratching sound coming from the bedroom window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I opened my eyes and saw a man silhouetted against the moonlight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To get there he had to squeeze between the apartment building and the five-foot tall hedges planted a few inches away.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">My wife and infant daughter were in the next room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I rolled out of bed and keyed the combination into the small safe next to the bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It only took a couple of seconds to retrieve the Glock semiautomatic pistol stored inside the safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I pointed the muzzle at the man on the other side of the window I remember noticing how brightly the tritium sights glowed in the darkness.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“This is it”, I thought to myself, “If he breaks the glass I’m going to shoot him.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember feeling almost nauseated, even though my hands were steady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m lucky in that way, I always get the shakes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i> the emergency is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately for the both of us, the man moved away from the window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I lowered the pistol I finally noticed the loud shouting coming through the interior walls from the unit next to us, including threats of violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did what every rational person should do, I called the police.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I’m fairly certain the man in the window was another tenant of the apartment trying to figure out where the shouting was coming from by squeezing along the building until he found the right window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never saw his face and I don’t believe he saw me pointing a gun at him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was stupid and almost paid for his stupidity with his life.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I bring this up in light of the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, FL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The local PD initially ruled it a justifiable homicide, based upon <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florida</place></state>’s “stand your ground” statute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further investigation revealed troubling details about Mr. Zimmerman’s actions just prior to the shooting that cast doubt upon the justifiable nature of the homicide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Zimmerman has not yet been arrested or charged but I wouldn’t be surprised to see an indictment for at least second degree murder.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It appears to me that Mr. Zimmerman validated the axiom that people who go looking for trouble can usually find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ignored three fundamental pieces of common law that determine whether a homicide is justified or murder.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Standard of care:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The law recognizes that citizens who decide to go armed should be held to a higher standard of care in their personal behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I instigate or escalate a confrontation that results in me using deadly force against another, I have forfeited the mantle of innocence for my motivation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “stand your ground” law does not mitigate this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The defender must be completely innocent of responsibility for whatever attack led to the use of deadly force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means the defender cannot respond to insults with insults or vulgarity and cannot lose his or her temper during the confrontation.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Duty to retreat:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to the passage of “stand your ground” there was an expectation that the defender was required to retreat from the attacker, assuming that such a retreat did not compromise the safety of the defender or another innocent party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The classic example of the duty to retreat is the driver stopped at a red light or stop sign who is assaulted by a man with a knife or a baseball bat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the driver could drive away without putting himself at risk, the law expected him to do so.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">“Stand your ground” laws came about because unethical prosecutors applied an unreasonable standard to the duty to retreat and prosecuted innocent people who were only trying to defend themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we have the opposite problem; people using the color of law to avoid the consequences of committing murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Zimmerman chose to exit his car prior to the shooting and this placed him in close proximity to Mr. Martin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if Mr. Zimmerman’s claims are true, his decision was tactically and ethically stupid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike a sworn police officer, he was under no requirement to challenge Mr. Martin even if the young man had been committing a crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He chose to place himself in the confrontation under circumstances that cast doubt upon his motivations.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">Mr. Zimmerman will probably get to be a test case to the degree of immunity from prosecution that the law provides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m betting he won’t like the answer.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Reasonable degree of force:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m a large man and I would probably have difficulty justifying using a gun to defend myself against the unarmed attacks of another man my size or smaller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I were a tiny woman, that equation would change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justifiable use of deadly force requires that the defender reasonably believe that he, she, or another is in immediate danger of death or serious injury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a sliding scale that factors in the capabilities of the attacker and the capabilities of the defender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also factors in what the defender could reasonably believe at the time of the attack.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">In my story if the man had stumbled and fell against the window, breaking the glass, I probably would have been justified in shooting him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though he did not intend to harm me or my family, I could not know that at the time and my perception of a midnight home invasion would have been reasonable under the circumstances.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">There is no evidence that Mr. Martin was armed at the time of the attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So according to Mr. Zimmerman we have a situation where a lone unarmed man attacked him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Zimmerman apparently felt confident enough in his ability to protect himself to take on the role of captain of his neighborhood watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know if he equipped himself with a less-than-lethal means of self-defense, but the reasonableness of his decision to open fire appears problematic to me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I’ve been lawfully armed in public for almost twenty years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The incident at the bedroom window is the only time I have ever pointed a loaded gun at another person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have made it a point to obtain training in the justifiable use of deadly force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I exercise a great degree of care in avoiding situations that could result in confrontations not because I am afraid of the people around me but because I recognize that my actions will be judged in the harsh light of perfect hindsight by people who can only guess at my state of mind and intentions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still carry a large general liability insurance policy because I recognize that circumstances may result in that bullet costing me and my family hundreds of thousands of dollars even if no criminal charges are levied.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I accept the responsibilities that my decision to go armed entails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a social compact that I make with legal system and I personally believe that it is a duty of citizenship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t consider myself to be a vigilante or some sort of volunteer police officer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the concept of a citizen’s arrest is extremely dangerous and best left alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it pisses me off to see people like Mr. Zimmerman appear to cavalierly dismiss the duties that going armed require.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I refuse to be associated with people like that and I hope that the legal system works as it should in these cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a jury acquits Mr. Zimmerman then I will accept that as a decision of those better informed than I am of the details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do not believe that Mr. Zimmerman acted under the color of the law when he shot Mr. Martin.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">/rant off/<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-5130041459450617172012-03-16T19:00:00.000-07:002012-03-16T19:00:40.965-07:00When All Hell Breaks LooseNo, this isn't a rant about electoral dysfunction. It's a thumbnail review of a great book that could literally save your life! Anyone who has seen The Discovery Channel's program "<a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/dual-survival/bios/" target="_blank">Dual Survival</a>" will recognize Cody Lundin. He is the braided, barefoot "Bush Hippy" half of the duo. Cody is an expert on primitive living and outdoor survival skills. He may look like a Hobbit that went to Woodstock, but his creativity and effective use of applied physical science deeply impressed me.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1R4vd510q3yVOFVubZJLVaPMXE2gNtcx5Lty-V1p7dEmboAwwcLkIzQprid3joxMWPMM5vYCRxXmxNf3lnUQOmGOJjtAjwwhC4sHIub9SMBouVPvBv6yy7BC3I2YVgjxRi3T0OzKsrA4/s1600/Cody+Lundin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1R4vd510q3yVOFVubZJLVaPMXE2gNtcx5Lty-V1p7dEmboAwwcLkIzQprid3joxMWPMM5vYCRxXmxNf3lnUQOmGOJjtAjwwhC4sHIub9SMBouVPvBv6yy7BC3I2YVgjxRi3T0OzKsrA4/s1600/Cody+Lundin.jpg" /></a></div>Cody is an author of multiple books, including the one I'd like to discuss here, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-All-Hell-Breaks-Loose/dp/142360105X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1" target="_blank">When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes</a>". This isn't a how-to manual for surviving a zombie apocalypse or an invasion of blue-helmeted peacekeepers. It is a series of chapters on how to use materials that are probably already in your home to meet the basic survival needs: shelter, water, food, hygiene/sanitation, illumination, cooking, first-aid, communications, etc. There is even a brief chapter on self-defense.<br />
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The first twenty percent of the book is devoted to mindset; the mental strength and perspectives necessary to prevail when the basic infrastructure that most of us depend upon is unavailable. From there he discusses each of the previously mentioned topics in a thorough but easy-to-read style. Cody is not a gear-whore. He will recommend good equipment, but he is an expert at utilizing common household items in surprising ways. Some examples: <br />
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How to pasteurize contaminated water using only clear plastic soft drink bottles and direct sunlight.<br />
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How to use clear plastic sheeting to build a surprisingly warm shelter.<br />
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How to construct an efficient sleeping bag from trash bags, duct tape, and newspapers.<br />
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How to safely build a latrine that won't kill everyone around from typhus.<br />
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The point of this book is to help you get through whatever disaster has broken down our comfortable utilities safely and in good health. I encourage everyone to at least read this book once. It costs less than having a pizza delivered and having it in your home could save you a lot of grief when that hurricane or that ice storm leaves you without power or running water for a week straight.<br />
<br />
Buy it. Read it. Be prepared, not scared. TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-25520539727197280512011-11-21T18:11:00.000-08:002011-11-21T18:11:16.976-08:00"I fought the law and the law won"<div class="MsoNormal">Survival and primitive skills expert <a href="http://www.codylundin.com/">Cody Lundin</a> makes reference to the “Cycle of Dumbass”. It’s a vaguely karmic concept says, “Do dumbass things, experience dumbass consequences”. I think the principle can be applied widely throughout life to a variety of behaviors; such as resisting a law enforcement officer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Police are granted legal arrest powers that common citizens do not have. Arrest does not mean that you are automatically going to jail. Arrest means that the officer can move or restrain you against your will if the officer believes it necessary. Implicit in the power to arrest is the authorization to use reasonable force to make the arrest. Police departments have very carefully thought out codes of conduct regarding when and to what degree force may be used. Varying degrees of force are recognized; from the mere presence of the officer to verbal commands all the way to lethal force such as firearms or blunt force instruments. This is called a force continuum. The goal is to apply the minimum degree of force reasonably necessary to control the situation by giving the police officer several force options.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">See, police officers are required to maintain control of a conflict. Once an officer decides that intervention is necessary, they cannot allow others to ignore or countermand their lawful commands. Courts generally recognize that police officers have a wide degree of discretion on resolving and handling conflicts. The easiest way to resolve a conflict that has not yet escalated to criminal activity is to make one or more of the individuals causing the problem leave.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ignoring a police officer’s lawful commands is illegal. Interfering with a police officer’s attempt to exercise arrest powers is called resisting arrest and is also a crime. Physically resisting is a violent crime.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Which brings us to UC Davis and the alleged incident of police brutality. Students were asked to disperse by the campus police. The students refused, thereby resisting arrest. The students were sprayed with OC, or pepper spray. Was this reasonable? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Absolutely. On the <a href="http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/use-of-force/continuum.htm">continuum of force</a> OC falls between verbal commands and physical contact by the officer. It’s a “soft” method of force that is much less likely to result in injury to the resistor than any physical contact such as wrist locks or pressure points. Every police officer is sprayed with pepper spray during training so they can experience for themselves the debilitating effects. Those same effects usually wear off after less than an hour leaving no injuries other than inflammation of mucous membranes. It’s painful and humiliating but everybody walks away.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Riots and large groups of resistors complicate arrest activities. Anytime that police are outnumbered a disparity of force situation exists. Officers are assumed to be at higher risk because of the presence of multiple resistors. In the UC Davis case, the protesters are alleged to have surrounded the officers, further escalating the situation. Remember, police officers are required to maintain control of a conflict. These circumstances make the use of OC even more reasonable. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If the protest had turned violent, particularly if the officers were threatened with being physically restrained or overwhelmed, the officers could have been required to use lethal force. Attempting to disarm a police officer is grounds for the officer to use lethal force inn response. Common law recognizes that disparity of force justifies the lawfully acting party to use a higher degree of force. Participating as part of a mob in illegal activity automatically places the participant at greater risk of physical injury, up to and including death. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I can hear the responses now, “But the students weren’t breaking the law!” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yes, they were, by ignoring the police officers’ commands to leave the area.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“But the police had no right to ask them to leave!” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yes, they did. The <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/coordrev/ucpolicies/aos/uc100.html">UCDavis Code of Student Conduct</a> even says so. See sections 102.13 through 102.16. I think 102.16 pretty much nails it down.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“But the students were on public property!” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No, they weren’t. The <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state> university system is a non-profit education entity. It is most definitely not public property. Don’t believe me? Try parking in the faculty lot without the right color of parking tag. The university reserves the right to deny access to anyone, including students and employees, to university property. It’s common law regarding private property.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Once again, we have OWS protesters asserting that their rights to protest trump the rights of others to use of their private property. The courts have been quite clear that such is not the case under law, but the viewpoint is symptomatic of the toddler logic and narcissism that is too often evident in the psychology of the protestors.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let’s recap. Resisting arrest is illegal. Resisting physically is an act of violence. Those protesters were by definition not peaceful. The police were required to use reasonable force to make them leave. The police used the lowest level of force required after verbal commands failed to move the protesters. Nobody got electrocuted by a taser, beaten with a baton, or shot with beanbags or rubber bullets. No chemical burns from Mace or injuries from high pressure water hoses were inflicted. At the end of the day, every one of those students was able to go on acting like an asshat in public. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m not a police officer and never have been one. As an armed citizen, I have made it a point to study the law on justifiable use of force and police procedures. I recognize that my decision to carry a firearm potentially escalates the risk factors in any interaction I may have with law enforcement so I have made it a point to learn how I can reduce the risk of escalation. It’s pretty simple, really. Use common sense, don’t get excited, and follow instructions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If I believe that an officer is acting outside of the limits of the officer’s authority, the time to address it is the next day. Getting into a pissing match makes me the lawbreaker, not the victim. I’m reminded of the advice my Business Law professor, himself a United States attorney, gave to the class on how to avoid getting sued: Don’t be an asshole. </div>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-74990262541278688342011-08-26T18:26:00.000-07:002011-08-26T18:31:10.734-07:00Science!First, we learn that a tiny <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/25/diamond_planet_circles_pulsar/">planet</a> with the mass equivalent to Jupiter tightly orbiting a pulsar (a rotating neutron star) is composed primarily of carbon. At the densities involved, the planet has collapsed into a girl's best friend; diamond. That's just cool. It's like a Larry Niven story come to life.<br />
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Next, we learn that although the CERN supercollider has yet to destroy everything in a universe-shattering ka-boom, the boffins may have manged to end some lucrative sources of grant money. It seems that a study of the effects of cosmic radiation upon cloud formation in the Earth's atmosphere appears to indicate that said radiation may play a very significant role, like <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/25/cern_cloud_cosmic_ray_first_results/">50%</a>, in cloud formation and the effects upon the planet's climate.<br />
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Here's the money quote:<br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b>.</b>.. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">we've found that the vapours previously thought to account for all aerosol formation in the lower atmosphere can only account for a small fraction of the observations – even with the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: nowrap;">enhancement </span>of cosmic rays.</span></span></span></blockquote>Those "vapours" are also known as greenhouse gases. Translation: that giant microwave oven sitting 93 million miles away might have a bigger impact on global temperatures than the incandescent lightbulb in your living room lamp.<br />
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Inconceivable! We have already been told by no less a personage than Albert Gore that "the science is settled" and that denying anthropogenic global warming (AGM) is morally equivalent to denying the Holocaust. What is wrong with these scientists? Don't they know that the proper role of Science in the AGM franchise is to accept grant money to further the propoganda machine, thus generating more grant money? It's the bedrock of the environmental-industrial complex that Dwight Eisenhower warned us all about.<br />
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The whole AGM conspiracy is right out of the sixteenth century. First we have the concept of "carbon credits" where businesses pay money to buy the right to produce gases that will supposedly destroy us all. It's just like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence">indulgences</a> sold by the Roman Catholic Church. I pay money in advance to commit a sin and everything is forgiven.<br />
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We even have heliocentrism making a comeback against the forces of scientific orthodoxy. To paraphrase Galileo, "It still warms." <br />
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<blockquote></blockquote>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-67245299470521968092011-08-17T20:06:00.000-07:002011-08-17T20:06:16.427-07:00Pulled Over By the Po-Po, Thank God !I took my kids, the neighbors' girl and our dog to a local park tonight. This park is on the edge of town, which means that streetlights are pretty much non-existent. After play time was over I piled everybody into the car and headed for a local convenience store to buy some tea.<br />
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I pulled out onto the road to drive to the store. Almost immediately I noticed somebody was tailgating very closely. I thought I may have pulled out too close and made the other driver angry. My primary concern was that the other driver was pissed off and looking for trouble. And me with three children in the car. I decided to drive non-stop to the convenience store just down the road, even if it meant running the stop sign which I just NOW noticed.<br />
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Well, as soon as I blew through the stop sign the blue and red lights of the local PD came on. On the minus side; I was probably about to get a ticket. On the plus side; nobody was going to try and rob us. I considered the ticket a fair trade.<br />
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I worked out my personal SOP years ago. I immediately turned the interior lights on and retrieved my wallet. Then I rested both hands on the wheel until he approached. I handed both licenses to the officer. He asked if I was. I said yes. He asked where. I pointed with my left thumb. The only awkward moment was when he asked to see my insurance card, which was in the glove box. It's my wife's car. I keep mine in the center console so I don't have to reach while assembling the standard documents. My daughter opened the glove box calmly and slowly handed me the envelope with the insurance and registration cards. <br />
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I explained that I was paying more attention to him behind me than I was to the stop sign in front of me. He walked back to check the licenses. The other police car, which I had not even noticed, pulled away. He came back and asked me to be more careful.<br />
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Then he thanked my for exercising my constitutional right to carry. <br />
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God bless Texas! TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-23760654482983578562011-08-02T19:42:00.000-07:002011-08-02T19:42:27.821-07:00Does the shoe pinch?Our Intern-in-Chief has sent down a new set of requirements for ICE to impose on anyone unlucky enough to live in a border state. The new executive order requires ICE agents to contact service providers and ask them to: 1. Report any homes occupied by more than four persons as potentially indicating illegal immigrant occupation. 2. Fill out client profile reports to help law enforcement track illegal immigrants, and 3. Authorizes home visits by ICE agents to anyone suspected of participating in illegal immigration.<br />
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Sounds pretty Orwellian, huh? Nobody in America would stand for this, right? Well, substitute "BATFE" for "ICE" and "firearm sales" for "illegal immigrants" and you're looking at an <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-launches-gun-grab.html">actual executive order</a>.<br />
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It's a good thing that we live in a free country where we can trust our government to trust us, isn't it?TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-41995023508477464902011-07-30T15:05:00.000-07:002011-07-30T15:05:34.465-07:00When the Worst Outcome Is Better Than the Status Quo, What Do We Have To Lose?The August 2nd date on the ransom note that <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/17/us-usa-debt-deadline-idUSTRE74G72R20110517">Tim Geithner</a> sent to Congress is quickly approaching. We'll see if he shoots the hostage or is just willing to settle for another pizza being delivered by a SWAT guy in a Domino's uniform. The House passed their plan and the Senate passed their plan, and neither is willing to allow the other plan to darken their doorway. I'd say the odds of no debt ceiling increase are pretty good. But what happens if Congress refuses to raise the limit on the national Visa card?<br />
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I'm guessing, not so much. The talking heads are worried about skyrocketing bond yields if the U.S. can't borrow more money for Uncle Han over in Beijing. Personally, that seems completely backwards to me. The risk of default only gets higher if Barry gets to borrow another trillion or so every year for the foreseeable future. Our <a href="http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Beijing-warns-Washington,-a-default-would-be-a-%E2%80%9Cdisaster%E2%80%9D-for-everyone-22111.html">landlord</a> agrees.<br />
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Default is the risk that either the interest or the principal on a debt does not get paid on schedule. Only in Bizarro-D.C. will lowering the amount of debt increase the risk of default. Some will say that the U.S. cannot make the scheduled payments on the borrowed money without borrowing the money to make the payments. We in the financial industry have a word for that: insolvency. And it doesn't get better by increasing the debt load.<br />
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We've been ignoring this problem since the Johnson administration. All subsequent presidents and Congresses made the proper noises of concern while actively working to make the problem worse for the next politico to sit in the chair. Commissions have been appointed, campaign speeches have been made, but NOBODY tried to fix it. Until now.<br />
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If the debt ceiling is not raised, the Treasury will immediately begin prioritizing federal payments. The interest and principal on the federal debt will remain in first place; to do otherwise really will bring about the doom that is filling the media. Social Security payments will also be made on time. Federal law specifies that reductions in the amount owed by the Trust Fund will reduce the amount owed against the debt ceiling on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Translation: for every dollar Uncle Sam pays to Grandma, Uncle can borrow another dollar.<br />
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Federal payrolls will also go out on time, although we may see some widespread furloughs. This will be an instructional period for us; if Joe Bureaucrat in the Bureau of Redundancy Department doesn't come into work for six months and nobody notices, perhaps that should tell us something. In the private sector, pressure from payroll expense is the driving force behind process and efficiency improvements. Think about it.<br />
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So, what doesn't get paid on time? That's easy, the pork. All those hundreds of billions of dollars that Congress "brings home" every year will be the first thing to get cut. Those orange barricades stretching for miles along our interstates, dotted with the signs bragging about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will be with us for a few years more. At least until the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Bacon_Act">Davis-Bacon Act</a> get repealed and the projects can be finished on a budget that reflects reality. The <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/03/harry-reid-calls-cuts-cowboy-poetry-festivals-heartless">cowboy poetry festivals</a> will have to fund themselves.<br />
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Because a group of freshmen legislators are unwilling to accept "the way things are" in D.C., this country can finally make our leaders acknowledge the same basic economic truths that every American household has to live by every day. Recklessly borrowing against the house to pay for all of the things that Junior and Buffy are whining about isn't compassion, it's folly.<br />
<br />
The Tea Party representatives in the House have already sent a "cut, cap, and balance" bill to the Senate, which ignored it while accusing the House of being obstructionist. If the federal debt ceiling is not raised, the Tea Party automatically gets the first two parts of the bill. All they have to do is...nothing. TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-41014139700329147322011-07-24T08:13:00.000-07:002011-07-24T08:13:14.412-07:00Ninety Minutes of NightmareI've often ridiculed the teen slasher film genre. Specifically, the plot devices whereby young people in their physical prime are herded and hunted by a lone, knife-wielding killer, often in the teens' own home. I feel that the genre is contrived and deliberate in its creation of artificial helplessness.<br />
<br />
And then life imitates bad art. When I read yesterday's headlines out of Norway I was initially certain that the headline contained a transposition. Surely the eighty-five dead were the result of the bombing and not the shooting. How can any maniac shoot <i>eighty-five</i> people to death in one event? <br />
<br />
The answer, of course, is when they have nowhere to run to and the killer has an <i><b>hour and a half</b></i> to hunt them at his leisure. Mr. Breivik selected his location and methods with diabolical care. Literally diabolical, as in, o<span class="st">f, concerning, or characteristic of the devil; satanic. This man chose a remote location filled with the teenage children of Labour Party members and then spent over an hour methodically hunting them down and shooting them to death. He even shot the corpses to ensure that no victim was left alive.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="st">Like I said, life imitated a teen slasher film, right down to the contrived helplessness of the victims.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">When I was ten, my father took my younger brother and I camping for a weekend in the Withlacoochee state forest. It was a very primitive campsite but the most dangerous thing in the area was an alligator that inhabited the pond. We knew to stay out of the pond unless he was on the bank. There were no other campers at that site. One night a large group of what was probably teenagers assembled about a hundred yards away from our tent. There was much yelling and very likely some quantity of alcohol being consumed. What I remember most about that night was my father standing outside the tent, with a machete he used to clear brush on our hikes held alongside his leg. If any drunk people came our way he was prepared to frighten them off.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">My father is not a belligerent or confrontational person. But he understood a basic truth that night; <i>he was the only person there that could protect his children</i> and <i>he had a responsibility to do so</i>. In an era before cellular telephones, dialing 911 was not an option. And even if he could somehow summon help, it was many minutes away.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="st">Western society has been infected for too many years with the meme that only the authorities can protect us. We are told not to resist when attacked, to give the attacker what he wants so he will go away. In some areas, such as Great Britain and NYC, a homeowner defending his home against a burglar is often in more trouble with the authorities than the burglar! In the shooting community we refer to this mindset as "Dial 911 and die". A summer camp filled with Prog spawn pretty much epitomizes the learned passivity that good liberals are told they should practice and Mr. Breivik no doubt knew this.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="st">Attacks on children are a deliberate terror tool meant to shock and demoralize the target populace. The Israelis know this after several decades on Palestinian terror attacks on schools and kibbutzim. That is why Israeli schools have more armed adults than just one token resource officer whose primary duty is searching lockers for contraband.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="st">It took ninety minutes for Norwegian law enforcement to be informed of the situation and respond to it. As soon as an armed response arrived, the killer immediately surrendered and was taken into custody without a fight. Mr. Breivik wasn't looking to die, he only wanted to kill. So he chose a target where he could be absolutely confident about encountering no resistance. Because only police should have guns and gun control laws are what keeps society safe. Until somebody decides to break those laws. Then only the police are safe.</span>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-46207679335893561592011-07-09T14:21:00.000-07:002011-07-09T15:27:04.083-07:00Stroke of the pen, law of the land...Barry the Intern-in-Chief is promising a series of "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/obama-unveil-gun-control-reforms_n_892633.html">reforms to the current gun law</a>" in the near future. The Prez doesn't have time to screw around with the whole legislative process thing, so he plans to use a series of executive orders to presumably dictate that various federal agencies enforce current laws in new and interesting ways. This ought to be interesting, since I doubt that the administration has any plans to actually liberalize any existing laws, such as making suppressors Title 1 or reinterpreting the Hughes amendment in a more favorable light. It can be argued that the President lacks the authority to make any changes to federal firearms laws. At most he can refocus the efforts of federal law enforcement.<br />
<br />
Last year the BATFE took a break from harassing people at gun shows and tried to actually catch real criminals, albeit ones outside of the United States. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/07/08/puzzle-operation-fast-and-furious-when-will-team-obama-come-clean-about-failed/">That didn't work out so well</a>. If Eric Holder is lucky, some Republican administration won't extradite him to Mexico to <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/mexican-official-wants-atf-workers-to-face-charges-in-mexico-for-project-gunrunner/">face charges of arms smuggling</a>. I'm breathlessly awaiting an arrest warrant for Mr. Holder to be issued by a Spanish judge.<br />
<br />
If the Obama administration approaches this reform task with the same tone-deaf, ham-handed zeal that has become its signature trademark, this will get very interesting. On the other hand, Obama pretty much lied to the GLBT lobby so maybe the <a href="http://www.bradycenter.org/">Brady Bunch</a> will get the same brush off.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-89211018969591413142011-07-05T16:47:00.000-07:002011-07-05T16:47:18.708-07:00Justice Was DoneI did not expect the not-guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial but I am not surprised by it. I haven't followed the case since Caylee Anthony first went missing. My personal gut check says that little Caylee probably died from neglect and her flaky mother attempted to hide the body to avoid the inevitable consequences. It was clear from the beginning that Casey had something to hide and her story about what happened to Caylee never made much sense.<br />
<br />
So, I was expecting Casey Anthony to receive a guilty verdict followed by life in prison without parole. I based this assumption upon the fact that a little girl was dead and my belief that her mother was not making any sense. Needless to say today's verdict comes as a surprise.<br />
<br />
But as I think about it, I can't find myself faulting the jury. I try to imagine what it would feel like to literally hold a woman's life in my hands while no incontrovertible physical evidence could tell me how the little girl died much less establishing premeditation upon her mother's part. I would have difficulty convicting for negligent homicide (manslaughter) much less first degree murder.<br />
<br />
I've heard prosecutors complain in the past that police procedure dramas on TV have raised the bar for obtaining jury convictions. Jurors now want hard evidence and no ambiguity, just like they see on TV. I don't find myself getting too upset about that. Too many innocent people have already been released from death row because jurors were willing to believe whatever a prosecutor put before them. Casey Anthony benefited from this higher standard of proof but that does not mean that the "system" failed. I think it worked just like it was supposed to.<br />
<br />
The jurors were told that there must not be a reasonable doubt in any of their minds before they could ethically return a guilty verdict. I think that they followed their instructions both to the letter and the spirit of the law. TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-79252797733678981702011-06-25T15:50:00.000-07:002011-06-25T15:50:08.917-07:00The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (which ought to be a convenience store) refuses to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110624,0,7283758.story">fall on his metaphorical sword</a>. Rather than resigning and giving the Justice Department some red meat to throw to the Congressional investigators he has decided to remain as acting director until they come and pry his fingernails from the carpet.<br />
<br />
Melson is refusing to be the "fall guy" for Operation Fast & Furious, mentioned previously on this blog, that resulted in 1,700 semiautomatic weapons (including the infamous .50 Barrett rifles) being illegally purchased and presumably smuggled into Mexico. The ostensible purpose of the operation was to track the weapons and tie them to high-level narco-terrorists in Mexico. The problem, however, was that BATFE was unable to track the weapons and at least two have turned up at the scene of a murder of a United States Border Patrol agent.<br />
<br />
The official spin on the operation was that it was conceived and executed by regional BATFE supervisors in Phoenix, AZ and that the national-level suits knew nothing about what was happening. Well, as it turns out, Mr. Melson knew enough about the operation to request access to the realtime surveillance camera footage of the straw purchases taking place. Ooops!<br />
<br />
My personal suspicions from months ago were that the operation was at the very least authorized by high-level persons in the Justice Department as a means of running up the trace numbers out of Mexico to justify calls for additional gun control laws. Recent events appear to be bearing this out. Mr. Melson has not yet received "permission" from the Justice Department to testify under oath about his role in the operation and I suspect that it will be a cold day in Hell before he does. <br />
<br />
The question remaining is this; if Mr. Melson refuses to jump in front of the bus, who else will he drag kicking and screaming on to the pavement with him? Stay tuned.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-28723632035325839222011-06-05T18:50:00.000-07:002011-06-05T18:50:10.746-07:00What We Did On Our Summer VacationWhen we moved to the Texas Panhandle I promised my wife frequent green vacations. She grew up in the Midwest and high desert just doesn't cut it for her. We often argue about whether a mesquite qualifies as a tree.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCsmED1HUQo_TdjBPaRAzgp_lzUm1VtUB5JviNneOQ7Zo22UVfKCA-ITO_VkwR77x2JhQXlXaLukpTWYzYPtlYaQ3aIsV4j9T8JuAK7ilHuB3xu38sv4Bv0vUYJWWZpTAvQhIZqI5yhA/s1600/Murphy+at+the+wheel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>This year we decided to return to Estes Park, Colorado. I found a great rate on cabins just days before the summer season rates kicked in. Here is the view from our back porch:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB2qZeuLt-mMGs2idcHVVJpk835xCIblCnB2rQousJdK90JfGUtE3n6UyOdYKnvPwKZsJJeNVCkkjiWOHYj40P2eohZES10mONMNJEazw2Ui6ZpBEDEbueJ3cA_3sLxAj_3XkZdL1WXs/s1600/back+porch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB2qZeuLt-mMGs2idcHVVJpk835xCIblCnB2rQousJdK90JfGUtE3n6UyOdYKnvPwKZsJJeNVCkkjiWOHYj40P2eohZES10mONMNJEazw2Ui6ZpBEDEbueJ3cA_3sLxAj_3XkZdL1WXs/s320/back+porch.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
This year we brought Murphy the dog.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCsmED1HUQo_TdjBPaRAzgp_lzUm1VtUB5JviNneOQ7Zo22UVfKCA-ITO_VkwR77x2JhQXlXaLukpTWYzYPtlYaQ3aIsV4j9T8JuAK7ilHuB3xu38sv4Bv0vUYJWWZpTAvQhIZqI5yhA/s1600/Murphy+at+the+wheel.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCsmED1HUQo_TdjBPaRAzgp_lzUm1VtUB5JviNneOQ7Zo22UVfKCA-ITO_VkwR77x2JhQXlXaLukpTWYzYPtlYaQ3aIsV4j9T8JuAK7ilHuB3xu38sv4Bv0vUYJWWZpTAvQhIZqI5yhA/s320/Murphy+at+the+wheel.JPG" width="238" /></a> <br />
I was able to find him a nice boarding facility in Estes Park where he exhausted himself romping with other dogs and generally ruining the excellent work the groomer did just before we left. He was fine on the roadtrip, even offering to take a turn at the wheel.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7kjmqkPNrcGEPTDqLk6piiQiJotjydNOiiAlp41KRD_FWeh287mc8Z8-vnyEqB6ugT8SylTvAl04cOJCOamxlThB03SbDqhzFfeeSziSXCyHSuKROUZiAeBd1NLbLINWJBNwomPpLJE/s1600/Laura+ahorse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7kjmqkPNrcGEPTDqLk6piiQiJotjydNOiiAlp41KRD_FWeh287mc8Z8-vnyEqB6ugT8SylTvAl04cOJCOamxlThB03SbDqhzFfeeSziSXCyHSuKROUZiAeBd1NLbLINWJBNwomPpLJE/s320/Laura+ahorse.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeBamYgF-VOZy6jQnUWO3mVch_6BNVA8TuQJOkkngT_pPaoZX1w3_FIHv2mipmfAIwnptQ6B0pIljAhcYasgK-Q8qRdeGos0rawnlHICaTUtIZrpYqaAvESzJwfS8guflhDtcnWV49bY/s1600/Emma+ahorse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeBamYgF-VOZy6jQnUWO3mVch_6BNVA8TuQJOkkngT_pPaoZX1w3_FIHv2mipmfAIwnptQ6B0pIljAhcYasgK-Q8qRdeGos0rawnlHICaTUtIZrpYqaAvESzJwfS8guflhDtcnWV49bY/s320/Emma+ahorse.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>The campground had horse-riding available so the girls each got to ride a real horse. I kept the ride to an hour so the girls wouldn't make the acquaintance of that famed eighteenth-century cavalry commander, Major Assburns.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinjf8j1aIv43467_wRxt7X1cVHBdCDkFeQZulVMMXO_e8R1r4NYzwL9diZRP3MlBckpzL6EHn9wzjXYNrr9rIAAf_DQnOgkVeMoIwzoCGL5YRq2F32niXaCFRAj4JQrcKmKb7ofBgsrZE/s1600/the+stanley.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinjf8j1aIv43467_wRxt7X1cVHBdCDkFeQZulVMMXO_e8R1r4NYzwL9diZRP3MlBckpzL6EHn9wzjXYNrr9rIAAf_DQnOgkVeMoIwzoCGL5YRq2F32niXaCFRAj4JQrcKmKb7ofBgsrZE/s320/the+stanley.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Estes Park is the home of The Stanley Hotel. The hotel is just over a century old and was originally built as a giant guesthouse for the back-East friends of the Stanleys so the friends could come and visit all summer. The Stanley Hotel also provided the inspiration for Stephen King's novel THE SHINING after he spent a night here the day before the hotel was due to close for the winter. The Kubrick film was not filmed at this hotel but the 1996 ABC serial was 96% filmed on location.<br />
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Not being stupid, the operators of The Stanley Hotel have capitalized upon this and offer ghost tours. Of course I signed up for one! So one Wednesday afternoon the girls and I gathered with the rest of the herd in the basement of the hotel. The tour lasted 90 minutes and was a mixture of local history and ghost stories. Most of the ghost stories were fairly benign, such as Mrs. Wilson, who worked as the head chambermaid until the day she died, took a weekend off, and came right back to work. The fourth floor and a particular staircase are alleged to be haunted by the ghosts of children who grew up, died, and returned to the hotel to spent their afterlife. Only one ghost allegedly died in the hotel; from a case of appendicitis.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8l8Q7ed07jKcHI4YQTxssfV0l0LgX6BAvedKUcMvBCfeYNmlloHj3ci2ZD2Jv-VDUyaS9FSMm-ywcpbhPpow-CoBiRn0l3Jj_nCX7GNq-iNv98U7gJYN6JsW0w1XckNpQdhNsv4L5XzM/s1600/Creepy+Cassie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8l8Q7ed07jKcHI4YQTxssfV0l0LgX6BAvedKUcMvBCfeYNmlloHj3ci2ZD2Jv-VDUyaS9FSMm-ywcpbhPpow-CoBiRn0l3Jj_nCX7GNq-iNv98U7gJYN6JsW0w1XckNpQdhNsv4L5XzM/s320/Creepy+Cassie.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>The ghost story part of the tour was guided by a delightfully creepy young lady named Cassie. I personally did not witness any paranormal phenomena. My cellphone camera functioned just fine and I would have appreciated a phantom chill on the fourth floor as it was decidedly on the warm side. Elder Brat experienced a ghostly child tugging on her shirt tassels. Several people confirmed this. Younger Brat was very skeptical of the whole event.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-6347515990661275372011-06-04T09:14:00.000-07:002011-06-04T09:14:18.959-07:00RIP Joel RosenbergI returned home from a vacation this week to read that father, author, and all-around fine guy, Joel Rosenberg had passed away. <br />
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I first discovered Joel Rosenberg's "Guardians of the Flame" series in middle school. From "The Sleeping Dragon" onward I was hooked. Then I learned that Joel also wrote darned good military science fiction in "Not For Glory".<br />
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I suspected that Joel may have been a gun-guy after I read his incredible "Keepers of the Hidden Ways" series. There were too many accurate little details for someone just working off of research notes. Then back in 2004 I ran across Joel on one of the larger firearms-related online bulletin boards; <a href="http://www.thehighroad.org/">The High Road</a>, I believe. <br />
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From there I learned that Joel was a concealed carry instructor and a 2nd Amendment activist. Better and better! It wasn't until I found Joel on Facebook that I began following his online work more closely.<br />
<br />
Joel and I had quite a bit in common both in interests and life events. Joel wrote about some family struggles that my family also deals with. We shared a similar sense of humor and political views.<br />
<br />
When I said that Joel was an activist, he really was. Late last year Joel tested the letter of Minnesota's firearms laws by openly wearing a handgun into a police station. Joel complied with all legal requirements to do so but the incident resulted in a series of events that placed Joel in very real danger of a jail sentence and permanent loss of his right to own a firearm. Joel was literally making himself a test case for Minnesota gun rights. I don't believe that I would have the courage to take the same kind of risk.<br />
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Felicia, Judy, and Rachel, my thoughts and prayers are with you.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-24285268637956278992011-04-27T16:31:00.000-07:002011-04-27T16:31:45.975-07:00The Monster Under the Bed is about to learn the difference between cover and concealment...I gave my older daughter a copy of Larry Correia's excellent novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter-International-Larry-Correia/dp/1439132852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303946657&sr=8-1">Monster Hunter International</a>. She immediately fell in love with The Abomination; a fully automatic, short-barreled shotgun that takes twenty-round magazines, has an under-barrel grenade launcher, and even sports a bayonet for opening cans of ravioli. It fell upon me to explain that Abomination violated nearly every federal firearm law and that I could not add one to the gun safe. I think the NRA just got another life member.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGrOkwJB83BVK4wZ_VtFFJJ1AHaAVn3K2zKxO9NOoeu9d-TJl6DoIgDj9yyOqQ3uhQEHsyyNpSRYqg_numrjofpL-EhJsXtQICENYOWl3dKrEh2dhDgLjGmfrSdYsm1k-mNA7QJOINaM/s1600/MHI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGrOkwJB83BVK4wZ_VtFFJJ1AHaAVn3K2zKxO9NOoeu9d-TJl6DoIgDj9yyOqQ3uhQEHsyyNpSRYqg_numrjofpL-EhJsXtQICENYOWl3dKrEh2dhDgLjGmfrSdYsm1k-mNA7QJOINaM/s1600/MHI.jpg" /></a></div>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-5852507012779043982011-04-19T19:23:00.000-07:002011-04-19T19:23:16.480-07:00Was It Worth It?Eighteen years ago today seventy-six people, including over twenty children, died over a few hundred bucks in unpaid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege">transfer taxes</a> that the victims weren't allowed to pay.<br />
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Two years later, the events of that day would drive another young man to murder 168 more people, also including children, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing">retaliation</a>. The Middle East does not have a monopoly on cycles of violence.<br />
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Now the BATFE has a new scandal to brag about. This one involves a dead Border Patrol agent and a couple thousand guns intentionally given to narco-terrorists in the name of "gun control". Well done, F-Troop, well done.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-5566672719786933392011-04-17T20:13:00.000-07:002011-04-17T20:13:11.703-07:00Silence is Golden<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal">Contrary to popular belief, in most states in this country it is perfectly legal to own a “silencer”, more correctly known as a sound suppressor, for a firearm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can be a time consuming pain in the butt, but it’s not a crime.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Since 1934 sound suppressors have been part of the Title II registry, along with fully automatic weapons, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and strange firearms known as “Any Other Weapons”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guns for sale at your local gun store or sporting goods store are Title 1 weapons.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A Title II device requires the payment of a $200 transfer tax and registration with the BATFE each time it passes from one private party to another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1934, $200 was an outrageous sum to add to the price of a $10 Maxim suppressor or a $5 Sears, Roebuck shotgun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The obvious intent of the tax was to provide a de facto ban on the devices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process of applying for and receiving the tax stamp always takes several weeks and can take months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">According to firearms history, suppressors were placed on the Title II registry during the Great Depression to prevent starving people from hunting game illegally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe so, but that logic no longer applies these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some areas of this country deer and wild pigs are a menace to both people and conservation efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We NEED to shoot more of them to bring the populations back down to sustainable levels.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In Scandinavia it is considered rude to hunt without a suppressor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The muzzle blast from the rifle scares all of the game in the area and causes them to flee from the sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also disturbs other people in the area.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Law enforcement is recognizing the value of suppressors when shots are fired in enclosed areas, such as room in a house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you discharge a centerfire weapon in an enclosed area, especially a rifle, you can expect to have permanent hearing loss afterwards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hearing loss is a common cause of medical retirement for law enforcement.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Contrary to Hollywood myth, it is difficult to completely silence a firearm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is impossible to silence a firearm that fires a bullet faster than about 1,150 feet per second, which includes almost all rifles and magnum handguns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sonic crack of the bullet in flight creates a very loud noise that is unaffected by the suppressor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A suppressor works on the same principle as a car’s muffler with much the same results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A car running without a muffler is obnoxiously loud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A car running with a muffler can still be heard but is not loud enough to cause distress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sound suppressors for firearms work exactly the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can almost always hear the gun being fired but the suppressed gun is much easier on the ears.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Between 1934 and 1968 any adult could walk into a hardware store and buy a handgun or a long-arm without any paperwork other than the sales receipt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No federal paperwork or background checks were required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These days, anyone selling firearms for retail must be licensed by the BATFE and must maintain a permanent log book of every sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Federal law also requires an electronic criminal background check on every sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some states exempt buyers with concealed weapon licenses on the grounds that those individuals already have to pass criminal background checks.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am proposing here that suppressors be moved to the Title 1 registry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each suppressor is already individually serial-numbered, just like a gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same laws currently applied to gun sales can easily be applied to suppressors, allowing the law-abiding to buy a firearm safety device without having to pay a ridiculous tax and jump through bureaucratic hoops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes sense both from a legal perspective and a safety perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More suppressors equals less noise. </div>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-4049675826575238952011-04-01T16:40:00.000-07:002011-04-01T16:40:12.599-07:00Well Worth The WaitThe long-long-long-awaited (since before Kurt Cobain blew his top) new Guns N' Roses album, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ">"Chinese Democracy"</a> appears to be nearing completion, as some preview cuts are now being released. Good stuff. Enjoy and bask in the days when music was music.TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4416740176670867902.post-46995853709056393082011-03-21T17:31:00.000-07:002011-03-21T17:31:58.366-07:00Good for S’Mores, Not for War<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal">When I was in Scouts there was an ironclad rule:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leave the campsite better than you found it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there was any litter on the campground when we arrived, it was gone when we left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a great rule to live by for my personal life, too.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But when it comes to making war the rule leaves a lot to be desired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Romans understood this; by the third Punic War they destroyed Carthage and sowed the ground with salt, the ancient equivalent of turning the city to radioactive glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For centuries it was understood that war meant devastation; armies scoured the countryside and the winning side looted the defeated for everything they could carry away.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, Americans are weird when it comes to war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We burn hot and fast and want a quick victory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we also want everyone to like us when we leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like we view B-52 bombing missions as the first step in urban renewal, sort of eminent domain by other means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s dumb unless you really need the opponent as an ally, like we did with Germany and Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The purpose of war is to force the enemy to capitulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After 9/11 we invaded Afghanistan to punish the Taliban and eliminate that country as a haven for Islamic terrorism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We came in on the side of the Northern Alliance to the extent that “sides” even exist in that country, and quickly drove the Taliban back into Waziristan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we had left at that time the point would have been made; mess with the U.S. and we will bring the pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leave us alone and we’ll reciprocate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Iraq was a different situation since there our stated goal was to remove Saddam Hussein and replace him with a more stable leader.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now we are once again dropping bombs and firing cruise missiles in the name of humanitarian aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stated goal is to enforce a “no-fly zone” to keep Qa-however-you-spell-it from killing his enemies with airstrikes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re going to make him work for it the hard way, on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many believe that the unstated goal is to force a “regime change” in Tripoli.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that happens, will we once again be calling upon Paul Bremer to work his magic from the Green Zone in Ben-Ghazi?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The point is our military is there to kill people and break things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are very good at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re also pretty good at “nation-building” and humanitarian assistance, but that’s not their job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nation-building is for homesteaders, not soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>TBeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996700909201966666noreply@blogger.com0