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Saturday Poetry

2011-07-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

C. S. Lewis

On A Vulgar Error

No. It's an impudent falsehood. Men did not
Invariably think the newer way Prosaic
mad, inelegant, or what not.

Was the first pointed arch esteemed a blot
Upon the church? Did anybody say How
modern and how ugly? They did not.

Plate-armour, or windows glazed, or verse fire-hot
With rhymes from France, or spices from Cathay,
Were these at first a horror? They were not.

If, then, our present arts, laws, houses, food
All set us hankering after yesterday,
Need this be only an archaising mood?

Why, any man whose purse has been let blood
By sharpers, when he finds all drained away
Must compare how he stands with how he stood.

If a quack doctor's breezy ineptitude
Has cost me a leg, must I forget straightway
All that I can't do now, all that I could?

So, when our guides unanimously decry
The backward glance, I think we can guess why.

Miss World 2010

2011-06-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

The 60th Miss World pageant was held on October 30, 2010, in Sanya, People's Republic of China, after Vietnam backed out of the hosting contract. Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar crowned her successor Alexandria Mills from United States as Miss World 2010.

Nice...

A New Pageant. . .

2011-06-25T13:53:00.001-07:00

A new pageant. . .

I got nothin'.

Saturday Poetry

2011-06-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel Whitely

Created on: February 10, 2008

Archer, Archer!
Take Aim!
Nock your shaft,
bend your bow.

Become the arrow,
and with its loose,
let the string cut straight through you.

With this shot, you die.
With the next, you are reborn.

Miss California 2011

2011-06-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Alyssa Campanella, from Hillsborough, CA, is Miss California 2011. She's 21 and a LA native. She looks pretty good in a bikini, too.

Miss USA

2011-06-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

and Miss California takes it!

Saturday Poetry

2011-06-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

Fields of Green

David Hulme

Now Paradise is very nice,
But give me fields of green,
Where regimented targets stand,
And archers can be seen.

Where time begins to lose its beat
In leisured conversation,
And archers bend the bow complete
In measured concentration.

Where day on day can slip away
In soothing repetition,
Where scores are reached - and often breached -
In friendly competition.

Yes, Paradise is very nice,
It's here between the row
Of targets and the shooting line
And archers in the bow.

AB 144

2011-06-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Assemblyman Portantino's unpopular bill has moved to the Senate committee on appropriation.

And we wait...

Miss USA 2010

2011-06-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Rima Fakih ) (born September 22, 1985) is an American beauty pageant contestant, and winner of the 2010 Miss USA title, and is also training to be a professional wrestler in WWE as a WWE Diva.

Oh, really...

Saturday Poetry

2011-06-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

If

Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

"If—" is a poem written in 1895 by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling.

It was first published in the "Brother Square Toes" chapter of Rewards and Fairies, Kipling's 1910 collection of short stories and poems.

Like William Ernest Henley's "Invictus", it is a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and the "stiff upper lip" that popular culture has made into a traditional British virtue. Its status is confirmed both by the number of parodies it has inspired, and by the widespread popularity it still enjoys amongst Britons. It is often voted Britain's favourite poem.

The poem's line, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same" is written on the wall of the Centre Court players' entrance at the British tennis tournament, Wimbledon, and the entire poem was read in a promotional video for the Wimbledon 2008 gentleman's final by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

According to Kipling in his autobiography Something of Myself, posthumously published in 1937, the poem was inspired by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, who in 1895 led a raid by British forces against the Boers in South Africa, subsequently called the Jameson Raid. This defeat increased the tensions that ultimately led to the Second Boer War. The British press, however, portrayed Jameson as a hero in the middle of the disaster, and the actual defeat as a British victory

Second Amendment Decal Warning

2011-06-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

From Instapundit

Ammoland

What a sad waste of time.

New semi-auto rifle, part 2

2011-06-09T11:04:00.001-07:00

I was shopping at Bud's Gun Shop when I may have found what will fit my needs: http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_589/products_id/46038.

But it's not a .308.

Gold, Silver

2011-06-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

Gold is currently 1541.90, silver is 37.38.

An ounce.

Oy.

New semi-auto rifle

2011-06-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

I've got a Marlin .22, but I'm thinking of a new semi-auto. So what's available?

Winchester, Remington, Ruger, Marlin, Savage. Let's take a look, shall we?

Winchester

One bolt action, and six lever actions. That's it--nothing else.

Remington

Three semi-autos, three bolt action, and one lonely pump. Two of the three semi-autos are styled like a ubiquitous AR-15 and the third is the 750, available in synthetic, wood, and carbine length. Not too bad--unless one looks at the price!!

Ruger

They've got their SR-556, the Mini-14 and the Mini-30. That's it.

Marlin

They've got nothing except for big bore lever action and bolt action rifles.

Savage

Much as I like Savage for their .22s, they've got nothing except for bolt actions.

So what's a poor blogger to do? Haunt the local used gun shops and hit the pawn shops...

Miss America 2011

2011-06-07T11:57:00.002-07:00

Miss America 2011 is Teresa Scanlan, formerly Miss Nebraska:

Teresa Scanlan, Miss Nebraska, was one of the youngest competitors on the show. After being crowned the winner of the 2011 Miss America Pageant, she burst into tears and raised her arms up as Cameron pinned the crown to her head.

Gold and Silver

2010-01-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

Gold is up $10, at $1135 an ounce. Silver is up a fraction, at 18.37 an ounce. Grr.

Saturday Poetry

2010-01-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

Phillip Ayres, 1638 - 1712

An Ode of Anacreon

My hairs are hoary, wrinkled is my Face,
I lose my strength, and all my manly grace
My eyes grow dim, my teeth are broke or gone,
And the best part of all my life is done;

I'm drown'd in cares, and often sigh and weep;
My spirits fail me, broken is my sleep
Thoughts of the gaping grave distract my head;
For in its paths, 'wake or asleep, we tread;

None can from it by art their feet restrain
Nor back, tho' wide its gates, can come again.
Then since these ills attend the life of man,
Let's make their burden easy as we can.

Cares are no cares, but whilst on them we think,
To clear our minds of such dull thoughts, let's drink.

LosCon 2010 Idea

2010-01-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

I'm kicking around the idea of a Rotsler Memorial Lecture for Men. Failing that, a room party theme of "alt.talk.RotslerForMen". Hmm...

Badge ribbon tags "Smart Woman" or "Brainy Babe". Would have to stay over Friday, Saturday or both nights.

I Want to Write

2010-01-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

A story about a catastrophe in the greater San Fernando valley.

So.

A small (tiny) asteroid or a large meteorite smacks one of the north faces of the valley. Depending on where it hits, there might be flood or fire, definitely earthquake. Hmm--so building / infrastructure damage. Communication?

It will intefere with traffic (freeway damage? destruction?), tie up the 5 / 210 / 405 consolidation.

LAPD, LASO, CHP--California National Guard? Governor (not Arnold!) declares disaster after touring the area (by helicopter? Humvee?), then governor vanishes from story. Mayor attempts to seize spotlight--worthless promises, touring the area, muscling in.

Militia rises, asserts itself--local emergency response clubs...Hmm...Some become leaders, some become food agents, some lead the way out of the area...Hmm.

So. "The Great San Fernando Valley Disaster"? Maybe.

Gold and Silver

2010-01-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

Gold is only $1096 and silver is just under $17.

An ounce.

Hmph.

Saturday Poetry

2010-01-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

Ogden Nash
1902 - 1971

The Romantic Age

This one is entering her teens,
Ripe for sentimental scenes,
Has picked a gangling unripe male,
Sees herself in a bridal veil,
Presses lips and tosses head,
Declares she's not too young to wed,
Informs you pertly you forget
Romeo and Juliet.

Do not argue, do not shout;
Remind her how that one turned out.

From A Tribute to the Poet, Ogden Nash

First of the Year

2010-01-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

Anyone? Well, me.

Woke up in the night from not just a scary dream, but an evil one--someone who was not normal mentally / emotionally was pursuing me with a knife. Ick.

Was in the bathroom before my shower, reached down to scratch my ankle and pulled my shoulderblade. Sharp, shooting pain--ow.

Read some more of "Blink", really enjoying it.

Doing laundry, going out soon to get margarine.

Need to find a job. Okay.

Good enough for now.

Gold and Silver

2009-03-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

Silver's hovering just under $13/oz; gold is a little over $900/oz.

So much for cheap silver, anytime soon.

What's My Question?

2009-02-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

California requires a 10-day wait before taking possession of a purchased firearm (handgun, rifle, shotgun). During the waiting period, the California Department of Justice runs a background check to determine if the purchaser is a restricted person not permitted to own a firearm.

What I'd like to know is for any given period of time (a month, several months, a year or several years in a row) how many restricted persons were identified as such.

And at what point during the waiting period--was it the first day, the second, the third, et cetera. What's their backlog like during that period--is the DoJ waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to clear and that person finally clears on the tenth day? Or is the DoJ processing all requests within 24 hours?

How does that compare historically? That is, is the DoJ identifying restricted persons more quickly than before?

Have any of the purchased firearms then been used in a "crime of passion" more or less immediately after purchase? Say, within two weeks? (Which I guess would make it pre-meditated, rather than a crime of passion...)

How do California's murder by firearm rates compare to our neighbor states of Arizona, Nevada and Oregon? That is, how often is a legally-purchased gun used by its owner in a murder? (Legitimate self-defense usage disallowed.)

Nationally?

What question am I trying to formulate to ask CA DoJ?

Gold and Silver

2009-02-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

Silver is up $.17 to $14.50; gold is up $7.34 to $994.56.

Arrgh...

Gold and Silver

2009-01-20T11:22:00.000-08:00

On the day of Obama's inauguration, gold is up almost $26 and silver is up $.12: $853 and change, $11.17.

Lots of confidence there...

Gold and Silver

2009-01-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

Gold finishes out the week up not quite $23.50 at $842 and change; silver is up $.65 to finish at $11.26.

Hmph.

Gold and Silver

2009-01-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

Per Gold is Money.info, gold is down almost $31 to $819 and silver is down some sixty-four cents to $10.54.

Hmph.

Gold and Silver

2009-01-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

Well...nuts.

Per the ino.com chart on Gold is Money.info, gold is down not quite $14 to $856 and silver is down twenty-one cents to $11.15.

Still not cheap enough for me.

Monday Gold and Silver Prices

2008-12-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

From Gold Is Money.info
Silver is $10.81 (noooooo!) and gold is a few cents about $844.

Where's my cheap silver!?!

Saturday Poetry

2008-12-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Paul Curtis

"Christmas Shocking"

Well worn festive tunes
Blare out
Hapless faces
Stare out
Faces strained
Bemused, Confused
Lists gripped tight
Pens ticking or deleting
Then onward
Loaded trolleys
Wildly steering
Zig zagging
Aisle to aisle
Every item
Must be had
Gin for her
Beer for dad
Chocs and cakes
Chops and steaks
Turkey, stuffing
Nuts and fruit
Frozen this
Pre-packed that
Pop and juice
Something’s loose
Everything ticked
On the tight gripped list
Nothing missed
Merry Christmas wished
Hundreds of pounds
Of Christmas bought
The festivities can begin
Relax in the knowledge
The shops will only be shut
For twenty four hours

Paul Curtis on Author's Den

A New Gun

2008-12-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

I want a new gun. I need a new gun. What I want/need is a .22 auto pistol. The leaders in that field are Ruger (ehh...), Browning, Smith and Wesson, Beretta...anybody else?

Hmm. Looks like my first job is finding out who makes .22 pistols. Oh dear--research.

Ha!

Gallery of Guns Gun Genie

Intelligent Design

2008-12-07T22:05:00.000-08:00

my ass.

The weekend after Thanksgiving was LosCon, a local science-fiction convention.

Saturday night of the weekend was the masquerade. I sat on a chair in a ballroom behind some guy who was photographing or videotaping the event. This guy held his camera up to get a better angle; that angle pretty much blocked my view. So I ducked down to see around his arms and killed my back doing so.

It's over a week now and I'm still recovering. Grr.

Samantha was cute as "Young Kaylie" in the masquerade.

Saturday Poetry

2008-12-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

When I post Saturday Poetry, I try to find poetry that's different, interesting, relevant.

Well, it's December and I hate the Christmas season. So I don't want to post any Christmas poetry. So what else happens or happened in December?

From Brainy History, lots of stuff happened on December 6th:

In 1992, SF 49er Jerry Rice catches NFL record 101st touchdown
In 1957, AFL-CIO votes to expel Teamsters (readmitted in October 1987)

In 1732, 1st play in American colonies acted by professional players, New York City
In 1492, Haiti is discovered by Columbus, at Mole Saint Nicolas

And in 1160, Jean Bodel's "Jeu de St. Nicholas," premieres in Arras.

Well, Brainy History screwed that up--scholars believe Bodel was born about 1165 - 1167. But December 6th is the feast day of St. Nicholas, and the prologue references that day, so the date of the premiere (but not the year) is correct.

"The Play of Saint Nicholas" is a miracle play, in that "Musselmen" (Muslims) are converted en masse through a miracle performed by St. Nicholas.

From Robert Levine's English department page at Boston University, here is some of Eugene Green's translation of Jean Bodel's Le Jeu de St. Nicholas:

The Preacher

Listen up, listen up, ladies and gents
--'cause God Almighty is keeping your souls--
For your own good, don't screw up!

I'm aiming to speak to you all tonight
Of St. Nick the true confessor
Who's turned over many an outrageous trick.

Those knowing who he is have been often struck,
As perusing his life, to find

That a king of pagans sometime ago
Had Christians neighbors, almost cheek by jowl.
Every day gone by brought another scrap. 10

Day one the pagans launched an attack
Just at the time the men of the Church
Had no idea of the fight coming on.

At once tricked and surprised,
Many died or had to give up.
The enemy Christians quickly flaring out,

The pagan pursuit turned up a sage in a chapel
Kneeling in prayer, before him a carving
Of venerable St. Nick. The felons
Seized him, the curs, and soon 20
Mocked him enough and knocked him around.

Then they took the carving and sage,
Ringed him tight and held him close,
Till they had him down before their king,
Himself aroused by the victory.
It took no time to lay out the tale,

For the king to know the Christian's fate.
"Old geezer," said the king to the sage,
You put your faith in this piece of wood?"

"My lord, indeed, for this is Saint 30
Nicholas' statue, the saint I most love.
To him I pray and cry that no one
Who speaks from the heart will
Be lost to him for good and all.

And he's the great guardian
Who triples and profits
Whatever one asks him devoutly to keep."

--"Old sack, I'll have you stuck,
If he doesn't triple and guard
What I own; I put it to him 40
To save your rotten skin."

So the king had him locked up,
His neck in an iron sling;
Then he had his coffers opened
And laid the statue right on top.

At which he said, "If anyone
Steals it and if he can't
Bring it back, it'll be
The Christian who'll have to pay."

Thus he had the business done 50
Until thieves had wind of it;

One night, some three hatched a plot
To grab the carving and steal away.
And when they made off
God soon stirred them to find
some sleep: a drowsiness fell

So strong they had to take rest,
Somewhere, I guess, in a shed they had.

But to the point of Nick's miracle,
I'll go on to what the book says. 60

When the king heard and saw
That he'd lost the carving,
He understood that he'd been had.

He ordered that the sage be brought to him;
Eyeing him now, the king then said:
"Old bag, you think I'm tricked!"

The sage could barely answer the charge,
So hard his guards twisted his arms,
One way pushed, pulled the other.

The king ordered his death, 70
A hateful end, execrable pain.
"Oh king, in God's name, a brief delay!"
Not now or tonight!" the Christian said,

"Just time to see if St. Nicholas
Will come and rescue me."

Reluctantly the king agreed.

And here the book says that
He had him collared again,
In his cell praying till dawn,
In tears as he called his saint. 80

Not forgetting his sage,
Saint Nicholas was underway;
He'd come as far as the sleeping thieves,
Stirring them up where they lay.

And now when they saw him,
They at once were moved
To do what he willed.
And he, without delay,
Made them return the statue
In all haste right where 90
They'd first seen it,
Just where it had been.

So when the king had discovered
The miracle's truth,
He had the Christian sage
Summoned, freed of his bonds.
Baptised himself, he stood
As godfather for his men;
He soon became good and wise,
And never more committed a crime. 100

My friends, we can read the saint's life-
Tomorrow's his day, his feast.
Yet there's no need to marvel
If ever you've had a bad break;
For all of you will see us show,
For sure, some clear examples
Of Nick's great feats
As I've told you just now.
This miracle of St. Nick's
Is the story of our play. 110
Then, quiet everyone and give us an ear.

Saturday Poetry

2008-11-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

From American Rhetoric

Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, delivered 3 October 1789, New York:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

From Early America.com:

While there were Thanksgiving observances in America both before and after Washington's proclamation, this represents the first to be so designated by the new national government.

After their first harvest, the colonists of the Plymouth Plantation held a celebration of food and feasting in the fall of 1621. Indian chiefs Massassoit, Squanto and Samoset joined in the celebration with ninety of their men in the three-day event.

The first recorded Thanksgiving observance was held on June 29, 1671 at Charlestown, Massachusetts by proclamation of the town's governing council.

During the 1700s, it was common practice for individual colonies to observe days of thanksgiving throughout each year. A Thanksgiving Day two hundred years ago was a day set aside for prayer and fasting, not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom. Later in the 18th century each of the states periodically would designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop.

Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration celebration was held in December of 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

And from The Papers of George Washington:

On 25 September 1789, Elias Boudinot of Burlington, New Jersey, introduced in the United States House of Representatives a resolution "That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness." The House was not unanimous in its determination to give thanks. Aedanus Burke of South Carolina objected that he "did not like this mimicking of European customs, where they made a mere mockery of thanksgivings." Thomas Tudor Tucker "thought the House had no business to interfere in a matter which did not concern them. Why should the President direct the people to do what, perhaps, they have no mind to do? They may not be inclined to return thanks for a Constitution until they have experienced that it promotes their safety and happiness. We do not yet know but they may have reason to be dissatisfied with the effects it has already produced; but whether this be so or not, it is a business with which Congress have nothing to do; it is a religious matter, and, as such, is proscribed to us. If a day of thanksgiving must take place, let it be done by the authority of the several States." [1]

Citing biblical precedents and resolutions of the Continental Congress, the proponents of a Thanksgiving celebration prevailed, and the House appointed a committee consisting of Elias Boudinot, Roger Sherman, and Peter Silvester to approach President Washington. The Senate agreed to the resolution on 26 September and appointed William Samuel Johnson and Ralph Izard to the joint committee. On 28 September the Senate committee reported that they had laid the resolution before the president. [2] Washington issued the proclamation on 3 October, designating a day of prayer and thanksgiving.

Whatever reservations may have been held by some public officials, the day was widely celebrated throughout the nation. The Virginia assembly, for example, resolved on 19 November that the chaplain "to this House, be accordingly requested to perform divine service, and to preach a sermon in the Capitol, before the General Assembly, suitable to the importance and solemnity of the occasion, on the said 26th day of November." [3] Most newspapers printed the proclamation and announced plans for public functions in honor of the day. Many churches celebrated the occasions by soliciting donations for the poor. Washington's secretary, Tobias Lear, wrote to John Rodgers, pastor of the two Presbyterian churches in New York City, on 28 November, that "by direction of the President of the United States I have the pleasure to send you twenty five dollars to be applied towards relieving the poor of the Presbyterian Churches. A paragraph in the papers mentioned that a contribution would be made for that purpose on Thanksgiving day; as no opportunity offered of doing it at that time, and not knowing into whose hands the money should be lodged which might be given afterwards--The President of the United States has directed me to send it to you, requesting that you will be so good as to put it into the way of answering the charitable purpose for which it is intended." [4]

Washington enclosed the Thanksgiving Proclamation in his Circular to the Governors of the States, written at New York on 3 October 1789: "I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency a Proclamation for a general Thanksgiving which I must request the favor of you to have published and made known in your State in the way and manner that shall be most agreeable to yourself." [5]

The bracketed numbers refer to footnotes at the above website.

Depression and Me

2008-11-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not really depressed. My therapist told me, early on, that I was dysthymic, which meant instead of the ultra-highs with depression, I just get "exhilarated".

Hmmph.

I'm on a mood leveler, Lexapro, 30mg/day (one 20mg tablet and a second tablet snapped in half). It's a daily practice, one I've tried to keep to with religious fervor, because if I wind up skipping a day...or more...when I run out...and don't or can't renew the prescription...dumbass...I get kinda emotionally unstable.

I feel less grounded, less centered, less in control of my emotions and reactions to them and to other people (hey sweetie!), more reactive (in a bad way), less thoughtful or mindful of what's happening to me as a result.

But I'm not under indictment for anything that I've done while off my meds. And that's a good thing!

From the Revolution Health Network,

Exercise isn't a cure for depression or anxiety. But its psychological and physical benefits can improve your symptoms.

"It's not a magic bullet, but increasing physical activity is a positive and active strategy to help manage depression and anxiety," says Kristin Vickers-Douglas, Ph.D., a psychologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

So right now I'm aware that I need to exercise and that I'm not making the time to do that.

Dumbass? Yes...

So Obama won the election, strange people are coming for Thanksgiving next week, Christmas is coming and there are birthdays right behind Christmas.

I'm fat, I hate the way I look, I have no money of my own and I'm afraid to go back to work.

Sigh.

I suppose confession is good for the soul, but there's no guarantee that it'll be my soul that it's good for.

Armistice Day

2008-11-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

November 11th is the most famous armistice of recent history (20th Century), but it is not the only one.

From Wikipedia:

An armistice is a situation where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but can instead be just a cease fire. It is derived from the Latin arma, meaning weapons and statium, meaning a stopping.

A truce or ceasefire usually refers to a temporary cessation of hostilities for an agreed limited time or within a limited area. A truce may be needed in order to negotiate an armistice. An armistice is a modus vivendi and is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on. The 1953 Korean War armistice [1] is a major example of an armistice which has not yet been followed by a peace treaty.

(snip)

The key aspect in an armistice is the fact that "all fighting ends with no one surrendering". This is in contrast to an unconditional surrender, which is a surrender without conditions, except for those provided by international law.

Other armistices in history:

--Armistice of Copenhagen of 1537 ended the Danish war known as the Count's Feud.

--Armistice of Stuhmsdorf of 1635 between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden.

--Peace of Westphalia of 1648 that ended the Thirty Years' War.

Weekly Silver Melt Price Report

2008-11-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

$10.19 / troy ounce. Hmmph. Well, better than $20/oz.

And gold is under $750! ($744.36). Hmm.

Saturday Poetry

2008-11-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

The Mayflower Compact 1620

The artist, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris depicts how he thinks passengers of the Mayflower looked signing the "Mayflower Compact." Included are Carver, Winston, Alden, Myles Standish, Howland, Bradford, Allerton, and Fuller. Starting in the early 20th century, Ferris created a series of commemorative interpretations of early American development called "The Pageant of a Nation."

Created/Published : July 28, 1932

Creator : Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1863-1930, artist.

Notes : Reproduction of an oil painting from the series: The Pageant of a Nation

From The Avalon Project at Yale Law School (documents in law, history and diplomacy)

Agreement Between the Settlers at New Plymouth : 1620

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

From The U.S. Constitution Online: The Mayflower Compact

The Pilgrims are a revered and honored group in American history. The stories of survival, of relations with American Indians, of the first Thanksgiving, and of religious freedom found, are the stuff of American legend. One of the cornerstones of the Pilgrim ethos is the Mayflower Compact.

The Pilgrims were a small group of people bound by common religious beliefs. They did not believe in the influence over the church that the English king held, and preached separatism. This position did not sit well with the King, and by 1608, many of them left England for Holland, which was more tolerant of religious diversity. Though some of the group prospered, the time in Holland was hard. In particular, the group saw the children assimilating into Dutch culture, and they lamented the lack of opportunity to spread their interpretation of the Gospel to the far corners of the world.

The leaders began to think about moving. The two main proposed destinations were Guiana and Virginia; there was also some thought of going to Dutch America, specifically to settle near the Hudson River. Eventually, though, financing was secured to pay for settlement in New England, an area north of the Virginia settlements. Two ships were hired for the voyage - the Speedwell, to transport the passengers, and the larger Mayflower, to transport cargo and to do exploration. The Speedwell turned out to be unseaworthy (reports arose that its crew sabotaged the ship to get out of their contracts), so the Pilgrims and other colonists brought in by the investors crowded into the Mayflower; about twenty passengers had to be left behind. The ship finally sailed for America in September of 1620.

In November, the Mayflower spotted Cape Cod. They tried to sail south to the Hudson River, but turned back north when they encountered shoals. They anchored at Provincetown Harbor, at the northern tip of Cape Cod. While anchored and awaiting exploration to find a suitable place for colonization, the colonists decided that their contracts with their investors were not valid, not the least reason being that the promised land grants for New England were incomplete (the grants were finalized while the Mayflower was in transit). The colonists decided to enact a contract among themselves. This contract, later known at the Mayflower Compact, is now seen as one of the first forays into democracy on the North American continent.

In the Compact, the signers agree to bind themselves into a society to preserve order and to help further their aims. They agree to create offices, laws, and constitutions that will aid the common good. Finally, they agreed that such laws would be supreme and agreed to abide by them. In a nutshell, this is a classic embodiment of the Lockean idea of government (though it predates Locke), an idea carried on to what some consider its ultimate embodiment, the U.S. Constitution.

The original Compact is lost to history, but its text was recorded in 1622 in a book about the Pilgrims and the founding of the colony at Plimouth (now Plymouth), Massachusetts. The book, entitled Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, was published in London.

Saturday Poetry

2008-11-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Matt Mason
Matt Mason

In Support Of A Ballot Measure Permitting Major
Political Candidates To Eat Their Young (1992)

I will do whatever it takes to be re-elected.
--George Bush

I
Wee Willy Clinton refueled his bus at the Casey's
down the road last week, every wave and word
creating unnatural frenzy. And Georgie-Porgie-
President-Pie kissed my ass
and made me cry, but when the boys
came out to play, it was Ross who ran away.
(AP Washington When rearranged, the letters in "George Herbert
Walker Bush" can spell "Huge, berserk, Rebel
Warthog." So far, the president has refused to
comment except to blame his opponents for
"negative campaigning.")

II
Larry Agran calmly waters his lawn,
speaks without a teleprompter, doesn't seek motes
in the political pasts of anyone.
He dressed for the party
but went to the wrong address (they
assure him).
Lenora and Andre show far less tolerance,
throwing popcorn at Larry King
as the leading three candidates pose like bachelors
on The Dating Game and promise
two thirty second spots in every hour
and a value on every family.
Their writers and coaches are state of the art,
veterans of Cold Wars and Cola Wars;
every inflection is artfully crafted for
we hold these truths to be self-evident
that all polls
are created equal.

III
And it is our duty,
one nation under
goddammit, Madonna wants me to vote,
Jesus hasn't endorsed anyone
(despite what the press releases claim) and no one
bothered to channel Elvis or take
an informal survey among the voting-age
members of New Kids On The Block
yet.

Silver Down!

2008-10-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Under $9/oz! (8.94)

Which means? Cheap silver, eventually.

(And gold is under $750...hmm...)

Saturday Poetry

2008-10-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hilaire Belloc

1870 - 1953

October

Look, how those steep woods on the mountain's face
Burn, burn against the sunset; now the cold
Invades our very noon: the year's grown old,
Mornings are dark, and evenings come apace.
The vines below have lost their purple grace,
And in Forreze the white wrack backward rolled,
Hangs to the hills tempestuous, fold on fold,
And moaning gusts make desolate all the place.

Mine host the month, at thy good hostelry,
Tired limbs I'll stretch and steaming beast I'll tether;
Pile on great logs with Gascon hand and free,
And pour the Gascon stuff that laughs at weather;
Swell your tough lungs, north wind, no whit care we,
Singing old songs and drinking wine together.

Saturday Poetry

2008-10-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

William Cullen Bryant

1794 - 1878

October

Aye, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath!
When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf,
And sons grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief,
And the year smiles as it draws near its death.
Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay
In the gay woods and in the golden air,
Like to a good old age released from care,
Journeying, in long serenity, away.
In such a bright, late quiet, would that I
Might wear out life like thee, 'mid bowers and brooks,
And dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks,
And music of kind voices ever nigh;
And when my last sand twinkled in the glass,
Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass.

From http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46821.asp

William Cullen Bryant, most noted for his poem “Thanatopsis,” a study of death, also wrote numerous sonnets on nature. Born in Cummington, Massachusetts, November 3, 1794, Bryant was an early nature lover and much of his poetry focuses on nature subjects.

Bryant’s literary career had begun in his teens. He wrote and published a satirical poem titled “The Embargo” and several other poems when he was only thirteen. He wrote his most widely read poem, “Thanatopsis,” when he was only eighteen.

He moved to New York in 1825 and with a friend founded The New York Review, where he published many of his poems. His longest stint as an editor was at The Evening Post, where he served for over fifty years until his death. In addition to his editorial and literary efforts, Bryant joined in the political discussions of the day, offering clear-headed prose to his repertoire of works.

In 1832, Bryant published his first volume of poems and in 1852 his collection The Fountain and Other Poems appeared. When he was seventy-one years old, he began his translation of the Iliad which he completed in 1869; then he finished the Odyssey in 1871. When he was eighty-two, he wrote and published The Flood of Years, which remains his strongest work.

Bryant’s dedication to his literary career as well as to his homeland could not be emphasized any better than by the poet himself when he said, "We are not without the hope that those who read what we have written, will see in the past, with all its vicissitudes, the promise of a prosperous and honorable future, of concord at home, and peace and respect abroad; and that the same cheerful piety which leads the good man to put his personal trust in a kind Providence, will prompt the good citizen to cherish an equal confidence in regard to the destiny reserved for our beloved country."

Despite the shrill voices of many of today’s poets and political pundits who denigrate their country with their undisciplined art and polemics, Bryant’s hope has well been realized.

Down Baby! (2)

2008-10-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Silver's dropped to under $9.50--$9.3425/oz.

Keep going! Cheap silver!

Down Baby!

2008-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Silver is well below $10/oz finally! $9.69 at Gold Is Money.info

What I Know

2008-10-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

I've previously said that all politicians lie and if I haven't, well, they do.

From The Hunt for Red October:

I'm a politician, Dr. Ryan. Which means that when I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops.

I love that line!

But another thing to remember is that "journalists", "the media", the people who cry that "the public has a right to know!" have an invisible agenda that always takes precedent over any responsibilities they might have to the public:

Let's you and him fight.

Saturday Poetry

2008-10-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Ellis Parker Butler
December 5, 1869 - September 13, 1937

October

The forest holds high carnival to-day,
And every hill-side glows with gold and fire;
Ivy and sumac dress in colors gay,
And oak and maple mask in bright attire.

The hoarded wealth of sober autumn days
In lavish mood for motley garb is spent,
And nature for the while at folly plays,
Knowing the morrow brings a snowy Lent.

From Ellis Parker Butler.info

Author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, Ellis Parker Butler is most famous for his short story "Pigs is Pigs" in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs that soon start proliferating geometrically.

Working from his home in Flushing (Queens) New York, Ellis Parker Butler was -- by every measure and by many times -- the most published author of the pulp fiction era.

His career spanned more than forty years and his stories, poems and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. His work appeared along side that of his contemporaries including Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, James B. Hendryx, Berton Braley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Don Marquis, Will Rogers and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Despite the enormous volume of his work Ellis Parker Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in his local community. A founding member of both the Dutch Treat Club and the Author's League of America, Butler was an always-present force in the New York City literary scene.

"You Gotta Be Twice As Good"

2008-10-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

The Black Informant has an interesting post up:

As long as I can remember, this has been the advice given to many bright-eyed Black kids as they looked down the street of possibilities. This advice oftentimes was given by adults who lived in an era where being “twice as good as White folks” was practically a requirement if you wanted to move ahead.

Not to be racist or anything, but why doesn't he include the rest of the advice?

Luckily, that ain't that hard.

Saturday Poetry

2008-10-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

George Cooper
1838-1927

October's Party

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses Maple
In scarlet looked their best;
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.

Then, in the rustic hollow,
At hide-and-seek they played,
The party closed at sundown,
And everybody stayed.
Professor Wind played louder;
They flew along the ground;
And then the party ended
In jolly "hands around."

Saturday Poetry

2008-09-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Jerry Lee Lewis

September 29, 1935 -

from http://www.metrolyrics.com/whole-lotta-shakin-goin-on-lyrics-jerry-lee-lewis.html

Whole Lotta Shaking Going On

Come over baby
whole lot of shakin' goin' on
Yes, I said come over baby
baby you can't go wrong
We ain't fakin'
Whole lot of shakin' goin' on

Well I said come over baby
we got chicken in the barn
oooh... huh..
Come over baby
babe we got the bull by the horn-a
We ain't fakin'
Whole lot of shakin' goin' on

Chorus

Well I said shake baby shake
I said shake baby shake
I said shake it baby shake it
I said shake baby shake
Come on over
Whole lot of shakin goin' on

Ahhhhh Let's Go !

Bridge

Well I said come over baby
we got chicken in the barn
Who's barn
what barn
my barn
Come over baby well, we got the bull by the horns
We ain't fakin'
Whole lot of shakin' goin' on

Easy Now (lower)
Shake it Ahhhh... Shake it babe
Yeah.... You can shake one time for me
Well I said come over baby
Whole lot of shakin' goin' on

Now lets get real low one time now
Shake baby shake
All you gotta honey is kinda stand in one spot
wiggle around just a little bit
thats what you gotta do yeah....
Oh babe whole lotta shakin' goin' on

Now let go one time

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Lotta_Shakin%27_Goin%27_On

"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" (also rendered "Whole Lotta Shaking Going On") is a song best known in the 1957 rock and roll hit version by Jerry Lee Lewis.

Origins of the song

The origins of the song are disputed, but the writing is co-credited to Native American (Crow) / African American Kentuckian singer/songwriter Dave "Curlee" Williams, and white pianist, bandleader and songwriter James Faye "Roy" Hall (May 7, 1922 - March 2, 1984). Hall made the first recording of the song in September 1954 for Decca Records, and maintained that he had written it under the pseudonym of "Sunny David". However, a Decca sample copy of Hall's recording lists Dave Williams as the sole writer. Hall was also a Nashville club owner, who later claimed to have employed young piano player Jerry Lee Lewis at some point around 1954.

Hall's version was rapidly covered by Big Maybelle whose recording was produced by the young Quincy Jones, and by others including The Commodores (no relation to the '70s Motown group). However, none of these early recordings found much commercial success.

Jerry Lee Lewis version

Jerry Lee Lewis had been performing the song in his stage act, and recorded it at his second recording session for Sun Records, on May 27, 1957. Supervised by producer Jack Clement, Lewis radically altered the original, adding a propulsive boogie piano that was complemented by J.M. Van Eaton's energetic drumming, and also added suggestive spoken asides. Lewis later stated : "I knew it was a hit when I cut it. Sam Phillips thought it was gonna be too risqué, it couldn't make it. If that's risqué, well, I'm sorry."

In Lewis' autobiographical film, Lewis is shown spying in on Black American speak-easy type club, listening to Whole Lotta Shakin Goin' On by a Black female soloist. The next scene depicts Lewis using this song, discrediting the original artist.

Released as Sun 267, the record reached # 3 on the Billboard pop charts, # 1 on the R&B charts, # 1 on the country charts, and # 8 in the UK. Lewis became an instant sensation and, as writer Robert Gordon noted: "Jerry Lee began to show that in this new emerging genre called rock 'n' roll, not everybody was going to stand there with a guitar."

Jerry Lee Lewis's version of the song is ranked as the sixty-first greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. In 2005, it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

Happy Birthday, Killer!

National Firearms Day

2008-09-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

Oooh! The Only Life has a great idea!

So, we propose that each year, the Saturday after the first Monday in November be proclaimed National Firearms Day. This day will be in celebration of those elected officials who support the 2nd Amendment, and in defiance of those who oppose it. We feel that this day more than any other is appropriate for its symbolism and ability to send a very loud and pointed message to our elected officials.

That's the second Saturday in November this year-November 8th!

h/t Say Uncle

The Culture of the Now

2008-09-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was able to watch a little more than half of the third episode of the show "Fringe".

I was probably okay with it, even with the gross image of the mad scientist (one of the good guys!) drilling a hole into a patient's head with a little electric drill. Did I mention the total lack of anesthesia? Consent forms? A sterile environment?

Yeah. Let's just have a hole drilled in a guy's head right now, and worry about way bad infection later on. Oy.

Apparently it all took place in one 24-hour period. Hmm, the lead investigator never goes home to sleep, never changes her clothes, runs hither and yon all day long and is just fine chasing down a bad guy and pointing a gun at him.

Um. And no pesky internal affairs asking how the bad guy got away from her (he committed suicide by stepping in front of a speeding bus).

So. She's still chipper at the end of the day, after witnessing one murder and one suicide, having drawn her gun and been ready to shoot (Condition Red, I believe). She doesn't need any down time or a drink or a a couple of pills. No, she just wants the mad scientist's son to play her a little Bach on the piano. In the lab.

"Nah," he says. "Bach is too stuffy. What you need is some jazz." And he starts noodling around, playing a version of a jazz standard (Someone to Watch Over Me, maybe?).

I wanted to kick the smug son-of-a-bitch in the balls. The show's writers and almost certainly the producers just made their allegiance to the current hipster generation known.

Hipster? You know, the generation that doesn't like anything that was created before their tastes were formed, decided, jelled.

I suppose it's actually more of an attitude than a generation, but it's an attitude that dismisses history as irrelevant, favors appearance over substance, the culture of the now over civilization.

Had the investigator stopped (shot) the piano player and insisted on her Bach, I would have been thrilled! To see a character with values other than those of the culture of now and to see her maintain, defend, demand those values would have been wonderful.

As it is, "Fringe" is just another stupid show.

Thoughts Upon Having Read Jon Land's "The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending"

2008-09-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

My God, this is terrible writing. And he's a successful professional writer...

Thoughts Upon Having Read John Ross' "Unintended Consequences" For the Fourth Time

2008-09-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Gah. That's a big book. More minor details stood out--FN continued to develop the Browning automatic rifle, culminating in the model D (Wikipedia has an interesting article on that)...gosh, I don't know what else.

Thinking about the plot, that's big too. But we're not at that point yet, and I hope we never get there. Purposeful, self-directed, political / bureaucratic assassination is somewhat too anarchic for my taste.

The writing is terrible. But Ross finished the book, told an exciting story, created memorable characters. I still read it, so what's he got that I haven't?

Saturday Poetry

2008-09-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

Cole Porter

1891 - 1964

From http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/ive+got+you+under+my+skin_20055638.html

I've Got You Under My Skin

I've got you under my skin
I've got you deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart, that you're really a part of me
I've got you under my skin

I've tried so not to give in
I've said to myself this affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist, when baby I know so well
That I've got you under my skin

I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear

Don't you know you fool, you never can win
Use your mentality, wake up to reality
But each time I do, just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
'cause I've got you under my skin

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Got_You_Under_My_Skin_(song)

Written in 1936, it was introduced in the Eleanor Powell MGM musical, Born to Dance, in which it was performed by Virginia Bruce. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song that year.

Sinatra first sang the song on his weekly radio show in 1946, as the second part of a medley with "Easy to Love". He put his definitive stamp on the tune ten years later, in a swinging big-band version that built to successive crescendoes on the back of an arrangement by Nelson Riddle. He usually included the song in his concerts thereafter.

In 1963, Sinatra re-recorded "I've Got You Under My Skin" for the album Sinatra's Sinatra, an album of re-recordings of Sinatra's personal favorites.

In 1993, Sinatra once again recorded "I've Got You Under My Skin", this time as a duet with Bono of U2, for inclusion on Sinatra's commercially very successful Duets album. It was also released as a B-side of U2's "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" single.

Silver Up

2008-09-19T16:22:00.001-07:00

Silver is back over $12.50, oof.

Blasted Weather

2008-09-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Blasted weather in Houston may have snarled up my internet connection. All is much better now.

Saturday Poetry

2008-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Gus Kahn

1886 - 1941

The Carioca

Say, have you seen a Carioca?
It's not a foxtrot or a polka
It has a little bit of new rhythm, a blue rhythm that sighs

It has a meter that is tricky
A bit of wicked wacky-wicky
But when you dance it with a new love, there's a true love in her eye

You dream of a new Carioca
Its theme is a kiss and a sigh
You dream of a new Carioca
When music and lights are gone we say goodbye

Two heads together, they say are better than one
Two heads together, that's how the dance is begun
Two arms around you and lips, that's why I'm yours and you are mine
And you are mine

Now that you've done the Carioca
You'll never care to do the Polka
And then you'll realize the blue hula and bamboola are through

Tomorrow morning you'll discover
You're just a Carioca lover
And when you dance it with each new love, there'll be true love just for you

Now you'll dream of a new Carioca
Its theme is a kiss and a sigh
You'll dream of a new Carioca
When music and lights are gone and we're saying goodbye
Goodbye

Who Am I?

2008-09-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

Curtis Lowe has an amusing post up re political experience, and who has it or has had it.

Enjoy.

September 11, 2001

2008-09-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged about 9/11 before. I was home that day with Samantha, who was not yet 8 months old. Everything on the television was the news about the first plane flying into the World Trade Center towers.

Then the second plane hit. And the Pentagon was hit by a plane. And a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

In the days and weeks and months and years that followed, I was angry that my country had been attacked, and that we were not able to strike back, directly, cleanly, at those who had initiated the attack.

I was a Democrat that day, until I saw the damage and said to myself "Thank God the grownups are in charge."

Politicians and news commentators and people with political influence muddied the waters, trying to convince us that we must have deserved, did deserve, the attack. Those of us who wanted revenge joked grimly about turning the Middle East into a sea of glass.

But the grownups were in charge and pursued a more rational response, trying diplomacy and firing warning shots. The US invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq, fighting the terrorists and those who lead them on their ground, taking the fight to them.

If there may have been further attempts of terrorism on the US, they have been foiled.

In my time, I have hated and it is a self-destructive choice. I do not hate the people and the countries who have chosen terrorism as their path to power, but I do not question their failures or their deaths. I don't care. Die already.

Silver Way Down

2008-09-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

Just checked goldismoney.com, silver is down to 10.65 per ounce. Whoa!

Melt Prices

2008-09-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

Silver's down to $12.05!

Gold's back up to just over $800.

Thoughts About A Next Gun

2008-09-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

I thought some over the weekend about what gun I'd like to get next. But remember, this is thinking, not buying.

I'd probably shop for a used bolt-action in .308. Scoped, with studs for sling swivels. I'd be shooting paper and steel, at distances from 100 yards to 400 - 600 yards.

Wooden stock preferred, just because I like wood more than I like a synthetic stock, but that's not a deal breaker.

Heavy barrel? Varmint contour? Sporter? Depends on what I find out on the web. If necessary, I can put together something to counter any barrel whip that might exist.

Aargh

2008-09-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

John Farnam's Quips is now officially on my "once a week peek" list. This is just too frustrating. The man's a damn tease!

Saturday Poetry

2008-09-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

George Gershwin, 1898 - 1937

They All Laughed

The odds were a hundred to one against me
The world thought the heights were too high to climb
But people from Missouri never incensed me
Oh, I wasn’t a bit concerned
For from hist’ry I had learned
How many, many times the worm had turned

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly

They told Marconi
Wireless was a phony
It’s the same old cry
They laughed at me wanting you
Said I was reaching for the moon
But oh, you came through
Now they’ll have to change their tune

They all said we never could be happy
They laughed at us and how!
But ho, ho, ho!
Who’s got the last laugh now?

They all laughed at Rockefeller center
Now they’re fighting to get in
They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin
They all laughed at Fulton and his steamboat
Hershey and his chocolate bar

Ford and his misery
Kept the laughers busy
That’s how people are
They laughed at me wanting you
Said it would be, "hello, goodbye."
But oh, you came through
Now they’re eating humble pie

They all said we’d never get together
Darling, let’s take a bow
For ho, ho, ho!
Who’s got the last laugh?
He, hee, hee!
Let’s at the past laugh
Ha, ha, ha!
Who’s got the last laugh now?

from http://www.allthelyrics.com/song/1105660/

Silver Down

2008-09-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

Melt is approaching $12--cheap silver is coming again!

The Problem of 05Aug08

2008-09-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

John Farnam's last update to his "Farnam's Quips" was 05Aug08. I know that Mr. Farnam is a busy man, but for the love of God, update your dang site!

Thank you.

A Melange

2008-09-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

First day of school! First day of school!

Ah...Samantha went back to school this morning. She's a second-grader this year, in a different classroom with a different teacher. She had the same teacher for K/1, and that was very good for her. New room, new teacher--I'll just have to wait and see how it goes for her. May have to spring into action, hmm.

Inasmuch as she's the Republican VP nominee, I should say something about Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and mother of five. I was excited by the announcement of McCain's choice; now, I'm not so excited. McCain chose her because she would energize the base, but not overshadow him as President.

Plus, like it or not (and I don't), she is a politician. Which means when she's not kissing babies, she's stealing their lollipops. I'm thrilled that she's a life-member of the NRA; how much that'll mean to me, to others, to anyone, nobody knows.

Finally hit the range today! Came home from taking Samantha to school, cleaned the Marlin downstairs (ran a Boresnake through it, then a wet patch, couple of dry patches, finally an oily patch) and it was off to Angeles Shooting Range with a box of Federal (40 rounds?!? Cheapskate bastards...) and thirty rounds from a box of CCI Mini-Mags.

The rifle stovepiped (jammed) a couple of times with the Federal, and I had to wiggle the stuck cases out with a punch I happened to have in my range bag. Ran just fine with the Mini-Mags and I had fun banging away at the steel silhouettes. Maybe I should've done more, but I shot as much as I wanted to, packed up, came home...and cleaned the gun again. A very mellow experience.

And silver's under $13! And gold's under $800! And gas in our neighborhood is holding steady at $3.859!

But when is this heat ever going to break?!? I'm so tired of it being hot hot hot every single day!

A Reprieve, Huzzah!

2008-09-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Well, the great migration is sucessfully underway, and it seems that Bridget didn't want me moved as much as she wanted me out of Samantha's bedroom.

No luck on the great desk hunt; the ones we find for Samantha that we like ("Oooh...") are a bit...expensive ("Gack!"), and the ones that are affordable ("Oooh...") are somewhat lacking...in something ("Hmmm...").

More of the Ted Mack Amateur Hour of Moving and Physical Therapy tomorrow.

Life Downstairs

2008-08-31T00:22:00.000-07:00

The townhouse we live in has a small bonus room, with laundry hookups, off the garage downstairs. When we moved in, 12-13 years ago, Bridget offered me the choice of that space for my "office". Sad to say, I probably laughed in her face and raced upstairs to claim the second bedroom with attached bathroom. She wound up with the downstairs bonus room as her sewing room.

Well, along came Samantha and I got booted out of my "office" because that was now her room. Eventually, this began to bother Bridget and she decided that she would take down her sewing room, move it into storage except for a few necessities, and put those necessities into the nook outside of Samantha's room at the top of the stairs.

It's taken her 3 years to achieve her goal, and tonight she made it. Everything in the bonus room, except for what I'm keeping, is in her storage unit or awaiting transport to same. Huzzah!

So. Tomorrow, I start moving all of my stuff, my junk, my toys, my crap downstairs. Oy...

My wife. Doer of great deeds. I salute you!

Saturday Poetry

2008-08-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Cole Porter, 1891 - 1964

I Get A Kick Out of You

My story is much too sad to be told,
but practically everything
leaves me totally cold.
The only exception I know is the case,
when I'm out on a quiet spree,
fighting vainly the old ennui
and I suddenly turn and see,
your fabulous face.

I get no kick from Champagne
Mere alchohol doesn't thrill me at all
so tell me why should it be true
that I get a kick
out of you

Some get a kick from cocaine
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
that would bore me terrifficly too
yet I get a kick out of you

I get a kick every time I see you standing there before me
I get a kick though it's clear to me you obviously don't
adore me

I get no kick in a plane
Flying too high
with some guy in the sky is my idea of nothing to do

Yet I get a kick
Out of you

Lyrics from http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/c/coleporter5950/igetakickoutofyou235307.html

Picture from http://www.sacos.co.uk/Anything%20Goes/Anything%20Goes%20Page.htm

Saturday Poetry

2008-08-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Conrad Aiken
1889-1973

All Lovely Things

All lovely things will have an ending,
All lovely things will fade and die,
And youth, that's now so bravely spending,
Will beg a penny by and by.

Fine ladies soon are all forgotten,
And goldenrod is dust when dead,
The sweetest flesh and flowers are rotten
And cobwebs tent the brightest head.

Come back, true love! Sweet youth, return!—
But time goes on, and will, unheeding,
Though hands will reach, and eyes will yearn,
And the wild days set true hearts bleeding.

Come back, true love! Sweet youth, remain!—
But goldenrod and daisies wither,
And over them blows autumn rain,
They pass, they pass, and know not whither.

Poem found at "American Poems"

Picture found at "Poetry Pearls", a Russian-language site

I'm in the money...

2008-08-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

So. One of my household chores is the recycling. Mostly this entails packing up the cardboard of various sizes, the plastics (sorted by type) and miscellaneous (magazines, old phone books, tin cans, what not).

But then there's the cash recyclables, the ones that California requires retailers to charge on such items as bottles of water and soft drink cans. When I bag those up and finally get around to running them through a self-serve machine, that's a couple of bucks at a time for my fun fund.

It was my SKS fund, then it was my gun fund, now it's my fun fund. I'm finally starting to get it through my head that owning and shooting guns is an expensive hobby, and I can't afford to do that based on what I can find in my jeans pocket at any given moment.

Dang.

Plus, Appleseed shoots cost money--$70 per weekend, I think. If I don't save up for these purchases and activities, I'll never get beyond what I have, where I am.

So, after responsibly saving the recycling money for, um, a month, I think, I've got $21. Yay me. It's a start.

Dinner Conversations

2008-08-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Another evening, another delightful meal. My wife Bridget does a wonderful job of balancing nutritional requirements against Samantha's medical limitations (i.e., no tomatoes, no dairy, never any foods too high in galactose).

Prompted by who-knows-what, I remembered a book I had seen, possibly during my book store employment phase, about pre-Columbian cooking. No, not what the Mesoamericans ate, but what the Europeans ate before Columbus sailed to the New World and opened a new frontier of cooking and eating and taste.

I'm a garbage gourmand on a non-stop "see food" diet. Samantha, thank God, can't eat sweet breads, so fun things like kidneys and brains will never cross our plates, but beef and potatoes and typical American vegetables (carrots, peas, onions) do. Yum!

So what did the Europeans eat before Columbus? Remember, this was a dinner conversation, so it drifted, rather than flowed. We came up with:

--domesticated meat: beef, pork, chicken, fish (yeah, yeah, what're you gonna do, it's gotta go somewhere)

--game of all kinds: venison, boar, birds, rabbit

--fruit: apples, pears, grapes, berries. Bananas? (Nope.) And no tomatoes!

--vegetables: carrots, turnips, onions--but no potatoes! That and corn are New World foods! No sweet potatoes? No strawberries?

--grains: wheat, oats, barley. Rice?

From the "Home and Garden section of the New York Times, October 9 1991":

WHEN it comes to Columbus, Luisa di Giovanni, a biologist and historian, is less than sanguine. Ms. di Giovanni, a native of Genoa, will acknowledge that the foods brought back from the New World enriched the diets of various countries, but Italy benefited less than others.

As far as she's concerned (the tomato notwithstanding), Columbus's impact has been greatly exaggerated in his native land.

"It could be argued that in the exchange of foods, the newly discovered lands gained more than they gave," said Ms. di Giovanni. "Europe had a much richer variety of food than the Americas. We already had plenty of grains like wheat, rice, millet, rye and barley, so corn did not have that much impact, except to the poor. We also had domesticated animals, which we introduced to the Americas, plus plenty of fruits and vegetables."

To prove her point, and to put a somewhat different spin on the hoopla for the upcoming quincentennial of Columbus's voyage, she has devised an eight-course menu of dishes typical of 14th- and 15th-century Italy. The $45 meal is being served this week at Caffe Bondi, 7 West 20th Street in Manhattan...

Work on this week's pre-Columbian menu began about a year ago. (That's what happens when academics become interested in food.) Sure, there will be pasta, but no tomatoes. Potatoes, beans, sweet and hot peppers, turkey and chocolate are also noticeably absent from the meal.

"Potatoes have never been as important in our diet as in that of other European countries," said Ms. di Giovanni, "and the role of the tomato is exaggerated, especially by Americans whose idea of Italian food is mainly Neapolitan. The fact is that neither of these vegetables gained any acceptance in Europe much before the 18th century."

The meal will begin with fresh fruit -- grapes and figs -- because Ms. di Giovanni said doctors of Columbus's time thought raw fruit could only be eaten before a meal. And it ends not with coffee, which did not become popular in Europe until the 17th century, but with herbs and honey.

She said the difference between today's table and the historical example she developed for Caffe Bondi has more to do with how foods were prepared, combined and presented than with the ingredients. For example, a rich chicken soup is seasoned with pungent spices and thickened with ground almonds and Parmesan cheese. The bread is fragrant with rosemary and studded with raisins. A pudding-like concoction of sweetened and spiced rice with chicken and almond milk called bramagere is served as the third course.

Fried ravioli with a pork-and-cheese filling comes with a dusting of sugar; quail wrapped in pancetta and stuffed with pomegranate seeds has quince jam on the side; fritters of eel with dried fruits and herbs are accompanied by a mellow carrot confit. Wines like Chianti, which Ms. di Giovanni said was first documented around 1400, are served with the dinner but not watered, spiced or sweetened as they probably were in the old days.

The dessert, a kind of fried custard with sweet preserved green squash jam (squash-like edible gourds were common in pre-Columbian Europe), was not much sweeter than the other dishes.

MAS 1936

2008-08-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

Went out and about this past Monday, wound up at Martin B. Rettig's in Culver City, prowling the rifles on the floor, looking for something <$250 OTD.

Found a MAS 1936--which meant nothing to me. After a day or so on the web, searching a ton of military surplus forums, I know quite a bit more.

It's a French bolt action in 7.5x54mm. Ammo suitable to shoot at Angeles Range (lead or copper-plated lead (FMJ))is not easy or cheap to find ("load your own!" seems to be the common retort), the stock is a little short (a rubber boot from the 36/51 grenade launcher update is available), and only the rear sight adjusts via an almost impossible-to-find set of replacement leaves.

It's $189.99, about $234 OTD.

But, it can be rechambered to 7.62x51, which is to say, .308 Winchester.

Hmm...

UPDATE: After I found the MAS at Rettig's, I ran up to Santa Fe Gun Galeria in Palmdale to see what they had. I had a vague memory that maybe they might have 7.5 MAS ammo...

And they're closed, Sunday and Monday. Well...spit.

So I ran back up there today, they were open, and sure enough they had 7.5 MAS. Two kinds! One was in small, anonymous packages with Arabic writing--probably Syrian mil-surplus steel-jacketed, but the other was blue box FNM, non-magnetic! $17 for 20 rounds, 4 boxes available with no certainity of getting anymore in stock. Ever.

So there you have it. A French mil-surp weapon at one store, commercial ammo at another. And only 60 miles apart.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

2008-07-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

From http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm (but I had to go in via Google's cache).

Quote for the day

2008-06-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Talking to gun control advocates is like talking to five year-olds. Tell a five-year-old it's time for bed, and he'll say "No." Ask why not, and he'll say "because." That's his whole reasoning, unfounded - "because". But that's a subject for another post.

from Home on the Range

Saturday Poetry

2008-06-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

image from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16786/16786-h/16786-h.htm

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

from http://www.sonnets.org/longfell.htm

Mezzo Cummin

Half of my life is gone, and I have let
The years slip from me and have not fulfilled
The asperations of my youth, to build
Some tower of song with lofty parapet.
Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret
Of restless passions that would not be stilled,
But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,
Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;
Though, half-way up the hill, I see the Past
Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,--
A city in the twilight dim and vast,
With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,--
And hear above me on the autumnal blast
The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.

"You Must Be A Gentleman"

2008-04-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

Over at Seraphic Press Robert J. Avrech has a post up about Jews expelled from Algiers.

"How long did your family live in Algeria?"

My friend sits back and ponders a moment: “Oh, since the churban, [586 BCE] the Destruction of the Temple. That's when our family made its way from Babylon to Algeria.”

The story has quite a satisfactory ending, hence the title of my post. Enjoy.

Pondering the Unthinkable

2008-03-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

My daughter goes to a private school. As a parent, I volunteer my time there and so I'm fairly familiar with the physical layout of the school.

The front door of the school opens directly onto the administrative office. Someone opens that door, and steps inside.

*boom* *boom*

That was the two women at the front desks. They're dead or dying. No one has called 911.

*boom*

That was the large window that glasses in the director's office. He's dead or wounded.

*boom*

That was anyone at the copier, or anyone coming in from the hallway.

Three steps into the hallway and one step to the right is a K/1 classroom. Six steps to the left is a 1/2 classroom.

Is someone scrambling for a phone?

Farther down the hall are two K/1 classrooms that face each other. There are two more classrooms past them.

A teacher or teacher's aide might be opening a door, looking out in the hall.

At the end of the hall, a left turn takes you out onto a fenced-off playground. There's an exit gate in the fence.

This could be a lunatic, a vengeful ex-spouse or ex-lover, a gang banger. And unless they choose to take hostages, it's all over in less than a minute.

If I'm there, I'm probably dead in the hallway or the office. And there's nothing I could do to change the outcome. Aside from response time issues, California is a "may issue" state; the city of Los Angeles defers to the county of Los Angeles, and both of them are "won't issue".

I'm glad I often tell my daughter that I love her.

So. I'm at the mercy of fate, just like everyone else.

Mere Peace

2007-11-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

When I drive my daughter to school, at some point, she's there and I'm on my way back. On the classical station, I've been hearing ads between the music for a performance of the local master chorale.

November 18th, the chorale will present 3 pieces: Haydn's Mass in Time of War; Andriessen's The City of Dis or: The Ship of Fools, the first section of a five-part opera-in-progress based on Dante's La Commedia; and Tormis's God Protect Us From War.

From the program notes:

Opening in a minor key, the gloomy timpani again utter frenzied throbbings when the music suddenly blossoms with trumpet fanfares, a dance-like tempo accelerating as the chorus insistently intones, “Dona nobis pacem,” an entreaty for peace. (Haydn's Mass)

And:

Featuring chant-like melodic motifs and the underlying tones of a gong, the impression of an ancient prayer wrapped in a mysterious veneer comforts us... (Tormis's God Protect Us From War)

Peace. Comfort. The absence of war, conflict, disagreement. Consensus.

Not victory. Oh, God no. Not success. Not even prayers for the well-being of the troops.

Peace. As in, "Bring the troops home!" As in, "No blood for oil!" As in, "peace in our time".

How is that peace maintained? By whom? At what cost?

"Don't know" And "don't care"

But peace is good! And right! And must be made now! So that the peaceful lotus-eaters are not disturbed in their dreams of...peace.

Interesting. I had not realized that peace is an artifact, made by man. I'm not saying that war is the natural state of mankind, but peace is something made, something that does not exist naturally, without support, without attention paid to it, without the infrastructure to wage war...to make peace.

This selection of music for the performance is an affirmation--a re-statement--of the obligatory, not-up-for-discussion chant "Peace good! War bad! Peace good!" There's no consideration, no room for consideration, of how peace is made. And kept.

Presidential Pick

2007-08-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

I'm conservative, so I look to the Republicans for my salvation (if there were a truly conservative party in this race, I'd be there in a shot).

I heard some clips today from Sunday's ABC debate (Sunday morning? Sheesh.) on the Hugh Hewitt show today. Romney sounds grave and concerned, but Giuliani sounds sharp and responsive. Aggressive, even, against the moderator George Stephanopoulos.

I don't know the man, only his recent history as mayor of NYC, and his 9/11 experience. I have to go by what other conservatives say about or present of him--I'll most likely vote for Rudy Giuliani for President.

Do I like his stance on gun rights? No.

Do I like his stance on the war on terror? Yes.

Do I trust him more than any other candidate? Trust how? He's a politician running for office. When he's not kissing babies, he's stealing their lollipops. He'll say what he thinks will get him elected.

It doesn't matter who wins--we're all fucked.

Kenn Blanchard - A Reply

2007-06-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Kenn Blanchard has a post up titled Violence in Our Society. He asks several questions that I'd like to try to reply to:

How can we stop the violence in our society?

I believe that violence is part of the human nature; so is the seeking after of truth and salvation. I don't believe that it can be stopped, only struggled with.

I see two ways of combatting violence: 1) Inappropriate violence must be met with sudden and overwhelming violence in response, and 2) the unchecked and uneducated impulse towards violence must be controlled and re-directed into honest pride.

But social engineering is a road paved with good intentions, viz. the War on Poverty.

What can we do to repair our communities without given [sic] up the essential liberties that made this a great nation?

I can't comment to this without knowing more about who 'we' and 'our communities' are, as well as the 'essential liberties'.

What are you willing to do to protect your family from violence?

An interesting question! While I think I'm willing to do violence to others to protect my family, I've never been put to that test and God willing, I never will.

But what about non-violent methods? I'm not active in my neighborhood (not 'community'), I don't belong to a church, I don't set a good example for boys and young men by leading a Boy Scout troop. I'm pretty much a schlub.

What are your working in to make that a reality?

Again, I'm a schlub.

Can we stop violence?

As I said already, it's part of human nature. It's part of my nature, yet it does not drive me or consume me. I'm untrained in martial mayhem, yet big enough to do serious damage to small, weak or unsuspecting victims--but I don't. I own guns and have enough ammunition on-hand to kill a dozen, a score, a hundred--but I don't.

Why not?

Because I have more tools in my emotional and intellectual toolbox than only violence. The urge to do violence is bound closely to feeling disrespected; I have other ways to respond to the feelings of being dismissed, ignored, or looked down upon.

But I would not want to delete my ability to do violence, because I might need it at some point. I trust my own judgement as to whether I need to be violent. I don't trust everyone else's judgement about their need to be violent and spend most of my time in Condition Yellow.

Mr. Blanchard continues with a long ranty paragraph about rabid PETA advocates, unsocialized dogs, ignored children, the failure of parenting, time-saving devices, the lack of interpersonal skills, and the exploitation of the lonely and confused.

Children and the elderly have become the targets of everything wicked. Why because their innocence offends the very nature of the world today. What are you going to do about it?

Children and the elderly are always targets of the wicked, because they are easy prey. I look out for my own family, and to the extent that I can, I keep an eye on those around me as well. But I can't save everybody and I refuse to feel shame for not being able to do what I am incapable of doing.

Thoughts On Owning A Nuclear Weapon

2006-10-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I Am Not A Philosopher.

When discussing the Second Amendment with an anti, the question of whether individuals should be allowed to possess nuclear weapon often comes up, dragged in as the ultimate absurdity.

I am comfortable with my understanding and/or interpretation of the Second Amendment, which is that the individual should be equipped comparably ("well regulated") to a regular soldier (modern light infantry).

To me, this means at least a semi-automatic rifle in a military caliber. Full auto or select fire? Sure. Grenade launcher? Sure. Mortar? Eh...yeah, okay. Heavy machine gun? Um...okay. 20mm cannon? Yikes...but yes.

Artillery? No. A tank? Strangely enough, yes. Rocket launcher? No. Bazooka or TOW? Yes. Flamethrower? I honestly don't know.

I see that my acceptance or rejection of the above seems to be based on the individual pulling the trigger. A firearm must be aimed at a chosen target by the shooter for the weapon to be effective.

A mortar is not aimed the same way, nor as precisely. I believe a tank is aimed precisely and so I have no quarrel with ownership of one (or hell, even several).

But drive one into my neighborhood and I'm going to be uncomfortable with that, to the point of looking for a bazooka or other tank-killer. To me, taking a tank into a residential or business area is a declaration of intent to cause great harm, out of proportion to your individual capability.

So what about a nuclear weapon?

Is it a defensive weapon? Not really. It's a terror weapon, a weapon of mass destruction that kills out of proportion to its existence, its...quantity.

So, should individuals be allowed to possess nuclear weapons?

No, in the strongest possible terms. Like a tank driving down a neighborhood street, individual possession of nuclear weapons is a statement of intent to cause great harm, way out of proportion to the individual's capability otherwise. It should be an automatic death sentence for the individual, no appeal, no stay of execution, shoot on sight.

"But what if he's got a deadman switch and kills lots of people even when he's dead?"

I know that all of those deaths would be a horrible tragedy. But you can't negotiate with Evil, and that's what individual possession is.

And I realize that this is close to what the antis believe, that guns kill out of proportion to the individual's capability, and that they (and those who possess them) are Evil, and that only the police or the military should have guns.

But the police and the military have no secret gift or talent that makes them moral or just or especially qualified to deal with Evil. Bad Guys with guns are Evil and can only be stopped by Good Guys with guns.

IANAP.

Saturday Poetry

2006-08-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

Exegi Monumentum

I have erected a monument to myself
Not built by hands; the track of it, though trodden
By the people, shall not become overgrown,
And it stands higher than Alexander's column.

I shall not wholly die. In my sacred lyre
My soul shall outlive my dust and escape corruption--
And I shall be famed so long as underneath
The moon a single poet remains alive.

I shall be noised abroad through all great Russia,
Her innumerable tongues shall speak my name:
The tongue of the Slavs' proud grandson, the Finn, and now
The wild Tungus and Kalmyk, the steppes' friend.

In centuries to come I shall be loved by the people
For having awakened noble thoughts with my lyre,
For having glorified freedom in my harsh age
And called for mercy towards the fallen.

Be attentive, Muse, to the commandments of God;
Fearing no insult, asking for no crown,
Receive with indifference both flattery and slander,
And do not argue with a fool.

Glendale Gun Show

2006-08-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Glendale Gun Show http://www.glendalegunshow.com is this weekend, August 12 - 13, Saturday 9 - 5, Sunday 9 - 4, at the Glendale Civic Auditorium.

Free parking, cheap admission, some decent stuff here and there. I need to replace the American Eagle ammo I bought at the Ventura gun show, since it won't reliably cycle my .22 rifle. I probably need to clean the gun, too.

Plus I need more Wolf for the SKS, and maybe some 185 grain .45. Knives are always good to look for, plus a cotton web sling for the SKS. Maybe another piston, too.

Update: Well, that was disappointing. The same people selling the same stuff for the same prices, maybe a little more (Wolf ammo). Couldn't find anything that I was looking for at a decent price and I didn't much care for any of the other choices.

Has the Glendale Gun Show run its course? Hmmph.

Political campaign material

2006-06-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Since tomorrow is a statewide election day, we here at Casa Mr. Bruce have been receiving pounds of mail every day about the virtues and talents and importance of various people running for office.

In the midst of all this drum-pounding (dead horse beating?), one mailer really stands out as an example of the mindset of the Democrats. Senator Jackie Spier (San Mateo county) is running for Lt. Governor. One of her quotes reads: "I rely on my own outrage meter...I figure if it upsets me, it's likely to upset the average person in my district, and it's an issue worth taking on."

It's hard for me to express my dismay and disgust coherently. Based on only her mailer, she has no spine, no vision of government's role in anyone's life and having gotten on board a gravy train, has no desire to get off.

I'd like to see somebody campaign on the basis of what laws they have successfully repealed--that would sure get my attention.

Review: Joss Whedon's Firefly

2006-01-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

Firefly Boxed Set review

I got the Firefly boxed set for my birthday last March, and I'm just now starting to watch it. I had seen the first episode ("Train Job") when it aired on Fox and I liked it.

Why am I not liking it now?

I've watched the first two discs and I'm not satisfied. Mal, the official hero of the series, isn't heroic. He's just angry. The official mystery passenger, River, is just a crazy homeless person, albeit government-created.

Shepherd Book is the most interesting person. He's also the oldest. Think there's a connection?

Joss Whedon's vision of the future is nasty and brutish. The Alliance (aka "the government") has no goals or purpose, democracy is nowhere to be seen, religion is not viewed positively (Mal's "Just don't say it (grace) out loud"), and capitalism has been replaced by thievery and slavery (apparently they're the same as capitalism).

It would've been a much more interesting series had Whedon taken not the western as his model, but the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Kimball .30 Caliber Carbine Auto Pistol

2006-01-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

Reading the January 2006 issue of American Rifleman the other day, there was a small squib "50 Years Ago" about an ad in the January 1956 issue for Kimball's .30 (carbine caliber) auto pistol, modestly billed as "The World's Most Powerful Automatic Pistol":

(Picture found at Tank.net--page 5 of the thread, post #82.)

It's not clear from any of the excerpted articles below, or any pictures that I've seen, whether the gun is loaded via a separate or integral magazine.

From Canadian-Firearms Digest V1 #851:

In 1955, the Kimball appeared on the scene, looking rather like a lightweight Colt or High Standard on steroids. Using a lightweight half-slide like those two .22 rimfire handguns, Kimball chambered his offering--are you ready for this?--in .30 M1 Carbine. A very illogical design!

So he had an excellent way to lock the breech CLOSED until the pressure dropped, right? WRONG. He gouged an annular ring around the inside of the chamber. On firing, the case expanded into the ring, and blowback forces swaged it back down to size as the cartridge pushed the slide back.

The NRA was highly interested in this new "wonder30." They got one of the first specimens off the line, and fired it. In a VERY short period of time, it stopped working, with the slide unwilling to move. They disassembled it.

The design allowed the slide to run back until it hit a vertical post at the rear of the grip -- again, like the .22 rimfire Colt or High Standard. The post was so battered and distorted by trying to stop that light slide that it had mushed out to the sides and jammed the slide.

The NRA sent it back. Kimball explained that the problem was poor heat treatment, and sent another. It failed almost as quickly.

When the second specimen was disassembled, they found that the new hard post had cracked, bent, and was obviously ready to shear off completely. A quick estimate of the path of the slide if the post HAD sheared completely indicated that it would end up in the middle of the face of the shooter--and, given the hammering it was doing when it reached the post, it would probably fly all the way to the face--and some distance into the shooter's head.

The Kimball company ceased production after 238 specimens had been made.

From GUNS Magazine, December 2001, by Mike Cumpston:

In 1958, the J. Kimball Arms Co. went into business (and out of business quite shortly) producing a .30 Carbine caliber pistol that closely resembled a slightly scaled-up High Standard Field King. It was extremely well-made and functioned on a delayed blow-back principal. This one contributed much to the mystique of the .30 by coming apart in the hands of one W. B. Edwards of GUNS Magazine. The rear slide lugs fractured on the 192nd round. No provenance is found for the legend that the Kimball has lodged its slide in the eyeball of several unlucky shooters, but the story is widely believed.

J. Kimball Arms Company (Detroit, MI), another American gun-maker gone.

Update: But not forgotten! GunsAmerica has one for sale, only $1950 (#185 of 300, condition is new, but there's no box).

Moral Actions

2005-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I Am Not A Philosopher.

A recent High Road thread, "What's with mock assault rifle sales for kids?", got me thinking about moral actions.

(One more time: IANAP)

Moral actions are those actions that have consequences for the actor. So, I blink, I twitch, I snore--these actions have no discernable consequences for me.

I choose to own and shoot guns. At a very basic level my choices (actions) have consequences. I am constrained by law as to the way in which I may possess them (e.g., access to those guns by others, especially children; transporting them; carrying them concealed).

On another level, the firing has a consequence (*BANG*, recoil, ejection of a fired cartridge, et cetera).

The most important consequence of gun ownership is that I must observe and obey the Four Rules: Treat all guns as if they are loaded, never point the gun at anything you do not intend to destroy, keep your booger-hooker off the bang switch and always know what's behind your target.

So my moral actions lead to behavior which is moral.

The Capital Times (Madison, WI) column mentioned above, "Rob Zaleski: What's with mock assault rifle sales for kids?" purports to find no good reason for children to have airsoft rifles which are patterned after an AR-15 or M16.

His complaints are that such a toy might be dangerous to an (un)intended target ("You could shoot someone in the eye!"), or to its user if the police mistake it for a real rifle and shoot the kid. QED, it's too dangerous and shouldn't oughta be allowed.

Mr. Zaleski is a columnist for a paper that proudly styles itself as "Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper", so I feel safe in assuming that he is liberal in his views. I wish that I could engage him in dialogue and ask his views on teen driving and teen abortion, but I'll presume that he favors both. I will presume also that he prefer that teenagers go through Drivers' Ed and sex ed.

Driving and sex are moral actions, in that they have (or can have) consequences. Education that teaches the consequences of those actions--therefore, moral education--benefits both individuals and society.

But education is not confined to a specific time and place and subject, it can happen anywhere, at any time, from anyone. Even in play, with toy guns.

The Four Rules of safe gun handling can be learned in play, but more than just those rules is learned playing Cops and Robbers (or what have you). It may have been Kim duToit who wrote about little boys learning about morality through play of just this sort: being the good guys, rounding up the bad guys, and an enactment by the group (society) of enforcement of the rules (laws), accepted by all.

So, moral behavior can be learned and practiced through play. With boys, it'll probably be mock-violent. Eh--what are you going to do?

I do not believe that Mr. Zaleski is evil, nor that his individual actions will have evil consequences for his grandson (mentioned in the column). But I do believe that he does not feel that playing with toy guns can be morally educational.

So he won't be giving his grandson a toy gun, which is to say: "Grandson, I see no purpose in giving you such a toy. I do not feel that you can be trusted with it, and you cannot learn anything from it."

But I feel that such a toy (especially from him, the grandfather), given with the caveats of the Four Rules, could be a powerful moral experience for the child that I could weep for the loss of such an opportunity.

Saturday Poetry

2005-12-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Gun Blogs, or What Did They Say?

2005-11-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

Because I'm interested in guns and shooting, I look for and read a lot of gun blogs. Most of what I find is listed at N.Z. Bear's The Truth Laid Bear gun blog community page.

In that community are

1. Argghhh! link
2. Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave link
3. Resistance is futile link
4. SayUncle link
5. The Countertop Chronicles link
6. damnum absque inju link
7. Alphecca link
8. The Smallest Minority link
9. Publicola link
10. Random Nuclear Strikes link

...and eighty other blogs.

Here is quick roundup of recent posts from what I read:

--Ah, Shoot! comments about Paul McCartney's refusal to play in Communist China (11/29/05)

--Blognomicon says "It's still very odd to me to see this blog grouped in amongst "actual" news sources..." (11/29/05)

--The AnarchAngel posts about abortion, and the requirements for a new Special Operations combat pistol (.45 caliber, of course!) (11/29/05)

--andDr. StrangeGun posts about his plans for a digital camera (11/24/05)

Probably this is all done much more easily with a fancy-schmancy RSS feed, but I don't have nearly as much learning curve as I used to.

Saturday Poetry

2005-11-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

Alas Madam for Stealing of a Kiss

Alas, madam, for stealing of a kiss
Have I so much your mind there offended?
Have I then done so grievously amiss
That by no means it may be amended?

Then revenge you, and the next way is this:
Another kiss shall have my life ended,
For to my mouth the first my heart did suck;
The next shall clean out of my breast it pluck.

Last night on TV

2005-11-23T14:46:00.000-08:00

I haven't watched TV on a regular basis for quite some time, because I've gotten out of the habit. But last night I had the time and I watched some or most of three shows:

Supernatural, on the WB

Invasion, on CBS

and Law and Order: SUV, on NBC

So what did I think?

In no particular order:

Law and Order has been telling grim fairy tales for a long time, and is now targeting younger and younger teens as its audience.

Plus the usual liberal kool-aid...

(But remember there's no media bias!)

Supernatural is chasing the X-Files audience...scary enough without being stupid about it, worth another look I suppose.

But Invasion left me dumbfounded. In last night's episode, the good guys chase a rich man's beautiful wife because she's pregnant with an alien baby. (That's bad.)

In the end, she's reported dead (missed how) and the team blows up her expensive, beautiful house. The final shot of that was a good guy walking (walking!) away from the house, down the slope, as the house explodes in the background--no distress, no fear, no remorse, no doubt. (That's good.)

What the--?

Okay, if the slasher movies of the '70s and '80s taught us all anything, it's that having sex kills.

So bad SF of the '00s teaches us that...we learned nothing?

Secondly, the good guys are, um, dweebs. Biologist Girl (Carla Gugino) spent all her time pursuing a Ph.D., Computer Guy 1 lacks social skills (just a guess), Computer Guy 2 is a dwarf with an on-line gambling problem, Charles Dutton is big and black, and the token white guy is very unmemorable.

Nobody on the good guys seems to have sex.

Indeed, they are concerned--obsessed--with people who do have sex.

That is, the bad guys. Well, bad girl in last night's episode.

She's beautiful, sexy, strong, smart, seemingly one step ahead of the team, and married to a rich, powerful older man.

God, this sounds like high school: The cheerleader and the football captain, in other words.

And the nerds completely destroy the hot girl who's having sex--kill her and burn her house to the ground.

So the slashers are the good guys, out to keep anyone from having sex?

I don't watch TV anymore on a regular basis...

Mini-14 Range Report

2005-11-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

What a boring day at the range.

I recently took possession of a Ruger Mini-14 (series 182, made in 1981). After field-stripping and cleaning it (and figuring out how to put the pieces back together), I took it out to the range.

Based on what I've read about the Mini-14, I had no expectations of great accuracy and did not ever hit the steel plate I was aiming at. No, what I was doing was teaching myself the basics of how this rifle operates, shoots and feels. Plus, I checked out the magazines (one factory 5-round and three aftermarket 10-round magazines).

All semiauto rifles have the capability of having a slamfire, so I loaded one round into the factory magazine, inserted the magazine, released the slide, took the safety off, aimed, squeezed the trigger, bang.

Next, I loaded two rounds into the factory magazine, inserted the magazine, released the slide, et cetera, bang, bang.

Next, I loaded one round into the first 10-round magazine, inserted the magazine, et cetera, bang.

Then two rounds into magazine 10-1, bang, bang. And repeat with the other two magazines (10-2 and 10-3).

After all that, they can still call me "Ten Finger Bruce", because nothing blew up. Which is the way I like it.

So the rifle works just fine. It feels okay in my hands (way better than the SKS!), but my God that op-rod wiggles around in the stock.

For my next trick, I shall attempt to shoot accurately. For this I will needs more ammo in various weights (50-70 grains? hmm...) and a muzzle weight.

Not a muzzle brake, just a simple two-piece 9/16" shaft collar that I can move around until I find the sweet spot on the barrel. I told you I'd been reading about this stuff (Mini-14 Talk)

Political Foulness

2005-10-31T18:13:00.000-08:00

I was just listening to a few minutes of the Hugh Hewitt show. Hugh was talking about the nomination of Judge Alito with his guests, Irwin Chemerinsky of USC and John Eastman of Chapman University.

Hewitt played an audio clip of Sen. Charles Schumer in which Schumer expressed his concern (belief?) that Judge Alito, as Justice Alito, would roll back the achievements of Rosa Parks. That can only be understood as Schumer's belief that Judge Alito could find segregationist policies acceptable under the constitution.

One guest agreed, one pooh-poo'd the interpretation. I believe it was Eastman that further stated that Schumer should be ashamed of his statement.

Charles Schumer is a Democrat, from New York. He's been a U.S. Senator since 1998; before that, he was a Congressman from 1980 to 1998, and a state assemblyman from 1974 to 1980. So he's been a professional politician for 30 years.

I am disgusted to realize that this man is merely a typical politician--he has no shame, no honor, and nothing is beneath him. He is vile, untrustworthy, and unscrupulous. All of that and he's just a typical politician.

And there are tens, hundreds, thousands--millions--eager to follow in his shallow, meaningless footsteps.

What can I do to improve the quality of politicians in this country? What can anyone do?

Saturday Poetry

2005-09-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

James Munro (aka James Mitchell), 1926 - 2002

The sign outside the door said: "Arthur Candlish, Boats." It was an elegant handmade sign of teak, with neat, precise lettering. It looked considerably more valuable than the building it adorned. Loomis stared at the sagging door, the low, grimy wall of unpainted brick.

"You sure this feller's any good?" he asked.

"I'm sure," said Craig, and pulled on a rusty bell chain. It screamed its lack of oil, extended a foot and a half, then contracted back to normal in a series of convulsive jerks as its bell clattered. Loomis liked it. A man in a white apron opened the door. In his hand was a chisel. He looked at Craig, and the chisel's cutting edge no longer faced them.

"John," he said. "Nice to see you. Arthur will be pleased--he's in the office."

Die Rich, Die Happy (1965)

James William Mitchell also wrote under the pseudonyms 'Patrick O. McGuire', and 'James Munro'.

Titles and year of publication:
1) Here's a Villain! (US Title: The Lady Is Waiting) 1957
2) A Way Back (Also published as: The Way Back) 1959
3) Steady, Boys, Steady 1960
4) Among Arabian Sands 1963
5) Ilion Like a Mist (Also published as: Venus in Plastic) 1969
6) A Magnum for Schneider (US Title: A Red File for Callan) (Also published as: Callan) 1969
7) The Winners 1970
8) Russian Roulette 1973
9) Death and the Bright Water 1974
10) Smear Job 1975
11) The Evil Ones 1982
12) Sometimes You Could Die 1985
13) Dead Ernest 1986
14) KGB Kill 1987
15) Dying Day 1988

As 'Patrick O. McGuire'

1) A Time for Murder 1955
2) Fiesta for Murder 1962

As 'James Munro'

1) The Man Who Sold Death 1964
2) Die Rich, Die Happy 1965
3) The Money That Money Can't Buy 1967
4) The Innocent Bystanders 1969

End of an era?

2005-09-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks as though Kim duToit has hung it up. That's sad, because he was one of my first favorite blogs and he was always (nearly always) worth reading.

I hope everything goes well for him and his family, and that he returns someday.

LA County Gunstores

2005-09-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last week, I visited seven different gunstores in one day.

Ugh.

For all that I live in California with its restrictive and nonsensical gun laws, plus living in LA county, gun stores are fairly plentiful and easy to find. The established stores and the newly-opened stores are going to have the same selection of "New! New! New!" guns for the California market that the Internet offers, and that's really not what I'm interested in.

But I can't know what else they have, unless I go there.

Wednesday morning, my primary caregiver duties done for the day, I strolled through the doors of the Pasadena Turner's Outdoorsman...and right back out again, since they had nothing interesting in their consignment section.

Onto Wimpey's Pawn in Azusa, just a quick jaunt on the 210 East to the Azusa Boulevard exit. This was my second time here and I ran straight to the back of the store to cruise the pawned firearms. The handguns seemed to be all new, except for the Taurus 66 (.357 Magnum, 6" barrel) that I had seen last time.

Asked to see one consignment rifle, a Marlin 99 M1 in .22. Also saw a Ruger 77 in .338 Winchester Magnum ($460), a Remington 673 in .350 Remington Magnum ($720) and a couple of still-handsome Remington Nylon .22s.

From there, I ran down the 605 and east on the 10 to the Turner's in West Covina. Finally found it in the Stater Bros' shopping center; Turner's told me they weren't big enought to rate a mention on the marquee on the street. Hmmph.

Nothing worth mentioning in consignment, but I did ask about Mini-14 prices ($570 for the blue steel and walnut stock, $620 in stainless).

That's three gunstores in one morning, so far.

Back on the road again to the north end of the 605 and Gunrunners, in Duarte (sorry, no link--c'mon people, it's the 21st century!). Lots of tasty consignment goodness! Three M1 carbines ($300, 400 and 500--cash price, more for credit cards), and a stainless Mini-14 for only $429, plus several other mil-surps and lever actions. Plenty of traffic coming into this store.

Pushing my luck, I decided to drive to Glendale to check on Gun Gallery (no link, see above). They've been open only for a few weeks, but I couldn't see any inventory changes between my last visit and this one. Hope their advertising plans work out.

AMT Automag II, mmm...

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's back up Pacific to the 134 West and onto the 5--Stevenson Gun Ranch, here I come! What the--they're remodeling?!? No guns for sale for the next 30 days?!? That's just not right!

Finally, my odyssey is almost at an end. One more short drive down the street to Gun World. The store's got customers and a comedian behind the front desk ("Hello, I'm Josh, welcome to my Gun World. Can I interest you in something in 2000fps from a handgun?") Whoa--they're selling or taking orders for FN5.7? Hot diggity!

Gun World has a back room behind the front desk which is just packed with guns, guns and guns--handguns in the locked cabinets, long guns on the walls.

And speaking of long guns on the walls, aren't those Bushmasters? Really nice Bushmasters, but what are they doing for sale in California? I'm thinking LEO-only...but their tags aren't marked that way. Did I miss a legislative change of heart?

Alas, no. The Bushmasters are neutered, er, "modified" to have a fixed, non-detachable 10-round magazine, which is loaded by removing the upper. Very sad, but apparently they sell quite well.

And that was number seven. I'm amazed that I made it to, and through, so many different stores. I suspect I won't need to hit those stores again for a while.

Maybe...

Guns

Saturday Poetry

2005-09-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Theodore Sturgeon, 1918 - 1985

[I]t is enough for you now to know that its most significant effect is to turn on the full analytical powers of the mind whenever fear is experienced. Panic occurs when analysis is shut off. Embarrassment occurs when fear is not analyzed. Hereafter, no truck driver will fear to use the word 'exquisite', no propagandist will create the semblance of truth by repeating falsehoods, no human group will be able to instill fears about any other human group which are not common to the respective individuals of the groups. There will be no fear-ridden movements of securities, and no lovers will be with each other and be afraid to state their love. In large issues and in small ones, the greater the emergency the greater will be the stimulation of the analytical powers.

That is the meaning and purpose and constitution of the ultimate weapon.

"The Traveling Crag" (1951)