The Irate Islander

Poetry Corner: The Geek edition

2010-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

A Rifleman’s Prayer

Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses.

-Geek with a 45 (aka. The Geek)

A thought occurs...

2010-06-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

An act of chivalry is of more benefit to the gentleman than to the recipient.

That is all.

On editors and the publishing process

2010-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm a bit late on posting. Sorry about that. Poor time management on my part.

Self flagellation concluded, between trying to parse out accounting over an online course, big mistake, and establishing Iago's identity as an alien infiltrator for a paper in my English class, I've been pretty dang busy. Also, the wifey and I are getting ready for a two week camping trip.

So, I mentioned earlier I finally submitted my manuscript. It spent just a couple days in the hands of first readers whom I suspect were office lackeys before I got a rather aggravating e-mail from an editor, from a publishing house I'll never contact again, who demanded I make a series of changes. Now, this company had promised to be a great entryway into the world of the published author and I'd even been recommended to them by other writers.

Thing is, I've never seen one of their books on a book shelf. I'm not sure what to make of that.

In any case, the prime objection to the manuscript as submitted was how various characters, no matter how important to the story, could seemingly just die at any point without an emotional context. You know, a bit like in real life. Now, apparently, this was a bit jarring to the readers and thus some manner of change seems indicated as all parties involved wish to emerge profitably from the endeavor. Fair enough. However, what is certainly not indicated, was to have some nattering deconstructionist* tell me I have no idea how to 'convincingly portray a life and death situation.'

I'm no Ringo, or Kratman, or any of the other highly successful mil-SF authors out there. My experience of combat was, I suspect anyway, far different and more limited than at least the two I named. That said, I suspect I have a rather better idea of what combat looks, feels, sounds, and smells like than some office bound junior editor who has misinterpreted his job responsibilities to include literary criticism.

I would have at least liked a bit of consistency. With regards to one scene I'm being told that the emotional reactions of my characters are too pronounced and, apparently, an elite group of combat veterans should share the same ideological and emotional nihilism of the more pretentious breed of literary critic. Soldiers, apparently, are allowed no emotional range beyond angst ridden bitterness or bloodthirsty and amoral. However, when someone dies in a seemingly arbitrary fashion during an event in which he was essentially an interested spectator, this should have had a profound effect on the insufficiently emotionally-stunted survivors. Apparently, they should have taken a moment to reflect on the chaos, pointlessness, and random nature of war. Not, of course, as I was quickly consoled, that any of their views on what they were doing should have changed, but they certainly should have re-evaluated them. Nevermind that they had a mission to do and were already being shot at, hence the a fore mentioned death. No they should have had an emotional scene of some variety there.

Well, if your reading this, Mr. Editor, you can go stuff yourself.

That particular scene was the greatest source of contention and it is NOT getting changed. Yes, I have already changed quite a few other scenes and now I'm trying what to do with all these characters who are suddenly not dead. I'll deal with it. If nothing else, after the numerous rewrites at this point, I've certainly gained experience.

If/when this particular manuscripts does get published, I'm gonna mail an autographed copy to that little twerp with that scene dogeared and, "Suck it!" written in the margin at the end of the chapter.

*I already have enough of a problem with deconstruction as a form of literary analysis as it essentially intends to prove that nothing actually means anything. Which of course is an incomplete method as at least some things have a very obvious, clear cut moral to them. With a very few notable exceptions, I've only seen deconstruction used to 'prove' that no piece of literature communicates any idea that the deconstructionist objects to.

Poetry Corner: Tennyson edition

2010-06-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

So I've been writing a bit

2010-06-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

Not here, obviously. I finished up the manuscript, pared it down a bit, and edited for grammar and punctuation. Took a deep breath and sent it off into the world.

Only to promptly get it kicked back to me. Apparently, when an important character dies it cannot seem random and/or arbitrary. Also it must be emotionally meaningful and have a dramatic impact on the surviving characters, never mind the fact that they had a combat mission to finish.

I'll likely gripe about that in a bit more length later, but the salient detail is that, since I want to be published for $$*, I've been doing a rather extensive rewrite. Apparently, using a random number generator to decide when someone will die is unsettling and jarring to the reader. You know, kind of like it is to people who actually go through combat.

Not being able to spare time for a more meaningful post, I've been neglecting this blog. I shall endeavor to rectify this shortcoming. Of course, I've said that before so caveat emptor.

Be seeing you around, poetry corner tomorrow and the exciting story of how a young, aspiring author nearly killed an editor by beaming pure hate through e-mail.

*artistic vision, integrity, or whatever else you want to call it is nice, but I want money. Sweet, sweet money. And just as a stab in the eye, the death scene which was the largest source of contention will NOT be changed.

On selling indulgences...

2010-03-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick, nonsensical post. Something serious later, perhaps.

So, according to their earthly prophet, Al Gore, we're supposed to by buying indulgences from the Church of Global Warming. Oops, I meant carbon offsets, not indulgences. Anyway, I have to wonder, how many offsets do the US and Coalition militaries get for taking down the guy who set so many oil fields ablaze back in the 90s?

Seems to me it ought to be a lot. Remember that the next time you hear some soft headed nitwit nattering about how military jets and other vehicles emit such irresponsible levels of carbon.

Or, you know, you could just smack them upside the head with whatever heavy, blunt object is conveniently to hand. I'm happy either way.

I was wrong.

2010-03-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

Today has not been a fun writing day. Not by any stretch of my, admittedly, very elastic imagination.

Ugh. Seriously? What the heck is wrong with people? This country seems like it is one poorly timed negligent discharge away from a domestic insurgency at best, and a damn, bloody civil war at worst! Every where and with everyone I discuss politics I hear bit champing rhetoric, incessantly asking if it is 'time yet.' People are freaking eager to see the ball go up and see the streets awash in blood?

Are freaking kidding me? Are you all out of your freaking minds?! Am I the only one who has thought this through? The situation does not mesh with the much toted, "We have the guns and they're a bunch of cowards so we'll win," meme.

It's as if everyone expects it's going to be themselves and their fellow patriotic, red blooded gun owners facing off against a few Feds and whatever cops side against them. What a joke! Nothing resembling a civil war is ever that simple. You think the military will side with us freedom minded folk or simply sit it out? Hah! Maybe some, maybe at first. But have you forgotten the witch's brew that makes up the gun owning populace? How long do you suppose the military will sit it out or side with us, when the Aryan nation is using the chance to gun down Jews in the streets? Yeah, I imagine any of us who saw them doing so would shoot the damn Nazis ourselves, but by then it'd be too little too late.

Hell, once the ball goes up, every whack job we'd distance ourselves from normally is going to be declaring themselves our fellow soldiers of freedom. Right before they blow up a federal building. Or a school. Or a VA hospital. How long do you think before large parts of the military decides to Hell with that whole mess? Leave that aside for a moment, if our enemies are half as tyrannical, base, and venal as our more eager elements believe they are, what is to stop them from using agents provocateurs to elicit the same response?

I'm not saying we should just roll over for the accruing violations of our freedoms, but violence is the last resort. If it ever is allowed to come to that, it will be long, it will be brutal, our friends and family will be the collateral damage, and our own military will be pitted against both ourselves and itself, crippling out nation no matter the outcome.

If you are actually wanting the ball to go up, growing impatient for the day the brownshirts come for you, or look at the reset button with anything other than absolute gut-wrenching terror, then you are an IDIOT and a liability to the cause of freedom.

EDIT to add: That was a bit more confrontational than perhaps it should have been. Sorry about that, today was nerve wracking and emotionally draining. Add the near run thing we had in Michigan recently and I was near convinced someone would kick off the shooting before week's end.

I understand people's rejection of the Clarie Wolf idea (if you don't get it, don't worry, you're not the target audience). If it is too late to work within the system, then it is NOT too early to start shooting, but in this country there's no such thing as a time too late to work within the system, but still too early to start shooting.

Coming up...

2010-03-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Ruminations on the OODA loop in politics. To wit, things like this. Yeah, tomorrow, will be a fun writing day.

In the mean time, watch this:

I know nothing about this guy, so I won't unequivocally endorse him, but he is RIGHT on in what he says there.

The shape of things to come

2010-03-27T22:07:00.000-07:00

The other shoe that is:

Remember when Obama said he wanted a “national security force?”

Well, isn't that ducky? Admittedly, it's actually an amendment to an existing law, The Public Health Service Act, all it does is eliminate the maximum authorized manning level. Yeah, it gets rid of the limits placed on it. Previously the limit was 2,800, not exactly an overwhelming threat. Now, however? Who knows.

Then we have this little tidbit. The Empire Strikes Back

We wrote here about the consequences of Obamacare that are beginning to be felt, even before its provisions are implemented: Caterpillar said Obamacare will cost it an additional $100 million in the first year; Medtronic warned that the new tax on its products "could force it to lay off a thousand workers;" Verizon told its employees that it "will likely have to cut healthcare benefits to offset the new costs;" and AT&T announced that it will record a $1 billion non-cash expense in the first quarter and "will be evaluating prospective changes to the active and retiree health care benefits offered by the company."

Read the whole thing. The level of sheer arrogance in the imperious demands is just staggering. As if a private entity having the effrontery to react to economic realities is cause for Royal Attention.

So, do you think Obamacare is good or not?

2010-03-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

So, our elected legislators of both houses voted to foist the healthcare bill on an unwilling public, promising that it was for our own good. That being the case, what with it being all great and wonderful and chock full of Hopenchange...how come they don't want to get any of it on them? Seems a little odd that.

Also, why exempt Tricare, with zero votes against? I'm certain someone could make a case that since Tricare is the health care of military members, veterans, and their families, they've already paid for their government health care. A sentiment I agree with, but likely not one the Dems do. They're the same assholes who recently proposed letting the private insurance of veterans pay for the VA medical visits, you know to deal with injuries received while still on active duty. Remember that? It was touted as a way to cut expenses, kinda funny with same people now wanting to insure everyone, or else.

So why would these people exempt Tricare from their sweeping power grab?

I can't say for sure, to be honest. It certainly doesn't seem they give a rat's ass about public opinion, what with pretty much every member of the public telling them not to pass Obamacare. I doubt anyone would believe they did it because they actually care about the military, I certainly don't. So why?

Well, who is exempted? Well, they are, apparently, their staff is, and the military. Pay close attention folks, see how long it takes before other exemptions, or superior/free plans, are extended to other government employees. Specifically, those best used as instruments of control, the IRS, FBI, ATF, and even the EPA.

If left unchecked, we could see the emergence of two distinct classes. Those who must pay for state rationed care, and those who are treated for free at exclusive facilities.

Do I think it will happen? No, not really, but I expect them to try. It's less a plausible threat and more a weather vane to their intentions and long term goals. Pay attention folks, it's about to get all 1984.

They're for damned sure doing their part

2010-03-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Discovered via BlackFive:

A father's promise, a son's sacrifice for his country

Only click on that if you don't mind a good cry.

We must always strive to be worthy of such men, even if we never can be.

The healthcare bill and Tricare

2010-03-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'll be writing a bit more on this tomorrow. If you see this before then, take a read and spend a little time thinking about it.

I'm just shocked!

2010-03-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

No, wait, I'm not. Airport employee gets scanned. For the linkaphobe, a female airport employee accidentally walks through one of the new 'see through your clothes' scanners and the weasel operating it uses it to examine her anatomy a bit more closely than she liked.

I can't bear to think about the body scanner thing. I'm totally traumatised. I've spoken to the police about it. I'm in too much of a state to go to work.

Well, admittedly, that would suck, but she works at the airport. Presumably she is okay with this happening to hundreds, if not thousands, of other people a day. So first, just as pretty much everyone who isn't a fan of sheep-like compliance knew, the system is being abused to get to voyeuristic kicks. Second, what's good for goose is apparently not good for the gander, since it's not okay to have it happen to her.

Quote of the day

2010-03-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

"With politics, as with history, nothing is inevitable. To believe that transnational progressivism is an immutable, unstoppable global trend trend is an ahistorical, defeatist outlook pushed by the very type of people who a generation ago claimed the Soviet Union was a permanent geopolitical fixture. If America ceases to be a great nation, it will be because its people choose sloth, indolence, and mediocrity. That is a choice that I, for one, will never accept." -Mike LaRoche over at South Texian.

Remember that

Foot Soldier in The Long War

2010-03-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

For years, since learning about the Saracens and Spain, I have described the conflict between Islam and the rest of the world as The Long War. I shall do so no more. The real war, the one that matters, is much, much older. It is the eternal struggle which has described all human history, back to Cain and Able (or the first caveman to force his will upon another, for you atheists). It is the struggle between two conflicting impulses present in all people, the desire to control and to be free of the control of others.

It is a war where there are no clear combatants and battle lines until it is too late, or nearly so, for those who wish freedom to prevail. It is not between religions or religions and secularism, nor opposing political ideologies, not even the conflicting philosophies of collectivism and individualism, but it lies at the heart of each of those conflicts. It is a war with many theaters, reaching into every facet of life.

As society needs authority in order to function, it is impossible for any person, perhaps even any idea short of anarchy or nihilism, to fit neatly into the side of wishing to be free from control, but all too easy for a person or idea to fall completely in the other camp. It is a nebulous struggle with most people being only unwitting participants until the point when the two sides polarize, by then it is almost certainly too late. Worse, a clear victory for either side results in a loss for civilization.

Societies need both conflicting ideals in balance, the correct balance being an issue of much debate, in order to be both free and functional. To one extreme, tyranny, the other, anarchy. Further complicating issues is a force I'll call societal entropy which favors either extreme, but abhors a balance.

Just as maintenance against deterioration in an artifact can only ever end with the ruin of the artifact, so too the maintenance of the precarious balance we call liberty. Balance or not, the struggle is a perpetual one. Historically, those societies which have achieved something resembling an ideal balance have only ever done so temporarily and only in the minority of cases. Entropy always wins eventually, but not on any timetable.

Sunday we saw the balance tip dramatically further in the favor of those who wish control. Any kind of balance in our country is in dire straits. All it would take is anything less than the absolute and fervent work of those who wish for liberty, in a nation of laws, to see our society to slide over into an authoritarian hell hole. Once there, restoring a balance is far less likely than simple bouncing between anarchy and tyranny. We have a rare thing, one we likely won't see again in our or our children's lifetimes if we lose it.

Congratulations, be you man or woman, religious or atheist, individualistic or collectivist you made the cut. You are now soldiers enlisted in fighting the second oldest war in history, second only to the eternal war between good and evil. Just try to remember, no side can be allowed to win.

Day Two in the New America

2010-03-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

Still no brown shirts in the streets confiscating smokes, soda, and booze. Kind of a bummer, I had a whole extra magazine in my pocket and everything. What I did notice is a lot of my less politically savvy/active friends are suddenly wanting to talk politics with me. And they are pissed.

Good. Make 'em mad and keep 'em there. People need to stay angry at least until November.

Never let them see you bleed

2010-03-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

Had a bad moment last night when, against the express wishes of the vast majority of the populace, the authoritarian's wet dream was shoved down our collective throats. For various reasons, I won't be personally effected, directly at least, and I'm sufficiently accomplished at gaming systems to likely emerge unscathed from whatever comes next as well. So I asked myself, "Why not just sit back and watch the whole damn world burn?" My inner nihilist was quite compelling. Hadn't I done enough? I've grown more risk averse and less combative as I've gotten older, there's nothing wrong with that, is there? I mean, I have kids now. Besides, what can anyone do? Every single elected jackass knew damn good and well that the American people wanted no part of their monstrosity.

FUCK that. It's time I remembered who I AM. I have traveled the world fighting for what I believed in and faced, what I thought was, certain death because I believed it was worth any cost. WE as a people need to remember who we are. As a nation we have paid any price, faced any challenge, and never asked anything in return but the room to bury our dead and the continuation of our freedom. Now the battle is on our own shores and is far more difficult and complex than facing down an opposing army.

All is not lost. The reason this came to pass despite overwhelming opposition is not because we are powerless. It is because those who would control have learned about response times. That is why as this year's election grew closer, the push to pass the Obamacare bill grew increasingly frantic. They had to get it passed before the election because they knew they would not be able to afterword. The decision cycle for the government is flexible, however long it takes to get a bill passed. For we the electorate, it is every two years. Well, our turn is coming up. If we can avoid giving in to despair and apathy, we can still make ourselves felt. Everyone who voted for this abomination needs to be tossed out on their asses.

We have three years before this fully goes into effect. Time enough to fight it in the courts. To exorcise the corruption in Congress then demand a repeal. Time enough for hope. But if we just let this slide, give it time to acquire inertia then it will take on the sick, undying life of any other government program. Write your representatives and senators, shower afterwards, attend rallies, learn the details, inform yourself so you can inform others above all, give them no respite. Call them liars and tyrants in the streets, campaign for anyone who opposes them, don't just fight them at the ballet box, fight them from the soapbox, make yourself heard! If they call a rally, attend and call them out.

They have blatantly and knowingly opposed the will of We the People, we owe them nothing.

Don't forget to remember, on this special day:

2009-12-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

Happy 233rd We'll Cross the Delaware and Kill You in Your Sleep so Don't Piss Us off Day!

It's my favorite holiday this time of year, although the rest of my family is talking about some silly one tomorrow. Oh well, family, go figure.

True to form...

2009-11-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

...our current Commander in Chief of the most powerful military in the world turned a solemn occasion, the return of MY fallen comrades into a photo-op and publicity coup.

I can't believe I actually gave that classless piece of excrement the benefit of the doubt when I first learned of his intention to be present during the return of more of our fallen. I knew his record and his lack of concern for service members, evidenced recently, and I knew about his fatal, for we who serve, dithering about making a F***ing decision in Afghanistan, how he's been avoiding his regional commander for the conflict, but I thought he had to give enough of a damn not to crassly take advantage of the sacrifice of those who gave all for political gain.

Well, not too surprisingly, I was wrong. That son of a bitch brought the White House press corp with him. He was posing for pictures! Then, the damn media covering the event had the audacity to take a cheap shot at Bush because he never went to Dover. Those simpering, fetid, slavering, troglodytes!

There was never any doubt in the minds of those in uniform that W. loved and respected those in the military. He never met the bodies at Dover because he knew it was a solemn time and the families deserved to have a measure of privacy, something impossible in the presence of the POTUS.

He did, however, spend a great deal of time with the families of those who had lost loved ones in the service. He even had a White House photographer with him during those visits. He would stay with those families and talk to them as a peer, about anything they wanted, for as long as they wanted. Then, if they wanted a picture with the President they could have it. NO ONE else ever saw those pictures. They were not for the consumption of the voracious media. They were for those families.

Not so with Dear Leader! By all accounts, all he did was pose for photos and pretend to give a rip.

Well, to Hell with him. If the best he can for those who died and their families is abuse them for political gain, then F*** him. I will never give him the benefit of the doubt again. I will do everything in my power to thwart his plans for this country, I will devote myself to exposing his flaws and mocking his character (or lack thereof). Sure, I'm just a middle class veteran with no real clout, but I will work my damnedest to be as big a thorn in his side as possible. I will encourage others to do the same. I will no longer restrain my dissent out of respect for the office he holds.

It's unlikely the bastard will ever read this, but just in case:

Obama, you bastard, you have spit in the face of those who served this country unto death. You have betrayed the sacred pact between a commander and his troops. Your lack of intestinal fortitude and moral certitude has contributed to more deaths of our comrades in arms. You are unworthy of US, THE OFFICE YOU HOLD, AND THIS COUNTRY.

You sir, can go to Hell.

Well, it's Halloween

2009-10-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

And in accordance with tradition, I'm not doing all that much.

Ten pounds of ribs BBQ, a few beers and/or cocktails and that's about it.

Man, I haven't worn a costume in years. Not since the last time I pretended to be somewhat normal.

Happy Halloween everyone!

The intartubes are all a flutter...

2009-10-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, at least some of the blogs I read.

Over at Jennifer's blog, we have possibly the most ridiculous atheist contrived idea ever. Denial of service to God? Well, the founder of the organization originating that particular idea actually showed up and stated that it was a joke. Being fair, I'm inclined to believe an atheist when he tells me he didn't expect to accomplish anything by arranging for mass, simultaneous prayer. Would be funny if it did though.

Over at Breda's place we have feminism crop up. Matter is handled by her and her readers, including self, maturely and with minimal kerfuffle, but when Marco posts about what she said, suddenly some dinosaur is insinuating things about stay at home dads that I didn't much care for. So I went after him, he spouted some amazing ignorance, I replied. Ugh.

I fed the damn troll. You'd think I'd know better.

Oh well. I wouldn't even be writing this, but hey, I heard somewhere that the key to blogging is to write something everyday, thought I'd try it.

On matters of faith

2009-10-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

I've recently been reading the afterwords of Kratman's upcoming novel, The Toluriad, and discussing it a bit here and here. Also, oddly enough, a brief bit of SPAM, not of the electronic variety. Weird.

Anyway, it resulted in some interesting lines of thought on my part. Specifically on the nature of the Science vs. Religion debate, which is ridiculous to say the very least, which led me to pondering the thinking of atheists. Specifically, non-militant, non-agnostic atheists. Which led to an interesting observation. There don't seem to be too many of them.

Of course, the sample set was highly self-limiting seeing as it was composed only of friends of mine. Turns, out, at least among my friends, that those I'd always considered straight-up atheists turn into agnostics when engaged in serious conversation on the topic. I certainly don't intend that, or anything else in this post, to sound insulting to agnostics or atheists in general. Just certain ones.

Thing is, it seems the common thread is that they don't really know with certainty one way or another, but they really doubt the existence of a God. Fair enough.

Seeing as there is no proof that God, or any supernatural being(s), exists and no way to proof He(she/it/they) doesn't exist (basic scientific principle: you cannot prove a universal negative*) any solid stance on the subject requires faith. That's an easy concession for me, as having faith is kind of part and partial to the whole Christian experience and any other religion I can think of, but I remain exceedingly curious what a more, er, devout(?) atheist would have to say on the subject.

I am, unfortunately, endlessly familiar with what an anti-theist, or militant atheist if you prefer, has to say on the subject of faith. It generally combines a string of variations on, "You don't know anything about science!**" and a litany of the misdeeds performed by any person who had any religious leanings whatsoever. As I generally refuse to entertain vitriol as a serious contribution to a debate, especially on such a contentious subject, I pretty much discount anything I hear from that crowd.

I will listen if someone uses logic and presents an actual coherent argument for the absence of the supernatural, I don't class those as anti-theists. Thing is, I've never actually encountered that.

* While one can infer the presence of a universal negative and feel pretty darn confident about the conclusion (ie. All cats are animals, therefore no cats are non-animals) it is not a certain thing. Using the above example, what if we met a race of sentient cats? Then it becomes a matter of how does one define a cat, an animal, or both.

Going off that, unless one can observe the entire universe simultaneously, a universal negative cannot be proven. The possibility always remains that somewhere beyond current knowledge, the thing posited to not exist may indeed be doing so.

** Indeed? Having already covered universal negatives, how about we delve into logic? Do a search on Pascal's Gambit. Good stuff. Remember, as one of the fathers of computer science, Pascal was a card carrying member of the science community.

Because sometimes, violence is the only answer

2009-10-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

When engaged in conversation regarding current international affairs and concerns, I am often asked if maybe I'm just a bit blood thirsty. My response, now, is along these lines:

"I have a wife, three kids, and two cats, all of whom I dote on endlessly.
I teach Sunday school every week to some very unique and gifted children, all of whom I adore.
Both sides of my family, for all their faults and foibles, are the most dear people in the world, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for them.
I have several hundred people I consider my friends, all over the world, and I'd gladly give them the shirt off my back, my last dollar, or even my life.
I am a man filled with love for those around him, even those I disagree with.

You bet your life I'm blood thirsty!"

If I have to kill every last predatory bastard on Earth with my own two hands in order to safeguard those I love, then I will do so with same determination I bring to all arduous tasks.

Holy CARP! Tom Kratman uses AOL!

2009-10-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

And, for the FTC, I wasn't given squat to make that statement.

Also:

Holy CARP! I'm writing a post! Something I should be doing more off in the near future. Probably starting monday.

I believe I owe this man a beer

2009-08-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Not wanting to repeat what others have said about this, so the title says all I have to add. Listen to the whole thing and note the lack of booing.

If you voted for Obama...

2009-08-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

If you think dissent is only patriotic when you and your ideological comrades are doing it...

If you don't see anything wrong with the government seizing control of pieces of the private sector...

If you would rather limit or eliminate the rights of your countrymen than have to deal with your fear of anyone you can't control being armed...

If you seek to limit the rights of fellow citizens in any way...

If you believe we should give amnesty to illegal aliens and don't care about the dilution of American culture and ideals...

If you think we should surrender any of our sovereignty to a multi-national body...

If you wish those who oppose your views could be forced to simply go along with them...

If you want dissent silenced...

If you are always sure to fashionably badmouth the country of your birth...

If you see no problem with surrendering control of your health, and everyone else's, to the government...

...and have no problem making other people pay for it...

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom,...

...go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

Just because I can

2009-08-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Taking a bit of a breather from the Sisyphean task. Probably just for ten minutes or so. Not long enough to write anything terribly meaningful, instead I will spout random facts.

1. There is a loaded .45 next to my computer right now, and has been every time I've written for the last few years. Strangely, it has never risen up and killed anyone.*

2. I can type somewhere around fifty words per minute most of the time. When writing in 'the zone' I can get up into the high sixties. Despite this, when done with a writing session, the day's word count divided by the number of minutes spent working on it usually come out around five.

3. There is a special 'relativity free zone' that follows authors around.

4. According to Luke 22:36, Jesus is a fan of the right to keep and bear arms.

5. The political elite currently at the reins in D.C. really do believe that we are as ruthless as they are. A certain level of concentrated evil tends to distort the perceptions of those present.

6. The Recession is over (yay!), Obama said so, any lingering effects are simply lies and elaborate hoaxes of the Teabaggers. (That's where all the money they were supposed to be paying us went)

7. A Fabrique National 5.7** is the ideal weapon to hunt large, dangerous game.

8. Dissent is no longer patriotic. Update your plans accordingly.

*I'm only admitting this now since Breda admitted to doing the same.

** Notice the itty, bitty muzzle? Yeah, me too.

Entropy wins again?

2009-08-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

Much like Africa always does?

I'm something of a history buff, especially regarding the early history of Western Civilization. In my various studies, and frequent arguments with professors, I've noticed a trend. Not some obscure historical fact, I'm sure many Americans are thinking on this very trend right now.

Civilizations are cyclic.

Let's take the origins of Western Civilization, the ancient Greeks. The rose to completely dominate, sometimes, the Mediterranean, had colonies and influence in parts of Africa and reaching up North into Europe. Eventually, there were a few nations that rose and were similar enough to be grouped into Western Civ, but Greece remained at the forefront. There was Thermopylae, Marathon, Troy, and the conquests of Alexander to tell us that no matter what you think of the Greeks these days, their ability to make war was no mean thing.

Then they fell. I'll not get into all the causes of their fall, or that of others, as they are still debated widely, but the root will be the same throughout.

Next rose the city of Remus and Romulus, Rome. Growing from its humble origin as a town astride a trade road, Rome grew to dominate the ancient world. With outposts ranging from the shores of Africa, to halfway up Britain (clearly marked where Hadrian's wall was) and out East into modern day Turkey.

And they declined, fractured, and, finally, fell. Others rose up to take the reins in Europe eventually, but the true successor to Greece and Rome was the United States, starting somewhere around the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine.-

Now, with the decline of national identity resulting from rampant illegal immigration (if you don't know what I'm talking about, take a trip to SoCal), the government trampling the will of the people, seizing control of major industries, attempting to seize even more (no, forget that, from now on I'm calling it what it is, stealing. The word seize when used in conjunction with government action can impart a veneer of legitimacy), stealing more and more of the fruits of our labors in order to fund vote buying schemes and economic power grabs, and actively seeking to suppress dissent(!) many people are, quietly mostly, wondering if we're circling the drain ourselves.

Well, we're not. At least, I don't think so. If another generation or two had passed before our current contretemps that might not be the case. Today, however, as the injuries and usurpations against the free people of this country mount, people are beginning to discover that they are indeed the descendants (spiritually if not genetically) of those who screamed, "Give me liberty or give me death!" and, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Everywhere, people who never stood up to a bully in their lives are finding steel in their back bones and reserves of righteous indignation they never knew they had.

The people are pissed and are fighting back. Is it possible that the America we all love will never make a return? Yes, it is, but by all that is good and right, the bastards will have more of a fight than they can stomach.

A free people are hard to subjugate. A free and well armed people are a nightmare.

I must be a caffeine/nicotine achiever

2009-08-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

I said yesterday that if writing got frustrating, I'd post a blog.* Obviously, that did not happen. I, happily, reached a point where I needed to expand the protagonist's role instead of deleting sections and doing snippet style editing. I actually got to simply write again.

Thirteen hundred words worth...in just under four hours.

I also, in that time, drank a large pot of coffee and smoked twelve cigarettes. That sounds bad enough, but when you take into account that I've been averaging between five and eight smokes a day and trending downward, that's a heck of a lot of cancer sticks.

Oh well, it's been like a month or so since I last 'got in the zone' while writing, so I'm not lamenting too much, but still. Damn.

*I know how silly that looks, but it really is a lot different.

The conquering hero has...

2009-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

...certainly not returned in the person of yours truly. I haven't been doing any conquering and I'm definitely no hero. Heck, I never did get this new electron box entirely squared away to my liking. I simply decided that I had hit the point where it was no longer worth trying to get my new Vista machine to act like my well and truly tweaked old XP one. I may still, at some point in the future, install a different OS, but I just don't feel like messing with it anymore.

As for the book? Ah, such stories I could tell...which I think is the point. I'm not sure anymore. Somewhere in the midst of trying to write the final battle sequence from several dozen viewpoints, as opposed to the three from the rest of the book, I realized that I had gone way over the thirty thousand word goal I had set for myself. Not just that, but the battle had only just reached the point where the plan falls apart.* In other words, it was only just getting involved. The problem is that each viewpoint character has a role throughout the entirety of the battle, so I didn't want to just skip one viewpoint ahead while the viewpoint is covering another angle.

Well, that particular method of reading about a battle may be the joy of historians attempting to recreate an entire battle, it's not such a good way for a novice author to tell a story. I am sure anyone reading it as it currently is (I'm not even close to finished fixing it) would quickly become bored with reading about the same event, over and over, but from different viewpoints. It only worked in Vantage because; one, each revealed a good bit of new information and two, there were only a few viewpoints, not dozens.

So I've been fixing it in segments, deciding what events can simply be summarized afterward, likely by whatever poor bastards lived through them, what should the protagonist be aware of, what can be revealed by one-off viewpoints (like a narrator or a bad guy), and what to just pare away as excessive (probably a lot).

In other words, not the best of times as far as writing goes. That's okay though, I think I'll maintain sufficient motivation simply because I'm so close to being done. Then I get to start on the next one having already learned everything I did from this one. Hopefully, that'll help me avoid the problem I'm having currently, without which I think I'd be done by now and well into editing.

Oh well.

I have a few posts planned out regarding current events. I might even do them today, but that depends on how frustrated I get with writing. So, if I end up burning up the intratubes, it means I've gotten frustrated. In any event, I won't say watch this space.

*I suppose that could be a spoiler, but I doubt anyone who reads through the rest of book would be even a little surprised. The characters sure aren't.

Poetry Corner, audio-visual edition

2009-08-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna break with own poorly established tradition and post an instrumental instead. A recently composed one at that, I believe in 2000, which just goes to show that there are still composers out there doing good work in that area. Howard Shore is another good example, he did the music for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Anyway, find six and a half minutes to just sit back and enjoy. The name of the piece is Lux Aeterna, but is more commonly known as Requiem for a Dream. Either way, the nom de guerre fits this haunting piece.

It starts out just barely audible and picks up just a bit under thirty seconds in.

Why I sometimes avoid the news...

2009-06-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, I never really avoid the news any more. Used to when I was on leave. Just in case I needed to claim ignorance of an impending recall when asked what I was doing on the backside of the beyond.

I may, however, start! Can Obama win the hearts and minds of Muslims? For those who don't want to hit the link, it's a gushing piece about how Hope'nchange(TM) is going to try to win over all those Muslims in Egypt, but he doesn't need to because they already wuv him soooo muches! It also makes sure to sneak in an unsubtle jab at Condoleeza Rice for her speech in 2005 delivered to student in Cairo. The article goes on to say the Lightbringer's policy of opening dialogues and expanding communication will work so much better than Bush's policy. You know, because he just yelled at them and bombed them and was so terrible.

There is so much in that article that is stated as absolute fact that is, to anyone who is still paying attention, entirely subjective. This is true with almost any news one reads involving politics these days.

The gubmint posts a list of US nuclear sites. Look past the worry mongering about security at the storage sites in the first half. They may well have said, "This is not the incompetence and/or malfeesance you're looking for." Security at that, and all the other sites where high grade material is stored, is as formiddable as it is humanly possibly to make it.

Honestly, the actual information released is not too big a deal. With a few days research, a savvy individual could likely piece the information together themselves. What blows my mind is that no one calling for heads to roll. Instead we hear specious concerns for overall security and nothing said about who was responsible.

Then several paragraphs follow about how it was no big deal, which is sorta true I guess, and how the GPO (gubmint printing office) simply posted it as a matter of course since they do so many and they had no way of knowing it was sensitive. Really?

Some of the pages are marked "highly confidential safeguards sensitive."

Uh, oops? Maybe I'm a little over critical because I worked in the nuclear field for a little while with both weapons and reactors. Shockingly enough, we took security really damn seriously. If I had leaked so much as an inter-office memo about coworkers' lunch plans, I'd be in Leavenworth still making big rocks into little rocks and little rocks into dust. But since this is the fault of some anonymous employee of the Obama gubmit, nothing will happen.

Fun with photography

2009-05-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

So the wifey and I had a range trip scheduled today, not particularly note worthy, but we had to cancel due to the Irate Wifey not feeling too hot. By the point this was determined, however, I had already assembled the pistols we were planning on taking (today was to by a pistolcraft day), unloaded them and all their attendant, ready magazines. I sat looking at the assemblage on the table, with all the various rounds arranged in neat rows and columns (I am, alas, struck with the same minor OCD so ubiquotous at the genius level;) and the magazines and firearms arranged around their ammo. It made me smile, so I made a few adjustments (cleared some clutter) and snapped a few pics I thought were cool. Here you go.

Yeah, that's my dining room table after clearing away some of the clutter. While I was originally stripping out the mags, there was three more books and an entire deck of Uno cards. Oh well.

I'm the worst blogger ever!

2009-05-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

Title pretty much says it all.

I can't believe I, of all people, didn't write a post for Memorial Day. Granted, many others did a far better job than I would of, but I feel a little guilty about it, none the less.

Of course, I never managed to be on the computer for more than five minutes that day, still.

What's in a name?

2009-05-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

First of all, someone who is often chagrined at his habit of not posting anything for extended periods of time probably should not decide to not talk politics for awhile.

Hard not to since I get my news via the intrawebs, which is largely about politics, and then when I go to write a blog post, well, you get the idea.

The upshot is I've averaged about two thousand words a day for just over a week. Maybe I'll be published before the end of the year.

One certainly hopes.

(See what I did there? First paragraph was in third person, middle two in first with a bit of second person, and the last back in third. I've been playing such games for days. I'm such a dork)

Anyway, South Texian today had a post about Joe Klein, of Time Magazine:

"He became ground zero among the neo-cons, but he's vastly smarter than most of them," said Time's Joe Klein, an admirer and critic who praised Krauthammer's "writing skills and polemical skills" as "so far above almost anybody writing columns today."

"There's something tragic about him, too," Klein said, referring to Krauthammer's confinement to a wheelchair, the result of a diving accident during his first year of medical school. "His work would have a lot more nuance if he were able to see the situations he's writing about."

In context, he essentially is saying Krauthammer doesn't know what he's talking about when it involves something physically demanding. In the literary world, to say someone lacks nuance on a particular topic is essentially the same as saying they may know a little about what they're talking about, but lack depth, experience, or some such on the topic.

Well, the only thing physically demanding Krauthammer really talks about is the military and what it does, can do, should do, etc. In a very round about way, he's calling Krauthammer a chickenhawk.

A chickenhawk*, in the parlance of the Other Side, being someone who espouses the use of military force for any reason whatsoever, or just has an opinion of any sort regarding the military, who was never in the military. Amusingly, when Obama called for the bombing of Pakistan (which would have been stupid**) no one called him a chickenhawk. Heck, whenever a liberal of any variety lowers himself to talking about military matters, including strategy, no one calls them chickenhawks.

Funny that. Of course, it's not that liberals don't think those who were never in the military should have an opinion on how it operates, after all, many of them have a whole plethora of rules and policies they want implemented to make the military 'kinder and gentler.' It's really about the nature of the discourse.

This is hardly limited to the instances of people being called chickenhawks. Every time you hear some useful idiot calling conservatives fascists, it's the same thing. I'm sure with some thought I could list a few dozen cliche names liberals will call those who are opposed to their point of view.

See, an argument that stays rooted solidly in reality, ie. logic and facts, is one that liberals have a poor chance of winning. However, call someone a fascist and suddenly he's defending himself and his point of view against a word which has had its meaning redefined specifically to include them. The debate moves into the gutter of arguing from emotion and feeling, facts and history be damned, and this is a fight we conservatives are not good at, but which liberals excel at.

I must admit, I used to allow myself to be roped into such ploys all the time.

The worst part of it, the average man/woman-on-the-street liberal doesn't think they are doing this. They developed their point of view, or had it introduced to them, from the viewpoint of emotion and feeling. That being what the position is based on, it is what they use to defend it.

One must remember that nearly every liberal really does have the best intentions, just like what the road to Hell is paved with.

While most liberals do not consciously try to move a debate to the emotional level, there are some who do so quite deliberately. Anytime you hear the phrase, "Think of the children," or any of its semantic equivalents, someone is defending something they know will not pass rational examination. It also why certain semi-auto rifles are called 'assault rifles/weapons/etc' (though they are nothing of the sort) by those who favor banning them and their talking heads (now including Jimmah Carter!) talk about how they're only useful for killing people. Of course it's ridiculous, but it makes it hard to argue against them when we're forced to play their game.

*The original meaning of a chickenhawk is one who is terrified of something, but is brave anyway. Makes sense, since without fear, bravery is impossible.

**At the time he made the statement. This may be changing soon, if it has not already.

Poetry Corner-Snipe's Lament

2009-05-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Having spent my share of time standing the watch in the hole, I well remember seeing this on a plaque outside the Chief Engineer's officer. To this day I can't remember without getting a little emotional. Life down in the pit is no easy thing. Eighteen hour days, ambient temperature never below 105 and more often around 120 with the humidity high enough that water condenses on every surface, including skin. And those poor bastards get paid only as much as the admin type who spends six hours a door working in an air conditioned office and stand, maybe, one watch a week.

Yeah, it's no easy life, but they live it.

SNIPE'S LAMENT

Now each of us from time to time has gazed upon the sea
and watched the mighty warships pulling out to keep this country free.
And most of us have read a book or heard a lusty tale,
about these men who sail these ships through lightning, wind and hail.
But there's a place within each ship that legend's fail to teach.
It's down below the water-line and it takes a living toll
- - a hot metal living hell, that sailors call the "Hole."
It houses engines run with steam that makes the shafts go round.
A place of fire, noise, and heat that beats your spirits down.
Where boilers like a hellish heart, with blood of angry steam,
are molded gods without remorse, are nightmares in a dream.

Whose threat from the fires roar, is like a living doubt,
that at any moment with such scorn, might escape and crush you out.
Where turbines scream like tortured souls, alone and lost in Hell,
are ordered from above somewhere, they answer every bell.
The men who keep the fires lit and make the engines run,
are strangers to the light and rarely see the sun.
They have no time for man or God, no tolerance for fear,
their aspect pays no living thing a tribute of a tear.
For there's not much that men can do that these men haven't done,
beneath the decks, deep in the hole, to make the engines run.
And every hour of every day they keep the watch in Hell,
for if the fires ever fail their ship's a useless shell.

When ships converge to have a war upon an angry sea,
the men below just grimly smile at what their fate will be.
They're locked below like men fore-doomed, who hear no battle cry,
it's well assumed that if they're hit men below will die.
For every day's a war down there when gauges all read red,
twelve-hundred pounds of heated steam can kill you mighty dead.

So if you ever write their songs or try to tell their tale,
the very words would make you hear a fired furnace's wail.
And people as a general rule don't hear of these men of steel,
so little heard about this place that sailors call the "Hole."
But I can sing about this place and try to make you see,
the hardened life of the men down there, 'cause one of them is me.
I've seen these sweat-soaked heroes fight in superheated air,
to keep their ship alive and right, though no one knows they're there.

And thus they'll fight for ages on till warships sail no more,
amid the boiler's mighty heat and the turbine's hellish roar.
So when you see a ship pull out to meet a war-like foe,
remember faintly if you can, "The Men Who Sail Below."

-Anonymous

Feeling somewhat better now

2009-05-01T09:48:00.001-07:00

I seem to have passed the point of wishing for sweet, merciful death. No fever or congestion this morning. Still coughing up some ugly stuff and my throat, nose, entire face, body, etc still hurts, but I seem to be on the mend. Just in time for a fun weekend of yardwork. Yay?

Introducing the fail bell

2009-05-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Got the populace a little upset at you because your plane buzzed N.Y.C. for a friggin' photo op?

'Ask not for whom the fail bell tolls,
It tolls for thee!'

Tell the population to avoid enclosed spaces like subways and airplanes, not considering the implications of such a statement?

'It tolls for thee!'

Publish a DHS report labelling returning veterans as potential right wing extremists, because they are either to stupid or morally bankrupt to resist?

'It tolls for thee!'

Stupid illness

2009-04-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's bad enough that the intranet seems especially devoid of edification this morning, but I can't seem to do anything very well at the moment. Stupid cold. I thought I fought of the wifey's cold, but woke up this morning with a fever, a headache, and so congested I can barely hear or think.

BAH!

Everyone loves a good rifle

2009-04-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

Right? Oh, well.

I should probably still be busy writing about the further adventures of (redacted) and the (redacted), but I've been doing an exceptionally lousy job of concentrating today, so I figured I'd blog a bit. After all, when I get off the computer I have to clean kitty liter boxes and a bathroom, do dishes, work out, and generally do stuff. Yuck.

When I wrote this post I came pretty close to simple dismissing the defensive value of rifles. Especially in a home defense context. Hell, had the winds of hopen'change not gotten to blowing, I might never have revisited the topic. Now, however, I think I would be remiss in not doing so.

A little background...

By nature, temperament, experience, training, whatever, I'm a dyed in the wool rifleman. One of my fondest memories of the Navy is the first time I had an M-14 handed to me. Yeah, it was old, poorly maintained, and the sights were off, but I loved that thing. It was the first semi-automatic rifle I ever fired that wasn't a .22. Quickly learned that I had a bit of native ability with it too, when I finally got the sights zeroed. Then came the M-16, three variations of it, the M-4, M-25, EBRed M-14, M-82, and a few others I can't remember. I learned that if I did such and such, just so, breathed just right, and squeezed the trigger just like so I'd hit my target. Anywhere from CQB range to 1200 meters (I have hit target on a range at 1700, but that was more the exception than the rule).

As a fighting instrument, the modern rifle is a first class tool, not soon to be replaced.

Then I got out of the Navy. Still loved rifles, but in thinking about the times and places I'd actually needed them, I couldn't imagine needing one simply to defend myself. Still wanted to get a whole list of them, and had no problem with anyone else doing the same, but I prioritized on what I considered useful for defense. So I set about transforming myself into a pistolero and shotgunner, and, discouraged by the price tags of the rifles I wanted, simply tried not to think about them.

Had I kept my brain in the on position, I would have paid attention to the store owners who successfully protected their property during the L.A. riots or the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when armed citizens (before being forcibly disarmed by their 'protectors') had to fight off roving bands of looters. Are pistols and shotguns useful in such situations? Of course, but they are not ideal and when your life, or that of a loved one, is on the line, you want the absolute best tool for the job you can get.

When confronted with civil disorder and the breakdown of basic services, a fighting rifle is one of your best tools. The shotgun remains highly desirable as does the pistol, but unlike normal home defense you may have to engage multiple attackers at open distances. This is where a self-loading, magazine fed rifle is worth its weight in gold.

Apparently I am not the only one to think so, either. Ar-15s, Kel-Tecs, and any other rifles matching the description are flying off the shelves faster than gun stores can restock. Heck, last time I tried to price rifles, there weren't any that fit the bill. Can't say I blame folks, I just hope they remembered to buy plenty of extra magazines and ammo and make sure they can use the things.

I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't done so already to get themselves a defensive rifle. Yes, you'll probably be fine without one, heck you probably won't ever be in danger from rioters, looters, etc, but that is not the way I recommend approaching personal safety. Especially these days. * And no, I'm not at all recommending people take the approach of forming into impromptu fire teams and patrolling for trouble, with their rifles, if the fecal matter does hit the rotary air impeller. ** If trouble does come your way, however, you'll be far better prepared to survive it if you have a rifle you know how to use with plenty of ammo loaded and ready to go.

I won't go into recommending this rifle or that with what accessories. I could spend a week discussing options and still not cover everything, not to mention I'll be wrong by at least one person's reckoning. Nature of the beast and diversity of opinions and choices is a feature, not a bug.

Instead, since I currently have no rifles that fit the bill (remember I got laid off a while ago?), I'd simply share my plans, such as they are, for acquisitions. I just have to finish this book and get that sweet, sweet, vile mammon.

Our first two rifle purchases will be AR builds. I've never owned an AR, but I've had plenty of trigger time with them and have helped other assemble them from parts. Final decision has not been made on parts yet though. I'll try not to geek out to much in the descriptions...

For the wifey, a carbine length either M-4 style or flat top. Currently leaning towards a flat top with flip-up iron sights co-indexed (for the uninitiated, that means they line up with the other sighting gear) a good red dot sight, probably EOtech holosight, and a flip-in/flip-out magnifier for reaching out just a little bit further, foregrip, and a collapsible stock. Yeah, really good red dot sights will bump the total price by 300-800 dollars, but is totally worth it if you have someone good at short to intermediate range rapid acquistion and fire. Such as the wifey. Might also go with a laser and flashlight, as this will be intended for closer range.

For self, a full length AR probably A4 style, but with a Magpul stock. I'll go with a higher end upper, probably DPMS, fully floated, blah, blah barrel and a bipod. Haven't decided on glass (scope) yet, but whatever it is will likely cost a fortune. Heck, I'll probably even get a light amplification scope. I'm looking to make a 600-800 meter rifle. The odds against needed that kind of reach are astronomical, but my house has great fields of fire and I'd hate to have a chance to head trouble off and not be able to take it.

Finally, the value of the .22 rifle should not be discounted. Sure, I'd hate to have to rely on one to stop an attacker, but they serve plenty of other functions and the small, cheap (relatively, ammo just ain't cheap these days) ammo means you can, and should, have lots. Like in the range of thousands of rounds.

A .22 can be used to take small game such as rabbits as a supplemental food supply. In a situation where you have someone unskilled at arms, as long as they're reasonable unlikely to shoot you, then can blast away at bad guys without wasting more valuable ammo. Not only might they actually stop an attacker, they'll serve as improvised suppressive fire. The .22 can also be used, if a situtation actually lasts a while, to train others in firearms without using your primary ammo. Heck, if all else fails, a .22 rifle with ammo in it is worth more than your bare hands and even the greatest, empty, rifle in the world.

Finally, I advise not just having lots of ammo, but lots of magazines loaded. Having 32,000 5.56 hollow points is great, but if you have to reload magazines after the second one, you're probably in a bad place. Also of consideration, though not of primary concern, is ammunition commonality. If things go bad and stay that way for awhile, will you be able to find more ammo? If you are using a 5.56, .308 win, 7.62x39, .30-06, etc, yeah probably, but if you're slinging a 7.62x54R, you may have some trouble.

*I'm not one of the doomsayers who expects are entire civilization to soon collapse or any 'long night' style scenario. The worst I expect disturbances of a few hundred (maybe a thousand or two) square miles that last from two or three days to a couple weeks. Plenty bad, but not the end of the world.

**I'll probably be visiting the topic of what one should and should not be doing in such a situation, even assisting law enforcement in restoring order, but not encouraging reckless action.

Ah the joys of the collegiate experience

2009-04-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

I had originally planned on writing about rifles today, a topic near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately, my mornings belong to writing for filthy lucre and blogging is relegated to catch as catch can. Since I have Kenpo in about an hour, there's no way I'd finish a post on rifles.

Whilst in the Navy (ie. during my misspent youth), I was a sufficiently motivated, studious, and, frankly, brilliant (and humble) to finish a bachelor's degree just slightly before my twenty first birthday. Long story short, my education officer pulled a fast one on a bunch of us and we never got credit for most of our classes, about two thirds of them in my case. When I originally wrote this, I went into detail about the whole thing, but realized that even after all this time I remain sufficiently livid so as to be incapable of writing about it coherently.

Moving on.

A few months ago, I decided to go back to school. Doing a little math here, it's been...lessee divide the square of C by the cube root of zero (what? I live outside the flow of normal time)...aha! Eight years since the last time I took a class more academic than how to treat a sucking chest wound or not offend the women or minorities I worked around. Things have changed a bit.

Oh! Sounds like story time!

"But why do they use just zeros and ones in binary? Why not use zero through nine? You could have more information in the same space." This said with the assurance of one who is confident of revolutionizing the field.

A plethora of response came to mind. You know, such trivial things as not being able to simply imprint actual digits in the flow of electrons. Things like on...and off. Maybe a reference to Morse code to illustrate how information is transmitted with only two options. Instead I shoot back with, "What? Because the tiny little cables and electron paths are two small for bigger numbers."

I know, I know, I'm an ass. What do you expect me to say in a conversation that's taking place in a political science class?

"Wouldn't it be worth it to make them just a little bigger? You could at least use three and four."

At this point, I'm just wanting the little wart to shut his month, but since gratification in that regard was not forthcoming...

"You'd still have too many heat dissappation problems and major diminishing returns in volume to processing power and storage capacity."

"Why do we have to use zero and one though? They're the most useless numbers in the world."

I'm sure my tormentor has a vast and metropolitan experience of the world, and this is just a lapse. After all, we all know (right?) that they're actually the two most important intergers. I mean, there are entire FIELDS of study in math and science that rarely, or never, work with values that aren't between those two.

So yeah, I really was about ready to flatten this kid.

"Because they're the smallest ones with the highest value ratio."

"But..."

"No, drop it. You don't know what the FRENCH FRIES* you're talking about."

"But zero..."

"What?! What is so ALL FIRED* wrong with the current method? You know, since it's the only one that will work unless we stumble on a completely new theory of electronic operation!"

"I just don't like zeros."

Wow. All this from a...wait for it...computer science major. Guess how many classes he's failed! If you guesses 'all of them,' pat yourself on the back.

Not all my fellow students are like that though. In my stats class there are two girls, who sit way in the back of the classroom just ahead of me and the guy I sit next to. In a roughly linear (sorry stats midterm was yesterday) fashion, test scores increase with distance from the teacher. This being a statistics class, I decided to write that phenomenon up sheerly for grits and shins.

We were debating actually giving it to our teacher, until the review session last night. The teacher asked questions with varied awards (arranged ala Jeopardy), and divided the room into teams by rows. The last two rows being largly empty she teamed the four of us up. Being the older and more mature member, I decided to stop answering questions upon realizing that even if one of the other teams got every answer right, we would still win. Now it seems to hand in that little bit of observation would just be rubbing it in. Something my fellows seem all too eager to do.

Ugh, how did I become the guy who has to wrangle both the idiots and rambunctious smart guys? I used to be the rambunctious smart guy...

And now I'm almost late for Kempo. Darnit.

*Not what I really said, this is a reasonable kid friendly blog.

Let's make a deal

2009-04-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the continued lack of regular posting. Between trying to hammer out a book, which is turning into a real page turner to my mind, working out twice and day, and being a full time college student, I have not written here a tenth as much as I'd like. That said, I figured it was time to offer a couple of proposals to those whose political ideals are in conflict with mine.

So there's been a little debate over at the Smallest Minority regarding guns, gun control, the effect an armed populace has on crime, etc. Pretty interesting stuff, deteriorated a bit when the anti-gunner started arguing from a position of feeling and ignoring the obviously real dangers of modern life, but still pretty interesting.

It got me thinking a bit though. Kevin repeatedly posted statistics of various gun friendly locales here in the US of A and noted they, almost universally, had lower crime rates. His opponent pointed out that correlation does not imply causation. This is true, but it does still tell us a few things. For one thing, it can eliminate potential causation. Kevin's opponent, without having any statistics or other evidence to his case, merely asserted that the statistics mean nothing. Not so, although as someone versed in them, I often find their value dubious.

See, those stats did show a negative causation. One that directly opposes one of the dearly held beliefs of those opposed to gun rights. "More guns cause crime!" Right, then how come Texas isn't more like D.C. or L.A.? Hell, how come my little corner of paradise, being about as heavily armed as the 7th Infantry, has a virtually non-existent crime rate?

So, the first deal, leaving aside for the time the issue of legally vs. illegally possessed firearms, I'll stop saying that the statistics indicate that more guns will lower the crime rate. Sure, there's a lot to support the theory, but I'm willing to give a little. The flip side is, my honorable opponents, you must stop saying more guns will mean an increase in violent crime.

Next, "Republicans," and by extension, all conservative, "are fascists." Really? Man. This one has gotten old. Especially since when I've heard that, often with some vitriol behind it, I've always been included in the condemnation. I'm not a Republican and never have been. Heck, I'm a conservative only by courtesy to some people's minds. What I am is a strict Constructionist with some libertarian (note the little 'l') leanings. That doesn't matter. Anyone who opposes government handout programs and nanny-statism is a fascist.

Let's examine that for a second. I know, I know, fascism has evolved, in the current political discourse, to mean simply anyone who supports something we oppose. That's not what it's supposed to mean. At it's founding, Fascism opposed Capitalism as the source of class inequality. Additionally, it opposed Communism as exploiting class warfare. In other words, on neither side of the political divide in America can the term be accurately used. Conservatives are, on the mean, capitalists and liberals, again on the mean, while not Communists are experts in exploiting class warfare (ie. tax the rich to give money to the poor).

Fascism supported both military expansionism as well as government oversight and control of corporate endeavors. So we can both accuse each other of those particular facets of Fascism, but it isn't really accurate to do so. While I'm sure there are some who consider themselves conservatives who favor annexing (read: invading, conquering and subjugating) foreign territory, on the whole we're as opposed to it as the next guy (who happens to be a liberal), but continue to be accused of it because of a greater willingness to use military force. On the other hand, I've heard liberals being called fascists quite a bit recently due to the government's recent acquisition of control over several industries nearly in toto. Sure, it was, by and large, the elected Democrats who voted for it, but the average liberal on the street was just as pissed off as me.

So, can we please stop calling each other Fascists? It's not true on either side. I'm sure there are those who would gleefully debate which side is closer to being fascist, but really, it's got to stop.

Ever wonder why Atlas looked so constipated?

2009-04-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, weird title.

What can I say, my mind seems to be dwelling in a weird place of late. First, why is it misfortune always seems to hit me first? I'm the only person I know to have been laid off while simultaneously I've yet to get even a sixth of what they owe me from Veteran's Affairs. Predictably, this has caused a bit of financial strain at a time when prices are going up.

No worries, I am not without my resources and recourse. Things are just a bit tight.

Anyway, I've wondered off topic. Atlas. He holds up the world. Looks kind of heavy. He seems to be straining a bit. Now, it appears he's shrugging.

I am, of course, referencing the Ayn Rand novel, Atlas Shrugged. Not that I recommend reading the book. While I certainly find the scenario plausible and even a little terrifying, the book itself and many of Rand's beliefs are rather repellent. Still, in this day in age, you should probably read at least a fairly detailed synopsis of it, as well as the entirety of 1984 and Animal Farm.

Those of you who suffer through seeing me on a regular basis may have noticed that my mind seems to be working a bit differently. My priorities and outlook have changed. This is not a new phenomenon, mind, but another situational adaption I seem to be making.

I've been doing that since childhood. My own dear mother has frequently commented on how I seem to posses a much harder, callused personality than I did while in high school. Not that I am actually callus or even hard, I'm every bit as sympathetic and caring as I ever was, it just doesn't show as much. It's an adaption. I've always adapted to my situation. Heck, when I fist got to Camden, people thought I was a totally uncaring hardass. I wasn't, but that is how I'd had to act at my previous unit.

In reality, this is something we all do, most just don't pay attention to it.

I told you all that so I could tell you this.

It doesn't take the oracle at Delphi or even a crystal ball to see that we, as a nation, are in a rough patch and, unless things change, heading for worse. I don't believe all the gloom and doom prophesies I'm hearing now, about total collapse of our economy and, subsequently, way of life.

But I think we're heading for some serious trouble. When economies tank, especially when there is widespread and deeply felt resentment (like over a few stimulus packages the electorate didn't want), people often take their anger to the streets. With cutbacks coming in local government budgets, not federal of course, this will mean less police and emergency response. Wouldn't take much of a spark to cause a breakdown of civil order under those circumstances. Worse, the first time it happens will likely set up a domino effect.

Down go the dominoes.

Worst, there is no way to predict where such civil unrest will occur. True, big cities are more likely than small ones, but even small city economies are tied into the nationwide network of commerce and when the mill closes or the farms cannot by seed, people will be angry. No where will be immune.

So, now my imperative to you. Be prepared. Stock up on long shelf life foods, talk to your nearby friends and family about mutual preparations, decide where would be the safest play to try and wait things out (good lines of fire, sturdy construction, etc), buy rifles, shotguns and loads of ammo (more on this later), etc. I'll be going more in depth later, but the essence is to make ready for trouble.

To that end, I've started a (VERY) rigorous new fitness regime, stepped up my combatives practice (part of the regime), and am planning several new firearm acquisitions.

The odd thing is, I don't even feel like I'm being paranoid. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen near any of you, but I hope you don't gamble on it.

Forged in Fire, Rotted from Within

2009-04-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

(reposted from another blog of mine)

So, here we are in the year of our Lord, two thousand and seven. For decades we have taught young boys that their natural, chromosonal aggressiveness is wrong, bad, verboten. Girls are taught to keep their man humiliated and feeling perpetually guilty of everything that goes wrong, to control him. Schools teach young children that to believe in God is simple superstition, that our own culture and its mores are intrinsically inferior to all others, that Western Civilization, and by extension, our country, is the bad guy throughout the last few hundred years of history.

The result? Sky-rocketing divorce rates from men who get sick of being treated like village idiots sneaking off with their secretaries who let them wear the pants occasionally and women finding some other man who actually acts like one (although they'll do their best to change him too). Our borders leak like a sieve because we're too afraid of 'oppressing another culture', insensitivity, or racism to defend our way of life and national identity. We're more afraid of the boogeyman of global warming than militant Islam because to deal with the later would require us to actually admit we're battling an entire culture, not just a few radicals.

The list of symptoms brought on by the monster of causality is long and, frankly, we haven't even seen all of it yet.

And where does it all start? By rejecting what we are. Whether you believe in God, as I obviosuly do, or something else, the simple fact is that boys act one way and girls another. This is the natural way of things. Males are aggressive, analytical, territorial, and protective. Females are intuitive, subtle, security-minded, and ruthless. Are there certain exceptions? Absolutely, you'll not likely meet anyone more ruthless than me, or a man more protective than my wife. The point, however, is that there are clear differences and preferences between the genders, even among children treated the exact same. Different hormones, chromosones, etc. By trying to eliminate these natural traits, we've upset the natural order. I can't count how many couples I've met who were absolutely miserbale because the woman exerted dominance over the man. Not that the opposite should be true, marriage should be equal, but it's obvious such a situation cannot maintain. I've seen nearly all of those relationships end in divorce, over the course of less than five years. That's the biological side of it.

On the national side, it's about our national identity. We are a nation that was forged in the fires of war. The War for Independance. "Give me liberty of give me death!" "I regret I have but one life to give for my country." "The tree of liberty must, from time to time, be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants, for that is it's natural fertilizer." Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, and George Washington. That is who WE were. Patriots, Americans, COUNTRYMEN. We had pride, a work ethic, and a thirst for liberty. We even extended that liberty to others, who sailed across the Pacific and took it. Made this country their own and became Americans themselves, and it was good. We fought any and all who threatened that liberty or the lives of our citizens. So, what happened? Simple, we abandoned all that. How many would seriously expect to hear a President say anything even remotely like the above quotes? No one.

The two are closely related. Without the natural balance in place of men's aggressiveness and women's propensity for security, we tipped the scales to far towards security and the nanny state that engendered. As a backlash against the suppression of men's aggressiveness, we have passive-agressiveness mixed in (in an unholy matrimony) with blatant machoism. Rap videos are a good example. So we have the drive to outlaw guns, control the Internet, outlaw this, ban that, raise taxes more to feed the poor, 'Screw Capitalism, the government needs to run these industries,' give up just a little more privacy for the sake of security, nationalized health care, etc.

That's the prognosis boys and girls, sorta. Things aren't so bad as the media would have us think, although those disfunctional jerks think it's good. We conservatives (who, in my mind, could be described as those who respect the balance) are not the toothless, old lions baying at a world that no longer fears them that some would have you believe we are. I hear all the time about how the soul of America is gone and we no longer have the will to win, etc. Not true. We are made of sterner stuff than that. Even now with a war going on, our military is all-volunteer. Volunteers who shame me for having joined in peacetime. Our Southern border is patrolled by private citizens every day, day in and day out, at cost to themselves, using their own vehicles, gas, and, you guessed it, guns. Everywhere you go, you meet people who rail against the nation our media would have you believe exists. Well, we're NOT that nation, we may have been led astray and struggling, on the ropes if you will, but WE ARE NOT BEATEN. As long as people like us draw breath America will be free and the battle for her soul will not over.

SO, STAND A LITTLE STRAIGHTER, TALK A LITTLE BOLDER, AND TAKE HOPE. WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY AND WE WILL NOT GO WITHOUT MORE OF A FIGHT THAN ANYONE CAN GIVE US.

The city on the hill

2009-03-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

The shining beacon of freedom and justice. The torchbearer of liberty and the hope to live free. A nation of laws, governed by a body for the people, by the people, and of the people.

A nation forged in the fires of its liberation and whose freedom has been secured through its centuries by the blood of its best and bravest.

Its scientists and engineers cured more diseases than any other nation, reached the moon before any others, and plumbed the depths of the atom.

She defeated communism, Nazism, Imperialism, and even fought brother against brother to end slavery.

A country whose fire is fueled by the hard work, sacrifice, ingenuity, and ambition of its people.

Kind of hard to reconcile all that with what we see on the news every day, isn't it?

The laws are hardly applied equally to everyone. The federal government has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for the Constitution and has worked itself into a frenzy trying to seize control of as many institutions and industries as it can. The media blatantly shills for those in power whose agenda they agree with and a willfully ignorant populace accepts it. Just to name a very few outrages.

If we want to hold onto this great Republic our forerunners built for us, we must fight tooth and nail for it. We face entrenched power brokers, a hostile media, elected 'representatives' hell bent on ruling us as subjects, and an apathetic, largely ignorant electorate.

There is no consolation prize. This is the last redoubt of freedom in the world and the hope of the free world rests on our shoulders.

Poetry Corner: Recessional

2009-03-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Recessional

God of our fathers, known of old--
Lord of our far-flung battle line--
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies--
The Captains and the Kings depart--
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away--
On dune and headland sinks the fire--
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe--
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard--
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Amen.

By: Rudyard Kipling

You go ahead, I'll watch

2009-03-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

The wifey and I recently gave a very good friend a pistol in .380 for her birthday. Skip ahead a few days and the Irate family is gathered around the table playing a friendly game of cards (for the record, our definition of friendly excludes violence and nothing else) when I get to fiddling. I finish my turn, go get the range bag and start digging for ammo. Not because of the card game. Wanted to find some .380 to give to our friend.

First box o'bullets to get dug up was 9mm FMJ. I set it down to take my turn, and went to pick it back up, noticed something amusing. On the bottom of the box is a list potential uses for this particular ammo. It included thin skinned game such as white tailed dear...and boar. Lemme rephrase that, BOAR.

Snickering quietly (loudly snorting), I pulled out one of the boxes of .380 FMJ and guess what, it said the same thing.

Now, far be it from me to say that you can't hunt boar with with a tiny little pistol round, but I will say you probably shouldn't.

For reference, THIS is a boar.

Hey, if you got the stones, and good life insurance, you go right ahead. Me, I'll stick to using rifles. Really big rifles. Occasionally rifled shotguns.

EDIT: That's not me in the picture.

Change you can believe in!

2009-02-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not going Obama bashing, I leave that to Mr. Biden (rim shot!).

This here, is how I will improve government upon my conquering of the world, for we the little folk.

First, no more Ivy Leaguers trying to run the economy and write the federal budget. Instead, the only people eligible will be housewives from lower middle income families. This will have many benefits, the best of which will be listening to one tell a whining Congress weasel that he already spent his allowance and he'll just have to make due. Also, it might help bridge the gap between the elitists running the show and the common folk.

Second, a limit on the length of any piece of legislation. If it can't fit on a single page of standard size printer paper in size 10 font, it's too long.

Hand in hand with the previous, a council of dunces will be appointed. Membership will consist of twelve high school graduates with no further education. They will review all pieces of legislation to have successfully passed through both houses. If they cannot understand it, or even if there is doubt, it either goes back to committee, or dies. This will have the added benefit of highlighting the failure of the public education system.

This has been an announcement of the Irate Army.

Join the Happy Throngs!

Grumbling and muttering

2009-02-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Haven't blogged in a while, obviously. I'm sure whatever small readership I developed is now gone. Oh well, my fault.

The reason I have not been writing is, amusingly, that I have been. I set out some time ago to write a book and then have it published. Hardly the first time I've taken to writing a lengthy story, but this time I had a plan that would, hopefully, avoid wrangling with a publisher and editor. Such wrangling is outside my skill set and the reason I've never had anything published. I'm just not very good at revising my own work, especially when I make a mistake in continuity.

But this time, I had a plan! Before the first word of the first chapter was ever committed to a Word document, I had written detailed biographies of each and every character of importance, I even had a list of tertiary characters at what was important about them. I had an outline that was just under twelve thousand words in length (for reference: most books are around one hundred thousand). I had detailed notes about every spaceship involved, its history, crew roster, armaments, performance, and quirks. Every planet and polity (obviously a sci-fi) was detailed down to the demographics, who was in power, political structure, and laws. All the technological and cultural changes in humanity was carefully plotted along a detailed timeline.

Truly, a masterpiece was about to unfold. Only...I noticed as the story unfolded that it was kind of stilted, seemingly disjointed. The plot twists hardly seemed like twists at all, more like inevitable outcomes of the string of events. I shrugged that off and plowed ahead, promising myself that my live-in editor (the Wifey) and I would fix it easily in the first revision. The continued until I had over sixty thousand of the planned hundred and twenty. Despite knowing what was to happen next, with the assistance of my handy outline, I could not seem to get the story from point A to point B (or point H to I in this case) in a manner that seemed both logical and to flow pleasingly.

The problem, obvious in retrospect, was that by arranging so many details ahead of time, I had severely limited my options when writing. Worse, it just wasn't any fun, which tends to stifle my creativity. If I wanted a character to do something that might seem counter-indicated, like leap up from cover and run screaming towards the badguys, I told myself that it didn't fit the bio, no matter how much my mental picture of the character said that was exactly what he would do. Looking back over what I had, I can't imagine any way to make it even remotely readable without a complete rewrite.

So I gave up on writing for a few weeks. Thought about at least posting on the blog, couldn't get motivated to do it. Heck, I even had a hard time getting my essays done on time for my homework. I seem unusually prone to writer's block when frustrated.

Well, about a week ago I had a conversation with some old friends of mine, who both happened to be published authors and among my favorites at that. They gave me a few tips, most of which centered around being less of an anal retentive obsessive compulsive. Shocking that.

Which brings me to where I am now. About ten thousand words (Already?!) into a book that, as yet, lacks so much as an outline. At least a written one, I have a bare bones one in my head, but I'm not, apparently, allowed to commit it to any media until I've reached a certain point in the story. It's kind of funny, but has been amazingly effective. I feel almost like a passive observer as the outline as steadily transformed into something far more readable and exponentially more interesting than it would have been had I committed to it before I started letting the characters interact in my head.

The best part, is the solution to a problem I've had in writing even before my obsessive planning got out of hand. Despite my best efforts, I've never successfully injected humor into any story I've written. This goes back to the first time I wrote one back in grade school. The problem is trying to put humor into a story. It don't work that way, Cleetus. It has to already be there, all the author should have to do at that point is simply bring it to light. The characters, at least some, must have senses of humor and the circumstances simply have to give them something to laugh at every now and then. My current story has thus far been, at various points, both hilarious and spine tingling and it all flows logically. Sure, most of the humor is of the dark and/or gallows variety, but some will no doubt be labeled sophmoric. That's fine with me, I know first hand just what people's sense of humor will do in bad situations and I think I'm pretty close.

So, got that all off my chest and an entire blog post written, hopefully the first of more to come.

Time will tell...

Lesson learned at Oktoberfest

2008-10-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

When wandering around a Bravian themed tourist town in the middle of Oktoberfest, one should not absentmindedly begin whistling Die Fahne Hoch.

More on the whole weekend later, when I catch up on work, housework, and school stuff.

Universal Sufferage

2008-10-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

...And why it's bugging me.

Some people should not be allowed to vote. At bare minimum potential voters should have to pass a civics test. Seriously, if YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY STATES WE HAVE, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS PARTICIPATING IN THE GOVERNANCE OF THIS COUNTRY! If you don't know what a particular candidate is for and against, you should not be able to vote for them. These ignorant, lazy 'citizens' are the reason every political campaign always ends up looking like a high school popularity contest.

Seriously, how is anyone with two brain cells to rub together going to believe that the people Howard Stern's show interviewed aren't voting for Obama because he's black? They we're completely wrong on his policies and even who he picked for VP, but they're all for him. Or maybe they're just hungry for the sweet draught of Hope'n-Change (TM). They don't know anything that actually matters about what is going on, but they're pulling for Obama. I'm willing to bet there are some pulling for McCain/Palin too, just because his VP is a woman.

Does anyone who actually has any business having an opinion still oppose some additional requirement for suffrage? I don't mean that sarcastically either. Are there any well-informed, critically thinking, and literate people out there, who still want the lazy, the ignorant, and the irrational to be able to vote?

All I want is a written civics test. Some basic stuff like how the electoral college works, what a bicameral legislative is, what powers the executive does and doesn't have (that'd be the big one for most people), and maybe, I dunno, some basic idea of what our country is and who is running it. I know it would be opposed as a literacy test, which are verboten, but I think it's about time we got rid of that rule. To be illiterate in this day and age means you are either A.) an immigrant, in which case following naturalization you can take the test with a proctor reading the questions, or B.) too lazy, too stupid, or too cool to have learned in school, in which case...

...you shouldn't get to vote.

The pitter patter of little jack booted feet

2008-10-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

They came for Jessica, and we will not be silent.

Jessica Hughes of Lufkin, Texas, former Marine, mother of three, answered her cell phone in the car, coming home from the emergency room. Her 9-year-old had suffered a mild concussion, but was OK.

The caller was a female Obama volunteer who asked if Jessica would support Obama for president.

Jessica replied, "No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time." Then Jessica hung up.

The next day, a man and a woman in suits showed up at the door of her home, identifying themselves as members of the Secret Service.

That should get you wondering a bit. Go read the article, I'll wait.

I honestly doubt that they were real Secret Service agents, but whether they were or not the point is that the Obama campaign is embarked on a deliberate campaign of intimidation. Whether by misleading the real SS or sending lackeys to intimidate, the effect is the same. Let's not forget the radio stations threatened with litigation if they aired the NRA's ads which do nothing worse than point out how anti-gun Obama is. Can't have the chosen one's actual views get in the way of his coronation, can we?

My wife received a cold call from the Obama campaign yesterday, coincidentally. She expressed her opinion rather eloquently and included such phrases as, "No freaking way." Does that mean we could get a visit letting us we're know under suspicion?

If so, they better have SS credentials, which I'll make sure to write down the details of. If they don't, well then, they may just get provoked into a good old ass kicking.

This is still the United States, damnit. My colleagues and I didn't wear the uniform so some leg breaker from the city of dirty politics could intimidate and silence his opposition. Not now, not ever.

100 things every man should know how to do

2008-10-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

So Popular Mechanics recently posted a list of one hundred skills every man should have. Predictably the usual suspects have gotten all over the comments section, these skills don't apply to me, why isn't it for men and women, blah blah blah. As if everything written everywhere has to be appropriate for everyone. Whatever, there are some skills that some people, like me for instance, simply expect men to have. Not to say women cannot have them, they just don't have to.

Of course, I had a few objections over some of the included list and would have added a few different things. Since I don't really feel like blogging about politics, I've decided to make my own list with theirs as a starting point.

I'll start by outlining what I'd specifically object to and why.

"Using a stick welder." Certainly a useful skill, but your average automotive maintenance task won't require it. To wit, I've never used one and I've done all kinds of things to/for various vehicles, including Humvees and 800+ foot Navy vessels.

"Use a sewing machine." Not so much that I object to men needing to know how to sew, but it doesn't have to be a machine. I've mended all kinds of tears, rents, etc and sewed on uniform patches and never used a sewing machine. Hand sewing is FINE.

"Home brew beer." Again, a nice thing to know, but not really necessary or expected.

"Change a single pole switch." If every man knew how to safely work on a home's electrical wiring, then electricians would soon be out of work. Besides, being able to safely work with wiring is a professional skill, not something just anyone can do.

The 'Military' skills listed; "Shine shoes," "Make a drum tight bed," and "Drop and do a perfect pushup," seems largely unnecessary in normal life. Sure, I can do all three simultaneously...asleep, but I was actually in the military. I'd think a reasonably well made bed and the ability to shine dress shoes would be good enough.

"Skipper a boat." Maybe operate small watercraft I could agree with, but actual skippering requires USCG certifications, etc. Seems a bit much.

"Tackle steep drops on a mountain bike." Why? Seriously. If you DO mountain bike, then yeah, obviously, but otherwise, wtf?

Under teach your kids; "Throw a spiral," and "Fly a stunt kite." Again, why? Maybe your kids don't like football and kites? How about "Be able to teach your kids to do the things you both enjoy?" I could get behind that. I'm teaching mine Jujitsu and how to shoot.

"Calibrate HDTV settings." How about a more broad, "Know how to use, set, and set-up electronics you own."?

Under 'Master key workshop skills' are...actually nothing I really disagree with.

The amusing part is, other than home brewing beer, I actually know how to do everything on the list, and I'm learning the brewing.

So, here's the list I would make:

Automotive:
1. Simple to intermediate level preventative and corrective automotive maintenance. Brakes, fluids, belts, batteries, spark plugs, etc.
2. Be able to courteously and safely drive in heavy traffic.
3. Drive in adverse conditions such as snow, ice, heavy rain, or off road and safely handle a blow out.
4. Jump starting a car.
5. Hitching and driving with a trailer, especially parking.
6. Park in the middle of a given spot.

Emergency:
7. Know basic first aid
8. Treat hypothermia and heat trauma
9. Master treatment of ailments common to your specific location and profession. For example, an electrical plant worker should be an expert in treating electrical shock and someone living in Death Valley should be able to treat heat stroke while sleeping.
10. Escape a sinking car and assisting other passengers
11. Use fire extinguishers and evacuate a burning building

Around the house:
12. Carve a turkey
13. Be able to sew, either with a machine or by hand
14. Make a fire and safely put one out in any situation
15. Do laundry, including removing stains, ironing, and folding
16. Move heavy stuff without injury or damage
17. Grow food, including knowing what will grow locally and how to keep pests away
18. Read utility meters
19. Shovel, to clear paths, driveways, etc and to make holes
20. Solder wire
21. Mud, patch, and tape drywall
22. Split and stack firewood
23. Perform basic plumbing repairs. Trap cleaning, toilet flappers, washers, etc
24. Mix, form, and lay concrete
25. Paint a straight line
26. Use a chef's knife, peel vegetables and potatoes, make a salad, and cook a modest repertoire of meals
27. Prune bushes and small trees
28. Fell a tree
29. Replace a broken windowpane
30. Set up a ladder and work from it, safely
31. Sweat copper tubing
32. Change a diaper, feed and burp a baby and comfort one when crying
33. Grill with charcoal
34. Fold a flag
35. Shine shoes and dress presentably/professionally
36. Make a bed and maintain cleanliness in the home

Personal:
37. Exercise within personal limitations and maintain fitness
38. Use a knife, both as a tool and as a weapon
39. Maintain constant situational awareness
40. Evaluate a threat
41. De-escalate a confrontation, especially verbally
42. Fight unarmed and with improvised weapons
43. Break out of a hold or joint lock when surprised
44. Defend your home and loved ones
45. Judge if a given battle is hopeless, and make an informed decision whether or not to fight it
46. Walk away whenever it's necessary and know when it is
47. Shoot accurately whether hunting, practicing, competing, or fighting for your life
48. Carry a handgun, concealed. In other words, not letting others know you have one

Outdoors:
49. Run rapids in a canoe
50. Store food safely in the wild
51. Escape a rip current
52. Build or find a shelter in the wilderness
53. Find potable water
54. Survive floods, tornados, cold, heat, lightning, and any disaster specific to your location

Teach your kids (which means you have to know how to do them in the first place, presumably):
55. How to act
56. How to do the things you mutually enjoy
57. To form an informed opinion on an issue
58. To argue a position with facts and logic
59. About your system of government
60. Literature
61. History
62. To debate politely
63. How to argue in a hostile manner and when to do so
64. Honor and what it means
65. Duty and why it matters
66. To drive, stick and automatic
67. To swim
68. Hunting
69. Personal responsibility

Technology:
70. Install hardware and software in a computer
71. Take decent pictures
72. Know how to use, set, and set-up electronics you own
73. Shoot a home movie
74. Ditch a hard drive
75. Keep your computer secure and malware free

Workshop skills:
76. Drill driver
77. Grease gun
78. Coolant hydrometer
79. Socket wrench
80. Test light
81. Brick trowel
82. Framing hammer
83. Wood chisel
84. Spade bit
85. Circular saw
86. Sledge hammer
87. Hacksaw
88. Torque wrench
89. Air wrench
90. Infrared thermometer
91. Sand blaster
92. Crosscut saw
93. Hand plane
94. Multimeter
95. Feeler gauges

Etc:
96. Manage finances and balance a checkbook
97. Stay calm and be reassuring
98. Tell a joke or story
99. Paint, both indoors and outdoors
100. Take and follow orders as well as give them

Poetry Corner

2008-10-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-Robert Frost

This is how democracy dies...

2008-10-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

...not to cries of acrimony and outrage, but to thunderous applause on the floor of the House.

Oh, I'm over-reacting, am I? If you think so, you haven't been paying attention. For over a week every Representative in support of the bailout has told the media that their offices have been swamped with letters, phonecalls, and e-mails from their constituents. This is a quote, "They've been split about 50/50 between 'No' and 'Hell no!'" This last delivered with a smugly superior smirk that seemed to just scream, "We know better than you do."

I understand that no one can expect our elected reps to be nothing more than voting apparatus of the people, that they are expected to bring a bit more expertise and calmer heads to the voting, but this is a blatant flaunting of the will of the people.

When our government so blatantly ignores the will of the people, resting assured that they know what's best for us, they can no longer be truly considered representative. Can they? Of bloody course not!

The worst part is the ones who talked to the media after the failure of the first bill, saying how the people are simply being vindictive towards Wall Street and that they would, foolishly it's implied, by willing to go to the bread line for it. That kind of unthinking arrogance permeates our elected 'Representatives.'

And why shouldn't it? After all, the recent record of the voters shows that our attention span for Congressional voting is shorter than an episode of American Idol. We'll vote on what they say in their campaigns about the war and the economy, etc, but pay no attention to the fact that in the past they've voted differently.

Of course, the question is, why would so many vote for something they knew was unpopular? At the very least, people like me will call them to task for it, what did they gain? Ask yourself this, who is funneling more money into their re-election coffers? We the People, or those same damn companies, who were so recently in dire financial straights? Of course we know the answer to that, don't we.

I'd love to know how much of that seven hundred Billion (BILLION) ends up going to re-election campaigns.

Tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna try to get a hold of the complete list of who voted for that thing in both houses (yes, I know that should be capitalized, but F*** 'em).

Toss the bastards out in '08, '10 and '12.

Irate Wifey update

2008-10-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Following an unexpected upper GI scope on Tuesday, Wifey went in for laproscopic gall bladder removal on Wednesday. Still no solid diagnosis as to what the problem was, but everything except the gall bladder had been removed as a cause, so it had to go.

For the first time in weeks she's able to eat without a sharp, spasming pain in her abdomen. Now it's just a matter of trying to keep her from trying to do housework or anything else that might aggravate her still healing body. Not an easy task as she's stubborn enough to marry me and drugged to the gills on top of that. Oh well.

A hubby's job is never done.

Also, the reason I still wasn't around yesterday is that I had my finals, which I never did get to study for, because I still hadn't had sufficient time to finish my research paper which was due a week ago. Luckily the instructor knew what was going on and cut me a lot of slack.

Been a bit busy

2008-09-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

So, I had decided to take a little break from blogging from the 11th until my birthday on the 16th, well a funny thing happened on the 16th. About a half hour after midnight the Irate Wifey wakes me up in more pain than I'd ever seen her. So it's off to the emergency room! Turns out her gall bladder hurts, but is showing no symptoms of anything. So, a CT scan, ultrasound, and hiediscan later, we're pretty sure it's her gall bladder, and no closer to knowing why.

That's basically been my days since then. She may very well be going into surgery tomorrow, coincidentally, her birthday. We'll see, keep her in your prayers if you would.

Poetry corner returns, also: Heroes

2008-09-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you out there who watched Heroes last night, Mohinder's first closing speech was largely composed of one of my favorite poems.

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

-William Butler Yeats

One of the few poems I actually memorized in high school. Good stuff.

I'll blog more and explain my absence in an hour or two.

Seven years ago...

2008-09-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

...On a beautiful September morning, a glittering arrow sailed through the clear sky. Millions of New Yorkers going about their business pause to look up, wondering about the low flying airplane where none should be.

On the far side of the country, a slightly younger, and vastly less mature, Aaron is trying to get his hearing test done so he can join the rest of his unit on liberty. His Chief sticks his head into the room.

"Turn the TV on."
"What channel?"
"Doesn't matter."

Chief stood there quietly, long enough for me to absorb the enormity of what happened.

"Get 'em back here, and get us ready to go."
"Chief, I don't have the authority or quals to..."
"You do today, get a move on. I'll have my duty pager if you need me."

So, as a twenty year old third-class I had to get forty people back from all over western Washington and take care of all predeployment preparations, all in just a few short hours.

Five days, and several lifetimes, later, I turned twenty-one. Hard birthday to forget.

"May God have mercy on their souls, for we will not."

Never again. Never forget.

Hopping on a meme bandwagon...

2008-09-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who reads quite a few blogs, but rarely mine, suggested I follow a particular meme. Particularly, 'what's in my pockets.' I suspect this is because he's curious to know just how much I haul around.

Less than he was expecting, I'll wager. Unless, of course, I'm working...

Then I really am carrying a lot of crap.

Too bad I'm a lousy photographer.

Maverick/Barracuda '08

2008-09-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

With trepidation I've been watching a few of the speeches from the Republican National Convention and, surprisingly enough, been rather impressed. Oh, I still have my reservations about McCain's domestic policies, but if he sticks to foreign policy and energy independence, he's just about got it all sewn up.

Palin's and Giuliani's speeches? Fergetabudit! They knocked 'em out of the park. From Sarah we get humorous, subtle, and light hearted jabs at the Obamessiah, all embedded in a message of smaller government, lower taxes, personal freedom, American values, and a better energy policy. Rudy's speech was an I'm-not-running-now-so-the-gloves-are-off beat down of hilarious proportions.

When I watched McCain's speech this morning, I actually regretted that my cold-blooded analytical nature prevented me from being moved like I could tell the audience was. I did, however, appreciate the speech in the same way I appreciate a Mozart piece.

Never thought I'd see the day where I expend creative energy to put John McCain in the big chair, but with his choice of VP he seems to be trying to win back the conservative base and that counts for something. What, we'll see, but something.

Little food for though, John McCain has spent more time as a prisoner of war, at the Hanoi Hilton no less, that Obama has spent in government.

As yet another service I provide...

2008-09-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ahh, it's that magically part of the Olympiad again where you can't swing a cat by its tail without hitting a campaign speech. So, as a free service, Irate Islander industries has provided you with this tool to survive the season. Simply add at the appropriate time and suddenly all is well.

Of course, we didn't make it, we're just linking to it.

Why?

Because I'm just that rotten a person...

It's scary because he's right

2008-09-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

Saw this over at The Smallest Minority.

I suspect these things are not unrelated.

"May you live in interesting times"...oh, we do

2008-09-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the year of our Lord, two thousand and eight. Well into the third century of this great Republic, founded on the ideal that what you do matters and who you were born as does not.

If only our Founding Fathers could see us now.

I won't bother with the obvious, that's been well covered by those more talented than me. Instead, I want to talk about another aspect.

It started way before Sarah Palin. WAY before. Can anyone even remember the last Presidential election that was campaigned solely on the basis of the candidate's platform? Heck, there have been times when I wondered if anyone cared about the actual positions of the candidates. I know better now, but the situation has gotten no better.

So, now we come to Palin. She has been potential VP for a few days now and I've heard no criticisms of her politics yet. I have, however, heard a nonstop barrage of sheerly personal attacks. Everything from her being a vapid beauty queen, a bad mother because she went into politics (what about Hilary, Pelosi...?), and a hypocrite because her daughter is pregnant.

How's that work? She is pro-life and pro-family values, right? So, if she was going to be a hypocrite, wouldn't she have had her daughter very quietly get an abortion and cover up the whole thing?

'Ah', they say, 'but her daughter got pregnant at seventeen!' Okay, so? How does that matter even one little bit? First off, it was her daughter, not her, secondly everyone is human. She has certainly tried her best to respond to the situation as best she can and with candor. Which is far more than can be said for most politicians.

But she will continue to be the target of vicious personal attacks. Not because she is a bad person, under qualified (she is, in fact, more qualified that either candidate for the big chair), or a hypocrite. She is a target because she has energized a largely unimpressed conservative, pro-gun base to vote for McCain who likely wouldn't have otherwise, because she is a woman politician who has succeeded on her merits and not on identity politics, and because she does have experience as both an executive and in foreign relations. In other words, they are in a frothing rage because she was a good pick and dramatically increases McCain's chance for a win.

Many people, myself included, have already (it's like time is speeding up in the political world) noticed a very strong backlash from all this. People who could normally be relied to vote for the Democratic candidate are, in increasing numbers, telling their own party to go to Hell.

Way I see this playing out is a radical furthering of the marginalization of the extreme left as well as the party leadership from their base. Who knows? Maybe we'll see the stranglehold of the two-party system broken within our lifetimes.

Hey, even I can hope.

Overheard Around the Manor (To steal a meme)

2008-08-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Me: ...of course the Army will get stuck at least buying a few for testing.
V: No way, the people who do acquisitions hate buying new stuff.
Me: Right, and since any successful, large scale military contractor owns their own congress-weasels, it won't matter.
V: Congress-weasels? They're Congress-critters.
Me: I like weasel better.
V: That is an insult to the noble race of weasels.
Me: Weasels?
V: Comparatively noble, anyway.

Schoolhouse fun

2008-08-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

So I recently signed up for a college class on base on American National Government. In other words, it's an advanced civics course regarding the federal government. Hurray fun!

As I expected, I was the only one who knew the historical origins of democracy (ancient Greece), but I really expected more of the students to at least know the structure and purposes of our government. Out of about seventeen of us, only five knew what separation of powers and checks & balances were. Only two of us knew what federalism was and one person thought welfare and universal medical care where guaranteed rights.

The first class was the worst as only a few other students answered any questions and those answers lead me to the conclusion I was the only conservative in the class. Took a smoke break and had to seriously ask myself if it was worth arguing with EVERYONE or if I should just keep my head down.

Decided to quit whining and man up, and when I spoke up, found out I was far from alone. It should be interesting.

In Praise of an Ugly Gun

2008-08-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently acquired a shiny new Springfield XD .45 Compact. I made no bones about the aesthetic failing of it at the time. Why am I bringing this up again?

Last night I was over at a friend's house and, shockingly enough, we were arguing a wide variety of topics. We finally wandered over to Glocks Vs. XDs. Price, accuracy, ergonomics, and reliability were all mentioned and debated ad nauseum, but then, aesthetics were brought up.

"The XD is just an ugly gun."

A loaded pause followed.

"What?"

"The XD is kinda ugly."

"'Kay, but in comparison to a Glock?"

"Good point."

Thought that was kinda funny, but it got me thinking. I've always had an affinity for firearms with a bit more aesthetic appeal. Like 1911s, Hi Powers, Camp Carbines, anything with a lever action, etc. However, I have to admit, the ugly duckling has really grown on me. With the shortened grip and ten round mag, I can hide it inside my waistband when wearing nothing more than shorts and a light t-shirt. It's accurate as any sidearm, not intended for competition, I've ever fired, as reliable as a Glock, and fits my hand like it was made for it.

It puts me in mind of the man who married a rather homely young lady. Every other guy in the village felt sorry for him, but because his wife was so carrying, kind, and thoughtful, he never even noticed that she didn't meet the standard for beauty. She was beautiful to him.

The XD sure is pretty...

Name change

2008-08-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I changed by blog name. The old name always did seem a bit pretentious even for me, and since I never did blog a lot, comparatively, about self defense. So, while I will continue to occasionally write missives about defense, it will no longer be the, unrealized, main focus.

I'm back, probably

2008-08-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Been away for awhile, again... Between running my own business (which has thus far made less than it cost), looking for another job, and a very full college schedule, I haven't much felt up to blogging. In fact, I stopped posting on forums and writing fiction as well. Wasn't enough time, I thought.

Of course, I'm pretty much incapable of functioning for long periods of time without any creative output. I get edgy, agitated, snappy, and even a bit mean. This is why I carried around a little green notebook in my navy days that would gradually fill up with fairly crappy poetry.

Well, now I'm going to try blogging again. Unlike writing fiction, which I'm resuming as well, blogging is nicely unformed. I can talk about whatever I want instead of trying to remain within the confines of a plot that needs to be consistent. So, tell your friends, you're daily dose of crazy can be found here.

Google, are you kidding ME?

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

Hat tip to Little green footballs-

It’s the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy that began the liberation of Europe from the Nazi nightmare.

So what does Google celebrate today?

The birthday of Spanish painter Diego Velasquez, which as we all know is much more important than some silly war to save civilization: Google.

What? Are you kidding me? I know it's all politically correct to ignore our heritage and spit on the sacrifices of those who have gone before, but isn't that a bit much? Fighting the Third Reich and ending the Holocaust was a bad thing now?

I mean, come on, my brother was born on June 6th too (happy b-day bro, see ya in a few hours), should I use his birthday as a shield against acknowledging the past? Bah, morons, they can go to ****!

This day in History-June 6, 1944

2008-06-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

On this day in history thousands of terrified young men looked into the void, and advanced up the beach, and into legend, anyway. Many are still there.

Operation Overlord was a massive amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy by Allied forces in an effort to place the Third Reich in a two-fronted defensive battle. Despite massively fortified beach defenses, artillery, bunker & tunnel networks, pillboxes, you name it and all on the high ground, Allied forces advanced up a beach that had been converted into a killzone.

To borrow from another theatre, "Uncommon valor was a common thing."

The home defense shotgun

2008-06-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ah the home defense shotgun. Effective intruder defense in one's own home begins and, in most cases, ends with a good shotgun.

Why's that?

Well, a pistol is a great defensive tool, but it lacks the firepower of its shouldered cousins and when they are in your house, where your loved ones may be, and you can carry larger arms, you can and should use something with more power. Why not a rifle? Rifle bullets have more penetration and are more likely to go through a wall and hit your neighbor or even one of your own children. Shotguns, however, have a great deal of power and a much smaller chance of over-penetrating.

Now, that's not to say other guns are useless for home defense. Many people, yours truly included, still keep a pistol by the bedside for immediate use if necessary. That's probably a bit more paranoid than most people are prepared to be, but I have my reasons. The wifey also has a few handguns secreted about the house in various places that are both difficult/impossible for kids to reach yet easily accessible by us. You can't expect to be in bed when your house is broken into. The fake SWAT team tactic is used both in light and dark and you would NOT want to be unarmed when dealing with them. Also, some people, not including me, are paranoid enough to keep rifles around the house in case they have to fight off body armored attackers. If you want to do this, ask for some advice from someone else. Unless there's some kind of disaster/breakdown of law and order, it seems excessive to me.

So, what kind of shotgun should you have?

Kind of a tough one to answer. In general, a combination of big enough to be an effective stopper, but small enough you can shoot it often to gain familiarity and competence. Reliability, ergonomics, and ammo capacity are also important, but must be balanced against your price range. If you've been trained to/know how to use a weapon mounted light, you might want one of those, if you have no idea then it's just a waste of money. Same with lasers. I would, however, recommend something other than most stock shotgun sights. Something you can use reliably in the dark. A cheap, but fairly good red-dot scope works. Something you can acquire a target quickly with.

As a starting point, I'm pretty fond of the Mossberg 500 series, particularly the 590, since that's the shotgun I used in the Navy. Also, the Remington 870 has served me well in a few tight spots and, although I've never fired one in anger, they have functioned well for me. Also, the various twelve gauge offering by Saiga seem awful nice, but I'll have to try some before I recommend them.

It shouldn't be your trap/skeet/bird hunting gun, nor should it have a rifled barrel. Not that you can't multi-role your gun, but it isn't ideal. It should be locked firmly in you mind that this shotgun is for a specific purpose. Hunting shotties tend to have longer barrels and this makes them less than ideal for fighting in close ranges. Especially since you should be loading with a nice buckshot load, the nastiest you can be comfortable with, which is why you don't want a rifled barrel.

Finally, no matter how ugly the gun turns out to be, and home defense shotties tend to be some of the most aesthetically insulting firearms around, you must drag it out to the range* and shoot it often. Preferably at pop-up targets and in assault courses designed to simulate defending a house (not SWAT style assaulting).

*If anyone at the range points out the aesthetic failing of your shotgun, telling them it's a home defense piece usually will shut them up.

Poetry Corner, Segeant MacKenzie

2008-05-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Segeant MacKenzie

By: Joseph Kilna MacKenzie

Scots Tongue

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid

Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Ains a year say a prayer faur me
Close yir een an remember me

Nair mair shall a see the sun
For a fell tae a Germans gun

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

English Translation

Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone

When they come I will stand my ground
Stand my ground I'll not be afraid

Thoughts of home take away my fear
Sweat and blood hide my veil of tears

Once a year say a prayer for me
Close your eyes and remember me

Never more shall I see the sun
For I fell to a German's gun

Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Where before many more have gone

Listen to the lyrics here.

My muse is anger

2008-05-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

At least, so it seems at the moment. I've been away from a the blog for a bit, I've been trying to get my business started and when I haven't been working on, well, getting work, I haven't wanted to touch the computer. Since most of today is gonna be spent on the computer tending to details and waiting for replies, I figured I'd catch up on current events etc. I'm understandably a little pissed.

A quick once over of the news and my take:

Ted Kennedy has a tumor. Too damn bad. I've already heard how I shouldn't crow over his misfortune just because we differed politically. Bollocks. Actually, BULLSH*T. That man was born an elite and crafted his entire political career catering to the damn ignorant bread and circuses crowd while grabbing up our rights with every booze soaked, wobbly step. On a personal angle, on the character (what there is of it) of the man, Mary Jo was unavailable for comment.

Myanmar refuses aid from the United States. Bleeding hearts everywhere don't get it. They're not refusing aid, they just want us to turn everything over to their 'soldiers' so they can control distribution and we happened to have someone on the ground who wasn't an idiot. We learned a lesson in Africa. The assholes running this crappy little countries don't care about their people even a little bit. Anything they get their blood soaked little hands on goes to their own bank accounts and to keeping them in power. From what I understand, the 'International relief effort' is now co-ordinating with local authorities or some such crap. I didn't have the stomach to research any further.

The Republican party is being urged to 're-format' is image or, as that idiot Arnold Schwarzenegger called it, brand to appeal to more centrist voters. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Every time those morons try to appeal to a 'wider audience' they lose more seats in both houses. Why is that, I wonder? Maybe it's because the conservatives, who are supposed to be the party's base, are disgusted with the RINOs and big government rats and either don't vote or vote Libertarian, Independent, etc. Those freaking short sighted idiots are already way to close to the Democrats in regards to big government, gimmie programs, shrinking the military, restricting gun rights, etc. What the hell to they have to offer people like me to make us want to vote in the first place? Not everyone is motivated, as I am, to vote simply for the lesser of two evils. If they can't vote for someone who shares their beliefs, they just won't bother. I can't blame 'em.

If our founding fathers....No. If our Founding Fathers (better) were around now, they'd call us a bunch of cowards for letting our government walk all over us they way they are. They'd castigate us for our foreign policy of letting petty tyrants walk over and dictate to us. Even Thomas Jefferson, the original, well sorta, democrat would call us idiots for our soft stance on Muslims. Yes, the guy whose Koran Keith Ellison, Congress' token muslim, was sworn in on.

Bah!

I am the poster child for Amercian conservatives

2008-05-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Why is that?

Because I'm seething with impotent rage.

In case there is any doubt, I'm not endorsing any of those links. They're why I'm pissed.

I'll hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils (McCain), but I don't have to like it.

Poetry corner-The Second Coming

2008-05-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

THE SECOND COMING

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Myths, the Dispelling of

2008-04-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

I am frequently amazed at how things I thought people had stopped believing will, at the oddest moments, pop back up. I haven't even gotten out much recently because I've been sick, again. Anyway...

When I was a kid studying various martial arts I heard repeatedly, from ostensibly good sources, that if your life was in danger you could kill a person with a single strike delivered to the nose with the palm at an upward angle. It seems everyone knew this. Except, it's not true. Sheer, utter balderdash. I'm pretty confident of this because it's been done to me, twice. The first time I'm sure the guy had no intention of killing me, he was just trying to win the fight. The second instance I'm less sure about. In both cases my nose shattered like antique china and I subsequently pounded my assailant into the ground. It is pretty disabling. Your nose, usually broken at that point, starts to run with both blood and mucus, your eyes tear up and want to close, and your vision gets blurry. It CAN be a fight stopper, but for someone, like me, who has been exposed to something like OC a few times, it'll only slow them down marginally.

As you can see, there is no bone in the nose to 'shove into a person's brain.'

There is a bony bit between the eyes, but if you're hitting that, it's likely your opponent isn't moving, so you shouldn't be hitting him anyway.

There are other ways to kill with bare hands if and when necessary, but I'm a little hesitant to post them.

Next myth is mostly funny.

"If I keep my pistol in a fanny pack, no one will know I have one." Hah! That hasn't fooled anyone in years! Okay, caveat, women can sometimes get away with it, when dressed for running for example. Men cannot. Wifey and I were at a Subaru dealership a few days ago and a guy had a fanny pack on and not only did the wifey and I know he was armed, everyone in the dealership did. I even heard one of the salesmen ask him if he was a cop or a permit holder. Guy got a little embarrassed. Turned out he was a cop.

So stop it guys, you're not fooling anyone!

BAG day purchase, well not really

2008-04-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

So it was made clear to me that for my chosen line of work, I needed a new pistol. Preferably two or three actually, but at least one. None of the guns I currently owned were right for it. Little bit of a bummer, trust me. I've been carrying and using 1911s for darn near a decade, and because they are single action and have a light trigger, it would be bad to use one in a job where I have to point guns at people from time to time (not wanting to shoot them, but willing to) and even worry about someone else trying to wrestle it from me.

So I've been doing asking some questions, which started with some pros who have been doing the job for some time already, and doing some research. Well, today I bought myself a brand new Springfield Armory XD Compact in .45 caliber with tritium night sights. A very nice gun. I handled it, fond it WAY more comfortable than a Glock, stripped and reassembled, tested for accuracy, everything. The trigger was something else, smooth as butter with a crisp break. Not too heavy or too light, although I may get it adjusted to a heavier pull (I really don't want to shoot a defendant). All checks out, very slick.

I'm obviously very happy, even though I won't have it in hand until Monday since I wanted (needed, really) the night sights. What good is a concealed carry permit if I can't take a recent purchase home the day I buy it? Oh well.

Only one complaint. She's accurate, reliable, affordable, fairly concealable, and has no safety selector, removing an unnecessary step. The only problem is...

(picture removed because I shouldn't have used it)

It is kinda ugly.

Oh well, functionality creates a beauty all its own. Too bad I believe in carrying the same concealed handgun all the time to prevent confusion at the wrong moment. I sure am going to miss carrying Julie (my fav 1911).

The next time I hear...

2008-04-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

...About how we should end the war because it's all our sons, daughters, etc in Iraq, I'm going to verbally, and quiet possibly physically, beat the speaker down. Let me make something ABUNDANTLY clear. This war has been going on longer than everyone's enlistments, which means everyone NOW in the military chose to be in WHILE THE WAR WAS GOING ON!

Why is that so significant? Because they all knew what they were getting into and did it anyway. It was THEIR choice to serve in a time of war. So instead of all this crap about bringing our family members home only undermines the sacrifices and dedication of those serving.

There is no more disgusting thing to me than, "Oh, my son is over there fighting, so we have to end the war!" You know what? SCREW YOU! Your son (daughter, husband, wife, whatever) is doing what he believes in and all you're doing is trying to keep him from doing it. Traitors to both their country and their family member in question.

I consider myself something of an expert on the topic. After all, I've been both the boots on the ground and the spouse waiting at home. Nearly all my friends are either military, or were. If anyone has an interest in keeping service members alive, it's me. AND YOU"LL NEVER HEAR ME SAY SOME CRAP LIKE THAT. I love them all for who they are and because they believe in what they do.

As to the tired soundbite, "What would you do if it was your son in Iraq?" Bah! Easy, I'd be damned pround of the little scamp and rest assured that I'd brought him up right.

Anyone who disagrees with me here is more than welcome to take a long walk off a short pier. My patience on this issue is GONE, and the next person to set me off will regret it immensely. I don't care who it is.

Note: This is cross posted from my old blog which I don't use any more, if you've read this already, sorry.

Back...again.

2008-04-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

You know, paying quite a pretty penny to be tased and subsequently sprayed with OC seems a lot less like a good idea in retrospect. (Not really.)

So, as I said earlier, I was away attending the Pacific Northwest Bail Enforcement Academy. It was certainly educational. I, fortunately, never got to mention to the head instructor my previous involvement in bail enforcement. Not that that really matters, as he asked for a link to this blog and I'll be sending it to him. Why do I say that? Turns out what I was being taught to do was one hundred eighty degrees WRONG. I had suspected as much the whole time I was doing it, but never voiced my concern. Turns out I should have run from those yahoos from the get-go. I'm lucky as hell I was never charged with anything or sued back then. It was a little humbling having that all spelled out for me so clearly.

Some of you may have noticed that I made some slight changes to my account. These were done to make my internet persona harder to find. Not that I expect this blog to ever be linked to any of my professional activities, but why take the chance?

On to the fun stuff.

So I learned all about the bail enforcement industry last weekend. More, in fact, in four days than I did in the five months I actually spent doing it. The funny part is, the guys I was supposedly learning from very likely didn't know any better either and now I know why. All very interesting, and mostly stuff I won't talk about except to fellow Alumni.

The Taser, however, is a story you guys probably want to hear. Now most of you know I've been shot, beaten, stabbed, blown-(partially)-up, sprayed with OC, etc and was never fully incapacitated. I may not have the nerve and physical condition of my youth, but I'm still a scrappy kind of guy. That said, I had mixed expectation of the taser. On the one hand, I've fought through everything that's ever been thrown at me before, on the other, I've seen videos of guys way tougher than me getting dropped.

So we do the class, get the knowledge and such out of the way. Pretty interesting, actually. Then it was time for 'participation.' I, alas, was not the first volunteer. We had a former Recon marine who went first (if you're wondering why I won't use names, it's for the same reason I changed my profile). I've never seen such a tough guy surrender so quickly, and he didn't even get the probes (darts), just contact with the leads on the face of the taser. Little intimidating, lemme tell you. So I volunteered to take the full shot, barbed probes and all. The instructor and I had discussed the back pain I'd been having and he said he'd do my leg if I thought that was a better idea. I agreed and the same marine and an agent out of Idaho took on arm apiece and the instructor deployed the probes on my leg. Now bear in mind I'm not a weight lifter, I jerked both my spotters so hard that they lost their footing, then I dropped hard. Not their fault, they at least prevented me from bashing my head.

Ladies and gentleman, while I still have reservations on the suitability of tasers for self-defense, if they're all you can have, trust me, they will take someone down. Hard. I tried to see if I could stay up, resist somehow. Nothing doing. I went down like a sack of jumpy potatoes.

Next was good old OC spray. Wasn't too big a thing. I went first, half expected to get as messed up as the first time I got sprayed. It had, afterall, been eight years since my last direct exposure. Despite getting a stream directly in my right eye, it was actually the least painful of all my exposures. Not to stay it didn't hurt, but other than the eye is was easily bearable, and I got the eye cleaned out pretty quick. All the former military in the class went through with a minimum of fuss and muss and I thought that was pretty cool, until our ex-cop went through. I don't know how many times that guy had been contaminated, but if I hadn't seen the spray douse him, I would have thought the instructor missed. No reaction at all. Needless to say, I was impressed.

I did, unfortunately, make a bit of an ass of myself a little during the tactics portion. The instructor was younger and less experienced than me, so I kept butting in. Fortunately, I realized what I was doing and how silly it was (seeing as all my experience was either military or doing it the wrong way) and shut up before I was told to. Still feel bad about it though. Oops.

My foibles not withstanding, everyone was great and, despite an abundance of alpha males, we all got along really well. I consider that pretty important since this industry almost requires you to have friends in it to get anywhere and I wouldn't hesitate to ask any of the instructors or visiting Alumni for any help I need. Awesome guys all around.

Parting shots

2008-04-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

81%

No big suprise there, but I'm a little dissappointed. I suspect my lacking crates of MREs (stored food) knocked my score down a bit. Oh well.

What else...?

It is true that I may someday be killed with one of my own guns, just as the hoplophobes claim. However, the bastard'll have to climb mounds of his dead buddies first and beat me to death with the thing since I'll be out of bullets.

Recidivism

2008-04-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Just as I'm back...I must go again.

Turns out the dates for my bail enforcement training are a bit earlier than I thought they were. With everything else going on, I suppose letting something slip was inevitable. Regardless, class starts on the 11th and I'll be staying with friends closer to Tacoma while attending, so I'll be gone again.

Interesting times indeed.

2008-04-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

So, the wifey and I got back from Oregon, I dutifully breathed life back into our old computer, and I finally settled in to resume blogging...and it was time for us to take another trip. In one fell swoop, the wifey managed to visit the two largest military hospitals here in Washington. Then we came home, and we got sick. Not just a little bit sick, but tug-of-war with Death/snarling back at the wolf/spitting into the void kind of sick.

Jeesh.

I'm now happily on the road to recovery and have been trying to catch up on the intrawebs. In my absence Charleton Heston died (R.I.P.) and David Codrea's War on Guns is now linking to me. Damn. To the former, we can now say not even from his cold dead hands (if that seems in bad taste, bear in mind, Chuck himself would approve), and to the later, that's just cool.

Now that all seems to be returning to normal here at the manor, blogging will, hopefully, return to normal.

The primary has returned to the safe house, repeat, primary in safehouse

2008-03-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

To explain the recent lack of blogging:

Last week, in accordance with an urgent summons, I mounted my brave steed (the wife's Forrester actually) and ventured to the barbarian south of my birth (Oregon). There I did manly battle with hippies and yuppies (well, those were mostly in Seattle and I more hissed at them than did battle) and was reunited with my long lost siblings (fairly true, actually).

It was the first time since my sister's wedding that all three of us were under my parents' roof at one time and the first time in seven or eight years where we actually got to spend more than a few hours together. The happy coincidence of our visit covering Easter was a bonus as well.

The circumstances concerning our visits weren't so serendipitous. Rotten daughter #2, aka. the middle child (my middle child), was taken to Doernbecher's, by her biological father, with dizziness spells and vomiting. Spent a few days at the hospital while she returned to normal. Her shunt was adjusted (she has hydrocephalus) and we were able to take her to my parent's house.

Other reasons for the reunion are personal to someone else and not mine to post about, so I won't.

The good news is, the whole family got to spend time together. Mother and I patched up an old dispute sans rancor, I learned a few rather interesting things, and my brother finally got to get to know our brother-in-law.

I'll be posting more about some things that happened, including a really odd dream, later. I have a bit of long put off computer maintenance to attend to first.

Introducing the poetry corner!

2008-03-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, poetry is for sissies, etc. Whatever, it's my blog.

The Commando's Prayer

Give me, my God, what you still have;

give me what no one asks for.

I do not ask for wealth, nor success,

nor even health.
People ask you so often, God, for all that,

that you cannot have any left.
Give me, my God, what you still have.

Give me what people refuse to accept from you.

I want insecurity and disquietude;

I want turmoil and brawl.
And if you should give them to me,

my God, once and for all,

let me be sure to have them always,

for I will not always

have the courage to ask for them.

Corporal Zirnheld

Special Air Service

1942

Hardly what I'd call a sissy poem. More will follow.

The Model 1216

2008-03-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

I found this on Defense Review, and I really want one, conditionally.

While I've never been as big a fan of shotguns as most firearm enthusiasts, even I think they're the best thing for home defense. Far more power than a pistol, without the over penetration worries of a rifle (assuming you use buck, which you should).

The Model 1216 is an attempt to solve two of the biggest complaints about shotguns. First, the limited magazine capacity and, secondly, the time consuming reloading process. This thing has four mag tubes, as opposed to one, and the whole works can be detached so you can quickly swap in another loaded assembly.

I'd be bound and determined to buy one if it weren't for one little concern. The mag tubes have to be manually rotated. So, you can fire however many round you have in a given tube, then rotate a fresh one in to resume fire. I see a little problem with that.

Ever seen a movie where, in the midst of the dramatic fight scene, someone goes to take a shot that would certainly kill a more important character, and instead the weapon goes 'click'? I've been that guy. Granted, hearing a 'click' on an empty tube with this shotgun wouldn't be as bad as with a pump gun. Just rotate the next tube and go to work, as opposed to having to load the tube one shell at a time (or combat load while fighting, which is way worse).

I'd have to take one to the range and try a few things out and see how they worked. I think I'd try rotating after each shot, train the muscles to rotate the tubes as soon as you feel the recoil. In any event, even if I decide I liked it and bought one, it'd be one of those guns you have to completely retrain yourself to use effectively.

R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke

2008-03-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

The last of the big three has died. While of the three (Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke) he was my least favorite, that's hardly a condemnation considering his contemporaries. He wrote 2001, A space Odyssey, 2010, Rendezvous with Rama, and many other greats. He even originated the idea of geosynchronous orbit.

He was a visionary and he dared us to look beyond the horizons of our little planet and into space.

Writer's block

2008-03-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Despite valiant effort, my recent writing has produced nothing worth posting. I've tried four times now to finish a post titled 'Fear is the mind killer' and have thus far failed consistently to present my points in anything resembling a clear concise manner.

So I shall place it on the back burner for another day.

Sugar and spice and everything nice...

2008-03-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about the Target under-the-skirt-cameraman. Rachel Lucas has an excellent post on it here. While I'm just as repulsed by the pervert's actions as anyone else, I seem to be lacking in sympathy for the victim. Lucas makes some very good points in the same vein, I highly recommend you read her entire post, and the comments.

I told the wifey about the whole sordid tale and told her I lacked sympathy for the victim. She looked at me like I'd grown horns (happens a lot). Then I asked her, "Could that happen to you?" She seemed shocked I'd even ask and then my point of view clicked with her. Of course it couldn't happen to her, if some stranger tried to get that close to her she would have noticed it instantly and tried to move away, if that failed, she'd have told him to back the hell off.

Which brings us to the point of this little offering. It's bad enough that women are, on the average, smaller and physically weaker than men, but the blatant inattention to their surroundings combined with the ingrained 'be nice' reflex is what really makes them likely candidates for victimization.

Bollocks to that!

I understand fully well that from a young age little girls are, again, on average, less aggressive than boys and that's perfectly normal and I have no problem with it. Also, children are taught not to settle disputes on their own, to get a teacher, parent, adult. I don't disagree with that either to a certain extent, but no one is taught what to do when no one else is available. The rough and tumble nature of coming of age as a boy traditionally (not so much any more) has taught young boys how to deal with bullies and other predators. Not so much with little girls.

Which leads to a phenomenon I've noticed a lot. It's not true of everyone (nothing ever is), but a great many women refuse to confront someone until it's way too late. In the example of the Target pervert, she may, or may not, have noticed the guy standing way to close to her, but if she did, she didn't say anything about it or try to get away. A lot of women would have noticed, and not done anything about it. It's not because they're too scared, it's because they don't want to be mean.

Let me kick a much abused equine corpse here. There is absolutely nothing wrong or mean about defending your personal space. Nor with watching someone your instincts have tagged as a threat. If someone gets within arm's reach (yours or theirs, whoever has more reach) move away. If they don't let you or you don't have room, TELL THEM TO BACK OFF. If that doesn't work, push the issue. No one has any business invading your personal space uninvited. If they're there and you don't want them there, get them out of there.

Your personnel space is your early warning system. The bad guys know psychology just as well as we do. They know that if they invade your personnel space and you don't challenge them, you may feel complicit in your own attack. It is next to impossible for a women to fight effectively when she has feelings of complicity. It's why repressive regimes will force a female prisoner to strip herself prior to questioning. Your personal space is sacred and inviolate, don't let anyone into it without your permission.

A visit to the bookstore

2008-03-07T17:15:00.001-08:00

I love going to bookstores. Neurotically so. The simple pleasure of being able to sift through shelf after shelf of nothing but books is why I almost never order books online, even if it is easier and often cheaper. I always have a few books I'm looking for in particular (and if I can't find them I'll get the store to order them) when I'm at a bookstore, but I always find one or two I would have never looked at while scanning the book racks.

Alas, there is only one bookstore worth mentioning (ie. the only one with a sci-fi section) here on my little island. The good news is, it has a huge section of used books. I love the old sci-fi and I feel like I'm digging up buried treasure as I sift through finding the occasional golden age classic (still haven't found Time enough for love though).

But today was something beyond just a normal visit to the bookstore. Oh, I picked up some of my usual fare; Pyramid Scheme by Eric Flint, another of his rather tongue-in-cheek surrealist stories, Star Strike by Ian Douglas, the first book in the third trilogy of his space marines stories, Celestial Hit List by Charles Ingrid, third book in the Sand Wars which has eluded me for a few weeks now, Anvil of Stars by Greg bear, a dimly remembered favorite from childhood. The real treat, however, was the smallest and cheapest book I bought.

Shortly before I joined the Navy (about a decade ago), I read a brief reference to another Greg Bear book called Hard Fought. At the time, I didn't think much of it, I just made a mental note to pick it up sometime. Boot camp came and went, then in A-school I remembered it and figured I needed some recreational reading anyway. Except, I couldn't find it. Not a big deal, even the three large bookstores at the local mall couldn't have every book. Then they couldn't order it because their distributors didn't have it either. The heck? About that time my training schedule began getting increasingly hectic and as I endured my whirlwind of a training pipeline I had to put it out of my mind.

It was two years after joining the navy that life calmed down a little bit (briefly) and I remembered having looked for this one book. I still knew very little about this book except that it had eluded me. That seems to be the single motivating factor here. So I checked the bookstores around my new command. Nope, of course not, and none of them could order it either. That seems to have done it. I got online and looked for it. Zip. When the Navy had me travel I would visit any bookstore I came across, if I had the time, and look. After awhile of doing that, I made up some contact cards and started giving them out to anyone who might come across a copy along with a twenty dollar bill and the promise of more, all over the world. The harder I looked for this damn book, the worse I wanted it. I even joined several internet groups that specialized in rare books. Four or five years into this sad tale, I even paid to have professionals find a copy. Nothing. One of my forum buddies did find a copy once, a few years back, but it was gone before he got a hold of me.

The worst part about it was, I heard from a few people who started looking after I did and managed to get a copy. So while it was rare, it wasn't that rare.

This carried on for ten years. TEN YEARS. I didn't even specify a first edition or anything else, just a copy, any copy, of the damned book.

You see where this is going, right? Of course you do.

I walked into my local bookstore today, looked around in sci-fi section (not sure the store has any other sections) for about thirty seconds and, yeah, there it was.

Bribing bookstore owners the world over: $20 (x?)
Contracting finder’s agencies: $50-150 (x4)
Finding the damn book for $2.00 at the local bookstore: priceless

Gary Gygax, rest in peace

2008-03-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

A paragon of the geek world died today. Gary Cygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, and the father of tabletop role-playing, was 69 and is survived by his wife and six children.

Why do I care? Because Gary Cygax shaped an entire generation of geeks (self included) who are now the ones making movies, writing books, and programming video games. Role playing games forced us normally anti-social geeks to band together so we could play, more, that it was okay to be a geek.

Hard to thank someone enough for that.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

2008-03-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

I suppose that title probably dates me a bit. Oh well.

A lot is made these days of studying martial arts for self defense and I'm inclined to think of this as a good thing. However, there is a great deal myth, balderdash, and outright untruths associated with them and learning effective fighting techniques from a martial art is rarely as straightforward as it should be.

I shall endeavor to dispel some of these myths first:

1. Martial arts are useless in a fight. I list this one first because, like many myths, there's a kernel of truth to it in many cases. In fact, this one would be a truism if it weren't applied with such a broad brush. However, the right system with the right instructor can be a devastatingly effective means of defense. More on that later.

2. Martial arts are just for kids. This, of course, comes from the fact that children and teens are much more likely to be interested in them than adults. Kids are naturally more energetic and rough-and-tumble than adults, but that's hardly an effective condemnation. If you want to learn to protect yourself, you're going to have to work at it and be willing to take some knocks.

3. If I have a gun (knife, baton, OC spray), I don't need to know how to fight with my hands. Sheer and utter balderdash. I've been carrying firearms and other weapons the entirety of my adult life and I've had many occasions to defend myself with my hands. I've had to break a hold, kick my attacker in the knee, and then back up to draw my sidearm, just to give one example. Just talking to some of the people I've worked with, I could come up with two dozen other example at a minimum.

4. This particular style is the only effective one, or that particular one is totally useless. While I've been guilty of thinking that way at times, the fact is the effectiveness depends largely on the instructor, and how much he emphasizes defense, and the student, and how much he takes from it. While certain martial arts are certainly less likely to be useful than others, they all have something to offer.

5. I'm a small person and could never fight off an attacker, or I'm big and don't need any training to defend myself. Again, a kernel of truth. (Another myth is that size doesn't matter, but I'll cover that here.) There's an old joke among martial artists, 'Size doesn't matter, unless the other guy is bigger.' In other words, just because your opponent is smaller, doesn't mean he can't beat you, or if you're smaller, well, you may be in trouble. Size does matter, but it doesn't necessarily trump all other factor. With two people of equal skill, speed, and fitness, yeah, the bigger one will probably win, but how often does such a match up happen? In the extreme, can a tiny little girl beat a huge, muscular man? Yep, I've seen it both in the dojo (where I was the big muscular guy) and in the real world (where I saw a female cop throat punch a suspect armed with a knife and follow it up with a shot to the wedding tackle). Above all else, the will to win/live is the most important thing.

To my way of thinking, there are two basic schools of martial arts. Man-handling and skull-cracking (apologies to SJ games).

Man-handling is largely about subduing your opponent with a minimum of injury to your attacker. It's primarily useful for police, prison guards, and others who may want to subdue a subject with minimal injury. To my way of thinking, this makes it inappropriate for self defense, despite the popularity of 'soft' martial arts for just that purpose.

Skull-cracking is about taking a perfectly healthy human being and reducing him to a quivering mass of shattered bones and burst internal organs. That alone highly recommends for defensive usage. Soldiers, defensively minded citizens, street fighters and many others primarily will use skull-cracking.

The distinction is a bit blurry as most martial arts will include elements of both, but if you look critically, you can usually distinguish a particular move or series of moves as one or the other. It is not striking vs. grappling, it is the results they deal with. While pretty much every strike is a form of skull-cracking, I've seen, and used, a lot of grappling techniques that pull joints out of socket or out right break them.

If you have to defend yourselves with your hands, obviously you want use whatever will give you the best chance to emerge intact. This is why I strongly discourage people to grapple with their attacker. Most people, when grappling, will do just that, grapple. An experience street fighter may tackle you and try to take you down, but he's also going to try bashing your head into the ground, head butting, punching, kicking, or whatever else he can to hurt you. Without experience, it's very hard to grapple effectively against someone who doesn't follow sparring rules. If you can fight on the ground like that, hey, go for it. Otherwise, you're best bet is to break contact, get enough distance to safely draw a weapon, and do so. Breaking contact and getting distance will almost certainly mean getting your hands dirty as your attacker is unlikely to want to let you move away. Hence the skull cracking. Hurt him and then you can move away unhindered.

All that having been said, if you want to learn to defend yourself, you have to find someone who will teach you how to fight. Maybe they won't share my exact views on how to best defend yourself, but they should at least have the same mentality. The problem is, with the commercialization of the martial arts, especially Asian arts, there has been a drive to make them more 'kid-friendly' and kinder/gentler. While any training is probably better than none, you should try to avoid these instructor like the plague. You want an instructor who believes in teaching fighting, not sparring. They can be very hard to find, but they are out there.

How do you tell a good instructor? Well, you want someone who encourages full contact sparring, does his best to minimize injuries, but understands you need to learn how to take a hit and keep going. Minimal or no emphasis on forms or katas (I know I'll get flamed for that, but so what, I'm fair sure I know what I'm talking about). A really good sign is an instructor who occasionally will bring in a red man suit and allow the students to practice the really damaging techniques. An emphasis on the proper execution of move is not, however, a bad sign. Power comes from leverage and technique, so it's a good sign if he wants you to do it a certain way. Lastly, an instructor should know that real fights never occur in a semi-scripted manner, ie strike, counter/block, back off, strike, counter/block, lather rinse repeat. It looks pretty and allows people to show off their more complex moves, but very poorly simulates a real fight.

Where are you most likely to find these instructors? Well, I can tell you generalities, but the fact is you just have to go see for yourself. Tae kwon do is, in my mind, one of the most commercialized, nerfed martial arts in the US and your odds of learning effective defense from it are tiny. However, when I was taking it as a kid, I did meet a few instructors how taught how to fight and fight to win. Not my own instructor, although he wanted to, because he was part of a multi-national school that wanted to encourage kids to join up. On the flip side, of the many Jujitsu instructors I've met, I'd say slightly more than half of them were the right kind of instructor and while I have yet to take Krav maga (it's on the list), I've never even heard of an instructor for it who doesn't teach how to defend yourself very effectively.

In the end, however, you just have to find the right instructor.

Edited to add:

It occurred to me, a bit late, that the above post makes it seem like I disdain any martial art's school that doesn't teach effective self-defense. I didn't mean to. The above was written from the perspective of learning effective self-defense from martial arts. There is nothing wrong at all with going to a dojo, with your kids even, for fun, competition, getting in shape, being part of a tradition, or for any other reason.

Also, the 'softer' methods I refer to as man-handling are perfectly appropriate for use in self defense against someone who you don't want to hurt and can subdue gently without placing yourself in undue risk. Again, I was speaking in the context of life threatening danger.

This is how most people view the Bill of Rights

2008-03-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

That's pretty much it.

Domari Nolo

2008-02-29T16:47:00.000-08:00

In my morning reading today, I got linked to another blog I hadn't gotten to previously. Go and read it.

Done reading it? Groovy.

I'll preface what follows by saying I'm usually a very good humored kind of person. Granted, most people think I'm a murderously angry misanthrope, but those who know me know better. I don't get visibly mad, ever. Neither my wife nor my children have ever heard me raise my voice even. While I get irritated sometimes and might even use harsh language (especially while driving), I got angry so rarely it's almost a curious experience.

Today, reading the above story, I went incandescent. There's so many people involved that needed a severe beating. The security guard who 'saw everything,' the unmitigated jackasses who just stood and watched, the contemptible cowards who advised 'just giving them what they want,' and of course the bastards who actually attacked her. Those sub-human troglodytes beat her while she was down, just to get her purse? Those two needed their brain cases ventilated badly.

Speaking of 'just giving them what they want.' Are you kidding me? Has that ever helped anyone? Has sheep-like submission ever got anyone less raped, murdered, robbed, or beaten? 'But if I fight back, they'll just hurt me worse!' (Bleet! Bleet!) Maybe, or maybe they were going to kill you eventually anyway. When you submit sheepishly, you empower your predator and make yourself contemptible in their eyes. Congratulations, in the syllabus of lowlifes, you've labeled yourself a victim to be preyed on. Worse, your attacker will be emboldened to attack others. Way to go!

Our heroine goes on to describe how she would react if she were attacked again. I about stood up and clapped.

"If I'm ever in that position again-- unarmed and under attack -- I mean to come away from the experience(even if dead) with at least the trophy of one eyeball from my tormentor with which to festoon my trophy case. Next time would/will be tooth-and-nail. If I have time to access it, my weighty little Leatherman will be slammed forcefully into an accommodating temple-- I will do my best to kill with my bare, immaculately manicured hands: no more Mr. Nice Bitch. There are kneecaps, eyeballs, shins, insteps and wedding tackle among the array of vulnerable areas on an attacker, and I'll set about my business if I must."

That, gentle reader is the mentality.

From a self-defense perspective, everything is just tools, YOU ARE THE WEAPON. You are the only thing you can always count on having.

"I didn't believe in just handing it over, and I don't even moreso now than ever. I'm still no Linda Hamilton, but I think this is a principle that applies not just to possessions or your life, but to our very freedoms and rights as human beings. Don't just give it away without a fight. Passivity gets you nothing but soundly and thoroughly ensconced in the bitch-seat, and you teach the aggressors they were right to disdain you."

That last sentence is worthy of being a motto.

It's all about mentality and situational awareness

2008-02-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

It's entirely possible that I harp on these more than most for two reasons. First, I have occasionally rushed in where angels fear to tread. Secondly, back when I was a volunteer rape prevention instructor, these were the two prime tools in the self-defense arsenal.

Of course, it feels odd to refer to mentality and situational awareness as two separate tools, even though they are. For me they are so intertwined and perpetually 'on' that they're one and the same. For me, you can't have one without the other, but I digress, on to the meat.

A lot of pundits have stated that mentality is the single most important element to a personal self-defense strategy and I have to agree with the caveat that situational awareness must be part of it. That's, partially, because predators can tell when someone is watching their entire environment and when that is combined with the proper mentality they will look for other targets. I scan everyone, everywhere I go, my wife says it's like I'm 'sizing them up for a coffin.' An accurate description and I've noticed that damn near every like-minded and similarly trained person I know does the exact same thing.

So, what is the proper mentality? I imagine most people will already know this at least partially, but few take it far enough. "Be polite and courteous to everyone, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet." Glib soundbite perhaps, but spot on. Another one is, "Watch hands, hands kill, in God we trust, everyone else keep your hands where I can see them." Another way that situational awareness ties into mentality. At any given moment, whether at work, home, or other safe environment, walking down a dark alley following a skip, or frequenting a bar in the wrong part of town, one should constantly be scanning your environment. Not jerking your head rapidly side-to-side with every step or stopping every few seconds to do a full circle, that just makes you look nervous. It takes a lot of practice to take in a full 360 every ten to fifteen seconds without being conspicous or running into things. Which is yet another reason to do it ALL THE TIME, practice makes perfect. So, you see someone, doesn't matter where or what he/she looks like, now you look for their hands. Where are they? Could they have a weapon? Are their hands positioned like they could retrieve a concealed weapon quickly? Now you look at posture and attitude. Are they slouched like they're not going anywhere soon? Are they poised like they're going to sping? Are they aware of their surroundings? Looking around? Or absorbed in something they're doing? Here's where it gets fun, are they projecting a false image? Trying to look relaxed and inattentive when they're actually ready to move and act on a moment's notice. Fun. The best part is you should learn to take all this in, in a roomful of people in just a half second or so per person. Hence, lots and lots of practice.

So, is that situational awareness in that you're being aware of your surroundings, or mentality because you're actively engaged in a defensive measure at all times. Both, but then you all knew that by now, didn't you? A defensive mentality must include alertness at all times, as outlined above, but also includes a great many other aspects, which I will try to cover in as much detail as possible. It's impossible to overstress the importance of these two things however. An otherwise completly unprepared, untrained, unarmed person still has a chance to protect him/herself if they recognize a threat early enough. For someone with a little training and firearm or other weapon, well, forewarned is forearmed.

Last thing, once you've mastered the threat scan (all the time, all the time), start playing wargames in your head. Yes, it's complicated and eats up your concentration a bit, but you should be playing the 'if/then' game in your head. 'If emo kid to the left pulls his hand out of his jacket and he has a knife in it, then I'm drawing down on him.' Again, it's all in practice. I'm not sure when it became subconscious for me, I've been doing it my entire adult life, but I'm only very vaguely aware I'm even doing it. My wife has gotten to the point she doesn't realize she's doing it unless I ask a specific question. She can respond instantly without thinking about it at all.

Who the heck do I think I am?

2008-02-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

Being new to this whole blogin' thang, I figured I'd introduce myself.

I'm an English speaking, gun loving and patriotic nerd. Even though I only own about one out of every three books I've read, I have somewhere over a thousand in various locales about the manor. I'm a veteran of the Navy during the Clinton years and opening of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have at various points been a wrench turner, combatives instructor, base cop, wrench turner again, boarding team member, a few things I'd rather not mention (not because they're secrets, get real, I just don't want to talk about them), a bail enforcement trainee, a military construction contractor, a health and fitness consultant, and minimum wage GNC sale's associate. Right now I'm in the process of writing a novel I hope to get published, studying and training to get my WA Bail Enforcement license, and kicking my own ass to be able to pass the Special Forces Q course, hopefully as a prelude to joining the WA National Gaurd's Special Forces unit. Fun fun fun.

I'll be blogging about what I think people should do or be doing to make warriors of themselves. Other bloggers have already covered, in far greater detail than any one person could, the benefits, pitfalls, tips, and tricks of using firearms for self-defense, and while I will occasionally contribute to this ocean of knowledge, I will be largely focusing on less covered means of self-defense. Unarmed, improvised weapons, knives, my beloved collapsible batons, you name it. My goal is help people educate themselves to be able to respond to any situation, not just the ones we're most on the look-out for.

Of course, I'll also be venting spleen about politics, singing the praise (or damning the soul) of new authors I've discovered, relating funny anecdotes I think people will like, sharing my covetous thoughts on firearms I wish to acquire (Sig 250, I'm looking at YOU), and anything else I care to throw on here. I may even occasionally answer E-mails. Who knows? It could happen.