Archive for August, 2009

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A.M. in the morning!

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a D-Day of sorts. With any luck in my favor I will begin the process of learning exactly what my body’s most recent major malfunction is about. At the worst I will get to proceed along as I have for the last month, knowing very little and experiencing more than my fair share of general anxiety.

To take my mind off things, I did take a “day off” in a manner of speaking. I did exactly no  repairs on my to-do list, did no chores (aside from the essential animal routine) , got some successful fishing in and went to see a magic show that was a benefit for the man who got me interested in magic many, many years ago. When I got home I topped off the evening with an episode of True Blood and a chocolate fudge brownie. I have spent few better Sundays.

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Posted in Media & Entertainment, Medical | 2 Comments »

Farm livin’ is the life for me

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

It has been very nice around here the last few days. For months I’ve been saying “when things cool off I’ll work on that” about a metric assload of projects. While I still have some severe limits on my time and ability to bring my influence to bear on these tasks, I’ve pleased with the stuff I have accomplished. When Autumn rolls around the farm will be going along smoothly, so maybe I can use the cool temperatures to have some fun instead of banging on a must-do list.

Our pear trees are starting to bear fruit. When our June apples were coming in, I ate a couple every day. I’ve missed that in the weeks since they played out, and having more fruit off the farm will be nice. Claire is going to can some in the form of jelly or preserves thus ensuring the bounty will extend into Winter.

Tomorrow is a day off, because my brother and I are taking our dad to dinner and a movie for his birthday. One day he will notice I have refurbished his fishing boat as a birthday gift.

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Posted in General Rambling | 4 Comments »

“It was the best of times…

Friday, August 21st, 2009

…it was the worst of times.” Screw that! It’s will just be the worst of times.

Theory of International Politics and Zombies

Alex Massie alerts us to this BBC story about modeling who would win if the dead actually did rise from the grave:

If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively.

That is the conclusion of a mathematical exercise carried out by researchers in Canada.

They say only frequent counter-attacks with increasing force would eradicate the fictional creatures….

To give the living a fighting chance, the researchers chose “classic” slow-moving zombies as our opponents rather than the nimble, intelligent creatures portrayed in some recent films….

[T]heir analysis revealed that a strategy of capturing or curing the zombies would only put off the inevitable.

In their scientific paper, the authors conclude that humanity’s only hope is to “hit them [the undead] hard and hit them often”.

They added: “It’s imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly or else… we are all in a great deal of trouble.”

Now, one could argue that this finding represents a Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious. On the other hand, the report has clear freaked out Alex Massie:

[The researchers] are cheating. It’s like something out of Dad’s Army: You can’t fight like that, it’s not in the rules… Then again, if we can be destroyed by Zombie 1.0, just think how powerless we’d be when confronted by Next Generation Zombies…

Under no circumstances is it OK to fail to read that entire article.

Theory of International Politics and Zombies

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Posted in Media & Entertainment, Politics | No Comments »

Enough!

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

My emails have been sent to the relevant news outlets laying out my displeasure with the reporting done on armed citizens at protests.

I have heard quite enough from talking heads concerning this current attention grabbing behavior enacted by both the news media and a few misguided citizens. Over what? Carrying firearms at protests. As I have stated before, when it breaks no laws it is not, repeat NOT, news just because it offends your delicate sensibilities. If someone does so illegally it would be news. Until then, feel free to write commentary or Op-Ed pieces until your heart rate decreases. Afterward, change your now fully loaded undergarments since the mere image of a firearm make you shit your pants. Maybe get one of your reporters who has been embedded in Iraq or Afghanistan to cover the protests since they have seen what actually happens when guns are used rather than carried just-in-case.

Today I heard someone on TV say that such armed protesting makes the job of law enforcement or executive protection more difficult. So? Has any law enforcement officer or federal  agent ever offered to make my life easier? I didn’t sign up to help them out, and if they can’t do their jobs without my assistance then I suggest they look for a job guarding a bank lobby. Beside that, I have not heard any law enforcement officer or official say anything beyond “what they are doing is not illegal and we can handle it, thanks.”

And this drivel about “It is time to water the tree of liberty…” being on an armed protester’s sign, thus equaling domestic terrorism because Timothy McVeigh  had a T-shirt with the full quote on it is just total fear mongering.  Yes, a very bad person had a quote from Thomas Jefferson on his shirt. Yes, it was in quite bad taste to appear in public armed while carrying a placard with a message referencing that quote. How does that invalidate a statement made by one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America or spoil its historical significance? If both the New Hampshire protester and McViegh had been wearing blue jeans would that make wearing Levis equal domestic terrorism?

Get a grip and stop trying too scare people into watching your “news” programs and buying your not-disguised-at-all gun control and disarmament agendas. Stick to reporting on current events and investigative journalism which you were actually good at in a bygone era. Yes, I’m talking to you NBC/MSNBC and CNN as well as CBS who is right beside you on this. Do not ever again accuse Conservatives or Republicans or anyone else that you do not like of using terror to force policy change because you are guilty of it yourselves.

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Posted in Media & Entertainment, Politics | 1 Comment »

POV

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

A guy lawfully wears a pistol to a protest near where the President o’ the USA will speak, and the news media freaks out because he:

  1. is carrying a sign with a provocative message
  2. has a gun
  3. is within the same zip code as the CinC.

Neither of those things are illegal which apparently drives people bonkers. They want him removed or sanctioned for something. The law enforcement officers the surround both the President and this slob are all armed yet nobody freaks out of that. Obviously, all LEOs are paragons of virtue.

My biggest problem with the reaction to what this protester did is the same problem I have with the vilification of the term “militia.”  It is the elevation of an unpopular or non-mainstream opinion to the status of thought crime. This person in particular DIDN’T DO ANYTHING ILLEGAL, but a huge population wants to see him punished.

Obviously, I do not share that opinion. If someone breaks the law, sure, throw the book at them. Until they do break the law feel free to fret and fume all you want, but secure the “they ought to lock him up on general principle” shit.

It all depends on your point of view I suppose.

When I saw the footage of the armed protester my only thought was “what a shitty holster. That guy must be an idiot to wear that thing in a crowd.”

Source – CBS

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Posted in Politics, shooting | No Comments »

My side of the street, bub!

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Damn you Rob Pincus, that’s the line I rip off all the time! Work your own side of the street.

…I’ve got a healthy amount of experience with the HK semi’s,  (MP5, HK93, etc), including some recent time with the new MP7. I’ve had enough trigger time with Sig rifles and FALs to be confident with them as well. One system that I have not had much experience with, however, is the AK family of rifles. Like just about everyone else in the early 90’s I bought a couple of SKS’s and even a Mak-90. The Mak became part of a misguided bullpup experiment and has probably had less than 100 rounds through it. So, I’m definitely lacking in experience with what is undoubtedly the most common combat rifle on the planet…

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Posted in Media & Entertainment, shooting | 3 Comments »

Lyme disease documentary

Monday, August 10th, 2009

The excellent documentary about Lyme disease, Under Our Skin, is in limited theatrical release, but low ticket sales puts the wide release at risk. Look for it in your area and if it is playing, please check it out. It is well worth your time and money.

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Posted in Media & Entertainment, Medical | No Comments »

Yet Another Birthday

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Happy Birthday, David!

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Posted in General Rambling | 1 Comment »

Eye eye, matey! Yarhh!

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

This is a rare health-related post. Several people have asked what my major malfunction is of late, so i will comply with these requests.

Last week I developed a sore throat to end all sore throats on top of whatever respiratory disease I was combating. My family doctor was very kind and understanding as he demonstrated by seeing me on short notice. He hit me with an intramuscular injection of the antibiotic Rhocephin as well as starting me on a round of Levoquin by mouth. This didn’t seem to help much, but after a few days I started to recover. The bad news involved the eye irritation I started experiencing concurrent with the sore throat and cough.

Claire had an appointment with our ophthalmologist for an eye exam and he was concerned enough to take a peek at my peepers since I was having trouble. What he saw troubled him enough to immediately prescribe some drops and schedule a follow-up exam two days later. When that rolled around, today, my eyes had actually gotten quite a bit worse. My vision is cloudy and my eyes really hurt. I don’t mean the stinging or burning one gets when foreign matter gets in one’s eye or when allergies strike. I mean pounding, throbbing PAIN.

Now he has me using a couple of corticosteroids and keeping my fingers crossed for some prompt relief. Eye will keep you posted. See what I did there? “See’ what I did there, too.

“Hard pressed on my right; my left is in retreat. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking. Attaquez!”

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Posted in Medical | 3 Comments »

Night Life

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Since I am essentially a vampyr these days I tried my hand at night fishing for the first time in decades. My weapon of choice was an Arbogast Jitterbug, the benchmark Summer top-water bass lure. After getting a number of strikes and landing two small fish, I had something take the Jitterbug and make a run for deep water. Since it was not a violent strike full of sound and fury I surmise it was a catfish. If so, it was a sizable specimen, because as I set the hooks and attempted to land this fish all I accomplished was pulling against the reel’s drag. After about five minutes of letting it run I made a good tug and broke the rod.Immediately after the rod gave way the 17lb test line snapped and it got away.

The impressive part to me was the rod failure. This was a Shakespeare Ugly Cat SC20 designed to land huge catfish. Either it was faulty, the fish was enormous or I am a dreadful angler. Whatever the reason, it is a good fish story.

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Posted in General Rambling | 2 Comments »

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