Yesterday, I had the misfortune to fly into Philadelphia International Airport (*waves at Sebastian*). It has been at least a year, and probably two, since I have been in that particular corner of the world, but a few things stood out to me in the experience.
First, the Philadelphia airport is falling apart. I mean, I can understand some degree of wear and tear - after all, it is an airport, and many thousands of people go through it on a daily basis. However, when your toilets are, quite literally, falling off the wall, there is something wrong with the situation. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it, but suffice to say that it surprised and concerned me enough that the thought of a camera was the last thing on my mind.
Second, Philly is filthy, alliteration aside. No, it is not nearly as bad in the public, well-trod, highly-trafficked areas, as, no doubt, the city officials and workers are trying their best to put a good face on what is turning into a very problematic city. However, in the brushes with the outskirts of the city's underbelly that riding its trains afforded me, the true depth (in every sense of the word) of decay became apparent. This is not to say that Philly is the worst city or something, just that it is bad.
Third, rowhouses are dreary, drab, depressing, and, in some cases, disturbing. Yeah, they are better than the alternative for some people, but one would think that their residents would have sufficient pride in their abode to at least try and keep it from looking like it is about two months away from dissolving into the ground. I am certainly not asking for a complete remodel/repaint/rewhatever, but a little picking up after themselves would do their residences a world of good.
Fourth, I really do not miss the northeast all that much... In fact, you could almost go so far as to say that I do not miss the eastern seaboard all that much. I have spent enough of my lifetime in those locations already... it is definitely time for someplace else - and, oh, look, I am already there.
I guess it is time for another one of these. The general premise is that you are free to ping this post (and every other post in this category), as long as you link back to it. Consider it free Google PageRank inflation, or something.
I am not entirely convinced this is the best way to make use of my YouTube account (you know, the account I just rediscovered this evening, after apparently having it for a year and not remembering opening it), but here we go anywise.
Better Half and I decided to immerse ourselves in a little of the local... culture... this evening, and went to a county fair. Pretty standard stuff, but the one thing that stood out was the lawn mower races.
Yes, people race riding lawn mowers. Believe me. And it is just as scary as it sounds.
By way of proof, I offer you the following three videos: Part 1, part 2, and part 3. The quality was kind of shoddy, and a fair bit more was lost on the upload to YouTube, so if you all want the original *.avi files (God alone knows why, though), just drop me a line.
All said, I am not sure which was scarier: (1) the sheer amount of money that just had to go into the speed machines, or (b) the fact that drivers rode them with helmets, and not much else in the way of protection... no kevlar, no leather, no roll cages, nothing. And these little buggers, at least in some classes, went fast.
Well, not a lot as changed... at least in relation to the percentages.
Your results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)
| Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.  |
Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test
I only wish I had a gun as shiny as his...
Just to screw with the Brady Bunch's attempts at maligning certain collections of words on Google, I thought I would do my (admittedly little) part to derail their plans. As such, behold how carry permit holders are actually more law-abiding than most. After all, we certainly do not want the world to know that law-abiding gun owners actually... you know... abide by the law and all.
Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson's Website, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, , Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Allie is Wired, Faultline USA, third world county, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, , , Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Better Half and I are in something of an interesting predicament at the moment... Thanks to her job, we have a fully-furnished temporary apartment at a rather nice complex. Additionally, her new employer moved all of our effects across the country - no small cost. However, to move ourselves, we elected to fly as opposed to drive... lower fuel costs, and it took considerably less time, though we were unable to embark upon another thoroughly interesting road trip (all road trips are, by definition, interesting). The real hitch with this plan, however, is that we were limited to one checked piece of luggage, one carry-on piece of luggage, and one backpack apiece. Sure, we could have checked another bag for $25 (Thanks Delta, you twits!), but we are cheap.
So here we are, in our quaint little temporary apartment, and we do not have a whole lot of stuff.
Unfortunately, this apartment has a very small water heater - about 38 gallons. To add insult to that injury, the shower head the apartment came with was, in no way, shape or form, a low-flow model. I am willing to wager about a full gallon went through the thing a second. So, the first thought that came to mind for extending our water heater's usefulness was to procure and install a low-flow shower head. Great. Except I could not get the current shower head off to save my life. At all. Period. Whoever put that thing on there did a damned good job of it. And, flying cross-country as we did, and limited by idiotic weight restrictions as we were, neither of us thought to pack a tool chest in our luggage.
One trip to Wal-Mart, a low-flow water head, and a nine-inch clamp-jaw wrench later, I was able to remove the old shower head and install the new one... Of course, as you can guess, I used the wrench for all of half a turn getting the old one off and half a turn getting the new one on - figures, does it not? But, without that wrench, and spending the $10 for it (bleh - especially when the new shower head only cost that much itself), I could not have made those half-turns, and we would still be dealing with a quick-to-empty-the-tank shower head.
I guess a similar situation happens with carry firearms... they are not cheap, getting licensed to carry them is not cheap, and the whole process can be rather time consuming and stressful... but when you need one (and you will probably only need it for a very short time), you really, really need one.
Now that the shower is fixed, I think Better Half and I are headed to the DMV tomorrow - after all we need to get new licenses, and register my car in its new home, and I need to move my Florida CFWL permit to a more-local one. Hopefully Tennessee's turnaround time will be as fast as Florida's was.
Home shopping can be quite interesting... you get to see large tracts of the land around you, the varieties, designs, decoration styles, arrangements, and features of all of the various homes can be quite intriguing, and there is all kinds of information to pore over, track, and monitor.
It is also a pain in the pigu, because finding a "perfect" home is, simply put, impossible.
Job shopping, on the other hand, is royal, unadulterated, unmitigated, heinous torture, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
This is going to be a fun few weeks... really... I am just bouncing off the walls with glee!
Oh, wait, no, that is just my head going through the drywall...
You know you are in Tennessee when the airport you fly into not only has a simulated veranda, but also a plethora of rocking chairs (all occupied, by the by) to go on it.
Better Half and I made it here in one piece and are getting settled, so no worries on those counts. More writing when I get the chance or inclination.
places left behind [by walls of the city]
By the time you are reading this, Better Half and I should be on our plane and in flight over some state other than Kalifornistan (assuming no delays or other such problems). Furthermore, barring a momentary lapse of judgement when it comes to deciding on future vacation locations, or possibly (hopefully not) future job requirements, it is fairly safe to say that neither of us will ever return to this state of our own free will.
As such, GOOD !@#$%&* RIDDANCE! David is probably right, Kalifornistan is likely to be the front lines of some very interesting gun-rights battles in the near future, especially in light of the recent DC vs. Heller decision. However, gun-rights are only one aspect of the stupidity available in Kalifornistan - you also have your choice cars with lower horsepower than those sold in other states just because of emission requirements, state-sponsored scams in the form of a recycling program, state-sponsored scams in the form of a "smog check" (oh, but not for cars made before 1976... you know, some of the most polluting vehicles out there), absurdly high gas prices, absurdly high cost of living in general, house prices that, while they have burst, are still stratospheric, a Big Brother government that knows no bounds... the list literally goes on longer than I can remember and care to write.
I am definitely a gun nut at this point, but there are a lot of other elements that come into play in my and our lives, and we are quite certain that our lives will be considerably better and happier in another state. Any other state, really.
So, best of luck to everyone else who has either chosen to remain behind in Kalifornistan or is stuck here for other reasons... but as for us, we are tyen-sah out of here! Dong ma?
Back in March before the Heller decision one of the local radio stations had the DC gun ban as one of their topics, and had a constitutional lawyer named Michael Gross on for commentary. In the interview (which can be found here, 3-18-08 hour 3) Mr. Gross stated that the second amendment is "clearly a collective right", and that the 8,400 handgun deaths since 1976 would be "even greater had there been no ban". I do not believe either statement is true, and while the host attempted to debate the points, Mr. Gross seemed more intent on screaming his theories and unsupported views. While interrupting and talking over the host he says of himself, "I'm very liberal, radical on this issue, because I want to keep people alive instead of shooting each other." Where he seems to totally go off the rails is when he states that there are no defensive uses for handguns in America.
"When have you ever seen, heard or read about somebody defending themselves with a handgun in their home...it is a dream, it doesn't occur".
Any rational person would understand that in our world this is impossible. Someone who makes a blanket statement such as this is either delusional or a liar. Mr. Gross clearly has an agenda, I imagine a great fear of firearms, and thus a fear for the truth.
Mr. Gross' objective of "keeping people alive" is a fine goal. But he overlooks easily obtainable facts that prove defensive uses of firearms in the hands of normal everyday citizens, which do a fine job of keeping people alive. Taking these firearms away, or preventing their defensive use (which they did in DC with the moronic rules of requiring the firearm to be disassembled and equipped with a trigger lock), only puts those citizens at risk, inevitably resulting in more death. A far cry from the goal of keeping people alive.
In my monthly issue of America's First Freedom they dedicate a page or two exclusively to defensive firearm use in a section called "Armed Citizen" that quotes excerpts from papers and journals across the country. In a post script they graciously allow, "Anyone is free to quote or reproduce these accounts condensed from individual newspaper clippings..." So, with their permission, I quote from a few choice instances:
According to authorities a homeowner in a gated community was awakened by noises and, to his horror, found an intruder choking his wife. The homeowner quickly ran for his gun and returned to discover two additional intruders. The men, at least one of them armed with a gun, held the home owner's wife hostage and demanded cash and jewelry. Fearing his wife would be killed, the homeowner opened fire and at least one of the intruders shot back. The suspects fled. Two were sought by police; one died in the backyard. (The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas, NV, 08/15/07)
It was a terrifying night that refused to end. Edith and William Stevens, both in their 80's, had already scared away an intruder. According to the sheriff's department, deputies completed an investigation and left, but two hours later the couple heard gunshots outside their home and glass breaking. William got his handgun and investigated. Finding an intruder in the hallway, he opened fire and the intruder returned it. "Had Mr. Stevens not had a handgun, I don't know what could have happened," said Maury County, TN Chief Deputy Ashley Brown. The couple locked themselves in the bedroom and tried to phone police, but the lines were cut. The intruder, who police believe was after money for drugs, fired once more through a window. After discovering the intruder had fled, the couple phoned police from a neighbor's house. (The Daily Herald, Columbia, TN, 2/10/08)
Nathaniel Evans was leaving for work when two men confronted him with a gun and ordered him back inside. The men threatened Evans and another occupant, Evans' girlfriend. "[The suspects] kept yelling 'Where is it?'", said Sheriff Greg Champagne. "When they couldn't find what they were looking for, they shot [Evans]." That's when Evans' girlfriend, who'd been ordered into the bedroom and forced to the floor with her 5-year-old child, came out firing a .40-cal. pistol. One suspect died at the scene. The other was found nearby and will be charged after his release from the hospital. Evans is expected to recover. (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA. 08/23/07)
Elwood Pickett just wanted to be a good neighbor, so when two young men asked to use the phone, he handed it out the door. Then he grew suspicious. "They used the phone and left, but when they came back the second time, I was ready for them in case there was trouble," the 80-year-old Pickett explained. He handed the phone out a second time, but he says one of the men "pushed through like an elephant and pounded me with a knife. He...stabbed me half to death, and I thought it was time." But it wasn't. Police say Pickett, a World War II vet and lifelong hunter, drew his .38 caliber pistol and fired three shots, striking one of the men and causing both to flee. One suspect went to the hospital; the other to jail. Pickett was badly injured but is recuperating. (Hood County News, Granbury, TX. 2/13/08)
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"...it is a dream, it doesn't occur". What planet is this guy on anyway?
It is always interesting to see one's whole life packed up into tan-colored boxes and spirited away...
Posting will be light for the forseeable future, once again. Oddly enough, I am actually headed away from water this time, so I cannot blame my lack of weblog productivity on that. I think having my primary CPU in a crate far out of my possession is a fairly decent excuse, though...
And, just to stir the waters a little (especially since I already know my answer), was it racist of me to be very, very uncomfortable having loaders who almost exclusively spoke another language, and only spoke English in a broken and disjointed manner?
Via Kim DuToit I found a post at ACLU's blog from July 1st titled "Heller Decision and the Second Amendment". The gist of how the ACLU feels about the recent Heller decision being, "The ACLU interprets the Second Amendment as a collective right. Therefore, we disagree with the Supreme Court's decision..."
Their statement is completed with the tagline: "As always, we welcome your comments."
What follows is a firestorm of commentary that as of today reaches close to 900 comments. That's not a typo, it's nine-hundred.
What I found very interesting about the whole thing was the overwhelming number of pro-2A commentary, some of which appears to be from longtime ACLU membership ranks, and much of it expressing outrage at the ACLU's public stance on the Second Amendment after the Heller decision. It was not till entry #39 that there was even a comment that suggested the ACLU's stance was appropriate, and out of the first 100 (which was as far as I went), there were a grand total of 3. This is the sort of rare thing that makes me feel positive about the direction we're going. This many people acting out so vocally against that organizations bad policy has to be a good sign.
As a side note, although unconfirmed, it appears that our host Linoge logged in with comment #41. I would be surprised if there was another "Linoge" out there advocating Second Amendment rights, but I guess crazier things have happened.
Pelican cases come with an extraordinarily good warrantee, especially these days. As quoted straight from their own webpage,
You break it, we replace it... forever. ... Pelican™ Products will continue to guarantee the product directly, against breakage or defects in workmanship. This guarantee does not cover the lamp or batteries in lights. The o-rings must be kept greased (and replaced if damaged) per product instructions. (Replace o-rings annually or when damaged.)
However, there is a second section of their guarantee that I did not really notice until my cases actually arrived in the mail. Below is a scan of their instruction manual, and, specifically, the page relating to the warantee. Click to enlarge:
It might be a little difficult to read at that size, but if you enlarge it, and look for the section I conveniently highlighted for you, the cause for this post will be come clear. Namely:
The guarantee does not cover shark bite, bear attack and children under five.
Not being a father yet, I guess I cannot quite fully comprehend, but it certainly is amusing that humans under five years of age are ranked with the most dangerous predator of the waters, and one of the more fearsome, powerful creatures on land. Of course, even more amusing is the probable fact that all three of those clauses are a byproduct of someone trying to get warantee work done after each of those incidents...
A standard, mark 1 mod 0 MasterLock will NOT fit a Pelican 1200 case.
That might have been useful to know. Suggestions (for something that is going to contain a reasonably nice pistol and should be secured appropriately)?
Thanks to some initiative and assistance from TexasFred, it would appear as though the Unorganized Militia Propaganda Corps blogroll is well on its way to expanding... possibly drastically.
So, to anyone interested, if you want to be added to this blogroll, simply insert it into your own website, and then drop me an email at "linoge (at) wallsofthecity.net". The code for the weblog is as follows:
Javascript:
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=0f962d4053d3a8a0f75f7de9988c84ac"></script>
RSS:
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/rss.php?r=0f962d4053d3a8a0f75f7de9988c84ac
OPML:
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/opml.php?r=0f962d4053d3a8a0f75f7de9988c84ac
PHP:
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display_raw.php?r=0f962d4053d3a8a0f75f7de9988c84ac
Once you add it to your own weblog, and I see it there, I will add your address to the roll, and everyone is happy. A quick thought, though... (and this is from Thirdpower, the originator of this whole shindig, and still the orchestrator of it all... mostly against his will, though) there will be no "racist crap", i.e. "'White Power', Rahowa, or any of that nonsense". If you want to blog about that kind of dren, go right ahead... but do not expect us to link to you.
As for other "membership" requirements... uh... we are still working that out at the moment. Something tells me that it would be safe to say that you should be pro-guns, pro-self-defense, pro-rights, and pro-America, though. Unsurprisingly, political affiliation does not matter to this particular blogroll... just an interest in ensuring the Constitutionally-protected natural rights of self-defense and self-preservation are continued and ensured.
And, on a lighter note, more traffic is always a good thing.
As I previously mentioned here, Better Half and I will be moving out to Tennessee sometime in the near future. Unfortunately, one of the difficult aspects of moving is what to do with certain items, such as firearms, ammunition, high-value items, and so forth. Thankfully, the firearm aspect has been solved (and the cases arrived today, and seem to work well... pictures when I can be bothered to take and post them), but something still had to be done for the few hundred rounds of 9mm and .308 ammunition I had kicking around, considering that moving companies will not take ammunition at all. I know, I know, I could go out and shoot it all, but, well, ammo is a bit expensive these days, and something tells me Better Half would not be too terribly happy with that situation.
After doing a little research into the matter, it would appear as though UPS is pretty much the only option for shipping ammo to myself at our new address, and since I recieved it all by UPS, it makes sense. I go and check their webpage concerning ammunition shipment, and I have to admit, it is not terribly useful, especially considering it mostly addresses shipping firearms. However, there were a few relevant tracts, as quoted below:
Ammunition may be accepted for shipment internationally provided it is shipped in accordance with the UPS Guide for Shipping International Goods.
Ammunition cannot be included in packages that contain firearms (including handguns). Ammunition must be shipped in accordance with the UPS Guide for Shipping Ground and Air Hazardous Materials, or the UPS Guide for Shipping International Dangerous Goods.
Small arms ammunition, as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 173.59, will be transported only when packaged and labeled in compliance with 49 C.F.R. § 172 regarding hazardous materials shipments.
Unfortunately, those guides listed are not hotlinked on their webpage, but the "UPS Guide for Shipping Ground and Air Hazardous Materials" is kind of documented on their webpage.... in a very confusing and unclear manner that does not address ammunition in any way, shape, or form. In fact, the only place ammunition is mentioned outside of the firearms webpage on the UPS site is under "Common Items that May Be Hazardous" (Ammunition is listed under "Camping Gear/Equipment" and "Hunting Supplies"... Me, I probably would have given it its own category.), "Verify for Export" (Which just goes into what can or cannot be exported outside the United States and in what quantities.), and "Express Critical Terms of Contract", as this search indicates. So, unfortunately, that leaves me right where I started - second-hand information procured through a variety of corroborating websites and forums, but still second-hand, or trying to wade through 17 miles of legalese in the Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 172. Righto.
And, so, I did what was suggested. Thankfully, the ammunition weighed in at 50-odd pounds, so the 30 kilo (about 66 pounds, for us Americans) limit was not a problem, and it was all in its original packaging, so securing it inside the box was not a problem (though, be aware - foreign milsurp ammunition comes in crappy packaging, that may require additional tape to really be considered "secure"). I printed out a sheet of ORM-D, Cartridges, Small Arms labels for the UPS people to stick on wherever they wanted, and I wrapped the sturdy, cardboard box in strapping tape along every major axis... repeatedly, in some cases. Finally, I went out of my way to find a UPS Customer Center, NOT a UPS Store or Alliance Location.
Better Half and I showed up at the Customer Center with package and paperwork in hand, and were almost immediately told by the floor clerk that UPS did not ship ammunition, at all. We pointed out this was not the case, and he called his superior, who reiterated what he told us - UPS does not ship ammunition. At least, supposedly. He went further to explain that if we were a corporation shipping to an individual, or we, as individuals, were shipping to a corporation, they would have no problems, and would ship it immediately. However, we, as individuals, could not ship the ammunition to another individual... even when that other individual happens to be me. Talk about failing a logic test... Anywise, we explained to him where we found the information (their own site), and what that information said, and what all of the other supporting sources indicated, and he called a different manager, who had no clue, and had to check with his next level up. After putzing around for 15 minutes, he called back, asked if I was "licensed", and when I responded in the negative (Ammunition shipping licensing? There is no such thing, in either Kalifornistan or Tennessee!), he again reiterated that UPS did not ship ammunition, and after one more trek down the logical fallacy of corporation-to-individual or vice versa, Better Half and I finally gave up and headed home.
Sadly, I did not follow the last bit of advice given when doing my research - I did not have the phone number for the UPS Hazardous Material Support Center with me during this process, otherwise, this would have been a whole lot simpler.
For reference, that number is: 800.554.9964. Definitely take it with you when you go to any Customer Center.
We got home, I called around to a few gun stores here in the Southern Kalifornistan region, and talked to a few people. I finally gave up and called the UPS automated system, pressed "0" repeatedly, and got to a real person (amazing, I know), who then directed me on to the UPS Hazardous Material Support Center (the standard UPS operator had no idea about ammunition shipping requirements either). After calling them, and spending all of five minutes on the phone, if even that, I got the honest-to-God, official answer:
Under 66 pounds.
In a sturdy cardboard box.
Marked as ORM-D, Cartridges, Small Arms
Smaller than .50 caliber.
Only Customer Centers will take it.
And if you meet all of those remarkably simple requirements, UPS will ship your ammunition. It really is as simple as that... contrary to what the floor clerk at our local Customer Center, his boss, and his boss all indicated to us. Good to know that UPS is educating their employees well.
The sum of all of this is Better Half are going to be headed to a different Customer Center tomorrow, this time armed with the Hazardous Material Support Center phone number, and hopefully those employees will be a little educated than the last bunch. Oh, and that number, just so you (and I) remember it, is 800.554.9964. Stupid me for not taking it the first time.
2032 08JUL08 Update: Better Half and I dragged the 53 pounds of ordnance to another UPS Customer Center in the area, plopped it down on the counter, explained that it was small arms ammunition, and asked to ship it. They asked if we had ORM-D stickers (they were out at that location, for some reason), and we handed them our sheet we printed out previously. A bit of tape later, and a $60-odd bill, and my package is on its way to... me.
We did not even have to break out the UPS HAZMAT Support Center phone number. There was a momentary pause as the clerk behind the desk asked us again what it was, but other than that... no worries at all. That is how the system is supposed to work.
Moral of the story: It depends on what Customer Center you go to, and always bring the HAZMAT number with you regardless - that way, if the floor clerks' heads start getting stuck in their asses, the HAZMAT reps can straighten them out again.
Two hundred, thirty two years and still kicking... Not too bad.
Better Half and I are off celebrating in a little town that does not do fireworks (this is Kalifornistan, after all), but I thought I would leave you all with the greatest invention known to mankind (at least in relation to the 4th)... Shows-in-a-box:
I cannot wait until I can live in a state where I can just chain these little puppies together, sit back on my porch, and be entertained for the whole night.
A while back, I finally had to go to registration-only comments due to the copious amounts of comment spam I had been receiving. Afterwards, commenting was a little slow, but considering I never really received that many comments to begin with, I was not really surprised. However, after last night, I realized a rather significant problem with the whole set up.
In poking through my weblog's activity logs (a good idea for any weblog administrator), I noticed that Mr. Perri Nelson was having a devil of a time trying to log in and comment. He tried logging in, in tried re-registering, he tried recovering his password, and apparently nothing was working. Since I log in with my administrator privileges whenever I comment, I had not really noticed anything, so I logged out, cleared my cookies and temporary internet files, and tried registering a test-run commenter name.
And then I found the problem.
To register locally at this weblog as a commenter, you have to have a valid email address, and then the system is supposed to email you a confirmation document, including a link, which will then activate your commenter username. My system never sent out that email, beacuse I, in my infinite stupidity, never told it what email address to send it from. Righto.
However, the situation has been fixed, the system now knows to send out its little registration confirmation email from weblog (funny-little-"at"-symbol) wallsofthecity.net (so be sure to add that address to your spam filters, if you need to), and everything should actually be working now. The weblog has been supporting OpenID, LiveJournal (with varying degrees of success, as reported by DirtCrashr), Vox, and TypeKey logins ever since I switched over to reigstered-only commenting, but now it really should allow you to register locally with this weblog, should you feel so inclined - honest.
Oh, and thanks Mr. Nelson, one last time.
And, as usual, all spammers should die horrific, terrifying, excruciating, demeaning, atrocious, inhuman deaths. Right now, if it would be convenient. I mean, for Heaven's sake, since this weblog's inception, and as of 1224 today, I have received 17762 trackback spams alone, not counting all of the comment spams I deleted. That is just absurd, and nowhere near the count on some weblogs, I am sure.
(If, however, the commenting system continues not to work, please drop me a line at "linoge (funny-little-"at"-symbol) wallsofthecity.net" and let me know.)
Well, ladies and gentlemen, the second portion of my adult life is complete.
Kind of a bold statement, I know, and one really has to wonder how I, someone in their mid-20's, can actually come out and say that so decisively, especially considering how non-decisive a person I tend to be.
In this case, the answer is relatively simple - as of midnight last night, I was released from active duty in the United States Navy. After about four years of service in the Surface Warfare community, and attaining the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade, I have decided that it is time for me to move on to other things.
What prompted this change? In a single word, family. When I started my quest to be in the Navy, the thought of getting married... well, had not even occurred to me. I dated, sure, but I was an eighteen-year-old male - how many of those actually think of the "m"-word? Since then, I have met and married my wife, and it is interesting how one's priorities shift after an event like that. Better Half has procured a job in Tennessee, and while there are Navy bases in some rather strange corners of the country (including Millington, TN, for that matter), none of them are within a close enough driving distance for me to be home every night for dinner with her. And after being married for over 2.5 years now, and being able to spend maybe only six months total together, we are getting kind of tired of the whole "geographical bachelor(ette)" concept. So, after having to deal with that separation for a time now, the opportunity for me to have a little more locational control over my life came up, and we jumped at it.
I will go ahead and cut some people off at the pass, and answer the more prevalent, and generally more interesting (in my opinion) questions in relation to military service. Since being commissioned, I have lived in Georgia; Pascagoula, MS (before Katrina); Jacksonville, FL (after Katrina); and now San Diego, CA. On my various ships, I have visited Pascagoula, Jacksonville, and San Diego (obviously); New York City, NY; Earle, NJ; Ingleside, TX; Pensacola, FL; Norfolk, VA; Kings Bay, GA; Everett, WA; Seattle, WA; Panama City, Panama (no, not Florida); Manta, Equador; Acajutla, El Salvador; Oranjestad, Aruba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Apra Harbor, Guam; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates; Manama, Bahrain; Darwin and Brisbane, Australia; and Pearl Harbor, HI. Depending on how you count it, I have sailed through twelvish significant bodies of water - the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the North and South Pacific, the Philippine Sea, the Coral Sea, the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Additionally, I have seen the Galapagos Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Kuwait, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Phillippines, the Maldives, Oman, and Saudi Arabia - oddly enough, from the ocean, most of them look more-or-less the same (and Djibouti looks a lot like the coast of Southern Kalifornistan). I have been through the Panama Canal twice, the Straits of Hormuz more times than I care to remember, and the Straits of Malaca; I have crossed the Equator literally more times than I can count, and once I even managed to cross the Equator and the Intenational Date Line simultaneously - yes, that makes me a Golden Shellback (along with making me a time traveler... the IDL still gives me headaches). Finally, I have been in nineteen timezones, including a half-zone (can someone please explain to me why the central section of Australia does that?).
All said, it has been a busy four years.
What is next? Honestly, I am not entirely sure at the moment, but I have time to figure it out. At the moment, Better Half and I are headed to the grand old state of Tennessee, so who knows what that horizon holds after that. Why did I write this? Well, now you all know why there are some pretty significant gaps in my writing on this weblog... Yes, surface ships have internet access underway, but for those of you who remember dialup... yeah, the ships' connections are slower.
So, Say Uncle or Squeaky... either of you got someplace we can crash?
(And, just so we are all on the same page, this weblog post, along with most of this weblog in general, is just about me - forgive the selfish moment. As always, the views, thoughts, pictures, comments, and posts written and found on this weblog are the sole intellectual property of their respective authors (and whatever hallucinations, voices, or otherworldly entities prompted the expressive urge), and do not represent the official position of any employer, organization, or governmental entity, including, but not limited to, the Department of Defense.)
I hope Mr. Michael van der Galien does not mind, but this article definitely deserves quoting in its entirety:
It’s really quite simple: gun control legislation did not reduce violence. Secondly, people started actually reading the text of the second amendment of the United States Constitution. Thirdly, ‘laws allowing concealed weapons proliferated - with no ill effects.’
To put it more succinctly; the idea that outlawing guns makes society more safe was proven wrong, this while Americans started to realize that, just perhaps, the US Constitution actually means what it says.
Who would have thought it could be that simple?
(Bolding added by me - the other author did the italics.)
I really cannot add anything to such a concise explanation of what transpired last week... He hits the high points, and then the highest of them all - the Constitution really does mean what it says. I never would have guessed, eh? How ironic that it took a foreign journalist to recognize that...
But wait!
The above article links to another one, this time written by an American, and this time not quoted in its entirety:
-- Gun control didn't work. In the 1990s, despite its draconian ban, Washington became the murder capital of the United States. Chicago's homicide rate, which had been declining in the years before it banned handguns, climbed over the following decade. Gun control didn't work.
During the time the federal assault weapons law was in effect, the number of gun murders declined -- but so did murders involving knives and other weapons. When the law was allowed to expire in 2004, something interesting happened to the national murder rate: nothing.
-- Laws allowing concealed weapons proliferated -- with no ill effects. In 1987, Florida gained national attention -- and notoriety -- by passing a law allowing citizens to get permits to carry concealed handguns. Opponents predicted a wave of carnage by pistol-packing hotheads, but it didn't happen. In fact, murders and other violent crimes subsided. Permit holders proved to be sober and restrained.
People elsewhere took heed, and today, according to the NRA, 40 states have "right-to-carry" laws. As those laws have spread, the homicide rate has fallen sharply from the peak reached in 1991.
-- The Second Amendment got a second look. In 1983, a San Francisco lawyer named Don Kates published an article in the University of Michigan Law Review arguing that, contrary to prevailing wisdom in the judiciary and law schools, the Constitution upholds an individual right to keep and bear arms.
Numerous legal scholars, spurred to examine the record, reached the same surprising conclusion. Before long, even some liberal law professors were coming around.
Ok, so Mr. Steve Chapman is an American, arguably a journalist, and also understands exactly what took place and why. Good to hear. But he goes on to make a few other interesting points as well:
The majority opinion last week, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, drew heavily on this stack of scholarship to argue that the framers did not limit the right to the context of service in a state militia. Without the stimulus provided by these contrarian thinkers, the decision would never have come to pass. And the Second Amendment would have remained what it was for so long: a curious irrelevancy.
Instead, the right to keep and bear arms has finally taken its rightful place with our other fundamental liberties. It may be the natural course of things for government control to expand and freedom to shrink. But as Jefferson knew, America was founded to reverse that process.
I am not sure I agree with his stance that the Second Amendment was a "curious irrelevancy" before DC vs. Heller, simply because something is hardly "irrelevant" when so many millions of people exercise it on a daily basis... However, I can forgive him that slip of the fingers for what he wrote in the second paragraph, and I bolded above.
I was having a conversation with Better Half last night that governments basically exist to self-perpetuate, pass laws, and control their populace... not a whole lot more. Not for "the good of the people", not for "society", not for the "advancement of mankind"... politicians go to work every day and spend that day ensuring they have a reason to come back tomorrow... and raising their paychecks every year. The Founding Fathers, thankfully, recognized this tendency in governments, and tried to arrange the American experiment in a slightly different pattern, giving power to the people to decide what politicans they want to represent them, what Amendments they want added to the Constitution, and so forth. Unfortunately, as with any body politic, we have been operating on our own behalf for far too long, electing politicians who promise us the world, deliver half of it, and then charge us for all of it (a concept that most voters still seem unable to grasp), with obvious cases in point being our disfunctional Welfare system, the disaster that is Social Security, and so forth.
However, as of the 26th of June, 2008, an essential freedom was returned to the citizens of the District of Columbia, and that decision will likely be used as leverage in the upcoming battles for the rights of the citizens in San Francisco and Chicago, as well as other towns. And maybe, just maybe, once people start getting that heady smell of freedom, and start realizing just how much of it they have given up to our "benevolent", big-brother government... maybe, people will start waking up.
Or maybe I am just an starry-eyed idealist... Such is life.
Trackposted to Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, The Random Yak, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, Shadowscope, The Amboy Times, Beagle Scout - Support the No More Excuses Energy Act, Democrat=Socialist, Allie is Wired, Nuke Gingrich, third world county, McCain Blogs, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Rosemary's News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D'ITALIA, Nuke's News, Right Voices, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Great Reading [by Rosemary's News and Ideas]
You know, living in Southern Kalifornistan as I do, things like this should not surprise me any more:
Can anyone venture to tell me what, exactly, is wrong with this particular sign? And, no, there is nothing faded out or anything on the sign - that is the way it was originally printed. Oh, and the real cherry on top of this mess? This sign is posted right outside a school. Way to go, American public education system!
You know, I am not a terribly religious person... I do not go to church every Sunday (and, in fact, have not been in quite some time), I have a hard time narrowing down what my beliefs exactly are (outside of the generic term "Christian"), and I am hardly what one would consider "evangelical". That said, having attended Roman Catholic and Lutheran schools, and been brought up Episcopalian and Anglican Catholic, I do know all manner of religious trivia.
Thus, an interesting thought bounced through my brain upon reading this particular news article in the New York Times:
Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.
“Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads.
With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.
The result is a group of unlikely-sounding Husseins: Jewish and Catholic, Hispanic and Asian and Italian-American, from Jaime Hussein Alvarez of Washington, D.C., to Kelly Hussein Crowley of Norman, Okla., to Sarah Beth Hussein Frumkin of Chicago.
Jeff Strabone of Brooklyn now signs credit card receipts with his newly assumed middle name, while Dan O’Maley of Washington, D.C., jiggered his e-mail account so his name would appear as “D. Hussein O’Maley.” Alex Enderle made the switch online along with several other Obama volunteers from Columbus, Ohio, and now friends greet him that way in person, too.
What was that thought? Well, my weblog moniker of "Linoge" comes from somewhere, and, in specific, that origin would be the Stephen King story "Storm of the Century", wherein the antagonist (played amazingly by Colm Feore) went by that particular name... which, if you fiddle with the letters a bit, can be respelled to "Legion". "Legion", of course, has some interesting roots in the Bible:
Mark, Chapter 5
1 And they came over to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, that you torment me not.
8 For he said to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, What is your name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
10 And he sought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there near to the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils sought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And immediately Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
Honestly, I find this correlation my mind drew to be all manner of ironical... especially considering the incessant attempts at ascribing deific qualities to Barack Hussein Obama. No, I am not saying that Barrack Hussein Obama is a demon, but the correlation ("We are called 'Hussein', for we are many.") was just too amusing not to share. But, hey, my brain works in strange ways... and is apparently on a Biblical bent this week.
Hat tip to Say Uncle.
One of the things the Brady Bunch always goes on and on about is the danger of "spraying from the hip", when it comes to semi-automatic weapons. On that I agree with them - shooting from the hip is wildly inaccurate, and will not result in terribly many rounds hitting the target... which, after all, is the whole point of shooting at it. (And, yes, I know that is not what the Brady Bunch is actually talking about when they use that phrase...)
However, when you are standing about three feet away from your target, that target happens to be a 32in. by 36in. by 1.5in. sheet of metal covered with what amounts to be car paint, and you are looking to make a piece of art out of it... "spraying from the hip" actually turns out to work pretty well.
By way of example, I give you Matt Stromberg, a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design:
The Savannah College of Art and Design professor of foundation studies and sculpture uses rocket fuel, explosives, pyrotechnics, propellants and munitions to create earth-shattering art. These energetic materials are used to manipulate metal, wood and paper -- using destruction to create art.
Stromberg’s creations include sculpted metal panels. He’s also used a submachine gun to create pigment-infused solid rocket-fuel paint that is literally shot into stone.
“I think it stems from a long-term interest in energetic materials,” Stromberg says. “Recently, with the birth of my daughter, my wife and I were thinking about what we are going to teach her. I want to encourage her to seek out things in life she finds interesting.
“I’ve always liked energetic materials,” he says. “I think the risk-taking is a big part of it, which is probably a key element of being an artist.”
Stromberg first began experimenting with energetic materials last year. It’s not something for the faint of heart. “I would say it’s very dangerous,” Stromberg says.
Special licensing is required to handle some of the materials Stromberg uses. That can get expensive, but a SCAD Presidential Fellowship for Faculty Development is helping with those costs.
It’s also providing funds for research and safety training with Explosives Educational Services Inc. in Texas. “Lately, I’ve been watching hours of safety films,” Stromberg says. “Doing this makes you really focus on safety. It’s all about concentration, education. I follow the safety protocols.”
In July, Stromberg will conduct research at testing facilities owned by Accurate Energetic Systems, LLC in McEwen, Tenn. The company, which manufactures explosive compositions and specialty products, has a variety of testing areas with trained personnel and safety managers available at all times.
The creation of explosive art can’t be done in a studio. “I have a couple of sites I use,” Stromberg says. “For more dangerous work, I use acreage in Effingham County that’s owned by a colleague.
He has gotten a fair bit of attention across Savannah, and if you want to see some further examples of his work, he has some videos set up on YouTube.
I wonder if the long-distance outdoor ranges that have them have ever considered painting up their steel targets after they are done with them and trying to sell them... Of course, just how perforated is one of those at the end of its operational lifespan?
Hat tip to Gizmodo, again.