30 Days of Shakespeare - Day 18

Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice
To change true rules for odd inventions.  -- The Taming of the Shrew, Act III, Scene I

My Take - OK, I admit I'm a bit of an Apple fanboi and I have, on occasion, been accused of being a gadget geek.  But when it comes to guns, I guess I'm an old stick in the mud.  I have and use guns with polymer stocks, and for EDC, a polymer pistol, Kydex holster, advanced optics, and synthetic sling make a lot of sense.  But my heart reaches out for guns made of wood and steel, holsters and belts made out of leather, and guns with iron sights.   Something tells me that no-one is going to be hanging great-great-great-great granddaddy's AR-15 over the fireplace in a couple hundred years.  I lust after a Kentucky long rifle to hang over the mantel.

This is going to be yummy

We're going to get the smoker out for the first time tomorrow, and I'm preparing the roast beast to be sacrificed to the gods of hickory and apple wood.

Last time I rubbed this much boston butt, a female Navy seaman (seaperson?) from Southie gave me a black eye.

Solato Wildlife Center Trip

Irish Woman and Girlie Bear are off to the opening rites of the Annual Kentucky Period of Madness, so it's just Boo and I today.

Rather than either hang around the house all day or go to the zoo, I took him away from Louisville and went to the Solato Wildlife Center. This is an educational center run by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, and it's almost tailor made for kids.  There is an indoor area with displays of small animals, fish, turtles, and static displays about wildlife conservation and an outdoor walk that has examples of Kentucky wildlife, such as a very well-fed black bear, a bald eagle, elk, buffalo, turkey, and deer.

As we got there, we noticed a lot of people in medieval garb, and lo and behold, someone was having a wedding with most of the wedding party dressed in renn-faire garb.  Boo was very excited to see "Robin Hood!".  Luckily, we were able to get through the wildlife walk without disturbing the wedding.

One note on taking a 4 year old to a wildlife center - Don't be disappointed when he's more interested in the prolific squirrels and chipmunks than he is in the large mammals and birds.

Lucky Ducks got to sleep in

Boo and the elk.

Totonka

Elk. Next time, I need a longer lens

Buffalo and baby buffalo

Hey baby, gobble, gobble

The smart gobbler stays up in the tree where it's safe

Taken from 10 feet away through a fence.  <br>I guess they're used to people

Also taken from 10 feet away. <br>These birds are so beautiful

30 Days of Shakespeare - Day 17

While you here do snoring lie,
Open-ey'd Conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware.
Awake, awake! - The Tempest, Act II, Scene I

Amber Liquor and Friendship

Now let me tell you tales of high adventure.....

DaddyBear the Minivandian leaned back into the cushion upon which he sat, reflecting on the events of the past few days.  He had travelled with Jack the Mad Holy Man across Mordor to meet with other members of the Guild of Armaments.  Together with his compatriots Jay the Maroune, The Ancient Mariner, and AyDee the Lifesaver, he had gazed upon and tested many items of both stabbiness and blasting.  He had met Kathy the Feline Warrior, with whom he had conversed many times on the magic elf box, and whose writings he hoped would be good guidance to his wife and daughter.  He had even met and hailed Mas the Ayoob, Oliver of the North, and The Gunny, honored warriors who had also gathered in the City of The Saint.

He had considered the merits of the latest wares from many craftsmen, as well as admiring the work of John of Ogden, may he enjoy his time in the hall of heroes.  Of particular interest to him had been the throwers of pellets and the wizards who made devices that made distant items seem to be directly in front of the warrior.  Many artisans of cloth and leather were also there, showing off the fruits of their labor.  DaddyBear had purchased several small tunics emblazoned with subtle symbols that signified his membership in the Guild and an owner of weapons.  Some of these he would wear himself, some were gifts for friends, and one special one would be given to his daughter, Listener of the Firetales.  She had remained at home to assist the Woman of Eire with the Young Prince, as he was having to learn to master the great strength and energy that came with his heritage of the North Men and could be a handful.

He had also listened to the utterances of leaders and those who wished to lead, and his heart was heavy with dread for the future.  Those who wished to lead after the revolution of voices in the coming autumn all lacked anything that made the Minivandian want to gird his loins and wade into conflict against those who wished to oppress the free people.

He had watched Oleg the Wizard work his particular brand of magic upon the young women who came into contact with him.  The Minivandian had come to believe that Oleg had more of an innate magic of enchantment, such as can be found among the elves, instead of a learned skill.  When he had seen women held in thrall by the wizard, he had seen no evidence of a charm, incantation, or potion in use.

DaddyBear was at that time surrounded by friends, both old and new.  Mistress Squeaky was seated across from him, and she was singing songs of both joy and sadness with Mistress Fatale of the Phlegmoix.  Canis the Lawman, Mistress Fatale's mate, sat and discussed the issues of the day with Jay the Maroune, Matt the Giant, and Rick the Brave.  Awelowynt the Wookie sat among the group also, offering drinks of his elixir from the bottom of the world, which went well with the liquor of corn that DaddyBear had brought with him.

The Minivandian drank deeply from his glass of amber liquor and smiled to himself.  He was far from home and hearth, but he was among fellow believers in freedom and truth, and that was almost as good.  In all his quests, he had never known such good company.  Even though he was far from the lands of his family, he was with his tribe.

Tomorrow he would travel back across Mordor to the land of blue grass, fast horses, and strong drink.  But tonight, he could bask in the warmth of good companionship.

As he grew grayer and age began to rob him of his strength, he would often look back on that evening and remember the talk of his companions and their friendship, and that would bring a smile to his lined face.  But before he reached that state, he had many quests and adventures, sometimes with other members of his tribe, and sometimes as a lone warrior.  But those are tales for another day.

News Roundup

• From the "Classy" Department - A Secret Service agent in the middle of the kerfluffle over the use of prostitutes by members of the President's security detail reportedly 'checked out' Sarah Palin while protecting her.   He has posted about giving Mrs. Palin the once-over during the 2008 presidential campaign.  Now, I'm a heterosexual male, so I can sympathize with him for taking in an eyeful of a mature, attractive woman, even if he did it on the job.  But you don't go up on Facebook and brag about it.  Apparently discretion isn't taught at the Secret Service.  
• From the "Dumbass" Department - A teacher in Virginia is in hot water after lining up his class and then firing blanks at them.  Someone needs to take Mr. Braincramp out and teach him that a gun is a tool for protection, not something to punish students or get their attention.  For those of you who say "It was just blanks!", I have four words for you:  Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum.  Gun owners will not be judged on the merits of those who are responsible and safe, we will be judged on the merits of our dumbasses.
• From the "What's in a Name?" Department - The state of Alabama has denied access to its alcohol markets to a brand of beer called "Dirty Bastard".  The justification for the denial was the use of the term "Bastard" on the label, which has been known to cause the heads of six year olds to explode and make little old ladies spontaneously burst into flames.  I suggest that the company that makes the beer rebrand it for Alabama with a title of "Narrow-minded Fascist" and see how that flies.
• From the "Coffee Buzz" Department - Starbucks has responded to consumer outcry over the use of a red dye made from beetles and will be re-formulating its pink drinks and food this summer.  The original complaint was that the products would violate the vegan lifestyle, but it quickly spread because someone started yelling "Soylent Pink is bugs!" on Twitter or something.  I don't have a problem with the use of insects.  It's just protein.  Someday I'll tell y'all how one of the best meals I ever had was based mainly on boiled ants, prickly pear, and Arby's sauce.  I'm still waiting to hear back from Starbucks on my suggestion to sweeten their coffee drinks with the tears of free-range hippies.
• From the "Mare Nostrum" Department - The Coast Guard has reported that it has sunk its 30th drug smuggling sub.  This particular submersible was scuttled by its crew off the coast of Honduras.  For the moment, let's drop the debate about the novelty of using submarines to smuggle drugs and the whole war on drugs.  My question:  When did the Coast Guard get authorization to operate what pretty much amount to combat interdiction patrols off the coast of another sovereign country that is located a couple thousand miles away from our most southern coast?  I know, better on the beaches of Honduras than on the beaches of Texas, but at some point I have to ask why we're enforcing our drug laws so far from home.  And what happens when the drug runners start buying cheap torpedoes for the Uboats?

30 Days of Shakespeare - Day 16

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself.  - Henry VIII, Act I, Scene I

My Take - There's a lot of hatred in the news lately.  Maybe it's the controversy over the Martin/Zimmermann affair down in Florida, or it's the upcoming election, or it's conflict over which part of our society is paying their fair share.  Either way, we have to make sure that we don't let our emotions get the better of us and in trying to vanquish our opponents we don't destroy the better parts of ourselves.

Always Fight Back

A boy in Colorado has been suspended from school because he hit a bully back.

"One kid kicked me in the back, then punched me in the face. Then I punched him in the face and then I got in trouble,"

The young man's parents are supporting him and criticizing the school for punishing their son and not stopping the bullying.

I take the same approach with fights with my kids as I do with myself:  Avoid, de-escalate, fight.

• Avoid - The best fight is one you don't get into.  Don't like getting into bar fights?  Don't go to bars with a reputation for fights.  Keep your head up and be aware of what's going on around you so that you're not surprised.  Avoidance is harder for kids in school than it is for adults on the street.   An adult who sees something strange can cross the street or turn the corner to avoid a possible threat.   A child in school usually only has one or two routes to get where they need to be, and bullies use this channelling to their advantage.  What I tell Girlie Bear is to not go to the parts of the school she doesn't need to be in and don't be afraid to pick up speed to get through a knot of kids that she knows want to mess with her.

• De-escalation - If someone wants to be aggressive, but hasn't harmed you, let them be aggressive.  Don't fall for verbal bait.  There is no such thing as a "fighting word".  What I tell my daughter is to let the fool talk trash or act stupid.  Their inability to act right has nothing to do with her until they try to harm her.

• Fight - Unless someone comes out of the blue at you, this should be your last response.  But if you have to fight, fight dirty.  If they want to grapple with you, gouge eyes, tear at ears, and bite.  Use whatever you have at your disposal to win, be it a gun, a knife, a brick, a chair, or whatever.  Fight until you can get away, and if that isn't going to be possible, fight until someone in authority pulls you off of them or they stop resisting.

The issue I ran into with Junior is pride.  He would square off with someone over what they said, and he wouldn't back down once challenged.  Avoidance and de-escalation pretty much didn't occur to him until after the fact when I was sitting with him and having a little chat about the conversation I'd had with the principal or someone's parent.  I had to keep telling him "Keeping it real will get you killed."  This may be more prevalent in boys than girls, because Girlie Bear has never come home to tell me that she got into a fight because someone else was stupid and she followed their example.

As for this young man, if he was my son, he'd be given extra sets of batteries for the Wii controllers, a gift card to the movies, and I'd wish him a good week.  I will never punish my children for standing up for themselves when they are attacked, no matter how much society would prefer that they take the beating in silence.

Update - Looks like David Codrea and DiveMedic have thoughts on this too, and do a better job than I did.

Thought for the Day II

Last week, Ambulance Driver observed that a man can tell he's getting old because a pretty young thing smiles at him because he reminds her of her father.

DaddyBear's Corollary -

A man can tell he's reaching a certain age when the head trainer assigns the pretty young thing to work with him so she can pretend to be his daughter during a training mission.

Yeah, I got reminded of my age tonight.

Thought for the Day

The only thing more nerve racking than going through a job interview with complete strangers is going through a job review with people you've known and worked with for years.  They already know your strengths and weaknesses and will definitely know if you BS your way through a question.

Today's Earworm

NIMBY in the Bluegrass

NIMBY stands for Not In My BackYard, as in:

• I know we need a new school in this area, but Not In My BackYard
• I want a grocery store closer to my home, but Not In My BackYard
• I want a new playground that my kids can use, but Not In My BackYard
• I support the troops and all that, and I agree that Louisville's veteran's hospital is old and needs to be replaced with a new one, but Not In My BackYard

That last one is playing itself out as we speak.  The veteran's hospital here is over-used, under-maintained, and undersized for the wave of older veterans of Vietnam and younger veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who are expected to be using the VA system more and more in coming years.

One of the places where a new hospital may be built is where one of the local major highways intersects with a major local artery.  There are already two hospitals in the area, including one specifically for children, many doctors' offices, and restaurants.  There are also some very nice places to live, and that seems to be the sticking point.


The requirements for this hospital, as I understand them, are:

• Easy access from major highways
• Room for ample parking
• Parking where veterans and their families, many of whom are physically disabled, can easily get to the hospital
• Room to build a facility that can grow as demand for services grows
• Easy access to support facilities such as hotels and restaurants

The other two options are to either renovate the existing hospital or to build a new hospital in downtown Louisville.  The existing hospital site cannot be improved enough to have room for demand and the parking area is tiny and badly graded.  Building downtown would restrict the site to one or two places, parking would be a nightmare, and would cost much more than building out in the suburbs.

Some people who would live near a new VA hospital in this area are raising concerns about traffic, light pollution, and noise.  To them I say this:  Shame on you.

I am a veteran, and I am grateful that I do not need the services of the VA.  Yeah, I have aches and pains that I can attribute to one or two things that happened in uniform, but they pale in comparison to the wounds and ailments that the VA treats.  Our veterans deserve the best facility we can provide.

I also live a few miles from this facility.  I drive past the site I think they're talking about pretty often.  Will a new hospital cause some traffic congestion?  Yes, it probably will.  Was I raised right and know that my inconvenience is a small price to pay for proper facilities to treat and care for those who gave up their youth and their health for me and mine?  You bet I do.

It shouldn't take a Medal of Honor recipient like Dakota Meyer to stand up and shame those who are more worried about property values than debts of honor and blood before people start doing the right thing.  I am reaching out to my Senators and Congressmen to support this building site for the new VA hospital in Louisville, and if you have a mind to, I ask that you do so as well.

Photo of the Day

Seen at the NRA store in St. Louis.  Nothing bad can happen here.

30 Days of Shakespeare - Day 15

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't! -- The Tempest, Act V, Scene I

My Take - This past weekend, I was surrounded by wonderful people.  Some of them were close friends, some I had just met, and thousands of them I had never met.  But all of them took a step to show their support for an organization that looks out for their rights, to learn more about their sport and the technology and the issues associated with it, and to let the world know that we are a strong, rational movement.  O brave new world, indeed.

Songs of Two Evenings

Saturday evening, I went to an Irish pub with a group of friends, drank way too much, and between us all we found answers to all of the world's problems.  It was kind of like this:

This evening, I cut up two honeysuckle bushes and bound the pieces up in the manner in which my wife told me it needed to be done so that the nice men will take them away tomorrow.  It was kind of like this:

Oh, if only life could be nothing more than looking at guns and gear all day followed by drinking and talking with friends all night?  Real life can be such a pain.