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Monthly Archives: November 2012

Quote of the Day – Ambulance Driver (11/20/2012)

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But as a son, no matter how far you have ventured into manhood yourself, you are never prepared to tell your father goodbye. I know this for a fact.

Ambulance Driver – Bob Scruggs
September 10th, 2012

[QFMFT.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I remember taking a couple midterms just after finding out about it.

It wasn’t really surprising to either my mom or I, cancer’s a bitch like that you know.  A friend of mine actually came up to the UW the day before to give me a ride home so I could say goodbye since it was obviously coming.  I said my goodbye’s though a part of me wishes I hadn’t because that is the image burned into my head, not as I saw him when I left back to UW that Sunday night.  That Sunday night was when he said his final goodbye to me.

I still wasn’t ready for it though.  Nothing ever really makes you ready for it.  I remember the Calculus test I took shortly after my mom told me over the phone.  I don’t however remember what I got on it.  I do remember the TA and professor looking at me like I was nuts.  My dad would have kicked my ass for using it as an excuse and I knew it.

Luckily the next week was Thanksgiving break, my roommate and I played a couple of rounds of Command and Conquer Generals as well as Ghost Recon trying to keep my mind off of it.

Come to think of it, I think that’s also when we recreated part of the battle of Gettysburg on the ceiling of our dorm room.

You thought I was kidding didn’t you?  Sadly I can’t find the rest of the pictures I took.

The wife was in the Cougar marching band and Apple Cup was at UW that year.  I drove back up early Saturday morning and worked on homework and played games.

I don’t remember who won, I do remember walking back across campus to the dorm with her after the game and someone said something derogatory about her, it was then I knew I was in the second stage of grief.  While wearing a UW sweatshirt I replied, “Said like a true Hucking Fusky” and just  squared my shoulders back while looking at him.  They peeled off as some of his friends urged him and we continue across campus uninterrupted.

There’s no way I would have swung first, but I kind of wanted someone to try it.  I wanted someone to fill in for the nameless unseen mass that had upended my life.  I wanted something to direct my anger and rage at.

I never really denied it, for the most part I just accepted it.  Just because I accepted it doesn’t mean I was happy about it.

While you can prepare for death as much as you would like, no matter what it just never seems to be enough.  Death however is a fact of life and boy does it suck. -B]

Quote of the Day – Tamara (11/19/2012)

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Brethren and Sistern, there is an obvious lack of sufficient sermonizing here, so let me turn to the Book of Armaments, Chapter Four, Verse One: “Be Sure Of Your Target And What Is Beyond It.” There is no codicil that says “Unless you’re in a shoot house,” or “Unless you’re going really fast.”

It’s not okay to shoot your fellow range patrons EVEN… and I’d like to make this perfectly clear… EVEN IF THE RSO SAYS IT’S COOL.

(Emphasis mine.)
Tamara Keel – Seriously? Seriously?
November 18th, 2012

[While yes we can jokingly say wouldn’t it be nice at times if that were true.  But honestly thank god Tam is right.  Just because the RSO says your safe doesn’t absolve you from maintaining control of your weapon and properly identifying your targets.

Everyone is a RSO, period, full stop, end of discussion.  We all know these tacticool operators do and say some crazy crap.  The problem is impressionable youth take it and accept their quotes as gospel.  What happens in the end though is Mr. Tacticool ventilates someone who didn’t need ventilating.  The response from Fanbois?  Justification, absolvance, and excuses.  None step up to the accountability and responsibility department.  Both of which are critical for gun owners.

I wish I had saved it but recently I had stumbled across a video on Youtube and the individual in the comments started arguing against the four rules.  His complaint was because you need exceptions to the rules for things like maintenance and training.  The way around this is to create rules where no exceptions exist.  Funny thing for me is I’ve never needed an exception for maintenance or training.  Instead I use a dummy gun, or I watch my muzzle while cleaning and disassembling.  I promptly put him on my do not listen or watch list.*

Why?  Because the 4 rules are rules, without exemption and the wonder is you have to break two of them to end up in deep trouble.  I am willing to accept Alan’s condensed rules as it is merely the 4 rules condensed and non-redundant.  This individual had used a real weapon as a demonstration piece under the crux of it being unloaded.  Unloaded or not, I don’t like people pointing guns at me.  Why?  Because it’s how people get hurt and the comment after is always, “I thought it was unloaded.”  Grab any number of safe training methods, leave the real guns off to the side.

Back to the subject at hand though.  The nut behind the trigger ultimately has the responsibility of the safe handling and discharge of their weapon.  Failure to do so cannot be blamed on anyone other than the shooter.  The RSO is there as an extra set of eyes to try and stop things before they become unsafe.  Even then though final responsibility falls with shooter.

They don’t DQ RO’s when a shooter does something wrong for failing to stop them in time.  So why should anyone get a pass in this case?  -B]

*I would link said video, but I have spent the last 30 minutes searching and couldn’t find it.  It is possible and quite probable he pulled the video after trying to justify pointing a weapon at something he didn’t really want destroyed.  It was a video on muzzle up vs muzzle down and weapon retention.  If you know of the video, bump the link.  He was using an AR.

SSCC #460–Chicago

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After she had been viciously beaten by a patron she knew as "Tony," bartender Karolina Obrycka made it clear to the Chicago police officers responding to her 911 call that she believed her attacker was the "police." She then wrote down his last name — or how she thought it was spelled — on a scrap of paper and pointed out that security cameras at the Northwest Side bar had likely captured the attack.

Yet none of that wound up in the officers’ report. On Tuesday, Obrycka’s lawyer grilled Officer Peter Masheimer about the missing details as he testified at a trial stemming from a lawsuit she brought against the city of Chicago and Anthony Abbate, the off-duty cop convicted of attacking her.

The video of the attack can be seen here.

Fellow officers attempted to conceal and hide evidence and testimony against him.  None of them have been fired except the man responsible for the incident.  He however escaped jail time.  Not only that but it’s taken a Federal case to get anything done.  Guess we see why Chicago only wants it’s officers armed.

State Sponsored Criminal #460: Anthony Abbate

Protected by Peter Masheimer

Because when your cop buddy gets drunk and assaults someone, your job as a fellow officer is to protect and serve them.

Why Did I choose Engineering?

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Because of things like this:

There’s a serious personal reward to projects like that.  I do love how there’s even a trigger mode.

My wife just sat staring in astonishment.  Her dad has a prosthetic from an industrial accident.  While he doesn’t have smart limb, he does have a quite high tech limb that flexes and moves naturally.  Most people don’t even realize he has one unless he’s wearing shorts. 

10 years ago, this type of stuff was still fantasy for the most part.  The amount of processing and input gathering required limited the ability to create something usable.  Moore’s law is a freaking awesome thing.

How to destroy your Op-Sec…

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It appears a member of the Taliban has provided a perfect illustration on how to destroy your operational security.

In a Dilbert-esque faux pax, a Taliban spokesperson sent out a routine email last week with one notable difference. He publicly CC’d the names of everyone on his mailing list.

Oops, there’s no way to unsend it either.  Might I suggest a listserv to save you from future embarrassment.  Then again, it’s not that I mind you just unzipped your fly to the whole world.

Technology can be a wonderful and dangerous thing depending which side of the line you’re on.

Can We Please Bring on the Apocalypse Already?

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I’ll let Tallahassee Explain.

Well life is now imitating art and soon that box of Twinkies on the shelf may very well be the last box of Twinkies.

Hostess Brands, the bankrupt maker of cream-filled pastries like Twinkies and Ho Hos, said on Friday that it planned to wind down its operations. The decision comes a week after one of the company’s biggest unions went on strike to protest a labor contract.

The unions were protesting a cut in pay which occurred because of increased operating costs.  I do find it funny that in this wonderful market, where I know many people who have taken pay cuts instead of raises, these people decided they were going to go on strike. Tell me geniuses, how is no income better than some income?  Have no fear though because I’m sure they will all be collecting unemployment from the government.  That means you and I get to pay them for their stupidity.

Doubly so since the company warned the union that they were going to have to liquidate and shutdown if they didn’t return to work.  Well, the union called the bluff with one minor mistake, the company wasn’t bluffing.

The last thing I need is freaking Twinkies but man they take me back to my childhood.  Thank’s for ruining a direct link back idiots.

Welcome to the demise folks.  This is what happens as government regulation gets to the point where businesses can no longer thrive or be profitable.  Things crash and augur into the ground.  Get ready folks because this is going to get worse, a lot worse.  Especially when you consider the number of people dependent on the government, when the hand outs stop, they’ll just attempt to take their handouts from others.

Atlas is starting to shrug and it seems a lot of people don’t even realize it.

SSCC #459–Portland

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Scott Edward Elliott, 50, a 22-year veteran of the Portland Police Bureau, admitted that he used the screen name "malewantsu2004” when he engaged in an Internet-based online discussion with another person who used the screen name "doraexplora111.” Elliott received at least nine images of child pornography on Sept. 11, 2009 from "doraexplora111,” according to court records.

The ironic thing:

Elliott resigned his position with police in May. He had been most recently assigned to East Precinct’s afternoon relief patrol. He also was one of a number of officers assigned at East Precinct to help register sex offenders, part of he bureau’s Sex Offender Registration Detail.

At least they list him as a former officer, still disturbing never the less.  Doubly so since he could also easily be brought in to search for that stuff on someone’s computer.

State Sponsored Criminal #459: Scott Edward Elliott

Because being a cop and registering sex offenders some how when you do it you’re not a predator.

Quote of the Day–11/15/2012

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The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall.

Cicero, 55 BC 

[So, what’s changed in the last 2067 years that some how makes this republic exempt?

My mom emailed this to me after the previous post on the budget.

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance."

She added the comment we have learned nothing in the last 2067 years.  She’s right.  Those who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it.  The problem is though is you have a large segment of the population getting free stuff from the government.  They don’t want that to stop until every last drop is sucked out.

Get ready folks because the fall of the Roman Empire wasn’t exactly a fun ride.  -B  ]