While hanging out with the good people of the GunBlogger Conspiracy today, Dixie mentioned that she was getting a new puppy today.  I mentioned that I had shown BooBoo Marko’s pictures of his new puppies, and that he is now pestering me to get him that puppy.  Not a dog, but that exact puppy.  The boy loves hotdogs, and I told him it was a weiner dog, so in his mind, it’s a puppy made of hotdogs and that’s gotta be awesome.

During our discussion, we started talking about names for dachshunds, and Dixie wins the Internetz for her idea:

dixie: I have the perfect name
dixie: Boo’s Kloos
SCI-FI: …
Vic_Tokyo: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
DaddyBear: yeah, not gonna happen dixie
SCI-FI : I liked Kaiser
DaddyBear: but that is genius

Unfortunately, as much as we like to indulge Boo, I don’t think we’ll be driving to New England for a dog anytime soon.  But that would be the perfect name.

Chase Bank is really having a bad week.


First, they had one of their customers arrested after he tried to cash a check that Chase sent him because they thought it was fake.  Through a comedy of incompetence, Chase kept both the check and the money that backs it, the man lost his car after it was impounded and auctioned, and subsequently he lost his job.  He’s of course gotten himself a lawyer, and I hope that the next few Chase branches that are opened are named “Ikenna Njoku’s Big Building With Money”.


Next, Chase somehow decided that one of their customers in Florida had died, sent a condolence letter to her family, and reported her passing on to the credit bureaus.  Even after the lady reported the error to Chase, her credit report still says she’s dead, which is apparently causing issues.  Again, she’s lawyered up, and I hope she’s successful enough that the headquarters of Chase is renamed to “Wrenella Pierre Memorial Bank and Trust”.


If I were Chase, I’d shut down all of the offices for a day or two, get everyone together, and remind them of Rule Number One:  “Don’t Be F…ing Stupid!”.  When a customer comes to you with a check from your own bloody bank, you cash it.  Maybe you make them put the money into an account if it’s large and you want to be sure it’s not a fake, but you accept your own bloody check.  Next, you don’t unilaterally declare your customers dead.  When you think that one of your precious customers has passed away, you inquire with the family, then have them do the paperwork and such to take care of accounts.  And when you do screw up and mark one of your customers as deceased and they call you on it, you don’t go home until everyone you’ve told about this has been told about the new information and corrects their records.


Come on guys, we gave you billions of dollars to keep the doors open.  You could at least try to act like a responsible adult.

Just read Marko’s post about Jay’s post about Weerd’s post about Sean’s post about a man who was shot by muggers after he had given up his wallet.  Weerd, Jay, and Marko all discuss whether or not it is morally right to use lethal force in order to protect property.  I thought I’d ring in with my two cents.

Irish Woman and I came into the adult world with literally the clothes on our backs.  Everything we have, with the exception of a very small number of things she’s gathered that belonged to her parents, we have earned the money for and bought ourselves.  There is nothing in our home that I can look at and not think of what I had to do in order to earn it.   While I’m not emotionally attached to much of it, if someone was to take it from us, it would require further toil to replace it.  Yes, like most Americans, we have a lot of luxury goods, but we also have a lot of things that we need in order to get through every day.  All of these things are subject to theft, and thieves are subject to how I feel about protecting our property.

Add to that the propensity that I’ve started to notice among thieves to not leave witnesses behind, and you should start to understand my attitude.  I cannot with 100% certainty say how I will handle a thief who just wants to grab the TV and run, but I can’t say that I wouldn’t use a gun to stop him.  All bets are off if I feel that the thief, in addition to taking or destroying property, is presenting a threat to one of us, and that’s going to be a reptilian brain instinctual, irrational decision.  Not a lot of space there for the “Well, he looks like he’s just grabbing the laptop/wallet/TV.  Guess I’ll just call the police.” kind of decision making.  My only word of advice there is this:  Don’t startle a man with a family to protect.  He might mistake your intentions and make your mama sad.

I once heard someone say that if a stereo isn’t worth killing for, then it shouldn’t be worth risking dying for.  Maybe instead of billboards along I-65 for gun turn-ins and mentoring volunteers, some of the organizations that do outreach to ‘at-risk youths’ should remind them of that.

I’m home.  Not feeling too bad.  Had to spend an extra night in the hospital for pain management, but that’s under control.

It’s been 25 years this month since I last saw you.  You and my mother had been apart for three years, and that was the first time you spent any time with us.  My brothers and sisters and I spent a weekend at Grandma’s, and you came over for one afternoon.  You gave us some money and sent us to the arcade so you could visit with your mother.  Since then there hasn’t been a peep.

In all that time, I’ve grown up, had children, travelled the world, and become a better man than you could ever hope to be.  My children never wonder if they’re loved, and they never feel forgotten or unwanted.  They have never had to worry about where they will sleep, or where the next meal will come from.  They have never had to line up for a spanking when I come home from work, and they have never heard “I know you did something to deserve this.” come from my lips.  Even though I was a complete moron when it came to marriage as a young man, I never took it out on them.  They always knew that they came first in all things.

My children know you exist, but will never meet you.  You will never be Grandpa to them.  Other, better men have lined up to do that.  You will never take them fishing or hunting.  They will never wake up in your home for Christmas.  You have become and will forever remain just a name on our family tree.

So I hope you enjoy your birthday next month, father.  I also hope you have many more without me and my children.

The Family, 1977

I’m alive. Lots of good meds and great staff to keep me comfortable.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fox News is reporting on a little piece of technology that is aiding a small police force in Mississippi:  clip-on video cameras.  Basically, a police officer activates the camera when he is interacting with the public, and it documents both his actions and the actions of those he is speaking with from very close to his perspective.

For police, this gives evidence of anything a suspect does or says during such things as traffic stops, serving warrants, or arrests.  It also protects them against false charges of being unprofessional and abusive.  This would be especially useful when used in conjunction with dashcams, and provides a record when the officer is away from his cruiser.

For those who interact with the police, it gives them a recording of those interactions.  If a policeman is out of line, his own recording will hang him.

The current technology has a removable memory chip that is used to store any video taken.  My guess is that an officer activates it when he or she is doing something with the public, and turns in the memory chip at the end of their shift.  I would improve on this in two ways.  First, the camera should be on for the duration of the officer being on duty, with no way for the officer to turn it off without physically destroying it.  The camera should have enough battery and memory capacity for 24 hours without recharging or emptying the storage chip.  Second, the camera should use mobile broadband to stream the audio and a lower resolution version of the video to a central location in addition to using local storage.  This will take care of situations where there are technical issues with the memory chip, as has been seen with dashcams where the tapes stop working just in time to record a traffic stop where the police are accused of abuse.

I could see this being used not only by beat cops, but by all government officials that are in positions where a record of all of their actions would come in handy, including military personnel walking patrols, prison guards, and TSA agents.  If a TSA blue-glove knows that he, along with all of his co-workers, is recording the pat down of a 95 year old grandmother, with no way for him to tamper with it, maybe a little more professionalism and common sense will start to sprout.

Well, it’s only taken 34 years since the first time a doctor said they should come out, but I’m finally having my tonsils removed.  By the time you read this, I’ll be under the knife.

I’m not going to be posting for a couple of days, but I’ll be back.  Some of my first posts after surgery may be a little…. muddled.  Hey, my doctor promises to keep me ‘comfortable’ for the first week or two after I come home.  If I piss anyone off, just drop me a note and I’ll do an edit/delete once I’m back in my right mind.

Or maybe I’ll take the best of these, publish them, and be the next Hunter S. Thompson.  Man made an entire career writing about what happens when you’re stoned.

Anyway, I’ll see you guys in a couple of days.

I started Independence Day and the last day off I will have all month doing my favorite thing:  I took Girlie Bear to the range and let her blow through a box of .22.  A steady rain for the first 45 minutes we were there pretty much melted the cardboard target stands we used, but they still showed enough of our targets that we could get some practice in.  She’s getting good enough with the Rossi and the 10/22 that next time I’m going to back her target up about half again as far as it is now.

After she didn’t care for the 20 gauge last time, I bought her a recoil pad for her shoulder.  She tried shooting my black powder rifle, and said she liked that a lot better.  Not sure if it’s because the Omega doesn’t kick as much as her Rossi in the shotgun configuration or if it’s the recoil pad.  Probably a little of both.  I’m going to start looking in earnest for a good used black powder rifle for her to use this fall.  She’s ready.

As for me, I shot the 10/22 a few times, then shot the Garand.  Nothing says “Happy Independence Day!” like shooting an M1 Garand.  Then, of course, it was time to shoot the 1911.  I did cheat a bit and shoot Tula ammunition through it.  I also started working on figuring out how to accurately shoot the Smith and Wesson .357 that I bought just prior to Knoxville.  It’s got a very light single action trigger, and I’ve started to learn where on the front sight works best. Double action is also very smooth, but I need to do a bit of dry fire before that evens out for me.

After clearing the range, Girlie Bear and I headed over to the local purveyor of fireworks and geared up for tonight.  I gave Girlie Bear a budget of $20, and to her credit, she bought an armload of explodey goodness for $19.56.

Once we got home, I got the charcoal going and prepped dinner.  Our menu included smoked turkey, roasted potatoes and onions with garlic, fresh corn on the cob, and Dutch apple pie with vanilla ice cream.  I have to say the hardest thing I did today was leave the turkey alone after I brought it in from the smoker.  There was about 45 minutes while the potatoes were on the grill, and I just sat and thought about how good that gobbler smelled.  Everyone feasted well, and I can honestly say it was one of the better meals I’ve made lately.

After dinner, Girlie Bear and I prepped the area for fireworks.  Boo came out after his bath and watched me set off “wockets” and “sparkles” for him.  I tried to keep it low key out of consideration for the neighbors, but as soon as it got really dark, three of them started setting off mortars.  Oh well, something to remember next year.

I hope y’all had a good 4th of July and had a chance to celebrate!

While listening to a recent podcast, someone asked “Why is it that the American revolution is the only one that didn’t end in a bloodbath?”.  From the French Reign of Terror, to the killing fields of Cambodia, to the mountains of the former Yugoslavia, almost all revolutionary political changes have included mass killings.  Usually these incidents include not only members of the former ruling class, but also common people who don’t fit into the mold that the new regime was using to cast their new society.

So what was different about the 13 original states?  Not to say that there wasn’t bloodshed, because there certainly was a bit of that after the shooting war ended.  But those colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain were for the most part allowed to leave with their lives, if not the bulk of their property.  Contrast what happened in 1783 in North America with what happened in France in 1789.  While there was some violence and what we would probably call ethnic cleansing over here, in Paris, they started lining people up for a close mechanical shave.

When the South and Central American colonies overthrew their Spanish masters, people were hung and shot in successive waves.  Repeat that in Russia, post-WWI Germany, and post-colonial India, Africa, and Southeast Asia.  Millions died in China after the Communist takeover in 1947.  There was even violence in the ‘peaceful’ dissolution of Communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990’s, culminating in the Balkan Wars.

The only exceptions to this rule I can think of off the top of my head was the Velvet Divorce of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and possibly the movement of some members of the British Empire to self-rule, such as Canada and Australia.

So what happened?  Why are we so different?

Some posit that the American colonists had been pretty much self-guided for such a long time that when we decided to finally make it official we didn’t see the need to purge our ranks.  Others suggest that in the beginning, if you didn’t like your neighbors in North America, both of you had ample opportunity to just up and move.  To paraphrase Heinlein, nothing makes good neighbor relations like ample elbow room.

I see the truth in these theories, and they probably had a lot to do with it, but there’s something more.  The leaders of our revolution had several hundred years of British political and social development to rest upon, aided by physical separation from the corruption of these ideals, to support them.  They could read Locke and other members of the Enlightenment, but their studies were not muddied by the sausage factory of a working parliamentary system. 

They also had the luxury, at least until the last couple of decades before 1776, of being able to have their cake and eat it too.  They could stand on their rights as Englishmen, but due to being a long sea voyage away from London, they didn’t have too many of the responsibilities a subject owes to his sovereign.  When Parliament and King George III fought a war for French North America and expected the American colonies to chip in through taxes, the colonists began to scream about violations of their rights.  I’ve always wondered what would have happened if, when the Americans squawked about “taxation without representation”, King George had raised several prominent Americans to the House of Lords and given them a vote.   Would there have been an American revolution if Washington, who was a British hero after the French and Indians War, had become First Earl of Virginia?  What if Franklin, or more likely his son, became the Duke of the Mid-Atlantic states?  Add in a few elected members of the House of Commons from Boston, Charlestown, and New York, and the cassus belli for the revolution starts to evaporate.

But to get back to the question at hand, why didn’t the streets of Boston, New York, and Charlestown run red with the blood of Tories in 1783?  Why were those who opposed Washington politically not taken out to the woods and shot?  My guess is that the leaders of the revolution truly believed that their calling was to bring the theoretical politics of Locke and his contemporiaries to fruition, and were able to agree on it well enough to forestall bloodshed.  Their solution was flawed, and we spend much time, treasure, and occasionally blood improving on it.  But with a little luck and a determination to do the right thing and go home, they got it right enough that lining people up for the gallows or the guillotine was unnecessary.

For over two centuries we’ve been following their example and with only one exception, we’ve been able to keep this thing going without watering the fields with blood.  We argue, scream, belittle, and backbite day in and day out, but political victors have never put the losers on a train to nowhere.

Today we commemorate the day our colonial ancestors made it official. There was a long war ahead, followed by debates and arguments over what the revolution would bring to the new country, but in one form or another, our republic has stood for 235 years.  Here’s hoping it stands for at least another 235.