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Movie Quotes – Day 192

I finally got some sense knocked into me. And I’ve got the bump to prove it.  — The Lion King

There isn’t a part of my body that doesn’t have a scar on it somewhere.  Maybe it’s the criss-cross of rake and hoe scars in my scalp from when I was 6 and decided to get into a fight with the neighbor kid.  Maybe it’s the big, long one I got as a teenager when I drove the heel of my foot up into a bathroom tub faucet.  No matter what, there’s a story for each of them, and a lesson I should have learned.

The reason there’s a criss-cross scar on my head is that I didn’t learn from the first time I got smacked upside the head with a garden implement.  Once the stitches were out and my mother wasn’t looking, I went back for more.  That is when I learned that unarmed fighting against someone who has a weapon sucks.

The scar on my foot taught me to always lock the bathroom door, especially when I’ve been playing ambush with a younger sibling and they might think it’s fun to ambush me in the shower.

Life is going to smack you upside the head sometimes, and it’s going to leave a mark.  Your job is to recognize when it happens, and learn from it.  There’s no shame in taking a knock the first time something happens.  The shame comes from not learning from the lump.

by daddybear71 on July 11, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Movie Quotes

Posted by daddybear71 on July 11, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/11/movie-quotes-day-192/

Overheard in the Front Yard

Irish Woman, looking at Boo – Wow, he’s really starting to get a tan.

Me – He gets that from you.  My people are a pale people.

Irish Woman – No, I’ve seen pictures of you in Arizona.  You had a nice, dark tan.

Me – Woman, I worked with radio jammers in the desert.  I wasn’t tan, I was medium rare.

by daddybear71 on July 11, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Quote of the Day

Posted by daddybear71 on July 11, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/11/overheard-in-the-front-yard/

2014 Louisville Friends of the NRA Banquet – Tickets

Last year, I wrote about the Friends of the NRA, which is the charitable arm of the National Rifle Association.  It helps to fund youth shooting sports and gun safety programs in such organizations as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and 4H.  To put it simply, it’s the part of the NRA that works to make sure kids who want to shoot, can shoot.

The Greater Louisville Chapter of the Friends of the NRA will be having its banquet on August 2.  I’ll be posting later about the guns and gear that will be up for grabs in the live auction, silent auction, and prize buckets, but first, let’s talk about the ticket packages that are available.

First, we have the single ticket.  This gets you in the door, feeds you, and gives you access to the auctions and games.  This one will run you $50.00.

Next, we have the Big Shooter Package.  This will run you $100, but it gives you dinner and $60 in bucket tickets.  You save $10 by buying this package.

Next, we have the Couples Package.  It’s got a $125 price tag, and it gets you two dinners and $60 in bucket tickets.  You save $35 by buying this package.

After this we start to talk about table packages.  Table packages also save you a bit of money, and each table comes with a gun.  Basically, you and a bunch of friends buy a table together, you get into the shindig, and you get to figure out who gets to go home with the gun. (Of course, whoever buys the table has to pass a NICS check to get the gun, and all federal and state laws have to be followed.)

For $500, we have the Primer Table.  This gets you four dinners, $160 in bucket tickets, and a Heritage .22 Revolver with the NRA logo on the grip.

For $1000, we have the Powder Table.  This gets you six dinners, $240 in bucket tickets, and the choice of either a Glock 19 or 23 pistol, a Silverboy .22 lever-action rifle, or an SP101 .357 revolver.

For $2000, we have the Brass Table.  This gets you eight dinners, $640 in bucket tickets, and the choice of either a Colt Commander 1911, a DPMS .308 AR, or a Henry Big Boy in .45 Colt.

$5000, we have the Full Metal Jacket Package.  This gets you 8 dinners, $1000 in bucket tickets, and the choice of either a Savage 110BA rifle in .338 Lapua, a Springfield M1A, or a Thompson 1927A1.

Of course, if you want to buy a table, but none of those guns suit you, tell us what you would like, and we will get back to you on what level of table would bring you that gun.

One of the main prizes at any of the FNRA banquets is the “Gun of the Year“.  This year, the FNRA has chosen two guns for this distinction:  A Colt 1911 in .45 ACP and a Colt Mustang PocketLite in .380.  The Louisville chapter has decided to raffle off this package rather than have it as an auction item, and I have tickets.  They are $20 apiece, and the drawing will be held at the end of this year’s banquet.  If you’re interested, hit my email link off the main page and I’ll either meet you to give you your ticket or we can make arrangements to get you one long distance.

Matched Set of Colt Pistols – The FNRA Gun of the Year Package

 

If you’re not in Louisville, check out the chapters in your area to find out when their banquets are.  They’d be glad to have you, and if you really want to make a difference, get involved and volunteer with them.  It would be great to see all of you all that can make it out on August 2, so if you’d like to purchase tickets or a package, hit my email link or go to our chapter’s webpage.

I’ll be posting later about the games and auction items, so watch for more information as I get it.

 

 

by daddybear71 on July 10, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns

Posted by daddybear71 on July 10, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/10/2014-louisville-friends-of-the-nra-banquet-tickets/

Movie Quotes – Day 191

Kim: Mom said your job made you paranoid.
Bryan: Well, my job made me aware.

— Taken

There are things that I saw and did in a former profession that make me somewhat paranoid about my government, and to be honest, the world in general.  Once you’ve seen how horribly an unchecked junta can treat those who it does not need or does not like, you have a jaundiced eye toward actions which, to others, seem pretty innocuous.

One mass grave full of men and boys is enough to convince me that helpless citizens are to their government as sheep are to wolves.  Seeing abject poverty on such a scale that it seems normal to those living in it, but then driving less than an hour to find luxury beyond any imagining has made me wary of government propping up the super wealthy for any reason.  Watching my teachers cry bitter tears as they described mass rapes of women of all ages was enough to convince me that no woman should ever be left helpless by disarmament and culture.  Seeing the bodies of children who have been starved, broken, and worse made me cherish my own children, all children, that much more.

I guess what I’m saying is that the more you learn about how horrible the world truly is, the more you will come to appreciate the parts that are wonderful.  That knowledge will show you just how important it is to protect and defend those things that bring light to a very dark existence.  Knowing about the world and seeing it with your eyes wide open should not immobilize you with fear.  Rather, it should force you to action, armed fully with the knowledge and skills you need to protect that which deserves protection and to bring down that which threatens those small islands of decency and beauty.

by daddybear71 on July 10, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Quote of the Day

Posted by daddybear71 on July 10, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/10/movie-quotes-day-191/

Blogs Roundup

  • Borepatch brings us one of his regular updates about computer security.  He also has a good suggestion about cellphone security, whether or not you expect the police to take a gander at it.
  • Brigid has some sage advice about cleaning weapons, especially when it comes to safety.
  • This month’s e-postal match is up.
  • Raindogblue tells another story of the glamorous life of police officers.
  • Foreign Policy talks about the boondoggle that is the F-35 fighter/bomber/floor polisher/minivan/boat anchor.   Watching this debacle reminds me a lot of my days with government computer system development.  Here’s a hint, kids:  if you try to build something that will do everything for everyone, it will do not much for nobody.  I can see the budget concerns that lead to the “one fighter to rule them all” mentality, but the Air Force, the Navy, and the Marines need to develop their own service and role specific equipment instead of trying to jam together a conglomeration of requirements in an effort to come up with a common platform for multiple services and roles.
  • Miguel points us to an effort to raise money to buy a service dog for a young boy.  I’m in, come join me.
  • Massad Ayoob brings up a new book on shooting a snub-nosed revolver.  I don’t think a snubbie should be your first revolver, but knowing how to effectively use one needs to be in your tool kit.
by daddybear71 on July 10, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in blogs

Posted by daddybear71 on July 10, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/10/blogs-roundup-46/

Movie Quotes – Day 190

Lucas Deranian: Look as far as you can see. Mr. Bolt owns everything in sight.
Tia Malone: Well, I can see the sky.

— Escape to Witch Mountain

The cliché “Money can’t buy happiness” gets beaten up a lot, mainly because of all the things that money can buy that have the ability to bring happiness.  Poverty certainly doesn’t guarantee happiness, but neither does it guarantee misery.

How you feel does not come from what you own, either how much or how little.  The things that make me happy, truly happy, cost relatively little, but are the most precious to me.  They are things that I cannot buy in any store, but any attempt to take them from me would trigger a visceral and violent protection instinct.

by daddybear71 on July 9, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Movie Quotes

Posted by daddybear71 on July 9, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/09/movie-quotes-day-190/

News Roundup

  • From the “Statistical Analysis” Department – Police officers in Memphis have been calling in sick to protest changes to their health insurance.  Apparently hikes in premiums and other measures are causing an epidemic of the Blue Flu.  I see this as an opportunity.  I hope someone is taking the time to compare crime rates of the past few days versus the same time last year.  If 1 out of 4 police officers don’t come in to work and the crime rate doesn’t change, then I think we could safely say the taxpayers of Memphis don’t need 1 out of 4 police officers on the payroll.
  • From the “Antediluvian” Department – Paleontologists in the Silicon Valley have unearthed a horde of fossilized remains at the construction site of a new dam.  Reports of what has been found has sent a surge of excitement through the scientific world.  Rumor has it that remnants of a PDP-11, the tape drive from a Commodore PET, and a complete skeleton of a NeXT desktop are included in the trove. Steve Wozniak was unavailable for comment.
  • From the “Dafuq?” Department – The Environmental Protection Agency, known more for its harassment of citizens than for working to clean up anything lately, has decided that it has the power to garnish the wages of those who displease it.  Apparently a bullying federal agency with a proven track record of abuse needs just one more tool in its kit so that it can bring about the environmental utopia we all so desperately want and need.  Remember, kids, this is the same federal agency that was coaching people in how to sue the federal government to get things like cattle ranching in places with grass and water declared an environmental crime.  I’m sure this new power will never be abused by, say, garnishing the wages of someone who refuses to roll over and expose their soft underbelly when challenged by the EPA, thereby taking away the resources they could use to hire a good lawyer and sue the EPA.
  •   From the “Trendsetter” Department – Kim Jong Un, glorious leader of the DPRK and successor to the talents of the Kim Family Singers, is yet again making waves in society. At a recent gathering, he was seen walking with a slight limp, and he has set the world of the hermit kingdom on fire.  Hordes of North Korean men have been seen in public squares working on their limp, and some have had to be told to tone it down so to not do it better than their dictator.  Reports that those who choose to not limp or are not very good at it are being thrown, along with three generations of their family, into prison camps, have not been confirmed.
  • From the “Bad Things” Department – It’s amazing what you can find when you clean out that junk closet in the basement.  Things like old sweatshirts, mix tapes from that road trip to Rome in 1993, and of course, freeze-dried smallpox virus from the 1950’s all seem to turn up.  Apparently several sealed vials of virus were kept in a storage room at a government research facility for decades, and nobody found them until very recently.  Scientists are not sure if the virus is still infectious after so long at room temperature, but we’ve all seen enough movies and television to know that this is how the end of the world pandemic starts.  To me, it’s troubling that not only were these vials unaccounted for, but nobody even knew they existed until 1-800-GOTJUNK found them.  If this stuff is lying around, what else is out there just waiting for some research intern to open it and taste it to see what it contained? (Yes, I’ve seen that happen.  Luckily for him, it was only saline. The things you see as an IT geek.)
  • From the “Beatdown” Department – An elderly woman in Texas survived a home invasion by hitting her assailant with a stick and throwing a pot of boiling water on him.  She seems to be doing fine, and police are on the lookout for anyone who comes to an emergency room with bruises and burns.  I kind of hope this guy is not found, because you know he told his fellow miscreants about the incident, and he will forever be known as the guy who got his ass beat and his butt boiled by an old lady.  Some fates are worse than death.
  • From the “Catastrophe” Department – A truckload of Red Bull energy drink was lost the other day when its driver got into an accident, spilling the high-test jitter juice on the roadway.   Nobody was hurt in the accident, although one of the drivers was cited.  In related news, wildlife officials in Florida have released video of alligators breaking land speed records.
  • From the “Man’s Best Friend” Department – A Georgia man was recently arrested after he told police officers that he left his dog in a hot car with an open can of gasoline because the dog drove him to the store.  Rover was removed from the car with no apparent injuries, but did refuse a field sobriety test and was taken away by animal control.
by daddybear71 on July 9, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in news

Posted by daddybear71 on July 9, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/09/news-roundup-221/

Movie Quotes – Day 189

I don’t mind having one eye. It just means I can focus on one thing at a time.  — 9

When you’re doing something, then do that one thing.  You can’t watch a movie and drive.  You really can’t talk on the phone and drive properly.  Concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing, and when you’re done, move onto the next thing.  Doing more than one thing at once cheats you out of your effort.

by daddybear71 on July 8, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Movie Quotes

Posted by daddybear71 on July 8, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/08/movie-quotes-day-189/

Movie Quotes – Day 188

This is ridiculous. It’s crazy. I feel like I’m babysitting, except I’m not getting paid. — The Goonies

I hate herding cats, and I loathe committees.  If I wanted to grow old and gray waiting for people to make a decision or act on decisions they finally make, I would have stayed in government.  If you need to be in charge, take charge.   If you are not in charge, do your tasks, give your input, and get on with it!

by daddybear71 on July 7, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Movie Quotes

Posted by daddybear71 on July 7, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/07/movie-quotes-day-188/

Movie Quotes – Day 187

Welcome to Chicago.This town stinks like a whorehouse at low tide. — The Untouchables

Corruption is a fact of life, no matter where you live.  In a large portion of humanity, getting business done requires the exchange of bribes and favors.  I’ve been in places and among people where corruption meant shorting some to help friends.  Those who can’t pay or have no favors to return in exchange for what is rightly theirs are frozen out and suffer.

What makes this possible is when someone in the government has the power to stop you from doing business if you don’t play the game.  When we increase the power of the government, we increase the likelihood that that power will be abused.  The larger, more intrusive the government gets, the dirtier it gets.  That can mean that the beat cop can force citizens to pay bribes for ‘protection’.  It can also mean that the power of the government can be used to harm and intimidate whole swaths of the citizenry.

I’m not saying that a smaller, less intrusive government would be cleaner than what we have now, because people will always be as venal as they have always been.  Petty bureaucrats will always find a way to manipulate the system to their own advantage.  But when they have a smaller reach, their corruption will only be able to spread so far before their influence runs out.

by daddybear71 on July 7, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Movie Quotes

Posted by daddybear71 on July 7, 2014

https://daddybearsden.com/2014/07/07/movie-quotes-day-187/

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