To sum it up, “Respect the home underdog.”

This affirms that sports “analysts” know exactly jack and shit.  They were almost all to busy sucking up to Peyton to notice that the Colts just don’t match up with the Chargers.  A one point (1!) favorite,

I just got home from Qualcomm stadium after witnessing, live, one of the burliest NFL games in recent memory.  Nevermind the fact that the score should have been 31-10 barring three plays, that was an intense, frustrating, gut wrenching, nail biter of a game.  And my Bolts emerged victorious.

I won money on the Cardinals game.  I won on the Chargers.  Now, I just need the Vikings and Ravens to pull it out and it’ll be a clean sweep.  And only one analyst picked the Vikes.  I’m picking the Ravens simply because, should they win this week, and both the Chargers and Ravens win next week, then I’ll get the chance to watch the AFC Championship live and in person in Mission Valley.

John Ross wrote in Unintended Consequences an exchange between characters Henry Bowman and Tom Fleming:

“A few gun guys drink, but I don’t know a single one that goes to football games or even watches
sports on television. Do you, Henry?”

“Nobody I know.”

This gunnie spent all day drinking, swearing and watching sports instead of going to the range.  And you know what?  I’d fucking do it again.  We’re not all the same.  We’re from different walks of life.  We have other interests.  It’s the single unifying interest that is important, not making sure everyone is a homogeneous, symmetrical, identical muted gray colored puzzle piece.  How boring would that be?

I think I need sleep.  And water.  In no particular order.

I think next year, I’m going to not celebrate NYE at all.  I’ll go see a movie, spend time doing other things, whatever.  Drinking until 6 in the morning is NOT going to be on the menu next year.

Of course, I’m pretty sure I said that the past several years, too.

OK.  Back to chugging water laced with Excedrin.

Sections of the Internet are up in arms over the Israeli military posting gun-cam views of its operations in Gaza on YouTube.  Google shut it down temporarily, but its up again and being updated frequently.

When this kind of stuff was posted to Ogrish and Liveleak back in the early days of our forays into Afghanistan and Iraq, people who didn’t know where to look just didn’t see it.  Now…I think the outrage isn’t so much over it happening per se, or even that the IDF is posting the footage, but that it’s right out there in peoples faces.

Personally, it’s happening, so we might as well know about it.  Within a couple years, gun-cam footage from doorkickers in the Sandbox will probably have its own YT channel, and it will be more graphic.  Will that be OK?  Sure.  Freedom of speech isn’t freedom from speech.

I had an interesting conversation with my step-brother, also named Josh, over Christmas dinner.  He was commenting on how, in his opinion, the biggest threat to civil security is the fact that people can get some firearms without all the paperwork nonsense, like from an 03FFL in the case of C&R’s.  The rifle I’d given my little brother had sparked this, but so had the news report of the Santa shooting in Covina on Christmas eve.

Him: But just about anyone can buy one of those.  Criminals, insane people, gangbangers…

Me:  Yeah, which is why we see so many drive-bys with hundred year old bolt action rifles.

Him:  That’s not what I mean.  I mean…do we even need those?  Aren’t newer guns safer and more accurate anyway, not to mention regulated?

Me:  I’m not quite sure I see what you’re getting at…

Him: Let’s just say, “OK, no more guns that aren’t subject to background checks or registration” and call it a day.

Me: No.

Him: Sounds pretty straight forward to me.

Me: Josh, have you ever heard the phrase “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns”?

Him: Sure.  Ban something, and the only people who have them are criminals, making it easy to enforce.

Me: Really?

Him: Yeah!

I see my step-dad shaking his head slowly.  He knows where I’m going, considering he used to hold many of the same opinions.

Me: Did you ever think of it this way…if I make illegal, say, those old rifles I gave him for a present…the ones that criminals already don’t use anyway.  It I make that illegal, who are the criminals I’ll be prosecuting?  I’ll tell you.  Me.  Him.  Dad.  My mom.  We’d be the outlaws, since we have the outlawed guns.  You have just created a de facto criminal class, non-violent felons who are guilty of nothing more than owning something you don’t like which, until yesterday in this scenario, was perfectly legal.  You’d be guilty by association too.  See what I’m saying?

Him: Yeah, but it doesn’t work like that.

Me: How does it work?

Him: Well, obviously, the police wouldn’t come after you guys.  They’d go after the criminals first.

Me: But you just made us criminals.  We’re now no different than some drug dealer or rapist or murderer.  It’s a new criminal class, but we’re still criminals in the eyes of the law.

Him: You could always get rid of them.

Me: Sure.  With no compensation?  They’re not all that cheap that you just throw them away.  I can’t sell it, even at a loss, to recoup my expense.  How’s that right?  Not to mention it being an individual right and all that jazz.  C’mon, man, you don’t see what I’m talking about?

It was an interesting exercise.  My brother, who sees eye to eye with me on pretty much everything, from the politically incorrect dogs to the tats to the guns, later told me that he always interpreted the phrase to mean that if guns were banned, only the criminal class who already got guns illegally would be able to have guns.  He’d never looked at it as though it would immediately create news criminals to be pursued.  The idea certainly gave him pause.

This is also why mom doesn’t like us to talk politics at the dinner table.

On December 27th, 1775, a letter attributed to “An American Guesser”, and later found to have been written by Benjamin Franklin, was published in the Pennsylvania Journal.

The letter is reprinted in it’s entirety below on this 27th of December, 2008. (courtesy the Franklin Institute)

***

The Rattlesnake as a Symbol of America

I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, “Don’t tread on me.” As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America; and as I have nothing to do with public affairs, and as my time is perfectly my own, in order to divert an idle hour, I sat down to guess what could have been intended by this uncommon device — I took care, however, to consult on this occasion a person who is acquainted with heraldry, from whom I learned, that it is a rule among the learned of that science “That the worthy properties of the animal, in the crest-born, shall be considered,” and, “That the base ones cannot have been intended;” he likewise informed me that the ancients considered the serpent as an emblem of wisdom, and in a certain attitude of endless duration — both which circumstances I suppose may have been had in view. Having gained this intelligence, and recollecting that countries are sometimes represented by animals peculiar to them, it occurred to me that the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America, and may therefore have been chosen, on that account, to represent her.

But then “the worldly properties” of a Snake I judged would be hard to point out. This rather raised than suppressed my curiosity, and having frequently seen the Rattle-Snake, I ran over in my mind every property by which she was distinguished, not only from other animals, but from those of the same genus or class of animals, endeavoring to fix some meaning to each, not wholly inconsistent with common sense.

I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds ’till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.

Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America? The poison of her teeth is the necessary means of digesting her food, and at the same time is certain destruction to her enemies. This may be understood to intimate that those things which are destructive to our enemies, may be to us not only harmless, but absolutely necessary to our existence. I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, ’till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. Perhaps it might be only fancy, but, I conceited the painter had shown a half formed additional rattle, which, I suppose, may have been intended to represent the province of Canada.

‘Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living.

The Rattle-Snake is solitary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for their preservation. In winter, the warmth of a number together will preserve their lives, while singly, they would probably perish. The power of fascination attributed to her, by a generous construction, may be understood to mean, that those who consider the liberty and blessings which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, but spend their lives with her. She strongly resembles America in this, that she is beautiful in youth and her beauty increaseth with her age, “her tongue also is blue and forked as the lightning, and her abode is among impenetrable rocks.”

A very Merry belated Christmas to everyone.  I’d fully intended to keep atop things here at South Park manor, but after Christmas Eve, I just couldn’t stand to touch a keyboard.

My dad bought my mom an iPhone, and my mom bought dad a new computer.  I was nominated Grand Marshall of Getting Shit To Work.  It was less than awesome, considering on Christmas Eve I was given the new Call of Duty for the PS3, which I just so happened to have with me.  So, the family battled each other on Guitar Hero while I stayed locked in the office, first situating the computer and then activating and situating the iPhone.  Only took an hour to get the computer free of bloat and loaded with the software they use, stuff like Adobe Lightroom and now iTunes.  Then it took an hour to get the iPhone (Apple - “Our stuff just works!“) to work, get it on the wifi and get mom going with some apps and games and whatnot.  I still couldn’t get it to sync fucking Outlook when I came home today.  Argh.

Call of Duty, when I finally got to it, was pretty fun, but short on single-player.  My brother played it a bit, and delighted to learn that his Pvt. Petrenko character was armed with the same kind of rifle (Mosin) that he’d gotten for Christmas.  That is, until the PPsH and others were stumbled over and the MN was discarded.  I’m going to give the zombie level a shot when I get this published.

My grandmother gave me some money so I could buy, in her words, “stuff for that shootin’ match you got going on in Idaho.”  Heh.  Looks like I should have some extra ammo and maybe some nicer scope rings for Boomershoot.

That was all Christmas Eve.  Christmas, we tucked into a big breakfast and then got our big presents.  I was looking at a lump of green nylon, trying to figure out what it was, when mom took pity on me and showed my that the Lump actually unzipped and unfolded in an awesome goose down vest by Eddie Bauer.  That was thoughtful of her, considering that it was 25 degrees outside.  My parents also bought me a big set of Craftsmen cordless powertools, so I now have no excuse to borrow dads when I need stuff done around the house.  The cordless recip saw and drill will come in real handy when I finally work up the nuts to spend 4 hours in the attic dropping wires.  First, though, I think I’ll build the shooting benches I’ve been meaning to get to.  Again, for Boomershoot.

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas.  My family is closer than they’ve been in years.  It’s only a shame that my grandfather wasn’t here to see it.  Closer, but I still went through half a bottle of Captain Morgans judiciously mixed into hot buttered rum mix to survive the experience.

Hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas.

I spent the better part of Sunday watching or listening to NFL football broadcasts.  First, I got to see my Chargers win.  Then, I got to listen to Denver lose.  It was awesome, though I can’t give a play-by-play.  I was otherwise distracted.

I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo for years.  Pretty much everyone in my family had one, so it didn’t have that stigma that some people attach.  And sure, my mom regrets having a boyfriends name tat’d when she was 18, but you live and learn.  And pass those lessons on.

Which is why I did not imitate my late grandfather and get a naked lady tattooed on my forearm.  Those things were a little more acceptable in Singapore and on the ship than in the professional fields I will occupy.

I wanted something that means a lot to me, something about which I will not waver not grow tired of.  I wanted something that would be completely original, something no one else had.  It took me years to finally decide what that something would be.

Oh, and fyi - it is not a good idea to go under the needles for 7 hours in a sitting if its your first piece.  It’s kinda like deciding you want to lose your virginity and going to a bondage dungeon to do it.  About four hours in, my enthusiasm was tempered by the realization that I may have bitten off more than I could chew.  It sort of felt like a million tiny, angry gnomes were attacking me with mini ballpoint pens.

24 hours into healing, I have a greater respect for those who’ve done more detailed, intricate, bigger pieces than myself.

For those who aren’t upset by ink, hit the jump.

I realize that many people aren’t gamers, nor care about the threat of zombies.

I aim to change that.

To borrow the last line from the movie Wanted, “I killed two thousand zombies last night…what have you done lately?”

I can see a serious addiction getting ready to form.

While I may have a few slight problems with the game, like Survivors not reanimating as the undead themselves or the addition of witches, these stem more from considering myself an aficianado of the zombie genre than anything else.  The gameplay is good, crisp and exciting.  I love the Auto Shotgun.  I want one in real life.  A ten-round twelve gauge that will fire its payload automagically when you lean on the trigger?  Yes, please.  A real crowd stopper, in the strictest sense.  And quite reassuring when one finds a rampaging Tank bearing down on them.

I’ve already unlocked quite a few achievements and found that I particularly delight in killing witches.  I hate those whores.  The first one we encountered nearly killed me, so the next time I heard one crying I unlocked Crownd, which is basically sneaking up and capping it in the head with the shotgun.  Quite satisfying.

I played for about three hours last night.  Considering the game finished downloading at about 11PM PST, well…I was a bit late to work this morning.

My Steam tag is crzyrider250 for any readers who may want to get together and split some skulls.  For what it’s worth, my story (check back later!) is quite similar to the Blood Harvest campaign.  Or, it will be.

I swore for a long time that I was never going to get back into the PC gaming thing.  I was happy with my consoles.  I didn’t want to have anything to do with the endless virtual arms race that PC hardware is, and since my rigs would only run mid-level games, I was OK with leaving it alone.

My new system that I’m breaking in is…awesome.  I told myself I was “future-proofing”, buying above average spec components so that I wouldn’t have to do this again for a while.  Quad core, tons of RAM, ATI 4800 series card, little over 2 TB’s of storage.  My 3dMark scores are pretty fucking high.  I was playing TF2 last night and it looked way better than my PS3 version, which has never happened before. 

Only bad news is that there are a shit-ton of titles I haven’t played that I’ve wanted to.

Tonight, I think I may download Left 4 Dead.  Purely for research purposes.  Research about the zombpocalypse.

But then, where does it stop?  Farcry? Fallout? The new Call of Duty?  Fuck.

Boredom.

It drives most people crazy in a short period of time.  There has to be a creative outlet, media, something to do, something to watch or listen to.  Even at work, where the boss has everything shut down and locked out.  Flash plugins are rare as hens teeth.  You’d give anything to be at home, where you at least have an e-book or a game or a movie to watch…and you’re stuck at work for three more hours!

While I haven’t personally been in that particular situation (admin rights ftw) I know users who are.  And because I am absolutely NOT going to let these knuckleheads have any control over their PC’s, I can give them some small consolation prize.  A portal, if you will.

Enter Log Me In.

Log Me In allows you to remotely access your computer at home through a simple web interface, putting the desktop environment right into your browser window.  Like so.

In my case, I use it to access my home computers to set torrents or other downloads, perform maintenance that I want finished by the time I get home, and other random tasks.  With the Free version, you can do all that and more.  Step up to Pro, and you can FTP from remote systems, hear sounds, print to your local printer or access network resources.  Perfect for remote tech support calls - next time mom calls with “the computer died” I can save myself the 90 minute round trip and do it from home, as long as the network connection works.

In the case of a lot of folks at work here, they want to be able to surf the web, unrestricted.  Since the processes are running locally to their machine at home and not at work, I don’t care.  Have at it.  This is how you do it…and thats all she wrote. 

Install the software on the computer you want to control.  Use the associated email and password to log into LogMeIn from a browser on another computer and voila!  Remote control.

Perfect for a number of other things to.  Headless PC’s, for example.  Like media servers or torrent clients.  No longer do they need to have monitors, mice and keyboards - you can control it all from another computer in the house, or down the street, or across the country.

I haven’t gotten into pranking people with it yet, but I’m sure it will work for that when the time comes.  Change someones user settings and wallpaper while they go to the bathroom?  Classic.

You can also use the program to securely transfer files when removable media isn’t available.  Say, for example, you forgot or lost a flash drive at home, and it’s got that presentation you need to make to the board.  Hop online, log into the home system, drag and drop it onto the work PC and continue getting that promotion.  Aw yeah.

Or use it to access encryption programs on your primary while on tertiary systems on the fly.  The possibilites are endless.

This has been another tech related post brought to you by a gunblogger who sits in front of computers and doesn’t get to the range enough….*sigh*

Announced today: Blackbird - “[T]he web browser for the African American community.”

Srsly?

This is a stupid, stupid idea.  A prototype of the WorldWideWeb in 1960?

It’s Firefox…except black skinned with some small GUI tweaks.

And then targeted at a specific ethnic demographic.

“Black Search.” “Black Bookmarks.”  WTF?  Wouldn’t Blackmarks have been better?

“Connect.  Empower.  Entertain.”

I’m sorry, but this…seriously…look, since when it is a good idea to ethnically divide technology or commodities?  I know that in the not so distant past, things were far more segregated, but for fucks sake, are we not trying to move toward a more unified future?

Is not Google an equal opportunity seach engine/browser?  I mean, ferchrissakes…it’s a great big internet.  Don’t hamstring a browser, slap a skin on it and market it based on adding the word “Black”.

And yeah, it’s not like it’s really only for the African American community.  Anyone can download and use it.  But don’t - you don’t want to make it all honky like Firefox… -_-

I hope this fails.  I hope the black community is smart enough to realize that this is a marketing ploy based on ignorance.  It’s bad enough that I encounter so many people on a day to day basis that are so far behind the technological curve that they may never catch up, but to intentionally water down something as important as the Internet seems like a major step back.

Not only that - but I am not testing my site in their browser.  I tested for IE and Opera and Safari and FF and finally Chrome, but I am not going to make sure that Blackbird correctly displays this site.  So there.  Fuckers.

100 Things I Wish I Was Doing Right Now Instead of Sitting At My Desk:

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain. (It was a yearly thing in ROTC, then for fun afterwards)
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. (drunk)
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris. (I’d prefer Italy)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. (lucky me!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight. (had a sock of nickles fight, too.  why isn’t that on here?)
22. Hitch hiked. (Once, the day I wrecked up my bike)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. This one time, in TJ, I… o_O That was a trick question.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. (something my mom did when I was young, and I’ve continued)
44. Visited Africa. (Not yet, but damn I want to…a safari.)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason. (I got them from the store, and gave them for no reason)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt. (It’s not gay.  I was 10.  I was helping my mom.  Shut up)
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job. (and quit beforehand a few times, too.  )
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. (this one and #77 go almost hand in hand)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book. (working on it, though)
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible. (I tried.)
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life. (At least, I think so.  They were stable when we left the scene.)
90. Sat on a jury. (Always get kicked off)
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. (…that I know of)
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. (srsly?)
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

68/100 = “D” on typical academic scale
Does this mean I’ve almost failed at life?