More beach pictures

Barb L. and I took Jazzy and Maddy to the ocean with us this weekend. Jazzy had never been to the Pacific Ocean. I took a bunch of pictures of Jazzy and Maddy and made a simple video of them.

We had some dramatic moments when they went on ahead of us around a tight spot on the beach while the tide was coming in. Barb ran to catch up with them, almost fell (I caught it in three sequential frames on my camera), then yelled at them, “The tide is coming in. Be careful!” They responded with, “We know!”

IMG_5482
IMG_5483
IMG_5484

They then proceeded to continue on around the corner. We waited a couple minutes and watched with increasing concern as the water continued to cut off the “pass” between us and them. I then dumped my backpack and camera case and jumped between rocks over the water and ran around the corner to find them. They were another 100 yards or so beyond and about to go out of sight around another corner. I ran to catch up with them and yelled when I thought I was close enough for them to hear me above the waves, “You need to come back now!” I was concerned they might not heed my concerns either. But they responded and started walking back at a brisk walk. I ran back.

The “crossing” was almost unrecognizable as the place I had crossed maybe two minutes previously.

WP_20130526_009

I stepped onto the closest rock and got my shoes wet up to just below the ankles. The hiking boots are water resistant and my feet remained dry as I waited for the wave to go back and I jumped across to another rock and climbed out the other side without getting wet.

Jazzy and Maddy soon followed and didn’t care all that much about the depth of the water because they had taken off their shoes much earlier (there is a tale to tell about the shoes too):

WP_20130526_013
WP_20130526_014

WP_20130526_016

Maddy had tied her shoes to her backpack and then walked probably a mile or so before noticing that one was gone. We were able to determine, roughly, where she lost it because of all the pictures I had taken of them. But we figured the shoe was completely gone because the beach was about 100 yard narrower in that spot than when she had walked by earlier.

We were approaching the trailhead when Barb and I started thinking about making an improvised “shoe” for Maddy to walk the 3/4 of a mile or so on the gravel path back to the car. We had just concluded a t-shirt with a  plastic bag wrapped around it held in place with a rubber band would work or maybe just have her wait at the trailhead while someone went back to the motel and come back with her other pair of shoes. Jazzy and Maddy were probably 75 yards ahead of us when we saw one of them point and then they both started running. “A race?”, I asked Barb. “I don’t know”, she said. A few seconds later we understood as Maddy picked her shoe up off of the beach. It was on the edge of the water and probably 75 yards inland from her path in the other direction. The two socks she had stuffed in the shoe were still there too.

WP_20130526_018

Lucky day.

The cause of genocide

…and of mass killings, and most wars.

It has been the thesis on this blog that disarmament has lead to more death by violence than any other single factor. I submit that such an assertion misses a critical point.

This is hard to put into words. Criminals, evil, exists everywhere and in all times. What separates times of relative peace from times of chaos and mass death then? I submit that it is resolve. A state of mind.

Tam recently spoke of a seeming dichotomy between Europe’s tendency toward docility or complacency and Her capacity for mass killing on a grand scale. I say that they are the same thing.

The willingness to go along to get along, the fear of making waves, the unwillingness to stand up and draw a line in the sand, and more importantly the lack of understanding or embracing of basic principles…together, THAT is the cause of chaos and mass death. Disarmament, while critical to the end of mass killing, and being a virtual guarantee of it, is but a symptom of that cause. The criminal element need but wait for the time to strike, meanwhile preaching peace at the cost of freedom. That includes the criminal element that always lurks in the halls and offices of government.

How else do you explain a thousand Jews guarded by a pathetic few Germans, while no one organizes a rush against the guards to easily overpower them? It wasn’t merely the lack of arms, but the lack of hutzpah THAT RESULTED iN the lack of arms. This is currently the state of all of Europe, the UK, and it’s becoming the case in the U.S.

I recently heard a phrase that will stay with me for the rest of my life. “The most powerful weapon of the oppressor is the the mind of the oppressed.” — David Masters quoting Stephen Banta

Intimidation is in the mind of the intimidated, not in the mind or the hands of the bully. Guns are only a factor in the hands of those who aren’t easily intimidated. For the easily intimidated, guns are pretty well worthless. Discuss.

Later we can talk about who’s the more easily intimidated, the self sufficient individual or the desk jokey politician with a team of interns.

On the ocean

We made it to the ocean this afternoon and almost immediately went for a walk on the beach. I did not bring my chemistry set but we had a good time anyway.

IMG_4788
View from our room.

IMG_4819_Web2013
View from our room.

IMG_4822Corrected
View from our room.

IMG_4857
View from the beach.

IMG_4939Corrected
View of the beach.

IMG_4952Corrected2013
Mutant moss. I think we should check on it tomorrow and see if the earth is in danger of being taken over.

Quote of the day—Brooke Anderson

The measure would repeal Chicago’s assault weapons ban and put public safety at risk.

Brooke Anderson
Spokesman for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
May 23, 2013
Quinn skeptical of Ill. House concealed-carry plan
[So tell me where is the murder rate higher? Is it in cities that don’t have a “assault weapons” ban like Seattle, Dallas, or Miami? Or is in Chicago?

I suppose it does depend upon your definition of “public”. My guess is that Anderson and Quinn are concerned with the safety of their primary constituents—the criminal elements of Chicago. And that includes those holding government office.—Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

From here:

NRA_Insanity

I don’t think I have ever heard it was “one tiny step”. But certainly a good case can be made that gun control was required for every genocide.

But the cartoonist isn’t really concerned with the facts. He just wants to dehumanize gun owners. Which, by the way, was also a requirement for nearly every genocide.

It’s a small world

Yesterday while walking from the bus stop to my work a guy going the other direction looked at me kind of funny, approached me, and said, “Joe Huffman?”.

In the first couple of seconds I was concerned it was my “stalker” but then I had a glimmer of recognition and said, “And you are?” He replied, “Microsoft, Direct X…”

It wasn’t so much the words but the sound of his voice and matching the face to memories that enabled me to pull out a name without significant pause, “Nick W. Yes, I remember you!”

We had worked together (I think he was my lead) in the late 90’s at Microsoft about 15 years ago. We ended up talking for probably close to 30 minutes. He had left MS before I went back in 2005, worked in NYC for a while, then came back to Seattle and now works for Amazon.

This is the second time I have connected with someone by seeing them on the sidewalk in downtown Seattle. The other time was late last year when I chatted with Jeff O. who I also originally knew from my Microsoft, Direct X days.

Gun Song – Cleaning My Gun – Mark Knopfler

Master guitarist. Another song I wasn’t familiar with until I found it. Thanks for the recommendation, John V.

Mark Knopfler has been playing the six-string for a while, and is generally considered one of the greats of the instrument.

Speaking of serious guitar stuff, a news story just came out that makes the Gibson guitar make raid make sense, in a “Chicago Thug Methods” sort of way.

Quote of the day—Michel & Associates, P.C.

In the 16 years APPS has been an active state program, 12,000 firearms have been confiscated – about 750 each year. Yet the APPS database shows 40,000 known firearms in the hands of 20,000 prohibited owners, most likely non-violent first offenders. Stated differently, in sixteen years APPS has removed 23% of the known firearms and 0% of the unregistered guns in gang member pockets.

Michel & Associates, P.C.
Memorandum of Law
May 23, 2013
[APPS stands for “Armed Prohibited Persons System”. APPS is California’s technology for matching gun registration records against people who have had their gun ownership rights restricted.

Some of the stories of the abuses of the system will make your blood boil. All the more so because the system doesn’t (and can’t) remove the guns from people that don’t register them to begin with. And if you are familiar with Haynes v. United States you know that violent convicted criminals cannot be charged with the crime of failure to register their guns. But the average person who has never even seen the inside of a courtroom can and will be prosecuted for failure to register their firearms.

It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s just the law you must obey.—Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

Found here.

NRA_SafeHands

I’m not even sure what the cartoonist is trying to say. Is it that NRA members are empty headed?

Has this guy ever looked at the demographics of gun owners versus the general public? 37% of gun owners are college graduates and 30% have done post graduate work. And this includes people so young they would not have had time to complete college.

In the general population of 25 and older (note the biased sample compared to gun owners!) 40.58% have college degrees and just over 12% have Masters, Doctorate, or professional degrees. There does not appear to be justification for claiming gun owners are uneducated or empty headed.

Hence, I must conclude that the cartoonist is the one who is uneducated based on his willful lack of knowledge on the demographics of gun ownership.

Trailer for “Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire”

The following is the trailer for the movie some of us helped via Kickstarter last year:

The official website is here.

From the email I received from them this afternoon:

The clock is ticking as our June 20th theater debut nears. We plan to have “Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire” play in limited release in more than a dozen markets across the U.S. And, if one of those dozen markets is not yours, you can actually request to set up your own viewing party through our distributor, TUGG (http://www.tugg.com/titles/assaulted-civil-rights-under-fire). More details to come.
In the meantime, check out the “Assaulted” trailer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDziWcKQxr8.
And, would you believe that the one and only Ice-T is our narrator!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeadPatriot and like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deadpatriotfilms.
And, for some fun reading, here’s a link to a FOXNews.com interview with “Assaulted” executive producer and director, Kris Koenig:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/23/about-assaulted-civil-rights-under-fire-new-star-studded-documentary-looks-at/?intcmp=features

Thanks for your support.

-The Assaulted Team

The Stars Came Back -082- Incoming

Fade in

INT – DAY – Cargo bay

The compliance monitor, a fleshy Caucasian man in his 50s, dressed sharply and looking very official, is walking through the cargo bay with Kwon. Kwon is dressed in a “ship’s uniform” that looks similar to the one Allonia made for herself.

Kwon: It’s a good ship. A few circuits short, but tough and functional. Continue reading

Quote of the day—My Gun Culture (@mygunculture)

When you blame objects instead of actions, there’s always a new object to blame…

My Gun Culture (@mygunculture)
Tweeted on May 15, 2013
[The more cynical among us will claim this is intentional. Controllers need laws to make more criminals so they can control people easier. I tend to think people like this are just stupid and/or have mental problems.—Joe]

Who’s paranoid now?

Someone is putting up posters on Capital Hill near Seattle. This is an area that has a demographic that is considerably more gay than other areas. Here is a sample:

1369074009-gay_gun2

The QR code takes you to www.a-human-right.com.

From the Stranger:

It’s hard to know who’s responsible for putting the posters up all over Capitol Hill. “Nale Dixon,” who’s credited for drawing the cartoon of the gay couple, returns no search results online. The pro-gun website is run by a dude named Oleg Volk, “An American,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s responsible for papering the hill with them. Without someone to credit, it’s impossible to glean the posterer’s intentions.

Perhaps being courted by a traditionally right-wing, conservative movement is refreshing and progressive, but it could also just be really effective concern trolling. What better way to make people feel unsafe in gay-friendly Capitol Hill than by slyly referencing homophobia and hate crimes in pro-gun propaganda plastered on every street corner?

Wow! It’s “impossible to glean the posters intentions” without someone to credit? Are we two worlds each speaking a language the other cannot understand?

They see someone pointing out the utility of being able to defend yourself using a firearm as being “concern trolling”. Would they think the same of advertisements for self-defense classes teaching Kun-Fu instead of Gun-Fu?

The comments are pretty “good” too:

7 These posters are tone deaf to the point of being offensive. I don’t appreciate my rights and concerns being exploited to make a ham-fisted point about gun laws.

15 It’s not that strange when you remember that the “traditionally conservative movement” in question is not in fact an organic movement but an industry lobby group with a lot of deeply emotionally invested fans/customers. These aren’t campaign posters; they’re advertising.

23 Oh, for crying out loud. The joke is on you. This is akin to the anti-gun ads masquerading as pro-gun ads by encouraging women to arm themselves to protect their reproductive rights. The intent here is to point out to pro-gunners that they are arming everyone, not just those who agree with them.

Are these guys in need of psychiatric help for their paranoia or is there that big of a cultural divide? In any case that they see simple messages such as these as some sort of capitalistic/right-wing/homophobic plot it means I’m not sure we actually have a common basis for communication.

The Stars Came Back -081- Delivery

Fade in

INT – DAY – Tajemnica’s cargo bay, as it sits on pad D9

Ramp is down, main airlock door is open, daylight streaming in. There are seven trucks on board, including three tankers. One cargo truck is being unloaded, and there is a large pile of stuff where another had been unloaded. The rest have been driven on and parked, still loaded. Continue reading