Author Archives: Joe

Tagged by the music meme

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Almost two months ago Ben tagged me with this post and said:

5) I’m passing this meme on to:

Kirk at Limpidity, as he hasn’t posted or emailed in awhile;

AnalogKid at RandomNuclearStrikes, as he is one of my favorites nowadays;

and Joe Huffman. I just can’t see him having a big Styx collection that he rocks out to on Saturday nights.

No Styx at all.  But at this minute on this Saturday night I’m listening to Ten Years After, A Space in Time.  A few minutes ago it was Uncle Bonsai, The Inessential Uncle Bonsai.

I didn’t really mean to wait this long before responding.  I had to think about it some.  Since we had our first kid, 21 years and nearly five months ago we pretty much stopped listening to music.  When the kid(s) were awake music would have just added to the din.  When they were quiet (asleep) we were so grateful for the quiet we just enjoyed the silence.  When driving alone I usually have some talk radio station on.  Music?  Hmmm… maybe when I’m cleaning house or something.

I’m in my new digs in the Seattle area now and feeling a little sad and alone.  I bought some decent speakers for my computer for the first time and after listening to some Boomershoot sounds put on some music to test them out.  It sounds good.  It helps bring the mood up a bit.  On the drive over I played music in the most geeky way I could think: I played Elvis, The Ventures, and Uncle Bonsai on the laptop computer running off the inverter, the laptop sound output went into a small FM transmitter which I either played into the FM receiver in my new cell-phone and headphones or through the car radio.  The laptop also had Microsoft Streets and Trips with the GPS unit running to track my speed, altitude, and of the course exact position.  Then there was the walkie-talkie on my arm to communicate chat with Barb and her sister in the Jeep.  They came over to catch a cheap flight to the D.C. area to visit Jason.

So… anyway on to the music meme (and Van Halen on the computer):

1) How much music do I have?

Probably 100 albums total.  About an even split between CD’s, cassette tapes (I used to see lots of eight tracks but never had one myself), and vinyl albums.  I haven’t listened to vinyl since Kim (or was it Xenia?) broke the needle on the turntable when she was just a toddler.  James broke it too and we replaced it only to have it destroyed again by one of his sisters.

2) What was the last CD I bought?

Probably the complete collection of Uncle Bonsai a few months ago.  I’m not sure.  I had a couple of their albums on a pirated cassette and really wanted it legit and in good quality.

3) What am I listening to right now?

You Really Got Me, Van Halen.

4) Five songs I listen to that mean a lot to me?

N/A is probably the best answer.  Music doesn’t doesn’t really have “meaning” for me.  It’s a pleasant distraction from boredom.  If pressed for something more than that I would say That’s What You Get for Loving Me, by Gordon Lightfoot.  I don’t listen to it very often, maybe once every couple of years.  But over 30 years ago Barb and I were listening to Gordon Lightfoot in the car while parked overlooking Orofino and the Clearwater valley.  I decided I would kiss her for the first time when the next song came on.  That was the song.  Then there was Having My Baby (You’re) that played on the radio immediately after another milestone in our relationship.  I can’t remember the last time I listened to that.

5) I’m passing this meme on to:

Whoever wants it.

Boomershoot queries

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Apparently there was a repeat of the Evening Magazine episode on Boomershoot.  I just received several queries about the next event.  Get your entries in early this year!

Reloading your own ammo

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I have my own reloading press and have reload 9mm, .40 S&W, .223, 30.06, and 300 Win Mag.  These days it’s mostly .40 S&W and I probably average few hundred rounds a month.  My guess is I’m on the low to mid range in terms of home reloaders.  Ry points out someone on the high end.

Quote of the day–Vaclav Havel

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People who falsify history don’t rescue freedom, they jeopardize it.

Vaclav Havel
President of Czechoslovakia
[In similar words, President Bush in a speech yesterday said, While it’s perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. — Joe]

Genetics and personality

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Kevin, over at The Smallest Minority reports on a book, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America.  He has this to say about the book:

The Scots-Irish culture is a highly individualistic one, but one willing to follow a strong leader. It has a hatred of aristocracy, but a respect for accomplishment. It’s also an embracing culture – adopt its ways, no matter your background – and you’re an accepted member.

…

If you want to understand the portion of the populace that decides elections these days, I recommend you read Born Fighting. If you’re of Scots-Irish descent, you’ll find yourself nodding and agreeing. If you’re not, you’ll be shaking your head. But trust me on this: James Webb knows whereof he writes.

It turns out those attitudes and personalities are still very visible in the descendants of those people today.

Barbara Scott, my wife, is of Scot-Irish descent (with a last name like that you never would have guessed?).  Reading up on genealogy she found some interesting information on how the Scot-Irish immigrants and the German farmers (IIRC Huffman, a German name, means worker on a small farm.  I grew up on a farm.) who immigrated at the same time into Virginia interacted.  Also of interest is that Barb and I are cousins–about 5 or so generations back one of her relatives married one of mine in Virginia.  We didn’t know this until a couple of years ago.  Anyway the interactions and attitudes of those immigrants is not that much different from Barb and I.  Not hostile but not always cooperative either.  Our communication style is very different and we approach conflict MUCH differently.

Our children’s personalities reflect those differences too.  James is the German.  Kim is the hot-tempered Scot-Irish.  Xenia is mostly German in personality but loves the Scot-Irish culture.

Ry and I have had some all night discussions on the topic of genetics and personality and the results were far more disconcerting that we cared to believe.   Think about it some.

I wonder if their metric is valid

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In France they claim the situation is improving because:

Police said 463 vehicles were set ablaze across France, a slight fall from the previous night, but the number of vehicles torched in the areas around Paris rose from 84 to 111.

 “This confirms the downward trend overall, with some resistance in the Paris region,” national police chief Michel Gaudin told reporters. “This weekend we will exercise extra vigilance in the Paris region.”

Using that measurement they also could claim the riots are over when there are no cars left to burn.  Sort of like celebrating the end of the genocide in Darfur (via Clayton Cramer):

As my friend Johann Hari put it recently in the London Independent: “At last, some good news from Darfur: the genocide in western Sudan is nearly over. There’s only one problem—it’s drawing to an end only because there are no black people left to cleanse or kill.”

The same thing happens with the anti-gun bigots.  They celebrate when fewer people are killed or injured using guns but the murder rate went up.  And to top it off they almost always include justified and praiseworthy homicides and injuries on the negative side of their gun usage equations.

One shouldn’t be surprised.  It’s human nature to find reasons to believe what you want to believe.  It’s the job of scientists to encourage them to face reality.  I’m a scientist.  So you should believe me.  😉

What my readers are Interested in

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One of the feature of my blog software is the ability to track the number of click throughs on the links in my posts.  The link to Xenia’s Live Journal post about lesbian porn was very popular.  It was was over eight times as popular as a typical link.  And the link to the lyrics of Penis Envy was over twice as popular as the typical link.

And all this time I thought it was guns and explosives that were what you guys had on your mind when you came here.  I should have known better.  The Gun Guy and Random Nuclear Strikes are gun bloggers and have far, far more popular sites than my blog.  Now I can’t attribute it to just the better writing and having been around longer.  They have their (near) weekly display of female flesh too.

I’m tempted to make one post a day with some moderately high, but probably still work-safe, sexual content.  However I’d need to be careful not to betray the confidences of certain people that have confided in me.  Something like these quotes:

Concerning coeds: If all those sweet young things were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Dorothy Parker

Whoever named it ‘necking’ was a poor judge of anatomy.

Groucho Marx

I believe that sex . . . is one of the most beautiful, wholesome, wonderful things that money can buy.

Steve Martin

Or perhaps as daring as these:

Q: Do aggressive women like “sensitive new age guys?”

Lydia: Yes. For breakfast, with sliced strawberries and chopped pecans on top.

December 4, 1997
In the email forum for Society for Human Sexuality
Which was followed by:
    
And now I’m *hungry*…
    
Catherine

Docs are largely unprepared for people like us. New ones generally ask me what I’m doing for birth control. So I tell them: My girlfriend doesn’t come inside me, my boyfriend shoots blanks, and I don’t have a uterus. Next question???

Lydia
5/31/2001
From the Highteq email list

Saturday is my 51st birthday.  I’m going to the club and going to have sex with 25 guys, twice, then have sex with my husband for number 51.

XXXX at YYYY
September, 1997

Any thoughts on the idea of a new topic?

Quote of the day–Jean Baptiste Colbert

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The art of taxation consists of plucking the goose so you get the largest amount of feathers with the smallest amount of hissing.

Jean Baptiste Colbert
[Thinking of the election in Washington state on Tuesday. — Joe]

Help for a common mental disorder

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I’ve known for a long time there are a lot of people with some severe mental problem that they, their friends, and their families frequently are unaware of.  It’s called Hoplophobia.  Thanks to a posting by The Gun Guy I found this link to someone offering a cure for Hoplophobia.  What is Hoplophobia?  Glad you asked:

Known by a number of names – Hoplophobia, Fear of Firearms, and Fear of Guns being the most common – the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread, although everyone experiences hoplophobia in their own way and may have different symptoms.

They claim good results too:

We have never met a case of Hoplophobia that could not be overcome using these methods. So please, whether or not you decide to work with us, make a decision to get over Hoplophobia now.

I can’t agree more.  Seek help if you have to, but get over it now.

Another one bites the dust

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From Bloomburg.com:

Suspected Bali Bomber Azahari Husin Is Confirmed Dead

Nov. 10 — Indonesian police said fingerprint tests confirmed Azahari Husin, an alleged organizer of the 2002 Bali bombings and one of Indonesia’s two most wanted terrorists, was among those killed in an ambush yesterday in Java.

“The fingerprints match those sent by the Malaysian police,” deputy police spokesman Sunarko Danu Ardanto told reporters in Jakarta today.

Indonesian authorities suspect Azahari and fellow Malaysian Noordin Mohammad Top organized attacks in Indonesia including Bali that killed more than 240 people. Azahari and Top are suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, which analysts say probably carried out yesterday’s attacks in Jordan that left 57 dead.

One other person, not two as earlier thought, died when bombs went off as security forces yesterday tried to storm the house where Azahari was staying in Malang in East Java, police spokesman Aryanto Danang Budiarjo said earlier. The other body is believed to be a man called Arman, who is wanted by police. The police found 30 bombs inside the house, Police Chief Sutanto said.

Just who is Azahari?  This should give you a clue:

Known as the “Demolition Man” for his expertise with explosives, Azahari bin Husin was a key figure in Jemaah Islamiyah, a terror network with links to al-Qaida that has been blamed for a series of deadly bombings as well as failed plots in Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore.

The discovery of the bombs indicated Jemaah Islamiyah was preparing more attacks.

The bombs included small devices easily contained in backpacks _ similar to ones used in the July London Underground attacks and in last month’s suicide strikes on three crowded restaurants on the resort island of Bali, said police chief Gen. Sutanto.

He came to an appropriate end:

Police initially said Azahari blew himself up Wednesday to avoid capture when his hide-out in east Java province was raided, but Sutanto said Thursday he was shot as he reached to detonate his suicide belt. Another militant set off the device, sparking a massive explosion that ripped off the roof of their rented house.

Too bad for the owner of the house unless he knew what was going on in the house.

I’d prefer we had better options but killing and/or capturing the older ones does seem to be the only viable options we have.  On the younger ones I suspect capitalism, porn, gambling, and booze might be an effective weapon.

Update: Details on the raid and how they found him are now available: 

An elite FBI-trained police counter-terrorism unit, known as Detachment 88, encircled the Flamboyan housing complex in Batu.

According to the Paras Indonesia website, the police, using a loud-hailer, ordered the occupants of the house to come out and surrender.

Instead, those inside opened fire and threw up to 11 explosive devices. Detikcom online news reported that an exchange of fire between the two sides began at about 3.30pm (4.30pm Singapore time) and was followed by the two explosions at about 3.45pm, after which thick black smoke billowed from the house.

 

Uncle Bonsai concert

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In finding the link for the Uncle Bonsai lyrics in my last post I discovered Uncle Bonsai is having a concert a short distance from where I’m staying in the Seattle area on a night when Barb will be there with me.  I bought tickets!  What hoot!  Uncle Bonsai is one of my favorite groups and since the group disbanded in 1989 this is a very rare opportunity.  I’m thrilled.

More Xenia humor

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Last night Barb, Xenia, and I went to a meeting about Xenia’s drivers education class.  All the students and their parents were there.  One of the things the teacher talked about was a police officer that talked to the class the day before.  The students wrote questions on a pieces of paper and the questions were asked in a way such that the students who asked the questions couldn’t be identified.  The teacher said the most popular theme of the questions was about drinking and driving, open containers, passengers who had been drinking, etc.–then they got distracted by the question, “Is it legal to drive naked?” 

The room burst into laughter and a lot of the kids were pointing fingers at each other and whispering to each other accusing each other of submitted that question.  But Xenia just looked straight ahead with a straight face.  Barb and I both looked at Xenia.  “Xenia, that was you.  Wasn’t it?”  She gave us her Innocent Look.  “Xenia?”  She nodded her head and the Innocent Look broke into a tiny smirk.

Sometime I’ll have to get her to write down the story of when she sang Uncle Bonsai’s song Penis Envy on the bus to State for Drama and The Scotsman about kilts and ribbons to the people in the office at the Jr. High.  This kid lives in a different world than Barb and I did when we were that age.

Quote of the day–Charles Waddell Chesnutt

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As a man, sows, so shall he reap. In works of fiction, such men are sometimes converted. More often, in real life, they do not change their natures until they are converted into dust. One does well to distrust a tamed tiger.

Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition
1901
[I keep thinking of Hillary Clinton when I read this.–Joe]

The things my kids talk about

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Xenia and I were at the store today and well… read it for yourself (lesbian porn).

I start work on Monday

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It’s back to the Seattle area to bring money east to Idaho.  I show up to do paperwork at the contract agency at 8:00, employer at 10:00.  Advantages and disadvantages abound.

Well… duh!

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More news from France:

YOUTHS threw molotov cocktails at police and torched cars in several French cities and towns in a 13th night of violence, ignoring the Government’s imposition of emergency laws.

Just like the mind boggling stupid people that voted for the gun ban in San Fransisco yesterday the French politicians just don’t get it.  You don’t change the behavior of people that disobey the law (assault, murder, arson, etc.) by passing still another law or regulation.  You change their behavior by making it physically impossible for them to commit more crimes.  They are arresting lots of people in France, which provided they are held for at least a few days before being allowed on the streets again, will reduce the number of repeat offenders.  And I suppose the curfew does make it easier to arrest some of the rioters.  But no one should expect that a person willing to commit a violent crime with all the moral as well as criminal violations involved will pay any attention to a law that bans them from being on a public street or the possession of some concealable object.

Oh, by the way…. French prisons are among the worst in the world.  In the 1970’s something like half of the people would die within a year while in prison.  My understanding is things have not changed much, if any.  As much as I believe the rioters belong in prison I don’t believe any prison should be as atrocious as the French prisons are.

Harsh

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I sometimes feel sorry for myself when I think of the crimes certain bigoted PNNL employees committed against me and are currently getting away with.  But my troubles are nothing compared to what some of these people have suffered at the hands of like minded bigots.  For example:

In 1993 I accepted a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence (my atty confirmed it wouldn’t affect my gun rights) in response to slapping my rebellious teenage son. A single offense, which 3 years later automatically made me a “prohibited person”. Now 13 years later I’m being charged with a felony because my son’s Ruger 10/22 was found in my home. I’m sorry but regardless of what several circuit courts around the US say, this is expost facto and unconstitutional. We learned that in 6th grade civics class!

I don’t have any problem with laws that are made public so a person would have knowledge of the consequences. But to take ones rights away retroactively is just NOT RIGHT! Even today judges do not warn defendants in domestic violence suits that they will lose their 2nd Amendment rights for life if convicted. If I had known that, I would have requested a jury trial and spent a fortune defending myself.

I know of another old timer that paid a $5 fine for domestic violence in 1947 and lost his rights and entire gun collection in 2000 due to this law. He is still happily married to the same woman 58 years later.

Bigotry is never pretty but when it’s enforced by the government it’s particularly ugly.

Idaho dissed

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I’m with Ry on this one.  Don’t like Idaho?  Wonderful!  Stay away!

As for attractions he forgot to mention Boomershoot which brings people in from all over the North American continent.

Quote of the day–Chris Daly

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San Francisco voters are smart and believe in sensible gun control.

Chris Daly
San Fransisco Supervisor
On Proposition H which passed 58% to 42% and makes it illegal to possess, buy, sell, distribute and manufacture firearms and ammunition in the city.
November 9, 2005
From SFGate.com
[Now you know what they mean when they talk about “sensible gun control.”  — Joe]