You can see part of the video I talked about yesterday on Fox news now.  ABC showed it last night but I wasn’t where I could view it or record it at that time.  Another video is out.  This time it is Osama bin Landen.  Reports on it are available in several places each with a little different take on it:

• CNN
• Fox News
• LA Times
• Seattle P.I.
• Wired News

His one message of potential interest is:

Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands and each state which does not harm our security will remain safe.

I believe he is referring to ‘state’ as in ‘nation state’ because he also talks about Sweden not being attacked by al Qaeda.  In general my take on the video is that he is just thumbing his nose at Bush saying, “You haven’t got me yet.”.  You could also take this as a backing down from his previous letter to America and saying, “Let’s call it a truce.”  But keep in mind that under Islam there is nothing wrong with lying to non-Muslims.

I’ve been following the story pretty closely and the best report I have seen so far is the one from the Christian Science Monitor.

The most interesting parts to me were the following:

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – A new videotape that has surfaced in Pakistan threatens a massive attack against the United States by a purported American member of Al Qaeda. It is not yet known if the tape is an authentic Al Qaeda production, but it bears enough resemblance that some experts are taking the tape seriously.

The chilling 75-minute digital videotape, seen by a Christian Science Monitor reporter in Pakistan, where it was obtained by ABC News, shows a high degree of sophistication and bears the logo of Al Qaeda’s video production house, As-Sahab.

…

“Allah willing, the streets of America will run red with blood, matching drop for drop the blood of America’s victims,” says the speaker, who calls himself Azzam al Amriki (or Azzam the American). “What took place on September 11th was but the opening salvo in the global war on America.”

The next attacks, he adds, “could come at any moment.”

…

“As-Sahab is an Al Qaeda propaganda outfit and engages in psychological warfare,” says Bruce Hoffman, an expert on terror at the RAND Corp. in Washington. “Given the hype of the US election in general, that the jihadists claim credit for affecting the outcome of the Spanish elections, and the heightened chatter that intelligence agencies acknowledge, I’m surprised we haven’t seen something like this sooner.”

…

The tape, delivered to ABC in Islamabad last Sunday by a courier who was paid a $500 transport fee, contains a lengthy Q&A session between “Mr. Amriki” and an off-camera interviewer. It ends with his warning, which cuts off abruptly when the tape runs out.

Analysts at Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI, say the tape is genuine, explaining the material bears the same “signature” as previous As-Sahab video releases, which are unique in the world of jihadi video for their sophisticated editing techniques.

It features the same gold logo that appeared, among other places, in a 2003 statement from Mr. bin Laden.

There’s also simultaneous Arabic subtitling – a complicated and time consuming process to put together – and a scrolling message across the bottom of the screen (similar to the news tickers on CNN and Fox) that was featured on a recent statement from al-Zawahiri.

Also of extreme interest is this claim from Drudge:

A top goverment source said from Washington that ABC withheld the final 15 minutes of the tape from the feds — the portion of the tape where the man warns of retribution for Americans electing Bush and Cheney.

“The FBI did not see the last 15 mins,” the source claims.

And

ABC NEWS TO AIR TERROR TAPE ON WORLD NEWS TONIGHT AT 6:30 EST

The way I read it is that most likely it is a from the source claimed (al Qaeda) and that chances are good that is it just a mostly empty threat.  But still, I’m advising friends to stay out of D.C., New York, and Los Angles in the near future.  One person asked for my opinion on when the most likely time the attack would occur.  This is just a guess on my part, but I would guess within the next two weeks or during the State of the Union speech in January.

ABC News reports:

Israel, fearing it will be blamed for any further deterioration in Arafat’s condition, said Thursday it is ready to lift its travel ban and allow Arafat to leave.

…

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said a Palestinian Authority without Arafat could become a partner for peace. “We always said we would be willing to talk to a Palestinian leadership that would be willing once and for all to bring an end to the bloodshed,” Shalom told Israel Radio.

Good news all the way around as near as I can tell.

Monash University researchers released a study “Firearm Related Deaths: the Impact of Regulatory Reform” and it made big news in Australia.   None of the stories below include input from critics of the study.

• The Australian
• The Herald Sun
• The Age requires username a username (MolonLabe works) and password (MolonLabe).
• News.Com.Au
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Advertiser
• The Courier-Mail

GUN law reforms in the past 25 years have led to a 65 per cent drop in gun-related deaths in Victoria, a study has found.

The study, by the Monash University Accident Research Centre, showed the annual average frequency of firearm-related deaths fell by 65 per cent from 1979 to 2000, with suicide deaths down 54.5 per cent and gun assault deaths down by half.

…

The centre’s injury prevention chairwoman, Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith, said Victoria was a world leader in gun law reform. She said a handgun buyback established in 2000 after shootings at Monash University that year had furthered the downward trend.

“There’s something like a 75 per cent reduction in firearm deaths since 1979 (up to 2002) which is quite remarkable, and we think this is a model for the rest of the world,” she said.

…

Given present trends, it was conceivable that gun-related deaths could be eliminated in the future, Professor Ozanne-Smith said.

The study appears to be well done with the assumptions given.  However there is a major assumption which is totally bogus.  That assumption is that if you reduce the number of injuries or death that occurring using a particular type of tool that you have accomplished something useful.  It appears they even include legitimate self-defense shooting by police and private citizen in their statistics.  I know it’s difficult to distinguish from the truly tragic but there are some firearms injuries and deaths that are justifiable and even praiseworthy.  Any legitimate study should at least make an effort to account for the benefits of firearms ownership.  Furthermore, if you look at the overall homicide rate and include more recent data you will find it was essentially unchanged while the propagandists claim a nearly 30% reduction in “firearm related deaths by assault”.  I wasn’t able to quickly find stats on suicide but in other countries there has been no significant decrease in the overall suicide rate after firearms have been restricted. 

So what is the point of restricting firearms if there is no overall benefit in tragic death and/or injury prevention?  The only point I can think of is something hinted at in some of the articles:

Researcher Stuart Newstead said a colleague witnessed the shooting deaths of two students at Monash’s Clayton campus in October 2002 and many staff members and students were touched by the shooting.

The researchers most likely are indeed ‘touched’.  Typically people wishing to restrict firearms have an emotional involvement and, perhaps even with the best of intentions, don’t see the entire picture.

Yassar Arafat has been ill for a couple weeks now.  But earlier today he lost consciousness.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, 75, has lost consciousness, Israeli public radio reported, quoting Palestinian sources.

He lost consciousness “several hours ago”, it said.

Arafat’s senior adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina, meanwhile, confirmed that a team of doctors was examining the veteran Palestinian leader.

I don’t have any particular wish for Arafat to die but I would celebrate his removal from power.  I just wonder what the impact will be if he does die.  I would like for Israel to solve their conflict in some manner.  Arafat has been an obstacle in this for decades and maybe this will be an opportunity for Israel to make some progress.  If they can solve the problem that will be one less obstacle for us when dealing with Muslims.

Late last week and this weekend I started hearing rumors of  “something big” about to happen newswise.  It was my impression it would happen on Monday.  Nothing materialized. I wonder if this is it. Drudge reported the following:

In the last week before the election, ABCNEWS is holding a videotaped message from a purported al Qaeda terrorist warning of a new attack on America, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The terrorist claims on tape the next attack will dwarf 9/11. “The streets will run with blood,” and “America will mourn in silence” because they will be unable to count the number of the dead. Further claims: America has brought this on itself for electing George Bush who has made war on Islam by destroying the Taliban and making war on Al Qaeda.

My further wonder is if they are planning to detonate a nuke.  My advice is to stay out of D.C., New York, and possibly Los Angles for a couple weeks.  Again, it appears they don’t understand how to motivate us in a way to achieve their goals.  An attack of this nature will not inspire us to let them have their way.  More likely is that we will be inclined to “go medival” or do a Dresden on them.

From the Washington Times:

BAGHDAD — Leaders and supporters of the anti-U.S. insurgency say their attacks in recent weeks have a clear objective: The greater the violence, the greater the chances that President Bush will be defeated on Tuesday and the Americans will go home.
    “If the U.S. Army suffered numerous humiliating losses, [Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John] Kerry would emerge as the superman of the American people,” said Mohammad Amin Bashar, a leader of the Muslim Scholars Association, a hard-line clerical group that vocally supports the resistance.

    Resistance leader Abu Jalal boasted that the mounting violence had already hurt Mr. Bush’s chances.
    “American elections and Iraq are linked tightly together,” he told a Fallujah-based Iraqi reporter. “We’ve got to work to change the election, and we’ve done so. With our strikes, we’ve dragged Bush into the mud.”

Apparently our enemies don’t believe Kerry when he says, “When I am President, I will fight a tougher, smarter, more effective war on terror. We will hunt down, capture, and kill the terrorists wherever they are. “

I believe if we show weakness and retreat from engaging the Islamic extremists and creating a “shining beacon“ of freedom in the Mideast they will be emboldened.  If this happens they will be better able to pursue their agenda of converting the world to a theocratic Islamic state.  And as the above news story demonstrates the hard-line clerics believe John Kerry is their best hope to douse that beacon and further the Islamic extremist agenda.

We stayed less that a quarter mile from the Flamingo Hotel and walked by several times.  But we were there a week earlier than the outbreak occurred.

Remember children, wash your hands after using the bathroom and before eating.

Those that have forgotten it was the October issue.  Here is just the article of interest.  As with virtually all press coverage things aren’t exactly correct but in this case they are close enough that I’m not going to complain.

Not my Xenia.  Xenia Ohio:

At a town hall meeting Saturday in Xenia, he talked about taking his rosary into battle during the Vietnam War. “I will bring my faith with me to the White House and it will guide me,” Kerry said.

I wonder what all the people who criticize Bush on his faith think of that?  Personally, I am very skeptical of anyone who professes that type of faith.  How can faith determine right from wrong or truth from falsity?  It can’t.  Faith cannot be trusted and therefore people who rely on faith are suspect.  But it helps to get the vote of certain (suspect, in my book) people.

Of more interest is his hunting trip which was the main point in the article.  I like what the NRA said about it:

“If John Kerry thinks the Second Amendment is about photo ops, he’s Daffy,” says the ad the NRA said would run in The Vindicator. It features a large photo of Kerry with his finger on a shotgun trigger but looking in another direction.

But this report is even more humorous.

[snip]

So, as Mr. Kerry trundled out into the wilds under a rising sun to hunt ducks eight minutes outside Boardman, we were left with nothing to do but hunt canards.

In lieu of actual information, we put our heads together and came up with some details for this pool report. The primary area of wager was whether Mr. Kerry would return with game at all.

HE WOULD NOT: Fearing a backlash from soccer moms and PETA freaks, he decides to return empty-handed with that age-old phrase employed by failed hunters: I don’t do it to kill things; I just like being outdoors. But, that could undermine the manliness that he has so carefully cultivated since launching his campaign.

HE WOULD, DEAD: Be bold. Kill something. Come back holding limp ducks by their wrung necks in your bloody fingers. Win back those security moms. This would have been the strategy advised by Bill Clinton, whom Mr. Kerry talks to by phone very often.

HE WOULD, DEAD, CLEANED, DRESSED FROM FOOD LION: Return with several fattened (thought not for their livers as that would come perilously close to something French), beautifully yellowed birds that were purchased from the local supermarket last night. This would allow him to appear bold, willing to hunt down and kill the enemy, but wouldn’t be too scarily unfamiliar to people who don’t hunt. “You should always come dressed for dinner,” he would explain.

HE WOULD, BUT IT ISN’T A DUCK: This theory developed into the most desirous. He returns victorious, but with Osama bin Laden, who had been hiding out in the backside of the farm. Turns out that immediately after President Bush outsourced the capturing of him in Tora Bora to the Afghan warlords, Mr. Bin Laden climbed into a container of poppy gum and arrived through a port in Newark. The container, of course, went uninspected. With so few police officers on the street, Mr. Bin Laden had no problem wandering America unmolested.

[snip]

Absolutely amazing.  Here’s the story.

Sen. John Kerry, bracing for a potential fight over election results, will not hesitate to declare victory Nov. 2 and defend it, advisers say.

…

Six so-called “SWAT teams” of lawyers and political operatives will be situated around the country with fueled-up jets awaiting Kerry’s orders to speed to a battleground state. The teams have been told to be ready to fly on the evening of the election to begin mounting legal and political fights. Every battleground state will have a SWAT team within an hour of its borders.

The Kerry campaign has recount office space in every battleground state, with plans so detailed they include the number of staplers and coffee machines needed to mount legal challenges.

“Right now, we have 10,000 lawyers out in the battleground states on Election Day, and that number is growing by the day,” said Michael Whouley, a Kerry confidant who is running election operations at the Democratic National Committee.

While the lawyers litigate, political operatives will try to shape public perception. Their goal would be to persuade voters that Kerry has the best claim to the presidency and that Republicans are trying to steal it.

Democrats are already laying the public relations groundwork by pointing to every possible voting irregularity before the Nov. 2 election and accusing Republicans of wrongdoing.

I’m compelled to tell a couple lawyer jokes.

A housewife, an accountant and a lawyer were asked “How much is 2+2?”
The housewife replies: “Four!”.
The accountant says: “I think it’s either 3 or 4.  Let me run those figures through my spreadsheet one more time.”
The lawyer pulls the drapes, dims the lights and asks in a hushed voice, “How much do you want it to be?”

—–

A Russian, a Cuban, an American and a Lawyer are in a train.

The Russian takes a bottle of the Best Vodka out of his pack; pours some into a glass, drinks it, and says: “In Russia, we have the best vodka of the world, nowhere in the world you can find Vodka as good as the one we produce. And we have so much of it, that we can just throw it away…” Saying that, he open the window and throw the rest of the bottle thru it. All the others are quite impressed.

The Cuban takes a pack of Havanas, takes one of them, lights it and begins to smoke it saying: “In Cuba, we have the best cigars of the world: Havanas, nowhere in the world there is so many and so good cigars and we have so much of them, that we can just throw them away…”. Saying that, he throws the pack of havanas thru the window. One more time, everybody is quite impressed.

At this time, the American just stands up, opens the window, and throws the Lawyer through it…

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has endorsed Kerry. 

“The president [Arafat] is frustrated with Bush’s policies,” he said. “The president [Arafat] thinks Kerry will be much better for the Palestinian cause and for the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

…

“Arafat is waiting for November in the hope George Bush will lose the election to John Kerry,” Ze’evi told Army Radio in July. “He also hopes that the Israeli government will fall, so he can take center stage diplomatically.”

I came across this “debate“ and felt compelled to respond.  My response follows:

It would help the debate if the debaters did some basic fact checking. For example: “… if someone were to attend a gun show, he/she could buy a weapon at the seller’s discretion…” This is false. All the laws and regulations that apply at a retail store apply at a gun store. A licensed dealer must always do a background check when selling a gun from their stock. The gun show controversy is a myth created by anti-freedom advocates. See http://www.boomershoot.org/general/Myths.htm#Loophole for more details. “Assault rifles” have been severely restricted since 1934 and continue to be severely restricted.

“Assault weapons” is another manufactured myth by the anti-freedom advocates deliberately intending to deceive the public. They admit their intent take advantage of the confusion in the minds of the public over this issue. See http://www.vpc.org/studies/awaconc.htm where they says: “Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.”

Another example of lack of fact checking is when Mr. Sexton says of “assault weapons”, “These firearms are solely used for the purpose of attacking other human beings…” If this were true then one would have to conclude the 100,000+ of rounds I have fired through firearms covered by the expired “assault weapon” ban, none of which were involved in an attack on a human, must be considered a failure of my firearms.

Both Mr. Sexton and Ms. Taylor think background checks are a good idea before “allowing” people to exercise a fundamental right. I’m constantly baffled this line of thinking. If there are people freely roaming in society that cannot be trusted with a firearm can these same people be trusted with a can of gasoline and a book of matches? The largest mass murders committed by an individual were committed with gasoline and matches–demonstrating that combination is more deadly than firearms. Whatever restrictions you put on firearms are also sensible to put on gasoline and matches.

I could go on for pages on all the errors in fact and logic found in this debate but the above should be sufficient to encourage a bit more research before putting words to print.

That took almost an hour.  An hour I should have spent updating the Lewiston Pistol Club website.

On our first day we went looking for an internet connection.  There was supposed to be a free wireless connection at the Krispy Kreme store just down the street from the Four Queens where we stayed the first night.  I connected to their wireless router and got an IP address but couldn’t get past their router.  I asked the woman behind the counter if she knew anything about the wireless service and she didn’t have a clue.  The local Starbucks was supposed to have a connection.  Not even an signal could be found there.  I asked if there was another place that might have a connection.  Again, not a clue.

I called a local “Internet Cafe“ that was supposed to be open 24 hours a day and not too far away.  They answered, “Goodfellows“.  Long pause on my part.  Then I said I was looking for the internet cafe.  He said, “Oh, we can do that too.“  We walked a fair distance to find them and the street life got worse and worse.  I saw a guy smoking something in a very small pipe inside his vehicle just before we got to the place.  Here is a picture of what we found at that address:

We went in and asked about an internet connection.  He said we would unplug his connection and I could plug my computer in to his cable.  $6.00/hour.  I stayed connected for 45 minutes or so, we paid our $6.00 and left.  We didn’t go back.

We went to a show one night.  Lots of dancing topless women that were rather interesting, an incredible juggler, and some really good male dancers that did some acrobatic type stuff that was impressive.  The Startrek experience was much better than I expected.  The wax museum was a bit of a disappointment.

We went for walk in Red Rock Canyon about 20 miles west of Las Vegas.  That was nice.

Our high school classmate, Karleen, agreed to meet us for breakfast the last day we were there but then had to cancel at the last minute.

See the pictures here.

My plane left Pasco at 6:10 AM. which meant I had to get up about 4:30.  I’m not a morning person.  We arrived about 16:00 and arrive onsite to set up about 17:00. I set up my demo, we eat dinner, and check in to our hotel.  I crashed.   The demo is at 7:30 — east coast time.  I have to get up at 5:45 (EAST COAST TIME) to shower, check out, eat breakfast and get to the office by 7:15.  We do the demo, which goes well, get a briefing on other stuff they are involved in, eat lunch, then get on the plane and fly back to Pasco arriving about 19:00.

Grumble…. I’m still trying to catch up on my sleep and get my system in synch with “normal”.

The California Attorney General is either incredibly naive or incredibly draconian in his thinking (complete article follows).

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has called for a new law requiring bullets sold in the state to carry an identifying code.

The tiny serial numbers, which are almost invisible to the naked eye, would be inscribed on both bullets and casings with a laser. The codes would enable police to trace bullets used in a crime back to the buyer.

Speaking at a conference on gun crime in Los Angeles, Lockyer said the proposed law would be “a good tool to fight gangs and other criminal activity.”

Although no U.S. state currently requires identification numbers on ammunition, the proposed branding technique is similar to that used to identify auto and aircraft parts. The process would add about one cent to the cost of each bullet.

Gun rights advocates have already registered their opposition to the proposed law, and it is considered likely that the issue will spark a major debate over gun control in California.

Those opposed to the law say it would require a costly bureaucracy to administer, yet it would be an easy task for criminals to bring in ammunition from out of state.

The problems are many — apart from the ones mentioned in the article.

1. There would spring up a black market in hand loaded ammunition.  Bullet, powder, primers, and shell casings are available as individual components and even if they were required to have serial numbers on them the serial numbers could be defaced before assembly.
2. Shell casings can be reused many times before failure.  People could collect them from the local range, make their own bullets from melted down wheel weights (without a serial number), assemble the cartridges and the person who purchased the original shell casing would be blamed when his shell casing was used in a crime.
3. Collectively the private citizens of the U.S. go through billions of rounds per year.  Assuming CA consumes 1/10 of the total you still have something approaching a billion serial numbers to track each year.  No small task.
4. Stealing ammo is easier than stealing guns.  It’s smaller and a missing box or even a few rounds from a box is much less likely to be noticed than a missing gun.
5. If the numbers are nearly invisible to the naked eye then someone could swap out a few rounds from a different box either in the store or at the range when the owner wasn’t watching and the wrong user would get blamed.

I’m sure there are lots of other things wrong with this idea, but you get the point.  It’s far too easy to get around.  Just like gun serial numbers and registration of them (crimes solved via gun registration lists are almost non-existent) only worse.

[Update]: CCRKBA has issued a press release on this hare-brained scheme.

I guess I really hadn’t thought about it being that universal, but it came as a surprise to me when I ran across articles that can be described as the Russian version of the National Enquirer.

Soviet Army fought UFOs: http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/11873_UFO.html
Time Can be Turned Back: http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/12190_experiment.html
Sex stimulates intellect: http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/12381_sex.html
Unknown fire and jelly-like creatures live in Earth’s atmosphere: http://www.pravda.us/science/19/94/378/14359_creatures.html
Ritual of castration eventually led to Christianity: http://funreports.com/2004/10/05/56436.html

After visiting Steptoe Butte Barb and I went to a friends 40th birthday party.  It’s alway nice visiting the Clydes. 

Yesterday afternoon Barb and I went to Steptoe Butte hoping to go on a hike.  Unfortunately we couldn’t find a trail that we could hike on.  We enjoyed the view and took a few pictures.  The one thing that I thought was very interesting was that “Steptoe” is a term used to describe a particular geological formation.  But it was Steptoe Butte, here on the Palouse, that was the inspiration for that term and it is used worldwide now.

Jay, from my place of work, is a novice shooter and doesn’t even own a gun.  At a real Boomershoot he would have to borrow or buy a gun then wouldn’t really have much of a chance to even connect with one without a lot of help.  He had watched the video, read the articles and wanted to try it.  Ry and I made up some targets on the 19th and Jay showed up last Saturday on the 25th when Ry, Barb, and I were doing some improvements to the range. 

It all started out pretty normal with me giving him the safety instructions and doing some dry fire exercises with him.  The only thing a little unusual, up to this point, was him wanting me to shoot the first one.  He got way back and watched as I shot one.  He was a little concerned about his safety and wanted to see what the effect was on me.  Ry tried to comfort (I think that was what he was trying to do) and told him that Ry was the only person to ever get hurt shooting boomers.  He told Jay about getting hit by a rock at sufficiently high velocity that it pierced a hole through his cheek.  And that was due to him not being fully myelinated.  See Ry’s glossary entry for incompletely myelinated for what this means.

Jay then wanted to know about the rocks in the target area where we had placed his boomers.  I told him that this particular shooting area didn’t have any rocks.  I further explained normally we stayed 700 yards away from the boomers near rocks, but Ry, being incompletely myelinated, was about 10 or 15 yards away when he got his piercing.

I stayed around long enough for Ry to take some pictures as Jay started shooting and after a half-dozen shots or so Jay got is first boomer.  Barb and I got on the cat and went off to the normal shooting position about 350 yards away. 

I wondered about the combination of Jay and Ry out there together.  How was Jay going to handle this whole thing?  His normal demeanor, even at work, was something asymptotically approaching the timidity of a field mouse in the big city. Not only was he practically void of experience with guns, he had zero experience with explosives, and he was the only shooter that had ever not trusted our judgment on how close was safe.  I had given him about ten minutes of instruction and disappeared off into the distance leaving him with stranger.  A stranger who was the only person to have ever gotten hurt shooting boomers.  I decided he would be fine.  He came out here to have an adventure didn’t he?

I had just barely got started working up on the hill when I noticed some smoke coming up from the boomer area long after the previous explosion had gone off.  I watched for a while but decided that it must just be the remnants of a fireball.  I further assumed that since Jay was continuing to shoot at boomers that everything must be under control.  I was correct on the first item but incorrect on the second.  Jay’s adventure was started to expand into new areas.

As I watched Ry and Jay went over the top of the target berm into Alan’s stubble field.  I watched with great interest now and considered calling them on the walkie-talkie but didn’t think Ry was carrying it with him (I was wrong again).  After a half minute or so the smoke still hadn’t subsided and then Jay came running over the top of the berm towards me.  I decided that was my “go“ signal.  I put the cat in 5th gear and went full throttle straight towards them.  The creek bed between us didn’t have a good crossing point there but to go to the end of the field where it did would probably double the time it would take me to get there.  I knew I could get across one creek bank but was worried about the other side.  I figured that if I had to I could do a very quick modification with the cat to get across and then fix it up afterwards.  I didn’t have to.  It was a steep climb but at a 30 degree angle or so in 1st gear the cat went right over it.  Even in 5th gear at full throttle the cat has a top speed of about five miles an hour.  And after slowing down for the creek bed crossing it probably took me nearly four minutes to get to the fire.

By the time I got there it had traveled west about 50 feet just a few feet from the base of a pine tree and it was blocking my direct path between the hay field I was in and the partially worked up stubble field that was on fire.  I had to cross an old fence row where the blade wouldn’t even touch the ground where the fire was.  So I ended driving through the fire to get to the level ground on the other side of it.  The cat has steel on the ground and doesn’t need a particularly high O₂ content to keep running. It was very smoky and rather warm as I drove through the fire and I hoped there weren’t too many exposed oil and grease patches on the underside of the cat.  I turned around and would have normally went ahead of the fire to make a break but it was now at the base of the tree and I had to put that out.  I concerned that if I pushed through the fire I would pushed it into and up the tree more and into the nearby brush.  So I drove through it a second time to put the blade at the base of the tree (and in my excitement I got too close and cut the tree with the blade), stopped with flames and smoke coming up around me and had to find reverse, drop the blade, and drag it back through the fire while holding my breath.  The fire was cut to probably 1/10 it’s size with just the one pass.  I touched up in the tree area then went back towards it’s origins and finished off the hot spots.

After I had cleaned up Alan’s field as best I could I stopped and chatted with Ry and Jay some.  I said I thought it would be best if they didn’t do any more fireballs.  They didn’t seem to have a problem my suggestion and I went back across the creek to work on the shooting positions on the hill.

It turns out the titanium used to ignite the gasoline we use for the fireballs was sufficient to also ignite what appeared to be green, wet grass.  Ry and Jay later had several more fires to put out but were able to do it without my help.  I did watch them from the distance however and hoped Jay was enjoying his adventure.  I wondered that since we attribute Ry’s uncanny ability to have exciting adventures without even trying to him being incompletely myelinated that perhaps Jay is over myelinated.  It probably doesn’t work that way, but often when driving cat you have lots of time to think about things and come up with crazy ideas at times.  I wondered if Jay had any crazy thoughts as he drove home alone that afternoon.  Most likely he just thought we were crazy.

Ry took some pictures but he dropped his camera when the big fire started and didn’t get any pictures of me putting it out with the cat.