Training

Compassion

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Travis Haley posted this story and said this: “You can be smart, fast, a physical specimen,… you can be agile, tactical, technical and proficient, but if you lack compassion then you are nothing more than a Hyena…”

He has a very good point. But let me take this a step further. Compassion and Mercy are or should be critical traits in our armed public servants. In the USA we’ve seen some national news stories that show perhaps that the decision to go to guns was maybe a bit too hasty. We’ve seen in LA during the Christopher Dorner incident the two ladies in the pickup truck that got lit up. We’ve seen a kid with a replica AK get taken down. And in New Mexico, a mother with a van full of kids get fired on. Take a look at Iceland right now, the whole nation is morning because for the first time a police officer shot and killed someone. The decision to go to guns weighs heavily on everyone… not just the Suspect thats fired upon, but also upon the community and the person who had to pull the trigger.

This sort of decision making has to happen instantly, and it relies heavily on the Mind Set before the incident even starts. It’s about that Warrior Mindset you need to do the job… I know a lot of guys that believe in the Bushido way and that they as Officers of the Law they are modern Samurai. They believe in Protecting and Serving as the old Law Enforcement motto goes, and that the word Samurai means “To Serve”. And as a result they continually train themselves in their martial arts… with their Rifles and their Handguns and the tactics to employ them. And that’s good.

However, the Samurai also knew that they needed balance. The Samurai were also known to practice other arts… Painting, Poetry, Theater. Many wrote books, others studied the Literature of their time. Some fished. In the movie The Last Samurai, the lead Samurai character spent his times searching “For the Perfect Blossom” and said that if one pursued that as his life’s purpose it would not be a life wasted. The Samurai appreciated and sought after the beauty in the world around them. This balanced them. Centered them.

A lot of our warriors deal with PTSD, probably because they are out of balance in this way. But that’s another discussion for another time. (I had written a thesis on this it earned me a lucrative job offer at a treatment center because they thought I was a doctor in psychology. I of course turned them down)

I think when a person has a good balance inside them… Balancing the Yin and Yang of Light and Darkness in their warrior spirit… it makes them better at what they do. It makes them better warriors. And it also help them recognize the bigger picture of things when they have a threat situation and the gun is coming up to the shoulder or out of the holster… That blink of insight. That neural firing of the part of the brain that has compassion… Because just maybe… That trigger doesn’t have to be pulled. Maybe there is another way to resolve that situation. Not every Nail must be hammered. And you can have this compassion, this mercy, inside you, and you can make that judgement call without effecting your speed to target if you do have to pull that trigger and take that life to save another. Or maybe that compassion will help you be faster onto target, and more accurate. Make you train harder. Make you faster up that flight of steps to get to that firing position… Help you will yourself to lower your heart rate to stabilize that crosshair. Because you appreciate the Life that you are about to save.

JRR Tolkien said it best:

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”

Government

The Government Bureaucracy In Action

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My wife’s Driver’s License expired.  So she goes to the DMV to get a new NC card.

But she can’t.  Because she needs a Marriage Certificate to show she’s married to me… from 21 years ago never before required.  Fine.  We contact the state of Utah and get it.

She goes in again.   No, she still can’t.  Now she has to have a social security card with the name changed on it… again, never required before in 21 years of marriage.  With moving to Idaho and Virginia and back to Utah… Required now.

So we go to the social security office in New Bern.  They shut the door on us… office closed.

So she goes back again to change her name.   But she can’t.   Because her Utah license is expired.  Birth Certificates and Marriage Licenses and all that doesn’t matter.   “If you contact the hospital and have the lady at the counter sign it in ink and then…”  How is that a more valid form of ID than a Utah Drivers License that went past an arbitrary date?  She is no longer the same person she was a month before?  What the hell, People?

She’s in a NO WIN situation because of the goddamn government.    She is now expected to fly all the way back out to Utah, renew her Driver’s License there, so she can fly back here, just so she can get a North Carolina license.   She called me from the social security office in tears from the frustration.  I’m so angry I could chew nails and spit tacks.   This is ridiculous.  Even more so because an illegal immigrant gets treated better… pisses me slam off.

WHAT COUNTRY ARE WE LIVING IN NOW?   WHAT THE HELL?

UPDATE:   Oh get this… Now we’ve been told that she can get a Doctor’s form… with DOB on it, signed in ink… Which is laughable because you don’t need an ID to see a Doctor.  OR you can have your church print out something that has your name and DOB on it, and a Church Official signs it. In ink of course, and that’s valid.   Again, laughable.  Because they don’t know who in the hell the Doctor is or the Church Official.   And you don’t need an ID to go to Church (yet) so how is that a valid anything?   Yet that is more valid than a DL, which required everything in the first place that had only just recently expired.

Even more laughable… All of these other documents can be created at home with a computer and some photoshop.   It worked for Obama!  But what you couldn’t just recreate though is a Utah Driver’s License.   I could in fact, legally, start my own “Church” and then generate this document and sign it and stamp it and it would be LEGAL.

All this to get a Social Security Card to be used as ID… When it freaking says on the card “NOT FOR USE AS ID“.

WTF is WRONG with this picture?   EVERYTHING.  This is all such utter bullshit.  So instead of helping the person trying to comply with the law… the system is forcing people to find the loopholes to get around the law.   This is insanity.

 

Food

Sloppy Joe’s Suck

18 Comments

I freaking hate “Sloppy Joes”.  Sloppy Joes… Meat’s Epic Failure.

Look, you have a pound of ground meat… and you just ruined it.  You could have had Tacos.  You could have made it into a couple good burger patties… But you didn’t.  You made Sloppy Joes.  Don’t give me that Manwhich bullarchy.  You ruined it.  Admit it.  It’s kinda like saying you are going to make an Omelet, and then cocked it up and made Scrambled Eggs instead, and then cleared your sinuses into them.   That’s what you did with the ground meat… same thing.

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Toss some chili powder on them… some taco seasoning on the ground beef or whatever and make some Tacos.  Tacos are always win.   ALWAYS WIN.   Don’t have some tortillas, well, you are wrong and you are living in Kitchen Fail… but hey, you can always make a pot of chili out of it.  And that’s damn fine eating.

I mean, hell, if you have to make Spaghetti with it.  Boil some pasta, and poor that over the stuff over those noodles.  You’ll be fine.

But to mix a BBQ type sauce into the meat?  Oh hell no!  Look if you want BBQ flavor… make a burger and put the sauce on top of the burger.   That’s a good burger.  A BBQ Burger… We can all live with that.  And be happy.

But to make Sloppy Joes with that meat… Oh my hell… That’s giving up on life.

Don’t give me that “You’ve never had my… whoever the hell it is Sloppy Joes”.  No… I never have.  And no, I never will.  You will never get me to try it.   I will just look at you with disgust and disappointment and walk away… Probably to my car so I can go find a 5 Guys or a Cook Out or a Sonic… or some places that knows what the hell to do with a pound of ground beef that isn’t blowing excretion into it.   Sloppy Joes Suck.

Uncategorized

Hunting Bears in New Bern, NC

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Spend any time looking out the window as you drive through pretty much of any part of New Bern, NC, you’ll spot a bear.  I’ve taken it as a hobby to hunt all the bears I can any time I’m in New Bern.   I’ll pull over and stop if I see one, whatever it takes to get the shot.  They are all over.

7699_10201724571009434_988164760_n I caught that one in front of a Realty Office.

Continue reading Hunting Bears in New Bern, NC →

Automotive

Ford’s Aston

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Now that the 2015 Ford Mustang is revealed,  we see that Ford really and truly had its way with Aston Martin.
It appears that Ford wasn’t a considerate lover… it made Aston bite the pillow.
And now we’ve got the result… The Mustang.  One version is going to be rolling on a V8 that grinds out 500 horses. That’s only 65 horses less than the Aston V-12 Vantage S, for a whopping $100,000 less.  And most guys will never be able to tell the difference.   Not between the way it drives, or looks.  And since the new Stang is standing on independent rear suspension… finally… it’s going to handle like kid’s Hot Wheels.
I can honestly say that I’ve never really wanted a Mustang before.  But I want this.  Ooohh man!  It looks awesome,  and with 500 horses at the Independent Rear… it should prove to be the best Mustang ever built.
Unless Ford finds a way to ruin it.

Uprising

Where I Write

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I have a place in Ogre Manor, where I sit and… well… supposed to Write.  However I can never actually write there.  The chair is hard and office like, the desk it at a good height for writing.  But when I sit down there… It’s like I’m in the Phantom Zone of writing.  Creative Exile.  I can Game there.  Chat there.  But actual creativity doesn’t and can not happen while I am there.  Time spent there is time wasted and lost.  In terms of Creative Writing that is.  In terms of Leveling up my Characters in Borderlands 2, the spot is the Bomb Diggity.

If I go upstairs and lay down on my Magic Bed of Insomnia… Another location for a specific something that Does Not Happen There.  On the MBOA, I get ideas and thoughts of writing and the Creativity Flows like the Butthurt of Xbox owners who discover all their games don’t work on the new One.

The only Problem… No matter what position I get into or how I prop up the Pillows of Anti-Slumber… I can’t actually Write on the MBOA.  Instead, I just get horny and send dirty Text Messages to my wife.   So that doesn’t work either.  Because then she comes upstairs and nothing get’s written.

You remember when I use to crank out Gun Reviews and scathing opinions of Things?  All that writing I did was at a certain place in a certain location  Gandalfo’s.  A New York Style Deli in Vernal in a little shopping Strip next to a Smith’s Grocery store in Vernal.  On my day’s off I’d go in early and sit at the second to the last table… the one that had a power outlet in the booth.  I’d get a little sandwich and a large drink and I’d open the laptop… And I’d write.  Like the runners in Chariots of Fire, the words would flow.

I need that sort of place here in NC.  I need “That Spot”.  I envy the hell out of Writers who can write at home.  I can’t write at home.  I tried.  Every room, every chair… everywhere.  And I can write nowhere.  Gah!  It’s frustration incarnate.  I need to find a place somewhere relatively close by, that has a window view of the street and people, that’s quiet, that has a power outlet, and will bring me a cup of something caffeinated and cold every once in awhile without asking me or breaking my attention at my words.  Gandolfo’s was awesome at that.  I miss Gandolfo’s.

Uncategorized

Drone Hunting

16 Comments

On AAR the topic of Drones came up.  The use of drones for harassment, spying, and creeper pics. 
I said my solution would be to shoot them down.  If I’m on private property and a drone flies over, I believe this constitutes trespassing and spying.  I believe I have the right to swat down the drone. 
Now I’m not talking about high altitude Predators or Reapers…  and neither were we on Air.  We’re talking about the small QuadRotor types. 
My first response on air was “Federal Black Cloud 3 1/2″”.  A good shotgun shell for knocking a goose down.  I thing it would knock a drone down too.
Trespass, invasion of privacy,  spying, harassment,  these are not things that have to be tolerated on your private property.
I see the use of them for honest reasons in law enforcement.  But it needs to be done in accordance with the law.  Warrants need to be had before they can come into a property and search… same rules should be in place for the use of drones.  Also LE Drones should be marked clearly.
I can see the warrantless use over private property in some cases…  fleeing criminal suspect… an active search and rescue of a missing person or amber alert.  Or other extraordinary circumstances where the use is reasonably prudent to save a life.  IE, you hear screaming or other sounds that lead you to believe a human life is in jeopardy.
Note:  Corporate Espionage is a big business.  Spying is a real and a growing problem. 
Let’s say I sign an NDA with a gun company so I can test out a prototype weapon.  I’m at a secure location, and have an expectation of privacy.  A drone flies over and snaps pics of me and this weapon.  Next thing you know the prototype is now on TV and I’m liable for breaking the NDA.   
How many spy photos have you seen in car magazines? 
The use of drones are going to cause problems that are going to have to be addressed in court.

Weapons

Shockwave Technologies Raptor Grip.

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This was one of those “What the hell, I’ll try it” sort of things.  With a big “I’m glad I did” sort of results.   I was in the market for a new stock, but not exactly for a pistol grip… so I’d likely have passed this up until our friend Ryan Horst at Tannerman’s Trading Company offered this to me.

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This is a synthetic product that is reminiscent of the results of the old school mod of chopping down a standard wood stock.  It’s got that look and feel, but with a better finish.  Compared to some other pistol grip, or Breacher grips out there, this has a better look and feel.  Better in that it looks more traditional.  It is both solid and comfortable and during recoil, it feels more comfortable than most standard pistol grips out there.

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Mounted on a standard factory Remington 870 HD model, it helps make for a nice compact Home Defense weapon.  It begs to be used on an SBS or AOW shotgun.  The Raptor Grip is not for everyone.  The purpose is more specifically CQB in tighter areas, or for where you need to transport a potent weapon in as compact a package as possible.  This isn’t for any Duck Commanders out there.

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You can see it removes a lot of length from the weapon, while keeping a legal OAL.  Any shorter here and I’d have to be doing some ATF Paperwork.

Available from Shockwave Technologies.  For the Remington 870, NEF and H&R Clones, and IAC Hawk shotguns.   Also available for Mossberg 500 and those related shotguns.

Government

Richard Dryfuss on Guns

3 Comments


Certainly a surprising Pro-Gun attitude from Richard Dreyfuss.
However the Shall Not Be Infringed, while shockingly clear, is misunderstood by Mr. Dreyfuss. Voting is a Right. Free Speech is a Right. Gun Owning and Bearing is a Right. Driving a Car, however, is a Privilege. There is a difference. Because The State has the right to determine who can operate a Motor Vehicle on public roads. Applying the same model to Guns means that Guns become a Privilege.
Also, he seems to think that SOME guns are okay… while OTHERS are Bad and should be locked up and controlled by someone other than the Owner. This is where things fall apart and shows that Mr. Dreyfuss has a way to go in understanding the very reasons for the Second Amendment.
Also, the Second Amendment is not written poorly, or vaguely. It is very clear. It’s just allowed to be argued because it’s rude to call someone ignorant of their own language. Let me break it down into a common interpretation for those in Portland Oregon. The Second Amendment says:
“Because we have to have a well regulated Militia, the right to keep and bear guns shall not be infringed.”
Because the people just had a war against a well regulated militia. It’s those Militias that are the worry… The spear point of a Government. The people need guns to keep the Militia and the Government in Check. Notice how the Second Amendment mentions Militia, but doesn’t mention Self Defense or Sport or Hunting? Because those things are a Given. Taken for Granted like growing vegetables and chopping wood to get ready for winter… Everyone did that because that was the way of life.
And regardless of the interpretation because of bad English skills… the last sentence is absolutely very clear. SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. It’s not “Shall be Debated.” “Shall be Regulated.” SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. Period.

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