Religion

Always a fun topic, guaranteed to get people involved, one way or another. I think religion is generally a good idea, and everyone ought to have one. Usually they teach you about things like morals and ethics that you'll never hear about in Poly Sci classes, that help societies operate smoothly. Over at Theo Spark, there's this flow chart to help you pick one that suits your personality.
I, of course, am an Orthodox Viking. We believe everything it OK as long as you do it to excess. If a little is good, and more is better, than too much ought to be just about right.

I am noticing, however, that those of us who survive the experience for any significant length of time have a tendency to drift off into something along the lines of Buddhism.

Sturgeons Law

Theodore Sturgeon, a science fiction writer of some note, once remarked in a talk that "90 percent of everything is crap." Asked if that included science fiction, he added "especially science fiction."

Here we have Bill Lockyar, California state treasurer, explaining to the legislature that Calis budget problems are tracable to them.


He is very charitable in that he only calls 75% of the legislatures doings "crap". My own observation is that the number is much closer to 100%.

New Gun Law Proposed

And the shoe is on the other foot this time. Back in the day (late 1700s) when the Bill of Rights was being discussed, most states had incorporated into their constitutions a proviso about the state militia. Generally this was originally all free males between 18 and 45 years old, but there was wide variation from one state to the next.

Most states recognized that, among others, the Quakers were religiously opposed to violence against their fellow man, no matter how well deserved, and made exceptions to service in the militia for them. They also frequently added a requirement that the "religiously scrupulous" share in the cost of a call out of the militia by paying a sum to cover their absence. Rep. Maslack of Vermont finds this reasonable, and proposes to bring it back.

Vermont 's constitution states explicitly that "the people have
a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the State" and
those persons who "conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms" shall be
required to "pay such equivalent." Clearly, says Maslack, Vermonters
have a constitutional obligation to arm themselves so that they are
capable of responding to "any situation that may arise".

Under the bill, adults who choose not to own a firearm would be
required to register their name, address, Social Security Number, and
driver's license number with the state. "There is a legitimate
government interest in knowing who is prepared to defend the state
should they be asked to do so," Maslack says.

Indeed, if some percentage of the population has obtained CCW permits, and as a result, violent crime tapers off, then those non-carrying citizens are effectively getting the benefit of several hundred plainclothes police at no charge to themselves.

Fairest would be for the fees go to covering the costs incurred by the carriers, possibly by allowing them to completely deduct their costs for the permit, and one gun, and ammo from their state taxes. The number of people with permits being rather small, the state would realize a huge windfall from such a tax, and since I would be exempt, I'd favor it.

Vermont being one of two states that do not require a permit to carry, the rather stiff $500 fee would be assessed on non-gun-owners in general. Here, perhaps, a $100 tax on the disarmed, no effect on anyone providing proof of ownership of one qualifying gun, and a $100 tax credit if you attach a photocopy of your CCW to your tax form.

Fashion Statement

Observing that with more and more people getting CCW permits, and the practice spreading to the sartorially conscious, I had a thought...

For those of you who will be at MileHiCon this weekend, I will have these
available in black and gray at $15.

Getting shirts done is a delicate process, as screen printing is about as much art as science. The example above was done at CustomInk by me and represents 5 or 6 tries before I got it to come out right. Locally produced ones trimmed the gun a bit more than I did although that probably is more realistic than the amount of exposed metal in this one. The blacker background behind the gun is an artifact of the computer process, and does not appear on the shirt.

Cafe Press seems to be able to print only a 10 x 10 area on a shirt, which puts the gun way too high. Zazzle is slightly better, but generally still a bit too high. I'll get a pic of one of the locally produced ones this weekend and put it up. I will also talk to a shirt vendor about just how he ships his non-local orders.

Details, details, details. This was supposed to be fun and easy.

The Berlin Wall

Coming up in two weeks, on November 9th, is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This thing was the most recognizable icon of the Soviet Union from the day it went up, and when it came down, what I heard at work all the next day was "I thought I'd never see the day." Over the next two years, the rest of the house of cards that was the Soviet Union crumbled.

I remember seeing the news reports with Dan Rather in a trench coat, looking as serious and solemn as could be, reporting the event, while behind him the Germans were having the biggest and best-deserved beer fest in the last 500 years. I was truly sorry I was unable to attend.

The Germans are having a celebration of the event, and have invited, among others, our president. Guess who's not attending? I imagine he will be issuing an apology for Americas role in the downfall of a near-perfect utopia.

The Bushes should go. They'd be welcome, and wouldn't embarrass us.

Movie Review

Tamara got to see Zombieland. She seemed to be favorably impressed:

They need to go back in time and take all the Oscars away from Gone With The Wind and maybe Casablanca and give them all to Zombieland.

Seriously, this is the only time I've ever blurted out "Oh my gawd, this is maybe the greatest movie ever!" out loud, in the theater. Twice.

I may have to go see this one. Sounds like a patent cure for depression, or maybe an inspiration for the sequel: Bureaucratland.

Recovery In Progress

Please pardon our dust while we put everybody back to work!
Thanks to Michelle for this.
Or if you have some suspicions that the program isn't going quite as well as Joe Biden says it is, this site has a map on which you can click a state, and find out how well it's doing.

According to this, Colorado has received $583,269,816.00, and created 4710.05 jobs. OK, what's .05 of a job? I believe it's what I got this year, dividing days worked by days off.

At $123,835/job, there should be some nice paychecks going out to somebody. Keep in mind this is recipient reported money. If you switch to agency reporting, the money is $3,864,381,626.00 with no jobs being admitted to. A search of the recipients of the money reveals almost 100% government agencies, which explains why, when all the taxpayers are getting laid off, you don't hear about anyone in government losing a job.

Gun Show Report

The place was really dead while I was there. I do believe we are seeing a shift from panic-stricken hoarders to the effects of widespread unemployment. There's a lot of people out there with no disposable income to spend on guns. There seem to be some ammo hoarders left who continue to keep prices high for the rest of us, and the residual effects in the form of merchants with inventory bought dearly and now not moving.
Powder is running 19-22$/lb, up from 17-18 last year.
Bullets in 500 qty are running $.07/ea, which is pretty much back to normal.
Primers are up at $37/1000, way up from $17/K last year, but primers are something we don't go through that fast, so sopping up the high-priced inventory may take a while.
For the .38 spl +P that I use, the economics are like this:
Bullet = 1 req, cost $.07
Powder = 4.3gr -> 1628 bullets/lb -> $.012/rd
Primers = 1 req @ $.037/ea at current rates.
Ammo = $0.119/rd => relatively cheap entertainment.

Things That Go Boom

Cracked has a bit on things that explode that you might not expect to. One of the items listed is the seed pod of the sandbox tree;
The seed pods are about 2-3 inches in diameter and reminded me of a radial aircraft engine, but with a hole in the center
This one still has a stem attached. When I was in Viet-Nam, the kids there used this seed pod, which is woody and very hard, as key chain fobs. With limited language skills on both sides of the transaction, and an easy way to have some fun at the G.I.s expense, they provided me with a large one, which I brought back with me. It was sitting on my step-fathers mantle when it germinated, throwing the ribs a good 30 feet.

The Stanford botany department now has a full sized hand grenade tree of their very own.

Quote of the Week

Anita Dunn, in a presser of sorts, while bashing Fox News, stated that one of her favorite philosophers was Mao Tse-dung, murderer of some 70-100 million of his own people. The quote she cited was the well-known one about

"All political power flows from the barrel of a gun."

Which is no more than what you'd expect from someone who shot his way to power. When I was in Chinese language school, I heard the line from people who had gotten out of the country ahead of the implementation of the peoples paradise, who gave me a longer version of it. Their version ran:

"All political power flows from the barrel of a gun, and that gun must remain firmly in the hand of the state."

Which makes far more sense if you consider that a revolutionary has 2 tasks; first, to get into office, and second, to stay there. All politicians get into office using one of the "four boxes", the soap box, the jury box, the ballot box, or the cartridge box, and all of them are aware that any of the boxes can be used to remove them. It behooves the ambitious pol to try to limit access to the boxes to his opponents. It behooves the voter to remember that an attack on any of the boxes is, rhetoric notwithstanding, only an attempt to preserve some politicians phoney-baloney job.

Kalashnikitty

Someone asked me about getting a Kalashnikitty t-shirt, and I couldn't remember where to get them.
Very nice shirts, my daughter has one. Anyway, here's the complete skinny.

The Workshop

It looks like winter may be cold and wet in spite of the best pronouncements of Pope Prius 1, and at the risk of sounding like Red Green, here's a tip for those of you who have filled your garages with useful stuff, and leave your car out in the driveway.

You need one of those small space heaters, of the size found under the secretary's desk, about 1000-1500 watts. If possible, get one with a thermostat. You also need a lamp timer, the kind you use to turn the lamp on and off to signal the burglars that no one's home.

Plug the timer in to the indoor outlet nearest to your vehicle. One in the garage works best, as the timers are typically not rated for outdoor use. Run an extension cord from the timer to your car, and place the heater on the floor on the passenger side. Be careful not to crowd it into a cramped area, and remove all the burger wrappers and magazines from within 2 feet of the heater first. Set the thermostat for 50 degrees, and the timer to turn on about 1/2 hour before you normally leave for work, and off about 15 minutes after you expect to leave. When you come out, the car will be comfortable, and all the frost will be gone from the windscreen, or at least it will come off with a couple passes from the wipers.

ADVISORY:
Do not forget to disconnect the cord and toss it outside the car before you back out of the drive. Try to toss the receptacle far enough away from the car that you do not back over it on your way out. BE SURE to use an extension cord rated for 15 amps minimum. Required amp rating is (heater watts)/120. Be sure the heater plug / cord receptacle is in an open area, and not slammed in the door when you hook up in the evening. Buy me some beer, then ask me how I know all this. Don't waste time getting in, and the car stays comfortably warm untill the engine warms up.

Pity this doesn't work on the return trip.

HOV lanes

You may remember, a bit back, I mentioned that the windmill du jour for me would be getting the HOV lane on the Sante Fe corridor between Littleton and Denver abolished. Since this route runs through 4 municipalities, all four would need to come down in favor of abolition. They would then have to jointly ask the CDOT* to take down the signage and lights. There is a possibility that CDOT would have to get permission from the federal government to do that, but I do not see that as as difficult as getting the cities on board.

Of the four, Englewood is the biggest prosecutor of the thing, raking in nearly $2000/hour writing tickets once a week. I have asked their city councilman, Wayne Oakly, who is also their man on the DRCOG** board, about doing this, citing lack of use for the lane, and high congestion as a result. He seemed surprised to hear about this, and asked to speak with the city traffic and police. That was August 16. I pinged him again today to see what he had found out:

Hi Bill,

I am running for re-election and will not have time for this until after the election.

Wayne

The worst part of being a representative of the people must be having to listen to the whiny bastards all the time. If only it weren't necessary to have to convince them of ones worthiness every 2 years or so, far more could, no doubt be accomplished.

Notwithstanding how busy he must be, if any of my readers in the Denver metro area would like to know if abolishing the Sante Fe HOV lane and ending the congestion is on Mr. Oakly's platform, he is conveniently listed on the internet here, and everything you need to know is:

Council Member Wayne Oakley. Address: 4691 S. Mariposa Drive Englewood, CO 80110

. Phone: 303-981-0626

If you use Sante Fe, remember that management of the Littleton-Denver segment of it is a DRCOG matter and as a member, Mr. Oakly is as valid a representative for you as anyone. If he has a position, let me know what it is. He seemed to lack motivation to me.

I suppose the next step would be a large sign on the tailgate of my truck informing my fellow commuters that Mr. Oakly would be the person to call about the congestion.

*CDOT: Colo Dept of Transportation. Manages state highways.
**DRCOG: Denver Regional Council of Governments. Our local version of the G20 or the UN. Marginally more useful.

Economics II

I carp about the economic health of myself and my country here, from time to time, but normally I keep to stuff that makes sense to me. This:
Leaves me baffled. If I had an advanced degree, I might pretend to be able to make sense of it. Asking experts doesn't help either, they just gurgle, crawl under their desks, and begin sucking their thumbs. I have to assume it's an portent of those "interesting times" the Chinese curse refers to.

I don't keep a big supply of food. I keep 3 extra tanks of propane, and a mental list of which of the neighbors will make the best steaks. NOTE: If you paint red crosses on the doors, hood, and tailgate of your piclup, people ask fewer questions when you're "bringing home the bacon".

Major Award for the Prez

Go here, once a day, until some time in December, and enter Barack Obama in the blank choice slot, and vote for him for the Heisman Trophy.
Bookmark the spot where you'll see it daily as that's how ofter you're allowed to vote.

No, this isn't my idea, it's his, but as I've remarked before, I love a good conspiracy.

The winner of this Nissan-sponsored promotion will actually receive one official vote for the Heisman award as sort of the people's choice.

Talent like his should not go unrecognized.