posts for the 27,28 and 29 Oct.

Being out of internet range means being out of cellular phone range and means there is little communication with the rest of the world because I don’t have a ham radio with me.

It’s an interesting feeling because while I have no email, Facebook, Arfcom etc I also don’t have to deal with all of that. It’s actually a pretty good break.

We get all hung up and addicted to things like the web and it is good to get away from it and remember that the world really doesn’t revolve around cell phones, the internet and such.

I really ought to do this more often.

One of the interesting things that I have seen as far as things go is the ability to get television practically anywhere.

I have been thirty miles out to sea and had great TV reception via the so-called Dish. Of course, most people know it’s simply sattelite television and it’s been around for years.

Still, back in my day one had to live close to the TV transmitters to get television. Broadcast TV was the only way to get television. There was no cable or sattelite television at the time. One only managed to get a very few channels back in the day. As a youngster we only had ABC,CBS,NBC and PBS, four channels and only four channels. This was in the Boston area.

What makes me chuckle is that history often repeats itself.

I live in the suburbs outside a large city and I have recently cut the cable and get at least a couple of dozen broadcast channels for free. In addition to that I get several free channels from the home WiFi simply because the TV manufacturer has some kind of an internet deal that give me well over a dozen free streamed channels.

Admittedly the cable supplied a somewhat better variety of channels than I get for free but I really don’t miss cable very much.

Still, I do have access to the Dish when I am at sea and that somewhat astounds me because I can get television at least forty or fifty miles offshore. I haven’t been out past that recently so I don’t know how far it goes out. It may very well be worldwide for all I know.

Still, cable or even sattelite TV doesn’t work when the infrastructure goes down. A power outage means that one might be able to run a television with a generator but if the infrastructure is down the cable likely goes down with it and a major blow will likely damage a dish.  

It’s still ham radio that gets through when the infrastructure goes down.

It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

I have a busy day of doing nothing ahead of me and I am wondering what is going to happen next. We all have those days when we think we have nothing to do and find out that by the end of the day we have spent it running full bore flat out. It happens to me more often than not.

This day looks a lot like one like that is going to happen.

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Missed a post.

Hectic lately.

Expect me to miss a few more in the next week.

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After so many years I have a hard time telling time with a

12 hour am and pm clock.

As a GI it was 24 hour time, as a sailor it's been the same thing and as a ham operator it's also been the same thing but with a twist. Hams use UTC, once referred to as Greenwich Mean Time.

I think in 24 hour time and it gets to be a pain in the ass when I have to deal with a landsman, non-vet or member of the scientific community.

My watch is set to 24 hour time and unless I take a second to stop and think of who I am talking to if asked for the time I am very likely to answer in 24 hour time which often times confuses people. To my own credit I generally do realize who I am talking to so people don't want to have me carted off.

Still, 24 hour time has always made sense to me and I figure that those that are am and pm people are just plain either too lazy or stupid to bother to figure it out. It doesn't take much.

Going around on a 12 hour clock face and adding am and pm really doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you think about it. There are 24 hours in a day and each hour really ought to get its own number assigned to it.

If I had to guess this probably goes back to the sun dial days. Back then only sunny hours counted and there were no clocks. What time was midnight was actually just anybody's guess.

Personally when I run into a situation like that I tend to ask dentists and gynecologists because their guess is as good as anyone else's.

I actually told a boss that once when he had an unsolvable problem to decide. He asked me who would know and I told him to try calling a dentist. He looked stunned and asked me why he should call a dentist and I told him that his guess was about as good as anyone else's.

I instantly got a dirty look which changed to a look of understanding. He told me that I was probably right. It was pretty much an unsolvable problem. When the problem went upstairs he said the same thing to HIS boss who was confused and asked why and was told the same thing I had said.

Of course, it went back down the chain and back to me and I then suggested they call the Walmart greeter and gave the same reasoning. 

Finally some suit came charging down and asked me as I was the guy running the operation and I explained to him that they had given me an unknown value to work with and as a result I had nothing to work with. It took a little doing but I finally got the suit to understand that X+500 is X+500 and until I was given the value of X I did not know what the actual answer would be.

Back to 24 hour time, it just makes sense to give every hour its own number instead of the easily confusing am and pm system.







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In a few days I may actually miss several posts because I may

be out in BFE where there is no internet service.

We shall see what we shall see.


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There is a Michale Douglas movie on in the background

that I am not paying much attention to. Michael Douglas is a jerk. His Old Man was a rag picker's son. Michael was a spoiled movie star's kid. There's a difference.

apparently they are in Africa and as usual Hollywood really didn't do a lot of homework in the costuming department. They made the African villagers look like a colorized version of the 1933 King Kong.

Then they made the North Africans look like something out of an old Beau Geste type of show.

It's really sort of insulting when you think about it.

And Hollywood probably wonders why people like me don't pay a whole lot of attention to what they produce.




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Back in the day in Alaska they used to say

that a guy would get more time in jail for shooting an elk out of season than they would for killing a man in a bar fight.

I suppose it was an exaggeration to a point but the truth is that it made a certain amount of sense. 

Then again there are a lot of people out there that I don't think are as valuable as an elk.



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One of the things I have noticed

is that the new TV sets make people look fatter.

I mentioned this to one of the guys that is more tach savvy than I am and he says that it's actually because of the new wider screen TVs. He explained that the TVs picture is wider than the actual picture they broadcast and the TV itself stretches the picture to fit the screen.

In the background 'The Price is right' was on and I noticed the usually thin 'prize shower' women that are generally thin looked a little wider than they used to.

I'll have to check it out on a different screen format and see what gives.

For a while I was beginning to think that the local TV stations couldn't hire attractive people.

Then again, as far as TV goes, I live in a cave. I don't watch a whole lot of TV.






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WHy not simply Google something?

I get asked a lot of questions about stuff and I'm generally helpful and patient.

Still, things change awfully fast these days and I am not always up to date on my information. If I am not sure I suggest that they Google it to make sure they have the latest updates.





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With all this governmental to-do over vaping

we can expect to see an awful lot of people return to smoking cigarettes.

This is typical.

We find a substitution for smoking cigarettes that is less harmful to the health. A few people get sick because of it and we try and regulate it. People return to the habit with bigger health risks that drove them to vaping in the first place.

Actually there is somewhat of a problem with some of the flavored vaping juices. The idiots that sell the various juices ate using things that are not good for people. Someone said "Anti-freeze to make blueberry flavor" as an example. While I seriously doubt that they are actually using anti freeze, I can imagine that the flavored juices are not all made with genuine organic hippie approved ingredients.

Some of the flavored juices probably are made with less than healthy ingredients. If so someone ought to go to jail.

Still, now the government is charging in not on the specific problem of unsafe juices, but of the habit as a whole.

Big government is going to butt in and it won't be long before vaping is so regulated that people return to smoking cigarettes.

Par golf.

Mark Twain once described a camel as a horse that was designed by a committee. This situation is going to be yet another case where Mark Twain gets proven right.


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I see where a hospital went bankrupt.

What do they do with the bedridden patients? Do they just push the beds out into the street and walk off?

I always wonder about things like this.

Maybe it's all the employees that walk out and they leave the patients in the hospital. Did the doctors and nurses walk out in the middle of an operation?

Anyway, I wonder what happened to those that were in the hospital?

Who knows?






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Sometimes it's good to return to where you started.

Recently I took a few day fill-in tour as an entry level deckhand and I do believe it was a pretty good thing to do. 

The last time I worked at this job was almost 30 years ago and it hasn't changed much, really. It's basic seamanship and basic boat life. 

I like my regular job a lot more for reasons I won't get into here but it is usually a pretty good thing to go back to where you started out and look around a bit.

While I don't 'beat up' tug crews very much, a few days back at Square One will probably make me a little slower to get aggravated with tug crews.

One thing is I was assigned the upper bunk and had to get back in practice at squirming into a claustrophobic sleeping space I can't even come close to sitting up in. 

Sometimes I think that CEOs and CFOs ought to take a few days a year out of the office and work back in the line or the floor or whatever and remember where they come from. I bet it would make life for the workers a lot better because it would foster understanding.

Hmmm...Now that I mention this, I remember one of the guys I worked with years ago was in the Navy and assigned to a carrier. He said that every once in a while the skipper would wander into one of the galleys and wash pots and pans for a while as a way to just unwind a bit.

I'll bet that skipper was probably a pretty compassionate guy when you think about it.

Anyway it's good to retrace one's steps once in a while.




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Interesting times

I wonder about the people that blamed Trump for the hurricane.

How come they are not thanking him for making it miss Florida?




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Boxing/racing commissions.

I watched some dopey news blurb about someone being accused of doping a race horse and the racing commission and yada yada yada. 
I didn't bother paying a whole lot of attention to it because I figure it's a bunch of hoople. 

Why the government is involved in horse racing is beyond me.

Horse racing is a sport and really doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything the government should be involved with. For that matter, the same holds true for boxing. 

The government has no business sticking their nose into what are basically sports. Sports are past times and I can't fathom why government has to get involved in them.

Of course, someone will stick their nose in and say government is to make sure the sports are kept clean, honest and above board. That's a joke in itself because government to begin with is not all as clean and wholesome as they say they are.

I suppose without the government involved that the sport would have its own governing body. Shooting sports are pretty much run by the NRA, the ARRL is considered the governing board for amateur radio and I can certainly see where boxing and horse racing can set up their own with no real government involvement.

Of course, people will say that the mob or other criminal organizations will wind up running things but there are remedies. People would simply find out that things are not on the up and up and simply not place any bets or get involved with the sport.

Of course there would still be people that would continue playing the ponies even though they knew it was corrupt but that's on them. 

If someone wants to be stupid and piss their money away it's their business. 

Then again, I'm the guy that wants all of the safety warning stickers removed and let Darwin run wild.



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4X the resolution of HD!

Back in the day I took a basic course in photography.

At the time Nikon was supposedly the camera maker with the best lens. It was pointed out to me by the instructor that buying that quality for anyone but a National Geographic photographer was actually a waste of money.

That's because even the basic entry level cameras had lenses that produced pictures of such quality that the human eye couldn't tell the difference between a picture taken with a Nikon or an entry level camera.

I do believe that this is also the case with HD televisions. HD is probably so good that the average eye could not tell the difference between HD television and the now advertised 4X HD television.

Things can only get so good and anything that improves it is generally a waste of technology.

I can't see wearing special glasses to be able to see how good 4XHD is. 




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Sometimes I wonder about "do it for the children'.

I just saw something about a burger contest on the tube. A percentage goes to being spent on stuff for schoolkids and I imagine that everyone and their cousin think is's a good deal.

It may very well be a good deal but if I was going to get involved I would investigate it a little more because the 'Do if for the children' is often abused and the kids get little or nothing out of it.

Sometimes I think the Amalgamated Order of Downtown Dope Dealers could have a marijuana smoke-off with a portion of the proceeds going to such and such youth fellowship or would get the support of the powers that be.

I always got a boot out of the mayor of one city doing a photo op over how the locals cleaned all the snow out of their neighborhood streets. The work was done my the local kids that were being paid by the local dope dealers that wanted the roads clear so as to be able to peddle their wares.

It was funny seeing the mayor standing amid a group of dope dealers that were making gang signs while the mayor spoke and complimented the fine young men and their altruism. It was hilarious!

And the best part is, they did it for the children. 




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AN interesting emai.

Take it for what it's worth.

210 Days of Freedom: The Coming Private Firearms Sales Frenzy

James Wesley Rawles September 10, 2019         

The U.S. Senate returned from its summer recess on September 9, 2019. It has been widely reported that the Senate’s Republican leadership has caved in to media pressure. They have promised to create a Senate version of H.R. 8 — the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019”. (It already passed in the House, back in February.)

The phrases “Universal Background Checks” and “Comprehensive Background Checks” sound all warm and fuzzy to the leftists. But here is what they really mean: “We’ll make you a felon if you sell a gun to your next door neighbor”. Please don’t allow this blatantly unconstitutional bill to become law. Turning a fundamental right into a felony is the worst sort of legislative tyranny.

In the Senate version of the bill, they’ll probably carve out an exemption for transfers within immediate families. And they might make an exemption for holders of current CCW permits. There will of course be a compromise version of the House and Senate bills, in Conference Committee. So the exact wording of the finalized law is uncertain. But if the effective date stipulated in the House version is left intact, then the new law will take effect 210 days after it is  signed. (“The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 210 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.”)

President DJT has made repeated public announcements that he wants to see a “universal background check” law.  So there is a very high probability that he will sign the bill, if it crosses his desk. Once that 210-day window opens, watch out.  I predict that we’ll witness the biggest gun-buying frenzy in U.S. history.  President Obama was jokingly named Gun Salesman of the Year for a couple of years, but Donald Trump is about to become The Gun Salesman of the Century. And his signature on that law may even cost him getting re-elected.

Some Implications

If it enacted, here are some Implications of the new law:

• It will ruin gun shows as we now know them. All gun sales–except for pre-1899 antiques–will have to go through dealers. That will make most “Mom & Pop” sellers will want to retire, leaving gun shows to just licensed dealers. It also means that gun store retail prices will become the norm for gun shows. No more bargains!
• It will make Pre-1899 Antique guns (which are exempt from the law) much more valuable.
• Similarly, 80% complete frames and receivers will become much more popular. That is, until they ban those, too.
• It will create an absolute frenzy of private sales and trades, during the 210-day window of opportunity. Gun shows will be jam-packed. Armslist.com will have its private party listings stripped clean–even for .22 rimfire guns.
• The prices of some Private Party guns will double or triple. I can foresee private party stripped AR lowers selling for $350 or more, and complete ARs selling for $1,200 to $4,000. I’m not kidding!
• The buying frenzy will only increase as the 210 Day window comes close to closing.  The last few weeks of gun buying privacy will be particularly memorable. I can foresee that there will be some $5,000 AR-10s sold, in those final weeks.
• After the law’s effective date, it will create a huge black market, with chronically inflated prices.

I’m no prophet, but I can fairly safely predict that the last few gun shows in November and December of 2019 will be jam-packed spectacles. The licensed dealers will be fairly busy, but the private party sellers will have their tables absolutely stripped clean, by eager cash buyers. To call it a “Seller’s Market” will be putting it mildly. If you have a table full of private party guns at a gun show in December of 2019, then you will be able to get your “dream price” on any black rifle on your table.

Your Legislative Action Plan

This law can possibly still be stopped. Starting today, please repeatedly contact both of your U.S. Senators and your congressman about this, and remind them that they have NO AUTHORITY to control intrastate commerce of used goods, under the interstate commerce clause! No Federal nexus means no Federal jurisdiction.  A fallback position will be to say to your Senators: If you cannot stop this, then at least load this bill up with as many amendments as possible. These should include:

1. Changing the Federal definition of an “antique” gun to one that is 70 years old, instead of the arbitrary cut-off date of December 31, 1898, which has been frozen in place since 1968. Properly, the definition of “antique” should roll forward one year, every year.
2. Exempting holders of CCW permits from any background checks. Anyone who holds a permit has already passed a background check!
3. Exempting sales in rural counties from any background checks. Rural areas are by definition low crime areas. Private sales in any county with a population of less than 100,000 should be exempt from any background checks.
4. Exempting any transfers (gifts or sales) within extended families. This should include children, parents, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and in-laws.
5. Exempting anyone who has been the victim of stalking or domestic abuse. If a protective order has been issued by a court at any level, then that protected individual should have carte blanche to buy a gun from anyone, without delay or any hindrance!
6. Delaying effective date of the law for one full year, to allow time for a Supreme Court challenge.

While you have your congressional staffer on the line, please also tell them that you also oppose Red Flag laws, magazine bans, and so-called assault weapons bans. Those too are all unconstitutional.

Your 210-Day Gun Collection Re-Balancing Plan

Even though H.R. 8 is blatantly unconstitutional, odds are that it will indeed become law, most likely in April or May of 2020, and most likely without any significant amendments. You should take full advantage of this brief window of opportunity to round out and re-balance your family firearms collection, as follows:

• Make a list of the guns that you presently own.
• Highlight those that you are willing to trade or sell, to fill gaps and achieve better balance in your collection. Do so with the next two or three generations of your family in mind. Try to stick to common calibers, for your modern guns.
• From these lists, make a prioritized list of what you need. If in doubt, then just picture Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer standing next to you, as you open your gun vault. Would they scowl if they saw any particular guns? Then those are what you need to buy.
• If you live in one of the 37 remaining Private Party Sales States, then start by searching local newspaper classified ads, Armslist.com, Gunbroker.com, and GunsAmerica.com for private party guns (or receivers) that match your “want list” criteria.
• Start checking gun show calendars, and making travel plans inside of your state, for September of 2019 through March of 2020.
• Quietly start withdrawing cash from your bank or S&L. But beware of the $10,000 limit, triggering a Cash Transaction Report (CTR).
• Liquidate some precious metals or other liquid tangibles into cash. If you took my advice and bought Rhodium in 2016 back when it was under $700 per ounce, then this is a good time to sell. Rhodium is now up to around $4,700 per Troy ounce.  If you bought silver as I recommended, then it is a good time to sell perhaps 20% of your holdings.  (Sliver was at $19.20 per Troy ounce when I last checked.)
• Pay with cash or in Bitcoin out of your hardware wallet. Avoid buying from Federally-licensed dealers, if that is legal in your state.
• If there aren’t many gun shows in your region, then consider hosting “Itty Bitty” livingroom gun shows for between September of 2019 through March of 2020, if that is legal under your local and state laws. Trade among your trusted friends, neighbors, and church congregants.
• If you have more than 10 extra guns to sell, then rent a gun show table in your state a few weeks before the law goes into effect. Print up some prominent signs that read: “Private Party Seller.”
• I generally shun going into debt, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 is signed, then seriously consider taking a cash advance on your credit card or even a modest home equity loan (in cash), to finance your private party acquisitions during The 210 Days of Freedom.
• Buy some 80% complete AR lowers and 80% complete Glock frames. Do so soon, before the small available supply dries up, and new production is legislated away.
• If you decide to trade a gun, then trade it only for a gun that you or your children will need and that will appreciate in value.
• Worry about buying magazines, uppers, spare parts, caching tubes, ammo, et cetera, after the 210-Day window closes. For now, concentrate on getting the hardest-to-find serialized guns and receivers, sans papiere. But again, look for ones that are in common calibers, like .308, .223, 12 Gauge, 9mm, and .45 ACP.
• The full significance of the Federally-exempt status of pre-1899 cartridge guns probably won’t be recognized until around April of 2020. So buy or trade for yours soon, while they are still affordable and widely available. Most shooters will be shocked to see pre-1899 guns double or triple in price, in the next few years. Presently, a Swedish Mauser dated 1898 on the receiver ring is worth $400 to $900.  But by 2022, we can expect to see a $2,500+ price tag. The law of supply and demand is inescapable. While the supply of antiques is fixed (absent imports), demand will become tremendous.
• In the long term, plan for successive waves of legislation. California is the Bellwether state to watch. As goes California law, then so will go Federal law, if the Democrats gain control. This may mean: A FEDERAL 11+ round magazine ban, a FEDERAL  “ghost gun” (80% receiver) ban, a FEDERAL background check on ammunition sales, a FEDERAL “approved safe guns” list, a FEDERAL gun registration law, A FEDERAL one gun per-month purchase limit, a FEDERAL ban on most detachable magazine semi-auto rifles, and so forth.
• Do not break any laws.  Use every loophole that you can, but do not run afoul of local, state, or Federal law. Make your private purchases of modern guns and receivers inside of your own state. Remember: Sales of modern guns across state lines have required an FFL since 1968. Violations of that law are felonies.
• Just before the private party sales ban law takes effect, type up separate letters with lists of guns with descriptions and serial numbers that you are giving to your children and grandchildren. (“On today’s date, December 25, 2019, I am hereby giving the following firearms to my son Johnny B. Smith:  1.) A Glock Model 19, serial number…”) Have those letters notarized, by a local Notary Public, BEFORE the law’s effective date.
• Remember: Once the 210 Days of Freedom window of opportunity has closed, it will probably be closed permanently–at least in our lifetimes.

Don’t snooze on this, folks. The U.S. Senate is back in session, so the clock is now ticking… – JWR

—

Note:  Permission to re-post this article is granted, but only if it is re-posted in full, with credit to James Wesley, Rawles and a link to SurvivalBlog.com.

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I did it again.

I suggested to a high school senior that he get an education and learn tattoo removal. I'm sure he could make a killing  in that field with all of the messed up ink I see in my travels.

Back in the day we used to have to wait until the circus was in town to see the fat tattooed lady. Now you can see it just about anywhere for free.

I don't want to address the tattoo issue here. My libertarian nature says you can do what you want to as far as ink goes.

What I am saying is that there are an awful lot of people that are going to be looking to get at least some of that ink removed.

Everyone has a mom so I suppose a lot of 'mom' tattoos will not be a priority to have removed. What will probably be in demand is old girlfriend's names and stuff like that.

It's a slam dunk that Louise doesn't like looking at Rosie's name on her husband's arm. He probably wants it gone, too after what Rosie probably did to him when they broke up.

I also see foolishness on peoples bodies that they will eventually wish they never got in the first place so it's a pretty safe bet that tattoo removal would be a pretty good career choice for someone to get into.




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Time to wear the old flight jacket to a Chinese restaurant.

It has the old Flying Tigers blood chit sewn on the back in Chinese.

The older people at Chinese restaurants find it fascinating.

Maybe I'll get another free egg roll or two.


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Lucas McCain sure killed a lot of people.

I just read where Ol Lucas killed 120 people during the series.

That's a lot of bad guys if you ask me.

I read where it averaged 2.5 killings per episode.

While we are on the subject of Old Lucas, don't try and spin-cock a Winchester, loaded or unloaded. Loaded it is a good way to shoot yourself in the head or the foot. Unloaded it is a good way to give yourself a pretty good knot on the head. I know because I saw someone try it. I was not stupid enough to try it myself.


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Wanted for a murder he didn't commit....

It's been a while since Hollywood has used that old chestnut for a movie or show.

Most likely we can expect to see that old line reused. It's been a while.



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I always love how Europeans used to call Americans ''cowboys'.

Maybe they still do.

I never resented it because for the most part, cowboys are pretty competent, pragmatic people.

In the service I briefly dealt with a couple of European officers, Brits and French. British officers seemed a little more relaxed while the French officers seemed to have a slight problem when they were handed off to an enlisted man. They tried to hide it but I sensed it.

I was somewhat of a liaison NCO to a visiting Brit outfit for a short time and one of the things I did was to help them draw some field gear. A Brit captain asked me something about comparable European sizes and I told him American field gear came in two sizes, too bit or too small.

Much to his credit, he simply said he'd opt for too big as he could "roll up sleeves and pant legs, that sort of thing." 

A corporal laughed and said, "Just like ours, Sir!"

I doubt a French corporal would have said such a thing.

Anyway, after normal business hours I would drop by the British barracks dressed in western attire. I wanted them to KNOW I was an American AND a cowboy. The guys were pretty amused.

One night I risked a court-martial for this but sometimes a man just has to do what he has to do. I dropped in on them for a few minutes with a six-gun on my hip. It caused a number of raised eyebrows and huge grins. I didn't stick around for long, though.

One of the grinning NCOs asked me if I had parked my horse outside.

John Wayne was still alive then and it was interesting to note that almost to a man they knew who he was. Virtually all of them had seen one of his westerns. To many of them he represented Americans and the get it done attitude. 

The French contingent I dealt with was simply a couple of officers that were observing one of our field problems.

I recall someone killing a rattlesnake and I ate it. The Frenchman said something to me about it and I pointed out that he probably ate snails. He didn't really know what to say.

He was also very surprised that I had taken it upon myself to make a deal with a nearby grunt outfit to supply the 'quick reaction force' in return for us guarding the intersection. When he asked my battery commander about this the BC grinned and said he said he expected things like that to happen because he encouraged us to show some initiative and get things done.

I think the French officer thought we had an awful lot of cowboys in the ranks. Actually there were a number of ranch and farm boys in the outfit so maybe he wasn't 100% off.

Still, we were considered cowboys and I actually considered it to be a left handed compliment.

















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I just shot down a Facebook character that though she was special

because she was some kind of small time elected official.

Apparently she was a Seven Sisters woman's college grad of some sort and acted like a twenty-two year old brand new second grade school teacher. 

She actually thought she was some kind of big shot boss and I wound up telling her differently. She had all of the braided armpit uppity feministic crap in her head and thought she was special.

I think that the thing that really tore her up is that I told her she doesn't have my respect, my loyalty or my obedience. I also made it very clear she was not my boss or my leader, she was just a measly representative...and at that, one that seems to be doing a piss-poor job.

It was really like taking candy from a baby as she took every single piece of bait I dangled in front of her and I didn't let up on her for an instant until a friend of mine IM'd me and asked me to back off because she was related to him. He said he was tired of picking up the pieces so I obliged him.

Where these people think they can interfere with my life come from I do not know. This one bragged about having a degree from a so-called prestigious Seven Sister college.

The Seven Sister colleges were formed right after the Civil War in the northeast. The civil war had produced brutal casualties and there were few eligible men left to marry. They gave woman an education of sorts enabling them to move west and become schoolmarms so they didn't fall into the trap of prostitution. 

These days they are pretty much considered liberal arts schools that probably produce social workers, teachers and other semi-useless types. A degree from one of them really isn't a whole lot to brag about. They would have been better off getting a STEM degree from a decent state run college.

Still, the fact remains that she thinks her position actually means something.

I know Sarah Palin isn't really favored these days but a lot of elected officials ought to take a long, hard look at her.

Most elected officials are isolated and/or insulated from their constituency. Sarah was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and as a direct result was not insulated from her constituency even a little bit.

If Sarah wanted to eat she had to go to the grocery store just like everyone else. Every time she left the house she faced her constituency, both admirers and detractors. She had to deal with it up front and in her face.

I'm reasonably sure Alaskans have not changed much since my day. They were than and are probably now a pretty hard group to govern. Sarah did it easily. I recommended to this little snowflake she read the Wikipedia entry on Sarah's early political career and learn something.

Please note that Sarah treated her constituency, their money and their rights with respect. As mayor she cut her paycheck by 10%.

Like her or not, she was pretty damned successful as both the Mayor or Wasilla and as the Governor of Alaska.

That woman was/is a leader unlike the little entry level snowflake I was dealing with. Sarah won my respect, loyalty and (most of) my obedience because of the way she governed.










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When the system breaks down the people generally take care of things.

When I moved to Alaska one of the first things I heard about was the murder of a troublemaker. To my knowledge it is still unsolved.

The murder victim was a burglar, a thief, a drug addict and had a violent way about him. He was a serious nuisance and finally someone somewhere along the line got tired of his shit and simply shot him in the street.

He was walking down the street, a shot rang out and he died. Nobody was ever prosecuted for the crime as far as I know.

I remember one of the residents telling me that they heard the fatal shot and simply went back to washing dishes. The resident told me that the neighborhood became a much nicer place to live after the murder.

I am not going to condemn nor condone this act but I certainly understand it. The system had failed to protect the community so the community protected itself.

Years later I saw a similar occurrence happen in another Alaskan town. Like the other guy, the murdered man was a violent addict that had caused too much trouble and one of the locals simply got sick and tired of him and killed him.

To the best of my knowledge that crime was also unsolved.

Shortly after the murder the running joke went around that he had been shot in the head three times and the state police ruled it to be a suicide.

I certainly can not condone any of this but I won't condemn it completely. I just look at it as an example of what happens when the system breaks down and fails to protect its citizens.

I expect to see more of this in the Lower 48 as time passes. It seems that the system is doing less and less to protect the average guy and as I have seen before, when the system breaks down vigilante justice takes over.

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I recall another two murders that occurred when I lived in Alaska but both of them were robberies and one of the two was a case of s Darwin candidates stupidity.

One of the murders was a simple case of robbery. One of the nicest guys in town was driving cab and was murdered and robbed. I'm sure he wasn't carrying a whole lot of money and I'd venture the murderer was probably a druggie looking for a fix or something.

It was simply the cabbie's bad luck.

The Darwin candidate's problem was that he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. I didn't know him very well but he took me into his confidence and told me he was going to make a killing in the cocaine business. he told me he had 10 grand saved and was flying to Anchorage to score a big amount and was returning to sell it.

Frankly I thought he was an idiot and was probably going to simply get busted shortly after he started selling the drug locally. It was either that or get robbed. He clearly didn't have the mind to deal drugs on the street. After all, he told me what he was up to and I barely knew him.

The other thing I figured as a possibility is that he would simply be mugged and wake up in an alley broke.

A couple of weeks later someone told me that this idiot had been found dead at the Anchorage dump with empty pockets. Frankly I wasn't surprised. 

My guess is that he arrived in Anchorage and hit the bars looking for some kind of big time dealer that would give him a wholesale deal. He flashed his wad of cash and someone simply decided to take it from him. He was that kind of a naive fool.

Looking back on this I think that all four of these murders probably shaped my life and taught me something. 

The first two taught me that even though you can escape punishment from the system, things can and very well may catch up with you. It probably made me behave myself to a certain degree.

The cabbie murder made me aware years later when I drove cab for a while. It made me pay attention and think before I hauled someone out of town that really didn't live there or had no business going there.

The robbery/murder that took place in Anchorage simply confirmed that you can't fix stupid. While the victim had every right to live, he seemed to work pretty hard at being stupid and getting himself killed.

Still, I do believe that all four of these were drug related in some way and reinforced my belief that using drugs was not the way to go. Because I stayed clear of the drug wars going on it may very well be the reason I have lasted this long.

As time passes and the country continues on the downhill slide I suspect we'll see an increase in robbery related murders, too.





While we are on the subject of the system breaking down, I read where there is no appreciable increase on traffic accidents when the power shuts down and traffic lights stop working.

People for the most part simply start treating traffic lights like stop signs and use the rules and etiquette for stop signs.

Just goes to show you that government is not needed as much as a lot of people think it is. 



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One of the things that gets me into trouble sometimes is how I think.

There is a scene in Saving Private Ryan where Barry Peppper's character is looking for a sniper that shot one of the guys. He looks up and sees a church bell tower and says, "That's where I'd be."

I tend to try and solve things by asking myself what I'd do if I was in the person's shoes. On the other hand, looking at Barry Pepper's part I would have expected the sniper to be in the bell tower but you can bet your ass I would not have parked myself there. It's too obvious.

About fifteen years ago one of the guys told me he wanted to tear down a long unused barn and we brainstormed. I suggested he go up on the roof and tear it down top to bottom but was told the building was far too rickety for that. I suggested having the fire department burn it down as a training aid. He told me he had asked but they refused.

I had him draw out the basic plan of the building and he did. It was supported by several uprights. I suggested getting a couple of friends with heavy trucks and straps to simply pull the uprights out from under it and let the building collapse and self destruct under its own weight.

"That's what I'd do," I said. "Then again, you could get hurt that way, too."

He decided to go with that and reported some pretty good success. The building came down and pretty much destroyed itself in the process. What was left could be safely dismantled and he told me that they made a bonfire and over the course of a few days reduced the entire thing to ashes.

I don't know why he followed my advice except to say it made sense to him to go that route. Still, from what I had gathered from his description and the drawings he showed me I probably would have done it that way.

I guess it worked.

Many years ago I worked at a place where there was a very antagonistic attitude between much of management and labor. It was terrible. 

There were good people working there in management, but the jerks made life miserable. One day one of my supporters asked me what I thought of company security and I decided to tell the truth. It sucked.

This was right after a highly publicized work place violence incident and I suppose he was somewhat worried. I walked through the property with him and pointed out any number of things and places where someone hell bent on destruction could use to great advantage. There were a lot of them.

He looked at me and asked me how I could think of such things. I simply told him it's like being a cop. To catch a criminal one has to think like a criminal. I admit that prior military service helped.

A few minutes later he was pointing things out to me and asking me what I thought. Clearly he was thinking like a criminal now. 

Then he asked me what the best thing was to avoid workplace violence.

I told him that the best thing I could think of was to simply not run an antagonistic workplace.

He looked at me and shook his head sadly. He knew that wasn't going to happen. 

Afterwards from time to time he would consult with me on any number of job related things. He never did mention that he had consulted me to anyone else which I was grateful for. It would have led to false accusations of wanting to cause trouble when I was trying to simply avoid it. People have a bad habit of killing the messenger.

Still, I have to keep my ideas and thoughts to myself because they get taken out of context and it leads to false accusations.














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