Gee! The mayors of two cities boycotted the St. Patty's day parade!

Who cares?

The mayors of Boston and New York have abstained from attending the St. Patrick's Day parade because the organizers didn't include the gay community.

Yeah? So?

First of all, it's the St. Patrick's Day parade, not the Gay Pride parade. The gay community has their day and their parade, although it's likely that most gays don't participate because they have better things to do. Most gays have jobs, careers, things of that nature and really don't care about being in a parade.

Most sensible gays have enough sense not to try and and crash a parade which is actually based on a people that almost to a man are Catholic. It's a recipe for disaister.

Truth is, that about 10 or 15 years ago before the demographics of Southie started to change, the gay community in the St. Patty's Day parade would be looking for serious trouble. The South Boston Irish would have most likely pelted them with anything between rotten vegetables and bricks.

Many gays simply go about their business the same way everyone else does. Kudos to them.

Secondly I didn't hear the gay community ask the St. Patty's day parade organizers if they wanted to march in their parade. I wonder what would happen if a bunch of drunk leprechauns decided to crash the Gay Pride parade?

Likely you'd never hear the end of things. The moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth would be epic. Frankly, I'd love to see it just to be able to watch the outrage of the gay community.

Actually I would have to say that there are likely a few gays in the parade as it stands. They are likely the part of the gay community that simply goes about their business with a little quiet dignity. I have no problem with this at all.

Personally I gererally don't attend parades. I really don't have a dog in this fight. 

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I believe I have mentioned

 that I am going to become a grand uncle or whatever you call them for the third time.

My nephew and bride married last June and now there is a bun in the oven and it is due this coming June.

Now she is a wonderful young woman and has been joyously welcomed into the family that takes no prisoners. Still, nobody has done anything to seal the deal yet. 

I just had a word with my niece. She has two beautiful daughters and a couple of years ago she celebrated one of their birthdays with a pony ride at a place that has a bunch of ponies they sell rides on. She gave me their phone number.

Right now I'm thinking that maybe I can hire a pony for a day shortly after the baby is delivered. I'll have the owner of the pony place put one in a trailer, drive it to my nephew's house and act like she's delivering it.

"Your Uncle Piccolo was so excited about you having a new member to the family that he decided to buy your new daughter a pony. I've got to get back to work. Can I tie it to the fence?" 

I'm not going to tell you what I think would happen. I think I'll let you, the reader, imagine the results of that one.

I did something similar with a mule once to my wife about 20 years ago. Hilarity ensued and I was hidden in the bushes to watch the scene unfold.

Twenty years makes a lot of difference. If I did that today with a mule, my wife would just have the deliverer put it in the garage for me to deal with.







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The folks you kill are sometimes better and more honorable then the people you defend.

These words were recently spoken by a former soldier.

I do not know if the people he refers to as being the people he defended are the American public or the politicians that sent him out to fight. Truth is, I see his point either way.

As I age I wonder if I would have served had I known that the country was going to degenerate into a population of governmentally dependent whiners.

Perhaps I would have because I personally got a lot out of the army and learned a lot there. I did go to serve, though and what I got out of it was more of a bonus. Today if I were to serve you can bet your ass it would be with a totally different attitude.

While one thing wouldn't change. I wouldn't let my buddies down, I would go not to serve the public, but to serve myself and learn the skills I learned as a junior NCO.

It's sad.

Here's another comment I heard someone make.

If Rosa Parks knew what was coming she'd most likely quietly  moved to the back of the bus. 

 Another sad comment.

I can't speak for Rosa Parks but it wouldn't surprise me one bit. Someone also said Dr. King was spinning in his grave.



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Sometimes I miss.

I take all the information I can glean from various sources and put it together as best I can and draw my own conclusions. I try to make them logical because I learned years ago that emotional decisions are more often wrong than right.

I blew it when I said that it looked like George Zimmerman was not going to go to trial. The very next day they arrested him.

Looking back on that I think I failed to take the emotionally charged arguments and politics into consideration. Of course, he was tried and acquited. Still, I didn't think it would have made it to court if Al and Jesse hadn't cme forth spouting their special brand of hate and discontentment.

The other day I predicted the porn industry was going to move to Las Vegas. I guess outwardly that would be the place for them to go. However, someone pointed out to me that the reason prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas is because the people running the casinos have clout and don't want it in Las Vegas. They are trying to give Las Vegas the image of a nice place to take the family.

A couple people have suggested that it may move to Florida but I'm not going to call that one.

I got a lot of flack over my comments regarding Putin taking over Crimea. I suppose that if you read or in some cases re-read the post you will see that I didn't say Putin was right or wrong. I simply said that he was looking out for the interests of Russia.

If I were in Putin's shoes likely I would have done the same thing. Any responsible head of the Russian state would have done the same thing. I also gave Putin credit for doing it with no serious bloodshed.

Incidentally to those that say the United States has never invaded a sovereign country please remember a place called Iraq.  

Right now there is a flight missing that flew out of Malaysia. Right now there are all sorts of theories out there. Right now information is scanty. There are not enough pieces of information to put together and speculation is running wild.

I've heard all sorts of theories ranging from simply terrorism to mechaniccal failure to suicide to aliens. I'm simply going to be patient until enough information comes out to give me a chance to put things together before I speculate.

While I have mis-called a few over the past few years you do have to remember that I have made well over 1700 pretty much consecutive posts. 

More often than not I think I come out right in my conclusions.

It's been a pretty good ride for me because it at least make me think. Or at least try to. It's also given me a place to rant, rave and vent. I suppose I have a few regular or semi-regular readers but the truth is if I had none I's still face the keyboard every day. Doing that give me a sense of discipline. 

I suppose it is like someone I spoke with that makes their bed every single day. I seldom make my bed. I leave the covers heaped because the cat like it that way.

I was thinking that this project would make me into a better typist but I was wrong. I'm still a lousy typist and my typing is full of mistakes and I type slower than hell. Oh, well. I tried.

This is billed as 'The grumblings of a wayward Old School sailor' and that is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less.



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It's Pi Day.

Today is 3-14.

Happy Pi Day, everyone.







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Riddle me this

Riddle me this:

When I go grub shopping for the boat I have a budget and spend every dime of it on grub. The money comes out of a grub allowance and we eat decently on it. 

So how come I see people pushing shopping carts that contain more expensive grub then we can afford paying for it with a government card?

Riddle me this:

So how come I get to replace my pickup every ten years yet pay enough in taxes every year to buy the government a pickup better than the one I drive?

Riddle me this:

So how come I come ashore after a tour and see people that haven't done a damned thing productive since I left that are living at least as well as I am, and in a lot of cases better.

Riddle me this:

So how come we're not motivating people to get up of of their asses and make something of themselves instead of rewarding failure?

Riddle me this:

So if how come every time I turn around and see people on government aid that has a much better cell phone than I can afford for myself. It's supposedly so they can find work yet they've had them for an awful long time and the overwhelming majority still haven't found jobs.

Riddle me this:

So how come so many people in this country spend so much time and effort to take money away from someone that has it and give it to someone that is too lazy or stupid to make their own?

Riddle me this:

So how come those people that are trying to take everyone else's money from them just don't take the time and effort they spend on it to make their own money to give to someone too lazy and stupid to make their own? With the effort you put into taking someone else's you could easily make your own.

Riddle me this:

So how come people in this country are punishing the majority for the crimes of a few.


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I have been rejected for jury duty over the years

 because I am pretty much a fully informed juror. Not only as a juror will I look at the guilt or innocence of the defender, I will also determining if the law applies in the situation.

An example of this is the case where 3 college kids give the 4th one some money to buy pot with. The kid gets caught and cries that he was doing a group buy and some over zealous  DA tries to charge all 4 of them with organized crime.

Those kids are going to walk. That's not what the organized crime statues are there for. The kid is guilty of a petty little misdemeanor, not a serious felony.

There are a lot of other things that I would let someone walk for.

I don't use racial slurs on people and I don't like seeing other people do it, either. Yet I believe it shouldn't be against the law.

On the other hand if some person of, say Italian extraction got called a greasy Wop and took exception and gave the name caller a fat lip then don't come running to the law for justice. You already GOT justice when you were given a fat lip.

I don't have time for stupidity. I look at things through the eyes of a fairly reasonable man.

While I most likely would not give the Italian gentleman a break if he carved the name caller up with a straight razor, I'd overlook a punch in the mouth. 

While I am disappointed that the system doesn't seem to want me for jury duty, I will say that if I were impaneled it had better not be for something stupid.

If you are suing the GPS company because the GPS told you to take a right and you followed it blindly and wound up in the ditch somewhere then you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting a dime from the GPS company if I'm a juror. I don't believe supporting stupidity.

Then again I am one of those people that think we ought to remove all of those dopey safety stickers from things and let the problems sort themselves out.

One of the things I see happen is someone picks a fight or does something wrong and gets their ass beat and then runs to the law. If the fight picker had left things alone he wouldn't be bothering me by making me have to listen to his sad tale of woe in the first place. 

The guy that thumped him is not only going to walk but I very well may buy him a beer afterwards. He'd get the beer if he did it with style.

While most police officers have integrity, if I get any inkling that the police are being dishonest the defendant walks immediately. While we can't afford putting criminals back on the street, police dishonesty is generally a far worse thing for society to have to deal with. A dishonest cop is a criminal in uniform.

Surprisingly enough, I tend to believe police officers over a lot of my fellow citizens. However I do check the officer's story because every now and then a halo slips and some less than saintly cop puts $hit stains on the golden letters of the oath.

For what it's worth I trust a working cop a lot more than I trust a DA. Generally if a cop is being dishonest in court he's likely convinced that the defendant is guilty and is trying (in a misguided way) to get someone bad off the streets.

If a DA is being dishonest it generally has nothing whatsoever to do with trying to make the streets safer and EVERYTHING to do with furthering a career in politics. DAs are either elected or are political appointees.

I will be the first one to admit that I look at prosecuting attorneys with a somewhat jaundiced eye because they are politicians. This is the reason I will not sit on a jury where the defendant is on trial for his life. I simply don't trust the system.

This little essay is not to be misconstrued that I am on the side of the criminal element. I'm not. I want to see justice done. If the defendant is guilty and the law applies, I'll find him guilty.

I am a believer in justice, honesty and integrity and will follow my conscience and call a case the way I see it. Judge's orders be damned. 

After all, in a jury trial the judge is only there to be a mediator, explain a few points of law and keep the trial orderly and moving along. He's the number two dog in the courtroom.

As a juror I am a member of the highest authority in the courtroom. I represent the people.

Because I know this I am considered ineligible for jury duty.


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Interesting people in history

There are a lot of interesting people throughout history that merit my respect even though they were not on our side.

On the list of people I think I would like to sit down with and have a drink or cup of coffee with are a few military people that were our enemies. Many of these are enemies and former enemies.

One of the things about many of our enemies is that while they are or were enemies there are some of them I truly respect. Any good professional military man has the utmost respect for his enemies. I remember an old sergeant telling a young private that commented that the Viet Cong were a ragtag outfit unworthy of respect.

"Little guy? This tall? Black pajamas and an AK-47? You're damned right I respect him and if you don't respect your enemies you will come home in a box!" snapped the old Platoon Sergeant.

It should be noted that there was a picture of Irwin Rommel in one of our combat vehicles. An Iraqi corps commander, taken prisoner, was seated in the vehicle. He asked why there was a picture of one of our former enemies in the vehicle.

"If you had paid attention to what that man did and how he did it you might not be sitting here," snapped a private.

Erwin Rommel comes to mind as do several others. Oddly I would not want to talk to Rommel about tactics, but logistics. The tactics used by the Desert Fox were pretty simple. The part that interests me are the logistics involved. He had a lot of men and materiel to move and I'd like to know how he did it.

Vladmir Putin is another one I'd like to do something with. Maybe go fishing or something. I respect him for doing his job and looking out for the interests of his country even though what he did seems to be unpopular with the rest of the world. I'd love to know how he thinks. He seems pretty shrewd to me.

Tadamichi Kuribayashi is pretty high up on the list. For those that don't recognize the name, he was the commanding officer of the Japanese forces on Iwo Jima. He seems to interest me for a number of reasons. He actually liked, or at least respected Americans. It is reported that several times he told his family that America was the last country that Japan should fight.

Kuribayashi did one hell of a job defending Iwo Jima. It is the only time in the history of the Marine Corps that they took more casualties than they received. You sure don't have to like that one bit but you certainly have to respect it.

I'll admit Kuribayashi is one guy that interests me. He was given a very distasteful job to do and did it in a first class manner. He went to Iwo Jima knowing he would not be coming home. 

The beverage of choice to share with Kuribayashi would be a large pitcher of clear, cool, water. He had little but rainwater on Iwo Jima as there were no springs there.

He was damned clever. He allowed the Marines to get ashore on the sandy, impassable beach unopposed and after they were mired and bunched up he shelled the beach. Holland Smith, the American commanding officer comented, "I don't know who he is, but the Japanese General running this show is one smart bastard."

Isoroku Yamamoto is another one I'd love to share a cup of tea with. I would like to know how he thought. He was another Japanese officer that had spent time in the States and didn't like the idea of Japan going to war with us. Still, when ordered to, he planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. It knocked this country for a loop, that's for certain. It was one very crippling blow to our Navy.

Yamamoto knew that he had to deal a knockout blow at Pearl Harbor and hoped against hope that the Japanese could negotiate a peace. He is another Japanese officer that felt going to war with the United States was not a good idea.

Both of these Japanese officers knew that their chances of victory were slim to none yet they did their duty. Of course, they were the enemy and I don't like what they did but I respect them as military officers.

I'd like to find out how Yamamoto managed to get his entire fleet so close to Pearl Harbor undetected.

Robert E. Lee is another one I would like to have a cup of boiled camp coffee with but for different reasons. He was a thoughtful man and I'd love to have been able to listen to him. Lee was a true southern gentleman. I suppose my Massachusetts relatives wonder about that one.

On the other end of the stick I'd like to have a drink with Ulysses Grant, the man that took Lee's surrender. I can't explain why. Beverage of choice here is Jim Beam.

There are a few president's I'd like to have met. One is Lincoln. I would have liked to have watched him inspecting the ranks of the troops and watched his interactions with them. He is reported to have been a kind man as well as a political animal with a keen wit.

Teddy Roosevelt is one guy I'd like to go rabbit hunting with for some reason. If not hunting, then something that would take us outside. He'd be interesting to listen to.

Harry Truman would be fun to play poker with and have a couple bourbons with. I don't even play poker. I've read a few books about Harry and he was a man of character unlike many of our recent occupants of the Oval Office. Truman was pretty fiesty and also understood the duality of the presidency and from time to time he'd park the presidency and become Harry Truman the man.

Paul Hume, a music critic, gave his daughter a somewhat mean spitited review. Truman sent him a letter and even though he had franking privlige he put a three-cent stamp on it he paid for himself. He never abused his position.

                        THE WHITE HOUSE
                            WASHINGTON
          Mr Hume:

          I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an "eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay."

          It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.

          Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!

          Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.

          H.S.T.

Ya gotta wanna have a drink with a guy like that. You can't slight him for defending his daughter, either.

Oddly enough, it I had my choice of what to do with Ronald Reagan when he was president I would like to sit down with him in a living room and watch a couple Three Stooges shorts. Reagan had a twinkle in his eye and a sense of humor. Betcha if nobody was looking he'd do a pretty good Curly imitation.



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Men have no business going to baby showers

I have noticed that these days men are being invited to baby showers. I do not know why that is because baby showers have always been a woman thing.

Men have no business at a baby shower and it is as simple as that. Baby showers are generally full of giggling, ooohing and ahhing.

I have read where a guy was coerced to attend such a soiree and he isn't likely to be invited to another one. He brought the obligatory gift for the baby.

It was a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. Incidentally if the baby is going to be a girl they make the Red Ryder in pink these days.

Smart man. I think I am going to put that trick in my bag.

Shortly after I started this piece based on an internet thread about man going to baby showers I found out that one guy has already taken this tack. He upped the ante from a Red Ryder.

He bought the baby to be a Chipmunk .22 rifle. Smart man!!

Some of you readers may think that a Chipmunk .22 is an expensive baby shower gift but I think you are wrong if you understand the concept of looking down the road. Over time this will likely be the cheapest gift you can buy in the long run.

After the womenfolk's heads explode and they settle down a bit they will start running their mouths the instant they leave. They will gossip about this for years and years.

The liklihood of being invited to another baby shower for the rest of your life is pretty slim.



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Several years ago this came up when I went to a CMP match.

 It was at a local private sportsman's club and I heard about the match from one of the members.

It was their first match under the CMP rules.

I was pleasantly greeted by the other shooters and someone quickly briefed me as to what the club had to offer. They said that until noon breakfast was three bucks over at the club kitchen and told me where the toilet facilities were as well as where I could get a cold drink if I wanted one.

That was pretty nice of them to offer me the services of the kitchen that fed me a damned fine breakfast for three bucks. Then again, shooters are pretty good guys.

They didn't have to allow me the use of the kitchen if they didn't want to. After all, it was a private club. The only things they were required to provide me with were the use of the range while I was involved in the CMP match and a bathroom.

Seeing I was shooting a Garand that day and the ammo for the match was inexpensive I bought 52 rounds for five bucks and shot the match. It was cheaper than I could handload them for.

It was a nice club, and like my usual club it was well tended. They had a pretty good bunch of guys there and I shot the match with no problems.

After the match the club returned to being a private club and required membership to enter the premises.

I discussed that with our CMP committee at the next club meeting and it was explained to me that when our club  enrolled in the CMP program that there were requirements that the matches were open to the public and there were a few basic things we had to make open to shooters that entered the match.

I mention this because shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing the press in our area was doing what a lot of other television stations were doing at the time. They were taking footage of CMP matches and showing it on the air and passing it off to an unsuspecting public as paramilitary training.

It was a dirty trick and a couple of years later I got even with this particular reporter by passing off my cat on a leash as a guide animal and giving her a feature story but that's another story in itself.

Still, she and her cameraman drove up and demanded the right to take pictures of the match and the Range Officer asked her to leave. She waved a CMP pamphlet and said that the matches were open to the public.

I was next to the RO and shot back that the pamphlet read the matches were open to SHOOTERS of the general public and asked her where her rifle was.

She got pushy and started demanding her rights and so on and as she was another member pulled out what was then a new fangled cellular telephone and called the police.

A couple of minutes a cruiser showed up and an annoyed cop got out. In less than a minute the van was last seen driving off of club property, followed by the police car.

At the next meeting I heard that she got a ticket for running the stop sign at the end of the road on the way out.


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Like it, lump it, love it or leave it, Putin is a pretty class act.

Right now a lot of people are pretty upset with what the Russians have done in Ukraine and it is just another case of Americans being upset with someone doing just what they would in a similar circumstance.

If the Cuban government was in the middle of a major upheaval and it lookied like Cuban forces were going to sieze the base at Guantanamo Bay you can bet that the United States would send forces into Cuba to defend it.

While Gitmo is in Cuban territory, we do have a bona fide lease on it and it is an important asset. We're simply not going to let go of it.

Pretty much the same thing is going on in Crimea. Crimea has in it several Russian military assets that have been there for quite some time. In fact, Crimeans do not seem to have any objection to find themselves being taken by the Russians as most likely the don't want to be a part of the instability in Ukraine.

The biggest asset in Crimea is Sevastapol which is one of the very few warm water ports that the Russians have the use of according to the deal made when the Ukrainians broke free of the former Soviet Union.

Sevastapol is too much of an important asset for the Russians to just casually let go. Russia doesn't have too many warm water ports as it is.

With the present Ukrainian instability Putin just decided to make sure he has secured Sevastapol. I don't blame him. If i were him, most likely I may have done the same thing. 

The thing that I admire about the way the entire thing has gone is that it has been pretty damned bloodless. There has been no fighting to speak of and the area is secure.

He came in, secured Crimea and with it the Port of Sevastapol without killing anyone. He didn't get involved in the internal infighting in Ukraine. He simply secured his legitimate military bases and the necessary port.

What is even more interesting is that it looks like we've funded the invasion for him because we just sent the Ukraine a BILLION dollars which more than likely will go straight to Russia.

The truth is that Putin has done this with so much finesse that it is nothing less than huiliating to the Obama administration. Putin has simply secured legitimate assets for Russia in such a way that it looks like he is simply showing President Obama how it is done.



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My guess is that if it isn't already that Las Vegas is going to be the new hub of the porn industry.

While I am not too big on porn, I have to admit that it is a pretty big industry. It generates revenues in the billions.

Until recently the hub of the industry seemed to be southern California. Recently the California government has passed a few laws regulating it. I suppose a movie made there after the enactment of these laws could be called "OSHA Smut".

Shortly after the laws were enacted a number of porn outfits moved, some to Las Vegas. Nevada has no state laws prohibiting prostitution. They leave it to the counties to choose.

For example, prostitution is prohibited in Las Vegas, but an hour's drive and you are in a county with a legal brothel in it.

Still, because of the attitude in Nevada it seems a slam dunk natural that the porn industry will make a home there. 

The other reason and this is a big reason, is that Nevada has low taxes. For example there is no state income tax there.

The porn companies cam keep producing porn the way the audiences like it and keep more of their profits.

What is interesting is that I have read about murmurings of the legitimate film industries talking about moving out of southern California. Seems the taxes have gotten a little high down there.

Recently a number of celebrities have complained to Sacramento that taxes are too high. Likely many of them will vote a tax cut with their feet and leave the Holywood area.

Can't say as I blame them but you do have to tell them to look at themselves. Many of these Hollywood types are dyed in the wool liberals that support many of the liberal giveaway policies and that's what has gotten taxes to skyrocket in the first place.

Nothing is free and when the government gives something away they have to get the money somewhere and that means taxes. The money the government gives away has to come from somewhere.

The Hollywood types that are griping about high taxes have only themselves to blame. They supported all of the expensive government programs and they have only themselves to blame for using their celebrity status to support their causes.

California is deeply in debt and doing a pretty good job of running their financial base out of the state with over regulation and taxation. It won't be long before southern California starts to look like Detroit.

Of course this isn't the first time the film industry hasn't left someplace for another place to escape problems. Back in the early days of movies the film industry moved from northern New Jersey looking for sunnier climes, cheaper real estate and lower taxes.

The lit on the shores of sunny southern California and proceeded to latch onto it like a tick and turn it over time into an up and coming snake pit. Much like a parasite as soon as it has killed donor off, it leaves looking for another.

I suppose Hollywood industries as they leave southern California will go looking for a place with good weather and low taxes and start sucking that place dry and slowly destroying it.

On the other hand, I'd dare say that the porn industry isn't likely to do a lot of harm to Las Vegas because the people involved are more low key. They don't produce people with the celebrity status that the mainstream movie industry does and they tend to fly under the radar as far as politics go.

Truth is, I'd rather see the porn industry come to my town before the mainstream film industry did. It would be less damaging in the long term. 

We'll see over time but one things is a pretty good bet. California is going down into the hurt locker in the not too distant future.

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American badass.

Right now I am seeing a man I met on the web off on his final deployment to Afghanistan. The man is somewhat of an American badass.

Most people that pursue an infantry career don't last the full career because it is terribly hard on the body. Running around with 100+ pounds on one's back is something the human body just wasn't designed to do.

Furthermore this man began his career a little later in life than the average kid that went in at 18 straight out of high school. 

In fact, this guy graduated from Ranger school well past his 40th birthday. That's pretty hard core. That school is rough on people half the age he was when he graduated but he managed to tough it out.

If I am not mistaken, he was going through Ranger school about the time his son was in basic training!

That's pretty badas if you ask me.

I wish him well and hope he comes home to a well deserved retirement.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

One of the things I have noticed recently is that there are a lot of men starting to look at shaving with the old fashioned double edged razors like their fathers and grandfathers used.

Someone asked me why.

I told them it has because of the razor blade shortage created by the Navy not scrapping enough ships to keep up with the demand for razor blades.

I guess the Navy has started scrapping ships again because double edged razor blades are now on the market.



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We're trying to buy happiness

Years ago when I was living close to the earth and pretty much on a barter system I seemed to do pretty good for myself.

I was busy when I wanted to be busy and could goof off when I wanted to and if I felt like doing something simply because it interested me I simply did it.

I spent a lot of time taking advantage of the fact that I had such freedom.

Of course I did without a lot of things most people take for granted. I did without running water and electricity and had a portable AM/FM/SW to keep track of the world. With one AM and one FM station on Kodiak Island at the time I got some of my news from the BBC and other shortwave news sources.

Yet, even without running water and electricity I consider it to be a pretty good trade-off I made. I can remember trading a job with my doctor for an office visit. I hung a couple of doors for him. I also traded fixing a sink and installing an electrical outlet with a woman in exchange for washing a duffel bag full of laundry for me.

I can also remember sheet rocking a room for a guy in trade for a sail for my boat that he had in his garage. It was used but in good condition and later served me well. A couple of months later I traded some work for a parachute that I turned into a spinnaker of sorts. I lofted it out on the dance floor of a local bar one afternoon.

Of course, if someone wanted to give me a few bucks for doing something I wasn't too adverse to that but I think I got my best deals by trading.

Still, the point is that at that time I wasn't a wage slave, but pretty much a free person. There really wasn't a whole lot that anyone could take away from me because I didn't have very much to begin with.

I was by most definitions, homeless.

It was a care free existence that to this day marks me with an attitude I still hold. I know I can have a pretty happy life with little or nothing. It puts me in somewhat of a position of power.

I learned a lot looking back on those times.

I learned that happiness is not a financial state or being able to look at posessions. Happiness is an attitude and while lack of money or materiel can make you miserable, money can't buy happiness.

It's something that a lot of people do not realize.

It is also a big part of why we're in a lot of trouble in this country. We're trying to buy happiness with our social programs.




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Well, let's see what is going on today.

The other day the subject of the Civil Rights Act came up and I think I had someone confused with my attitude. I think he thought for a while I was a racist which I am clearly not.

I simply believe that it should pertain to government being fair in their hiring practices and basing their hiring on competence, regardless of race, creed, color etc.

Private enterprise should be able to pretty much do what they want.
If a private business opts not to do business with anyone it is their choice. Prior to a lot of the Civil rights legislation a lot of places had signs in them that said, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". You don't see those signs anymore but I have seen them years ago.

I've seen one enforced. Some guy came in and sat at the counter and the soda jerk threw him out. A couple of minutes later I asked why and was told the person was a pest. Much later I found out he was.

True integration into a society is something that can't be legislated. 

You can't order people to love one another and that simply life.
I always figured that if a guy wanted to open a business and refuse to do business with a segment of society it was his business to run. 

If he want's to limit his customer base it's up to him. It is a part of what liberty is all about.

On the other hand, it is a double edged sword. I don't have to do business with anyone.

There is a restaurant across town that has recently taken a stand of some sort. They refuse to permit small children into the place. They want to run a place where adults can dine without having to deal with recaltricent children. It's probably a good move as there is a clientele there for a place like that.

Somebody griped and my answer was the same as it generally is. 
"So don't eat there." It's as simple as that. They can protest the move of the restautanteur simply by voting with their wallets.

On the other hand, one night I voted with mine. I went there and enjoyed a nice meal without having to deal with someone else's spawn from hell.

It was a shame that I didn't get to see family interaction with responsible parents, though. I like to see parents being good parents and raising well behaved kids. Still, it was good eating there because I didn't have to deal with bratty kids which seem to be the norm these days.

I am a member of two private clubs. One is a sportsman's club, the other is a radio club. The sportsman's club is pretty much open to anyone that is a hunter, fisherman, shooter or other kind of outdoors man. Race, creed, color is not an issue.

The radio club has a restriction on it. You have to be a licensed amateur. No license, no membership. Sorry about that. Again, race, creed, color, religion is not even brought up. It is a non issue for membership.

Both of these clubs have minority members and nobody even seems to notice. That's what true integration is.

Had either of these clubs had some sort of stipulation restricting membership by race etc then most likely I would not have joined.

Still, as far as I am concerned both of these clubs should have a right to restrict membership. Of course, if they do I will resign right on the spot.

When someone opens a business or starts a club they generally have an agenda. The most common one is to make money. Without money the enterprise fails.

Restricting a customer base generally restricts income because the great equalizer in life is money.

Last time I checked, the money of a gay, black, Jewish, native American female disabled war veteran spends just as good as the money of a member of the WASP club's does.


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I went out for a few items yesterday

And shook my head at whet it cost me.  Things are getting expensive. I may have to start shooting squirrels again.

This is an amazing age we live in.

Generally when I make an overseas radio contact I want proof of the process is that I stuff an  envelope with my QSL card, a Self addressed envelope and money for return postage. Generally $1-3 depending. I have a chart and look it up.

Then I put an overseas stamp on it and send it on its way.

Well over 90% of the time the card arrives inside a month or so later. That is, of course, unless the mailman in some far flung backwash in the middle of Outer Slobovia is issued a goat to make his rounds on and is paid with what he can steal.

Anyway, I made a contact I want confirmed because it now means I have every country in South America under my belt.

I looked him up and saw on his page that mail theft was common in his neck of the woods and that the best thing to do is to send him a couple of bucks via PayPal. 

It makes sense, really. He most likely doesn't need another QSL card from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He probably has 20 of them.

What he does need is a couple bucks for postage which also, like food, not cheap anymore. The old days of the three-cent post card are long over with. At $1.20 a pop, overseas stamps add up fast.

Anyway, enter technology. I simply went to PayPal, entered 2 USD clicked 'send' and off my money went straight to South America.

Instead of waiting a month I suppose my QSL card will arrive in a week or 10 days.

It is an amazing age we live in and while technology gets griped about a lot, it does make life a lot easier.

I guess it's kind of like a digital camera. 

Instead of taking a roll of film down to the corner Rexall and waiting a week, you have the pictures right then and there. You can pick and choose which ones you want to save instead of having them all processed and you can print them up right at home if you want.

I guess I'm not one to take things for granted. Every now and then I stop and look at how things have changed. 

Some of it is for the better, some isn't.





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Education is a relative thing.

It's a snowy Sunday and I am not a happy camper because I am old and grouchy and hate cold weather.

Breakfast is a couple of cold egg rolls from a take-out Chinese night a few days ago. It's actually pretty good. I like certain things cold in the morning for breakfast and shrimp egg rolls are on the list.

One of the things that has irked me over the years is someone laughing at someone that's doing something that the laugher can't.

A while ago there was some kind of special on about primitive bushmen somewhere. It very well might have been in Australia. The show was long ago and showed bush people of some sort going about their daily business.

They were hunter-gatherers and one of the things that amazed me is that they seemed to instinctively know where to find water. It was amazing.

They were in a somewhat warm clime and rather arid and yet these guys could find water like there was a drinking fountain on every corner. They could also kill some kind of birds with rocks.

Pretty amazing, really.

Anyway, Mr. Arrogance commented that those people must be pretty dumb.

"How you figure 'dumb'?" I asked. "You can't do that. You'd die out there in three days. They look pretty smart to me."

"Yeah, but..." he stammered.

"But nothing. You'd be dead inside a week if you got plopped down there. However, I'd just bet you that one of those guys could come into our society and learn pretty fast. They'd make out."

"But they're..." he countered.

"What? Savages? We got a lot of savages in our midst. Just look around you. Our savages are far woorse than they are. They don't go around killing each other for no good reason like ours do." I answered back.

I suppose I wasted my time on this jerk because I think he is stupid and you can't fix that. The truth is that this post is just to say that education is a very relative thing.



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The other day I mentioned my bug out bag.

Someone asked me what was in it and was sadly disappointed that it wasn't full of guns and ammo. There isn't a single round or firearm in it.

Bug out bags have the reputation of being some kind of super survivalist thing but mine is pretty much anything but that. It does have a few survivalist type things in it but for the most part it contains practical things.

There's a couple days grub in it and I change it out annually. Not much, really just enough to keep me going for a few days.

Mainly it is a practical bag of stuff designed to keep me going a few days in the event of a natural disaster. I figure that if I need any firepower I can just grab whatever I need separately. Most likely a forage gun, a shotgun because I like to eat.

I suppose if the Apocalyptic Zombie Invasion starts I'd grab a rifle because the only thing that zombies them is head shots.

Still the bag has in it what I figure I'll need in case I get in a jam.

Sometimes it travels with me because it's easy to toss in the truck and if I ever wound up in a snowbank it could make life a lot easier for me.

There's a change of clothing, a multi-took, a cable saw, a baby Ka-Bar knife, a sharpener, and a few other odds and ends. There's also a fork, a spoon and a simple mess kit in it that I can use to either eat out of or cook with is push comes to shove.

There is a quart bottle of white gas to accompany the Primus stove that is in the side pocket. There is also a pint of Jim Beam bourbon for use as either trade stock or medicinally.
There's a poncho liner in it in case I need fast bedding of some sort as well as a basic change of clothing as well as basic toilet articles and a change of clothing.

I'm not going to inventory the whole kit but it's a fairly practical grab and go kit for emergencies.

It also has a practical use. Once I had to grab stuff for a fast  overnighter where I would be working on something. I was in a hurry. I grabbed the bag and was good to go.

I had everything I needed to overnight, crap out on a couch get cleaned up the next morning and get the work done.

My bug out bag isn't just something that sit in a corner awaiting a Zombie invasion. It's a useful tool.



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Yesterday's post about starting a fire with flint and steel

                                                 opened a floodgate of memories. I decided to let things roll and try and recall life in the tipi.

Just keeping a fire going was a chore as the amount used depended on the season but was pretty constant. If I wanted a hot meal, I cooked it on a fire. If it was cold and I wanted to stay warm I built a fire.
In short I cut a lot of wood.

One got pretty good about keeping their eyes open for stuff. Tinder is one example. a walk in the woods seldom left me empty handed. If I spotted a cedar tree I'd sluff off some of the loose bark and put it in my possibles bag.

In the late summer when the birds had fledged and vacated their nests I'd see one and a single glance told me if it was made of twigs or grass. Twig nests got left alone. Grass nests got placed between my hands, got shredded and went into the possibles bag.

A mouse nest was a treasure. Two puffs on the char cloth on top of one and they would burst into flames. One of those went into the bag after the turds were flicked out.

There were these mountain cacti and they had little fruits on them. They were good to eat if you didn't mind peeling them. There were all sorts of little goodies out there if you knew about them.

I always had my eye out for game and had a deal with a local that would split a deer with me if I shot one. I did a couple of times and ate well for a long time.

Flints both as firestarters and for my rifle were all over the place if you kept your eyes peeled and knew how to knap them. Many none flint pieces of igneous rock worked well.

The part that is so interesting for me th think of thirty-seven years later is how casual things were. I didn't think of even looking around for things I needed because I seemed to know where they were without looking.

It is amazing how much the past twenty-seven years have dulled my senses to things but not totally. Every so often I flicker back when I'm outside and notice some little odd or end. The other day it rained and I observed the rain wasn't going to last very long. Then I wondered how I knew that after it stopped a few minutes later.

Then I simply I had subconsiously seen what the birds were up to. They know better than I do and generally when they birds disappear when it starts raining it isn't going to last very long.

It is simply amazing how much I have dulled out since I got civilized, yet sometimes it doesn't take a whole lot to snap at least a part of it back in.

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Boy, that was fast!

My striker arrived practically overnight and when I opened it I noticed the maker included a pretty hefty sized flint which saved me hunting around outside in the cold to find one.

I had saved the burned up rifle patches to use as charcloth and looked around for some kind of tinder and found an old piece of manila rope which I frayed down to a frazzle to serve as tinder.

The striker is new and hasn't been roughed up yet but the first time I struck it a shower of sparks landed in the charcloth and started glowing.

I guess I'm a but rusty because it took me maybe 15 seconds to get a flame going. Still,I'm not complaining. Not bad for a guy that hasn't lit a fire with flint and steel in over 35 years.

I was wondering what I used to use for a container to keep my charcloth in and remembered I had a nice little brass tobacco/tinderbox with a magnifying glass in it.

I used to be able to light a fire with the magnifying glass.Looking around on eBay I discovered that tinderboxes are too expensive. I recall I won the brass unit at a blackpowder match. Before that I used a Kiwi shoe polish tin. I see a near empty can of Parade Gloss so I suppose that's what I'll use.

I'm going to get some serious tinder and put the kit together and stuff it into my bug-out bag. It's a good thing to have there. I'm not too worried about man made trouble, it's the natural disasters the happen fast.

It's a good idea to keep a three-day pack ready to go and I use it every so often for impromptu trips. It keeps it fresh.



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