Friday, December 28, 2007

Special announcement for retailers

Through careful investigation, I have determined that Christmas will fall on December 25th next year.  Instead of stocking up on decorations and "gift sets" before Halloween, maybe you could use that information to work out schedules and make sure you have enough of those special hard-to-come-by items like Dr Pepper.

Geez, I know the bottling plant is a whole fourteen miles of treacherous dead-straight four-lane rural highway from here, but you'd think they could get in an extra load rather than have only one six pack left in the store by 9AM on Christmas Eve.

Even more annoying is to wander into the stores now, and see how many normal-stock items are still sold out, while piles of seasonal stuff are still taking up space as the prices slowly get lower.  This is why I usually bury gift cards in my wallet until about March, when they've decided to restock the stuff I want.  OTOH, this year, I was looking for some unusual enough items that I was able to get most of them right away.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Get down with the sickness

I woke up Friday with what could have passed for Parkinson's tremors.  Fortunately, it was just uncontrolled shivering.  Then I looked at the thermometer and realized it was 75 degrees in the room.  Great.  Fever of 101, muscle aches, mild nausea, poor balance and alternating hot/cold flashes.  No chance of getting an appointment that day, and I wasn't in the mood to go hang around the waiting room coughing on people and waiting for somebody to cancel or no-show, especially over something that doesn't usually hit me too hard.  I took some ibuprofen and went back to bed, then picked up some TheraFlu on the way to work.

Last night, I woke up with the chill again, and decided to check...eep - fever of 103.6.  Ibuprofen and aspirin brought it down to 102.8 within a few minutes, and after an hour it was down to 101.4.  A couple hours into my shift now, and it's holding between 100 and 101, with most of the aches also nicely masked by the aspirin.  Luckily, the job isn't generally too physically demanding, nor do I have to operate any heavy equipment.

What really sucks is that it picked Friday to start; nothing but the ER ($100 copay, but if the fever gets out of control again, I'll go) will be open until at least Wednesday, and even then everybody will likely be on vacation.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Fun with recoil and flash


Full power .357 loads in my 2" Taurus 605.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Bad computer...

For those wondering,my laptop's hard drive crashed a few days ago, and I've just finally managed to get the bluetooth connection to my cell phone working, and finish downloading the new Ubuntu install CD. (actually Xubuntu, in this case)  At the moment, I'm running from a PuppyLinux LiveCD, and I'll be hanging on to the settings and the CD in case of future problems, but I'll probably be limping along for a couple more days until I get Ubuntu 7.10 installed and configured from scratch.

I know I could just do this stuff from the desktop machine, but I've put off updating it even longer than the laptop, so I can never remember where stuff is on it.  Since it's got the printer, and that seems to die or develop new problems with every software change, I dread having to do any updates on that machine.

FWIW, I noticed that Staples is running the Sandisk Cruzer 2G flash drives with an instant savings that brings them down to $20.  I think I know where I'll be backing up the PuppyLinux settings.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

She started it...

Emergencyemm posted a gun-related parody, so I'll throw my contribution in:

(With apologies to Frank Herbert)
I must not flinch.
Flinch is the group-killer.
Flinch is the little-jerk that brings total misses.
I will face my recoil.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will realign the front sight upon the target.
Where the recoil has gone there will be nothing.
Only x-ring hits will remain.

Maybe I should be passing this along as a challenge...hmmm...I bet Marko's busy with moving stuff...MattG's just sitting around sniffing stuff...Tam is probably still asleep...Don Gwinn (and yes, I was one of those people who didn't have to look up either of the references in his photo caption) doesn't look too busy...surely somebody out there must want to desecrate a literary work for the amusement of gun owners.

"Justice"

Remember when Paris Hilton was picked up for probation violation and 70 in a 35 on a license that was suspended for DUI, and they were telling us how normal it is for anyone picked up on such charges to serve less than a week of a 40+ day sentence?  (OK, in fairness, she actually had to serve a grand total of 22 days, but still not the 45 she was sentenced to)

So why is Keifer Sutherland getting shafted for the full 48 days?  Maybe he should cry and come up with an "unspecified medical condition."

OTOH, IMO, if you get probation and then violate it, you should be locked up for the remainder of your original sentence, plus whatever they decide to tack on for the violation.  You had your second chance and blew it, so stop whining and take your punishment.

Now, back to my usual not giving a damn about anything that has to do with Paris Hilton.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Texas laws

MattG reminds us about Texas Health and Safety Code Section 822.013, allowing for the killing of dogs and coyotes harassing livestock, domestic animals, or poultry, but he leaves off before getting to some of the other interesting points of Texas laws when it comes to rural life.

Penal Code Section 28.03 lays out the law on criminal mischief, which encompasses damaging or marking another person's property.  It's a misdemeanor if the damage is under $1,500, with the class determined by the monetary value of the loss, except that it's a felony if the property damaged is a habitation and the damage was caused by a firearm or explosive, or the property damaged is a fence that contains livestock or game animals.  At night, any of it can get you shot.

Penal Code Section 46.13 makes it illegal to make a loaded firearm accessible to a child, unless you're "engaged in an agricultural enterprise" at the time, among other exceptions.  No explanation is offered as to how weeding the beans makes it acceptable to be careless with your gun and child, but rushing your wife to the hospital doesn't.

Penal Code Section 31.03 defines theft, again a misdemeanor if the value of the property is under $1,500, unless you're stealing livestock, firearms, ballots, or 
anything taken directly from a person, living or dead.  Again, it can get you shot at night.

There are other interesting bits, so I may revisit this topic someday.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

We serve no redcoats here

Looks like the Brits aren't making any friends these days, even among their own soldiers.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

A Time to Rant

Well, I've let this thing set for a while, and it doesn't seem to be making my life any better. I guess now I'll try posting to it and see if that helps any.

What shall I rant about first? It seems that so many good topics are already taken, so I'll just tag on a few general comments on these topics, and go from there.

Illegal Immigration
Sure, they contribute to the economy, just like every other criminal. Next time you get a quick police response, thank a pedophile for keeping staffing levels up. EMTs save your life? Thank an IV drug user for his contribution to their funding and training. A quick count shows 15 body shops in this town of 15,000; how many would go out of business if not for the drunk drivers? We don't try to protect or justify any of those, so no more coddling of illegal immigrants.

Inappropriate Cell Phone Usage
I've actually seen a cashier so engrossed in her personal (and I mean personal in the sense of “things that shouldn't be discussed within earshot of anyone but your doctor or priest,” too) conversation that she never even realized I had gotten my phone out, and was chewing out her manager over her behavior while at the register.

Gun Control
On second thought, maybe I shouldn't even get started on that right now. Suffice it to say that my idea of acceptable gun control is a 10” group at the appropriate range for your weapon rapid fire, or smaller for slowfire.

Health Care
Right now, I'm seriously considering getting all my non-emergent needs taken care of in one fell swoop before things go to hell in a handbasket with more government control.

Police Brutality
Whatever works when it's needed. My preferred solution to high-speed chases would involve lobbying Ithaca to bring back the Mag-10 Roadblocker, and booting any CLEO that doesn't authorize its use immediately when a suspect runs...on foot or in a vehicle. Okay, maybe they can use rock salt for the ones on foot.
OTOH, I'd like to see all the dirty cops have their badges tattooed on their foreheads before being released into general population at the nearest prison.

The Droopy-Drawers Thing
Does this even need a rant? How can anybody think that wearing their pants at half-mast is anything but dumb-looking?

I'll have to get back to this later; I know I'm leaving out some good rant topics, but my mind is going blank.