Monthly Archives: November 2023

Guns Are Dangerous

Posted in Gun Safety, Lawyers and Representation, Uncategorized by

Just heard another news story of a little girl rushed off to the hospital, shot by a gun. Well, it is somewhat redundant. If she was shot, it was pretty obvious it was by a gun. However, let’s get real. Guns do not have minds of their own. Someone at some time did something that caused that gun to be discharged. In some cases, it is intentional. In other cases it is by accident. The gun and the bullet are just following the laws of physics. Once that gunpowder in that bullet is ignited, the projectile will leave that barrel and go somewhere.

If it is aimed, there is a good probability it will hurt or kill someone. On the other hand, if it is by accident, then it is simply a matter of chance. Nonetheless, it does seems odd that the accidental discharges will find those who are the most innocent, as in this case, a little girl.

I don’t know if this gun was discharged intentionally or not. Moreover, if it was intentional, it likely was not aimed at the girl. Whoever shot the girl probably feels bad about it, at least I hope so. He should.

Perhaps the most common bullet today for a handgun is the 9mm. What many do not realize is that, unless that bullet hits something to stop it, it may go for a couple of miles. It is not lethal for the entire distance, but it can cause injury or death for most of that distance. It is why when a person goes through training, we are taught to make sure of what is behind the target, as well as the target itself. You miss the target, you just might hit an innocent person standing behind, possibly a little 8 or 9 year old.

People have gotten far too careless with guns. Only a few decades ago, people took guns very seriously. Nowadays, they pay little attention at the pain they can cause, not only to those they kill, but those loved ones as well. To be sure, there are financial problems as well. Doctors, nurses, police, lawyers and courts all get involved with a shooting, even if it is accidental.

A gun, in the hands of trained man, can be dangerous. A gun in the hands of a man who is not trained, is asking for disaster. A gun in the hands of a person who does not know the danger of a gun, is a ticking time bomb, figuratively. Eventually, something will happen. It is simply a matter of time.

When I think back over all the shootings I have heard of, I have come to a very solid idea. People, all people should be taught about the hazards of guns. Certainly, a class or two should be required of high school students but I think it should start in the first grade.

I don’t mean they should be taught how to shoot them. I mean they should be taught the hazards of them. Above all, they should be taught to leave them alone. Above all, they should be taught that they can and will kill, even by accident. They should be made aware that guns are not toys.

At various points along the way, the training should be repeated, but in more detail. By the time a person graduates high school, they should know, they should realize the dangers of a gun. Hopefully, then, we will not have so many killed accidentally. As a side effect, we just might not have as many killed intentionally.

Really, when you come right down to it, it’s not so much gun control we need as gun safety. It should not matter that a person is or isn’t going to buy or use a gun. In as much as possible, all people should learn gun safety. That way, even those who buy guns illegally, know the hazards of a gun. And, by the way, if they know the hazards, they just might decide against buying that gun.

If it happens to put a few doctors out of a job, if it causes a few policemen to look for another line of work, I don’t think they’ll mind. If we were to take a secret ballot vote from them, I think you’d find it almost unanimous.

The expense of such training would almost be negligible. However, it would be very much worth it at ten times the price.

As a quick aside, it seems guns and drug abuse seem to be close cousins. If we can do away with illicit drugs, maybe we can decrease gun deaths too.

My Favorite Things

Posted in Going Green, Memories by

Daily prompt

Where is my favorite place to go in my city.

Okay. Favorite place, favorite thing; it’s sort of the same. Besides, the word, thing, is more accurate for me anyway. Then too, why not use the song title from Sound of Music if I’m able. By the way, it is also one of my favorite songs. I like it almost as much as the title song.

The thing is, I have always liked parks. When I lived in Orange County, we used to walk nearly 2 miles to a park, play for hours, and then, of course, walk nearly 2 miles home.

Irvine Park was not in walking distance, but all of us loved to go now and then, by car, of course. We always had a picnic lunch and frequently watermelon for desert. The park is quite expansive. We ran all over the place, up and down some sizable hills and did some things that wear me out thinking about it today. Then, of course, when we got home, none of us had the energy to make trouble for any of the adults.

The one park that I really loved though, was Griffith Park. That place had enough there to keep me busy for a week, maybe more. That park is huge.

I also spent time in San Diego, which also has a huge park, which also has a huge zoo. I am sure most people have heard of it.

The city where I live now has a couple of parks, which we visit from time to time. Moreover, there are state and federal parks nearby. As a couple of old folks, we don’t run around so much any more. But it is still nice to visit them for a walk now and then. During the right season we watch Little League games and maybe consume a hot dog. It’s gotten to be more enjoyable than watching the pros.

And so it is that my favorite thing is also my favorite place, the park, no matter where I lived.

The Instant Millionaire

Posted in Awkward Situation, Entertainment, fun with math, law enforcement, Little known info, Memories, Our Legal Systems by

My memory is a little foggy. I tried to use the internet to clear things up but I failed. Sometime in the days of the top 40 being aired on the radio (late 1950s), there was a famous disc jockey. As I say, my memory is foggy, so please forgive me if I’m wrong. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the man was Jim Hawthorne.

At any rate, whoever he was, came up with the idea and suggested it on the radio. He said, with 35 million in the United States, (or whatever it was back then) if everyone sent me just a quarter, I would be an instant millionaire. (and by the way, back then a million dollars was a fortune)

Well, he wasn’t serious, but many of his listeners took him seriously. Indeed, if I remember right, he did receive close to a quarter of a million dollars, in quarters.

It all sounds nice enough, but he got in some real trouble for that. I don’t know why; however, he was required, as much as possible, to return all the money.

Perhaps it is a law, maybe an FCC regulation. Maybe the radio station didn’t like it. However, that little case of foot in mouth disease cost the man plenty, over nothing more than a few quarters.

Odd. It seems harmless enough. However, I guess if a person is going to ask for money, there is a legal way of doing it. A person can’t just ask for it. I guess if they do, they are asking for it. As for me. I look at this way. It’s just another way to keep me from becoming an instant millionaire.

NOTE: Please do not send me any quarters.

The Answer Eludes Me

Posted in Uncategorized by

Daily writing prompt

What’s the first impression you want to give people?

The other day, a woman needed to go around me, which I was unaware of. She politely said, “Excuse me,” which is the right thing to do.

I replied, “I’ll try,” smiled and quickly stepped out of the way.

She obviously got the joke because she smiled and almost laughed. It just isn’t the thing a polite man should say, not really. After all she was polite. She didn’t try to shove by and her plea was pleasant. It was very impolite of me. Yet, I could tell I did just a little to lighten her day. If I had just said sure or nothing at all, what good would that have done?

My wife always gets angry with me when I do things like that. She rarely fails to scold me. She said, “One day someone is going to get mad and hit you.” I must admit that it is risky. Sometimes people do take such things the wrong way. I guess, in that little instant, I am making a first impression. I must say that usually the gamble works. The vast number of people understand and it does bring a smile to their face. Every now and then though, I catch someone who has had a bad day or something and the little bit of humor is just something they don’t want.

Some have simply given me a scowl instead of a smile. Some have even yelled at me. And yet, in spite of the chances involved, I still do it. I like making people smile. I really like to see them laugh, even if it is at my expense.

Now just how that is put into an answer to the prompt, I don’t know. Still, maybe you can figure it out.

One Step Toward Being a Prepper

Posted in Being woke, Biden, Cancel Culture, Climate Change, Drive-throughs, Electectric vehicles, Elections, Face Masks by

I just had a thought today. However, before I tell you what it is, let me explain a little. I mean, how am I going to keep your attention if I just blurt it out up front. Where is the suspense in that?

I now know that as long as I have access to 110 volts at 12 amps, I have access to power for my car. I plugged it in about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I plugged it in again last night. After about 14 hours, the car was almost charged back up to 80%. Now that’s not bad.

Naturally, if I can access 240 volts, all the better. In some cases, I can get access to to a full level 3 charge station free of charge (I know. Dumb pun). At any rate, should things really go south, so-to-speak, I still have transportation if I can find somewhere to plug in my car.

I started looking on the internet and I have realized, for a price, I can bring my electricity will me. Granted, it is a big price, but it is possible. First I get a solid state generator, about $1200. It would have the ability to store a substantial amount of electricity. They are able to supply 2200 watts for quite a while. Sorry, don’t know how long. I tried to find out but they apparently don’t like providing that specification over the internet. At least I couldn’t find it. However, assuming 10 hours, that’s likely enough to keep my car running for a few more hours… 60 or 70 miles. Maybe more.

The next trick is charging the generator. That’s where the solar batteries come in. It said I can also use wind mills. As per the ad, almost anything. There was even the thought of charging it with a pedal driven generator.

So, her I am. Because some sort of disaster, this little old prepper me, somewhere out in the desert or mountains. I have one little generator being recharged with the ten solar batteries. Another one is being charged by a windmill. And of course, I need to stay in shape anyway. So I’m pedaling like crazy to recharge the third generator.

Then after using the three of them to recharge the car’s batteries, I will be able to drive, maybe another hundred miles, to where I don’t really know.

At any rate, I have decided that my electric car has permitted me to be one step closer to being fully prepared for the next doomsday. And, with Old Joe running things, I just might need it. At least I will not be faced with those ridiculous drive throughs anymore. Also, if I am out in the woods by myself, with no one else around me, there will be no one around to tell me to wear a face-mask.

Caught in a Lie

Posted in Abuse of Power, Awkward Situation, Biden, Crime, Deceit, Elections, FOC, Muslims, News media by

Let’s see. Over and over, the Israelis said that the Hamas has set up command & control centers under hospitals. Over and over, Hamas leaders have denied it. Now we know who told the truth and who told the lies. The proof is on video now.

Guess that makes Hamas liars. Guess that makes Hamas guilty of war crimes. Does anyone expect them to be tried in world court? Not a chance.

The controllers don’t want them to stand trial as it would make the controllers, like Old Joe, look bad. It would be far worse should they be convicted. It sort of makes the dems look dishonest too.

However, I don’t see that causing any problems for them. I mean, it’s not as if we learned anything new once the lie was exposed.

I-10 Fire Logics

Posted in Biden, Border wall, Deceit, Elections, FOC, law enforcement by

I think it has become pretty well established that the fire that took out a large section of I-10 was set intentionally. I might point out that whoever did it chose his target effectively.

First, it is a very major artery taken by thousands to and from work every day. Second, it’s a major truck route for trucks taking cargo from the harbor to points east. Third, there is an event planned, which will likely need to be moved or canceled. Finally, the highway was elevated. That means it will take a lot of time and money to repair it.

For sure, it is just the sort of thing a terrorist would select. With a small effort and expense, the arsonist, terrorist or not, caused a lot of disruption. I suspect it was his exact purpose.

It was my suspicion the instant I heard it might be arson. Though I thought it might also be terrorists, I decided to hold off until they were sure it was arson.

Even now, there is nothing to be said for sure; however, considering the the above, it would seem to be something to look into.

Also, given the flood of folks headed north over the border, I would suspect there are many that could have done it.

Besides, even if it was not a terrorist that did it, the arsonist may still have been on the south side of the border a week or two ago.

Gung Ho

Posted in Abuse of Power, Bribes, Elections, FOC, Politcal Opinion by

Many, perhaps most do not know the meaning of the above term. Even less know the origin. Let me explain. Lt. Col. Evans Carlson borrowed the term from the Chinese in 1937. It literally means, work together. It wasn’t long before the term was adapted throughout the Marines and it was drilled into our minds during all my basic training.

During much of the war in the Pacific theater, it was a battle cry. The leader would yell, “Gung ho!” and the men would call back as loud as they could, “Gung ho!” It was the constant reminder that, that which cannot be done by the individual can and will be done by the team. As everyone did what they could, and a little more, it resulted in the accomplishment of the impossible.

Now, just what in the world brought this subject up, may I ask? Well, I was watching football. It helps me sleep. In this case, it was quite successful. I really had no interest in either Buffalo or Denver. However, by chance, I happened to wake just before Buffalo’s last score, which put them up by one point.

Then, as if on script, Denver started marching down the field. I must say, it seemed that Buffalo seemed to want to help them. Regardless, without putting all my readers to sleep, it all seemed to end with a missed field goal with only seconds left. It appeared that Buffalo had held and won by one point.

But wait a minute. As those who saw the game or heard about it, it seems that Buffalo had an extra man on the field. I guess he figured he could get away with it by acting innocent. He didn’t. The yellow flag came out and after a short time, it was announced to one and all, all over the planet, that there was a penalty against Buffalo for too many men on the field. The TV announcers confirmed it by counting them and using his illustrator to circle each as he counted.

And so it was that Denver got another chance at the field goal, which they made.

Now this is all interesting, but what does the one thing have to do with the other?

Well, the assumption is, and most people would say, that whoever it was that was not supposed to be on that field cost Buffalo the game. To be sure, it is partly true, but mostly false. If all we look at is that short time frame, it would be true. However, that game was not lost on that one play. Where they really lost it was as team when they failed to stop Denver from advancing. THAT… was a team effort and they failed not as individuals but as a team. There was plenty of blame to go around. Buffalo did not lose that game because of the one play and certainly not because of that one man.

If they had won, they would have won as a team. When they lost they lost, they lost as a team. They worked together, but apparently just not quite hard enough. Still, I would not have liked to be that 12th man in the locker room.

As I have mentioned many times before. It is why I joined the Marines. If I was going to be in a fox hole, I would want that other guy with me to have the best training in the world. And, by the way, I would not want to be sharing that fox hole with a woman. Better to have a man who, if need be, will be able to carry me to a point where I can receive treatment.

When this nation was in it’s infancy, we did have the desire to work together, to do more than our share. Somewhere, we have lost that. Now, many have decided to hold their hands out instead. Many seek the freebees and the government has decided to provide it, in exchange for a vote.

Now. Gung ho has just become another foreign word, which few know about. This nation will either continue to succeed together, or it will fail miserably as individuals. Incidentally such as bribes and crooked elections work contrary to working together.

Taking Water on Planes?

Posted in Uncategorized by

Have things changed that much? Just heard a blab over the radio. A way to get a bottle of water by security is to freeze it. Because ice is a solid, not a liquid, they’ll let it by. (Don’t count on it)

Another idea was to carry an empty bottle and fill it after going through security. I suppose that idea will work but for what purpose.

Have airlines changed that much since my last flight. First, most flights don’t last that long. Most of us should be able to go 4 or 5 hours without water. If not, I am sure an attedant can resolve the problem.

Also, last time I flew, they served softdrinks and water. At one time they even served peanuts.

If all else failed I could have walked to on of a few places on the plane where I could fill a paper cup with water, several times should I want.

Then again, it has been many years ago that I flew. Maybe there is a reason to resort to stealth to sneak water onto a flight.

Who needs to do that sort of thing?

A Possible Arson??

Posted in Uncategorized by

I heard today that the I-10 fire might have been arson. Until I heard this, I figured it was just an accident, and it still well may be.

For that reason I will fight back my urges to jump to conclusions. Nonetheless, I sure hope that they find who did this. If the question remains unanswered, it will increase my suspensions.