| An interesting thought... |
[Aug. 8th, 2007|09:03 pm] |
"Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered"
Marcus Tullius Cicero, 44 B.C.
The Roman empire can be fascinating. |
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| Rumors... |
[Jun. 13th, 2007|04:07 pm] |
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Rumors of my untimely demise have been greatly exag...um, ex...dammit, I have a headache. I'm hungry too. Very very hungry. They look tasty.... |
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| Tonight's Double Feature... |
[Jun. 6th, 2007|06:07 pm] |
Something old, something new...
Tonight is Dr.No and Casino Royale. Come for the movies, stay for the inevitable arguments of Sean Connery Bond versus the Daniel Craig Bond. In my humble yet deadly accurate opinion, Connery was the best Bond, but from all accounts, not necessarily mine, Mr. Craig didn't do to bad. Either way, I'm there, I'll argue with you. As always, Imports are 3 bucks, so come down, have a cold one and enjoy the show. |
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| Tonight at Kulture... |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:08 pm] |
It's Pixar night!
We'll be featuring Cars (cause some of us missed it) and Toy Story (which is in my eyes a movie that never gets unfunny). Come down and be a kid, only with alcohol! |
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| This is just silly... |
[May. 6th, 2007|08:43 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
Okay, so this lady who lives in Dayton, OH (I think, the link I was going to use is broken) loves Starbucks coffee (um, why?!?). She gets a cup of joe on the way to work and sees a quote printed on her cup. The gist of the quote is: In time of crisis, why ask God, who may or may not exsist, for help when we as cognitive beings should look within ourselves for strength. The quote comes from a guy in Canada, who participated in an ad campaign by Starbucks to collect differing points of views. Winners were printed on the cups.
She's Catholic and she's offended by this. She says there shouldn't be religious discussion on her coffee cup. You and I both know damn well that if it had said "Jesus Saves!" or some other affirmation of faith, that she wouldn't have batted an eye and if a non-religious type person was offended she would more than likely be pissed and ask why that person has a problem with it. The cup clearly states that the opinion is solely that of the author and doesn't necessarily reflect that of Starbucks. But never mind that, her religious figures are under attack in a public venue and this will not stand.
I don't mind if your religious. If that's what you believe, that's fine. I only have a problem with it if you try to convert me (force the issue down my throat), judge me based on criteria set forth in the bible or you talk to damn much about it. |
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| *sigh* Here we go again... |
[Apr. 29th, 2007|08:56 pm] |
http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=3060847&version=13&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
I was thinking I wouldn't have to expound on my previous post but it appears I will have to.
As I see it, you're not going to get rid of guns. It's entirely too pervasive in our society to do that. So what are some potential solutions? I'll entertain anything. Chris Rock may have been on to something when he said allow anyone to buy any gun they want, but charge a few thousand dollars per bullet. He may have been joking, but if you think about it, if you make it cost prohibitive, you might curtail some of the frivolous shootings. Of course, there are some obvious economic ramifications and logistic nightmares coming our way if this idea were implemented, but I think it would have an effect.
Another solution is to change the technology of the gun. Colt was in the prototype stages of a gun that will have RFID's as part of the safety mechanism but due to lawsuits levied against Colt ala big tobacco company, Colt has said it will quit selling guns to the civilian market. Link here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_7_52/ai_61242179/pg_1
This is not an unique idea: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5946840-description.html
The article says that the technology is cost prohibitive, but I (as a gun owner) says such is the price you pay. The 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, not the right to cheap weapons. Of course this is not a short term solution. It would take decades to get rid (and you never really could) of the old guns and replace them with the new tech. Criminals will still have access to guns that don't have the technology but they are far fewer than your average John Q. Public. And the public would not be "at the mercy of the criminal element".
Just my thoughts |
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| I think it's time... |
[Apr. 26th, 2007|11:36 pm] |
To chime in on the VT tragedy.
As an avid gun enthusiast, events like this kind of scare me.
As well all well know, I'm anti-gun control. I don't think new laws (except to close loopholes) should be enacted, but instead laws that are on the books should be enforced more strictly. It comes down to money. The government (whichever it maybe) simply doesn't have enough money in the budge to adequately fund those resources needed to ensure the police can do their job effectively. I believe that the people should be more involved with our local, state and federal budget, to make government spending a real issue, on the same level as gun control, the death penalty and abortion. I say this because if you really look at the laws on the books, they are actually fairly strict, but due to lack of funds, those same agencies are having a hard time enforcing it. And this just doesn't apply to guns. It applies to a lot of things.
An article I read in this week's Indy quoted Professor Kristin Goss of Duke University as saying, "I think we have made a trade off in this country, that with the liberty we afford to individuals we're going to accept a certain amount of violence." I thought that statement rather interesting. Every time there is an incident like Columbine, like Stockton, Ca and like VT, there is a huge furor over the need for gun control laws. Months pass the furor dies down and maybe one or two bills get passed. The last major one was The Brady Bill, in 1993, and when it came time to enact it into law, Congress and the Senate let it lapse. Now personally I think the Brady Bill was a bunch of hooey, but that's just me. But is there a conscious or even sub-conscious acceptance of gun violence on a societal level? I don't see it. The professor went on to say that there is strong support from the American people for stricter gun control laws. I haven't heard of a new bill coming down the pipe that would significantly change the way things work when it comes to handguns. But if the enacted hose would be a mistake, a very big and sad mistake. That's all this administration needs to go overboard. I hate that it's this way but I strongly believe that our founding fathers intended to make it very difficult for a government to oppress the people. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 25th, 2007|08:12 pm] |
Huh.
http://www.ibiblio.org/bomb/index.html
Conflicting reports on the yield....
Who fucking cares? THERE'S A NUKE IN THE GROUND!
Obviously it's not going to detonate anytime soon, but that's doesn't change anything.
According to some it's a 2.5 MT H-bomb. That'd reach Raleigh easy. |
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| Suck it |
[Dec. 30th, 2006|03:14 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
Zombie Master
You are 90% likely to survive and 90% knowledgeable
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Hail to the king, baby.
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My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: | You scored higher than 94% on Survivability | | You scored higher than 98% on Knowledge |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 8th, 2006|04:56 pm] |
Just to keep every one up to date on my accident.
I'm fine, two broken toes and a nasty bruise above my kidney. I see an orthopedic surgeon Tuesday.
What happened: I was travelling up Boylan Av. and when I rounded the curve right before the bridge I hit the curb. That pitched me off the bike, and I think I flew about 30 feet then hit the ground. My bike followed me and we came to a rest 125 feet from where I hit. I was too close to the cars parked around that curve and had forgotten the road narrows there at that bridge. Combine that with the street light making the road and the sidewalk look same, my speed, I really didn't have much of a chance. But I'm not seriously injured, it could have been much worse and from now on I'll remember not to do that again.
The front end of the bike is trashed. Hopefully I have enough spare parts to make it work.
*Edit : Oh yeah, happy birtday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) z_kungfu! Sorry it's late... |
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| RIP Ella |
[Aug. 16th, 2006|01:18 am] |
As I'm sure you've read by now, our cat Ella has passed away. Our vet moved lymphoma to the top of the list of the possible ailments she could have had.
Just so you know, I've not been one to show my emotions when I'm affected on a deep level like this. I assure you, I'm not fine.
I'm going to miss my bowling ball... |
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| The subject of insomnia... |
[May. 9th, 2006|01:41 am] |
I really don't understand why I'm up this late. I have to get up early (for me at least) but I can't turn off my brain. I go through this periodically. My grandmother is an insomniac and a very light sleeper. If you woke her she'd be up all night. Anyone who has had to wake me up can tell you I am anything but a light sleeper, so at least I don't share that.
I'm thinking it's the job that's bugging me. I like and hate it all at the same time. I like to talk to people, so it's not a fear of that, and I love motorcycles, but I just can't stand retail and all the little corporate bullshit that goes along with it.
Today we got the results from a secret shopper. If you haven't heard about it, it's a company that pays people to shop at your establishment and give a critique. It's a tool for corporate bean counters to make sure everyone is towing the company line. I have no problem with it but my manager goes to great lengths to show his dissatisfaction with anything less than perfect. Today's secret shopper pinged us for not greeting him when he walked in. The company stresses this ALOT so it's a big hit. The rest of the report was good, with two exceptions. The first exception was the fact that the shopper said the person he dealt with was named "Kevin". No one at our store has a name even remotely close to that. The second exception was the note that the shopper went to "The second floor" and found it to be satisfactory.
We have no second floor.
My manager flipped on this, even though you could clearly tell that review was for a different shop. The manager claims to remember the guy but I'm calling bullshit. I tried telling the manager this but he said "that's not the point, we always get hit on this". Hey, fucko, that is the point. We probably did everything pretty close to right, and you can't say otherwise based on THE WRONG FUCKING REPORT YOU DUMBFUCK!
*sigh* Hopefully he'll get this job he asked for in TN that would make him the distribution manager for the SE district and I'll either get a better manager or take the store for myself.
Yes...a domain all my own.... |
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| This was rather amusing |
[Apr. 9th, 2006|02:33 am] |
1 Death: 44BC, Caesar's funeral
3 Events: 1760 - The "Great Fire" of Boston destroys 349 buildings; 1899 - At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair; 1922 - The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
2 Births: 1937 - Jerry Reed, American musician; 1928 - Fred Rogers, American children's television host (d. 2003) |
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| Goddammit |
[Mar. 23rd, 2006|04:10 am] |
It's bad enough people poke fun at me for being a little gun nutty, or paranoid, but after watching a few of the videos on www.youtube.com about the 9/11 Commission and other such things, I'm honestly believing it's time to build a bunker and close the concrete plug.
It was remarked earlier that "You 2nd Amendment people are always saying you need your guns in case the government gets out of control, to overthrow it if necessary. So where are you guys?"
And it is a legitimate observation. The NRA and other gun friendly organizations are always crowing about how the founding fathers wrote the second amendment into the Constitution so that if the federal government suspended our rights, if the federal government passed laws that opressed the American people, the people would have a means of recourse. They also mention that the 2nd Amendment was written to provide for the reserve militia. It's my opinion that the "reserve militia" was needed way more during the time that amendment was written considering our meager army and isn't really relevent anymore, but that's just me. If you listen to even a tenth of thier propaganda then the current conditions under which we live in, with what's going on with the current administration, there should be divisions of citizens fighting for Washington D.C. right now. Everything that's been going on from the Halliburton "scandal" to the Patriot Act is grounds for a revolution. But we don't hear a peep. Not a single call for mobilization.
I'd do it in a heartbeat if I knew I had at least a company's worth of people behind me. But as it stands the most I would accomplish is a 15 minute blurb on CNN where the commentary would include words such as "unbalanced" "disgruntled" and "Lone gunman". I'm just not willing to do that. I'm willing to lay my life on the line if there's going to be a tanglible result one way or another, but I won't throw my life away. I just bought a motorcycle.
One of my co-workers is a retired Ranger. 20 years in, got out as a First Sargeant. He and I went round and round about this. The topic was the illegal wire tapping. I told him I was totally opposed to it and the entire administration should be tossed in jail for it. He argued that it wasn't common citizens who were being wire tapped but people who had done something to garner the attention of the NSA. And as he's saying this I'm looking at him, and I'm stunned. I simply can't believe this guy is saying this with a straight face. He actually believes that the people doing the wire tapping are of sufficient moral fiber and character that they wouldn't do something like wire tap an innocent American. That they wouldn't use President Bush's orders to do something like listen in on a suspected druglord or crime boss. Like they can't make mistakes and accidently mis interpret a conversation and have the SWAT team kicking in the doors of some family. Given the number of people who were on death row and were convicted with evidence so thin you could see a playing card through it, you honestly expect me to belive the NSA wouldn't do something like that? Even if you could guarentee me 100% that something like that wouldn't happen I still wouldn't go for it cause humans as a whole suck. It's just that simple.
So where are we 2nd Amendmenters? Biding our time dear person, biding our time. I hope. |
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| It knows me so well... |
[Jan. 30th, 2006|04:04 am] |
 | Shady Sammy | | People Iced: | Seventeen | | Car Bombs Planted: | Fifteen | | Favorite Weapon | 9mm Colt | | Arms Broken: | One | | Eyes Gouged: | Eight | | Tongues Cut Off: | Fourteen | | Biggest Enemy: | The Nail Ripper | Get Your HITMAN Name |
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| Oh the woes of motorcycling |
[Jan. 22nd, 2006|07:31 pm] |
So, my Honda VFR750F (for those who don't know what I ride) died about a month back. It keeps blowing the main fuse to the entire wire harness. My bike was stolen years back and the thieves hotwired it. The plug that connects the battery to the wire harness is badly melted in places and I suspect that is why it's melted. So I had decided to sell the rear wheel and front forks to a guy who owns a Honda HawkGT and part out the rest. To replace the Honda I purchased a 1998 Yamaha Radian YX600. I found it on Craigs list and I mangaged to talk the owner down from $700 to $550, as the gas tank leaked and was rusted on the inside. It hadn't run in about six months when I got it so with the help of Zman I rigged a temporary tank and managed to get it to start. Then I had to change the oil. This is a simple enough procedure but the Yamaha does not have a spin on filter like most bikes, but rather an internal oil filter that is kept in a housing on the front of the motor. When I bought it the guy told me that his mechanic couldn't get it off and didn't wat to risk breaking it off in the motor. Knowing this I was very careful to not round off the bolt. Well it rounded anyway, so I ended up grinding it off, drilling a hole and using a screw extractor to get it out. Zman helped by whacking it really good with the hammer, which loosened it up.
Now the replacement bolt is on the way, the gas tank is sealed up and the bike will be ready to go.
However.
The problem with the Honda might be something as simple as the plug shorting cause of the melted condition allowed water to splash across it, shorting it. Or it could be the switch assembly that the plug is connected to.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to rewire that plug and eliminate that as the problem as well as test the switch assembly and see if it's gone bad. |
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| Some mee mee thing |
[Jan. 21st, 2006|07:33 pm] |
Four jobs you have had in your life:
Communications Supervisor
Independent Hardwood Flooring Contractor
Armed Security Guard
Field Technician for Nextel
Four movies you could watch over and over:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Resevoir Dogs
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Better Off Dead
Four places you've lived:
Dallas, Tx
Pearl Harbor, HI
Las Vegas, NV
Portland, OR
Four TV shows you love to watch:
MythBusters
Battlestar Gallactica
Little Britan
Coupling
Four places you've been on vacation:
Woodbine, IA
Seattle, WA
Tijuana, Mexico
Anchorage, AK
Four of your favorite foods:
Taco Bell
Bali Hai
Huong Viet
Rearn Thai
Four places you'd rather be right now:
England
Ireland
Canada
Texas
Four sites I visit daily:
all my webcomics (too many to list)
FARK.com |
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