Thursday, August 31, 2006

Know your ammo

This story was run this morning on CNN.com: Man gives kids 40 mm shell to play with; 2 killed, 5 hurt

BAKERSFIELD, California (AP) -- A military shell given to a group of children by a neighbor exploded while they played with it, killing two children and injuring five others, police and witnesses said.

Police were investigating the cause of Tuesday's explosion, which damaged homes and forced neighbors to wrap bloodied and dazed children in blankets.
...
Sendejo told The Bakersfield Californian that he thought the shell was spent and often used it as a "conversation piece." He said the firing pin and bottom shell casing had been removed, along with the gun powder inside.

"I thought it was harmless," he told the newspaper.


It sounds like he got his hands on a 40mm grenade (like that fired from the M203 grenade launcher or the MK19 heavy machine gun). With the firing pin and projective gunpowder removed, that still leaves the grenade intact...which is a problem, as he found. When you recieve war trophies, like this one, make sure you know what it is.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

An ode to CCW

As I prepare to purchase my first personal defense weapon, I found this story from LawDog: That didn't hurt for long.

I highly encourage you to read all of it. The clencher for me deals with the kindly and helpful nieghbor carrying the Glock 23. The particular weapon I am pursuing at this time (except it being the compensated version).

Hooray, internet.

After all this time (less than a month), we finally have internet. It makes me happy. I've finally been able to update our financial picture as well as our virus programs...and now Steam is back online and will let me play Halflife 2.

I have a suspicion that webhosting space was included in our internet package, which may solve some issues dealing with using imageshack for all my pictures.

Most excellent.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Things to make you laugh...

My sister was trying to show me something about an accident...and a few things kinda caught my eye...click here(you need to finish the number sequence to get in):
VEH 01 AND VEH 02 WERE SOUTHBOUND ON KNOX LANE. VEH 02 CAME TO A STOP, VEH 01 STRUCK VEH 02 IN THE REAR.


Please note that Veh 01 is a honda...being driven by a 13 year old. And that Veh 02 is a '00 International BUS driven by...Cleetus E. Pickels. The 13 year old is not getting off to good start on his driving career, as it's awfully hard to miss a freaking bus. However, he gets points for finding a man named Cleetus Pickels.

Great Quote of the Day

Academics love pathologising things as that leads to grants for 'further study', psychologists love it because they can make a fortune as 'counselors' treating the afflicted, lawyers love it when academics pathologise something as that means a company can be sued for causing someone to 'catch' a 'recognised syndrome', and of course politicians love it because that means clearly there is something here that must be regulated and perhaps even taxed more to discourage it.


Via Samizdata

Friday, August 18, 2006

AAAArrrrrrhhhhggggg....

The lack of internet is killing me slowly. Between trying to stay abreast of the news and my bills, I haven't had the time to blog...which saddens me greatly. So, I'm still alive...just barely.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Moving...

...is a pain. We don't have that much stuff, but it magically seems to expand as soon as you start packing.

On the good news front, we have our bed coming today. Our washer and dryer are coming on thursday. I'll be happy at the begining of next week.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Apartment found!

Yeah, we finally got word our apartment is ready. We now have a one-year lease with a nice little one-bedroom apartment. We finally have our own place. The plan is to move in over the course of the next week. Good times.

5-mile race results

I got the results to the Washington Town & Country Fair 5-mile Run: 37 Overall at 41:54; 8:18/M. I wish I knew how I did in my age group. The presence of a few college students on summer vacation may have dropped me back farther than I'd really care for...but I'm still proud; I was only 2 minutes behind my marathon-running doctor.

Tommorrow, I'm running a 7-mile easy pace with the local YMCA running group. It's been fun running with a group...it's also eye-opening seeing how you rank among others. Lots of fun.

Cedar Point...the planning stage

Yes, we've finally come to the point of plotting our trip to Cedar Point...rollercoaster capital of the world. 16 rollercoasters...mmmmm. After a quick look, I think we have the hotel nailed down...now just to plan out the dates.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Dumb Criminals

Here's a new one from CNN: Waitress checks customer's ID, discovers self


WESTLAKE, Ohio (AP) -- A bar waitress checking to see if a customer was legally old enough to drink looked down to see a familiar photo.

It was her own.

The 22-year-old waitress, whose name was not released, called police last week and said she had been handed her own stolen driver's license by a woman trying to prove she was 21.


Wow...what a shocker that would have been. Here's the weird part:

Maria Bergan, 23, of Lakewood, was charged Sunday night with identity theft and receiving stolen property. She was arrested at her home in suburban Cleveland.


Okay...so she's old enough to get a proper license...but she's using someone elses. Is this weird to anyone else?