Random Ramblings From The Road

So Good So Far...

It's really hard to decide what part of the world to live in these days, even with the advent of modern modes of transportation like commercial jet based air travel and President Eisenhower's interstate highway system.

At least for me it is.

I guess that you could say that we Americans are spoiled.

Or arrogant.

Or possibly BOTH.

Take the year 2008 for instance, and use me for an example.

January 1st found me wandering around within about a mile of the Atlantic ocean, on a little pile of sand and tree limbs that came to be affectionately known as "our little Island" here on my piece of the Internet.

But if you look at the map I'm afraid that you will find that someone long before me named the place St. Simons Island, and most of the dirt in the north, south, and easterly directions was technically called Georgia since somewhere around the 1600's when Ponce de Leon and Desoto were wandering around on wooden boats getting bitten by alligators and mosquitoes.

Then by May 1st of this same year me, my girl, my Turbo Pup, and most of the rest of my possessions could be found residing in a brick box in Eastern Tennessee not far from the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River, having been hauled over land by a few trucks in a whirlwind income induced relocation.

In 1808 or 1908 you couldn't have accomplished such a feat for any amount of money in any less time than most of a year with multiple teams of mules and horses, yet we did it (the "relocation") in only a couple of WEEKS of time in 2008.

A truly amazing accomplishment in my mind, yet many people refuse to acknowledge it can be done let alone actually do something like we did--even in the name of money or family or religion.

Now look at yesterday.

At 7 AM I could be found spinning in circles in my carport adjacent to the Mighty Tennessee River, loading Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers, sea chests, and furniture into the back seat of the car.

By 7 PM that same day I was situated far to the northeast of my previous position, dining with Pat and some of her extended family near the banks of the Youghiogheny river in Western Pennsylvania.

All it cost us to make the geographic transition was about $80 in gas and nearly eight hours of our time, something that was unheard of as recently as about 50 years ago.

But if you listen to the so called professional media, you'd be led to believe that living under the iron fisted rule of our current inept, shamelessly lying president while being forced to pay over $4.00 for gasoline would have caused me to lash myself to a telephone pole in anticipation of weathering the coming economic downturn or to rip my curtains to bits and hang myself in my living room in a search for some self induced mental relief.

Instead, I'm still sitting here, complaining about the crappy desk chair in my motel room, getting ready to wander outside with the Turbo Pup for a little early morning "business".

In another state than that in which I live, in the greatest country in the world.

Hold that thought....I have a hurried Pup to attend to...

Cross County Travel With Dangerous Animals

Someone...ANYONE...helppppp save me from this Puppy


How can this sweet little girl:



require me to maintain things like this:



To protect me from her DARK SIDE:



Pittsburgh here we come...

Jesse Jackson Wants To Chop Some Cotton Harvest Some Peanuts

You Can't Make Stuff Like This Up...


Just in case you haven't heard the story, Race Warlord Jesse "never met a microphone he wouldn't talk to" Jackson got caught speaking his mind about Presidential candidate Obama on the warm up to a FOX News interview.

Now Jesse says he's sorry, and he really didn't mean it.



But he also said this about the Illinois Senator back in September 2007.

So I have to ask, is he sorry for those comments too, or is Jesse--as I like to say--just a plain sorry Black Man?

Maybe it's that Jesse is just personally sorry if you think he needs to be?

Yeah...I thought so...

Busy, Busy BUSY

Head Spinning...Fingers Pounding Keyboard...


Between the rush design job due this afternoon, the new wooden model planked canoe kit under construction in the basement, and flying the new RC helicopter, blogging is obviously suffering.

Then there are the preparations for yet another four day weekend out of town--this time in Pittsburgh--that must be made. I'm looking forward to taking a tour Sunday morning of Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Falling Water estate there in western PA.

Time to go back to wiggling my mouse drawing steel sections and details...

Quote(s) O' The Day

More Lessons From A Great Man Who Knew Better...


"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."

"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."

"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge."

"I have a higher and grander standard of principal than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't."

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said 'I don't know' "

"I never let my schooling interfere with my education."

"It's easier to stay out than to get out"


Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Listen And Learn

Government Saving Us From Ourselves...


First there were double and triple glazed windows.

Then there were Toilets that won't flush and Shower Heads designed to limit our water use and make you run around in circles to get wet all over when bathing.

Now there is this politician induced insanity, explained to us by of all people...a politician from the great state of Texas:




Here's the EPA's Energystar Website documenting the details of what Rep. Poe says...

Anyone else but me want to SLAP someone because of Crap like this coming out of Washington?

On The Road Again

Two States Between Here and There Home...


OK, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time to head back to work this morning.

In my usual displaced professional beach-bum manner, I personally will be a day late arriving back in the 9 to 5 grind adjacent to the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River, but any way...

Let's take a look at the score card and tally up the successes of this year's Fourth of July holiday.

1. Gutters and Roofs on the house and two out buildings...

CLEAN

2. Increased Global Warming caused by frivolous discharge of weapons of varying caliber's and descriptions...

ACCOMPLISHED WITH GLEE!!

3. Turbo Pup worn out chasing rogue Coyotes and Captive Catfish...

CHECK

4. New 32" RCA LCD HD TV installed in Mom's Den...

ACCOMPLISHED (but not without having to return one TV that was dead on arrival here at the Rogers compound.)

And for those of you anti-gun and otherwise squeamish anti-hunting individuals out there that think people like me with guns are a scourge on society, be advised that not a single feather was ruffled, not a single deer or other warm blooded animal other than a couple of Armadillos was disturbed by my adventures over the past four days.

I did manage to scare the heck out of one Armadillo, probably dispatched another one to Armadillo Heaven, and I severely reduced the population of turtles hanging around our dock which decimate the fish egg and fingerling population every year.

Regarding the Coyote reference, Pat and Missy the Tubo Pup did actually have a pre-dawn encounter with a couple of large Coyotes within 50 feet of the house on Friday morning, and I'd have blasted both of them into oblivion given the chance because like the Armadillo they are recent immigrants to this part of Alabama and they're a scourge in the life of livestock farmers and homeowners everywhere.

Time to clean the guns now...bother me at your own risk...

I've Got A 22 Caliber Semi-Automatic Chain Saw

Obvious Redneck Solutions To Life's Problems...


So I'm sitting here after the fourth of July in LA (Lower Alabama) having intentionally not purchased any fireworks in favor of spending $75 on of all things, AMMUNITION for my guns, and I was starting to get desperate for things to shoot.

Then Mother Nature came along and dropped a couple of inches of rain on the area while we were at dinner in an adjacent city, and when we got home there was a big branch on a pine tree by the pool deck hanging down half broken.

When I got up this morning I realized that I was probably going to have to drag the extension ladder out of the storage building and do some climbing with a saw.

Then I had another thought, involving my Dad's 1950's vintage 22 semi-auto rifle.

Forty five shots later and the tree branch was lounging comfortably on top of a compost pile on the edge of the property.

I've yet to crack out the 30-06 rounds yet, but thus far I've wasted a good deal of 12 gauge shotgun ammo along with some 22 magnum casings and a bunch of 22 long rifle rounds.

Trespassers beware...

About One Year Ago

Has It Already Been That Long?


About this time of the morning on July 5th last year we lost a good friend.

Our old friend Bucky (Dartmouth Class of '42) passed away early on a Thursday morning, having witnessed over 85 years of changes to his beloved Long Island, the New England region, and balance of the country he defended as a member of the Corps of Engineers in WWII.

Pat and I have made significant changes to our lives and lifestyles in the months since Bucky moved away from our little Island to live in Assisted Living in a place closer to his own family-- adding Missy the Turbo Pup to our pack and seeing me re-enter the Engineering profession after an eight year hiatus-- but he is missed as much here today in Southern Alabama and on the banks of The Mighty Tennessee River as he is in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

They don't make 'em like that any more...

Stranded In Internet Pergatory

DSL Slower Than Christmas Nothing?


Yes, I'm still alive, although technically I'm living in the stone age, brought to you this morning by Centurytel DSL Internet.

Stone age might be a complement...who in their right mind has to "log in" to their own network, has the wireless features of the modem/router disabled--all courtesy of the people in "technical support" (and I use the word technical loosely) at your Internet Service Provider.

I hate coming back home to Alabama a few times each year to find out what the so-called professionals have done to my Mother's computer and network.

It looks like I'm stuck in her bedroom with her old Compaq laptop until I can untangle the mess they've made here.

Wish me luck...if you will.

True Back Then...

Nearly Forgotten, But Still True Today...


Ladies and Gentlemen, I just don't know how anyone can take this Obama character seriously.

Apparently, a number of people are (taking him seriously...that is.)

In my mind, I say that these have to be ignorant or otherwise TOTALLY STUPID people...

people that were educated in the current editions of our Government Schools that apparently teach propaganda and Green BS instead or readin', writin', and 'rithmatic with a good dose of accurate World and American history thrown in for good measure.

Take the speech he delivered yesterday in Independence, Missouri, the transcript of which is available here via the Washington Post website.

For someone running for president, Mr. Obama sure has a weak grasp on the historical details of the documents on which our Nation was founded. When considering someone for the office of President of the United States I expect his prepared public statements to be accurate and his staff to precisely fact check the content even if the candidate insists on writing his own transcripts (something I seriously doubt happens in the Obama campaign.)

Case in point, here is a sample of one of the points made several minutes into yesterday's campaign process:

"I remember, when living for four years in Indonesia as a child, listening to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I remember her explaining how this declaration applied to every American, black and white and brown alike; how those words, and words of the United States Constitution, protected us from the injustices that we witnessed other people suffering during those years abroad. That's my idea of America."


Sorry Mr. Obama, but the first lines of The Declaration of Independence read as follows:

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

Now I know that I'm picking nits here, but that paragraph does in fact contain "the first lines of the Declaration" followed in the SECOND PARAGRAPH with the lines referenced by the Senator's speech.

I, personally, say that it is in fact the lines that follow these famous words that matter more in today's world, in today's perverted, mutated version of my beloved nation:


"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."

Interesting stuff, right?

Let's look at the sentences of that paragraph that the good Senator failed to address in his political pontifications:

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

Can you say "US Civil War?"

Oh yeah, that's right, although it was good enough for the founding fathers in 1776, in the ninety years following between then and 1886 things changed a good deal on the political landscape.

People started down the long path to ignorance and stupidity that we're still perfecting today.

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes."

Light and transient causes?

What about government involvement with everything from "health care" to "gun laws" to "Gay marriage" to taxing the ass of 1/3 of the population to pay the cost of living, retiring, and dieing for the other 2/3's of the population?

What about talking about abolishing the electoral college and the effects of the direct election of Senators by the electorate--leaving the individual states unrepresented in the Federal governmental process?

Oh, yeah, that's right...serious stuff that people are too ignorant and/or stupid to take care of themselves.

We need GOVERNMENT to do it for us...

And finally:

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

I guess rather than staging a revolution or Civil War the old dudes wearing the powdered wigs actually meant electing the likes of YOU, Senator Obama?

YOU, an empty suit, progressive, product of Government Schools and the "Ivy League" that is highly educated but knows nothing of value to me, my family, and my peers in society.

Finally, Obama delivers this gem of a historical mis-statement:

"As we begin our fourth century as a nation, it is easy to take the extraordinary nature of America for granted."

Try not to be confused, it must be a function of some kind of new math...2008- 1776=400 years plus, not 232 years in Obama's world.

Historically, politicians--especially Democrats-- rarely let the real numbers and facts get in the way of an idea...just like Obama inflates his own experience and credentials when it comes to being even remotely qualified to be the leader of the most powerful Nation on Earth.

Can you believe this CRAP made it into a speech in a Presidential campaign?

Don't expect to hear it from the lamestream media outlets, I would have missed it if it weren't for the guys over at Powerline.

How in the world can you overlook things like this and other serious errors in the good senator's oratory and still consider placing him on the world stage as your representative and national leader?

(I know, your busy working to pay for gasoline and the War in Iraq...don't bother you with DETAILS. )

End Of An Era

Times Are A Changin'...


I was laying there half asleep this morning when one of the commercials came on TV admonishing people to get ready for the February 2009 conversion of our national broadcast TV network from the old analog system to digital.

I guess if you've been living in a cave or under a rock you haven't heard by now, and leave it to the government to set up a "program" to subsidize or give away the boxes they mandated when they also forced the broadcasters to change the way they use the "public" airwaves.

While this milestone won't affect our household on a daily basis, I guess that I may end up picking up one of the boxes after the dust settles because my Dad left us a number of old tube type antique TV sets in his shop that he had collected back in the 1950's and 60's. I'd like to be able to turn on the power to one of those old "portable" wooden cabinets and watch a grainy picture on a little bitty round picture tube.

Then I had another thought...and as a result I thought that I would offer my own Analog TV reception enhancement kit to assist all of you out there who still get their evening news and soap operas using a pair of these:



Simply send me a large self addressed manila envelope or other appropriately sized packaging and I'll send you this high technology package:



If you're under about age 25 you probably won't know what to do with this elaborately designed signal reception enhancement kit nore will you need it's technology.

For the rest of you...

"Your welcome...I'm happy to remind you of where we're all coming from..."

Someone...Anyone...Save Me From Myself

Appetite For New Technology Technologies...


Slowly but surely over the past eight months I've been coming back up to speed on computer hardware--specifically networks and network storage technology.

By saying "coming back up to speed", I have to admit that I've sunk a long, long way down the computer knowledge evolutionary chain since the days when I had a subscription to "Byte Magazine" and boxes and stacks of "PC" and "PC World" magazine laying around in my office and lurking in the dust and cobweb covered corners of my basement.

I also hate to admit that I haven't opened the cabinet of a PC in over ten years to replace a hard drive or add memory or some type of display driver/expansion card. This from a guy that upgraded the guts of my old machines with new CPU's and mother boards on a regular basis back in the days when I was fearless and stupid with my wallet young and enthusiastic.

It wasn't really about saving money, it was the thrill of tearing a machine apart, putting it back together, and having it re-boot successfully while only having a few screws and unknown parts left over when the dust settled.

Today things are quite different.

Gone are the days when your computer came home in separate boxes with you after an evening in the computer store spent buying the "system unit", the graphics card, the monitor, the sound card, extra memory, a vertical stand for the "system unit", and possibly a tilt and turn base for the new VGA 19" monitor the size of a house and with the weight of a Volkswagon Bus.

Did I mention the lovely copy of Dos 3.0 you had to install from 57 5-1/4" floppy disks which produced the lovely "C:> prompt" once the wheels had finished whirling and banging around while 80 Mb of SCSI hard disk drive executed "Autoexec.bat" and "config.sys" upon executing a BRS (Big Red Switch) maneuver (If you're under age 40, "BRS" also means turning the power to the computer system unit to the "ON" position.)

Then, as old dedicated IBM PC users like me know, you spent a sleepless night and possibly the next couple of days scratching your ass head trying to get your assemblage of components and software to talk to each other and at least not attempt to fight among themselves over things like "addresses and IRQ interrupts."

Instead of "plug and play", back then it was "plug", "not play", and "pay pay pay" as you hang on the telephone with kids out in Silicon Valley and Seattle trying to attempt to tell you what you already knew and your Hippie/Artie Fartie friends had already told you.

BUY AN APPLE....Not!!!

Fast forward to today, and now all you have to do when you want a new computer is jump on line, click a few mouse buttons, enter your credit card number, then go out on the front porch and wait for FedEX or UPS to arrive.

Then fifteen minutes after you've opened the box and retrieved your new baby from it's foam and plastic wrapped packaging, you've connected the color coded cables to the components, turned everything on, and are checking your Yahoo E-mail with a big grin on your face and a song in your heart.

Am I wrong to be afraid that things are a little different when it comes to Terrabyte RAID hard drives using "hot swappable" components?

THAT would be too good to be true--particularly when it comes to the initial RAID format set up and the network configurations.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Then there is the new HD Camcorder technology I'm in all worked up in a lather over which makes the pending addition of video storage capacity to my massive original photo archives an infrastructural necessity.

Did I mention the new 1500 VA APC smart back up uninterruptable power supply to protect all of the aforementioned goodies??

It will arrive here in a foam lined box on Wednesday. My bellybutton's busy puckering and unpuckering in anticipation.

(please excuse that mental image if you need to...)

Now it's time to grab a shower, comb my every greying, ever balding head, and go bake the donuts make the CAD drawings...

Don't Do That

Survival Of The Fittest...


Ouch...

(of course a law suit will probably ensue)

I Knew It Without Asking

I Took The Test...See So For Yourself

You Are 0% Yankee, 100% Dixie

You're completely Dixie all the way. You've possibly never even met a Yankee!

Are You a Yankee or Dixie?

(Hat tip to reader and frequent commenter Heather whom I stole this test link from.)

Wake Up America...

What Else Can Be Said???

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C L I C K

H E R E

T O

L E A R N

S O M E T H I N G

http://www.usawakeup.org/

I'm Blind.....

Anybody Ever Heard Of A "Seeing Eye Dachshund?"


Picture me and Missy the Turbo Pup, wandering down the sidewalk toward you while I carry a sign saying "Will Design Steel For (Dog) Food."

After all is said and done, that's all it's really about...isn't it?

Good Global News

Advancements In Nuclear Disarmament...


The Good News is that I just heard that the little troll dictator in North Korea tore a cooling tower down there in their "absolutely positively Nuclear Arms free" country:

The bad news is that they replaced it with this Hip "Earth Friendly Green Model:

I know you'll be as happy about this development as I am...

Sniveling Liberals Anti-Gun Weenines Progressives Still Sniveling

Second Amendment Still Intact...


Just in case you were wondering, history indicates that in this country most people--at least someone in every household or family--has owned one or more guns since there was any history to be written post European invasion settlement.

Prior to that, as I understand it, here in North America and "New Mexico" (a.k.a. the Southwest) the Indians Native Americans produced their own spears or bows/arrows as their weapons of choice when conducting their drive-by shootings gallop by on a horse shootings.

Imagine if we were still stuck in that situation today and your local and national politicians kept passing legislation banning the possession of the common mineral Flint used to make spear points and arrowheads?

Instead of lamenting baggy pants and rap/hip-hop/rock music-- parents, pundits, politicians, and news reporters would still be debating the collection and ownership of what...

ROCKS?

Fast forward to yesterday, and I'm quite pleased to comment here about Article Four of the originally proposed twelve articles (a.k.a the Second Amendment included in what today is called The Bill of Rights) being upheld by the US Supreme Court.

Specifically, the Supremes reported the final outcome of taking a couple of months long look at the "Constitutionality" of Washington DC's strict 1976 gun control law.

In case you don't remember, our Nation's highest court had already started down the slippery slope of Judicial regulation of firearms in the 1939 legal case regulating the ownership of sawed off shotguns (i.e. scatter guns with barrels less than 18" long) in The United States vs. Miller, an analysis of the decision repeated here for your consideration:

In United States v. Miller, the Court sustained a statute requiring registration under the National Firearms Act of sawed-off shotguns.

After reciting the original provisions of the Constitution dealing with the militia, the Court observed that ''[w]ith obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of such forces the declaration and guarantee of the Second Amendment were made. It must be interpreted with that end in view.'' The significance of the militia, the Court continued, was that it was composed of ''civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion.''

It was upon this force that the States could rely for defense and securing of the laws, on a force that ''comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense,'' who, ''when called for service . . . were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.''

Therefore, ''[i]n the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than 18 inches in length' at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well- regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense.''

OK, let's digress for a minute...

Here's the wording of "The Second Amendment":

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

While I'll agree that the old dudes wearing the white powdered wigs could have been a little more precise with their language, I still think that their meaning is clear.

Think about this issue with me for a minute, because I agree with part of the Supreme Court's earlier decision while thinking that they still managed to wimp out in the end when they reported their verdict.

Back in the seventeenth and eighteenth century...heck...even into the late 1800's when they put the Confederate Army together, when called to arms men people showed up at the courthouse square and the local armory with their own canteen and rifle. They usually brought along one or more pistols and a few knives on their person while they were at it.

The Sargent or the General didn't line everyone up and call them to attention only to walk along the rank and file complaining about the quality of a given weapon or the length of its barrel, did they?

I suppose that if you did show up at a muster and didn't have a suitable gun the government might manage to help you borrow one from one of your fellow militia men persons or even supply one of the few "loaners" they had on hand.

Imagine running across hedge rows and fortifications with a flintlock rifle with the stock painted OSHA orange and the words "R E N T A L" or "L O A N E R" burned into the stock?

But I digress...

I did a little Googling and found that the Army National Guard dates from The Massachusetts Bay colony in 1636, BUT....

Since the early governments weren't really into income redistribution confiscation of my money for my own good taxing their people heavily in order to buy tanks and airplanes and guns, a "well regulated Militia" basically DEPENDED on a "BYOG" (bring your own gun) program in order to avoid having to resort to throwing rocks at their adversaries or borrowing the Indians Native Americans' spears and bows and arrows to support a good battle up there in Boston or Lexington and Concord.

You know, come to think of it, that's probably where the idea of having a cannon or other artillery piece sitting around outside the local armory or National Guard headquarters probably comes from. While they had a "BYOG" policy, it wasn't very practical to have a "BYOC" or "BYOT" ("bring your own Cannon" or "bring your own tank") policy because of the cost and inconvenience.

I suspect that back in 1776 the cannon sitting out by the sidewalk actually worked, and was subject to actually firing a few cannon balls in anger or on the fourth of July instead of having its barrel filled with concrete or hosting a birds nest each summer.

Today all those old rusty guns do is give the local "Vets" and "Vet Wannabes" a place to stand around and slosh cheep Scotch and Bourbon on their shoes while telling wildly animated stories about their days spent mobilized with the Alabama National guard in the wilds of Ft. Rucker's Officers' Club.

Also, today, if you actually tried to own your own Cannon or Tank, you'd most likely find an image of yourself being broadcast on the local 11 O'clock news being dragged from your home by the local SWAT team while the "professional media" described your arsenal of semi-automatic weapons found in your bedroom under your Lynyrd Skynyrd album collection.

So any way, if my six guns were residing here with me on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River rather than hiding on the farm in Alabama, I'd take them all out of the cases, boxes, and other resting places and pet them and clean them in a reassuring manner.

I absolutely believe that the Supremes got it half right in their 5-4 decision (having left the door open for further consideration and limitations in the future.)

The Courts and the other members of law enforcement need to spend more time enforcing the existing well founded laws, punishing people that commit crimes with guns--handguns or those of the BB variety--and less time trying to take guns of any shape, form, caliber, barrel lenght, or other description auto loading or otherwise out of the hands of upstanding law abiding citizens.

Just imagine if Owl Gore had been elected in 2000 and instead of Roberts and Alito we had a couple of the idiots currently sitting on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California residing on the US Supreme Court today?

World disorder and high gas prices aside...THINGS COULD BE A LOT WORSE... in this Redneck's considered opinion.


That will be all...for now...

My Oculus Dexter Is Overlooking My Oculus Sinister

(My Right Eye Offends Me...Or Something Like That In Latin...)


OK, excuse my Latin this morning, although I do know that "Oculus Dexter" and "Oculus Sinister" in Latin means right eye and left eye respectively.

The other thing that I know is that twelve to fourteen hour days spent sitting in front of a couple of computer monitors is starting to take it's toll. Thank God I have a 22" flat screen on the CAD machine at work, and my HP notebook is a 17" wide screen--in the old days that amount of time spent looking at a crappy low res 13" monitor I'd have already gone blind by now.

Regardless, I have two deadlines--one Friday and one Monday coming up and the rhetoric is getting shrill from both the Client and my own management about the ramifications of missing either milestone.

Problem is, I'm currently the last cog in the chain of gears forming our twirling "engineering transmission" and all I can do is wait for information to flow into my workspace so I can digest it and convert it into calculations or drawings.

As of yesterday the layout of almost two thirds of a mile of giant round duct work was still changing. And the as built's of the old Electrostatic Precipitator that's been finished and on line for nearly a year now--playing second fiddle to the aforementioned duct system.

Time to grab a shower and head into the office before the phones start ringing and the sun comes up and reminds me of the sun tan I don't have this year.