Thursday, October 25, 2012

So My Son Sent Me A Text Message Today About Some Bearded Dragons...

...that someone asked him if we wanted. Brendan said the guy is giving away two bearded dragons, with all the care equipment. He also said they are big. I started to think since they are adults, chances are they are either both females or a sexed pair; males do not do well together in enclosures suitable for the average home. If they are a sexed pair, I envisioned a breeding project in the near future. I figured I can keep them but if they prove to be too much, I can always adopt them out at a Long Island Herpetological Society meeting or at our annual show - they should go 1, 2, 3 at our show. If those fail, there are always the New York Metro Reptile Expos, where the LIHS sometimes has a table, they would adopt out easily there too. Then I thought again that I could keep them for a breeding project and that was it. How could I say no.

So, tomorrow, at an as yet to be determined time, there will be a couple of adult Bearded Dragons arriving at our place with all the necessary care equipment (if anything is missing, I have what is needed anyway). Just what we needed, just like a hole in the head - as the old saying goes. We will then have 5 resident dogs, 2 visiting dogs (here at least half of their time), 6 tortoises, 1 turtle, 3 Crested Geckos, 2 Bearded Dragons (if all goes as planned), 1 toad, and several tropical fish. I should start charging admission to our zoo or at least take donations for their upkeep. Did I mention a possible breeding program with the Bearded Dragons, that might bring in some money. I could sell the babies for $15 to $50 apiece and up depending on their color. With my luck, they will both be males that have been fighting and that have bitten the heck out of each other and have scars and have tail tips or toes missing. Two females, though, would be good maybe even betterthan a sexed pair. I could either trade one for a male or buy a male to put in with both of them. One male with multiple females works fine with Bearded Dragons. What a life.

All the best,
Glenn B

NYPD Cop Shot - He Kills One Of The Alleged Bad Guys

This cop had balls. Not only did he attempt to thwart an armed robbery without backup, while off duty, and got shot in the chest for his efforts but he confronted the alleged robbers a second time while wounded and shot one of them dead.

It was reported that while driving, with his girlfriend, the girlfriend sees an armed robbery taking place and tells him. They stop, he tells her to call 911, he gets out of the car and approaches the bad guys while identifying himself. He is shot, in the chest, almost immediately. The bad guys flee, the cop's girlfriend tries to drive him to a hospital and they get stuck at a red light. The girlfriend starts to honk the horn and guess who was a few cars in front of them at that red light! Yep, it was the three thugs from the robbery  in the getaway car. Apparently the driver of the alleged getaway car was none to bright,  he reportedly pulled out into the intersection through the light and slams into a cab apparently disabling the getaway car. The three suspects fled afoot and the ballsy officer, putting pressure on his wound with one hand, gun in the other, chased them down. He apparently engages at least one of them in a gun fight (which may have been one sided since at least one report said a gun was found in the suspects' car - others say at the scene -and nothing was said about finding one on or near the dead suspect). A passerby said he heard at least 10 shots, and the cop reportedly shot one of the bad guys, in the head, fatally. One passerby, in one report I read, claimed to have heard two different guns being fired and that will bode well for the officer if upheld as true. Otherwise one has to wonder if it was a one sided gunfight since the .380 Semi-automatic pistol the thugs apparently used in the holdup was found in the car and there was no mention of a gun being found near the suspect who was killed but of course guns in the Bronx,at shooting scenes, have been known to quickly disappear because an opportunist criminal sees a chance to grab up a piece. The two other suspects got away in different directions but not before the cop tried to chase down one of them too. Luckily for the officer, an ambulance crew that was nearby, was able to transport him to a hospital. By the way, the officer is expected to make a full recovery.

Now while one has to wonder where all the bullets went, and hope that no innocents were wounded like at the Empire State building fiasco not long ago, and while one also has to wonder (just a teeny bit) if this was a good shoot (which I think it was but others will question since the guy he shot may have been unarmed), one can at least find some immediate satisfaction in knowing that an alleged piece of crap violent criminal has been wiped off the face of the earth. Let's hope it all turns out alright for the officer.

As for some of what Mayor Bloomberg had to say about this: “This is another case of guns in the wrong hands ending in violence,”  - I would have to say that I believe it another case of guns not being in the right hands for honest citizens to be able to  prevent crime and or protect themselves and of criminals not being in jail, or banished to a penal colony (Antarctica comes to mind) where they belong.

I see this as just another case of a cop being one of the only ones. I know not all cops are like this but  think most good ones would have done likewise and I believe most of them to be good. Be honest, how many of you, who are not in Law Enforcement, would have stopped your car, gotten out, and tried to defend the guy getting robbed. Not many, I am sure. Sadly, it is also a case of "no good deed goes unpunished".

My compliments to the officer for an apparently well done job of it and my wishes that he make a full and speedy recovery and that he gets a promotion to detective.

All the best,
Glenn B

Sources: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/off_duty_nypd_officer_shot_in_the_OZIiw7GfQxjkK0FOhDJcPL

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/10/24/ems-off-duty-cop-hospitalized-after-being-shot-in-the-bronx/

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/off-duty-nypd-shot-article-1.1191533?localLinksEnabled=false

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP6b4c139610f342009793ac824af97759.html

Brand New Leather Jacket

My friend, Pat S., sent me this video. In his words: "If things don't change this will be us." The thing is, I think it is already us to a lessor degree. We do almost all of it just the same for illegal aliens while our own people are paying for it and some are suffering because of it. Yet; I agree with Pat, because while it is not as bad here as it is in England, that bad is soon to come to our shores. 



All the best,
Glenn B