50K Dead - Damn!

The death toll in both Turkey & Syria has reached 50 thousand. According to an article at Reuters, there were over 160 thousand buildings that were destroyed and 520,000 apartments. Some arrests, less than 200, have been made to date of people suspected in some way of being responsible for the structural collapses. (More at the source.) I think it will be a miracle if the death toll does not at least double with that many apartments involved.

 

If folks had heard trumpets before the quake, many would be preparing for the Apocalypse or swearing it was here already. As it is, the Apocalypse commencing or purely a destructive force of Nature, of course, it is terrible nonetheless. 

 

I do not do this often but as I did in my previous post on this quake, I urge folks to be charitable toward earthquake relief for this one.

All the best,

Glenn B

Generosity Of Another Sort

As I said in my last post, so far this year's Soldiers' Holiday Care Package fund has received monetary donations amounting $280. Some people have given pretty sizable amounts, the largest being $50.00. I have got to hand it to them that was generous. Others have given less, and I have got to hand it to them too because what they gave was also generous. StreamLight is again donating a dozen expensive flashlights, that is another form of wonderful generosity. Yet there has been a generous donation that goes beyond those I have just mentioned, not in amount money wise, but in how much of a sacrifice it was to make it.

One of the donations I received, from a source who wishes to remain anonymous, was in the amount of $10.00. It was a cash donation, and besides the cash I donated there was only one other cash donation (you know who you are). I think one of the reasons the person wants to remain anonymous is because of the amount of the gift, and another reason is because that person is humble and is proud at the same time (nothing wrong with being either or both). That person wrote me a note, saying in part: "I wish it could be more". From what I know, the person who sent me that $10.00 made a real sacrifice in order to send that much because that person truly could not afford to send that much money, heck probably could not afford to send anything. Yet the donation was made.

Now you may think - 'What is a measly $10.00 to any of us'. Well with knowing the little bit I do about the person who sent it, I can tell you it is not measly to that person or that person's family. When your income is very low, when you have no reasonable hope to expect your income to be going up any time soon, when you have to eke out a living because circumstances beyond your control put you in a tough spot, when your dignity and work ethic will not allow you to accept government handouts in the form of welfare, well then $10.00 to that person is probably like $50.00, maybe even like $100.00, to the rest of us.

The purpose of this blog-post is not to shame any of you into donating, it is not to try to get any of you who already donated to donate more. Nope those are not the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is to let the person who donated that hard earned and much needed $10.00 (much needed by that person and that person's family) know that the donation is much appreciated. There is nothing for you to be ashamed about, no reason for you to wish it could have been more, no reason to think it less worthy of note than any other donation I have received toward this effort. As a matter of fact, it is certainly the most generous doantion I have received to date considering your circumstances and you should be proud of yourself.

You know who you are; and while others may guess, I will not tell because I know you would not want me to do so. Heck, I know you would not have wanted me to write this, but truth be told, I wrote it anyway because your generosity deserves at least annonymous recognition. Thank you to you and your family.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ammunition Auctions To Help A Good Cause

I was down in the dingier parts of the dungeon my basement tonight, and I came across quite a shocking surprising find when I literally stumbled across a head in a basket some ammunition that I had forgotten all about. Being that I do not have guns in two of three calibers of ammo that I found, and being that I have a good supply of the one caliber for which I do own a pistol, I figured I would put this small ammo cache to good use. So I lugged it all up to my computer desk, took some pictures of the ammo boxes, and proceeded to list the ammo for sale at auction on GunBroker.com.

What I came across is as follows:

5 boxes of Remington 32 WIN Special ammunition, 170 grain core-lokt soft points; and 1 box of Federal 32 WIN Special 170 grain soft points. See GunBroker Auction: 89805969

2 boxes of Ultramax 45 Colt ammunition, 200 grain round nose flat points; and 1 box of Ultramax 45 Colt, 250 grain round nose flat points. See GunBroker Auction: 89806730

5 boxes of Sellier & Bellot 7.65 mm Browning ammunition (.32 Auto), 73 grain, full metal jacket (25 rounds per box). See Gunbroker Auction: 89807557

PLEASE NOTE: I said that these were Ammunition Auctions To Help A Good Cause, I did not just mean to fill my pocket with some extra cash. What could be better than that? Well one thing would be helping out fellow bloggers in need. At least one half of the selling price (after auction expenses) of this ammo will be donated to Chris and Melody Byrne over at The Anarchangel in an effort to help them with their legal fees relative to their custody fight for their children. Now it may not wind up being an enormous amount of money, but every little bit helps; and you get something for your money if you have the high bid. Besides that I already sent a donation to them, so this is icing on the cake - so to speak.

If you would like to take part in this effort, why not plop a bid down on some of this ammo. For more info on the cause for this auction see: http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2008/01/weve-been-blindsided-and-we-need-help.html

All the best,
Glenn B