Nature Is All Around Us, All You Have To Do Is Take A Look...

...and you will see the natural world always striving to survive. This is true whether you live in a rural setting as does Straight White Guy or in a more urban one as do I. Today, Eric experienced the wonder of some whitetail deer, a doe and twin fawns. You can read about his experience here; it sounds as if it was a good one. It got me to thinking about nature abounding even here on Long Island the eastern doorstep of New York City (heck even in New York City) , but alas there are no deer around where I live.

While I live where there are no deer, though within 35 miles or so they are fairly abundant. Yet, even though I live just 12 miles of so east of the NYC border, natural life abounds here in its own hang on tough way, and so too does it even in NYC. Raccoons are around, opossums seem to flourish, moles, voles, shrews, mice are around, snakes can be found not far away, as to can turtles, lizards, frogs, and toads. Hawks swoop down in my small backyard and grab a bird from near the bird feeders now and then. Gray squirrels abound, especially at my bird feeders. Birds of many other sorts often pay visits to my bird feeders. Plants of so many kinds are around that I don't even know the names of more than a few of them, and there are bugs (not as many as there once were, I guess with all the garden and lawn insecticides in use).

A short drive, maybe 10 miles from my home, brought me to a tidal creek today where I set a minnow trap hoping to catch some dinner for my musk Turtle and Water Snake. The tidal creek runs in and out of a small dammed off pond in a town park. What I believe to have been a great egret, it was huge for an egret, visited there today as I waited for the fish to oblige and fill my trap. A blue clawed crab, with fabulously blue claws, and one of the largest I have ever seen, scuttled into the rocks in deeper water as I approached it for a better look at creek side. When I hauled out my minnow trap, it was shimmering with a good number of banded killifish, what looked like Brook Silversides though these are not reported in this area as far as I am aware, and another small fish as yet unknown to me, maybe a sunfish of some sort.

Yes nature is all around us, even close to and within the megalopolises, and all we have to do is slow down or stop now and again to realize it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Saturday Projects - what to do?

Well, I got some weeding done in the garden today, a lot of weeding considering I have not pulled weeds for about 5 weeks now because I had been sick. I swept up outside a little, just what little the wife wanted done, and I do mean only a little. I hung a wall clock, and moved a picture. I guess that was it, pretty lazy but that is me at most times.

Last night I had called my sister and left a message saying I might come to visit. So, I also spent much of the morning getting ready to go to visit my mom, who lives with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. Then I checked my voice mails today, and my sister had left a message to say she was sick, so it was great I was coming because I could take my mom out for dinner, while my sister got ready for a sleep-over party! It appears as if my nephew is going to have a few friends over for the night. So I called my sis again today, this time actually speaking to her, and she told me not only does she have pink eye from her cats, but her cats are sick too. I don't need anything of anything to do with illness again, I am still not completely over my marathon runs of last weekend! Yes they have stayed with me for over a week now, but I am slowly getting better. It all boiled down to me deciding to stay closer to home, and wait until either tomorrow or next weekend for me to see them all.

Now I need to figure how to spend the rest of the afternoon without spending it all online. My wife just ordered some Greek food for delivery, so I guess dinner is up soon. Then I think I'll have to stop at the pharmacy and pick up the latest wonder drug prescribed to me by my doctor to stop the marathons runs that were caused by the last wonder drug a doctor prescribed for me to cure my bronchitis. Jeesh!

Of course I may decide to have some fun too; and I may just take a drive to the pet shop to pick up some crickets for the bearded dragons; and after that on the way home I may stop at a local tidal creek and try to catch some minnows or killie fish for my turtle. Now that may mean I'll have to wet a line too, and see if I can catch anything bigger using one of those killies or minnows, but only if I feel up to it after dinner. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

If I don't make it out of the house, I guess that means cleaning up the basement, and maybe putting another coat of boiled linseed oil on my Mosin-Nagant stock. Not bad if I have to stay home, but not as much fun as fishing.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Firearms Training & Tactics - Getting A Grip...

... on yourself helps to keep you in control of yourself. Getting the proper grip on your pistol or revolver of choice, helps you control not just where the gun is pointed, but also will help you improve your accuracy as well as improve the reliable function of the firearm. A good and secure grip is one of the basics of learning to shoot, and maintaining shooting proficiency. So just what constitutes a good grip, and how does one learn to develop one. A good grip is essentially one in which your grasp the firearm's grip area with your hand to the full extent intended within the design parameters of the grip itself. In other words you grab hold of it with as much hand as you can within practicality, and you do so so that your grip fits your hand and your hand conforms to your grip. While your hand may not have been made for your pistol or revolver grip, you can rest assured there is a grip that probably has been made for your hand.

In most instances of a pistol or revolver, the grip with the primary shooting hand (usually right hand for righties and left hand for lefties, also known as the strong hand) is the grip that makes most of the difference as to how you will shoot; and gripping a pistol or revolver one handed is the first thing you should learn about proper grip. The reason for this is simple: Unless you own some far fetched super macho two hand grip pistol or revolver, you virtually always draw the pistol, and begin to bring it into action, with one hand. Yes this one hand is often met by your other hand to maintain a proper two handed grip, but the truth is your for all practical purposes draw and first bring the weapon to play with one hand. Therefore I believe, it is extremely important to learn how to grip the firearms properly with that hand, before you even think of using a two hand hold. So how do you fill your hand properly? Well I guess I can best explain it by showing it to you. I'll show you how to make a one hand grip of a semi-automatic pistol.

Note that I am showing and explaining how to grip a pistol. I am not explaining how to actually draw from any given holster. Before you can draw from a holster you must first undo any retention device that keeps the pistol in the holster, and that is usually done just before you start step one or as you actually start to bring the pistol from the holster - all dependent upon holster design. Again this is just showing how to get a good grip.

1) When you get a grip for shooting the web of your drawing hand should meet the pistol on the backstrap directly underneath the tang. Your hand is going at the pistol grip almost like it is going to shake someone else's hand in that regard. Note the position of the thumb, and of the three fingers (middle, ring and pinkie) of the drawing hand. They are all poised and about to wrap around the grip of the pistol with a firm hold. Of course, you cannot see almost any of the index or trigger finger - but it is in contact with the pistol. You will be able to better see it in the next picture.

1-B) The view of the other side of the pistol shows the position of the trigger finger when drawing or first applying a grip to the pistol.

Note that when you pick up, draw, or otherwise handle a pistol (or any firearm) you leave your finger off of the trigger until you are actually ready to fire. If you draw with your finger already engaging the trigger, there is an increased probability that you will fire the weapon while drawing, and quite possibly shoot yourself. I learned this lesson when a coworker of mine did just that, he shot himself in his leg.

2) The next step is to assume a good grip on the pistol grip. Wrap your thumb and fingers, excluding the trigger finger, around the grip pretty much as shown. Note this the third picture, but it is marked as step 2 because it is the second action you take in gripping the pistol. The trigger finger remains where it was in pic 1-B, until ready to actually fire the weapon.

Have you paid attention to the position of the wrist? It is important to have the wrist in a firm straight position, basically in parallel line with the slide and barrel.

3) Once ready to fire the weapon, the trigger finger comes into position on the trigger, all the while as the other fingers keep firm position on the pistol grip. The trigger finger comes into contact with the trigger only as far as the finger tip pad. This allows for proper trigger control when you fire.

Note that the rest of the grip has, in essence, not changed from picture 2 above. The wrist is also still in the same position. You are now ready to fire and the pistol should already be pointing if not precisely aimed in at your intended target.

All it would take to fire the pictured pistol (a Beretta 92FS, 9mm, semi-automatic pistol) would be to squeeze (or pull) the trigger with your trigger finger in that position if it was loaded (and remember to treat each pistol you pick up or handle as if it were loaded, too many accidents happen because people thought the gun was not loaded, and firearms accidents are fatal all to often). If you have learned how to point shoot or aim in, you would likely hit your target. If you maintain that grip after each shot is fired, you would then be ready to fire again, and again, and again as needed. Once you have decided to stop shooting (at the range, in a self defense situation, in the field, wherever) you immediately remove your finger from the trigger. If you are holstering or putting the weapon down or away, you basically reverse the grip steps above. Of course, depending on the situation you want to make sure the weapon is safe. On this one you would be required to at least operate the 'hammer drop' aka: safety; or if you want to make sure it is empty, you would want to remove all possible remaining ammunition by removing the magazine, then unloading any ammunition remaining in the chamber, then visually and physically checking to make sure it is empty - all the while with finger off of the trigger and the pistol pointed in a safe direction.

Two quick pics of what you do not want to do when gripping a pistol follow:

You do not want to grip the pistol like this. Note the web of the hand is not properly positioned directly under the tang. This makes for piss poor shooting on the part of most shooters, especially new shooters, and or those not so good at it even after years of practice. This allows for the pistol to move around in your grip too much with the recoil from each shot. Because your hand is not in proper position, it also allows for the proper wrist position to be broken, resulting in the much feared 'limp wristing' and this can result not only in poor accuracy, but in pistol malfunctions, or so said all of my instructors over all the years I have been shooting.

The other no-no that I want to show you is in the last grip picture. It shows the trigger finger extended too far over the trigger, so that the first joint (or last joint depending on how you look at it) is actually completely over the trigger. This is not good as it can cause accuracy problems.

Of course, you probably will at times see someone holding a pistol improperly and still hitting the target. Yet I would wonder how much better they might do it they held it correctly. So, why pick up bad habits right from the get go? Start off with good habits, learn how to get it right from the beginning, and you will see that learning to shoot is probably much easier that you thought it would be. If you already exhibit some bad habits, why not get rid of them, use proper technique, and see if your shooting skills improve.

Don't depend just on this to teach you how to do it. Get instruction from a certified firearms instructor if possible, or at least from someone proficient in pistol shooting before you try it yourself.

All the best,

Glenn B

The Best of YouTube? You decide, but I think so!

One of the all time 'songs of truth' has been married to a bunch of photographs, making the linked to slide show at YouTube the absolute best YouTube work I have seen to date.

Now I'll grant that I have not watched all that many videos or slide shows on YouTube, but I am really beginning to think that YouTube should start to become a regular Internet surfing spot for me since it does show stuff like this. Of course I also have to thank my brother-in-law Alex, who sent this to me.

Be advised that if you are easily offended by mild curse words (and I am pretty sure it is only one curse word repeated), and I do mean a mild word by my standards naming part of the body, then this may not be for you with sound - but please realize that without sound it loses everything. Likewise, if you are easily sickened by seeing appalling photographs, you may not want to watch the slide show (nothing gruesome mind you, just sort of appalling faces), but it is well worth the watch. There is one shot, followed by another that I found to be particularly appropriate regarding the politics of one political leader.

I really have got to say it again, it is the best YouTube work I have seen. Thanks Onkel Alex.

All the best,
Glenn B

Our Government Absolutely Depraved...

...and if you need proof then just look to Census Bureau Asks That Immigration Raids Halt for 2010 Count. Are those at the top of the Census Bureau totally out of their minds? I imagine so. You see, if ICE, and the Border Patrol, and state and locals, were to get the job done - there would few to no illegal immigrants aliens within our borders to have to count in the first place; yet these morons are worried that government agents doing their jobs and enforcing the laws of our nation will cause a distrustful group of immigrunts to be even more distrustful of the government. Hell why are they distrustful in the first place - they have nothing except themselves of which to be distrustful - they are the criminals who broke the law - not me or any other government agent for enforcing them. No one in our government ever offered them streets paved with gold as an incentive for them to break the law to come here illegally. Round em up, and kick em out; and build a big fence along the whole border, a real fence with barbed wire, electricity, and maybe even some machine guns, then hire legal immigrants to patrol the borders. I would bet they would do a great job of it after having to wait years to get here.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another in the Ranks of the KMA Club...

Last night, after work, my friend Pete A and I headed off through the rather sultry streets of Manhattan to grab a bite to eat. No ordinary bite to eat mind you, I had selected the restaurant because I knew they offered good eats and about 200 different selections of Scotch Whiskey. (Not that we would be drinking of course, but it makes for better atmosphere.) I figured good food and being surrounded by good spirits was a good way to celebrate Pete's entry into the KMA Club since yesterday was the last mandatory day for him to work before he officially was eligible to retire from the bourgeois government position he has held for just under the last 29 years or so.

We went to St. Andrews Restaurant on 44th Street. I have written about it before, and all I will say here about it is that if you are ever in the heart of NYC, and want some good food and to be surrounded by fine spirits, this is a a place to try. It is a tad on the expensive side if you eat a full dinner (dinner for 2 with hypothetical drinks was $106 and change, excluding tip), but they serve bar food up front at a much less expensive hit (if only I had known this before making up my mind to treat). Well anyway, the food is truly deliciously excellent, and worth almost every penny, and the service is excellent too. I had a rack of lamb and Pete had some dish with Ocean Scallops that looked to die for. He enjoyed his meal and being surrounded by those fine spirits.

Now hypothetically speaking of course, if we were to have imbibed we would have both had a pint of crisp English cider, and after the meal he would have enjoyed a Speyside in the way of a dram of Balvenie 15 year old single barrel, and I an Island distilled 14 year old Scarps. Ah being surrounded by fine spirits is a good thing - hypothetically speaking of course.

In case you were wondering as to the references to the KMA Club, and you have not yet guessed the meaning of KMA, well just think of what you would like to tell one or two of your bosses on the day you become eligible to retire, and the K stands for Kiss, the M for My and the A for...

It was a swell time with a good friend.

All the best,
Glenn B

Thar Be Dragons...

...in that shipment about to arrive on my doorstep. Baby Bearded Dragons that is; and fifteen of them should be here by 1000 hours. Yes I am getting back into the keeping of bearded dragons, one of my favorite lizards. I'll probably keep 4 or 5 of these for breeding purposes. I figure by this time next year, the ones that I keep of this clutch will be producing offspring of their own for me. So why get 15, when I plan to keep 4 to 5 of them. Well chances are I can offload the others so that I break even on my initial cost for the ones I keep. If they are all healthy, and one can only hope I am dealing with a reputable breeder who is selling these to me (and he certainly sounds to be one so far), then I should easily at least break even.

The little lizards started their journey late yesterday afternoon in or around Minot, North Dakota. By 2320 hours they were in Memphis, Tennessee, and at 0646 they were in Jamaica, NY (part of NYC), and (since I just refreshed the tracking screen) I see that at 0819 they were at the Garden City facility, only about 2 miles from my home. I guess they really will be at my doorstep by 10 AM as promised. What a good breeder/dealer from what I can see so far. I sent payment, and he had them shipped within hours! As a matter of fact, ah loving wife I have, she who puts up with things like bearded dragons, other lizards, turtles, tortoises, lots of snakes, frogs, toads, newts, breeder mouse colonies, dwarf hamsters, and of course me and my son.

Oh the waiting, the pacing back and forth (and me still under the weather doing all that pacing), the apprehension as to whether or not all will be healthy and complete with all their little toes and tail tips, the having to prepare a play pen a proper enclosure for them, having to pick names for all of them.and all that stuff. Now don't get me wrong, that is almost all in jest; I am not a pet keeper among those who names all of his animals and then talks to them while cuddling them each day, nor do I name lizards. While I am enthralled by them, and I enjoy keeping them as pets and curiosities, and to breed them as a hobby, they do not get handled on and even daily basis, and certainly not talked to or played with like I play with our 3 dogs. After all, a lizard is just that - a lizard!

Bearded dragons do make neat pets though, and are fairly responsive among the reptiles, and even among the lizards. They grow to a very manageable size of about 16 to 20 inches. They are usually very docile toward humans, although you cannot keep males together because they will fight over territory and females. Speaking of territory they originate in desert and semi-arid areas of Australia.

As far as care goes, and adult would require about a 30 gallon long sized tank (minimum). A pair could be kept in that but a bigger sized enclosure would be much more suitable for a pair. A secure screen top is not mandatory if the enclosure is deep enough with slick walls, but I strongly suggest a completely secure enclosure for them. Into that, I typically add play sand for a substrate, the tan stuff, not that very white sand filled with sea shell bits that can be had at some hardware depots. I add a few red bricks, or natural stones for climbing and basking areas, and maybe a fairly stout piece of tree branch. The only other inside the cage furnishings would be feeding bowls.

Atop the enclosure you need to mount a heat lamp over the basking area. The surface temperature of the basking area should reach between 110 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit. This can be done by using an incandescent bulb, or a full spectrum bulb that emits heat as well as UVA and UVB light. If you use an incandescent bulb, then you will need to add a full spectrum florescent bulb for the UVA and UVB light which are essential for good health in bearded dragons. There are bulbs made specifically for keeping desert lizards like these which are available at reptile expos, and at some pet shops. Bearded Dragons benefit greatly from exposure to natural sunlight, and they can be kept outdoors in proper outdoor enclosures (no glass or plastic tanks as they would overheat inside these in the sunlight). A decent temporary outdoor enclosure for them is a bird cage with bars that they cannot squeeze between to escape. They could be put outside in this setup everyday, for a couple of hours, weather permitting. A good idea is to have whatever outdoor enclosure you house them in, to be partly in the sun and partly in the shade at all times so they can regulate their body temperatures as they need to, and so they do not overheat.

As for feeding them: While very young, they eat primarily insects, but as they grow they begin to eat both insects and vegetable matter. They will eat a large variety of insects, but crickets and superworms are easy to get commercially, so they are most often fed to bearded dragons in captivity. As for vegetables, they love green leafy plants and I have fed mine: mustard greens, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, escarole, dandelion greens (yes from my back lawn which is pesticide and lawn chemical free), radish greens, spinach, cabbage, broccoli rabe, carrot greens and so on. Certain of these leafy plants listed above should only be given in moderation such as cabbage, and carrot greens. They also love to devour green beans, Lima beans, corn, tomatoes, shredded carrots, broccoli, and I purchase frozen mixed vegetables to give to them (thawed first of course). Every now and then I give them a treat of a strawberry, a piece of banana, or some other fruit (non-citrus). As to insects, when you feed young BDs make sure the insect's length is no longer than the space between the lizards eyes from left to right. Larger dragons will eat just about anything they can swallow, and large crickets are fine. You can use vitamin supplements for them, and many folks do use reptile vitamins for their dragons, but I have found that if given a proper varied diet, they don't absolutely need it unless maybe you are conditioning a breeding female which will need calcium supplements. It is also a good idea to provide some extra calcium for baby bearded dragons as they grow. One thing you need to make sure you do is to supply gut fed crickets to your BDs. In other words, feed your crickets something nutritional for a couple of days before you feed them to your dragons. As far as water goes, I mist baby bearded dragons everyday on the advice of a friend who used to breed them in high numbers. Adults can be misted every other day to three times per week. Yes even though desert animals they need to drink; and note I said I mist them. Most bearded dragons will not learn to drink from a water bowl, and misting them and their enclosure is the preferred method of supplying them drinking water.

Bearded dragons can live up to about 12 years (maybe more) in captivity. If you plan on getting one or more, make sure they have been captive bred (which all of them commercially available in the USA should be). Also make sure they appear healthy, no oozing or crust coming from their eyes or cloaca (anal and sexual opening), make sure they have all their toes and their tail tip (otherwise get a discount), make sure they do not have wounds, make sure they do not have ticks or mites. Buy one that is alert, and active. Don't buy them if the enclosure in which they are kept is filthy, or has other lizards in it that look sickly. For more detailed advice, here is a link to an excellent care sheet: http://www.lihs.org/files/caresheets/sheet16.htm. By the way, you can see that care sheet is supplied by the Long Island Herpetological Society. I strongly recommend joining a local herp society if you are going to keep any kind of reptile or amphibian. There is a lot of free advice and knowledge available at such clubs, and you can often find great deals on animals during their meetings. Besides that, many of them offer monthly meeting, newsletters, interesting presentations, and other activities. Most are a bargain too.

Now I have to attend to the little boogers dragons a bit more than I already have done; yes they arrived about an hour ago, and I took a break in typing to set them up in their new home. Just as promised they arrived before 1000 hours. Got to love a dealer/breeder who keeps to his word (thanks Jeremy), and got to love a good shipping company. All of them still have all their toes and tail tips (sometime young ones in the excitement of feeding nip another by accident), and all appear healthy, with only one seeming a little sluggish. I figure that is due to traveling from North Dakota to New York, and imagine it will be looking good once it soaks up some rays.

All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History, A Sure Shot Was Fired...

...so to speak anyhow. On this day in 1860 (seems like yesterday) Phoebe Anne Mosee (aka Mosey and Mozee, et al) was born near Woodland in Darke County, Ohio. The young girl went through a number of hardships, losing her natural father to pneumonia when she was about 6. Then her mother remarried and again lost another husband. Somewhere during these hardships, young Phoebe was a ward of the local government for a while, and she also lived with foster parents whom she came to hate because of their mistreatment of her. After some time she returned to her home to live with her mother and her siblings, and her mother's newest and third husband.

At age 9, somewhere in all that mess, little Phoebe started to shoot small game to help feed her family (which was a quite poor family at that). She became quite familiar with guns of many sorts from rifles, to shotguns, to revolvers. While she did not regularly attend school, therefore some of the confusion over the spelling of her family name, as she often misspelled it, she did learn how to shoot well. In fact she learned to shoot so well that in the Spring of 1881 when a famous male shootist made a $100 bet against a local innkeeper that he could beat any local person in a shooting competition, the hotel owner agreed to the bet but would not tell on whom he was wagering his money. The hotel owner then arranged the competition to be held between the famous shootist and a mystery shooter.

Ten day later in Ohio, quite possibly near North Star (which is close to Woodland) the competition took place. Frank Butler of world renowned shooting fame shot 24 of the 25 targets, missing only the last one. Phoebe Anne Mosey shot all 25; she was a sure shot indeed. Frank was duly impressed. About one year later, in the Spring of 1882, Frank Butler, in keeping with his being impressed by women who could shoot well, married a young woman shootist by another name, also a sure shot, one Annie Oakley. It sort of makes one wonder whether or not he missed that last shot the year before just so he could enamor Miss Annie Oakley, who no doubt saw the whole competition as it played out, and then fell for Butler as he had fallen for her. You see Phoebe Anne Mosee and Annie Oakley were one in the same; she took on the name Annie Oakley when she started to perform with Frank in 1882.

She toured with circuses, with Frank by her side; and they eventually wound up touring with Wild Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Chief Sitting Bull adopted her (I guess unofficially) as his daughter; and I believe he is the one who named her "Little Sure Shot". She met presidents, dukes, duchesses, kings, and queens, and even Kaiser Wilhelm II although she met him when he was a prince. One of her acts at that time was to shoot the ashes off of the end of a lit cigarette held in Frank Butler's mouth (and she must have loved him an awful lot because they were married 44 years). When she met Prince Wilhelm II, the prince requested that she perform this trick on him. She agreed to do so, but instead of placing the lit cigarette into his mouth, she placed it into his hand, and then proceed to shoot the lit ashes from the cigarette. Some have suggested that had she only been a poorer shot, she could have prevented WWI. How shortsighted, indeed someone would have found another way to trigger the war which was pretty much inevitable given the then current state of affairs in Europe.

The rest my friends is history, she went on to become one of the most famous shootists that the world has ever known. More can be read about her at Encarta, Wikipedia and at the site of the Annie Oakley Foundation.

All the best,
Glenn B

Even if all the Guns Disappeared Today...

...here is why people would still need them tomorrow, and why we should look to arming the citizens of the United States of America: Police: Man Attacks Grannies With Hammer (found at FoxNew.com). I don't have to do a lengthy rant about this one, the title of the article alone should make it clear why we law abiding citizens of the USA should be allowed to keep and bear arms, but then again so too should the 2nd amendment, and the reasoning of our founding fathers.

One final thing I will say is that you should pay special attention to what the prosecutor has to say about: "...the most vulnerable of victims.". I wonder, when he used that phrase, did he mean 'grannies', did he mean people who follow the advice of most police departments 'not to resist', or did he mean unarmed Americans, to be the most vulnerable of victims. Had one or two of these women been armed, and ready to defend themselves and the others, chances are things would have turned out much differently indeed. Had I been there and not been struck first and by surprise by the bad guy, you can bet your hard earned money things would have turned out differently, and someone other than the grannies would have had metal in his body or head; albeit metal softer than a steel hammer head, but 124 grains of copper jacketed lead traveling at about 1,150 fps does the job just as well or better than any steel hammer wielded by a lowlife dirtbag.

All the best,
Glenn B

Do You Want to Watch A Good Movie...

...with good casting, great acting, and a good plot, so do I. Yet I rarely get out to the movies since there usually does not seem to be enough time, or my wife doesn't want to go (and I don't care to go alone, or we just don't have the money at the time. Of course that leaves television movies on broadcast, cable, FIOS, or satellite television, and it leaves movies on video and DVD. Now I will be the first to admit, I am not a fan of many of the contemporary hit movies, or even flops, that are out there; although I will admit there have been some good ones, even a handful of excellent ones.

The problem with movies available on television though is that, in my opinion, unless you pay extra for them as in pay per view movies, they for the most part stink. Besides that they are repeated again and again and again over months long periods first on one channel, then on another, sometimes on two channels at once. I get FLIX, HBO, Showtime, STARZ, The Movie Channel as premium channels. I have to wonder just how many times in a three month period that these channels, or at least some of them can show the following movies over and over again: The Pink Panther (the latest and poorly casted piss poor version), My Cousin Vinny (yes a funny movie but not 20 or 30 times in a month), Fried Green Tomatoes (again maybe a good movie but how many times do they need to show it to us), The Astronaut's Wife (a dismal failure shown repeatedly), Dark Water (another flop in my opinion, but shown over and over again). Ali G Indahouse (they have got to be kidding), Monster-In-Law (played again and again and could make one seek a divorce), Mystery-Men (it is still a mystery as to how they were called men and how this became a movie though I'll admit it was a little amusing but to play it again and again), The Professional (ruining a great movie by making people sick of seeing it) and the same goes for Pulp Fiction and from Dusk Till Dawn.

Of course, not only the premium channels do this, channels such as Sci-Fi continuously repeat shows and movies. The Western Channel replays a movie so many times you could probably watch it a few times a day. I seem to remember there was a song years ago: "Whatever Became Of Randolph Scott" - he was reincarnated on The Western Channel, that is what happened to him. I used to like his movies as a kid, not anymore, these constant repeats have made then lose their appeal to a large degree.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind seeing flops on television, I don't mind seeing movies that others liked but I disliked, I don't mind seeing hit movies that I like or dislike, but what I do mind is paying extra for a service that promises great television only to be shown the same thing again and again when there is a huge amount of film out there that they are not touching, or that they only offer as pay per view movies. Hell I already pay enough for cable TV, plus the premium channels, not to need to pay them more to get to see something different now and then. What to do. Well I guess I have done what many others have done, I have bought video and DVD players; and not too long ago I joined a DVD club. The reason I did so is pretty much explained above, but let me add just a little to the reasoning behind it. Now whenever there is nothing worth watching on television, or if it is worth watching but I have seen it recently, I can delve into my own video library and pick out something I like to watch, something I know is good, something I know has excellent acting, and great casting, and a wonderful plot. Now not to give the wrong impression about my DVD purchases, let me say, I do not always buy movies I have seen previously. I just ordered '300'. Sure it will be on television soon, but this way I get to watch it when I want, where I want, and it goes into the library for when they stop showing it 100 times a month (which is about how often I figure it will play once on pay television). I also do likewise with movies that are not current day films, I buy ones I have already seen as well as ones I have not yet seen.

If you are sick of the crap they show over and over again on television, then this is the way to go. But I wonder do you, especially the younger folks out there have any idea of which films to purchase? Do you really want to see some movies with great casting, excellent acting, wonderful plots, movies that are timeless in there nature, movies that help define the values you should hold dearly, or should shun, in your lives? If so they are out there. Of course, maybe you have already noticed that I have not made any mention of special effects. I find the overuse of special effects in movies to be a crutch for actors who don't know how to act, and directors who don't know how to direct - so I do not pay much attention to them in most cases. I am not saying I do not like them, I just much prefer acting over special effects. No actor has ever, or ever will, play a vampire better than did Bela Lugosi. There will never be a better version of King Kong than the original even if it looks fake as all heck by today's special effects standards. There are few drama/action/suspense/mystery movies as good as those starring the likes of William Powell, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Fred MacMurray, William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery. There are few comedies better than those of Bob Hope, Claudette Colbert, Peter Sellers, Mae West. Almost no westerns that can stand up to those of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck, Gary Cooper, Robert Duval. There are not many better all around actors than James Cagney, Jean Arthur, Geogre C. Scott, David Niven, Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Lauren Bacall, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Charlton Heston, Maureen O'Hara, Bruce Willis. This is not an all inclusive list of great actors and actresses, heck not even an all inclusive list of the ones I like. What it is, is a good example of folks who have a real talent for acting. They get it right over and over again in most of the movies in which they have a part; and they know how to act without depending solely on special effects. There are plenty more of them out there, these actors and actresses who know how to act. Some are well know, some not so well know; yet, they have parts in thousands of movies that have been made from the 1920s through today - so why are these movies, for the most part, not being shown on pay television! I can guess why, because those in charge are pin headed twits who live for the moment, and while claiming to be all knowing experts, truly know very little about good entertainment, and only think of how to generate a buck. Well fact is, if they showed a greater variety of entertainment they would generate more buck for their channel, then again, the big entertainment companies would lose money because you would not buy as much pay per view movies as you do. Me - I'll by the DVDs, pay them once for them, and watch them whenever it pleases me - not when they want to shove it down my throat.

I guess after saying all of that, maybe I should offer some selection as to what I think are movies that are worthwhile to watch, one with a good plot, fine acting, excellent directing and so forth (with special effects usualy, but not always, coming in a distant last, if at all, to those other qualities). Note that info on all these movies can be found at the links I supplied to the Internet Movie Data Base.


Sci-Fi/Horror:

The Day The Earth Stood Still, 1951(for more info see see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0043456/)

Them, 1954 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0047573/)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0049366/)

The Thing From Another World (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0044121/) *

Dracula, 1931 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0021814/) *

Suspense/Mystery:

Dial M For Murder, 1954 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0046912/)

Detective Story, 1951 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0043465/)

Double Indemnity, 1944 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0036775/)

The Caine Mutiny, 1954 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0046816/) *

The Thin Man, 1934 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0025878/) note this one is a suspense, mystery, comedy *

Comedy/Satire:

The Paleface, 1948 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0040679/) *

Go West Young Man, 1936 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0027684/)

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, 1948 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0040068/) *

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 1964 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0057012/) (note this is black comedy/satire)

Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0036613/)

War:

Paths of Glory, 1956 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0050825/

The Dawn Patrol, 1938 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0030044/)

Sahara, 1943 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0036323/)

Run Silent - Run Deep, 1958 (for mor einfo see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0052151/)

Gunga Din, 1939 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0031398/) *

Adventure:

The Flame and The Arrow, 1950 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0042464/)

The Thief of Bagdad, 1940 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0033152/)

The Treasure of The Sierra Madre, 1948 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0040897/) *

The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0073341/)

The Four Feathers, 1939 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0031334/, and please do not mistake this for the poor remake of recent years)

Westerns:

The Searchers, 1956 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0049730/)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0056217/)

Pale Rider, 1985 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0089767/)

The Plainsman, 1936 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0028108/)

The Naked Spur, 1953 (for more info see: http://imdb.com/title/tt0044953/)

There are categories I left out; heck there are thousands of good movies and hundreds of excellent ones that I left out. Yet, I can assure you, that if you want to see a movie with a good plot, great acting, good direction, and one that is enjoyable to watch - you can certainly find at least one among my selections in each category above. Some other things they all have in common (that is the ones in the above categories, not those above that in my commentary)is that they all show examples of what makes for people and deeds, and what defines bad people and deeds, and all of them, yes all of them, have violence in them, but nothing to gory, and tey have sex to some extent, but absolutely nothing slutty, and some are scary, but nothing horrifying by todays movie standards; they (again those I listed under the above categories and not from my commentary above that) are all, in my opinion, probably suitable for children from about 9 years old and up but this is my personal opinion - so check them out first before you show em to your kids if you want. If you have not seen them yet, why not pick some at random, maybe one from each category above, and see what you think. They are mostly well dated, but they may give you an idea of what good acting is all about; and you may begin to wonder why these movies are ot shown on television today. When it comes right down to it, I guess because if you strip the spectacular scene stealing special effects from many of the movies of today you have little left; but if you strip the spectacular scene stealing special effects from most of these old movies, what you are left with is one hell of a good movie thanks to a good plot, fine acting, and great direction.

All that said, I think I'll have to pop a good one into the DVD this evening.

All the best,

Glenn B

Light Blogging...

...will probably be the thing for me for the next couple of day. I have been online now, only about an hour and a half, wrighting one short rant, checking my email, sending out a few emails, and visiting a few select sites, and I am exhausted. Imagine becoming exhausted by that, and of course by my two runs to the throne in the basement, in that short a time. Oh well, once I am feeling better I will be back at it as usual.

All the best,
Glenn B

Should I be looking for a new Doctor?

My apology for not blogging lately, but my health has not allowed me to be up to it. I had bronchitis a few weeks back, that lasted over 2 weeks. Then earlier this week at work I was feeling really tired each day, barely keeping my eyes open so to speak. I blogged on Wednesday night after work, but was feeling none too well. Then very late on Wednesday night I had a fever again, a bad headache, neck pains, aches all over specially in my joints, a bit of pain when breathing in, and felt slightly nauseous, this was some surprise. All the same symptoms I had a few weeks before except I was not congested and coughing up phlegm. So I saw the doc (a stand in for my regular doc who was not in that day) on Thursday who told me this had nothing to do with the bronchitis, and it was likely a virus. Well on Thursday night I found myself getting plenty of exercise although I sure did not feel like doing it. I figure I ran to the can about 25 times between 8PM and 8AM. On Friday I was a marathon runner with another 46 trips to the throne room. I figured I was dying of dysentery, so I called my doctor's office, told them how much sicker I had gotten, and the lady told me that my doc had said only for me to call back on Monday if I still felt bad, and then I could come in for more blood tests. Heck I forgot to ask about the blood test they took on Thursday. I hung up and fell asleep. I called the doc's office again hours later - when I woke up again - and I asked about the test results, and I was told 'sorry the blood test results were not yet in'. Imagine that they knew earlier in the day that I needed additional blood work and the initial test results were not in yet.

Feeling somewhat better today, as can be witnessed by me being online at all, but I still feel like expletive deleted (I won't say it but you can guess). Oh well, I am feeling better, but I wish I was feeling well. I guess time will play the healer since my doctors certainly have not been doing too good at it.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Knew It Was Going To Be A Bad One...

...when I left my house at 0545 for work this morning, and by about 0630 it was a lot darker out than it had been when I left home. I had to pull off of the highway as I headed into a surveillance site in Brooklyn the wind was blowing so hard and the rain coming down in sheets so thick it looked as if someone had smeared about a 1/4 inch of petroleum jelly over my windshield. I will say this though, the lightning and thunder put on one heck of a show. I have not been that rattled by thunder in many a year, and I mean not rattled as in afraid, but rattled as in vibrated by the power of it, and I was inside my car when it did so. Lightning and thunder simultaneously coming from at least 4 different directions all around me within split seconds of each other. This went on for about an hour of my drive, a drive that normally would take about an hour and I had only gone about 1/3 the way in the time. Still some peckerwoods (no better description) were doing about 60 or 70 in the thick of it. I waited for it to slow down quite a bit, only about 10 or 15 minutes of waiting) before I drove on, and I still got there on time.

When I arrived on scene for our surveillance, we found a few different neighborhoods in Brooklyn had been smashed. Tree limbs and trees down all over the place, and big ones at that. Cars and trucks smashed by those trees, houses missing siding and roofs, windows smashed, business signs on the streets. Not a thing that usually happens in Brooklyn, and plenty of people were saying a tornado had touched down. Well this evening, when I was driving home at about 1900 (7PM, and yes it had been a long day), I heard on the news radio that a tornado did indeed touch down at several locations right in the area in which we later did our surveillance.

I guess that means my mother's prediction, of many years ago (probably back when I was not yet a teenager), came true. She said back then that we were having tornadoes in the USA in places where we had never had them before, and she predicted that it would get to the point where we would have them in New York. It has happened a few times now in New York State, and less in NYC - but it has come to pass. I don't think my mom gives Al Gore much credence on his stance on global warming, so maybe we are safe on that one; but as for tornadoes - watch out.

All the best,
Glenn B

Let's Be Thankful...

...that it wasn't a suicide monkey, see Airplane Passenger Smuggles Monkey Under His Hat Into U.S. @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292496,00.html.

Not only did DHS/CBP (Customs and Border Protection) apparently fail to catch this at the border, but DHS/TSA apparently failed to catch it in Florida. I am not necessarily faulting anyone, I know better in this case because I worked for Customs for about 15 years at JFKIA (not doing inspection work, but often working with inspectors). It would be something easy to miss, but so too would some plastic explosives. I am faulting the system, the airlines, politicians, and travelers in general - all who don't want to accept a much stricter system of checks at the airports and who accept the risk of taking chances with homeland security for all of us. I can tell you one airline on which this be much less likely to occur - El Al. They know how to check folks and secure an aircraft.

All the best,
Glenn B

Socialized Medicine For All...

...can be expected to come up with results like this one: Infected Foot Blister Kills British Man that I just read about at FoxNew.com. Remember that England has socialized medicine, the same typ of health care that the deomcrat candidates want to push onto all of us here in the USA. Sure this type of negligence could happen abnywhere, and happen under our current system of health care too; but one thing you won't see with our health care system is the fatal finality of the words spoken by the fater to his daughter when she told him he needed to see a doctor about his condition:

" "There was a hole in his foot. I told him he had to go to the doctor but he said: 'They have discharged me." "

Do you get the picture, they discharged him, so there was no going back! His words certainly rang of fatal finality.

No thanks Hillary, not thanks Obama, no thanks $400 hairdo boy, no thanks to all of you liberals who want the same system here; I would rather work my butt off to pay for my own health insurance than to have you tax me into the poorhouse and then allow doctors to treat me like dirt.

All the best,
Glenn B

Lack of Blog Power

Way too busy to blog yesterday. Tough day at work, so when I got home I was pooped. Besides that we had to go to JFK Airport last night to pick up my daughter Celina, who just came back from vacation in Germany. Nice to have relatives over there (on the wife's side) - it makes for long inexpensive vacations.

More blogging tonight, if I am not stuck late at work.

All the best,
GB

0300 hours and Thoughts on Cleaning My Soviet Mosin Nagant M-44

As I told you all quite some time back, weeks maybe even months ago, I found one of these in a box in my basement, and it needed cleaning. I stripped the bolt and cleaned it up ever so nicely back then, leaving the rest of it to be cleaned at a future date. Well yesterday was the day, and I can say while there maybe better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon, cleaning this thing certainly was still one of the best things I have done on a Sunday in awhile. Not only did I clean it, but I sanded down the stock to remove most of whatever finish material was on it. Not having any paint remover, I just sanded it down, and this left a lot of the old finish color but none of the outer varnish or whatever else they used that was really a mess. Then I added a coat of cherry stain, and I put a coat of boiled linseed oil over that. Then I rubbed, and rubbed, and rubbed, and rubbed, and rubbed (you get the idea, but that is how to work linseed oil). The stock is not looking great, too much old stain left in splotches, but the wood will certainly have more protection once I am done with it. If I get really eager next weekend, I may use some paint remover, take it all down to bare wood and start again; but then again this stock is not nice like the one on my Hungarian Mosin Nagant, and may never look all that good unless I paint it.

As it is now, the stock is in the garage, and the rest of it is where it belongs in a box on the table on my patio. I guess I had better get off of my butt and bring it in before it rains and ruins it now that I have virtually all of the cosmoline off of it. That of course was another job of rubbing, but one seemingly made easier today with my use of gasoline on smaller parts to clean them. Gasoline sure works better than mineral spirits, but I have to wonder how much more dangerous it is to use it. I think I'll stick with mineral spirits in the future because while working with the gasoline all I could think of was a ball of flame. Yeah, I know that mineral spirits burns too, but I think gasoline is much more volatile; and it sure smells worse. Regardless, the cosmoline on this rifle was thin, even missing in places (yes there was rust where it was lacking) and it came off easier than ever, even when I reverted to mineral spirits on some parts.

As for the condition of the Soviet rifle, it sucks compared to my 1955 Hungarian Mosin Nagant m-44. The Hungarian one was purchased by me as arsenal refinished, like new condition. That is pretty much how it came to me, but of course it was covered thickly with cosmoline or whatever is the stuff the eastern bloc countries used back then. I cleaned up that one, refinished the stock, and it looks great. The new one will still look very used, and my guess would be that it is in NRA condition good to very good, though for the life of me I cannot figure out how rifles in this shape would rate even good by any one's standards; then again I am a picky guy. There is no almost bluing on the section of barrel that was exposed near the muzzle, and almost all the bluing left where the metal was under the forestock and handguard. Of course that is where the rust sneaked in, because they did not get enough cosmo under the wood. The action area also lacks a lot of bluing, and had some rust as did the magazine. The part numbers are not matched by serial number, so this is a thrown together rifle from mismatched parts. The bore does look pretty good, with lots of strong rifling, and it is even pretty shiny. When I held it up to the sky today to take a look (after cleaning it) it took on the blue color of the afternoon sky.

There is some more work to be done on that stock in the future; but for now I may just put it back together, and bring it to the range next weekend, and let Brendan shoot it to see how it shoots. I mean why have it at all if we are not going to shoot it! I may get around to really making that stock look nice, but of course, since the metal is not all that nice, I will be wondering if it is worth it. A few more coats of boiled linseed oil, and lots and lots of rubbing it in, for protection from the elements, and it may be good to go. I guess it might be a good first large caliber rifle for me to give to my son as a gift.

Out to the patio for me to retrieve the metal parts, and later for you, because I have got to get back to bed.

All the best,
Glenn B

Do Darts Count...

...as "arms" as expressed in the 2nd Amendment? I would imagine the Founding Fathers meant just about any type of arms, so I guess my 2nd Amendment sign is well placed right under my newy hung dart board. I figured it looked pretty good right there, and that since it is a metal sign, it may help deflect errant darts. I think the only thing I may be lacking is spackle to fill in holes and yellow paint to match the walls because dart holes are probably inevitable. Then again, I may hook up a thin sheet of plywood or paneling or something like that to hang from the bottom of the dart board cabinet so as to block errant darts, something easily removed and replaced so it does not have to be an eyesore when we are not playing.

Our basement was finished when we bought our house 12 years ago, then refinished to make it look better (the old walls really looked bad), and now finally it has a bit more of a user friendly feel to it since I rearranged things a week ago when I shampooed the carpets down there. We have a TV, a dart board, a weight set, and will soon have a nicely set up aquarium (but don't tell my wife about that until I get it all set up). Of course we also have another computer down there, my daughter's college machne that she no longer uses. I have to get a table or desk or computer stand later this afternoon, so I can to set it back up.

I may also pick up a nice set of darts too. I cannot wait to beat my son at it!

All the best,

Glenn B

1945 - The Last Few Days, The Next Few Days, In History...

... were the days that encompassed the worst U.S. Naval disaster for loss of life at sea in history. Of course I am talking about the torpedoing and sinking of the USS Indianapolis by Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945. On that day, about 300 of the 1,196 man crew perished in the actual attack and sinking. That left almost 900 survivors who went into the water. Despite two distress calls made by the crew before the Indianapolis sank, despite those calls apparently being received by the U.S. Navy, despite her being days overdue at port, she was never reported missing - due both to sad circumstances: Navy protocol at the time, and the fact that she had been returning from one of the most top secret missions of WWII.

For about 4 days and 5 nights, the crew of the USS Indianapolis suffered the perils of being stranded at sea. These included exposure to the sun, exposure to the salt water, lack of fresh drinking water, lack of food, greed expressed by hoarding of meager supplies by some crew mates, the drinking of sea water, the insanity that followed, violence inflicted upon one another due to panic. Yet many of the men were truly heroes, who despite their own exposure to the exact same things, protected other crew mates, cared for the wounded, kept spirits high, fended off shark attack, and prayed beyond hope for rescue.

On August 2 some of the survivors were accidentally spotted by a US air crew of a Lockheed PV-1 Ventura on a routine patrol. The immediately dropped of what little they had in the way of survival gear; and they radioed a message "...men in the water...". Soon help was on the way; and the first to arrive on scene to commence rescue operations was the crew of a Catalina PB-Y Flying Boat. That crew had orders to drop survival gear and also had very explicit orders not to land. Despite those orders they landed and started to rescue crew members of the Indianapolis. In all they rescued 56 men.

On August 3, the USS Cecil Doyle, a destroyer, was the first ship to arrive on the scene after her captain had received the distress message relayed on August 2 from the crew of the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura. Without awaiting orders, he took it upon himself to steam full speed ahead to the area. Upon arrival, during the night, the captain ordered a searchlight be pointed upward at low cloud cover, thereby illuminating both the sky and the sea, and of course placing his own ship at great peril. The light was used to spot survivors and to act as a beacon to other search ships.

Between August 2 and August 8 (the last day of search operations), 317 living men were pulled from the waters. Most of the men who perished died due to exposure to the elements, or due to lack of food and water, not to shark attack; but many were indeed attacked by sharks, and many corpses were scavenged by sharks.

Between those two dates, on August 6, 1945, another terrible event of WWII took place. The top secret mission the Indianapolis had just completed days before her sinking was the delivery of the major components of 'Little Boy' to Tinian Island. 'Little Boy' was flown off of Tinian on August 6, 1945 by the B-29 Enola Gay. This aircraft had been named after the mother of its pilot. 'Little Boy' was then dropped on Hiroshima, the first atomic bomb ever used against an enemy in warfare. All of this taking place while the search and rescue operations were still underway for the crew of the Indianapolis. One day after the search and rescue operation for the crew of the Indianapolis ended, the second and (so far) the last, atomic bomb ever detonated in warfare, was dropped over Nagasaki. Oddly enough this one was code named Fat Man.

I think it ironic that the bomb, for which components had been delivered by the USS Indianapolis, was code named Little Boy. Why, well because the aircraft that dropped it, the Enola Gay, was named after the pilot's mother. I imagine his mother never imagined an aircraft named after her, her namesake, figuratively giving birth to a 'Little Boy', especially one capable of such utter destruction. Nor do I think she ever envisioned her real little boy, delivering the Little Boy born of her namesake. Nor would she ever even have hinted to herself that her little boy would take part in what resulted in the loss of so many lives, from both sides, under such terrible circumstances, many of them not much more than little boys.

Though estimates vary, it is fairly safe to say, the Japanese lost an estimated 70,000 plus people as a direct result of each of the bombings (140,000 plus people with both bombings combined), and lost many more due to the after effects of these atomic attacks. The war with Japan, in effect, ended on August 15, 1945 when Japan announced her surrender; but the official end of the war with Japan was September 2, 1945 with the signing of surrender papers.

We probably did not have a 100% need to drop either of those bombs on those two Japanese cities. Japan would have surrendered eventually; but the dropping of the bombs did end the war much more quickly than likely would have been otherwise, and I believe that thousands if not tens of thousands of American, and other allied, lives were spared because we dropped the bombs. Yet, it is scary to think that this could happen again as several more countries now have nuclear weapons or are very close to developing them. Let's hope it never becomes necessary to kill as many people in one fell swoop as we did with Little Boy, and then did again with Fat Man; and let us hope no one else ever thinks it necessary either. Of course while I hope it never comes down to it, if we are ever threatened with our own ultimate destruction by those such as current terrorists or current rogue nations as we were by Japan during WWII, I am all for our survival. So if it comes right down to it as a necessity, I can only say: Nuke em till they glow. For now though, I prefer to think about and memorialize those who lost their lives directly or indirectly related to the above events; and I sincerely hope history does not repeat itself.

All the best,
Glenn B

Escaping A Submerged Vehicle...

...is something we should all have an idea how to accomplish, especially in light of the recent tragedy in the Minneapolis, Minnesota with the bridge collapse. I have reviewed a lot of the news about this sad event, and I was very surprised I did not find one article suggesting how to escape a submerged vehicle.

I have some knowledge of how to do so based upon my employment training, watching documentaries, and watching Myth Busters (a recent show I saw) where they explained the how to get out part, and also why you sometimes cannot get out until the car is full of water.

The following is my understanding of what needs to be done, should such ever happen to you. I am not sure it is 100% correct, but it will give you an idea of what to do; but remember it is your own responsibility to check with proper authorities to verify these steps.

If you are ever in a vehicle that winds up in the water completely submerged, there are a few steps you can attempt that may greatly increase your, and other passengers, chances of survival. The first thing to do is to remove your seat belt (always wear your seat belt when driving, it may prevent you from being knocked unconscious if you ever wind up in a submerged vehicle, and then what could you do to save yourself). Then tell others to do likewise, or remove the safety restraints of any other young occupants who cannot do so themselves. Then tell others the plan. Then take a deep breath and hold it, then open a window (or break it open, try to break a side window and not the windshield as it is much stronger than a side window), if not already open, and allow the water to flow into the car, and do this as soon as possible. Then either escape through the open window or open the door and get out; and of course if need be, you first try to assist any young children, or handicapped people, in the car to get out. This goes even if you cannot swim, because you can float to the surface. If you stay in the car, and help does not arrive almost immediately, you probably will either suffocate (if the car does not fill with water, and it not eventually filling with water is highly unlikely, or you will drown once it does fill with water).

The reason you wait for the car to pretty much fill with water is that you probably cannot get out until it does because of the water pressure. Until the water pressure is just about equal outside and inside the car you most likely cannot open the car door, nor could you get out of a window with the water rushing in. This is why you take as big a breath as you can, then open the window, holding your breath as the water rushes in. Once you can get out, you make for the surface.

By the way, if your car winds up in the water, there is a chance it will float for several seconds up to minutes. If so, get out through a window. Do not wait for the car to submerge, get out.

A good thing to carry in your car is a 'center punch'. It is a pointed, spring loaded, pen like device used to mark areas where someone wants to drill or hammer nails. If you have it set properly (usually as set when you buy it) and you press it into the side window of a car, the window will shatter. This device should be handy, as in a small case that is securely attached to your dashboard, or center console, for easy access.

Will this plan always work - probably not. Is it better than just staying in the car and doing nothing - probably so. As for me I would bet my life on it.


All the best,
Glenn B

What Did You Want To Be When You Grew Up?

It is amazing for me when I think back to my childhood, and remember what it was I wanted to grow up to be. I loved to watch western shows, like the Lone Ranger and other so called 'cowboy shows'; though the ones I liked best were lawman or loner shows wherein the main character was the good guy, even if only on the edge of goodness. I loved to dress up in western outfits too, with my shiny metal cap guns at my sides, and my faithful air gun in my hands. It wasn't so much I think that I liked cowboys, and the cowboy life, but rather that I liked those characters on television, especially loners, who were portrayed as heroes. I loved Superman, Hercules with Steve Reeves, and I loved pirate movies wherein the pirate was the bad guy who turned good guy. I really liked westerns with those loner heroes too. You know the ones, don't you - like the Lone Ranger or Roy Rogers, or The Rifleman. As time went by I remained mesmerized by shows like Bat Masterson, Have Gun Will Travel, Zoro, Maverick, all those John Wayne movies. Robin Hood, though not a western was another favorite. Then, I guess when I was just about turning into a teen, or maybe a bit before, a new genre of television show was born out of the then current times and world situation - the spy and secret agent shows. I remember being absolutely fascinated by Secret Agent Man, and its sequel The Prisoner. I loved shows like The Saint, The Man From Uncle, I Spy, Sherlock Holmes reruns, and even Get Smart (yes even comedies about this kind of thing were right up my alley). I wanted to be like one of these guys, well maybe not too much like Maxwell Smart, but you get the idea.


As I got older, and was in high school, my taste in films changed a bit; but still the overriding theme was the hero, sometimes shady, sometimes out in the light, but almost always not seen for the true person he really was because of a certain mystique that surrounded him. Bogart movies and things like the Thin Man series of films enthralled me. At that time my choice of careers also changed, and it moved drastically away from anything of the nature of those Hollywood characters for a brief time.I sought of drifted toward wanting to become a veterinarian, but I soon realized I could never afford the schooling for it. Then I thought I would love to become a game warden or conservation officer; in fact I thought it would be better than being a vet, it would be along the lines of what I had always wanted to be and it would include animals, nature, elements of risk and danger, intrigue and adventure. Since I loved animals of all sorts, not as in cuddling them as much as being fascinated by them, and I loved the outdoors for camping, hiking, shooting, archery, hunting, fishing, and so forth, I figured this was for me. When I went to college, I majored in Police Science because some jerk my guidance counselor in high school had steered me that way to get a job as a conservation officer or game warden. Man was he ever so wrong, I should have majored in zoology, or biology, or marine science or something else like them.


Well the next thing you know, there I am about 3/4 of the way through college and I realized the mistake that had been made. Not a good time to change majors, so I started to look toward other jobs, ones I hoped would have an element of danger, risk taking, something with adventure, and something where I could do the right thing like all those characters I enjoyed so much. I did not want to be a cop, not on a local level, so when an opportunity came around to take a test for Border Patrol Agent - I took it. After scoring high in the 90's on the test (out of 100) I thought I would be right in. Yet somehow it took about 2 years of waiting for the government to first hire all those they could hire with test scores as low as in the 70's based, of course, on affirmative action, before then conceded that yes they should hire me. I guess my numerous phone calls, and letters, as well as my two trips to Washington, DC to see some muckety-muck in I&NS HQ paid off. Finally they called me for a job.


They called me one day and told me I had about 2 hours to make up my mind as to whether or not I wanted a Border Patrol Agent slot in Calexico, California. I studied a map, and I saw that the Cleavland National Forest was close by; so I figured it must be Paradise and I would love it there. I said yes, they said I was hired. What a faulty assumption I had made about loving it in Calexico. It was, as I later discovered proverbially a hole along the border, 100 miles from water, and 2 feet from hell. Oh well life went on, and I was a federal agent. It was certainly an adventure, and I have lots of memories good and bad, and lots of 'war' stories to tell. It truly was like the wild west like that portrayed in those shows of my youth, and I have the scars to prove it. As fate would have it, I later transferred to U.S. Customs as a patrol Officer in New York. Then I became a Special Agent with Customs. After 9/11 when the I&NS was abolished, they combined its investigative personnel with U.S. Customs Special Agents under the newly created Department of Homeland Security and specifically within ICE. What a shame such a good agency as the Customs Service was destroyed, and the I&NS likewise, by a knee jerk reaction to 9/11; but that is what happened and I have managed to live with it, as have all the other agents so effected. Yet, it has all been an adventure, sort of like life in a Bogart movie - adventure, romance, intrigue, danger, getting the tough job done all in relatively short clips.

Nowadays there are still times at work when I honestly still can say that it is an an adventure. Heck it was one of those days today. I worked with a great group people today, and they did one heck of a bang-up job because of some really good investigative work on their part that made the job well worth while all over again. Thanks to guys and gals like the team with which I worked today, and thanks to those dreams I had so long ago, and thanks to film and TV heroes that really exemplified the struggle between good versus bad as opposed to the confusing crap they show to kids today, I became what I had wanted to be when I grew up. Not a spy, not a cowboy, not a sheriff, not a masked crusader, not a lone ranger, not a secret agent, not a detective, not a superman, but rather a regular guy who would stand up for Truth, Justice and the American Way (yes I borrowed that line from the old Superman series). It really has been one heck of an adventurous ride so far; and my career will have been going on for 28 years this September. When I look back on it all, I can say that: Life in a Bogart movie (at least when he was the good guy) can be an excellent thing indeed. I can also say, and say it without a doubt, that I grew up to be exactly what I had wanted to be so long ago. I guess that is in essence why I use the signature line that I do in my emails and on forums:

When I look in the mirror, I am happy to see,

some of that nine year old boy, who used to be me.

So, do you see any of your own nine year old self still within you; what did you want to be when you grew up?

All the best,

Glenn B