Hat tip to Target Rich Environment, where I was treated to seeing the following ProjectVeritas.com video by James O'Keefe. Target Rich Environment found it at the Daily Caller here. You may remember a previous video by him about ACORN; the video that brought them down.
This one below reportedly deals with Medicaid and seemingly with state workers(?) or Medicaid workers(?) in Ohio who apparently help people get benefits or should I say who seemingly (my opinion) help people defraud the U.S. Government and the state of Ohio, and waste tax payers' money, in a most despicable way. You decide which it is, I just strongly recommend that you watch the entire video.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, July 18, 2011
Quote Of The Day...
...or maybe of the year decade. I don't know who said it, got it in an email tonight, but it is great:
“Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured……but not everyone must prove they are a citizen”
Think about it when you vote in the next few sets of elections, especially in the presidential election in 2012 and in any Congressional elections.
All the best,
Glenn B
“Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured……but not everyone must prove they are a citizen”
Think about it when you vote in the next few sets of elections, especially in the presidential election in 2012 and in any Congressional elections.
All the best,
Glenn B
Project Appleseed Here We Come
Both Brendan and I are signed up for the Project Appleseed rifle marksmanship program at Calverton, NY at the end of this month. It is run by the Revolutionary War Veterans' Association.
I imagine Brendan will be shooting one of his AR-15s. Me, I will probably go with either a Mosin Nagant 91/30 or my Yugoslavian M24/47 Mauser. We both need to pick up slings for each of our rifles for this event. If I understand right, a lot of shooting at this event is done from the prone position using a sling. I have not fired from the prone position, with a rifle, for a couple of years or more. I don't think Brendan has ever fired prone. Most ranges around here do not allow it. The range at Calverton maybe normally does allow prone shooting, I don't know for sure because we always go to other ranges than that one. Regardless of their normal policy, they will apparently be allowing it for this shoot. I will have to relearn shooting from prone and Brendan will learn it fresh. It will be a learning experience for both of us. We are both looking forward to it very much.
More on this in later posts.
All the best,
Glenn B
I imagine Brendan will be shooting one of his AR-15s. Me, I will probably go with either a Mosin Nagant 91/30 or my Yugoslavian M24/47 Mauser. We both need to pick up slings for each of our rifles for this event. If I understand right, a lot of shooting at this event is done from the prone position using a sling. I have not fired from the prone position, with a rifle, for a couple of years or more. I don't think Brendan has ever fired prone. Most ranges around here do not allow it. The range at Calverton maybe normally does allow prone shooting, I don't know for sure because we always go to other ranges than that one. Regardless of their normal policy, they will apparently be allowing it for this shoot. I will have to relearn shooting from prone and Brendan will learn it fresh. It will be a learning experience for both of us. We are both looking forward to it very much.
More on this in later posts.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Today In History - Hail Wrong Way Corrigan: A Man With Brass Balls, Flying Know How and Maybe A Great Sense of Direction!
It was pea soup thick foggy day at Brooklyn, New York's Floyd Bennett Field, on July 17, 1938, when an accomplished airplane pilot and aircraft engineer/mechanic took to the air in what was officially to be a flight from NYC to Los Angeles. The pilot, Douglas Corrigan, was told by airport authorities to take off in any direction except west because of buildings adjacent to the airstrip in that direction, the building in which the airport manage was located. That man wished Corrigan "Bon Voyage" before he took off. Many believed he knew of Corrigan's secret plan to fly to Europe as possibly indicated by those two words he spoke to Corrigan just before his departure.
Thus, Corrigan took off to the east with everyone, except maybe for himself and the airport manager (although the manager denied any such knowledge), expecting him to turn around and head west. Just over 28 hours later, Corrigan landed his Curtiss Robin OX-5 at Baldonnel Airport, in Dublin, Ireland. It had been his dream to fly non-stop to Ireland but federal officials in the USA had not certified his plane as ready for such a flight even though he had repeatedly modified it for such a trip. Upon arrival in Ireland he was questioned by authorities over and over again about how it was he had flown to Ireland instead of to California as had been his flight plan. He repeatedly stated that he had taken off in thick fog, rose to an altitude where he was surrounded by thick fog or cloud cover, had to fly using his compass alone as a directional aid, and that when he finally broke cloud cover and got more light, about 26 hours into his flight, the additional available light allowed him to see he had been reading his compass incorrectly and flying east instead of west. Despite the disbelief of Irish officials, he stuck to that story finally telling them: "That's My Story"! In fact, he stuck with it for the rest of his life and even wrote a book, his autobiography, by that name. All that regardless of the suspected fact that he supposedly had plans to disregard U.S. aviation officials and fly to Ireland without their permission. (He reportedly had discussed his plans, earlier on, with friends.)
Lest you think that maybe he was just a fool who actually took off and flew in fog and cloud cover so thick he could not see, then due to low light read his compass wrongly, let me tell you again - he was an accomplished pilot having flown for almost 9 full years prior to his infamous flight. In addition, he was also a somewhat renowned mechanic/engineer in that he worked at the factory that assembled Lindbergh's plane and he was responsible for fitting the wings onto that plane and for installing its gas tanks. He had always wanted to repeat Lindbergh's accomplishment and planned to do so for years. He was not an inexperienced rube. While it is possible he made such a set of mistakes for a 26 hour period (the point at which he said he realized his mistake), it truly is very doubtful that he did not fly to Ireland purposefully having been disgusted by the U.S. Government's repeated failure to certify his plane as worthy of a trans-Atlantic flight. In fact, just before he flew off, his plane had been deemed not to be flight worthy for any flight but I guess the government could get it wrong back then just as they do today (still though it was reported to have been in terrible condition - see below).
He certainly was a different sort of man than most we see today; he had brass balls so to speak for having tried that feat in his plane considering the condition it was in at the time. Pay attention to the Wikipedia article when they quote a reporter who gave the plane a once over after it had arrived in Ireland. It was in scary condition from the sound of it - quite possibly truly not airworthy after all, making this flight all the more amazing. Maybe they should have added another word to his moniker and had it come out like: Crazy Wrong Way Corrigan or Ballsy Wrong Way Corrigan. Whatever the real reason for him having flown the wrong way though, he assured himself a sort of immortality by his having done so. Today, 73 years later, we still often refer to folks with a bumbling poor sense of direction with the term Wrong Way placed before their names (and now you know why if you did not know before).
Ironically, his son was killed in an air crash in the 1970s. In 1988 he celebrated the golden jubilee of his flight and rolled the Robin out of her hangar. Police reportedly considered tethering the plane to the ground so he would not fly off in it! He passed away in 1995. There is a lot more to Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan's story but without a doubt, his wrong way flight made him famous and ultimately made him rich. If you want to read more about him go to the references below. The one at Wikipedia is longer and has much more of his story, it is pretty fascinating but either one is a good read.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/corrigan/EX16.htm.
Thus, Corrigan took off to the east with everyone, except maybe for himself and the airport manager (although the manager denied any such knowledge), expecting him to turn around and head west. Just over 28 hours later, Corrigan landed his Curtiss Robin OX-5 at Baldonnel Airport, in Dublin, Ireland. It had been his dream to fly non-stop to Ireland but federal officials in the USA had not certified his plane as ready for such a flight even though he had repeatedly modified it for such a trip. Upon arrival in Ireland he was questioned by authorities over and over again about how it was he had flown to Ireland instead of to California as had been his flight plan. He repeatedly stated that he had taken off in thick fog, rose to an altitude where he was surrounded by thick fog or cloud cover, had to fly using his compass alone as a directional aid, and that when he finally broke cloud cover and got more light, about 26 hours into his flight, the additional available light allowed him to see he had been reading his compass incorrectly and flying east instead of west. Despite the disbelief of Irish officials, he stuck to that story finally telling them: "That's My Story"! In fact, he stuck with it for the rest of his life and even wrote a book, his autobiography, by that name. All that regardless of the suspected fact that he supposedly had plans to disregard U.S. aviation officials and fly to Ireland without their permission. (He reportedly had discussed his plans, earlier on, with friends.)
His pilot's license was suspended for a short time but was reinstated by the time he had returned to America. He and his plane returned by ship. He came back to an America still ravaged by the Great Depression and yet he was given a hero's welcome. A parade was held in his honor, in a blizzard of ticker-tape despite the 93.1 degree temperature in NYC on August 4, 1938. It was reported that 1 million people attended his parade, more people than attended the parade for Charles Lindbergh. (Disappointingly for Corrigan, Lindbergh never recognized Corrigan's accomplishment.) I do not know who coined his nickname, but from then on he was referred to as 'Wrong Way Corrigan' and the NY Post ran the headline "Hail Wrong Way Corrigan" printed backwards. |
| Printed here under fair use. Above jpg found at Wikipedia. |
He certainly was a different sort of man than most we see today; he had brass balls so to speak for having tried that feat in his plane considering the condition it was in at the time. Pay attention to the Wikipedia article when they quote a reporter who gave the plane a once over after it had arrived in Ireland. It was in scary condition from the sound of it - quite possibly truly not airworthy after all, making this flight all the more amazing. Maybe they should have added another word to his moniker and had it come out like: Crazy Wrong Way Corrigan or Ballsy Wrong Way Corrigan. Whatever the real reason for him having flown the wrong way though, he assured himself a sort of immortality by his having done so. Today, 73 years later, we still often refer to folks with a bumbling poor sense of direction with the term Wrong Way placed before their names (and now you know why if you did not know before).
Ironically, his son was killed in an air crash in the 1970s. In 1988 he celebrated the golden jubilee of his flight and rolled the Robin out of her hangar. Police reportedly considered tethering the plane to the ground so he would not fly off in it! He passed away in 1995. There is a lot more to Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan's story but without a doubt, his wrong way flight made him famous and ultimately made him rich. If you want to read more about him go to the references below. The one at Wikipedia is longer and has much more of his story, it is pretty fascinating but either one is a good read.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/corrigan/EX16.htm.
Wife Shoots & Kills Husband While Trying To Shoot Dog?
There must be more to this story. A Pit Bull puppy tries to attack some children. The adults get the kids out of the danger zone. The husband goes over to the dog and picks it up (why on earth would he pick up an apparently vicious dog puppy or otherwise). Reportedly, right after he picks up the dog, the wife seemingly decided this would be a great time to shoot the dog and she fires twice, hitting not only the dog but her husband too - one shot to each of them. The husband was shot in the chest and killed, no word on the condition of the pooch.
There really just has got to be more to the story other than the fact that local authorities are saying it looks like an accident! I think that either this was a case of a woman seeing an opportunity to murder her husband while making it look like an accident or it was one of the dumbest accidents of which I have ever heard, or drugs and or alcohol were in the mix. Then again, maybe the dog started to bite the husband when he picked it up and the wife was actually trying to protect him from the beast. Still not a smart move pulling the trigger with her husband in the line of fire.
I wonder, can you win a Darwin award for getting someone else killed? Nope I just checked the rules and killing someone else rules you out. Of course, if the husband knew the wife was going to shoot the dog, then held the dog up for her to get a good shot, then maybe he could win a Darwin award. I am not saying that is the way it happened just wondering a sort of what if.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/16/police-mississippi-woman-shooting-at-dog-kills-husband/?test=latestnews
There really just has got to be more to the story other than the fact that local authorities are saying it looks like an accident! I think that either this was a case of a woman seeing an opportunity to murder her husband while making it look like an accident or it was one of the dumbest accidents of which I have ever heard, or drugs and or alcohol were in the mix. Then again, maybe the dog started to bite the husband when he picked it up and the wife was actually trying to protect him from the beast. Still not a smart move pulling the trigger with her husband in the line of fire.
I wonder, can you win a Darwin award for getting someone else killed? Nope I just checked the rules and killing someone else rules you out. Of course, if the husband knew the wife was going to shoot the dog, then held the dog up for her to get a good shot, then maybe he could win a Darwin award. I am not saying that is the way it happened just wondering a sort of what if.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/16/police-mississippi-woman-shooting-at-dog-kills-husband/?test=latestnews
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Same Sex Marriages Will Soon Be Legal In New York - So What Will Prevent...
...fathers from marrying sons or mothers from marrying daughters? Bear in mind, the new law does not require those of the same sex who marry to be gay or lesbian. Also remember, marriage does not require you to have children, and there is no way they could have children naturally so no need to worry about inbreeding. Additionally, marriage does not even require you to have sex, so if they contract their marriage to never have sex with one another, no need to worry about incest. So, what would be the reason, other than morality, that a parent could not marry one of its children (of legal marrying age) of the same sex, say if the other parent died?
Mark my words, it is coming or at least someone will try to do it because normality and morality have lost the battle and maybe even the war. It seems to me (as in it is my personal opinion) that certain people seek out ways to pervert society simply for the sake of the twisted pleasure that they receive from bringing their perversions to a new apex. They do not stop once they have perverted something but strive to pervert even more of the bedrock of human society. They seem to try to always go one step beyond anything you or I or maybe even they would have dared dream of yesterday and they somehow have convinced too many of us that we should be tolerant of their never ending perversity. Sadly though, throughout history when such has happened before, the result has all too often been a radical swing toward enforced morality. You know it - something like the Spanish Inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials or McCarthyism or the Taliban in Afghanistan. Either way, I think, the normal people, the moderate people, lose.
All the best,
Glenn B
Mark my words, it is coming or at least someone will try to do it because normality and morality have lost the battle and maybe even the war. It seems to me (as in it is my personal opinion) that certain people seek out ways to pervert society simply for the sake of the twisted pleasure that they receive from bringing their perversions to a new apex. They do not stop once they have perverted something but strive to pervert even more of the bedrock of human society. They seem to try to always go one step beyond anything you or I or maybe even they would have dared dream of yesterday and they somehow have convinced too many of us that we should be tolerant of their never ending perversity. Sadly though, throughout history when such has happened before, the result has all too often been a radical swing toward enforced morality. You know it - something like the Spanish Inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials or McCarthyism or the Taliban in Afghanistan. Either way, I think, the normal people, the moderate people, lose.
All the best,
Glenn B
It Truly Is The End Of The World As We Knew It
God, the Gods, Mother Nature, the Universe, aliens from beyond our galaxy, or The Force all have my consent to obliterate the earth and all life upon it. I surrender mankind to forces greater than I, greater than all of us, for the good of the rest of all creation. Maybe, after viewing this video, you will feel likewise. Anyway, it will be, or should be, obvious why I think we no longer deserve to carry on as the race of mankind and why maybe the whole planet should go with us to oblivion for having allowed us to survive as long as it took for it all to come to this:
What a friggin crying shame that we have become that confused as to the very nature and essence of our being!
Of course, I don't really want mankind to be wiped out or the world to be disintegrated but I have to tell you that if God showed up on a chariot of fire, throwing lightning bolts of destruction and was accompanied by the horsemen of the Apocalypse looking to annihilate us all, I would understand why they showed up at this point in time and would, as well, understand exactly why they were so pissed off at us.
Adieu,
Glenn B
What a friggin crying shame that we have become that confused as to the very nature and essence of our being!
Of course, I don't really want mankind to be wiped out or the world to be disintegrated but I have to tell you that if God showed up on a chariot of fire, throwing lightning bolts of destruction and was accompanied by the horsemen of the Apocalypse looking to annihilate us all, I would understand why they showed up at this point in time and would, as well, understand exactly why they were so pissed off at us.
Adieu,
Glenn B
From Compost Heap, To Worm, To Frog (or whatever else I feed with them) and Back to Fred
Not too long ago, I posted about my compost heap - Fred the Compost Pile. I described some of his aspects and let you know how I knew he was healthy. You may recall that one of the best signs of health about a compost pile are that it is full of life. My compost pile is loaded with all sorts of insects, bugs and worms and I suppose with a lot of helpful bacteria. During the warmer months, I make it a habit to collect earthworms of one sort or another from within the depths of Fred and from a few other areas around my small garden where leaf liter builds up and eventually decomposes.
I put those worms to good use. For instance, today I collected about 50 worms within 10 minutes. I probably passed up at least another 50. After collecting them, I brought them inside and fed them to my various critters. well, actually, before going inside, I gave a couple to my tortoises that were outside enjoying the sunny not too warm day. One of my Redfoot Torts gobbled up a few by himself. Even my male Hermann's Tortoise, which usually shies away from worms, took half of a big one today. Then it was onto inside to feed my turtle, frogs, salamanders, newts and fish. They all got a good share of them.
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| Female African Clawed Frog, click it to big it. |
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| Male African Clawed Frog, click it to big it. |
I am hopeful that by mid winter or early next spring, the frogs may be large enough and ready to breed. There eggs will serve a couple of purposes. First off, I will incubate at least half of them. The other half may just be thrown into other tanks as food for my fish and other amphibians. From the eggs that hatch, I will likely raise at least 1/2 of the tadpoles to maturity. The others may also be used as food for my tropical fish and other amphibians and my turtle. Nothing will be wasted.
When I say nothing will be wasted, I pretty much mean it. I take old water from my tanks and sometimes use it to water my garden and to water the compost pile. There are a lot of built up bacteria and nitrates (almost no nitrites) in that water from the decomposing bits of plant material and fish food. I siphon as much of that stuff withthe water each week and throw it on the pile now and then when I remember to do it. In addition, I take any excess plants that have grown in 2 of my tanks and throw them onto Fred as well. I don't know if Fred appreciates it or not, he is not the talkative type of trash heap as you may see on TV, but the bacteria, bugs, insects and worms in him sure do seem to like it as they are all thriving. While the compost pile is not sustained solely by stuff from the fish and amphibian tanks, what does come from them and goes onto the heap helps it to decompose. In the long run, that waste fouled aquarium water helps produce the worms that the frogs, amphibians and turtles will again eventually turn into more matter to decompose on the heap. Such is the circle of life for Fred and my frogs and other critters.
All the best,
Glenn B
On Homeowners Being Armed: It Was Oh-Dark-Thirty, the Dogs Were Barking...
...and I told them to shut up; I wanted back to sleep. Then they started barking and mixed in the deeper than usual sounding barks with deep down growling and there was no shutting them up. I got up and grabbed the nearest available firearm and headed upstairs from my man-cave resting spot to see what was amiss if anything. The two big dogs were at the front window, growling as if a Zombie, or a pack of wolves, was milling around the front of our house. The little dogs upstairs were barking too. I have not seen them that intense in a long, long time, in fact maybe never before. So I cautiously approached the side doorway on my way upstairs and gave a quick peak or two, then gave a good long scan, then I did the windows in the kitchen and dining room, then in the living room where the dogs were still at it. I wanted to make sure I missed nothing or no one on my way to the scene of the mayhem.
Once in the living room, just let them keep barking and I cautiously peeled back on of the curtains just a bit and took a look. Nothing. Then I looked out the other window, the one facing front, expecting to see an opossum. I got a surprise, there was a young man standing there on the sidewalk, next to the small strip of grass at curbside, and next to one of our cars, facing the car, looking pretty intent of some evil deed - like maybe stealing one of the cars. Suddenly he stumbled a bit. Just then, I saw a quick flash of something glistening in the moonlight and streetlight, it was long and thin and down around - well just a bit below his waist. Relief for both of us! I guess he was pretty drunk; he was taking a pit stop, right there on the sidewalk but apparently onto the grass and I was not happy about it but put at ease.
I have got to hand it to the dogs though, they got me up with a possible intruder in the area - they sure had a different bark than usual as when it is just an opossum or a cat or a drunk stumbling by. I imagine that was because the guy was not just passing by but standing there while he did his thing. As it was, once he was done, he stumbled onward to wherever he was headed in his less than coherent state of mind. Hopefully he made it there before letting it all hang out again in public. I could have opened the door, stuck my head out and admonished him but figured what the heck, why wake up the neighbors for a drunk and why maybe start a fight over something so pissant (oh the pun of it all). I guess that was because I remembered being there pretty much in that same situation when that young and that drunk. Piss drunk was what we used to call it, because you would pee anywhere although it was most appropriately called that though when you peed in your pants. At least he got it out of his pants and into the grass. A quick look this morning revealed one other 'at least', at least he did not get it on our car.
All is well and the gun stayed silent, out of sight, with finger off the trigger, muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times, not retrieved until I was awake enough to do so and - imagine this - not one soul was injured by the gun toting homeowner whom the ultra leftists fear so much as being some sort of maniacal vigilante. Had it been someone who was in the act of breaking and entering and intent on doing us harm, well then it may well have been a very different story. In either case - I was prepared, ready, willing and capable of doing whatever might need to be done and I did what I chose to do both safely and sensibly. I would do it much the same in the event our dogs ever again become that agitated at something outside our home.
By the way, had he been trying to steal one of our cars, I might have given a shout to cease and desist out the window but I probably would also have called the cops instead of going outside alone. Who knows, maybe I would also have decided to let the dogs out just then too. That could have proven quite interesting but as I said, he turned out to be pretty harmless and pissant at worst!
All the best,
Glenn B
Once in the living room, just let them keep barking and I cautiously peeled back on of the curtains just a bit and took a look. Nothing. Then I looked out the other window, the one facing front, expecting to see an opossum. I got a surprise, there was a young man standing there on the sidewalk, next to the small strip of grass at curbside, and next to one of our cars, facing the car, looking pretty intent of some evil deed - like maybe stealing one of the cars. Suddenly he stumbled a bit. Just then, I saw a quick flash of something glistening in the moonlight and streetlight, it was long and thin and down around - well just a bit below his waist. Relief for both of us! I guess he was pretty drunk; he was taking a pit stop, right there on the sidewalk but apparently onto the grass and I was not happy about it but put at ease.
I have got to hand it to the dogs though, they got me up with a possible intruder in the area - they sure had a different bark than usual as when it is just an opossum or a cat or a drunk stumbling by. I imagine that was because the guy was not just passing by but standing there while he did his thing. As it was, once he was done, he stumbled onward to wherever he was headed in his less than coherent state of mind. Hopefully he made it there before letting it all hang out again in public. I could have opened the door, stuck my head out and admonished him but figured what the heck, why wake up the neighbors for a drunk and why maybe start a fight over something so pissant (oh the pun of it all). I guess that was because I remembered being there pretty much in that same situation when that young and that drunk. Piss drunk was what we used to call it, because you would pee anywhere although it was most appropriately called that though when you peed in your pants. At least he got it out of his pants and into the grass. A quick look this morning revealed one other 'at least', at least he did not get it on our car.
All is well and the gun stayed silent, out of sight, with finger off the trigger, muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times, not retrieved until I was awake enough to do so and - imagine this - not one soul was injured by the gun toting homeowner whom the ultra leftists fear so much as being some sort of maniacal vigilante. Had it been someone who was in the act of breaking and entering and intent on doing us harm, well then it may well have been a very different story. In either case - I was prepared, ready, willing and capable of doing whatever might need to be done and I did what I chose to do both safely and sensibly. I would do it much the same in the event our dogs ever again become that agitated at something outside our home.
By the way, had he been trying to steal one of our cars, I might have given a shout to cease and desist out the window but I probably would also have called the cops instead of going outside alone. Who knows, maybe I would also have decided to let the dogs out just then too. That could have proven quite interesting but as I said, he turned out to be pretty harmless and pissant at worst!
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, July 14, 2011
NJ Police May Be Very Wrong As To Who Is In Danger...
...but then again they are talking about a flag burning crime spree (can you fathom why the news service called it a trend and not a crime spree - how leftist) in very anti-gun New Jersey. Regardless of the states anti-gun stance, there certainly are a good number of armed patriots living in NJ. So, I imagine it is quite possible that, the next time some anti-American asswipe decides to ignite an American Flag on someone's private property, it could well be the flag burner and not the resident of the home who is most in jeopardy of losing his life. That is, if as the police reportedly have surmised, the flag burner(s) may try to ignite a flag attached to a home or other occupied building and that such would possibly pose the threat of burning the building and thus harming any occupants. I think it possible then, that a homeowner, using that same logic, may decide to fight back with deadly force and shoot the unpatriotic and life threatening son of a bitch. I am not saying it should be done, I am not saying it would be legal to do so in NJ, I am only saying it conceivably could happen because someone might believe that such a threat was a threat to their life or limb. If it happens and it was justified and if the bad guy gets hit, I will applaud.
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
Monsters Among Us...Parents Beware
I almost hate myself for having just written the title of this post. I may hate myself by the time I am done with this whole piece, just my opinion about a terrible event that just took place pretty locally to me. You see, the title (and the rest of this post) could be taken in the wrong way by a couple, a couple whom I do not want to offend and onto whom I do not want to heap even a feather's weight of blame. To them, right now, even a mere feather of blame would weigh tons. The couple of whom I speak are parents, and I do not want them to mistakenly think that what I am about to write, meant by me to be a warning to parents of young children, is instead a heartless reprimand of them. I doubt though that the couple in question will ever see my blog and I have decided to go with the title and the rest of it.
The couple in question, probably are the only two people in the world who might see this as a heartless reprimand. They were the parents of Leiby Kletzky. Yes I said "they were" but I suppose even though Leiby is now gone, they are still and forever will remain his loving and grieving parents. On Monday evening, Leiby Kletzky was abducted bya man a monster, he was killed by that monster a short time later, then was dismembered and most of his body was left in the trash. Leiby was abducted on his way home from summer day camp. Is it ironic that his killer's birthday was on the same day a his arrest for the abduction and murderm and that the victim's birthday, his ninth, was to be later this month. Leiby Kletzky was only 8 years old. He was on his way home from day camp when he came across a monster disguised as a helpful man. You see, Leiby had just been given permission, from the couple (his loving parents) to walk half way to his home, only 7 blocks from day camp, alone. he was to meet his mom. (This hits home all to hard for me. I was around 8 when I was first allowed to cross the street, thus allowing me to go anywhere.) He was at the age, the right age, for parents to give their children such permission. An age at which children begin to become responsible for themselves even if only at something so simple as walking 7 blocks alone to meet a parent.
As I heard reported on 1010 WINS yesterday, Leiby's parents even had taken the precaution of showing him the way to get home. My guess would be that somewhere in his upbringing they also told him about strangers as virtually all parents tell their children. They apparently did it all the right way. They just never expected that a monster would meet their child in a moment of weakness, that everything would just lead their child the wrong way into a mosnter's hands. That moment, the one when things started to go wrong for Leiby, came shortly after Leiby missed a turn in the route to his home. He continued straight and soon was lost. It is believed that he then sawthe monster the man. I imagine the man appeared to be nice, kind, helpful a knowledgeable adult, just another member of the fairly tight knit Hasidic Jewish community in which Leiby lived. He asked the man for directions; he had no idea that the man was a monster, the man hid that well. Somehow, the man got Leiby to go along with him. Then, apparently many hours later, seemingly the next day, little 8 year old Leiby Kletzky saw for himself, in his last moments on earth, that yes monsters really do exist.
The man who is the monster has been captured. He was arrested in the early morning hours on Wednesday. Police, acted quickly and had overwhelming help from the community. All of us should be so good at getting together to assist one another as were these people in their search for Leiby. Yet, they were all too late no matter how much they tried to help. Now they will feel guilt, they will feel helpless just as will Leiby's parents but nowhere nearly as much.
Leiby is gone but thankfully they have caught theman monster. He told the police where the boy, his remains, could be found. He has confessed. He sounds crazy. It should not matter if he is crazy or not. I can only describe him as a monster if it is found that he is actually the person who killed this 8 year old innocent child. If so, I think he should be executed post legal haste. Maybe his being crazy (or insane) should help speed up the process that leads to his execution; it certainly should not delay it. I have no pity for a guy like this, I think he is a monster and that all monsters should be destroyed.
You cannot leash your children, you cannot keep them imprisoned in your homes safe and sound and innocent forever. Sooner or later you need to start to give them some freedom, some autonomy, some responsibility to do things for themselves. You cannot know they will begin to do it right, you cannot overly worry they will do it wrong. You cannot be there, holding their hands to guide them if they start to go wrong or it would not be autonomous. You need to give them some freedom and as a parent I can tell you that you can never know with certainty if they are ready for it; you always take a chance when your child is given that responsibility. So teach them, and teach them as well as you can, o never approach a single stranger or go with a stranger , or get near a stranger's car. Teach them even more so about which strangers are safer. Teach them whom to approach if ever in trouble. Teach them who would be the safer bet, as it were, from whom to seek help if they need an adult. Tell them to virtually never to stop or approach a single stranger in a car unless it is a marked police car or firetruck. Teach them that if they ever get lost, as did poor little Leiby Kletzky, they need to walk into a store or other business, one in which they see plenty of workers and customers, and then announce in a loud voice - "Can you help me please, I am lost", or "I am hurt", or "my mom is outside and is sick", or whatever is the emergency that is making them seek the help of strangers. Tell them to look for a police officer and to yell for help as loud as he or she can to get the officer's attention, to get everyones attenion. Then, pray and hope that they have learned well if ever put to the task. You can even test them, have someone, a very trusted someone, follow and observe your child the first time or two that he or she does something like this alone - or do it yourself but don't let your child see you. This was the very first time that Leiby had been given permission to walk home by himself - fate can be a terrible thing - monsters come when least expected and without regard for innocence.
Perhaps Leiby's parents did all of those things, except apparently for following him to observe him his first time. Maybe they could not, maybe they did not think of it, maybe they just figured - since they had shown him the route - that he would get it right. They, or at least one of them, took him over the route last week on Friday. My guess is that they did everything else and that they knew their son was ready. They seemingly did it right. They probably did more than enough. There is no way they can be blamed for the actions of a monster. I do not fault them, not one bit, but you can bet they will fault themselves, they will do that for the rest of their lives.
They did not do their child a wrong. They did what parents do everywhere. They let their child start to grow up. They could not have known that something as innocent as a child not making a turn would have led their son directly to a monster, especially not in a pretty safe and closely knit neighborhood as is theirs. It was and is not their fault - a monster was among us. A monster pretending to be a helpful and friendly man is seemingly the one who did the evil deed. He was at the same exact spot, at the same exact same moment, as was a lost little boy who needed and then sought help. He needed help and was probably scared and he saw what he thought was a friendly, safe, caring trusful adult. He never expected to meet a monster pretending to be just that type of a man, the type that could fool even adults into believing he was there to help. Leiby's parents never could have actually expected it either; they never would have let him go it alone had they thought it, even for a moment. Pray for Leiby and for his parents, no matter what your faith. If you are not religious, keep them in your thoughts and well wishes.
Teach your children but don't try to keep them sheltered as children forever. Sooner or later they have to start to do things on their own, teach them well not only how to seek help but how to fight back if need be and how to get away (since I originally wrote this, the police have surmised, becasue of scratches on the suspected killer's arms, that little Leiby fought back). Do one other thing too, demand that your politicians and legal authorities implement the death penalty for monsters - the world will be a better place with even one fewer of them and our children would be so much safer too.
Sincerely,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/14/ny-man-charged-with-murder-after-missing-boys-remains-found-in-refrigerator/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_a_missed_turn_that_led_into_the_abyss.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_butcher_of_brooklyn_levi_aron_admits_how_he_killed_leiby_kletzky_in_chilling_con.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/leiby-kletzky-murder-suspect-levy-aron-confesses-death-brooklyn/story?id=14067849
The couple in question, probably are the only two people in the world who might see this as a heartless reprimand. They were the parents of Leiby Kletzky. Yes I said "they were" but I suppose even though Leiby is now gone, they are still and forever will remain his loving and grieving parents. On Monday evening, Leiby Kletzky was abducted by
As I heard reported on 1010 WINS yesterday, Leiby's parents even had taken the precaution of showing him the way to get home. My guess would be that somewhere in his upbringing they also told him about strangers as virtually all parents tell their children. They apparently did it all the right way. They just never expected that a monster would meet their child in a moment of weakness, that everything would just lead their child the wrong way into a mosnter's hands. That moment, the one when things started to go wrong for Leiby, came shortly after Leiby missed a turn in the route to his home. He continued straight and soon was lost. It is believed that he then saw
The man who is the monster has been captured. He was arrested in the early morning hours on Wednesday. Police, acted quickly and had overwhelming help from the community. All of us should be so good at getting together to assist one another as were these people in their search for Leiby. Yet, they were all too late no matter how much they tried to help. Now they will feel guilt, they will feel helpless just as will Leiby's parents but nowhere nearly as much.
Leiby is gone but thankfully they have caught the
You cannot leash your children, you cannot keep them imprisoned in your homes safe and sound and innocent forever. Sooner or later you need to start to give them some freedom, some autonomy, some responsibility to do things for themselves. You cannot know they will begin to do it right, you cannot overly worry they will do it wrong. You cannot be there, holding their hands to guide them if they start to go wrong or it would not be autonomous. You need to give them some freedom and as a parent I can tell you that you can never know with certainty if they are ready for it; you always take a chance when your child is given that responsibility. So teach them, and teach them as well as you can, o never approach a single stranger or go with a stranger , or get near a stranger's car. Teach them even more so about which strangers are safer. Teach them whom to approach if ever in trouble. Teach them who would be the safer bet, as it were, from whom to seek help if they need an adult. Tell them to virtually never to stop or approach a single stranger in a car unless it is a marked police car or firetruck. Teach them that if they ever get lost, as did poor little Leiby Kletzky, they need to walk into a store or other business, one in which they see plenty of workers and customers, and then announce in a loud voice - "Can you help me please, I am lost", or "I am hurt", or "my mom is outside and is sick", or whatever is the emergency that is making them seek the help of strangers. Tell them to look for a police officer and to yell for help as loud as he or she can to get the officer's attention, to get everyones attenion. Then, pray and hope that they have learned well if ever put to the task. You can even test them, have someone, a very trusted someone, follow and observe your child the first time or two that he or she does something like this alone - or do it yourself but don't let your child see you. This was the very first time that Leiby had been given permission to walk home by himself - fate can be a terrible thing - monsters come when least expected and without regard for innocence.
Perhaps Leiby's parents did all of those things, except apparently for following him to observe him his first time. Maybe they could not, maybe they did not think of it, maybe they just figured - since they had shown him the route - that he would get it right. They, or at least one of them, took him over the route last week on Friday. My guess is that they did everything else and that they knew their son was ready. They seemingly did it right. They probably did more than enough. There is no way they can be blamed for the actions of a monster. I do not fault them, not one bit, but you can bet they will fault themselves, they will do that for the rest of their lives.
They did not do their child a wrong. They did what parents do everywhere. They let their child start to grow up. They could not have known that something as innocent as a child not making a turn would have led their son directly to a monster, especially not in a pretty safe and closely knit neighborhood as is theirs. It was and is not their fault - a monster was among us. A monster pretending to be a helpful and friendly man is seemingly the one who did the evil deed. He was at the same exact spot, at the same exact same moment, as was a lost little boy who needed and then sought help. He needed help and was probably scared and he saw what he thought was a friendly, safe, caring trusful adult. He never expected to meet a monster pretending to be just that type of a man, the type that could fool even adults into believing he was there to help. Leiby's parents never could have actually expected it either; they never would have let him go it alone had they thought it, even for a moment. Pray for Leiby and for his parents, no matter what your faith. If you are not religious, keep them in your thoughts and well wishes.
Teach your children but don't try to keep them sheltered as children forever. Sooner or later they have to start to do things on their own, teach them well not only how to seek help but how to fight back if need be and how to get away (since I originally wrote this, the police have surmised, becasue of scratches on the suspected killer's arms, that little Leiby fought back). Do one other thing too, demand that your politicians and legal authorities implement the death penalty for monsters - the world will be a better place with even one fewer of them and our children would be so much safer too.
Sincerely,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/14/ny-man-charged-with-murder-after-missing-boys-remains-found-in-refrigerator/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_a_missed_turn_that_led_into_the_abyss.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_butcher_of_brooklyn_levi_aron_admits_how_he_killed_leiby_kletzky_in_chilling_con.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/leiby-kletzky-murder-suspect-levy-aron-confesses-death-brooklyn/story?id=14067849
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
If Only He Had A Shotgun...
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| Photo by Michael Haferkamp who in way has anything to do with my blog. |
Wild animals, like the gannet in the story, do not realize you are trying to do them a good deed. So, if you do not know what you are doing, or are not prepared to do it right, unless some one's life is at risk (as in a person's life not a gannet's) it is best to leave them to someone who does know how or to put the critter out of it's misery if they are that bad off. Of course, only put them out of their misery if you know how, if you can do it safely, if legal and if done ethically, maybe like with a single shotgun blast of number 7 shot when conditions allow.
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| Photo by Alan D. Wilson who in no way has anything to do with my blog. |
Don't get me wrong, I think the guy is likely a nice guy, I think he got screwed under the axiom - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - and I truly hope that somehow he will be able to recover his eyesight in the damaged eye. But, I also want to try to help assure, in what little way that I can, that such does not happen to any of you. Don't screw with wild animals, especially ones equipped to do real harm to you. Gannets are the LARGEST seabirds in the North Atlantic with a wingspan of up to 2 meters (JUST OVER 6.5 FEET ACROSS - now think of how big it would be when looking at those pics again) and with extremely pointy beaks (think of how big they would be too if the bird in the pic had a 6 1/2 foot wingspan). What was the poor man thinking when he picked one up - that it would appreciate his help!!!!!!!!!!! Be careful out there; wild animals are not the friends that someone like Walt Disney might have made them seem to be in his cartoons like Bambi.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gannet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Gannet
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/12/british-mans-eyeball-pecked-out-by-seabird/?test=latestnews
Marco Rubio - Well Spoken
The video speaks for itself and Senator Mark Rubio seemingly speaks for sensible Americans!
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
On Sarah Palin's Ability To Win Big
Sarah Palin win what - the run for the presidency? I like her politics very much but I also doubt her ability to win the election for president. She has shot herself in both feet, once by running as McCain's vice presidential candidate and then by stepping down as governor of Alaska. She stands little chance to none of winning the presidency for one other reason too; no other person, of whom I can think, in our history has ever raised the ire of the leftists as does she. If she runs she will bring every roach and rat of the left out of hiding to vote against her. Sadly, she does not have a similar effect on those on the right or independents as far as getting their votes goes.
I believe that she is taking the heat off of another candidate, on the right, Michelle Bachman. I think she stands more of a chance than Sarah Palin of rising to the top spot. I still think that Palin is better qualified but I am going to vote with both the issues AND realism as my guide when the primaries roll around. I am not saying I will not vote for Palin, just that it would have to look like there was a real chance of her winning and right now I think Bachman is the better bet and her politics are not to shabby. Of course, that could change if Palin actually entered the race. She can't win it if she isn't in it.
All the best,
Glenn B
I believe that she is taking the heat off of another candidate, on the right, Michelle Bachman. I think she stands more of a chance than Sarah Palin of rising to the top spot. I still think that Palin is better qualified but I am going to vote with both the issues AND realism as my guide when the primaries roll around. I am not saying I will not vote for Palin, just that it would have to look like there was a real chance of her winning and right now I think Bachman is the better bet and her politics are not to shabby. Of course, that could change if Palin actually entered the race. She can't win it if she isn't in it.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, July 11, 2011
Leaping Lizards Leaping Right Into My House
My Son Brought Home A New Friend Tonight. The new friend is not a new girlfriend, not a new pal with whom to drink beers, not someone he met at work, really a friend of a friend. I was a bit surprised when he walked in the door with her, even more surprised when he said she was going to stay for a week. I was also a bit concerned, not so much that a stranger would be staying in the house for a week but at how the dogs would react to her and as to whether or not she had mites or ticks. A quick look leads me to believe she is on the healthy side except for what looks to be a fairly fresh injury or sore on the right side of her head just below her mouth. Hopefully it is not due to illness but is just a scrape that will heal quickly. Also, a quick sniff led to my nostrils being filled with a crappy sour smell that was not good at all. A look in her traveling case/cage showed the reason, the bottom of it was pretty much smeared with lizard shit. I also noted that the cage could be how she got scraped, there are lots of sharp edges on the screening that was added to the cage to make it Iguana escape proof. The cage was probably originally meant for a rabbit or as a travel kennel cage for a cat. So, someone lined it with heavy screening or hardware cloth. The ends are not bent over and could easily stick the lizard if it rubbed against them trying to escape or if frightened by something. and making a quick move. Oh, did I neglect to mention, she is a Green Iguana!
Well, both Brendan and I cleaned out the cage, I gave it a good hosing down with the garden hose and he cleaned the accessories while the lady lizard chilled in a small Coleman cooler with the lid on tight. I knew as soon as she got in there and it was closed and thus dark inside she would calm right down. As soon as the cage was clean, Brendan put a towel on the desk in the basement then put the cage atop the towel. Then he got an extension cord for me and I plugged in the lizard's light. Within minutes it was warming itself under the heat of the very bright bulb and looking content with the improvement we added to the cage by way of a nice sized piece of cork bark for a basking platform.
I can tell you that although not the very last thing I expected to see in my house tonight, a Green Iguana has to be pretty darned close to the last thing I expected to see here. Brendan brought it home to take care of it for a friend who will be away for a week. Well, that is what he told me. It had better not be here for more than a week or I may just surprise Brendan at our next BBQ and tell him he is doing what the song, Mexican Radio, says: "...eating barbecued iguana"! I am not too worried though, I figure he knows better than to try to sneak a new pet in the house by underhanded skulduggery and subterfuge. My biggest concern, besides it maybe having mites or an illness that could spread to my other animal, is that our dogs may go bonkers over it and somehow get it out of its cage. So, I am going to go work on making sure that even if they knock the cage off of the desk, when no one is home, the cage will remain locked and she will remain inside of it. By the way, I am only assuming it is a she, could be a he for all I know, too small to tell for sure at only about 2 to 2.5 feet long. Oh the joys of being a parent!
Later 4 U,
Glenn B
Well, both Brendan and I cleaned out the cage, I gave it a good hosing down with the garden hose and he cleaned the accessories while the lady lizard chilled in a small Coleman cooler with the lid on tight. I knew as soon as she got in there and it was closed and thus dark inside she would calm right down. As soon as the cage was clean, Brendan put a towel on the desk in the basement then put the cage atop the towel. Then he got an extension cord for me and I plugged in the lizard's light. Within minutes it was warming itself under the heat of the very bright bulb and looking content with the improvement we added to the cage by way of a nice sized piece of cork bark for a basking platform.
I can tell you that although not the very last thing I expected to see in my house tonight, a Green Iguana has to be pretty darned close to the last thing I expected to see here. Brendan brought it home to take care of it for a friend who will be away for a week. Well, that is what he told me. It had better not be here for more than a week or I may just surprise Brendan at our next BBQ and tell him he is doing what the song, Mexican Radio, says: "...eating barbecued iguana"! I am not too worried though, I figure he knows better than to try to sneak a new pet in the house by underhanded skulduggery and subterfuge. My biggest concern, besides it maybe having mites or an illness that could spread to my other animal, is that our dogs may go bonkers over it and somehow get it out of its cage. So, I am going to go work on making sure that even if they knock the cage off of the desk, when no one is home, the cage will remain locked and she will remain inside of it. By the way, I am only assuming it is a she, could be a he for all I know, too small to tell for sure at only about 2 to 2.5 feet long. Oh the joys of being a parent!Later 4 U,
Glenn B
The Lack Of Education Worldwide Is Startling
I was reading news articles at FoxNews.com, this morning, and on the homepage for that site there was an article: More Than Half of Aussie High Schoolers Don't Know Nation Is a Democracy. While the statistic mentioned in the title of the article would be disconcerting if Australia was actually a democracy, such a headline it is not to be unexpected, in toady's world, because reporters simply do not seem to be of the caliber of those of past times. My understanding is that Australia is more akin to a constitutional republic than it is to a democracy. Even if you grant the reporters that Australia is a democracy, the truth is that the quality of education around the world, at least in countries that were once near the top of the socio-economic ladder, seems to be suffering. Another example of that fact was soon to become evident to me on the website of FoxNews.com.
After reading the brief article, mentioned above, I clicked on the link World to look at additional articles on world news. Once on the page for world news, I looked at this and that and then came to a section that broke down distribution of articles as follows: Latest World News, Mideast, Europe and Asia. First of all, you may have noticed, that there are no sections covering two hot beds of news around the world: South America and Africa. Shame on FoxNews.com for excluding those two continents from the breakdown. You will note I did not say that they excluded Antarctica or Australia. The reason I did not mention Antarctica is because, let's face it, there is a paucity of news coming from the icy cold continent. As for Australia, it was not excluded by FoxNews.com but was instead, sort of, misplaced. If you visit the web page in question, and look for the column I mentioned, you may still be able to see that links to articles about events in Australia are listed under the header of Asia. The two links to articles, I found relative to Australia, under the header of Asia, were Proposed Australian Law Would Make Muslim Women Lift Veil and a repeat link to More Than Half of Aussie High Schoolers Don't Know Nation Is a Democracy. The below representation, although not exactly how it looked at FoxNews.com, is how it copied and pasted here:
ASIA
Was I saying something about the decline of he quality of education round the world and how such is in evidence at the FoxNews.com website? I think I was doing just that and now you have additional evidence, well you may have it if you visit that site quickly; due to the nature of the beast it is sure to change rapidly and those same articles, the ones I present as evidence of the decline of quality of education round the world, may no longer appear under the header of Asia. What evidence? You mean you do not know that Australia is not in Asia! For a reporter, website developer, or editor not to have known that before including articles about Australia under the header of Asia is truly discomfiting for me. If you are wondering why it is such for me, let me just say that, FoxNews.com is my favorite news source and I expected better from them. I wonder, does the person, or people responsible, for including articles about Australia under the header of Asia, realize that Australia and Asia are different continents. Maybe it just all part of the worldwide government thing that some folks seem to be wishing will become the norm but I think it is more likely due to ignorance that is seemingly imbued in students by failing educational systems around the world.
All the best,
Glenn B
After reading the brief article, mentioned above, I clicked on the link World to look at additional articles on world news. Once on the page for world news, I looked at this and that and then came to a section that broke down distribution of articles as follows: Latest World News, Mideast, Europe and Asia. First of all, you may have noticed, that there are no sections covering two hot beds of news around the world: South America and Africa. Shame on FoxNews.com for excluding those two continents from the breakdown. You will note I did not say that they excluded Antarctica or Australia. The reason I did not mention Antarctica is because, let's face it, there is a paucity of news coming from the icy cold continent. As for Australia, it was not excluded by FoxNews.com but was instead, sort of, misplaced. If you visit the web page in question, and look for the column I mentioned, you may still be able to see that links to articles about events in Australia are listed under the header of Asia. The two links to articles, I found relative to Australia, under the header of Asia, were Proposed Australian Law Would Make Muslim Women Lift Veil and a repeat link to More Than Half of Aussie High Schoolers Don't Know Nation Is a Democracy. The below representation, although not exactly how it looked at FoxNews.com, is how it copied and pasted here:
ASIA
Was I saying something about the decline of he quality of education round the world and how such is in evidence at the FoxNews.com website? I think I was doing just that and now you have additional evidence, well you may have it if you visit that site quickly; due to the nature of the beast it is sure to change rapidly and those same articles, the ones I present as evidence of the decline of quality of education round the world, may no longer appear under the header of Asia. What evidence? You mean you do not know that Australia is not in Asia! For a reporter, website developer, or editor not to have known that before including articles about Australia under the header of Asia is truly discomfiting for me. If you are wondering why it is such for me, let me just say that, FoxNews.com is my favorite news source and I expected better from them. I wonder, does the person, or people responsible, for including articles about Australia under the header of Asia, realize that Australia and Asia are different continents. Maybe it just all part of the worldwide government thing that some folks seem to be wishing will become the norm but I think it is more likely due to ignorance that is seemingly imbued in students by failing educational systems around the world.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Fred The Compost Pile - A Healthy And Thriving Mess
You may be wondering why I would name a compost pile, let alone why I would call it Fred. I was a big fan of Fraggle Rock back in the day when my daughter was young. One of the biggest adventures that any of the Fraggles could endure was a visit to Marjorie The Trash Heap, the all knowing seer, who lived just outside of Fraggle Rock in the garden of Gorg. They sought advice from Marjorie and while it was risky business getting safely to her and back again, because she was outside of Fraggle Rock, the journey was always worth the risk, such as from Junior Gorg who always tried his best to get the Fraggles.
Marjorie was made of things like banana peels, other decomposing vegetable matter, and coffee grinds. She, or it, basically only came to life upon the arrival of Philo and Gunge - 2 rat Muppets. She thrived when they were near and was depressed and downright ill whenever they left her side. She was sort of like my compost pile Fred who depends upon his critters to keep him healthy, although in his case the critters are worms, insects, bugs, and bacteria. Without those critters Fred would not be a productive compost pile. There is probably an errant rodent or two that visits Fred now and again too, either looking for a quick meal of rotting veggies or of a plump and juicy earthworm but I doubt they have the same effect on it as do the worms, insects, bugs and bacteria. Another thing about Fred that is like marjorie is that he is sort of a seer. Nope, he does not talk to me but the compost pile does tell me a lot about the health of my garden.
I know that Fred the compost pile, is healthy because the critters within it are thriving. There are worms, and other bugs and insects, evident at every scoop of the soil. I also know that my garden is pretty healthy because I use the compost as fertilizer for much of it. It's not just that I used compost that tells me the garden is healthy or that Fred is somewhat of an all knowing seer. The other reason I know the garden is healthy, and that Fred is wise, is because when I planted my vegetable garden this year I put out cow manure on the whole but small plot. Then I added compost to the area in which I planted certain plants. Those plants are doing the best and have far outgrown plants only 2 feet or so away from them that did not get compost added around their roots. Same thing with my potted veggies. The ones that also got an addition of compost from Fred are doing best by far. Thus, Fred is wise beyond imagining, he knows how to make a garden thrive!
One of the added benefits of having a healthy compost pile, other than getting great fertilizer from it, is that it is a great food source. No, I do not eat earthworms. On the other hand, my turtle, some of my tortoises, all of my salamanders, newts, and fish do love them. So, in the video, when I said it is a great food source, that is what I meant besides it helping produce food in the form of healthy vegetables.
As to why I named it Fred? Why not!
Here is a short video of my own version of a wise trash heap, Fred The Compost Pile:
As you can see in the video, besides lots worms and bugs, Fred is often visited by my tortoises when I give them freedom to roam the backyard. They make use of Fred, burrowing into him a bit to stay cool on hot days or when ready to call it quits for the day. Sort of like the Fraggles going to visit or like Philo and Gunge keeping Marjorie company.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference, more info on Fraggles here:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Marjory_the_Trash_Heap
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Fraggle_Rock
Reference, more info on compost piles and compost here:
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/building.html
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/composting/by_compost.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost
Marjorie was made of things like banana peels, other decomposing vegetable matter, and coffee grinds. She, or it, basically only came to life upon the arrival of Philo and Gunge - 2 rat Muppets. She thrived when they were near and was depressed and downright ill whenever they left her side. She was sort of like my compost pile Fred who depends upon his critters to keep him healthy, although in his case the critters are worms, insects, bugs, and bacteria. Without those critters Fred would not be a productive compost pile. There is probably an errant rodent or two that visits Fred now and again too, either looking for a quick meal of rotting veggies or of a plump and juicy earthworm but I doubt they have the same effect on it as do the worms, insects, bugs and bacteria. Another thing about Fred that is like marjorie is that he is sort of a seer. Nope, he does not talk to me but the compost pile does tell me a lot about the health of my garden.
I know that Fred the compost pile, is healthy because the critters within it are thriving. There are worms, and other bugs and insects, evident at every scoop of the soil. I also know that my garden is pretty healthy because I use the compost as fertilizer for much of it. It's not just that I used compost that tells me the garden is healthy or that Fred is somewhat of an all knowing seer. The other reason I know the garden is healthy, and that Fred is wise, is because when I planted my vegetable garden this year I put out cow manure on the whole but small plot. Then I added compost to the area in which I planted certain plants. Those plants are doing the best and have far outgrown plants only 2 feet or so away from them that did not get compost added around their roots. Same thing with my potted veggies. The ones that also got an addition of compost from Fred are doing best by far. Thus, Fred is wise beyond imagining, he knows how to make a garden thrive!
One of the added benefits of having a healthy compost pile, other than getting great fertilizer from it, is that it is a great food source. No, I do not eat earthworms. On the other hand, my turtle, some of my tortoises, all of my salamanders, newts, and fish do love them. So, in the video, when I said it is a great food source, that is what I meant besides it helping produce food in the form of healthy vegetables.
As to why I named it Fred? Why not!
Here is a short video of my own version of a wise trash heap, Fred The Compost Pile:
As you can see in the video, besides lots worms and bugs, Fred is often visited by my tortoises when I give them freedom to roam the backyard. They make use of Fred, burrowing into him a bit to stay cool on hot days or when ready to call it quits for the day. Sort of like the Fraggles going to visit or like Philo and Gunge keeping Marjorie company.
All the best,
Glenn B
Reference, more info on Fraggles here:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Marjory_the_Trash_Heap
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Fraggle_Rock
Reference, more info on compost piles and compost here:
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/building.html
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/composting/by_compost.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Don't Monkey (Ape) Around With Guns
Here is yet another negligent accidental discharge of a firearm (or was it). Whatever, this video is pretty hilarious regardless of the level of stupidity that had to be involved in handing an automatic rifle to a chimp. Then again, there was a certain level of intelligence too, at least on the part of the chimp: He never shot himself, only applied his finger to the trigger when ready to shoot, was sure of his targets and what was beyond, always kept the firearm pointed in a safe direction as far as he was concerned, stopped firing once the threats were gone, did a scan for additional threats with weapon at the ready, and seemingly decided to beat feet and seek cover (and probably more ammo) just after a little victory dance but before more bad guys arrived. Great stuff from the mind of an ape (maybe they will take over some day); not so great stuff from the bunch of apparent drunks or morons (or both) that had been with the chimp before the shooting started.
A hat tip to Patrick S. who emailed me the video.
All the best,
Glenn B
A hat tip to Patrick S. who emailed me the video.
All the best,
Glenn B
His Holster Apaprently Confused Him...
...and the result was that he shot himself. I have to hand it to Mr. Tex Grebner for posting his accidental, albeit negligent, discharge video on YouTube. It is a good warning for the rest of us. Is it a better warning than the blog post that I put up last August called "Don't Let Your Holster Confuse You"? Maybe it is better for shock value but if you had read my piece and taken its advice you maybe would have been less likely to have been confused by your holster and maybe more likely to have avoided an accidental (albeit negligent) discharge like the one he experienced. I will admit, the video below is much shorter than my blog post (the post is pretty long). The video also has value. Yet, I still think my blog post on the subject is worth the read, especially if you use holsters that differ from one another with regard to retention devices.
Watch the video, then when you have some spare time, sit back and read Don't Let Your Holster Confuse You. While it does not discuss the same holsters used by Mr. Grebner, it discusses problems that can arise when you use different types of holsters from one day to the next or even on the same day as did he) and why I do not mix and match holsters with different retention devices if possible.
On a side note, I have to say a couple or few more things. An accident like that could have happened to anyone who used holsters with differing retention systems, especially during the same shooting session. Yes it was an ACCIDENT even if he was negligent (anyone who leaves a comment arguing that will have there comment dumped). I do believe he was negligent but also believe the holster he was using may have been designed negligently and may have in part caused the accident seen in his video. I do not believe all the fault for the accident is his but I do believe him most at fault - that is my personal opinion. I also have to hand it to Mr. Grebner for keeping cool after having shot himself. I can almost guarantee that most people would not have handled themselves as well as did he in that situation. The very first thing he did was to place his trigger finger along the slide, then he put the safety on the weapon and grounded it. Then he apparently took a look at the wound, called for help, and treated himself by applying first aid. He was pretty darned calm about it all even though for the first moment or two he seemed to be in disbelief but then as the initial shock of what he had done had passed he was cooler than I think most people would be and he not only was cool but took proper action. Then, with apparent nerves of steel, he took the video and placed it on YouTube for the whole world to see and to ridicule and many have done just that in a nasty obnoxious manner.
I do not know him but admire his pluck for having published that video in the face of what would certainly be a lot of ridicule. I will have none of that here. Leave comments that are decent regardless of what you think of him and his accident. Comments that are critical of him in a civil manner are okay - just do not leave nasty or impolite comments that rag on him; comments like that will not be allowed.
All the best,
Glenn B
Watch the video, then when you have some spare time, sit back and read Don't Let Your Holster Confuse You. While it does not discuss the same holsters used by Mr. Grebner, it discusses problems that can arise when you use different types of holsters from one day to the next or even on the same day as did he) and why I do not mix and match holsters with different retention devices if possible.
On a side note, I have to say a couple or few more things. An accident like that could have happened to anyone who used holsters with differing retention systems, especially during the same shooting session. Yes it was an ACCIDENT even if he was negligent (anyone who leaves a comment arguing that will have there comment dumped). I do believe he was negligent but also believe the holster he was using may have been designed negligently and may have in part caused the accident seen in his video. I do not believe all the fault for the accident is his but I do believe him most at fault - that is my personal opinion. I also have to hand it to Mr. Grebner for keeping cool after having shot himself. I can almost guarantee that most people would not have handled themselves as well as did he in that situation. The very first thing he did was to place his trigger finger along the slide, then he put the safety on the weapon and grounded it. Then he apparently took a look at the wound, called for help, and treated himself by applying first aid. He was pretty darned calm about it all even though for the first moment or two he seemed to be in disbelief but then as the initial shock of what he had done had passed he was cooler than I think most people would be and he not only was cool but took proper action. Then, with apparent nerves of steel, he took the video and placed it on YouTube for the whole world to see and to ridicule and many have done just that in a nasty obnoxious manner.
I do not know him but admire his pluck for having published that video in the face of what would certainly be a lot of ridicule. I will have none of that here. Leave comments that are decent regardless of what you think of him and his accident. Comments that are critical of him in a civil manner are okay - just do not leave nasty or impolite comments that rag on him; comments like that will not be allowed.
All the best,
Glenn B
Lazy Days Of Summer - Too Hot & Humid To Shoot (not really)...
...but it was certainly too hot to go to the range this afternoon to shoot, then wind up there without an icy cold beverage of my choosing to make it bearable, so I decided to do some work in the garden today where icy cold biers would be close by.
I have less, than in years past, growing in my vegetable garden this year. A few to several pepper plants, a few tomato plants, a couple of cucumber vines, a few string bean vines, a few vines of unremembered type (maybe squash or melons), and that is about it besides my wife's herbs. The cucumbers are starting to take off and so are the tomatoes. One of the pepper plants is starting to bush up and produce a lot of flowers, one has given me a few Jalapenos already and another has given me two small bell peppers. I may replant the ones in the ground into pots but need to get a few larger pots at Home Depot first. As for the bean plants, they have given me a few bunches of string beans. Not bad for a small garden though I suppose it could be better. All of my pepper plants in the ground look stunted while the ones in pots look great. no more planting in the ground for them, they all go into pots next year.
I took care of the garden today, picked some vegetables, weeded, watered, cut back some vines growing like weeds, tended to the compost pile and then watered the flowers in back of the house. Then I let the tortoises out for their romp in the sun. After letting them out, I grabbed a couple of cold ones, Hefe Weizen, and had a relaxing half hour or so of sips between snips. I sat at the patio table and snipped up twigs that I had pulled out of the compost pile or had found around the yard, including a large pile from previous days spent trimming bushes and a tree or two. I also swept the patio down. Then I gave a really good soaking watering to the trees and shrubberies in my backyard.
That done, I put the musk turtle out in the yard in a large basin with half land area and half water. He can use a good sun bath like the torts although he does not need it as much as do they.
After that I headed down into the basement and checked on my tortoise and snake eggs in the incubator. Looks as if only one, out of 8, tortoise eggs was fertile. The thing is, it may not ever hatch, for some reason the egg has a long crack in it. I may tape over it to help prevent it from cracking more. It is still alive and shows no sign of mold, fungus or other infection in spite of the crack. The snakes eggs look pretty good for the most part. One looks as if it may have gone bad but all the others seem okay. Soon it will be time to work on the fish tanks. Soon after that the dinner bell will ring. The wife is making pasta and Italian sausages tonight in a mostly homemade sauce. It has filled the house with an absolutely wonderful aroma and I am almost salivating just thinking about chowing down on it.
All the best,
Glenn B
I have less, than in years past, growing in my vegetable garden this year. A few to several pepper plants, a few tomato plants, a couple of cucumber vines, a few string bean vines, a few vines of unremembered type (maybe squash or melons), and that is about it besides my wife's herbs. The cucumbers are starting to take off and so are the tomatoes. One of the pepper plants is starting to bush up and produce a lot of flowers, one has given me a few Jalapenos already and another has given me two small bell peppers. I may replant the ones in the ground into pots but need to get a few larger pots at Home Depot first. As for the bean plants, they have given me a few bunches of string beans. Not bad for a small garden though I suppose it could be better. All of my pepper plants in the ground look stunted while the ones in pots look great. no more planting in the ground for them, they all go into pots next year.
I took care of the garden today, picked some vegetables, weeded, watered, cut back some vines growing like weeds, tended to the compost pile and then watered the flowers in back of the house. Then I let the tortoises out for their romp in the sun. After letting them out, I grabbed a couple of cold ones, Hefe Weizen, and had a relaxing half hour or so of sips between snips. I sat at the patio table and snipped up twigs that I had pulled out of the compost pile or had found around the yard, including a large pile from previous days spent trimming bushes and a tree or two. I also swept the patio down. Then I gave a really good soaking watering to the trees and shrubberies in my backyard.
That done, I put the musk turtle out in the yard in a large basin with half land area and half water. He can use a good sun bath like the torts although he does not need it as much as do they.
After that I headed down into the basement and checked on my tortoise and snake eggs in the incubator. Looks as if only one, out of 8, tortoise eggs was fertile. The thing is, it may not ever hatch, for some reason the egg has a long crack in it. I may tape over it to help prevent it from cracking more. It is still alive and shows no sign of mold, fungus or other infection in spite of the crack. The snakes eggs look pretty good for the most part. One looks as if it may have gone bad but all the others seem okay. Soon it will be time to work on the fish tanks. Soon after that the dinner bell will ring. The wife is making pasta and Italian sausages tonight in a mostly homemade sauce. It has filled the house with an absolutely wonderful aroma and I am almost salivating just thinking about chowing down on it.
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, July 8, 2011
Blogger's Blues...
...just have nothing that perks up my interest to write up in my blog. I had thought would write about unemployment and the economy and what the president had to say about it. Then I thought, since I get nausea just thinking about him and the economy and how he is fucking it up destroying it, why should make you suffer, the same as would I, by writing about him and posting it for you to read. Maybe something will tickle my fancy and get me typing some more tomorrow.
All the best,
GB
All the best,
GB
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Temporarily Brain Dead Due To Creeping Crud...
...thus no blogging tonight except for this. My lack of other blogging is all due to the really whopping case of poison something or other that I have on my knees, inner thighs, groin (no not on the important parts, thank goodness), lower back, behind my ears on an them too, on my neck and left shoulder and a bit on my left hand and both arms. Man oh man, it itches and I have to ..........scratching........ get something to quell it. Tomorrow, I will be off to the druggist to pick up the stuff my doc prescribed for me today. She guaranteed it would stop the itch.......... scratching again......... I hope so! This weekend I am thinking of spraying herbicide in my yard. Of course, I'll probably just search out the poison ivy, oak, or sumac and destroy any I find.
Scratching again,
GB
Scratching again,
GB
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
So The Casey Anthony Trial Is Essentially Over
Can we now return to normal life, more or less. Will the news media now please go back to broadcasting world news, national news, local news, the weather and such without having to devote so much time to something of so little interest. Yeah, I admit, I wanted to know the outcome of this trial and maybe why it turned out so, but I sure did not need the moment by moment coverage of everything from which door the prosecution team would exit one building to go to another to hear the verdict, or a blow by blow description of every look Casey Anthony made in court (nor those of her mom or dad either), nor every wanna be attorney's reporter's opinion of what this piece of evidence meant to the jury, nor every reprimand the judge gave to the lawyers in the courtroom because they were acting like fools, nor any of the rest of it. Hallelujah it is almost all over and done with.
That of course it to say nothing of what I think should happen to the killer of the poor child who was the victim in all of this. I would have once again liked to have seen justice served extra crispy in this case, as in some others, but first her killer would have to be convicted.
All the best,
Glenn B
That of course it to say nothing of what I think should happen to the killer of the poor child who was the victim in all of this. I would have once again liked to have seen justice served extra crispy in this case, as in some others, but first her killer would have to be convicted.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, July 4, 2011
American Revolution History Quiz: Imagine You Are An American Citizen And You Take The 1776 Marist Poll...
...asking folks in what year did the United States of America declare its independence? In the same Marist Poll they also asked one other question: From which country did the USA declare its independence? How would you do? How would Americans do?
Those are pretty basic, in fact maybe the most basic, historical questions you could ask about our country's history. The sad thing is that only 58% of the 1,003 people surveyed got the first question correct and only 76% of them got the second question right. That is truly a shame. What is more of a shame is that yesterday on local radio news up my way, I heard a reporter ask those same questions of a tourist from Australia in NYC. That guy got them right, without hesitation. Then again, the reporter claimed that every New Yorker he questioned got them both right. My guess is that he must not have questioned any of the many illegal aliens in NYC, he conducted his poll in person and could have easily picked people that appeared to be savvy resident NY'ers. As for the Marist Poll, it was conducted by telephone and who can tell whom they asked. I would hope that several of the people who got either or both questions wrong were at least not U.S. Citizens or legal resident aliens. I would just think we would know better than to screw up two such simple inquiries about our basic history. By the way, I asked my wife and she got both of them right without hesitation saying 1776 for the first, then England for the second, then adding Great Britain as a follow-up (I would accept either of those as correct).
I wonder though, how many people in the good old U.S. of A. would know the correct answers to some other facts about the earliest history of our nation? Read the questions below and give your best answers to each before clicking on the links to find the correct answers for each respective question:
1. On what date (getting only the year gives you half credit) did hostilities in the American Revolution begin? (Hint: The shot heard round the world, as is called the first shot of the American Revolution, was not fired on July 4, 1776.)
2. Who was the ruler of England at the time of the American Revolution? (Hint: Not a queen as I suspect was Boy George.)
3. Who was the commander-in-chief (commanding general) of the American Revolutionary forces? (Hint: He bucked the Brits.)
4. Why was a rattlesnake depicted on naval and other ensigns such as the Gadsden Flag of the American revolutionary forces with the motto "Don't Tread On Me"? (Hint: It has to do with the nature of the beast and with the nature of The United States of America and it has nothing to do with one being cold blooded!)
5. How many stars and stripes did the first national flag of the United States of America have at the time the American Revolution? (Hint: This is sort of a tricky question and no, the first official national U.S. flag did not have a snake on it?)
6. Which of America's allies, during the American Revolution, helped us decisively defeat our enemies in that war at the Siege of Yorktown? (Hint: They fought on what was to them foreign soil, here in America, but were not Legionnaires.)
7. How many British colonies originally united to form the United States of America? (Hint: It was not an unlucky number for the revolutionaries.)
8. How many colonies voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence before it was actually adopted by Congress? (Hint: Think of the correct answer to number 7 above, then think again.)
9. On what date was the Declaration of Independence adopted by Congress? (Hint: A tough question to answer, unless you read the whole section linked to in the last question. I will tell you that NO IT WAS NOT THE 4TH OF JULY and at least one Founding Father believed that an earlier date would be the one on which Americans would celebrate their Independence.)
10. What country won the American Revolution and in what year was the war officially over with a peace treaty being signed? (Hint: Oh come on now, would anyone not know the correct answer to the first part of this two part question, after all, why name a revolution after the losers! The second part may not be as easy but it was not 1776, nor was it 1781 when the last major and most decisive battle was fought on American soil, it was later than that and the treaty was signed in Paris, France.)
11. Which three countries fought the last battle of the American revolution, and in which country (not any of the thee fighting the battle) was that battle fought. (Hint: This last one is the only one for which I would not have had a clue, except that England was one of the countries in that battle and that is all the hint I will give. You really have to know your history to get this one right.)
12. Pick the best answer from the below choices as to the type of government that governs in The United States of America:
a) Democracy
b) Tyranny
c) Republic
d) Monarchy
e) Oligarchy
f) all of the above
(Hint: It is a form of government in which laws are penultimate and by which the Founding Fathers tried to assure that the majority would not tyrannize the minority nor strip them of their rights because all had to live by the law.)
13. How many stars and how many stripes are on the current U.S. Flag and why are there that many stars and that many stripes? (Hint: President Obama may now know the correct number of stars and why there are that many but at one time he probably would have said 57. As for him knowing the number of stripes on the flag or why there are that many, I am none too sure he would get it right even though the answer would be right here staring him in the face as that number led the way for the USA in the American Revolution.)
I honestly hope you got almost every one of these right or at least you had fun reading and learning about the right answers. There are only two questions that would have given me any trouble and of those two I am only certain I would not have known the answer to only one of them; the other I may or may not have gotten after a bit of thinking. The one I would have certainly gotten incorrect would have been number 11, I just learned that today. The one that I maybe would have gotten right or maybe would have gotten wrong would have been number 5. One other one, the one about the date the Declaration of Independence was adopted, well I knew the answer but only was reminded of it recently otherwise that one may have thrown me too. If you got them all correct then I salute you, you know a good deal about the early history of the USA, probably much more than most.
Again, hope you had fun with this and that you learned something by looking at the info at the links. If any of the answers are debatable - oh well argue with someone else not me but please do inform me of what you think was the right answer with references. I am always happy to learn about our history.
Happy Independence Day,
Glenn B
Those are pretty basic, in fact maybe the most basic, historical questions you could ask about our country's history. The sad thing is that only 58% of the 1,003 people surveyed got the first question correct and only 76% of them got the second question right. That is truly a shame. What is more of a shame is that yesterday on local radio news up my way, I heard a reporter ask those same questions of a tourist from Australia in NYC. That guy got them right, without hesitation. Then again, the reporter claimed that every New Yorker he questioned got them both right. My guess is that he must not have questioned any of the many illegal aliens in NYC, he conducted his poll in person and could have easily picked people that appeared to be savvy resident NY'ers. As for the Marist Poll, it was conducted by telephone and who can tell whom they asked. I would hope that several of the people who got either or both questions wrong were at least not U.S. Citizens or legal resident aliens. I would just think we would know better than to screw up two such simple inquiries about our basic history. By the way, I asked my wife and she got both of them right without hesitation saying 1776 for the first, then England for the second, then adding Great Britain as a follow-up (I would accept either of those as correct).
I wonder though, how many people in the good old U.S. of A. would know the correct answers to some other facts about the earliest history of our nation? Read the questions below and give your best answers to each before clicking on the links to find the correct answers for each respective question:
1. On what date (getting only the year gives you half credit) did hostilities in the American Revolution begin? (Hint: The shot heard round the world, as is called the first shot of the American Revolution, was not fired on July 4, 1776.)
2. Who was the ruler of England at the time of the American Revolution? (Hint: Not a queen as I suspect was Boy George.)
3. Who was the commander-in-chief (commanding general) of the American Revolutionary forces? (Hint: He bucked the Brits.)
4. Why was a rattlesnake depicted on naval and other ensigns such as the Gadsden Flag of the American revolutionary forces with the motto "Don't Tread On Me"? (Hint: It has to do with the nature of the beast and with the nature of The United States of America and it has nothing to do with one being cold blooded!)
5. How many stars and stripes did the first national flag of the United States of America have at the time the American Revolution? (Hint: This is sort of a tricky question and no, the first official national U.S. flag did not have a snake on it?)
6. Which of America's allies, during the American Revolution, helped us decisively defeat our enemies in that war at the Siege of Yorktown? (Hint: They fought on what was to them foreign soil, here in America, but were not Legionnaires.)
7. How many British colonies originally united to form the United States of America? (Hint: It was not an unlucky number for the revolutionaries.)
8. How many colonies voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence before it was actually adopted by Congress? (Hint: Think of the correct answer to number 7 above, then think again.)
9. On what date was the Declaration of Independence adopted by Congress? (Hint: A tough question to answer, unless you read the whole section linked to in the last question. I will tell you that NO IT WAS NOT THE 4TH OF JULY and at least one Founding Father believed that an earlier date would be the one on which Americans would celebrate their Independence.)
10. What country won the American Revolution and in what year was the war officially over with a peace treaty being signed? (Hint: Oh come on now, would anyone not know the correct answer to the first part of this two part question, after all, why name a revolution after the losers! The second part may not be as easy but it was not 1776, nor was it 1781 when the last major and most decisive battle was fought on American soil, it was later than that and the treaty was signed in Paris, France.)
11. Which three countries fought the last battle of the American revolution, and in which country (not any of the thee fighting the battle) was that battle fought. (Hint: This last one is the only one for which I would not have had a clue, except that England was one of the countries in that battle and that is all the hint I will give. You really have to know your history to get this one right.)
12. Pick the best answer from the below choices as to the type of government that governs in The United States of America:
a) Democracy
b) Tyranny
c) Republic
d) Monarchy
e) Oligarchy
f) all of the above
(Hint: It is a form of government in which laws are penultimate and by which the Founding Fathers tried to assure that the majority would not tyrannize the minority nor strip them of their rights because all had to live by the law.)
13. How many stars and how many stripes are on the current U.S. Flag and why are there that many stars and that many stripes? (Hint: President Obama may now know the correct number of stars and why there are that many but at one time he probably would have said 57. As for him knowing the number of stripes on the flag or why there are that many, I am none too sure he would get it right even though the answer would be right here staring him in the face as that number led the way for the USA in the American Revolution.)
I honestly hope you got almost every one of these right or at least you had fun reading and learning about the right answers. There are only two questions that would have given me any trouble and of those two I am only certain I would not have known the answer to only one of them; the other I may or may not have gotten after a bit of thinking. The one I would have certainly gotten incorrect would have been number 11, I just learned that today. The one that I maybe would have gotten right or maybe would have gotten wrong would have been number 5. One other one, the one about the date the Declaration of Independence was adopted, well I knew the answer but only was reminded of it recently otherwise that one may have thrown me too. If you got them all correct then I salute you, you know a good deal about the early history of the USA, probably much more than most.
Again, hope you had fun with this and that you learned something by looking at the info at the links. If any of the answers are debatable - oh well argue with someone else not me but please do inform me of what you think was the right answer with references. I am always happy to learn about our history.
Happy Independence Day,
Glenn B
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