Guns are needed..ask a marine

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I believe this places the proper perspective on what a gun means to a civilized society.

Read this eloquent and profound letter and pay close attention to the last paragraph of the letter….

“The Gun Is Civilization” by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat–it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation… and that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)

So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.

I’m unable to verify its source, but believe it to be true regardless of the source.

Interesting Read about Ron Paul… Yes, Ron Paul.

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There is an article about Ron Paul in this month’s Esquire magazine.  While I did manage to learn quite a bit about Ron Paul in the article, and perahps I dont’ think he is as goofy as I once did, I found this infographic to be the most entertaining.

  Esquire Magazine Conservative Map

President Obama, Sarah Palin, George W Bush, and some of my other favroites are displayed! :)

My lunchtime “diet”

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Since around the start of the year, I’ve been doing my best to really reduce the amount of $$ I’ve been spending at lunch, as well as the intake of crap I’ve been eating during it. My solution so far, soup. Now I’m not going to tell you that I’ve mastered the art of the Amazing Soup Diet, even though it does sound good. I don’t have much time for it. I bring leftovers as often as I can, and since I’m trying to clear out my pantry again, I’ve been cooking more. As far as days when I don’t have leftovers, it’s off ot the selection of soups in a box under my desk. Variety is key, including low fat as well as tasty fatty versions for days when I am hitting the gym or just need a bit more of a comfort food style.

Some tips that seem to make this easier:

  • I have found that that it actually hinders my efforts if I buy from big box clubs such as BJ’s or Sams. Reason being, variety. If you have only two or three flavors of soup, you are going to get really tired of them really quickly. Every week a different brand of soup is on sale, go grab a nice varied selection.
  • Soup isn’t always healthy, read the labels.  I keep really healthy options on hand for weeks when I’ve been bad at night,  and more flavorful ones for when I’ve been good or going to gym.
  • If trying to lose weight, watch out for not only the fat content on the soup, but the crackers.  I try to limit myself to 4 Club crackers per lunch, but that is more of a guideline and sometimes I need to increase it.
  • Keep a little TVP (textured vegetable protein) in your magic lunch box too, just a few tablespoons will not only add protein to anything, it will add some texture, which helps cut down on the need for fatty crackers. 
  • Give yourself a reward day during the week. Let’s face it, some days you just don’t want soup or leftovers.

President’s Day Brew

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I had off yesterday for President’s Day, which I used to take care of two important things, my house and my booze.  First up was the house, following my win against the termites, I applied two coats of Drylock to my previously untreated walls, refreshing the general area.  That being completed for the day, and I a beer or two in, I switched gears to the booze. After all, I did have to let the paint cure! One of the biggest pains for me is where to put fluids as I’m transferring them.  There are beer buckets, and carboys of wine and potassium metabisulfite, it’s always a process to rack or move something.  So I finally broke down and purchased a spigot for some of the empty juice buckets, drilled the hole, and verified that it doesn’t leak.  This should make things much easier/faster.  In addition, I treated myself to an auto-siphon,  picked up two gallon jugs for some test batches of fruit wines, and who knows what.  After the tortuous process of peeling the labels off of what seemed like a billion bottles (or just over a case), I started to sterilize everything.    Next I racked the Syrah into a bucket, cleaned the carboy, put the wine back in, then added some chitosan for clarity.  Just to note, I previously added a bit of potassium sorbate as well as MBS to kill off some fermentation and avoid fizzyness.  After that, I decided to bottle the batch of Bavarian Wheat I’ve had going.  I’m a bit nervous about it, I left it in the primary bucket for 21 days, it was COLD down there, and I think it needed a bit more time.  It smelled great, can’t wait to taste it.   I also, started up a 1 gallon batch of “White grape raspberry wine” and some “Ginger Beer”.

Why I’m done with Starbucks

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So I’m upset with Starbucks, to the point where I’m done with them until at least, 2012.  Considering my office is in the same parking lot as a Starbucks, where I love the people, that says a lot.  The short version of the long story goes something like this.  For the past 4 years that our office was in this location, since the owner’s of the company I work for also goto SBUX daily,  I’ve been purchasing them gift cards for Christmas.   This year, I decide to spice it up a bit more than the standard plain off the shelf card, what a mistake that was.

On December 10th, 2010 I placed my order, which included an extra $8.00 charge, which I was able to accept as I thought my gift would stand out more to them.

On December 12th it shipped, under the auspice of taking “6-8 business  days” from the Starbucks website and my order email, which has since been changed on the website, not sure about the order emails.

On December 22nd, I email them and explain that it’s now been over 8 business days and the order has not arrived, and inquired if it had been returned or lost.   There is no response for a few days

On December 23rd, I call support, and I’m rudely told that it’s 7-12 business days, and there is nothing they can do since it’s USPS.  Also, it’s “unreasonable to question” why it takes an envelope over week to travel anywhere in this country.   Worse case scenario, Seattle to NJ, will only take a few days at best.  I explain my displeasure with the entire situation to the service rep, who acts like he doesn’t care, but claims he will let his supervisor know of my displeasure with the entire process, per my request.  The CSR did not offer me any type of ticket number.

On December 24th,  get a response to my email sent on the 22nd, they say wait until the 12th business day then contact them again. This time, I get a ticket number.

On December 28th, I respond to the email explaining how I have now been embarrassed in front of my employers, and quite upset with the Starbucks brand.  I request in the same email that the cards be reprinted.

On January 4th, I respond to the same email asking if there is any status change or if anything has happened. All the while keeping the subject line intact with the order info, as well as all ticket numbers.

On January 5th, I get a response saying to call, with yet another ticket number, so I do.  On the phone, all of my existing ticket numbers don’t help her find any real information, so I give her the order string.  She tries to find me in their system, to see if I have a Starbucks card, then gets snippy with me for trying to explain that they are shipping to my office. After about 30 minutes she’s able to tell me that the cards were “signed for, then redeemed”.  I ask her how they could be signed for if they are just plain USPS, and she’s unsure, then ask her when they were used or redeemed. Again, she’s unsure.  I’m now told that this will have to be escalated, however I can’t speak to anyone about the issue, but she’s got a ticket full of the info, and of course a new ticket number, and someone will contact me with the resolution.

On January 19th, since I have not heard a word back from any supervisors I call back, and a very nice woman tells me there is an update to my last ticket I’m to be refunded because they are unable to reprint custom cards.  I explain to her that so far this has been going on for well over a month, and I’ve now spent about two hours of my life on the phone trying to resolve this, she is very apologetic and agrees that the entire thing is a mess.

On January 27th, a week and a day later, I contact my credit card company do charge back the initial charge.

On February 1st, someone calls me back and says “we see you disputed the charges, but we are going to send you coupons for a free coffee”..

I’m not going to sit here and rant and rave any further, but those of you in my office, and anyone in my personal life knows all about how badly this one was botched.  My recommendation is don’t’ bother wasting your time with Starbucks support staff, and especially don’t bother with custom gift cards. In short, thanks for screwing up my office Christmas and making me look like an ass Starbucks.

At least I’ll save a ton of $$ by either buying coffee elsewhere or making my own.  Now enjoy this funny, and freshly updated video:

Oops. We lost a few posts.

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Sadly, it looks like we lost a few posts from 2010.   Here is the rest of the year in short:

July:

  • Did some traveling
  • Went to some Phillies and Riversharks baseball games
  • Of course, a lot of drinking and picnics
  • Helped run a benefit which raised about 3k for a family.

August:

  • Plenty of drinking and  enjoying the summer with my friends and family.
  • Our annual fishing trip was a failure because I wasn’t involved enough.
  • Shot some big guns at the Widows Sons first annual ATF.
  • Did a pub crawl in Rehoboth

September:

  • Nearly got into a fight with some jag-off at the Red Bull Flugtag cause he felt he was entitled to take the spot I had been standing in for 5 hours.
  • Did a pub crawl in Philly, missed the ferry on the way back, well sorta…..
  • Again did some traveling, put lots of seat time on the bike.
  • Helped at the Hogs for Hounds Benefit by the WS.
  • Started a new batch of Syrah.

October:

  • Did a few rides/poker runs, all enjoyable.
  • During Restaurant week, I reviewed a few new places for the other blog.
  • Went to see Social D in Philly.
  • Hit a few Halloween parties, as well as a late Oktoberfest (it’s actually in September)
  • Joined the Knight’s Templar, confirmed my belief that one should only join the Royal Arch path after they are a PM

November:

  • Started off the month in Key West, how can you go wrong with that???
  • My guys did a great job at GLI even if some people are already predisposed to dislike us, but that’s fine, it makes us stronger.
  • Plenty of family/friend times between the holidays and wine tastings and such

December:

  • Installations, Installations, Installations.
  • Finished up my year as WM, what a year and experience it was.  I learned a lot about people, an experience I might try to do some things differently, but not that many.  I have many many thoughts on this, but sadly I’ll need to keep most of those close to my heart.  I’m glad I gave a year of my life to the lodge, but it’s time for someone else to take the reins.

January:

  • Started off 2011 with a nice kiss from a nice girl, or two.
  • Started my new role as Lodge Secretary, lots of work to get in order.
  • Started Geocaching more often, thanks to a new portable GPS as well as one for my car.
  • Visited Massachusetts for the weekend
  • More wine tasting’s,  I won my first contest with a Zinfandel
  • The first GLI I wasn’t required to be at, but I did goto the M&W meeting to help get the assessments sorted out.
  • I didn’t do as well at the Shipwreck Brewery Chili cookoff as I had hoped, 5th place :(
  • Started a batch of Bavarian Wheat Ale, can’t wait to taste this one and start another.

These are just some broad strokes, but as always been busy and I like it that way.

Frosty Ball Run – January Bike Ride

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In keeping with my riding the bike for at least 15 miles a month routine (it’s been many more on the non winter months), last night I took my ride for January.  Which clearly it was the frosty ball run.  For the most part, I’ve been keeping fairly warm, but I’ve got a few issues to resolve.  First, I wear old school Under Armour, the one with the fuzzy inside, I assume it’s what they call the Cold Base now, as I got mine years ago.   The last ride I took in December, there were snow flurries coming down, and just the UA under the jeans wasn’t enough.  So last night I wore a pair of long johns over the UA.  That seemed to help cut the wind down on my legs.   I think what I need to do is put fleece or something inside the pant legs to really kill the wind, that and remember my hand/toe warmers.  Beyond that, it was a good run. I’m still working on the fogging of the goggles part, but I think I can solve that fairly easy.

Sorry for the crappy pic, I was freezing.