Just what is, well armed? Post 4th of July edition

For years now, I have had an ongoing argument, a discussion really, with a friend. The argument goes something like this:

"One should always have a weapon at hand in order to be ready for the unexpected."

I think he fears an attack coming on him when he least expects one. Perhaps sometime when he is out and about on the street, or when someone might accost him when he is relaxing in his home and he will suddenly find himself at a loss as to how to protect himself.

Valid concerns, all, because things like that do happen. People do get attacked at the most unexpected and inconvenient of times. After all, criminals lay in wait for those unsuspecting moments to happen. Or they do their best to create moments like that. I really don't think, generally speaking, that he is simply afraid of being attacked. I think the relevant issue with him here is in experiencing an attack and being unprepared for it. A big difference.

And that is where my argument in all this came in. When I said that his was certainly a valid concern, but for all that, it was really useful only "in a perfect world" scenario.

And this is where it is relevant to all people, everywhere. Although I said it is indeed a true statement, there are however a few facts that seem to preclude this reasonable seeming assumption, from being all that useful, in this all too real world. That is to say, in this all too realistic world.

You see, typically in the "real world", whenever you will need that weapon to actually be at hand, it will then all too typically simply not be there and available to you. Mostly, this will be because, either:

1) you simply forgot it at home (or somewhere)
2) you lost it (somewhere)
3) you recently had it taken away from you (most probably by the assailant in question during that unexpected moment), or,
4) you will find that you are more than one inch away from being able to actually access it (in time, and to be of any actual use), or,
5) you will find that you have fallen into the single most annoying thing that the ubiquitous "Mr Murphy" of Murphy's Law fame, ever does to us. Which is to have set you up so that you find, and at a time far too late in the moment to be able to do anything about it, that you have brought "a knife to a gun fight".

Now it may not be an actual knife that you brought; you may have even brought a gun with you. Yet in such a case, though it may even be a hefty .40 caliber Beretta automatic (and it could even be a fully automatic version), or a .45 model 1911, you will inevitably find that the assailant has one up'd you and brought a Mac10; or some similar type of sub-machine gun such as a full rifle-caliber machine gun; or worse, a 12 gauge pump action (or again, automatic) shotgun (and preferably not a sawed off one to boot).

My point in all this is merely to point out the value of learning "weaponless techniques" before falling into the mindset of feeling safe because you have a weapon and all this, prior to needing said weapon. Because anyone that has a weapon, had better not only know how to use it, but had better also know how NOT to use it. That is to say, how to use it when its NOT handy, how to not use it if you don't need it, how to use your mind if you don't have it, and how to not need to use it, when you do have it.

The positive issues here are, of course, that you can use it if need be, to save the day, to protect yourself, friends and loved ones and hopefully all will be well in the world.

So what are the negative issues to always having a weapon handy? Hmmm...how about it breeding paranoia? Ever have a dream where you are attacked, protect yourself and have to fire a gun and the bullets slowing shoot out about a foot and drop to the ground? I've talked with several law enforcement and special forces types, most of whom said that most people who live by the gun, have had that exact same dream.

Being perceived as a paranoiac is just another byproduct of the "have to have a weapon" mentality. But the most relevant issue is that you will simply get to depend upon it too much.

What are the positive issues to what I've suggested? Well, how about, you're ALWAYS prepared? At least, you're never not prepared because you are lacking your weapon. Even in a shower, when naked, you can be ready, with no weapon at hand. No traditional one anyway.

That method means that you basically always have a weapon with you. What? How about a bar of soap? Sounds stupid, but you'd be surprised what can be used effectively as a weapon. How about a plastic back scrubber in the shower? Not the least of which would be that which you were born with: your hands, your body, your teeth, and most importantly your brain. Then there is always the rolled up magazine.

Not to mention, every item in near reach of you can be an available and viable weapon; even some out of reach items can be helpful, depending upon how you handle things. IF you train for it, build the mindset for it, and do not depend only upon a firearm or knife or some such traditional weaponry, you will be far ahead of the game. Yes, you can kill with your mind. In more ways than one.

Then, should you ever find that you were actually at a point to really HAVE a weapon while you were being attacked (of course, having by then also learned how and when to use said weapon), THEN you would be doing quite well, because you could use that weapon to your advantage and protection.

AND you would (could, should) know how to use proper techniques against it should it get taken from and turned against, you; as well as be able to use your hands, body, mind and environment to your advantage, should the need and situation ever arise and dictate it.

Just something to consider.
Don't you think?

Happy 4th of July - Special Ed. Congrats Happy Independence America!

And on a day of Independence Day celebrations and explosions, a link to an article about the biggest Human created firework in the sky in the history of the world:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128170775

Have a great 4th of July, Holiday American (strangely said with a French accent). The rest of the world, well, you have a good day too!

And hey, all you terrorists, insurgents, losers and just general "I want to kill people" (and your basic and in general, asshole) types; why don't you all celebrate with America on America's Birthday, and take the day off from hurting people who you don't EVEN KNOW; take your typical Rube Goldberg thinking about fixing your life situation and just RELAX; have a drink, consider reality over that of your typical, "magical thinking that makes me want to kill others and feel all grand and superior to them" (in other words, tiny) mindset.

Yes, Religion = Magical Thinking (work it out). If you are REALLY into your magical thinkings, then go ahead, just cave in and praise (whomever) and spit it out: "God Bless America!" Okay, you can think it, you don't have to say it out loud and embarrass yourself in front of your loser friends.

See, you did it (you couldn't avoid it could you, pisses you off doesn't it?). Now, doesn't that feel better. You want to attack America, but you KNOW you WANT to enjoy our lifestyle, isn't that really what you're pissed off about?

Well, Let It Go.

Try celebrating a little independence from your usual run of the mill, "I'm so in a rut", and "I wanna kill (especially innocent) people", way of thinking....

Have a beer and a hot dog. Celebrate Life, not death. You might find, you like it.

The Saturday TFTD (Thought For The Day)

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
and if we did get sick,
at least we didn't die,
and if we did die,
well then, why in the hell
are we talking about all this?

Financial Crisis 101

Recently, I was out riding my motorcycle. I have a very nice, vintage 1980 Honda CB900 Custom with ten gears and a feeling of nostalgia when I drive it that is second to none. I had just been watching Fareed Zakaria on CNN, so it must have been late Sunday morning. While I was riding, something very interesting occurred to me. It was about our economy, of all things. As I was shifting gears from third to fourth and accelerating, having just made a very smooth transition, I imagined the following: what if there were a metaphorical society within the crankcase and just how would they perceive my shifting of their gears and accelerating?

Would they feel like they were in some kind of freefall during the neutral gear position? Even though only momentary, wouldn't it have an affect on a group perceiving this drastic change in their environment? How would they feel when the next higher gear was engaged? What would it do to them once the gear was engaged and acceleration applied?

I had the feeling that they would feel panic; at least at first. I mean, I think I would. After all being in neutral one would feel life begin running rampant around you and you would feel as if the world were in chaos. Or, at least the potential for chaos would be prevalent. Then once the fourth gear was in place, wouldn't there then be a feeling of more stability, albeit with a difference.
Sometimes, when you shift gears you falter in the transition.

When I change gears and the transition is perfectly smooth, the acceleration perfectly smooth, there is such a rush of adrenalin, a rush of emotion, even. But that is not an every time occurrence. And so, in this state of our economy, perhaps all the same applies here. Yet in the end, what is important is how things end up. Right? So, what do we achieve in this transition?

Won't we find ourselves in a higher gear, running faster, saving fuel, and getting to our destination more quickly as the world rushes by at an ever faster rate? How does one perceive that? Depending on the person, shifting from third to fourth gear could be life changing; or if not, then doing so at a much higher speed could at least appear that way.

Of course, it depends on the organism experiencing the change, too. So, depending on even the country that is experiencing the change, and the state of their own economy, it would set the tempo for how they experience change as their world currently exists. This all presupposes that what we are going through is not just a crisis as its seemed, not just mistakes having been made on even multiple levels, but also that we are simply going through a shifting in the world paradigm within our current economic models.

Maybe just maybe, once the transition is completed and the next higher gear is engaged, things may be all right and at that point we can move on to the new status quo of a next greater level of the world economic organism.

It is all, really yet to be seen. Perhaps we all just need to take a deep breath and let it happen.

Tomorrow: Just what is, well armed?

Does the US need more Spies?

Does the US need more spies? I would argue, undoubtedly yes. In the first place, we do need spies; and in point of fact, we do need even more spies than we have now.

In light of the Russian spies recently captured, it might seem we are doing a bang up job of tracking down spies in our country. But you can figure, its an iceberg picture; whatever we are seeing, is minuscule related to the entire picture. Its an integral part of espionage to have enough resources in play that if a few cells get captured, there are still enough other cells around to maintain your intel gathering.

Back in the 1970's and 80's, the US went through a period of years when Washington (DC) wanted to do things on the cheap. Certainly in the late 80's they felt the cold war was over, so, "lets cut resources we no longer need". Armchair spies, desk jockeys really, made decisions to look good to the higher ups and show how they can maintain surveillance without expensive HumInt (Human Intelligence) resources in the field. Modern electronics were startling in their new capabilities as was the money they could save us.

One could almost say, they were stunning in their affect.

Stunning to the point of shocking the intelligence community into apathy or possibly, delirium. The amount of money, that is, the illusion of the amount of money that could be saved, suddenly took precedence beyond the logic of reality. Or the need for real people in real places. Consider that electronics simply cannot catch innuendo, intent, or deceit. As usually, these people looked at the short term. We saved money; not, we lost huge amounts of money and lives over the next period of years. We will never know how much we have lost in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East in general.

To use electronic signals inteligence, or SygInt, to take the place of actual resources on the ground (HumInt), was seen at first as a wondrous concept. It could save us money, save our citizens' lives even and simply make us look cool to the rest of the world. Whittling down our HumInt "Johnny on the spot" intel was not because it was "hard to achieve" as many like to say, mostly in order to save face; rather it was because it appeared to be too bountifully cheap.

If one thought that we could be covered by using "eye in the sky" technology, well, why not? Also, at that time we were also friends with a bully and murderer named Saddam Hussein. So we decided that we didn't really need assets in the Middle East. After all, Saddam would let us know what was going on. Wouldn't he?

All these things were proved wrong and in the worst ways. People need to try and understand that we will ALWAYS need ground assets and in every country in the world. Although we need more sophisticated assets in many countries of the world, it simply isn't necessary in every country. Time and again this has been proven, yet it is always in cost saving times that we fall under the ponderous influences of cost cutting measures. At times such as these, it is easy to delude ourselves into believing we can scrape by with resources that are less than optimal, or even nominal.

Oddly enough, this has been the same attitude that we have achieved in the US toward supplying our young with the tools and quality of teachers they need as well as in maintaining our system of medical services. What is with that? Really, this has to stop.

We need not to fool ourselves. The US is in a type of cold war right now. Industrial, or corporate espionage is really more accurate, but it all amounts to the same thing and always has. Cost cutting now will only cost us more in the future in both money and lives lost. We may not want to believe it, but it is certainly so true.

As a more base example, just try believing that the gun some street criminal is pushing in your face doesn't exist sometime. See how well that works in the real world.

Last but not least there is this:
http://costofwar.com/

Tomorrow: Financial Crisis 101

Is Pot dangerous? Or just not taxed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3JGjzwVvN8&feature=related

The above video, has some interesting information in it on pot (marijuana, hemp, weed, grass, whatever you call it):
POT DOES NOT KILL BRAIN CELLS WE WERE LIED TO ONCE AGAIN.

I looked up some of the information referred to in it and it seems to be accurate. I haven't had time to look up all the information in it yet, but it does give food for thought.

Its a fact that much of the nonsense we've been told over the years about things has been incorrect, or worst case, lies. It has been either damaging to the citizenry (Cigarettes) or abusive (hemp). Like the "N" word for African Americans, we should stop calling hemp, Marijuana, because it invokes the poor information, the abuse of political and legal powers that have been perpetrated upon the American people for decades, in fact, since around the 1920-30's.

Its a no brainer that pot should be legal. The government is afraid to do that because of opening Pandora's Box. But they really need to have some balls and just do what is right. Look at all the people in prison, over pot charges. Look at how it would strip the Mexican cartels of power on the lower level drug situation. Look at all the money we'd save on tracking down pot busts.

Consider how if pot use is anything, as has been said by the US Surgeon General in the past, it is a medical health problem, NOT a legal problem. Taxing pot, not paying billions to criminalize it, look at the disparity between those two concepts. Consider our budgetary state of affairs.

Some great things are happening, because America is broke. We are pushing people into telecommuting, something good for everyone. Its better for the American family, mom and dad can be home more. Its saving our infrastructure, our roads and highways; its leading to beefing up our internet high ways. Causing us to rethink our high healthcare costs. And it may lead us into legalizing pot; shoring up our budgets with taxes from legal pot sales. Its not just about sick people NEEDING to smoke pot; its about recreational use. Its our right, as American citizens, to have the government back off. In many areas, pot being only the tip of the iceberg.

Think about it.

Tomorrow: Does the US need more spies?

Padding - The Upside

Is padding good? We pad many things in our lives. Its done at every level of society. But mostly, I see padding as something that is done to us. Sometimes its good, sometimes its bad. But it happens. And we should give it some thought. What kind of ways can we pad things, and why?

Padding.

Money. We can pad our wallets. When you get paid, you need to put your money into things like bills, savings, gas, food, healthcare, etc. But you should also pad your weekly allowance. Keep an extra amount hidden from everyone, even yourself. That way, should something come up, you always have extra.

Padding.

Valmeticulous. Nuwords are popping up all over the internet. Is that okay? Oh I think so. It acts as a buffer, or a kind of verbal or linguistic padding, distancing us from from the real world that we all must adhere to, the proper usages of, the correct grammar for, the spellings, the definitions. Of course, this Valmeticulous, is a word like "apronative" (a prone a tive). It simply doesn't exist. I created apronative in high school. I had people going nuts trying to prove it was real ("she has an apronative personality"). But it doesn't. I made it up.

We need slang. We need fun, fakes words. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had it for thousands of years. Slang, the linguistic virus. Its harmless, like fads; it comes and goes, waxes and wans. Relax. Have fun.

Padding.

Relationships. We need to keep a buffer between ourselves and others. So, that when there is friction, there is a little room to move between you. Its not lying, just giving yourself a little breathing room. And allow others to have theirs. Take time to breathe, to smell the flowers, notice a sunset or rise. Enjoy the typically un-enjoyed appreciation.

Padding.

Driving, flying, boating, riding. This one is obvious, keep enough padded room between yourself and your fellow travelers, so that should you need to suddenly speed up, slow down, turn, you are covered, or at least you can minimize the damage.

Padding.

Time. Don't head off to some event (like work) leaving only just enough time to get there. Leave early enough in case there is a slow driver, an accident, or some other unexpected, unplanned for, event. You don't have to be foolish, but waiting a little once you get some where, in order to not be too early, isn't such a bad thing; especially, if you have something to do with you; a book, or now a days, you can even watch a movie, TV show, or a documentary on your phone.

Try to always have something with you to keep your attention, in case you have to wait for something. Also, don't let yourself be overly stressed about delays. We tend to be upset, when we have cut ourselves too close to a time limit. Don't fall into that trap.

Padding.

Zodiac Signs. Astrology. Tarot. It may have nothing to do with anything but its a kind of padding for reality. We need a life buffer, and it gives some people hope, something to focus on. What's wrong with that. Its almost as useful as what people call "Real Religion" which is based in even less reality. But then, if that's what you want to believe it, it does give one hope for something better. Doesn't it?

Padding.

Spying. We're all curious. In some cases, its necessary as in curiosity between companies, or countries. Padding has an obvious necessity here. You do not want to lose tempo moving forward on a topic, especially, one where lives are at stake. If you are just spying on a friend, family member, or neighbor, you really don't want to get caught. And you really probably shouldn't be doing it to begin with. As for countries, padding is a old trait there. Its either good or evil, depending upon your orientation.

Padding.

Health. Pad your diet, not your belly. Eat less than you need, not more, if you can choose between the two. Pad your diet by eating a little healthier rather than a little less healthy.

Padding.

Sex. Pad the perception of your prowess, or your sexual intelligence. Whatever you want to call it. Its not cheating, lying, being dishonest. Its giving your partner (and yourself) the greatest amount of pleasure possible to you (and them). It doesn't hurt to research, study, learn a new thing or two. But do it because you care for them, not because you are having an affair. Turn around some of those stereotypes.

And that is padding, the upside.
Live it, learn it, love it.

Try giving back. To yourself.

Try just not taking so much. From yourself.

Be a Hero. Be your Hero.

Tomorrow: Yes, tomorrow....weed. 

Maybe a nice single malt, too. Or just a pleasant Bordeaux.