Permanent Age

Kim du Toit has an interesting post and for once it isn't about politics or firearms (although I'm sure he'll get back to that):

What’s your permanent age?

I’ve observed that everyone has a permanent age that appears to be set at birth. For example, I’ve always been 42-years old. I was ill-suited for being a little kid, and didn’t enjoy most kid activities. By first grade I knew I wanted to be an adult, with an established career, car, house and a decent tennis game. I didn’t care for my awkward and unsettled twenties. And I’m not looking forward to the rocking chair. If I could be one age forever, it would be 42.

Kim is naturally an old curmudgeon so he puts his around 50. I figure that I really belong in my mid twenties. That way I don't feel guilty being slightly immature, watching anime, and making things go boom, but I still make a halfway decent living. And I can still relate to Amybear since her natural age is somewhere in her giggly tweens most of the time.

Scandals

This whole US Attorney scandal is a non-starter for me. By law the President has always had the right to remove a US attorney at his discretion and it is a frequently used discretion. The only part of the "scandal" that I consider significant is the changes to the appointment process made in the PATRIOT act which unbalance the appointment of replacement US attorneys. It is not good for "temporary appointments" to last indefinitely. Those changes are being repealed as we speak.

Now on under-reported scandals, QandO has noticed some ethical irregularities in other areas. Turns out Diane Feinstein's husband Richard Blum owns several military construction contractors and holds a lot of stock in several military suppliers. Why is this a big deal? Because Feinstein chaired the military construction subcommittee for the last six years. Six years where her husband has made billions.

Frisco Bans Plastic Bags

I'm with Tamara, grocery store baggies are about the handiest things ever. Not only do they carry the food into my house, but they carry the trash, cat crap, and recycling out of the house. And I recycle any extra that happen to pile up. What isn't to like?

Toby the Wonder Dog

I heard about this story on the radio during my drive in. When Debbie Parkhurst started choking on an apple (Chew Debbie! Chew!) her 2 year-old golden retriever Toby pushed her to the ground and then jumped on her chest in a sort of canine Heimlich maneuver. This dislodged the apple and saved her life.

In a side note, Amy and I haven't cut Milo's claws in while. We're keeping them sharp in case he should need to perform open heart surgery on one of us. Hey, cat spit is also a powerful antiseptic so he's practically a furry first aid kit.

Making Your Knot

While trying on those 8 inch Belleville's last weekend, I wondered if there was a better way to lace and tie them. Turns out there are a lot of lacing and knotting options out there and Ian's Shoelace Site is a good place to start. He rates a number of lacing methods and lists the advantages and disadvantages for each. Turns out the standard criss cross that I've been using since I was a kid is a good all around method. It also turns out that I have been tying my shoes wrong for most of my life.

Shopping Fun

I just made a run to the supply room at work. It's great. I scratch the shopping itch, but yet I haven't actually spent any money. Now back to the office I share with two pregnant women.

Gnu Object Lessons

Amybear and I were watching an Animal Planet documentary on an African wildebeest migration a few weeks ago. In it a wildebeest calf gets separated from his mother largely because he ran off and wasn't paying attention to where he was or what he was doing. He then spends the next five or ten minutes of the show trying to find his mother. He's hungry, he's thirsty, he's bleating for his mommy. If he doesn't find her, he might not make it. Finally he manages to find her again and everything turns out alright.

Amybear was getting all teary-eyed through this part of the story, but I realized that this is exactly the kind of programming I want to watch with my kids. I wish they had showed a wildebeest calf that didn't make it back to mommy. Why? Because I want shows that I can use to scare my children into not being stupid. Hey son, do you remember that show on the wildebeest? Do you remember what happened to that little one who got lost? Then stay close to mommy and daddy at the store, ok? We don't want that happening to you.

Man, I hope shows like that stay in rotation for a long time.

Good Boots

While we were in Norfolk this weekend attending the bar-mitzvah of Amybear's cousin, we stopped at the local Navy Exchange for some shopping. Most PXs are essentially department stores for soldiers and they really don't have much to recommend them over a civilian store except for their tax free status. Not this one, it also had a uniform shop including uniform shoes. Finally, a place that might sell those paratrooper boots I've been wanting.

No such luck. They had some excellent Belleville flight line boots which did tickle my fancy. All leather. Vibram-soled. Well padded. Gore-tex lined and completely waterproof. And under $100. Amazing. The problem? Selection. The 9.5s (my normal size) was too big. Maybe I would have been ok with a couple pairs of socks, but I didn't want to risk it. There were no 9s to be had. I was not the only guy looking at these things and bemoaning the NEX's lack of 9s and 10s in regular width either.

When I got home, I looked up the civilians prices. They're $160 boots for the general public. Sniff. Sorry boys but I don't like you quite that much. Maybe I can get a government employee discount. I'll have to look.

More Letters to the Editor

Howard Gerlach, a member of my church, had a letter to the editor supporting adult stem cell research in Friday's News Journal.

Sermon Recaps

Steve is discussing this past Sunday's sermon at my church. It was good and very challenging. My senior pastor doesn't do that sort of sermon much. He prefers more of a broad scriptural exposition in his preaching. That isn't a bad thing, but generally I've shared a similar feeling to Steve. I ought to be doing something not just learning something. The missionary who spoke this week did a good job giving that sort of sermon.

My church has grown a lot over the last few years. This isn't a bad thing, but it isn't necessarily a good thing either. I keep getting the feeling that we are only growing in population, not in spiritual depth or ability. We have four services every Sunday. Services we struggle to sufficiently staff in terms of ushers, greeters, and nursery workers. Why should a church our size have trouble with that? It is a symptom. Everyone is coming to receive, not to give.

That said, I did have a few problems with the sermon. Some of the sermon seemed short sighted to me. You cannot live like a soldier forever. Sleeping in ditches and eating MREs is not sustainable. It wear soldiers down physically and emotionally. Eventually you have to rotate off the front line. The same thing happens with Christian missions and the pointy end of the spear in spiritual warfare. You can't do it forever and you need people to support you just to do it at all.

I also don't have a problem with making raising children a major focus of the church alongside missions and training adult disciples. The church's commitment to raising Christian children is essentially missions to the next generation. Christianity has taken 2000 years to get where we are. We don't know when Jesus is coming back. I would much rather plan for the long term.

Not-so-Concealed Carry

An editor in Roanoke, Virginia decided that publishing the names and addresses of every concealed carry permit holder in the state of Virginia would be an important public service. McQ at QandO had this to say:

I'd suggest that any criminal accessing the database isn't going to seek out those with concealed carry permits in order to engage in crime against them. Instead, a criminal is more likely to ensure the person whose house he's going to burgle isn't carrying.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. Few people are going to try to take on a concealed carry holder in a fair fight. If you are going to commit violent crime, you do it against someone who can't fight back. That much is true. But most criminals in heavy concealed carry states are starting to shy away from violent crime for that very obvious reason. Instead they're moving to property crime like breaking and entering instead.

So you have your list of gun owners. Now all you need to do is wait until no one is home and you've got a big score. It isn't hard to tell when no one is home either. You just pretend you're a delivery guy or taking a survey and knock on their front door. If no one answers, you go around back casing the joint as you go. Guns are a wonderful thing to steal too. They're small, light, and easily liquidated on the black market because criminals all want them. Most guns used in crimes have in fact been stolen from law abiding gun owners somewhere. Which means that yes, a publicized list of gun owners is a list of possible B&E targets.

Oh and a bunch of those people took out permits to protect themselves while already under threats of violence from someone. Maybe they have an abuse ex-boyfriend or spouse. Maybe the local street thugs too a dislike to them. Maybe they're ex-cops, etc. Many of the people on this list don't want to be found and this newspaperman just told everyone where they live. I mean how would he like it if someone widely publicized his address after what he did?

Oddly enough, I do want to be able to find names and identifying numbers for concealed carry holders. Why? Because it lets the public audit the state concealed carry system. This is especially true in states with "may issue" carry like Maryland or Delaware. Audits of permit holders in the tight-fisted states generally show that to get a concealed carry permit you have to be a powerful politician, a major campaign contributor, or know somebody in the system. Generally poor people that need to defend themselves don't make the list. You can't find out about this corruption in the system without access to the names in order to compare to lists of campaign contributors, family members, etc.

Morning Radio

I was really annoyed with people this morning. A woman called in to my usual morning show to ask for advice. One of her neighbors had an altercation with the police in the wee hours of the morning and had shattered the rear window of a cruiser. This left broken glass all over the street by her complex's mailboxes. Her question was: "Who has to pick this glass up?"

Now keep in mind, all that is needed to clean up the glass is a broom, a dustpan, and a trash can. Maybe some work gloves too. These are things you already have around the house. The only cost to this woman is her time and she spent about ten minutes talking about this on the radio. In the time this woman spent jawing with the hosts, she could have gone out and cleaned up the mess and everyone would be the better for it. Instead she spent her morning finding out who she could force to do it for her. Nothing got done and she's still going to have to do it.

Prayer Requests

Elizabeth Crossan, wife of former Delaware GOP Executive Director Dave Crossan, died this morning. She had been fighting brain cancer since shortly after giving birth to their second child last June. She had her first brain surgery in July and has undergone radiation, chemo-therapy, and even more surgery since. Dave's a Christian and while he seems to be doing ok (I read his posts on Elizabeth's CarePage), I can't image the pain and loss he's coping with today.

In other news, blogger Kim du Toit is suffering from a major gout flareup. Not fun. His choices right now are be impaired by the pain or be impaired by the drugs to treat the pain. Sounds like wonderful choices right? Kim and his family aren't Christians either so now you have two things to pray for there.

UPDATE: The News Journal has Elizabeth Crossan's obituary which includes funeral details.

What's Better than Rita's Water Ice?

Free Rita's water ice. Mmm...

Test Launch

SpaceX performed their second test launch of the Falcon 1. Falcon 1 is designed as a low cost, high reliability orbiter for commercial space enterprises. Thus far the test program has been funding by DARPA and the Air Force.

The first stage of this test launch was completely successful, but the second stage of the launch unfortunately developed problems. Commentary and videos are available on the SpaceX website.

Letters to the Editor

A friend let me know that my senior pastor has a letter to the editor in yesterday's News Journal.

S.B. 5 will reduce life and death to a commodity

Last April, my unborn grandson had a rare heart disease that did not allow enough blood into the left side of his heart. Untreated, he would have half a heart at birth and face an early death.

Doctors passed a thin wire through my daughter-in-law's abdomen and uterus, and into the child's chest and grape-sized heart. They inflated a tiny balloon and enlarged his aortic valve.

For several hours it looked as if they succeeded, but his heart rate slowed. Alexander died. We saw him 36 hours later, stillborn, My family's features over four generations were unmistakable. We held him, prayed, wept and handed over his body for autopsy.

Not far from where that happened abortion was killing healthy, unborn children at Alexander's stage of development.

Embryonic stem cell research destroys human life at its earliest stage. Delaware Senate Bill 5 proposes to fund such research. Human life becomes a commodity.

Are we losing our soul in the name of freedom to pull human beings apart piece by piece and cell by cell?

Some say the gains are worth the sacrifice and moral discomfort. We can gain the whole world and still lose our soul as a people.

We have cause to be uneasy. We have cause to say no to Senate Bill 5.

Rev. Bo Matthews, Wilmington

First Day of Spring

Spring starts tonight at 8pm. Do you know what that means? Right, free Rita's water ice tomorrow!

The Highland Games

John brought up the games in the comment of my kilt post. The games are definitely worth a trip.

I've been to the Fair Hill Scottish Games twice. On the first visit I went with friends. We watched some of the sporting events, shopped a bit, and ate the good food. Good food meaning that I consumed very little haggis, but several bridies and meat pies. On the second visit my entire family went and we also watched the sheepdog herding demonstration. Honestly, I think that the sheepdog demonstration is more than worth the price of entry to the games all by itself. But I also know people who go every year just to see all the pipers. The point is that there is a lot to see and do.

The Fair Hill Scottish Games will be on May 19th at Fair Hill off Rt 273 in Elkton, Maryland. My family hasn't gone for several years and the consensus is that we should go again this year. We'll see if Amy's parents want to come up, too. Hopefully it won't rain, but if it does the games will just feel all the more Scottish. Tickets are available at the gate, but you can order them in advance for a reduced rate (info on the website).

Tarot Personality Test

You are The Emperor

Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person.

The Emperor is the great authority figure of the Tarot, so it represents fathers, father-figures and employers. There is a lot of aggression and violence too.

The Emperor naturally follows the Empress. Like an infant, he is filled with enthuiasm, energy, aggression. He is direct, guileless and all too often irresistible. Unfortunately, like a baby he can also be a tyrant. Impatient, demanding, controlling. In the best of circumstances, he signifies the leader that everyone wants to follow, sitting on a throne that indicates the solid foundation of an Empire he created, loves and rules with intelligence and enthusiasm. But that throne can also be a trap, a responsibility that has the Emperor feeling restless, bored and discontent.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Via Joan

Fighting the Last War

I saw this in a comment over at QandO:

When war starts, those in command are ready to fight the “last” war.

Sometimes I wonder if people really understand what it takes to fight "the next war." Since that is a big part of my job, you need to understand that it isn't easy.

Fixing the problems of the last war is easy because you know what they were. The enemy had better tanks. The enemy was more flexible or could blend into the populace, etc. You're dealing with known quantities not future hypotheticals.

Fixing those problems is also important because if everyone doesn't know those problems already, they soon will. Which means your next enemy will attempt to exploit your old failings. Part of the reasons the Islamic world started the War on Terror was because they thought the US had a glass jaw. They got that impression in US operations in Somalia and the Balkans. So they figured they'd bloody our noses and we'd run away like last time. It didn't work out that way, because we learned the lesson of the last war and they made some bad assumptions about American character. Preparing to fight the last war is not an entirely bad thing.

Fixing the problems of the next war is much harder in comparison. Preparing to fight the next war means guessing what the next war will look like. You have to do this before you can even attempt to understand your future shortcomings. We have a lot of people in the military trying to do this through intelligence gathering, analysis, wargaming, etc. It isn't easy, especially when you consider that your predictions need to made with enough lead time (a decade at least) so we can make a course correction. The military will need that much time to field a new system or institute new training. Not easy.

Also keep in mind that your enemies are watching you just like you are watching them. The whole situation is dynamic. The preparations you make a decade in advance will alter the military future you are planning to meet. When the next war comes, your preparations (and what your enemy understands of them) will shape how they fight you. You will miss the target by some amount. It is almost guaranteed.

When people talk about generals "fighting the last war," they make it sound so easy to fight the next war. Like the brass have their heads in the sand or up their asses. Let me tell you, most of them don't. The reason those people (college professors, journalists, etc.) make fighting the next war sound easy is because those people have no idea what it takes to do it. So, like a bad manager, they assume the task they are assigning must be easy out of total ignorance.