Part Indian ...and Part Boy

My wife was trying to explain to our (almost) 4-year old son that his ansestors come from many ethnicities. I'm a mix of Ukrainian, Swedish, English/Scots/Irish, and German, while my wife is Irish and Scottish (or something like that) and about 1/8 Native American. So after my son was informed that he was part Indian, he went off to mull it over for a while.

He came back a few minutes later, having figured it all out, and proclaimed: I'm part Indian ...and part boy. He was pretty happy about that.

Heh.

Is a Dog More Effective for Home Defense Than a Gun?

Depends on whether or not you have a bulletproof dog.

All joking aside, it depends on the dog and the potential bad guys (and how they're armed) that your dog might encounter. There are other self defense situations besides home defense, of course.

In the course of an argument I was having with some gun-grabber types in Britain, one of them suggested that a home-defense dog would be a reasonable alternative to a gun. Since gun-grabbers trot out that old statistic about members of a household where there's a gun being more likely to die from gun injury than a potential burglar, I did some digging, and it seems that you are about a billion times more likely to be killed by a "dog in the home" than a potential burgler is. Here's a taste from this website

A survey by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta ("CDC") concludes that dogs bite nearly 2% of the U.S. population -- more than 4.7 million people annually. (Sacks JJ, Kresnow M, Houston B. Dog bites: how big a problem? Injury Prev 1996;2:52-4.) Almost 800,000 bites per year -- one out of every 6 -- are serious enough to require medical attention. Dog bites send nearly 334,000 victims to hospital emergency departments per year (914 per day).

...

The chances that the victim of a fatal dog attack will be a burgler are one in 177; the odds that it will be a child are 7 out of 10.

...

Dog attack victims in the U.S. suffer over $1 billion in monetary losses every year. ("Take the bite out of man's best friend." State Farm Times, 1998;3(5):2.) That $1 billion estimate might be low -- an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that, in 1995, State Farm paid $70 million on 11,000 claims and estimated that the total annual insurance cost for dog bites was about $2 billion.

and so forth. Seems like having a "self defense dog" is pretty risky to me. And a dog isn't an inanimate piece of metal like a gun is. A gun won't go off unless somebody causes the trigger to be pulled. A dog can potentially do what it wants, when it wants, with no outside input. Now I'm sure they'll ban "self defense dogs" in Britain pretty soon, or at least require justification for owning a dog of any kind, and "self defense" will not be deemed reasonable justification.

Har har.

Update: Of course, my "a resident is more likely to be killed by a dog in the home than an intruder is" statistic is totally stupid, since the absolute risk is pathetically small. The same is true for a gun in the home. The point was only to compare two stupid statistics. However, the risk of injury due to a dog in the home is significant.

Note: This post comes from an argument I was having over at Tim Lambert's website.

When Democrats Come to Power

For the first time in a while -- and hopefully the last time forever -- the Dems have complete control of the Washington State legislature and governorship. With this level of power they just can't help themselves, and their true colors shine through immediately.

First, they propose a gun ban which reads

(18) "Assault weapon" means: ...(c) Any semiautomatic pistol, any semiautomatic, center-fire rifle, or any shotgun with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition;

which can be read as a complete ban on semiautomatic centerfire pistols and rifles. And now, via soundpolitics, we find that they want you to get permission from the state to collect a barrel of rainwater on your own property

(1) Any person, municipal corporation, firm, irrigation district, association, corporation or water users' association hereafter desiring to appropriate water for a beneficial use shall make an application to the department for a permit to make such appropriation, and shall not use or divert such waters until he has received a permit from the department as in this chapter provided.
...

(4) The department may permit by rule, under conditions appropriate to the water resources inventory area, the use of rain barrels and cisterns to collect rainwater intended to be put to a beneficial use on the same property where the rainwater is captured.

Keep it up, nutjobs. I've always found it hard to believe that people could behave like this, but there it is. The Dems just love power and love controlling people with government. They profess to hate guns, and yet none of these ridiculous measures would be considered seriously enough by normal people to warrant more than a simple laugh, except that the wielders of power are holding guns to our heads to force our compliance. How nice.

Sledge Hammer

I just discovered the TV series Sledge Hammer. For those of you who, like me, somehow made it through the late '80s without even hearing about this show, here is a brief synopsis.

The hero, after whom the series is named, is a rather violent Dirty Harry-esque cop. In fact, his car has a bumpersticker that announces "I ♥ Violence." He cleverly avoids police brutality by forcing a thug to beat himself unconscious, shoots targets with his .44 magnum in his apartment (eliciting loud complaints from his neighbors), neutralizes a sniper by demolishing the building the sniper's shooting from, and talks to his gun (named "Gun") -- all in the first episode.

And, talk about great one-liners...

"I don't read the papers. I prefer to get my information from more reliable sources, like rumor and small children."

"I'm a nihilist, not a stylist."



"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

When Planets Attack

Why is it that the kind of people who believe this explanation for natural disasters

The act of war deliberately and thoughtlessly wounds, poisons and handicaps the life-sustaining womb of all mankind. The Earth reacts, as any living thing would, when attacked. Earthquake, tsunami, flood, tornado, hurricane, mudslide, and resulting loss of life may be the natural emotional response.

We must behave responsibly and live peacefully or we may all be "shaken" off like a bad case of fleas.

Millie Mitchell
Fort Collins

recoil in horror at the ignorance and bigotry of someone who suggests that natural disasters are God's vengeance?

Nevermind that natural disasters also kill off countless animals, who have presumably not engaged in acts of war that deliberately and thoughtlessly wound, poison and handicap the life-sustaining womb of all life.

And why is Mama Earth punishing folks in Indonesia, Thailand, and India for the misdoings of war-mongering Americans? Shouldn't the tsunami have hit , say, Washington, D.C. if Mama really wanted to make her point?

[Hat tip: Michelle Malkin]

Abortion

While I personally dislike abortion, I would never try to stop a woman from having one. I think abortions are tragic and should be avoided, but I think it's more tragic for a child to be born to a mother that does not want it; a child that will not be loved. Better to die an essentially painless death, to never live in the first place.

Furthermore, society as a whole, fortunately or not, benefits from abortion remaining legal. The women most likely to have abortions also are the women least suited to be mothers. The end result is that fewer undesireables are born and raised where abortion is legal. There's no way to spin this as a bad thing, just a sad fact.

Now, if you look at the date of Roe v. Wade (1973) and compare it to the year abortion was effectively legalized in the UK (1967) you get a good explanation for a substantial chunk of the decrease in crime in both the US and UK this last decade.

Assault SUVs

Aha, it's time for California to once again lead the nation, as it so often does, on issues of public safety and the environment. This time they can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, by banning Assault SUVs

A commuter train smashed into an SUV left on a crossing by a suicidal man early Wednesday, sending the train careening off the tracks in a wreck that killed 10 people and injured about 200, authorities said. Dozens of the injured were in critical condition.

See, SUVs are obviously weapons of mass destruction and don't belong in the hands of civilians. As long as these vehicles are on our streets no one is safe, and it stands as an afront to our Assault Weapons Ban. After all, what good is an Assault Weapons Ban if a suicidal person can just kill scores of innocent civilians with a giant, gas guzzling SUV? Heck, any car is a potential killer in the hands of a deranged person.

Ban EVERYTHING!! It's the only way.

Bi-Lingo

I'm almost bi-lingual, but not really. Call it "bi-lingo."

See, I lived over half my life in Canada, and I can switch between Canadian English (eh?) and American English (huh?) pretty quickly. Here's a small list of translations:

Elementary school grades:
A: 3rd grade
C: Grade 3

The letter "Z"
A: pronounced "zee"
C: pronounced "zed"

Pasta
A: pronounced pah-sta (the first "a" pronounced as the A in WAFT)
C: pronounced paa-sta (the first "a" pronounced as the A in CAT)

That's about it. It's barely even bi-lingo, but it's all I got, so thppppt!

Stickwick's 2-cents

I'm bi-lingo, too. Here's what I remember from my twenty-some years in the Great White North.

Terminology:

The main room in a house
A: Living room
C: Front room

What you put your groceries in
A: Bag
C: Sac

What you wipe your hands and face with at mealtimes
A: Napkin
C: Serviette

(Noticing the French influence yet? I blame my Canadian upbringing entirely for the fact that I know what pamplemousse is.)

Pronunciation:

Couch
A: rhymes with "ouch"
C: pronounced exactly like "coach"

Which leads to the distinctive Canadian pronunciation of all kinds of other "ou" words

House
A: same OU as in OUCH
C: pronounced as if you were saying the word HOE followed by a sharp S (try it!)

Mouse
A: see above
C: pronounced as if you were saying the word MOE followed by a sharp S

Likewise for grouse, souse, louse, etc.

This is where the (in)famous phrase "going out and about, eh?" comes from. You should all be able to pronounce this Canadian-style by now... "going oat and aboat, eh?"

My Jaw Has Dropped

Over at Limpidity, we find what the gun-banners really have in their blackened hearts. To quote from the blog

Well the first Maryland assault weapons bill of the year is in committee. This is a fun one too. It is entitled “Assault Weapons Criminal Penalty Enhancement Act of 2005”. After reading through this little bill it is not about penalty at all, it is really is all about creating a list. But first lets get on to the meat of the text.

“AN ACT concerning
Assault Weapons Criminal Penalty Enhancement Act of 2005

FOR the purpose of designating certain firearms as assault weapons; designating assault rifles and copycat weapons as types of assault weapons; making it a misdemeanor to use an assault rifle or a copycat weapon in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence; providing certain penalties; defining certain terms; providing for the effective date of this Act; and generally relating to assault weapons.”

Now for a bit of fisking on this little gem.

“FOR the purpose of designating certain firearms as assault weapons”

Maryland legislators are famous for making lists. They then go on to use these lists to make it hard to get things.

Here is an example of said lists. In order for the sales of a handgun in the state of Maryland it must be on an approved list, that is approved by an arbitrary panel over at the state police HQ. If it is not on this list you can’t get it in Maryland. They did the same thing with the integral firearm locks in MD (and are currently being sued) by not approving new types of locks. This did a very nice job of banning new guns in MD for the last 3 years. Now many manufactures include the integrated (you can open most of them with a bent piece of wire) locks which not many use.

“designating assault rifles and copycat weapons as types of assault weapons”

“copycat” Wow they have gotten this one strait (sic) out of the anti gun lobbies press releases. You see, this one would allow the list to encompass everything that they see as “Bad and Evil” by saying, it looks a little like one; there for it is one. They are trying to take a piece of failed legislation (the federal assault weapons ban) a step farther than they did last time.

And now on to my favorite part of this piece of legislation.

“making it a misdemeanor to use an assault rifle or a copycat weapon in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence”

Misdemeanor? I repeat Misdemeanor? This is the portion of the legislation that proves; they really are not serious about stopping crime, but are all about creating a “list”.

OK, I borrowed a whole bunch, but it was worth it. That way, I don't have to write anything. There's more, go read it. Now I'm off to deal with our own stupid AWB. Will this crap ever end?

[Hat tip: geekwitha.45]

The Spectator Sport of Jew-Baiting

Excerpt from a holocaust article (subscription required) by Anthony Lipmann

I will think not just of the crematoria and the cattle trucks but of Darfur, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Jenin, Fallujah...This little band of 600 [concentration camp victims who are going to a reception hosted by the Queen] has a terrible responsibility — to live well in the name of those who did not live and to discourage the building of walls and bulldozing of villages. Even more than this, they — and all Jews — need to be the voice of conscience that will prevent Israel from adopting the mantle of oppressor, and to reject the label ‘anti-Semite’ for those who speak out against Israel’s policies in the occupied territories.

Whenever I read articles about Israel as the oppressor and how it greedily occupies territories, I am reminded of this poster from Protest Warrior



Melanie Phillips responds here

At any time this would be disgusting stuff. As a piece marking the liberation of Auschwitz, it is obscene. To imply that the Jews have turned into Nazis in the Middle East does two things. It tells a wicked lie about that tragic impasse, reversing who is victim and who is victimiser. It is the Palestinians who have a programme to eradicate the Jewish state and ethnically cleanse the Jews from the land, as the Arabs have been trying to do for the past 100 years. Israel is merely defending itself, and — notwithstanding abuses which should always be condemned and punished — with a restraint in the circumstances that no other country would ever match. To call them Nazis, and thus to accuse them of genocide, is beyond grotesque.

To back up this filth, Lipmann equates Auschwitz with Jenin and Falluja. Falluja? So the Americans too are Nazis, are they? As for Jenin, he is peddling the big lie that the Israelis perpetrated a massacre there — ignoring the fact that a mere 56 mainly armed Palestinians died in that incident along with no fewer than 23 Israeli soldiers. There was no massacre. This was a libel against Israel, which Lipmann is repeating. ...

It’s now a favourite trick of the media to set Jew against Jew on the issue of Israel, to get a Jew to accuse the Jews of Israel of being Nazis, and to accuse the Jew who protests at this infamy of waving the shroud of the Holocaust in order to sanitise the crimes of the Jews of Israel. So the Jew who tries to defend the Jewish people is felled by a double blow —one of them administered by co-religionists, who, while wrapping themselves in the sanctimony of past Jewish suffering, in turn legitimise further such attacks by reviling the victim and endorsing the attacker. What sport is here. And what a foul moral sickness.

[Hat tip: Little Green Footballs]

Open Letter to Public Servants

I wrote the following note to my three King County Washington legislators yesterday

I've just become aware that the state legislature is considering a new assault weapons ban. I find this to be highly disconcerting. I am an avid shooting sports member and I strongly support the second amendment of the united states constitution. Of course, the purpose of the second amendment has nothing to do whatsoever with hunting and sporting. It is primarily there to safeguard each individual American's right to arms in defense of liberty from the tyranny of the state or any other potential oppressor.

As such, the types of weapons with "military features" that are being considered in the ban are exactly the types of arms the Framers intended to protect. Contrary to the notions of gun-control groups like the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center, these types of weapons are used in an insignificant number of crimes compared to other types of weapons. The United States Department of Justice and the FBI have both made this very clear. The recently expired federal ban on so-called assault weapons had no impact whatsoever on crime, but did infringe on the constitutionally protected rights of American citizens.

Most pro gun-rights citizens recognize these types of bans, which are primarily cosmetic with little plausible potential impact on crime, as another step down the slippery slope that inevitably leads to total gun confiscation, as was the case in England.

As your constituent, I ask that you please act against any gun-control measures that involve banning certain types of firearms or include gun registration. It is no surprise that the states with the most criminal violence (NY, NJ, IL, CA) also have the most gun control. Gun control does not work, and only disarms the law abiding majority among us.

I am fully in favor of extremely tough laws and sentences for criminal use of firearms. The record has shown that tough laws, sentences, and strong enforcement of these laws is the best deterrent to gun violence. Additionally, before any mention of the DC snipers, the fact that they used a so-called "assault weapon" was preferable to them using my grandpa's old .30-06 hunting rifle, which is much more powerful, accurate at long range, and cheaper than the Bushmaster rifle used by the criminals. The three people who survived the attacks probably would not have, had the snipers used a proper hunting rifle.

Sincerely,

Gun-rights experts: please feel free to critique my letter. I know there's lots of things I could say, but brevity is important. I doubt it will get a fair reading anyway. I'll post any reply I get. This is in response to the proposed AWB and .50 BMG bans being proposed in the capital this week. See this thread on THR, or this one, for more info.

Washington State Assault Weapons Ban, #@!!#&*

Good lord, now the GFWs are trying to saddle us law-abiding folks in Washington State with a home-grown AWB. I'm leaving the state if so. I doubt there'll be a sunset clause in this one, and once done, very difficult to undo. They'll be taking it up in a public hearing in the State legislature on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2005, at 3:30pm, so go if you can. They'll also be talking about a .50 cal gun ban, too.

Somehow we managed to elect ourselves a Democratic legislature and governor-pretend. I am left hoping even more that we get a revote and Rossi wins.

Update: The good thing about this proposed *law* is that the GFWs always try to bite off more than they can chew

Definition of Assault Weapons. The definition is based on a "single military feature test," and emphasizes high capacity and enhanced control during firing.

Ban on assault weapons. The manufacture, importation, possession, purchase and transfer of assault weapons are prohibited.

Treatment of assault weapons already in circulation. "Pre-ban" assault weapons must be registered with the appropriate law enforcement authority, a process included in a number of the state and local bans, but not in the federal ban.

Those from a fact sheet from Washington Ceasefire. Great. A single military feature? This bill has no hope. I hope they get an actual draft up soon so we can see if this bill has a chance or not. One things for sure, if the bill passes, I'll be getting an "Assualt Weapon," (or two, or ten) before it goes into effect, and NO, I will not be registering them.

Would the federal government hurry up and protect us from these idiots?!?!?!? Dear President Bush and members of congress: please read the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, and then uphold the oaths you swore when you took office.

The Carnaby Take on Social Security... er, Reform

This post wouldn't be Carnaby-rific without first linking to this great video short of the hopeful outcome of all further terrorist suicide bombings.

Ahem, now to the topic at hand. Social Security should be reformed. This is how it should be done, and a simplistic, but straight forward and true "why." Of course, there's the other why, which is the real correct one, that is, the one espoused by Objectivists, but the one I'm presenting is more palatable to the ordinary American.

Now then, as long as the American public insists on forced savings for retirement, then that's all it should be. The government should then force Americans to save for their own retirement and not rob Paul to pay Peter now, with a promise to rob Steve to pay Paul later. We all know this is how it works now, there's no Lock Box, no Trust Fund in terms of real dollars. All there really is, is a big bucket of IOU's from the government to itself. Yes, it's ridiculous.

Where was I? Oh yeah... individual Americans should have a choice of what to do with their forced saving, whether to be wimps and buy bonds, or have some guts and invest in mutual funds, or some combination of these. I think that the money shouldn't be able to go into individual stocks as that does entail too much risk for a certain portion of the population that would inevitably blow all their money on bad investments (remember, we're talking about a system that still involves government coercion, so as long as it's being done, it ought to be done, *spit* right, i.e. as well as possible from a utilitarian point of view. Did I just write that?).

Now quit getting me off track with your complaints. So, the forced savings should go exaclty into accounts for the individual that they were forced from. A VERY SMALL administration fee can go to the *spit* government to pay the inevitable paper pushers. This fee should be capped in advance and the goverment should be forced to make due. These details are not very important, but they are very important. I don't want to get bogged down by them, but the Magnum PI little voice inside my head is compelling me.

Here's the guts of the matter. We, as human beings, can't just cut off the idiots who rely on SS for their living. This being the case, what's the best way to proceed? In case you were worried, I'm going to spill the beans right now. The best way to proceed is summarized in the following list

1. Cut off anyone who doesn't *haaak* *spit*need SS, with a graduated scale from all need through some need, to no need. E.g. if you have retirement income in excess of $100,000 per year outside of social security, then we reasonably can surmise that you don't need it. If you have no income outside of SS, then you get all your original benefit. etc. I hate that we're talking in these terms, but that's what it's reduced to.


2. We've reduced the entitlements currently owing now, so we can proceed to our version of the privatization of SS. If you've already retired, then you get your SS based on the formula in part 1. If you haven't yet retired, then the old fashioned SS is phased out based on how many years you have to 65 or whatever. That is, if you're 60, then you are going to get, say 90% of your government garanteed SS income upon retirement at 65. If you're 55 then you're going to get 70%. If you're 45 then you're going to get 40%. and if you're 30 you get squat. This would have to be on a continuous, though non-linear scale to get rid of SS as we know it as soon as possible. Inevitably, there will be some unfairness, but too bad.
Blame your grandparent's grandparents. It's their fault for letting the SS nightmare get started in the first place.


3. As part 2. phases the old system *spit* out, the new system will be phased in. It will SEEM to those of us paying in that we are paying more than before, but the clincher is that we are actaully paying less. No lie! We would be paying more right now that we can't spend on entertainment, business ventures and new underwear, but we're actually paying less to the ponzi scheme by consequences of part 1., that is, reduced entitlements *spit*. The money that seems like more is actually our own money, that will come back to us at retirement -- Not money thrown into the fictional lock box or whatever they call it. It's a little more painful,in some manner, due to the decrease in disposable income, but the consequences are much better.

And there it is. There is an added benefit of this scheme to the current SS nonsense system, and that is that the money from forced savings no longer goes into a phony lock bucket to be replaced by a government IOU to itself, to be spent on other ridiculous schemes, fraud and waste, but it goes into the American Economy! It ceases being squandered by those who squander best. It no longer buys pork and sells government favors. It fuels our economy, which creates jobs, which makes life better, which creates WEALTH. And the resulting higher standard of living will actually make it easier, not harder (I guess that's what "easier" means, so nanner), to support the remaining unwashed SS dependents.

With all due respect for the work of Don Luskin, I never met Paul Krugman and I don't like him anyway. Krugman is a childish twerp and he's going off the deep end, just like I predicted (and I did, trust me).

There. Call it Carnaby's Plan to Kill SS. If that's not Carnaby-rific, I don't know what is.

Update: What are the odds that me writing this will make a difference? I'd say none. After all, I doubt Luskin will see it, and even if he does, I doubt he'll discuss it at his next appearance on Across the Bow or whatever. I doubt President Bush will see it either. (Do you think he uses Google? Does he google "president bush"?) If they did see it, would they care? Probably not. And then there're all the Dems who might see it. I'm sure that if Teddy Kennedy had a gander that he'd be swayed to reform SS as I've outlined above. Hah hah, it's hopeless, but still I try. We all try. Some have more influence than others, I have very little.

Heather Has Twelve Mommies

I can't help but laugh heartily over the flap that's going on in Canada about the consequences of legalizing gay marriage. The door has been opened to discussion on legalizing polygamy on the grounds that if it's not fair to discriminate against gays it's not fair to discriminate against polygamists. Which, of course, has feminists in an absolute rage.

As our father (currently living in Canuckistan) predicted at the beginning of all this, if gay marriage is legalized there's not a single cogent argument anyone can come up with for outlawing any other perversions of the institution of marriage.

From this article in The Ottawa Citizen:

"In order to best prepare for possible debate surrounding Canada's polygamy policy, critical research is needed," says a Status of Women Canada document. "It is vital that researchers explore the impacts of polygamy on women and children and gender equality as well as the challenges that polygamy presents to society."

What about the challenges gay marriage presents to society -- how much exploring of impacts was researched on this topic? And if a woman willingly enters into a polygamous relationship with a man, who is the SWC to interfere with her freedom of choice? In reality, they don't give a fig about freedom or choices -- it's simply a threat to their power.

Canadians are such schmucks. They've suddenly realized what happens when you think you're opening the door to let the cat in -- the skunks run in, too.

Sayd Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said he opposes same-sex marriage but said if it is legalized in Canada, polygamists would also be within their rights to challenge for their choice of family life to be legalized.

Prezactly. And here's something I honestly didn't know: most Arab countries allow men to have up to four wives, as long as the man is capable of supporting them all. Some Arab men living in Canada have one wife in Canada, but more wives back home in their native countries. With legalized polygamy, they could all live in Canada. Hey, if it's part of their religion and culture, who are Canadians to deny them?

I'll wrap this up on an unwelcome note of logic from Conservative party justice critic Vic Toews:

But when same-sex marriage becomes legal, the door will open to more Charter challenges, said Conservative critic Mr. Toews. "Once you change the definition of marriage from one man and one woman and you move to two persons," he said, "what then is the distinction between two persons, or three or more persons? If I was a lawyer defending polygamists, I'd say 'hey this is a constitutional right, a freedom of religion.' Why can't freedom of religion trump this new definition of marriage?"

I can't wait to see what happens.

On Grief and God

About a year ago, Carnaby and I watched as our mother died a rather painful death from a rare form of cancer. Watching her suffer and pass away was very sad, and we've both certainly shed tears over this -- but by and large the long-term aspect of grief is not what either of us expected it to be.

Among other things, I am dealing with a fair amount of depression at the moment, which has caused me to become very lethargic. Carnaby is currently experiencing some odd physical symptoms, which we were all a little concerned might be indicative of something really awful like a brain tumor. He had an MRI today, and we'll get the results on Tuesday. However, I'm fairly convinced that his symptoms are simply those of grief. We checked this website from the University of Virginia Health System today, which lists these symptoms:

Physical symptoms	Emotional symptoms	Spiritual symptoms
Lack of energy; fatigue Headaches and upset stomach Excessive sleeping or, conversely, overworking and excessive activity	Memory lapses, distraction, and preoccupation Irritability Depression and, conversely, feelings of euphoria Extreme anger or, conversely, feelings of being resigned to the situation	Feelings of being closer to God or, conversely, feelings of anger and outrage at God Strengthening of faith or, conversely, questioning of faith

From what Carnaby has described to me (headaches, memory lapses, distraction), he's suffering from grief. Ever the overachieving big sister, I have every single one of these symptoms. One thing I have noticed in particular, and was surprised to see this on the list, is the strengthening of my faith in God. I strongly disagree with the classification of this as a symptom of malady, but I do agree with the classification of anger with God as such a symptom, and what follows explains why.

Let's think logically about what someone is really saying when he becomes angry with God because he's suffering. Unless he's been living alone in a cave his entire life, he was aware that terrible, tragic, unthinkable, things happen to people every minute of every day in some part of the world. By becoming angry with God only after tragedy has struck him, he has in effect said that he was a-okay with God as long as God was only allowing these terrible things to happen to other people.

That's evil.

No matter how misguided, I can understand the reaction of a person who has been angry with God all along, because he believes that a loving God would not allow any suffering in the world. However, I truly believe that it's impossible for, say, a genuine Christian to become angry with God only after experiencing personal tragedy. Afterall, he was willing to place his faith in God before, knowing what he knows happens in the world; and, as Gerald Schroeder points out in his book Genesis and the Big Bang, the Bible is quite clear on the fact that everyone eventually dies, sometimes horribly. (The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, anyone?)

I'm sure very few people have actually thought this through and realize this is the implication, but if you approach the idea logically, that's what you're left with. So either these angry-with-God people are evil or their thinking is so clouded by grief that this is the result.

The only thing I struggle with is the physical suffering of others. I almost can't bear to think of the suffering of children who have been tortured and murdered at the hands of foul creatures like John Wayne Gacy. Thankfully, our mother only went through the really bad stuff for a few short months, but that was plenty. It was hell watching her suffer at the end, and I was so relieved when she finally passed. I suppose if there really is an afterlife and it's as glorious as many believe it to be, then physical suffering really doesn't matter all that much. I ought to be rejoicing that our mother -- and those children -- are in such a wonderful place. Emotionally, though, it still bothers me that she suffered and that she's gone, so I have to take it as an article of faith that it's part of God's plan. Not an easy thing to do for a scientist; but, the alternative is to believe that our mother's suffering was pointless and she has now been relegated to oblivion, just like everyone before her and everyone who comes after. I'd rather push the I-believe-in-God button and hope for the best.

World Anxious About Another Four Years

Reuters has this story on Inauguration Day

PARIS (Reuters) - The rest of the world will be watching with anxiety when President Bush is inaugurated Thursday for a second time, fearing the most powerful man on the planet may do more harm than good.

Many world leaders, alienated by Bush's go-it-alone foreign policy and the U.S.-led war in Iraq would have preferred him to lose the U.S. election last November. Since his victory, they have been urging him to listen and consult more.

Mistrust also runs deep among ordinary people. Some 58 percent of people surveyed in a British Broadcasting Corporation poll in 21 countries said they believed Bush's re-election made the world a more dangerous place.

Does this same 58% think that the folks who bring us nuclear bombs, dirty bombs, car bombs, airplanes flown into buildings, kidnappings, beheadings, mutilations, state-sanctioned rape, mistreatment of women and gays, summary executions, mass starvation, school massacres, gas attacks, and mass graves, have made the world a more dangerous place, too? Just asking.

ADDENDUM: Thinking about it, the survey question is rather dumb. Ask criminals if they think appointing a tougher police chief makes their world a more dangerous place. You betcha -- and that ain't a bad thing for the rest of us.

2008 Presidential Primaries

We (gunnies) are basically safe for the next four years (barring anything stupid in the midterm elections, with a strong economy, it's not likely). Now the worry begins about the 2008 presidential election. A good synopsis of the potential candidates can be found here.

The potential candidates I'm solidly against are, in no particular order:

1. Rudi Giuliani - Statist RINO
2. Mitt Romney - Statist RINO
3. George Pataki - Statist RINO
4. John McCain - Statist

Please correct me if I've made a mistake in their characterisations.

Gonzales Supports AWB Extension?

What a dumbass. While I see the geek's point of view I am still upset. Stand up and support the Second Amendment you cowardly shit, Gonzales. Note to President Bush: the ONLY reason I voted for you is that the AWB expired (even though you didn't openly support its demise). Otherwise, I'd have preferred Kerry in office to make the Democrats look bad (worse), ala Carter.

Please give us an Attorney General who supports the Second Amendment. The time for sniveling to the Democrats, especially Boxer, Schumer and Feinstein, is over. You should be ashamed.

Quote of the Day

There was a certain sad dignity in the way Charlton Heston got up and walked away during his "interview" with Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine. I have nothing but respect for the man because of it (and nothing but ire for the bloated P.O.S.); but here's something I can get excited about...

Eastwood to Moore at the National Board of Review awards dinner in NYC last Thursday:

...Michael, if you ever show up at my front door with a camera — I'll kill you.

Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

First Charges in Oil-for-Food Scam

Someone has finally been charged in the massive Oil-for-Food fraud case; although when I looked at the headlines on Google News, it seemed like most of them were emphasizing that the man is a U.S. citizen. (I don't know if I'm being overly sensitive to this, but it seems like the MSM will take any chance it can get to give the U.S. a poke in the eye.) Nevermind. He is a naturalized citizen from Iraq, and someone who was willing to sell out his fellow Iraqis to a vicious dictator in order to line his own pockets -- may he rot in hell.

Now, if we could just lock up Kofi Annan in the Chateau d'If for the rest of his scummy life, I'd be happy.

Gentoo

I used to HATE linux. Really hate it. I was forced to use it for my research and school work, but I always prefered Windows. I still like Windows, flaws and all, but I've gotten a little bored with it. I was a big NT4 user for the longest time (as soon as I could get away from Win95, puke). I still use Windows 2000, seeing no need to migrate to WinXP.

I find the dual boot Win2000 / Linux thing works very well. Don't even mention Mac, I HATE Macs and I always will.

Anyway, I used to use Redhat Linux 8.0 and 9.0. They're not too bad, but still a gigantic piss off. Redhat Fedora is a big improvement, mostly because of the newer kernels. But I finally found salvation in Gentoo.

The greatest thing about Gentoo is emerge. If you need an application or driver set or whatever, you just type emerge -s *possible name of app* to find exactly what you want. Once you've found it, you type emerge *name of app* and voila! All dependencies are installed, the app is installed and everything WORKS! No kidding. I've found the Gentoo distro to be utterly reliable and easy to use.

The downside, yup there's a downside, is that proper installation of Gentoo is a pain. However, they have a step-by-step guide, and really good forums to get you through the setup phase. I recommend a Stage-2 install btw. Setup really sucks, but is totally worth it. After you've done it a couple times it's not as big a deal, but still takes a couple days to do (downloading, compiling and installing packages etc). This mostly happens automatically though, just takes lots of CPU time.

So there you go, get yourself some Gentoo goodness. I use linux about 90% of the time now and Windows 2000 the other 10%. Mostly for CAD stuff and downloading pictures from my digital card reader, since it's an old one and won't work in Gentoo, at least not yet. I have a newer card reader in my lab at school and it works fine with Gentoo (it's a dual reader with both compactflash and smartmedia).

Blogging Area

Here's a shot of my blogging area.



A fair bit warmer than Kevin's area, no? Sorry Kevin. Argh, I was all set to include Kevin's blogging area picture so I could point and laugh, and I can't find it. Damn google.

UPDATE: Found it. While you're at it, have a look at Lileks' space and Kim du Toit's. All I have to say to Kevin and du Toit is IKEA. See my fine $139 desk there, the thing is really big. Lileks? well, apparently he has good taste and a bigger bank account than the rest of us, except for the Mac, puke. Also, how come mine is the only one with a gun present, notice the Beretta 96 Brig Inox (kinda the gun equivilant of a half-caf, no foam, hazelnut latte).

Up With Doughnuts?

Noooo! It's Up Your Doughnut! Dammit. Whoever bought the place renamed it. Argh!

UPDATE: Mr Breakfast has lots of good pancake recipies. Alas, no egg nog pancake recipies, though.

Stickwick's Note: Carnaby, you should have titled this post "What's Up With Up With Doughnuts?"

Proof

I should probably spend more time on this post, but I won't. After being asked many many times by Christians and non-Christians what it would take for me to believe in the Christian God, or any God for that matter, and answering many many times with the same thing: it would take God himself showing himself to me personally or maybe some wonderful, seemingly God-inspired miracle (someone growing a lost major limb back in front of my eyes etc.) to convince me; to give me proof.

Now, after thinking about it long and hard, I realize that my old answer is not true. There is in fact no such thing as a proof for the existence of the Christian God, nor any other God. The Christian God (from here to be known as God) could very well exist, yet no humanly realizable proof for this fact exists or could exist. Strange, no? That God can not prove himself to us. While there are many things he could do that might be convincing evidence of his existence, none of those things are actually proof.

Why? Well, if I get at least two or three responses to this post, I'll answer the queston here (Stickwick, you don't count). Otherwise, I'll just leave that up here and simply ponder it for myself. This also changes my answer to the question of what it would take for me to believe in God, obviously.

Saw Troy, Went to Church

First, Mrs. Fudge and I rented Troy last night. Worst movie ever. Among the worst movies ever. We only made it through by serially mocking the stupid parts. It was all stupid parts, except where the King of Troy visits Achilles to ask for the return of his son's body.

Example stupid part: Achilles challenges Hector at the gates of Troy (didn't happen in the Iliad, but besides that), which is fine and dandy. The Trojan archers hold their fire so Hector and Achilles can have an honorable duel, or something to that effect. Of course Achilles kills Hector and then the Trojan archers still hold their fire as Achilles drags Hector's body away. You see, there's no honor in this and all bets are off. The Trojan archers should have hosed Achilles down with arrows. But they didn't. Stupid.

Now then, I went to church with a friend today. I'm not a Christian (Mrs. Fudge is). I'm sortof an agnostic, but not really sure about that either. I do have a lot of questions though. And so I went to church today since my friend invited me. They're doing a three-part series that seems right up my alley. That's all I got. Maybe I'll post more about Christianity later.

Form Letters

My husband recently finished writing a book about his experiences as an international volunteer (aka "mercenary" for you liberal panty-wadders) in Bosnia during the civil war. In my not-so-impartial opinion, it's a great book that ought to be published, so we've been trying to get a contract with an agent who will help him find a publisher. Mr. Stapers is a respected and published writer in Finland, with two books to his credit, but the market there is incredibly small. Since Mr. Stapers has no experience with the vast American market, he was disappointed when all of his inquiries were met with either rejection or no response. However, one of the rejection emails was very polite and seemed personalized, implying that the agent thought he had a real winner but she wasn't the appropriate agent for that kind of subject material yadda yadda yadda. I said to Mr. Stapers that even though this sounded personalized, these agents always say the same thing when they reject an idea for a manuscript no matter how good or how dumb the idea is. He didn't believe me. So I wrote to the same agent with my idea for a book to test my hypothesis:

This is fascinating project but we are not the right agency for you/it. We are confident you will FIND the RIGHT agency so hang in there. Thank you for thinking of us and we wish you every success.

From: "Maggie Houlihan"
To: friendtowriters@hotmail.com
Subject: Looking for an Agent

Dear Madam,

I have a manuscript which might be of interest to you. I have written a book about garden gnomes: their history, their manufacture, their worldwide appeal. It will be a coffee table book, with glossy full-color photos (which I have taken, myself). It could even come with a miniature key-chain garden gnome!

I am a garden gnome enthusiast. I have owned over 15,000 garden gnomes in my lifetime. I have traveled the world in search of rare and unusual gnomes -- I even had one from Switzerland made entirely of cheese! That one didn't last long.

Please let me know if this book is of interest to you. I shall be waiting for your reply.

Sincerely,
M. Houlihan
International Garden Gnome Specialist

Ayup. Verbatim what she wrote to Mr. Stapers.

Maybe this contravenes some mysterious rule in the agency business, but most people I know would actually prefer an honest opinion rather than a polite, but generic, rejection. A letter stating "This stinks. Get bent." at least shows that some thought probably went into the rejection.

On the other hand, maybe she really was being sincere and my idea for a book is a fascinating project.

Magnificent

If this and this don't get GFWs' panties in a bunch, nothing will. (Check out the reload on that second video, whoot!). Brought to you by Custer Sportsmen's Club of Bellingham, Washington. I can hardly wait to try IPSC or IDPA.

UPDATE: get more swell videos at www.hosercam.com.

Canada's Ass-Crack Health Care System

I lived in Canada for a long time. Too long. Yes, the people are nice. That is, pleasant to be around in most situations; but, most Canadians I've known, and most metropolitan Canadians in general, share conspicuous tenets that I find intolerable: the pair of sacred cows that are their versions of socialized health care and gun control. That's why I left. That, and I'm a proud American who had been away from home too long. It wasn't my fault, my parents moved there when I was a toddler.

Anyway, now I'm back, and I have a short story.

I've been getting strange symptoms for the last two years or so, which my friends describe as painless migraines. I lose peripheral vision in one eye (or some similar symptom, that's how it starts) and start to feel wonky. Sometimes I get a mild headache as the vision symptoms subside. I have a really hard time concentrating and reading during and after these episodes. Now, long story short, I went to the doctor yesterday with an appointment I'd made a couple hours earlier. The doctor was very pleasant, and though she figured it was nothing serious, she wanted me to have an MRI to be thorough, since the symptoms started after 30 years of age.

I called the MRI facility today, and they scheduled an appointment for me. They apologized that it would be such a long wait for the diagnostic test: eight days. Contrast this with what I already knew and what Walter Williams was kind enough to print at Capitalism Magazine today

Is Canada better? In her book, Sally Pipes reports the case of 58-year-old Canadian Don Cerniz, who noticed blood in his urine. It took three weeks to get his first test and another month for an MRI, and treatment for his cancer didn't begin until six months later. According to the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute's yearly survey of medical waiting times, Cerniz was lucky: "The median wait for an MRI across Canada was 12.6 weeks. Patients in Prince Edward Island experienced the shortest wait for an MRI (six weeks), while Newfoundland residents waited longest (33.5 weeks)." Overall, Canada's total waiting time between referral from a general practitioner to treatment averaged about 18 weeks in 2004.

I've had near first-hand experiences like this while living in Canada. My roommate's girlfriend was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She had to wait over a month for surgery to remove the cancer. A month! No kidding, with the cancer growing all the time in her neck. Thank God I was never really ill or injured there.

The other thing that many Americans, who tout the Canadian system, are shocked to learn is that besides providing so called universal health care the Canadian government has made ANY private health care of medically necessary procedures ILLEGAL. I am not joking. The socialists saw that Britain's socialist health care system sucked and they figured it was due to allowing private care alongside the public stuff. The mantra of the indoctrinated is no two-tier health care system.They didn't understand that socialist health care simply sucks. So Canadians wait in lines. My father always told me the truism that you pay with money, or you pay with time. Canadians pay with time.

I'm omitting other debacles that are the Canadian health care system. I know our system has severe problems, but they aren't caused by the free market. Read Williams' piece, and you will see that it is caused by government intervention and lack of free market. And if you search elsewhere, it's clear that trial lawyers, like John Edwards, really stink the place up.

No Universal Health Care!

Stickwick's Note: Even Finland isn't this hardcore socialistic about their healthcare system, since their socialists allow private healthcare. Mr. Stapers comments that he isn't aware of any major differences between the quality (per se) of private vs. public healthcare in Finland, but he does note that the benefit of using a private hospital is that you get to choose your own care. If you use a public hospital, who knows what kind of treatment they've got in store for you, and you just have to accept it. I.e. if the docs would rather amputate your leg than operate on it, tough beans for you.

A BBQ Post

I LOVE BBQ. I got to go visit Stickwick in Austin, and my first stop was Stubb's.

Now, if you are new, or old, to BBQ you can't go wrong by adding How to Grill to your library. I used Steven Raichlen's recipe for brisket, and, mmmm mmmmmm! it turned out superb.

Darn it, I can't find the picture I have of the fine brisket. Just get the darn book.

Infidels! Carnaby Fudge is now Carnahadeen!

Carnaby Fudge has converted and is now Carnahadeen! My new name is Osama bin Mahmud Ishtar al Chowmeini al Abbas al bin Gouda al Sadr. Infidels! You will be crushed by our worthless military capabilities! We love death but not the kool-aid. And to the pathetic lefties: we laugh at your simple hatred of America! Your blind rage at the capitalist satan leads you to help us even though once our victory is complete we will subjugate your women, outlaw abortion and behead your gays.



To my Carnahadeen brothers: quit bickering about Sunni and Shari'a. The true way is Carnab'i! Anyone who doesn't follow the true way of Carnab'i is a splitter and will not recieve his 72 virgins in paradise. Hmmm. Only 72 virgins? For all ETERNITY? That doesn't sound so good. See, 72 is a finite number, and eternity is sorta infinite. Those 72 virgins aren't going to be virgins for very long, and I'm eventually going to get tired of them. Is there at least an Xbox or Playstation in paradise? No? Hmmm, well... welcome back Carnaby Fudge!

Ruffini and Luskin on that thing...

...so-called Social Security, that is. Ruffini says it best

The status quo that Democrats are so desperately defending is this: an average benefit of that's a paltry $926 a month, $11,112 a year. Seventy years of New Deal largesse, and this is the best you can do for seniors with no other retirement savings? The opportunity to make life dramatically better through significantly higher Social Security benefits lies before us, and your "solution" is simply to postpone doom?

Ha! Take that, you liberal wieners.

Luskin simply kicks their collective butt. Nothing unusual in that.

I'd rather take my own chances and not rely on a bunch of IOUs from the government to itself... to myself.

.50CBS Fifty Caliber Bullshit

Hey, it's more powerful than the NYT's famous liberal bullshit. It can shoot down an NRA spokesman at 73,000 viewers.

Seems EVERYONE (Alphecca, Freedom Sight, Say Uncle and more) is at the throat of CBS for this piece of crap, and I have my own angle on the BS.

My favorite quote from the CBS piece is this

A Senate report said that a bullet from a .50-caliber rifle, even at 1.5 miles, crashes into a target with more energy than a bullet fired at point-blank range from Dirty Harry’s famous .44 Magnum.

CBS, never above pandering to the ignorant. If ever you wanted to get a liberal's panties in a twist, this certainly would do it. See, the .50-caliber rifle bullet has more energy, even at 1.5 miles, than Dirty Harry's famous .44 Magnum. Not just anyone's unfamous .44 Magnum, but Dirty Harry's famous one; that makes a difference, so don't forget it.

But do forget that CBS doesn't know what point blank range is. Apparently, for a .44 Magnum pistol, point blank range extends from the muzzle out to 100 yards. From the Remington website, we find that the energy of a .44 Magnum is between 1000 and 550 ft-lbs from muzzle to 100 yards respectively. So the .50 BMG has more energy than that. But why don't they say that the .50 BMG has more energy than Grand Pappy's old .30-06 hunting rifle at point blank range, which has 2900 to 1000 ft-lbs of energy from muzzle to 500 yds? Because it's not a liberal knicker twister (those fucking transparent liberal CBS bastards), that's why. For the record, the .50 BMG has 12,000 to 1863 ft-lbs of energy from muzzle to 1500 meters (from this table, then calculating energy as KE = 1/2mv^2).

Summary: CBS, please find a large pile of shit, and eat it.

On a side note, WTF is this? It must be the latest terrorists choice weapon, get the word to CBS pronto!!

Egg Nog Pancake III

OK, for those of you who must absolutely make a ridiculous egg nog pancake, not just an ordinary one mind you, but one of these suckers



Here's the recipe

6 eggs (not kidding)
1 and 1/3 cups gourmet Egg Nog
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional, but I recommend them)
Fruit flavored pancake syrup, such as blueberry or strawberry

Preheat oven to 425 deg F, Mix eggs in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer or food processor with metal blade. Add egg nog, flour and nutmeg. Mix until blended. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Place butter in a 9" x 13" baking dish. Place in oven until melted and sizzling; do not let it brown. Remove from oven and immediately pour batter into pan. Sprinkle top with almonds, if desired. Bake in middle or lower third of oven for 15-20 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve immediately with syrup.

Makes 6 servings.

Recipe developed by cookbook author Marlene Sorosky Gray.

It's from the back of the Safeway Select Gourmet Egg Nog. Here's a picture I snapped of myself taking a big swig from the ol' carton



Notice the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings calendar from 1979 in the background. I frequently look at it for the day's date, but then I end up a little confused until I remember that it's not current. And the month is random, corresponding to whatever Jake the Army likes best at the time.

Bill Whittle

People say Bill Whittle is the bomb. It's true.

Liberal Knicker Twister

Kim has posted his son's homeschooling curriculum for the week

Math: 1 hour every day
Reading (educational): 1 hour every day
Reading ("free"): at least 1 hour every day, after school hours (he normally does two)
Writing & Vocabulary: 1 hour every day, 250 words
Language: 1/2 hour Spanish per day
Music: 1 hour piano practice each day, except Wednesday (lesson)
Other subjects: 1 hour per week each of Science, Geography, History
Shooting: 1 hour per week

If that doesn't twist some liberal knickers, I don't know what will. Shooting will definitely be in Jake the Army's curriculum.

I'm in general agreement with Kim's curriculum, except for the math, as that has a keen place in my heart, being an engineer and all. So it's two hours of math every day for Jake the Army, more in line with the Robinson Curriculum, which the wife and I plan to follow.

Now, being an engineer, I have poor spelling and I frequently make mistakes with my grammar. Stickwick usually edits my post for these errors as she is an expert in grammar and spelling. The kids must absolutely surpass their father with regard to the English language.

Gregoire Stole the Election, Personally!

The smoking gun has been found! Gregoire stole the election. Reporters from KOMO4 and the SeattlePi have uncovered the facts:

It seems that the election was sitting in the trunk of a rusted-out blue Ford Granada. Surveillance cameras clearly show a disgruntled Gregoire casing the Granada. She then walks up to the trunk, jimmies the lock with a large screw-driver, and once inside takes stock of the contents. A couple of quick glances around, then she grabs the election and runs.

Not all the facts are out yet, but Democrats are already charging that Rossi supporters put the election in that trunk and that they don't have any REAL evidence that it was actually Gregoire on the tape. More info as the story unfolds...

A Nice Message from the Brady Campaign

The Brady Campaign sent me a nice message. Here's what they have to say

Thank You for being part of the solution to the gun violence epidemic. Your dedication to solving the problem of gun violence in America is truly an inspiration.

Why, Sarah, you're welcome. I have been working hard to promote gun ownership and CCW in the USA to help stem the tide of bad guys doing bad things. She follows this with

I have vowed to make it our life's mission to make sure gun violence in America is one day a thing of the past.

Well, that's a nice, but unrealistic, goal. In a similar vein, I'm working to minimize criminal gun violence while protecting the right of citizens of the USA to keep and bear arms for any reason they choose.

As chair of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, I have been able to work to achieve my goal. The Brady Center educates the public about gun violence, helps gun violence victims have their day in court, and works to enact and enforce sensible gun policies that save lives.

I'll just let that stand on its own.

If you believe like we do in an America where all are safe in their homes, in their schools, in their churches, and in their communities, please consider a tax-deductible donation to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence this holiday season.

Looks like it's Brady time for a reality check.

Together we can make this dream a reality.

Well, you did fund some lawsuits along with some annoying and criminal legislation that added extra costs to my guns and infringed on my second amendment rights, so I will consider a nice donation from you to me. I figure you owe me a couple of nice guns, say a Kimber Tactical Pro II and a Springfield SOCOM 16. That comes to about $2350, plus tax and shipping, for a grand total of, say, $2700. Please remit.

P.S. They don't publish this on their website (I wonder why :p) but the Brady email address is in fact sarahbrady@bradycampaign.org in case you have some polite but instructive messages for her/them.

Get a CCW from your own home, valid in 25 states!

No kidding. Check this out. You can be a resident of any state, and this will give you CCW status in 25 states including Washington, Colorado, Florida and Texas (crummy Oregon, where I was born, doesn't have reciprocity with anyone, rrrrr. Be nice if they did, then I wouldn't have to carry openly when I cross the border from Washington).

Cost is a measly $99 for the course, and $59 for the permit. Stickwick and her husband live in TX, so this would come in handy for the both of us. Way to go Utah!

Update: whoops, forgot... Hat Tip - Packing.org