Armed and Concealed; The Survey

In the wake of all the recent active shooter incidents, I decided to take a survey of my Facebook friends to get a picture of our level of preparedness.  I have no way of knowing who participated, but I’m guessing most are in the Midland area.  I will be using the data to refute some claims against armed citizen’s effectiveness in mass shooting incidents.

First, the survey asked if the person had a concealed handgun license (CHL) or not, and asked if they were a peace officer or similar person.  14 responded as having no CHL, 20 with a CHL and 19 were peace officers.  The most common firearm is a full-sized automatic followed by a compact.  22 carry a spare magazine and 11 carry two spares.  16 people responding carry more than 17 rounds.  Peace officers were asked to answer the survey referring to their habits of carrying a weapon off-duty.

12 reported carrying their weapon inside a vehicle and two of them were peace officers.  All of the unlicensed folks carry in their car.  94% of respondents carry a phone.  Half said they carry a knife and/or flashlight.

I expected fewer CHL licensees to carry outside of the vehicle based on my experience as a CHL instructor asking renewal customers about their experience.  Most tended to carry less as time went on, much like rookie cops.  It’s encouraging to see holster use high, with 19 using a holster and 11 carrying in a waistband.  I hope the waistband people can be encouraged to adopt some sort of holster.  It’s hard to put up a fight when your firearm is in your pants leg or laying in the parking lot.

The survey showed a majority tilt toward good decisions when carrying a concealed firearm in public.  Peace officers showed a higher tendency to carry in a holster on their person and have more ammo available.  They also tend to carry a full-size firearm a little more often.   While this survey does nothing to evaluate skill and experience, it does show that armed citizens are very close to sworn peace officers in the equipment department.  It’s also worth noting that in places where concealed handguns are not allowed, half of the people in the survey would be disarmed. 

My recommendations for concealment have always been the same:  Full size or compact firearm (no nano-guns), strong-side holster, at least 12 rounds and a cell phone.  I’m happy to see this as a trend.  It’s not something I dreamed up, it’s just a matter of good sense based on experience.  Nano guns are tough to use.  Only movie stars can run a half-marathon through back alleys and not lose the .45 stashed in the waistband of their boxers. 

A mass shooter picks the crime scene based on the probability of success.  They’re looking for condensed targets like a crowd jammed in a doorway, close distances, and the likelihood that no one will resist them.  They will do their damage within the police response time.  All it takes is a single, well-placed opponent to stop them.

Thought for Food

It’s been a year since I started following the Slow Carb Diet from Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Body.  I’m still lighter than I was in high school and wondering why it took me 41 years to figure this out.  Friends have sent me links to books and movies that, for the most part, align with Slow Carb, Glycemic Index and Paleo thought.  If you're looking for some diet info, here's your summer reading/watching list!

The next book to come along was the book Wheat Belly (http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/).  Dr. William Davis explains how the wheat we consume now is not the same plant our grandparent’s ate and how elimination of wheat from one’s diet causes a significant health increase. 

Next was the movie Fat Head, which is a response to Supersize Me.  The latter is about a vegetarian who eats at McDonalds for a month and gains weight.  Fat Head is about a regular guy who also eats at McDonalds for a month while limiting carbohydrate intake and loses weight while improving his cholesterol levels.

Both Fat Head and Wheat Belly assert that starchy foods like potatoes, rice and breads are metabolized just like table sugar.  I was one of the people who thought that whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk was a healthful way to start the day.  I’ve since learned that I was biochemically ensuring that I would store fat no matter what I did or ate.  It’s a function of the glycemic index.  The general assertion is that our ability to process a high-carb diet has not evolved as fast as our ability to create it, hence the Paleo diet.

For years I wondered why calorie counting failed and eating whole grains wasn’t doing the trick.  Apparently birds are the only creatures on the planet well suited for consuming large amounts of grain.  I miss eating pasta and other wheat products on a regular basis, but I’ve become conditioned to looking forward to the one-day-a-week food orgy where I eat anything I want.  Re-setting the clock and quieting the beast is an important part of the diet.

Yet another friend told me that he lost 45 pounds on a plant-based diet after watching Forks Over Knives.  This documentary says that meat consumption causes cancer.  I can see the weight loss coming from the fact that refined grains are out of the picture too.  I’m not going to take the vegan plunge anytime soon, but I do eat more beans and greens than before.  A decent steak, plate of fajitas or chicken stir-fry is one of the few meals I look forward to. 

On an interesting note, I once tried vegetarian hamburger patties.  They’re not all that bad, but it’s not sirloin.  I had an elevated cholesterol level most likely caused by eating egg yolks because I had become too busy/lazy to boil ahead of time and eat only the whites.  I was downing about 6-8 eggs worth of omletes per day!  For about a month I lived on vegetarian meat substitute products.  It’s not bad, but damn sure not the real thing.  The result?  I gained weight even though I was working out regularly and otherwise maintaining the slow carb regimen.  The culprit was wheat gluten that was present in all of the vegetarian junk.  I went back to lean meat and chicken and the weight went away.  Once the egg yolks were gone the cholesterol got back in line.

There’s no denying that your genes define how you metabolize food, but there’s also no doubt that our average high carb and sugar diets are the cause of mass obesity.  The most common response to the Slow Carb diet is “I can’t go without my [insert processed wheat product here].”  Somehow we’ve developed a belief that each meal should be entertaining.    That was the toughtest part for me to master, because it's like breaking addiction.  It’s a matter of dealing with instant gratification that the "cheat day" takes care of. 

It all boils down to a diet centered around green vegetables and lean meats, reasonable exercise and completely pulling out the stops once a week.  There's nothing like eating a half-gallon of ice cream (using cookies as spoons) to lose weight.  That makes up for every craving supressed through the entire week. I'm convinced there's a perfect lifelong diet out there for everyone alive and I've finally settled on mine. 

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Fencing Classifications

My friends and family have made me feel like a celebrity for going to the U.S. Fencing Summer Nationals for the first time.  There are a few fencers from our club who have gone to the “Nats.”  From memory , Robert Walter, Mike Husband and Orlando Temple from back during the formation of the club, and more recently Jim Geitgey and Dr. Denise Fitzsimon-Hawke.  The latter two were both “vets.”

Fencers start with a rating of “U” for “unclassified.”  Depending on where they place in a tournament, they achieve a rating a rating of A, B, C, D, or E with A being the highest.  The rating is often followed by the year.  Yours truly is an “E09,” which means I rated an E in 2009.

                In a tournament, the number of competitors and their rating determines what ratings will be awarded to the top finishers.  For example, if enough fencers of varying ratings meet the standards for an “A4” tournament, here’s how the ratings are distributed:  The top 8 fencers are rated A, then the next 8 get B’s, then C’s to the next 8, etc.  For a tournament to meet standards of an A4, it requires 64 fencers with a specified minimum number of each rating.  The smallest possible tournament rating is an E1, where 6 unrated fencers would complete and first place would be rated an “E.” 

                There are currently 55 entries in my event and the ratings are well spread.  While your rating does indicate how well you fence, it’s easy to see how it’s possible for just about anything to happen.  According to the last few years of Nationals, there have been A’s finish near the bottom and E’s make it halfway to the top.  There are plenty of factors at play, notably how strong the competition is in your own yard.  Our division is dominated by Amarillo Competitive Fencing Association and the Texas Tech Fencing Club, both of which produce strong athletes so I definitely had to work for my “E.”

                I’ve never fenced an A, but I’ve been thrashed by B’s and C’s.  I’ve put a few points on all of them.  The only way I could describe fighting these people is like one of those dreams where you can’t run and you feel like your legs are submerged in quicksand.  Their speed and precision makes you feel as coordinated as a six month old puppy on a tile floor.  All of the ratings compete together, so U’s will face A’s and it all comes out in the wash.

                My hope is to promote to the finals after the pools.  I don't stand much of a chance in winning a rating because only the top 13 or so will rate and there are more than 13 A's and B's.  

                That’s the reason I’m aiming for the upper middle part of the very bottom.  I have a better chance of being hit by a meteor than placing high on the list, but I’ve set a goal that’s enough out of reach that I have to train hard.  That’s what amateur sports is all about!

The Pentagon Magic Act

 In 2005 I received an e-mail linking me to freedomunderground.org's Pentagon Magic Act video.  I can't find the video anywhere now.  It appears that the website has given up the good fight entirely.  The mass-forwarded email came to me with only one line of text in the body:"Makes you think."  It was a Saturday morning, I was on my third cup of coffee and it was time to think.  The video documented all of the evidence the producer needed to prove that the 2001 attack on the Pentagon was an inside job.  I've never been able to get my mind around their logic, so I put some down on their video.  What follows is my reply to every recipient on that email that morning. 

I've made notations in brackets to explain the points made by the video.

The video linked at the end IS NOT the one I'm referring to.  It's a forensic video that speaks for itself.

*****

My impression is that the producers want us to believe that the Pentagon was struck with a missile or lighter aircraft than the 757 used.  Lack of large pieces of wreckage, appropriate noise, large fire like the WTC, etc, are cited as evidence.  Here we go.

As for wreckage, the comparative photographs are of low speed accidents for the most part.  When pilots know they are in trouble, they will make every effort to slow the aircraft to minimize damage.  Makes sense, right?  When the landing goes wrong, this results in large pieces of the aircraft being torn away.  At high velocities, and especially when the aircraft strikes at a right angle (straight into the ground or a wall) the result is very small pieces of wreckage.  Search for a picture of the aircraft that crashed into a field on 9-11.  It doesn’t look like the ones on this video.  It crashed at a steep angle. 

The “small pieces” shown are aircraft aluminum.  The one carried by the man in the upper left hand corner is far too large to be a piece of a missile.

Fuel-air explosions are fast and hot.  More of the heat and vapors were contained in the WTC than the pentagon.  With more air, the fuel will burn out more quickly.

“It sounded like a missile” or went “piff!”  [witness quote on video] Missiles don’t go “piff.”  They go “roar.”  Pay a visit to your local model rocket club and ask to see a high-power rocket flight.  I guarantee it’s piff-free.  Those are bottle-rockets compared to a military missile.  I’ll bet that no one “interviewed” has ever seen anything that large fly at Mach .69 under 100 feet before.  It wouldn’t make much of a roar until after it passed.

[Video alleged that unbroken wire spools and windows proved impacting object was too large to be an airplane]Why did it leave undamaged wire spools and windows?  Because it MISSED THEM.  That’s like asking why Jackie wasn’t killed when JFK was shot next to her.

[Witness said he could smell the cordite from the missile.]  The witness who reported smelling cordite must have been standing next to a large cannon used to blow a hole in the building.  Cordite is a propellant for large artillery.  It’s not used in warheads.  Rockets or missiles use propellants like aluminum perchlorate and explosives like RDX.

[Impact hole too small for airliner]  What about the neat little hole?  Run a google search on this formula:   F=ma.  Any remaining structural part of the aircraft with sufficient velocity could knock a small hole in reinforced concrete.  We’ve all seen pictures of the fence pickets poked through palm trees after hurricanes.

Let’s assume the “Mind Control Machine” used a missile against the Pentagon.  They did a half-assed job at best.  Why strike a fortified target at it’s toughest point?  Why strike it at an angle?  Why not strike it with laser-guided air-dropped munitions?  We’ve all seen the videos from Iraq.  There would be no sound or evidence left behind… just a smoking hole.

[Too hard to hit building for an unskilled pilot] Was anyone surprised that a raghead terrorist pile of walking excrement was a bad pilot?  Did you know that aircraft like the 757 are very easy to handle once in the sky?  You need a yoke (that’s the wheel) two pedals and a throttle.  I’ve flown store-bought flight simulators that are more of a challenge than real airplanes.  Handling the airplane in the sky is the easiest part of flying.  Go ask your nerd friend (you know you have one) to fire up Microsoft Flight Sim for you.  After a couple of hours of familiarization, you’ll be ready to duplicate the tragic acts of September 11.

[Alleged that government confiscated video of a missile]  I was shocked to see that the “Mind Control Machine” confiscated security tapes of all of the private businesses on the route of the mysterious aircraft.  Can you imagine the gall of our federal law enforcement taking evidence of a crime?  One small question for the producers:  How the hell did you morons manage to get a copy of the Pentagon’s security camera when you couldn’t even get footage from a gas station?  Is the MAN keeping you down?

I’ve gone over their site.  It’s disturbing to me that anyone would dedicate so much time and energy into something so moronic.  Why is the evidence so strange?  Because we’ve never seen anything like it before.  The government isn’t working hard to debunk these people because it’s not necessary.  The vast majority of Americans have devoted their time, money and lives to protecting this country and recovering from the disaster that was a terrorist act.

"This chorus is the feces that is produced when shame eats too much stupidity!"  Dale Gribble, King of the Hill

*****

I found an interesting FORENSIC video about the Pentagon attack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVDdjLQkUV8

January in The Bowl

     Over a couple of pints of Guinness at Murray’s Deli in Midland, Clif and I planned a winter hike in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  I’ve hiked the Guads with Clif many times, but never in cold weather.  We planned and packed for an overnight trip to the Tejas camp site from Pine Springs, returning on the Juniper Trail to Bear Canyon, a round trip distance of 12 miles with an elevation gain over 2100 feet. 

     We scrubbed one launch because of weather.  We watched the forecast closely and when the day temp for “The Bowl” was forecasted at 48 and 38 night on January 14, we dropped the hammer.  We got our backcountry permits that morning and headed out.  I was down to a T-shirt and jeans on the way up.  The temp had to be in the 60’s or better at the bottom.  There were patches of snow on the mountainsides from previous falls.   When we hit the top, the patches grew.  By the time we got close to the Tejas camp site, the snow was a total blanket and knee-deep in places.  As Clif said, the novelty of hiking in snow soon wore off.  We didn’t have problems with moisture or cold, it’s just tough to make way through powder.

     The good part was that much of the snow was packed pretty tight and getting through it wasn’t too bad.  The air temp was in the 40’s by the time we got to camp.  At about sunset, the temperature fell to 20 degrees and the parkas came out.  We managed to enjoy drinks and cigars over backgammon before dark.  I don’t think it got much colder than 20 degrees.  Wunderground showed the air temp at 32.  There must have been a heat wave near the weather station that didn’t reach our camp.  Despite the cold, we had a pretty decent night.  There’s much to be said for having good gear.  I slept in my new 20 degree bag with thermal underwear and stayed warm all night.  I heard Clif snoring like a bear in the tent next door and he assured me I returned the favor. 

     The wind was dead calm most of the time but that changed on the return hike down Bear Canyon.  The top felt like a 70mph wind tunnel.  The Bear Canyon trail is like a 1.8 mile staircase.  Clif has gone up that trail, and after his story I decided I’d never climb it unless I was being chased by its namesake.  Once we got in the foothills, we logged another “first;” We were hit by a gust of wind that blew both of us down.  The wind didn’t leave us alone until we got back to Pine Springs.

     We spent a total of 6 hours on the trail, and we were away from our homes for about 36 hours.  Both of us had our packs tweaked to about 40 pounds, but we could have shaved off some water weight had we known about the snow.  It pays to ask the headquarters about that sort of thing because they didn’t mention it when we got our permit!  I almost didn't bring my parka, but Clif reminded me of a spring trip almost 20 years ago when I opted for a lighter jacket to save weight.  We woke up in fresh unforecasted snow and I whined about being cold for the rest of the trip.

     Many kudos to Clif for packing the Nikon D40 and catching some great pictures.  I'll drag one along next time so there'll be more shots of him.  I’ve never found the words to describe a trip to the backcountry in the Guads. It’s the kind of place where you sit at your camp and just look around in amazement. I visit the park several times a year and never get bored with it.  Good photos are the only way to accurately describe what’s sitting on top of a mountain range three hours from Midland. 

Cubans and Countefeits

     A few years ago I was given a sampler of good cigars.  I enjoyed the occasional cigar but I had no idea how to keep them fresh.  In fact, I knew very little about cigars.  I was quick to learn that cigar snobs are very prone to writing articles, so I did my research.  Several years later, I have my own humidor and a separately vented smoking room.  It’s the perfect place to meet with friends, talk about how awesome we are and burn some good smoke sticks.

      The lore of the infamous Cuban cigar is the next thing a cigar fan wonders about.  Are they really that good?  Why are they illegal?  It was on a beach in Manzanillo, Mexico where I learned the hard truth about the “Cubans” I’d bought.  They were fake.  I was disappointed, but it also explained why they tasted like lawn mower scrapings and cost so little.  I thought everything was cheaper in Mexico and maybe I hadn’t yet developed a taste for the good stuff.

     I went back to the “dot com machine” to figure out what’s going on with Cuba.  The reason they are illegal is that the U.S. has a trade embargo against Cuba.  Apparently we still have the red-ass over the missile crisis and it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to drop any bucks in Cuba.  They’re sold all over the world, especially in Europe and Canada.    Some countries, such as Switzerland, sell them online.  It’s still unlawful for us to purchase them even through another country.  After more study, I was saddened to learn that the vast majority of Cuban cigars in Mexico are fake.  Some are very good fakes where they use premium Dominican cigars.  The best explanation I’ve read is that it’s all a matter of economics.

     Cuban cigars are produced in state-run factories and sold through state stores.  This makes for a tightly controlled market where the price doesn’t vary due to competition.  This fixes the bottom-line price worldwide.  This means that if a Cohiba Siglio VI is being sold for $6, it’s fake.  The real thing is at least three times that much, so it’s impossible that a distributor bought it from a Cuban state store, shipped it to Mexico and put it in the Puerto Vallarta shop for one-third the market price.  It’s more likely he bought a mule-load of San Andreas rolled corn silk wrapped in a band that just came out of his laser printer. 

     Making matters worse, there are fake Cubans from Cuba.  Remember the state stores?  Sometimes people manage to grow tobacco outside of the state farms and somehow get them to market with fake bands.  They’re still from Cuba, but the brand is misrepresented.  I’ve heard that they’re not as good.  I do understand that the seed and processes used in producing the big brands are all closely guarded secrets.  I doubt small counterfeiters could produce equivalent products.

     Cigars are an interesting study in economics.  After the embargo, many growers fled to the U.S. with their seeds and secrets.  That’s why there are legal, high-quality cigars on our shelves that bear the same names as the Cuban bands.  There were some trademark infringement claims, but our government decided that our laws didn’t apply because of the trade embargo.  It sounds a little like twisting the knife.  This led to a competition driven market that produces great cigars at modest price.  Products of Nicaragua, The Dominican Republic, Brazil, and similar countries rival Cuba in craftsmanship and flavor.  Unlike a state cigar mill, these companies have competitiors and strive for a better product than the other guy. 

     To make matters worse, Cuban cigars are very easy to fake.  They're not remarkable in appearance.  While they're well-made, they don't stand out from their premium legal versions.  If the buyer is uninformed, as I was, a good box and band will pass.  One clever trick I picked up was to ask the store if you can keep the box if you buy the remaining cigars inside.  Reputable cigar shops sell sealed boxes and individual cigars from an open box.  They're happy to give you the box so they don't have to throw it away or store it.  If they're selling fakes, the boxes may be real and they won't part with them.  Learning the labels is fairly easy, and it's pretty easy to spot a printer job.  Now I have fun going to fake shops asking for boxes.  So far, 100% are not willing to part with their boxes.  Some simple checking would have saved me the trouble.  They'll often try to pass the same cigar off with different bands in the same store.  They'll all be the same size and color.  Mexican stores, airports and seemingly high-end shops offer gift package tubos and other products that Cuban makers have never produced.  Also, the display boxes are often odd-sized compared to the cigars. 

     Now for the big question: Do the Cuban labels live up to the hype?  For me, the cheaper, less-known names were the more impressive than the big brands with the exception of Montecristo.  There is a distinct natural flavor in all of them.  It's similar to how a Pecos cantaloupe compares to the others.  Reviews are best left to another article by someone with more knowledge than me.  Remember, they're illegal to purchase, not to smoke.  Enjoy one if you get a legal chance. 

     So what’s a cigar fan to do?  My best advice would be to enjoy in moderation the good, legal cigars that a free market economy has produced.  Go to your local cigar pub and light one off.  Pub prices are double the internet box price, but it’s a chance to sample before taking the plunge.  Beware any “Cuban” someone picked up on a cruise ship stop.  It may be good, it may even be Cuban, but the chances that it’s a real Cuban are dismal.

A Personal Facebook Policy

               The rumors vary, but someone at work did something stupid on Facebook.  I have no idea what it was, but the popular story involved a stripper pole and a uniform shirt.  This led to a very broad policy that prevents us from discussing any connection to work on a social networking site. 

                My day job supplies a full day’s supply of frustration and anger.  FaceBook, in general, is a positive experience.  Since I’m not a super-social butterfly, it’s nice to keep up with friends and family and take on some good vibes.  I have a strong tendency toward being an arrogant prick, so this is an effort to keep that off my page unless it’s in good humor.  With a 500+ friend list, there’s a downer in the bunch every once in a while.  I decided to take measures to NOT be the downer.

I began researching other agencies’ policies and those of the private sector.  It occurred to me that these policies all serve a purpose:  Keep the entity from looking stupid.  I do plenty of stupid things, so maybe a few guidelines are in order to help me along.  This is also a simple step of emulating the people who do it right. 

Remember, employers often use social networking sites to make decisions on hiring, and often they are used by competition and opposition to monitor the “other side.”

                These are a collection of things I picked up along the way.  Unfortunately, some are lessons learned from my own social networking blunders.  Most of it is an extension of what my parents taught me:   If you can’t say anything nice…

1.       Keep all Facebook contact positive.   

2.        No politics or religion.  Yep, Grandma was right.  I have my own opinions based on 41 years of walking on this rock.  As I said in the first post on this blog, I find politics extremely frustrating and negative.  I’ve found ways to exercise my freedoms in the political arena and it’s not on FB.  Political posts tend to be erroneous, emotional and often maddening.  Religious postings are so voluminous and repetitive that they are read very little. 

3.       Never “unfriend” anyone.  If someone is a FB friend, we’ve had some positive contact.  We’ve shaken hands, shared something or maybe have some common ground but never met.  Whatever the case, we’ve chosen to align.  The “unfriend” option seems pretty childish to me.  When a “friend” posts negative, stupid nonsense on their page, I choose to “unsubscribe.”  This has recently (I think) become available on band pages.  When a “liked” band toured or released an album it would bombard you with comments.  You can now turn it down a bit.

4.       No Facebook Suicide.  Take a break instead of cancelling an account.  I recommend unplugging from the grid completely for days at a time.

5.       Remove negative comments made to your posts.   

6.       Use the family and friends groupings that allow posts to be visible only in certain groups.  The less you post, the more you’re read.  If you’re like me and sometimes use your page for advertising, this is a plus.

7.       Use a blog for venting unless it’s funny venting.  Friends will laugh at the story of the lady with back cleavage and a tube top but hearing about how “some people should mind their own business” violates rule #1.  Never make a passive-aggressive attack against anyone on your friend list. 

8.       No cries for attention.  This means not posting, “OMG, this is terrible!  It’s the end of the world, the worst news I’ve ever gotten” which is followed by twenty posts from readers asking what happened with no reply from the poster.

9.       If there is any possibility that a post may be pushing the limit, don’t post it.  It’s only Facebook.

10.   Feel free to violate any rule if it will be seriously funny.

So there it is.  May your FaceBook experience be regret-free.