So, a bunch of men from church got together Saturday to bitterly cling to God, guns, and religion. Since I haven't shot anything since my teen years I figured I'd go along and try out some various guns. I'm interested in picking up a handgun at the moment, since our president elect is likely to try to make getting them more difficult. My personal hunch is we'll see another "assault weapon" bill within the first few months, because scary looking weapons are bad. Then we'll see something for handguns, cause they only serve one purpose, which is to kill people. Finally, if it makes it that far, we'll see hunting weapons targeted.

There were two stations setup, a shotgun/skeet station and a rifle/handgun station. Before we split up one of the men explained the rules and safety pointers. Once we were familiarized with the rules we broke up into groups to head to the respective stations. I went to the rifle/handgun station as I've shot shotguns before and am in the market for a handgun. We were setup across a pond from the targets, at a range of about 50 yards. Certainly longer than I would consider for a handgun distance.

We pulled out the rifles first, which were only 22s. Because of the cold they were not loading well at all from the clips. It took some playing with before I got my first shot off, but I pinged the 4" target from about 50 yards. Of course that was beginners luck as I was only about 75% after that. I might consider picking up a 22 rifle at some point for my rabbit issues, but certainly not any time soon. Over all, very uninteresting.

The pastor's son brought a 9mm. It was about a 4 inch barrel, which seemed pretty short. I'm not sure if he has a CWW or not, but that seems to be more the size I'd expect for carrying. He put in the clip and shot off at the target 2' x 3'. I'm pretty sure he didn't hit the target once, and sunk a handful in the pond. One of the professors tried next. He was a bit more accurate, actually hitting the target a couple times. I loaded up a clip to try it out and put most of them at the foot of the target. The issue was that the sight was low, so I couldn't actually see the target when it would have been centered. I found it was pretty nice, with not a lot of recoil. But I'm not sure my wife would feel comfortable with it, but there are some things you can do for limiting the recoil. This was the gun I shot the most, as it is probably what I would be looking for as a hand gun. I might consider something with a longer barrel around the house, as I'm not sure that carrying about town is really a
concern.

The second handgun I tried was a 45. Thise one certainly had a bit more recoil, and definitely would no be suggested for the wife. It would take a lot of concentration to use this in a defensive situation and be able to hit your target even if they were not moving, at least for a second shot be be any accurate. The trigger on this one was very sensitive. The professor who tried this one accidently shot off twice while only intending one shot because of the recoil and light trigger.

I also tried out a 22 handgun, which was equally unintereting as the 22 rifle. I don't really see the purpose of a 22 handgun as you are not going to be shooting small game with it, nor using it defensively. So it seems more like a toy rather than a useful weapon. I suppose you could use it to put down a rabid racoon, but that seems kinda a niche use.

While I'm not a huge gun buff, I do figure I ought to exercise my right. First, living out in the country I don't expect a cop to be around to help. And relying on a neighbor who wouldn't be able to hear a yell in the first case is no help. I don't expect to ever even need a weapon around the home, but I don't ever expect to need a cell phone to call for a tow truck either, but we keep one around just in case. We even use it for calling other folks once in a while too. Just as I'm sure when we pick up a gun we'll shoot off a few rounds every now and then too.

I had a realization the other day, and thought I'd share it with my fellow Slashdotters.

I was watching one of the viral videos for McCain, by a former Army sergeant who lost his leg in Iraq. He was speaking to Obama, telling him why he wouldn't vote for him, and ended his message with the cliche that "freedom isn't free".

I beg to differ. Freedom is most certainly free. None of us are free because we are Americans; we aren't free because of the men and women who have risked their lives to safeguard our borders and national interests; and we certainly aren't free because of politicians who give rousing speeches before thousands.

We're free because we're human beings. We have an inherent freedom, built into the fabric of our beings and selves. It's not something that can be taken away or given by another. And it's something that all people, throughout the world and throughout time, have.

Yes, we are fortunate to live in a land where the laws recognize this freedom, at least for the most part. But don't ever think you owe your freedom to the actions of any person, or groups of people. They didn't make you free; you were free long before they made whatever sacrifices they may have made, and will remain free long after those sacrifices are forgotten.

The reason this is important to remember is, if we start thanking our servicemen and women "for their service", with the understanding that they somehow gave us our freedom, well, anyone who can give a thing, can take that thing away. We mustn't allow ourselves to fall into the trap of worshipping our military, or thinking that all we have in our lives comes from their beneficence. It's a very small step from that kind of thinking to giving up control of our lives and our liberties to men in uniform.

former IT1, USNR

As of now, the Sarah Palin article on wikipedia has 2000 revisions since 09:50, 28 August 2008. The Joe Biden article on the other hand 2000th revision would place it 01:27, 29 July 2006.

Interesting. I am sure some of it comes from Biden being more of a known quantity for a longer period of time. But a lot of the revisions I see are fairly minor and often repeated, such as one that changes the heading "Public Safety Commissioner dismissal" to "Abuse of power" and back again, and "Pro-Life" to "Anti-Abortion" and back again.

I did find one revision which was pretty chuckle worthy. Look at the previous revision for the picture of the moose.

[update]
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/30/1858240

It seems I am not the only one who found this interesting. I haven't read the story, but it looks related to what I was observing.

UPDATE: Problem solved, I've gotten in touch with other local officials, and apparently the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. Everyone's happy and working together again. Thanks for the input and words of encouragement I've received from everyone who sent them.

I don't think I've been this frustrated with a party official in my life. I so much want to start helping the Libertarian Party get candidates elected (just see my sig and about a hundred different comments from me in the last month to show that), and the first time I really reach out to a local party official, this is the response I got.

At least when I contacted the Republicans in Arizona eight years ago, they welcomed me with open arms. It's guys like this that will keep the Libertarians from ever holding elective office in this country. Considering the fact that I consider the Republican party broken and the Libertarian party the way of the future for social libs/economic conservatives, guys like this will have to be pushed aside to make room for others who are more willing to welcome change.

Who wants to help me do that?

Cory
(all phone numbers and email addresses left intact...please feel free to email or call Mr. Benedict and let him know what you think of him...or email me and flame me all you want, as the case may be)

I'd like to forward your emails to other people and post it on blogs. Let me know if you don't want me to do that.

--Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian Party of Texas
512-442-4910

Cory Waddingham wrote:
> Wes,
>
> Your arrogance is extremely infuriating. I may not have had the time in the past to help out, but what am I supposed to do when the person I reach out to shuts me down?
>
> You need to reach out to new people, and pull your head out of your ass.
>
> Cory
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Wes Benedict <wesliberty@aol.com>
> To: Cory Waddingham <cory@waddingham.org>
> Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2008 1:30:52 AM
> Subject: Re: work before November
>
> Cory,
>
> I suspect you are trying to sell something.
>
> Since you have no money to contribute, have never contributed to the LP Texas or the National LP according to my records, and no reputation as a volunteer in Texas, and I get solicited constantly, I'll let you know right now that I am getting irritated by your solicitations.
>
> After you have spent 20 hours or so putting up 1,000 door hangers in Texas, we can talk about your new ideas.
> --Wes Benedict
> Executive Director
> Libertarian Party of Texas
> 512-442-4910
>
>
>
> Cory Waddingham wrote:
>> Wes,
>>
>> Last time we corresponded over email, I mentioned that I'm working in Virginia. I've arranged to come back home and work from there for the next two months, starting Labor Day weekend. I'd like to schedule some time to present some ideas on how to get out the Libertarian vote in November in Collin County. I can't access the group websites from work, are there any planned events coming up in the near future? Have you already scheduled any phone banks, mailings, or anything like that?
>>
>> Cory

+ Friend jmorris42 - I've noticed his comments regularly while browsing stories. While agnostic, he is rational and seems to call people on their foaming at the mouth Atheism. This fellow also seems to be a voice of reason when it comes to the Left, socialist, globalwarming, hate Bush crowd here on slashdot.

+Friend GeckoFood - This fellow marked me as a friend a while ago. I've been looking at his journal entries every now. He covers a range of interesting topics.

+Friend RailGunner is no more. Long live RailGunner^WNaqamel. Which I always wind up translating in my mind to Gargamel, which is funny since it is his band's name. I get a mental picture of RailGunner dressed up as a cartoon wizard and all sorts of smurfs on the stage with him.

As usual, when I add or remove friends or set foes, I remind folks that a friend gets +1 to their comments, which is often needed to counteract the group think around these parts. And foes get +0. Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I always avoid you comments. Mainly I mark foes so if I ever sustain I nasty crack to the head I've got a good reference point to say, "Don't think like that."

The last month and half has been pretty exciting with the little guy. He has been learning so many new things, some good and others are a bit naughty. It is great to see him playing new games and have fun each day.

One of his new games is to roll a ball back and forth. I am trying to get him to learn that daddy and mommy refer to people. So I will roll the ball to him and when he is about to roll it back say, "Roll the ball to daddy!" I haven't gotten mommy to play the game with him, but hopefully I'll get her to sit down with him and do that for a while. Hopefully while playing these games we'll help him figure out a number of words.

A couple weeks a really icky illness hit both the little guy and my wife. They could barely hold anything down and what they could came out the other end shortly afterwards taking the express route. I took a couple half days at work to help nurse them back to health. The little guy lost about 3/4 to 1 pound during that time though.

He was really picky eating after he started feeling better though. The day he started being able to hold things down about all he would eat was chocolate chip cookies. He would just scream and holler at us if we even tried to set him in his high chair or tried to give him anything else. But since he lost so much weight and was drained in energy we let him have his way that day. It was probably about 3 days before we had him eating normal meals.

He is learning a number of ways to communicate with us, some of which do not require crying or yelling. We have a bag of crackers and other munchies which we leave on the table. He will now bring that or his sippy cup when he gets hungry and set it in our hands or at our feet. We'll then get him something to eat or drink. He knows where we keep his videos and will go turn on the TV or start reaching up for the videos if he wants to watch one.

This last weekend we had a picnic after church down at a park. He thought this was great. He would run around like a little wild man exploring. He also got to spend a fair bit of time on the playground. He did get a little bit red from the sun, but he isn't doing too bad. We put some lotion on his arms afterwards and that seemed to help him cope a little better.

The list:

1. Sand is cool. Tough to walk in.

2. Rumor weeds are funny. Desparados are scary and should come to their senses.

3. Clackity clack clack clack goes the clacker. And then it clacks some more.

4. Petting cats is for chumps. Grabbing cats is for men! Chumps spend more time with cats.

5. It is funny to shut daddy into a room. No so funny when daddy shuts himself into a room.

6. Sometimes daddy praying at night is funny.

7. Book spines are weak and must be punished for their frailty.

8. Toys are exciting when thumping and rolling down the stairs.

9. Late to bed and early to rise makes mommy and daddy with bleary eyes.

10. Who knew that sippy techonology would ever advance in your child's lifetime? Old and Busted meet New Hotness which doesn't leek like a sieve.

First, let me state up front: I don't trust Google. I think they track entirely too much data about their users, and I don't trust them to use it wisely or fairly enough of the time.

That said, I've had to move the hosting for my Open Source project, Power Time, from SourceForge to Google Code. SourceForge was just too unresponsive, and it took forever to simply add a release file. Google Code makes it much easier to release updates; so much so, that I didn't think I had a choice but to use the service.

Besides which, a Google search for "time management", "power time", "consultant billing", or related keywords didn't find my project. I'm hoping that'll change now that they're the hosting provider, and maybe I'll get a few more downloads (which might lead to more consulting gigs, eg more money for me).

A lot of Lefties think Fox is Right wing for new reporting. Well, I have found an even better source of news over on youtube. Check out News Busted for some really Right wing news.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353758,00.html

Anyone want to bet that the conspiracy theory Bush Derangement Syndrome folks claim Bush had her wacked because he didn't want her giving up his name as one of the Johns?

I keep a journal on my nightstand since our little guy was born. Each night I will write about a page or so of the day and interaction with my son. I consider giving him the stack of journals at some point, maybe when he turns 18, his wedding, or maybe when he has a child. He isn't likely to be able to read them as my handwriting is terrible, but after and advanced degree in hieroglyphics and chicken scratching he might be able to decipher something useful.

One of the patterns I noticed was mentioning how often he slept, such as when he woke up, took his nap and how long, and when he went to bed. I wonder if he'll think the only thing I cared about was when he went to sleep! Well, to tell the truth, on the rougher days that is a major concern. When is this little monster going to sleep so I can do something other than carry around a crabbing little punk!

For the last couple weeks I have been trying to focus more on my interactions with him, new experiences he has, or things he has learned, or at least events which happen with him. Hopefully as I record things in the journal I will be able to look back and remember how these days have gone. What sort of thoughts and ideas were going through my head, and what I thought was going through his mind.

And, of course no parenting journal is complete without the list.

1. There are very few ways to keep my little guy still.
a. If you guessed sleeping, you are wrong.
b. Bob and Larry can anchor him in front of the TV for a 1/2 hour.
c. Putting him in the center of the lawn works too (though I guess only for a short period of time).
d. Theme music for pretty much any show (tested with A-Team, Air Wolf, ST-TNG, ST-DS9, X-Files, B5).

2. Cats are now catchable. Totally unrelated, but they now sleep in higher places.

3. The occasional 3am dissertation is required to keep the mind clear and focused. At some point we are going to get rid of the monitor.

4. Typing is a full body experience. Luckly for dad he has an IBM keyboard.

5. You can never have too many baby spoons. For the feeder or feedie.

6. I don't want yogurt anymore dad! Nevermind I throw up anything with a mixed texture. Give me more crunchers!

7. A note from experience, do not set your child on your shoulders and then lean backwards unless you find scratches on your face appealing.

8. Related to 7, if you have ever seen Ratatouille.

9. Yes 8 was an incomplete sentence, but if you have seen Ratatouille you know what I am talking about and the sentence does not need to be completed.

10. While walking around the store aimlessly and grabbing pretty much anything is fun, daddy would really like to get the groceries and go home.

Has anyone been reading Dilbert this last week?

I am beginning to think the conservative media theory really does exist, they have been surpressing the riots by all of the Christians. There can be no other explaination.

Much to my delight the little guy is starting to walk. Compared to learning to crawl he has taken his sweet time, which was a bit concerning. Every parent wants to brag about the exploits of their children, but when yours seem behind the curve you worry and fret. When he was crawling at 5 1/2 months my wife and I were amazed at how advanced he seemed, and for the last couple months I've been worried that he was stalled for some reason. Well, it seems from what I have been reading an early crawler will often be behind on the walking curve since they have learned how to move to where they wish to go, walking seems only to be an inpediment.

Saturday my wife was in the living room with the little guy and he wanted to be picked up. Usually he will crawl up to you and then start climbing up your legs into a standing position and then wave his hands over his head. Well this time instead of grabbing her legs he just stood up in front of and waved his hands. Well, that ofcourse had to be rewarded with a big congratulations and a picking up.

He also managed to walk the full distance between the recliner and the couch later that day. He slid off my wife's lap in the recliner and fussed some, as is one of his favorite pastimes now. Well, instead of letting him continue to fuss at her I gave him a call and he turned around to me on the couch and judge the distance and then started awkwardly taking one step at a time. About half way there he seemed to lose his balance but was able to keep up the momentum to get to me, basically lunging at me into my arms. This also was rewarded with a lot of love and affection.

So now we have ourselves a toddler (or in mmorpg terms: DING! :-). He has learned a ton of things in the last week. We found him playing with the huge "lego" type bricks and actually putting the blocks together. Some of the games he plays with us now show he is really understanding how we'll act around him. Such as yesterday when we were getting him ready for church and had yet to put pants on him he escaped and crawled out into the hallway. Instead of just keeping going he waited a second. Since we didn't start chasing him he peaks around the corner at us and ducks behind again. So we give chase and he takes off giggling again.

Feeding him is still a bit stressful. Some things go worse than others, as he is still unable to eat from our plates. Chunky things will throw him for a loop and cause him to gag and usually vomit. And then there is the cleanup time involved afterwards. He is good with crunchy things now though, like grahmcrackers and "crunchers". He is able to chew those with out issue usually.

Compared to a year ago at this point life with the little guy is wonderful. Last year we were a bit overwhelmed and still learning how to fit him into our lives, and wondering what a number to a good chiroprator was and how much he charged! While he really enjoys being carried around (I'm not sure he ever won't enjoy being carried) he is content to be on the floor and explore, or play with some of his toys. God has upheld us through this entire adventure so far and will continue to bless us through him.

The photo album from 12-15 months is up on our website. The two with Misha and the one with me are from Thanksgiving (prior to 12 months, but the other album was closed at that point).

And onto the list:

1. We have a tupperware drawer^Wfloor in the kitchen.

2. While I didn't see a tail at birth, I am sure it was removed when I wasn't looking.

3. I still want a bumper sticker that says, "My child was raised by Bob and Larry."

4. Baths are great, but dad, can you not pour water on my head.

5. Okey dad, new game. You push the vaccum towards me and I'll touch it before you can draw it back.

6. Correct, drill used to be scarey, now I don't care. Tablesaws were never scarey.

7. Dad, why did you have to close that door!?!

8. Dad, I was trying to close that door!

9. (Bottles, spoons, lego bricks, random item on the floor) does not get filed with the marriage license, taxes, or identification.

10. You are doing it wrong, the blocks only stack to three or four, then you knock them down. Learn to play.

It appears even being famous and sleeping with little boys doesn't protect you from all of the foreclosures happening now.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332776,00.html

I'm working on something new, klatchr.com. I don't know what it is yet, but when I'll do I'll let you know if you're curious.

1. Tell you why I befriended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, etc..
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
7. In return, you must post this in your Journal/Blag/whatever.

Just doing my part since I finally responded to one of these.