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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356797342014-08-27T20:44:55.008-05:00Better And BetterIf you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine.Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-42942823072691567682014-08-12T14:59:00.000-05:002014-08-12T14:59:05.453-05:00Coffee in the round-about manner. My wife and I went into Town to the large local pizzaria-and-bar, and sat with Dad and Holly and friends, to play trivia. It's fun, not least of all because our table pretty much always wins. It seems that our family and friends are frickin' huge repository of knowledge of questionable use. The restaurant is always full on Trivia Night, so there are a couple of dozen tables in play. I want to say that I think that I contributed one or two answers to our table's win, but I may have also negatively influenced some answers, too.

Toward the end, Holly waved from the other end of the table and said that she and Dad had a package for me. The package was one sent to me care of Phlegmmy, who had transferred it to Dad and Holly, who held it for me to come by and pick up.

Next day, I went to their house, and opened a box with three packages of coffee from The Roasterie, sent to me by ZerCool. I immediately ground some Kona, and Dad and I consumed a pot of it while discussing his new (to him) coach gun and his new (to him) S&W M27-2 (P.&R., natch).

Now friends, I don't know what YOU did with your Wednesday, but an afternoon drinking fresh coffee, eating ripe peaches off the tree and talking guns with JPG happened to be exactly what this man needed. You are welcome to be a little jealous.

That bag of Kona went fast, but I found that the Kansas City Dark Blend, ground fine, makes an excellent light espresso, and that the "40 Sardines" blend makes another good cuppa.

I think that ZerCool sent that CARE package about 6 weeks ago, but it was timely-- I was out of coffee again.

Thank you, brother. There is nothing more pleasurable than finding an unexpected gift in the post.

Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-83471105312302880362014-07-10T14:28:00.000-05:002014-07-10T14:28:45.250-05:00Multiple language barriers. I speak a little Spanish. Not a lot, but I can usually get basic concepts across.
I do not know sign language, beyond one or two very simple phrases. I can't "get by" in it.

A few months ago, I had a traffic stop in which the driver, a Spanish speaker, was deaf.

My daughter had started drawing in my pocket notebook when she found it on the table while I was doing laundry. I found it in her possession, and confiscated it, because the contents are not her business. (Mostly data without actual connection to specific charges, but still, that's mine.) I found part of the conversation that I had had with the driver when I issued the citation, in the notebook, which I attach here:

It's interesting to me that if I knew sign language, it would cut across that language barrier.
It's handy having access to Google Translate in your patrol car, too.

Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-77337254550009940152014-06-30T11:37:00.003-05:002014-07-10T14:29:41.787-05:00The unions. (Why I don't want to be part of them.)So, today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released it's opinion on Harris v. Quinn.

The main question:

May a State, consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, compel personal care providers to accept and financially support a private organization as their exclusive representative to petition the State for greater reimbursements from its Medicaid programs?
The question we thought that it would settle is whether a person could be compelled to pay union dues without joining the union, just because of the job that he or she held?

The pivotal case of precedent was Abood v. Detroit Board Of Education, which had affirmed that they could, saying that it was fine to require share payment of those in the public sector who benefitted from collective bargaining agreements. The thinking was, "Hey, you benefitted from this agreement that gets you better wages and benefits, so you better pay up and not be a freeloader."

It puts in mind that guy who signs the card on the gift that he did not contribute anything to. Well that's not right, is it??!?

But to continue the analogy, consider the other employee who comes to you and says, "It's Bob's birthday. I bought him a new laptop. Everyone's chipping in $50. Cough it up." Well, that's not fair, either. First, I like $50. I need my $50. Also, this creates dangerous precedent. What about when it's Maria's birthday? And Gordon's birthday?* Are we going to do this EVERY year? And you get to decide how much I chip in? Can't I just opt out and not sign the card? I'm just trying to work, here.

You'll note that the cases are in Detroit, MI, and Illinois, where unions are a big deal. I myself find it amazing that a person can be compelled to pay union dues, and be told that it's okay, because they don't have to actually join the union; they only have to subsidize it.

As it is, Abood didn't get fully overturned, because the Court didn't find that the petitioners (contract employees receiving state subsidies for home health care) were the best fit. They didn't have good enough standing. But Justice Alito made clear that he is rubbing his palms together to receive a case that fits the issue best. As well he should.

Unions have done some good things in this country. The ability to belong to a union is of course nothing that I dispute. But they have generally gone too far, and the law as it has stood under Abood v. Detroit B.O.E. has been nothing less than a state requirement to join and subsidize a union.

I see current unions as doing crazy things. I know a local industrial manufacturer which employs union workers to make its trucks. Brand new employees with no more than high school diplomas can start working on the line at around $30 an hour, which sounds great... until they're laid off after a few months. When they get a big order, they recall the workers. There's no job continuity. If their union hadn't bargained so stiffly, these young men and women could keep $18/hour jobs (which is a living wage in Texas, I assure you), and not miss work.

I am a cop. I regularly hear about how police unions make it next to impossible to fire a dirty cop. And, in some places, that's embarrassingly true. Regular readers here may recall how I pushed for a letter-writing campaign to have Officer Harless with the Canton, OH PD fired after his incident, after which his union actually temporarily won his job back for him.

So excuse me if I don't particularly like unions. They make hard-working, honest employees look like lazy money-grabbers. They have hurt the reputation of my own profession, even while I work in a "Right To Work" state. It is jokingly stated that "Right To Work" really means "Right To Terminate," and there's some truth to that. I can be fired from my job pretty much any time. I don't have a union protecting me. Oh, I belong to the Texas Municipal Police Association, which provides me with legal insurance (I pay in monthly dues, and in exchange, I get a policy for up to a million bucks to pay for legit legal fees, in such instance as if I am sued), but that's not a union. I'm not entitled to my job or my badge. And I'm fine with that-- it means that I and my co-workers had best keep our walk on the straight and narrow.

I am embarrassed for public employees who feel otherwise.

___________
*Or Big Bird's? Or Cookie Monster's? Sorry. The names came at random.

Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-74758326064999518202014-06-26T14:41:00.000-05:002014-06-26T14:41:54.564-05:00Controlling one's own destiny. Well-known and well-thought-of firearms trainer Louis Awerbuck passed away this week.

I never me the man, but I've friends who knew him (like Tam and Rich). I have of course read his stuff for years.

There is something to be said for placing no dependence upon others, if that is your greatest fear (it is not mine). There is yet more to be said for going out on your own terms.

The freedom to decide how we meet our fate is ultimately what most of us who meet here and at my other haunts are talking about. No sane person wants to get into a gunfight. But nobody wants to have all of their options taken from them, either. Louis Awerbuck, it seems to me, made his career out of helping others to maintain their options. Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-81606731272258474032014-06-16T07:05:00.002-05:002014-06-16T07:07:13.654-05:00ApologyBy the way, it was rude of me to hijack Caleb's thread with almost 1500 words in the comments section, and I do apologize. I started out just responding to the post, and the riff just went on and on. I should have reined it in when I started numbering frickin' paragraphs. :rolleyes:

Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-63889589055735995772014-06-12T13:59:00.002-05:002014-06-13T13:56:45.509-05:00On Police Shooting Dogs.Caleb posted about police shooting dogs. I responded there, but decided to bring it here as a post, as well.

This is an emotional topic.
I'm going to speak here as a cop, but also as an academic who has put 20 years into Criminal Justice studies. I ask that people not take this personally, and please don't take my words as those of all police.
_____________

1. Animals are property.
This one statement is going to get a lot of people riled up that I say it, but it's a fact. They are owned. If someone takes your dog without your permission, and they are caught, that person is caught, they are charged with Theft, not Kidnapping. Animals including dogs are bought and sold at a brisk rate.
People know this to be a fact, but they cannot embrace it, when their dog is a family member to them. This is about emotion. Emotion, we know, is neither right nor wrong-- it simply is. But it can play merry hell with an equation built only on facts.

2. Emotions seem to trump logic.
If a cop serves a felony warrant, and uses a sledge hammer to break open a beautiful oaken door, people say, "Well, that's a shame about the door, but if the warrant was in order and the homeowner wasn't opening up, then it was time to open it however." If that same cop is met by a scared and aggressive dog that is doing what arguably is its job (protecting the household), but which is also endangering the cop with bloodshed, and the officer uses his weapon to stop what is the threat of what is, after all, property, from hurting him, the same logic often isn't used. It is short circuited by emotion.

3. Officers should not have to be bitten first.
I have been bitten on the job. I've gone to the ER and been treated and then bought new $70 uniform pants out of my own pocket, and never gotten recompensed for it. I've had dogs nip at me, and come charging into my taser and baton. I will die with clear scars left on my body that I have obtained from dogs attacking me while on the job. On a couple of occasions, I'll be honest with you: I should have shot the dog.

I have heard it said by people upset about a shooting that the dog hadn't bitten the officer yet. Given a large enough dog, a grown man can be permanently injured by a dog attack. Often it is shocking how small a dog can render lifelong injuries to a man. Without getting into breeds, we all know the breeds of dogs that are used the most for dog fighting, which are nowhere near the largest breeds. Sometimes a 40 lb dog is enough to permanently harm a man. Consider also the biological weapons in the dog's bite. Dogs left to roam and attack are often the same kind of dogs not getting their shots.

4. Officers should be trained better about dogs.
Jeff Cooper once said that a properly-trained police officer ought to be able to deal with a single dog attacking him. For the most part, I don't disagree, and that's frankly the main reason that I've never shot a dog that was attacking me while on the job. I have tazed them, and I have used my expandable baton, and I have used my steel-toed boots on them. A lot of the reason that I have not shot dogs when I would have been approved to do so by policy is because of #2, above: Emotions Trump Logic. I had a lieutenant get on to me about tazing my second dog attacking me in 2 months (both were pit bulls, and I promise you, both were in the immediate act of trying to get a mouthful of me. This wasn't a dog trotting up to check me out. One was airborne at me when the barbs hit.), because Taser cartridges are more expensive than pistol cartridges. He may have been speaking tongue in cheek, but I pointed out that I was able to resolve the problem without having our department featured in the news for "Another Cop Shoots Another Dog," and that's a win. (Also, I was in a vey residential area, and I don't like skipping pistol bullets around if I can help it.)

I will say, though, that modern expandable batons were mostly built more as pain compliance devices than as bone-breaking weapons, and they are surprisingly ineffective at rendering incapacitating injuries. To this end, the old second-growth hickory batons were FAR superior. The main feature of an expandable baton is that it is always on the belt of an officer. Strangely, most cops seem to forget about it. That's a two-pound chunk that they carry on their belt every workday for years, but they literally forget to use it. This is frankly a training issue.

5. There are times to shoot the dog.
When there is more than one dog coming after the officer, all bets are off. It is my professional opinion that packed-up dogs attacking a person need to be met with deadly force, unless we're talking about Chihuahuas or Pekinese or teacup varieties of canines. (In which case, proper footwork is key.)
During documented high-risk incidents, when the dog comes after an officer engaging in something that needs his undivided attention, shooting a dog may be the best option, keeping in mind #1. If the officer is swinging away with his baton to defend himself against a dog, he is not focusing on the other threats around him, be they a felon to arrest, or traffic. This last paragraph is not going to make me popular, because of #2.

6. We could bear rethinking the dog issue.
Because the dogs are such a hot topic, and so ubiquitous, we might re-think ways of dealing with them? How? I don't really know. Shin and forearm guards for warrant service where dogs are known to be come to mind, but I really question how effective they would be. I will tell you that tasers are of questionable use if you don't have a means of securing the animal while it's down. Catch poles might be a good piece of kit to bring. Dart guns are basically non-starters, because the amount of sedative that will put a dog down immediately is generally the amount of sedative that will kill the dog. Also, these things are time and resource-consuming. When you are going in to extract a felon, things need to move along rickety-tick.

For officers making a routine call upon a house for an administrative or non-emergency purpose, teaching them to survey the area before walking into the yard is worth doing. If a dog moves up aggressively, back off an call animal control.
We need to keep in mind Robert Peel's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th principles.

7. A lot of this problem could be fixed by talking to the dog owners.
I've already said that we need to do away with no-knock warrants except in hostage situations.
Knock on the door. Call them. Tell them that you need them to put their dog up. Sometimes that's what it takes. It kills the element of surprise, but not the dog. This isn't always possible, but it's possible sometimes:
<phone ring=""> "Hello?"
"Hey, Mr. Smith? Bob Smith of 123 Any Street?"
"Yeah? Who's this?"
"This is the police. We're out front. And out back. We have a warrant for your arrest/ to search the house. We are in uniform, and in marked patrol units. We need you to put the dog away and come on out. If we have to come in, and the dog attacks us, we'll be forced to shoot the dog, and none of us ever wants that. Please comply immediately."
<sigh>"Okay, I'll put the dog in the kennel/bathroom/closet. Don't shoot. I'm coming out."
This happens. Not all the time. Sometimes it's not feasible. But it does happen. Maybe it could happen a little more. </sigh></phone>

I know of one incident in which someone whom I know personally was actually held hostage by a family member of hers, who had put their pit bulls in different bedrooms around the house to prevent SWAT from entering. He was drunk, and actually fired random shots during the stand-off. He finally permitted his hostage to leave. After the hostage-taker finally gave himself up, the former hostage convinced the officers --who were going in to clear the house-- to permit her to secure the dogs. The dogs were upset and would have attacked the strangers when they entered the bedrooms unaccompanied by her. My congratulations to the flexibility and professionalism of the North Richland Hills Police Department for handling that situation the way that they did.

8. Finally, I will say that Generalizations Fail.
When we say "There is NEVER a reason to" do thus and so, we are almost always stating an error of fact. When we say, "An officer should ALWAYS respond to X with Y" we will pretty much always be forgetting about an exception. But guidelines would be a good thing.

It would be really nice if people-- thoughtful people-- didn't have a basis to state that it looks like some cops basically just look like they wanted an excuse to fire their firearm. On the vast, vast majority of the time, it's not true. Let's be sure and make that point by finding ways to limit when we have to do so. Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-30566610718473382132014-06-07T15:25:00.000-05:002014-06-08T21:24:33.903-05:00The Vocal Minority on No-Knock Warrants. In comments on my last post, my good friend Old NFO stated that the sad thing was that I was beginning to become the minority in my opinion. I began to respond, and then decided that this needed a post all its own.

I don't think that's necessarily the truth. The problem is that too many cops are hearing a vocal minority who are declaring that our lives are too important NOT to do No-Knock Warrants, without really thinking it out:
1. No Knocks increase the likelihood of our being shot at.
2. The argument is meretricious-- the real hidden goal often is to protect evidence.
3. What about the innocents and those maybe not-innocent-but-not-deserving-of-being-shot? Shouldn't we protect their lives?

If we lay it out that way, I think that the average cop will agree that No Knock Warrants have by and large had their day.

The vast, vast vast majority of cops do not serve No-Knock Warrants.

I've served a few felony search warrants (not that many, though), and I have never served a No-Knock warrant, in almost a decade and a half. I've never even been asked to do so.

The last felony search warrant that I served came closest, and that wasn't very close. We had a drug raid where one of our officers obtained a felony search warrant, and there was a discussion of obtaining a No-Knock clause (the guy had a pistol), but in the end, we just beat on the door, and shouted "Police with a search warrant! Open up!" When no one answered after the given time, we opened the door with a sledge hammer, and announced ourselves repeatedly before securing the scene. The guy was gone, but his drug dealing operation (drugs, money, gun, files) wasn't. We taped the warrant to the broken door, and left with the evidence, and got an arrest warrant. Like you do.

In a small department, we do pretty much everything, which means that we act as investigator, entry team member, and bailiff. If a No-Knock Warrant were obtained in our department, I would have known about it. Not once in my career have I been part of such a thing. This isn't a brag-- I don't think that the next department south or north has done one in that time, either. It's just not that common. So why is it that we small town PDs can get along without them, but the larger ones can't? I think that the answer lies in the mentality of the tactical commanders of SWAT teams.

The premier SWAT unit in the United States has traditionally been the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). They have a very difficult and specialized job, which they are trained to do really well. Everyone wants to be the elite, and thus, tactical teams look toward that team as the standard to emulate. But here's the thing: hostage rescue isn't that common. The vast majority of the uses for tactical teams turns out to be high risk warrant service. But since hostage rescue does occasionally happen, they train for it, as they should. The problem comes when you apply training for this situation to other situations. When SWAT goes in on a hostage rescue, you can bet that the likelihood of someone getting shot at goes way up. We do NOT want that increased percentage of a shooting in an instance where we could prevent it, like a simple warrant service. But when you model yourself after a group whose primary role is hostage rescue, you can get into that mindset.

Bona fide tac commanders are the snake eaters in a department, and tend to be highly regarded. They are used to giving directions and being heard. They are used to looking at a problem and seeing how to overcome it. We need these guys. We also need to keep them in check, and check their influence on standard. Often, the tactical commanders have a good handle on when and when not to use force and surprise, but they will be misunderstood and misquoted by others. A culture develops where the guy who raises his hand and questions why we need to make "Dynamic Entries" is derided by those who don't actually know what the tactical commander actually would do.

So it is that we have a good number of guys who are infected with bad information.

Approximately half of the officers in this nation come from departments of 10 or fewer sworn officers. Those smaller departments do NOT have "SWAT teams," per se (sometimes departments will have task force teams). I think that most of the smaller departments do not have as much of a shift toward no-knocks, because they don't have a tactical team. I am not against SWAT-- we need them, badly at times. They practice to do a difficult job which is everything about teamwork and very little about personal achievement. I do not think that the answer is to ban them. But part of the tactical training, especially for commanders, needs to be to recognize when to hold off on the "dynamic entries."

The only hostage rescue that I ever took part in, I played a tiny role of. A murderer had a child that he planned to abscond to Mexico with. He had holed up in a motel. I was one of the first ones at the motel, and with my patrol rifle I lay in prone overwatch on the door of that motel for about 90 minutes, waiting for SWAT to deploy. When they relieved me, I was grateful-- without a shooter's mat, I had found every little acorn under that live oak that I had set up under that night. The next morning, the tactical guys set upon the bad guy as he stepped out of the motel, and arrested him peacefully. Like pros. Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-4267054193596787602014-06-06T18:54:00.000-05:002014-06-06T18:57:04.855-05:00Let's just stop this and maybe be the good guys again. Good guys take responsibility for their own actions. When they hurt someone by accident, they still own up to it.

Good guys weigh the danger of what they're doing against the good that can come from it.

Good guys try not to hurt kids.

So when we throw a flash-bang stun grenade into a baby's crib and critically injure the child, and claim that we've done nothing wrong because OMG drugs!, well, we're not being the Good Guys anymore.

I'm done with people's grandparents dying in a hail of bullets as they respond with a gun in hand to the intruders in their house, who happen to be cops serving a search and arrest warrant on their grandkid.

I'm done with no-knock warrants.

If there's not a hostage involved, we do it by the numbers, serving a felony warrant. We knock on the door, LOUDLY, and announce, LOUDLY AND CLEARLY, that we are the police. We explain that they have an extremely short time to open the door, or we will open it for them. We make clear that we are the police, serving a lawful order. We then make entry, announcing our identity and intent very clearly (Not just hollered incoherently.). We then go about making the scene safe, and serve the warrant.

Will some evidence be lost? Yes. You bet there will be. And that's a damned shame.

But it's not as big a shame as what has become to be far too commonplace, in the case of the No-Knock Warrant.

Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-32468811225919231242014-05-29T14:25:00.000-05:002014-06-16T06:04:02.280-05:00Thursday morning Randoms. --While I agree that we should absolutely brook no foolishness, and should arrest judges and cops alike for DWI --as apparently has been happening in Broward County, FL to three (!) judges this year-- I am impressed at the foolishness of Public Defender Finklestein's comments:

Finkelstein said he doubted Judge Rosenthal's claim of the Ambien CR affecting her. "I have a little bit of experience with drugs. That is not from an Ambien at 10 o'clock at night," Finkelstein said. "The fact that she refused the urine and the blood test is gonna keep people wondering."

Way to get all prosecutorial, Mr. Public Defender! Hope you don't find yourself on the judge's blacklist...

--While watching an old Magnum P.I. episode (Look, don't judge me.), I see Magnum checking his load in his Government model while in the middle of a gunfight in a dock warehouse. He drops the magazine, and we see that he has two rounds left in the magazine. More importantly, we see... that it's a 9mm! No! Say it ain't so!

In almost the next scene, he's firing, and you can clearly see the muzzle is not a .45.
So disillusioned. This of course is why he almost immediately gets shot and spends the rest of the episode in "Limbo".

--Wait-- Jeff MacKay is dead? But, he was the best sidekick!

--Wait-- Zsa Zsa Gabor is still alive? At 97, she's still ki-- er, ticking. (She lost a leg a couple of years back.)

--My patrol car suffered hail damage last month. The state insurance agency has totaled the car, for minor peens on the top surfaces, which didn't even crack the paint. Yeah, the car has some years on it, but it runs great! I understand the insurance company's math (the cost of refinishing the surfaces costs more than they reckon the car is worth), but this does NOT work out well for the department. The check that we get will nowhere nearly get us a new patrol car. I wish we could take back the claim. But we can't. The insurance is dropped. That car will never run another patrol. Honestly, I'm thinking about following up on where the insurance company sells it; it's a good vehicle.

--I shot a police pistol match on Friday with my newly-issued Generation 4 Glock 31, shooting our new duty ammo, 147g Hornady XTP .357 Sig. It shot very well. I put the ski-jump big grip swell on the backstrap, and it felt good, so I'm leaving it on. I plan to purchase the Gen 3 Glock 31 that I carried for 7 and a half years. Interestingly, the Glock-branded steel tritium night sights were dead-on. As I have complained for years about the lack of quality of the Glock factory sights, let's hope that this kind of sight quality is the new standard. No scores from the match yet, but I didn't completely cover myself with shame. (At 30 seconds a miss, I shot slow.)

--I'm putting off taking my car in, now that I've cleaned it out to be turned in. Heck, I even threw a little Armor-All on the dash.

--Measles cases are at a 20 year high in the U.S. Jenny McCarthy and Andrew Wakefield can choke on a bowl of oversized phalli.

--You know that crazy woe-is-me narcissist who killed people at UCSB? Two observations:
1. When you show his videos and pictures and repeat his manifesto and say his name, you're putting out sugar for the ants (other people with issues who want to go out in a big enough blaze of glory that they reckon will make you HAVE to say their name.).
2. It was people with guns who stopped the rampage. Wouldn't it have been nice if someone had shot at him even earlier? Keep in mind that the shots at the bad guy don't have to kill him. This guy got hit in the hip, and then shot himself in the head.

--I finished The Watchmen, after having slowed my reading to about a chapter a night (well, maybe just a little faster). It was interesting. My brother was excited that we had something to talk about, and wants me to get into Daredevil. I don't see why not. But I'm not buying this over-priced thing.

--We are out of coffee. Except for that canned stuff, which doesn't count. Friday afternoon is payday, when I get more. (We've been paying huge surplus payments to our standing debt, to make it go away, which means that I suddenly long for Friday.)

--The weather is FAR better than what we usually get in late May. It's not even in the 90s. Blue skies with the odd fluffy white cloud for decoration.

--My daughter was inducted to the National Honor Society last night. Lots and lots of good and great kids are NOT so inducted. But I will say that of those NHS members on stage last night, none of them were regular "customers" of mine. Good kids all. I can be pretty glad that my kid is a member of their little local chapter.

Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-91615085424695720622014-05-26T04:32:00.000-05:002014-05-26T04:32:23.412-05:00Damned good funMy brother and I went to see Godzilla on Saturday night.

If 8 year-old-Matt had his way, we're looking at a complete sweep for the 2014 Oscars.

Director Gareth Edwards apparently had taken some notes on what works in ominous movies starring scary creatures. You literally don't catch sight of the title creature for the first half of the movie. Then, when he's on the rampage, or fighting, you get partially-obscured shots, cut off just when you think you're going to see more. It works. It works GREAT.

When Godzilla finally climbs out of the sea, and challenges his adversary, he gives a blasting scream that had my brother and I pumping our fists and cheering in a manner that in retrospect HAD to have been annoying to other people in the theatre. We got there a little late, and sat in the fourth row from the front, and I remarked that watching the credits at the beginning (which, by the way, are well-rendered in a novel way) felt like watching a tennis match. But it gave us the bigger-than-life feeling. The movie was shot in high-definition, and I never noticed any pixilation. We didn't see it in 3D (my brother says that it gives him a headache), but the CGI has that appropriate quality of not being noticeable. I know that we said that we were there 10 years ago, but it's only these last couple of years that I have really believed it.

The movie has several homages to the classic movies of the '50s and '60s, with a mug for the camera, and a tail-swing, and the great scream (one of which goes on for about 20 seconds) that make him the monster you remember.

Are there some silly plot devices? Of COURSE there are. Just don't worry about that. By the way-- there actually is a plot.

The casting was spot on. Brian Cranston was very well-used, but not over-used.

Ken Watanabe acted his butt off as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, the world expert on the radiation-consuming monsters' ilk.

Elizabeth Olsen was nice eye candy and the raison d'etre for the rather silly Naval lieutenant played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who becomes the Forrest Gump of the movie, wandering through every aspect of a world crisis and basically just giving us a personal view of the entire event.

I don't even care that the masked Filipino guards at the initial discovery site have Mexican style looped bandoliers on while carrying AK's. I just don't care. It was a great movie. I loved it. I think that I'm going back to see it again, because fun.

Go see it in the theaters. Because fun. Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-75428236439858409902014-05-26T03:52:00.000-05:002014-05-26T17:46:57.231-05:00Without fear. Because I have a lot of nerdy friends and wanted in on the social references that they made, I bought a graphic novel that came highly recommended. But this post isn't about that.

The adult comic book was originally published by installment in 1986, and was written in 1985, which was set as the present, with a lot of reflection on the previous half century, at which point it had diverged from our real timeline.

What was fascinating, though, was how scared we were of pending war. In this book, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan seemed clearly to indicate that, without some kind of major interference, an invasion of Pakistan would occur. And from the man on the street to the POTUS, World War III seemed inevitable.

But it was just another timeline, in an imagined universe, by a good writer and his illustrator.

Friends, I remember being afraid, as a little kid, of nuclear war. I remember being afraid of something that our nation couldn't control, coming in and taking our lives away from us.

As the 1990's came, and the USSR fell, the nuclear threat (or the fear of it) diminished. I grew into adulthood. I had the opportunity to decide my future.

At no time in my adult life have I felt afraid that our nation would be attacked on a wide scale. Sure, individual attacks can and have happened, but think about how indignant we were to have even those occur. When you attack our country, there are major consequences. It's not a good idea. We send guys like John Shirley and his mates over to kick your butt.

We don't think a whole lot about our military, because of how effective they are at letting us lead our quiet normal lives. I'm not saying that it's right, but I'm pointing out how well they do their job: we as a nation get to continue to be self-absorbed and silly, without paying attention to what our military really does, because they're just that good.

For about 364 days of the year, it's actually okay to be self-absorbed, and not think of who guards our freedoms.

Today, we think of our soldiers, our marines, our sailors, our airmen, and our guardsmen who gave everything. Because we really don't have to. You can bet that their families think about them a lot.

Thanks. Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-35606936666274921702014-05-19T02:28:00.001-05:002014-05-19T02:34:10.695-05:00Regarding our shotshells

This is the stuff that we're using. The blue shells are the low recoil slugs. This is actually the load that I carry in my shotgun, which I had just unloaded to clean. I load it so that four buckshot loads come out first, and the last two are slugs. Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-54396768115056257572014-05-18T04:00:00.000-05:002014-05-19T02:32:28.568-05:00Qualification day again.Friday morning, I made a great breakfast for the family, and saw my kids off to school, and then got my stuff and went to the range under a bluebird sky the likes of which would make one F. Beuller take a day off.

First we shot duty pistols. Since I had a new duty gun, I was interested how the backstrap on the Generation 4 Glock 31 would shoot. It was okay, but I'll try the bigger ones, next. I did actually have one delayed feeding, which had the earmarks of a hollowpoint catching on a feedramp. This would be unlikely, given that this is a bottlenecked cartridge (.357 Sig). I suspect that the gun just needs a proper first cleaning. As it was in the middle of a timed string, I didn't evaluate it; I just slapped it, got it running, and finished the string of fire. Its predecessor (a Gen 3 Glock) has never in 7.5 years hiccuped.

We switched from Gold Dot to XTP, which is a heavier bullet. I frankly didn't notice any difference. (It was a Gold Dot round that caught, though.)

My shift partner, who had some problems with his 870 shotgun last time, had none this time. In fact, I took a picture of his target. This is 5 rounds of buckshot and 2 rounds of slug at 10 yards, with three slugs at 25 yards:

That mark just outside of the A zone at 5 o'clock is a wad impact. The right two holes were slug shots at 25. What impressed me, again, was how tightly 5 rounds of double aught buck went into a compact hole at 10 yards. This is a testament to the greatness of the Federal FliteControl Premium buckshot load, of which I have commented before.

Oh, I suppose that I should post mine, too. I took it as a matter of pride that at the whistle I was first on target and first to finish my string, but this meant that my group opened up a tad. But I reiterate: it's a high-brass buckshot load at 10 yards; a mediocre hit is still a pretty good hit.

Well, of course I put all the slugs (two at 10 yards, three at 25 yards) into the head. And never fear: that punch to the right side of the head is just a wad impact; I'm not missing a headshot with my shotgun at a piddlin' 75 feet. We got some Federal low-recoil 1 oz slugs which performed very well. I was very pleased at accuracy and gentle thump to the shoulder. We just started with these, and they beat our old stuff all hollow.

I shot my S&W 637 Airweight Chief's Special with some UMC 125g +Ps that I had paid too much for at WalMart. Shooting it from the holster, it was gratifying to be first on target, just about every string. But I griped at my fellow officers when, in a fire-five-reload-fire-five-more string, I was first to get rounds on target after the reload (at 7 yards). Everyone else (there were six of us on the line) had auto guns.

I shot my Kimber Stainless Classic (Series 1) .45. As expected, it gave me the same 100% as I had gotten with the Airweight Chief. That's not saying much; the off-duty course of fire is LAME. But there are timed reloads and I turned up the volume with the Kimber.

For rifle, I turned up the volume a LOT more, and I'm embarrassed to say that I threw one round. There's really no excuse; I was showing off. I hadn't even gone down to check my target, but later found that one just barely missed the neck/shoulder junction, likely when firing rapidly from kneeling at 100 yards.

After three hours of shooting and running others through strings of fire, I talked guns with the rangemaster, who showed me his pretty new .300 Blackout AR, and I went home. 3 hours of overtime. Half of the ammot that I shot was paid for by the city, and I was paid to shoot all of it.

Some days at the office are better than others.

While loading up, I commented to the sergeant that I'd love for us to go from twice a year qualifications to four times a year. He snorted and said that some people would quit if that happened. I'll be honest: I can't understand why. We were paid to go shooting.
Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-26649186687397133382014-05-11T02:10:00.000-05:002014-05-11T02:10:16.315-05:00Just trust me, and read it. Gordon Keith is a local sports radio yuk monkey who has become a shockingly good columnist for the Dallas Morning News.

Go read his Mother's Day column. Trust me.

Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-88748356408011737992014-05-11T01:17:00.002-05:002014-05-11T02:30:11.236-05:00Mama's Boy. I remember, when I was four years old, waking up early one dark winter morning, with my father making breakfast. Mama had left for work unusually early that morning, for some special business that she had to do as a writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I started to cry, because I had missed her, and my day was to start without her, and I missed my mama. I remember being aware, even at four, that it was childish to kneel with my face in the couch cushions, saying "I want my mama!" repeatedly. I was old enough to be worried that my tears would offend my daddy, but my eyes still stung.

I was a mama's boy.

While walking home with my best friend Sean McDougal at age 5, I picked a bouquet of Indian paintbrush out of the ditch and presented them to my mother (complete with the intact root system of every flower). Sean was mystified, until he saw my mama's reaction. Then he ran home, stopping in the ditch to pick his own bouquet, dropping dirt clods behind him as he went into his house. Every boy that age wants to make his mother happy.

When I started messing around with a neighbor girl at far too young an age, said neighbor girl plainly directed me not to talk to my mother about our trysts. I laughed and asked the girl why she thought that I would, and she answered in all seriousness, "Because you talk to your mother about everything." I guess she was right, though I did instinctively know that there were some things that one does not discuss with one's mother at age 12.

As I grew older, I naturally turned toward manly things, and probably turned away from my mother as a result. I started doing more father-oriented things. If this hurt her, Mom never said anything that I recall. She had grown up as an only child, and I was the first boy that she had seen grow up. She was by this time a single mother rearing two boys, working on her master's degree. She paid me the compliment of letting me be, and treated me basically like an adult pretty early on.

Mom put a few thousand dollars that she couldn't afford into my freshman year of college, and then it was understood that I was on my own, which was more than fair. She provided me with a place to stay when I came home, and the refrigerator and cabinets were kept full of food, but at 20, it was on me to make ends meet. At the time, I struggled, but in retrospect, my loving mother was actually coddling me just a little. I got the message, and got to work. When my car broke down and I couldn't commute to work, I went to "temporarily" live in my dad's spare bedroom in town. Mom had a weepy moment that I didn't understand. She said, "You're leaving." This made no sense to me. I was coming back home, surely! I never did. From Dad's, I rented a house with an old high school buddy, and finished college. Then marriage, and such.

When Mom sold the old homestead, I helped her move into an apartment in town. It was during this period that I first really felt like I was taking care of my mother, this woman whom I had towered over for over a decade. I rented a truck, and moved things. I organized. I directed my brother. I took charge and was urgent (and was probably not very pleasant) because it was my mother's business that we were attending to. This was serious. This was my mama.

My mother applied herself to her work as a CPS worker. She was earnest, and probably took it all too much to heart. Seeing my mother's heart so heavy with the weight of her case load, I begged her for years to retire from this gut-wrenching job. She finally did so.

My mother, retired in her mid-sixties, was without a job to go do for the first time in almost half a century. It's funny how addicted we become to the structure of a job. I discovered that my mama could need her son some more. I discovered anew how much I needed my mama.

These days, my mother has a busy schedule. It turns out that she came home to me; she now lives next door. Mom picks up my girls from school every day. She is busy with the church, and works at a homeless shelter. With a degree in family counseling, she confidentially helps people in the community, and never lets me know who or how or why. I looked in the newspaper the other day and discovered that she's on the municipal library board. At 70, Mom is more vital and busy than she was at 60. She looks after the neighborhood, sometimes from that porch of hers, and sometimes from her neighbors' porches. She takes care of me and my family, and we take care of her right back.

We look after each other.

I love my mama. Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-38246807091668875362014-05-06T16:53:00.001-05:002014-05-09T23:45:56.532-05:00Don't make assumptions. I'm not saying "Get Off My Side!", but I'm damned close to it.

I went to the NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, a week and a half ago. It was a great time. I met lots of friends, old and new, and wished that I had showed up earlier, and could stay later.

While there, I saw some news media types on the sidewalk, and about halfway hoped that they would ask me for a quote. Of course they didn't, and probably wouldn't have even if I had not been wearing media credentials.

What I would have said was, "70 to 80 thousand NRA exhibitors and attendees have come to town. Most of us are armed. And come Monday morning, if you're honest, the lede for your story will be '70k Armed People Invade Indianapolis: Nothing Happened.'"

I skipped the political speeches. I barely even watched them on the live CCTV feed in the media center.

Then I saw some politico talking about ObamaCare at the NRA Annual Meeting, I question what he's doing there. Is he likely to find a welcome ear to such discussion? Sure! But he was crossing the streams. Why should I be beleaguered if I wasn't on board with that?

"They're winning!" declared a political candidate, declaring that we are, despite our advances in the Supreme Court to recognize the 2nd Amendment as an individual right, despite the advances of more and more states expanding rights to concealed carry or even open carry, are basically losing the battle for our rights to be armed. (By flying with a pistol to Indianapolis, it had cost me precisely one extra minute, to open my suitcase, open my locked gun case, show unloaded, and pitch in my personal ownership card to the case. One minute.)

Then another political candidate came up and gave his stump speech. And another. And another. Sarah Palin came on, and I heard the occasional odd silly catchphrase from her, but ignored her. I heard some talk about the Democrats and the progressives.

I bumped into Tam, and she showed me the text that she had just gotten from Caleb: "Sarah Palin just said 'waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists' word for word." Don Gwinn was there with me, and we gave forth the stereophonic sound of simultaneously striking our palms against own foreheads.

What if I don't believe in torturing people?
What if I don't go in for any type of baptism?
What if I don't have anything against progressivism, but do want to advance the cause of the Second Amendment?

I didn't get as much time as I'd like to hang out with a fierce proponent of the 2nd Amendment who is gay. I'm sure that lots of pro-2A people there don't approve of his "lifestyle," but that's a red herring; he's on their team. I didn't get to have a drink with Ken Blanchard, one of "those people"* from Detroit, like I did at the 2012 Annual Meeting in St. Louis. I shook hands with a renown gunwriter who has, tongue in cheek, taken on the nickname of "The Camelback Kid" for cowboy action shooting. I spent some time in the company of person who exhibited phenotypical male characteristics, but preferred the female pronoun.

What if these don't meet with your idea of who ought to be there?

Tough. They're on our side. So stick to the issue at hand.

You may just find that this is a theme of mine: Don't Cubbyhole Me.

I am not a peg; quit trying to make me fit in the shape hole of your choosing.

I don't care about RINOs at the NRA convention. You know why? Because it's not Republican convention.

When you mix your other politics into this issue, we end up with people making assumptions about the lot of us, and making ad hominem attacks on speakers with otherwise really good points about our liberties.

Feel free to talk about your issues elsewhere, but at this convention, you're confusing the issues, and being divisive, by trying to be OVERLY inclusive in too narrow a world view.

My name is Matt G, and I was there to talk about guns. Period.

_______________
*He's not gay; he's black.
Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-51132590788919804432014-04-17T02:02:00.001-05:002014-04-17T02:02:15.540-05:00--The other night, I watched on Netflix the Miami Vice episode "Bushido" (Season 2, episode 8). Best television that the 1980s ever brought us.

--The star PSR J1748-2446ad spins a thousand times every 1.39595482 seconds. It's outer surface moves at 24% of the speed of light. It orbits another star every 26 hours.

I want a pocket steam engine.

--My wife went to Corpus Christi last Tuesday night, and flew back Thursday morning. She grew up there, but said that it felt nothing like the town that she grew up in.

--Sports Illustrated put out a casting call for people that were at the bombing at the Boston Marathon last year. Here's their cover picture. For some reason, that puts a lump in my throat. I hope that Boston doesn't overreact to their terrorism incident like New York did to theirs.

--I've responded to two structure fires in the past month while doing my police gig. At one, I attached a 5" supply hose to the engine and got water started before digging our my PD thermal imaging camera and helping by telling firefighters where the real heat was on the roof. The other one, I just did a size-up and emptied a 15 pound dry chemical fire extinguisher onto peripherals that were burning, and got people out of the way as the apparatus arrived. In both fires, the most important thing that anyone seems to care that I did was to get initial scene pictures.

--It's amazing the good that the American Red Cross does when there is a residential structure fire. When one A.R.C. lady arrived in the cold windy night and handed out cups of fresh hot coffee and granola bars, I restrained myself from kissing her (and her crusty male partner) on the mouth. They put the family up for the night, and provided other services. Support the American Red Cross.

--The Red River border dispute yet rages, but this time in the new light of the Bureau of Land Management making claim to private lands along the river. Here you see a news story which pivots on the definition of "accretion" and "avulsion" with regard to erosion and deposits.

--I am attending the NRA convention in Indianapolis on the weekend of the 25th of April. I purchased the tickets to go, before learning that this was also the weekend of the family reunion. The family reunion is always the Sunday following Easter. I never can remember when that is. The First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox. But there can be disputes. Check out this table of possible dates for Easter. Moveable feasts make little sense to me. Pick a date, and stick to it!

Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-23534633901309971312014-03-28T10:22:00.001-06:002014-03-28T10:23:16.420-06:00Dispatches from the front. Imagine your own descent toward death, and blogging it.

3BoyMom takes us a long way in one single moderate post.

She boils it down, so it's actually not dreary.

But you can taste the copper in her mouth as the blood drains away at the realization that the news is real, as the explanations become very hollow and distant because it all is a sum that equates to death. Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-11418807715927559392014-03-06T16:34:00.000-06:002014-03-06T16:34:18.635-06:00New rule. My wife is no longer to keep Kale Chips in the pantry.
The pantry is where we keep food.

I thought that there was food in there.

I don't even know if food will eat kale, more less dehydrated kale chips. Can I get a ruling, Farm Family?

Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-68304685608993707442014-01-28T21:09:00.000-06:002014-01-28T21:09:00.067-06:00State Of The UnionI'm relatively sure that no one walks away with a new perspective after having watched the State Of The Union Address, so why bother watching it live? If you hate the President, you'll reiterate that. If you love him, you'll underscore that.

In the meantime, check out this interesting piece that charts that words used by past U.S. presidents in their State Of The Union addresses, entitled "Hindsight Is 20/20." The words that most used certainly indicate what was on the mind of the President at the time. Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-71561894850350394892014-01-28T15:55:00.000-06:002014-01-28T15:56:20.727-06:00Lines Of DepartureSo, my friend Marko Kloos today celebrates the release of the second book in his science fiction trilogy. In his first big release, Terms Of Enlistment, Marko introduced us to the not-too-distant future world in which Earth is colonizing as fast as it can, and needs extra-terrestrial Terran military to assist in this (and to quell the riots back home on a rapidly-deteriorating Earth.).

Now, his protagonist is a veteran, who has relationships in the military, and takes the next step in his career as an off-world soldier.

I've read a couple of chapters today, and it's smart writing that reads easily.

I hear that one might should keep an eye out for certain characters that we may know, too.

One of the joys of having a Kindle and an Amazon account is being able to instantly download Lines Of Departure for $4.99.

Marko is a good writer, who can do that magical thing, wherein he conjures up characters out of whole cloth, and keeps them true to their nature. When one questions whether a book is plot-driven or character-driven, the answer ideally should be "both," because the nature of the characters develop the plot. Marko Kloos writes plots, with characters whom you know, after awhile.

In this one, his spacefaring soldiers address 80-foot-tall alien invaders who are taking over planets that Terrain colonists have been terraforming. For starters.

Go read. Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-25344718329074015232014-01-24T05:07:00.000-06:002014-01-24T05:07:46.493-06:00Late-January points. --The guys who built a 30 foot tall bronze statue of Nelson Mandela weren't allowed to sign their work. Whether this was because of unease about having white South Africans be recognized for the work, or just to maintain that the statue was for all is unknown, but they decided to add a signature to the statue. They put a bunny in the ear.

It turns out that they were pushed to work quickly, and the Afrikaans word for "haste" is "haas," which also translates to "rabbit." Now they've admitted that it's there, and have been ordered to remove it. This seems odd to me. Would we as a nation have minded if Bartholdi had signed the Statue Of Liberty? (Maybe he did. I don't know.) Did we demand that the little o be fixed when we discovered that the engravers who designed the U.S. penny intentionally wrought "UNITED STATES oF AMERICA" on our 1¢ piece? Heck, no. We embraced it for over half a century.

--I'm afraid that I'm going to have to buy a Glock 42.

--The new S&W model 69 5-shot L-frame .44 Magnum looks interesting. Now, can they make a 369, with an alloy frame and titanium cylinder? Oh, I wouldn't much want to shoot Magnums through it, but it would be fun for carrying Specials in, with the chance for magnums in bear country.

--But of course, the M396 has taught us that it would probably become a kinetic bullet puller. Question: If you loaded the gun with 5 light-bullet loads (say, 165g or less), and one magnum heavy load for the first shot, would it be more or less likely to make the 4 remaining loads jump their crimp? What if the first round was a Special, and the second shot was a heavy bullet? How did they deal with the problem when they made the 329PD?

--Chief O'Brien had a bad job. This one made me giggle. Well, so did this one.

--I've had the theme song to The Love Boat in my head, for the last three days, now. I'm certain that I've never actually watched a full episode of that show. I will say that my voice bottoms out in the opening words pretty well, though I can't help warbling the word "new" like a lounge singer:
"Love. Exciting and new...."

--If the weather gets warmer this week, I plan a shooting date to try out a carbine, but not a high-dollar one. Stay tuned.

--It's 14 degrees here, but no precip. Down in Houston, they're expecting about .20" accumulations this morning. Big stuff for that southern Gulf Coast Texas city. I know this makes my friends up north giggle.Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-45273563417945439042014-01-08T14:15:00.003-06:002014-01-08T14:15:37.653-06:00Elvis' birthday. I don't care about Elvis.

There. I said it.Matt Ghttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-25533253928321385072014-01-08T13:40:00.003-06:002014-01-08T13:40:59.689-06:00The beginning of 2014. --This day-by-day map depiction of World War II in seven minutes is fascinating. I knew that the Axis started to really begin falling in early 1944, but this map shows how the Allies stopped their forward momentum in November of 1942.

--A friend and hunting buddy this morning announced that it was 6 times warmer than it was yesterday, by virtue of the fact that his thermometer showed 12 degrees Fahrenheit today, and just 2°F yesterday. Thinking that he was joking, I mentioned that his quantities might be off. He asked why. (This guy is VERY smart. He's a paramedic and a computer whiz. So no slamming him.) I responded:
 "Well, degrees Fahrenheit don't actually measure absolute heat. However, degrees Kelvin *DO*. Fahrenheit set "zero" on his scale of temperature as being the lowest temperature that he could achieve, using ice and salt. He set 100 at what he thought was the human body temperature. (Look, it was the late 17th century. Cut him some slack.) Kelvin uses centigrade units above absolute zero. Zero degrees Fahrenheit is actually 255.37K. When it was 2 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, it was 256.483 Kelvin yesterday. At 12 Fahrenheit today, it is actually 262.039 Kelvin, which is 1.004358... times warmer than yesterday, relative to Absolute Zero."

My buddy made a rude noise.

--It staggered me, the first time that I found out that there was a temperature below which nothing could go.

--And I didn't know until today that the Triple Point of water is used as part of the scientific definition of the Kelvin unit. ("The kelvin is defined as the fraction 1⁄273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water (exactly 0.01 °C or 32.018 °F).")

--Every year, my wife and I hold off on giving each other Christmas gifts, and then agree together to buy something that we both want in January or February. Well, this year, she broke the agreement, and surprised me by unilaterally purchasing a Rancilio Sylvia espresso machine. I've owned small consumer espresso machines before, but they were the sub-$100 sheet metal stamped variety that turned out indifferent results. This thing is superb.

When you turn it on, it will build up the pressure, and then turn out the light like a waffle iron to tell you that you're good to go. You then punch the switch for espresso, and the double spouts will begin to push out dark rich espresso with a bit of crema atop it. Hit the switch for foam, and open the valve and vigorous foam makes milk magical. Flip the switch to hot water, and you get water perfect for tea or to add to your espresso for an Americano.

It weighs a young ton.

It takes up very little counter space.

There is a bit of a learning curve to pulling a perfect shot.

It's the nicest thing that I've been given in a long, long time.

We're going through about a gallon of milk a day in this house, now.

--I have yet to have built a "Gay Cynic Special": 8 shots of espresso served over ice. Even in Seattle, the barrista's eyes widened at that order.

--In terms of style and distinctiveness, I think that the other states envy the Texas flag. Well, Arizona, New Mexico, and Alaska don't. And probably not Tennessee.

--What's the deal with the crescent moon on the SC flag?

--One of our cats two went missing 6 days ago. We've since had several sub-20 degree nights. I suspect that the neighbor shot it. I have not approached him; I cannot be objective. He told my colleagues that he threw out a firecracker to make the cats stop fighting at night. Semi-outdoor cats run a risk, and we knew that. My younger daughter, who had a serious cat crush on that animal, wakes up crying and saying that she dreamt that he was on her bed. I've had offers of a new cat. I can't. I don't need another creature in my heart, or in my daughter's heart. I need a break.

--One of these days, some boy will make my daughter this sad. And I'll have to deal with my initial reaction there, too.

--Here's a well-rendered map of the contiguous continental United States yesterday, showing that the average temperature was 14 degrees Fahrenheit. I like how they put clear delineations at the freezing point of water and at zero degrees F.

Matt Ghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-35679734.post-75622960458373885692013-12-16T18:18:00.001-06:002013-12-16T18:18:22.046-06:00Random thoughts in mid-December. --It's finally bright and sunny today. The last of the ice has crept back into the darkest northern shadows, 10 days after our big ice storm. Someone brought up on the radio that this is the coldest stretch of weather for this past 20-something days for this area since 1899. Water still drips from the melting ice in the trough on my roof. I know you northern types giggle at my amazement, but I many times was not dressed inappropriately when I went out to play with my Christmas toys in a T shirt and jeans. Heavy ice lingering from early December is unusual for us in North Texas.

--Speaking of heavy ice, I have again been reminded that I was born and reared in the wrong period. I wish I had been born in, and had the means to take part in, the Heroic Age Of Antarctic Exploration. Just to think that such an era was named (and is Wikipedia official!) is something. Like the Golden Age Of Flight (Which apparently is NOT Wikipedia official.) (What are your favorite "Golden Age Of _____" eras?)

--I started thinking about the HAOAE when I came across these amazing color photos taken by Frank Hurley whilst aboard (and cast away from) the Endurance when it became icebound in on the Weddell Sea of the Antarctic coast in January of 1915. The ship wash crushed in October and sank the next month, and the crew weren't rescued until August, yet none of the party under the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleford perished. I believe that I shall be purchasing the story right now. Why hasn't a movie been made of this?

--I spent 5 hours this morning early working on paperwork at the office, off-duty, trying to meet my goal of catching up completely by Christmas. 90 minutes of that was on the phone with Tech Support over a computer issue, finally deciding that I needed a new optical drive. When's the last time you had one of those crap out on you? Strange.

--I was just now trying to figure out why I felt tired and kind of sick. Then it hit me: Coffee. I hadn't had any all day. To the French press! I ground some Community Coffee beans (hey, when the sealed pack of whole bean is marked down for $1.99 a 12 oz pack, you'll buy five pounds, too.), and filled that chambourd right up. I'm feeling much better now.

--While getting my dopamine back in shape with caffeine, I thought of when I recently invited my dad to join me for a cuppa at a coffee shop run by a privately-run religious-based self-enrolled halfway house. The coffee there is excellent, and I shot this picture of my pot of French Press with my camera phone while I waited for Dad to join me. When he arrived, Dad took a puff of his vapor cigarette, and was told by one of the staff there that there were no drugs or addicting substance allowed. I had just ordered my second pot of French press for us to enjoy. They didn't seem to see the irony in this.

--I'm ordering on Amazon as fast as I can. I know that I've put stuff off a bit too long, now.

--Man, the caffeine is really kicking in. I'm typing faster than I was at the beginning of this post by a factor 1 : 1.5.

--Apparently, I'm going to take part in a CO chili cook-off next year. I seriously need to step up my game over what I brought this year. Sure, 25+ lbs (or was it 30lbs?) of chili all sold, but it wasn't the right texture, and frankly, it was a tad bland this year. I was experimenting with pork and a new kind of red chili paste (way better than powder, BTW). Foolish. Go with what you know. Dad contributed the pork for that, BTW, with that big sow he shot this April with his .45-70.

--Funny thing: when Dad and I were picking up some items at WalMart during our duck hunt this November, a lady saw Dad wearing that same British smock jacket, and asked about where she could get something like it for her husband, whom she was shopping for a gift for. We were in Weatherford, TX, which isn't too far out in the wilds or anything, but Dad and I laughed and responded that the only other one like that for 50 miles or more (most likely) was being worn by our friend Stephen, who had just flown it in with him from London for the purpose of hunting, and he wasn't selling it, as he needed it the next morning. (You can also see Dad wearing it here, just before I sniped a passing Gadwall that was about to leave us for good after having passed by three times without landing, despite what a certain Ambulance Driver may say about premature shooting.:) )

--I give my friend A.D. a lot of hell, both here and to his face. But he's one of my dearest and trusted friends.

Matt Ghttp://email@example.com


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Lindsay Lohan (Finally) Pays Off Her Lawyer and Savior Shawn Holley
Shawn Holley has saved Lindsay Lohan's ass more times than anyone can count. So when Holley graciously accepted the troubled starlet back as a client, her first order of business was to make sure Lindsay paid the massive amount of money she still owed.
And in a bizarre twist? The ladies are now square.


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NAT is a free universal Braille translator. It supports French Braille grade 1, mathematical Braille, Braille layout and reverse transcription. French Braille grade 2, music and other languages are currently under development.1 weekly downloads


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Garth Brooks breaks record with Chicago, Atlanta shows and ticket sales
Luke Bryan adds annual farm tour to fall outing
Trace Adkins, Alabama helm all-star tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd
Garth Brooks adds southern show to long-awaited world tour return
The Police
Bon Jovi racks up 2008's top-grossing tour
December 11, 2008 -
Bon Jovi
put enough warm bodies in the seats this year to earn themselves the title for 2008's top-grossing tour, according to Billboard.
/ Read the rest »
Best Buy gets exclusive on final Police concert DVD
August 7, 2008 -
Best Buy will stream the encore from
The Police
's Madison Square Garden concert tonight (8/7) at 10:25 pm EST, according to Sting's official website. The MSG concert, a benefit for New York Public Television, is the final show of the band's 15 month tour.
/ Read the rest »
The Police To Appear On Elvis Costello's Television Spectacle
July 30, 2008 -
The Police
will appear on
Elvis Costello
's new talk/performance series, "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with …," scheduled to debut on the Sundance Channel Dec. 3, according to a press release. The new show also will air on CTV in Canada and Channel 4 in the UK.
/ Read the rest »
The Police say farewell with auction, live set
July 15, 2008 -
The Police
comeback tour makes its way down the home stretch, fans are being offered special VIP ticket packages and autographed instruments to raise money for New York Public Television.
/ Read the rest »
The Police map NYC end to reunion tour
June 6, 2008 -
The Police
will go out with a bang, not a whimper, ending their grueling 30th Anniversary reunion tour with a concert in New York City to benefit public broadcasting.
/ Read the rest »
The Police to end career on charitable note
May 8, 2008 -
The Police
have launched into the final round of dates on their 30th anniversary reunion tour, but they won't put a lid on it until they give something back.
/ Read the rest »
The Police expand reunion finale
March 5, 2008 -
Rock icons
The Police
have added a few more dates to their upcoming North American jaunt, which is expected to be the grand finale of their 30th anniversary reunion.
/ Read the rest »
The Police unveil final tour dates
February 14, 2008 -
Rock icons
The Police
, who last year reunited for what turned out to be 2007's top-grossing tour, have rolled out the itinerary for what they're saying will be their last-ever round of shows together, and have tapped Elvis Costello & The Imposters to occupy the opening slot.
/ Read the rest »
Year End: 2007 music news in review
December 31, 2007 -
Bouts of rehab and canceled tours riddled the headlines of 2007, most notably by one-time pop princess
Britney Spears
and British soul singer
Amy Winehouse
. But the last 12 months proved fruitful for many musicians, including the newly reunited. Both the
Spice Girls
Van Halen
extended their tours due to successful rounds of sold-out shows while others, like
Blind Melon
, replaced lost original members with talented newbies for another chance at stardom. A handful of artists--Audioslave's
Chris Cornell
frontman Aaron Lewis,
's Richie McDonald--took the plunge into solo status.
/ Read the rest »
The Police add North American shows
September 11, 2007 -
The Police
have added six new dates to the next leg of their North American tour as the band, currently barnstorming European venues, continues its return to live stages.
/ Read the rest »
» browse older stories
Garth Brooks breaks record with Chicago, Atlanta shows and ticket sales
Luke Bryan adds annual farm tour to fall outing
Trace Adkins, Alabama helm all-star tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd
Garth Brooks adds southern show to long-awaited world tour return
Seven cases of egregious product placement in music videos
Theory of a Deadman's Tyler Connolly says it's about the songs
Rascal Flatts cancel three northwest concerts due to illness
Insane Clown Posse deals another Joker's Card
Little Big Town readies for domestic "Pain Killer" run
Little Big Town
Garth Brooks
Katy Perry
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Firms still backing new Cumbrian nuclear plant
Last updated at 09:25, Saturday, 31 March 2012
The consortium behind plans for a new nuclear power plant in Cumbria say they remain committed to the project.
NuGen, the station's prospective developer, was speaking following the news that Horizon – owned by RWE and E.On – announced it will not develop new atomic energy stations in the UK.
It had been planning to invest in new plants in Anglesey and Oldbury-on-Severn, near Bristol.
But NuGen, the UK nuclear company owned by Iberdrola and GDF Suez, said it was "100 per cent" committed to its west Cumbrian project, named Moorside.
A spokesman said: "We have no comment to make on developments at Horizon. We do not comment on progress or business developments at other consortia.
"NuGen is totally committed to and focused on its Moorside project, which aims to develop some 3.6GW of new nuclear power at our site in west Cumbria.
"Our Moorside project is of national importance and we are putting all our energies into making this development a success.
"We are progressing with our plans in tandem with a very supportive and knowledgeable community and west Cumbria as we move forward in partnership."
Landing a new generation nuclear power reactor is seen as a key driver in boosting Cumbria's economy and a critical plank in the energy coast vision for the west of the county.
Moorside takes its name from a tenanted farm called Greenmoorside which is on part of the Sellafield area land.
Having set up offices at Westlakes, Whitehaven, NuGen has a programme of community meetings in place and will be starting to look at developing the necessary supply chain for the project during 2012.
First published at 08:57, Saturday, 31 March 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Quick links
- Carlisle council to invest millions of pounds outside Cumbria (7 comments)
- Cumbrian nuclear flights claim is 'scaremongering' (22 comments)
- Carlisle's former Hoopers store can become restaurants-cafes (39 comments)
- Residents want solution to backed-up traffic on Carlisle road (34 comments)
- Story plans another 310 homes on edge of Carlisle (52 comments)


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Featuring a tantalizing array of sweet and savory snacks, this neighborhood traiteur (deli) is a browser's delight.
Featuring a tantalizing array of sweet and savory snacks, this neighborhood traiteur (deli) is a browser's delight.
Set on busy Rue St-Louis, the handsome Conti Caffe features an impressive selection of flavorful Italian classics. Start off with prosciutto-wrapped shrimp or tomato bruschetta, before moving on to penne with gorgonzola, apples and walnuts or lobster risotto with steamed green asparagus.
There's a reason people line up halfway out the door at all hours for Tutto Gelato. The creamy, rich, homemade ice cream here is simply too good to pass up. Over two dozen varieties of the Italian-style gelato and nine different sorbets (plus four soy-based varieties for the vegan crowd) vie for attention behind the glass counters.
This brilliant little resto is a city classic, with a varied bistro menu, extensive breakfast choices and some of the best coffee in town. If it's warm, you can watch the comings and goings on Ave Cartier from a table on the massive front porch, or head to the laid-back terrace out back.
One of Québec City's best (and priciest) sushi restaurants, Enzo receives rave reviews for its mouthwateringly fresh sushi and sashimi. In addition to the classics, house specialties feature inventive sushi combinations like homard grillé (grilled lobster with fish roe, cucumber, lettuce and spicy mayonnaise). There are a few tempura and teriyaki dishes for nonsushi lovers.
Attractive young servers, thumping electronica and wildly eclectic decor set the stage for this buzzing fusion restaurant. African and Asian statues peer down at the tables and the dining room is done up in dark, rich tones. Specialties here include tartare of steak, salmon or tuna, filet mignon with Ciel de Charlevoix blue cheese, pasta dishes, salads and savory Asian soups.
One of the most authentic French bistros in town, the elegantly set Oh! Pino attracts a well-heeled, slightly older crowd that comes for tasty bouillabaisse, grilled filet mignon or roasted scallops in pear sauce with leek fondue; Oh! Pino also offers more than 20 different mussel dishes. The roomy terrace in front is a fine spot for people-watching.
An endless choice of strictly vegetarian food dishes, including vegan and organic options, lines the buffet counters in this huge and bright self-serve restaurant.
For omelets, croissants, bowls of café au lait and other French-style breakfast items, this cheerful cafe just up from Rue St-Jean is a good choice, especially in summer when you can lounge on its sunny back patio.
This highly respected restaurant features a blend of produits du terroir (local Québec produce), along with international accents. Delectable favorites include giant scallops with coconut milk and exotic fruits, and lamb with mint and anise. Chef Daniel Vézina keeps menu descriptions to the minimum, saying he wants to 'leave room for imagination and discovery.
This bright and buzzy space has high ceilings, huge windows looking onto the street and a long wooden table down the middle where diners tuck into tasty gourmet sandwiches (ham with green apples and brie; hot roast beef sandwiches with blue cheese, caramelized onions and horseradish), satisfying soups and fresh salads.
This popular and inviting bistro on Rue St-Jean has outdoor seating, a casual atmosphere and good-value lunch and dinner specials (check out the chalkboard). The classics are all nicely done, including French onion soup, juicy duck confit and steak frites – plus Québécois specialties such as elk with sautéed apples and leeks. There's a small but fairly priced wine list.
This splendid cafe serves classy, classic bistro fare and proudly shows off local products such as Québécois fromages (cheeses). What sets it apart are the one-of-a-kind weekend brunches. Brioche comes with caramelized pears, homemade crème fraîche, caramel sauce and almonds.
The nouvelle cuisine echoes the contemporary art hanging on the 180-year-old stone walls in this top-class restaurant. Imaginative culinary creations seem almost too lovely to eat, but the feeling soon passes when you read the restaurant's roll call of local suppliers.
This Paris-style bistro is the only restaurant in town directly on the St Lawrence River, although actually getting a table with a view can sometimes be a challenge. Bright, airy and casually elegant, it swears by bistro classics like steak frites and saucisse de Toulouse, but there's also a great choice of other dishes like roasted pork rack with honey and lobster ravioli.
Another great gourmet outing can be had at this small, unpretentious dining room inside the Auberge Place d'Armes. Le Pain Béni serves an excellent assortment of dishes with Québec highlights. Recent favorites include red deer with blackcurrant and juniper sauce, grapefruit-poached wild salmon and almonds, and house-made black pudding.


text:
Route Guide - iPhone / Android - Partners - Forum - Photos - Deals - What's New - School of Rock
Routes Sorted
L to R R to L Alpha
This route is the furthest bolted line to the right. The moves become progessively more difficult as you follow a seam before hitting a distinct crux above the 4th bolt. My buddy broke off about an 8" chunk inside the seam at the crux, but it did not seem to affect the grade at all. The hold was used as a bump to hit a better edge.
7 quickdraws for 5 bolts plus the anchor.


text: Job Description: Digital Fundraising Manager, Fundraising Department, VSO UK Responsible to: Head of Individual Giving Responsible for: None Location: VSO UK, London Job purpose: To maximize all fundraising income through digital channels Responsibilities Key Performance Indicators Competencies Skills, Knowledge and Experience required Develop and implement a digital Fundraising A clear strategy and test plan for bought media in the Working together- Adds value: Proactively enables Essential strategy and plan for recruiting new supporters digital space for driving donations and sign ups to and encourages teamwork in others (Adds Value) across a range of digital channels, including events in place and updated. Strategy and test plan Demonstrable experience of fundraising or email communications, display advertising, results in a dramatic increase in income, number of Communicating and influencing- Strength: Inspires commercial strategy formulation in digital space mobile and affiliate marketing. donations made and the number of supporters who others by: advocating plans and ideas within and sign up to an event through online channels year on outside VSO; maintaining a wide, influential network; Demonstrable experience of using digital Work with colleagues to develop the year coaching (Strength) marketing techniques such as online advertising, organizations organic and paid search marketing affiliate schemes, and search marketing strategy -strategy - ensuring we maximize Clear strategy and co-ordinated plan for how Managing knowledge - Strength : Leads initiatives search for fundraising goals: enabling potential fundraising use social media such as Facebook and Extensive experience of project managing email that improve knowledge management; supporters to reach VSO websitesVSO websites Twitter. When implemented VSO secures learning marketing campaigns from concept through to and maximize the number of supporters making develops others' knowledge management skills about how best to use social media for fundraising. evaluation a donation or signing up to an event or community fundraising initiative. Striving for excellence – Adds value: Sets and Campaigns are within budget and meet income measures challenging objectives for self and others; Exceptionally well organized, able to multi-task, Project managing online marketing for the high targets gives evidence-based feedback that helps others to plan and deliver projects on time return, mass market community products. excel (Adds Value) Improved conversion rates on VSO's website and Proven innovative, creative thinker, able to Lead on developing a strong social media any campaign landing pages for regular giving and identify new fundraising opportunities and Managing resources – Adds value: Organises own strategy for fundraising that can feed into the one off donations develop conceptual ideas broader VSO UK social media strategy. Co- and others' work to meet objectives; clarifies ordinate the implementation of fundraising's At least 2 innovative ways of using digital channels to accountabilityclarifies accountability of roles; Extensive knowledge of web, mobile and use of social media, ensuring an integrated and inspire people to support VSO are introduced allocates budget wisely; seeks ways to interactive technologies in a direct response consistent plan across teams. generate and save money. environment Improvement in the open, click through rates, and Lead on ensuring VSO website is maximized for other KPIs of the various fundraising email Managing people – Adds value: Builds an effective Experience in using HTML, Google analytics, and fundraising needs, ensuring content programmes content management systems team with clear objectives; allocates work complements fundraising requirements and ensuring donate section and donation forms appropriately; deals with poor performance A step change in understanding how VSO UK can use Able to work both on own initiative and take lead inspire and drive response. and recognises success. digital channels to inspire people to give financially of multi-disciplinary teams Lead on providing web metrics reporting and or take part in an event. Ensuring we gather knowledge and insight that builds a foundation for Developing people- Adds value: Helps team providing actionable insight to the fundraising Excellent web copy-writing skills. Ability to select VSO UK digital and can be used across federations members to create and implement clear appropriate imagery and manipulate according to teams. development plans that meet their own -and campaign requirements Feed learning into international knowledge VSO UK becomes a market leader in best practice to VSO's - short and long term needs. sharing. generate income and support through digital Excellent team working skills channels Leading for the future - Strength: Builds confidence Support Individual Giving team in ensuring any and excitement in VSO's work and vision, both Desirable integrated campaigns are maximized from a Existing and new fundraising members are more internally and externally; leads innovative projects. digital perspective. proficient in the use of digital for their work Digital experience in a charity environment - Thinking strategically – Adds value: Makes decisions preferred but not essential Support event and community fundraising based on a range of internal and external factors and teams in developing and management of their long-term impact; consults widely across disciplines. International Digital Marketing certificate in digital acquisition and retention strategy. digital marketing or equivalent Delivering results - Strength: Effectively leads Support other fundraising teams, such as complex projects, generating a goal-oriented, corporate and major donors, as and when problem-solving team mentality and ensuring timely, required. high quality results. 1039223-2 1039223-2


text: Walk into the Tap Room and it's a neat place for lunch. The weather in San Marcos is a bit on the cool side for a mid July day in Central Texas. We sit down and the place is freezing cold. I mean not just a little cold but freezing cold. I look around and people have their hands between... More


text:
Limbless variations have gotten so rare these days. Never forget the ludeness
Josh Betley: Goodbye to the Team - More BMX Videos
some excellent rocketry in here
Rob Nolli's trick list includes more than just his namesake
Clint Millar is tech as fork
bowl packed combos
One of my favourite BMX photos of all time
Enjoy a classic whip to frame part with a rockier soundtrack
did i post this before? dont know, dont care, its amazing


text:
Flat Stanley NYC 2008
By Meowzas
Flat Stanley's Adventures in New York City 2008.
About the Author
Publish Date October 05, 2008
Dimensions Standard Portrait 36 pgs
Standard Paper
Tags Flat Stanley, Wubba, NYC
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Start your own book today from US $3.99.
Get Started
Blurb Sites


text:
REGINA – Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) is trying to improve road safety by investing in automatic licence plate readers for the RCMP and municipal police forces.
The licence plate readers use infra-red technology to scan license plates and alert police when a plate has been linked to a stolen or unregistered vehicle, a suspended driver, or even a report of an impaired driver.
"The automatic licence plate reader has been beneficial in larger settings, like the Craven Country Jamboree, where quite often we'll get a report of a possible impaired driver," said Constable Kaufmann with the White Butte RCMP.
"We can input the licence plate number into the system and then use it to find the reported impaired driver and actually apprehend that driver while they're on the road to prevent further incident."
"Licence plate readers help keep Saskatchewan roads safe for all residents by identifying drivers that may be high risk," said Andrew Cartmell, President and CEO of SGI.
"Implementing technology to make roads safer was one of the recommendations made by the Special Committee on Traffic Safety in its final report, and that's exactly what SGI is doing by funding these devices."
There are currently 13 police cars in the province equipped with automatic license plate readers.
"The benefit of this technology is that it helps get the high risk drivers off the road," said Constable Kaufmann. "We've gone from manually checking about 10 plates every 15 minutes to checking 10 plates in 10 seconds with the automatic licence plate reader."
SGI has currently invested about $485,000 in this technology and plans to buy more devices in the future.
The video below will show you how the technology will work


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Patriots WR Deion Branch is up to speed in no-huddle offense - 0 Comments
The Patriots no-huddle offense was clicking in the Patriots 37-16 win over the Jets on Sunday. Wide receiver Deion Branch has plenty of experience in the Pats system so it's no surprise he thrives in situations when it's paramount to be on the same page with quarterback.
The chemistry with Tom Brady was evident when Branch was left open as the Jets defense scrambled to match-up in the third quarter. Branch simply ran a few yards and waited for a pass from Brady, which was already on the way. Branch picked up 14 easy yards and the Pats offense was rolling.
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The Guide cover
4 August 2012
This week's issue in full
Modern Toss
TV OD with Sara Pascoe: The Hairy Dieters
Ted stars Mila Kunis and Seth MacFarlane v The Guardian
Why isn't Louie on UK TV?
Wiley: 'I could have been as big as Tinie, anyone can play the O2'
Sound Of My Voice: the ultimate cult movie?
Move over Moyles! It's time Radio 1 looked to more club DJs like Monki
This week's new tracks
Little Boots Q&A
Exhibitionist: The week's art shows in pictures
Watch television with Tom Rosenthal
Catch-up TV Guide: from Line Of Duty to St Elsewhere
The Hard Sell: McDonald's
Infomania: Justin Bieber


text:
Housing.com recently announced the revamp of its Housing App for iPhone and iPad users, with the aim of making it easier and more intuitive for users to..Read More
Kitna Deti Hai ? Seating Capacity ? Power Steering ? Horse Power? are some of the questions that most of us need answers to before we decide to..Read More
Indians have been known to be extremely frugal and are generally averse to spending money on mobile apps. Times might be changing though. According to research conducted..Read More
India's leading online furniture store, Urban Ladder has announced the launch of it's first app, 'Urban Storage'. Labelled under 'UL Labs', this initiative is a collaborative outreach effort where..Read More
Though arranged marriages are more prevalent in India, the youth in major cities in India are now showing an initiative in playing the matchmaking game themselves. Though..Read More
Samsung and many other companies have received a lot of flak for copying stuff from the iPhone. But it is no secret that Apple borrows too. While..Read More
Facebook, today announced the introduction of save feature for its users. The official blog stated, Every day, people find all sorts of interesting items on Facebook that..Read More
Android is increasingly becoming the most dominant platform used in India. Google's new launch of AndroidOne talks a lot about the potential India has. The growing smartphone..Read More
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Proverb Whether you work in an MNC or a startup, communication amongst team members is extremely important..Read More
Indian app development ecosystem woke up to an encouraging news yesterday. India's very own Hike messenger, the free messaging app from Bharti SoftBank(BSB), is now the 'top..Read More
We are a generation of impatient souls where fast food, blazing fast 3G, 4G connections and fast cars are the need of the hour. Most of the..Read More
In the new world where there is an app for everything, design can make or break your app. No matter how sophisticated your app is, the ability..Read More
Beats to gift World Cup winning German team 'Beat Pros' dipped in 24-carat gold. Beats Electronics is well known for their 'guerrilla marketing' tactics to bypass licensing barriers…Read More
Over the past week or so, an app called Yo has been making the news because given its "stupidity", it has managed to raise $1.2m. All it..Read More
The most eagerly anticipated release in the coming months will definitely be the iPhone 6.With all the rumors and speculations going around about the iPhone 6 it..Read More
Its been about a year since the iOS 7 was launched. While the new generation of Apple fanboys lapped it up, the so-called Apple 'purists' were apparently..Read More
Imagine you are traveling in a foreign country and you don't know the language. You see a sign but you don't know what it means. You simply..Read More


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If you are experiencing problems downloading PDF or HTML fulltext, our helpdesk recommend clearing your browser cache and trying again. If you need help in clearing your cache, please click here . Still need help? Email email@example.com
Authors: Reynolds, D.J.; Hermitage, S.A.
Source: Tetrahedron, Volume 57, Number 36, 3 September 2001, pp. 7765-7770(6)
Publisher: Elsevier
Keywords: N-arylation; catalysis; copper
Document Type: Research Article
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0040-4020(01)00743-8
Affiliations: GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development, Chemical Development Division, Medicines Research Centre, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, SG1 2NY, Hertfordshire, UK
Publication date: September 3, 2001


text:
Matt and Jenna's Real-Life Doppelgangers
- Season: 7 |
- Date: 03/15/2013
In this exclusive clip, Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman reveal their real-life doppelgangers. Hint: You'll never look at 'The Addams Family' the same again! Tune-in to all-new episodes of 'Doctor Who' on Saturday, March 30 at 8pm ET, immediately followed by the premieres of conspiracy clone series, 'Orphan Black' and comedy-variety talk show 'The Nerdist.'
Find Your Local Channel


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AFSCME Celebrates 75 Years With 'Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow' Campaign
By Kenneth Quinnell December 20, 2011 9:00 am - Comments
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is celebrating its 75th year by launching a traveling history exhibit and a new website that chronicles the key highlights in the organization's history. The year-long celebration
We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Backers Are Hopeful Obama Will Support Tax On Financial Transactions
Confused About NDAA And Detention Provisions? Here's An Explainer


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Rapid City and other Black Hills area schools have been selected for the Governor's Grants for Career and Technical Education.
This means they will receive two million dollars to implement a project called "Pathways to College and Career Success".
"We've had very good support, we believe. We have over a dozen area schools that are very excited to hear about how that grant is going to roll out and are very interested in getting students at Western Dakota Tech and give them career and education opportunities." says Mark Wilson, President of Western Dakota Tech.
They will partner with Western Dakota Tech to give high school students the option to receive career and technical education credit while attending high school.
Wilson also says, "I think it's gonna really be beneficial to helping align and move the technical education opportunities forward in the state, and so that we can prepare our workers and keep our workers here in the state."
Also tonight, the Rapid City School Board approved a lease agreement with the Performing Arts Center. The agreement will run from July first 2014 till June 30th 2015


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We are very excited and pleased to announce that the continued collaboration of five of the most dynamic alumni associations in Southeast Michigan are hosting Black Alumni Weekend 2013, taking place July 26-28, 2013 Downtown Detroit.Once again, the alumni chapters of Michigan State University, University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University & Wayne State University,collectively have come together to present an even more eventful weekend to celebrate excellence in achievement as we raise funds for scholarships for students attending each university respectively.
BAW 2013 features a more vibrant itinerary for alumni, supporters & attendees to enjoy. We added a Sunday Brunch hosted at the Detroit Seafood Market , and our lineup of honorees for the weekend's signature kickoff event, The4thAnnual EVENING OF ELEGANCE, is a majestic groupof individuals who define the word excellence. This year's prestigious award recipients WDIV-TV News Anchor Rhonda Walker (MSU), Atty. Godfrey Dillard (UM), Dr. Phyllis Vroom (WSU), Dara Davis-Munson (EMU)& TBA (WMU) is a select alumni class like no other. The event will also feature a silent auction and will be hosted by U-M & Fab Five Alumnus Jimmy King.
For more information on events and sponsorships for Black Alumni Weekend 2013, as well as all general inquiries, please visit http://southeastmcaa.webs.com/distinguishedalumni.