Everyone have a nice Christmas? 44,000 didn't.

As I was sitting at my PC on Christmas day, I had pretty much shut everything else out of my mind. My little one was up having the time of his life playing with new toys. My wife was helping her mother out with cooking. I was playing City of Heroes, feeling good about life. Basically, I had encapsulated myself into my own little world, family and friends.

So, when I finally read the news, my jaw dropped. Thousands killed by underwater earthquake-spawned tidal wave. THOUSANDS?!?!?! I know that many are with me by saying that thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's families and survivors. The total is now up to 44,000 people.

Florida had it rough this year. Three hurricanes were a lot. However, the loss of life was minimal. There was warning. People prepared. Technology is a beautiful thing.

There will always be those that are less fortunate than you. That is what the Christmas season is all about, helping those people. As I went to work on Monday, I saw the food collection bins full. Someone forgot to have them sent out for Christmas. The little things help, if you aren't too big to notice them.

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus is coming to town...

...to scare the shit out of your little ones. Thanks for the link, Rez.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Ring...Ring...bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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Belt-fed AR goodness!

The Shrike is a belt-fed, 5.56mm caliber, replacement upper for your AR-15 style rifle. It allows a quick change from regular rifle to squad weapon.

Check out these videos:

• Video 1


• Video 2

I'm back. Miss me?

Well, back from a short vacation with the family. All in all, a good trip for the kids. Heck, anytime away from work is good time. How about a quick rundown of what happened over the long weekend?

Friday
Friday was the trip down. Left later than normal, but not bad considering that 4 of the 10 were about or under the age of 10. Goat rodeo anyone? Still, took back roads down to Orlando. The route was 17 to 19 to 27 to 192. Took a few wrong turns in small towns, but got there without too much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Ate at a pretty good BK in Eustis. My little one enjoyed the play area.

The big event was attending the Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney on Friday night. The Magic Kingdom opens from 7p to 12a for ticket event holders only. Well, it was an event, for sure. Sold out. Herded through Tomorrowland to get photos, then things kinda fell apart/slowed down. No one could decide on what to do. With a group of 10, especially with 3 kids that only want to ride, you can't please everyone, and you can't get everyone to go on everything! Coming to that realization took a good chunk of time out of our already limited schedule.

So, everyone is in a rush to hit "major" rides. My little one was a trooper. My knee wasn't. See, my father-in-law can't walk the park. My brother-in-law and myself took turns pushing him in a wheelchair. The motorized carts hadn't been recharged for the event. Anyways, pushing 425lbs through the Magic Kingdom can take a toll on someone with already bad knees.

Anyways, the hit of the evening was the Christmas parade. Got my little one up close and he loved it. Didn't want it to end. Alas, it did have to end.

Saturday
Pretty much a free day, with the only planned event being a dinner show called Dixie Stampede. More on that later.

Fart around for most of the day until the afternoon. Went with brother-in-law and girlfriend to Bass Pro Shops. Mega-store for hunters, fishers, and outdoors persons. Think something the size of a Sam's Warehouse Club, but all camo, tents, hunting supplies, boats, four-wheelers, etc. From there, hit the Nike outlet for new shoes. Feets feeling good, meet up at the Dixie Stampede.

Well, the Dixie Stampede show is put on by Dolly Parton. Country themed, North versus South, just shoot me now stuff. However, due to Christmas, it was North Pole vs South Pole. After being seated, we see the show (lots of animal acts...still have no idea how Ostrichs fit in with the Civil War, but I digress) and eat. The food was very good. Creamy veggie soup, cornish game hen, pork, potatoes, and more. Of course, you have to eat with your fingers, because that is what you do at these shows.

Sunday
Epcot. My favorite park....with a small group. With 9 of us (father-in-law opted out of the journey), it was again another mess of trying to please everyone with every ride. Well, I declared right up front that I was eating in Germany, and if people wanted to join in the buffet, come along. That got some attentions. No more pussyfooting. Anyways, saw some attractions, then made our way through the World Showcase. The kids only wanted rides, so they got bored and whiney. About lunch-time, I headed off to Germany. Brother-in-law and girlfriend, sensing I know what I'm talking about, come along. As the rest move on, we sit down to the best meal of the trip.

Brats, Knocks, Sausage, Kraut, Schnitzel, Spatzel, pork, and all the fine German deserts you could ask for. Took our time, had plenty of helpings, and even enjoyed the Christmas show by the German band. Hour later, we are stuffed and rested. Play catch up to the other group. However, the weather started getting cold. Real cold. I decide that I would take my little one back to the room, while the rest stay and hit a few attractions missed earlier.

Monday
Return home time. Reverse the route, again leaving late due to the kids. Quite ride back. Again, we stopped in Eustis. However, we stopped at a very new Sonny's BBQ. The Sonny's locally are very old, and they show it. However, the Eustis Sonny's was great. Large and bright, great staff, magnificent portions. All you can eat BBQ pork really sets the mood for the journey home. Especially not having to cook when you get there.

When you are faced with the business end of a .50 caliber rifle...

... duck.

Not for the faint of heart...



The rifle was probably a Barrett.

Misc. Christmas Ramblins

Well, beings that vacation is approaching, I'm gonna do my normal Friday post today. However, I'm changing things up to add a Christmas theme.

• What's in a word? Anagrams for Christmas include crams shit or misc trash.


• These folks have nothing in the Griswolds.


• Merry Christmas; here's a worm for you. To: Unsecure Computers From: Virus Writers


• Dancing around the North pole. Lap dancing, that is.


• How the grinch ruined Christmas with his Ford. Why do I have the feeling the incident was preceeded by "Hey Ya'll, watch this".

Now, normally, I end this type of post with some sort of gun pr0n. However, this time, I'd like to post a link to an interesting event for all office workers alike. Office Bricolage. Basically, take whatever you have around the office and make it into a weapon. Submit it and get it rated. Here is a link to last year's entries. The winning entry was a claymore-type mine.

Outsourcing reaches new heights.

thanks to MF'r for this one.

The AD&D way to make a sammich!

The art of making the perfect sammich is a subjective one indeed. It differs based on one's upbringing, culture, tastes, wants, and desires. For example, being raised in the South by parents that loved Elvis, a fried peanut butter and banana sammich is quite a staple. To others, a pastrami and Swiss on Jewish rye is the norm. I personally believe that the perfect sammich lives in the moment of its creation. Under the right setting, that left over meatloaf makes the perfect sammich.

Many people think that what goes inside the sammich is the most important ingredient. I disagree. I think that the sammich's foundation, the bread, is more important. You could take the most expensive deli meat in the world, but if it is put on sucky bread, you've made a sucky sammich. The converse is true, as well. Shit on a shingle is just that. My suggestions is to find a day old bread store. Locally, we have a Merita bakery that has outlet stores. They offer all types of breads for you to start your culinary monstrosity with. Do you want sourdough? How about Texas toast? Potato bread, perhaps? If you want it, you will probably be able to get it there.

As to the sammich's heart, you need the "meat". Now, you don't have to use animal flesh to have a meaty sammich. Grilled portobellos anyone? Anyways, most American's become indoctrinated into either lunch meats or peanut butter early in life. Main stream lunch meats, while handy and convenient, will never beat fresh sliced deli meats. Razor thin shaved ham or pastrami, while more expensive, is worth it. Again, it is all about what is desired at that moment in time.

The third part of making the perfect sandwich is the ancillary products that go on top of the meat, between the breads, if possible. Condiments, cheeses, vegetables, etc. are all examples of these ancillary products. You know, not many meat sammiches aren't accompanied by a cheese. They can be solo, but the perfect pair of meat and cheese is hard to resist. Now, not all of these products will stay on the meat or even between the breads. A favorite dish of mine is a beef roast that has been slow cooked in a crock pot overnight, with onions, potatoes, and carrots. The meat will fall apart, fork tender. You take your bread slices, lay them down over the plate. Scoop out the meat, veggies, and gravy all over the bread. Open-faced roast beef sammich. Gravy, the perfect condiment for almost any occasion.

Finally, I think what can make the perfect sammich experience (because it isn't just about the sammich anymore) is what partners it on the plate. Will it be fruit slices? How about the standard, chips? Garnish with pickle spear? It is open to the end-user/diner at this point, but you see that making the perfect sammich isn't so much about the sammich itself. It is all about the total experience enjoyed with the sammich.

College radio summed up in five words...

...dead air, um, dead air.

Sorry for the short post. It will probably be like this all this week. Getting geared up for vacation on Friday, so my mind is moving into "shut down" mode.

Reclaiming "your" word

Read panels 5 and 6, then apply it to a few lovely un-PC words you know about, especially the racial ones.

Misc. Friday Ramblings

Once more into the breach:

• Man Acquitted of Rape; Says He Was Asleep. Usually it is the women that sleep through the incident, at least in my experience.


• Is it the shoes? China doesn't think so. Nike should be apologizing for backing the sorry product that is the NBA, instead of a commercial.


• "We have to accept others but others have to accept our identity". Because if they don't like it, they can get the f_ck out. No person should have to sacrifice their core beliefs just because it could be offensive to someone else.


• The boardroom table is meant for weighty documents, not overweight executives. So stay safe, and no flaming puddings!

Obligatory friday gun pr0n! Respect the grips.



Speaking of heroes...





What Type of Villain are You?

Little lessons you learn in life

Two unidentified men beat a 17-year-old girl and left her for dead last week, and now police are asking for the public's help to find the culprits.

The three met at a Davie bar Dec. 1. When the teen asked to go home, the men reportedly offered her a ride. But instead of taking her home, they drove her to a deserted church parking lot 20 miles from the bar and demanded sex.

When she resisted, they beat her, police said, punching her in the head and kicking her in the face. They then repeatedly slammed the teen's head into a cement curb, knocking her out. Police said the suspects fled the scene, leaving the girl for dead.

The girl was able to give police some other information:

• She said the men drove a newer model black Mustang convertible with tan interior.


• One man's name might be Darin, or Justin. He spoke with a southern accent and claimed to be from Louisiana.


• The other suspect may be named Mike. He had multiple tattoos and the word "Creep" on his neck. He also may have been wearing a hat that said "Killer."

Is she a victim? Absolutely. She is also a major dumbass too.

Lesson 1: You are 17 years old. You shouldn't be in a bar.
Lesson 2: Never accept rides from strangers, especially if you are a single, underaged female.
Lesson 3: NEVER, EVER, accept a ride from a guy with "CREEP" tattooed on his neck and wearing a "KILLER" hat.
Lesson 4: If you haven't learned anything from lesson 1, 2, or 3, time to cholorinate your gene pool.

How about an female elf with huge.....tracks of land.

A word of warning to anyone new to the genre: these games require a lot of time and money to fully enjoy. There's no "game over" screen, and the goal is personal growth, not a high score.

Think of them as neverending virtual fantasies where you and thousands of other players, similarly sitting in front of computers, can interact and take part in a larger, overarching story.

Good or bad, tall or short, warrior or warlock, it's your choice to be whatever you want to be.

"EverQuest II" from Sony Online Entertainment is a sprawling, refined sequel to one of the most popular and influential online games in the United States.

"World of Warcraft," meanwhile, is a completely new offering from Blizzard Entertainment. The company, known for its real-time strategy games, brings the characters and settings from the older "Warcraft" series to the persistent world of Azeroth.

"EverQuest II" should appeal to hardcore gamers and fans of the original who can devote months of their life toward perfecting their characters. It was slow going at first. As a brutish barbarian, I had to invest hours slashing monsters before I could even enter Qeynos, one of two rival cities that serve as the true starting points for exploration and plundering in the massive land of Norrath.

From the start, "World of Warcraft" had a faster pace. After creating my character from a list of eight different races and nine different classes, I was battling critters, collecting treasure and gaining valuable experience.

"World of Warcraft" delivers immersion in other, more subtle ways. I never experienced a load screen while traipsing from one area to another. With "EverQuest II," load screens are common between different areas and serve as a reminder that I'm still playing a video game.

If I was on a budget and had to choose one right now, I'd go with "World of Warcraft." That's a personal preference, however, and if you prefer a more time-sucking challenge you'll probably find a lot to like with "EverQuest II."

I've played MMORPGs ever since the days of Gemstone on Prodigy. MMORPGs are a complete time sink, set in themes ranging from sci-fi to fantasy to comic books. My current MMORPG of choice is City of Heroes. However, I have tried out a few of the current releases and upcoming games.

I did play World of Warcraft during beta. It was a fun game, because it was very "first-time MMORPGer" friendly. The interface was simple, yet customizable. The difficulty increased only as your skills did. You could play alone or group easily. Quests were fun and rewarding. Skills and abilities allowed you to move into the realm of crafting objects for use or trade. If I wasn't playing COH, I'd be playing WoW.

I never played Everquest or Everquest 2. I do know folks that are playing EQ2, but some are really not caring for it much. They play it, then let their subscription die out after the free month is over with.

I have beta tested Lineage 2. While it was fun for a time, the game was set up so you had to "grind" through the monsters over and over again just to get to the next level. Nothing kills a game more than meaningless grinding. At least the dark elves had the biggest set of boobs I've ever seen on a player avatar.

I have also beta tested the upcoming Matrix Online. Wow, that is a rough game. I think they are trying to do too much with it, and it is over-complicated. It looked good, and kept the theme of the Matrix alive, but the interface and combat was completely overwhelming. After about two weeks, I removed it from my system. There wasn't any content holding me in the game. I don't see it making it.

My personal recommendation for this holiday season is City of Heroes. It is an easy game to get up and running quickly. You can have a super hero up to level 6 in about 30 minutes of play. The difficulty for a beginning player is spot on. Not too hard, not too easy. Of course, there are the super powers you get. Plus, it isn't set in a fantasy or D&D type setting. Finally, you get a comic book every month to boot.

If you decide to MMORPG this year, just remember one thing. It is a time sink. It does take dedication to succeed. Success isn't measured by a game over screen, but by the continual progression of story and character alike. If closure is something that you need in your life, a MMORPG isn't for you. Oh yeh, they also have a monthly fee to play. However, if you can live with all of that, GAME ON!

A date that will live in infamy....

Are ya achin? Yup, Yup, Yup. For some Bacon?

Packs of wild pigs are pillaging yards in the Fountainhead South subdivision. The animals emerge from thick brush on adjacent, unfenced Melbourne Airport Authority land, damaging landscaping and frightening residents.

Since Nov. 14, James Dean and Chad Penright have caged and bow-shot 23 feral pigs -- including a 380-pound brute.

Dean captured a 180-pound sow Friday morning, "and she was aggressive," he said.

Trespassing swine have been spotted along Wright Avenue and Corbusier Drive, congregating in rummaging hordes of up to 20 animals. One startled a woman who was taking out garbage.

Pigs also are suspected in the death of a pet cat, said Connie Canfield, a homeowners association director.

Canfield, who has a concealed-weapon permit, now carries a .38-caliber pistol during morning walks with her miniature terriers, Tiffy and Ace, in case of pig attack.

It is always okay to get a CCW just incase you are attacked by wild pigs. Guns don't kill people, pigs kill people. Still, feral pigs can be more than just a nuisance, spreading disease and killing wildlife. Maybe the numbnuts that voted for a constitutional amendment for better pig treatment can come up with some legislature to govern these pigs as well. You know that they will be law-abiding pigs, and they will follow the law. Just like criminals with guns do, everyday.

Criminals need to be banned, not guns

To the Times: The letter from Kim Osborn caused me to respond to many comments I have heard or read since the expiration of the assault weapons ban. About the Osborn letter, it’s always good to see young people express responsible opinions, but it’s always disappointing when those opinions are supported by inaccuracies.

After a dramatic opening, the Radnor High School journalism student goes on to define a semi-automatic weapon as an assault weapon that will "release a full round of bullets with one pull of the trigger."

I was not certain what that meant until I read on. An automatic weapon is defined as shooting "a single bullet with one pull."

Wrong. An automatic weapon will fire as long as the trigger is depressed until it runs out of ammunition. A semi-automatic weapon fires once, and only once, for each pull of the trigger.

Originally, the concept of an assault weapon was embodied in the German MP-38 and MP-40 submachine guns used in World War II. A weapon capable of semi- or fully automatic fire using a relatively light, but still very deadly, round for close infantry attacks.

One of the first statements I heard was assault weapons were more powerful than the police. I assume the speaker meant more powerful than police weapons. Interesting, because SWAT teams carry a variety of assault weapons -- M-16s, a variety of SIG submachine guns, and other nasty items that would certainly persuade me to end my evil doings were they directed at me. Even our local police have M-16s or AR-15s, a semi-automatic variant of the M-16.

Someone else commented there is no place in civilized society for assault weapons. Really? I hope the army and the police have a few ’cause the bad guys certainly get them.

I’m a law-abiding citizen and the Constitution says I have a right to keep and bear arms. Please don’t trot out that old saw that the founding fathers never envisioned machine guns. They beat one of the greatest powers in the world using, among other things, rifles accurate at three times the distance of the weapons with which the British were armed. Many in the British army thought it criminal that we would use such a barbaric weapon to kill their officers at great distances and leave their soldiers without commanders.

One I really love is "Stop the violence." Sure, but let’s define violence. The right-to- life crowd considers abortion violence. What about domestic violence? What about boxing or hockey games? What violence are we stopping?

Another popular mantra is assault weapons spray bullets. If you review the definitions above, you will see the original assault weapons did in fact "spray" bullets, as they were fully automatic. The weapons prohibited under the assault weapons ban were semi-automatic and only go bang once for each pull of the trigger. I suppose that a really fast finger could approximate a "spray" of bullets, but that’s a stretch.

Another comment was made by an inner-city preacher. He claimed assault weapons spur self genocide among African Americans. I wasn’t aware there was self genocide going on in the African-American community. Sadly, a great deal of young African Americans are shot, but it seems the shooting is often drug related. I’ll wager statistics would show assault weapons are involved only in a small number of shootings.

Many scare tactics prey upon our fears of being attacked. What is more fearsome than a big black ugly gun with a 30-round magazine and a bayonet on the end? Sure, that’s what we all know that drug dealers use in street battles and junkies use to hold up convenience stores.

Of course, there are no bad people, only bad guns. Imagine you are a felon about to hold up that store or drive down to the corner and shoot the competition. How are you going to conceal an 8-pound, 36- to 40-inch rifle when you walk into the store?

Or, driving up to the corner with your Kalashnikov in your Altima, you raise the 34-inch rifle to your shoulder and find there just isn’t enough room to put the weapon to use. These fellows are not going to use assault weapons, they’re gonna use handguns, or already illegal submachine guns, they are smaller and easier to conceal as well as easier to bring into action in small, confined places.

Someone commented that raising the ban would give terrorists, domestic and foreign, access to guns of mass destruction. I doubt very much that foreign terrorists are coming to this country for assault weapons when every black market in the world is selling stolen or surplus Soviet Kalashnikovs, Dragunovs, SKSs.

Domestic terrorists? Last I heard they were using heating oil and fertilizer, but perhaps they were law-abiding terrorists and didn’t buy during the ban.

Maybe the best comment I heard was at a meeting. The subject of weapons was not on the agenda, yet a lady stood up and commented upon how much danger we all were in since the ban had expired. She pointed out these very dangerous and very scary guns were once again flooding our streets and, I quote, "... they buy kits to make them even more dangerous...."

I’m stumped. Someone needs to tell me how to take a weapon that launches 115 to 180 grains of lead from anywhere between 1,800 and 2,500 feet per second and make that more dangerous. You want dangerous, get a short-barreled (not sawed-off, they’re illegal also) shotgun. The true dangerous weirdo will choose that weapon every time.

The assault weapons ban was feel-good legislation that accomplished little, if anything. I read many statistics that showed the weapons prohibited under this ban were responsible for a small percentage of crimes. The ban prohibited scary-looking guns and made no real difference to the general health and well being of most Americans.

If someone had two semi-automatic rifles, both chambered for 7.62x39, a common cartridge first produced by the Soviets, one could be completely legal and the other a prohibited weapon under the ban. If one had a fixed magazine and a straight stock with no military features, it would be perfectly legal under the ban, and in states where semi-automatics are legal for hunting, a nifty deer rifle. If the other had a pistol grip, flash suppresser, and a bayonet lug, leave it in the back of the closet ’cause its prohibited. No matter that it uses the same mechanism to fire the bullet and fires a cartridge of the same caliber at the same rate of fire, gun number two is wicked. Gun number one is not yet wicked, but perhaps we’ll get around to it in the next ban.

Please, forget about the gun control matter. Want to prohibit something that will have a real, measurable and positive effect on society? Ban criminals. Capture them, prosecute them, and sentence them appropriately. Don’t let them go on technicalities and don’t reduce their sentences or parole them. Make them pay the price of their deeds. Stop controlling law-abiding folks and start controlling the bad guys.

Also, commend the journalism students, but ask them to get their facts straight before they commit to print.

GEORGE A. ALBANY III

This is just one man's opinion, which I go along with. The ban is over, now stop prosecuting the gun owners and go after to gun criminals. Nod to my Dad for the link to this article.

Misc. Friday Ramblings

Ramblers, let's get rambling:

• Kerik Picked to Lead Homeland Security. Funny, I thought that Trogdor smote the Kerik with much burnination. Still, it is good to have a cop in a security position. Maybe the color coded warning chart will be changed to donuts.
  "Today, our security level is glazed, but we will raise it to cruller if need be".


• Bonds Admitted to Using Substances. These athletes are supposed to be smart guys. If someone came up to you and told you to try this mystery substance, would you?


• UN Reform Sought to Tackle Global Threats. Wow, coming out of the 40's and into the next century. Probably won't be able to get changes through until the 40's....2040's.


• Police find stolen donut truck. Contents missing. Coffee cups everywhere. Whodathunkit!


• Skynet lives!

  Four cameras and a pair of night-vision binoculars allow the robot to operate at all times of the day. It has a range of about a half-mile in urban areas, more in the open desert. And with the ability to carry four 66-mm rockets or six 40-mm grenades, as well as an M240 or M249 machine gun, the robots can take on additional duties fast

Obligatory friday gun pr0n! The lethal Talon robot.

Remember how I told you that I got some books at Thanksgiving?

Well, one of those books that I got at our family Christmas gathering was a book on stupid human behavior. It reads like a who's who of urban legends, but they are darn funny. One that I read today stuck out.

The driver of an armored truck appeared to be signaling for help as he repeatedly swung his door open. Six police cruisers chased and stopped the truck, which had been swerving left and right. As it turned out, the driver had simply tried to fan fresh air into the cabin after the other guard had passed gas.

Now, this forces me to tell The Mountasia Tale. Well, it just so happens that our fun-loving crew of Pat, WunderPunk, Ken, and myself was out one night in the early 90's at a putt-putt/arcade called Mountasia. Ken and myself were Street Fighter 2 addicts back then. You had the main room, which had three levels. Each level had a line of arcade machines on them. Ken and I were playing SF2 on the bottom level, far right of the line. I let one rip. Lets just say, we had mongolian BBQ that night, so it wasn't gonna be pretty.

I don't know how this happened, but from the far left of the room comes "OH MY GOD, WHO FARTED!?!?!?". One by one, each person at the machines, from left to right, backed away from their machine as the smell reached them. Except for one guy in the middle, obliviously playing Mortal Kombat 2. Everyone looked at us, but because the smell had somehow come from the other side of the room, I gave the nod to the poor guy in the middle. Lets just say that no one played the games on either side of him for quite some time. Ken leans over to whisper "Was that you?". I nodded with a sinister grin of satisfaction on my face. I cleared Mountasia.

Remind me to tell you the tale of the Punch, the Van, and Pat's acrobatics.

Get your patriotic juices flowing!

F*CK YEAH! Just be sure to put the headphones on first. Another classic from Trey Parker.

Big nod to Rez for this jewel.