Mandolin Dreams

Following a week of misery from the catastrophic destruction of my beautiful and very beloved "Venice" model Lonestar mandolin (The headstock mysteriously cracked off while it was protected in a hardcase.), today has been a day of joy. Raina and I drove out to Big Muddy Mandolin, LLC (formerly Mid-Mo Mandolin) in Rocheport, Missouri and met with a great guy by the name of Mike Dulak.

For a extremely kind price he sold me a prototype mandolin that caught our eye the minute we walked in the shop. She was an experiment for him with Cherry wood used for the back and sides. She has an Englemann Spruce solid soundboard (Their tagline has been "No Frills, No Plywood"), a Mahogany head and neck, and Rosewood fretboard, bridge, and head laminate.

He replaced the standard tuning machines at my request with beautiful gold and pearl Grover model GX1247 tuning machines which boast a 21:1 gear ratio for very easy and very fine tuning.

It sounds absolutely beautiful and is a wonderful middle ground between the big Irish/Greek sound of my large soundbox pseudo-gourd-back style Venice, and the bluegrass style mandolins which I feel sound rather dead, but have a very bright attack with a very quick decay.

I'm absolutely in heaven and don't deserve (or rate) such a fine instrument. I am blessed with a wife who loves me very much and indulges my desperate longing for music and musical instruments (and, well... musical talent... no hope there) and who felt terrible for me when the mandolin I play nearly every day died such an untimely death.

Further kudos for Mike and Big Muddy... he was kind enough to throw in a very lovely used (not so as you'd notice however) high quality gig bag gratis, so I can keep this gorgeous little gel safe, gorgeous, and with me at all times. I need to name her, but inspiration has eluded me so far.

Pictures to follow soon I hope.

Tribute to Molly Bowden

Those of you who do not live in Central Missouri may or may not have heard of the events surrounding Officer Molly Bowden early in 2005. Our local paper has a wonderful article to bring you up to speed on who she is/was, what took her life, and those who love her and lost her.

Below are my thoughts in a letter to my Bagpipe & Drum band this morning. Our band will be playing at her memorial services, and I regret that I'm not skilled enough to join at this point.

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I just can't believe she's no longer with us. It all seems like a terrible nightmare that someone's going to shake the populace by the arm and say, "wake up, it's all right now."

I didn't know her, or really, anyone in our law enforcement, but I think everyone was pulling for her. I think everyone really felt as they listened, watched, or read the news reports that her condition had been upgraded several times, that she was out of the woods and that the worst danger was past and that we would have a live hero to adore rather than a martyred hero to morn with reverence and respect. It's almost like it happened twice. We were all shocked that anyone could still be alive after being shot three times at point-blank range, and, at least for me, thought that a stupid infection was just small potatoes to beat compared with the battle she had already won.

It feels like evil triumphed over good.

It all just seems surreal, like we're going to walk out of the darkened movie theater showing a movie that so skillfully creates "suspension of disbelief" into the bright sunlight of the real world... But we're not.

Spaying & Neutering Your Pet - Evil Conspiracy???

I have a Promise Keeper's bumper sticker on the back of my car. I've never been to a rally. This is not because I don't respect and promote what it is that they do. It is simply because I've less than NO INTEREST in sports. If they ever do a Promise Keepers rally where the message is analogized in terms of Geek life or Aviation, or Pet Ownership,... I'm there.. and I'm getting the message.

I digress. I have a "I love (heart) my Wife" bumper sticker on the back of my Voyager because I do, and I want the entire world to know it.

A friend of me recently chided me for not having all the suits of the deck of cards... as bumper stickers... E.g.,

• I (heart) my Voyager


• I (club)bed my Wife


• I (Spade) my Dog

I digress from my second digression... This is all a lead in for a topic which has been bothering me since we brought Bramblethorne Acorn Cepel home to live with us, and we weighed the option of having her spayed, or leaving her intact and raising one litter of her puppies.

Of course, EVERYONE told us that we HAD to spay our pup, not just in consideration of the overpopulation in the animal shelters, but also because it would add years onto her life expectancy, and if we loved her and wanted her around longer, we'd do it. They gave lots of 'evidence' that having a litter would shorten her life. (I'm feeling especially nervous about all my Mormon relative and inlaws now, several of whom have had families of 10 or more.) We neutered Thistledowne Oakleaf Cepel as well. Both are actions that we wish in some small way that we could 'take back'.

When I say EVERYONE, I mean EVERYONE!!

We were told this by several veterinarians, pet owners, and most importantly many many consientious (and holders of Doctorates in Veterinary Medicine I of course must assume) members of the Film Actors Guild.

Nevermind the fact that we are perfectly well and capable of assuring that Bramble never meet an intact boy dog while she's in heat. We've left our Border Collie that we brought back from Ireland intact...........To Be Continued.

Third World Countries?

I was speaking to day with my Thai National co-worker about the pros and cons of political correctness, and why I spoke a "Merry Christmas" on my blog instead of the more inclusive "Happy Holidays."

From there, I told him of my hatred for political correctness nonsense, and the fools who espouse it.

I told him that I call 'Black' people both 'Black' and 'American'. I call 'White' people both 'White' and 'American'. The same goes for American citizens who are of Mexican, Spanish, Korean, etc etc etc. Likewise I use inclusive terms when I am uncertain of absolute heritage for 'Hispanics', 'Asians', 'Africans', etc. I use these terms with the deepest respect. However, I will not call someone an 'African American'. That's just plain stupid, and I think, an insult to Americans everywhere, especially those of color. They are 'Black', and they are 'Americans', or they are 'Black Americans'. They are not 'African-Americans'. They may even be 'An American of African Descent' out of respect for their beautiful heritage. They are not 'African-Americans'. More to the point, They, We, Us, EVERYBODY are 'humans', and this rubbish doesn't really matter.

I'm an 'American of European Descent', but you don't feel an urge to call me a European-American, and I likewise don't feel an urge to kick you in the crotch. My family has been here for generations. I'm an American. Many (Most??) black citizens of this nation have been here for generations as well. They are Americans. As far as descent??? You can pretty much guess that by looking at us. You could also help a friend understand which of the two gentleman sitting on yon park bench has a coat that you think is pretty snazzy looking. It's the well dressed black professional looking guy with a briefcase and reading USA Today, not the white cross-dressing weight lifter in the Tu-Tu and wearing too much makeup sitting next to him.

I see (hear) more White Guilt Liberals calling those with genetic evidence of having a heritage at one time from Africa, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, etc 'African American'. I hear something quite differently when I hear them speak of themselves. 'Black', 'Hispanic', 'European', are all descriptors to aid understanding, they are not value judgments.

I am no more 'white' than Colin Powel is 'black'... we're a rich vibrant variety of shades of melanin. (D. C. Talk is Exceptional).

If you'd ever bother to notice, THEY ARE NOT OFFENDED! They are however offended by your patronizing political correct NONSENSE which helps you assuage your White Liberal Guilt.

So... I digress... This discussion led him to ask me what I though of the term "Third World Country", and he assigned this thought to me as the next topic for my blog. Frankly, I can see that he has a point. Not for reasons of 'political correctness' do I agree that this might be a phrase to refine and/or discard. It IS always used in the pejorative and it says very little about the status of a Nation or it's peoples. There IS NO book out there where some socio-political researcher has, hear by year published a new list of which nations are and are not holders of the status of 'Third World'. I've never heard the phrase 'Second World Country' used. Are there 'Second World Countries'?

It almost seems to me that the phrase 'Third World Country' is bandied about with little thought by anybody not referring to Germany, France, England, Australia, or the United States.

The TERM IS MEANINGLESS. What exactly is a 'Third World Country'? Does it denote medical, working, humanitarian, per capita income adjusted for cost of living statuses.

It seems to denote any nation which we have no respect for because they are NOT US, and don't seem to place values on OUR VALUES and IDEALS.

My co-worker quite aches when he hears the term 'Third World Country' used in reference to his beloved Thailand in all the news reports covering the Tsunami destruction.

I expect he feels that whenever someone uses this appellation, they are saying 'Third World Country' and thinking 'colossal disgusting refuse pit of humanity'.

Referring to Thailand as a 'Third World Country' makes no consideration for the great industrial advances they have made. Nor does it reference their deep and unique cultural heritage. It says nothing of improvements in medical, nutritional, educational, and income situations over the past years.

I would say, in conclusion, that if not a term to be abandoned entirely, it is certainly an term of laziness of thought. It is stating a disrespectful attitude towards these countries, and an unwillingness to take the effort to use a more precise form of reference.

Besides... it should be saved for those countries which really are colossal disgusting refuse pits of humanity. :) Or places which are a country unto themselves, like the U.N.

Are certain hamster wheels really dangerous?

Or is it an baseless popular urban legend. A fact that 'Everybody' knows, just like 'Everybody' knew not so long ago that the world was definitely flat, and that holding flowers in front of one's nose was a sure-fire preventative against contracting the plague, and that if one was overly amorous with one's self, that one would go blind.

The topic of discussion here are plastic and metal hamster wheels where the design consists of two metal or plastic 'rings' joined to each other by metal or plastic cross-pieces or 'treads', which were spaced uniformly apart from one another.

I've long heard that these wheels are dangerous to the feet/legs/lives of small rodents such as hamsters, gerbils, mice, rats and really tiny Yorkshire Terriers.

The supposition is that rarely does a critter hit EVERY tread dead on, and that as a result their leg/foot/paw/tail/other dangling appendage might drop between the quickly moving bars and be trapped there and snapped by the motion of the wheel, and I assume the inertia of its mass traveling away from it.

I've had hamsters off and on for the last 20+ years. 20+ years ago, these were pretty much the only style of wheel available. I've had probably upwards of 80 hamsters (Including litters that after being weaned are allowed to mature in their own cage [containing one of these wheels] a bit more before going to new homes), and I've NEVER seen this happen.

Not only do I lack a personal first hand account, I've NEVER seen or heard of ANY other first or second hand accounts, or documented occurrences or research of this happening...

Despite this... Everybody KNOWS it to be God's Honest Truth.

I may be poorly informed. I may just have the common sense to question things before I spout them off to others.

Who's to say that this isn't just a malicious rumor being spread by the manufacturers of Habitrail voidless wheels, or the manufacturers of the Silent Spinner, Wodent Wheel, Comfort Wheel, etc.

After all... it was the tobacco industry that bribed the government into declaring Marijuana a dangerous and therefore illegal substance. Wasn't it? Everybody KNOWS it to be true. Follow the money trail.

I for one question it using common sense.

These wheels are relatively low-mass flywheels that when abruptly stopped with a hamster inside, usually swing back 10-15 degrees and then oscillate 2-3 times and come to a dead stop at the bottom of the arc. Hamsters are very low mass critters with a low center of gravity and no tendency to 'pitch forward and "wrench" or "break"' an appendage as a human might if a foot is trapped while moving briskly forward.

I really see this as possibly being a situation where someone developed a fear of something because on the surface it seems plausible, and horrifying if it happened, and never applied critical thinking (or facts) to test the validity and likelihood of just such an occurrence.

This person would of course be someone with a big heart (and a normal sized mind... doing this wouldn't make them 'stupid', just a little reactionary) who would then rush to share their concerns with other small pet fanciers. It would then expand to the world at large with alarming rapidity with the backing legitimacy of something that has absolutely no basis in fact or reason. This is how most urban legends begin and continue life.

Now.. with that in mind, I do have a warning for those who do keep rodents and might be inclined to purchase the following wheel from Wal-Mart, or PetCo where I've seen it sold... (By the way, I'm not one of those nutters who goes all out against PetCo. My local PetCos are wonderful, and safe. I've no doubt that there have been some rotten apples in the bunch, and perhaps even a reluctance on the part of corporate to investigate and clean house... but nothing justifies this idiot campaign against them.)

This I call "The Wal-Mart Wheel 0' Death which doth sever and rend thy hammy in twain."

Now... in all fairness, while I purchased the wheel at Wal-Mart, the image is linked directly off of PetCo's website.

In it's 'attached to cage' AutoBot/Transformer/Macross configuration, its perfectly safe... See http://hamstercam.bramblethorne.org for such a configuration in use.

In it's unaltered (as shown) 'self supporting' AutoBot/T.... configuration its a veritable slice and dice and make julienne hamsters (I don't know if it juices or not) Wheel 'O Death!.

Imagine for a moment if you will... several hamster adolescents recklessly driving their wheel with speeding abandon to the sharp curve ahead in the road... Sealing their fate to be plunged into...!!!!... The chasm of despair that is caused by, "The Wal-Mart Wheel O' Death".

They are all running that wheel in the same direction, hell bent for leather. If you've ever seen a hamster in its wheel, it does not actually have feet or legs, or actually in fact touch the spinning wheel. In fact it hovers about a quarter inch above the rotating surface, making marvelous use of the ground effect phenomenon, the Bernoulli's principle, and of course the famous vertical Coriolis effect which I've just made up.

Now.. Tragedy may strike if one hapless hammy somehow gets near the place where the crossbar support that runs along the bottom edge of the wheel meets the spinning edge of the wheel. This may happen for any one of a number of reasons. The first is... Hamsters are not especially bright. I've never known one to hold a PhD. The second, and more common is the fact that for every three hamsters running inside the wheel, there 3 more trying to get inside and being flung across the cage, and three more are running ON TOP of the wheel, or at least, trying to. Its a recipe for disaster.

The final component to this Ford Pinto like firetrap is the fact that the cross bar which forms half of the throat constriction/narrowing danger spot, is itself very flexible. This allows, with enough force, for a hamster to be push/pulled far enough into that throat and completely between the two opposing sides of the wheel edge and the crossbar, but not enough flexibility for the hamster to possibly make it through to the other side with minor or major damage. The strong plastic creates a viselike, scissor like pinch on the hamster, and prevents the hamster (if its still alive) from escaping it's clutches. One other thing to note is that the wheel has a lot of trapping friction due to its crenulated edge, and that for some BONEHEAD reason, the inside edge of the crossbar is sharpened to a fairly keen edge that is composed of LESS THAN 90 DEGREE angled sides, making it a fine chisel point.

Try running your finger through there to the other side.

When you've passed out from exhaustion after running around screaming about this devil device which is cutting your finger off and won't let you free yourself, someone with a kind heart can pull the two halves apart and free you and hopefully put a Band-Aid (tm) on your Boo (tm).

Our hamster however was not so lucky. Her ribcage was the part of her caught in-between the wheel and cross piece. Her ribcage was crushed and her heart, lungs, etc., were all forced down into her cavitas abdo'minis et pel'vis. Or in layman's terms, it crushed her and turned her into so much ground hamster.

I was so angry and upset when it happened that I shattered the devil thing against the far wall. My wife (the sensible one) prevented me from destroying the three others we had bought at the same time but had not yet 'installed'. This should give a clue about how long it took for this to happen. Two days. We had the thing in the bloody cage for TWO DAYS and it munched a beautiful little juvenile hamster.

Conclusion. But a Silent Spinner. Buy a Wodent, or comfort wheel. Maybe even buy one of the new mesh floored/tread metal wheels. But don't buy this thing if you intend to leave it in it's 'Stand Alone' configuration, unless you really hate your hammy. Whatever you buy however. Buy it for the right reasons and based on sound research. Don't buy or choose not to buy based on hype.

If you've gotten this far, then you'll probably also realize that you should 'not take my word for it'. There may be first hand accounts and research that the cross-treaded with voids between wheels are dangerous. There may be a gruesome memorial website showing pictures and the guilty wheels who did the damage out there with the words "Never Forget" in 96pt bold font at the top of the page. I've just never run across such. It doesn't mean that such isn't out there.

Hey! Good News! Planned Parenthood is in the Black for 2004

http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0034986.cfm

According to family.org (I love these people), "Group performed about 250,000 abortions and made $35 million in 2004."

Isn't this just _Great_ news???

I’ve got to find time to work on http://WhatIsPartialBirthAbortion.org/

No wonder the government won't tolerate any interference with Planned Parenthood... It's a cash cow!

I'm going to be sick.

Merry Christmas

Allow me to very likely be the first to wish you such in today's asinine social environment.

I won't begrudge you a 'Happy Holidays' either, but I more strongly wish for you a very Merry Christmas, and wish for God's blessings to be upon you and yours.

Gee, I hope the ACLU doesn't come after me.

Click here for a good summation of the shenanigans that are imposed upon good people who deserve better this year.

Merry Christmas!

Hamsters Hamsters Hamsters

We've been having fun with our baby hamsters and a new WebCam.

http://HamsterCam.bramblethorne.org

Sub-humans - Why has nothing been done?

What can be done?

Who has ever entered the men's room of a movie theater on a Friday or Saturday evening and actually found a stall that has not been rendered unusable by some form of human excrement.

I am of course referring to both the substance and that which put it there.

How can one human perpetrate this insult and assault on a fellow human? What goes on in the mind of these foul sociopathic (socio-pathetic) miscreants?

I do not even understand the motivation behind this behavior. Is there an explanation? Is it an explanation that would ever see the light of day outside of some obscure medical journal dealing with matters of deviant human behavior?

What can be done. I would think this behavior would classify as some sort of felony assault against society.

How to gather evidence. Ah, there's the rub. How many police would show up for a sting operation where each time a gent enters the pristine loo, he is arrested if the toity has been fouled?

Is there DNA in urine?

Quoteworthy - From Family.org

"I will not forget the wound to our country and to those
who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I
will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and
security for the American people."

-- President George W. Bush