Motley Moose – Archive

Yep, that’s right. Just like the Title says… “I Shoot” AND “I support Gun Control”. Not Gun Bans (though I understand the call for bans on “Assault Weapons” and I can see why people do support this – I am agnostic on them leaning towards supporting the ban), but reasonable Gun Control.

I add this so that people have some context.

Understand…. I am no pacifist. At one point I thought I was. I was wrong. I practice a very aggressive style of Martial Arts called Krav Maga. I do abhor violence for the purpose of assault or other crimes and I would NEVER initiate violence for that purpose. But I do enjoy fight sports and enjoy sparring. I think people should be fully equipped with knowledge of how to defend themselves if the need arises

I need to figure out this problem diary because I have one.  So I am going to tell you all about it and let you make me feel better then we are going to vote on the official name for the diary which I have now decided will be on Fridays.

So here is my rant

As you may know, my house is for sale.  It is a lovely 100 year old bungalow.  Nice neighborhood, good schools, updated kitchen and baths, original but refinished hardwood throughout.  Very pretty, homey little house.

With a basement.

I am not from an area where basements are common.  Everything in Oklahoma is built on a slab except  the WPA stuff at Fort Sill but I digress.  Sump pumps are a mystery to me.  Well I went downstairs last Saturday night to get a bottle of wine from the basement (we make our own so we have to store it downstairs cause there is ALOT).  I noticed the sump pump was on.   Weird.  January and all.  So about a half hour later I checked again, still running.  So I touched it.  Hot!

So I unplugged it.  My husband came home and we discovered that the mechanism that turns it of was rusted out so we got a new one.  Also found that the hose outside the house was full of ice.  Fine, due for a warm up earlier this week, we unhooked it, all is good.

Except, my sweet husband hooked it back up last night due to all the rain.  This AM I checked it prior to jumping on the shower.  It turned on just a I walked into the basement area where it is located.  The water was trying to pump out, hitting a blockage in the hose and shooting all over the wall around where it leaves the house.  Gallons of it.  All over the basement walls and floor.

It appears an animal had built a nest inside our hose and that was the blockage,  we have a new one now.  The leaky points of the pipe exiting the house are repaired and I have bleached the walls, floor so much that I am lightheaded.  Fan and dehumidifier in that area.

When we put our house on the market our realtor joked that we better watch out.  Your house gets mad when you sell it.  In one month a new water heater and now this.  Can we be done now?

Just wanted to post a single diary to keep everyone updated on some community members from GOS, since there’s such a high crossover.

First – commonmass has a new diary about GMB02:

Update on GMB02’s Health Crisis – Hope and Change

They are working to wean him off of the ventilator using what is essentially a high-powered version of the CPAP people with sleep apnea use. In order to do that, they have had to “wake him up” from the deep sedation he was under. He knows me, and our priest, and his family, and he also knows he’s still intubated–which is not pretty to watch. However, they do have to “wake him up” to do this and there is hope that they can get him to an assisted rather than dependent breathing full-time in the next couple of days. His dialysis is less constant and his kidney and liver function is steadily improving. There is some (very common in ICU’s) staph pneumonia related to his intubation which is responding to treatment and his blood infection responded to treatment. He’s going to be in the hospital for a while, and his organs are beginning to function, but he’s not out of the woods.

Definitely better than we thought the situation was last week, but still a long road at this point.  

Second, Teacherken’s wife, Leaves on the Current, is also in the hospital with a mass on her spine.  His latest diary is here:

So now we wait

Just found out they have ordered another MRI, this time of her entire thoracic spine –  I think just to be sure they have all the info and to verify the location and size of the mass on her back.

They’re waiting on biopsy results at this point and his wife has been fitted with a back brace (they were worried about the mass damaging her spine).

And third, I posted about LoreleiHI last night, who posted a plea to help her get away from her spouse, who is currently in jail for domestic violence:

A Plea to those in Maine

From one of her comments, it appears she found someone she could stay with:

In good news, a Kos lurker who’s local contacted me, so there might be a solution in the works. I’m crossing my fingers.

On this day in history an earth-shattering event occurred. Jack Lloyd Wilson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. What do you mean it wasn’t an earth shattering event? He was my Dad and that makes it a pretty momentous occasion.

Dad never had it easy in his life. His mother died when he was a very small child. His stepmother was out of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales (think Snow White and Cinderella). He put himself through school. He worked in the CCC camps to support himself. He made it on his own. He made it through with a sense of humor that bordered on the bizarre. He was always generous, especially to his children and only grandchild. You can read his life story in his own words here.

I became my most politically active when I went away to college. Through phone calls and long letters Dad listened to me, gave me advice, and most of all never, ever told me to stop. I know there were times when he was terrified at his head strong daughter out canvassing the street trying to get signatures on a sensible gun control legislation. I know he was worried that my very vocal support of equal right for the LGBT society would put me into the kind of dangerous hatred that we see constantly about Gay rights.

One of the most important things my Dad taught me was to have an open mind. He encouraged me to read and we happily traded books throughout our life together. Dad and I had the same fascination about the paranormal. After poring through numerous books we decided to go with Hamlet when he said “there is more in heaven and earth Horatio then is dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Dad was a true middle-of-the-roader when it came to politics. He was amused by my liberal politics and would debate me about my ideas not to try and talk me out of them but to make sure that I thought carefully about them and was certain that this was my philosophy.

He was very proud of me and the science fiction conventions I ran because I donated all profits to charity. He was proud to realize that he had instilled in his only daughter a desire to help the peoples of this planet as well as the planet itself.

He was my best critic when it came to my art and writing. He was my biggest fan when it came to my cooking. I was visiting for a week and as always I cooked that week. He took me to the grocery store and introduced me to some of his friends who he ran into. He said, “This is my daughter Michele. She is the finest cook I have ever known.”

My Dad was a World War Two veteran. I wish they had finished the WWII memorial in his lifetime. I would have loved to take him to see it.

It is the little things I am remembering today especially his sense of humor. I remember taking him to the first Star Wars movie. His first comment on leaving the movie was “target practice at 0800 hours.” I remember having an extra ticket to see John Denver and asking him along. I thought he was just being kind since my car was on the fritz and he was driving but on the way home he started talking about how much he loved John Denver’s music and how happy he was to have seen him live. I remember his asking if I wanted to throw a football or play softball with him. He was never sure what do with an only daughter and was thrilled when I turned out to athletic. Only one of the four boys turned out that way so Dad taught me all the sports he loved. I remember the “uncola” glass at my Aunt’s place one Easter. 7-Up had come out with an upside down coke glass as a promotional. Dad called out to me “Michele quick put you hand under the glass the bottom just broke.” I did and he laughed so hard he almost dropped the glass.

So happy birthday Dad. Keep beating Mom’s relatives at cards up there like you did down here. I love you and miss you so much.

Yesterday and today, Internet Explorer users are reporting problems with commenting on the Moose.

Let’s try to gather the problems and troubleshooting steps we have tried here so that the techs are not running all over the threads tying to figure stuff out.

UPDATE 01/31/2013 4:30am RPT:

Internet Explorer Problem Update

Internet Explorer users cannot Post a Comment or Reply to a comment because of a bug in the Sharing buttons attached to each diary page (specifically the [inShare] button from LinkedIn).

The workaround is to do a right-click on the date/time stamp of the comment and choose Open in a New Tab. The new tab does not have the Share buttons and you can compose and post your reply.

This information has been passed on to the Moose. I am hoping they can remove the button. It is also causing a slowdown when loading a page because the code that is failing is related to page scraping.

Happy Wednesday, friends! January is almost over. As I asked a friend yesterday, do you have your Christmas shopping done yet? It will be here before you know it!

I have questions: What is the most difficult dish you ever made (successfully)? As kids many of us were stubborn and very closed minded about things. Food is one. I hated everything except Macaroni and cheese, but once I was out on my own, I learned to love all kinds of food. What foods did you hate as a child that you have grown to love today? How about music? Teenagers can be awfully contemptuous about what Mom and Dad like to listen to. What music did you not like as a kid that you have grown to appreciate, if not love, today? What is your thermostat set at?  What was your favorite childhood toy? Do you still have it?

From my Tweetfile to yours:

I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs.I hear they have to pick up food they drop on the floor.

— A Guy Named Kelly (@kellysdf) January 19, 2013

What wld America b w/out immigrants? I’d ask the natives but we killed most of them.

— Tina (@trcfwtt) January 29, 2013

Some folks don’t give a fuck where they drop an f-bomb.

— socratic (@socratic) January 30, 2013

“Buzzfeed: Ten numbers before the number eleven that you HAVE to know”

— Steve Murray (@NPsteve) January 30, 2013

We talk abt border sec like it’s been exercising since 07 and now it’s buff. Not so. It’s been on steroids & now it’s ragey and musclebound.

— Dara (@DLind) January 30, 2013

LeBron is too lovable to hate anymore and Palin is too irrelevant to annoy. I’m one great Nickelback song away from being totally lost.

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) January 30, 2013

Paul Ryan is 43 today, but says “I’d be only 38 if it weren’t for Obama’s policies that are ruining this country.”

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) January 30, 2013

REMINDER: The only people coming for your guns are your kids. Lock them up.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 30, 2013

For those who are new … we discuss books.  I list what I’m reading, and people comment with what they’re reading.  Sometimes, on Sundays, I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.

If you like to trade books, try Bookmooch

I’ve written some book reviews on Yahoo Voices

Just finished

(started and finished) Taken by Robert Crais. This is the latest in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. For those who don’t know the series, these are two very tough detectives. This novel begins when Cole is contacted by the mother of a young woman who has disappeared and then called with a ransom demand for $500. The mother thinks she has run off with her boyfriend,  but the truth is much darker: She has been captured by bajadores: Criminals on both sides of the US-Mexico border who prey on undocumented workers. After that, there’s a lot of action and violence and the plot keeps zipping along. NOTE: There are scenes of torture, not overly graphic, that may be disturbing to some.

Snakes can’t run by Ed Lin A mystery/police procedural set in NYC’s Chinatown in the 1970s. “Snakes” is a slang term for illegal immigrants.  Although there is some good atmosphere of Chinatown, the prose (and especially the dialogue) is kind of clunky.

Now reading

Cooler Smarter: Practical tips for low carbon living  by the scientists at Union of Concerned Scientists, a great group. These folk make sense, concentrating on the changes you can make that have the biggest impact with the least effort.

Thinking, fast and slow  by Daniel Kahneman.  Kahneman, most famous for his work with the late Amos Tversky, is one of the leading psychologists of the times. Here, he posits that our brains have two systems: A fast one and a slow one. Neither is better, but they are good at different things. This is a brilliant book: Full of insight and very well written, as well.

What hath God wrought? by Daniel Walker Howe. Subtitled “The transformation of America 1815-1848. I am reading this with the History group at GoodReads.  This is very well written, and does a good job especially with coverage of the treatment of Blacks and Native Americans.

The hard SF renaissance  ed. by David G. Hartwell.  A large anthology of “hard” SF from the 90’s and 00’s. I think Hartwell takes SF a bit too seriously, but the stories are good.

On politics: A history of political thought from Herodotus to the present by Alan Ryan. What the subtitle says – a history of political thought.  

Far from the Tree: Parents, children and the search for identity  by Andrew Solomon.

The title comes from the phrase “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. This book is about apples (children) who did fall far from the tree (parents). This book got amazing reviews and it grabbed me from the opening:

“There is no such thing as reproduction. When two people decide to have a baby, they engage in an act of production, and the widespread use of the word reproduction for this activity, with its implication that two people are but braiding themselves together, is at best a euphemism to comfort prospective parents before they get in over their heads”

I don’t agree with all that Solomon says, but this is a book to make you think about deep questions of humanity.

Rayburn: A Biography by D. B. Hardeman. A very admiring look at Sam Rayburn, former speaker of the House.

He, she and it by Marge Percy. Really only a couple pages into it, but it’s near future dystopian SF set on Earth.

Just started

Nothing this week

  Make sure you let your peeps know where to find you!  

China’s plan to build hydro dams over Salween river – in pictures

Guardian:  Photo Essay

Asia’s last free flowing river originates in Tibet, runs through Yunnan and flows into Burma and Thailand. The folds and bends it creates sustain millions of people and a rich biodiversity of plants and animals. A mega plan to build multiple dams threaten both local people and wildlife

A sidebar discusses “Grand Canyon of the East”  

No room for retired generals, judges in interim govt: PPP

Dawn.com:  Khaleeq Kiani

As part of its broad election strategy, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party has decided in principle to have non-political personalities inducted as caretaker prime minister and provincial chief ministers, to dissolve all assemblies by mid-February and hold elections for national and provincial assemblies on the same date in the middle of May.

A senior PPP leader who attended the meeting of the PPP core committee on Monday told Dawn that the party would not approve of any retired military officer or retired judge for the slots of interim prime minister or chief ministers. He spoke at length about the key decisions taken by the PPP for elections, but declined to talk on record.

He said the PPP leadership decided that the five key positions – the interim prime minister and four chief ministers – would be filled with non-controversial personalities like reputed former bureaucrats or persons of integrity, citing the name of former ambassador to the United Nations Hussain Haroon as example.

According to the PPP leader, the exact date for dissolution of assemblies was discussed, but it was agreed that assemblies be dissolved by middle of February and elections held within 90 days by mid-May. He agreed that delaying elections beyond mid-May was not in the interest of the PPP because of hot weather and the loadshedding.

Hopefully, Pakistan should settle down a bit with this news.  

Sinn Fein says sorry for IRA killing of Irish cops

AP:  SHAWN POGATCHNIK

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams apologized Tuesday for the Irish Republican Army’s killing of seven police officers and soldiers in the Republic of Ireland, the latest such statement of regret over past bloodshed to come from the IRA-linked party.

Adams expressed remorse during a parliamentary debate about the security and political response to Friday’s fatal shooting of a police officer in the border town of Dundalk. Detective Adrian Donohoe, 41, was shot in the head as he tried to stop a gang robbing a cash collection van outside a bank. An IRA faction based in the neighboring South Armagh region of Northern Ireland is suspected of involvement.

Donohoe was the first policeman to be fatally shot in the Republic of Ireland since 1996, when members of the dominant Provisional IRA faction ambushed another cash-carrying van in Limerick and killed police guard Jerry McCabe. The Provisionals killed a total of six policemen and one soldier during their failed 1970-1997 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. The Irish security-force members all were shot as they tried to stop IRA bank robberies or free IRA hostages.

This seems late, and I wonder if Sinn Fein will apologize for anything else . .

Thick smog closes airports and highways across China (updated)

South China Morning Post: Stephen Chen

As of 11:00am on Wednesday, the Web site of Beijing’s Capital International Airport shows that about a dozen domestic flights between Beijing and major northern Chinese cities have been cancelled or delayed. Up to 15 international flights have been cancelled. Affected destinations include Tokyo, Istanbul, Moscow, Kuala Lumpur, Chicago, Franfurt and Helsinki.  

Thick smog covered almost one seventh of China yesterday, causing traffic chaos on highways and disruptions at airports.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said satellite images showed smog covering an area of 1.3 million square kilometres by 10am, a third more than on Monday and spanning more than 10 municipalities and provinces.

Serious air pollution was recorded in northern cities such as Beijing and Shijiazhuang and southern cities such as Wuhan and Chengdu .

It was the first time the ministry had released satellite data on the extent of smog, which had also plagued China on three other occasions this month, but it did not release the actual images.

It’s not just Beijing.  

NUM provided members with weapons at Marikana

Mail & Guardian: Maryke Vermaak

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) member and Lonmin employee Saziso Gegeleza testified on the events of August 11, when striking workers tried to attack the union’s office at the Lonmin platinum mine in the North West.

Karl Tip, representing NUM, asked him if there were usually weapons kept at the NUM offices, to which he replied: “No”.

Gegeleza said NUM shop stewards had confiscated the weapons from striking miners.

He said NUM western platinum branch secretary Daluvuyo Bongo handed out weapons as they heard a group of strikers were heading towards the office to burn it down.

“I was given a knobkerrie and a spear.”

Mining, labor rights, violence, economics.