In abstract

Yesterday disaster was averted. A young man broke into his parents gun safe and took two pistols and an AK-47. He stashed the machine gun in a bathroom on the upper floor of his high school. What did he plan on doing, aside from the obvious? We hear stories similar to this one all the time, except this was where my older two daughters attend school. That brought it all home for me. My kids were in danger and the school was in lockdown.
But don't take it from me, here's the local news blurb.

Here is where several things went right.

The parents of the boy notified authorities right away. Nothing like your parents confronting you at school about the two Glocks in your backpack. The school went into lockdown and the boy was apprehended without a shot being fired.

Can I breathe a sigh of relief now?
In a statement to police, the boy said he planned to make some demands over the school intercom. What those demands were specifically, we won't know for sure.
First off, he's a boy. A troubled teen. My daughters confirmed he is a 17 year old sophmore with special needs. That must be taken into account considering the serious nature of what he did.
My question: Why is a gun the first answer to a problem when it should be the last?
Was he having trouble at school with grades? Bullies? A girl? Could he have had a problem with the school cafeteria selection?
All of these problems could be solved without the use of firearms. His parents are gun collectors. You don't buy an assault rifle on a whim. So how did the boy get into the gun safe, and or bypass the trigger locks? I'm assuming they have a secure storage area such as a safe, 
One of my rules is that no system is foolproof.
Parents have gun. 
Child thinks 'toy,' and wants said gun. 
Child will figure out a way to get the gun. 
The question is how difficult are you, as a parent, are going to make it? The easy way would be to put protective locks on the pistols. Put the rifle in a gun safe. Under the bed or in a corner doesn't count.
If the boy is clever, he will look over his Dad's shoulders to get the combination, or find out where the keys for the locks are.
If you are a cautious parent, you make sure the combination is known only to one or two people... and no one is behind you.
Of course you don't have to have the weapons in the house, but that's just me.

The popular opinion that isn't

Gather around people, we have a little ground to cover. In this last week Dan Haseltine, the lead singer of the Christian band Jars of Clay, took to Twitter with the following:

Not meaning to stir things up BUT... Is there a non-speculative or non "slippery slope" reason why gays shouldn't marry? I don't hear one.

This was copied from Dan's Twitter feed. Needless to say, the backlash has been... predictable? Amazing? Disappointing?
Yes, to all three.
Predictable because I knew the knee jerk reaction would be: "In the Bible it says..." By that same token, ham and pork chops should not be eaten, you can make slaves of your neighbors. (Do they mean Mexicans or Canadians? I always get that mixed up.) And you are within your rights to stone that slut down the street to death.
Amazing, because the loudest opponents have closed minds. They can't change their opinion and refuse to allow anything or anyone to deviate from their narrow definition.
And sadly it is Disappointing, because so many of my friends are in non traditional relationships that work. Personally, I've seen two people in love build a life together and it lasted much, much longer than a 'straight marriage'. You can't legislate love.
In an effort to avoid controversy and anything resembling a stand, Christian radio stations have taken Jars of Clay off their playlists.
Where have I heard before? Oh, yeah. The Dixie Chicks. Remember them? They were critical of President Bush and subsequently got blacklisted from country stations all over. Looking back, fans and the music industry now have nothing but respect for Natalie, Martie, and Emily.
Show some backbone people, there's nothing to be afraid of.
Giving LGBT people the freedom to marry whom they choose does not take any of your rights away.
For straight people in a marriage, this will not change anything.
For single heterosexual people, this will not change anything.
This goes under my first rule: Your rights begin where mine end. Your freedom does not take anything away from mine.
Get over it people.

Last week I found the next step in getting my book published and my writing career established. I found a small publishing house that specializes in Texas based authors. Hooray, you say. But there's a slight catch: the story has to be professionally edited. Not to worry, I found a professional editor. After exchanging e-mails, web sites and synopses, I feel confidant that this is the way for me to go. This morning I let my wife read the exchange I had with the editor and she agrees with me: it's a lot of work and money, but it is the way to get the book out. The editor is willing to work with me and requires 1/3 of the money up front. She charges 14.00 a page, which I've heard in literary forums as standard. I've looked at her web page and checked her out. She's legit and not a scammer.
For my part, I'd have to come up with the money. Fourteen dollars a page at 499 pages comes to just shy of 7 grand. 2,500 of that up front. So my wife and I sat down and came up with a few ways to make that happen. If you want something bad enough...
My resume is already out and there are a few job positions which seem workable. Depending on my schedule I can work two jobs. One keeping the lights on, and the other going directly toward the editing. I should note I get a whole lot of bang for my buck. There are network connections and critiques of work. Character analysis and marketing development.
In short: this is it. Now I have to make it happen.
For now TR is sitting on Amazon with a self publishing company as a hard copy, awaiting purchase.
There is no one button, instant fame and fortune. We all wish there was.
A long uphill struggle, but it will be worth it.

Working for a living

Thanks for joining us this evening, my name is Will Malone and here's a recap of the important events.

• My Spurs are in the playoffs and Mark Cuban is a ninny.
• I still don't care what the Kardashians are doing and I have no idea what Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga sound like. I heard the good stuff, why settle?
• Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson are rock stars of the science set.

Standard rules I use on the blog:

• I will not use the names of my friends or strangers. Public figures/celebrities are fair game.
• This is not the place to promote political agendas or propaganda. I encourage fair discussion as long as you sign your name to the post. No Trolling people.
• As much as possible, I will try not to bring negativity in by telling you about sucky things in my work and life.
• I will concentrate on the positive.
• Find the good. In people, in events. Perpetuate the positive. Award and commend the people who do good things.
• Tell people they are awesome, even if they don't believe it themselves.
• The battle of flowers/ Fiesta begins Friday. I feel a barbecue about to happen. Memorial day tradition at my house: A toast to the brave veterans who served our country followed by 'You bring it, I'll grill it.'
• Philosophical discussion is encouraged after wine is served.

New rules can be added as needed.

What's the rush?

Every now and then, we need to lift our heads up and look around. Perhaps it's to get our bearings, maybe we take a breathe before diving back into the daily grind. Last week, I needed a reminder about how things are changing.

A blemish?

The Cassini spacecraft took this shot of Saturn's rings not too long ago. (The BBC article is dated the 16th.) That little bump in Saturn's A ring is 20% brighter than the ring itself. Scientists believe it is in fact a new moon. Nicknamed Peggy and if confirmed, it will become the 63rd moon to orbit the ringed giant. Peggy is roughly 1207 km (750 miles) by 9.7 km (6 miles) wide. This is why I'm such a big advocate for the space exploration. We caught a moon being formed on film... by accident!

Now the question remains: will it gain mass enough to escape the rings, or will it be pummeled by the icy ring itself? Of course, if it gets free of the ring, Peggy has to watch out for her 62 bigger siblings. Simply put, we don't know what is going to happen, but aren't we lucky we had a robot there to capture it by chance?

By the way, the current NASA budget kills the Mars explorer Opportunity and Lunar Reconnaissance missions. Just as Mtv doesn't play music anymore, NASA doesn't do space. The bean counters are killing space exploration. We have over a dozen crafts on their way or currently orbiting planets and moons. From Mercury to Pluto... and yes, this costs money. NASA's budget is 1.295 billion dollars and shrinking.

There is money and technology to be made out there. This is the new frontier. Putting a processing plant on the moon would certainly help our manufacturing base. A solar station at Liberation point 5 would give the earth cheap abundant energy. A colony on Mars would ease overcrowding here on Earth and ensure our survival as a race. We could be harvesting asteroids out by Jupiter and have an abundance of riches. We simply have to get there.

I just Googled a study done by the Midwest research institute of Kansas City, Missouri. The study concluded that the 25 billion in 1958 dollars returned 52 billion through 1971... and it is still growing. By the time 1987 rolled around, the payoff stood at 181 billion. That's a discounted rate of return of 33%.

The payoff is much bigger than people realize.

21.6 billion in sales and benefits

352,000 skilled jobs created or saved

355 million in federal corporate income tax.

And this was only between 1976 and 1984.

I posted this picture a few weeks back. Do you still think NASA doesn't effect everyone? We could be out among the stars right now. I would like you to call or write your Representative and demand an increase to NASA's budget. Want the link? 

Make the call. Want a better life? Write to congress. Want to see unemployment go down? You know what to do.

We work best when there is something to do, a goal in reach, and it's right at your fingertips.

Sunday night nerd fix

For the last few years I've been finding reasons not to watch Game of Thrones. For starters it was on HBO, and our budget wouldn't stand premium cable channels. I didn't know if the series was any good. By the time I heard what critics were calling the show, it was too late to watch it because I felt it was something you had to see from episode 1 or you wouldn't know what was going on.
So we got rid of the Time Warner cable a few years back. Last year we got rid of the satellite dish. In our consolidating budget, getting rid of our land line and switching to AT&T U-verse has been a generally positive experience. It's within our budget (Always a plus for me.) the picture is good and we have a nice selection of things to watch. The way it worked out was HBO was bundled with one package and it worked out to be ten bucks cheaper than if we went without it.
Then I found out about their on demand programs that were free. Two weeks back I began watching Game of Thrones from the beginning and I'm glad I did. To sum it up in one word: Awesome.
Now on to the other problem: I've set up the recorder to tape Cosmos, Game of Thrones, and another new series called Turn. They are all on at the same time. So my Sunday consists of watching one while the other two are recording, then watching them immediately afterwards. Makes for a late night getting to bed when I have to get up early for work the next morning.
A quick glance over my shoulder. Family Guy, the cartoon that comes on before Cosmos, is halfway over. People say it's funny. I've tried to watch it and found it... lacking. There's lots of other words I could put there. Juvenile, low brow, asinine. I don't get these cartoon shows the same way I don't get Duck Dynasty. The appeal of these shows baffle me. For my money I'd rather be entertained, informed, and engaged.
I rate Mythbusters up there as higher quality television than the Simpsons. After watching Cosmos, I find myself being hopefully optimistic about humanity.
A long time ago I took a film class at the community college. Some of my classmates were railing on Spielburg and how he made cinematic fluff like Jurassic Park. (That alone should tell you how long ago it was.)
My reply was simply this: 'Amistad.'
The class turned to me with this questioning sneer. Time to back up my statement.
"Spielburg makes movies that sell a lot of tickets, but movie enthusiasts like ourselves look down on them. He makes those movies in order to have the money to make the movies that matter to him. The Color Purple. Amistad. Empire of the Sun. These movies did not do as much in the box office as E.T., but I would argue they're equally if not more important films."
This shut everyone up. I think the teacher gave me a passing grade on that alone. At the very least I gave the hipsters something to think about before they categorically dismiss it.    
   

Can and can't

For the last week I've been having a dilemma. After my mediation with the EEOC, I expected Lowe's to give me the kid glove treatment... at least for a while. The agreement in the mediation, which I'm not allowed to discuss, would have meant that I keep my job and they would in turn leave me alone.
This lasted less than a week. For the last few days I've found myself  back in my old department. Several people got fired. One person had Reserve duty. Another guy went in for surgery. Today I worked straight through without getting a break or lunch or being relieved.
How does the saying go? An emergency on your part does not constitute a crises on my part.
In all fairness, who could have predicted management would have to fire two department managers and a guy who was there when the store opened five years ago? They're hiring, but getting rid of people quicker than they're being replaced. Hence, calling me late Monday night and asking me to cover Electrical. Alone.
Wanna know the best part? The guy running electrical now is having a worse time than I was. In the few days I've been in there, I noticed a few things. By themselves they're little things, but they quickly add up to major inventory problems. I've spent the last year actively ignoring the shrink budget for the store, but tonight I'd take a peek at it just to see if the current department manager is doing as poorly as I was. The powers that be at the time really made me feel like I was screwing up and couldn't do anything right. It really plays with your head. They really do a head trip on you in retail. There's a whole psychological factor in it. Every retail store would be in trouble if the employees suddenly decided to stand up for themselves. I'm guessing this is why everyone is against unions. Bullying the workers seems to be the way business operates. This is no way to run things. The last store manager actually laid out the corporate plan one afternoon. They want Lowe's to be run by only part time employees. The way they have it figured, it would cost them less if they had the entire work force be part time and temporary. 
The flaw as I see it is that part time employees equal part time loyalties. I've noticed the most dedicated workers are the ones that feel the company is taking care of them. If a business decides not to take care of its' employees, than the workers will not look out for the best interests of the business.
Start thinking long term, business type people.

much to do

There's a lot going on around town and at my house. We're gearing up for my daughter graduating high school. The battle of flowers is coming up this Friday with Fiesta next week. I'm gathering material for a weekend full of projects / things to fix. Travelers Road is now on Amazon as a paperback. Yippee!

A BBC article noting the 40th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons floated across my desk this morning before I left for work, now I can't find it. I almost made myself late this morning because I was skimming the article. In the piece they were talking about religious groups taking offense and denouncing it as evil and the devil's work. An old friend of mine nailed it right on the head many years ago. "Those people who try to act as if it's real, aren't wrapped too tightly in the first place."

Thanks Charlie, that sums it up very nicely. As we make our way in the world, I notice things aren't neatly divided into good and evil, black and white.The more I think about it, people aren't truly evil. No one wakes up in the morning and says; 'Let's strangle puppies today.' We do things with varying degrees of self centeredness. The more selfish you are, the bigger an asshole you can be to others. When people find out I role play, the reactions are a mixed bag. From, 'Oh really?', on to crying out 'Die Spawn of Satan!'

Listen up people: it's a mind exercise. It is pretend. Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, but with a heck of a lot of extras. Pen, paper and imagination. But most of all, it's harmless. People fear what they don't understand and some do everything they can to close their mind to imagination. The most depressing thing about the article? They suggest D&D is going mainstream. The horror... the shock. Dare I say trendy?
Yeah, those Hobbit movies and Avengers fighting across the screen? We nerds had that all those years ago and you're just realizing it now? Noobs...
Now if they will just come out with a Dragonriders of Pern movie, I'll be happy.