Monday Musings...

Welcome to a soggy morning in the Heartland, but that will subside soon enough giving way to a relatively nice October day.
We're still drying out from the wind and rain we endured yesterday, even though it wasn't MUCH in the way of precipitation...not even an INCH (we're still over 6 inches below the normal rainfall totals this year).
So get ready for the news that's fit to print...or is that print to fit?
Got some good...some bad...and some ugly out there today. No one ever said all the news was pretty, right?
In any event, let's get this show on the road...
*** First up, Gary Collins dies at the age of 74 from natural causes.

Many of you might remember him from the Miss America Pageant (he hosted it back in the 80s), or the show The Sixth Sense, or numerous Love Boat episodes...or even the DUI he incurred a couple years back.
Here's the WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Collins_(actor)
And the story from the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-gary-collins-dead-20121013,0,7781458.story
I always thought him to be a good actor, and it's a shame the DUI and leaving a restaurant without paying (in 2011) had to soil his reputation.
Not to mention, he married a beautiful woman (Mary Ann Mobley, former Miss America).
*** Arlen Spector, former senator dies.

When I think of Arlen Spector, the PA senator who changed parties and was always left-of-center even AS a republican, I think of the BENEDICT ARNOLD of the Pennsylvania GOP. Sorry, but I never really liked the guy, no matter what party he belonged to.
He was 82 years old, and here's the story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arlen-specter-dies-he-was-pennsylvanias-longest-serving-senator/2012/10/14/4b428a96-c5dc-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html
And now for something a bit less depressing...
*** Did anyone take the time to watch Discovery Channel yesterday when Austrian helo pilot (and daredevil) Felix Baumgartner broke the world's record for the highest free fall and manned balloon flight?

I think it was three hours well spent (imho), because I remember as a very young boy watching similar balloon flights to the upper atmosphere (manned and unmanned) when they put those on TV.
Well, we didn't really have a MANNED space program back then, did we?
(And we had THREE channels on TV.)
This accomplishment ranks right up there with Nick Wallenda crossing Niagara Falls...it's HISTORY, folks, and we're all part of it.
And it was COOL!

To watch a man spend over TWO hours rising to an altitude of over 120,000 feet, where the pressure, temperatures, and air are about as rare as a Republican in Los Angeles, and then leave that capsule he was in to free fall for over FOUR MINUTES in a pressurized suit much like an astronaut would wear, opening his parachute and finally returning safely back to earth was simply amazing.
Terminal velocity was reached at about 834 MPH during the free fall, and that's PLENTY to break the SOUND BARRIER.
-- And it might interest you to know that YESTERDAY'S date was especially important...

It was back on 14 OCTOBER, 1947, that CHUCK YEAGER first broke the sound barrier in the Bell Aircraft X-1 rocket plane.
For Felix however, he did it WITHOUT a plane...that's just freaking incredible.
The record was last set 52 years ago by Joe Kittinger at 108,000 ft.
And to think this all took place over Roswell, N.M. yesterday.
Congratulations to Felix...and I wonder how he could possibly top this?
Not bad for a 43-year old...or for human perseverance and ingenuity.
*** The season premiere of The Walking Dead did not disappoint.

Lots of head shots (with and without guns), and I will admit that when Rick's group entered the prison compound (yes, they found the place) they might have hit on the perfect way to "decrease prison overcrowding"...!
I will admit that locking oneself in a cell block is a bit disturbing, but the alternative of being available for the zombie "buffet" isn't really an option.
If they can make it to the armory and commissary, they have got a good chance of settling in for a spell.
It was weird to see prison GUARDS as zombies, because they still have the Kevlar vests and riot helmets on...that makes it a bit more difficult to drop them easily, but the group managed well enough.
Should be a very interesting season, with some surprises tossed in (as usual) for good measure.
*** This story was one that SHOULD have made it to every news source in Fort Wayne, but alas, it was ONLY covered by the FOX affiliate (WFFT) and WOWO news radio...and I wonder WHY the hell that was...

Here's the story (with video):
http://fortwaynehomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=71912
I was VERY surprised to NOT see this covered anyplace else, especially since it happened down on the...(...all together, folks...)...SOUTHEAST SIDE of town.
I guess if another station "scoops" you, it's "ignored"?

Here we have a family (?) of at least FIVE Hispanics (that were in this house) who had their house shot at and hit at least THREE times yesterday in BROAD DAYLIGHT around 1500 hours at Hanna St. and Rudisill Ave.
Amazing that the one resident interviewed (nice arm tatts) could NOT (or would not) speak ENGLISH...I'd check his "green card", just in case.
The shots apparently were the result of some altercation between people in a grey car and an older model white Buick parked out front of the house. There is nothing to suspect that either car was involved with the people AT the house...
FWPD have no suspects and no leads at this time (typical).

Cars just pull up and park to "conduct business" around here on almost any given day...and no one seems to care or bother to call this suspicious activity in. And with the FWPD hampered by the lack of TWENTY-ONE officers they SHOULD have on the streets, it is fast becoming a logistical nightmare.
Cripes, the 440 officers we're AUTHORIZED to have won't be able to cut it if this sh*t keeps up (which I can say that it will...I know human nature pretty well by now). We will need MORE that 440 officers, and pretty damn soon.
I always report suspicious activity when I see it, and that can net arrests...drug arrests usually, but that's what happens when someone gives a rat's ass. When people turn a deaf ear and a blind eye...crime will thrive.
It's that simple to figure out.
Now, without a direct contact for the SE quadrant at the FWPD (other officers that I know aside) that severely inhibits my ability to provide good "eyes and ears" to my area, although I still do take pictures (like you always see here) and keep records.
Still, the fact that this story was not covered by ANY other media source should be troubling to any and all decent residents that still live down here.
And those other media outlets SHOULD be taken to task for not reporting this.

I get a daily email from a website called SPOT CRIME, and it shows all the "activity" within a specified radius of our "Fortress".
You can do the same thing with YOUR neighborhood.
Here's the website:
http://spotcrime.com/
ANY city in ANY state...you can look it up and see what's been going on...near you (or family and friends)
*** Lastly today, it makes you wonder if some "zombie apocalypse" isn't already under way...
Sure, maybe those "undead" aren't REALLY in such a state...maybe they're just STUPID (would that make them the "UNSTUPID"...LOL?)
In any event, we're seeing a boldness and reckless abandon for human LIFE ( and that most certainly involves the LIVING).
And we are tasking our LEOs out there to keep up with the growing problems...with FEWER officers to do the job.

I'm sorry, but when a city is BELOW the national ratio of officers to citizens, that's (as the rock group Molly Hatchet once sung about )..we're FLIRTIN' WITH DISASTER!
There are days when I try to begin the day without a sense of rage over things like this...and I fail miserably.
I just care about our future, and wonder why everyone isn't held to the same standards and obeying the same rules?
You like to go through life with AS FEW problems as possible, because we all know problems have a nasty way of FINDING US.

The LAST thing we need is the result of local governmental ignorance and apathy to ADD to the mix.
It's damn easy to become frustrated these days, and harder for any of us to "pursue that happiness" that our founding documents mention.
We COULD have our pursuits become EASIER...IF the government would do what they were DESIGNED to do in the first place, and that's not become the "prize patrol" for the lazy among us, and give away everything that regular folks acquire by normal means...aka THEY EARN IT.
Maybe then, I'd wake up with a lot less "piss and vinegar", and a bit more contentment...I can but hope.

Have yourselves a great week.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.