Monday Musings...

Welcome back to another week in the adventure called LIFE.
And we've got some "nice" weather coming our way early this week, IF you like snow.
Today, will be increasingly cloudy into tonight when sometime after midnight, we'll start to see that snow we're being promised. Several inches are predicted.
Temps will hover around freezing, and that's about it, kids.
Tomorrow will be the fun stuff.
In the meanwhile, let's get busy with "the rest of the story"...
*** Teen dies after gun-cleaning mishap.
Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130304/LOCAL07/303049942/0/FRONTPAGE
Now, I could go on and on about gun SAFETY, and how EVERY weapon should be treated AS IF it were LOADED, but apparently, some folks just ain't getting the message, or think it will never happen to them.

Well happen it does, and a .45 ACP round doesn't make ANY distinction when it goes off. It doesn't care WHO shot it, or WHERE it's going.

And THAT can often lead to fatal consequences.

I wish I could feel sympathy for the person shot and killed, but when common sense and safety practices are tossed out the window, I simply can't.

That size round to the head is deadly considering just the muzzle energy alone...period.

Hell, ANY round to the head can be considered serious...even a .22 (because of the way they fragment).

The FIRST thing one does whenever cleaning a weapon is to CLEAR the weapon safely, by dumping the magazine, and then racking the slide (usually locking it back in the process) to eject any chambered round. It's THAT simple.

And simple SHOULD have been followed to the letter. Sadly, it was not.
Some people have to learn lessons the HARD way...
Moving on...
*** If you get the Journal Gazette on Sunday (probably the only day it's worthwhile), then you get to see where crime is happening sector-by-sector in the METRO section.

What is interesting is the pattern that's developing...

For the last 6-8 months, I'm noticing more and more crime being posted that occurs closer to center city and near SW and NW. This is in addition to the CONSTANT crime we "enjoy" on the SOUTH and EAST sides of this city.

The SPOT-CRIME website backs this up as well.

The sector Wifey and I live in (45) is no longer the weekly "winner" of the J-G postings. It's now become sector 21 (near downtown SW), and that proves my "theory" that crimes DOES in fact, spreads like the disease it is...when left "unattended".

Failure to corral the crime in the SE part of Ft. Wayne will invariably lead (as it has) to a migration into other parts of the city, because the "local" venues have all been pretty much "tapped out" as it were. Case in point were all those apartment robberies and home-invasions. The perps lived DOWN here, but they went "uptown" for their crime sprees...
Yet, this doesn't mean that SE crime goes away....not a chance in hell of THAT occurring.
It means that so many smaller crimes will (and do) happen...every day with such regularity, due t the fact that they are left UNCHECKED (or unnoticed), thanks to rampant apathy on the part of what passes for the citizenry down here.
*** And that brings me to our next story.
This is something I mentioned way back on 7 November 2011 (check the archives here).

It deals with the ever-increasing COST of all those damn BUTT-DIALS on cell phones and 9-1-1 HANGUPS.

Here's the story link:

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130303/LOCAL07/303039944/0/SEARCH
Julie Crothers does a decent job reporting the problem, but she did miss a couple points (that I'll send along to her in an upcoming email).
Nice graph in the article, too.

You just KNOW this was coming, given human nature THESE days.

Aside from the $19K a year it costs the department, it costs something a lot more "valuable"...dispatchers and officer's TIME.

Now, it's been often said that "TIME IS MONEY", but in this case, TIME CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.

And you can't put a price on THAT, can you?
*** Frank Gray also had a good story on guns...or more precisely the SERIAL NUMBERS on them.
Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130303/LOCAL0201/303039942/0/SEARCH

Frank starts out with the robbery at the CVS on E. State Blvd this past 20 February, which led to that police action shooting.

He ends with a story from Rusty York (FWPD chief) concerning a firearm traced to him (York) LONG after it was traded back to the dealer for another weapon (back in 1975).

The weapon used in the CVS gig had been reported STOLEN in a burglary back in June 2011, thanks to the serial numbers on the piece.

 ( A Romanian Draco 7.62mm "pistol" - an AK variant)

I have always kept records regarding not only the firearms in my possession, BUT the ammo as well (yes, you can track them by BATCH NUMBER).

And I don't have that information in ONE location only...but several, just in case.

You'd be surprised how MANY people don't keep that information available, for their firearms, let alone the other "items of value" in their abode, such as electronics, jewelry, etc.

When it comes to thugs being able to GET weapons, what's their FIRST CHOICE?

Right...burglary or robbery.
(which negates the need for more gun LAWS, except as punishment in the commission of gun-related CRIMES)
Crims don't FOLLOW the law...doesn't get any easier than that, and anyone with half a brain cell functioning can figure THAT out.
Yet fewer than TEN PERCENT of gun owners keep records of the serial numbers OF those weapons...makes tracking them a helluva lot HARDER if they should wind up stolen. That's one sobering statistic.
Hell, I've even got serial numbers on certain BB guns...and they get recorded just as well...just in case.
It would amaze you how many hands that a stolen firearm might pass through before it winds up in some police property locker.
(and that's when you CAN track it)

*** The HISTORY CHANNEL had the first part of a 6-episode series on THE BIBLE (produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett), and I have to say it was VERY well done, and followed the text brilliantly.

I found it more intriguing than the series that followed (The Vikings), but maybe THAT series will pick up later.

The acting was very good, and location shots seemed right out of the Good Book.
Sure, this series will probably drive the atheists and the politically correct totally BAT-SH*T CRAZY, but so what?
They deserve it...LOL.

I feel it's high time that someone produced something that backs up our beliefs in the Almighty for a change.

I'm getting too tired of hearing all the ANTI-Judeo-Christian rhetoric from people who can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground.

Kudos to Roma and Mark for being SPIRITUALLY correct and bringing us a presentation fit for everyone.
*** Lastly today, this aging thing is highly overrated..seriously.

While the mind might be as sharp as it was at say...35 years of age, many times, the body becomes a bit more "unwilling" to follow along.
I know I'm NOT going to be running the "100" at 10.4 sec anymore, for one thing.
And I wonder what's worse...gray hair or less hair?
(not even thinking about gray AND less at this point)
The joints ache, the muscles ache, and no amount of activity chases that away...it just makes the aches more "specific" in nature.
Still, through it all, you move forward, all the time looking back to what you once had...like an "indestructible body" (as a teenager and young adult).
We ALL believed were were "Superman" at some point...but sooner or later we all succumb to our own version of "Kryptonite", namely aging.
Yet, while we are still able to function, we can do things.
Perhaps not as fast as we used to, but to do nothing can become worse than a death sentence.
Often, we find "new" ways to do old things, because of alack of mobility, or sight, or even mental acuity.
We ADAPT to the situation as best we can, and can rely on science to aid us in that endeavor.
But what we should never forget, is that we ARE still alive...LIFE is that precious a commodity.
It's to be cherished, enjoyed, and above all...LIVED.

Have yourselves a great week.

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

Stay SAFE out there, America.