Kids, Guns, & Stupidity

A 9-year-old girl lost her life this week firing an Uzi.  No, she wasn't the one who actually died -- she shot and killed her instructor -- but her life is over just the same.  I cannot fathom the horror in her mind and heart and how she will replay this terrible moment over and over for the rest of her life.  Therapy will cost more than college.

I'm definitely choosing to focus my sorrow on the girl, not the dead instructor.  I'm not happy that he is dead by any means, but I'm not exactly sad either.  It is more like I'm seeing Darwinism in rapid action.  Put an Uzi in the hands of a little kid... what could go wrong?

Ultimately, while the instructor was an idiot, this entire episode is the fault of this girl's parents.  They have destroyed her life.  They ended the life of this man.  And unless they are entirely miserable excuses for human beings, they have destroyed their own lives as well.

Sadly, this entire episode isn't surprising.  And I won't be surprised when it happens yet again... and again... and again.  We are a nation too stupid about guns to do anything sane.

Sad.  Very sad.

28 August 2014

Additions 3 September 2014: From TPM comes two stories as follow-up. First, the little girl in question immediately after the shooting complained to her parents both that the gun was too powerful for her -- duh! -- and that she was in pain from firing it... so much so that the parents focused on their daughter and didn't even notice that she'd killed her instructor.

Second, it appears that the gun range can't locate the release forms signed by the girl's parents.

Prancing Piglet

Talk about knee-high-to-a-grasshopper!



28 August 2014

Addition:  I'm going to through a pygmy hippo in here for fun.

Ferguson, Missouri

Jon Stewart drops the mic.

The Daily Show
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27 August 2014

A Marine Goes "Home"

This is worth watching.  /cry



25 August 2014

The Burning of Washington DC

Great, great article at TPM on the history of the burning of government buildings in Washington DC by the British in 1814, 200 years ago this week.  The history that Americans have been taught may not actually be correct after all.  Well worth a read.

23 August 2014

"A Man and His Cat"

My wife set this article in the New York Times aside for me earlier this month.  Except for the author not having a wife, it could in large part have been written by me.  I love my wife beyond words and cannot imagine my life now without her.  However, I inquired very early in our courtship whether cats could be a (big) part of her life.  If she'd have said "no," that probably would have been that.  Thankfully for me, I have both in my life... which actually makes it a life.

22 August 2014

Unfortunate Photos

I'm going to admit that this made me laugh a ridiculous amount.  I don't see what is off about number three, however.

22 August 2014

Super, err, Underdog

Who knew Superman was French... and a dog?



21 August 2014

The Coach We all Want

The Huffington Post has a nice story about a speech given to team just knocked out of the Little League World Series.  Coach Dave Belisle does the game and himself proud.  And he's so New England while doing it!  Take a look.



19 August 2014

Pit Bull + Bunny = Adorable

Too cute.  That tongue moves the bunny about three inches with every lick!

19 August 2014

More True Facts About...

Last month, I was introduced to Ze Frank and blogged about his animal-related comedy videos here.  Last night, I shared his owl video with my spouse to much laughter.  We also watched True Facts About Sloths, which is probably my second favorite to date.



15 August 2014

Addition:  Adding the Baby Echidna.



Addition 2: And because I cannot stop myself, the Dung Beetle.



When I was in Tanzania, I spent what my fellow travelers mistakenly thought was a rediculously large amount of time looking at dung beetles.  Pure awesome and not just because they play a huge role in the enrichment of African soil.

Also the Fruit Bat.


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Cats Knocking Items Off Ledges

After I shared Puppies Rolling Down Hills with a colleague, she sent me this video in return.



I can vouch for its truth.  And they do seem to love medicine bottles!

14 August 2014

Thank You Beary Much

Perhaps the cutest game of telephone ever?  These focused groomers think so!



10 August 2014

13 August 2014 Addition:  Three more bears.

Human Slinky

The Huffington Post featured a story on an act that includes a human slinky.  Pretty cool.

Post by El Show De Piolin.

8 August 2014

Gene Links for Celiac Disease

A blog post at Triumph Dining details basic information on new gene research and celiac disease.  A person possessing one or two copies of a particular high-risk gene having much higher odds of being afflicted by the disease.  Indeed, almost 90% of folks with celiac disease will have at least one copy of this gene.

8 August 2014

Lincoln, Handwriting, & Racism

Interesting piece at TPM from Josh Marshall about a copy of a deeply racist book from prior to the Civil War that was recently confirmed to contain Abraham Lincoln's handwriting.  Marshall asks the question "Was Lincoln Racist?"  This is a question that many have been asking since this discovery, although mostly without the necessary rigor of analysis in seeking the answer.  Marshall's article is worth reading.

7 August 2014

A Republican Senate

I'm just flagging this article by Seth D. Michaels at TPM for possible, unfortunate need next January.  I imagine the consequences would be even more dire than the picture Michaels paints here.

7 August 2014

Nixon, Reagan, & the Invisible Bridge

I've listened to a number of interviews with the author of the new book The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon & the Rise of Reagan, Rick Perlstein.  They have been most interesting.  At the time of Watergate, it was wondered by the political class if the Republicans were finished as a party, at least at a national level.  And it could have been if Reagan hadn't come along.  He understood that the fears of white Republicans -- and the fears of many white Democrats, too -- could be harnessed with a "positive spin."  Call it hate and fear masquerading as "Morning in America," Barry Goldwater dressed as Shirley Temple.  Watergate and its welling of distrust in the government actually made Reagan's job easier.  And Reagan wasn't a phony.  He actually believed the bullshit he was selling, to the point where he may very well have believed the biography that he'd written for himself that was in many respects simply untrue.  It is fascinating, horrifying stuff.

What is most relevant today is that the seeds planted by Reagan all the way back in the 1960s and watered by him in the 1970s and 1980s, are still growing weeds today.  The playbook has been updated for today's Republican party but now completely omits "Morning in America."  It is the book of Reagan distilled through the paranoid delusions of Nixon.  And it is playing because the now fully-Republican white base sees time has having passed them by.  And nothing sells like fear to those already afraid.  The saving grace today may be that while a very significant part of the country felt this sense of fear in the 1960s and these tactics could thus work nationally, that may no longer be the case.  Regionally, we've seen the power of these tactics over the past decade.  Nationally, we can hope that time has moved the dial enough to combat this fear of change.

I plan on picking up the book, but you can read an excerpt at TPM.

6 August 2014

Stephen Colbert Saves the Day

Rookie Magazine asked comedian Stephen Colbert to be a part of its "Ask a Man" series.  Always nice to see him out of character because he gives every indication of being a good guy.



Colbert also did an "It Gets Better" video.



1 August 2014