Blackmoor Vituperative

Our Halloween party was Saturday. This is the inventory of the remaining beer and beer-like substances, sorted from most-consumed to least consumed, by percentage. The first number is how many remain; the second number is how many the party started with.

Legend Brown Ale, 3/6
Redridge wheat-free beer, 3/6
Sarnac Pumpkin Ale, 3/6
Sam Adams Winter Classics variety pack, 7/12
Killian’s Red, 8/12
Michelob Amber Bock, 9/12
Yuengling Lager, 9/12
Bud Light, 10/12
Warsteiner, 5/6
Budweiser & Clamato, 1/1
Bud light & Clamato, 1/1
And of beer people brought to the party…
Pabst Blue Ribbon, 0/12
Guiness Genuine Draft, 6/12

A gang of Somali pirates has kidnapped a British couple, who were sailing to Tanzania.

The Chandlers set off from the Seychelles for Tanzania on October 21 on their 38-foot-yacht, the Lynn Rival, according to their blog. A distress beacon was activated October 23, according to naval officials.

(from Briton says pirates holding him, wife, CNN)

Yet again, I wonder how — or if — the news media will compare/contrast these real pirates with the so-called “pirates” who buy the latest Miley Cyrus album and share it with their friends.

A reminder:

Sharing is not piracy
Copying is not piracy

I was reading this article about the Hungarian Prime Minister who was ultimately instrumental in the fall of the Berlin Wall, and I was struck by the contrast between the fall of the Iron Curtain, and what has been happening to the USA for the past ten years (and a new President has made absolutely no difference in this trend).

It makes me sad.

I have read numerous articles offering advice to job seekers. These would-be experts offer suggestions on what to say, and what not to say. All too often, the overall tone is one of subservience, as if the applicant is a kneeling peasant, begging for a crust of bread from the potential employer.

This is despicable. This attitude is part of what is wrong with business in the USA today. It is why job applicants submit to the humiliation of pre-employment drug testing and why they sign one-sided “non compete” agreements, and why so many companies get away with treating their employees like dirt.

Employment is an equal exchange: expertise for money. The employee is not the servant of the employer, nor is the employer the master of the employee — they are peers. An interview is not just an opportunity for the hiring manager to evaluate the applicant: it is also an opportunity for the applicant to evaluate the company doing the hiring.

Never forget that you were invited to the interview because you have something that the employer lacks, and they want to pay you for it. Your goal at an interview is never to simply “get the job”. Your goal is to see if this position at this company is a good match to you, your goals, and your skills.

Give your employer the same respect you expect from them; you are a professional, and a skilled worker is worthy of her hire. But do not for a moment think of yourself as somehow inferior to those who pay you for your expertise. It is an exchange between equals.

Called for jury duty? Know your rights.

Alan Caruba has a recent blog entry in which he comments upon government list of things that could kill you.

I think it is pretty funny.

I do not know anything about Lou Dobbs myself, so I have no idea if Geraldo is right about that. But Lou Dobbs aside, Geraldo has some great things to say about latinos and immigration.

Surprise Selection Shocks Nashville

NASHVILLE (The Borowitz Report) – President Barack Obama stunned the country music world today by picking up its highest honor, Country Music Entertainer Of The Year.

Mr. Obama was chosen unanimously, according to the Country Music Association, beating out such favorite as Carrie Underwood and Toby Keith.

In Nashville, country music insiders were shocked by Mr. Obama’s selection, given that he has only been in office for eight months and during that time has yet to record a single country song.

But Mr. Obama was gracious in receiving the honor, saying that he was “honored and humbled” by the award before excusing himself to accept this year’s Heisman Trophy.

ZDNet has an article title, “Blackberry the choice of organized crime“.

Gangs know what encryption is. They are using it in force at the street level, let alone at the very top. Rim’s BlackBerries are the ultimate in security for them. Everything is secured and impossible to monitor by police.

The gist of the article appears to be that encryption is bad, because there are bad people who use it.

“Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.”

Yes, criminals can and do benefit from the same civil rights as law-abiding people. This is not and shall never be a valid reason to deprive anyone of those rights, despite the absurd “security” at airports, the warrantless wiretaps by our Federal government, and the nigh-universal pre-employment “drug testing” humiliation of job applicants, all of which have become accepted by the somnambulistic American citizenry.

The pendulum has swung much too far in the direction of invasions of privacy by government and by employers (or even just potential employers). It is time for that pendulum to swing back.

Write to your government representatives, and demand that they respect the privacy of the people they ostensibly represent.

Refuse to consent to pre-employment drug testing (and post-employment drug testing, unless they have a damned good reason for asking — curiosity and “company policy” are not good reasons).

Be an American, not a sheep.

I started open carrying (that means having a pistol in a holster where people can see it, as opposed to having one concealed somewhere on one’s person) a couple of months ago, primarily because I had allowed my concealed carry permit to expire. After I renewed my concealed carry permit, I have continued to open carry, partly because the weather was warm until quite recently, and partly as a social experiment to see how people would react.

By and large, people haven’t reacted at all. Open carry is legal in Virginia, with reasonable restrictions (as long as one is at least eighteen, not drunk, legally permitted to own a firearm, etc.), and from my experience, most people understand that law-abiding citizens who carry firearms are just that — law abiding, and not something to cause concern.

Earlier today, I open carried at a Five Guys Burgers, and although I did not get harassed, I did have an unsatisfactory encounter — and it was my fault.

A friend and I had finished lunch, were throwing away the trash and getting ready to go help a friend move. A little boy, no more than five or six (if that) appeared out of nowehere, looked up at me with a nervous-little-kid expression, and asked, “Why do you have a gun?”

“Because I can’t carry a policeman,” I replied, kind of annoyed because the kid was between me and the door.

“Why?” he asked again, clearly confused by my answer.

“Because I pay taxes,” I said, and walked around him to leave.

I was driving away but not yet out of the parking lot when I realized that I had been an ass. I should not have been impatient and sarcastic with a little kid. Yes, I had somewhere to be, and no, I do not like children as a general rule, but he was polite, and he was just a little kid, and I should not have been short with him.

As I was leaving, I saw his dad leaning down to him, and them talking. Chances are, the boy had asked the dad about my pistol, and the dad had sent him over to ask me. It was a public place, and the dad was only a few steps away, so that was not an unsafe or even rude thing to do. Actually, I think that was a pretty cool thing to do.

But I dropped the ball. I should have taken just a minute or two to talk to the kid in a reasonable fashion. I am not sure what I should have said instead, but even “for personal protection” would have been better than my snarky replies, which accomplished nothing positive.

I will do better next time.