X - the Unknown

 A busy Monday has arrived.  Not only do I get to go to work this afternoon, but this morning also I will be driving down to the Lebanon VA for a test.  Because a long, long time ago I used to be a smoker, they now do a CAT scan of my chest yearly nothing is budding in my lungs.  I have no problem with this whatsoever.  My dad died of lung cancer; it is not a good way to end the last days of your life.

The flooring department was hopping yesterday, mostly because after 1 PM I was the only one in the department.  Not a lot of issues.  But questions.  I designed blinds for several customers, changed the color of carpet for another, and signed up 2 customers for measures.  My managers should be happy.

In a fit of what you might call whimsy, I ordered a Blu-ray copy of one of the films that scared the crap out of me when I was a kid because those minutes of cowering behind my hand standout in all of my youthful memories.  In my pre--teen years, the Academy Theater in Lebanon would do Saturday matinees of movies from the 50s.  From all of those movies I saw, 2 stand out:  The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which I found really terrifying, and X-the Unknown, in which, while I knew the radiation was never going to kill, I thought the suspense truly might.  Anyway, I bought the disc.  Here's the trailer for those of you bold enough to watch it.

I saw where Louie Gohmert is continuing to get a mountain of shit for his "you can't lie to the FBI line." The idea that people actually voted this man into public office is appalling.  I wonder if they find him embarrassing, or if they simply shake their heads and chuckle "well, that's our Louie."  If that's the case, they really should avoid polling booths at all costs.

As for other political news, the weekend was rather quiet.  The UK's BoJo has some trouble brewing up today.  A vote of no confidence might pass because... you see, this buffoon enacted a serious Covid lockdown, and then members of his party... partied, behind doors... and got caught.  Ouch.  For those who don't know, Boris Johnson is the UKs version of mini-Trump.  He's the one who pushed Brexit, telling Briton's life would be Chim, Chim, Cheree happy.  It isn't.  BoJo deserves everything he gets.

I'm wondering, will the Prime-Time January 6 hearings get higher ratings than Amber and Johnny?

The cost of Dirty Harry, celluloid phony

With Vice President Joe Biden looking at creating some form of gun legislation, the crazies are coming out of the woodwork.  Of course they've always been there, never being satisfied to be subtle presence.  They damn anyone and everyone who they think is threatening their second amendment rights.  What makes these people moronic is Harry Callahan.  There are at least two generations of Americans who know who he is or at least what he said.  Two of his most memorable phrases are "read my lips," and "make my day."  Wayne LaPierre, of NRA fame,  is actually old enough to have seen at least one of the Dirty Harry movies in the theater.  It is not too difficult for me to imagine him going deer hunting, sighting and aiming at his target, making the kill, and saying "make my day."  All you need to do is look at him and see how that image fits.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like him, and all of them dumb as bricks.

Dirty Harry, celluloid phony

They don't seem to understand he is a fictional character, or that all of his words and actions were first written down in a script, or that the scene was short several times and a director chose the one he liked best, or even that a film editor cut and spliced the scene to achieve the desired effect.  For them, Dirty Harry and all of his words and actions are real.  How do I know this?  I listen to the people around me, those associates I work with, and now and then those boneheads on TV who want to be deemed voices of authority.  As one example I'll give you a large woman I work with me.  After the Aurora shootings I found her standing in the lunch room reading a comment by that horse's ass Louie Gohmert.  She actually said, "if I'd been there, I'd have taken out my gun, drawn a bead on him and put him down."  The trouble with this comment is that she didn't remember James Holmes was wearing body armor (big dumb shit duh).  When I pointed this out she replied "well, I would have gotten down behind the seats, lifted my gun and fired in the direction his shots were coming from."  When I pointed out she would not only have to contend with the volume of the movie, which was still playing, but with screams, and shrieking and wailing of 200 plus movie goers she looked at me blankly.  I also noted that the people in her row would run right over her, that she would  actually become a speed bump in their exit from the theater.  Even though you could see she was absolutely clueless about what that night must have really been like, she remained adamant, she would have taken out the shooter and been a heroine.

People don't understand.  They want to see themselves standing along in the Dirty Harry spotlight.  They want to say "make my day," and read my lips."  They need to learn that owning a gun and knowing how to use it does not make you wise.  It just means they have a lethal weapon in their possession, and in the wrong hands that weapon can unexpected kill a lot of people.  Until they have actually been in this type of situation, they need to keep their mouths shut.

 

Aurora and the stupidity that follows

What happened there was tragic, an aberration of what is normal.  With a populations of over 300 million we are going to experience aberrations from time to time.  How we deal with them is what is important.  This shooter was going to do what he was going to do, additional gun restrictions may have slowed him down somewhat, but they would not have stopped him.  One commentator mentioned metal detectors, how stupid,  Holmes entered through the front without weapons, left through an exit and came back in.  Another commentator noted that the "klaxon" did not go off when Holmes went out and I'm thinking, people use those exits all of the time when the movie is over.  I use them.  I used one to leave the theater after Snow White and the Huntsman.  Perhaps the stupidest thing I heard of were the comments by Louie Gohmert, an asshole from Texas.  He opened his mouth and shit bricks of stupidity fell out.

This is pure stupidity:  “Well it does make me wonder, you know with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying that could’ve stopped this guy more quickly?” Gohmert said.  Evidently he doesn't understand what "full body armor" consists of, other wise he would have realized that taking a shot at a shooter wearing "full body armor" is a waste of bullets.  He evidently has no conception of what it must have been like to have been in that theater, with pepper spray or tear gas burning  your eyes, and probably 250 plus people screaming in panic and trying to get out, and bullets flying bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.  I suspect Louie Gohmert is as much of an aberration as James Holmes and we're just going to have to deal with him.