Author: oddball

Looks like Erin Palette’s mom got bite by a rattle snake while gardening this morning, and then had the extra joy of having an allergic reaction to the anti-venom and will be in the ICU over night.

Please keep her in your thoughts today, and take this as a lesson as to why it’s a good idea to wear work gloves when doing such things.  I can say that I’ve been guilty of not wearing the proper clothing or gloves when clearing some brush recently, and it was damn stupid of me.  If nothing else, it’s a good thing I didn’t run into any poison ivy.

Something that I’ve noticed that keeps coming up again and again as I talk to people about the Zimmerman case is that Zimmerman started the altercation when he decided to follow Martin.  Martin wouldn’t have attacked Zimmerman if he didn’t feel threatened because this guy was obviously following him.  This is pretty disturbing to me.

Let’s roll the clock back two years.  Naienko and I were meeting some friends at their hotel the day before Dragoncon started.  For those that don’t know, Dragoncon is the largest fan-based scifi/fantasy con in the US, and is held every year over Labor Day weekend in downtown Atlanta.  It’s spread across 5 hotels, and, as is the case of our friends, many attendees stay in one of the hotels within a few blocks due to the host hotels filling up quickly after accepting reservations.  There is a not so great part of town not far away, but the city deploys a lot of police during the convention, so those up to no good tend to stay away that weekend.  Of course, like I said, this was the night before and the cops hadn’t been deployed yet.

Anyways, Our friend’s hotel was a few blocks from our hotel.  Our hotel was on a fairly major street that has lots of foot traffic well into the night.  Their hotel was on a quieter street, and we had to walk a couple blocks down a side street that had pretty much zero foot traffic since there were no store fronts on it.

As we crossed the street from their hotel to make that couple block walk, my danger sense started tingling.  I noticed a… umm… “gentlemen” standing in the shadows of a door way looking like he was planning on crossing the street going the opposite way.  As we passed him, he quickly turned around, and started following us.  If I turned to look his direction, he would slow down and let some distance come between us.  He would speed up slightly if I wasn’t obviously looking in his direction.  After quickly thinking about my surroundings, I walked sideways with the cement wall of the building next to us to my back.  The “gentleman” kept his distance until we were in spitting distance of the crowd on the main street, at which point someone walked by the other way.  As the poor soul walked by this “gentleman,” the guy decided that he was an easier mark, turned around, and started following him.

I could be wrong.  This person may have just been out for a stroll, he could have thought he forgot something, and then remembered differently, or maybe I was right and he was intending me and my loved one harm for a quick buck.  Thankfully, I’ll never know for certain, but I’m pretty sure I know where it fell.

Now… according to many that I’ve talked to or read lately, I had the right to bash this guy’s head into the pavement.  I had no doubt in my mind that this man was following me with no good intentions.  According to some, the man clearly had it coming.  Oddly enough, these are also the same people that generally think that people that feel the need to carry guns are paranoid and violent.

Oh… by the way… the guy that was following me was black.  How do you think they would have responded to the news story of a white man bashing a black man’s head in “because he was following me?”

Person A:  It’s common fucking sense.  we’re defending a moron that
created a situation that led to the death of a possibly
innocent person.  if he hadn’t followed martin, if he hadn’t
gotten out of his vehicle would this have happened?

Person B:  Yeah, but you’re framing the events of the evening in
too short a frame.  Oddball, I assume, goes everywhere
with his handgun concealed on his person.  If he got
out of his car with his handgun, you’re making the
assumption that he started a confrontation

You can probably guess the context (hint: a high profile case in Florida).  The important part to me is that this is a wonderful example of why you shouldn’t cause people to think of you as “the asshole with guns.”  Me being considered generally a good guy has caused someone to use me as an example to show that the idea that a guy that carries is looking for trouble is a false assumption.

Of course, Person B still thinks that Zimmerman is guilty, but due to a bit more reasonable argument than “he got out of the car when the 911 operator told him not to.”

Even though Erin has tried her hardest, I’m just not going to be a Bronie, but I do remember there being a couple at the Bidet Shoot.

I wonder if they’re aware that there are conventions specific to this particular fandom.  Apparently there’s one in my neck of the woods this weekend.

If any of them decide to show up, give me a call and I’ll meet you for lunch or something.

My dad called me to wish me happy birthday today, and as we talked, he mentioned a pro-gun editorial that he spotted in the Detroit Free Press.  If you didn’t know, the Detroit Free Press is usually a pretty far left paper.

The editorial describes a time when the politics editor (of all people) was able to scare off two thugs that were clearly trying to doing something bad to him by simply displaying the gun he had holstered under his shirt.

The article can be read here.

And apparently this exists:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPnY2NjSjrg&w=560&h=315]

Real posts coming from me soon… I swear…

I’m sure everyone remembers the big fight that Tennessee had over allowing folks to keep guns in their cars even if the company bans firearms on their property.  The final bill basically said “yes, you can, as long as you’re a permit holder and no one sees you do it… oh, and you can still totally get fired for it.”

Well, the state AG has post a bit of a FAQ on how he interprets this new law.  Apparently security cameras spotting you will also cause you to be in violation.

So… it’s legal as long as no one actually catches you doing it… ever, and if the lot has a security camera?  Yeah… that basically is a no-go.  In my book, that means the action isn’t legal.  Looks like it was just an attempt for the state Republican party to be able to say “see? we did something for you gun nuts.  Now shut up and sit down.”

By the way, this reminds me a lot of my feelings towards “concealed carry only,” and why I advocate that we need open carry everywhere.

How to win at intimidation:

Step 1. get hit in the face with a round from an AK-47, and laugh it off.

Thats…. really it.